Rivercider

Here are a couple more from the 1980s in my '1980s E.R. Anglia' set on Flickr After the morning rush a pair of class 302 units stand in the sunshine at Fenchurch Street, sets 264 and 270, 27/7/84 A view of Ripple Lane, 31312 and 31221 have charge of a tank train, the pilot is the final class 08, no. 08958 27/7/84 cheers

When visiting Ottery St Mary recently I walked past the derelict Ottermill complex, and thought of this thread. It was never rail served, but I imagine many similar buildings were. Pictures taken on 13th August this year. cheers

Here are a couple from my Flickr sets One of the Clacton services formed by sets 604, 614 and 622 departs Colchester, 12/2/81 One of my instamatic shots, a line up of units at Shoeburyness class 308 sets 316 and 317 are joined by class 302s 277, 257 and 246, 9/10/78 cheers

There are a few Essex shots on my Flickr site, in the '1970s Eastern Region' set, and the '1980s E.R. Anglia' set, cheers

Achilles visits Westbury 50045 Achilles has arrived at Westbury with Southern Region engineers empties from Salisbury, it has run-round the train and now stands waiting to head west to Meldon Quarry, 14/9/82 cheers

Well that is very nice, difficult to pick up 'atmosphere' from a few pictures, but that looks like something I would enjoy at an exhibition, cheers

I have added a few more of my old 1980s photos to Flickr, South Wales was a stronghold for class 37s back then. As I recall there were 6 pairs of Cantons 37s allocated outbased at Barry to work MGR trains to Aberthaw. The coal came from various South Wales locations, collieries and loading points. From the Cardiff Valleys I can remember Penallta, Lady Windsor, the Ocean Complex (and Cwm Bargoed I think). From further afield Blaenant and Steel Supply at Jersey Marine. The wagons were formed in 28 wagon sets and the 37s worked them to Aberthaw Reception siding, from there a couple of Cantons Slow Speed Fitted (SSF) class 47s were employed to work the sets around the power station loop., At Barry Town DMU set C454 is bound for Cardiff as 37302 and 37288 pass by with a loaded set for Aberthaw, 17/9/81 Radyr Yard also had Canton class 37s outbased for local trip working, about 6 or 7 of them in the early 1980s, a lot of the work was hauling coal, including inter colliery and to supply the Phurnacite plant at Abercwmboi, At Morganstown 37285 is heading South on the Down Goods line with a trip from Nantgarw Coke Works to Radyr Yard with a train load of coke for export through Barry Docks. The Up Goods line already appears to be disused. Castell Coch stands on the hillside opposite, 11/8/82 cheers

Jeremy Vine Show, first 3 suggestions, what would the money be better spent on 1 Motorways, ( to connect to Norwich, and also a coastal route, Dover - Penzance, and North to South Wales ), - time for your medication I think. 2 Rolling stock for every commuter market on the Network. Possibly, but there would be congestion in many areas sooner or later. 3 2 more runways for Heathrow.......... excellent! cheers

Hello, Jeremy Vine on Radio 2 is on the case this afternoon, let us see what we can learn...... cheers

I also have a picture (In BR Standard Freight Wagons by Larkin) of a 4 wheel 'Flatrol SB' No. DB900030 loaded with a damaged 4 wheel tank car. The tank is sitting in the well of the wagon with the wheelsets removed and loaded one at each end of the wagon. (dated 1971) The caption says the wagon was involved in a derailment and was being held for examination by Board of Trade Inspectors, cheers

I was working as a roster clerk at Barton Hill when the 67s were introduced, one of our Instructor drivers had been over to Spain to be trained on them so he could carry out traction training for the rest of the Barton Hill drivers when they were delivered. I remember some of the drivers referring to them as 'skips' very early on as they were replacing their beloved 47s. By that time the 47s were pretty unreliable though, coolant leaks for example seemed to be a major problem. As a number of mail services originated from Bristol Temple Meads, and later Bristol Parkway and the vans were maintained at Barton Hill there were always several 67s about. At the weekend there could be 8 or 10 of them at the depot. On a Saturday morning 47765, 67011, 67019 and two other 67s are stabled at Barton Hill, 7/4/01 cheers

