TheSignalEngineer

No scrap value in concrete posts, although nowadays we would probably be obliged to crush it for aggregate and take out the reinforcing bars. They were also a $0d to take down in the days before "Chompers" came into use. I'm surprised at the number of what look like lighting or telegraph poles left in the last picture. The area must have gone smokeless by then.

I doubt it had a telephone, the new signal has a diamond so there was a berth track circuit, and the cupboards are on separate posts. It does look to have a pair of telegraph wires on it. Maybe they kept it rather than put up a new pole. If you look closely there is a cable down the post which doesn't go below the cupboards. I also suspect that it may be a concrete post, looks to be crumbling were the arm would have been fitted. Do you have any more shots of it? Eric

Is that a Hawksworth Passenger Brake in the bottom picture?

Tyseley was good at mixing sets, here's one at Leamington in 1967. Apologies for the quality as it is a small area from the background of a slide. In September 1981 I travelled to Moor St on a set which consisted of a Class 122 in blue/grey, a Class 101 trailer in white/blue and a Class 105 DMCL(declassified) 53812 I think, in plain blue. Photos Copyright C E Steele

Too bleak, wet and windy for a picture but 60007 was active on 6J46 from Peak Forest to Hope St. Peakstone today. Rolled past me at about 11:00 while I was waiting for a train at Marple.

'Oss would be quite at home if the fair parked up in the lane.

In 1989 the Minister told us there was a blank cheque for railway safety. Unfortunately he was right, he hadn't bothered to sign it.

I've found the one at Cricklewood in Paul's photos http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/minilink/h212b5a14#h212b5a14 I also found this earlier one at Willesden in 1987 http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/minilink/h212b5a14#h2839f3d2 For the record, this one from his collection, undated but I guess from the number it would be 1971, shows the first two types next to each other http://paulbartlett.zenfolio.com/brfreightlinercontainer/hc60e988#hc60e988

Nah! I think that was a Willesden engine, although Monument Lane did have at least one Fairburn for a while.

The red and yellow one was in use (or possibly shown off) at an exhibition early in 1989.

CK is probably doing the test run and handover for the reopening of Taunton - Exeter after the blockade, which was due today. From my experience in emergency situations everyone will be working their @$$e$ off or trying to get some sleep in a van when they do manage to get a break.

I'm not sure about dates but the double arrow were early ones, probably then the Limited. These were definitely on the same trains around 1971. Paul Bartlett has a photo of them mixed. The red and yellow was later, mid 1980s? I doubt if all three would have been on a train together, but the first two were certainly around grounded for use as stores when the later ones were in use.

Most non- operational land was given to the Highways Agency under the Statutory Instrument that abolished BRB (Residuary). Some went to L&CR, whilst a small amount went to NR.

Any diversionary route is only as good as the availability of drivers with route knowledge. I am reminded of a possession I had which blocked Small Heath to Snow Hill in the early days of privatisation. Centro trains ran into New St, but Chiltern services stopped short at Leamington because they couldn't provide drivers with route knowledge via Coventry or St Andrews. To make the Okehampton line a viable emergency diversionary route FGW would need to run regular services that way, as was done in the 1960s when Southern Region men worked a daily service via the Dawlish line and vice versa

Isn't Alloa in the next Constituency to the seat of a former Prime Minister? The seat was created for the 2005 election, expected to be very marginal and possibly go SNP. As for Robin Hood, Phase 1 got done when it did because of a Council election promise. (Was there, got the T-shirt, but would probably get sued if I told the full story). It's all down to politics in the end. The South Devon constituencies are split between the Coalition parties, getting over 80% of the vote between them, with Labour fighting UKIP for third place and struggling to get its share into double figures. Off-topic political rant over.

I would go but can't get there because there aren't any trains running.

For those of us working around there at the time they were a little light relief from an almost continuous diet of 20s, 25s, 45s and 47s.

I was looking at a timetable for when various environmental surveys and removals can take place during a meeting with NR yesterday. To comply with all of the various conditions would take 12 months at least. At one project I was involved in we spent several weeks chasing sand lizards and putting them outside the animal barrier. Elsewhere we had to build a newt pond in good time to get it in the right condition for the relocation window, and an environmental survey found a rare chalk loving butterfly living on the water softener sludge from an old steam shed.

Beats a bus on a bridge any day.

Well done to those concerned, I'm glad to see that the old spirit and determination is alive and well at the sharp end

Agree that the best option and possibly only one depending on the remote control configuration is as two single lines. You only need to get points moved for changing sets for fuel and maintenance. Exeter box was originally done in fairly primitive days, when the override control just set the main routes up and down, with a few selective locations such as allowing two alternatives at busy junctions. I don' know what the current configuration is there. The problem was that the override control often went in the same route as the main control as it was intended to cover for TDM failures rather than losing the cable route. More modern installations have diverse routing. This is by BT lines in cases where thee is no convenient railway route but that is fraught with problems as they are prone to changing the routing without notice and using a line which doesn't comply with the transmission requirements, particularly with SSI. I remember a time when Leeds worked on one half of the SSI system only for an extended period because of such a change. BT denied it had happened but the railway diagnostics proved otherwise.

During a signalling commissioning a fire knocked out the signalling on most of the surrounding lines that were still open. It was Saturday afternoon. With the Operators and maintainers we worked out what we could do to get things back as quickly as possible. Emergency diversions and turn backs had quickly been put in place and getting extra buses on the road was underway. We decided on a revised work schedule and emergency timetable for Monday morning, with hopefully near normal working by the evening, then met with the Head Man at about 1am on Sunday morning. After we presented the plan he asked what was the alternative and was told no trains on half of the area until Wednesday. He told us to get on with it and update him on Sunday afternoon.

Travelled to Ivybridge last summer getting on at Exeter. The HST from Paddington was busy in 1st and heaving in Steerage. Comparing pictures I took to the east side of Bigbury on sea last summer with some I took in 1973 it was difficult to pinpoint because of the difference in the sand levels at the cliff.

Sorting a few old negative I found this taken at Tyseley in 1987. It was the last train from the old Moor St hauled by Clun Castle. I had been messing around at the time trying night shots so set the camera to the get the station exposed correctly. The camera was Pentax ME Super with HP5 film which I had been using earlier to get some retro atmosphere shots at Moor St. Quite accidentally I got a Ghost Train effect as the loco passed me. Photo C E Steele