Still in green ten years after it was abandoned for corporate rail blue 20140 leads 20084 past Lenton South Junction on a westbound train of vacuum braked coal hoppers, 4th June 1976.

Locomotive History

20140 was delivered from English Electric’s Vulcan Foundry works in May 1966 as D8140 and was out-shopped in green livery. The soundness of the design and therefore long periods between classified repairs is shown by the high number of class 20’s still running in the mid 1970’s in there original green paint. D8140 was one of a small batch of class 20’s (D8134 – D8143) delivered new in 1966 to the Birmingham Division (DO2) which in reality was Bescot MPD and it remained until transferred to the Nottingham Division (Toton) in January 1969. 20140 remained a Toton engine for most of the remainder of its career and survived being stored in December 1982, when a large number of Toton’s vacuum braked class 20 fleet were taken out of service due to the reduction in coal traffic from pit closures and the continued introduction of air braked MGR coal wagons. It was re-instated in January 1984 following a classified repair when it was fitted with dual train brakes and slow speed control. This enable it to operate MGR coal duties, and it remained in service for another eight years until withdrawn in January 1992. It was broken up by MC Metals, Glasgow in August 1993. 20084 was originally D8084 and entered traffic in 1961. It was allocated to Eastfield for Scottish lowlands duties, particularly in the Forth-Clyde area, and the Fife coalfield and in common with most class 20’s initially allocated to Scotland has the cab recess for single line token exchange equipment. Transferred to Toton in the early 1970’s it would be withdrawn in the early 1990’s, however was subsequently sold to Direct Rail Services and overhauled in the late 1990’s and renumbered 20302.

Praktica LTL, Orwochrome UT18

What an attractive station Okehampton is and what a triumph the re-instated passenger service in 2021 has been. Okehampton was removed from the passenger network in 1972 and now the new service has been a major success. This is 150263 on the 15.25 to Exeter Central. I'd arrived on a bus 118 which left Tavistock at 14.20 and arrived here at 15.16 allowing me nine minutes to take some quick photos before jumping on the train. I had travelled from Exeter to Okehampton in the 1990s when services ran on Sundays as part of the Dartmoor Ranger ticket. Sadly I never did the line from here to Coleford Junction during the time of the preserved Dartmoor Railway when various locos did it including 45060.

A serious landslip on the old railway trackbed at East Mines. Fortunately, the first phase of work in a major project to conserve this industrial heritage, funded by the English Heritage Lottery Fund, will be to shore up and re-instate a good pathway here.

Having been in store for a while she was re-instated 11/90 for the Christmas Shoppa-Hoppa service between City Centre & Ocean Village.

Sold to Southend Transport 1/91 as 117, w/d acquired by Brakell of Cheam 1/94 and was exported to Germany used as a McDonalds restaurants party bus by 1996.

9F 92034 is seen heading a fast fitted freight in the early 1960's. Built at Crewe in December 1954, 92034 had the dubious distinction of being one of the first 9F's to be withdrawn from service in May 1964. She was one of the batch of Eastern Region 9F's to be condemned in that month, the others being 92169/70/71/75/76/77.

Although WR 9F 92223 had been officially withdrawn in February 1964, it was re-instated and transferred to the MIdland Region at Tysley (2A) and surviving until Aprill 1968.

The Patrick O'Brien Collection

Queensland Rail National's 6007 solo on thier newly re instated 5MA6 freight service from Melbourne to Adelaide, Australia - 11.10.12

31st March 1979

Organised by Brighton Model Railway Club, their 'special' train took on a tour of various locations around the County with what became the last ever passenger train to travel on what was left of the Shoreham to Horsham railway line axed during the infamous Dr. Beeching cuts of the 1960's.

Back then the non-electrified line still ran from the junction just West of Shoreham-by-Sea up to the Blue Circle Cement Works at Upper Beeding.

From there the line originally ran on through Bramber, Steyning, Henfield and on to Horsham. The track had long been removed as had much of the ballast and like most of those lines, much had been turned over to agriculture and development.

Here on that grey March day nearly 40 years ago, BR Electro-Diesel Type 73 '73 136' heads up four-car electric 4TC '415' packed full of enthusiasts as they negotiate the line to the sidings at Beeding where the whole train simply went into reverse with the 4-car unit leading.

Whilst the main lines they used for most of their journey that day were 3rd rail 750 volt DC - here the Loco's Diesel 'option' was used to haul the Special up to the 'end of the line' before reversing for the return journey.

Photo 1.

The Train negotiates the original location of the Toll Bridge Railway level crossing which by then the signal box had been demolished and the main gates replaced by pedestrian only ones and fencing each side of the remaining single line.

The original A27 which crossed the river here had long since been routed further North - see later

In the background the buildings still stand - residential and part of the 'Amsterdam' restaurant and Pub as does the Railway bridge taking the South Coastway main line across the River on to Worthing, Chichester and Portsmouth

Compare this to

Photo 2

Which, taken today shows the same view but with the line long gone.

However the whole area has recently been 'uplifted' where the Environment Agency has raised the River Bank levels by over a metre so the aspect of where I stood to take the latest two images is probably slightly higher than the original

Although not quite visible - as a tribute to the original line, the four pieces of track that were the original level crossing have been re-instated albeit slightly South East of their original location

Photo 3

Locals get up close as the Sussex Rambler passes at a slow pace. That concrete box vantage point is where the Toll collector sheltered when taking the sixpence (6d) it cost for cars to drive across the Old Shoreham wooden Toll Bridge which still stands today

Photo 4

A shot of the Loco 'pushing' the Rolling Stock past my Late In-Laws' Garden as they returned South

Photo 5

An unusual view with the trailing 'electric' 4TC on the non-electrified line heads up the Adur Valley with the River to

the left winding along in parallel with the line and about to pass under the A27 fly-over behind.

In the distance the then still working Blue Circle Works chimney belching it's signature plume of smoke

Compare that to

Photo 6

This shows today's vista - all very similar bar the new raised track which is now the 'Downs Link' Bridleway,

used extensively by Horse-riders, cyclists, Ramblers, walkers etc.

That chimney still exists but these days it's not in use as the Works lies derelict. Only yesterday BBC SE TV ran a story

denoting the fate of the complex and it's associated Chalk quarry should be decided by the end of 2018.

The A27 is still very much there with a marked increase in the volume of traffic.

That small building to the right in Photo 5 is a pumping station currently being refurbished but hidden by the hedgerow.

Check out Trevor Bance's page on the Special's itinerary that day here:

www.sixbellsjunction.co.uk/70s/790331bm.htm

Scanned Kodak 35mm transparencies mixed with Nikon P610 digital

46054 stands at the north end of platform 2 at Derby having arrived on 1M25, 09:25 Paignton – Derby service, 25th June 1977.

Locomotive History

46054 was built at Derby works as D191 and entered traffic in January 1963, allocated to Gateshead MPD for North East – South West cross country and secondary East Coast Main Line duties. It was one of fifty six Peak class locomotives fitted with Brush electrical equipment instead of Crompton Parkinson which would form class 46. It would spend the 1960’s as a Gateshead or Holbeck engine being transferred between the two depots a number of times before settling down at Gateshead for the rest of its career. At the end of the Summer timetable in 1980 there was a massive cull of the class 46 fleet with over half the fleet stored. 46054 was stored at Swindon works in November 1980 from where it was officially withdrawn in December 1980. However an increased demand for Type 4 locomotives at the end of 1981 found British Rail looking to the withdrawal and storage lines at Swindon and eleven class 46 locomotives were re-instated with 46054 being officially reinstated on the 29th November 1981. The expectations demanded of these locomotives must have been something of a challenge as they had been in open storage for at least twelve months and the challenge proved beyond 46054 as it was again withdrawn in January 1982 having never actually leaving Swindon works. It would be broken up at Swindon works in August 1983.

20112 heads a line of class 20’s waiting there next duties at Ayr MPD, 27th March 1976.

Locomotive History

20112 was built by English Electric at the Robert Stephenson and Hawthorn works, Darlington and entered traffic in January 1962, allocated to Eastfield MPD for Forth-Clyde area and Fife coalfield duties. On the 28th August 1977 whilst working an engineers train 20112 over-ran the loop at Greenhill Junction and was derailed on the trap points with the locomotive subsequently rolling over onto its side with several wagons piled on top. It migrated to Tinsley by the 1980’s. In 1982 20112 was stored when a large number of the vacuum braked class 20 fleet were stored due to the reduction in coal traffic from pit closures and the continued introduction of air braked MGR coal wagons. 20112 was re-instated in 1983 following air brake fitment to enable it to operate MGR coal duties. Its final transfer was to Thornaby from where it was withdrawn in January 1991. It was broken up by MC Metals, Glasgow in July 1993.

Praktica LTL, Orwochrome UT18

Tubber 24-6-09 146 stands while its ballast train is loaded at the former Tubber station during work to re-instate the railway between Ennis and Athenry

Annan, November 26 1988. WCML diversions always exacerbated the problem of the singled Gretna – Annan section of the G&SW. Here the driver of 47425 “Holbeck” looks back along his train - the up Cornish Scot – as it waits for 47614 to clear the section with the 0812 Manchester – Glasgow & Edinburgh.

The double track was re-instated in 2008.

Young girl with a drum in yet another huge demonstration in Tel Aviv against the government's legislation that will weaken the supreme court and instate a de-facto dictatorship in Israel.

Czech state railways (ČD) and Polish regional operator Przewozy Regionalne connect at the border station of Cieszyn on 11 May 2016. The Polish town of Cieszyn and Czech town of Český Těšín are separated by a river and in December 2015 the stations had their cross border service re-instated. On the left is Czech 2-car DMU 814.167 on train Os12810, 08:31 Cieszyn to Frýdek-Místek. On the right is Prezewozy Regionalne DMU SA109-005 on train KS94304, 08:34 Cieszyn to Czechowice-Dziedzice. The other route from Cieszyn through to Bielsko-Biała lost its rail passenger service in 2009.

2903 makes a rare apperance on New Service 914 via Aston Expressway replacing 114 in May 2006 Mon-Sat daytime. Metrobuses was getting rarer too see on Sutton Services now. 2903 is a newcomer to Perry Barr in May 2005 having spent entire life at Hockley,

LIFE OF BUS 2903

New to Hockley Garage November 1985

Transferred to Perry Barr 31/05/2005 (Upon Hockley Closure)

Transferred to West Bromwich August 2006

Transferred to Walsall Janaury 2009

Withdrawn 29/11/2009

Re-instated to Acocks Green April 2010

Withdrawn 25/07/2010

Sold to Abbey Travel, Leicester

Location: Birmingham Square Peg

June 2006

PB

BR Class 50 50007 Hercules

RAILWAY ROLLING STOCK ALBUM

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/albums/72157624240221528

SEVERN VALLEY RAILWAY ALBUM

www.flickr.com/photos/45676495@N05/albums/72177720298846760

Fifty English Electric Type 4 (later BR Class 50) diesel locomotives were built by English Electric at their Vulcan Foundry Works plant in Newton-le-Willows between 1967 and 1968, and were originally allocated numbers D4- - They later became BR’s Class 50, being allocated renumbered with numbers begining with 50. The origally hauled passenger trains on the West Coast Main Line on the yet to be electrified section North of Crewe often as double headers. Upon electrification the fleet was transferred to BR’s Western Region to work main line passenger services out of London Paddington. The engines remaned unnamed until 1970 when they aquired names of wartime Royal Naval vessels.