That has turned out rather well,............nice photos Ralph, cheers

My father, in his duties as Western Region Civil Engineers Wagon Inspector had to travel around the region. His job was to ensure the civil engineers wagon fleet was being properly used and carried out TOPS data integrity checks. He would visit carriage and wagon depots (Cathays, Exmouth Junction, Barton Hill, Reading Cripple Sidings, Newport Dock Street) to ensure the engineers fleet was being given sufficient priority in the repair programme, and harry the depot supervisors if necessary. He would also visit engineers and traffic yards to ensure that crippled wagons were being sent for repair promptly. Even without a TOPS enquiry he could tell if a green carded wagon had been hanging about in a yard if he checked the label clip and found the green card had faded to white.....! As well as red (Not to Go), and green (For repairs) cards there was also the special 'red/green' card printed exactly thus, top left half green, bottom right half red. This was to permit a red carded vehicle, which had been stopped, to be moved at reduced speed (25MPH) to a specified repair point, this card was put in the wagon label clip on top of the lading card, and would be removed by the repairer in the depot. Here is a picture I have previously posted. Dogfish hopper DB993311 had been en-route from Meldon Quarry to Bristol East Depot loaded with ballast, it had developed a hot axle box and been detached at Weston-super-Mare. After it was temporarily repaired it was labelled with a red/green card to move to Bristol for further repair, 47377 had been sent to Weston to collect it at 25 MPH, on the way to Bristol it had again run hot, here it is approaching Bristol Temple Meads, 26/3/80. cheers

In the 1970/80s wagons might very rarely be conveyed for repair on a flatrol wagon or similar, possibly en-route to main works for repair after damage in a derailment. Much more likely if a loaded wagon was stopped red card with a defect it would be patched up in a traffic yard to enable it to continue to destination and then go green carded to a depot for repair when empty. If the defect was more serious it could receive a temporary repair to enable a move at reduced speed to a specified local repair point before completing the loaded journey. Empty wagons that were defective were labelled with a green card and sent to a local assessment yard, then a decision would be made as to which depot they would be sent for repair. In the Bristol area loaded china clay wagons from the west country were often stopped with a hot axle box, the clay was notorious for getting where it shouldn't be in the running gear. If one was stopped at somewhere like Flax Bourton Refuge siding the carriage and wagon mobile gang would be sent down to make it fit to travel onwards. Sometimes a defect would be spotted during crew change at Bristol, the wagon could be detached by the Temple Meads pilot to be shunted into Barton Hill wagon shops for repair. Bristol East Depot Upside was our local empty wagon cripple grading yard, from there wagons would be labelled to Swindon Works, Derby Works, or Cathays shops or wherever as required. Each weekday labelled wagons would be shunted out and forwarded for repair via Kingsland Road Yard. Any wagons for local repair would be shunted across to Barton Hill shops by a pilot on the night shunt when repair work was not taking place. A list of 'rightaways', (repaired wagons ready to go) would be given by the Barton hIll depot supervisor each afternoon ready to be collected that night. Riverside Yard was the local marshalling yard for Exeter fulfilling the same function. Cripple wagons would be shunted out there and each day there was a local trip to Exmouth Junction Carriage and Wagon Depot taking cripples up, and bringing repaired wagons back down. 08479 trundles through Exeter St Davids on its way from Exeter Riverside to Exmouth Junction. Behind the loco is a syphon G(?) van in use as a stores van with wagon parts for the C&W depot. Behind that is a string of assorted crippled wagons, 24/7/80 cheers

20162 removes stock, including TPO vans, from the station at Derby to Etches Park carriage sidings, 16/11/82 cheers

Tactile paving at Taunton platform 5, 14/8/2013. cheers

Two pairs at Northwich Outside the shed are 20185 + 20141 and 20155 + 20153, 24/7/84 cheers

I've not many with ploughs on, but here is one:- 37040 approaches Arpley Junction from under Warrington Bank Quay Station with cement empties, would these be from Widnes Tanhouse Lane? 23/3/82 cheers

The last time I had been at Feniton was 6th March 1967, when it was known as Sidmouth Junction, I had travelled up from Exmouth on the last day of service with my dad. Originally opened as Feniton by the LSWR it had a couple of name changes before becoming Sidmouth Junction. The current station reopened on 3rd May 1971 as Feniton, these pictures were taken on 13th August 2013. I had an friendly and informative chat with the man on duty, he is now part time only, as he had been responsible for controlling the crossing gates, which are now controlled from Basingstoke. My train, the 10.26 Exeter St Davids - Waterloo, departs formed by 159010. The view looking up (east) towards Salisbury, the former down platform remains in use. Looking back down towards Exeter, the former up platform has been disused since the line was singled in June 1967. The road crossing at the Exeter end The station buildings on the former down platform The station buildings seen from the car park cheers

As I was waiting for my train at Exeter St Davids a westbound HST drew up on the opposite platform cheers

20072 and 20182 head west through Worksop, 16/9/81 cheers

Pitbull1845 mentioned the Westbury wagon repair facility, there were a number of good pictures of it in the 'EWS yards' thread in June posted by Glorious NSE, Barton Hill in Bristol also still repairs wagons, mostly bogie coal hoppers, and still has a class 08 pilot loco, a small section of that might work, cheers

From a trip to Scotland in 1983:- 20069 stands outside at Ayr Depot, 20/6/83 27021 outside in the sunshine at Haymarket, 19/6/83 cheers

47566 waits departure time at Liverpool Street, 3/10/81 cheers

Some great photos on this thread. 56123 arrives at Dagenham Dock with empty cartics, on the left is the prototype Procar 80, 27/7/84 cheers