Carlisle, 040909 thanks to "Red Cow"

"Wall meet again!", 40145 is stabled at old haunts prior to railtour working the next day

47501 looks good working 0Z47 Crewe-Willesden

Bridgnorth, 120909 thanks to "PB"

1013 runs round at Bridgnorth on a "hellfire" running day. This scene could easily be Whitland or Winslow 35 years ago perhaps??

Once common but 313 moves locally are rarer now. FCC machines still visit Wolverton though as here with 313059 heading North past the resident celebrity tree.

Threatening shower cloud approaches as 90049 heads North with 4M88

4L92 is still booked can’s but will Freightliners new "ugly bettys" ease them out making views like this of 86627 and 607 history after many years of service.

86401 is dragged south by 86101 on a Crewe-Willesden depot run. The NSE can will act as a shunter/ethel for the rake of stock that now resides om the mainline side of the depot.

Some interesting gen on the Dunstable branch is detailed in the gen snippets section below. In happier times for the branch, 25224 (not confirmed) takes the morning "small cements Eastwards. Photted from my top floor office window at the time! When a grid (very rare in the early 80’s at Dun) past one afternoon all hell broke loose!!!!!!!!!!!

In keeping with the "wall" theme here’s 85021 and 81004 taking a breather at Carlisle

M.Keynes,, 100798 thanks to Mark Beal

Both now absent for differing reasons, 87035 Robert Burns enters MK whilst Eurostar 3302 watches on.

Continental Corner,

Liege Kinkempois depot, 050909 thanks to Tamworth Castle

5519 on Kinkempois (Liege) Depot on 05.09.09. The blue/yellow livery means the loco is fitted with electric train heat. A small pool of these used to work between Liege and Luxembourg before the line was electrified.

Local gen snippets..ta to usual top men.

The final layout of Bletchley 2012 which will see the power signalbox being closed and control transferred to Rugby SCC.
The up and down goods line (between carriage sidings and up slow) will be renamed up and down relief lines and available for passenger use. At the station end these lines will be connected to platform 5 and 6 (up and down cambridge) vice current up and down slow.
At the Denbigh Hall end all the fiddly crossovers to/from the carriage sidings and onto up/down goods (as was) will be simplified with the "new" up and down relief lines joining onto the up and down flyover lines so only having one junction onto the slow lines vice the present two. The carriage washer goes, units leaving to go north can do his straight out rather than changing ends in the neck then setting back onto the down goods.
So through running from Bedford to Milton Keynes will then be possible with units changing ends in platform 5, then going North over the new pointwork via the down relief (old goods) to reach the down slow.On the way back, off the up slow onto the up relief to reach platform 5, change ends then off to Bedford.
The RMC stone siding is retained but the sidings "Bletchley Field sidings" will go.
All connections to closed TMD and Cambridge sidings also retained.
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advance "Kettle" gen for Saturday 26th September - GWR castle class running Birmingham Tyseley - St Albans and return loco 5043, timings to be advised.
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Advance 47 gen for 0410 a 47 is booked Ledburn-BY-Bedford on a returning Compass tour, tho may be in darkness locally.

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The Chief Executive of the Association of Train Operating Companies [ATOC] has written to South West Bedfordshire MP Andrew Selous to say that Dunstable is the third largest town in the UK without a railway. He said in his letter, "We are also aware that the line formation is more or less intact and mothballed, and so would be easy to resurrect as a heavy rail link if it were decided to do so".

The Luton to Dunstable Busway scheme is currently scheduled to run along the former Luton to Dunstable railway line and is out to tender for construction at present. Shadow transport minister Stephen Hammond MP has said that a future Conservative government would review the Busway scheme leaving the door open for the rail option to be looked at again.

The Association of Train Operating Companies have said that they could appraise a heavy rail scheme between Luton and Dunstable. Andrew Selous has written to ask if ATOC could also look at the possibility of a light rail option and running trains between Luton, Dunstable and Leighton Buzzard, as used to happen. Although the former railway track near Leighton Buzzard has been built on it would be possible to join the railway track from Leighton Buzzard to the south of Leighton Buzzard.

Thanks your contributions very much appreciated

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