Didcot in 1977

As a contrast to the ones recently posted from his trip to England, Frank asked me to scan in the slides I took at the Didcot museum back in 1977.  I must admit the quality is not what I would want, but it's what I have.  The first group were taken in March or April, and are rather washed out.

What the well-dressed engine driver wears:

Inside the engine shed.

In the yard, there had been a turntable pit.  They acquired a new and longer table, and so the old pit was in the process of being demolished so it could be enlarged.   Keep this in mind.

The operating train that day:

This is the coaling stage:

The next group are dated in July of that year.  The new turntable was making rapid progress.

There were Jubilee celebrations all over the country that year.   The Queen had been on the throne for 25 years, which was thought a great accomplishment at that time.

And a double-header:

Finally, over at the main station, a few pictures of the HST, which was very new at that time.

If you're taking train pictures in Britain, you'll never be lonely.

Wednesday Report

Skipping the usual complaints about the weather, it was another busy and productive day out at the old Museum.  I needed to do some switching in preparation for two-car operation this Saturday, and I also topped off the compressors on the 308 and 319.  So if any qualified motormen want to sign up, remember you won't have to check the oil, it's already been done!

Most of the Wednesday regulars were hard at work.  I only took pictures of a few of them.  For instance, the freight car guys and several coach workers were at work over in barns 10 and 11, but that was too far to travel.

Here John Faulhaber and Henry Vincent are working on getting the latch to work on one of the sliding doors for MD car 213.  It's not easy.

Pete Galayda continues to rebuild and repaint doors for the Class B, and other projects.

A two-car train of 4000's was in use for regular service, presumably due to a charter.  Thomas Slater was the motorman.  It's good to have the 4410 back in service.

Ed and John continue their work inside the Electroliner.

And so on.  One project that may be seeing some renewed activity is cleaning out the 306, our Fox River car, so it can get a cosmetic restoration to some extent and then be switched out of Barn 4.  Gerry, Lorne, and I spent a couple of hours moving parts out of the car and onto the new shelves in the Lean-3.  At least half of this job was in air-conditioned comfort, so that's good.

New upper sash frames were made many years ago.

And some other odd parts were discovered during this process.  That writing looks vaguely familiar.

And as an added bonus on Saturday, there will be a book launch for a new book about the Trans-Siberian Railway by a noted raconteur and photojournalist, Jeanne Roppolo.  (We have plenty of raconteurs already, but there's always room for more!)  Why IRM, you ask?  Because we have probably the only two operating locomotives in the country that were built for export to Russia.  One of them, of course, is our Frisco Decapod, and so I took a couple of minutes to get a picture of its Russian-language builder's plate.  It's a direct translation of the standard Baldwin plate above it.  

(i.e. Locomotive Works of Baldwin,  Philadelphia, USA   February 1918.)

The word for "locomotive" (as an adjective) is a typical Russian tongue-twister:  Parovozostroitelniy!   (Accented on the 5th syllable.)  The abbreviation for USA has me puzzled; it's always just  США nowadays.  But there it is, a relic of the Russian revolution a hundred years ago.

Help Wanted

The CA&E wood cars are scheduled to run again this Saturday.  We have a conductor (thanks, Randy!)  but we need a motorman if possible, or at least a trainman.  (Anybody can fill this position.)  Sign up and get to see your name in genuine print.   Thanks!

Time for a Quiz

Frank writes...

I just returned from another business trip and, as I occasionally do, I had an opportunity for a very brief railfanning stop. What it lacked in duration, it also lacked in visual appeal:

So here's your two-part quiz: what is it, and where is it? This challenge is a little harder than the last time I tried this, so let's say you can use Google (good luck with that) and PNAERC (which should tip you off that it is, or was, electrified). Best of luck, and may fortune favor the bored!


Update:

Lucas is correct.  Here's a picture of the C122 I took at Ringoes back in 1984, from a different angle.  What they really need is a neon sign saying "MOTOR COURT".  (RH)

Diesel Days Photos

Chuck Amstein provides us with a great selection, as usual, of photos from yesterday.   He writes:

I was only able to be there Saturday until about 2 PM, but here's what I have.

I like the new Diesel Weekend format.  Lots of action all day long.

I hope nobody was cheating by not buying a ticket.  When I came in about 10:30 AM, there was a good crowd in the ticket office.  I always appreciated being able to walk in early (to take photos of

electric cars coming out of the barns), then picking up my ticket later.

And here is his video from Saturday.   Enjoy!

Diesel Delight

This weekend is our annual Diesel Days celebration, and it seems to get more popular every year.  We always need trainmen, and so to support the Museum (and as a character stiffener, to some extent) I decided to go out and help.  Stranger things have happened.

I was assigned to the coach train, and got one of the Boonton coaches from the Lackawanna as my very own.  I won't bore you with an explanation of my enthusiasm for the Lackawanna, but it's enough that I enjoyed the day.  We generally had four mainline trains running, and under the capable dispatching of Joel Ahrendt things went well. 

Part of the allure of Diesel Days seems to be the goal of running as many different implausible consists as possible.   Here the Nebraska Zephyr is headed by the 504.

The department brain trust plot their next move:

For the coach train's first run, we have the BN-3, an E-9 remanufactured by MLW for some reason.

Meanwhile, on track 1 the U30 is powering the ever-popular caboose train.

And after one run, it gets replaced by the recently-repainted Rock Island Geep.

Meanwhile, the coach train's power is replaced by the Santa Fe FP-45.  (If it weren't for my handy IRM roster, I'd be at a complete loss to explain any of this.)

Two different generations of commuter equipment:

One of things that struck me about Diesel Days was how many photographers there were everywhere.  I sure hope all these people bought their tickets.  They were everywhere on the property:

Alongside Barn 2:

Out near Olson Road:

and out at Seeman, near Karstens, etc.   Smile for the cameras, kids!

And I'm sure you wanted to see a crew portrait.  Mark Hoffman was the conductor, with Kevin Kriebs and me as trainmen.   A good time was had by all.

Later in the day, the E-9 B unit (originally UP) was added to the consist, and even later, these two units were wyed and the 9911A was added to make an A-B-A set.  But I was unable to stay around long enough to get pictures of it, so I hope someone will send some in.  Thanks!

If you missed it today, there will be even more tomorrow!  Be there!