***** This thread is now closed, please CLICK HERE to go to Volume 5 *****
Volume 4 - NO CARS :-)
Volume 3 is here
Last edited by: VxFan on Mon 28 Nov 11 at 00:25
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Don't listen to them Z, I was hoping you'd got some video of them, I'm sure I'm not the only one.
As you said , a very rare event, great video
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Clearly you are not the only one, over a hundred views in 4 hours. I never assumed they would all be in steam.
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Wear as many anoraks as you like Z, just keep the videos coming.
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getting cold down here mind, Anoraks are good!
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How about another mystery vehicle.......I can't show you a photo of this one 'cos it would give the game away.
So, what am I ?
I was made in Birmingham by a company that used to make small armaments.
I'm not suitable for the public roads. The con & use regs would go into meltdown.
I date from the 1950s.
I have a one-person crew but he doesn't ride on me.
I don't ' do ' agriculture or gardens. I don't like to get my wheels mucky.
I have to be picked up to be able to work.
I couldn't do my job nowadays but my successors are a little bigger and they cope OK.
I'm not very fast but that wasn't what I was made for.
Good luck.
Ted
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Road roller, vibrator plate?
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Fri 21 Oct 11 at 23:51
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BSA Winged wheel?
As always
Mark
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Nice little bike........doesn't fit the clues, though.
Ted
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I am participating in your riddle Ted, I'm just not getting anywhere! I have discovered in the process that the bicycle free wheel was patented by Villiers in 1902 though!
Last edited by: Manatee on Sat 22 Oct 11 at 08:18
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And me. I know they made power hand tools.
I am thinking Water pump.
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>> I was made in Birmingham by a company that used to make small armaments.
Still do! www.bsaguns.co.uk/
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not some type of pedestrian controlled tree-felling device?
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or maybe this!:
"Type G Apparatus", Folding paratrooper bicycle, 32½ lb (15 kg) with parachute
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Just logged on....some good thoughts there, no-one close yet !
I shall keep you keen to guess for a while and maybe tease you all with a further small clue
tomorrow.
I have a copy of the original 1950s advert.......although the customer base for this item may have been rather small.
Tedl
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Well, guesses seem to have dried up a bit so I'll give the answer later this evening.
This vehicle was fitted with a fairly big jack as part of it's equipment. None are thought to have survived but I'm sure one would be welcomed at various specific locations around the country.
Larger vehicles now do the job that these little machines once did.
Ted
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I remember seeing a device, not unlike a child's tricycle, that was used for climbing telegraph poles?
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I love the idea of a man on a trike riding up a pole, Tommy ! Can you find details of that ?
However, no one successful so I keep the plate of virtual buns to meself.
Here it is...self explanatory. Anyone seen one ? or perhaps used one ? No, I didn't think so.
Must have been BSA's worst selling machine !
s479.photobucket.com/albums/rr152/1400ted/bsa/?action=view¤t=bsa006.jpg
Wouldn't mind one, though.
Ted
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>>I love the idea of a man on a trike riding up a pole, Tommy ! Can you find details of that ?
I tried to find it before I posted, but to no avail, IIRC it was a Chinese device.
There's others here who are much more adept at searching this interweb thingmy than I, perhaps they can have better luck?
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>>
>> Here it is...self explanatory. Anyone seen one ? or perhaps used one ? No, I
>> didn't think so.
>> Must have been BSA's worst selling machine !
>>
>> s479.photobucket.com/albums/rr152/1400ted/bsa/?action=view¤t=bsa006.jpg
>>
>> Wouldn't mind one, though.
>>
>> Ted
>>
Ha! I should have got that one, being a Trainspotter! I was thinking, just the thing for the goods yards on your average 1950s sleepy rural branch line. However I suspect financial reality would've prevailed even then, and moving wagons around would've been down to a pinch bar and human power, once the daily pick-up goods had disappeared down the line. (Apart from where horses were still available)
Thanks for posting.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Mon 24 Oct 11 at 13:50
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I thought of you and BigT when I posted, Spammy.
The only reference I can find on Gurgle is a note of a magazine article describing the use of one at Wittisham.
Would be fun for a heritage line to use in the yard. I doubt one could move today's rolling stock.
Good clean fun !
Interesting about the use of pinchbars. I have the biography of ECML driver Bill Hoole who started with the Great Central at Liverpool.
One day, a crew member was oiling the motion of a loco when the brakes leaked off slightly. The compressed buffers of the train moved the engine forward trapping the man's arm in the motion.
