Hesperus

Not a lot of new information but all in one place. https://hawkinsrails.net/industrials/crs/crs.htm

There's a posters download on here which I think has some 80s ones but I can't open the file on my phone. http://www.wordsworthmodelrailway.co.uk/railside.html

I realise that the tunnelling would be expensive but it's hardly crossrail. Serving the centre of those housing estates with rail is going to be tricky whichever type you choose. But it's only a matter of time before they stretch another mile north so what about branching off just north of Horsforth station and serving the university and airport before heading east around the outside of them? You'd have to hope the planning department weren't golfers though as the green fields you'd be running through are mostly golf courses.

If the money is there it would seem sensible once the local services are out of the way. That way it could be ready for extra HS2/NPR services when/if they arrive.

Where trams have replaced heavy rail before it has generally seen infrequent elderly DMUs calling at uncared for stations replaced by shiny new electric trams calling at nice fresh stations to an increased frequency. Now the Pacers have gone they are going to need really quite nice trams to be better than 158s and I'd like to think the small stations around West Yorkshire today are somewhat nicer than the Greater Manchester stations that swapped trains for trams in the early 90s. Really what I'm saying is dig an underground section under Leeds Central, put 25kv up and run proper trains.

In the early days of the Bishops Castle Railway water was sometimes scarce in BC so an old tender was filled from the river at Horderley and conveyed to BC where minnows could be seen swimming around in it. For a period the use of water in the town was restricted between 7pm and 7am which led to a visit to the Town Clerk from a driver who complained that 7am was too late to get up a head of steam for the first train out. Upon the Town Clerk asking why he couldn't fill it up before 7pm the previous day he explained that it was useless as the tender leaked and would be empty by morning. The Bishops Castle Railway 1865-1935 by Edward Griffith.

Possibly too small to count as an exhibition but I'm going to be there with Night before Hogswatch. There is a space for a layout 7'x3' in the marquee if anyone else would like to exhibit, drop me a PM and I'll pass it on to the organiser.

In fairness to the somewhat redneck effort it would have been fairly safe if the orange army had all stayed a safe distance away. I can't believe there's a BTP officer stood there filming with them rather than all staying out of the way, just put it on a tripod. The irony being that if they didn't stand there filming it then we wouldn't know and wouldn't be grumbling. Presumably the line will be shut for a week or two now while they try to carefully chop up the 159 in situ without it suddenly dropping?

I can understand letting a preservation group take on a unique vehicle from the national collection but sticking it in a field to convert into a holiday home really doesn't seem like preservation to me.

That gives me thoughts of a mini HST style service on the Western Regions cross country routes like Scotland had with the 27s.

I can see a benefit of rebuilding the 46s as 47s but 40s, 44s and 45s would have still been non standard so probably wouldn't have lasted much longer than they did as 1Co-Co1's. Perhaps the best "might have been" scenario could be reached by looking at what later builds of diesels replaced. Massive and probably inaccurate simplification. Class 50s turned up in the late 60s to speed up the top of the WCML presumably allowing the end of steam and withdrawal of the worst pilot diesels around the same time (together with work drying up due to Beeching etc). Later when the wires went up and they headed to the western region they displaced the Westerns. The smaller hydraulics had already gone as 25s and 31s became spare elsewhere due to work drying up. After the Westerns had gone we started to get 56s and HSTs which slowly saw the end of 25s, 40s and Peaks. Rebuilding the 56 class 46s could have saved building the 50s but what would have done their work for the next 20 years? Presumably a few more years of trying to keep the failed pilot scheme locos running then keeping hydraulics a bit longer? I feel that BR withdrew good locos in their haste to get rid of hydraulic power and could probably have done without the class 56s if they had kept them for freight use only (due to lack of ETH).