50007 Hercules

Numbered D407 the engine entered service in August 1968, in 1974 the engine was renumbered 50007 and in 1978 aquired its present name Hercules, after the British battleship of the same name, in 1984 it was outshopped in Brunswick Green and renamed Sir Edward Elgar, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the Great Western Railway. After being withdrawn on 16 July 1991, the locomotive was re-instated for railtour service, and was one of the two Class 50 locomotives to haul the final BR Class 50 railtour, Withdrawn on 26th March 1994 Sir Edward Elgar was the penultimate class 50 locomotive to be retired from service.

50007 Sir Edward Elgar was purchased by the Class 40 Appeal and was transferred to the Midland Railway Butterley in July 1994.In 2013, the locomotive was sold to a private owner and relocated to Washwood Heath, where it was repainted from GWR Green to BR Blue, and re-named Hercules. It changed hands again in November 2016, being fitted with the relevant equipment for mainline running. 50007 was moved to the SVR on 16 January 2017

Diolch yn fawr am 68,375,644 o olygfeydd anhygoel, mwynhewch ac arhoswch yn ddiogel

Thank you 68,375,644 amazing views, enjoy and stay safe

Shot 15.09.2018 at Kidderminster Diesel Depot, Severn Valley Railway, Shropshire Ref 136-422

With a degree of secrecy to honour in the light of the bus's début today (Sunday 22nd May 2011) at the Bristol Harbourside Rally, I can now post the pictures taken of it on Friday whilst on it's paintwork road test. K621 LAE arrived at RBW about five weeks ago for a budget restoration, or more correctly a re-vamp. Work included changing the worst of the damaged panels and re-instating of the panelled over rear window and modified rear end... and of course a re-paint which we subcontracted.

As part of Surrey CC's latest review of bus services, the 590 is due changes from Saturday 29th August 2015.

The 590 started in April 2014 with Abellio Surrey's network review: the 441 was removed from Stanwell Moor, replaced by the 557 being diverted after Stanwell to run to Stanwell Moor and Heathrow Terminal 5 instead of Terminal 4 and Hatton Cross. The 557 does not serve Staines (the nearest main town to Stanwell Moor), so Surrey CC funded some limited journeys, numbered 590, to link the two. This is in addition to the 591, a weekdays off-peak breadvan shoppers service run by Carlone Buses, which takes in various bits of Stanwell big buses don't reach on its way between Stanwell Moor and Staines.

The 590 involves:

Abellio Surrey - Mon-Fri early morning trip, 0730 from Staines, 0742 back from Stanwell Moor to Staines.

Carlone Buses - Mon-Fri, the last 591 from Staines to Stanwell Moor returns to Staines (at 1430) direct via Stanwell Moor Road, as a 590. Also previously a peak time evening return journey from Staines to Stanwell Moor, however this was withdrawn from 23rd March 2015.

Bear Buses - Saturdays, four round trips worked off the Saturday service on the 305.

Moving onto the current 2015 SCC bus review...

The 557 is being withdrawn between Sunbury Tesco and Heathrow T5, thus meaning Stanwell Moor looses any 'big' bus service.

Route 590's early morning trips run by Abellio Surrey are being withdrawn, due to very low usage.

The Carlone and Bear Buses trips stay...

HOWEVER... in a very late change of plan, announced only this week, Abellio's route 446 is now going to be extended from Ashford Hospital to Stanwell Moor and Terminal 5. This therefore maintains a regular bus service around Stanwell Moor, and re-instates the link between the village and Staines.

Therefore, the Saturday Bear Buses trips on the 590 become superfluous, and are now going to be withdrawn.

So long story short, this made today (Saturday 22nd August 2015) Bear Buses' last day on the 590.

Dart S110 EGK is seen at the Anchor pub stop on the last round trip. An elderly couple did alight at this stop when it arrived from Staines.

Horton Road, Stanwell Moor, Surrey.

A grey, misty day at Toton MPD finds withdrawn 44010 dumped on the scrap road awaiting its last journey, 16th October 1977.

Locomotive History

44010 was originally D10 Tryfan and was built at Derby works. It entered traffic in February 1960, allocated to Camden MPD for West Coast Main Line passenger duties (one of the "Pilot Scheme" locomotives). It was transferred to Toton in March 1962 for heavy freight duties in the East Midlands and remained at Toton until withdrawn. 44010 was was stored at Toton during February 1976 and then withdrawn in August 1976 only to be re-instated in October 1976 as a replacement for 44001 which was withdrawn with fire damage after failing in the Stoke area on 8L21, Toton – Garston . 44010's reprieve ended on the 12th May 1977 when it suffered main generator damage working a Rufford Colliery - Avenue Coking Plant coal train near Mansfield Colliery Junction. It was withdrawn the same month and eventually towed to Derby works where it was broken up during July 1978.

Praktica LTL, Kodachrome 64

Middlesbrough 27-3-02 Recently re-instated 56133 is on the track into Middlesbrough Goods as it passes Newport East Junction on a train of Rock-salt for Middlesbrough Goods from Boulby Mine. The Tees lifting bridge in the background

A very scenic part of the Isle of Man but not seen by many. In late Victorian/ Edwardian times there was a very popular electric tramway along this part of the coast running from Douglas Head to Port Soderick. The advent of the two World Wars caused a major decline in the tourist industry and the lack of maintenance during the last one resulted in the line not reopening. The Marine Drive roadway was re-instated in 1956 after some 7 years work and at a cost of £0.25M as some parts needed to be blasted out of the cliff face as the bridges were unsafe - some 20 years later the road was closed after major rockfalls but can be walked on. There is often talk of repairing it all but as the years go by the costs escalate! It remains as a peaceful place frequented by walkers and joggers.

The registration number (B99 GGR) is on a red 1986 Mercedes 190 last taxed June 1999.

Anglia Car Auctions, King's Lynn -

"V5 Present

MoT Jan 2019

Chassis number: SAJJAALP3CC393374

Part of a small collection, this car is being offered on behalf of the executor's. The original registration will be re‑instated, B99 GGR, following a cherished transfer. Four keepers from new, the vendor has owned this car since 1990. It was used during the early years of his ownership, placed into storage in 2005 and has had very little use since before being placed into storage again in 2016. It comes with the original service book with main dealer stamps between 1984 and 1990, various MoT's dating from the 1990's, early 2000's and then 2009 onwards, a few invoices, handbooks and wallet. Mileage recorded at 135,197."

Sold for £3074 including premium.

1973 Citroen SM.

Registered in May 1998.

Anglia Car Auctions, King's Lynn -

"V5 Present

MoT Oct 2019

Chassis number: 00SD0639

Originally a US car, UK imported in 1998. Restored by Andrew Brodie & David Yeo c2011, including the installation of engine modifications to improve reliability & was subsequently featured in Classic Cars in 2014, a copy of which is included in the file. Since the vendor's 2015 ownership, he advises that he has regularly used the car including several trips to France. Following his purchase, additional works were carried out by SM specialists, BL Auto's, to enhance the drive even further, these include ultrasonic cleaning of the carbs, ignition overhaul, HT leads installed, new American A/C pump installed, new offside front hub fitted & replacement steering rack. The original seats, that had been stored for many years, were repeatedly applied with leather treatment & after 18 months were "brought back to life", enabling the owner to re‑instate them in the car following the removal of the vinyl seats currently fitted. History file includes a full restoration photographic album, details of the restoration work undertaken & list of upgrades, a folder of invoices dating 2011 to 2017, one MoT from 1998 & from 2011 to present, tax discs 2012 to 2014 & original owner's manuals. Mileage recorded at 62,500 miles."

Sold for £40,200 including premium.

tomb of HAFEZ- Shiraz-Iran.

Khwajeh Shams al-Din Muhammad Hafez-e Shirazi was an Iranian mystic and poet. He was born sometime between the years 1310-1325 in Shiraz, Iran, of father Baha-ud-Din. Baha-ud-Din was a coal merchant. He died when Hafez was a child, leaving him and his mother with much debt. By listening to his fathers recitations of the Holy Qur'an, Hafez had accomplished the task of memorizing the holy book at an early age. At the same time Hafez memorized the works of Mevlana (Jalal al-Din Muhammad Rumi), Sa'di, Attar, and Nezami, later, at the age of 21 he met with Attar of Shiraz and became his disciple.

Before meeting Attar, Hafez had been working in a local bakery. Hafez delivered bread to a wealthy quarter of the town where he saw Shakh-e Nabat a woman of incredible beauty to whom many of his poems are adressed to. After becomeing a poet in the court of Abu Ishak, he gained much fame and influence in his hometown. Hafez gained a position as teacher of Qur'anic studies a respectable occupation. In his early 30's (33) Mubariz Muzaffar captured Shiraz and outsed Hafez from his position. No longer writing of spiritual romanticism Hafez began writing protest poems which he received little recognition for.

Hafez regained his position after Shah Shuja took his father Mubariz Muzaffar as prisoner. Not before long, Hafez was forced into self-imposed exile by the same individual who re-instated his position. Hafez fled from Shiraz to Isfahan for his own safety. At the age of 52 Hafez once again regained his position and received a personal invitation from Shah Shuja, who pleaded with him to return. At age 60 he began a 40 day and night vigil by sitting in a circle which he had drawn for himself. On the 40 th day he once again met with Attar on what is known to be their 40th anniversary and was offered a cup of wine. It was there where he attained Cosmic Consciousness.

Hafez died at the age of 69. His tomb is located in the Musalla Gardens of Shiraz (referred to as Hafezieh).

شاد زید در کنار ایزدان و امشاسپندان

One of my early photographs taken using a Hanimex Compact non SLR “point and shoot” camera with a 40mm lens of dubious quality around the edges of the frame. 46010 stands in the platform at Plymouth, 26th August 1975.

Locomotive History

46010 was originally D147 and was built at Derby works, entering traffic in December 1961, allocated to Derby MPD for Midland Main Line and North East – South West cross country duties. A short spell at Cricklewood was followed by a transfer to the Nottingham Division (Toton) in 1964,where it was to remain there until 1971, when a major fleet re-organisation occurred and 46010 was part of a batch of class 46 locomotives transferred to Bristol Bath Road as replacements for the then rapidly disappearing diesel-hydraulic fleet on the Western Region. 46010 was transferred to Laira in October 1974 where it was to remain until October 1980 when it was stored unserviceable at Swindon works. A year later an increased demand for Type 4 locomotives found British Rail looking to the storage lines at Swindon for an answer and 46010 was one of eleven class 46 locomotives re-instated in December 1981. The expectations demanded of these locomotives must have been something of a challenge as they had been in open storage for at least twelve months. However that challenge was met by 46010 as it would give over two years further service, allocated to Gateshead. By May 1984 46010 was approaching five years since its last classified works repair (Derby works, September 1979) which included the year in open storage and was becoming increasingly unreliable and spent most of the summer of 1984 under repair intermingled with brief bouts of work. By the end of August 1984 it was stopped awaiting repairs at Gateshead and these were not sanctioned and 46010 was officially withdrawn on the 4th November 1984. 46010 was then moved to Doncaster Works along with several other class 46’s for breaking up, however in 1985 it was selected to test new depot protection scotches (being such a heavy locomotive) at Doncaster MPD and moved across to the depot where it was basically forgotten. It was eventually offered for sale by tender in February 1993 and bought for preservation and following restoration moved under its own power for the first time since 1984 in July 2000.

