rodent279

29 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

So E5000 became E5024, I think. 

According to Wackypedia, fwiw, E5000 was renumbered E5024 as early as Dec 1962, long before TOPS became a thing.

None of which explains how (if?) TOPS handled D1000 & D7000? Or in fact class 08 D3000 had it lasted beyond 1972.

Edit: D7000 withdrawn 07/73, D1000 02/74, (both according to wnxx) so were they ever entered in TOPS?

Something troubles me slightly.

We're told that TOPS, contrary to popular belief, had no 5 digit limit on loco numbers, and that Western and Hymek 4 digit numbers were entered in TOPS as they were.

We're also told that TOPS couldn't handle loco classes starting at 0, hence there was no 40000 for example,  D200 becoming 40122.

How then did TOPS handle D1000 & D7000?

What tube lines were being built at that time? Victoria line segments?

Have ORR set a deadline for CDL?

On 21/09/2023 at 15:50, Rugd1022 said:

Photos by Andy Hoare, from his flickr site

 

Old Oak's 47 061 heading south at Fenny Compton with the 1V48 14.38 New St - Padd on 28th February 1981...

 

 

47 199 at Bishops Itchington with a Didcot MGR in May 1975...

 

 

47 514 at Harbury on a Poole - Newcastle working in 1975...

 

 

47 540 at Harbury on another cross country working in 1980...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

These are really good photos considering some are knocking on half a century old. I thought the Harbury cutting one from 1975 was much more recent until I clocked the headcode and odd position off the arrow.

1 hour ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

Could've called the 45s the "Resort" class. Or the "Last Resort"...

<Pedant Mode>No class 45's were true Peaks, only class 44's D1-D10 were, the 45's were Regiments and the solitary Lytham St Anne's</Pedant Mode>

7 hours ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

You've got me there, Phil. Never heard of Electric Ladyland.

It's a Jimi Hendrix number double LP from 1968 so it would have to be a later naming.

10 minutes ago, Peter Kazmierczak said:

If stuck for the "electric" theme, then maybe:

Electric cooker

Electric fire

Electric light

Electric toaster

Electric toothbrush

Electric Blue

Electric Ladyland

Electric Light Orchestra

Electric Avenue

all of which would lead to a huge.....

......Electric Bill.....

See what I did there?

Alternatively, one could follow the theme set by the Westerns, and have names with a common fleet prefix:-

Electric Advocate

Electric Pioneer

Electric Renown

and so on.

If I were going to name my shiny new fleet of cutting edge AC electric locos, I'd be honouring pioneers of electrical engineering. Faraday, Ohm, Wheatstone, Volta, Ampere, Coulomb etc.

Ok there aren't 100 of them, but you could extend fairly easily into the field of science and engineering to fill up the lines in the book.

4 minutes ago, Neil Urquhart said:

 

Who will be the first to add an OO gauge model of a mainframe (complete with blinking lights) to the interior of a railway office?  

I suspect you could probably fit all the functionality of the early TOPS systems into a single chip that would fit inside a 4mm scale p-way hut!

A wise man who is no longer with us related a story to me, from the time of the WCML electrification.

He, a rep from the electrification contractors, and a senior P-Way man were in the cab of an electric loco, I assume on a test train. They were approaching the site of a recently relaid stretch of p-way at near 100mph, and the driver knocked power off and reached for the brake for the 20mph TSR.

As he did so, the p-way man, who had been responsible for the relaying of the stretch in question, tapped him on the shoulder and said "take it at 90, driver".

Edit:- I knew I should have consulted my notes! The photo was taken on 26thth Nov, but the trip was actually to York for a visit to the NRM. See below the photo for full explanation. 

Couple of days late, but never mind. Saturday 26th November 1983, yes thats right, 40 years ago, RTC test loco 97201 "Experiment", the former 24061, is seen stabled at Derby, with a class 20 for company. I was on the return leg of a trip to Sheffield to sample class 08 shunter haulage on (I think) the last booked shunt move with passengers on board, sleeping car detachments excepted.

This happened at Sheffield,  with a 4 coach portion from Leeds being shunted onto the rear of the Newcastle- Poole, 08878 doing the honours on this day. Amongst other things spotted on this day was a forlorn looking 76031, in Coopers Metals, Brightside, awaiting the cutters torch. 24061 fared a bit better, now residing in Yorkshire, on the NYMR.

