roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Dec 9, 2009 10:34:22 GMT
The diagram is fascinating and throws up another question: where do the Picc and Victoria tunnels cross over again norht of FP?
I remember seeing the step plate tunnels being built as I used to bunk off school (tsk tsk) regularly to travel on the tube! The Picc trains would run through the area at reduced speed, probably 10mph.
The NCL was replaced by a bus service for many years between Drayton Park and FP, usually by a motely fleet provided by Mellows Hire.
I managed to travel on the Vic on the first day from Walthamstow Central. I hoped to get a first day ticket (which I did), but it was only a standard BR one as the ticket office was run by BR.
As I may have mentioned elsewhere in these boards, I worked on the NCL during its rebuild to BR spec. The farthest I got with battery locos was about Old Street, then had a long walk to get a bus back to KX! We got a 31 stuck in the tunnel at DP one day, and an 08 managed to get to somewhere near Highbury on one occasion!
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Dec 9, 2009 10:25:09 GMT
There used to be certain pigeons that travelled from High Street to Earls Court in the early 1970's!
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Dec 4, 2009 14:58:45 GMT
Jacko, ex Ripple Lane Pathfinder. rumour has it when Buzz Aldrin landed on the moon he found a 31 with tank train ready to refuel them, crewed of course by Ripple Lane men!
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Dec 4, 2009 14:55:56 GMT
"I ate you Butler!!!" ;D ;D ;D You'll probably find that they will be pretty much similar to what they are currently, as the service will still run Edgware Rd to Edgware Rd then reverse back to Edgware Rd, then onto Hammersmith, so the circle is in effect still current, with only the Edgware Rd-Hammersmith section requiring the change on that stretch. Noting from previous posts it does seem the they will have added a via message to indicate the general direction of the train. In terms of blind changing, it is one of those "rules" that has been allowed to slip over the years, it will be interesting to see if new methods are enforced or if they still stay the same! Have only recently seen a circle with both "Edgware Road" and "Aldgate" on the rear, mind you how many people pay attention to the rear - let alone the front of a train, specially when its flying past you when entering the station! ;D Harry the Hat by chance??
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Dec 3, 2009 9:53:39 GMT
There was an interesting documentary on Radio 4 yesterday( 2nd December 2009) about the possible causes of the 1975 (?) Moorgate tube crash.
There have been a number of further investigations including the presentation of evidence which ought to be kept secret until 2051 stolen by a reporter from the Coroner's Office!
Worth a listen on the Beeb's replay service if you get a spare 30 minutes.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Dec 2, 2009 9:32:41 GMT
Yeh, had to go to London the other week, midday, and only one super-whizz Javelin at that time. The return from Ashford including all zones was about £26, not bad, only about £4 more than the day return.
The journey was quite impressive, but the advertised "testing" stop at Stratford didn't happen! The return 1630 was a bit of a laugh. the train manager, with a north atlantic accent, announced that passengers for Dover Priory must travel in the front 8 cars, which ain't a problem today seein' as we've only got 6 cars!
The crews are quite proud of their new toys, and seem far happier than we did at Kings Cross when the 313s were introduced with all their failings.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Dec 2, 2009 9:25:29 GMT
There are indeed neutral sections where the DR meets the BR systems. As the BR network uses the running rails for the return current, they too need to insulated from the LT rails.
On the BR 4-rail sections, the centre rail is bonded to a running rail. I believe the same applies on the Watford DC section from Queens Park.
ISTR the Richmond-Broad Street was similarly wired with the 4th rail bonded to the running rail and was there just because of the through running.
You may remember Sarah Siddons used to work specials on the SR; I gather it was a simple job to convert her to run on 3 rails by lifting the neggy shoes and bonding from there to the chassis! In the early 1970's, Bigal and myself proposed running an R stock tour to Portsmouth or somewhere like that on the southern. As R stock had lifteable neggy shoe gear, it would have been an easy change-over from 4 to 3 rail operation, but it never got much beyond the discussion stage.
On LU, I believe the diffference in potential is that the positive rail is +325v above neutral, the negative rail is -325v belove neutral to give the required 650 volts; on BR, the positive rail is +750v, running rails 0 volts!
I'm not THAT technically minded, but that was the simple explanation given to us as train crews.
I'm not aware of any plans to convert the IoW system to 4 rails. In my view, the expense would not be justified as all the signalling would have to be altered too. If done, it would mean any future stock would not be able to be tested pre-delivery on the main line! More missed phot opportunities.
There was a bit of a "crackpot" plan by the late Fred Ward and others to import used trams from Germany and run them on the Island in the 1990's as trams were being sold off very cheaply. but, like a lot of Fred's plans they came to nothing. Maybe someone should write a book about Fred!