Hanimex Compact, Orwochrome UT18

HSS STENA EXPLORER arriving at Dún Laoghaire on a sailing from Holyhead on June 23, 2007.

Click here for more photographs of HSS STENA EXPLORER: www.jhluxton.com/Shipping/Shipping-Companies-Short-Sea-Fe...

HSS STENA EXPLORER (later ONE WORLD KARADENIZ and currently KARADENIZ LIFESHIP) operated on Stena Line's Holyhead–Dún Laoghaire service between Wales and Ireland until 2014.

In 2015 the ship was was sold to Karadeniz Holding to be used as a floating office, research space and alternative power generator in Karmarine shipyard in Yalova near Istanbul, Turkey,

Stena Explorer was constructed by Finnyards in Rauma, Finland, at a cost £65 million. Construction commenced in June 1994 and was completed in February 1996, before entering service in April 1996.

The vessel is a catamaran, and was designed with the aim of providing a comfortable and fast service. The sailing time between Holyhead and Dún Laoghaire was 99 minutes.

Power is provided by four GE Aviation gas turbines driving four KaMeWa waterjets for propulsion.

The HSS class of ferries were designed to allow quick turnarounds at port. A specially designed linkspan provides ropeless mooring and allows quick loading, unloading and servicing. Vehicles are loaded via two of the four stern doors and park in a "U" configuration. When disembarking, vehicles drive straight off via the other two doors.

HSS STENA EXPLORER spent the majority of her career sailing on her original route between Holyhead and Dún Laoghaire.

Due to increasing world price of oil the Stena HSS had her crossing time extended to around 119 minutes in a bid to trim her fuel bill. Over the years, the Stena HSS' timetable has gradually been reduced from an initial five round-trips a day, down to just one round-trip a day.

Stena Line replaced the vessel with STENA LYNX III, which ran twice daily from 15 March 2010 to the end of 2010 apart from May to September, when Stena Explorer operated the route once daily to relieve the Stena Lynx so she could run on the Fishguard – Rosslare route.

On 26 May 2010, Stena Line re-instated HSS STENA EXPLORER back on the Holyhead – Dún Laoghaire route one month earlier than planned.

On 14 September 2010, HSS STENA EXPLORER left the Holyhead – Dún Laoghaire route with her last 2010 sailing being the 13:15 departure from Dún Laoghaire. Stena Lynx III operated the route until Sunday 9 January 2011. STENA EXPLORER returned on 1 April 2011 and will operate the route until 13 September 2011 on a one sailing a day basis.

Between 9–22 June 2011, HSS STENA EXPLORER operated two round trips a day, due STENA ADVENTURER, which operated on Stena Lines' Holyhead – Dublin service receiving her annual refit.

On 4 February 2015, Stena Line announced that the HSS service to Dún Laoghaire was to be withdrawn and not restarted for 2015 with HSS STENA EXPLORER being withdrawn from service.

All services from Holyhead would be concentrated on Dublin Port, served by both Stena Line and Irish Ferries.

On 1 November 2015, she departed on tow from Holyhead and arrived in Turkey on 17 November.

Renamed ONE WORLD KARADENIZ she was in Karmarine shipyard in Yalova, near Istanbul, Turkey.

The owner, Karadeniz Holding, had converted it into an "earthquake-resistant" floating office, research space and alternative power generator for the community of Istanbul. It is part of Karadeniz' Powerships project.

In 2024 renamed KARADDENIZ LIFESHIP the vessel has been providing refuge for those made homeless in the 2023 Turkish earthquake.

Railway Station, Sheringham, Norfolk. Originally opened in 1887 the Holt to Cromer section of the East Midlands Railway closed 1964. The North Norfolk Railway reopened the line in stages between Sheringham and Holt beginning in 1965. Although much of the original station was demolished, the main entrance and platform 1 are well preserved, and there are plans to re-instate the buildings on other platforms. Steam services operate throughout the summer.

Sheringham, Norfolk, East Anglia, UK - North Norfolk Railway, Sheringham Station

January 2019

Primer lugar en el concurso "Animales de México" www.flickr.com/groups/mexico_siglo_xxi/discuss/7215762497...

Class 76 EM1'S No's 76 023 + 76 022 double head an Eastbound train of empty 16T wagons past the site of a derailment between Dinting and Hadfield. The shot was taken in March 1981 about four months before the closure of Woodhead as a through route so the damaged line was not re-instated.

From memory this was taken on Ektachrome and hence is a bit grainy but the faster film speed was often needed in the Pennines!

This is a scan of a 35mm transparency.

© Copyright Stephen Willetts - No unauthorised use

The pier, Culross, Fife just after sunset. Currently being re-instated to its former glory by local enthusiasts and volunteers.

Very much a last throw of the dice 82005 was put out, or to be more precise "fixed" to work the 1423 Manchester - Swansea to Birmingham on the 17th November 1982 just days before being put into store and then withdrawal. It was later re-instated to work ECS train in Manchester and then London which it did for a few years.

The ACE it isn't!

Axminister station on the ex-LSWR main line sees the 10.05 departure of South Western Railway Class 159 diesel multiple unit 159104 with 1L36 the 09.25 Exeter St Davids to London Waterloo. It had just crossed with the Down service heading for Exeter.

Axminster was opened by the London and South Western Railway in 1860 and in 1903 became a junction station when the Lyme Regis branch line was opened. After transfer to the Western Region goods traffic was withdrawn in 1960, the Lyme Regis branch line closed in 1965 & in 1967 the main line was rationalised & singled through Axminster.

Today the station is on a re-instated 3km passing loop and is served by a regular hourly service, trains being timetabled to pass at Axminster.

Although there are no documents about the early years of Guildford castle, it is almost certain that it was built shortly after the Norman conquest of 1066.

William the Conqueror built castles in all the important towns to prevent rebellion and to strengthen his hold on the country.

Guildford was an obvious site for a castle as it was the only town in Surrey (apart from Southwark). It was also on an important route between London and the south coast and the west of England.

The first structures at the castle would have been the motte, or mound, surrounded by a ditch, and an adjoining bailey, or courtyard, defended by a wooden palisade.

The bailey boundary ran along Castle Street, South Hill, the edge of what is now Racks Close and along a line parallel with Quarry Street but to the east. It may have used part of the Saxon borough boundary. The bailey was probably divided into an inner and outer bailey, partly along the line of the path between the Bowling Green and the castle grounds.

There was probably a wooden tower on the motte, providing a lookout post for the garrison. In the early 12th century a chalk wall, or shell-keep, was built around the top of the motte. Later, perhaps in the 1130s, a keep, or great tower, was built to one side of the motte. It was probably over part of the shell-keep and also used the natural chalk below the artificial motte to take the weight of the tower.

It was built of Bargate stone from the Godalming area, as it is stronger than the local chalk. It had two floors with the door on the first floor for both defence and status. It was probably built as the King's private apartments. The walls were finished with crenellations, and presumably a wall-walk for sentries.

The first floor rooms consisted of the main chamber, a chapel, and a wardrobe chamber with a latrine. Not long afterwards a second floor was added. This had a two-seater latrine, showing that more people were using the building. The roof was of lead, and the walls were plastered and whitewashed.

In the later 12th century, the tower became the headquarters of the Sheriff and the county gaol for Surrey and Sussex. The king moved to better apartments in the bailey, together with all the other domestic buildings and a chapel. The Great Hall was probably on the site of the two houses at the bottom of Castle Hill. It was stone, with wooden aisle posts painted to look like marble.

In the 13th century Henry III made many improvements, which caused the castle to be referred to as a palace. His queen had a new window in her rooms, made as large as possible, with two Purbeck marble columns.

The Great Hall was given windows with coloured glass, and wall paintings, including the story of Dives and Lazarus, to remind the king to be charitable. A screen by the passage leading to Henry's private chambers was painted with the legend of Edward the Confessor and St. John.

Henry's bedchamber was painted green, with gold and silver stars, and he had a garden surrounded by a cloister with marble columns. In 1254, a fire damaged the hall and other buildings but the improvements continued.

In 1245, Henry bought land to extend the bailey. This was presumably the land along Quarry Street. He built a set of rooms for his son Edward, the heir to the throne, in 1246 when the boy was seven. The ruins at the end of Castle Cliffe Gardens are probably the remains of this.

In 1256, the gate on Quarry Street was built. John of Gloucester, the king's master mason, and Alexander the king's carpenter oversaw the work. They were in charge of all royal works south of the Trent. The original gate to the castle must have been on the other side of the bailey, opposite Tunsgate, but there is no trace of it today.

The new gate suggests that Henry had altered the whole focus of the castle. He later built more sets of rooms in this area, for his daughter-in-law Eleanor of Castile, and for his queen's knights.

Although the castle was mainly used as a dwelling, it was strongly defended and was used as a mustering point for troops preparing for Edward I's foreign wars. It was never attacked, though it was strengthened in 1173 - 4 during the rebellion of Henry II's son. The heightening of the great tower may be linked to the civil war of Stephen's reign.

In 1216, the castle was given up without a fight to the forces supporting the barons against King John. There was no fighting during Simon de Montfort's rebellion either. However, Edward, Henry III's son, captured a rebel, Adam Gurdon, in single combat at Alton and brought him to Guildford. It is said that Edward's wife, Eleanor of Castile pleaded for Adam's life, and he was spared, to become a loyal servant of the crown.

In the 14th century, Guildford and other inland castles were no longer needed and fell into disrepair. By 1379 everything at Guildford had fallen down except for the king's great chamber.

The moated hunting lodge in the royal park was improved from the 1360s, so that royalty could stay there. The park was across the river, and was used for hunting deer for sport, and to provide food for the royal household. There was also a rabbit warren. Horses were bred in the park, and oxen were grazed. The trees provided timber for building and fuel for fires and for limekilns, which produced lime for building work.

The Great Tower continued to be used as the county gaol. The Sheriff had a building next to it, probably of timber, from 1247. The gaol was moved to Southwark in the early 16th century and in 1544 John Daborne was made Keeper of the castle garden. His family was involved with the castle for the rest of the 16th century. They put the brick windows and the fireplaces in the tower, may have used it as an official residence.

In 1611, the castle estate was granted to Francis Carter and he, or his son, built the house at Castle Arch soon after this.The tower was unroofed in about 1630, and was used as a cockpit. Parts of the grounds were farmed, and rented out to different people. In 1885, Lord Grantley of Wonersh, who owned a large part of the castle, sold it to Guildford Corporation.

