Lambton58

On 01/11/2023 at 18:17, AY Mod said:

 

Virtually everyone has more locos than needed for the stock they have.

Guilty m'lud, I'm an habitual offender!!  

That said, there's a lot of nice stuff in there though I particularly like the look of the Ashover carriages.  Likewise the Thompson full brakes.

Ralph

2 hours ago, Michael Hodgson said:

If they run out of space, Ely Cathedral is bigger than Chester.

Or St Albans Cathedral  - it has the longest nave in England

I  planned to go today and arrived just before 10am only to find the car parks full!  The stewards were directing people to other areas but as I drove around to the other parking areas I saw lots of people coming in ahead of me.  I reckoned then that the hall may  be pretty crowded.   I live not far from Bletchley so I took the decision to go back home rather than spend ages trying to find a space and then spend the day in a venue potentially more crowded than I might be comfortable with.  I accept I may well have missed out on a good show, but that was my choice and I don't have too many regrets.  It was a nice day and I spent some time in the garden and then on the allotments before watching the rugby.

Parking seems to have been a bit of an issue in Milton Keynes this weekend.  We went into town yesterday afternoon to the theatre only to find the main multistory full!  We ended up parking at the canal end of Campbell Park (locals will know where I mean)  so a nice walk before and after the play! 

Ralph

Lambton58

Yes, it is crew training - our local rail user group posted this the other day on Facebook.  

Cheers

Ralph

Happened to be in Wells this weekend and had some time to spare this afternoon so popped in to have a look.  A very enjoyable show with some nice layouts and modelling and a very helpful chat with Roger Sawyer about soldering.

Ralph

On 21/06/2023 at 15:54, lanchester said:

 

Of course, up till (and beyond) the early 20th century, Lambton was using a variety of 0-6-0 tender engines on their own, and presumably the NER, 'main line' to the staithes. There would though be obvious advantages, on a cramped site, of using non-tender engines, and clearly these were bought (Kitson and RS) as they became available.

 

And to boost the fleet (although some of the 0-6-0s lasted until the sixties), LHJC number 52, now I think on the Worth Valley Railway, was indeed acquired, as were others,  by my great grandfather, Sam Tulip, (my name also) in his capacity as Chief Engineer of the Lambton, Hetton and Joicey.

 

Amusingly (or scandalously if you think that familial connections should automatically rule you out of things), my father, Geoffrey Tulip,who was a partner in a Newcastle firm of engineering agents which had amongst other clients North British Loco, had the pleasure of selling to my grandfather, Winston, who had succeeded his dad as CE, and subsequently with the NCB in the equivalent role,  a NBL diesel hydraulic as a potential replacement for 52, which at the time was engaged on the lower, non-cable, stretches of the old Hetton Railway. (Dad wrote a little article about this - presumably for some NBL newsletter or similar - whether it was ever published don't know).

 

The experiment was, I understand, only partly successful - the NBL loco went on to other things, but 52 stayed in service (although not necessarily on the Hetton, which in any case closed only a little later).

 

Incidentally, my grandfather was 'Winston', not 'Walter' as quoted in the IRS books, and as I explained to Colin Mountford post publication - I think the confusion arose because he used to sign letter WLT, for Winston Leonard Tulip, and if you are taking notes of documents and then reading them back you might well think that was Walter. (Family says that old ST was travelling home, who knows from where, and passed through the village of Winston, thought 'that's a good name for a lad'. )

 

There is another slightly surprising thing about my great grandfather's appointment, back in 1897 or there abouts. Joicey, later Lord Joicey, had essentially chiselled the Earls of Durham out of the ownership of the company, using methods (concert parties and the like) which might not be strictly legal these days. And yet he appointed ST (who was only in his early thirties) as Chief Engineer, even though ST was undoubtedly a 'Lambton man' - his father William was an engineman or enginewright for Lambton, his grandfather had got himself killed being a sinker in 1854 when they were widening the shaft of the Lady Anne at Lumley and there was a cave-in (my father who could be a callous b*gg*r said we should claim the record for the fastest hundred yards in pit boots!)

