Engineers train

[Rivercider]

Stoke Tip and a passing HST.

43068 and barrier 975678 pass Stoke Tip heading towards South Wales. 26/3/80

 

cheers

[Fat Controller]

13 minutes ago, Rivercider said:

Stoke Tip and a passing HST.

43068 and barrier 975678 pass Stoke Tip heading towards South Wales. 26/3/80

 

cheers

That track's like something out of the Wild West; I recollect they repositioned it with the bulldozer as required.

[GONK43]

Rivercider.

That HST on its way to Wales, I take it, the loco had to go through Patchway Station?

Ta

Gonk43

[Rivercider]

6 hours ago, GONK43 said:

Rivercider.

That HST on its way to Wales, I take it, the loco had to go through Patchway Station?

Ta

Gonk43

Yes, it would have passed through Patchway,

 

cheers

[PWay_Chough]

This might help, if the topic of formations is still open.

The attached scan from a WK Notice shows the formation of various ballast trains in the mid-70's Cardiff Division, with lots of Grampus, Dogfish, Ganes, tampers, etc for a reballasting job using a traxcavator. 

Obviously it's on the WR but gives an idea of the way trains were made up, main difference will be that Salmon or Sturgeon would be the wagons used for prefab track panels instead of the Ganes, if modelling a different region. The WR seemed to guard their engineer's stock well, keeping their Dogfish and Grampus within the region. 

These notices give a wealth of information about the wide range of  of rolling stock used on engineering operations. Mermaids, 'CO' wagons (Tunny, Starfish or Grampus), Elks (rail loading cranes on Salmon or Gane), shoulder ballast cleaner, Matisa ballast cleaners, viaduct inspection unit and even some really old Jones cranes still surviving from decades before..... 

 

[Bristol_Rich]

9 hours ago, PWay_Chough said:

This might help, if the topic of formations is still open.

The attached scan from a WK Notice shows the formation of various ballast trains in the mid-70's Cardiff Division, with lots of Grampus, Dogfish, Ganes, tampers, etc for a reballasting job using a traxcavator. 

Obviously it's on the WR but gives an idea of the way trains were made up, main difference will be that Salmon or Sturgeon would be the wagons used for prefab track panels instead of the Ganes, if modelling a different region. The WR seemed to guard their engineer's stock well, keeping their Dogfish and Grampus within the region. 

These notices give a wealth of information about the wide range of  of rolling stock used on engineering operations. Mermaids, 'CO' wagons (Tunny, Starfish or Grampus), Elks (rail loading cranes on Salmon or Gane), shoulder ballast cleaner, Matisa ballast cleaners, viaduct inspection unit and even some really old Jones cranes still surviving from decades before..... 

 

‘Class 37 loco 9Z09, 40 dogfish of ballast, ploughvan…’

 

40?!….40 dogfish?!😳

 

Presumably thats not a single working and a trip of eg 10 x wagons, four times?

[Michael Hodgson]

6 hours ago, Bristol_Rich said:

‘Class 37 loco 9Z09, 40 dogfish of ballast, ploughvan…’

 

40?!….40 dogfish?!😳

 

Presumably thats not a single working and a trip of eg 10 x wagons, four times?

If they were, it would be booked as four workings with separate numbers, like the workings from Margam.

 

I can't help thinking that the 15 loaded mermaids on 9Z06 must be a group of drunken fishy ladies that you had rounded up in one of the Port Talbot's rougher pubs .

[PWay_Chough]

13 hours ago, Bristol_Rich said:

‘Class 37 loco 9Z09, 40 dogfish of ballast, ploughvan…’

 

40?!….40 dogfish?!😳

 

Presumably thats not a single working and a trip of eg 10 x wagons, four times?

 

Yes, they are all in a single working, as these notices usually stated when a train was spilt into separate runs, so this lot of fourty would have been all in one go.

At the back of the notice there are daily workings of thirty three or more loaded Dogfish from various WR quarries using a 37 or 47 class loco, it was common. All interesting stuff and hopefully useful for modellers too...... 

 

[GONK43]

Thats brilliant . Thanks Pway_chough.

[hmrspaul]

In reality only part of the work - think of how the loaded Dogfish, Ganes etc arrived, were arranged in suitable order etc. Engineering work takes a great deal of organisation. I was in an engineers yard in Nottingham early one evening when a young man had the job of lighting and watching all the brake van fires in readiness for a whole string of trains to depart early on the (IIRC) Sunday morning. (Just realised it was 40 years to the day in an hour or so. Would a fire in van be necessary this June?)

 

Paul

[Enterprisingwestern]

 

Useful information, I'm currently Dogfishing but only have about twenty odd, still a way to go!

 

Mike.

[Mark Saunders]

16 hours ago, hmrspaul said:

In reality only part of the work - think of how the loaded Dogfish, Ganes etc arrived, were arranged in suitable order etc. Engineering work takes a great deal of organisation. I was in an engineers yard in Nottingham early one evening when a young man had the job of lighting and watching all the brake van fires in readiness for a whole string of trains to depart early on the (IIRC) Sunday morning. (Just realised it was 40 years to the day in an hour or so. Would a fire in van be necessary this June?)

 

Paul

Not every summer night was warm a fire to keep out the cold especially as some vans were rather draughty!

 

 

[hmrspaul]

Mark - related question, did staff travel to site in SHARKS? On a visit around the Scunthorpe steelworks I made the mistake of travelling in a conserved Shark. The short wheelbase (9ft) and unusual length of 21ft oh made it extremely unstable - admittedly on internal use track. They must have been very uncomfortable at any speed. 

 

Paul

[Siberian Snooper]

The stove was also used to boil the kettle and sometimes to warm or cook food.

 

 

[Mark Saunders]

3 hours ago, hmrspaul said:

Mark - related question, did staff travel to site in SHARKS? On a visit around the Scunthorpe steelworks I made the mistake of travelling in a conserved Shark. The short wheelbase (9ft) and unusual length of 21ft oh made it extremely unstable - admittedly on internal use track. They must have been very uncomfortable at any speed. 

 

Paul

I never saw anyone riding in a Shark to site and remember trains marshalled with a Shark inside the train brake van; also it was common to have a brake van at each end so as to facilitate a easy return to the the yard when locomotives were cascaded during the work!

[Rivercider]

18 hours ago, hmrspaul said:

Mark - related question, did staff travel to site in SHARKS? On a visit around the Scunthorpe steelworks I made the mistake of travelling in a conserved Shark. The short wheelbase (9ft) and unusual length of 21ft oh made it extremely unstable - admittedly on internal use track. They must have been very uncomfortable at any speed. 

 

Paul

Although I never went out taking photographs of engineering trains at weekends I did see a number of midweek trains heading to or from ballast drops. Sometimes the permanent way gang were riding on the platforms of the hoppers, but I have seen staff riding on a shark plough van.

 

 

On a misty morning 31297 draws out of the up yard at Westbury with a midweek ballast drop. 14/9/82

 

cheers