Rivercider

Have you had a look at Paul Bartletts photographic site? The ones that survived to be used in parcels traffic were known as Special Parcels Vans (SPV) and received a TOPS code of NRV. Aylesbury, I think, seemed to use a lot of them from memory. Once they were surplus to requirements in parcels traffic a number were then further used as barrier wagons with a TOPS code of RBV. Pauls site shows for example E87263 with LNER brake rigging at Stoke in 1981, albeit by then in use as a barrier vehicle. edit E87293 with LNER brake rigging is seen at Norwich in 1990 in departmental use E87343 and E87351 were other late survivors cheers

Is this the service to which you refer, Wembley - Harwich?, not one I knew about https://www.flickr.com/photos/jameswelham/5637054491/in/photolist-9A8nUF-uXrzUx-Bo5r37-dZHeZy-zhFU4o-otacvs-wiSntT-zJbGpX-aZzuSn-owyJKQ-owzygi-owyHkV-hafqE6-bvBTop-nPuDnh-c4bEcC-wT8ANF-xQDA3F-xxoxFN-wT8zui-xctEn5-aPmxSV-A1aa55-nAprwr-v7WsQ8-gwUt9i-rV2cbx-5QqPdR-ebHFcH-rxaerb-fnDeoH-bzGWGd-owzufT-owyMXm-oP4stT-owyMXF-dyk6p8-zwQDrp-abAF7J-unHZZm-ypc2a3-a6Ts23-f88MiD-oC3n8Q-upDaTo-Bo4UGs-nbtfM8-nbtwWv-nbvpL5-nbtxBP and here - https://www.flickr.com/photos/47484_train_photos/4174666223/in/photolist-epbPfg-dXqVqo-dyBRC7-dyBRHC-dXrmMQ-8xTcQp-ktURpt-rmSsSD-abxQxk-abxQrR-abAF2G-opo2PN-aaPG7F-aaSspS-aaPCjV-aaSrMu-aaPGmp-9WwRdd-eGMES4-9Aw8oN-7mdkeV-cgsfmd-7mUfPR-7jFX8k-7DydzH-72CRqo-bDAAPf-7AznGK-b1zpjk-8FJcyJ-8FHwHQ-8FEFZn-8G4i8c-8Rnvp2-oX4nfn-7npxDp-7AzgQM-7C7iFa-7AthKK-7AZken-7AxU4h-7mYpVL-7kengr-7jKSou-5PQp4o-6VADHU-72yZvR-6Qgqxu-72wo1f-72s4HB cheers

6V62, the Tavy Tanks as we knew it, was a service from Fawley to Tavistock Junction that ran for many years. certainly starting in the 1980s. It conveyed bitumen tanks for Cattewater as well as the fuel TTAs for, at various times, Eastleigh, Bath Road/St Phillps Marsh, Exeter St Davids, Laira, St Blazey and Penzance, The return working 6O34 with discharged tanks came back at night so was rarely photographed, 6V62 is seen here in 2008, but change the 66 for a 47 and the picture could have been taken in 1988 https://www.flickr.com/photos/lickeybanker/6497837995/in/photolist-oPzzAM-6Cqcuq-ncszkz-sbDVF4-aUc7Rz-uj8sxM edit here it is in 1996 with a 37 https://www.flickr.com/photos/eagle50043/5978298850/in/photolist-a7hkY7-ojtNmP-2QwfL4-pQp337-9AydBq-9y9A17-cRGAmu-9oFxD9-8cypHy-8JRaV7-ekcD9Z-s7hn8r-jFQE4W-9qKCvL-efs86i-7ULQ9s-h8gSrg-cooGTw-oGhAfX-oCEUkq-omdxBX-h8ifFT-ojukhe-p3EJMg-h5ZW4a-sbDVF4-uj8sxM-6x771L-dP3HXe-cnSZRA-8Bmb3J-dceX7W-qUxpic-5NekRf-nzoJNe-qX43qP-fk1zw5-tJQaXB-9FfsTD-9FfsWr-9DQn6g-9uri9S-bWAW8H-rs8vw5-h67jJC-cJohMN-8io17s-7bezjb-dat58M-8BQ9WA cheers

Nice views there, they remind me of shed visits from that era, (I think I went to BG once). The loco sand van and spilt sand seen in the first photo is a nice detail, I remember a similar van located at Pantyffynnon, cheers

I think 11 is the now disused island platform at Barnstaple (Junction as it was then known), cheers

Well I have been following this thread for three years and finally caught up with Appledore at the weekend, it was one of the reasons I made my first visit to Warley. It was well worth the wait, and the time spent travelling, and for me it was one of the highlights of the show. I had an enjoyable chat with Bob while watching Appledore in 1964, The effort put in running appropriate stock to a realistic timetable made it very believable, thanks Gents cheers

Is it possibly KIrkaldy? cheers

In the 1960s my grandparents lived in a council house in Exeter with an open coke fire, in order to light it they had a gas poker which they lit and inserted into the coke in the grate until it got going, cheers.

