Simon Lee

8 hours ago, Vistisen said:

Now three months later it is still very hard to find Peco Streamline points for a shop that posts to Denmark at a reasonable price. There has been no news updaytes on the peco website since  the 1st May. Does anyone have information about their production plans?

Try

www.modelbahnunion.de

I was in a similar position, but they have just become Peco stockists and have had a big delivery.

Order delivered to me near Bonn 24 hrs after ordering.

HTH

1 hour ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I can't remember which year it was that we used this service (mid/late 60s). I do remember how cold and uncomfortable it was waiting for HMCE to do their thing on a platform with no covered facilities (or very minimal).

Sounds like the quayside at Dover Marine, once the train arrived in the main station, the under bond vans were shunted onto the quayside roads, which incidently were referred to as platforms 1 and 2, hence the platforms under the train shed commencing at platform 3. There was, as you mention minimal cover, though in later years there was very little inside due to the state of the roof.

5 minutes ago, Joseph_Pestell said:

 

I don't think that it was unsealed until it got to Victoria.

The outbound was sealed at Vic and undone at DWD and the inbound vice versa

On 01/05/2020 at 16:17, Joseph_Pestell said:

It would have needed a van for all the luggage that cleared customs at Victoria.

The Arrow van would have been a GUV or 4 wheel CCT/PMV (S)  or similar as once cleared Customs the van would be sealed and no access allowed until opened at Dover in the prescence of a member of HMCE 

32 minutes ago, russ p said:

When I first started on the railway a few of the old hand guards used to go on about a concrete bodied van. I have never seen anything about this or these.

Did such a thing actually exist? 

Yes, it was not a popular piece of kit

Always found the shop very well laid out and the staff very helpful and knowledgable. Unfortunately they are unable to off postage to Europe or I could put a few £ their way.  

Donated from Germany, still have family and friends who use the NHS, and they saved my sons life 10 years ago.

2 hours ago, Trev52A said:

I have never seen anything to suggest oil-firing on this loco was used on the KWVR (perhaps I will shortly!) so I have always assumed it was normal coal-fired. And thanks for the kind comment!

As a matter of interest, can someone say where the current tender came from? Is it the original which has been much altered?

 

Trevor

Believe the chassis came from the Hoogovens steel works at Ijmuiden in the Netherlands. Was used as an ingot carrier and originated from one of the NS owned Austerities. 

The body was built by apprentices at Corus Scunthorpe.

23 hours ago, 62613 said:

I take it, in the first one, the tanker was laid up?

 

Yes Tantalus owned by Blue Funnel an OBO carrier laid up 1982 - 1984, sold then damaged in the Iran - Iraq war and broken up in China 1986.

Photo taken around 1984/85 by Nigel Turner a Dover driver. Ferry shown is the St Eloi, which was allocated TOPS number 99013.

Worked in that yard from 1981, some of the best times of my railway career, a privilege to work on a unique operation and with some of the finest railwaymen l have known.

Four subscribers they have stated that they will extend subs to cover the missing issues. 

Handy as my TR Europe subs have just been taken.

When the Channel Tunnel first opened, one of the SNCF Calais drivers who worked through had started his career at Amiens around 1966, mainly on 141Rs. 

He was a great guy and a bit of a comedianand  would sometimes appear with a pair of goggles usually over a beret or a baseball cap. One of the T&RS supervisors eventually arranged a suitable railwayana swop and became the owner of the goggles. 

Sad to hear this, I was only an occasional customer, usually mail order or exhibitions, but always found them helpful and knowledgeable

RIP

1 hour ago, russ p said:

Who was the driver Boris?

The DB man was Mark Wetherell. Owt down the Esk Valley seems to have his name on it.

Legs out of bed on a 60 are quite impressive and costly. The Deltics are the most famous for it, a former colleague of a portly build hated tending the boiler on 55s. It was a struggle for him to get past the PU to the boiler,  one train he had to check the boiler, the driver shut off to give him a modicum of peace to pass the PU, Paul just got into the boiler area when his mate opened up again and out came a piston from the cylinders bank closest to him. 30 seconds earlier it would have taken him out. He positively hated 55s after that.

Thanks for taking the time to photo and then post on here.  

If you draw a blank, Silver Fox do a conversion kit which might be worth a look.

13 minutes ago, Nick G said:

I believe this symbol is to line the wagon up with a mark on the floor so the wagon is in the correct position under the crane? Is this correct and if so what year were these marks applied? is it cl what does CL stand for?

 

 

Yes that's correct, there was a similar line on the road flask transporter, both had to line up with a painted line on the ground. 

CL is centre line, it was a struggle for some guards to get the wagon lined up, especially if the driver was using the straight air brake and there was some slack in the coupling.

I used to deal with the flask traffic at Lydd  / Dungeness along with Ernie Puddick "Bigbee Line" and the most anxious bit of the day was to see who the guard was and how long you would be waiting to get the flask off loaded or loaded.

25 minutes ago, s182ggu said:

Hi Boris

 

Pete55 kindly referred me above to the NYMR Unofficial Forum where I can see that there are updates being added.

 

However I, for one, would very much appreciate any news, pics and local chit-chat on here, if you would be good enough to keep us up to date - the news would of course be greatly enhanced by your local knowledge and style(!).

 

Thanks for the offer and I hope that others will take you up on it!

I would be very interested as well.

7 minutes ago, Pandora said:

If the nicotine contaminated item can withstand being cleaned by washing or soaking it may be restored,  but what can be done to a book?  Books never seem to lose their stench of tobacco and nicotine?

A work colleague got a collection of books from an old heavy smoker, we found that opening the books up and  laying them outside in the garden on a sunny day did the trick we used a garden umbrella to shade them. 

The pages obviously remained yellowed but the smell went after a few hours.

Pointless trivia New Years day did not become a public holiday in England until 1974.

Come to Germany, majority of shops closed from 2pm Christmas Eve will not reopen until 0900 27th.

Shops closed Sundays apart from ones at Stations Airports etc. Far more civilised way of life than the frantic life in the UK. Locals cant understand why anyone needs to buy a sofa a car, or clothes in Boxing day.

I was in a model shop in Köln just before Christmas, the owner mentioned he would be closing for lunch in 20 mins l was still browsing at 1.00, so off to the local bar, and back at 2.00 spent a bit more than intended after a couple of beers.

2 hours ago, DY444 said:

 

And Sandling tunnel roof and station footbridge were available to provide the same function for pantographs

Yes and its enlightening when you see a pan close up on the floor just how big they are. 

IIRC the first to leave his pan behind was a Belgium.

38 years ago tonight…………………..

The static silence and the desperation in the Coastguards voice still makes my blood run cold.