The tower and other walls were restored, and the grounds were opened to the public in 1888 as pleasure gardens. In 2003 - 4 the Great Tower was conserved and the original crenellations and other features were discovered. A roof and floor were re-instated at first floor level, and the ground floor now houses a display about the castle.

Limited disability access due to the steep castle mound and the number of staircases. There is a small gift shop on the ground floor of the castle.

The Great Tower contains a model of the original castle c1300 and interpretation panels tracing the tower's history to the present day.

Oh ! If you peep to the right hand side of the Keep , you can see part of Guildford Cathedral on the horizon opposite .

150115 171008 Stockport

The Class 150's have been linked with the West Midlands since their introduction in the 80's.

After being initially based in Derby they quickly moved to Tyseley where they went in all directions.

The first 32 units were snapped up by Centro to operate the Birmingham suburban services, especially via the re-instated Snow Hill route. They worked the services until displaced by the class 172's in 2011-2.

The units displaced moved to First Great Western and Northern where they were quickly absorbed into their respective fleets.

150115 moved to Northern and is seen in Northern livery working a special working out of Stockport's platform 1 back North crossing the pointwork from the Up Fast to Down Fast on Stockport Viaduct.

8th October 2017.

20068 and 20180 wait for the road east at Nottingham Midland, 9th May 1979. 20068 was originally D8068 and was built by English Electric at the Robert Stephensons and Hawthorn works, Darlington, entering traffic in June 1961. On entering traffic it was allocated to Darnall MPD in Sheffield for south Yorkshire freight duties until the opening of Tinsley MPD when Darnall’s allocation was transferred to the new depot. By 1972 8068 had migrated south to Toton. In 1982 20068 was stored when a large number of Toton’s vacuum braked class 20 fleet were stored due to the reduction in coal traffic from pit closures and the continued introduction of air braked MGR coal wagons. 20068 was re-instated in 1983 following a visit to Crewe works for a General classified repair and fitment of air brake and slow speed control equipment to enable it to operate MGR coal duties. On release it was transferred back to Tinsley. However this “reprieve” proved to be relatively short lived because despite the investment 20068 was withdrawn four years later in July 1987. It would linger for six years before being broken up by MC Metals, Glasgow in December 1993. 20180 was originally D8180 and was built in 1966. It was allocated to Toton from new and was withdrawn in March 1988 also still allocated to Toton. As far as I can tell it was never transferred and spent it’s whole life a Toton engine. 20180 was broken up by Vic Berry, Leicester in May 1990.

Praktica LTL, Ektachrome 200

Stabled at Derby on the 6th September 2016 is 56312 Jeremiah Dixon. It would spend the next five weeks stabled here before “returning to traffic” on the 8th October 2016.

Locomotive History

When introduced in the autumn of 1976 the class 56 was arguably the first of the "second generation" of UK diesel locomotives. The first thirty locomotives (56001-56030) were sub-contracted by Brush to be built by Electroputere in Romania. However when delivered it was discovered that they suffered from poor construction standards and it would take up to months for each locomotive to be accepted into traffic. 56312 was originally 56003 and arrived at Harwich accompanied by 56004 on the 14th August 1976. It would take over six months to sort out the problems with 56003 and it was not accepted into traffic by British Rail until the 28th February 1977. By July 1977 most of the Romanian class 56 locomotives had at last entered traffic and had taken over the Tinsley coal duties in the North Nottinghamshire and South Yorkshire coalfields. The poor construction standard proved to be an issue throughout their life and many of the Romanian locomotives were withdrawn from service early, commencing with 56002 in April 1992 with most being withdrawn by the end of 1999. 56003 was one of the last of the Romanian built class 56 to go, being withdrawn in April 1999. After eight years awaiting its fate it was purchased in 2007 by Hanson Traction, overhauled at the Nene Valley Railway and re-instated to main line operation as 56312 re-entering service at the end of 2008. Since re-entering service 56312 has seen intermittent use and has since the end of 2010 been owned and operated by BARS as a result of the purchase of Hanson Traction.

North Pier is the most northerly of the three coastal piers in Blackpool, England. Built in the 1860s, it is also the oldest and longest of the three. Although originally intended only as a promenade, competition forced the pier to widen its attractions to include theatres and bars. Unlike Blackpool's other piers, which attracted the working classes with open air dancing and amusements, North Pier catered for the "better-class" market, with orchestra concerts and respectable comedians. Until 2011, it was the only Blackpool pier that consistently charged admission.

The pier is designated by English Heritage as a Grade II listed building, due to its status as the oldest surviving pier created by Eugenius Birch. As of 2012 it is still in regular use, despite having suffered damage from fires, storms and collisions with boats. Its attractions include bars, a theatre, a carousel and an arcade. One of the oldest remaining Sooty glove puppets is on display commemorating Harry Corbett buying the original puppet there.

North Pier was built at the seaward end of Talbot Road, where the town's first railway station, Blackpool North, was built. Its name reflects its location as the most northerly of Blackpool's three piers. It is about 450 yards (410 m) north of Blackpool Tower, which is roughly the midpoint of Blackpool's promenade. The sea front is particularly straight and flat on this stretch of coastline, and the 1,650 feet (500 m) pier extends at right angles into the Irish Sea, more or less level with the promenade.

History: The construction of Blackpool Pier (eventually North Pier) started in May 1862, in Layton-cum-Warbreck, part of the parish of Bispham. In October 1862 severe storms suggested that the planned height of the pier was insufficient, and it was increased by 3 feet (0.91 m) North Pier was the second of fourteen piers designed by Eugenius Birch, and since Margate Pier was destroyed by a storm in 1978, it is the oldest of the remaining examples of his work still in use. It was the first of Birch's piers to be built by Glasgow engineering firm Richard Laidlaw and Son.

The pier, which cost £11,740 to build, originally consisted of a promenade 1,405 feet (428 m) long and 28 feet (8.5 m) wide, extending to 55 feet (17 m) wide at the pier-head. The bulk of the pier was constructed from cast iron, with a wooden deck laid on top. The cast iron piles on which the structure rests were inserted using Birch's screw pile process; the screw-tipped piles were twisted into the sand until they hit bedrock. This made construction much quicker and easier, and guaranteed that the pier had a solid foundation. The cast iron columns, 12 inches (300 mm) in diameter, were filled with concrete for stability at intervals of 60 feet (18 m), and supported by struts that were on average were slightly more than 1 inch (25 mm) thick.The pier's promenade deck is lined with wooden benches with ornamental cast iron backs. At intervals along the pier are hexagonal kiosks built around 1900 in wood and glass with minaret roofs topped with decorative finials. On opening two of the kiosks were occupied by a bookstall and confectionery stall and the kiosks near the ends of the pier were seated shelters. The pier-head is a combination of 420 tons of cast iron and 340 tons of wrought iron columns; standing 50 feet (15 m) above the low water line, it sees a regular 35 feet (11 m) change in sea level due to the tide.

The pier was officially opened in a grand ceremony on 21 May 1863, even though the final 50 yards (46 m) had not yet been completed. All the shops in the area were closed and decorated with flags and streamers for the ceremony, which included a procession and a cannon salute, and was attended by more than 20,000 visitors. Although the town only had a population of approximately 4,000, more than 200,000 holiday makers regularly stayed there during the summer months; this included 275,000 admissions in 1863, 400,000 in 1864 and 465,000 the following year. The pier was officially opened by Major Preston, and he and 150 officials then travelled to the Clifton Hotel for a celebratory meal.

The pier was intended primarily for leisure rather than seafaring; for the price of 2d (worth approximately £4.90 in 2012) the pier provided the opportunity for visitors to walk close to the sea without distractions.This fee was insufficient to deter "trippers'", which led to Major Preston campaigning for a new pier to cater for the 'trippers'. In 1866, the government agreed that a second pier could be built, despite objections from the Blackpool Pier Company that it was close to their pier and therefore unnecessary

As permitted by the original parliamentary order, a landing jetty was built at the end of North Pier in incremental stages between 1864 and 1867. The full length of the jetty was 474 feet (144 m), and the extensions increased the pier's total length to its current 1,650 feet (500 m). The Blackpool Pier Company used the jetty to operate pleasure steamers that made trips to the surrounding areas. In 1871 swimming and diving lessons were added to the pier.

In 1874, the pier-head was extended to allow Richard Knill Freeman to incorporate a pavilion, which opened in 1877. The interior decoration led it to be known as the "Indian Pavilion", and it was Blackpool's primary venue for indoor entertainment until the Winter Gardens opened in 1879.

To differentiate itself from the new pier, North Pier focused on catering for the "better classes", charging for entry and including attractions such as an orchestra and band concerts, in contrast to the Central Pier (or the "People's pier"), which regularly had music playing and open-air dancing. The pier owners highlighted the difference, charging at least a shilling (worth approximately £19.90 in 2012) for concerts and ensuring that advertisements for comedians focused on their lack of vulgarity. Sundays were given over to a church parade.

On 8 October 1892, a storm-damaged vessel, Sirene, hit the southern side of the pier, causing four shops and part of the deck to collapse onto the beach below. Several columns were also dislodged, and the ship's bowsprit hit the pier entrance. All eleven crew members were rescued when they were hauled onto the pier. Damage to the pier was estimated to be £5,000 and was promptly repaired.

Nelson's former flagship, HMS Foudroyant, was moored alongside North Pier for an exhibition, but slipped anchor and was wrecked on the shore in a violent storm on 16 June 1897, damaging part of the jetty. The wreck of the ship broke up during December storms.

The pier was closed for the winter during 1895–6 as it unsafe; as a result, the pier was widened as electric lighting was added.

An Arcade Pavilion was added in 1903 at the entrance to the pier and contained a wide range of amusements to suit all tastes. Further alterations were made to the pier in 1932-3 when the open air stand was replaced with a stage and sun lounge.

In 1936, a pleasure steamer returning from Llandudno crashed into the pier. The collision left a 10 feet (3.0 m) gap, and stranded a number of people at the far end.

The 1874 Indian Pavilion was severely damaged by fire in 1921. It was refurbished, but was then destroyed by a second fire in 1938. In 1939 it was replaced by a theatre, built in an Art Deco style. At around the same time, the bandstand was removed and replaced with a sun lounge.

In the 1960s, the Merrie England bar and an amusement arcade were constructed at the end of the pier nearest to the shore. The 1939 theatre, which is still in use, narrowly escaped damage in 1985 when the early stages of a fire were noticed by performer Vince Hill. In the 1980s, a Victorian-styled entrance was built. In 1991 the pier gained the Carousel bar as an additional attraction, and a small tramway to ease access to the pier-head. By this point, the pier had ceased to have any nautical use, but the jetty section was adapted for use as a helicopter pad in the late 1980s. Storms on 24 December 1997 destroyed the landing jetty, including the helipad.

The North Pier is one of the few remaining examples of Birch's classic pier architecture and is a Grade II Listed building, the only Blackpool pier to hold that status. It was recognised as "Pier of the Year" in 2004 by the National Piers Society.

