Mike_Walker

The ORR Has announced it is investigating NR's management of the Wales & Western Region.

https://www.orr.gov.uk/search-news/rail-regulator-launches-investigation-wales-western-train-performance

3 minutes ago, Denbridge said:

I would suggest that this picture was taken post closure since the overall roof appears to be missing. Additionally, the far platform looks very overgrown.

Which is exactly what David noted!  🙄

I went yesterday and, thanks to a near empty M40 and a train arriving at Marston Green as I stepped onto the platform, arrived half an hour earlier than I planned but was able to join the queue for early admission having bought my ticket on line on Friday.  After the reports of early queuing on Saturday, it was pleasant surprise to see a fairly short queue yesterday.  However, to me what was noticeable all day was that the crowds seemed to be much thinner than on previous Sundays although I’m told Saturday was very busy.

Like others, I was a bit disappointed this year.  For me, there were too few layouts with what I call the “wow factor” which I expect at something that bills itself as a “national” exhibition.  There were a few, South Pelaw was fantastic, Bron Hebog, and the ever wonderful Copenhagen Fields but generally I thought most were what I regard as “average” and, as others have said, too many appeared to be representing the modern strike days!  Of all the exhibitions I’ve attended in 2023 I’d say that this year’s Warley had, for me, the lowest standard of layouts.  The last show I went to before this was Uckfield where every layout was to my mind to a far higher standard than most of those at Warley.  I do, of course, appreciate we all have differing tastes and standards and Warley aims to satisfy all of the people some of the time but cannot satisfy all the people all of the time.

I too was disappointed by the number of small traders absent this year.  Warley was always the event for which I’d be drawing up a shopping list of bits and bobs for weeks in advance knowing that I could visit many stands and fulfil my needs but one by one, each year they’ve disappeared.  Some, like the much missed Eileen’s Emporium have disappeared altogether whilst others have understandably come to the conclusion that attending is no longer viable for them.  Having checked the attendance list in advance I didn’t even go with a list!

Now it would seem even the big boys are starting to give it a miss.  One of the “big box shifters” was noticeable by their absence.

Sadly, I have to say that based on this year’s experience, Warley is not what it was and after attending every year for longer than I care to remember this might well be my last unless next year’s show (if it happens) has a more encouraging line up.

At least they've got the spelling right this year!

So did I and all my photos of them in green show yellow spots - they seem to have omitted them once they went blue apart from the early repaints.

An interesting example is SBJ11/16 at Shrewsbury where the centre pivot arms are mounted upside down to the normal arrangement, that is with the green spectacle above rather than below the arm.  Both are wooden and whilst doing survey work in advance of the Wrexham & Shropshire start up, we were told by the proud local NR Operations Manager that one of the them is nearly new - I forget which.  It seems the original was suffering from age so the local S&T made a new arm from scratch in their workshop and transferred the fittings over on site. 

So, Mike, you can revise that to "early 2000s"!

Yes Mike, we were talking about different signals - I was thinking about the Up Main Home.  🙄

3 hours ago, The Stationmaster said:

It will be nice if the Cornish semaphores article capturese some of the real gems that once existed in the county at places like Bugle,  Bodmin Road (which must have been onen of the last survivors of a form of signal that was obsolete by the mid 1920s), and the gorgeous bracket at Onslow Sidings.  Fortunately the tubular steel version of the, I think possibly unique in form, Up Main Starting Signal at Liskeard survived until relatively recent years so hopefully will be included.  I look forward to the article.

The Up Main Starter at Liskeard is till there, Mike, alive and well thanks.  And, the good news it will survive as Liskeard is not part of the current Cornish resignalling.

Assuming they weren't RDC9s which were built as powered intermediate vehicles with a single engine and therefore never had end windows.

Regarding the PRR train, in push mode it was probably no more than the conductor standing in the door with a brake valve and whistle cord with the engineer doing the driving from the loco.  Americans are a lot more relaxed about such things than us 

Yes, it was featured in one of the Paddington TV programmes.  There was talk of continuing to carry them by IET but I'm not sure if it's been done.

12 hours ago, Banger Blue said:

One Headcode to watch out for is 1Z99 which can be a:

• Traction unit going to assist a failed train.
• Breakdown or Overhead Line Equipment train going to clear the line.
• Snowplough going to clear the line.

Another "fixed" headcode is 2Z01 which is described as an "Officers' special train".

I've only seen it used once myself and that was for a unit conveying some of the Company Top Brass (think MD + Directors) plus invited dignitaries from the Station to the TCD (and return).

A few weeks ago Mark Hopwood organised a special for his and other managers from SWR, Avanti and NR to study proposed alternative routes from the GWML to Euston and/or Waterloo during the blockades required for the OOC station project.

Formed of 33029 and 33207 bracketing saloon 999506 it ran as follows:

2Z01  Maidenhead to Euston

2Z02  Euston to Acton Yard

2Z03  Acton Yard to Waterloo

2Z04  Waterloo to North Pole Hitachi

2Z05  North Pole to Hayes & Harlington.

I called it a "jolly" and got my head bitten off!

Unfortunately, the end of 1973 wasn't good for the WR.  On the evening of 18 November, 1605 failed to stop in the Up Loop at Ruscombe and ran through the blocks demolishing the remote relay interlocking building which someone had thoughtfully built just beyond.  