I have spent some time looking at the picture of D6334 and can't quite reconcile it as Teignmouth as I think we should be able to see a bridge. I am wondering about it being at Dawlish with the picture taken from the down platform, where, like Teignmouth, the down platform is longer than the up platform, and I think looking at signalling diagrams there was a double slip which is to the right of D6334 in the picture, cheers

A nice view, it is a down working towards Penzance. I have a WTT for May 3rd 1976 when 4B08 was a 10.55 Plymouth - Penzance working (Bodmin Road 11.35 - 11.40), when it probably conveyed vans received vans off 1B78 06.30 Bristol - Plymouth, cheers

Between Grampound Road and St Austell, Coombe (St Stephen) Viaduct seems to fit the bill, cheers

Certainly, it is already a great achievement, and from a very neutral viewpoint I hope he does, cheers

Looking through Flickr I see class 58s were sometimes seen on the Chessington Speedlink Coal Network working in 1987, though I dont think there was there was a SCN service that served any coal depots in the Medway area. The miners strike from March 1984 to March 1985 meant that many coal trains were cancelled and spare class 56 and 58 locos were used on other workings, including Speedlink. Might that have brought a 56 or 58 to Sheerness? Of course that is more likely to happen if there was already if class 56/58s already worked locally otherwise drivers traction knowledge wouild rule it out, cheers

That looks like about seventy wagons presumably all empty? The first two are 21t mins at 10t each and the rest look like 16t mins at 8t each plus 74t for the loco and 20t for the brake van equals about 658 tonnes, edit for maths but not much brake force though, perhaps just the loco brakes, cheers

Have a look on Flickr and try search terms like 'Sheerness 1982' which finds this scrap train 37053 hauling 16t mins of scrap https://www.flickr.com/photos/raleighwanderer/19969827351/in/photolist-gtfxmR-bKABL4-ddtiAU-ddthDK-ddtjTw-6KZxjt-jJogtF-e65RLE-dwZs1L-4dTViA-ddtmTP-b94Hgp-ddtnqw-pixgJ5-uxpN5-jKodkw-hDfUMw-fUFLrM-mZiFPt-7N51mR-wqEzW8-aiK8kR-aiMWsu-dnSVGi-dnDEqd Or a search for 'Queenborough 1983' finds this 73 https://www.flickr.com/photos/rhugo/4240348091/in/photolist-uFRKzf-7sGTKR-bdKX5n-fcMscX-7sMaed-gTaK19 cheers

The Southern Region was one of the first parts of British Rail to become fully fitted, I can not remember when that was but I am sure it was before 1983. Therefore the freight trains in the Sheerness area would have been either fully vacuum braked or air braked Speedlink services. The Speedlink trains serving the area from 17th May 1982 were:- 6K47 12.05 SX Hoo Jn - Sheerness (13.36) calls Queenboro 12.55. 6M40 14.25 SX Sheerness - Willesden Brent (19.10) calls Queenboro dep 15.06. 6O44 01.05 MX Temple Mills - Sheerness (08.37) calls Hoo Jn 03.10 - 07.00 Queenboro 07.48 6??? 09.25 SX Sheerness - Hoo Jn (10.23) cheers

This is my reading of the events, though according to the Liverpool Echo report it was a 88 year old lady travelling with a friend, so probably not running for the door, cheers

The service I travelled on from Weston to Exeter was the 06.42 Bristol - Penzance, a 2 car 150, it was full and standing from Tiverton Parkway to Exeter. There is also a similar 05.24 Bristol - Penzance. Both are a combination of Bristol - Taunton stopper, Exeter - Plymouth stopper and Plymouth - Penzance stopper. In between them is a Bristol - Plymouth XC service. In the late 1970s and 1980s there were normally no booked DMU workings between Taunton and Exeter in the timetable. cheers cheers

My memory of my travels in the West Country in the 1970s and 1980s was that the Bristol area sets worked to Cardiff, Birmingham Swindon and Weymouth, but did not usually get any further west than Taunton. Likewise the Plymouth sets stayed in Devon and Cornwall never worked east of Cowley Bridge Junction just east of Exeter. It is now possible each weekday however to travel from Bristol to Penzance in a class 150, in four hours and forty one minutes, (a journey only about 10 miles distance less than Peterborough to Newcastle) cheers

From Weston seafront we can see Aberthaw, one of the remaining coal fired power stations. On regular occasions there is a layer of smog that forms over the Severn Estuary which looks, to me, as though it originates at Aberthaw. Steep Holm in the middle of the Severn Estuary, and to the right, just visible, the chimney at Aberthaw, 13/4/2015. If I had turned left about 90 degrees from the same spot I can see Hinkley Point on a clear day where the new nuclear 'C' station will be built, cheers

As usual I am playing catch-up with this marvellous thread. I managed to photograph the Margam - Tunstead working in 1983 45017 arrives at Peak Forest with the empties from Margam, 13/6/83 cheers

That is a nice idea. Compact enclosed urban railways have a special different feeling and lend themselves to recreation in miniature. Even your planning stage pictures capture some of that atmosphere, if you had just posted the pictures without captions I would still have guessed where it was meant to be. Good luck with the project cheers

I don't know if this is a picture you have already found, it is taken from a clay train from the east end of the yard and shows part of the top of the quayside buildings https://www.flickr.com/photos/malcolmbott/16922916179/in/album-72157659117270309/ cheers

Though Meldon did load mermaids sometimes, those wagons are not mermaids. The first one wagon has two doors per side so may be a lamprey, the second wagon has three doors per side and looks like a grampus, cheers

Norton Bridge perhaps, looking south? https://www.flickr.com/photos/yerrtizz/5857507161/in/photolist-imh8Bi-9VB6MM-9VBfzp-9VB2k4-9VB6Fx-9VBfUB-9ssEoP-9VBfNM-9VBg1r-9VBfFT-9VE5xb-9VE5Cj-pVUHZA-aHbDZX-9VE34G-9VBfiT-aHbuuM-9svEcC-9svDJU-nY52ab-bzV6CD-4XSucn cheers