great northern

More trains run, more images obtained, but not yet photoshopped. We do still have more of Silver Link though.

A lot better , thank you Neil. The car is fine, though I need to find out how to reset the dashboard display which was wiped out by the battery change. Played with the trains too, and admit to some trepidation when I called up the first macro. All is fine there too, and it is obvious in several small ways that the new unit has made a big difference. Somehow, I have also managed to walk over eleven miles so far today. No set backs at all.....so far.

Something on the Down, at last. This is the SO Hertford North- Scarborough, portions from Hertford and Hitchin, no doubt joined together at the latter. The 1960 Grantham station survey I consult says this was worked by a KX A4, so Silver Link has the job today. I assume that the Branch portion was brought to Hitchin by a suburban tank, and the A4 worked from there. How it got to Hitchin is a matter for surmise, light engine or on an early morning outer suburban from KX seem to be the possibilities.

I'm not having much luck with batteries. The car problem turned out to be a near deceased 12v battery too. There were more twists in the story, but eventually I managed to get a new one fitted. While sorting all that my phone went dead too. It is a special one which plays through my hearing aids, and is a great boon. I had only put new batteries in on Saturday, the first time it failed. Checked again, as it would be just like me to put things in the wrong way round, though I know that should mean it wouldn't work at all. Close examination of new batteries I bought on Saturday showed their use by date to have expired.😦 I will sort that tomorrow, Also managed to communicate with DVLA, a near superhuman feat. Enough of that, for those who like to look at the coaches, here's what is behind the A3. Not particularly exciting, but typical of some of these Saturday formations. The front seven came from Notthingham, and the rear four were attached at Grantham. I've just noticed that one image posted twice, dunno why.

While waiting for the AA, and Ocado, here is your morning image, which is of Melton again, now waiting for the off. Hopefully I may be able to get some trains run and photos taken later the morning, before a trip to the dentist!

Good news and bad news. The bad is that when I went to start my car to go and collect Timara, it would not start, so she had to come via Nottingham. Car is now booked in for diagnosis, but not till next Wednesday. The good news is that the problem with the Power Pro was indeed just the battery, which when checked was effectively dead, registering about .7 of a amp. New one did the trick, all macros reentered, and we turned it off and back on after an hour three times, and all was well. I really do think that is the end of that saga, but at the moment it seems that when one thing is dealt with another immediately appears. Not good for someone with an anxiety disorder. Very strange about the battery, as the unit had not been standing idle for any length of time. Just a bad one, I think. Another shot of Melton tonight.

Off to Corby at 9.15am to pick up Timara. If you hear a very loud scream around 12pm, that will tell you that changing the battery hasn't solved the problem. Your image this morning shows the fireman's side of Melton as it runs past the water tower, brakes on.

Hot on the heels of the Grimsby is the Nottingham-KX, another train seen every day of the week, but with a different formation on saturday, which we will examine in more detail later. Well kept KX A3 Melton brings it in.

It is becoming increasingly likely that the battery is the cause. I've talked to TMC, who have confirmed that replacing it will not put me in breach of warranty, and I've just had an e-mail from NCE, also saying battery is the most likely culprit. Timara will be here tomorrow, and we will replace it then, put in a few macros, and see what happens. One interesting thing is that NCE have now said that the battery must be inserted positive side up. That isn't in the manual,and I've not seen it mentioned before when doing previous replacements, of which there have been several over a life of getting on 25 years. Hopefully all can be sorted without a replacement unit being required.

We can return to Saturday morning events, and see 61142 waiting time with the Up Grimsby. A couple of minutes later it is off under the bridge and on its way.

Last of the plonks this evening. However, I did manage to get a couple more images on Friday, and today I put in just enough macros to get trains made up on FY1 and through the station on both Up and Down lines, so we are OK for a while. There was a moment though earlier when I nearly said something very rude. I shut everything down when I finished operating, knowing it would result in all the macros being emptied again. However, couldn't resist powering up again a couple of minutes later, and they were all still there. So, as calmly as possible, I left it for a couple of hours, and tried again. All macros empty. Perversely, a relief, as I don't fancy ringing TMC and saying "you know that unit I said was faulty and asked for a replacement, which you have done, well, er, it wasn't faulty after all." Rather peculiar though.

In all the disruption caused by the faulty new equipment, I forgot that I had intended to photograph my latest goodie, which Steve@31A delivered on Thursday. Here, belatedly, it is. Gresley CK to Dia 8, an early LNER diagram, with turnbuckle underframe. This is the coach I wrote about a while back, which seems to have had its first and second class accomodation altered at some time in its life, though none of the reference books say anything about it. This one is as built, two first plus coupe first, and four second. I have them recorded on locals and through trains in my period on the main line, and they may have also worked on the M&GN. I say "may", as in the Express Publications book on train formations there is constant reference to CK 2-4. The LNER had no such thing, so it seems likely that It refers to Dia 8/116. If so, there would be one, in theory at least, in all my M&GN trains bar one. I really love this coach, so it will be seen a lot from now on. Many thanks to Steve for a great addition to PN.

Ah yes, I'm getting round to that. Taken about ten years so far, but I'll get there, eventually.

Many thanks. I knew something was bugging me, but couldn't work out what it was. I totally agree, there should be delineation between road and kerb, and that alone will make a big difference. Now I have to work out how to reach over to get to it, and keep a steady hand. It might be a job I delegate to Peter Leyland when he is next here, which sgould be quite soon now that spring is here.

Did we have flashing lights in 1958? Seems a bit dramatic for PN, where everything happens slowly. I suppose to placate Clive I could have an overturned bus, but then he would probably tell me there was something wrong with the underside detail.

A look down the forecourt to Station Road and the bridge. Quite effective, but I may have to do something about the unbroken expanse of grey in the foreground. A bit of rubbish and clutter, at least?

Another plonk. I quite like ths one.

From what you have told us about Hugo, I would think it would be "Is it edible", followed by "Can I reach it before he can stop me".

Thanks John, I hadn't thought of that either.

I haven't forgotten your problems with the written word Clive, but I can't resist pointing out that you have actually said that you "would catch me operating a layout with the extra C". That's good, because it may mean that you are beginning to see the light.

I hadn't thought of that one John, but I had considered a faulty EPROM, as memory seems to be the problem. I doubt TMC will have looked inside the unit, so it will be a manufacturer error, if there is one. My lawyering memory tells me not to touch anything as it might invalidate the warranty. There is a replacement on the way, and I will be sending this one back as it arrived, which I think is the best course of action. I do not want to think about the new one giving the same problem, which may mean a gremlin somewhere else in the system, though I really can't think what that might be.

Found some plonks I don't seem to have published, so here are a couple.

I visited Retford in 1958 soon after the D11s which had been stored at Trafford Park were dusted down and allocated to Darnall. We saw just about all of them that same day, plus some of the familiar ones. They were on Manchester- Cleethorpes and Sheffield- Cleethorpes duties. At the end of the summer timetable they disappeared, and we thought we'd seen the last of them. But in the summer of 59 nearly all of them were back at work on the same duties. That really was the last hurrah though.

The last image I have on file is of 61142 passing North box. However, I have a couple more that have not been processed yet, and I have thought of a way to get some more.It will be a slow process, but I think it can be done, if I am prepared to enter every single point number manually for every movement.

Good, innit? As to the PSR, just one of the delightful oddities of PN. Severe dog's leg curves at both ends, so everything on the ECML had to slow to a crawl.