North Pier's attractions include a Gypsy palm reader and an ice cream parlour, the North Pier Theatre, a Victorian tea room, and the Carousel and Merrie England bars. The arcade, built in the 1960s, has approximately eleven million coins pass through its machines each year.

One of the earliest Sooty bear puppets used by Harry Corbett is on display on the pier. Corbett bought the original Sooty puppet on North Pier for his son, Matthew. When Corbett took the puppet on BBC's Talent Night programme, he marked the nose and ears with soot so that they would show up on the black and white television, giving the puppet its name.

The Carousel bar on the pier-head has a Victorian wrought iron canopy, and its outdoor sun-lounge is classified as the largest beer garden in Blackpool. Next to the bar is a two tier carousel, the "Venetian Carousel", which is protected from sand and spray by a glass wall.

After the fire in 1938, the pavilion was replaced with a 1,564 seat theatre which has since hosted a number of acts including; Frankie Vaughan, Frank Randle, Tessie O'Shea, Dave Morris, Bernard Delfont, Morecambe and Wise, Paul Daniels, Freddie Starr, Russ Abbott, Bruce Forsyth, Des O'Connor, Joe Longthorne, Lily Savage, Brian Conley and Hale and Pace.

In 2002 a heritage room with photographs was opened up, the foyer entrance was refurbished and a disabled lift added. By 2005, there was no longer a live organist playing in the sun lounge although other live entertainment continues. In 2013, the live organist was brought back into the sun lounge.

The pier was built and owned by the Blackpool Pier Company, created with three thousand £5-shares in 1861 (worth approximately £2,990 in 2012). The same firm operated the pier in 1953, and the company was incorporated in 1965. The Resorts Division of First Leisure, including the pier, was sold to Leisure Parks for £74 million in 1998. In 2009, the pier was sold to the Six Piers group, which owns Blackpool's other two piers, and hoped to use it as a more tranquil alternative to them. The new owners opened the Victorian-themed tea room, and built an eight-seat shuttle running the length of the pier.

In April 2011, the pier was sold to a Blackpool family firm, Sedgwick's, the owners of amusement arcades and the big wheel on Blackpool's Central Pier. Peter Sedgwick explained that he proposed to his wife on North Pier forty years ago, and promised to buy it for her one day. He said that he wants to restore the Victorian heritage of the pier and re-instate the pier's tram. An admission charge of fifty pence to access the board-walk section of the pier was abolished by the Sedgewicks.

A petition to wind up the Northern Victorian Pier Limited (the company used by the Sedgwick family to manage Blackpool North Pier) was presented on 17 September 2012 by Carlsberg UK Limited, a creditor of the Company, and this was to be heard at Blackpool County Court on 15 November 2012.

At the 11th hour, an agreement to pay the outstanding balance owed to Carlsberg was made and Peter Sedgwick's company escaped liquidation.

[Wikipedia]

Odd Ball 1415 & 1467 were inteded for use on Blyth Valley Shuttle S9 Service. But the service was passed to Silverline In Janaury 2011.Thease buses were painted shortley before the anouncement of withdrawal from this route. They are being used on any route now for the time being in this Livery.

LIFE OF BUS 1415

New to Perry Barr Garage February 1997

Transferred to Acocks Green January 2004

Transferred to Walsall October 2007

Withdrawn June 2010

Re-Instated to Acocks Green 25/07/2011

Withdrawn 30/10/2011

Location: Chelmsly Wood, Interchange

24 March 2011

AG

No work on this day for Mid-Hants Railway based shunter 08 288 'Phoenix' as it sits in the old cattle dock siding at Alresford station, together with a couple of 4 wheeled wagons.

Built at Derby in 1957 as D3358, she was first allocated to Llanelli shed, then to Neath. After a further period at Llanelli, D3358 was transferred to Landore in April 1964, then to Cardiff in September 1967, and on to Swindon in May 1969.

Under the TOPS scheme D3358 became 08 288 and was transferred to Newton Abbott from February 1978 until March 1981. After this date it was a move to Bristol for a month, before returning to Swindon and being placed in store for 2 years.

The Mid-Hant Railway raised the money to purchase 08 288 in order to assist in re-instating the line between Medstead & Four Marks and Alton, and the loco moved to the Watercress Line in November 1984.

Three of a kind!

One of three DMS Fleetlines, each from a different build period, lined up for my camera outside Thornton Heath garage back in the winter of 1982.

The oldest of the three DMSs in my Thornton Heath line up, DMS715 had a year left in service when the photo was taken. As for many of the class, this DMS had a relatively short life with LT, just seven years before being put into storage for disposal. Unusually, the bus was re-instated for another three years service!

DMS 715 (TGX 715M)

10/73 into service at ON (Alperton)

6/80 withdrawn at ON

7/80 into store at AEC Southall

1980 Aldenham recertification, 3yr; repaint

1/81 from recert to EM (Edmonton)

6/82 transferred to TH (Thornton Heath)

10/83 into store at CA (Clapham)

11/83 withdrawn, back into store at AEC Southall

2/84 sold to Ensign Bus (Purfleet)

2/84 sold to PVS for scrap, (Carlton)

More on the DMSs here: www.countrybus.org/DMS/DMS1.htm

Thanks to Ian's Bus Stop for the above information.

Taken with a Soviet made Zenith TTL camera using ASA200 Agfa slide film.

You can see a random selection of my bus photographs here on Flickriver: www.flickriver.com/photos/southallroutemaster/random/

Train MP4 a Metro Port intermodal service comes into town on the East Coast line from Tauranga/Mount Maunganui. The train recently crossed the mighty Waikato river before plunging into the darkness of the tunnel under the Hamilton CBD which includes the disused station. This section of line was lowered into a trench years ago to negate the problems of the operation of the busy surface crossing of Victoria Street. The train will now negotiate the sweeping curve to joint the North Island Main Trunk at Frankton Junction, passing the seldom-used passenger platform as it does so.

Frankton Junction is one corner of the so-called Golden Triangle, the railway connecting greater Auckland with Hamilton and the ports of Tauranga and Mount Maunganui. This trackage generates the most movements/tonnage of the Kiwi Rail system. The refufbishment of the North Auckland Line (NAL) and future planned expansion of the East Coast ports will only serve to further increase traffic levels. There is also talk of re-instating a passenger service to Tauranga. All or some of this may well require the doubling of sections of the present single-tracked railway along with associated signalling upgrades. Electrification has also been mooted, but there are concerns relating to the the 8.85 Km-long Kaimai Tunnel which despite being of relatively recent construction (12.09.78) is a single-track bore with no in-built provision for future electrification!

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on authentic facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The English Electric Skyspark was a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It remains the only UK-designed-and-built fighter capable of Mach 2. The Skyspark was designed, developed, and manufactured by English Electric, which was later merged into the newly-formed British Aircraft Corporation. Later the type was marketed as the BAC Skyspark.

The Skyspark's direct replacement was the Tornado F.3, an interceptor variant of the Panavia Tornado. The Tornado featured several advantages over the Skyspark, including far larger weapons load and considerably more advanced avionics. Skysparks were slowly phased out of service between 1974 and 1988, even though they lasted longer than expected because the definitive Tornado F.3 went through serious teething troubles and its service introduction was delayed several times. In their final years, the Skysparks’ airframes required considerable maintenance to keep them airworthy due to the sheer number of accumulated flight hours.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 51 ft 2 in (15,62 m) fuselage only

57 ft 3½ in (17,50 m) including pitot

Wingspan: 34 ft 10 in (10.62 m)

Height: 17 ft 6¾ in (5.36 m)

Wing area: 474.5 sq ft (44.08 m²)

Empty weight: 31,068 lb (14,092 kg) with armament and no fuel

Gross weight: 41,076 lb (18,632 kg) with two Red Tops, ammunition, and internal fuel

Max. takeoff weight: 45,750 lb (20,752 kg)

Powerplant:

2× Rolls-Royce Avon 301R afterburning turbojet engines,

12,690 lbf (56.4 kN) thrust each dry, 16,360 lbf (72.8 kN) with afterburner

Performance:

Maximum speed: Mach 2.27 (1,500 mph+ at 40,000 ft)

Range: 738 nmi (849 mi, 1,367 km)

Combat range: 135 nmi (155 mi, 250 km) supersonic intercept radius

Range: 800 nmi (920 mi, 1,500 km) with internal fuel

1,100 nmi (1,300 mi; 2,000 km) with external overwing tanks

Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m)

Zoom ceiling: 70,000 ft (21,000 m)

Rate of climb: 20,000 ft/min (100 m/s) sustained to 30,000 ft (9,100 m)

Zoom climb: 50,000 ft/min

Time to altitude: 2.8 min to 36,000 ft (11,000 m)

Wing loading: 76 lb/sq ft (370 kg/m²) with two AIM-9 and 1/2 fuel

Thrust/weight: 0.78 (1.03 empty)

Armament:

2× 30 mm (1.181 in) ADEN cannon with 120 RPG in the lower fuselage

2× forward fuselage hardpoints for a single Firestreak or Red Top AAM each

2× overwing pylon stations for 2.000 lb (907 kg each)

for 260 imp gal (310 US gal; 1,200 l) ferry tanks

The kit and its assembly:

This build was a submission to the “Hunter, Lightning, Canberra” group build at whatifmodellers.com, and one of my personal ultimate challenges – a project that you think about very often, but the you put the thought back into its box when you realize that turning this idea into hardware will be a VERY tedious, complex and work-intensive task. But the thematic group build was the perfect occasion to eventually tackle the idea of a model of a “side-by-side engine BAC Lightning”, a.k.a. “Flatning”, as a rather conservative alternative to the real aircraft’s unique and unusual design with stacked engines in the fuselage, which brought a multitude of other design consequences that led to a really unique aircraft.

And it sound so simple: take a Lightning, just change the tail section. But it’s not that simple, because the whole fuselage shape would be different, resulting in less depth, the wings have to be attached somewhere and somehow, the landing gear might have to be adjusted/shortened, and how the fuselage diameter shape changes along the hull, so that you get a more or less smooth shape, was also totally uncertain!

Initially I considered a MiG Ye-152 as a body donor, but that was rejected due to the sheer price of the only available kit (ModelSvit). A Chinese Shenyang J-8I would also have been ideal – but there’s not 1:72 kit of this aircraft around, just of its successor with side intakes, a 1:72 J-8II from trumpeter.

I eventually decided to keep costs low, and I settled for the shaggy PM Model Su-15 (marketed as Su-21) “Flagon” as main body donor: it’s cheap, the engines have a good size for Avons and the pen nib fairing has a certain retro touch that goes well with the Lightning’s Fifties design.

The rest of this "Flatning" came from a Hasegawa 1:72 BAC Lightning F.6 (Revell re-boxing).

Massive modifications were necessary and lots of PSR. In an initial step the Flagon lost its lower wing halves, which are an integral part of the lower fuselage half. The cockpit section was cut away where the intake ducts begin. The Lightning had its belly tank removed (set aside for a potential later re-installation), and dry-fitting and crude measures suggested that only the cockpit section from the Lightning, its spine and the separate fin would make it onto the new fuselage.

