CovDriver

I'm really looking forward to seeing this 323 unit. I wish I had the skill and patience to do what you've done as the 323 units are my favourite the first type of unit I've driven on the mainline. If you need any photos of the underframe I can do that no problem at all as we have two units that stable in Coventry North Yard every night. And I prep them for service most mornings. Keep up the great work. Cheers Colin

Hi all I've had a Bachmann 03 for a while now which runs very erratically sometimes it'll travel a few feet at very slow speed then it'll stop and after a second or two it'll move off again and do the same and then sometimes It'll move a quarter turn of the wheels and stop and it will constantly keep doing this. I've checked all the wiper pickups they are constantly in contact with the backs of the wheels. The wheel sets are cleanas are the pickups. This is only when I run it on DCC I've tried a Gaugemaster omni decoder and a hattons decoder both with same results as mentioned above. Does anybody have any ideas what I could do to solve this.

I see you was on the RHTT i passed you at Stechford this morning I did say hello at Rugby before you boarded the Virgin service back north but I was being asked some stupid questions by the fare paying passengers. Cheers Colin

I might see you in passing if you leave Bescot early as I'm booked at Stechford on the Down at 1055 with 9F40. Great pictures as always Jim. Cheers Colin

Hi Rob, Would these be any good to you I was having a look in the loft for something else and I found these pair. Cheers Colin

JIm if you do manage to get to Ian Allan there not accepting the loyalty cards but you can cash them in against purchases there's really not much (Models) in there as I was in today probably for my last time due to shifts etc.. Would you be able to use it at the Waterloo shop as that's staying open just an idea if that's an option. Cheers Colin

I like the spare bit staying at home and hoping the phone doesn't ring. I could always conduct you to Northampton, But there are rumours we maybe learning Euston ready for the next timetable change in May next year I'm so looking forward to the 30 days road learning for that.

Most of the stock went at the weekend 14k worth of stock. But I also popped in twice today between trains and the wallet is a lot lighter. Cheers Colin

Further to the previous post I somewhat agree the website is a bit plain and difficult to navigate. But we visited the Llechwedd deep mine as it's now called and wow what a great decision we made it was very interesting indeed the trip on the mine train down was great as we had a view from the front. Then a fully guided tour through the tunnels and caverns and finally down to level (B) which is the lowest we could go which is 500ft below as the rest was flooded down to level (I). I can honestly say it's well worth foing if your in the local area as we have just spent a week in Blaenau Ffestiniog. Cheers Colin

To be honest I'm not sure what units you are travelling on as the 350 fleet are one of the smoothest.

Absolutely terrible news I feel for the staff who I've been friendly with over the years I suppose this means I'll have to have my breaks in Birmingham in the proper messroom now. I must pop in if I can tomorrow and have a farewell browse/purchase. Colin

I had a siemens fitter travel with me last week as the unit in question which was a 350/1 had been reported for rough riding at speed in excess of 100mph and we both agreed the whole 350 fleet is being run into the ground and absolutely battered inside and underneath the sole bar. I was told that the 350 fleet wasnt designed for the work they currently do. And for the record the unit I was driving at the time there was no rough riding it was in fact probably one of the smoothest at 110mph. Cheers Colin

And you have a new driver too who lives that way as he's just left our lot at Crewe to come to GBRF. Cracking pictures as ever Jim. Cheers Colin

I've also got a box similar to yours and it's been knocked on to the floor several times with hundreds of detailing bits going everywhere. So far the carpet has claimed some Hornby ETH boxes and a Crewe diesel depot plaque. Keep up the great work on the detailing. Cheers Colin

We've got a strange one as well a 172/0 isn't allowed between Coventry North Junction and Proof House Junction via Birmingham International as it's out of gauge but it has the same dimensions as a class 170 but they're allowed on that route. Cheers Colin

Some cracking pics around my neck of the woods Jim I'm yet to see you in action. I spoke to one your guys at Aston earlier he was route learning upto Walsall a very pleasant chap indeed. Cheers Colin

We have plenty of staff thanks it's the ridiculous short turn around times and bare minimum PnB timings within the diagrams in this new timetable. And with the majority of our diagrams now at almost 10hrs we simply don't want to stay and do a bit of O/T as the DTCM's Duty traincrew managers are simply trying run this new timetable on the goodwill of the traincrew doing Over time.

