rodent279

I won't pretend that I know what that is, but I guess it means it was relay based, and hard wired

What did it replace? Was the interlocking an SSI, or was it relay based?

Don't tell the DfT, they'll start getting ideas ..

Needs a bit of paint and a good going over with copious quantities of t-cut, but that aside, it's got a certain presence.

Bet you didn't know Newton Heath had an allocation of Morris Minors!

What you need is a smartphone that you can dictate a text to!

Has anything happened here since C-19 hit? I've not been down that way since March, and have been told I won't be going into the office "unless there is no alternative", so no idea what the current state of play is. Cheers N

Now self-navigating luggage-there's a thing that could take off.

Why not stop them at both, since Pendos etc have such good acceleration? Would stopping the majority of MK stops for West Coast long distance trains at BY instead of MK really inconvenience that many people, as long as connections are still available? If your destination is MK, chances are, unless your destination is right outside the station, you will take either a bus or cab anyway, so for longer distance travellers, I can't see much difference in stopping at BY instead of MK.

I guess with Southall, Slough & Swindon, the S prefixes were taken up!

Totally agree with you on Bulleid Pacifics and Q1's, but I like Crosti 9F's. I don't think the subsequent rebuild did them any good. There is an Italian Crosti boiler loco still working, 741.120, and it has an exhaust both sides of the boiler- I wonder if that would have made the Crosti 9F's visually more acceptable? I've every intention of going to Italy to sample it on the mainline as soon as the current pandemic is over. But then I like odd, as anyone who knows me will agree! Edit: it doesn't have an exhaust both sides of the boiler-what I thought was an exhaust turns out to be an air brake pump! Still makes the loco look more balanced.

LMS in particular, but I guess the question applies to any of the 4. I know there would usually be 2 per loco, but how many would be cast? Would just 2 be cast, or would a couple be cast as spares? It would make sense to me for a couple of spares to be cast at the same time, as even a small accident, say a van door swiping the side of an engine, could damage a plate. Plus of course they could be damaged or dropped whilst being removed from a loco in works.

Could it also be government/DoT "flying a kite", to see what public reaction would be to scope reduction?

Good guess on my part then! I did wonder what box the S might refer to. Slough didn't occur to me, first place I thought of was Swansea!

Looks Western Region to me, judging from the gantry in the distance. London area, perhaps?

Oh yes. Hadn't noticed that. Even more of a bang then!

It does look like that's what's happened, that looks like the end of an axle just above the smoke box. In any case, it must have been quite an impressive blow to have knocked that buffer beam back like that.

A 2nd entrance on the town side would make a lot of sense.

I really do like this. Since the LMS & LNER were already cooperating with the testing station at Rugby, it's entirely possible they would have collaborated on future loco development, and something similar to the BR Standard range would have evolved.

Now that looks convincing!

Bumping this topic, does anyone know if/when the bridge replacement at Patchway has been rescheduled for? It was due to happen end of March, but got postponed due C-19. (I know it's not strictly a GWML electrification project, but this seems the most appropriate topic).

Why not use steam turbines instead of reciprocating engines? In a B-G format, you could have a mixture of turbines for full load, reciprocating for part load & starting, blending the two drive systems electronically.

I believe that was not for MU working as such, it was just to allow two crews in non-MU fitted locos working in tandem to talk to each other.

It surely would be possible to have a hinged lid that covered the coal space? Even if it didn't stop all the fine dust, it would at least stop large lumps from flying out and braining the fireman!

Nope, correct, I haven't, and don't envy you if you have! I guess oil firing, or mechanical firing using crushed coal would help there. Some sort of wind shield/screen would still be necessary though. Maybe some thought would have to be given to firehole design as well, if still manually coal fired. But assuming these issues were solved, could a loco such as a Royal Scot be made to work as effectively at speed in both directions?