philip-griffiths

Hello Andy, Please ignore anything I'm about to say if you've got a better back story that explains what you are planning, but looking at your track plan the sidings seem to have no protection from the running line. I'm assuming that with platforms, this was once a passenger route. In your imagined history, which of the crossovers took the line from single to double track? if it is the one nearer the station then there would need to be a trap on on the upper of two lines to the left of the crossover, I cannot imagine BR taking out the traps that quickly after the end of passenger working? May I suggest an alternative arrangement, which may actually give you some more siding space? Pontllanfraith Low Level on the Taff Vale Extension from Pontypool Road had a neat, compact yard of similar proportions to the one you are proposing. its advantage was that the sidings overlapped. The signal box diagram on the Signalling Record Society website should help you get an idea of what I'm suggesting. https://www.s-r-s.org.uk/html/gwn/S1427.htm regards

Ive been looking at pictures of crumlin viaduct and i wonder whether the salvage of parts was sold on? Please compare the viaduct railings with the bridge at Crom Castle, Co. Fermanagh. https://goo.gl/images/cvxq8X

Hello Jason No, I would not classify Ealing as Central London, anything within Zone 1 could be argued to be central, but Ealing is out a few zones. Kings X nothing, St. Pancras nothing. regards

All I asked for was for the locations of good newsagents in the centre of london. I didnt ask people to look. So far Heathrow nothing, Paddington nothing. Im wondering if there was an actual problem with the printing?

Yeah, well not exactly helpful

Glover, nothing in Royal Avenue. I wonder whether any made it over this side of the Irish Sea to newsagents?

My local newsagent gets it in for me - Greenisland, Co. Antrim, but the latest has not appeared. She said that the distributor had run out of copies. I have to venture into Belfast tomorrow so may look in Easons in the city centre. If i cannot get it, im in london wednesday morning, which is my best opportunity in terms of central london newsagents? Thanks.

Andrew and Chris, thanks for the replies. My mum travelled over the viaduct to School at Lewis Girls, from Pontllanfraith to Hengoed. She says it was a non-corridor train. There is a Pontypool-Hengoed (terminated) Term time only train in the WTT for 1944, I was wondering if this was it. anyway, someone was asking if there were any pictures of non-corridor stock on the line, now we have the evidence. Enjoy Scaleforum Chris. I was due to be at an event to celebrate 200 years of the Institution of Civil Engineers in London tonight and was going to go up to Aylesbury tomorrow, but alas work commitments have kept me here. regards

In R Kidner’s update to Barrie’s Oakwood Press Locomotion Paper on the Brecon and Merthyr, there is a picture of a pannier hauling a two carriage train over Hengoed viaduct, made up of two non corridor brakes. This is the first picture of non-corridor stock that I’ve seen on the Taff Vale Extension. If you have a copy of the book it is about p133 i think. I’d appreciate a heads up as to the GWR diagrams. Many thanks. Regards.

Hi, how is this little piece of Wales coming along in the Netherlands? Regards.

NI numbers tend to be based on the old counties - wikipedia has a good page on it. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vehicle_registration_plates_of_the_United_Kingdom#Northern_Ireland Belfast dominates because of the size of the economy compared to the rest of the province so we see new series quite regularly. Until 2014 all cars registered in Northern Ireland were through the DVA whose main office was in Coleriane. We also got our driver’s licence from them. Since 2014 it is all done through Swansea. When Joanna moved over to England in the early 1990s she had to re-register her car with Swanseaas an import but allowed to keep her old reg. then when she moved back she had to go through the process again with Coleraine. MOT is a lot stricter across here. No getting the garage to test the car, not what is wrong, fix it then test it again, you have to apply for a test time (often 6-8 weeks in advance) and turn up where you get taken through emissions, lights, brakes etc and a visual inspection before the technician walks over with a form telling you youve passed or failed. Failing means booking another test which could be weeks away.

Ah, you've just brought back memories of school when I would call in to Smiths in Buckingham on my way home and check the filing cabinet to see if my monthly fix was in, sadly it was not MRJ at the time.

Was there today Larry. Cl37 on. Fire brigade have put an order on them. Considerable signs of lineside fires near Corwen. Felt like the 37 stalled after Berwen on the way back, but was in full working order as it sat under the bridge polluting the atmosphere at the end of the run.

