Covkid

And another from Richard Norris - this time caption reads This was a regular runner during the summer of 1991 for the purpose of elctrifying the Cross City line.....31271/119 Kings Norton-Lichfield City via a reversal at Burton upon Trent Saltley 06-09-1991

Another useful Flickr pic by Dave Gommersall of 31113+31125 on a Kings Norton based electrification train

What you need is a beat up class 31, as used extensively for ballast work in the West Midlands back in the day. There is more than one manufacturer of class 31s, but I have an order with Accurascale !!! EDIT Not sure if this link will work but here is a Flickr image of a West Midlands electrification train of the type the "special" wagon was used in. The Flickr user is Richard Norris and the caption reads A nice colourful image in fine evening light.....31119 (D5537) +31101 (D5518) Northfield OTP Depot-Lichfield City via Burton on Trent electrification train Saltley 12 June 1991

CDL was a design to lock coach doors whilst in motion using air and electricity. I don't think it was interlocked with brakes, and was controlled by the guard. Door interlock or traction interlock was built into newer designs of trains

Have to agree with "ADB" 57009 is a class 57 converted from a class 47. Although there were a few detail differences compared to the class 47s when initially converted, DRS went through a programme of rebuilding the cooler groups on the class 57s, so the operating fibreglass slats on the Serck grilles were replaced by a stainless steel structure. I think WCR have given a very sympathetic nod to "GJ Churchward" , and I appreciate the individuality they have brought about - irrespective of nameplate shape, size, pattern and placement some folk on here are critical of

Very important traffic in the Black Country. I straight away recall an image of a class 128 Diesel parcels unit hauling a maroon Mk1 BG on a pigeon special My father in law bred champion racing pigeons, before I married his daughter, and I remember him telling me about his widowhood breeding method many years ago.

Am I the only one left wondering why, if when retooling the motor car, Hornby didn't make a hatch underneath to house the decoder / blanking plug ? It is stuff like this where Hornby could be a leader in model innovation, particularly as they have their own brand of decoders

Another useful Flickr image by Adrian Hancock shows 37051+20045 on the sleeper. Here is his caption 37051 + 20045 Tyndrum Upper 08/08/1983 06:00 Glasgow QS - Mallaig. Due to the lack of Sunday services on the WHL at the time, the first train of the day on a Monday was often one the the through steam piped Eastfield 20's (20045 and 20085) to give some extra oomph. On this beautiful day in the middle of a Scottish rover we had 20045. Quite why we got off here rather than go to Fort William I don't know - probably to get a bag of crisps for breakfast at Tyndrum garage.

Interesting project Ian Futers is very inspirational - first discovered this nearly 30 years ago when we established the Austrian Railway Group, which was borne out of a small group of people who did a sort of "round robin" picture portfolio sent to each other. I enjoyed playing with Ian's numerous layouts - both Austrian and Scottish themed. Regarding West Highland line class 20s - we must remember the locos which were retro fitted with a steam pipe for helping out on rhe sleeping car train. The pair I remember were 20045 and 20085 but I think there were actually three. If you go to "spannerman37025" on the Flickrsite he has a cracking shot of pair 37012+20045 on the Up Fort William - Euston at Rannoch. This is the caption attached to the photo 37012+20045 37012 and through steam piped 20045 wait departure from Rannoch with the 16.10 Mallaig to London Euston which they will work as far as Glasgow, some train spotters were desperate for a cab ride , this one even had his own uniform, he still has one today, officially, but the one in the shot would be a tight fit now... 3/5/83

And that neatly sums up the situation Phil The only part of the "oughties" electrification programme which seems to have worked well was the electrification of Walsall - Rugeley via Cannock. The passenger service was mostly half hourly 2 and 3 car DMUs which operated between Birmingham and Rugeley, and were repalced by 4 car class 350 EMUs. I believe one or two loco hauled charter trains have operated over the route but AFAIK an AWC pendolino has never operated over the route except maybe as a test unit. There was a brief period when the Cannock line was given an hourly service to London Euston but reliability of the service collapsed and the operator reverted to Birmingham International as the turnback point. So why was the Cannock line chosen to be electrified despite being purely a half hourly local passenger service, when the Oxford - Banbury service is arguably as busy ? The silo mentality of UK electrification demonstrates the inability of the DfT etc to actually make the industry work for more than one customer.

Having googled, I see a date has been given for the "White Rose" tour which seems to feature "the fourth jubilee" along with a WCR diesel. So suggests 45596 is operated by WCR even if it is still owned by a group on the K&WVR World jubilee domination !!!

Indeed. Nice guy. He invited me for a whole turn on the footplate of a BR 4MT tank along with his brother as fireman and during the course of the day two more drivers from their depot. Had a great time and really enjoyed the experience, albeit on a dirty old steam engine. I am told that the 80xxx are supposed to me one of the smoothest riding steam locos, so I dread to think what a rattley old knacker rides like !!! A mate of mine was on the following Bristol-Paddington HST at Wootton Bassett and had to confirm each signal to (I think it was) Swindon B back then. Fortunately it turned out to be a huge "lesson learnt" for everyone involved.

