highpeakman

Tried that, but Thanks.

I have a Heljan Class 17 (1st series - 17001). I have been running it with a 8 pin decoder that I have previously fitted. I am about to sell the loco so have removed the decoder (but I did test it immediately before removing the chip and all was fine). I fitted an 8 pin blanking plug (which I assumed are generic?). However the loco motor will not run on DC in either direction. Curiously the lights on the loco work correctly (red and white change correctly with direction) so DC is present. I have a number of blanking plugs which have been removed from locos of various makes when I have fitted chips to them. I have tried several different blanking plugs but with the same result. Another DC loco runs perfectly on the test track so no problem there. I put the chip back in and everything is fine again but removing it produces the same result. I am sure I am doing something obviously wrong which I can't see for looking, so if someone can point me in the right direction please? (I did exactly the same with another loco yesterday and it worked just fine afterwards).

They use GPS to find their way around. Wouldn't work at all without it.

I had looked but it was a while back. I had been looking more for details of whether there were junction changes to the Chinley/Tunstead - Peak Forest line which has now been explained in more detail above. Thanks for the info and pictures.

Found this today amongst my old negs. Can anyone please confirm the location? 75057 was originally a Leicester engine but moved to Derby in 1962. It moved on to Springs Branch in 1963 and finished it's life at Skipton in 1966. It's my photo but I just cannot remember taking it. I think it must almost certainly be Derby as that's the most likely place I would have visited but it might just have been visiting another shed I have forgotten about. Confirmation would be good. Thank you.

Thank you for that. I have just realised that I may have caused some confusion as when I mentioned Hindlow I should have said Tunstead. Sorry, attention had wandered. However you have provided a clear explanation for everything I wanted to know. Although, especially if a temporary crossover was laid, it still leaves me with my original puzzle of why it wasn't made a permanent connection. Thanks for your help and information.

Thanks for the explanation. OK, so, mostly, the Dowlow trains go out via Chinley? I guess that explains the reversal at Buxton. I had assumed that they went straight out over the junction and off through Dove Holes and had thought it was the Hindlow trains that reversed to get access to the Dove Holes route. I do understand that can be a difficult route for freight with steep gradients plus, as you say at Stockport. I was also aware that most trains from Hindlow went out via Chinley but have seen trains from Hindlow going into Buxton and they presumably, under the original track layout, had to enter the sidings before they reversed back and then left to Dove Holes or would they just be making use of sidings for storage? Even with this explanation would it not be possible to create a junction at Buxton so that Hindlow trains go out to Dove Holes without entering the sidings and reversing? Even if not used that much it would seem a logical "back up" solution to any problems on the Chinley route which I think have occurred in the past? Presumably too expensive to justify the cost - cheaper to shunt? Perhaps I have missed something in the new siding design. Pic: Class 60 at Topley Pike (2016). Hindlow to Buxton.

I have been reading for some time about the new extended sidings being created at Buxton. I understand they are for use by trains from Peak Dale. I know that before this trains would have to enter the existing sidings and then reverse back towards the station to get access to the line out to Dove Holes. Trains from Dowlow could access the Dove Holes line directly without this reversal. My first question, and I am clearly missing something obvious, is with all that work, why the line from Peak Dale is not rebuilt to have a direct junction to join the Dove Holes line? Perhaps I am wrong? Is it a track levels issue, although it can't be that different surely as it makes the junction when reversing back towards the station? The new sidings are quite extensive in length to accommodate longer trains I am told and allow a run round so the locos can reverse the trains but that puzzles me as the existing arrangement has worked for a long time and surely longer trains makes the problem of reversal worse? With a junction there would be no need for reversal anyway. I am not familiar with the detailed Buxton geography and I realise I am missing information/ local operation details here. It just puzzles me and i would appreciate it if someone throw some knowledge and light please. Thanks.

Thanks. I understand the cost issue of facing but wasn't sure if any additional strengthening/bracing would be required.