Integrating the parts was tough, though! The problem that caused the biggest headaches: how to create a "smooth" fuselage from the Lightning's rounded front end with a single nose intake that originally develops into a narrow, vertical hull, combined with the boxy and rather wide Flagon fuselage with large Phantom-esque intakes? My solution: taking out deep wedges from all (rather massive) hull parts along the intake ducts, bend the leftover side walls inwards and glue them into place, so that the width becomes equal with the Lightning's cockpit section. VERY crude and massive body work!

However, the Lightning's cockpit section for the following hull with stacked engines is much deeper than the Flagon's side-by-side layout. My initial idea was to place the cockpit section higher, but I would have had to transplant a part of the Lightning's upper fuselage (with the spine on top, too!) onto the "flat" Flagon’s back. But this would have looked VERY weird, and I'd have had to bridge the round ventral shape of the Lightning into the boxy Flagon underside, too. This was no viable option, so that the cockpit section had to be further modified; I cut away the whole ventral cockpit section, at the height of the lower intake lip. Similar to my former Austrian Hasegawa Lightning, I also cut away the vertical bulkhead directly behind the intake opening - even though I did not improve the cockpit with a better tub with side consoles. At the back end, the Flagon's jet exhausts were opened and received afterburner dummies inside as a cosmetic upgrade.

Massive PSR work followed all around the hull. The now-open area under the cockpit was filled with lead beads to keep the front wheel down, and I implanted a landing gear well (IIRC, it's from an Xtrakit Swift). With the fuselage literally taking shape, the wings were glued together and the locator holes for the overwing tanks filled, because they would not be mounted.

To mount the wings to the new hull, crude measurements suggested that wedges had to be cut away from the Lightning's wing roots to match the weird fuselage shape. They were then glued to the shoulders, right behind the cockpit due to the reduced fuselage depth. At this stage, the Lightning’s stabilizer attachment points were transplanted, so that they end up in a similar low position on the rounded Su-15 tail. Again, lots of PSR…

At this stage I contemplated the next essential step: belly tank or not? The “Flatning” would have worked without it, but its profile would look rather un-Lightning-ish and rather “flat”. On the other side, a conformal tank would probably look quite strange on the new wide and flat ventral fuselage...? Only experiments could yield an answer, so I glued together the leftover belly bulge parts from the Hasegawa kit and played around with it. I considered a new, wider belly tank, but I guess that this would have looked too ugly. I eventually settled upon the narrow F.6 tank and also used the section behind it with the arrestor hook. I just reduced its depth by ~2 mm, with a slight slope towards the rear because I felt (righteously) that the higher wing position would lower the model’s stance. More massive PSR followed….

Due to the expected poor ground clearance, the Lightning’s stabilizing ventral fins were mounted directly under the fuselage edges rather than on the belly tank. Missile pylons for Red Tops were mounted to the lower front fuselage, similar to the real arrangement, and cable fairings, scratched from styrene profiles, were added to the lower flanks, stretching the hull optically and giving more structure to the hull.

To my surprise, I did not have to shorten the landing gear’s main legs! The wings ended up a little higher on the fuselage than on the original Lightning, and the front wheel sits a bit further back and deeper inside of its donor well, too, so that the fuselage comes probably 2 mm closer to the ground than an OOB Lightning model. Just like on the real aircraft, ground clearance is marginal, but when the main wheels were finally in place, the model turned out to have a low but proper stance, a little F8U-ish.

Painting and markings:

I was uncertain about the livery for a long time – I just had already settled upon an RAF aircraft. But the model would not receive a late low-viz scheme (the Levin, my mono-engine Lightning build already had one), and no NMF, either. I was torn between an RAF Germany all-green over NMF undersides livery, but eventually went for a pretty standard RAF livery in Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green over NMF undersides, with toned-down post-war roundels.

A factor that spoke in favor of this route was a complete set of markings for an RAF 11 Squadron Lightning F.6 in such a guise on an Xtradecal set, which also featured dayglo orange makings on fin, wings and stabilizers – quite unusual, and a nice contrast detail on the otherwise very conservative livery. All stencils were taken from the OOB Revell sheet for the Lightning. Just the tactical code “F” on the tail was procured elsewhere, it comes from a Matchbox BAC Lightning’s sheet.

After basic painting the model received the usual black ink washing, some post-panel-shading and also a light treatment with graphite to create soot strains around the jet exhausts and the gun ports, and to emphasize the raised panel lines on the Hasegawa parts.

Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and final bits and pieces like the landing gear and the Red Tops (taken OOB) were mounted.

A major effort, and I have seriously depleted my putty stocks for this build! However, the result looks less spectacular than it actually is: changing a Lightning from its literally original stacked engine layout into a more conservative side-by-side arrangement turned out to be possible, even though the outcome is not really pretty. But it works and is feasible!

With the up line now re-instated work continues on the new crossover and down line.

Some of the new colour light signals are now in evidence.

Spring 1981, a couple of stored 'Peaks' survey each other.

Both were re-instated for a further stint of mainline service. 46021 until 01/83, and 46010 to 11/84.

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on authentic facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The English Electric Skyspark was a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It remains the only UK-designed-and-built fighter capable of Mach 2. The Skyspark was designed, developed, and manufactured by English Electric, which was later merged into the newly-formed British Aircraft Corporation. Later the type was marketed as the BAC Skyspark.

The Skyspark's direct replacement was the Tornado F.3, an interceptor variant of the Panavia Tornado. The Tornado featured several advantages over the Skyspark, including far larger weapons load and considerably more advanced avionics. Skysparks were slowly phased out of service between 1974 and 1988, even though they lasted longer than expected because the definitive Tornado F.3 went through serious teething troubles and its service introduction was delayed several times. In their final years, the Skysparks’ airframes required considerable maintenance to keep them airworthy due to the sheer number of accumulated flight hours.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 51 ft 2 in (15,62 m) fuselage only

57 ft 3½ in (17,50 m) including pitot

Wingspan: 34 ft 10 in (10.62 m)

Height: 17 ft 6¾ in (5.36 m)

Wing area: 474.5 sq ft (44.08 m²)

Empty weight: 31,068 lb (14,092 kg) with armament and no fuel

Gross weight: 41,076 lb (18,632 kg) with two Red Tops, ammunition, and internal fuel

Max. takeoff weight: 45,750 lb (20,752 kg)

Powerplant:

2× Rolls-Royce Avon 301R afterburning turbojet engines,

12,690 lbf (56.4 kN) thrust each dry, 16,360 lbf (72.8 kN) with afterburner

Performance:

Maximum speed: Mach 2.27 (1,500 mph+ at 40,000 ft)

Range: 738 nmi (849 mi, 1,367 km)

Combat range: 135 nmi (155 mi, 250 km) supersonic intercept radius

Range: 800 nmi (920 mi, 1,500 km) with internal fuel

1,100 nmi (1,300 mi; 2,000 km) with external overwing tanks

Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m)

Zoom ceiling: 70,000 ft (21,000 m)

Rate of climb: 20,000 ft/min (100 m/s) sustained to 30,000 ft (9,100 m)

Zoom climb: 50,000 ft/min

Time to altitude: 2.8 min to 36,000 ft (11,000 m)

Wing loading: 76 lb/sq ft (370 kg/m²) with two AIM-9 and 1/2 fuel

Thrust/weight: 0.78 (1.03 empty)

Armament:

2× 30 mm (1.181 in) ADEN cannon with 120 RPG in the lower fuselage

2× forward fuselage hardpoints for a single Firestreak or Red Top AAM each

2× overwing pylon stations for 2.000 lb (907 kg each)

for 260 imp gal (310 US gal; 1,200 l) ferry tanks

The kit and its assembly:

This build was a submission to the “Hunter, Lightning, Canberra” group build at whatifmodellers.com, and one of my personal ultimate challenges – a project that you think about very often, but the you put the thought back into its box when you realize that turning this idea into hardware will be a VERY tedious, complex and work-intensive task. But the thematic group build was the perfect occasion to eventually tackle the idea of a model of a “side-by-side engine BAC Lightning”, a.k.a. “Flatning”, as a rather conservative alternative to the real aircraft’s unique and unusual design with stacked engines in the fuselage, which brought a multitude of other design consequences that led to a really unique aircraft.

And it sound so simple: take a Lightning, just change the tail section. But it’s not that simple, because the whole fuselage shape would be different, resulting in less depth, the wings have to be attached somewhere and somehow, the landing gear might have to be adjusted/shortened, and how the fuselage diameter shape changes along the hull, so that you get a more or less smooth shape, was also totally uncertain!

Initially I considered a MiG Ye-152 as a body donor, but that was rejected due to the sheer price of the only available kit (ModelSvit). A Chinese Shenyang J-8I would also have been ideal – but there’s not 1:72 kit of this aircraft around, just of its successor with side intakes, a 1:72 J-8II from trumpeter.

I eventually decided to keep costs low, and I settled for the shaggy PM Model Su-15 (marketed as Su-21) “Flagon” as main body donor: it’s cheap, the engines have a good size for Avons and the pen nib fairing has a certain retro touch that goes well with the Lightning’s Fifties design.

The rest of this "Flatning" came from a Hasegawa 1:72 BAC Lightning F.6 (Revell re-boxing).

Massive modifications were necessary and lots of PSR. In an initial step the Flagon lost its lower wing halves, which are an integral part of the lower fuselage half. The cockpit section was cut away where the intake ducts begin. The Lightning had its belly tank removed (set aside for a potential later re-installation), and dry-fitting and crude measures suggested that only the cockpit section from the Lightning, its spine and the separate fin would make it onto the new fuselage.

Integrating the parts was tough, though! The problem that caused the biggest headaches: how to create a "smooth" fuselage from the Lightning's rounded front end with a single nose intake that originally develops into a narrow, vertical hull, combined with the boxy and rather wide Flagon fuselage with large Phantom-esque intakes? My solution: taking out deep wedges from all (rather massive) hull parts along the intake ducts, bend the leftover side walls inwards and glue them into place, so that the width becomes equal with the Lightning's cockpit section. VERY crude and massive body work!

However, the Lightning's cockpit section for the following hull with stacked engines is much deeper than the Flagon's side-by-side layout. My initial idea was to place the cockpit section higher, but I would have had to transplant a part of the Lightning's upper fuselage (with the spine on top, too!) onto the "flat" Flagon’s back. But this would have looked VERY weird, and I'd have had to bridge the round ventral shape of the Lightning into the boxy Flagon underside, too. This was no viable option, so that the cockpit section had to be further modified; I cut away the whole ventral cockpit section, at the height of the lower intake lip. Similar to my former Austrian Hasegawa Lightning, I also cut away the vertical bulkhead directly behind the intake opening - even though I did not improve the cockpit with a better tub with side consoles. At the back end, the Flagon's jet exhausts were opened and received afterburner dummies inside as a cosmetic upgrade.

Massive PSR work followed all around the hull. The now-open area under the cockpit was filled with lead beads to keep the front wheel down, and I implanted a landing gear well (IIRC, it's from an Xtrakit Swift). With the fuselage literally taking shape, the wings were glued together and the locator holes for the overwing tanks filled, because they would not be mounted.

