Mike_Walker

Back in the early sixties my mother and I went to Corstorphine to visit a former colleague of my late father. Not sure of the way, she stopped and asked a policeman on the way out of Edinburgh for directions to "Cor-stor-pheen". Before directions were offered she received a very stern lecture on the correct pronunciation and was not allowed to go on her way until she had proved she could pronounce it correctly! Great looking project by the way!

Stuart Baker, cartographer of the well-known Rail Atlases, passed away yesterday after a long illness. He suffered a serious stroke some time ago which meant he had to take early retirement from his senior role at the DfT where, among other things, he was instrumental in leading the IET project, attempting to reinvent the rules of physics in the process and giving us the Class 80x. RIP

Looking at my own copy of this photo (Colour-Rail DE838) enlarged as much as possible, I'd say this bottom line runs the full length of the loco just above this flange/stiffener. However it is so fine I think it would be almost impossible to replicate without it becoming too visible and attracting the eye and is therefore better left off.

I'm disappointed - where's the cuddly toy?!

I've just looked through my collection of shots of the Maidenhead - High Wycombe line (my local branch) and no clear answer is possible. The through trains to/from Aylesbury are shown with the conventional Class 1 or class 2 headlamps in addition to the "special" you mention. It appears it differed from day to day particularly on the 07:43 to Paddington. As an aside, the Marlow Donkey also ran with the headlamp in the middle of the buffer beam and below the centre windscreen of the auto. I've also noticed this on many other (G)WR auto trains so it might have been "official" or just a lazy crew.

In this case yes, it applies on all railroads in all states (and Canadian provinces) so that motorists know a train is coming when they hear a 14-L blast.

Those LTV A and B units were all regarded as separate units and were mixed and matched as required although it was almost always a pair of As bracketing a string of Bs. In the early days such could be more widely seen as several roads ordered F units in A-B-A, A-B-B-A or A-B-B sets as required. Where they were fitted with couplers at each end it became common place to lash them up as convenient and not always with an outward facing cab at both ends! There is a strict rule (14-L) requiring the sounding of -- -- o -- approaching all grade crossings with the final blast being continued until the train fully occupies the crossing so in this case the engineer would appear not to be complying. The only exception is where there are two or more very closely spaced crossings where the final blast is continued until the last is occupied or where local ordnances prohibit the use of horns for part or all of the day.

Here is an interesting example of a 12 ton tanker which appears to closely match the Oxford model in Shell-BP livery but confined to internal use at Falmouth Docks in February 1976. Would make an interesting prototype either for a repaint or a future Oxford offering. Possibly even more interesting is this rectangular tank in the same livery and use. Both pictures were taken by my good friend Martin Stoolman and are reproduced here with his blessing.

There is now a diagram for one Turbo on the branch on Saturdays and Sundays. It comes down from Bristol ECS early on Saturday, stables overnight at Exeter and returns ECS to Bristol on Sunday evening. The other two weekend diagrams are booked for 158s and all three are 158s M-F, although a 150 can be substituted if a 158 isn't available. On Sunday the three diagrams produced real variety: 150261+143621, 158951 and 166202. GWR's remaining 143s will probably cease operating with the December timetable change, 143611 has recently been stood down and is being stripped for useable parts and only four are required to cover the currently booked work.

Why not phone them and ask? Derek doesn't bite!

Yes, the A unit is original but the B unit was one which had been converted into a boiler car - I forget its origins - and had ended up at the Virginia Railroad Museum in Roanoke. The A unit had been at the National RR Museum outside St. Louis. EMD brought the two together and cosmetically restored them in 1989 to celebrate their 50th anniversary they were not operational. After that they appeared at several events together before returning to their respective museums. The A unit is well cared for, under cover, at St Louis but photos I've seen of the B unit at Roanoke show it to be in the open and in a sorry state.

FT B-units were regarded somewhat differently to the later versions. To avoid unions demanding each unit be treated as a separate locomotive thereby requiring a separate crew, the cab and booster units were, in most cases, coupled by drawbars making them in effect a single unit in the same way as a steam locomotive and tender. For this reason they tended to be numbered the same with the suffix A, B, C and D (or in the case of the Santa Fe L (Lead), B, C, D). Some railroads had proper couplers between the B-units and drawbars only between the A and B units creating A-B+B-A lashups rather than A-B-B-A. There were actually two different FT B-units. The more common is that used in the 4-unit sets which are the same length as the A-unit with a noticeable unused area at one end where the cab would be, the overhang of the body is also greater at this end as on an A-unit the distance between the truck and end of the body is different at each end and this is replicated on the B-unit. A few railroads - the Lackawanna was one - specified A-B-A sets of FT units and these incorporated shorter B units, often called unofficially FT-SB (Short Booster), that were symmetrical similar to the F2B, F3B and subsequent models. Of course, as time wore on and diesels working in multiple unit became the norm, many early F units were modified with conventional couplers throughout enabling them to be used efficiently as circumstances and maintenance required. Some railroads retained the original numbering others renumbered to give each unit, A or B, its own identity. The asymmetric layout of the FT B-unit can be seen here.

