rodent279

Not jealous. Not at all. Well maybe a little. Ok then, green with envy.

Bedford St John's must have been one of the most miserable stations on the network during the 1970's. Compared to the new Midland station, it must have seemed like a different planet. Roughly where the old Midland station was, is now Focus Do it all. Or was until a few years ago, when they went under.

Going back to 2903, I guess the Badminton route at that time would have still been nearly new, so the track and ballasting should have been in good nick, and nicely bedded in. Can't say I'd like to have been on the footplate though!

I wonder when the last genuine B4 tickets were issued by BR in anger, there must have been thousands in existence at 01.01.1948. And pre- grouping too, I wonder if any survived to be issued by BR?

Thanks. I had in my head that some were built for the Coronation Scot, but then I remembered that I'd seen somewhere that the non-stop runs stopped briefly outside Carlisle for a crew change. Wasn't sure which was correct!

Slightly o/t, were there any LMS corridor tenders?

I've thought fur a long time that a fleet of 20's, 37's and 40's would have handled all but the heaviest freights and fastest passenger services. An old steam hand, ex-LMS, once said to me that a fleet of Black 5's, 5X's and 8F's would have done anything the railway could throw at them.

Were there ever any 6 cylinder locos? Apart from Garrets, Mallets, etc, were there ever any straightforward, conventional locos, but with 6cyls, smaller than 4 cylinder such as the GWR types? (I know about the Pagett loco, interesting concept that from what I understand might have had something going for with a more modern understanding of materials).

Ah memories. Some of my earliest train trips, at least ones that I remember, were in class 104 or 110 dmu's, from Ansdell to Kirkham or Preston.

3 not very well lit photos of the bridge, taken a couple of days after the road closure. I think the sheet piles mark the approximate extent of the new bridge.

My dad's birthday would seem an appropriate day for a ride behind Horwich built D4095, later 08881. Here it is seen waiting for D2128 (03128) to back on, for a double headed run along the mile or so of track south from Midsomer Norton, on 7th March. My dad was born in Horwich, and started his railway career in the works, stripping steam locos as they came in for overhaul.

Mk3's are good carriages, but they are a nearly 50 year old design, and as such can't be considered perfect. They've done good service, and they don't owe us anything. I agree that some newer designs aren't the improvement that they should have been, but that maybe shows how good the MK3 was in the first place. Let's not forget the youngest mk3's are now well over 30 years old, which is older than the oldest mk1's were when mk3's were introduced. It's a shame, but then I'm sure people said the same when the last stagecoaches went out of use.

That somehow looks a lot more convincing than the real Crosti 9Fs.

I never really imagined that 37's would outlive mk3's.

Caprosti 5MT-now there's an interesting neverwazzer, a Caprotti 5MT with a Crosti boiler!

We used to live in Bedford in the early 2000's. If the wind was in the right direction, you could get a whiff of sulphur from the brickworks, when they were firing bricks. If it was in a slightly different direction, you could tell if Charlie Wells had a brew on!

Wow, just look at that forest of chimneys!

If I'm not mistaken, that's where Plym Valley parkrun is, or at least part of the course is on the railway.

I still can't believe the chimneys are gone. I know it must be a decade since they went, but it's still a shock not seeing them.

Now-can anyone tell me if the Hornby model covers these two:- These are the pair that worked at the Castle Cement terminal at Pitstone, Tring, until the early 1990's. One survives at Rushden. Cheers N

Just to add my two penn'orth, here's ex-MoD 0-8-0 Sentinel no. 610, awaiting restoration at a rainy Bitton, in 2012. And here's the Ribble Steam Railway's 10282 in 2015. Cheers N

I'm looking for a kit for the 36 PCA Presflos, built by IMC Engineering, Hartlepool, in 1973. These have quite distinctive lower platforms that the tanks sit on, more angular than the later versions built in France. They were used on the Tring cement works traffic to Pitstone, until the works closed in the early 1990's. I'm not sure what happened to them afterwards, I assume all were scrapped? I haven't yet found a kit for them-has one been produced? Cheers N https://PaulBartlett.zenfolio.com/tunnelcastlepca/e253de24f

Yes it was stabled there for a while, something to do with wind side wind measurements on the pantograph. Photo below on Flickr, but there are a few more that can't be linked to because sharing is off. https://flic.kr/p/5nUrS9

Am I the only person to find it slightly amusing that a piece of rolling stock built to UK loading gauge was out of gauge in France?

Gypsy Patch update-the road closed today for 8 months, to allow for the bridge to be replaced over Easter, and the road and other works to be completed.