No pinchbars could be found and Bill was deputed to move the engine back a few inches to free the guy. That must have taken some bottle, knowing that the slightest slip of the wheels would rip his arm off !
All was well in the end.
Ted
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Here is one for you, right of left field, and has some good motoring connections as well.
In 1982 a BR Network Southeast train failed to stop short of the buffers at Shepperton (Middlesex) station. It carried on another 10 metres or so, crashed through a brick wall and demolished a pedestrian crossing.
On hearing the news I rushed down there with my 35mm Pentax ME super, loaded with Kodachrome ASA400 and snapped these shots.
They have since lain forgotten in the bottom of a drawer till I fished them out, now faded, scanned them in, and cleaned up the stains, spots and creases with Photoshop Cs4.
Quite a bit of 30 year old motoring history floating about in some of the shots too.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=jWoMb9yytuo
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Exellent photo`s Z!!
My favorite is the one with the sign "Crossing not in use" - i wonder why? ;-)
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For those here who have an interest in abandoned railways, as I do, here is a video of Manchester's abandoned mainline terminus.
There is some talk of re-commissioning it as an overspill for Piccadilly Station.
Something ought to be done.
Catch the massive hydraulic buffers at about 8.00...look like something off a battleship !
www.youtube.com/watch?v=T-4ph3jRcG4
Ted
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Catch the massive hydraulic buffers at about 8.00...look like something off a battleship !
Got these at Bradford Interchange still in use if needed as it's a long way down the hill if one fails to stop.
Was called out to a failed train this week a 3x car 144 all 3x fire bottles went off rendering the engines dead & was a right pig to work on in the dark with a large drop banking to the safe side but was rescued and returned but had to be a "swinger" thats no brakes on the 144 and the only brakes on the rescue 158.
Reduced speed of 25 mph so i was late home. :-(
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Yes its dark at 06:07 in the morning, so here they are Bittern and Tornado returning from the Mid Hants Railway, back to their depot at Southall.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=5IxJHVuohdc
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Nice little vid Z!
Would have thought there`d have been more sparks and orange glow though!! must have been using safety=coal instead if the old "spitty" grade steam stuff!
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Nice one, very atmospheric
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Whereabouts is the disused station Ted? I assume southish of the city centre, as the station architecture reminds me of Stockport/Edgeley.
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The disused Manchester station is next to Manchester Piccadilly.
maps.google.com/maps?ll=53.475366,-2.225204&spn=0.025,0.025&t=m&q=53.475366,-2.225204
Until today I knew nothing of it either.
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Beat me to it there Spambles !
Was going to post a brief history but the article says it better.
Here's Streetview of the front, Travis Street ahead and Baring Street to the right.
Swing the picture round and you'll see how close it is to Piccadilly Station. The platforms and trackbed, at 1st floor level, run away from the camera behind the pub on the far left hand corner. You can see the electric wires on the main line viaduct.
tinyurl.com/bln56ff
Mayfield Street doesn't seem to exist now, possibly Baring Street, renamed ?
Go into Google Earth, it's tagged as Mayfield Distribution Depot. The trackbed still links to the Piccadilly station throat. It was used for many years by the Royal Mail and is linked to Piccadilly over Fairfield Street by modernish non-public bridge.
It's typical LNWR architecture of the Edwardian period.
Ted
Last edited by: Ted on Wed 9 Nov 11 at 22:00
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Here we are....I've done it for yer !
tinyurl.com/cotx4de
Ted
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Thanks Ted and Spamcan. Any day when you learn something new is well spent, so tonight I will sleep soundly.
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60163 was at Northampton this morning hauling a 'Cathedrals Express' special to Canterbury.
Unfortunately I was on an early start and missed it; resting in the sidings until just after eight for an 08:15 depature.
Pity 'cos on the published timings the 08:25 LM service train, which usually gets the fast line at Ledburn, would have passed it on the move in the Cheddington/Tring area.
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Caught it in the fog down at Knockholt Kent, my first foray into the heart of Southern Railway. She looked a picture with a large poppy on the front, albeit some 15 minutes late. We had a pair, today - Tangmere came through the same place some 45 minutes later sporting two flags on front.
It was foggy down there in Pratts Bottom, don't know how it will come out, but Video to follow after the creative director and cutting room have got their hands on it.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 11 Nov 11 at 13:29
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Well a cold and damp and foggy 90 minutes spent on a Kent Station... Thank the lord for a takeaway Costa from Thurrock services.
