jamie92208

The book is superb. I could either post it to you or hand itbover at a service area whilst en route to the ferry in due course. Sarthe services are a regular calling point for us. Jamie

Thanks for that, I obviously misread the class number in the photo. It was definitely the 2-10-0's. The picture was of the Shamokin turn with the helpers on an ore train. Phil Hastings and David P Morgan did a fabulous photo essay about the "Shamokin Shifter" in their book, "The Mohawk that Refused to Abdicate and other tales of steam". I must get that book out and re read it. The photography is outstanding and David Morgan's prose is wonderful. Jamie

Whereabouts on the Paris Toulouse line will you be Joe. Jamie

My thanks was an ironic one Peter. I have been warned. Good morning all. Sister Drac has just been and extracted some of the red stuff. Breakfast has now been consumed and the day can be sorted. I'm waiting for a guy to come and fit a new smart meter. Why ours needs replacing after only 3 years I don't know but apparently it's a nationwide programme. I've also got to escort the guy round the 3 other houses we hold keys for. Meanwhile the log burner is coming back to life. Chrisf I hope the day goes well. We got good news from Lincoln yesterday. Martin is not positive just flu. Regards to all. Jamie

Thanks for that. I did have a think about it being a 153 leading. I think that the reason the West Yorks batch stayed as 155's was because they were owned by WY Metro who wanted to keep them as complete units. The remainder were owned by BR. Jamie

Good evening from a dark Charente. We are still in London on 27-8-2009. After being south of the river for the morning and early afternoon we headed north to Willesden Junction. A 56 was heading towards the West London Line past the scrap yard. Then a 378 came along from Clapham Junction heading East. Whilst a 321 in what I think was Silverlink livery headed north. We then skip forward to the 7th October and I had hear that something special was heading north from Leeds so headed down to Armley Road as what I think is a Northern 156 headed out towards Harrogate. Then what I was waiting for and my first sight of Tornado. I've never been a great fan of East Coast Pacifics and never knowingly saw an A1 but I thought that she looked rather nice and a magnificent achievement by the team that raised the money and built her. Jamie

Wait till you get one, they are far better at opening their grandparents wallets than their parents were. Jamie

It's definitely Giggleswick with the loco shunting the Spencers Lime sidings. They were on the north side of the line. I would say it was mid 50's by when the sidings were supplied with lime from Giggleswick quarry by three old 4 wheel lorries. These then took coal back to the quarry to fire the kilns. The traffic used to be handled by an overhead cableway that was dismantled in the late 50's. Mr Greenhow was the station master and the drinking water was delivered by the first DMU each morning in a large can. I used to watch this shunt on an afternoon when I was supposed to be running round a circuit called High Rigg from School that brought us down the road past the barn in the background then under the line and back up into the village and the school. The remains of the sidings can now be seen either side of the A65 Settle bypass. Somewhere I've got some photos of them when they were upgraded in the 1920's. The quarry is still working but no longer burns lime just produces crushed stone. Jamie

Good afternoon. My hair was lopped by the fair Veronique then shopping was shopped. This afternoon it was off to the hospital in Niort. I did see one thing is the same as in the UK, smokers attached to drips standing or sitting in wheelchairs outside the doors. If I was in charge they would have all treatment suspended forthwith. Rant over. We arrived early having called at C&A where my granddaughter managed to prise my wallet open from 700 miles away. A parcel is being prepared. Getting to the hospital we bought coffees whilst we waited. It would have been rude to leave a coffee eclair on it's own. It was put to very good use. The consultation was early and excellent and we are now back home. Happy birthday to GDB. Jamie

Funnily enough the latest Modern Railways has a rather acerbic piece by Uncle Roger Ford, taking Grant Shapps to task for referring to Stale BR sandwiches. He expands on what Mike mentions above. Jamie

I took the latest Classic Trains with me to read in a hospital waiting room today. It was a good thing that I was sitting down. One article has pictured of 2 Hippo's aka Pennsy L1's banking a train with two more hippos on the front. They get everywhere. Jamie