To mount the wings to the new hull, crude measurements suggested that wedges had to be cut away from the Lightning's wing roots to match the weird fuselage shape. They were then glued to the shoulders, right behind the cockpit due to the reduced fuselage depth. At this stage, the Lightning’s stabilizer attachment points were transplanted, so that they end up in a similar low position on the rounded Su-15 tail. Again, lots of PSR…

At this stage I contemplated the next essential step: belly tank or not? The “Flatning” would have worked without it, but its profile would look rather un-Lightning-ish and rather “flat”. On the other side, a conformal tank would probably look quite strange on the new wide and flat ventral fuselage...? Only experiments could yield an answer, so I glued together the leftover belly bulge parts from the Hasegawa kit and played around with it. I considered a new, wider belly tank, but I guess that this would have looked too ugly. I eventually settled upon the narrow F.6 tank and also used the section behind it with the arrestor hook. I just reduced its depth by ~2 mm, with a slight slope towards the rear because I felt (righteously) that the higher wing position would lower the model’s stance. More massive PSR followed….

Due to the expected poor ground clearance, the Lightning’s stabilizing ventral fins were mounted directly under the fuselage edges rather than on the belly tank. Missile pylons for Red Tops were mounted to the lower front fuselage, similar to the real arrangement, and cable fairings, scratched from styrene profiles, were added to the lower flanks, stretching the hull optically and giving more structure to the hull.

To my surprise, I did not have to shorten the landing gear’s main legs! The wings ended up a little higher on the fuselage than on the original Lightning, and the front wheel sits a bit further back and deeper inside of its donor well, too, so that the fuselage comes probably 2 mm closer to the ground than an OOB Lightning model. Just like on the real aircraft, ground clearance is marginal, but when the main wheels were finally in place, the model turned out to have a low but proper stance, a little F8U-ish.

Painting and markings:

I was uncertain about the livery for a long time – I just had already settled upon an RAF aircraft. But the model would not receive a late low-viz scheme (the Levin, my mono-engine Lightning build already had one), and no NMF, either. I was torn between an RAF Germany all-green over NMF undersides livery, but eventually went for a pretty standard RAF livery in Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green over NMF undersides, with toned-down post-war roundels.

A factor that spoke in favor of this route was a complete set of markings for an RAF 11 Squadron Lightning F.6 in such a guise on an Xtradecal set, which also featured dayglo orange makings on fin, wings and stabilizers – quite unusual, and a nice contrast detail on the otherwise very conservative livery. All stencils were taken from the OOB Revell sheet for the Lightning. Just the tactical code “F” on the tail was procured elsewhere, it comes from a Matchbox BAC Lightning’s sheet.

After basic painting the model received the usual black ink washing, some post-panel-shading and also a light treatment with graphite to create soot strains around the jet exhausts and the gun ports, and to emphasize the raised panel lines on the Hasegawa parts.

Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and final bits and pieces like the landing gear and the Red Tops (taken OOB) were mounted.

A major effort, and I have seriously depleted my putty stocks for this build! However, the result looks less spectacular than it actually is: changing a Lightning from its literally original stacked engine layout into a more conservative side-by-side arrangement turned out to be possible, even though the outcome is not really pretty. But it works and is feasible!

My Collection of Loco Nameplates Headboards workplates

70013 Oliver Cromwell is a British Railways standard class 7 (also known as the Britannia class) preserved steam locomotive. The locomotive is notable as one of the four steam locomotives which worked the last steam railtour on British Railways (BR) in 1968 before the introduction of a steam ban.

One of 55 of the "Britannia" class, Oliver Cromwell was built at Crewe Works, being completed on 30 May 1951. 70013 was initially allocated to Norwich depot (BR shed code 32A) on the Eastern Region of British Railways and employed on London to Norwich expresses. Some of the Norwich diagrams (the day's operating schedule for a locomotive) required two return trips a day to London totalling 460 miles. The introduction of the Britannia Pacifics revolutionised express services in East Anglia.

From 1958, diesel-electric locomotives began to replace steam locomotives. 70013 remained at Norwich until w/e 16 September 1961 when transferred to March Motive Power Depot (shed code 31B), having covered 698,000 miles in just over ten years, an excellent figure. Norwich Depot, under the shedmaster Bill Harvey, was renowned for the fine mechanical condition of its locomotives. In December 1963, 70013 was transferred to the London Midland Region at Carlisle Kingmoor Depot (shed code 12A) for freight, parcels and occasional passenger work – most regular express services were by now diesel-hauled. The north-west of England became the steam locomotive's last area of operation on BR. On 3 October 1966? 70013 entered Crewe Works and became the last BR-owned steam locomotive to undergo routine heavy overhaul, being out-shopped after a special ceremony in February 1967. 70013 was selected to operate the last steam passenger train prior to the abolition of steam traction on British Railways lines, and in the summer of 1968 Oliver Cromwell hauled several specials, culminating in the Fifteen Guinea Special which ran between Liverpool and Carlisle on 11 August that year and which 70013 hauled on the Manchester to Carlisle.

Oliver Cromwell became part of the National Railway Museum's National Collection immediately after the end of the Fifteen Guinea Special[1] (70000 Britannia, later preserved privately, had previously been earmarked for this move). Despite a steam ban after 11 August 1968, 70013 moved under its own steam on 12 August to its old shed at Norwich and then, on 13 August, to Diss whence she was transported by road to Bressingham Steam & Gardens. At Bressingham, 70013 was in service to provide footplate rides until the 1980s, before retiring into the museum exhibition.

In 2004, it was announced that Oliver Cromwell would be restored to main-line standard in preparation for the 40th anniversary of the end of steam, with significant financial assistance from the readers of Steam Railway magazine.[2] The locomotive was overhauled at the Great Central Railway (GCR) to mainline standards which included the fitting of the train protection warning system, overhaul of 70013's automatic warning system and the fitment of OTMR. On the weekend of 3 May – 4 May 2008, the locomotive hauled its first revenue-earning passenger services since being restored on the GCR's eight-mile route. The locomotive made an appearance at the National Railway Museum's 1968 and All That event celebrating 40 years since the end of steam.

Its first mainline passenger charter since 1968 was on 10 August 2008 when the locomotive took part in a re-run of the Fifteen Guinea Special. It then went on to operate on the Scarborough Spa Express later in the month.

On 9 September 2008, Oliver Cromwell completed a re-run of "The Norfolkman" running from Liverpool Street station to Norwich railway station and return, visiting the site of its former home of Norwich shed (32A). 70013 carried a 32A shed plate on the smokebox to complete the image.

On 8 November 2008, the locomotive was temporarily re-numbered as 70048 and renamed "The Territorial Army 1908 - 2008" to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the Territorial Army. The naming was performed by HRH The Duke of Gloucester at Quorn and Woodhouse station on the preserved Great Central Railway. 70048 was a sister member of the BR Standard Class 7 Britannia class and was named "The Territorial Army 1908 - 1958". During the 2008 renaming, 70013 carried this name on the right-hand-side smoke deflector as a reminder of the original name and as a link with the past association with the Territorial Army.

On 14 March 2009 Oliver Cromwell hauled a special on what was said to be the very last train (of any sort) to use the branch line down to Folkestone Harbour, where main line trains used to meet with cross channel ferries.

On 23 May 2009, the locomotive hauled a railtour from Norwich to Poole in Dorset, and then travelled to the Swanage Railway under its own power, via Wareham and the re-instated link between the main-line and the Swanage Railway at Motala.

On 11 March 2010, Oliver Cromwell hauled the opening railtour over the newly re-instated level crossing at Sheringham on the North Norfolk Railway, arriving from King's Cross, via Cambridge and Norwich.

On 3 May 2010, Oliver Cromwell was used for a private charter by Girlguiding UK, as part of the celebration of 100 years of Guiding. Brownies Take Over the Tracks ran between London Victoria and Windsor & Eton Riverside.

On Saturday 15 May 2010, two years after its previous overhaul, Oliver Cromwell suffered from cracks in the firebox and was moved to the GCR for an inspection which led to the locomotive being withdrawn from service.

During 2010, 70013 Oliver Cromwell underwent firebox repairs at Crewe Heritage Centre. The cab was removed before the rest of the locomotive was sent for repairs to the boiler.

Following these repairs, on 17 December 2010 the locomotive had a successful steam test at Crewe. On 8 March 2011 she was taken to Southall, and on 12 March 2011 hauled "The Lincoln Imp" from London Victoria to Lincoln, returning to Kings Cross.

On 27 May 2012 the locomotive was involved in a blowback incident near Wood Green in North London on a Railway Touring Company railtour called 'The Peak Forester'. Two of the three crew on board the locomotive had to attend hospital as a result. An R.A.I.B. investigation was conducted after the accident.

On 11 August 2013 she worked the Fifteen Guinea Special to celebrate the 45th Anniversary of the ending of steam on British Railways. 70013 was in charge of the Longsight to Carlisle leg of the special with the other legs being worked by LMS Black 5s numbers 45305, 45231 & 44932.

On 7 June 2014 Oliver Cromwell attended Seaford in Sussex to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the opening of the railway branch between Newhaven and Seaford

The Grade II Listed Loughborough Central Station the current end of the line of the heritage Old Great Central Railway (GCR). In Loughborough, Leicestershire.

The origins of the old GCR may be traced back to the earliest days of railways in and around Manchester. What was to become identifiable as the Great Central Railway was the amalgamation in 1847 of the Sheffield, Ashton under Lyme & Manchester, the Sheffield & Lincolnshire Junction, the Great Grimsby & Sheffield Junction Railways, and the Grimsby Dock Company. The principal reason for existence was the movement of coal and other goods across the harsh Pennine moorland.

A bill was put before Parliament in 1891 for the line from Annesley through Nottingham, where the great Nottingham Victoria station was built with the Great Northern Railway, Leicester, Rugby and to an end on junction with the Metropolitan at Quainton Road. Construction of the line started in 1894 and was opened to coal traffic in 1898 and to passengers a year later.

The nationalisation of the railways in 1948 led to the Great Central metals becoming part of the Eastern Region of British Railways. In 1958 the ex-Great Central was re-allocated to the Midland Region of British Railways and so were sown the seeds of its decline as a main line to London.

Country stations such as those at Belgrave & Birstall, Rothley and Quorn & Woodhouse were closed in 1963. In 1966 the line closed as a though route to London and the line was severed just south of Rugby while the proud station at Nottingham Victoria was demolished. Until 1969, when the line was finally closed, a DMU service ran from Rugby to Nottingham Arkwright Street.

A group of enthusiasts was determined to keep the line alive for the running of main line engines. The Main Line Preservation Group was formed to begin the mammoth task of preservation and restoration. Fund raising was always a problem so in 1971 the Main Line Steam Trust was formed and registered as a charity to raise funds through covenants.

Since then, the volunteers and staff have re-instated a double track section from Loughborough Central to Rothley and opened a single track to Leicester North, just south of the old Belgrave & Birstall station (and built a new station there) and have restored stations, signals and signal boxes, carriages, wagons and steam and diesel locomotives.