The photo was taken on the 26th Nov, but I was wrong about the trip. It was taken from the window of an HST leaving Derby, after a trip to the NRM, York. The Sheffield shunt trip did happen, but a couple of weeks later, on 10th Dec 1983. No photos for the 10th Dec, but for the record, the motive power was:-

3100xx 0647 Leighton Buzzard > Birmingham (0600 Euston-Birmingham New St)

47512 0850 New St > Sheffield (0710 Bristol TM-Leeds, booked HST but loco hauled subs for the winter 83-84 timetable)

DMU 1118 Sheffield > Rotherham (probably a Swindon InterCity unit in their dying days, wish I'd recorded more DMUs)

45137 1153 Rotherham > Sheffield  (1J67 1106 Leeds-Sheffield)

08878 shunt onto rear of 1O19 0950 Newcastle - Poole

45131 1O19 1222 Sheffield > Birmingham New Street 

47189 1450 Birmingham New Street > Derby  (think this was an Xmas relief)

47594 1627 Derby > Birmingham New Street  (1450 York- Plymouth?)

86102 1748 Birmingham New Street > Watford Junction 

3100xx 18xx Watford Junction > LB

Of all the locos above, apart from 24061, only 47594 (renumbered from 47035 2 months earlier) is still in existence, as 47739 with GBRF.

Home for 7.30pm, mum's home made lasagne in the oven ready & waiting. Happy days!

2 hours ago, Nick C said:

And an air-smoothed BP in NSE toothpaste?

Oh yes, please!

(That would surely finish off those who escaped coronarys in the first round!)

How about a nice German word-Ersatz?

22 minutes ago, adb968008 said:

No,

 

i just recognise theres much more to a preserved railway than volunteering in a role that involves some capacity on or next to rolling wheels.

I’m sorry you disagree with me, or cannot interpret  that from my post, but I wouldnt blame you if you didnt as I get the feeling many preserved line volunteers dont see beyond the platform either.

 

But i return to the point i’m making.. not every role is safety critical, but in many cases much more responsible and accountable, for different reasons.
 

Going full circle to what started this little tetatete was statements along the lines of some volunteers are not safe and should be denied.. I think just because someone isnt footplate quality doesnt mean they cannot work in a different role… if that person was a clumsy, wreckless and forgetful individual being on the track might not be a good place, but if his day job was an accountant he may be spot on for handling the numbers, why turn him away for want of not getting a pts ?

I think you're right. You've only got to look at places like the NRM-they get a huge amount of revenue from gift shops and cafes.

I'm sure it's the same with heritage railways-it would not surprise me if the various shops and cafes at the typical heritage railway site take more money combined than the ticket offices do in ticket sales.

6 hours ago, papagolfjuliet said:

 

Jobs which reportedly are not now being done since the big I Ams evicted the station's dedicated volunteers. 

 

https://www.tripadvisor.co.uk/ShowUserReviews-g191269-d261307-r901495338-North_Yorkshire_Moors_Railway-Pickering_North_Yorkshire_England.html

Poor grammar in the review, and the username beginning with Q6 ought to ring alarm bells....

22 hours ago, PhilH said:

Of course there will always be reports of bad volunteering experiences but believe me some of these come from people who are just not cut out to be a volunteer, to be told what to do, and to have to do it in the way they are told to do it, which is essential in a safety critical work place such as a working railway.

4 hours ago, Hal Nail said:

Whilst not necessarily as formal as an interview, potential volunteers discuss what is involved and I've known cases where they have been gently steered towards something more suitable, for example if a certain level of experience was required, volunteer numbers in one department were already sufficient (it does still happen!) or it just wouldn't be safe for them to get over the tracks to the place of work.

 Probably a good job that I've never volunteered at a railway then.

I don't know about whether it happens, maybe it does on some lines, but maybe it's a good idea to rotate volunteers,  so that everyone has to do their share of the menial but essential tasks, like cleaning toilets.

I reckon Midland Pullman livery would suit them well.

When a person applies for a job, they are interviewed. Sometimes they have to go through a rigorous selection process.

Do volunteers have to go through the same? Maybe there's a case for some sort of application & selection process?

TBH, reading much of the above, there's not a lot that would encourage me to volunteer. I don't like backbiting, pettiness and silly internal politics in any context. That happens at work, but there I am paid to grin and bear it. It's bad enough sometimes just being a member of a club or organisation, but to volunteer in something that you have had a lifelong interest (dare I say it, passion?) in would risk spoiling that. And I'm certainly not keen on being part of a toxic environment, such as has been revealed by certain volunteers who have openly revealed the abuse & backstabbing they have been on the receiving end of.

Suspect either the author meant 1905, when North Star appeared, or that a larger version of essentially the same engines were still being built in 1950.

Lumo livery is a nice shade of blue, but like the IMO dull GWR livery, does nothing for the stylish lines of the trains. 

It seems more and more that volunteers are unpaid labour supporting a business, which is not quite the ethos that the preservation movement started with-that of volunteers mucking in to achieve something greater than could be achieved as individuals, or as a business. 

Now we have businesses that can't survive without the volunteers, but somehow don't always seem to recognise that their business is built on the efforts of those volunteers.

I was at the SVR 2 weeks ago. Still a great line, we had a great day out, but it must be a totally different beast to the volunteer led organisation of the 70's. Really it has more in common with a theme park than a steam preservation centre.