You are correct. Semaphore arms/lamps are removed immediately when replaced by colour-lights as part of the commissioning of the latter. X's are only used for new semaphore installations - still some being installed form time to time. Today, new colour-lights awaiting commissioning are hooded but the application of the white cross seems to be something from the past now.

There was also a path for the GWR Night Riviera ECS in both directions since servicing transferred from OOC to Reading. This is because it is important the train is the right way round in Cornwall but if it runs via Yeovil it has to reverse at Exeter. Running it via Oxford and the Chiltern line corrects this. Turning it on the Reading triangle would be too disruptive. However, this has now been superceded by running along the GWML and making detour to turn it on the Greenford triangle thus avoiding GWR drivers having to sign the Chiltern line.

Andy, I don't think anyone is objecting to advertising on the site in principle, we all appreciate the need to generate revenue to maintain the site. It's just the position at the bottom of the page that is causing annoyance. If they were confined to the right hand side all would be fine. Can this be arranged? We already have, as I understand it, an ad-free option by subscribing to RM Gold but not everyone wants to do this or possibly can't afford to in these difficult times. Are you suggesting that the ads at the bottom are generating more revenue than at the right side? Mike

I completely agree, it's most distracting and annoying.

Or even a Grid... 56048 at platform 1A at Paddington acting as the “staff bus to Old Oak Common” (to quote the announcer) on 23 August 1990.

Slough Estate Station opened in March 1919. the exact closure date isn't clear but it appears to be circa 1958.

Pro: Dapol is cheaper. Cons: How long have you got? In every way the Bachmann version wipes the floor with the Dapol one. Mike

The incline between Action Main Line (actually Poplar Line Junction) on the GWML and Acton Wells Junction on the N&SWJ are designated the Poplar Lines and have been since they were built. The name comes from them being the way the GWR accessed the North London Lines to reach its goods depot within the docks at Poplar. Wiring them would be of little use to today's GWR apart from allowing 387s to get to Bombardier's Ilford works under their own power but it would be useful for through freight services. I can't see any justification for extend the OLE from Oxford to Handborough. On the subject of PSBs, the first floor room that housed Swindon Panel (and that it lives in today at Didcot) was roughly the equivalent of a quarter of the building's footprint and around three quarters of the ground floor was occupied by the relay interlocking. But that wasn't all, there were around a dozen remote interlockings at places such as Wootton Bassett. In addition to the sound of the relays working, the most noticeable thing was the distinctive aroma given off which would even permeate to the operating floor - something we haven't managed to replicate at Didcot.

The one on the left at least appears to be a shorter FSF.

Here's one interurban that does survive complete with street running in the traditional way. The Chicago South Shore & South Bend in Michigan City IN.

The Marlow Donkey was regularly formed of SPC and DET often frustratingly usually with DET coupled to the saloon end of the SPC.

I've been watching this thread hoping that it sheds some light on my backyard - my local station being Bourne End. I remember Chris Turner saying that when he and Paul Karau were researching the Marlow Branch for their definitive tome it was particularly difficult to trace any details of private owner wagons for merchants in the area apart from those operated by Toomers of Reading and Websters of Maidenhead who both had branch offices along the Wycombe and Marlow Railways. Chris has published a number of articles in GWJ covering the area which shed some light on operations at High Wycombe and along the branch: High Wycombe Operations In The Late 1940s GWJ 51 Summer 2004 Taplow And The Loudwater Goods GWJ 32 Autumn 1999 Maidenhead And The Maidenhead Pilot GWJ 36 Autumn 2000 In addition, there was a further article on High Wycombe The Post War Traffic Scene by Harold N James and John Copsey in BRJ 36 Spring 1991. Chris notes that "most coal traffic for the branch appears to have been collected from Princes Risborough by 10.50 pm Oxford to Taplow, which delivered it to each station and cleared the empties as required". Traffic for Thomas & Green's was handled from Bourne End with the wagons being propelled from Bourne End. Whilst T&G was the only mill in the Wye Valley with a direct rail connection there were several others that generated a considerable amount of coal traffic at Loudwater and Bourne End, deliveries being trucked from the rail yards to the mills. Because apart from Soho Mill (T&G) there were no mills close to Wooburn Green station coal traffic there was largely domestic in nature. Wooburn's other big mill, Glory Mill, was as far as I'm aware, served by Loudwater - it was roughly halfway between the two stations. Paper making was second only to the furniture trade as the area's main industry. I was fortunate to spend the first three years of my secondary education at the old Wycombe Tech in Easton Street which backed onto the neck of the South Yard so we spent every lunchtime (unless it was raining) watching the passing traffic and shunting of the yard - performed for some months by an immaculate 6106 just after it had been overhauled at Swindon - the last of its type to be dealt with, I believe. Sadly, and I kick myself now, I didn't take copious notes! There is a picture accompanying the article in GWJ 51 showing a string of PO wagons in South Yard, sadly the only ones that can be identified are two lettered Shipley Collieries plus a William Cory wagon. I do hope more comes to light on local operations here - not from a modelling perspective, I'm doing deepest Kernow - but to simply piece together what used to happen when I was too young to pay the attention it required.

Sadly, there aren't enough like him to go round!