Bert Cheese

I have just stumbled across this and to be fair haven't read all 240 pages... Given the thread title and a quick browse though I have had the thought below: "If they dealt with middle lane cruisers correctly/harshly there would be no need to turn the M27 into a smart motorway at a cost of umpteen million pounds" Fining/removing these plentiful idiots would at a stroke make the motorway a much safer place...unfortunately they apparently feel "comfortable" there though and I haven't seen a patrol car on the motorway for months as police resources are cut.

Best stay clear of Reading West then...

As above, Eastleigh should be fine as its clearly spotter friendly and therefore usually quite popular from what I can see when driving by quite often. Can't say I've seen many enthusiasts on the Southampton stations where the staff probably have concerns about folk lingering on platform ends...I'd have thought most of the freightliner stuff at Millbrook will end up going through Eastleigh at some stage anyway? Eastleigh town centre is nowt special with the usual mix of charity shops, eateries, pubs of varying quality and major chains and Vue cinema in the Swan Centre..bits that might interest below: *The Wagon Works pub (J.D Wetherspoons) opposite the station - semi railway themed and perhaps ironically one of the better pubs on the town side of the bridge. *Steam Town Brew Co alehouse - over Bishopstoke bridge by Dutton Lane - lots of rail related stuff and good craft ales and food selection, the bar frontage is the side of a scrapped Seacow wagon and they have reclaimed carriage seating sets with tables in the back room...opened last year and highly recommended. *AC Models on High Street...I've recently started using this...a huge selection of stock and enthusiastic owner who clearly knows his stuff, well worth a look. *Eastleigh museum...on High Street again, can't say I have visited in recent years but the loco works history features heavily and they have a replica steam footplate etc if that's your thing! There's bound to be more, you tend not to notice things right under your nose after all

Looking a bit rough there too, 636 was still seen in the south a lot being on cross country duties etc for some time despite the Scottie dogs etc. It must have been around a year or so previously it emerged fresh from ETH conversion, I was lucky enough to have a cab ride from Reading to Poole one evening...must have been only a few days out of shops (this was prior to naming too) as you could smell the new paint and the cabs were strangely clean and devoid of masking tape!

The pipe attachment seen was unique to 33102 and enabled it to work in conjunction with "The Swedish Scrubber" QXA ADB 977695, a rail head treatment vehicle converted from a GUV papers van of sorts IIRC...apparently if worked very well at removing leaf mulch in trials but was not followed up on cost grounds, 33102 had some extra buttons in the cabs to actuate the scrubbing gear too. The Weymouth light/bell was worked via the small socket found on the front of all 33/1's when in service (33102 seems to have lost this in preservation too) **Just realised I am replying to a post from June! Hope the info is still useful anyway

I have a similar device leftover from my days with British Gas...its main purpose is letting me know when the oven has reached temperature as the consumption gauge visibly falls back in the living room... I have some doubts over its accuracy though as its saying I average around 5-6 Kw/h per day consumption...I imagine that should be at least 150 Kw/h per month then? Er no...I take a reading every month and the last have been 129 and a couple of days ago 109 Kw/h... The water meter I had installed has halved my bills based on the previous rateable value scheme, but I see little or no benefit in these leccy smart meters personally as I'm quite savvy at not wasting too much juice anyway.

4 Pages in and the thin line between an eye for detail and probable Asperger's syndrome is apparent? No offence intended...the blue TOPS Crompton is fairly obvious but the rest of it is way out of my league

I received my copy in this mornings post from Crecy...a relatively quick glance through has found a wealth of information and plenty of new photographs to peruse. Well worth the wait and a mere £16.95 for a better insight into these strange beasts that just eluded me...my only memory of them is having a look in the cab of a withdrawn 74 at Eastleigh depot as the fitters were stripping it, being around 6 y/o at the time I never thought to ask any questions!

D6502 at Itchingfield Junction in 1964....the first total loss of a modernisation plan loco too IIRC? The silencer fault was never proven/admitted but seems fairly obvious reading the incident report and subsequent alterations to the exhausts in very short order. A rare black mark against the Cromptons though, hardly a bad word heard about them by staff though perhaps a little bouncy at speed and noisy in the cab...the latter shared by comparable Hymeks and 37's too though, the type 3's generally being one of the best buys of the 1960's.

Eastleigh for me, plenty of rail interest locally and only 10 minutes walk away if I want to escape to somewhere more pleasing to the eye...