Information Source

www.gcrailway.co.uk/brief-history/

+++ DISCLAIMER +++

Nothing you see here is real, even though the conversion or the presented background story might be based on authentic facts. BEWARE!

Some background:

The English Electric Skyspark was a British fighter aircraft that served as an interceptor during the 1960s, the 1970s and into the late 1980s. It remains the only UK-designed-and-built fighter capable of Mach 2. The Skyspark was designed, developed, and manufactured by English Electric, which was later merged into the newly-formed British Aircraft Corporation. Later the type was marketed as the BAC Skyspark.

The Skyspark's direct replacement was the Tornado F.3, an interceptor variant of the Panavia Tornado. The Tornado featured several advantages over the Skyspark, including far larger weapons load and considerably more advanced avionics. Skysparks were slowly phased out of service between 1974 and 1988, even though they lasted longer than expected because the definitive Tornado F.3 went through serious teething troubles and its service introduction was delayed several times. In their final years, the Skysparks’ airframes required considerable maintenance to keep them airworthy due to the sheer number of accumulated flight hours.

General characteristics:

Crew: 1

Length: 51 ft 2 in (15,62 m) fuselage only

57 ft 3½ in (17,50 m) including pitot

Wingspan: 34 ft 10 in (10.62 m)

Height: 17 ft 6¾ in (5.36 m)

Wing area: 474.5 sq ft (44.08 m²)

Empty weight: 31,068 lb (14,092 kg) with armament and no fuel

Gross weight: 41,076 lb (18,632 kg) with two Red Tops, ammunition, and internal fuel

Max. takeoff weight: 45,750 lb (20,752 kg)

Powerplant:

2× Rolls-Royce Avon 301R afterburning turbojet engines,

12,690 lbf (56.4 kN) thrust each dry, 16,360 lbf (72.8 kN) with afterburner

Performance:

Maximum speed: Mach 2.27 (1,500 mph+ at 40,000 ft)

Range: 738 nmi (849 mi, 1,367 km)

Combat range: 135 nmi (155 mi, 250 km) supersonic intercept radius

Range: 800 nmi (920 mi, 1,500 km) with internal fuel

1,100 nmi (1,300 mi; 2,000 km) with external overwing tanks

Service ceiling: 60,000 ft (18,000 m)

Zoom ceiling: 70,000 ft (21,000 m)

Rate of climb: 20,000 ft/min (100 m/s) sustained to 30,000 ft (9,100 m)

Zoom climb: 50,000 ft/min

Time to altitude: 2.8 min to 36,000 ft (11,000 m)

Wing loading: 76 lb/sq ft (370 kg/m²) with two AIM-9 and 1/2 fuel

Thrust/weight: 0.78 (1.03 empty)

Armament:

2× 30 mm (1.181 in) ADEN cannon with 120 RPG in the lower fuselage

2× forward fuselage hardpoints for a single Firestreak or Red Top AAM each

2× overwing pylon stations for 2.000 lb (907 kg each)

for 260 imp gal (310 US gal; 1,200 l) ferry tanks

The kit and its assembly:

This build was a submission to the “Hunter, Lightning, Canberra” group build at whatifmodellers.com, and one of my personal ultimate challenges – a project that you think about very often, but the you put the thought back into its box when you realize that turning this idea into hardware will be a VERY tedious, complex and work-intensive task. But the thematic group build was the perfect occasion to eventually tackle the idea of a model of a “side-by-side engine BAC Lightning”, a.k.a. “Flatning”, as a rather conservative alternative to the real aircraft’s unique and unusual design with stacked engines in the fuselage, which brought a multitude of other design consequences that led to a really unique aircraft.

And it sound so simple: take a Lightning, just change the tail section. But it’s not that simple, because the whole fuselage shape would be different, resulting in less depth, the wings have to be attached somewhere and somehow, the landing gear might have to be adjusted/shortened, and how the fuselage diameter shape changes along the hull, so that you get a more or less smooth shape, was also totally uncertain!

Initially I considered a MiG Ye-152 as a body donor, but that was rejected due to the sheer price of the only available kit (ModelSvit). A Chinese Shenyang J-8I would also have been ideal – but there’s not 1:72 kit of this aircraft around, just of its successor with side intakes, a 1:72 J-8II from trumpeter.

I eventually decided to keep costs low, and I settled for the shaggy PM Model Su-15 (marketed as Su-21) “Flagon” as main body donor: it’s cheap, the engines have a good size for Avons and the pen nib fairing has a certain retro touch that goes well with the Lightning’s Fifties design.

The rest of this "Flatning" came from a Hasegawa 1:72 BAC Lightning F.6 (Revell re-boxing).

Massive modifications were necessary and lots of PSR. In an initial step the Flagon lost its lower wing halves, which are an integral part of the lower fuselage half. The cockpit section was cut away where the intake ducts begin. The Lightning had its belly tank removed (set aside for a potential later re-installation), and dry-fitting and crude measures suggested that only the cockpit section from the Lightning, its spine and the separate fin would make it onto the new fuselage.

Integrating the parts was tough, though! The problem that caused the biggest headaches: how to create a "smooth" fuselage from the Lightning's rounded front end with a single nose intake that originally develops into a narrow, vertical hull, combined with the boxy and rather wide Flagon fuselage with large Phantom-esque intakes? My solution: taking out deep wedges from all (rather massive) hull parts along the intake ducts, bend the leftover side walls inwards and glue them into place, so that the width becomes equal with the Lightning's cockpit section. VERY crude and massive body work!

However, the Lightning's cockpit section for the following hull with stacked engines is much deeper than the Flagon's side-by-side layout. My initial idea was to place the cockpit section higher, but I would have had to transplant a part of the Lightning's upper fuselage (with the spine on top, too!) onto the "flat" Flagon’s back. But this would have looked VERY weird, and I'd have had to bridge the round ventral shape of the Lightning into the boxy Flagon underside, too. This was no viable option, so that the cockpit section had to be further modified; I cut away the whole ventral cockpit section, at the height of the lower intake lip. Similar to my former Austrian Hasegawa Lightning, I also cut away the vertical bulkhead directly behind the intake opening - even though I did not improve the cockpit with a better tub with side consoles. At the back end, the Flagon's jet exhausts were opened and received afterburner dummies inside as a cosmetic upgrade.

Massive PSR work followed all around the hull. The now-open area under the cockpit was filled with lead beads to keep the front wheel down, and I implanted a landing gear well (IIRC, it's from an Xtrakit Swift). With the fuselage literally taking shape, the wings were glued together and the locator holes for the overwing tanks filled, because they would not be mounted.

To mount the wings to the new hull, crude measurements suggested that wedges had to be cut away from the Lightning's wing roots to match the weird fuselage shape. They were then glued to the shoulders, right behind the cockpit due to the reduced fuselage depth. At this stage, the Lightning’s stabilizer attachment points were transplanted, so that they end up in a similar low position on the rounded Su-15 tail. Again, lots of PSR…

At this stage I contemplated the next essential step: belly tank or not? The “Flatning” would have worked without it, but its profile would look rather un-Lightning-ish and rather “flat”. On the other side, a conformal tank would probably look quite strange on the new wide and flat ventral fuselage...? Only experiments could yield an answer, so I glued together the leftover belly bulge parts from the Hasegawa kit and played around with it. I considered a new, wider belly tank, but I guess that this would have looked too ugly. I eventually settled upon the narrow F.6 tank and also used the section behind it with the arrestor hook. I just reduced its depth by ~2 mm, with a slight slope towards the rear because I felt (righteously) that the higher wing position would lower the model’s stance. More massive PSR followed….

Due to the expected poor ground clearance, the Lightning’s stabilizing ventral fins were mounted directly under the fuselage edges rather than on the belly tank. Missile pylons for Red Tops were mounted to the lower front fuselage, similar to the real arrangement, and cable fairings, scratched from styrene profiles, were added to the lower flanks, stretching the hull optically and giving more structure to the hull.

To my surprise, I did not have to shorten the landing gear’s main legs! The wings ended up a little higher on the fuselage than on the original Lightning, and the front wheel sits a bit further back and deeper inside of its donor well, too, so that the fuselage comes probably 2 mm closer to the ground than an OOB Lightning model. Just like on the real aircraft, ground clearance is marginal, but when the main wheels were finally in place, the model turned out to have a low but proper stance, a little F8U-ish.

Painting and markings:

I was uncertain about the livery for a long time – I just had already settled upon an RAF aircraft. But the model would not receive a late low-viz scheme (the Levin, my mono-engine Lightning build already had one), and no NMF, either. I was torn between an RAF Germany all-green over NMF undersides livery, but eventually went for a pretty standard RAF livery in Dark Sea Grey/Dark Green over NMF undersides, with toned-down post-war roundels.

A factor that spoke in favor of this route was a complete set of markings for an RAF 11 Squadron Lightning F.6 in such a guise on an Xtradecal set, which also featured dayglo orange makings on fin, wings and stabilizers – quite unusual, and a nice contrast detail on the otherwise very conservative livery. All stencils were taken from the OOB Revell sheet for the Lightning. Just the tactical code “F” on the tail was procured elsewhere, it comes from a Matchbox BAC Lightning’s sheet.

After basic painting the model received the usual black ink washing, some post-panel-shading and also a light treatment with graphite to create soot strains around the jet exhausts and the gun ports, and to emphasize the raised panel lines on the Hasegawa parts.

Finally, the model was sealed with matt acrylic varnish and final bits and pieces like the landing gear and the Red Tops (taken OOB) were mounted.

A major effort, and I have seriously depleted my putty stocks for this build! However, the result looks less spectacular than it actually is: changing a Lightning from its literally original stacked engine layout into a more conservative side-by-side arrangement turned out to be possible, even though the outcome is not really pretty. But it works and is feasible!

An Evening shot of Yardley Wood's 2605 wearing the BBC Radio advert while working the 69 service.

Life of 2605

New to Yardley Wood Garage January 1983

Transferred to Acocks Green June 1995

Withdrawn November 1996 (Accident Damage)

Rebuilt and Re-instated at Perry Barr garage June 1997

Transferred to Acocks Green November 1997

Withdrawn February 2004

Re-instated to Lea Hall March 2004

Withdrawn April 2008

Donated to WMFS for the Safeside Project

Repainted into NXWM Red/White livery

Class 40 number 97405 (formerly 40060) at Vic Berry's scrap yard, Leicester on 12th March, 1988.

40060 had been withdrawn in January, 1985 but was re-instated and renumbered to 97405 during May of that year for use on ballast trains associated with the re-modelling of Crewe station.

It was finally withdrawn in March, 1987 (the last class 40 in departmental operation) and moved to Leicester on 9th March, 1988. Cutting commenced within a week of its arrival and it was gone by the end of the month.

New to Arriva Yorkshire in 2002, most of this type has now been withdrawn from the Arriva Yorkshire fleet and has seen further use with various independant companies and Arriva Subsidary Yorkshire Tiger. However, a few examples such as 706 seen here have been Re-Instated for use within the Arriva Yorkshire Fleet. 706 is seen here leaving Dewsbury Bus Station with a 280 service towards Thornhill Edge. (03/02/2018)