Rivercider

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

I remember we had class 45s regularly going to Meldon in the 1970s and 1980s. I have looked in my old Freight Train Loads book and see the route is RA6 but a class 45/0 was RA7 there were published loads for class 45s to/from Meldon, so there must have been some routine dispensation back then, cheers

Hi, and welcome to RMWeb. It looks like you have added some nice details there, and I like the camera angle for the photos, I will look forward to see more of Braeside, cheers

That looks too much of a curve for Eastleigh, I think the red 47 is at Fratton https://www.flickr.com/photos/jainbow/2724530769/in/photolist-59KW5r-dsSo4s-Bhky4-b1x6QT-b1x3xM-m7bZM1-m7bBGj-bd9L42-wvv5M4-r9tazA-dxTRJp-rWLhPe-AJyN3V-qZx9D7-rgXxWB-uJXgyV-rLkvcx-9BkaLn-ugGEfY-ugSuVV-b1x52B-b1x5vr-b1x1sD-e4VLgM-m7awrk-jQwerb-8CYMxS-qZ9QYV-akXrKE-7RvAwS-ac24xP-39zX-r7PFab-b1xamk-p9p695-pkd8KS-D4Thn-akUtZi-4dUek6-767fGB-qkicCx-oj8sLg-9pCeJh-9bJuH7-4dUdZg-xwU2qg-rNGR71-xwUdT6-xwUpxx-rNPMmR cheers

The class 47 passing the oil terminal is at Bromsgrove heading south edit - and you might be right about the Malverns behind the 156, could that also be Bromsgrove looking south with the banker siding on the right? is this a similar view from 1963, the hills. and the pylons in the distance look right https://www.flickr.com/photos/23983516@N05/16814104229/in/photolist-dgwyL8-qX3av1-rBNFoM-ddqcQ1-ddqcQY-aBmZuS-dSSrGb-fiFe9j-9FZ75e-9FZ752-9H2HNc-rA21ax-9H2rcg-9G33D1-9H2wsB-9H2wsx-9H4BrW-9H22Lg-9GW5Do-9H5J6L cheers

Back in about 1970 my parents bought me a small 2nd hand layout with a selection of locos, stock, buildings, and various bits and bobs, one item I never understood. In the late 1970s it went into the loft to remain until 2009 when I got my first permanent layout. Among the odds and ends is what I now know to be an uncoupling spade which I find to be one of my most useful items when shunting, there is great satisfaction to be had when 'easing up' to see the tension lock couplings raise and then slowly draw away with the shunting loco. And to answer one of Jeff's questions, yes I do use removable loads ( coal and timber), as even though I am on my own playing in the railway room it still seems wrong to be sending loaded coal wagons back to the marshalling (fiddle) yard. cheers

Here are two more of the pictures I took on my only visit there in 1983 firstly are these the landsale sidings to which you refer, and that must be a Pelican Loader? DMU set C303 passes Merthyr Vale on the 10.52 Cardiff Central - Merthyr, 14/4/83 And another view of the weigh hut and extension Former BR shunter, number not known (D3183 was the other one I saw that day) 14/4/83 cheers

I have a handful of black and white photos taken at Merthyr Vale in 1983, one is already on Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/rivercider/8394449811/in/photolist-i44F1v-dMMKsP-dMMKti-dMMKsc-dCiqav-dmVvo9-diLW7r-diLW64-diLW4Z-diLW4t-divADR-divACZ-divAEB-divABK-divACk-cFUN7u/ I can scan the others if you are interested, but the I see the brick weigh hut already had a brick extension by then, cheers

That is interesting, hopefully it will come to fruition. I had expected that a station on the Waterloo - Exeter route would at some stage be re-opened at Wilton, especially since the service on that route has been enhanced. I was assuming that most journeys would be into Salisbury, or towards London. cheers

Very nice. If there had not been a WR takeover of the SR lines in the west then DEMUs would have become a regular sight down there, cheers