Someone has to be... The days of rushing home from wherever for F1 are long gone for me sadly, I struggled to maintain a once keen interest but haven't watched a "race" for a couple of years now. Same goes for touring cars unfortunately, back in 1994 I couldn't get enough of it with the bonkers Volvo 850 estates and all conquering Alfa Romeo 155's...these days driving to work on the M27 is more interesting car wise. I guess I'm getting old and grumpy...have to say I'm thoroughly enjoying it though

Pin Oak Court in Melbourne...we made a sort of pilgrimage there during my travels in 1998! It was out in the suburbs and involved a couple of trains and a bus, but we were hopeful of seeing "Annalise" or "Sarah Beaumont" at the time... The reality was that no filming or glamorous actresses were to be seen that day, and the only people present were around twenty more or so sheepish looking tourists who of course mostly turned out to be English...our final humiliation was provided by the bus driver going home who took the mick by loudly telling us that Neighbours was made in revenge for Dad's Army and Coronation Street...cheeky git.

Yes, and it had an internal run over some Swanage metals with 33111 recently, not sure how far but it was over on some Facebook pages. It also worked previously in push-pull mode while still in the teak livery, IIRC with a visiting class 73/1 during the diesel gala. Apparently all the gear was still evident and worked perfectly when plugged in...obviously this is a world away from running as such on the main network these days though.

It is properly grotty, last time I went through a few months ago it really struck me what a hole it is as I idly gazed out of the window...in total contrast to some other stations nearby.

Indeed so...a quick search will find loads of evidence of minor prangs which seemed fairly routine. One of the best that springs to mind is a B&W shot of a derailed 47500 Great Western tilted over after splitting some points...the crew posing with massive grins on their faces for the camera!

And 50 years on the service isn't much faster, if at all in some cases...

A good question... A few years ago the 4 bedroom house next to my parents place was rented out after being sold, it quickly became obvious that a larger number of people than expected were living there and many were constantly changing aside from a core of around 4 occupants. Various problems ensued until a couple of years later when they all vanished literally overnight...the now familiar letting agent was called out yet again and was non too pleased to find a house containing 18 mattresses on the floors of various rooms, as well as the existing few beds and the place in need of substantial cleaning before re-letting could be considered. All this was in leafy Chandlers Ford btw...they should have stayed in Allbrook but Mum wanted a "posher" address back then

Over on WNXX this event apparently caused some upset with the red pen types on board, as the 66 driver was instructed not to take power and to allow 33111 behind to do all the work for some reason. At Harman's Cross some words were had and the 66 allowed to power the train for the remainder of the journey...I presume someone had their reasons but his does seem a bit odd?

Not sure what the fridge concerned was (if proved relevant) but the latest trend in domestic refrigeration is the use of hydrocarbon refrigerants, as they are naturally occurring and have little or no ozone depletion or global warming qualities which the industry is heavily monitored for...unfortunately they are flammable and potentially explosive in a fault situation with several cases of exploding fridges being reported in recent times. Have a look on the back of your fridge for: R290 (Propane) R600a (Isobutane) or R1270 (Propylene) for example...given the choice I'd rather stick with an HFC like R134a when buying.

The Warships were a little before my time unfortunately, but I remember a lot of people not being impressed when Ajax was withdrawn to donate its power unit and bogies to 50007 which had been dumped out at traffic at Laira for a few months. IIRC the component swaps were captured on a Locomaster Profiles video, poor old Ajax was then shunted out the back of the depot while 50007 got a fresh coat of green paint and a virtual guarantee of preservation...

275? Surely this is more due to a lack of awareness than interest...the collectors alone should account for a good number of an unusual new release I would have thought? The magazine ad will hopefully pay dividends...how about a glossy compliments slip size flyer to be packed into existing releases regardless of type...a release such as this may pique the interest of the least expected potential buyer after all. ** I've had a weathered 74010 on order from day one...really hoping to see it before I turn 50 in 3 years time

Me too...awful rubbish but truly fascinating, I crawled over scrappers at Eastleigh years ago and became hooked...have had a weathered 74010 on pre-order since day one basically

Class 71's were wonderful machines, a typical Southern "right first time" success story, only a lack of work saw them withdrawn. Class 74's were a rare SR mistake...the Paxman engine should have rang alarm bells before being chosen, as well as the weird early PCB/ECU boards fitted which caused more problems than they were worth...in many ways these unfortunate locos were similar to the original version of the class 50's regarding primitive electronic control systems.

IIRC the photo above has appeared before, the animated bloke in the photo apparently being BR staff of some sort too...

Perhaps not qualifying as "unusual" but D200 made a light engine trip onto Eastleigh depot for fuel in September 1987 during the Basingstoke Rail Show. Probably not seen by many as it was dark at the time and obviously not advertised, we entered the depot via the back roads coming off the Pompey line on the works boundary. I took a few photos but have not scanned them all yet...the one to hand was taken on arrival at the fuelling road and shows Basingstoke depot's Geoff Beattie who was in charge of the loco for the duration of the weekend, being an ex-Carnforth man he was familiar with 40's and only needed a refresher up north to keep the paperwork in order.