[saturday afternoon telly]

Dr Who started in 1963, the first ever episode was unfortunately broadcast on the saturday after Kennedy's assasination, it had to be repeated the week after because the BBC felt that most viewers were too upset to watch it.

It must have been Grandstand, The News, Telegoons? Dr Who. Of course later in the evening it was the inevitable Billy Cotton Band Show.

Lets not forget 'The 6 5 Special', Juke Box Jury, Thank Your Lucky Stars, usually on when we were having tea, when the old man had come back from watching County.

On Battle of Britain Day, ITV used to have live coverage of an airshow on a saturday afternoon, which I gather was shown at appropriate moments between wrestling bouts.

[Steam]

I used to go to a place near Witham (Silverend ) to the Permacell factory

Well done, digi triumphs over film after all, I doubt whether my old Canon could have managed a shot of that clarity, what sort of speed do you reckon it was travelling at.

Silver End is an interesting place, the whole village was constructed for Crittall Windows between the wars, only trouble is, they don't operate from there anymore, much of the old factory is currently being demolished, but Permacell are still operating from part of the old factory.

Many of the houses were built in the Art-Deco style, ranging from the big managers houses, to the workers semis. All of these are now listed, one of the bigger houses has been fully restored and looks magnificent.

When we were looking to move to Braintree a couple of years ago, the price of houses in Silver End was considerably cheaper than anywhere else round here, you could by an Art Deco semi for about £150,000, and these are big houses with large gardens. Problem as far as we were concerned was the fact that we needed to have easy access to the school and madams work and Silver End was in the wrong place, pity.

[Steam]

Quiz question for thee:

What was the number of the Thompson B1 that was destroyed in an accident at Witham?

No Googlin'!

Cheers

Robt P.

Thats a good one, I only know of the 1905 Cromer express crash.

Without Googling, but refering to an old Combine Volume, the missing B1 is 61057, but if you do Google, and there isn't much information about the incident, the number is given as 61052, so which is right, do you have a book describing the incident.

I can see a trip to our local museum is on the cards, they have a fantastic local photograph archive.

[Steam]

Nah ,he was just taking pictures. By the time I'd dragged my fat ass off the deck it was too late.

As regards the camera thing , I haven't tried anything fast with flash tonight will be a first!!!

I had thought of going to Crewe but it's stupidly expensive to park , (About £6) and I'll have two little ones with me as SWMBO is at work. So it's a better idea to try and get it from the railway footbridge about a mile up the line from the station , I can get my tripod out and shoot away to my hearts content!!

Good luck, I shall be interested in the results.

£6:00, bloody hell, Morrisons is about 100 yards from Witham station and you can park in there for 3 hours for nowt, after that, they are cute and know you are a devious commuter, mind you, a large mainline junction station with no car park is a bit of an oddity, I don't know how they cope.

We are on the end of the branch line from Witham, what a service, regular electric trains to London and really good fares for the casual tourist. Thing is, no proper station car park in Braintree, but on the outskirts of town is a huge shopping centre with it's own station and all day free parking in a massive car park, I don't think that Network Rail have worked this one out yet, don't tell them.

[Map Requests.]

No wonder me mothers house on Park Crescent has a bulging gable end, the ground under that area must have been dug over and under so many times it must be very dodgey, I doubt whether they cared about that when it was built in the 1930's, I'm surprised it still stands.

With regard to our attempts to enter Cossall drift mine, quite right, we could have been newspaper headlines, when you're 10, you think you know everything, but it was lucky that the farmer was about.

We even had a cunning plan to tie ropes together and attempt to climb the ropey steel ladder down into the depths of the Trowell Moor shaft, no doubt Mr Daredevil here would have been the one to unwisely try it, a good job it was away from the demolished side of the capping structure.

Sometimes I wonder how I survived those days, my attempts at scaling the Hemlock Stone almost ended up with me being impaled on the railings, there was only one way up and I was too small to reach for that vital hand hold at the overhang, try and try, oh sod it, bang.

[Steam]

Beefsteak

Yes, I know I'm a nuisance, but I'm shovelling out planning letters today to various councils and keep getting bored.

I'm not up with sophisticated digi cameras, we have three digis in the family ranging from my ancient effort up to my youths fairly good type that I haven't been allowed near yet.

Question is, what are good ones, such as yours, like with flash.

The reason I'm asking is because many years ago when I had, which was for then, my all singing and dancing Canon film camera with a mega dedicated flash, I attempted to take a night time shot of 'Flying Scotsman' at a level crossing near Peterborough. It was hardly hurtling along and the crossing was well lit anyway, however the image, despite being well lit, was very blurred, but then the maximum shutter speed with the flash was only 1/60.

