jamie92208

Very sorry to hear that Paul. Thanks for posting it can't have been easy to share. Jamie

Our friend Mr Nunez has posted another one today. I;ve had a good look at Google earth. The loco is now pointing roughly North East and is next to Arrow Highway where the metrolink line crosses it. There does appear to be a siding on the south side of the line so they may well be able to go straight across the dual carriageway on panel track and connect tp the siding. Perhaps it's going to be done this weekend. Jamie

Yes Edward wouldn't it be great if we had the space. We were going to end the scenic section in the traditional place half way along the east side. However we decided to move the break further around into the start of the fiddle yard. The main reason is that prior to the 1933 resignalling the EMU's ahd to go oput to Ladies walk to reverse on b oth legs of their journey as they couldn't reverse in the up platform. The new scenic break means that they reverse in sight rather than disappearing through the scenic break and then reappearing. I then wanted a structure to make the break and happenned to have the plans for Ladies walk footbridge so have used that. In a similar fashion the scenic break after Greyhound Bridge will be the bridge that carries the WCML over the Midland route but moved half a mile east. On the castle branch it will be the footbridge that used to carry the footpath from Wharf Street up to the parish church. I happen to ahve plans for all three drawn up when the line were electrified and various guards put in place. Jamie

All the Lime Street Signals were built by Steve Hewitt, Steveatbax of this parish. Send him a message adn ask him. Jamie

Just caught up with this thread and have enjoyed reading the exchanges above. One of the reasons that my layouts are set in 1923'ish is to give me the chance to run mainly pre groupling stock but with a bit of variety from other companies thrown in together with the odd early LMS thing. I never did get my L & Y Tri composite finished to run on Long Preston but it was intended to look nice on the back of a rake of maroon Cleresories. I fancy that in that era there would ahcve been quite a few odd livery's around as stock got mixed up, somehwat akin to the early Amtrak area in the 1970's in the US when you coulc see trains with coaches from all sorts of differnet companies plus a few early repaints. Jamie

Mr Nunez has been busy again and there is now another video. It looks as if the crew have now laid quite a bit of track in front of the Big Boy presumably so that they can push the SD40-2 and the caboose down to the end of the parking lot as soon as it's delivered. Jamie

Well after a busy weekend helping to make our church look like Narnia for the coming week it's been back to the workbench. 2 1/2 hours later I got to the end of Fig 7 on all 8 bogies. Each now consists of 9 etches and 24 small lost wax castings. I then had a a go at step 8 which involves fitting plastic springs and found a few problems but those will be soved and hoepfully tomorrow I'll get some more frames done. I'm planning to get the bogies on the track by Christmas. Jamie

Still no definite news but there's a new You Tube video. One comment on the Trains website suggests the move may take place next weekend. Cheers Jamie Still California Dreaming.

Thanksw very much for that Edward, I'm only too happy to be corrected. I've also got a 5 coach Leeds Midland suburban set under construction which will appear on grren Ayre as an excursion for Morecambe along with a couple of 6 wheelers hauled by an O-4-4. (As per a photo taken at Clapham) the 5 coaches were of 3 different underframe lengths and from 3 manufacturers. 2 of them (I can't remember whkch pair but I think it was either the brake 3rd's or the composites) were products of Lancaster. Thanks for the kind comments. Jamie

Yesterday things were just about back to normal (keep taking the tablets) so I spent parts of the day adding the 8 step supports to each bogie frame then started on the etched brake rigging supports but only got 5 out of 32 done before I dropped one and called a halt. I've now changed to a 15 watt iron for the small bits so that previous castings don't start falling off. Using Phosphoric acid (15%) as flux everything goes on quite well and saves a lot of faffing about with low temperature solder. Then it was down to the club for some tracklaying. We've been working on the scenic break at the east end which is nearly into the fiddle yard. the footbridge, seen above, is one that ws actually some quarter of a mile further along the line at the east end of Ladies Walk sidings. An extra siding was laid in 1916 to accommodate a new shell filling factory set up on the old Gillow's funiture factory. After some discussion we decided to put a new point in that leads to the edge of the board just under the footbridge. This will be used for putting stock onto the layout at shows, particularly corridor bogie coaches which can be very difficult to couple. I'd done the necessary Templot work and last night put some new cork trackbed down, then cut out a section of the down main to accommodate the new point. The template was then glued down before I discovered that I hadn't got any point timbers so work ground to a halt for the night. As the siding was put in for wartime traffic I will be able to tell any rivet counters that say it's not in the right place that I can't answer them as it's an official secret. The timbers have been ordered from C & L so this afternoon it will be back to the bogies. Jamie