I heard this story a couple of months ago and thought it was a done deal for Mr Smith - shortly after 45110 was sold to him. If true, t means WCRC will operate three out of the four surviving "Jubes" 45593 45690 and 45699.

Technically, it doesn't have to. Although the 25kV installation at Oxford might be better in one hit, AFAIK the MKC trains would / could be terminating in the bay platforms. So had Oxford-Bletchley been equipped for electric trains, the service would have been much "cleaner". Not only that a fleet of 12 years old, 100 mph capable EMUs suitable for operating the service are currently sat in Worksop yard growing mushrooms. The lack of keenness to make the EWR a showcase new service, particular from the "city of learning" is a big disappointment

Dave - what is that piece of yellow plant behind the JCB in this view. Is it a box scraper ? Thanks

Agree with that "wombato" Particularly as I saw a very brief preview of the new XC livery on a computer screen the other day. Not sure how finalised the design is but it will bring a fresh splash of red and white to voyagers and turbostars as it is applied.

Just checking Dave that your Cat D7 kit - is it the same as this one ? I bought one of these from Orange Hobby a couple of years ago, and admit the purchase was a protracted affair from the Far East. You thread has prompted me to dig it out trmorrow !!! Orange Hobby G72-213 1/72 U.S.Army Bulldozer D7 Complete Plastic Model kit

Regarding the linking up of the Corris and Talyllyn - it actually was more feasible than you think. THe Upper Corris branch actually separated our property running between the back of the house and the "allotment" down by the river. The tramroad terminated probably a couple of hundred yards from us by a couple of old sheds. There would have been a steady grade up beyond the village and the route would have turned left along a hanging valley, then ended up somewhere near to Bryn Eglwys. The point though is some of the quarrying was at a higher level, maybe 100-150 feet higher than the tramoad in Upper corrris village. So as a means of taking slate across and down the Fathew valley to Tywyn, I don't think it would have been impossible. I do agree that so much industrial heritage was lost when Braich Goch was flattened, and a pipe dream of running the Upper Corris branch from Maespoeth to the industrial heritage centre would have been really really nice. If only I could turn the clock back fifty years

Can you be a little more specific please ? CCTs were a BR standard design so on the headstocks they had L-R buffer, vac pipe, drawhook, steam pipe, buffer The rubber vacuum pipe was fitted to the casting with a type of metal clip The steam pipe was fitted to the casting which also had a cock to shut off the steam flow, and when newer had a metal stay to prevent the steam pipe flailing around in the wind.

Wow Dave, I am really envious. I mentioned earlier about the land reclamation project at Corris. I spend hours and hours just watching the plant reshaping the valley. Cat D8Hs and Scraper boxes, as well as D8 dozers shoving the late waste down the mountainside. I could only gaze at the operators and wish I were up in the cabs driving those machines. It got to my fifteenth birthday and I still secretly wished for someone to sponsor me and send me to the CITB in Kings Lynn. I joined BR instead !!! Maybe we need a new section for pIant and I can add photos of what I have collected. One item I really need to focus on is Hywel Thomas' creation of a Hymac 580 excavator on his South Wales based layout, but the Hymac 580 was a relative lightweight for coal sludging. More for ditching, forestry and arable uses.

Fond memories of Foden "halfcabs" Dave but my memories were of the slightly bigger three axle trucks used by Hayward's of South Wales in the 1970s. They had a huge land reclamation scheme in the valley above Corris, drawing the slate tips down from above Braichgoch quarry and reshaping the valley. From my memories they used Cat D8Hs dozing and with scraper boxes, around half dozen Fodens, a small handful of fairly new Volvo BM artic dumpers and a collection of Poclain "360s". The Fodens were quite beaten up but had the feature where the exhaust was fed through the tipper body to make the load easier to tip. I remember the exhaust smoke coming out the tipper body. Great work as always Dave

Indeed. I only ever managed to bag one Hornby trout up until now, so this is a very welcome announcement, although it is the only 2024 catalogue item for me.

Wish all the Hattons employees well with whatever comes out of this. I assume a vacuum will be created by this, and something might be announced in the next few days or weeks

Oh yes. BAC1-11 (pref 500) Viscount 800 Vickers Merchantman Lockheed L188 Avro 748 Dart Herald Fokker F27 Douglas DC6B Take me straight back to the late 1980s when my mate very graciously arranged so fantastic "events" for me. The ultimate was a VFR flight in G-SIXC Coventry-Manchester to convey a "full digger" of newspapers over to Dublin as a relief flight, then etys back over north Wales to Coventry. It would be awesome

PIcked up 100029 from my LHS today. An absolutely beautiful creation with a lovely "mass" thanks to the metal floor. I wasn't intending to have much air braked wagonry but cannot less this one pass !! Anyone fitted Kadees yet ?