25kV

It's an "Exclusive Dining Experience ... 125".

I recall seeing portions of chips being sent skyward on sunny Saturdays from the same barriers after a three-train lowering.

The Cuban 47s got a mention about 10 years ago, but always worth a revisit: Photo by John Stein on Flickr:

They even had AEI "cross-arm" pantographs (as originally on Class 87s). 🙂

Fair point! I seem to recall the central nameplate position on Class 87s required some torturous internal maneuvers to get to the insides.

<digression>Slightly untidy nameplate position (in my opinion) - curious as to why the original position wasn't chosen, or why the plates weren't aligned with the window centres or mid-height on the upper band. </digression>

My rule of thumb for converting chains to something I could picture easily was to say "about the length of a Mk1 or Mk2 carriage". To this day I find myself measuring real life objects by imagining how many Mk1s tall they are...

Richmond Hill Tunnel in Leeds (Marsh Lane cutting) has 5! Flickr pic by loose_grip_99 This was originally a much longer, smaller bore, later opened out, but when built was apparently the first railway tunnel designed to be used by passenger trains hauled by locomotives as opposed to stationary engines. (According to Wikipedia.)

The restored station at Alton features a herringbone pattern of bricks under the canopy, but whether this is original (it does appear to be well worn) or not, I'm not sure.

The principle has been tested with flying insects in a sealed jar on a sensitive scale. The weight of the insect is borne by the air in the jar while they are flying, and thus the total weight on the scale remains the same. Thus it follows that airborne grouse would still "weigh" the same inside the lift.

LAMCO stock was still there in 2010, though heavily robbed of any useful metals and somewhat rusted: https://www.internationalsteam.co.uk/tales/liberiatales02a.htm The Swindon units were shipped out in BR Blue Grey with "Inter-City Lamco" branding on the sides (blue grey can be glimpsed in the background of this photo ) , while the 08s went pre-painted in orange and yellow - photo down the page here: https://www.derbysulzers.com/derbyyearbook70.html between some barrier BGs at Derby.

Somewhat better than my pic of the same this evening! 😉 Got photobombed by our neighbour.

This brings to mind a personal experience, worth recalling given that there's often an assumption that people who fall/fell from moving trains were somehow being stupid or lacked common sense (I'll let you all judge whether I fall into either category!). 1989, I think, and I was in my late teens on a charter to Spalding. The stock was air-con Mk2s for the most part with a 47 up front. Having had plenty of experience getting smuts (and occasional branches) in my eyes from leaning out of windows on heritage railways, I was always more inclined to be more "face in open window" than "head out of open window" when travelling at any greater speeds. At most a "half-eye peep" around the corner to get a glimpse ahead. I was also somewhat wary of putting my weight on doors, so tended to not lean on any portion of a door I was looking out of, preferring to steady myself with a hand on the panel adjacent to the door. So the train had joined the ECML just north of Doncaster, and was now accelerating along the Up Fast towards the station. I half-eyed around the window and spied the front end of 89001 sitting in the north bay - I'd never seen it before, so readied my camera in the droplight opening, and snapped off a couple of photos as we swept by. I glanced out after my final photo, when a member of staff (I assume) on the down platform pointed at me and yelled "DOOR!" I'd heard this yelled often enough in the heritage sector to know what he meant. I glanced down and the exterior handle was vertical. I had just enough time to acknowledge this with a wave to the man who had yelled as I ducked inside. I knew that usually on manual doors there was a secondary latch on the mechanism that would stop a door swinging all the way open if the handle was released too soon (i.e. had sprung back to horizontal before being opened more than an inch or so) so assumed the door was probably not quite completely closed, but probably within that second latch. I gave it several hard tugs inwards but it didn't budge and there was no click. Sticky door? Sticky door with sticky handle? I was now somewhat concerned and didn't want to leave the door unguarded, particularly as I had no confidence that if the door were to open at speed, say as another train passed, the handle would spring back fast enough to catch the secondary latch. As I was contemplating heading for the van to inform the guard, luck intervened and the guard happened to walk by. He put his whole weight into pulling it, but it took a couple of goes before the latch engaged and the handle returned to horizontal. I think he may have t-keyed it too, just in case. Ever since then I've imagined how that set of circumstances could have ended up very differently. Had I been less knowledgeable, had I been more prone to leaning on doors when looking out, or leaning further out, or just a regular passenger leaning on the door to enjoy the breeze... I admit, I assumed the door was fully closed, but it was impossible to tell from the inside that it wasn't. Slightly less seriously, had I ended up spread between the fast lines at Doncaster that day, there's also a small chance that the loco I'd been keen to photograph might not still be around either! 😉 But sincere thanks to that eagle-eyed guy on the platform at Doncaster!

