Swindon 123

Another reason for leaving a shunter running in a yard was to keep the air up, if you needed to do a quick shunt, but you had shut a loco down and the air leaked away, you had to wait to build it back up again before you could move it. Paul J.

Some nice shots there Steve. look forward to seeing some more. Paul J.

At least on 3 car Class 119 set received all over blue livery. See link below to Rail Photoprints. https://railphotoprints.uk/p722090381/h2f873b5f#h2f873b5f I have one photo oshowing the use of a bubble car as a strengthener on the Crewe-Cardiffs, taken at Hereford on 31st December 1973. W55029 at Hereford by Paul James, on Flickr Paul J.

From a lot further back, the distant would have been a lot easier to see. That was more important to a driver when spotting a distant signal. I knew a few places where I wanted to know if the Distant was on or off long before I got to it, on accout of the stopping distance being a bit tight for some types of trains at speed. Stopped at a station in the photo and spotting the distant was not important, as you would have a slow start away, and not be up to much speed before you reached the 1st home signal the distant was acting for. I would be more worried on the encroachment of the trees to the left of shot, especially when they had leaves on. Paul J.

The view from the footplate is most probably not as bad as it looks in the photo. I came across much worse during my time as a driver. Strong backlightinh behind a semaphore was the worse, especially at night, as you jusst couldn't see them against any intense lighting behind them. Obstructions in front of a signal didn't pose a great problem, as then could usually be sighted at some point on the approach. if the distant/previous signal was on, you just approached slowly until you got a clear sight of the signal. Spottinh semaphore signals against a cluttered background was all part of route learning, and some of the ruses to get yourself to look at the right spot in the distance, where quite imaginative. Paul J.

Having spent last Saturday spotting on Hornsey Broadway station,I was lucky to catch 9002 heading north past Hornsey Midland Junction, from the top deck of my bus home. More photos from the day can be found here. http://www.emgauge70s.co.uk/model_omwb146.html Paul J.

Hereford has colour lights for the main aspects, but the shunt signals are a random mix of GPL's and ground disks. Gobowen went a stage further, and had a mix of colour lights and semaphore signals, for both main aspect/signals and shunt moves. Also although signalled from an old fashioned box, access to the old Oswestry branch was controlled by a power ground frame, the only one I ever came across in my railway career. When it came to signalling, I found that sometimes, resignalling at a location could be very haphazard, and depended on local circumstances sometimes, unless it was part of a much larger scheme. Paul J.

Just to correct the record, the 25 in the first photo is actually a 24. I would surmise not a class of loco usually seen over that route. Maybe the only loco available to go and rescue. It's a lovely photo all the same, with lots of misc detail to get the modelling juices flowing. Thank you for sharing David. Paul J.

More nice photos from you David. Thank you for posting them. We used to get 46's out of "The Cross" until late 81,. the last one I have in my diary on a mainline job, was 46049 on the 19.40 hrs from Kings Cross, as far as Doncaster. Used to appear a lot on the overnight trains,and sometimes the 17.12 hrs, Kings Cross-Grantham, until it got cut back to Peterborough. I remember going out to FP to pick up the loco for the 17.12, and the driver wasn't happy to be given a 46, so he promptly failed it and pursauded the FP foreman to give him a Deltic instead, fully in the knowlage that it would be required back at KX for a night service. KX-Grantham and return was mileage, so extra payment, and getting back quicker. Paul J.

It was in DaveF's marathon photo topic, and the shots can be found here. http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/85326-dave-fs-photos-ongoing-more-added-18th-july/?p=2730746 Paul J.

Also the case in this view of 25117, i had the pleasure of working on. The number underneath was not 25117, and there was even traces of a pre-TOPS number. 25117 [uN--021. (A682A)] by Paul James, on Flickr Paul J.

David, photo J6397 is not a Class 118, the seat backs are too high and the top of the headcode box is the wrong shape. Being its a Marylebone service, it will be a Class 115. Paul J.

Bill does Wayne. He owns nearly all the stock that runs on the layout. My tiny contribution is Dapol 08083, and an Ixion fowler 0-4-0DM. Paul J.

Sorry Wayne, as the stock used at exhibitions is predominently pre 1980 short wheelbase, I haven't got any. Paul J.

