montyburns56

Bridgwater certainly has an interesting, if empty looking yard.

It's funny that you should mention the Metro as I've been trying to find out info about the Swalwell Branch?? that used to be connected to what I think is now part of the Metro line as I was looking at a picture of scrap metal train being propelled down it in 1986.

There's actually a thread for it showing the delightfully ramshackle yard.

Do you mean this?

I've found some half decent pictures of Barnstaple including a nice one with a mixed passenger/Parcel train complete with a CCT in the centre road.

Mentioning Speedlink has reminded me that there is a great picture of Gathurst in Freight Only Vol 1 Northern England which says that in 1985 it was tripped by 7T71.

I think it might have been a Plan Of The Month article as I do remember it and I think it actually had a picture of the Whitby coal staithes still in use back then.

Nah, they're in the bigger one up the road.

Apart from the one still buried in the tunnel......

I love that prefab staff building. Was it scratch built?

I wasn't aware of the station until you mentioned it, but this picture shows the loader right next to the station which makes it very modellable. Also East Kilbride is what inspired my original thread as I believe that it still had a coal yard next to the station until the 80s. Clayton West although it was a coal mine connection that was still in use rather than the goods yard itself.

I started a thread on the railforums website about small stations that still retained their goods yard post-Beeching and it turned up some really inspirational pictures of quaint goods yards, so I thought I'd start a thread on the topic to see if anyone knows of other pictures of these yards in the 70s-90s. Dufftown 25233 05 February 1979 by Woolwinder, on Flickr Dufftown goods yard by Ian Cowieson, on Flickr 1982-03-17 Skelmanthorpe station from E51497 by John Carter, on Flickr Skelmanthorpe station. 31.12.82 by Roger Joanes, on Flickr Hexham Station by Thomas, on Flickr Gathurst complete with a narrow gauge interchange! Also Lapford station would make a perfect model as it even has a scenic break at each end. Melton Mowbray 1987

It looks they've arrived as Rails now have them in stock.

I think that's for people who want to replace their Lima version.....

Rails have further reduced the price of their O Gauge Class 128 DPU and now some of them are only £245. I don't model in that scale, but even I'm tempted at that price! https://railsofsheffield.com/search/bargains?Personalise=false&searchTerm=&Category=Class+128&Gauge=O+Gauge&SortMethod=ProductCodeAscending&PageSize=24

Funnily enough I asked the same question in this thread. Apparently the Motorail markings were only on the ends of the coaches.

I've noticed that 374-164A BR MK1 FK Motorail has been released, but does anyone know why Bachmann have labelled it as Motorail as it doesn't seem to have any special markings that show that it was used for such workings.

Is there any news about this as it has gone very quiet.

There's also one in the depot at Warrington Arpley, or there was a few years ago.

I've noticed that the release dates have been updated again and now it seems that the MK2Fs have slipped to Jan 2020. So that's now almost seven years since they were first announced.

Perhaps Colas should change their name to Black As Colas judging by the state of some of those 70s!

I'm guessing that it's a NCX or NEX and it seems to have Commonwealth bogies which narrows it down, although I've never seen one that wasn't in full Royal Mail livery.

Yep, a huge chunk of the line from Sheffield to Latchford has been lifted. Another victim of the coal mine closures. I photographed what remains of Arpley Yard at about the same time and like you said it did seem to be mostly used for wagon storage. Although I did manage to spot an old Minilink container in the yard! Apparently there were plans to provide a direct link from the Fiddler's Ferry line to the Arpley Yard so that trains would avoid having to reverse on the remains of the line Latchford route, but Network Rail couldn't justify the cost.

I was thinking more about the freight from Garston and Halewood.

A couple of years I explored the area around the former Tanhouse Lane sidings and the closed Widnes Loop and I didn't seen a single train in the four hours that I was there, so I suspect that there will be next to zero traffic from now on. I doubt that the line will be closed though, as I should imagine it could be useful as a diversionary route if there's ever any problems with the Runcorn bridge over the Mersey.