I agree that the pantographs are functionally not great, but do have to say that the castings/mouldings of both the "two-stage" Faiveley (a unique variation designed for the APT) and the Brecknell-Willis high speed are very accurate. Naturally this also makes them incredibly delicate too! Great as static models in lowered position, less great for running raised and staying intact when bashed.

I think the road is still to come. (There is a road behind the camera, but not on the other side yet.)

This may have appeared before, but another twist on level crossing silliness ... looks like those rocks and trees are doing the right thing and staying the safe side of the barriers. (If I recall correctly, story behind this crossing is that it was installed in anticipation of development across the track that hasn't so far happened - or hadn't when this video was originally shot.)

You have inadvertently stumbled upon one of my many OO (massive) diorama ideas. 😲 I'm still deciding which OHLE portal design will annoy people the most.

"Obvious plant" (bottom left) is obvious. 😉

My suspicion is that when Hornby researched their development coach model, they encountered a very limited number of photos available online of P-train test car interiors and perhaps reasonably assumed that they were all part of the same vehicle. I can certainly understand that someone tasked with figuring out the equipment layout (who wasn't obsessive about correlating photos with vehicle layout diagrams like I was!) would mistake seats visible in the background of some shots for an adjacent coach. On the positive side, it means those of us mad enough to want to take a hacksaw to our tilting trains can make two generations of test car for the price of six!

Thanks AMac! :) It was a labour of love madness, started when I got the idea to make a model of the unit I rode on in 1984. I didn't have any vehicle numbers (aside from the driving cars and a recollection that one of the power cars was the named one) so set about trying to figure it out. And once I was down the rabbit hole ... (You should definitely buy another set! 😉 )

It's actually two different test car interiors bolted together! Half the equipment racks are modelled after those fitted to 48206 (370001) in the early days of APT testing, and the other half on those fitted to 48204 when it was the APT-U development car. Some rearranging (and addition of seating) is required to make it properly accurate. (More in thread link below!)

I think I may have witnessed some of the above at Keighley! But for other odd traction over the S&C, you can add all six trailer cars of 370006, dragged south from Shields to Derby on 16/17th March 1983 by a Class 40, complete with a brake van on the back - at least according to the Special Traffic Notice. Some photos of the move passing through Leeds can be seen on apt-p.com: https://www.apt-p.com/APTGalleryColourPC.htm

For various reasons there's been no progress for the last few months, but perhaps early 2024 will see that change. Meantime, Messrs Claus and Krampus popped by and left a handful of side projects for the future - 87002 has appeared from eBayLand, along with a selection of catering vehicles. No, not a luxury dining experience train, but the basis of Test Service Cars 8, 9 and 11, which were part and parcel of APT trailer rake movements away from the wires. Eagle eyed viewers will spot the 4CEP driving cab lurking behind the 87's front end - donor bodies for modifying the centre bays of the two RFO cars. In theory anyway. The RFOs will be rebogied with B4s, and one will donate two Commonwealths to the RBR. Those Gresley bogies are begging to find themselves under a future Class 304... Must not get too far ahead of oneself! Now the burning question - do make an accurate model of TSC11 (i.e. faded/filthy blue/grey with smoke damage and broken windows) or give it a fictional RTC red/grey finish to match TSC8 and 9? 🤔

Many thanks, TT100! 😁 When I first read about the acquisition of D832 for use as an APT traction test loco I immediately created a graphic for my site ... and then it was just too tempting not to have a go at a 3D version. Turns out I'm not the first to interpret the idea as a model either! But big cast GW logos ... now there's a thought. 😉

Another image available here: https://rockinbrian.com/2011/04/29/an-electric-walk/