StaffsOatcake

Having said that. I've jsut looked through times in the big mystical box and sure enough there is a 70 from Midland road to Brush

Not sure why brush would be needed to do this. As with a 45 tonne road crane you can lift the engine and alternator set. without paying Brush the expense of hiring a workshop for the use of an overhead crane. But guess only time will tell. anyway 70008 was on the 4L92 Ditton Felixstowe so should worked the 4M45 Felixstowe-Ditton tomorrow 70011 worked the 6M55 Portbury-Rugeley and 4V57 return today

Missed the incident at Chester where the green sixty went up in smoke? 60081 after engine room fire Including the vast array of cables that became one in the heat of the fire as the insulation melted ?? metal piping that's buckled and twisted the flammable stuff has gone.

We needs a silencer failure on one of these loco;s I saw 70008 this morning and it was giving it some aggro as it moved off with 4M45. so I wonder what it would be like without a silencer fitted

May be it should be named the end of what ever. I see they have advertised 12 90;s for salem and also the last 37/4;s are also on the tender list but no Tugs. Despite one or two just being nothing but gutted or burnt out shells

Taking that idea and replace the EE lump with a Ruston-Paxman lump (which are similar in so many ways) That would make a class 56.

If 70013 is destined for Poland it will unlikely to be numbered 70013. It will more likely carry the european numbering system than a uk TOPS system number

Its to do with the buffing gear. The sheds were designed to have swing-head buckeye couplers as standard and were be able to be marshalled into trains, where as the Betty's are fitted for the Shackle coupling and buffers which are not compatible with any US system

I had one complete and which ran faultlessly for about an hour and then you had to let it cool down/ . and about 3 others in various states of knackeredness.

Its assume you mean the BRCW LIon and not the kettle thingy that was used as the titfleid thunderbolt. In which case It may be a 33 piloting Lion but as all came out of the works a Smethwick it's not an impossibility In one one books on the 27's there is a shot of a 27 coming off thebottom Lickey bank with a local service from Brum. ,

Slightly off topic but And over at the FR work continues on the portmadoc bypass. These photos taken at Minffordd on a recent trip show preparation work ready for the installation of a new bridge below the FR. This will mean that the FR will be severed for a few weeks whilst the bridge is installed. Also a couple of shots of Merrdin Emrys on the service train Enjoy

This can all be done 'in house' as there is huge amount of 'big and little railway' expertise in all areas of planning and installations already involved with various projects on the FR, and maybe, just maybe, they can be persuaded to take a look at the 'Darkside' ie the WHR. I'm also led to belief that the relationship between the FR/WHR and the 64 crew is about to become a little less frosty. Mind what I can say is that It cost around £100 a time in either direction to take a train over the WHR over the Cambrian line so that's that's at 200 quid for every though train that goes to Harbour station and then heads back along the WHR. So interesting times ahead

End of the Tugs. There are currently 20 in active service at the moment. That's more than there has been for a good while.

My faulty 17's were with Hattons for less than a week, they should have been back before now. And there is a big difference in performance on their return

The 60's are in still in service. Many were put into 'warm store'(stored serviceable) pending a possible re-instatement if there is a sudden need for more loco's. The storage of loco's is due to a general a downturn in traffic not just one steel plant.

The ones used from Oakamoor to Port Sunlight carried industrial fine grade sand/powder (referred to as flour) for use in cleaning product such as Vim and various other products

In my limited experience the bar doesn't stand proud, it goes up and over, and if the bar isn't down you haven't been able to get any signals off. as the bolt passes through the FPL stretcher bar and moves the sliderods that clears the path for the detector slides on the signal wires and so allowing the route to be cleared for the train to advance/set back.

In many places where they have concrete sleepers under the pway through points the back drives are been fitted in the four foot as the sleepers have a series of cast holes in them so when installing them you do spent hours destroying the sleeper ends

It's a god knows what contraption designed and built in Swindon and fitted only by the GWR??

I'll have to go down to get a picture of the actual bar so you can see it all. I'm trying to find the images of the sidings at Leek Brook which were at one time fitted with a fouling bar connected to a fpl and a yellow disk signal.

It wasn't one of the things that i took much notice off till later on in life. and by the time I was working with these things the ones at Leek Brook had been removed by my now good friend and mentor. The lines straight on go the Cheddleton and The first image shows the set up at Chedleton again you can't see the bar as it was on the near rail (bolts can be seen) and you can see the drive rod in the distance and the fpl drive at the front. This bar was used to stop the signalman/shunter throwing the points under the train when it was been shunted into the yard. I know you're going to tell me these are locking bars but in my part of the world they are referred to as fouling bars

Not the worlds best image and you can just about make out the fouling/drive bars, fpl etc. I have highlighted the drive end and the bolt fpl end. In order for the fpl to be moved the fouling/locking bar bar had to move up and over past the rail head.

Hate to differ but the FPL at the current Cheddleton station on the CVR and those at Leek Brook Junction were driven from the fouling bars. This was a common practice on the old North Staffs Systems hence my comment about locking bars and fouling bars.

Not all the pot banks in the potteries made bone china, most made other forms of clay based products. Most (if not all )of the china clay that came to Stoke actually went to a yard not far from the current Emrys (Englsih China Clay) site at Trent Vale (Cockshute) and was unloaded there for onward transport via road to the various pot banks. the sidings at the potbanks were usually used for loading wares and unloading coal

locking bars may also be called fouling bars in some areas. The ones I installed were use to ensure that both the main route was bolted normal for passenger operation and that when shunting the train had gone past the points far enough to allow them to be safely thrown.