The original plan had been to go to Coventry to see 2 of the 37s on the move from Dollands Moor, but they only got as far as Wembley. I only heard about the problem as I was walking to New St. station, then remembered 6M67 was running – but it had just passed Kings Norton, so I caught a train to Walsall, hoping to see it there. Fortunately I arrived in time, also seeing 2 other trains in the 15 or so minutes I was there. The other locos were 66093 & 66137.
47786 was taking 86217 to Willesden, probably for testing, before it leaves the country. A bonus was seeing 60071 on 6E41 tanks and 60054 on 6E66 empty steel. 66150 was also seen on 6V92, another empty steel train. 43303 & 43304 are also seen on a Dundee to Plymouth service.
86217, probably the last time I see it, hauled by 47786
I was on my own today, so made the most of a ride from Kidderminster to Arley & return. 2857 to Arley and return behind 1501.
The rain can be seen in this photo of 1501
A rather cool day, so we didn’t stay long – at least it was sunny though. Only 2 trains seen.
One of the Halloween characters looked good blowing in the wind!
A charity event to raise money for Children in Need. Tony Hirst, an actor from the cast of Coronation Street (he plays the fireman) was driving the Morgan. Vicky Gomersall, a Sky Sports presenter was on the footplate of 34053. The car was away from Arley about 3 minutes before the train passed through and arrived at Kidderminster 5 minutes ahead of the train.
Also seen are 4566 & 5164, plus some spooky characters around the station.
The Morgan approaching Arley
56087 hauled the train from Rugby OLE to Milton Keynes as 4Z56, 86701 worked the return run as 4Z86. Back at Rugby, the 86 and Motorail vans stabled in the siding alongside the station & the 56 headed north, probably back to Washwood Heath.
86701 at Northampton
Same locos as previous day, a long wait to get one chimney first though, as I just missed 2857 on the Bridgnorth set pass through in the morning.
KC didn’t hide under the seat as 1501 passed by
A misty day, but at least it was dry. You could tell it was getting close to Halloween by walking around the station, I didn’t look in the coffin though!
The only loco facing the right way
Something else that has been switched off for ages, but I have reset it. It’s not something I would normally use, but it is a fun way to send an e-mail photo to somebody. It’s just the intermediate size image, so doesn’t take ages to send, or for the other person to receive it.
When I receive a card, my e-mail does not display it, but there is an option to click an alternative link & it should display correctly. If it works for you & you like it, use it.
I was browsing through the setup for the gallery & noticed a couple of things worth trying. Firstly, I activated “Sidebar”. I wasn’t sure what it would do or if it would be useful, but it could be helpful to people. I use Firefox for browsing and found no problems with setting it up. It adds a link in “Bookmarks” and makes it easy to browse the albums by title, without waiting for images to load on the main part of the page. It is also easy to perform a “search” of the gallery. My version of IE doesn’t seem to work quite the same way as Firefox (using XP computer) as the sidebar index is on the main screen, but as I rarely use IE…….
The other option is “By date”. Click on that and it shows a calendar, which shows dates on which images were uploaded (not the date they were taken!) so an easy way to see new photos since your last visit!
There is also now a link to “Sharpo’s Blog”. All of these additions are in the main menu at the top of the page.
http://www.sharpos-world.co.uk/cpg/
I’ll probably alter the other “Midlands” gallery soon.
Lovely weather made it a pleasant few hours at the station, especially with the frequent train service. Probably my last chance to see 31806 operating, as it will return to the Mid Hants soon.
31806 approaching Arley
I got drenched getting the photos of 31806 at Highley, but by Arley it was beautiful sunshine – and a rainbow.
Rainbow at Arley
