jonny777

Those Chester bound trains used to intrigue the commentators on Test Match Special back in those days. I remember them commenting regularly on the fact that most trains stopped at Old Trafford, but once an hour (or two hourly - I don't have a timetable) a train would race through without stopping. This seemed to cause Trevor Bailey, John Arlott, et al, all manner of confusion.

So it is. Thanks for that photo. I'm learning new things every day.

That is a rather unusual funnel arrangement on the ship in the background.

You are lucky it was only a starling. I had a wood pigeon come down my chimney once. That was not an event I wish to repeat.

Some more of my low quality hydraulic photos. Another of my first shots. Warship heading 1N37 near Langstone Rock Aug 1968 D1047 in the parcels bay Exeter 26 Aug 1969 D1052 leaving Reading for the west 8 Aug 1973 D1009 and 47495 at Paddington 30th Sep 1976 D1054 leaving Paddington on 5th October 1976

An excellent photo of the 47 days. I'm sure that I have one or two of that era filed away somewhere, but I can't find them - and that one is far superior to mine which were taken on a dull winters' day. It is great to see them all with their MGR headcodes. Thanks for posting.

Could you close up some of the tracks a little, to fit everything in? The photos show the locos were rather tightly packed in there, with not much room between them.

Here are a couple more shots from 25 years ago. Note to friend: Please try not to point out something on the avoiding line, just as the shutter is being pressed.

Me neither. I was told by the locals at Exeter in 1969 that both locos were visible from trains passing Laira, and all I had to do was get a return to Plymouth, but I was a bit strapped for cash. They suggested I just travelled sans-ticket, but I had just recovered from having my name and address taken the previous evening by the ticket inspector for the 'crime' of standing at the vestibule window of the first carriage (which on this day happened to be 1st class) of the Golden Hind between Exeter and Newton Abbot, so the thought of my parents being invoiced for excess fares, etc., was more than I could cope with, so I am entirely responsible for missing my chance.

Thanks for that info robD2. I must admit that I am not a regular visitor to the region, and just took the occasional photo while in the area. Therefore I just guessed at what the building was, and like many of my guesses - it was wrong.

I don't know about the south east, but I want an ex-works 71 for a layout based in the East Midlands during the late 50s, because most were delivered south via the GC for much of the route.

That looks like a good plan for an interesting project. Good luck with it; at least there would be lots of activity in its heyday, although it looks to have undergone some rationalisation in recent years. The big building at the back appeared to be going to take over as the new servicing facility when it was being built 20 years ago (or at least that is what I assumed. Now, from that overhead view, it seems to be completely unconnected with rails and looks more of a white elephant.

I have these notes from September 1976, which was close to the commencement of electric suburban services from Kings Cross so I am not sure how representative they are of earlier years. They are of formations I saw at the station on a couple of trips there. 46087 46147 46213 43357 46102 46240 46129 46220 46161 43138 46214 46094 46127 46232 43123 46130 46131 46211 46098 46166 46233 43159 46162 46203 46156 46144 43182 46212 46241 46155 46122 46168 46112 43157 46165 46237 46141 46244 43152 46215 46114 46129 46009 46021 46099 43046 43012 48001 48012 46140 43145 46108 46119 46159 48006 48021

Thanks, and yes; Crow Nest Junction was exactly what I was thinking of. Crewe was slightly different I think because the slow lines to/from Manchester went down to be part of the goods avoiding lines.

The class 125s were moved to the Kings Cross services after electrification of the Lea Valley line in 1970. They had no toilets, so were generally confined to inner suburban services. For a time there were also 4 class 116 units which although originally WR came from Gosforth where they had previously replaced the Tyneside electrics. The 116s had 1st class, and were used on longer services along with the Cravens 105s.

I now see four track mainlines when I close my eyes, but it made me wonder (I know this is going somewhat O/T) - is/has there ever been anywhere on the BR system where two four track routes converge/diverge and all remain four track both sides of the junction? There may be an obvious one but I cant think of it at the moment.