And here it is - the directors cut.
Armistice Day 2011
Tornado and Tangmere filmed on a foggy morning at Knockholt station in Kent. Tornado is sporting a poppy and Tangmere flying the Union flag and the RAF Ensign.
A Southern Class 377 nearly got in the way.
Apologies, the fog and vibration seems to have fooled the autofocus on the first part of the film. One of the slightly annoying failings of the Fuji HS10 is that video can only be shot on full auto.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=hUm6IPA1330
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Using a lawnmower for shunting is cheating. Gravity is the way forward.
www.yfaonline.com/assetDetails.cfm?film=983&keyword= at 6 minutes in.
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Nice clip that. Notice no H&S!
As far as gravity goes, BR had a marshalling yard that was built on a slope, wagons were rolled down the hill, and switched to make trains, all controlled from a central tower.
Edit
www.signalboxes.com/tinsley-yards-history-page.php
Tinsley Marshalling yard.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 11 Nov 11 at 16:43
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>> Gravity is the way forward.
'hump shunting' is the phrase, I believe, but I don't know what you'd get back if you googled it....
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>> 'hump shunting' is the phrase, I believe, but I don't know what you'd get back
>> if you googled it....
>>
LOL, I was about to say it should be a euphamism if it isn't. Can't be bovvered to go and consult my trainspotting books, but I think the LNER built the first proper sloping marshalling yard in the UK in the 20s - Whitemoor rings a bell.
BR spent millions on building a network of them in the 50s,just as the freight was shifting to road in volume. The fancy ones had retarding mechanisms driven by compressed air on the sidings, so that the wagons could be slowed down after a shutning loco had shoved 'em over the hump.
Last edited by: spamcan61 on Fri 11 Nov 11 at 18:42
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>> 'hump shunting' is the phrase, I believe, but I don't know what you'd get back
>> if you googled it....
A stencilled instruction 'not be loose or hump shunted' was common place on rolling stock (eg engineer's trains) until very recently.
An when did the naming of CE wagons after fish stop?
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>> Using a lawnmower for shunting is cheating. Gravity is the way forward.
>>
>> www.yfaonline.com/assetDetails.cfm?film=983&keyword= at 6 minutes in.
>>
Thanks for that, nice mixture of road and rail nostalgia there.
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Good video Z, the fog was an added bonus, sound through my Monitor Audio bronze B2's was top notch,
Autofocus caught me out the other day, I was lining up a shot of Mr Buzzard right outside, on top of the bird table, but by the time my camera got it's act together, bird had flown :(
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>> Good video Z, the fog was an added bonus,
Yeah, the way smoky old Tangmere combined with the bridge and the fog to blot out the departing scene was superb, couldn't have scripted or CGI'd that if you tried.
>> sound through my Monitor Audio bronze
>> B2's was top notch,
Got great sound capture that camera, bit too good at times.
>> Autofocus caught me out the other day, I was lining up a shot of Mr
>> Buzzard right outside, on top of the bird table, but by the time my camera
>> got it's act together, bird had flown :(
I was using a new SDHC card, a dane elec proline 200x, supposedly class 10. Its crap, very poor write times, and I think it dropped frames a few times.
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I've lost a few good wildlife shots lately due to the autofocus infra red thingymajig scaring the birds away!
Suppose I'll have to learn how to use it manually like I did in my Pentax KM days.
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you can turn it off on mine, its got a kind of silent lightless stealth mode. I caught an absolutely HUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUGE spider with it the other day.
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Tangmere disgraced herself this afternoon, running three hours late after failing to climb the hill outside Dover. Much sand shovelled onto tracks and a run up got her going again.
At times like this you need a Brittania!.
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Dyson, Henry, Vax ?
Pah !.....you need one of these.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GqabJZAC8c
Ted
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Neat.
(Looks like it's blowing rather than sucking.)
Last edited by: Focus on Tue 15 Nov 11 at 10:08
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Anyone got some hardcore and a couple of shovels ?
www.youtube.com/watch?v=wyVIVHJ5RUA
Ted
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Helicopter crashes while installing a Christmas tree on the waterfront in Auckland
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-15848886
pilot escaped without serious injury, as did those working on the ground.
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Looked like a risky use of helicopter to me on the news. Luckily nobody badly injured or worse.
I wonder if the insurance for the helicopter pays out anything?
