Owd Bob

An afternoon on York station, 11-3-20. These two units i presume are used for the driver training, 142 065 was sat there all day, 142 071 arrived about 2.45pm. At the other end of the station 144 011 seemed to be sat there a while but was in use later in the afternoon.

Another week of working between the heavy showers and another ten foot of track is laid, the shed is back on its base and plants now fill up the beds on either side of the track along the back fence line. I've only two more ten foot lengths to lay on this back stretch behind the sheds and along the fence line to reach my limits for now. I'll still have two more ten foot lengths of track left which i'll be using to make a couple of points and two short sidings with. Everything we have done so far is well hidden and private, but where we go from here now all depends on 'others' nasty attitudes. Today rain or not i can stay under cover and remove two old posts from the old garage corner which are stood in the way of the last two track lengths, three new replacement posts have already been concreted in to hold the roof up, i've set them back from the track bed with just enough elbow room to pass by them. The total amount of track laid so far is 80 foot, it's already plenty enough to trundle up and down on and test out any wagons or loco's i have plans to build this summer.

Thanks 4630 First time in that pic' taken off RTT that you've posted that i've ever seen the loco' numbers shown, i'll keep looking and look a lot more often and closer to the arrival times into my area. Scraping the barrel now with these bad pics' They will have to do until i get to scan some more negs'

Best to ask the Locals and the heritage group that! They must have had good a few reasons My point is a million quid to destroy the towns history could be spent on something a lot better, i can't see what harm there is in leaving the tracks down, maybe too many soft snowflakes kept tripping over them and putting claims in.

Anything after 1980 is modern to me but i still look and like the stuff when its posted.....we were'nt all born in age of ration books and Red flag waving blokes walking in front of us i'll not bother posting owt else then

I have great memories from my 1970's holidays spent watching the 33's crossing the roads. Shame the million quid could'nt have been used helping preserving it rather than being used in destroying it.

Great to see a 60 on the bio-mass rather than the usual 66, i have'nt seen a 60 in the flesh for years, but whats the chance it'll be back to a 66 today if i go out to try see a 60? Is there any way of knowing what's going to be on it before bothering to turn out? I might as well stick a few pics' on whilst i'm here.

I spent an hour in Wigan yesterday and saw no 142's, plenty of 150's 156's and 158's.

Here's our old repro' Panda Viva HC, bought as a wreck from an elderly couple who had it from new and a local Bolton reg: car. Weird to think i knew this car from new when i was just a kid, so i just had to save it when i saw it rotting away on a local driveway. Was an easy resto' The body was ok just needed new brakes, tyres and a radiator. Was originally Henley Blue. We used 12 cans of spray paint mixed to a Leyland Panda Blue, and three cans of White. We were members of PCUK at the time and we attended many Police events in it. One of our last resto's before illness forced us to sell up and finally pack in messing about with rusty heaps....or so i then thought!

Random pics' from the early 2000's. Warrington.

56 105 about 20 years ago approaching Springs Branch Wigan, heading south with a length VTG Ferrywagons from memory..

More recent finds taken from cd's. Seen about 20 years ago at SP and Warrington.

Last of my recent finds from Barmouth.

Last weekend we got another track length set down and ballasted up, the wet and wind cleared up on both days but only in the afternoons, we also managed to treat the sleepers on another 10ft length of track whilst the weather was still dry enough, this length needed a slight curve put into it which was easily done by putting one end on top of a garden table on its edge with the other end on the ground and then getting my mate to gently sit in the middle until the desired curve was achieved. The well rotted wooden base of swmbo little 7' x 4' shed needed replacing so we built a new one out of 3" x 2" posts for the frame and half inch thick ply for the floor. The patio flagged base needed lifting and leveling up so a full wheel barrow of a dry mix of concrete was used under them. hopefully we'll have another break in the weather this weekend and hope to get swmbo shed put back on its base and back in position. I've finally got a new welder but all this wet stuff is probably going to be keeping me from progressing for a while yet.

Just found another pic' a late '70's Sherpa version

I remember 'Arkwrights' Bedford CA mobile shop/ice cream van in 'Open All Hours'

That looks like a repro' thing based on a Sherpa or leyland/LDV/DAF type vehicle?

We've all done it, have'nt we?

i know nowt about them either, i took a few pics' along the way though, when i thought the CFs were rare in the mid 2000's, we had CA's around here in the 60's & 70's mostly run by Italian family firms such as Rossi's, Manfreddi and Fredericks. I think a firm called Morrisons in Crewe built a lot of ice cream vans.

Thanks for the heads up 4630. We've managed to book two day trip returns with four hours to spot/site see at each place, first one is in early March to York from Newton Le Willows, and the other trip is in mid' April to Carlisle from Wigan.N.W. Well worth a try and there's really nowt but a few pennies to lose if they get cancelled one way or another.

These vans used to work around The Porthmadoc area up until the mid 2000's. Hope they may be of help or interest, especially the Lyons Maid livery.

My Dad had a Aztec Gold 1600 Avenger GT 2-door BDJ ???H, with twin round headlamps and a load of sporty looking clocks/gauges in the dash, and high backed seats, it had the pressed steel rostyle wheel rims. It burned oil and smoked like a begger, he did'nt have it long, it looked very smart though. Reminds me! Remember the 'Tiger' version with the Mustard Yellow paint work and big stripes.

Found this one on a disc the other day, i've no exact date but taken in 2002, at Warrington yard. The wagons, vehicles and clutter may interest modellers. I'd forgot about and seldom saw any EWS liveried road vehicles, i think the two Maroon ones in this pic' are both Vauxhalls.

A letter 'P' changed to an 'L' with black insulation tape and a blob of White emulsion paint Four door 'panda's'? I made three roof replacement boxes in an hurry as the originals were on hire from a bloke who had'nt been paid, and one day he conned his way past the security and ripped the boxes off with his bare hands, leaving gaping holes in the roofs and live wires dangling everywhere. I still have one box rotting in my shed.

Damned shame i agree, i wanted to save it. It was used in 'Life on Mars' in both the first series and up to the third ep' of the second series in which it got blown up, the very ep' is on the box next Sat' night. It always looked more Green in colour on the telly than its real metallic Blue. Was a solid motor and a very good easy resto' in my opinion, even the chrome was ok. This Marina was also used, a rare early 1300 auto' i think it sold after the series for £300 but it was bought for the show as an mot failure for just £90. Hope it survives, from what i saw of it it only had a small hole in the boot floor on the pass side, the usual rot and maybe one complete sill needed replacing.