eastglosmog

A few piccies of West Midlands Class 196's around Worcester Foregate Street today (June 21st). The 13:02 from Stratford on Avon crossing the Worcester and Birmingham Canal: 13:34 to Hereford approaching from Birmingham: 13:34 to Hereford just setting off from Platform 2 (right) and the 13:35 from Dorridge in Platform 1 (left), about to become the 13:40 to Stratford:

Clearly, can opening techniques have progressed from Victorian days, when opening a can without a can opener totally defeated JK Jerome and the crew of Three Men in a boat!

Main prep work here is a three week supply of cat food in case the pet shop burns down.

"Pre-loved" makes me think the ex owner has died!

Tilly was off her food yesterday and this morning. Given her history of Pancreatitis, a panic trip to the Vets to get her checked over. Doesn't seem to be anything wrong, except a slightly raised temperature so she had an anti-nausea jab and came home again. By the time she was back home, she was beginning to take an interest in food again.

Sorry, didn't want to be negative about it, but a few years ago, I was looking into the same thing and looked at a lot of walls to determine what the structure actually was. Came to the conclusion it was going to have to be hand built to get it to look right!

I think it would be difficult to make a flexible drystone wall strip that looked realistic unless the ground undulations are very gentle. Most walls I have seen maintain approximately level courses of stonework up and down hills. You will also need to tailor the stone appearance to the local geology - Cotswold stone walls look very different to Peak District stone walls, although both are made of limestone.

Thunderstorms three days in a row. Tilly is not happy!

There is this thing, the Sturrock Steam tender (and the loco it was attached to): http://www.douglas-self.com/MUSEUM/LOCOLOCO/steamtender/steamtender.htm

Derwent (1845) of the Stockton and Darlington was outside cylindered, though not in the usual configuration: https://preservedbritishsteamlocomotives.com/25-derwent-0-6-0-stockton-darlington-railway/

Scarlet Tiger Moth by my back door this morning.

Scaling from the wagon wheels, the bore of that gun would be in the order of 27", which is ridiculous. 18" was the maximum size the RN ever used.

I thought it was warm enough, so turned the central heating off. Tilly had other ideas and insisted I turn it back on again!

Not quite empty! Looks like you get the detailing pack and instruction leaflet as well for your £44!

A damselflynear the Evenlode last Sunday:

I think the RMWeb advert algorithm is finally beginning to learn that to get me to look at an advert they need to put a picture of a MaineCoon on it:

A Class 8xx entering Moreton in Marsh station at 11:26 on Friday 19th May. It was a bit late, as it should have arrived at 11:18: The same one leaving 2 minutes later, passing under the Fosse Way bridge, over the location of the old Stratford - Moreton tramway:

Saw this little girl sauntering alongside the railway track at Moreton-in-Marsh today. She did cross using the public footpath crossing, however!

Glad to see you are taking part in No Mow May!

When the Cotswold line was redoubled in 2011, the public information was that bi-directional running would be available on the up line. The reason was so that any required maintenance works on the down line could begin earlier at night with the last train to Moreton traveling on the up line if required. I can see no particular point in it being a limit of shunt signal. Why would a down train need to go into the up platform? There are no terminating trains at Charlbury and as Melmerby points out, the nearest crossover is at Moreton. The timetable is set up so that trains generally cross at Charlbury or a few miles to the east, dictated by the single line to the west. Main exception is the last pair of trains, which pass north of Moreton - there is enough time in the timetable for the last down train to reach Moreton before the last up train does.

A couple of photographs of the signal for bi-directional running on the up line at Charlbury station on the OWW. I have never seen it green - will have to go down and have look next time there are engineering works. Bi-directional running is on the up line only, so when a few years ago an HST bound for London failed in the station, there was no way past it.

If you look at the Worcester Shrub Hill north end signals I showed a photograph of on p1 of this thread, you will see that the entire spectacle plate has been removed from both fixed distants and there is just a lamp.

Tilly insists on a deep layer of litter and prefers the clumping type. If any Vet had the temerity to disapprove, Tilly would tell them where to go! (She does have two litter boxes, though.)

Photos of a two aspect colour light signal on the Midland main line, in the cutting south of Wilnecote, taken during a joint inspection with Network Rail of the cutting slopes in April 2018. Front view. Side and rear. Note steel plate on ladder to deter local yobs interfering with the signal.

Apologies for the quality of this one - it was taken with a box brownie back in 1967. The signals at the end of Marchwood loop on the Fawley Branch, they date from 1960 when the loop was lengthened: This was taken from the southeastern end of the loop, at the Pumpfield Farm footpath crossing. As far as I know, there have been no changes to the signals since I photographed them.