Last edited by: rtj70 on Thu 24 Nov 11 at 01:12
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Like the see the risk assessment and the H&S briefing on that one
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>> Like the see the risk assessment and the H&S briefing on that one
Definitely a failure to plan. Would be interested to know reptocileh's view.
One point though. Does the tail boom hit something as the a/c oscillates clockwise?
If the shaking alone was sufficent to initiate it's structural failure I might not want to take a joy ride in a JetRanger.
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Having done some work with helicopters in a previous life (don't ask) the least he should have had is an observer either with him or on the ground.
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>> Having done some work with helicopters in a previous life (don't ask) the least he
>> should have had is an observer either with him or on the ground.
Was thinking after my last post that whenever I've seen the London Air Ambulance manoeuvring in streets rest of the crew are watching out.
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News report said blades hit cables, but I couldn't spot that in the video - anyone else?
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Video from another angle, looks more scary (towards end of clip):
www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-15868647
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Was it the pilot's fault?
Two seconds in on this clip appears to show a cable swinging into the blades, perhaps drawn in by the wash?
The end of the clip shows the crane(?) tower jerking, so I presume that's where the other end of the cable's attached.
Last edited by: bathtub tom on Thu 24 Nov 11 at 14:33
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The screeching noise made as the blades came to a stop are enough to make anyone leg it from the scene.
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www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vg_O7tsHfYk&feature=share
The day that the UK was cut off from Anglesey...
(If you know anything about the island you'd understand that statement)
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I was in Kings X last night at 23.08 and as I quickly made my way to catch the 23.11 (at far west platform) I was surprised to hear what I thought was a steam whistle. Then followed the unmistakble sound of a steam engine pulling in to Platform 5?. I was unable to see it, swmbo resisted my suggestion that we delay our departure :( to go to have a look. As she was the designated driver and held my house and car keys I felt it unwise to press the point!
As our train departed there were the last 2 carriages in Brown/Yellow Pullman livery? sticking out from the main station.
Just seemed a very late arrival for a day out special as onward travel opportunities would have been very limited. or was a it a film set opportunity?
So what was it?
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Tornado, on its way back from York. It was the London/York/London cathedrals Express tour.
I have some film of it at Peterborough yesterday morning and yesterday evening will load up later. It ran the entire trip bang on time.
Edit - actually 6 minutes late - level crossing failure at Helpston.
Last edited by: Zero on Fri 25 Nov 11 at 08:58
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And here we have it. Spent some time mooching round the land of the fens (more of that later) and the ECML
www.youtube.com/watch?v=N5BReh3FxsQ
Tornado really ripping it up fresh out of Peterborough. (just south of the Talingworth crossing for those who know the area)
and here it is back again that night
www.youtube.com/watch?v=D-aG3Khjh5M
(might be a good idea to wait for this one - Youtube is doing some post processing to lighten it up a bit)
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Thanks for that Z, the second one brought back memories.
I was born just over the back of Peterborough Station, and my earliest memory (I'm told I was about 2yrs old) was of a rare treat on a train.
My Dad told me to kneel on the seat and push the back of it harder and harder to make the train pull away faster. For years I was convinced it was me pushing that train that got it moving!
Happy Days as he died when I was 11 yrs old.
Pat
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Z
Nice video - At one point it must have looked as if the commuter train was going to spoil all your planning.
The same Utube page throws up a video of the same engine (on a different day) taken at Hitchin station. Looks a pretty good location, nice gentle bend, and the ability to stand on the platform edge?
I would have sworn in court that, (on night arrival at KX), the back 2 carriages were in Brown/Cream - your video shows the last carriage as Blue /Cream? Did it loose a carriage or is my cred as a witness now in serious doubt? I assume that they turn the whole train around at York, not just the engine?
Last edited by: pmh on Sat 26 Nov 11 at 08:31
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I don't know the layout at York but more likely the engine runs off light to turn either on a triangular or a turntable. The carriages simply reverse direction.
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The front 2 ( northbound) were not Cream/Brown either!
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Your witness credibility is shot, the last two coaches southbound as filmed at new barnet were Brown and cream followed by the last red and cream.
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So presumably they turn the (engine+ 1 red carriage) round at York. Is the odd red carriage used as a rolling maintenance unit?
It must have been the Sodium Lighting at KX - or was it the Merlot kicking in? :)
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>> So presumably they turn the (engine+ 1 red carriage) round at York. Is the odd
>> red carriage used as a rolling maintenance unit?
The red coach is the "Support" coach. Contains crew quarters complete with kitchen, and workshop/spares. Every Engine has its own, they rarely go anywhere without it.
