Rugd1022

I noticed a memo about this in our Booking On Point this morning, it says that some DB staff will be transferring over to FLR.

Yes, the facelift was quite extensive with Peter Stevens taking away most of the sharp edges of the original Giugiaro design and rounding off the corners much more.

I'm working 6O51 down the West London line tomorrow morning, between North Pole and Shepards Bush now you wouldn't think there was anything of railway significance at all back in the day. The whole area would make a fantastic layout if set in the '50s, '60s or '70s.

Very nice Steve, lovely! The S2 in this ad was a test mule for the Lotus V8... Nice Thames TV clip of Tony Bastable interviewing director Lewis Gilbert in 1977 with the (utterly fabulous) S1 from 'The Spy Who Loved Me'... The shape looks just as good now is it did back in 1976... apparently six full sized Esprits were used in the film plus several models in different scales... Chicago Auto Show 1977...

Apologies for the awful scan but here's 56 006 on the Up Reception at Rugby c.2003...

Sympathy For The Devil - The Stones, brimming with newly discovered mojo...

Blackberry Way - The Move

Steam was still surprisingly very active at Nuneaton and Rugby during the diesel - electric and vice versa changes were taking place, well into 1965. Leading up to the full energising south of Nuneaton, much overtime was to be had by Rugby, Northampton and Bletchley crews when the wires were being put up, with plenty of Black 5s, 8Fs and Ivatts in use during the night and at weekends, as well as the newer and locally based EE Type 1s, Sulzer Type 2s and EE Type 4s. The odd Brush Type 2 was also used on these jobs as some Rugby men signed them. These classic Bill Wright shots from March '65 give a good idea of what the changes were like... Before he died I had a nice chat online with Bill and asked him if he took many shots at Rugby in this period, sadly he only managed a handful of shots there in March '65 while he was doing various other locations on the WCML and much further north, colour film was so expensive then that he had to pick and choose what he took. Even after the current was switched on all the way to Euston, there was still a fair amount of diesel actively under the wires om some passenger workings with EE Type 4s being used on Rugby - Northampton - Bletchley stoppers into 1967. The AM10s arrived quite early in the grand scheme of things but the EE Type 4s filled in nicely until all of the new units had been delivered and full crew training was implemented. During 1965 until June 1966 these Type 4s were also employed on fill in turns on Rugby - Market Harborough - Peterborough locals, hauling short sets of Stanier coaching stock. Rugby Midland must have been a visual feast at the time, my Dad was never much of a railway enthusiast but did tell me occasionally what it was like back then, I was just a toddler at the time.

Yes indeed - best cooked breakfast on the railway bar none available there, happy days indeed Dave! If you ordered the same thing in the Old Oak Café you'd likely as not find fag ash in it...

I have to grudgingly agree really, and I'm mighty glad that I managed to record what was there at certain times, tinged with a dose of self inflicted disappointment that I ddin't take as many photos as I should have when I actually worked there, I took my camera in to work regularly but often left it in my kit bag.

Photos c/o Nick Tozer - Paddington, 8th September 1985...

Photos c/o Anthony Middleton, the driver of the very last HST to leave Old Oak was Bob Long, he was also the driver aboard 50 041 when it overturned at Padd on 23/11/83...

Well knock me down with a feather - another of my old jalopies has popped up for sale, my last P6... https://www.carandclassic.co.uk/car/C1061834 I sold it to a very nice lady in Coleshill in late 2013 but it's found its way down to Oxfordshire and had the original all black interior replaced with a beige one, the Mountney steering wheel is till on it as are the number plates I fitted not long after I bought it.

A nylon rally jacket and flares fest while you wait...

I was listening to the sketch last week where Dud calls Pete's pals fiends, it's called 'Father & Son', with Dud as the father working down the drains all his life and Pete the foppish son, owning his own kinky boot and paisley tie boutique!

Ah yes - misnamed file in the hard drive!

I passed over Old Oak on the West London line today taking 6M51 from the Southern back up to Wembley, looking down at the Western through a haze of OLE almost brought a tear to my eye.

I used the 'like' button but in this case I wish we had a 'heaving a mournful sigh' one too...! Slowly but surely my beloved 81A is disappearing.

Photro c/o Craig Donald, an unidentified Leckie at Banbury Lane on the 'old line', a term we still use today when conversing with signalpersonages…

Thanks - hadn't noticed that when I posted it!

Photo c/o Keith Riley : 47 087 'Cyclops', 47 129 and 47 511 'Thames' in a typical line up round the 'table at Old Oak on 21st October 1979... Photo c/o Mick Barstow ; 47 460 at Arsley on the 07.55 Kings X to Bradford in December 1975...

Talking of nameplates... Cardiff Canton stores, 18th January 1979, both photos c/o Ian Walmsley...

Didn't early MGBs also have two small batteries rather than one large ('normal') sized one..? A couple of nice classic car spots on my travels at work this week - yesterday I was working 6O51 down through Kensington to Battersea, just south of Olympia is a row of well to do townhouses with underground parking, the structure of which is partially open at the back, just as I was coasting past at about 20mph I caught a glimpse of a bright orange VW 'Variant' coupe. This afternoon on the way out of Brum New Street on the stopper I looked down at the road that runs past the frontage of ye olde Curzon Street station and saw a beautiful red S2 Lotus Esprit.

Euston station, 1973...

E3153 at Euston, photo c/o Roy Soper... Approaching Stafford on the Down Fast in 1966, photo c/o Phil Marsh... On the Up Fast just south of Kings Langley station... The down side carriage shed at Euston in 1967 with E3146 and E3140 closest to the camera... The north end of Crewe station on 29th May 1966 with E3129 closest to the camera, photo c/o John Evans... Longsight Depot on 8th August 1965, photo c/o Bill Wright...