Morris Minor Owners Club

Excellent picture!
BTW - FoD - beware!! Amazing story of accident with the Autocoach etc at FoD - they were breaking just about every rule in the book! Sorry tale of mistakes and inoperable equipment - and 70+ driver with no 'ticket', the Train slid through level crossing gate and injured the keeper. Read all about it on the RAIB site.
RAIB = Rail Accident Investigation Board

Has to be a GWR Castle or King. Saying that we had 5643 at Barry a few years back and that was a joy to fire



There's been quite a lot of accidents on preserved lines over the past 2 years. The H&S has really tightened up at 'my place' now

The mighty Deltic. A superb locomotive with stunning performance even now.

I have never driven one but had a couple of cab rides in them.

Locos I have driven are Classes 08, 25, 31, 37, 40, 47, 50, 52, 56, 60 and 86. The little 25s were gutsy engines and a great performer for their size, it was a pity they were withdrawn in favour of keeping the 31s. Class 37s are brilliant machines, especially the unrefurbished ones, you could virtually open them up from a stand and they sounded superb! Everyone liked the 40s, a good solid loco with a V16 engine, which was developed into that power unit used in 50s and 56s.

For something totally different, try a Class 52, their hydraulic transmission makes them great fun.

I went to school in Bury instead of Manchester so I could go on a train pulled by a steam loco, from Heywood station. 45001 was a regular.
Six months later, they axed the line!
The sheds in Bury had a collection of locomotives back then, including 'Tommy'.

Aha!
Fellow gricers belonging to the MMOC. As a regular wearer of the anorak I am pleased that like minded chaps /chapesses have put their hands up to a similar obsession. (Although I already gathered from the posts and pics authored by bmcecosse that there might have been some interest in things 4',8 1/2".)
I have recently been scanning some of my old slides for archive - here is one I did today dating from when steam was an everyday experience on the "big railway", although on the Southern Region where I grew up it was not to be for much longer. This is MN 35008 "Orient Line" departing Waterloo for Bournemouth in April 1967. Sadly this machine didn't make it into preservation, being scrapped in 1968. Wouldn't mind going back in time with a digital camera....... my Traveller would have been just over a year old when this was taken
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Class 37s are brilliant machines, especially the unrefurbished ones, you could virtually open them up from a stand and they sounded superb!

Many a time did I wander down to the tracks as a youth and hear a pair of 37's giving it some on the front of a loaded MGR train. Very distinctive, very stirring, very loud!.
Although IIRC the 31's were re-engined with very similar power plants. Not that I ever heard one of them on full throttle. Perhaps they were a bit more fragile?

I always thought the second best engine noise after a deltic was from a warship (not a boat) pulling away.

And here's the scene - with Union of South Africa trying to squeeze 'my' D49 off the pit! And I DID manage to swing a few shovels into it's fire. It's firebox is remarkable short - only 6 ft (but much wider of course) , whereas Morayshire's box is almost 10 ft long - which is quite a 'throw' through the door without rattling off the deflector plate!
Stunning locomotive - although I was initially surprised to hear it's air pump start up! They never used to have that!! And the 'chime' whistle as it departed - pure music!<br><br>

Great pics. I believe the owner of Union of South Africa drives it the way it is meant to be driven - hard.

Pete

Peetee wrote:

Class 37s are brilliant machines, especially the unrefurbished ones, you could virtually open them up from a stand and they sounded superb!

Many a time did I wander down to the tracks as a youth and hear a pair of 37's giving it some on the front of a loaded MGR train. Very distinctive, very stirring, very loud!.
Although IIRC the 31's were re-engined with very similar power plants. Not that I ever heard one of them on full throttle. Perhaps they were a bit more fragile?

Yes the 31s were re engined with similar English Electric 12SVT power units as the 37s had but the engines were de rated to 1470 hp for class 31 use, their engine sound was slightly different.

Of the 37s, the unrefurbished 37/0s were the most fun, you could virtually open the power up from a stand and they just dug in!

Union of South Africa (aka 'Osprey') is owned by John Cameron - extremely wealthy Land Owner in Fife - although he was overheard at Stirling recently - when asked if he was the Driver (by a little old lady) saying that he is just a 'Pair Auld Fairmer' . He is not allowed to drive it on the main line ! And a Traction Inspector goes with it at all times to make SURE he doesn't ! He keeps the loco at Thornton - along with his other main line steam loco - The Great Marquess.

I've got a train. Behold the Villiers Quadricycle section car:<br><br>

I've got a train. Behold the Villiers Quadricycle section car:<br><br><br><br><br><br><br><br>

Excellent!!!!!!!! Now that would save me MUCH leg work. Does it run - do you use it on the rails ?
And - is it narrow gauge - or proper 4'8 1/2 " ??
And - is that a solar cell to charge the battery ??

We use it on the rails. There is only one little bit of track left in town, about 600m, we use that for testing etc. There is a annual event at a place called Birdum, which is a town that literally no longer exists except for the railway and the concrete foundation for the pub. Birdum was where the troops moving into northern Australia used to get off the trucks and then board the North Australian Railway for the rest of the journey to Darwin. On some old Commonwealth Atlases, Birdum is always marked as it was of some strategic importance. Anyway, there is 7km of track from Birdum to Larrimah on the Stuart Highway. We unload the Villiers in Larrimah and then do the 7km into Birdum where various enthusiasts 're-open' the pub. The journey back is done in the dark including a stretch over a long bridge. Quite an interesting sensation in the dark, feels like you're flying with the wind in your hair and the bugs in your teeth. It is narrow guage 3'4", which was the standard here at the time. The solar cell is to charge the battery which runs the headlights, clearance and tail lights, beacon and horn. The actual vehicle is a New South Wales Government Railway fettlers car circa 1924 with a Villers 8E motorcycle engine circa 1955. The drivers seat is from a Kawasaki motorcycle and the passengers seat is out of a Mazda 121. I recently rebuilt the engine and the family spent a couple of weeks replacing all the coach bolts and painting. Performance-wise, it goes like stink. I'm usually too afraid to get it out of second gear.

You are all bonkers!

I've just looked these two locations up on Google Earth. Even though you can see individual scrub on it, it's very hard to make out any rail lines. They are to the west of the highway, the gentle curvature of the route is the givaway and the bridge is easy to spot too.

Peetee wrote:You are all bonkers!

I've just looked these two locations up on Google Earth. Even though you can see individual scrub on it, it's very hard to make out any rail lines. They are to the west of the highway, the gentle curvature of the route is the givaway and the bridge is easy to spot too.

Yes, unless you know what you're looking for it is very hard to find. Larrimah itself is a one horse town and Birdum is an ex-one horse town. Unbelievably, some guys from Queensland drove all the way to Larrimah last year just to run their section cars on a bit of unregulated track. A round trip of 3500kms for one night!

My parents spend their holidays in Guernesy and have taken day trips from Guernsey to all the other Channel Islands over the years.

Alderney has its own railway, which consists of an old diesel shunter and some ex London Underground coaches. I think the line dates back to when Alderney was occupied during WW2 but at not much over a mile long, the need for a railway (In peacetime anway) is limited. 600 metres isn't that short by comparison .

Just spent my annual holiday in Ironbridge (Left car at home and used Severn Valley Railway for part of my route). During my stay I took a trip to see http://www.wllr.org.uk/. What a great little line . I thoroughly enjoyed it. For those arriving by car, they had a good car park on the western outskirts of Welshpool.

Carriage design allowed you to get close to the action!!

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It was the Swindon Steam Festival at Steam this weekend...
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