Friday 1 March 2013

First in Laverton Loop

John Cruxon, Locomotive manager of 7903, Foremarke Hall has kindly provided this update on a post winter maintenance test run:

"With work still to complete and with the assistance of Neil Carr, on Monday 25th Feb Foremarke took a proving run to Laverton stop board and back to Toddy a few times before entering the loop to do some shunting for the Permanent way team. This took place following the overhaul of the valves and piston rings, what is known as a Piston & Valve examination."



Once again, interesting variations on hi-viz styles this season
"This is Foremarke’s third occasion of going to Laverton but the first for her and any ex BR mainline steam engine’s to enter Laverton loop, an industrial steam loco has already been there. As can be seen from the front there is cladding to be fitted as well as a buffer beam to paint. In addition there is the usual list of odds and ends to finish. My thanks go to the team who helped make Monday a success."
It almost looks like we've got a section of double track again


4 comments:

  1. Walking in the four foot with his back to the loco and no hi-viz on. Tut tut, naughty man.

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  2. Worse than that, he has his back to the loco and is distracted by his camera. A complete text book case of what not to do. In his defence however, he will have just arrived there on the footplate and know that the crew, Neil Carr (left of shot in hi-viz) & John Cruxon (who took the photo) are not in a position to move the train. He would also have known that the staff for that section is in the cab, so nothing else should be on the line. Depending on how you interpret the rule book however, both him (I'm afraid I don't know his name) and possibly Neil are in breach of the dress code for footplate crew.

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  3. Ok, so we know that in this situation it is "safe" because the loco isn't going to move and nothing else is moving on the line. However it's not sensible to develop a habit of wandering about in the four foot, especially with no hi-viz, because it can put one's prospects of a long life span at risk.

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  4. I think that we can agree on the fact that it is not a good habit to acquire.

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