There has always been a plan of sorts to have a dive under the WCML to allow a direct service towards Leicester. I personally think it would be fantastic for this to happen as I did read somewhere online that XC wanted to dispose of the Birmingham to Leicester/Nottingham services and concentrate on the longer distance services. And with East Midlands Trains becoming part of Abelio as from August this year and Abelio already having the West Midlands I can see in the future some routes being covered by both of these franchises. Almost back to the old Central Trains days or dare I say British Rail.

In addition to the other potential bargains in that place in the centre of Birmingham. There are now 4 X 32-109 Bachmann class 08 08631 in NSE livery for £65 each 4 X 32-992 Bachmann wickham trolley yellow livery for £40 each 4 X 31-614 Bachmann class V1/V3 BR black late crest for £70 each. Cheers Colin

The 350/1 fleet are well over 10 years old now and the interior wasn't the correct specification when it was delivered but they are now going through a full refurbishment programme I believe its 350106 and 115 that are currently being done inside Bletchley depot. They're having a completely new design of seats and plug sockets at every seat along with up to date PIS (passenger information system). I really feel for the passenger as the state of the interior on 350/1 is embarrassing to say the least if it makes you feel any better the drivers seat aren't much better to be honest. And to be honest I wish the powers that be would keep the 350/2 fleet as it appears that Siemens may have done something to them as the acceleration is fantastic I can now beat a pendolino from a standing start up to 75mph= line speed towards Long Buckby. Cheers Colin

That place in Birmingham has the bargain table full of some bargains firstly 12x 38-132B YGA seacow wagons EWS £25 each 12x 37-552C POA weathered wagons £16 each 12x 37-550B POA weathered wagons £14 each 12x 38-105 PNA triple pack weathered £36 each 9 x 31-910 H1 class 39 La France LBSC livery £140 each 12x 38-243 MBA megabox EWS livery weathered £30 each 12x 37-327D JGA hopper wagon weathered £30 each Plus various triple packs of coal wagons and cattle wagons at £30 each Also 11x 38-990z Warley Exhibition 50th show triple wagon pack at £40 each. Cheers Colin

Well so much for the two jobs I had planned for today instead I managed to resurrect two old sound chips one was a Zimo mx440d with class 25 sounds all I had to do was resolder the wires from the 8pin plug and add a bass boost speaker. The other I think is an old Loksound V3.5 with Howes class 37 sounds it's that old I had to search for a 100 ohm speaker to hear the sounds. But the class 25 which I've put in a class 24 sounds absolutely hellfire that's going to be for the next project which I'm already planning as I'm looking at getting rid of Shortby as it is. Cheers Colin

Thank you very much Mark, work on the layout has come to a halt as there is just simply not enough hours in the day at the moment but all being well tomorrow I'm planning on getting power to the fiddleyard and possibly some work on the signal box. Cheers Colin

Well after a morning of adding some finer details on the layout in particular to waiting shelter has had a new roof and guttering added followed by a new window frame with some glue 'n' glaze added it looks okay to me what does anybody else think ? The foot crossing is now almost complete I think the signal box will be next for some detailing. So it's now getting ready for an evening of cross city and brief visit to Soho Depot followed by the 0017 local from New St back to Coventry. Cheers Colin

I will only say this once as I don't want to end up on the naughty step for speaking out of term. The new timetable is an absolute farce it works perfectly on paper or a computer but when you mix a big busy station (New St) and passengers it's a complete nightmare coupling and uncoupling the class 350's for the Liverpool and Rugeley TV services. Before it took 1x Driver 1xGuard and 1 member of platform staff to safely couple/uncouple now we have to have 3 Drivers 2 guards and member of platform staff. And as for our Driver diagrams all I'll say is recipe for disaster there's no padding in the turn around times and most of them have the minimum legal breaks. Think I'll stop now and get off my soapbox. Cheers