I'm showing my ignorance of construction by asking this but is the vertical sheet piling on the slope down going to be faced with anything or just left as it is?

OK. I see what you are getting at. So for a wagon travelling normally and going to the right into the sidings then both the control at the top of the incline and control at the bottom have to "agree" that all is OK by setting their respective levers otherwise the wagon would go into the catch trap. If either think there is a problem they can direct the wagon into the trap. That does make sense. So two people need to make a decision about a runaway? Would that be a bit of over control especially during that era when safety wasn't such a priority? If you realise that the Cromford and High Peak relied on just one man watching for runaways to direct them into the catch pit. Also I guess the "second" control need not be at the top of the incline but could be just behind the photographer. The item also showed this photo of the incline and it looks quite steep and long - difficult to see if there is any control link running beside the track. I must admit the photo track looks a bit narrow gauge, but that might be just the angle of the photo, so I am not entirely sure if it the same era or even incline?

Apologies if this has been raised before but I couldn't find it. This picture appeared on Facebook today and the shot shows the bottom of the incline leading to Mapperley Brickworks in Nottingham. To the left seems to be a catch pit as might be expected at the bottom of the incline but I can't understand why there appears to be two separate routes to it. What is the purpose of that little loop arrangement?

We have the same problem here. It seems to me that news gathering for these "papers" is based in a centralised office covering several significant towns in an area although they publish on line as if they are replacements for the old local newspapers. I don't think there are actually any proper journalists employed at all (and no photographers based on the number of "library" photos used) who actually go out and visit sites or interview people but they just use people in the office to gather "local" news from Twitter, Facebook and wherever they can and type in to the system. There is probably not enough time for checking facts and using good English and probably not enough money to pay for quality writers. I have found articles published in my "local" newspaper that cover a town many miles away but run by the same organisation so probably just a "clip" that they happened to dump in the wrong box. One thing that does annoy me is that nearly all headlines will say something like "In a Lincolnshire Village............" and you have to open the article and read some way down before you find out which village is the subject. In the old days that name would be in the headline so you could quickly see which articles to read. Now it is all about getting the reader to open and read down so that more adverts can be stuffed in. I miss my old local rags. Sorry for going OT. I am really enjoying the pictures and commentaries so Thank you all for providing the information and going out to get the pictures, etc.

Don't be. It just means I'm getting old!

Like many of my era I have watched both steam and diesel trains travel over it and then, later, both walked beneath it and walked over it. I have enjoyed all of that but treasure the memory of watching a Jubilee or Scot hauling an express over it.

Just a question: When such sites are demolished, do they use the existing railway lines to take away the spoil and scrap? It does appear to be an obvious thing to do but I am probably being a bit simple minded about that.

Times, they are a changing! A fast disappearing scene. Cottam Power Station. Closed September 2019. Due for demolition next year. Pictures taken just 4 days ago.

Happy Birthday Dave. Like everyone else I would like to say Thank you for all of the pictures. They are still a source of daily enjoyment to someone who is just a tad older. Thanks.

Want not, waste not!

That's it! Thank you. And to every else who contributed comments and confirmation.

I have an old BR Brochure about modernisation of the railways issued in 1959 but I have always been curious as to where the photograph on the front cover was taken. Can anyone identify the station shown please? I suspect that it will be an easy question for many people who are familiar with something that I am not, but what I suspect is, the West Coast route possibly not too far from London? Thanks in advance.

If you look at the stop blocks I think you will see that they are hinged independently and can be moved clear and used for whichever way is wanted.

Great pictures. Thanks. From one who remembers it actually working.

I hope that you can be persuaded to change your mind please. There are many people who have very much enjoyed your pictures and posts which I am sure considerably outweigh any negative comments.

Curious that they seem to have dug out the platform under the awning at the end of the bay compared to the earlier photo (between the platform and the wall). Presumably to do with start of demolishing(?) but just seems an odd way to start - if that is what was happening. (Compare to picture with cl 25)