You are spot on Mike, because this view shows both reliefs to be bullhead sometime in 1960. https://www.flickr.com/photos/64518788@N05/11561526755/in/photolist-iBDR7c-fAunrk-oqeXmK-ou9t6m-8hpCnM-qbccCa-dqQWxp-fBmT1i-dhLdaS-6CSKXQ-e2L7VN-brKddd-99phmm-bjokQ2-oqxATn-oxy3ET-81A5hh-p4y2Lh-r6ADib-oEZLWS-rk8RMe-9NU5QS-r6ACLQ-4pe7Zt-dEMx4R-qP84EC-eDvi27-ogq1hw-dqRPPd-4NUPtY-dqQWvg-hJmV15-8hsSnh-dqTXv7-ftZgqy-8hpFGM-9oQJAN-mXEdxn-mXE9pV-mXG6p1-mXEerg-mXG3g7-mXE97a-mXE8MT-mXE6Xa-mXG3Tu-mXEaek-mXG5nb-mXEaet-mXE6zr

I suspect that the change from bullhead to flatbottom rail on the relief lines was ongoing through the early 1970s, and it maybe that track over part of that stretch had still to be upgraded. It looks as though the down relief was bullhead for many years after the up relief was upgraded, because this 1960 photo https://www.flickr.com/photos/robertcwp/8393597500/in/photolist-dMHo7h-9HbZkQ-bwL8Nt-9oMEXK-bDM34M-cvU9uA-bwLa4B-aM7pND-ck4zKY-9Bm1zv-aEAt5T-dESW5C-brVtQx-bX6hqk-7ncZ5c-cnLnE1-diVSd1-deMq4r-deDukG-i719ur-dgURFh-ckKRRf-crFQ7w-9pxHKt-aYMFbV-7D5b9m-9rVEpX-bwL9CX-mRxuG6-dapEWS-ck4w17-ck4LVo-dqTP2A-oSpgeX-mZaw1q-fAup5p-7wkrt4-9xP1Sm-8tWkQn-8tZrW9-bWBmth-dasShy-iBDR7c-fAunrk-oqeXmK-ou9t6m-8hpCnM-qbccCa-dqQWxp-fBmT1ishows it to be a similar set up 15 years earlier.

I had a lucky escape from being bankrupted by the Snowdon Mountain Railway some years ago. I was staying in a cottage from where the summit was visible. Every morning the summit was clear of cloud, but by just after 9am the cloud developed, and with a family of five I was not going to spend a fortune just to be in the fog. Then on the final Friday the summit was still clear of cloud at 10am. Right, I thought, this is the day we've been waiting for and loaded the rabble into the car (with the kids) and raced off to Llanberis. The cost was so high that we did not have enough cash, and they would not take credit cards, so having been told that the nearest cashpoint was in Caernarfon I drove off feeling really peed off that my one chance had been ruined. I need not have worried, because on the way back from the cash point to Llanberis, the summit was seen to be now completely shrouded in cloud and a few spots of rain appeared on the car windscreen, so the trip was aborted and much money was saved for other treats.

GWR arrogance most likely. "We do not have slow lines, because our trains are never slow".

Hear hear. To have a dry day on Snowdon is something special. Usually it is horizontal rain, or hail, and a 100mph wind. (slight exaggeration possible).

