The Red Admiral

Yes, that was the very end of the 80s, paving the way for cascaded HSTs on routes from WR and SR to Manchester in the 90s.

The water stand pipes were available at York, I can't remember when they were removed. I assumed they were there until electrification but I doubt that now. Somebody will know more about when they were removed.

As an aside, in about 82 I was staying in Llandudno for a week and planned a day trip to Ffestiniog. It was a unit (I think 101) to Llandudno junction, then a 40 worked in tandem up the hill, as they weren't compatible. Worth the week on its own. We were BB&EM though and I was late for tea!

Not exactly, Western region sometimes rostered 50s on inter-regional but they returned from New Street on a reciprocal working. They were diagrammed in this way.

In the 80s, WR didn't allow 50s north of New Street and so they often had a change of motive power there. The 46s , 45s and 47s could work through but often, I believe, the issue was tank size for longer distance trains and so there were frequently changes of one 47 for another similar. As an aside, sometimess Laira only had 47s with no heating and sent these on the route as a lower priority than GW routes, that were often changed at New Street. Scarborough TP services were sometimes swapped at York around the same time. Whistlers, Peaks, Duffs and even The occasional Deltic could be seen in platforms 6 and 7 awaiting the westward service, having been ttaken off the train from Liverpool, Manchhester, Holyhead, Llandudno. There were changes at Waverley for KX to Aberdeen, Inverness due to Deltics having a 460 mile fuel capacity and KX to Edinburgh being 393 miles. Then there is Carstairs, where sparrkies were swapped for cross border routes to either GW metals or Euston. i may have misjudged the topic but it gave me a chance to unload some prior knowledge. A good source of information would be the LH(2 digit year) ie LH82, which lists loco hauled diagams, so if we knew what was on a specific train, we could find out what it was likely to haul next. I did have a few but no idea where they went.

Does this fill the criteria? https://imgur.io/elE1l

Thank you all, maybe a few of us meeting up on a quiet pub night weekly or monthly might be a start and see where we get to. If that's no more than discussing railways, that's fine - it's the social aspect that I really need to address as I never get out. This year I had my first night out in 20 years or so. I will have baseboards built before the end of summer, remember, 40 years in planning. if we just meet up, we don't need insurance & dbs checks until we move on.

Thanks Andy, I'm Chris.

I'm not looking for control or leadership, just that I would rather find similar on my doorstep. i've come to a decision though and the way is to try an existing club.

Off topic. Does anyone know why I can't see images on this site? i can't see any pictures or galleries, they're just black...

All in all, I think my best chance is to join the nearest, hopefully Neepsend and get my skills and confidence up.

well, i live in small towns - generally and don't really like travelling into the big cities if I can avoid it. and really just wanted it all to be within walking distance, with a small band, equal voices and the social part is most important. living alone, by choice, during lockdowns, i went a week at a time without seeing anybody whatsoever regularly. i found it hard to socialise afterwards. yes, I need people that know and understand more than me, advice and help and to share the hobby. not least, i'm not confident of my woodworking skills and tools, despite training apprentice engineers for a living. and I want to be able to build and run layouts that require more than one operator.

that's a fair point, but £10 each or so may be easier to find than the club having to fork £250 annually. we need to be welcoming as well as safe. and if it increases catchment...

Oh so it covers you all, i stand corrected. you could also make all members responsible for providing their own check, just thinking outside the box. i don't know how well that might work.

If you walk from the harbour top, past harbour lights, look down one of the alleys, just before it. There's a wood and glass building overlooking the harbour, probably above that museum. if you could make it secure, it could be perfect.