As Bill had eluded to in his post 65 above, Exeter was a very enjoyable exhibition, with the layout performing the best it ever has, helped in some part by the new control panels, which resulted in smooth and efficient operation of the layout, hopefully resulting in a better viewing experience for the watching public. The weather did cause some problems, especially the strong sunlight on the Saturday, which meandered across the layout with the passage of the sun, as it shon through various skylights,during the day. This caused havoc with some of the track, and at one point it became impossible to run through one point, that had been operational 10 minutes before. 10 minutes later when the sun had passed, the point returned to normal. This strong sunlight also caused some problems when it came to taking photos, as will be see in the first photo below, so I didn't take many photos on the Saturday. The Sunday proved to be the opposite, with some nice light to take photos in, mainly due to the overcast weather. It was raining stair-rods from around 10.00 to 13.30. Below are some of the photos I took, inbetween bouts of operating. This first photo shows the major problem with the contrasting strong sunlight and shade encountered on the Saturday. When the light was right, it was possible to get a nice shot. In this case of the Dudley Tunnel end of the layout. The rest of the photos below, were taken on the Sunday. A very enjoyable weekend operating and I'm now looking forward to the next outing. But first a few tweaks to the control panels need to be sorted out. Paul J.

Another odd pairing, although not as a loco pairing, was D2328 which had a wheel swap with D2209 in NCB days, when the latter was withdrawn for spares, so ran on 3'3" wheels at the end of its life, instead of 3'7" ones. D2328. [JC6-190] by Paul James, on Flickr Paul J.

The listed different wheel dia's, from my varoius BR driver books. D2200-D2214, had 3'3" wheels. D2215-D2273, 3'6" wheels. D2274-D2340, 3'7" wheels. D2341 isn't listed, but i believe they were 3'6'', but this needs confirming. Paul J.

Yes russ p, still has its air throttle, in fact all its multi working pipework is in place, except for a couple of plastic pipes that were split and we removed/blanked off. Can be a bit of a pain when you want to build up air quickly, as you need air to build the air up! Otherwise it is very light and responsive on the throttle. You can fine adjust it a little as there is an adjuster screw on the base of the air valve attached to the throttle, with which you can adjust the idle speed of the engine. I own D2302, but that has a cable throttle, which is a bit of a , but it needs to be looked at, and probably replaced with a new one. One more job for its upcoming overhaul! Paul J.

There are a couple of nice photos of D2052+D2053, mutied up in Blue livery in the sidings at Slksworth, and a side shot on Sunderland shed in the newish, "First Generation Eastern & North Eastern Region Diesels in colour" by Book Law. They are most probably the two in the photo in the link in br2975's post 29. (http://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/topic/66882-class-04-shunters-in-action-br-blue/?p=3214261). There is also a colour photo in the same book a few pages later, of D2205 in Green with wasp stripes & yellow buffer beam, but with BR Double arrow logos on the cabside, at Newburn Jcn, September 1967, proving you have to be careful sometimes when looking at B&W photos. Paul J.

I have one distant shot of it on my Flickr site, but here's the original in the flesh. Paul J.

The BP& GV locos had a slight difference as far as I can tell. The drawings you have, and sent me, show there being an electrical connection as well as the air lines, which used to indicate low oil pressure on the trailing loco, by utilising the 2nd low oil pressure light on the leading loco. I have not been able to trace such a mod on 03145, although it might have been removed in later overhauls. Air pipes connected the locos and operated the throttle, 5 gears, forward/reverse, DSD, forward and reverse sanders, main air. The main alteration compared to unmod 03's was that the throttle had to be converted from cable control to air control. We still have the multi-working gear fitted on 03145, and are waiting for the oportunity to multi it up with another of its kind, or even an 04, D2272 still exists, one day. Below is a photo showing under the desk of 03145, with all the extra air pipework, it is the unpainted plastic pipe weaving its way around the other pipework, required for the multi working. Paul J.

I have a photo in my collection showing D2204 paired cab to cab with D2271, the usual multi working set up, at Bradford Hammerton Street in the late 60's, so it probably was, although how successful such a pairing would be with the different wheel sizes would be interesting to know? Paul J. Edited. Porcy Main now has the same photo in his post above.

I stand corrected. I should have realised they could have got up there, as Gateshead had multi fitted D2230+D2232 on its books. Paul J.

No, multi fitted 03's were used on the Silksworth Branch. D2052+D2053 & D2071+D2074 being so fitted. They seemed to keep that pairing until the end of traffic on the branch. Paul J.

As it getting close to the date, I thought I'd bump this up a bit as Blowers Green is going to be in attendence at the Exe MRS show, Saturday 30th June & Sunday 1st July 2018, at the Matford Centre, Exeter, It's farthest west showing to date. Blowers Green, looking from over Dudley Tunnel. 37029 on short steel service. Blowers Green, station end. (although the station building that will go on the road bridge hasn't been built yet)! 08083 pauses for breath. Looking forward to the show, especially with the new control panels in place. Paul J. Edited to add the date.