Good moaning to all, and of course sundry. I hope that our various sufferers are doing OK, BoD and Mrs BoD, Chrisf andvof course Mick NB's brother. We got told last night that Martin ( No 1 son) is not well and working from home. Katie has booked him a test but thinks it's just flu. We shall see. Yesterday I got more tiles up off the bathroom floor, 36 out of 75 now done. Then realised that unless we want a new foor that doesn't fit under the door and match the passageway, I also need to remove the old tile cement. Much use of lump hammer and chisel whilst sitting cross legged on the floor and 16 tile spaces have been cleaned back to concrete. Today I will be off shortly to get my hair cut, hairdressers reopened yesterday and fortunately I had a pre booked appointment from before LD2. Then on to the Supermarket. The afternoon will be a trip to Niort for a hospital appointment for Beth. The car was picked up yesterday, ouch, it needed a new brake caliper and pads. Wallet is in mourning. Regards to all. Jamie

When Ifirst went to the States I saw adverts for English Muffins and caused amusement by asking what they were. Jamie

As Rick has said there is case law defining a substantial meal. It dates back to some quirk in the licensing law that meant that certain pubs could only serve alcohol with a substantial meal. I was told that there was a pub in St Bees that had a stock of rather stale sandwiches that were served, but not consumed with your pint. Whether such licences still exist I have no idea, but the case law is still on the books. Goodnight all and good wishes to Mick NB re his brother. Notca good place to be. Jamie

It's the Middleton Railways Balm Road branch that still has a connection to the main line in Hunslet sidings that Network Rail are contractually bound to keep in. The Middleton run trains down there a few times every year but nothing has come over the main line connection since the 80's. It's still very much part of The Middleton, the world's oldest Railway. I once chased a burglar along there and caught him. Jamie

Good evening to you all whilst I watch the sunset. With my love for all things Duchess shaped, no apologies for another shot of Sutherland setting off from Wakefield Kirkgate. That was the 21st August. 6 days later on the 27th Keith and I were heading south to do various lines south west of London. First off a visit to St Pancras to see the 395's. Then via Alton and Aldershot to Guildford. where this 455/7 was waiting in the platform. Then a 458 came in on the service via Staines. Followed by a 444 on a Portsmouth service. It was a good day for us and we knocked off three more atlas pages. Jamie

Morning to all and Sundry. Warm thoughts to Warren and his Mrs and also to Chris as he prepares for Wednesday. Not a huge amount got done yesterday apart from modelling tools gaining me brownie points. Beth spent much of the afternoon helping a lad who is somewhere on the autism spectrum, to restring an electric guitar from right handed to left handed. Some strings got muddled but my Vernier calipers saved the day in identifying the culprits. Not a lot on the agenda today apart from more tile removal in the bathroom and probably some logging work in the woodshed. Regards to all. Jamie

Good afternoon from a sunny place. It's still 4th June 2009 and we are on the Ratty. Beth and I were being hauled by River Irt my favourite loco. The driver is George Staniforth who has a lot to answer for. I used be be George's regular guard as a volunteer. Beth and I had been out drinking with him the night that I proposed. Shortly afterwards we went to Spain and on the way back flew right over Leeds. I was rather pleased with this shot of Holbeck Shed in the days before drones. Then the old NER roundhouse at Wellington bridge. It closed when Neville Hill was opened and is now a vehicle hire depot. Both of these taken 28th June. The next one is my layout of Long Preston in Long Preston village Hall. We were invited to display part of the layout there by the village historical group. It was a great weekend even though we could only run shuttle services up and down thought the station. The station area incorporating the two bridges is now on permanent display there. Apparently the WI insist on having the curtains drawn back and the lights on during their meetings. This was 5th July. We then move on to Wakefield Kirkgate and what can only be described as a perfect summer evening. England were thrashing Australia at cricket at the Oval, and this lovely example of Stanier's most magnificent creations was in the evening sun, 21st August. How much closer to heaven could you get. Jamie

At least it's better than being referred to as Dagenham, which is one stop past. Jamie PS Just seen that Andrew C beat me to it.