I wondered whether digi cameras coped with things better, I don't know if they do or not.

How far is it to Crewe from where you live, 10 miles, perhaps you should take your young un' there and watch the engine changeover, static flashshots might be a better bet, besides, with a smiley kid and a bit of cheek I reckon you could get in the cab, we tried that one at Bishops Stortford station with Britannia and ended up getting a footplate ride from one end of the station to the other.

Incidentally, are you sure that the bloke who got in your way wasn't the 'jobsworth' acting under instructions.

[Steam]

Doubt the DRS 20 is on a nuclear waste trip as there are no barrier vehicles in the consist...

Cheers

Robt P.

Agreed, but look at the visible profile of the trailing wagon, it matches a nuclear waste carrier exactly, and it looks as if there are two 20's, perhaps it had been for a repair and wasn't carrying anything. I also found a picture on a site showing a DRS class 37 pulling a single wagon like this one from Barrow Docks without a barrier wagon, I think that Beefsteak is at fault here for concentrating too much on that blooming steam engine, he'd never be allowed to join Greenpeace.

[Steam]

Well done mate, but you should have kicked the selfish ignorant git off the platform.

How fast was she going by the way, it looked as if the driver was really winding her up from Crewe, pity they didn't use a more appropriate carriage set from Carnforth.

The first train was a Pendolino, the second one was more interesting. It was a Class 20 with what looked like a very exotic wagon behind, I reckon it was a nuclear waste train returning to Sellafield, honest, thats what they use class 20's for and I know you can't see the wagon very well, but from what I can make out, you'd better get in the shower pretty fast and stay there for the rest of the day!!!

50 years old them Class 20's, I've still got me Hornby Dublo D8000 Christmas present from about the same time they were introduced, still in it's box.

[Map Requests.]

I just found this thread.

The mine workings around Balloon Woods were 'Bell Pits'. The seam here was close to the surface and they simply dug down about 10 to 15m and worked outwards from the shaft until it got too dangerous to go any further, 18th century I believe.

The one's I particularly remember as still being fairly well marked were next to the old brickworks level crossing, which is one I reckon had collapsed, and in Balloon Woods opposite the old Rolls Royce testing station. Our top playing fields up at Bilborough Grammar were full of the things, I always thought that the rugby team might vanish underground one day.

The mystery was in the small wood to the north west of Balloon Wood crossroads. For many years it contained a small headstock over a sealed shaft, we always assumed it was some sort of pumping station for Wollaton Colliery.

If you walked up the bridle road from here to Cossall, on the left hand side of the path opposite Catstone Hill was a deep stone lined shaft, surrounded with a rudimentary barbed wire fence, I wonder whether thats still there, looking on Google Earth, theres a wierd shape in a field that could be it's overgrown site.

Where the path came out near Cossall, there was a branch of the Nottingham Canal that went to a horizontal shaft that dissapeared into a hill heading south east. I clearly remember when I was very young seeing miners going into there. Many years later we attempted it ourselves after it had been abandoned, we were stopped by the local farmer who said it was full of methane gas and too dangerous to go in, he was very pleasant too, I recall. You can still see some sort of buildings on the site now.

We discovered the remains of Trowell Moor Colliery in the late 50's early 60's. At that time the winding house was more or less intact, it was a brick building with large windows and a huge brick and concrete structure in the middle that must have held the steam winding engines. One shaft had been capped off level with the ground with a concrete slab and a steel vent pipe. The other shaft had a big structure over it built of brick, about 2m high with the usual concrete slab and steel vent pipe. The slag heap had been hollowed out and was used as a dumping site for liquid slag from Stanton Ironworks. This was delivered at regular times by noisy Commer two stroke diesel tankers, we could hear them coming and hide. The liquid slag cooled then dried, it stank, I can still smell it now, it formed a light grey hard but slippery pool that was good for sliding on.

Some kids demolished part of the wall of the brick cap, you could look over the edge and see this huge shaft dissapearing below, the winding cables were embedded in the concrete slab and a dodgy steel ladder dissapeared down one side, you could smell the gases wafting up from below, chuck a brick down and it took ages before there was a bang and a splash, we assumed that the lift was still down there and that the workings were flooded up to the shaft.

We tried dropping fireworks down in the hope of lighting up the bottom, but it was too deep, they went out before they got there, even when you tied them to bricks.