If you perform a search of "Sonning Cutting" on Flickr, you get photos such as this https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/6304366384/in/photolist-dyLHJM-4TVLL4-pLRNMP-aB6wu9-pJBzTw-8hpGvz-dvoRN4-pxYhTA-duKTBJ-8JKsiX-7pMmku-qGtQuj-dp1Hhe-j8bAhe-a2nVMS-oWKgTy-oWbiZE-dhe7vu-bCMgSU-b86UL8-eYk5rA-e7yLut-aBUA7w-dRnhJF-p312s6-bRA1FK-dLWLFu-bh58JT-d2Nqu9-aFeVQg-atZQRr-jdv7Yu-9fuT6R-nJ4CYU-cEuLco-adFmHq-7RVsU6-9ZS34x-cEuL9S-fFbk8w-nwrZ1Y-bSQbBV-pjdjeZ-joJfdz-moXJJa-dwZEfz-ffvaqS-pr3BJy-7RVpZR-hAi6ZWand this https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/8208919571/in/photolist-dyLHJM-4TVLL4-pLRNMP-aB6wu9-pJBzTw-8hpGvz-dvoRN4-pxYhTA-duKTBJ-8JKsiX-7pMmku-qGtQuj-dp1Hhe-j8bAhe-a2nVMS-oWKgTy-oWbiZE-dhe7vu-bCMgSU-b86UL8-eYk5rA-e7yLut-aBUA7w-dRnhJF-p312s6-bRA1FK-dLWLFu-bh58JT-d2Nqu9-aFeVQg-atZQRr-jdv7Yu-9fuT6R-nJ4CYU-cEuLco-adFmHq-7RVsU6-9ZS34x-cEuL9S-fFbk8w-nwrZ1Y-bSQbBV-pjdjeZ-joJfdz-moXJJa-dwZEfz-ffvaqS-pr3BJy-7RVpZR-hAi6ZW where it appears that, while all tracks are fb rail, the fast lines are cwr and concrete sleeper with the flat clips (sorry can't remember their name) but the relief lines are still shorter section fb rails with fishplates and 'pandrol' clips on what appear to be wooden sleepers. I would say, look at as many of these photos as possible in order to decide, because there are a variety of angles from this https://www.flickr.com/photos/54a_south_dock/11895703733/in/photolist-dyLHJM-4TVLL4-pLRNMP-aB6wu9-pJBzTw-8hpGvz-dvoRN4-pxYhTA-duKTBJ-8JKsiX-7pMmku-qGtQuj-dp1Hhe-j8bAhe-a2nVMS-oWKgTy-oWbiZE-dhe7vu-bCMgSU-b86UL8-eYk5rA-e7yLut-aBUA7w-dRnhJF-p312s6-bRA1FK-dLWLFu-bh58JT-d2Nqu9-aFeVQg-atZQRr-jdv7Yu-9fuT6R-nJ4CYU-cEuLco-adFmHq-7RVsU6-9ZS34x-cEuL9S-fFbk8w-nwrZ1Y-bSQbBV-pjdjeZ-joJfdz-moXJJa-dwZEfz-ffvaqS-pr3BJy-7RVpZR-hAi6ZWwhich are almost overhead, to this https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/6745438099/in/photolist-bh58JT-d2Nqu9-aFeVQg-atZQRr-jdv7Yu-9fuT6R-nJ4CYU-cEuLco-adFmHq-7RVsU6-9ZS34x-cEuL9S-fFbk8w-nwrZ1Y-bSQbBV-pjdjeZ-joJfdz-moXJJa-dwZEfz-ffvaqS-pr3BJy-7RVpZR-hAi6ZW-pt5jKd-8bW6oi-9dWAWb-7o2CdL-7o2ANd-q1nDW3-9bKu7R-dwb7Vy-dwb835-myaWhT-a6GfWo-9bKuNT-byJSLC-8NJxNr-dBC9sy-eddwEx-dw5yRR-dXVdyx-f8UjZj-dwb7SY-byJSkU-edJ46k-9dWBe9-cffPeb-ccFHgA-8eWDpg-dw5yPM which is more side on. And if that was not enough variation, it would appear that one of the relief lines was chaired bullhead track until about 1975 as seen here https://www.flickr.com/photos/geoffsimages/6224042027/in/photolist-atZQRr-jdv7Yu-9fuT6R-nJ4CYU-cEuLco-adFmHq-7RVsU6-9ZS34x-cEuL9S-fFbk8w-nwrZ1Y-bSQbBV-pjdjeZ-joJfdz-moXJJa-dwZEfz-ffvaqS-pr3BJy-7RVpZR-hAi6ZW-pt5jKd-8bW6oi-9dWAWb-7o2CdL-7o2ANd-q1nDW3-9bKu7R-dwb7Vy-dwb835-myaWhT-a6GfWo-9bKuNT-byJSLC-8NJxNr-dBC9sy-eddwEx-dw5yRR-dXVdyx-f8UjZj-dwb7SY-byJSkU-edJ46k-9dWBe9-cffPeb-ccFHgA-8eWDpg-dw5yPM-dw89ot-bMDwLc-8eWEra

And here is 59005 in November 1989, also at Westbury. (This photo captures the little known and very short lived addition of two 'street lamps' to the cab roof at one end of the locomotive )

The original livery was mainly silver with broad blue bands top and bottom. Here is 59001 also at Westbury on 19/6/86 At this stage there were only 4 of the class, 59005 appeared a couple of years later.

Sounds like a good idea. Here are a couple from 1986, as I did not visit Westbury in 1985. 59003 heads west from the station with some rather new looking hoppers; 16th Sep 86 And a little further away from the station 59003 is about to meet 59002 with the more traditional Yeoman stone wagons of the time.