 

Meanwhile, or more accurately later, great great grandfather William, reaching his Diamond wedding anniversary in 1918, received a rather maginificent print, finely framed and with presentation plaque, of the well-known picture of the first Earl of Durham as a child (all red velvet and stuff) with a dedication from the then Earl. Bear in mind this is twenty years after the Durhams had had any control over the pits, and William was only an 'enginewright' anyway. It casts a slightly different picture on the relationship between at least some coalmasters and their employees?

 

Meanwhile, I would like, before I am brought to bank, to see 52 with her Lambton style cab refitted, reunited with 5 and 29.

 

Oddly, my Dad's favourite engine, when he was growing up at Bunker Hill, was the 'Victory' Kerr Stuart tank - I think Lambton 41? I seem to remember he reckoned it was a good'un because it shoved coal wagons up to the top of the well-known coaling stage at Philadelphia. It must have been valued - I have inherited a very well framed picture  - it's only the KS publicity shot of the first in class, but it seems to have justified decent framing. No record of anything like that for the Kitsons or RSH 0-6-2T, for which the system is more famous.

 

 

Thanks for sharing this.  A fascinating insight.  My Grandad and great-grandfather also worked for Lambton Collieries, but not on the railways.  Both were miners at Harraton Colliery (Cotia Pit as it was known locally) and Grandad eventually became Overman Underground.  The vague relevance of this is that the Lambton (and later NCB) trains used running powers over mainline to get the coal  from Harraton to the Lambton Staiths at Sunderland.  

On 19/06/2023 at 11:40, Flying Pig said:

Similar engines were used extensively in South Wales for exactly the same kind of work and there is a preserved Taff Vale locomotive, which survived because it was sold to the LH&JC in the late 1920s (Wikipedia suggests it was sold to the NCB, which is a neat trick in 1928).

Indeed, at least 5 Lambton 0-6-2Ts were from the Valleys;  according to Colin Mountford (The Private Railways of County Durham) Nos 52, 53 & 54 were ex Taff Vale Railway and Nos 55 & 56 were ex Cardiff Railway and were bought around 1930/31.  As you say,  they were bought by the LH&JC not the NCB - vesting day was 1 Jan 1947!

Sorry to hear this news.   Canada Street along with Canada Road before it, are two of my all time favourite layouts.   Excellent modelling enhanced by the approachability and friendliness of Peter and his team at exhibitions.

23 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

 

I think @Lambton58 was visiting the home of Vampire T11 WZ507 at Coventry the other day, so he may be able to say if it was likely to be that aircraft.  It seems to be the only one flying in the UK.

Not just the UK - she's believed to be the only flying Vampire in the Northern Hemisphere according to the Vampire Preservation people's website .   

That's a good point.  It does have a tendency to flood around there and pretty well most of the way to Newport Pagnall.   During periods of prolonged  wet weather we'd often have the ring road and some of the car parks under water at the OU.   

17 minutes ago, Davexoc said:

 

I wonder if that is just about burying those overhead cables. Just up the way a bit next to the station there is a patch of land due for development at some point. Contained in this document  https://milton-keynes.cmis.uk.com/milton-keynes/Document.ashx?czJKcaeAi5tUFL1DTL2UE4zNRBcoShgo=kmK0W1OuaMKDzof3UUbQGQCJSRf8z6izoypfsu%2FyWVlgr2Uumloofg%3D%3D&rUzwRPf%2BZ3zd4E7Ikn8Lyw%3D%3D=pwRE6AGJFLDNlh225F5QMaQWCtPHwdhUfCZ%2FLUQzgA2uL5jNRG4jdQ%3D%3D&mCTIbCubSFfXsDGW9IXnlg%3D%3D=hFflUdN3100%3D&kCx1AnS9%2FpWZQ40DXFvdEw%3D%3D=hFflUdN3100%3D&uJovDxwdjMPoYv%2BAJvYtyA%3D%3D=ctNJFf55vVA%3D&FgPlIEJYlotS%2BYGoBi5olA%3D%3D=NHdURQburHA%3D&d9Qjj0ag1Pd993jsyOJqFvmyB7X0CSQK=ctNJFf55vVA%3D&WGewmoAfeNR9xqBux0r1Q8Za60lavYmz=ctNJFf55vVA%3D&WGewmoAfeNQ16B2MHuCpMRKZMwaG1PaO=ctNJFf55vVA%3D

is the plan to remove the level crossing, which is a bridge on the existing road alignment....