The OOC crane was again involved and as I read the above I thought I had a photo of the Hydra but as you can see, it was a different one.

As you can see, trains kept running whilst the recovery was going on although with hand signalling as everything in the area had been put out of action.  I particularly like the last shot with the up train squeezing past as the crane was slewing.  Just imagine that happening today - there'd be a total block between Reading and Paddington!

24 minutes ago, durham light infantry said:

She started her working life kick starting aircraft carriers at Rosyth...

The mind boggles!

15 hours ago, WillCav said:

The headcode consists of three parts:

 

First digit is train class

1 express passenger

2 ordinary passenger 

4, 6, 7 & 8 are freight

5 in empty stock

 

Second is a letter for destination

E to Eastern region

V to Western

S to Scotland

M to Midland

O to Southern

Other letters used for within a region.

 

Third and fourth are unique identifiers to differentiate different trains and routings

 

Hope this helps

 

Will

 

Plus:

3  Empty stock going to form a scheduled service - i.e. going from depot to station to form a train.  Also used for RHTT workings.

5  Is empty stock not going to form a service - i.e. returning to depot.  Therefore a Class 3 has higher priority than a Class 5.

9  Is now used for passenger services requiring special routing or regulation and is used for Eurostars, Avanti tilting services, Thameslink and Elizabeth Line services for example.

0  Is a light engine(s)

The freight classes 4,6,7 and 8 indicate the maximum permitted speeds: 75, 60, 45 and 35 mph respectively.

X  Is used for trains which might be out of gauge or have some other exceptional characteristic.  It used to be used for the royal train but today that just appears as an ordinary special to divert attention for security reasons.

Z  Is used for a special working not in the Working Timetable (WTT) and can cover any train running as a Short Term Plan (STP) which is pre-planned and may run for only one day or perhaps a few weeks - a short freight contract for example - or a Very Short Term plan (VST) which is usually something required at short notice in times of disruption.

In the early days, the same headcode could be used repeatedly each day.  For example, on our local branch all trains, both ways, all day were 2A40 whilst the main line Class 2s usually ran with the same headcode of the same journeys all day.  Today, every movement has to have a UNIQUE headcode which is not (in theory although in some places we are starting to run short!) repeated in each 24 hour cycle within a given area.  For example, you can have a 1A23 into Paddington and Kings Cross on the same day but not two 1A23s into either.  One of the drivers for this change is the GSM-R radio system which uses the headcode as the "telephone number" that the signaller, for example, uses to call the driver of that train.

Apologies for the poor quality but it was taken as a print which doesn't scan too well.

Two vans at Ealing in December 1973 helping in the clear up after Western Talisman's tumble.

34 minutes ago, ruggedpeak said:

Eh?

I recall that the Luton Airport fire is thought to have started in a diesel powered vehicle not an electric one.

And on the Marlow branch too - in both directions depending on where they live and which school they attend.

Nothing is these days!  On the WNXX forum this has been discussed at length by several drivers who work the route.  The idea of a PRI was discussed and they came to the conclusion that in this instance it's not possible due to the position of a bridge what would give sighting issues.

And...  As they point out it is too close to the "Taunton Up Main LOS" to permit the necessary expenditure.  For those not "in" on this joke; it is said that no investment is permitted west of that Limit of Shunt indicator just west of Taunton station.

Any help?  This is the unit that became the GM's saloon.  Has the swinglinks in situ.

Was it?  RTT listed it as only one 5-car, 800013.  It should have been a 10-car.

17 minutes ago, Covkid said:

And that is not even mentioning the abysmal ride qualities of CAF rolling stock and their proness to aluminium cracking and it is a brand new design straight out the computer, which will need to be fitted with ETCS for Stoke-Kings Cross !!!!  

Of course, cracking is something unknown on sHitachi units...   😒

24 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

Finally, I realise that this decision was made at government level - but it is nonetheless downright stupid. It is a shame that it was given a sort of legitimacy by support from unions.

It might have been supported by the unions but not by their members who were not consulted.  GWR drivers are furious that their HSTs are being taken away regarding their cab as considerably safer than those of Sprinters.  The objections largely come from Scotland and are more a case of objecting to being given the castoffs of those nasty Sassenachs..

I scan any articles that I think I might want to refer to in future then bin recycle the paper copy.

34 minutes ago, 125_driver said:

Wrong. Very much involved route knowledge. In the old days a Plymouth driver could In theory carry on via Bristol , however since that route knowledge was (bizarely) removed, there was no way the driver in question could have carried on that way. Though as you say, The drivers actions where spot on , she stopped as quickly as physically possible, just unfortunate with the sighting of that signal that you don't get long enough to stop in time. 

Thanks for the correction, I'd been misinformed.

6 minutes ago, cctransuk said:

 

Bear in mind that shipping these trains halfway round the world is far from cheap - and would not have been necessary if they could have been re-utilised in the UK!

 

CJI.

They could not be reused in the UK because the DfT has specifically instructed both GWR and XC to withdraw them as they claim they are too expensive to operate.

It is therefore only to be expected that the ROSCOs that own them and spent huge sums on their upgrades should seek to find new pastures for them to recoup their losses.

Please remember, our railways are not run by experienced managers but by clueless civil servants and ministers who give the orders .