rodent279

Fascinating. My sister lived in Bristol from 1978 until a couple of weeks ago, and I've lived in Downend since 2006. Despite many visits to Bristol during the 80's & 90's, I've no real memory of either the flyover, or the railway bridge outside TM. Fray Bentos's photos are addictive! Cheers N

On a related note, doors anyone know if any maroon locos, i.e. Westerns or Warships, ever carried arrows? I know some gem locos did. Cheers N

And I would imagine that ADB968021, the former 84009, would have been used for load testing. Though I've no evidence for that.

Either that's not 81016, or it's not 1983. 81016 was the loco written off in the accident at Linslade Tunnel, in the early hours of 9th December 1982. Cheers N

Some years earlier than the time you mention, I remember seeing a piece in Modern Railways sometime in about 1980, about the conversion of the last stretch of 6.25kv to 25kv, in the Liverpool St area. There was a photo of an AC electric used for testing - it was either an 85 or an 86/3, can't remember which.

They lost the 2nd pan when they were dual braked, in the early 70's. I'd say by about 1973 they'd all have one pan. Cheers N

No, I am l pretty sure all had marker lights when they were withdrawn. The only exception may be 85027 & 033, which were early casualties in 1983. Think one of the two may have had dots. Cheers N

Looking at it, I don't think it is 163 actually. Here is a photo taken in Feb 1981:- https://flic.kr/p/8htEao and here is one taken in July 1981:- https://flic.kr/p/dMtgY5 I think 163 is tattier along the side around the mid-height band. Also, there is a small rust patch just to the left of the left grab rail, clearly visible in both photos, but absent in mine. Thoughts anyone? cheers N

17 bogies would have been well off the end of the platform though wouldn't it?

Do you know what, I thought it was a long shot posting the question, I didn't really expect an answer, except in vague terms along the lines of "likely to be x, y z" etc. RMWEB comes up trumps again! The problem is that the 12yr old me had the line in the book mentality-I didn't really take notes, except to scribble numbers down on scraps of paper, that then got discarded/lost after the numbers had been underlined in the book! So I have no record of van nos, or even of the list of locos I saw in the works! It's an Instamatic photo, so no chance of getting a van no. I would imagine it is 163, I can't imagine there being two van trains close together in the afternoon. It is an Up train, but I'm only guessing at the time, so it could easily be 1700 ish, or alternatively, being a Sat & being emcars, maybe the van train took an earlier path? It's definitely an afternoon shot, after leaving the works-I have two or three of the Wizzo & late-lamented 818 Glory around the turntable that come earlier on in the film. We had to travel back to Leighton Buzzard, so we'd have been waiting for an HST to Paddington, which from memory would have been at about 10 past the hour. Thanks all, these little threads are really satisfying when you can piece a piece of the jigsaw that has been missing for nigh on 35yrs! cheers N

Evening all. Can anyone id this class 31 please? Photo taken at Swindon stn on 6th June 1981-the date of Swindon Works Open Day. It would have been late afternoon-about 3-4pm. https://flic.kr/p/xxjmWJ cheers N

Sorry, yes, typo on my part, I meant class 85. I was referring to the lower of the two.

I'm pretty sure 85013 was another with dominoes. I doubt any went to sealed beam before 1977-headcodes were taken out of use on 01/01/1976 & supposed to be wound to 0000, TOPS no.s would have been applied in about 1973-4. Either 81003 or 007 was the last survivor with dominoes (discounting 83009/012/015).

:-)

With regard to post #568-I'm pretty sure that's an 81 not an 86. Look at the shape of the bodyside-it's smooth. Class 85 bodyside were a strong steel trough with a lightweight superstructure carrying the grilles & roof. With regard to post #578-orange cantrail stripes came in around 1978, as an additional safety measure-below this line there should be no danger of shock from the OHL or roof mounted equipment.

