Bert Cheese

Some Basingstoke drivers learnt the Swindon built Warships, and used them for the Merstham stone trains and various passenger excursions as well as the LSWR main route. Learning the Hymeks afterwards was a two day conversion course, and considered somewhat easy after the rather complicated Warships...bearing in mind a driver booking on could still find himself working on steam at the time. To convert to the NBL Warships was in theory a three day course, but it never happened at Basingstoke for various reasons...to everyone concerned's relief!

Nice pic, but it will have been earlier than 1985 as 45147 was written off after running into the rear of a tanker train at Eccles on 04/12/84

Another of 50007 taken at Andover on 26/9/87, Going by the drivers headgear I'd say he was a Western man, it was rumoured on the Southern that they had a new hat rivetted on every 3 years at Swindon works And a personal favourite looking good a few days earlier at Basingstoke on 23/9/87...I remember being quite pleased taking this, only noticing the chap in the beige jacket when I picked my photos up from the developers a few days later.

Back to good times in June 1993, and 73101/73109's journey to the Paignton & Dartmouth Railway diesel gala: Final checks at Eastleigh before setting off...I've still got the special arrangement working sheet with the timings on for this trip somewhere A photo opportunity for Eastleigh drivers Bob Flood and Rod Tizzard at Exeter who crewed the ED's for the entire trip Another taken during the servicing stop on the way down at Exeter And one taken at Kingswear during the weekend

Its not bad for what was basically a novelty beer, another attempt to wind The Portman Group up after some spat over the high strength beers such as Sink the Bismark...later revealed to have been induced by a fake letter of complaint actually sent by James Watt of Brewdog as a joke/publicity stunt. Most Brewdog ales tend to be big hitters, but another low ABV favourite is Dead Pony Club (since renamed Dead Pony Pale Ale) at only 3.8% it is incredibly tasty and smells beautiful. I tend to think of it as the little brother of Hardcore IPA which is serious stuff at 9.2% and is definately a sipper, not to be thrown straight down your neck...

BPF 790Y started life as a 1.3 Veloce too, and still sported the badge on the rear panel, it too had inboard front discs which incorporated the parking brake being based on the AlfaSud chassis. At some point someone had replaced the 1.3 with a 1.5 Veloce engine raising the power from 86 to 95 BHP, it has been Tuff Kote Dinol treated from new and was surprisingly solid for its age and model. The main problem was its poor electrics, the indicator stalks controlled everything including the heater fan and were very temperamental to say the least and the battery light would glow with every sweep of the wipers as the barely adequate alternator struggled to push current through tiny cables made from copper that actually rusted! I only sold it after 3 years as I had also acquired a 33 series 1 as well as the 2 Sprints and it was getting a bit silly trying to look after 3 Alfas with no proper facilities as such. F739 OLP was a different beast altogether despite being visually similar...based on the Alfa 33 chassis it had outboard front discs and a proper parking brake that operated on the rear axle. Being newer it was a lot more solid with better electrics and the 1.7 8V (Hydraulic tappets) engine was leagues ahead of the 1.3 & 1.5 although not quite as sweet, more gruff and purposeful especially with modified Dellorto carbs, custom stainless exhaust and K&N filter etc. Easily the best sounding flat four engined car I owned but sadly it became a serious money pit after a couple of years with various niggling ailments, and I traded it in for a 33 series 3 that was a lot easier to live with and just as much fun once I'd got the spanners out and done some tinkering. Happy days...my current GT is not really designed for DIY tinkering...It's easier to take it to Autolusso in Bomo and let them plug the thing in to find any problems these days.

I'd love a CX, especially one of the original versions where the radio was mounted between the front seats, and the main instruments had aircraft style revolving drums with a static horizontal line in front to register readings....the Turbo 2 versions must really shift too, at least in a straight line anyway. 164's are indeed rare, but I'd imagine they must be far more plentiful than a CX with an MOT? Have you considered a 166 ?, the early ones are a bit odd looking from the front but they do make great wafty cruisers for relatively little outlay.

Have no fear, great useable cars that are becoming rarer each year, and sure to become future classics especially in 3.0 V6 form Here is my TwinSpark that I was running in 2011/2012 as a daily driver with no problems, impractical and uncomfortable yes...but what would you expect from a proper Alfa coupe? (Apologies for posting pics of something that may be viewed as "new")

Not a Sprint, but it's big brother the Alfetta GTV with the superb Busso V6 in as below (not my cars sadly...this model was too pricey for me at the time) There is a red one behind my Sprint in the first photo too, incredibly rare to find one that hasn't succumbed to terminal rust unfortunately. Very pretty even by Alfa standards but they had plenty of built in moisture traps and were made from iffy Russian steel that no amount of rustproofing would help...not that Alfa bothered trying that of course

I guess these would count as old these days...you certainly don't see many on the road (don't mention rust) .... The 1983 Alfa Sprint 1.5 Veloce was my first car after passing my test at 21 back in 1991...my driving instructor thought it an ill advised choice for some reason? Here it is in perhaps more illustrious company at Cricket St Thomas around 1992 I was so keen I bought another one to keep it company a year later, a 1989 model 1.7 Green Cloverleaf (seen at Southampton's Mayflower Park) which had been tinkered with slightly, sounded like a mini Ferrari and would leave a lot of larger engined cars for dead at the time...130BHP on the rollers was more than most peoples 2.5 or 3.0 V6's were producing. They obviously had some effect on me as I'm currently on my tenth Alfa...a GT 1.9JTD in black with a rather fetching red leather interior...and in all those years I've only broken down properly twice (cambelt & alternator failures)

31's were something that rarely crossed my path back in the day, rather a shame as I quite liked their robust ugliness and they made a change from my usual diet of 33/47/73's around Eastleigh. This shot of an unidentified blue 31/4 at Reading is the only one I recall taking, there may be a couple more somewhere but I'd have to go through about 40 packs of prints in the hope of finding them...

