Liam

Sorry, when is this tour around Didcot?

Oh so do you live near Carrog?

If you do, don't forget polluted canals, rough-looking pubs and grey skies.*

*No offence intended, I even live near the Black Country!

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/7f/Bushbury_%26_Wolverhampton_RJD_80.jpg

Yes, I see what you mean.

Thanks for the feedback, I'm swaying towards plan one, but I have to hand it to Clive his adaptation off minories is cracking!

I'm also dreaming of Castles and Halls racing under the low level section... plan 1 feels more rural and plan 2 more urban but with the colliery branch it could be set north of Nottingham, maybe instead of Cleethorpes? Daily express to London? Semi fast to Nottingham? Coal hauled by WD's and 8f's? Bournemouth to Immingham service?

So the low level is in a completely different location to the high level?

Ah, but was it a Top shed engine? And what was the date of the video? They tend to have been shot late on, when everything was run down and approaching the end. Top shed V2s during the late fifties and even into the early sixties were generally kept very clean.

I think 1961, but I remember the narrator mentioning The Beatles, so could be slightly later.

Oh yes, very nice Gilbert. Although I'm surprised that even Top Shed kept their locos pristine - I've seen video footage of a V2 in very grimy condition there.

With regards to the brick surface being printed on photopaper, I would just cover it with a bit of ballast.

The mogul looks nice, is it RTR?

Hi folks

What do you reckon the largest size a baseboard can be to enter this competition? I wonder if the layout I'm planning could enter.

No he means golf balls. 

Ah, gotcha. I'm partial to a bit of golf as well, but not competitive. Somewhere in one of my many cupboards I have some brightly coloured golf balls - orange, yellow and perhaps also pink!

Does it have to be a working layout? Could a small diorama be accepted?

Today's bad thing, nasty sneaky little white things that kept hiding, so succesfully that on three occasions they could not be found at all. Today's very good thing. Lincoln City FC are National league champions, and back in the Football league where they belong.

Tonight's pictures, GN cab 02 on an Up coal.

)02 1.JPG

another dodgy lamp, and too much light.

02 qnd B1.JPG

You mean you've got mice in your house?

Stanier 5MT 44871 basks in the evening sun.   It will soon take the last UP Semi Fast of the day to Marylebone.  The scene is tranquil and the evening will be given to DMU's and a parcels service

If you don't mind me doing so, here's my take at an atmospheric photo, but not half as good as yours.

Who is getting up early to see her tomorrow then?

What time is it passing Tollerton?

Your best bet is to head to one of the stations just outside Carlisle (either Wetheral or Brampton) and photograph it there. Carlisle station is likely to be very crowded.

Oh dear. Perhaps the fireman has been drinking. There'll probably be a red-faced foreman when he gets to his home shed - it might not have been a good idea to photograph it Gilbert!

Castle Down. Scott, would you be so kind as to explain to us gents where the name comes from? And how it's connected to a GWR branch line?

Hey.

You just create a thread in the layouts section, not a blog.

Oops! Oh well, once I get the baseboards ready I'll do just that.

Hi Scott

I was wondering, how did you get your thread in the layouts column? I can't seem to get mine in here - looks like it has to stay in the ordinary blog section.

And where's the cat?

For those of us that don't know could someone explain, from a signalling point of view, what a "Workstation" is?

e.g. the signalling from Barnt Green to Aschurch (exclusive) is now controlled by a Bromsgrove workstation with the designation "BA"

 

Is that a desk in the WMSC with an operator of it's own? (Or is situated in Bromsgrove?)

Or is it part of the wider control where numerous signallers cover the whole area? etc. etc.

 

Cheers

 

Keith

A workstation is a fairly large desk with associated equipment controlling a specific area. The area between Barnt Green and Ashchurch (the Bromsgrove workstation) is located at Saltley WMSC and might require more than one operator. There would probably be a diagram of the route with small indicator boards showing the route number in the block sections.

I've never been to Skegness, but at about 12 degrees I'm not sure I'd want to!

Reminds me of a time I was on a Devon and Cornwall Rover ticket. It was July, but a little unseasonably cool. To tick it off, I went on the St Ives branch, formed of a 2 car DMU. On the way there were about 20 people on the train - coming back to St Erth it was like 200! Not a pleasant experience!

The existing train service to Bromsgrove is the hourly service from New Street to Hereford. The additional three per hour appears to be extension of the current 20-min interval Longbridge turnbacks.

I think there may have been a problem with putting the Up Fast on the outside as to get the required alignment there woudn't have been room for the longest freight to take on a banker if the siding was put in the middle at the south end of the layout without rebuilding the bridge by the old banker sidings.

 

 

You can't get from one end of a 6-car 323 without walking down the outside. No connection between the middle cabs.

There's only a few, but in peak hours XC run services which stop at Bromsgrove; generally to Nottingham in the morning and Cardiff in the afternoon. And then on weekends there's charters

To try and answer that question I've had a look at the photos taken. No one appears to be resting their arms, but I seem to recall there being backs to the seats.

But don't forget that the fireman wouldn't have always been sat down - if he wasn't shovelling coal, he would be checking the signals or if stationary cooking the bacon!

28XX no. 2857 has seats (I know because I've driven it) and that was built in 1918, so definitely before the grouping.