One day, a whole gang of us rebuilt the wall in bricks from the engine house, when we had finished, we pushed the whole lot down the shaft, the resulting bang from below shook the ground.

I suspect that they bulldozed the slagheap down there, apart from the bridge over the railway from the canal, there's nothing to show that this place ever existed.

[Jobsworths on the Railway!]

Beefsteak should be back from the station now, unless he's handcuffed to a luggage trolley, c'mon Beefsteak, lets hear all about it.

[Jobsworths on the Railway!]

I gather that the NRM has a couple of engines on loan there and want them back. One, a 4F, has been lying about in bits for years with nothing done to it, the other is one of the original MR locos, they're probably worried about what might happen to that.

My brother lives just down the road but he has little enthusiam for the place either, we went a couple of christmases ago and weren't impressed, on our trips into Ripley, we prefer to go to Anchor Stores, it seems more organised.

We have the Colne Valley Railway just down the road, a small unpretentious railway, built up from nothing and only half a mile long. The trouble is, they've built loads of sidings and filled them with junk, they have no acccomodation under cover and the place looks a mess, it's a similar story also not far away at the East Anglian Railway Museum, a place full of ideas when I moved down here, but since stuck in a time warp in a station yard, full of the same rotting carriages that were there 30 years ago.

I's not always the same though, I think that the North Norfolk Railway is stunning. It wasn't much to shout about 30 years ago either, but they've shown what can be done, proper engine sheds, lovely stations and fantastic engines. They've just finished a large brand new carriage shed at Holt, they didn't mess about either, it seemed to go up in a few months, and it's properly finished, landscaped, the lot. They are now about to relay the level crossing in Sheringham over the winter and reconnect with the main network, steam running all the way down to Norwich is a mouthwatering prospect, and you just know they will do it, they have the drive. Considering that this railway is in a comparatively isolated spot with only one main population centre, Norwich, anywhere near, they've done wonders.

[Jobsworths on the Railway!]

I remember the "Royal Scot" at Butlins Skegness cirrca 1964 , once again I shall have to delve into my mums loft for the pictures ,IMMSC it was painted Maroon.

It should be running again shortly, I wonder what colour it will be next, strange, after all these years we will have two Scots on mainline duties, Royal Scot and newly restored Scots Guardsman, in BR green by the way.

[Jobsworths on the Railway!]

Lets thank Butlins for the fact that both these Coronation Class Pacifics, as well as Princess Margaret Rose and Royal Scot have survived. If Sir Billy hadn't purchased them and displayed them in his camps in the early 60's we would have been sadly lacking in our railway heritage.

Nottingham City Council were offered Pacific 'City of Nottingham' on it's withdrawal, 1964? Unfortunately they decided that they had nowhere to put it and went for the simple option of it's nameplates instead, pathetic. Don't you think it would have looked cool sitting on the old tramlines in Parliament Street bus depot.

I recall working at Butlins Minehead in 1969 and poor old Duchess of Hamilton was looking sadly neglected and covered in seagull crap, Butlins had the foresight to realise this and presented them to preservation groups in the early 70's, without them and Dai Woodham, places like Butterley probably wouldn't exist.

I'm afraid I'm not a great fan of the Midland Railway Trust. Originally it started out as a great project involving Derby Council, rolling stock was stored in sidings north of Derby Station, but the line through Butterley was never going to expand anywhere, it goes a short distance from nowhere to nowhere and will never be any different, they should never have allowed the A38 to cut through the formation, but just like the destruction of the runway cut by the M11 at Duxford, the local authorities, as usual, can't be bothered to make a stand.

I always thought that they should have put their efforts in at the beginning to re-opening the Wirksworth branch or better still Peak Rails original intentions of linking up Matlock with Buxton, had that been the choice of maximum effort several years ago when a site was established at Buxton and much of the infrastructure was still intact, imagine would could have been achieved by now, Duchess of Sutherland blasting up Monsal Dale rather than pottering about at Butterley sounds a more mouth watering prospect.

[Mods & Rockers]

In the 60's, my mate had a TV175 which we both put a lot of effort into tarting up, Union Jack seat, backrest, wing mirrors you know the stuff. Problem is while we considered ourselves essentially mods, a lot of our mates were rockers, particularly my mate Sparrer, remember him, and all the Radford Rockers, Fitzy, Jew and all that lot.

One day, in a moment of madness, we went to Matlock Bath.

