Recent content by Dunfanaghy Rd

Shunt neck always. Never heard headshunt except in modelling and heritage circles. Pat

DB ran them from Southampton some years ago. (Around about the time that Aggreko's CEO was killed in a grade crossing crash in the US, I think.) There were all sorts - generator carcasses had fuel tanks built in with a fan compartment at one end; other types were switching units of various...

Did I detect the dulcet tones of Frank Windsor doing the voiceover? Very interesting film. By my time all those collar-and-tie jobs had gone and us shunters were doing all the coalface work. Pat

Re: Punch cards. The one I posted earlier measures 7 3/8 in by 3 1/4 in. (or for the youngsters :D 187mm by 83mm) Pat

Most of the spark problem is not from the chimney, it's from the ashpan. Most, if not all, locos in Britain have retained their original pattern ashpans (noting that early Bulleid locos have a later design to fall back on). Some have water fed to the ashes to cool them, but nothing radical. I...

I thought it was EWS that was fined. The Depot Manager from Allerton was wished on us at Eastleigh until the court case (to keep him inside the tent, &c.) and was handed his cards on the way out of the courtroom. Pat PS Sorry for being OT. Pat

From memory (unreliable, I know) there was a wagon status drop down in TOPS2000 which had a check box marked 'BO'. I had to work out what it meant. Reading 'Trains' magazine in those days was a help in understanding American terminology!

I thought that BOCODE meant Bad Order - Americanese for Cripple. Another fairly obvious US import is AARKND - the 4th letter after the CARKND. Sadly not widely known, as not on Train Lists or Consists, but helpful in wading through endless IFAs (for instance). Pat 1755171339 I hope the attached...

No chance. The 64 bus takes 30 minutes from Alresford to Alton, the MHR timetable is 39 minutes. The buses take bus passes, the train won't. Exactly the same problem as running Swanage to Wareham, but the dreamers still dream on. Pat

I do recall a class 33 being driven across the ballast after derailment in Woking Down Yard. The heavy lifter couldn't get close enough, so the loco bucked and reared over timbers and bits of rail to get to the crane. Does this count?:D Pat

They were the means of entering data into TOPS before VDUs were used. Apart from that I have no idea - maybe someone else can enlighten us before the knowledge is lost? The structure is reflected in TOPS outputs today, e.g. Loco lines are prefixed by '02', wagon lines by '06', maximum characters...

Fascinating stuff! I started as a shunter in Woking Yard just before privatisation. In the cabin we had a stack of old punch cards, left over from the TOPS office that was on the cattle dock. Don't know how well this will come out. I have a .PDF copy of EWS 'Idiots Guide to Tagging'. Can PDFs...

I would be astonished if the wheels of both locos were the same diameter (unless both were brand spanking new). The diameter varies over time, as the wheels are re-profiled due to wear. I'd guess at a potential difference of 2-3 inches. Pat

'Up' is usually towards the Zero milepost. Mostly these are in London, and it has long been the convention to speak of going 'Up to London'. Pat

At Woking, around the trap points from the Down Bay. When new it looked as though it was covered in glacé ice. Rock solid to walk on. Pat