Items added on 9th December 2017 Those added most recently come first

Motorail Memories
Guy Vincent

You recently featured some interesting Motorail publicity supplied by Roger Salter and this reminded me of a large black and white photograph that was once displayed in the booking office of the old Trowbridge station.  The photo was taken from towards the front of a diverted a Motorail train north of the station on the large radius curve leading towards Bradford Junction.  When the station was demolished in 1984 the picture was apparently saved for posterity by one of the booking office staff but it's current whereabouts are unknown.   Quite by chance I came across a Motorail publicity brochure dating from 1971 featuring the very same image on the cover, in colour.   I would guess that the photo dates from the summer of either 1970 or 1971 and features the tower of Holy Trinity church in the background. The area to the left of the running lines was occupied by sidings and a goods loop until September 1968, this has now been fenced off and given over to a public footpath that leads from the town to the Kennet and Avon canal close by Ladydown Aqueduct.    Quite why Trowbridge was chosen for such a shot is open to debate. Consider the alternative locations up and down the country such as the Dawlish Sea Wall or the Devon Banks.  BR cutbacks??!   Guy Vincent
                                                            Many thanks Guy

British Rail Motorail Leaflet 1971 (Front Cover, Trowbridge) Guy Vincent

British Rail Motorail Leaflet 1971 (Rear Cover) Guy Vincent

Truro Station Clock
Dave Anthony

Some of your members may have noticed that the old clock on platform 2 (downside) at Truro has disappeared. I would like to assure them that it is in safe hands and will hopefully be returned to it's rightful position early next year. The supporting bracket was broken so it had to come down anyway to be repaired. The internal mechanism needed some attention as it wouldn't run for more than an hour or two, so that's gone off to a clock repairer in Exeter for a strip down. When returned it will still be clockwork and not converted to electric.
The case is in safe storage but there is a debate whether to leave it with it's many coats of black paint or to strip it back to it's original mahogany with brass bezels, perhaps your members would like to put forward their preferences/ideas? 
Unfortunately there is nothing that can be done to recover the original GWR dials so what you see here is what you'll get!
                                          Many thanks for your input Dave.

For more pictures of Truro Station taken by a casual observer you might like to try this location    ​http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~owend/I/R/stnpages/truro.html

Truro Station Clock. A picture by Owen Dunn - his copyright.

Class 800
​- First impressions Part 2
Derek Buttivant

No longer will passengers with seat reservations need to look at seat-back cards, manually inserted as on the HSTs.  The IETs have a traffic-light reservation system consisting of a three-colour LED light and a display screen above every seat.  A green light means that the seat is unreserved for the whole journey, a red indicates that the seat is already reserved at that point in the train's journey and the yellow light informs a would-be occupant of the seat that it is reserved at some later point in the journey,  Reference to the adjacent screen provides details of between exactly which stations the seat is reserved.  On the face of it, this seems similar to the system used on the CrossCountry Voyager (and Pendolino) trains but there is an important difference: the coloured lights are quite bright and visible along the whole length of the carriage as the passenger enters, so it's easy to see straight away where the unreserved (green light) seats are.
Plug sockets and USB ports are provided throughout.  In first class these are now beneath the arm rests between pairs of double seats.  There may be occasions when two passengers want to use these facilities simultaneously and will need to come to an arrangement for sharing!  That, though, is no different from the HST arrangement.  However, if the passenger in the aisle seat has a device connected to the socket, any passenger wishing to get out of the window seat will find the power cable stretched across from arm rest to table.  Many thanks Derek

Class 800 Power Points. 4th December 2017 Copyright Derek Buttivant.

Class 800 Seat reservation system. Copyright Derek Buttivant

Class 800 Seat Reservation (2) Copyright Derek Buttivant

Night Terminus (2)
Mark Lyman

150246 at St Ives after working 2A45 1855 Penzance to St Ives. 14th October 2017 Copyright Mark Lyman

Newton Abbot
John Cornelius

Newton Abbot - up avoiding lines. A mixed train passes through under a clear signal on the interesting gantry. The points in the foreground are also of interest. Making use of its long platforms an up service from Penzance or Plymouth would stop on the platform line with its tail just beyond here. Then an additional portion from the Torbay line to be added would arrive. The locomotive from this portion would be removed via this crossover and the additional coaches propelled onto the eastbound train. This move, complete with passengers would not be permitted today. Copyright John Cornelius