jonny777

That is strange. I don't think I have ever seen a Deltic on a long distance ECS before.

Split box 40 at Kings Cross? No problem... https://www.flickr.com/photos/24041160@N02/5470826924/in/album-72157622602387438/

Now; somewhere in the dim and distant past, I am sure I have seen a photo of a WR named 47 heading south on mk1s through Hornsey or somewhere in that area. There followed a vigorous discussion on why it was there and where it had come from. Sadly, I cannot remember which site it was on.

Well it might be a cold and cloudy day, but the collared doves are already loved up judging by the sexual antics on my fence just now.

I don't understand the logic here. I have no idea how much the Werrington constructions are costing, but if all they will do is allow trains heading for Spalding to avoid conflictions on the ECML there must be enough traffic over that route to warrant the expenditure. I am sure that the money spent here would have maintained Spalding-March direct for many years. As for sharing the route costs with passenger traffic, would services such as Norwich to Liverpool, or Stansted to Manchester have suffered too much from avoiding Peterborough, and being routed via Spalding and Nottingham? How can routing container trains from (say) Crewe to Felixstowe via Camden and the GE be any more cost effective than sending them via Nottingham, Sleaford and March? And who can tell which potential services are not running due lack of paths through bottleneck areas.

The most short sighted closure in recent decades IMO, but hopefully those who made the decision have lived to regret it.

The only steam hauled goods train that I ever witnessed passing the back of our house at a similar speed to that at 5.51, was the evening Boston to Dringhouses fully fitted perishables (4N00 I think in later years); but everything else was way slower than that. Yes, there were tightly timed mineral trains on certain routes (GCR 'runners' for instance) but that does not mean there is a right or wrong speed to run unfitted trains at. For one thing, the guard would not be amused if he was thrown around his van by the mad speed-merchant attitude of a driver. The loco could be slow due to a lack of steam. Some of those WCML goods trains might be trying to make up time by missing a water stop and hoping to have dip in the troughs (no use if speed was much below 40mph). The reasons for the speeds of steam hauled goods trains were many and varied - there is no correct figure.

In my youth, watching Highdyke-Frodingham ore trains (amongst others) in deepest Lincolnshire, very few unfitted mineral trains managed 25mph on a regular basis. Most seemed to be around 15-20 mph. I have a video somewhere in my collection which includes a sequence of heavy coal trains passing Wellingborough behind 8Fs, and they all seem to be going at only half the speed coal trains do on exhibition layouts. Maybe they were all following adverse signals or an adverse gradient?

I have shamelessly copied this Colin Lee photo from Facebook. I think many of us have had this happen with well used pointwork.

Hello from a very frosty Somerset. -3C with a 7mph wind; not a frequent occurrence in these parts. I topped up the bird feeders and it felt decidedly chilly out there. Forecast is for rain? showers overnight, but unless it is freezing rain which coats everything in ice, I can't see where all the warm air is coming from. There were clear skies a few minutes ago, but the fog appears to be rolling in now. Oh well, stay at home day it is then.

Belated hello from a chilly Somerset. I have recovered from an afternoon of pasta making; and even though I say it myself the tagliatelle I produced was not bad at all. While preparing the dinner, and with the prospect of a loft conversion no closer, I had thoughts of a temporary modelling project on one wall of the smallest bedroom. I would have a space of 10ft x 2ft, and thought maybe a loco shed scenario would be an option - mainly because any hidden area would only need to be 18 inches long approx. Any thoughts from others on whether I am getting too ambitious are welcome. The shed would be ER late 50s, and to keep costs down card kits would be to the fore. I was encouraged to see a cenotaph coaler now available from Superquick.

This article might be of use to you - http://mac-how-to.gadgethacks.com/how-to/9-ways-get-by-without-photoshop-your-mac-0165313/

Looking at the history of the region, Avon Dam is a quite recent (opened 60 years ago) construction, and older maps show nothing there at all. I wonder if it is left over from a constructors' narrow gauge line?

Hello from a frosty Somerset. It was bright and clear at sunrise, but after 9am the fog rolled in from somewhere and has persisted ever since; although I can make out the sun through it at times. I may still hang out the washing and allow it to freeze on the line.

37107 and 37185 at Cardiff on 13th May 1992.

Here a uid 37 heads westbound oil train past Southall in May 1990, with another member of the class in the yard.

It is noticeable how much more realistic the oily weathering looks in 7mm. An excellent effort on those two locos.

My slide scanning is proceeding slowly but nostalgically. Here is 45130 at St Pancras in 1982 -

What a wonderful selection of parcels vans in that train. I do not recognise the identity of the first vehicle. Can anyone add any info (I would love to construct a model of that for myself).

A belated (I have been out sawing up old fence posts for the fire) hello from a cold but bright Somerset. No snow here, but the sky went very grey just to the east an hour ago, as a snow shower passed us by. Fri 13th means I have an excuse to stay inside and scan some slides of Peaks and Buckets. I am so fair of skin and hair, that although I started shaving about 45 years ago, it is rarely more than once a week; it just doesn't show up enough.

It is not just in Bristol then... where the slightest uphill gradient seems to be seen as an invitation to put the foot to the floor and display power seemingly unknown to the average pleb driver. Strange behaviour; but then I originate from The Fens where a 'hill' is defined as the one place which is just above sea level.

Yes, there always seemed to be far more 27s on Eastfield, Haymarket and in Glasgow Works than there were working in the 1970s. I often wondered about the percentage of active locos at any one time.

There ought to be no mystery to lightning and thunder in a snow shower. As I explained earlier, almost all rain in this country (summer and winter) begins its life as ice crystals in the cloud. These will merge to form snowflakes. In simplistic terms, the only determining factor in the snow/rain equation is temperature. Or more precisely, the height of the freezing level above the ground. In general terms this approximates to about 3C per 1000ft, or 1C per 100m. Therefore if your outside temperature is 3C, the freezing level will be 1000ft above you; and if you are at sea level and it is raining any nearby hills rising to 1000ft will have snow on the tops. Any snow falling below 1000ft will encounter a rising temperature and will melt slowly (to rain) as they fall. However, the melting process requires latent heat, and the only medium which can provide this is the surrounding air. Each snowflake which melts into a raindrop cools the air by a tiny amount. If there is a ready supply of external heat (wind off a less cold sea, or large urban area for instance) this cooling will be balanced by that; but if the area is well inland the melting snow as it falls will cause the air temperature to drop. The heavier the snowfall, the greater amount of latent heat required and faster the temperatures will fall, effectively lowering the freezing level towards sea level. As this happens the more snow reaches the ground un-melted, and rain appears to turn to snow.

Hello from a dull, damp and cold Somerset. Rain at present, but heavy rain due to turn to snow (a confusing description, as it all snow when it comes out of the clouds - but simply stops melting before it reaches the ground) this afternoon. We are going to miss the worst of it apparently. That event has been reserved for London & SE England during this evening's rush hour. Expect road travel chaos as 50% of drivers run into each other as they believe a 4x4 means they can still stop from 60mph in 30 feet on slush, and the other 50% just abandon their vehicles and walk home muttering expletives about lack of road gritters.

Well, things are looking a little more promising for a blocked weather pattern in about a weeks time. Although, nothing like 1947 or 1962/3; or even 1978/9 at the moment.