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And here is is again for busy old Tornado, this time at Taplow on the GWR.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=WWveSM1QmEw
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Busy day, the second spot of the day, Tangmere Euston bound at Addlestone.
www.youtube.com/watch?v=bDsP_gtg_d0
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Z
Apart from trains do you do signals and tunnels & station spotting?
Have you been to all the Railway museums in the uk?
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>> Z
>>
>> Apart from trains do you do signals and tunnels & station spotting?
As it happens I have some photos of some of the last man operated crossing gates in the UK, on the Norwich to Ely x country leg, and a station deep in the fens where they get FOUR trains stop a day! Also on that stretch I have some video of Semaphore signals in use - you want to see it?
And some photos of the disused platforms and track bed at March.
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If you get much closer I'll have to invite you for coffee:)
Pat
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Goodwill to all men Pat? You could bake him a Christmas cake - it probably wouldn't kill him 'till the new year.
;>)
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Based on pats self confessed cooking skils, I'll stick with the shop bought mince pies.
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I have been known to have an earlier effect than that tubby tommy!
Pat
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>> If you get much closer I'll have to invite you for coffee:)
>>
>> Pat
The nearest i got to you I think was Manea station.
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That's close!
It's also the bridge we went under when I was on the back of mrpda on the GS1400.
He shouted 'duck' and laid on the tank....bet you can guess what I did:)
Pat
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That'l be the one at 16 foot bank. I assume?
You have a choice, squeeze under the bridge, which for those who don't know is not tall enough to get a transit under, as it only has 7 foot clearance, or pop up over the crossing next to it.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 27 Nov 11 at 14:02
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That's the one...but of course, that's Stonea.
I didn't realise Manea had a station but it isn't really somewhere you go unless you have to, is it?
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Sun 27 Nov 11 at 14:03
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no wonder you're now only 5'1"
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>> I didn't realise Manea had a station but it isn't really somewhere you go unless
>> you have to, is it?
with only 4 trains a day, and only 7 passengers a week, clearly few have found a reason.
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Is this the one you two lovebirds are on about?: g.co/maps/fyz8d
I got used to shooting under that bridge and then one day I had the caravan behind! I did manage to stop in time, but had a long reverse. IIRC there was a bell-push on the gate, It took ages for the signalman to respond.
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That's it, but it looks low approaching at 60MPH on the back of a bike with the one at the front already ducked!
pat
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>> That's it, but it looks low approaching at 60MPH on the back of a bike
>> with the one at the front already ducked!
At 7 foot it looks low - at any speed, it takes a leap of faith or experience to go under there at speed!
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 27 Nov 11 at 14:34
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>> Is this the one you two lovebirds are on about?: g.co/maps/fyz8d
>>
>> I got used to shooting under that bridge and then one day I had the
>> caravan behind! I did manage to stop in time, but had a long reverse. IIRC
>> there was a bell-push on the gate, It took ages for the signalman to respond.
Now there is a hut, with a man, who closes the gates when trains go by, and you really dont want to go down there when the 16 foot drain is close to overflowing.
Last edited by: Zero on Sun 27 Nov 11 at 14:32
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I remember when *groan* I had to start at 3am on one Boxing Day in the 80's running from Wimblington to Wissington Sugar Beet factory and back all day, and the road was covered in 1'' thick sheet ice. the sixteen foot was frozen over too. It was my first real experience of an artic on ice and a real baptism of fire.
I left a slice of proper Melton Mowbray pork pie on the crossing gate post for my mate following a bit behind me because he was hungry and it really confused the crossing man!
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Sun 27 Nov 11 at 14:47
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>> I left a slice of proper Melton Mowbray pork pie on the crossing gate post
>> for my mate following a bit behind me because he was hungry and it really
>> confused the crossing man!
The locals are easily confused, here are some of them along the 16 foot bank
s606.photobucket.com/albums/tt148/know_wun/the%20fens/
They dont look friendly
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Opps - That was along side the 100 foot drain, just before Welney Wash.
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There's not that many cows in the Fen, it's all crops, apart from those in a shell suit, of course.
*'saucer of milk for table two'*
I need to go and concentrate on a leg of pork now (and Aunt Bessie's Yorkies!)
Pat
Last edited by: pda on Sun 27 Nov 11 at 15:40
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The locals are easily confused,
My Great Great Grandfather came from near Ely. Probably explains a lot :-(
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Unusual planes, trains but no automobiles vol 4 - commerdriver