I am certainly in that number Bill. Yes many of my pre grouping books are Midland related but I've always had other interests such as The Highland, along with US railroads. So the answer is, Yes I would buy a pre grouping book if the subject matter tickled my fancy. Who mentioned the GS &WR. Jamie

Good morning all. It looks as if it's going to be another fine day. First of all best wishes to BoD and hope that you both stay safe. Yesterday I had an abortive shopping trip in the morning trying to get a smallish upright freezer. In the afternoon I progressed with demolition in the bathroom. One obstacle was the wall heater which had no visible method of turning off the electrical supply. I very carefully dismantled it and did discover a chocolate block type connector inside. I was able to get my meter probes on that and yes, it was live. Experimentation with various circuit breakers took place and I now know which breaker feeds it. Once dead, the heater was removed and the lead made safe. The supply will have a fused spur fitted which has a switch on it, and then be reused for a heated towel rail. After that careful work I bashed and lifted 2 sq metres of floor tiles. In the evening we watched a documentary called The Last Breath, on Netflix. Well worth watching. This morning we are off to the market and then there will be more floor tile removal. Regards to all. Jamie

Others on this thread are far better informed than me about such things but the choice of Belpaire or roundtop fireboxes seems to have been a cultural thing. Doncaster stuck with Roundtop, Derby certainly converted to Belpaire. Swindon Crewe and Howrich did as well. I suppose the same happenned in the US. Alco certainly stayed with roundtop. Talking of fireboxes, I better attend to the square topped wood burner that's next to me. Jamie

Yes it is. I got the ID of the tram wrong. It turns out there were two trams at the bus garage. Horse tram 53, a 4 wheeler which is now at the Scottish bus museum and bogie cable tram 226 which was in 2 halves. I'm not sure where the cable tram is now. Jamie

Good evening again from the Charente. The Tardis is now on 16th January 2009. I left Kyle and headed back to Inverness. A quick change onto a southbound Edinburgh Service enabled me to travel the Hilton Junction to Ladybank Line. At Edinburgh I was met by a friend from the tram restoration world, Neil McKenzie who took me out to a bus garage to see the Edinburgh horse tram that he was helping to restore. It's now completed and has it's top deck refitted and is in The Scottish Bus Museum in Fife. A very pleasant meal at his home and then I caught a late train back to Glasgow for another night overlooking Central Station. The next morning I went north to Alloa via Stirling and completed 3 more atlas pages. It was fine till the canny Scots started reopening more lines. On the way back home this sight was seen at Appleby. I'm not sure why it was there or where it is now. A few days later I did a bike ride with a friend and we passed Drax. This was the sight of the entrance lines. Looking more like a military base after various climate change protests. Then in June my wife and I headed for the Lake District for or 30th wedding anniversary and by some strange coincidence ended up at Ravenglass. Obviously we needed a ride on the Ratty. Here Douglas Ferairra passes our train at Miteside loop with a working back down to Ravenglass. More to come tomorrow. Jamie

Good moaning from the Charente. We had a good day yesterday. Dr's first and the news that we will probably both get vaccinated in January. I was also pleased that my PSA was 0.74. Various things were on the agenda but after lunch Beth felt tired andvheaded for bed. Knocking floor tiles off in the bathroom was then replaced by reading the new Modern Railways. The last two episodes of the Queen's Gambit were watched and enjoyed. Not a bad day. We will shortly be talking to the girls. We really lovevour Saturday morning chats. Then it is time for me to head for The Danglies to purchase a new freezer and variousvother things. Beth has promised to bake another batch of biscuits. The previous batch somehow didn't keep. Ihave no idea why. As to pronunciation of place names. Icovered the Colne Valley above Huddersfield at one point. Heaven help you if you called the village of Slaithwaite slaythwaite. It is of course pronounced Slowit. Jamie