We parked up in the Pavilion and shoved the Lambo in the middle of all the Nortons, which we wandered around admiring. It wasn't long before we were apprehended by the owners who couldn't believe our cheek, but we got away with it, we were treated to rides on Vincents and God knows what else while they were given the chance of trying out a Lambo. It was a great day, and when we left, one bloke said that he was concerned that a mob was coming down from Derby and they would probably get nasty, so we were given a full escort back to Ambergate, it was like something out of Easy Rider, two nutters on a TV175 surrounded by Nortons, Vinos, Triumphs, weaving patterns all over the A6, bloody magic, how could you ever want to fall out with those blokes, a day to remember.

[Jobsworths on the Railway!]

Quite right, but Beefsteak said he was off to the station, I wouldn't be surprised if he's mates with the staff, but you never know. It's more fun to stand on a station platform and watch these things hurtle through, apart from the noise, it's the reaction from the public that crack me up.

I went on a trip from Bishops Stortford to Ely and back, A4 Sir Nigel Gresley to Ely and A4 Union of South Africa back again. The return was supposed to follow the normal London electric service train, but the enthusiasm of the footplate crew to 'go for it' persuaded the powers that be to let us go first, and go for it they did, big time. When we got to Cambridge, and I was hanging out the window all the way, you could see the platform was full of people wanting the train to London, did they not suspect that this smoking monster was not their train, not a bit of it, they all stepped forward expectantly, at which point the crew really opened it up and hung on to that glorious chime whistle, to see all the numpties jump back was quite hilarious.

Another time they held a Steam Fest at Cambridge station, they ran a shuttle service from Stansted Airport which used a 1960 Glasgow Blue Train electric unit, the last of the class before retirement, all the crew wore period uniforms and the destination boards were wound up to read Glasgow Central. On the return journey we were waiting to leave Cambridge and extra staff had to be drafted in to persuade people that it was a special train and not going to Liverpool Street, some of the indignant rows were beyond belief.

[Jobsworths on the Railway!]

I'm going to be cantankerous and defeatist again!!

There's a bit of a problem with some railway authorities with regard to taking photographs at railway stations. I buy Railway Magazine every month, it's a good read for both ancient and modern traction and also for finding out about steam trips. They've been running a campaign for a while now called 'Iron Curtain Britain'. It would seem that some 'jobsworths' on stations are paranoid about security and are taking matters into their own hands. Some of the stories that the magazine have published are appalling, one young kid was dragged off and frisked for taking a picture of the railcar he'd just got off from his holiday trip, and he was with his parents. People ejected from stations just for having a camera with them, so many stupid stories.

Railway Magazine have had the matter raised in Parliament and investigated the legal aspects. I gather that as long as you are'nt interfering with railway operations and are only taking pictures for personal use, they can't stop you, and that an information sheet has been distributed around the transport police accordingly.

However this won't stop some ignorant official from messing you about, legally or not, imagine Duchess of Sutherland thundering towards you and this dickhead shoving his hands in front of the lens, it's been known to happen.

I would advise you if you have a minute to nip down the station today and check with the powers that be, they actually have no right to stop you, but it's worth making sure that they are aware of the rules now, rather than with minutes to spare before the train arrives.

The staff at our local mainline station at Witham are a bit funny and have bothered people before, I go to a small country station down the line which is run by a really nice bloke with lots of enthusiasm, but even so, I always check with him first.

Lucky sod, I haven't seen a 'Semi' on the mainline since the early 60's.

Incidentally, did you know that it's sister engine, Duchess of Hamilton is at Tyesley being returned to it's pre war streamlined condition, though I gather that the price of steel is slowing things down a bit.

[Duxford 08]

Keep em coming!!

Out of interest, as you haven't been to Duxford for a few years, what do you think of the museum. Presumably you haven't seen the American Air Museum, the Tank Hall and the enlarged main hangar before.

Quite a few people don't like the arrangement very much, miserable sods, me, I love it.

AAM is a bit crammed but a fantastic building, you could spend hours in there, there's so much to see, not just the aircraft. Last Rememberance Sunday it was full of USAF pilots from Mildenhall and Lakenheath who had taken part in the service, all in their dress uniforms and wandering about in wonder, really nice people. My only grouse is the fact that the glass front has to be dismantled with great difficulty to get anything in and out, the last a/c to go in was the B-24, what a nightmare that was. When they eventually get round to restoring the F-105 Thunderchief I don't know how the hell they'll fit it in there.

I love the low lighting in the Tank hall but people moan about that, but it makes it very atmospheric.

I think that the arrangement of some of the a/c in the main building is a bit strange and I wish that the Mossie wasn't hung from the roof so we could admire it in it's full glory on the ground, but never mind, it's there and thats what counts.