Brian I grew up in Pontllanfraith, cl. 37s on Halls Road to Oakdale was our diet. As young child i remember steam locos - possibly NCB running up the line to Tredegar, but this was a rare event. I remember being called to the kitchen window when it happened. Watching Cl. 116s was the occupation when sitting on the Griag, outside my grandparents who lived in Aberbargoed. I had a clear and excellent view of Bargoed viaduct. I can only ever recall Blue and Grey liveried stock on the line, but that does not mean I never saw what can only be called that 'white vision'. many thanks for the photo. regards

Chris, what about liveries? When did these change please? I saw a picture of a set in south wales the other day and it said, short lived all blue livery. I can only remember blue and grey, i have no recollection of all white, but as my interest is post steam pre-TOPS, i am interested in that corporate transition. Many thanks. Regards

I have an uncle who in 1948 went to work for the newly formed Western Region's Accounts department. They audited individual station accounts. The thing was that they travelled by train, so they only travelled to stations that they could get to and back from in a day. Then my uncle suggested that they went by car and they started to audit many more stations than had previously been audited. He says that his proposal was unfortunately a trigger for more data on the financial performance of western region branches than had ever been collected and was the death-knell for branches pre-Beeching. The last thing he did before retiring was introduce the system for the computer-printed credit-card sized tickets. regards edit - sorry Chris, off topic again.

what really gets me about the DMUs is that they did not introduce them on the Sirhowy. By the time the DMUs were introduced BR(WR) had reduced the Tredegar service to Risca. I mean, who wants to get half-way to the destination. Looking back on it though we never as kids caught the bus to Newport - I was born in the late 60s so grew up with West Mon and Red and White. If my mates and I were going off somewhere it was to Cardiff on the Orange double decker from the Bird-in-Hand at Pontllanfraith. A trip down the valley was unusual. Even when I went shopping with my parents it was to Cardiff not Newport. Maybe it is something about the upper Sirhowy in that it tended to look to Cardiff and not to Newport? Which would suggest to me that if they had trialled a rail service from Cardiff-Ystrad-Pont-Tredegar, would it have done better than Newport/Risca services? If I was ever at my grandparents place in Aberbargoed you never thought about the bus to Cardiff - it was down Bedwelty Road and up past the entrance to Bargoed Colliery and the builder's merchant to catch the Cl116 to Cardiff Queen St. I know that one of the reasons for closing the Sirhowy was the need for a signal upgrade, but you get the sense that they just did not care to try something different. At least they had a go with DMUs on the Western and Eastern Valleys. I was surprised to read in Chris's notes how far reaching the DMU services actually were, but why didn't try trial a cross country unit on the Neath-Pontypool line? regards

The lack of trees, that is a big difference between today and my memories of childhood in the valleys. Also, Z. The fact that you got neckache looking at the land-sky horizon.

You have to look at these pictures of DMUs at Bleanavon, Abertilliery, etc, and wonder if the track beds had not been protected, they could have been reused now as the Ebbw Vale line has. I was in South Wales for a funeral in December and getting back from Pontllanfraith to Abergavenny was murder - Hafodyrynys, I now know why it is the most polluted spot outside London (exempting the mountain roads and lanes between Risca and Cwmbran) there are three routes between the Ebbw and Usk - Newport M4 (Argh), Hafodyrynys - now a nightmare and the A465 - building site nightmare. Talk about pinch points. Yes, the closures at that time made logical economic sense. When they closed Govilon station the village was small, now it has a substantial population who commute out, same at Goytre (acknowledge that these were not valleys stations but it makes the point). Buses were more flexible and the traffic flows we have now were not then evident or could you have predicted them - well you could have if you recognised that coal was a finite resource and that sooner or later it would not be profitable to take it out of the small faulted seams in South Wales. I remember an interview with an industrialist who the WDA were trying to persuade to build their factory in the valleys, the interviewer citing the brand new roads up the valleys giving access. He said it would build his factory at the M4 and the roads can provide the commuter route for the workers. Gone are the days when the majority of work in the valleys is within walking or a short car journey.

Captain, when setting your time and designing your back scene, check OS maps from your time period for field boundaries. Modern fields can be much bigger than in the past as farmers seek to gain greater efficiency out of their land - and who can blame them considering the prices they get. regards

Was reading the book on the Ross, Monmouth and Pontypool Rd line and was surprised to see pictures of Cl116 at Usk. They used the line for driver training. Regards.

Brian, the previous post to yours has a good aerial view showing platform 5. Regsrds.

Being Serious, Riverside was a station on a line that came in from the East and headed down the west side of the Glamorgan Canal to a terminus at Clarence Road - https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/5/57/Cardiff%2C_Cogan%2C_Penarth_Heath_%26_Taffs_Well_RJD_12.jpg.

to get to Riverside you run at speed at the wall on platforms 6 & 7, and as you pass through, you arrive at Riverside ;-) Best push a trolley in front of you because if the portal has closed you don't damage your face hitting the wall.

The taff vale extension does fascinate me i must admit. Mike and The Johnster make good points. It was a long journey, but most tended to be for short sections of the line. Did people regularly travel the full distance like they would have from the valleys to Cardiff or Newport. I am not going to take this further as it would be off topic but having been back the correct side of the Irish Sea for a funeral last December i was gobsmacked by the cars on the A472 at Crumlin and Pontypool. If ever a line was needed today....... Anyway lets return to Chris’s fascinating thread on the 116s.