Mainline Loco in Trouble! Another has Unexpected Success!

It is with sadness that we hear that another mainline preserved loco has suffered a major failure; 50031 suffering a main generator flashover near Ludlow.

Good Luck to the Class 50 Alliance Ltd (the name for the combined organisation of The Fifty Fund and Project Defiance), in getting the repair done speedily and economically. We know their voluteers and sub-contractors will work diligently to get Hood back and running as soon as they practically can.

Read more about it in the press release: click here. For those who’d like to donate to help continue the restoration of 50031, 50035, 50044 and 50049 see their websites: http://www.fiftyfund.org.uk/ and www.class50alliance.co.uk

On the other hand the doomsayers had been out in force predicting that Saturday’s outing for 45112 would end in tears before the train had even reached the second pick up point. In fact although the locomotive had been out of use for a long time, and had a reputation for embarrassing failures, it came through it well. A very happy Peak Army conscript contacted me on Sunday to rave about it, his wife however was less happy, as the only issue with the loco noticed by the punters was the lack of ETH……….

Competitive Texting & Happy New Year!

With the proliferation of texting and e-mails, it has become apparent that there are those among us that take great pleasure in sending their Christmas or New Year greetings from as wacky or far flung places as possible.

This year it has risen to a new competitive level:

My first Christmas text was on the 24th December from the top station on a Swiss mountain railway.
Then came an e-mail with a photo of the correspondent watching the shunters loading the train ferry between the New Zealand islands.
On the day itself: a text from the high speed maglev line in China, quoting the set number and train timings and letting me know that this message was sent at the highest speed possible on a scheduled ground based transport system. Er-doesn’t the maglev float?

On New Year’s Eve an e-mail arrived from the snow covered Rockies with photos of a 70 wagon train with 8 locomotives; 6 at the front and 2 at the rear.
Two texts on the day itself reportedly from the high point of the Ferrocarril de Antofagasta a Bolivia (does this run on New Years Day?), and the next from the Qinghai-Tibet railway. These are between them the current and previous highest railway routes in the world.

Well, I can’t compete. I can only wish you all Happy New Year from the comforts of my own home. Where I want it to be known I have been undertaking repairs to a fuel lift pump, rather than swanning off around the world enjoying myself.