Sorry to be a little slow catching up here. While the idea of putting the engine from a 40 or 45 into a 47 body is sound enough it would be a lot of money to have the same number of locos. Most of the 40s and peaks were still working into the 80s and while they might have lasted a little longer with new bodywork the ETH and air brakes they would have been fitted with during the rebuild would have helped them survive longer than shiny square bodywork. Perhaps a more useful cost saving measure would have been to extend the life of some of the pilot scheme locos. I'd assume the bogies of a diesel hydraulic loco would be unsuitable to use for a diesel electric but what about using the bogies from a class 21 under a diesel electric converted Hymek?

@Nearholmer With talk of the Southern Region swiftly followed by talk of Irish dieselisation and money saving it makes me wonder if some of those DEMU motor coachs could have been fitted with an extra cab to haul branch line freight trains between the passenger workings (like the UTAs MPD sets).

I was thinking about shunters at terminals earlier and wondered if a solution could be a vandal proof diesel or battery shunter that has no cab. The electric hauled freight heads into the yard via an electified headshunt and couples up to the shunter then drives from the cab of the 90 using TDM. If it was battery powered it could potentially charge up from the 25kv so would be more or less maintenance free.

I've always thought that using gas to generate electricity was a terrible waste of a comparatively scarce resource. I'd have preferred that we kept using coal a bit longer while actively trying to switch to 100% nuclear and renewable energy. If we are struggling to generate enough electricity in the short term it actually makes sense to use 66s rather than 90s, remember that time a 47 was used as a small power station? Longer term it really should be cheaper to run an electric hauled freight train than a diesel, particularly as Network Rail is state run. Even longer term we should be looking at electrifying 95% of the network. It will be hard but it's surely easier than putting up overhead wires above the motorways as some people are suggesting for electric trucks.

Thanks for the link Melmerby. After a bit of fiddling around sticking drill bits into holes to measure pin sizes I think it's 2.5x5.5mm so I've ordered 5 male and 5 female for 3 quid off eBay that will probably be useful for something even if they aren't right.

Years ago I bought some electrical connectors which are the same type as used between the C912 transformer and various Hornby and Scalextric controllers. I thought I'd managed to get hold of some more but they are slightly different and don't fit. I could do with some as one of my layouts uses them to connect the cassettes to the layout and the controller to the cassette.

I've just dug this thread out as I have an exhibition invite for it (my first ever) at Bishops Castle Railway Weighbridge on the 4th of December. It's only a little one but it would be great to meet a few more RMWebbers. Needs a few repairs after nearly 10 years of storage but nothing too complicated and I've got nearly as long as it took to build.

Nice P2 Alan. You might have a bit more luck posting in the main 7mm section https://www.rmweb.co.uk/community/index.php?/forum/89-7mm-modelling/ Are you modelling a specific area or just somewhere on the LNER?

In theory, if this succeeds (and I really hope it does) you could probably carry a smaller number of cages in normal suburban type stock. It could work as branches to the main trunk haul on an evening when the trains are quiet, particularly with the newer fixed formation trains like 700's that must be really empty late in the day. They would obviously need a member of staff to maintain a division between the passengers and goods although calling him a guard could cause trouble.

Hopefully the 2 car 175s can be doubled up to 4 car and run on the current 3 car diagrams with the 3 cars replacing the 2's. Unless anyone knows what's actually happening?

Particularly when you consider that Spain has built high speed routes at standard gauge when the rest of the country is 5'6".

I'll admit that I don't use the railway much, I live in the countryside near Ludlow and have the type of job that needs tools 99% of the time. I do use it occasionally though and find the ticket websites easy to understand. I can go at 8:30 for £68 or wait till 10am and get there for £25 (unless I'm going to Hereford where its the same price all day). It strikes me that season tickets need to change not only to stop rewarding peak time travel but also to put an end to the practice that richer folk who can afford them are traveling cheaper than poor folk who can't. I realise that it's always been done that way but that isn't necessary a good reason to continue.

There was a couple of small branches of the Glyn Valley Tramway to collieries but they might not have survived to be steam worked. Nice might have been with available stock though.

I've tried Googling and come up with nothing but wasn't there an Irish luggage van that was fitted with a turnable for carrying coffins? I seem to remember that it was popular for carrying prams.