'CHARD

It took me a second or two to figure out that 'he went on E*' wasn't something that D&A testing was invented for!

18 hours ago, Wheatley said:

The franchising model has decided the rate of pay for drivers, based largely on it being cheaper for the more profitable TOCs to poach trained drivers from the subsidised ones rather than carry the costs of training their own... 

The door to the Central Trains staff room, off Birmingham Snow Hill station concourse, sported an improvised, sardonic sign for quite a while in the noughties which read 'Virgin West Coast Training Suite,' for the very reasons you've mentioned.

D59 was a recipient of single piece central headcodes within this time frame as well. 

2 hours ago, black and decker boy said:

Spent a lot of time dumped at Healey Mills in the 1990s

I'm sorry to hear that old chum. But you were too good for her anyway. 

Oh dear, Heljan have even printed the headcode back to front. Doh!

21 minutes ago, farren said:

lol yes, guess I should have rechecked again. 

Comedy Gold my friend!

Glad you're enjoying these lovely locos!

On 21/03/2024 at 11:48, farren said:

 Yeah I’m impressed all over again the livery is out-siding. 

 

Good job really, because if they'd applied the livery inside the loco you'd be less likely to see it.

Yes these tanks were for depot supplies, possibly the premises themselves were oil heated too.  I don't have adequate local knowledge, but certainly loco fuel was tripped in by rail. 

Out of interest, can anyone confirm my supposition that the tanks were brought in the long way round via Peak Forest, only I can't imagine a trip down the DMU route as late as 1990. I'd love to be proved wrong!

Wow! Three years of dormancy caused me to catch up with a slew of old posts, one including the unfortunately apt Freudian Severn Valley typo Hampton Load (sic).

On 14/03/2024 at 17:13, Peak said:

Can I build the same layout as someone else? 

Can you, or may you?

I am resisting the urge to type Comedy GOLD. 

Oh, I failed.

8 hours ago, Wheatley said:

.... either dog food ...

Vans of PAL by any chance? 

I thought I'd heard this, but now it seems like it could have been a wind-up!

My Parkside pair are already poised on Bachmann van chassis (for consistency of operation all my vans are shod thus), but this is a welcome announcement and I look forward to adding a couple to the fleet when they are released.

Heljan hasn't manufactured enough 47555s.

The Waverley effectively ran as a portion of the Thames - Clyde during the winter T/T.

In the last year of operation the set was formed BSK - SK - CK - BSK with the latter two coaches running through from St Pancras and the first pair attached at Carlisle. On TWFO a PMV worked through from Burton to Elgin as tail traffic, this was substituted by a GUV on MTHO.

In 1968 the service operated until 8th June and from 30th September, as the 17 00 ex-Carlisle. Due to the timings and subsequent encroaching dusk, photos of this working are generally confined to Carlisle, Stainton crossing and Newcastleton.  They show a dominance of high numbered Class 46s, Holbeck Class 45s and the occasional Brush Type 4 

Footnote:

Although I can't prove it at the moment, this probably meant the BSK and SK that shuttled between Carlisle and Edinburgh were SC prefixed vehicles and the other two were M. 

Are we talking about the flat wagon, the type of container or the corporate livery?

5 hours ago, Marshall5 said:

In the list of initial allocations none were allocated to Carlisle. The nearest would be 45047 at Lancaster (still there in 1961) or 45020 in Glasgow. The latter was still in use in 1987 as the Sc.Region GM's saloon so hadn't strayed far. Hope this helps.

Ray.

That's very helpful! Both are viable contenders, thank you!

15 hours ago, Covkid said:

 

 

 

No.  The LMS saloons were numbered M450xx by the LMS, then BR added a "D" to the number.  Example - the Walsall area saloon was M45026, which became DM45026 in BR numbering.  

These days the saloons would be listed in one of the spotters' books, but I wonder if we could establish whether Carlisle had an ex-LMS example back in the late sixties, and its identity....?

51 minutes ago, Halvarras said:

I don't recall the summer of '75 being that hot 'Chard (I got a bit damp at the Reading Festival that August!), it was better than 1974 but 1976 was.......well, legendary, for chasing Westerns too! Is that the one you're thinking of?

LOL - no, I was thinking of the often overlooked summer of '75.  I cribbed this detail from a weather page....

'There were 8 consecutive days over 30C from 2nd-9th August which was preceded by 4 days from 28th-31st July and then followed by another 4 from 11th-14th August. The highest temperature of the month was 34.2C at Heathrow on the 8th. A weak cold front moved east on the 14th; temperatures reached 30C that day in London.'

So not as pronounced as '76 but incredible nonetheless!

Somewhere I read recently that this loco had received FYE over its tired early XP64 blue, and before its standard blue repaint. 

The photo at Oxley in 1967 would have coincided with the mass applications of FYE over green, and to that extent the picture is inconclusive. 

Personally I very much doubt that D1733 wore XP64 blue, unbranded, with FYE, and in the absence of photographic evidence I will assume it ran in its 1967 condition throughout 1968 too. It went standard blue in December 1969.

Unless anyone else has found more pics we've not seen.....

1 hour ago, EddieK said:

Recently I blundered into this image of 47152 in two tone green with TOPS numbers and still with three piece fixed grilles.

 

 

The image is dated late April 1975 - how long did this lici last in this condition?

19th August 1975 it's reported as having gone blue, presumably a works release date back to traffic, so it probably lasted in service in green into the hot summer!

9 hours ago, Roy Langridge said:

Shame the 31s were D5500-5699 and D5800-D5862 then 😉

 

Roy

Of course they were! How could I forget the MetroVicks? 

On 27/02/2024 at 17:04, zr2498 said:

Any photos of D5799 for us to look at - please

 

Yes please, I love a Class 31, me.

14 minutes ago, Pmorgancym said:

So how come everything TT120 is crammed onto one post?  Why are there not separate topics for each release, as you see for the rest of the Hornby range?

Sorry, it made my eyes hurt.

1 hour ago, phil-b259 said:

 

I really don't see how a brakeman being sat at the end of a siding for decades can be counted as a 'celebrity' 

 

A brakeman would definitely attain celebrity status if he had sat at the end of a siding for decades! 

He'd probably attain piles as well.