New withdrawn stock storage sidings near Ely?

[manna]

G'day Gents

I think those light bulbs were only 40w. Going back to the super bright headlights, I often wonder how the drivers cope with them, in the 'Olden' days, we liked our night vision, you could see for miles on a moonlight night, now you would be limited by the headlamps.

manna

[Mickey]

Mickey, would a class 31 have enough spare power to light a pair of 100w bulbs ?

Lol ha ha ha... good one harvester but I liked the class 31s back in the late 1960s & 1970s I believe they were quite popular amongst loco crews plus they were easy to drive and they were fairly comfortable although I must admit if you and your driver were sitting around the back of Kings Cross suburban station at 3:00am on a Sunday morning on no.1 shunt loco (always a class 31) sometimes it could be a bit uncomfortable to 'rest up' and get comfortable but all in all they were good locos manna could tell you more about them as well.

I liked them in there British Railways green livery and in there British Rail blue livery but those later liveries such as the 'Dutch livery' and others didn't do them any favours in my opinion.

Mickey

[Mickey]

I think those light bulbs were only 40w. Going back to the super bright headlights, I often wonder how the drivers cope with them, in the 'Olden' days, we liked our night vision, you could see for miles on a moonlight night, now you would be limited by the headlamps.

I believe you could well be right manna about those light bulbs especially in the Brush class 31s headcode boxes only being 40w bulbs because they weren't that bright were they(?) which would surprise some these days as they were the only front lights that the loco would show during the day & night while in traffic.

Back in steam days and the B.R. era of the 1960s & 1970s the loco or DMU/EMU 'head light' was basically to 'show alight' forward on the front of the train or loco as well as to donate the class of train that was approaching but these days the head light(s) on the front of a loco or DMU/EMU is to 'throw alight' forward so that the driver (who is usually alone these days) can actually see the track better ahead of his train or loco at night.

Mickey

[Mickey]

Mickey, would a class 31 have enough spare power to light a pair of 100w bulbs ?

A Brush class 31 on ECS duties would pull a 12 or 13 coach train of B.R.Mk1s & Mk2s up Holloway bank (going down road) for Hornsey carriage sidings fairly ok keeping the controller 'wide open' halfway into Gasworks tunnel and out through Belle Isle although if you left 'the cross' on the Down main line [M1] you would be 'turned in' onto the Down Goods line at Holloway South Down (box) which would bring your speed down having to snake through the Down slow line connection as well then there would be a climb up to Holloway North Down (box) before levelling out again for the run to Finsbury Park via Finsbury Park 2 (Clarence Yard) box isn't that right manna you rode on them enough times.

Mickey

[Nimbus]

Potter Group have now confirmed that the 13 new sidings at Ely ARE for stock storage and that they hope to develop similar facilities at their sites in Selby and Knowsley. Oddly, they refer to 'wagon storage', but are keen to plug the previously-mentioned high-security aspects.

[R. pike]

If anyone needs inspiration for a fiddle yard for their model railway...

http://www.potterlogistics.co.uk/news-m ... -on-track/

[Nimbus]

I passed the 'new' sidings at Queen Adelaide ( Potter's Group ) near Ely yesterday. No less than nine 442 units were parked up against the buffer stops, with the rake nearest the river consisting of 15 coaches, i.e. 3 units. The whole class may be being concentrated at this location from elsewhere? A long rake of rusty short-wheelbase hoppers were stored in the 'old' sidings alongside the Norwich line. The whole storage area is under the control of ROG - Rail Operations Group - who refer to the sidings as the South Farm site, which may well refer to the sewage farm once situated there!? Merry Christmas, one and all.

[sandwhich]

Now we know why the Class 442 units have been stored at Ely, It seems that if reports are correct 18 of these units are to go back to South West or South Western to be totally refurbished for use on the Waterloo - Portsmouth route. There are reports that 21 Class 365s are to be placed into warm storage at Dft (taxpayers) expense, something is obviously in line for them (South Eastern perhaps), so these units could find storage at Ely as well.

[manna]

G'day Gents

Sounds like a good idea, the body shells should still be in good order.

manna