Thanks Nidge, that site is a little gem. I havn't yet got any info on who the car was first sold through, I just know that YR is a central London reg, & that it was first registered 13/1/1969. There is no sign of any dealer stickers or a dealer plate in the car. Where is the white plastic dealer sticker located on the car? Back on topic, so there were car trains from Cowley to London then? Presumably Hymek hauled in 69/70? cheers N

Fascinating thread. Never knew there was so much to cars by rail. On a related note, as the proud owner of a Morris Minor Traveller (stop sniggering at the back there...) built in late 1968, & first registered in Central London in Jan 1969 (2 months before me!), would it have been transported from Cowley to London by rail? If so, to where? cheers N

Evening. Mainline did a class 56 in the 80's, I have the Railfreight Metals two tone grey 56001 version. What's the relationship between this and the Dapol/Replica & later Hornby versions? Are they the same tooling & essentially the same models? Am thinking of selling it & buying a blue one (or swapping if anyone has a blue one??) cheers N

Got mine in the post from Rails of Sheffield on Thurs last week, bit had to send it back as the pan was damaged where I think it had been forced into the box. Big up to Rails of Sheffield for dispatching a new one promptly, and refunding my postage. It arrived yesterday. Being well acquainted with 85's from many happy days on Northampton Cobblers, I can day that it is an excellent model that really captures the look of the real thing. Cheers N

OK been a while since my first post. I have made a fair bit of progress on the first bogie, the brass chassis is now soldered together & I have started soldering the white metal sideframes & details together. Most of my time has been spent cleaning up the flash off the brass & whitemetal sections, and making sure all is square. I used some small needle files for removing most of the flash on the brass, and also a piercing saw for some of the larger pieces. There is a LOT of flash on the whitemetal! Some of it is in really fiddly places to get to, which meant buying another smaller set of needle files. The soldering so far has gone ok (I am a first timer at soldering brass & whitemetal), at least on the brass. I think I'm probably using a bit too much solder but I think I will get better as I go. I am being obsessive about getting everything clean-I have used a fibre brush, and cellulose thinners to remove any grease. I am using electrical solder for the brass, & low melt for the whitemetal, with a 25w iron. It's not temp controlled, but that's not a problem for the brass. So far I've done ok on the whitemetal too, but I think I need to rig up a dimmer switch to the iron to reduce it's temperature a bit. I've not yet melted any castings but I think I am in danger of doing! The fiddly bits are not easy, especially getting the iron tip in without melting other areas. Couple of photos below. Cheers N.

Well, after 10 years sitting in it's box, I finally got my Wagon & Carriage Works O gauge 25 out & made a start. This is a white metal & brass kit & I am a newcomer to kits like these. Well, not quite-I made a oo gauge Hughes Dreadnought 4-6-0 for my dad, but I glued that. I intend to use low melting point solder here. Here is the complete kit spread out:- I started, as the instructions suggest, on the bogies. For starters, the bogie frames aren't very square, & needed a bit of bending. Then there is quite a lot of filing required to remove flash & burrs, as can be seen below:- That's as far as I have got. I don't know how much time I will be able to devote to this, so progress may be slow. Anyone got any experience with these kits? cheers N

I've only lived in Bristol since 2006,but I have visited many times since the early 80's as my sister lives here. Would the steel railway bridge have survived into say the mid 80's or early 90's? Cheers N

So how long did the railway bridge last then?

So Hmmmm.....trying to picture where this is. Is this the bridge carrying the railway over the road down from TM to the docks? If so, was it really still there in 98?

All good stuff gents, thanks. It was a hot day, I remember that. I was 13 yrs old & in school holidays at the time. I reckon it would have been more towards the middle/later part of Aug, as we usually had a family holiday from late July to early Aug "when I were a lad".......ah happy days....... Just goes to show what an amazing amount of gen is out there written down in notepads over 25 years ago, even for trifling little details like this. If I hadn't seen that post on sleepers with a rake of coach numbers posted I wouldn't have thought about posting this question. Anyone else got something to add? Cheers N