TheSignalEngineer

The detail is on a par with his spelling

Slight problem with identifying the wheel arrangement? Perhaps the colour threw them. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Hornby-OO-R2975-BR-BLACK-2-10-0-BRITANNIA-LOCO-/200912078314?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item2ec74b05ea

Don't know if this one has been on before, but at that price I'd expect at least a front number, shedplate and fire iron rack, even from our friend at Cartmel. http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bachmann-MODEL-No32XX-BR-Class-WD-2-8-0-AUSTERITY-LOCO-WEATHERED-CODE-3-/271158736992?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item3f2251f860

As far as I recall there was never a connection between to two systems at London Road. The MSJ&A was electrified in 1931, and the 1500v DC was cut back to Oxford Road in 1960 when the Styal Line trains went over to 25KV a.c. The system was fully converted to 25KV in 1971

I used to work up against the line at Stoke in 1971. The Oakamoor wagons usually had two heaps IIRC.

6202 as Turbomotive had blinkers in this photo http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/lnwrns316.htm and later in the early BR era http://britishrailways.tripod.com/ex46202.html

A very nice-sounding lady phoned yesterday and tried to interest me in a pension release scheme. Unfortunately I had to tell her she was a little late for that.

From the photos looks like at least 5 missing parts to me.

Triang?

TTP even by Cartmel standards? http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/BASSETT-LOWKE-FINE-SCALE-0-LMS-4-6-0-ROYAL-SCOT-LOCO-TENDER-FOR-RENOVATION-/271182863453?ssPageName=ADME:B:SS:GB:1123 You even have to email him to get a photo, perhaps so he can bombard you with a few more of his bargains.

Checking the juice rail with the "Egg Box" at 8:00, still doing that 50 years later - wonder what's done now?

In fact a few BSKs in particular made it into Blue and Grey and were used in Euston-Birmingham-Manchester/Liverpool services in 1967 due to shortage of MK1/Mk2 brake ends

I don't think it will be necessary to go to the extend of this pole at Cheltenham which became disused with Gloucester resignalling Photograph C E Steele More likely to have a couple to feed things away from the main trunking like these http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/mrwhg633.htm Regarding trunking, this shot at Saltley Junction has some running out from the signal box, also some for track circuit tails at lower level on the right. http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/mrsalt676.htm You'll also need a yard lamp or two around the sidings points. There are at least 3 types on this shot at Washwood Heath, all fed by wires on the poles. http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/lms/mrwhg630.htm

In areas prone to corrosion of metals such as near a gas works or steelworks many routes were cabled in wooden trunking on posts in LMS/LMR days before concrete troughing was used. I've never seen it on a model as yet, but someone may have done it. Would probably be an appropriate solution for BCB possibly with an odd couple of old poles or some with with just 4 wires for a couple of circuits to the steelworks, or possibly some old poles on the canal bank. Remind me when you get round to it and I will design a few suggestions as to what could be done to cover a wide timeframe, say 1950s to early blue diesel.

It varied. There are still a few poles about at the bottom of embankments, some from the 1960s electrification. One stood on the old Harecastle line until at least 2000, and those on the canal at Smethwick have been disused for over 40 years I would guess.

Thinking about telegraph poles, most on the old Birmingham S&T division had gone by the mid 1970s. I did a costing for a project for direct burial of cables c1969 on the Hednesford line. The South Staffs would have been done about 1973.

I remember the one in Walsall, used to go there whenever I had a job in the area. The shop in Navigation St was Horntons. There was the Model Aerodrome in Birmingham, churchyard end of Cherry St I think. Remember going there to get bits and pieces. Edit - Beaten to it on Horntons

Remember Bearwood Models well. I think they also had the shop on the Parade down the Sandpits in Birmingham. It was possibly them who moved to Constitution Hill when the Parade was knocked down. Still running the Dublo stuff I had from the Parade shop in 1958. Did me a Montrose and a Ludlow Castle for a fiver the pair when Binns Road closed!! Surviving a bit later was This is a scan from a paper bag in my workbox which still contains some offcuts of embossed plasticard sheets which originally came in it around 1979. Burlington Passage went through the Midland Hotel opposite New St station. The shop was only about 6ft wide but had a stock room upstairs in the hotel block.

There's a few still visible on Google Earth on the canal bank just west of Smethwick Rolfe St station. Two are either side of the road bridge over the canal near the pump house, very clear on street view. I have measured the remains of the run as best I can from the aerial view, and would estimate them as being about 57-58 yards apart. As to the height in the Black Country, they tended to get shorter over time as the mining subsidence and underground fires took their toll. I remember a run near Cannock where it was possible to reach the bottom arm from the ground in places.

Just picked up two sets for less than this at the Trafford Centre shop http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Bachmann-37-500Y-BR-GREY-24-TON-IRON-ORE-WAGON-SET-WEATHERED-LTD-ED-MODELZONE-mu-/221037379934?pt=UK_Trains_Railway_Models&hash=item3376dac15e

Likewise, supposed to be in Didsbury this afternoon, but I think a few wagons may get weathered instead of me. Eric

Looks very much the same in the Dark Peak, but when I was in Ashton yesterday there was no sign of snow.

Good luck for the weekend from a snow-bound Dark Peak. Won't be making it to London, doubt if I could get down the road at the moment, but looking forward to some progress pictures.

I liked the O4 on the ore hoppers, very similar mix to what we got through Snow Hill headed for Bilston in the early 1960s