TheSignalEngineer

I remember this sort of thing happeming a few times at Birmingham New Street. The station area was on the centre panel and Proof house which was the first signal beyond the station was on the south panel. As the box had only just been opened the two signalmen on these sections were not in the habit of telling each other what was going on if there were any changes to script. If for any reason the order of trains departing was changed it was pot luck as to which way it would go at Proof House. The first occasion I remember it happening the Walsall local which was due out three minutes in front of the London train was held up due to a fault on the unit. The centre signalman pulled out the route and set up for the Lomdon without telling the south signalman who had the route set towards Aston. It wasn,t helped in this instance by the NS149 having a theatre route indicator mounted above the signal meaning it couldn't be seen through the tunnel. In BR days drivers on electric locos were expected to sign everything under the wires so it wasn't a problem from that point of view but the passengers must have been a bit confused when they passed New Street for a second time after a 20-minute tour of Aston, Perry Barr, Handsworth and Winson Green. The problem was partly solved by dropping the indicator down to the bottom of the cage so it was visible as soon as the sinal spect came into view. Another incident there where I got involved in the investigation was when the centre signalman routed a return excursion for Leamington towards Bordesley, forgetting that it was booked to set down at Coventry on the way. The driver stopped and told the signalman, who promptly told him to set back and he would swing the points. Unfortunately he didn't check what was happening behind as the Centre signalman had sent a train through a facing crossover to the rear. The last vehicle of the excursion stopped straddling the crossover then the driver set off again. When I passed on the way to work the next morning the last vehicle... was still wedged fast across the London lines under Park Street bridge.

Been there, done that, on badly specified project. Customer couldn't answer straightforward questions on the tender documents for a scheme at a place I was very familiar with in BR days. We weren't keen on taking the job so priced high to cover expected hassle. Fortunately for us one bidder didn't see the pitfalls and ended up struggling with the job.

One driver described them to me in the early days Cr*p, Always Failing. That was on a service taken over from Pacers as well. We still seem to be getting a few trains using 4-car Sprinters when booked for 195s Actually my perception on the ones I have ridden, mainly 195s on Northern, is that they are an improvement passenger environment wise on anything we have had for many years. From a business point of view, these days the accountants assessing any purchase or infrastructure project want to look at whole life costs including running and maintenance. Nowadays for train operations fuel makes up a very large part of that.

Not quite complete retro but hard to believe it was taken 42 years ago. The quailty is not good as it is scanned from a small print of a 110 negative from a pocket camera I used to carry around with me at the time. They were adequate for postcard prints but nothing bigger, and being printed on textured paper doesn't help the scan quality. Prototype unit 210 001 approaching Birningham New Street from Proof House on a test run from Lichfield City. The actual location is passing signal NS154 at Park Street. If I remember correctly I was on the cutting wall at the entrance to the South Tunnelapproximately where the Up through platform at Moor Street now stands. Shortly after we managed to get a ride to Lichfield and back on it.

My Grandad was an assistant lineman at New Street at the time. On 27th October he was on standby for the expected raid. Most of the staff took shelter in the tunnels when the bombs started falling. He was standing in the mouth of Suffolk Street tunnel when No.5 Signal Box took a direct hit.

I don't know any exact dates. Unfortunately will never know as she would be 126 now.

My great aunt worked in there from 1940 to 1952. I also had my medical there before I started on BR. The room where they did hearing tests was on the right of the picture, ground floor. Outside was the hill up Suffolk Street which was still cobbled in those days and a continuous stream of buses and lorries. God knows how anyone passed!

Why buy another different type of unit? Nowadays TOCs don't seem to learn from previous mistakes. TPE have just demonstarted the pitfalls of both buying from CAF and having multiple types of train intermixed as in their NOVA services. (Spanish 'NOVA' = Engish 'Not Going', that's why Vauxhall renamed their small car 'Corsa' 😉)

You may also need a weighbridge and office at the yard gate. Image from https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwra3654.htm Warwickshire Railways website is a fantastic resource for old buildings at yards, sheds and stations on LMS and GWR lines in steam days.

Not so, it was very cosy when my Grandad was the occupant. Coal stove, gas ring and gas light. The picture was after the old districts had been reorganised with the MAS schemes and shortly before it was demolished having been disused for seversl months. If I remember the extreme right building was the C&W oil store at one time. Behind where I was standing was the blacksmith's forge, another essential building where a yard had been built pre-WW1.