Things have progressed well and I'm now back driving and walking without crutches but tonight some modelling continued. In a 2 hour soldering session I got all 8 bogies up to Fig 6 on the instruction sheet and made a start on Fig 7. All 96 little castings done now another 64 which are the bigie step holdersw, 4 per side of each frame. Also I've started plotting the exact posotions of the overhead masts so that I can input them to the CAD drawing and start planning the OHLE. All in all a good modelling day. Jamie

I actually rode over Stainmore in 1956 at a tender age and can't remember anything about the day apart from changing trains at Appleby. However my fathers trainspotting diary records what pulled us and it was a BR Standard. I'll dig out the number. Jamie

To quote the late David Jenkinson, "It's your trainset so what you want goes." Jamie

Hi Jaz. Very sorry to hear about the interuptions to your modelling time. My wife is disabled and we have a simialr bed arrangement with two independent mattresses on the double bed so that nmy wife can raise or lower hers to get comfrtable without disturbing me. She has discovered in some catalog a fitted sheet specially made for this arrangement that goes round both mattresses but is partially divided at top and bottom. This would then anchor the foam mattress to the other one at the side. If you want I can try and find out where she got it from. Jamie

What's the problem with slips on curve, Green Ayre has a single slip on a curve at the western exit fromt he station and a baseboard joint through the middle of it. We wondered when we built it if it would work. Plan B was to make the pointwork as a removeable unit but things weem to run through it OK. Jamie

When they first started using the 158 there were a lot of letters in vaious magazines and one of the reasons mentioned was that the shuttle is so tightly timed that it was impssible to keep to the timetable due to the 450's taking longer to turn round (something to do with software,) than the 3 Vep's. Jamie

I like it a lot, someone has obviously got a sense of humour as evil as mine. When i was at work I had a standing joke with one of the radio operators. We devised a scheme to reopne the old Ferrybridge power station and use it as a disposal facility for unwanted undesirables. In slack times we would ahve given reduced rates for disposing of mother-in-laws. After that whenever some member of the public failed the attitude test the comment "Another one for ferrybridge" would be heard. Jamie

I must admit I like the idea of the Wickes trolleys, some of those are big enough to take a whole family group and even the mobility scooter at one go and already have a spring loaded base. We will obviously have to enlarge the disposal shute. Jamie

I can see a very simple answer that will allow the trolley user to deal with the rucsac/no personal hygene brigade, fit a tilting front to the trolley and just scoop them up then go to the side of the hall and dump them into one of the many skips. (I'm sure that the exhibition manager could provide a convenient shute if asked). This could be quite enjoyable and would clear the aisles, but only after they had paid for their tickets. Jamie

I think that the main thing was to get the headline time to Sheffield down to 2 hours. More big savings will no doubt come in due course with new faster through lines at Market Harborough etc. Jamie

Another day with my feet up but there is progress and I did earn some brownie points from SWMBO by doing the ironing sitting on her perching stool. Anyway after such domestic chores modelling has continued. The pdf for the next etch was approved and then this afternoon the bogie work continued. All 8 got to the end of Fig 3 with their bolsters and some other parts fitted. Then this evening I started soldering on some of the 96 small castings, 12 per bogie, 4 of 1 kind of spring hanger, 4 of another, then 2 L and 2R handed supports for the brake hangers near the bolster. I managed to get 3 of the frames complete before boredom set in but they are progressing and I've realised that batch building is the way to go as easy ways to get things done seem to emerge quite quickly thus speeding the task up. Here's all 8 frames as of tonight along with the footbridge side that I managed to finish at Warley These are the three with all the small castings on. The design is rather fiddly but they do look the part when done, at least that's what I keep telling myself. Jamie

Wasn't it a follow on order for the first Jubilee line stock and did carry BR unit numbers for while until LT took the line over. I've forgotten what class number they were. Jamie

That's got a lovely bit of rare trackage in it plus the pass of Toton. Me and a mate fancied doing the round trip from Donny but even with Senior railcards it was going to be £46 each so we'll wait for another day. However well done to Hull Trains for doing the route. Jamie

I'd be bery surprised if the Midland put inb a shprt tunnel rather than a girder bridge with deep abutments. These were very common on the S & C and many had to be reconstructed in the 20th century to cope with larger locos. Here are two photos of Wharf Street Bridge at Lancaster. Have fun Jamie

Are you sure the the NER line will fir though the curved arches of the viaduct OK, otherwise it looks fine. if you want some photos of a girder underbridge of the right vintage, where the NER goes under the S & C I've got some for Lancaster where the Castle Branch goes over Wharf Street. I could post them on the Lancaster thread if you are interested. Jamie