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,257
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Post by roythebus on Nov 29, 2009 14:42:57 GMT
Hmm, must have been a while ago then ISTR working a train from Herftord North to Broad street in about 1977, they were always the Rolls Royce units for some reason.
The Pullman coach on the down side stood there for many years, maybe since the late 1960's. Having not been there for a long time, I don't kow what happened to it. It was quite tatty in the 1970's!
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,257
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Post by roythebus on Nov 29, 2009 14:39:15 GMT
Errm, weren't the mag strip tickets trialled at Ravenscourt (Park) in the 1960's?
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Nov 24, 2009 11:26:54 GMT
The acid factory at West Ham had sidings off the Stratford to North Woolwich goods lines. Quite liekly, plus the conenction from the DR side. You could still see where the pipework went over the conenction on a gantry.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 21, 2009 16:53:13 GMT
There was also a BR crossing at the chemical factory near West Ham in my days on the DR. ISTR it was still in use then, as was the BR crossing at the west end of Upminster. That was certainly still signalled in 1973!
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Nov 20, 2009 9:08:32 GMT
What happens if any leaves fall after December 13th???
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 18, 2009 9:31:24 GMT
I can't confirm it, but it would have been most unusual for a Scot to work the ex GC line. It may well have been a Black 5 as they were regular performers on the Met.
It seems a bit daft that it got there and was too heavy to work back? a bit like the story of the SNCF wagon that turned up at Hither Green continental goods depot. What do we do with it, it's too big for BR. Control reply: send it back the same way it got here...
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
Posts: 1,257
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Post by roythebus on Nov 17, 2009 18:23:51 GMT
Ah, Joe Brook-Smith, that's the chap I got the plasticard sides from amny years ago. I've still got a set of LT drwaings for the Ashburys somewhere in my collection.
BTW, there's a layout of Horsted Keynes on RMweb where the chap has made a good representation of the Chesham stock; not accurate, but it looks the part. Well done to him.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Nov 15, 2009 18:25:30 GMT
Doesn't a 67TS driver have to hold a deadman when driving in manual?
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 15, 2009 18:24:12 GMT
I'd have thought a total brake failure is a millions to one chance; whereas a brake malfunction i.e. spurious WSP activity as it came to be known is far more common!!
The nearest I've heard of total brake failure was on the ECML in Deltic days. I'd helped prep a loco for a train; approaching Darlington the driver applied the brake, nothing. Loco brake was ok. To cut a long story short, the train went through the paltform as some excess speed, knocked a DMU out of the way that was leaving the northern bay platform, and ended up heading toward Bishop Auckland.
The inquiry found an object had caused a brake cock between the loco and the first coach to be isolated, hence loco brake only! Not my fault guv. The brake test at KX was ok.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Nov 14, 2009 21:11:03 GMT
Thinking back, does anyone know what design faults there were on the C69s when they were built? ISTR a traincrew inspector telling me there were about 120 odd mods before the units entered service. Some of those that spring to mind were the whistle button, located on the left side of the cab. Fine except with the brake in emergency, the driver's left hand on the deadman, he was unable to reach the whistle button with either hand! There was the cupboard on the right side of the cab with the Deadman isolating cock and other bits in there, secured with screws. Was the driver to be issued with a screwdriver? No. They had to mod the door to take a standard control key lock.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 14, 2009 21:03:34 GMT
The "broms" brake, broms is the Swedish word for brakes! Fitted to Volvos, Scanias and the like, it;s the same as the sping loaded parking brake on other buses; a spring loaded parking brake is released by sufficient air pressure being available.
Modern trains have a similar system with a spring-loaded parking brake, first fitted to the 508/313/455 etc. I'm not familiar with later systems so can't comment. On the older stock, it was, as norbitonflyer says, a system of balancing either air or vacuum. In either system, loss of air or vacuum causes the brakes to apply.
On the old Westinghouse air brakes, it is possible to lose the brake if the driver makes more than 3 applications in quick succession, so this brake took some skill on the driver's part. The vaccum brake was unlikely to run out of vacuum (on a steam loco); on a diesel or electric loco, the exhauster could fail, but very unlikely. In either event, admission of atmospheric ait into the vac cylinder would cause the brakes to apply. Vacuum holds the brake off!
We also had handbrakes on old stock, could be useful as a last-ditch attempt, but only at low speed.
Having said all that, there was an instance on a heritage railway recently where there was a mechanical failure of the vac brake on one coach when the brake rodding broke. The train stopped quite safely, defective coach taken out of service, train continued!
That doesn't alter the fact that on a slippery rail, a common occurence at this time of year, trains sometimes don't stop where the driver or the computer wants it to! Leaves on the line and all that.