Another idea for the engine shed. You could replace it or modify it as a canal transhipment warehouse. There's still one standing at the original terminus of the Cromford and High Peak at Whaley Bridge. The Peak Forest canal terminated there and much of the originally proposed route for it to continue south was taken by the CH&PR instead. There is another transhipment shed still standing at the Cromford end of the CH&PR.

You could do with a couple of cabins like these at Curzon Street. The left one was the Signal Lineman for the Proof House district and is based on the LNWR Webb Hut, often used for ground frames and locomens tea cabins. My model of it was used as the shunters cabin on the Black Country Blues layout. The right one was the Carriage and Wagon Examiner.

Returning to the topic, I would agree that the signal box looks out of place in a location like this. Signalling would be minimal if at all and it would be all mechanical. You could get away with back to back notice boards at the tunnel/bridge and if you want a signal, one there for each direction would be sufficient. In my own area Monument Lane had two signals in the yard. Aston Goods had about four, Soho Pool didn't have any. Curzon Street had a handful within the yard but that was big with 25 sidings. Lawley Street had a few signals around the reception area but that was even bigger than Curzon Street. I think Camp Hill had one signal coming in on the main line and one signal for departures. On the WR, Hockly was the biggest depot, it's hard to find any picturs of signals inside the yard but I know there was one reading out.

Warning, I'm in serious thread drift mode The Cemetery Ground Frame was alongside an old Jewish burial ground. I don't know of a Cemetery Road there but the original access would have been from an old alleyway running from Islington Row opposite Five Ways station to Bath Row known as Betholom Row which is said to be a corruption of the Hebrew "Bet Olam" which means City of the Dead. The site has been walled up for many years and is now a mini forest at the back of Broderick House student flats but I can remember when you could still see the gravestones from the top of a No.8 bus going down towards Lee Bank. The Central Goods branch split either side of the cemetery. The Corporation Siding was actually the original West Suburban line alongside the canal to Granville Street terminus which is where the Corporation Depot was situated. More about Central Goods here, including some pictures at the Five Ways end. https://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/centralgoods.htm

A village we lived in some years ago had an electoral roll of about 1000 for Parish Council elections. At the time it had three pubs and two WMCs. Two of the pubs have now gone.

The view from the allotment. 11:33 Manchester Piccadilly to Hadfield crossing Dinting Viaduct on 13th October 2022.

This is a footbridge across the line near Bickenhill. Never been a four-track railway at this point.

At the moment there are about 15 train clips on my YouTube channel. The number will expand soon as I have managed to extract 9 hours of material from my old Video8 tapes and a processing the results. It looks as if there is about two hours of railway content to edit, mostly taken in 1991 -1993. This is one sample

Just playing in the background as I type. Agree with you. Sounds a bit like Moody Blues after 12 pints of Brew XI.

For most of Coventry to Birmingham the railway still owned enough land to to four-track when I was based on that area. Even in the 1970s we looked at the possibility of having a reversible 3rd line between Stechford and Berkswell. At that time new road bridges were built to four-track clearances in the area.

The lights look dire. If they are fixed I'm out! Pre-order won't be taken up. Anyway, you couldn't see a light in an oil lamp in daylight and barely in the dark unless almost straight on.

Whilst sitting around on Grandad duties I thought I would put up a real retro from 1964.

Over the years I have taken many hundreds of pictures during my travels and a few hours of cine and video as well. I thought I would post a selection on here, not in any order and not at a fixed inteval. First up this is a recent one taken a couple of weeks ago. I've been experimenting with frame clips from videos recently. This is a retro version of 45596 working The Mancunian railtour on 21st October 2023. I had intended to go to Levenshulme but due to train cancellations decided to do some filming at Oxford Road, which was fortunate as this train was diverted via the Styal line and missed my intended vantage point. 45596 had worked down from Euston and gone from Piccadilly to Castleton to turn. It returned from Victoria working the train as far as Rugby. Some photos may be linked from Flickr and I will also add an occasional video link.

A few interestring machines parked up outside the cafe at Rivington today as I cycled through the car park. First I came to was a1963 Velocette Vouge. Heavy, underpowered fibreglass version of the Noddy Bike which never lived up to its name. 0-60 if you were lucky and had a long enough downhill run. Ignoring the Norton Dominator as it was not in a position to photograph, just around the corner was this Francis Barnett And immediately past that a Dot which I believe is a Mancunian,

Built alongside the GWR line from Snow Hill to Wolverhampton LL.👍