28XX

Daddy Cool (Darts)

In a Big Country (Big Country)

Took my first test in autumn '76 in a red MkII Escort. The BSM instructor (c/w permed hair and zapata mustache) put me in too early, I misjudged a gap on the test and hit another car. The wretched examiner made me finish the test and do the highway code questions before failing me. Passed in March '77 in a fwd Triumph 1300.

A last but one mad dash in the driving rain on the M5 this morning, lorry drivers getting tetchy as they juggle delivery demands with remaining available tacho hours.

The original H&SAW act came in 1974, replacing the Office Shops & Railway Premises Act (1963). It was studiously ignored for at least 5 years by most companies (of the size of Millwards and Warner & Cholmondly's) until the prosecutions began to filter through.

(my bold) Wasn't there a version of Mornington Crescent on here at one time?

The Corgi MkIII can be easily backdated to a MkII by filing back the bonnet above the headlights and removing the bumper side extensions. This car changed the whole look of Britain's roads. Part of its (now rather quaint) Wow! factor was the eggshell finish black bumpers. Ford realized these were cheaper to make and suddenly almost all their models had them fitted. BL and Vauxhall followed suit and the chrome bumper vanished for 20 years.

The MkII JPS Capri came out in March '75 in either white(rare) or black(common), so it would be very, very new on this layout.

Besides, what would they smoke in BCB territory in the 70s? Silk Cut? John Players Specials? Gitanes? Camels? I have no idea. Since you ask, and this is research beyond the call of duty, Silk Cut, mainly for the girls. For the middle class, or aspiring: JPS yes!, marketing link-up with Formula 1 and Ford Capri's. B&H (gold pack) For the old lags, Players No6 Embassy No1 Old Holborne roll-ups Perhaps this should be filed in the BCB culture section

<Teach-Your-Gran Mode = ON> Lorry bed should be almost black, scuffed and gouged. One tail light bent in and a vertical crease in the front bumper. Fragments of swarf, ropes and sheets <Teach-Your-Gran Mode = OFF>

No records or even photos I'm afraid but my overwhelming impression at the time ('76 on) was that for goods, 47's on large trains and 25's on small trains was the default / humdrum norm, anything else was a novelty.

Graffiti like: WOLVES WBA should place it as near as you could get.

Love the boss's upstairs bay window, to spy on the workforce etc. Typical of many in the WM conurbation. Some still extant around Saltley

Not Cholmondley, Cholmondley & Warner Ltd ? ;o)

I was on the 14:20 New Street to Taunton (via Worcs Shrub Hill) in the early '80's. We flew down the Lickey, as you do, probably doing 90 as we passed the bankers. Power off and a gentle brake application for the junction to Droitwich changed into a full emergency application as the driver realized he had been routed down the main by mistake. We came to a stand all across the junction. A long conversation on the SPT resulted in a decision not to reverse a loaded train and to carry on instead. Self and the other passengers for Worcs had to go to Cheltenham and wait about an hour istr for a northbound DMU service to get home.

Bait tin = Snap box.

Blocking back outside the home signal. Covered by the rules if allowed by the sectional appendix.

Ron Heggs wouldn't make such a fuss. ;o)

Most block posts had a trailing crossover so that wrong line working could be used from / to that point. It might not necessarily be needed for day - to - day shunting.

Bars on the windows to keep them out? Made on site of course.

That was my fault. I was just quoting a real business name to evidence the 'no-nonsense' school of marketing, prevalent in the mid 20th century.

2 headers + 1 mortar join = 1 stretcher 3 soldiers + 2 mortar joins = 1 stretcher Therefore bricks are made in the proportions of 23:11:7, counting mortar joins as 1 Use Paint in zoom mode, (1 pixel = 1 unit as above) to create your own brick paper with long panels ready to fold showing two sided of one brick. Cut closers to make the bond symmetrical can also be drawn. Not as laborious as you might imagine using the wonders of cut 'n paste.