Thanks for that.  I've long thought they'd need to put a bridge in for Brickhill Street.  Given that it's a main route into Milton Keynes retaining the crossing will lead to a lot of delays and congestion.  Of course it remains to be seen what will actually happen and when.  I guess we might find out a bit more when the results of the consultation are released.  I think that's supposed to be this May, though I've given up holding my breath as it tends to make one go an unpleasant shade of purple and look worse than a Porterbrook Deltic!! 

Ralph

Technically a little off topic as this relates to the Bletchley to Bedford bit of the EWR, but here's a couple of snaps taken yesterday at Caldecotte Lake, Milton Keynes which is between Fenny Stratford and Bow Brickhill.    I'm not sure if this is work starting on upgrades for this section, general maintenance/repairs or something to do with the massive warehouse development on the other side of the line.  

Ralph

On 12/10/2022 at 12:27, AGR Model Store said:

The samples are very nice

 

 

I like the look of that.  

Cheers

Ralph

Oh, very nice!!  Looks like an impressive amount of detail there too.

Seriously though, that's a great choice. Well done!

Ralph

Just seen this on the Book of Face

1 hour ago, jjb1970 said:

I used to go to Aberdeen regularly when I lived in Milton Keynes. I always wanted to use the sleeper, nothing against Aberdeen but I could have had the evening at home, gone down to Euston and woke up in Aberdeen and in effect had a night at home rather than having to choose between staying away overnight or getting up at early-o-clock for a taxi to Heathrow for the first flight. However, every time I tried to do it the ticket prices were crazy as my trips tended to be at fairly short notice, so I flew up and often stayed overnight as it was still cheaper.

A few years back, we had some trips planned to Scotland (Montrose and Glasgow) from Milton Keynes.  All my colleagues suggested flying as Easyjet from Luton were cheap and indeed we used them for business trips to Scotland.  Fortunately we had time to book well ahead so the cost of  train tickets for a family of 4 was sensible.  On the face of it, more than the plane tickets though, but by the time we took into account the additional costs of getting to Luton Airport and /or parking for the duration, plus costs for hold luggage, the costs of getting from the Scottish airports to our destinations and then the same costs for the journey home the train worked out cheaper.  "Ah, but what about the time it will take ?" my colleagues asked.  Again taking into account the time to get to & from the airports, check in times, baggage retrieval etc etc the train was quicker!  
And that's the point, I think, a functioning rational rail system should be providing services from one end of this country to the other that are timely and cheaper than air travel.

Ralph

7 hours ago, Flying Pig said:

@Lambton58 refers to Woodpigeons as ""justa"s, as in just a woodpigeon.  Their ubiquity and ability to suggest all kinds of scarcer species at first glance is an endless source of birding fun.

Mrs Lambton58 and I maintain that 'justa' is an old Bedfordshire name for woodpigeons.   And yes, their ability to suggest other species is darned irritating.  On the otherhand, I'm told they make good pies...

Well done! I'm sure it will be a very popular model and you'll sell, err, shed loads!   😉

We get a lot of them passing through here on the Marston Vale Line. This 66723 Chinook passing Woburn Sands on 26 April 2022 with the 6H10 Bletchley Cemex Gbrfto Peak Forest Cemex Gbrf stone train.  

Ralph

Lambton58

2 hours ago, Oldddudders said:

I'm sure some diehards would like to return to the heady days of twin Fragonset 31s sandwiching some LH coaches.... Even I was persuaded to have a ride on that. Then there were my friend Catherine's bubble cars - she managed the leases. 

Now there's a thought!  

19 hours ago, 08221 said:

They need to bring these back - warm, comfy and (usually!) reliable 🙂

 

 

 

Agreed - especially if you can get a seat at the front end and the driver's left the curtain up!  