Oh dear...here's a younger thinner version of me on a visit to Crewe in July 1987...American football was briefly popular at the time IIRC hence the unusually (for me) sporting garb. Western Prince must have left shortly afterwards for its repaint into maroon, where I saw it again at the Winchfield 150 celebrations.

There are several clips of the Railvac in operation on YouTube... It is self propelled on site and has a suction boom operated from a cab within the machine, or by a remote contol box held by an operator walking alongside (seems to be the favoured method) From what I can see the boom nozzle is used to remove contaminated ballast from the track which is then passed back to hoppers for later disposal...must be bloody noisy? Quite an interesting bit of kit, I've only ever seen one parked up near Millbrook with a 56 attached a few months ago.

Hope your brew arrives safely...I've been disappointed in the early days with non arriving bottles but Brewdog have really upped their game since then. The pubs seem to be a matter of taste with a very clinical stripped down theme to them, all the ales on tap will be keg versions too, they declared a stop to cask production some time ago which has led to some of the amusing spats with CAMRA in recent years.

Time for a seasonal bump after a recent visit to the marvellous Bitter Virtue in Southampton, with a few of the more interesting ones to the fore of my rather crowded beer/car junk shelf. The place is like beer heaven and any wallet related good intentions went out of the window within a couple of minutes of browsing, I should have enough stout to see me well into January now though? The only downside was a lack Goose Island's Bourbon County Stout this year, truly wonderful and always hard to find anyway, but since they sold out to AB-InBev (Stella!) they are apparently no longer interested in exporting such niche products outside of the US, and its currently unlikely to be seen here again. Meanwhile the ageing/junk cupboard's drinks collection is looking rather eclectic at present, with a strong Scottish flavour...some perhaps more desirable than others!

Regarding the above, there was a nasty one with 33115 coming into contact with a crane at Hilsea back in 1979, albeit with one line under possession and the other cleared for use. The report found on the Railway Archives website is here: http://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/eventsummary.php?eventID=796

Interesting stuff, looking a bit wider on the map...if the Manifold line from Waterhouses to Hulme End was still open I'd like to think the Cavalier Inn at Grindon would still be doing a roaring trade. Sadly the whole village seems deserted these days, you have to trek through the valley to Wetton is search of pickled eggs and a pint of mild...can be quite unnerving at night for some.

There are some cab pics at the Southern Electric Group site here: http://www.semgonline.com/electric/class71_3.html Remarkably simple looking, the single power control handle being retained in the class 74 conversions, unlike the 73's with their dual interlocked control handles.

I dug the scanner out the other day and put this on Nat Pres, really must make more of an effort to scan some more of my Dad's old prints. This was taken by him as a young driver learning the Cromptons in 1963, and features fellow driver Fred Williams.

Brewdog have recenty changed their label styles, and slightly renamed some of the core range of beers including the two shown. The new style bottle of 5AM Red Ale is simply 5AM Saint with the new label. Dead Pony Club is shown in the old bottle, in future to be known as Dead Pony Pale Ale with the new style label...incredibly tasty for a low ABV brew too. Hardcore IPA was the best Brewdog beer found in supermarkets, but at over 9% ABV I wasn't really surprised when its place on the shelves was taken by the less extreme 5AM Saint a while ago.

Indeed so, but I had a stroke of luck in The Wagon Works last night with Wicked Weed's Freak of Nature being on tap for the opening night of the ale festival. If you like hoppy beers you'll love it, the facial expressions of some of my friends on taking the first sip is something I'll laugh about for some time. Perhaps understandably the Banks's Botanical Beer we had afterwards didn't seem to taste of much...

Wetherspoons autumn ale festival starts on Friday... Love them or loathe them there is no denying they make an effort with these events, I've had some cracking beers in the last few years they have been running. http://www.jdwetherspoon.co.uk/static/pdfs/admin-generated/podium/real-ale-festival-285.pdf?t=1413308176

Well this weekend coming sees the South Hants CAMRA autumn beer festival in Woolston, a nice small job with only 32 ales and a smattering of ciders & perry on offer. It sold out a good couple of weeks ago now, so no tickets on the door for those unfortunate enough not to have secured them (Not I of course, got them on the night of issue!) The beer list has just gone online tonight, a decent range of styles topping out with Vibrant Forest brewery's Black October imperial stout weighing in at 9% ABV We're booked in for the Saturday lunchtime session...really starting to look forward to it now.

Not a bad drop that, I had one in the Giddy Bridge recently, having worked our way up from the Admiral Lucius Curtis and the Standing Order. The spoons autumn ale fest is on again soon, no doubt I'll be taking in the 3 above with the Wagon Works and Gaol House in Winchester. In fact October is looking busy all round, next wekend is Hants Oktoberfest at Basingstoke with the CAMRA festival at Woolston on the 11th...that shed is never going to get finished at this rate

IIRC it will need a bit of tinkering before returning to traffic as some alterations were made to the braking controls amongst other things to suit the continental ways. It had temporary yellow panels tied on for its final UK movements after the semi-secret repainting at Eastleigh, I wonder if the same will apply in reverse?