TheSignalEngineer

Sunshine across the Bleaklow snow field this morning, Snake still closed although snow at our level has all but gone. Bad weather can't have reached London as there seems to be little about it on the BBC News website.

IIRC there's a 36001 front numberplate in a display case to the right of the big end doors just behind where the Q1 was standing when I last went a couple of months ago.

With the current oil situation I intend to commission a full size turf burner to run over the re-opened Woodhead line on locally sourced fuel. Condensing gear will be fitted to allow working through the tunnels.

Any idea of the date for that press release? Was it last Sunday?

The worst eastbound queue I got caught in was back to the Manchester side of J3 when the M62 was blocked by an accident on the Friday of a Bank Holiday weekend. Westbound on the A628 I think it was when there was a combination of accidents and it was taking up to 7 hours to get from The Flouch to Hattersley. Fortunately I was off that day and out walking. A lorry driver I spoke to near Crowden told me he had been stop-start for 2 hours. I saw him again 2 hours later and 4 miles on down the road. When I first had a place in Longdendale (when the M60 finished at Denton) I used to leave at 6.55 to get the 7.25 train from Stockport. Getting back in the evening was about the same journey time to get home about 6.40pm and no jams. By the time I moved out the morning train had gone to 7.34 but I had to leave at 6.45 to make sure of catching it, and you could still find an eastbound jam at 7.30pm on some days

Didn't find them round Midland Road when we did Thameslink, didn't venture into York Road.

I always thought it was in an army depot by Longtown on the Waverley route. There were plenty of old munitions tunnels around there, and there had to be some reason why we kept that stub of line when the Weaver - Glasgow electrification was done.

Denton flyover would help a lot, as there are frequent queues due to the lights all round the island. A couple of years ago they added a set on the clockwise entrance slip. I think they were only used once, and it gridlocked the whole of the east side of Manchester within about 15 minutes. I was stuck between Hattersley and Hyde trying to get to the M60, gave up and came back at the next turn. Problems at Hattersley are about to be compounded by the new giant Tesco store being built on an already overloaded junction. Trying to get a weight limit on the A628 is like trying to ........... (suggestions please, can't think of one that won't get blocked). The Highways Agency say that as it is a trunk road they can't do it. If anyone can give concrete evidence of a permanent weight limit on a trunk road please let us know. At least now they are going to put snow gates up at Woodhead and Flouch to stop the idiots trying to go over there when the Police have put the cones and signs out at each end.Lorries often get blown over when warnings are being put out about the conditions. I used to live near the A628 and watched HGV drivers move the cones so they could carry on, even on an occasion when the road was blocked by a fatal accident. We tried to get the signage changed on various roads in the area about 12 years ago and eventually gave up, as again the HA don't want to know or don't care. The only success was with the police. By lobbying them, blockages on the A57 and A628 now usually appear on the message signs on the M60. The problem as ever is that this needs cross-border communication. Regarding Bredbury, I had a copy of the AtoZ when my son was at Salford Uni about 20 years ago showing the proposed A6, another case of not holding your breath. Hope I haven't already turned this into a rant, I think I've deleted most of the politics, but I could easily go on ............

The road lobby wanted to use the trackbed as part of turning the M67 into the Manchester to Sheffield motorway, with the tunnel used for one carriageway. During bad weather they hoped to use it with a contraflow as an all weather route. That won't happen now as Tesco Gorton was built across the alledged route. The incomplete flyover ramp is in situ at Denton, and the start of the junction towards Woodhead is still visible approaching Hattersley island

The going rate on ebay auctions seems to be around £50 for the real thing, otherwise you can BIN - http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/20P-COIN-UNDATED-BOTH-SIDES-GENUINE-RARE-MINT-ERROR-20P-COIN-/190628348513?pt=UK_Coins_OtherBritish_RL&hash=item2c6255c261

According to the Royal Mint there are less than 250,000 of these in circulation, and they are worth 20p. Incidentally some 20p coins do have the date on the tail rather than the head, but not this pattern.

Thanks for the correction Paul. A fifty year old publication and similar vintage of memories doesn't always make a good basis for posts after midnight.

It also has ED on it so yes, probably defines the start of the olive green era for engineers stock. The one at the other end of the line is described as being red oxide livery which was the official colour name for freight stock IIRC.

The black chevron on the distant should also be the same angle as the fishtail, but as you say it is easily corrected.

The quality of painting when they first introduced 'airless spraying' was also pretty c*&%. I remember Peaks in blue, Warships and Westerns in Maroon or Blue, where most of the colour had come out in the wash.