Irishswissernie

I shall be talking to Dave this morning so , if everything is going to plan, this is my last day in the Drivers seat and I can get back to the day job.

3 from Hitchin and a final Lancaster view to keep you going.

Ernie

A trip down to Cornwall this afternoon during the transition from steam to diesel.

Three views of St Erth

Ernie

Three more from the camera of the late John Strange this morning The box was apparently Number 3 Box, I was misled by the residual paint on the nameboard. 

Ernie

This afternoons offerings:

A pair of 50's on an up express just south of Lancaster

BRCW Type 3 D6564 at Orpington

D77 on a train of 16T minerals Bromley South

Here in the Centre of Britain the sun continues to beat down, however the Monsoon is only weeks away; traditionally from 3pm second last friday in July to 9am first monday in September!

Ernie

Some more Widnes aerial views this morning.

First one shows more industry and a small loco shed which looks disused. This may have been an original shed for the St Helens railway later part of the LNWR. There was a much larger shed near the

LNWR station. EDIT Railway Clearing House Map shows these lines round the shed as Private LInes and mentions Landowners Line and Hutchinson's line. Best place to find info would be Industrial railways /locos Cheshire (Industrial Railway Socy) probably but I don't possess it.

Second shows the LNWR goods yard etc.

Third  is the LNWR station which was built on a raised deviation line to the north of the original and avoided  the flat crossing with the St Helens Railway and the maze of lines into the various factories etc.

THe MR/GC loop line is above the LNWR station.

We can also assume part of the exact date, it was almost certainly a Monday and back in ca1928 coloured bed linen wasn't popular!

More from ground level this afternoon

Ernie

2 very reluctant dogs walked (its 80 degrees F but feels like C here); C can mean Centigrade but that's not my interpretation today.

3 views at Grove Road on the ECML and the last one described by the photographer as near Loughborough on the Midland but that signal box is facing lines on the right. Possibly the goods lines or maybe nearer Trent. He was travelling south on an LCGB special from Edinburgh to St Pancras.

Ernie

Thanks for the 'likes' and comments. I am working on todays Flickr uploads and wondered what was going on here!

Hexham station coal yard. After coal deliveries by rail ceased this 21t hopper was left in the yard. Underneath the hopper a brick wall + assorted sheeting has been built to guide coal into the weighing machine. I wondered how they re-filled the wagon

but the second image taken after the wagon had been re-claimed by BR shows the probable answer. A forklift  + trailer was now in use with a rebuilt contraption over the track.

All this was swept away and the site is now a car park but I think one of the coal merchants huts is now at Beamish.

More proper train views this afternoon

Ernie

A few more aerial views this morning taken of Widnes ca 1928. These are extracts from large glass negatives.

First one shows the area around the ex LNWR station

Second The GCR/MR station looks somewhat out of it in comparison having been opened later when there was little space left in the town.

3 and 4 show some of the factories.

ERnie

Good Afternoon campers!

First of all Dave is back home and sounds in good spirits! He hopes if everything goes to plan to start posting again next monday once he can concentrate on what he is uploading etc.

Monochrome today. First a Class 40 at Godley Junction followed by a rather poor negative of the 'Night Ferry' at Petts Wood and finally 44840 leaving Upperby sidings at Carlisle with an up goods.

Ernie

This mornings selection is just one view but with a couple of enlargments; OLDHAM LEES station back in 1929.

There are two enlargments one showing the shed packed with locos. The turntable appears to have been taken out and the track lead taken up. Sorry I don't know any of the loco numbers!

The second shows the Goods shed and part of the yard. Open wagons outnumber anything else by at least 50 to 1, modellers note!

It was 1929, depression years  and a number could be laid up. 

Probably more this afternoon.

If everything is going to plan Dave should be out of hospital today.

Ernie

A couple this afternoon from the North West:

The selection today.

The 60056 slide said ore 'mts' but I think they are more likely to be loaded. 

Unusual angle for the Leicester GC view; possibly the photographer used the platform in lieu of a tripod for the long exposure time!

Ernie

Dave and I go back a long way, getting on for 40 years (Aargh!). We converse at least once a week these days although I now live in Haltwhistle (Centre of Britain|) whilst he still resides on the North East coast. All being well he should be back home in a couple of days but there will then be a period whilst he mends and it will be a few days, possibly weeks before he can pick up the reins again.

 I said I could spare a bit of time to put some of my ERnie's archive images on here from time to time to keep the thread going and stop those of us who only have a passing interest in football, tennis and Royal Ascot (quite a few- my daily flickr hits have quadrupled in the past week from 10,000)  from going banana's.

First image is Dave in action back in 1990, behind him was a freightliner wih 2 x37 coming out of Wilton on Teeside . You can't get this shot now as Teesport have since erected an entrance 'Gate' on the road.

Ernie