1 hour ago, Ray H said:

I'm sure some of the longer serving LNW staff must have worked the Class 150s & 153s

The line has been operated with Class 230s since 2018. Given that, the disruption caused by the pandemic and other staffing issues/policies, it's quite possible that there aren't that many suitably qualified crew left.  But I'm guessing really.  

So here's a question or three about driver training; mention was made in the Councillor's report of drivers needing to do a Traction Conversion Course.  Once passed, how long does this remain valid?  Is there something similar for route knowledge and how long does that last before it needs refreshing? 

 There was some discussion on the East West rail, Bletchley to Oxford Line thread a couple or three months back about what type of stock might be used for passenger services on the line.  Well, it won't be the current Class 230s!  Quite apart from the collapse of Vivarail last year, which resulted in buses replacing passenger trains on the Marston Vale line, it seems that the 230s were not reliable enough*.   Annoyingly, the situation isn't going to improve anytime soon and it looks like we may be getting Class 150s back**, but not until late Autumn!! 🙁🤬.  Anyway,  I share below some information posted a couple of  weeks by a local councillor on our local Facebook group.   

Frustrating is not the word.  You may hear the sound of teeth grinding and heads being  banged against walls here in Woburn Sands   

Ralph 

Lambton58

* Like many Marston Vale passengers, we've experienced that!  A 4-5 hour delay when trying to get to Bedford, several missed connections to London and misinformation from LNW.  The resulting compensation pretty well paid for our Two Together Railcard!

**  I've nothing against class 150s - frankly anything reliable, that can take bikes is welcome.

------------------------------------------------------------------

Marston Vale Line report by David Hopkins.

I was on a conference call this afternoon, hosted by London North Western (LNW), updating us on the issues regarding the lack of a rail service on the Marston Vale Line.

The brief history is that the class 230 trains that have been in use are (as you will recall) reused underground trains. They were originally built in 1978 but were upgraded for use on our line, on the Isle of Wight line and on a branch line in Wales.

The maintenance company Vivarail which maintained the trains has gone into Administration (last November to be precise).

It would appear very unlikely that these trains will return to service as they were proving unreliable, expensive to maintain and spare parts were becoming difficult to source.

Instead, LNW intends sourcing old Class 150 trains (see below) in May. This class to train operated on the line in the period up to 2018.

The replacement bus service (which has experienced accessibility issues and was unable to take cycles) is being ‘refreshed’ by LNW. They are aware of the other issues relating to that service and are addressing them as well. LNW is frequently updating its series of blogs on the Marston Vale web pages and will be holding update meetings with stakeholders every six week moving forward.

Issues

The 230’s experienced frequent generator unit failure

The 150’s are more than twice as reliable and are cheaper to operate

The revenue from the line is far less than the costs but this is manageable if there is certainty about costs (which has not proven to be the case)

Could the maintenance staff have been taken on by LNW direct? This was considered (TUPE) by LNW but this still would not have overcome the basic maintenance issues and costs.

The trains (230’s) are owned by Lombard and leased to LNW till 2026 (when the franchise ends) but with break clauses

It seemed this was a failure waiting to happen – did LNW have any risk assessment/management plans in place? Yes but these proved not to be adequate.

Kimberley College is concerned they could lose up to 50-100 students due to this failure (lost income to that trust would be up to £500K)

LNW will be circulating a FAQ sheet today (6th February) 

How long will the driver training take? The trains should be running with trained staff by the late autumn 2023. The drivers need to attend a Traction Conversion Course that lasts 3 months but they are already doing other training for the mainline trains hence the delay.

It could be a phased return (limited service) for a few weeks initially.

Trains have to be less than 40 metres in length to meet the platform length and not obstruct level crossings – very few trains meet this criteria hence the limited choice of replacement engines.

Can replacement buses run on days of industrial action? Not sure!

What will happen to the 230’s? – could be broken down for spare parts for the Welsh Service. What will happen to artwork on the trains? – LNW will look at that issue.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

1 hour ago, HExpressD said:

I like the Pilchard wagons,

... I assume Oxford have standard box sizes, and the Pilchard is too long for the next smallest to it ships in the Mk3 box!

I would have thought they'd come in tins? 

Ralph