Presumably on the latest stock, if you shut the unit down, remove control key etc. the thing ought to stop somehow, hopefully before it finds the immovable object.
I don't have the same qualifications as singaporesam, but am a member of the Institute of Road Transport Engineers and the Society of Engineers, and an end user of the above mentioned products!! It's a pity the designers don't consult the end users when the product is being designed.
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roythebus
Pleased to say the restoration of BEA coach MLL738 is as complete as it can be, now restoring MLL721
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Post by roythebus on Nov 14, 2009 8:49:09 GMT
Thanks singaporesam. I don't claim to be an expert on D stock as I've never worked on them. I have however worked on a huge variety of rolling stock and I still don't believe there is a braking system that will not at some time fail for whatever reason.
The reason I mentioned 455 and 508 failures is because it has happened to me, not a third-hand story.
I've even had a failure on a straight Westinghouse brake on an 8-SUB. Ok, I managed to stop the train by dropping the deadman; it was a bit of a rough stop, but..
If anything is electronic, IT WILL go wrong. If it's mechanical, it may break.
Train drivers used to have complete and utter confidence in the products of Messrs. Westinghouse and Gresham & Craven. Since the advent of electronic braking, that confidence in my experience, has gone.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 13, 2009 8:48:33 GMT
I was at Neasden Met for a while in 1973 too! Then on to Ricky.
Your memory of the links seems about right.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 12, 2009 21:38:05 GMT
D tcok complete brake failure? A bit like 508 and 455 complete failure to stop, very common in the early days of them a la shepperton, Hampton court and others too numerous to mention.
WSP cuts in, train won't stop. Ask the expert.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 12, 2009 21:35:05 GMT
On that basis the Neasden transfers must have been done by Neasden loco crews.
Still why was it called the fluffy link???
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 11, 2009 15:23:24 GMT
I don't remember a crossover at Barbican CWL platforms! But then I suppose there must have been as they used it to run round the last steam on the Met special!
The stop at York Way on the way back would be to set the trip cock on the leading loco if required as there was a trip cock tester half way along the platform.
IIRC the chage over from juice to battery was a simple matter. Not being trained on battery locos, I can't comment. Bigal is ex Lillie Bridge, maybe he could answer that one.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 11, 2009 9:40:42 GMT
Neasden fluffy link crews done those in the brief time I was there.
The stock ran Met from Neasden to Farringdon, cross over to the widened lines, then via Kings Cross and the ECML to Finsbury Park. A Kings Cross driver and guard conducted the movement from Farringdon to Finsbury Park then back down to Drayton Park.
I saw the movement a couple of times when I was secondman at Kings Cross, but never got to work it.
Never having found out what the fluffy link was, I suspect they knew the Met, circle and Bakerloo, as well as battery locos.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 10, 2009 16:26:08 GMT
Almost as hairy as the Indian Railways clip that was doing the rounds with the bloke fried when he climbs on the roof and touches 25kv.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 9, 2009 21:20:25 GMT
Indeed, but even 1950 is almost 60 years ago now, and you'd have had to pass out before then, so say someone in their mid 20's. Would make them in their 80s now. Someone should deffinitely write a book about it before too long. Anyone driven a C&SLR loco then? No, but have driven a 1907 tram in Gothenberg (www.ringlineien.sweden); class 111 and 110 in Germany; steam on the Ooty line in Injah; am I really that old that I need to write a book about it? Speaking to someone on the TTA in Belgium, he asked if I'd driven a trolleybus? no not yet. He has one in the Liege museum. There was one weekend about 1993 when I drove the following buses: RT.RF,GS,BEA,RTL,RM,RMC,RMA,MBA,DMS,RP and the Tilling STL! I had to move my entire fleet around, plus did some driving at Showbus when it was at North Weald.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 9, 2009 21:12:38 GMT
Boris Johnson said "Bendy buses take on a new meaning".
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 9, 2009 19:41:31 GMT
Begs the question as to how much they would want for a DM unit, given that unless someone buys it, it'll go for pence anyway. Minus the traction equipment (all that lovely copper) I'd imagine a few hundred quid.......certainly not much more than £1,000. Mind you,definitely "buyer collects".....! Depends on the proce of scrap ali at the time of disposal. For transport, I can recommend John Antell in Somerset. He does all the movements for the K&ESR and IWSR. Oh, and provides piggy back for "Thomas"!
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 8, 2009 11:18:30 GMT
With the LMS set taking up so much time and space at EC, it makes me wonder how the DR trains managed with the single e/b line out of Earls Court.
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roythebus
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Post by roythebus on Nov 8, 2009 11:15:08 GMT
I wonder what they done with the ashes of the late Alan Cruikshank which were scattered around Neasden steam shed??
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