What they need to do is build another frigging great hangar and get the airliners undercover, they tend to be somewhat neglected in the scheme of British aviation preservation, the cull at Cosford last year was unforgiveable.

[Duxford 08]

Wonder why, that whenever I see your numerous Masterclass contributions - on a variety of subjects, I get the distinct impression that you can write it quicker than I can shovel it?

Cheers

Robt P.

I don't know how to take that, had I better keep me gob shut in future.

[Duxford 08]

Well done Beefsteak and Plantfit, I hope you've dried out, typically, it was a lovely day down here yesterday.

The sign on the Sea Fury is interesting. The FB11 has been under restoration for a long time now, I'm surprised they are still looking for parts for that. The T20 has just been aquired from the FAA Museum, it's been used as a source of spares for their FB11 and lacks quite a lot including the engine, a Centaurus, which is a rare and complicated beast, which is why the Yanks have replaced most of their Sea Fury engines with Pratt and Whitneys. As well as those two, the TFC has aquired another Sea Fury from the States, which is airworthy but hasn't yet been shipped over.

Meanwhile, the Fleet Air Arm has been having terrible trouble with the engine of their FB11, but have aquired another T20 from the States, which believe it or not has been donated, they've been preparing this one at North Weald this year and I believe it is now at Yeovilton.

The only other airworthy example in this country is privately owned and seems to flit around between Bournemouth and Coventry, but is rarely seen at displays.

Lovely aircraft, but very rarely seen, it would be nice to see 6 of them at Legends 2010.

[Long Gone Railways]

For those of you who missed it, Railway Walks is repeated tonight, with another round of railway programmes on thursday, including the next Railway Walks which is along the Mawddach Estuary in Wales, it's many years since I've been there, I remember fishing off the magnificent Barmouth railway bridge that spans the estuary mouth, every time a train went over, which wasn't often, it vibrated like hell.

I had completely forgotten that the GCR crossed over Arnold Road, so it must be the GNR 'footpath' I'm thinking of. I've got all sorts of books and old maps of the area, but they are currently stored in the garage, waiting for me to put up shelves and arrange things properly. I did actually Google and found an amazing amount of really good photographs of the GC/GN steam workings in the 60's. One sad photo is of the last steam working leaving Vic for Marylebone, considering the significance of the occasion, the number of people on the end of the platform is very small, most of whom were from our school railway society, no, I'm not visible, someone is standing in the way.

We had spent the previous day travelling up and down the line between Vic and Loughborough on various London semi fasts, all pulled by grimy Black 5's.

On the last day of operation, a special came into Vic hauled by a Merchant Navy Pacific, I took a colour shot of it coming across Weekday Cross Viaduct, only for the film to get torn during developing and the picture was lost. We frantically cycled over to Vic station and watched the train taken over by a pair of shiny B1's, then tried to get to Carrington Street to photo it between the tunnels, as we cycled down the ramp, it came through in an immense cloud of smoke.

We went back to Vic in the late afternoon to watch the last steam departure, then caught the last northbound Bournemouth/York, diesel hauled, to Rotherham Central.

After a long wait, we caught the York/Banbury parcels back to Vic, the last passenger train to run over the northern section of the GCR. I held out till the last minute and bought the last ticket issued at the station, we were seen off by the Station Master, somberly wearing his top hat and tails.

There were only 4 of us on the train that night, we tied the toilet rolls to the carriage door handles which left quite a trail, the guard didn't seem to mind.

By the time we arrived at Vic it was midnight, we asked the ticket collector if we could keep the tickets as souvenirs, but he refused, on the other hand he was p####d out of his brains, so my old man threatened to report him, and other things, we kept the tickets.

Planfit

You are right about the driving, the thing is, I never passed my test till I moved Daan Saaf, it's still a bit of a novelty to drive around all the places I used to cycle to. I find driving along the tram tracks especially wierd, particularly with one of the beasts right behind you.

I've just spotted the Auction for the bunker at Watnall, I'd be interested to see who buys that. Some loony bought a small underground monitoring bunker near Dunmow a couple of years ago and proceeded to store his collection of tanks on top of it. As it was in the middle of some attractive countryside, the planners weren't impressed and they had to go, perhaps he'd be interested in this instead.

[Long Gone Railways]

With regard to Bagthorpe Junction, I left Nottingham 30 years ago and my memory of road names is dreadful. About 18 months ago I drove around the city and it's surrounds trying to trace old bits from memory. I went up Arnold Road and came across a bridge parapet over nothing, from memory and my 60's cycling days, I came to the conclusion that this was the remains of the bridge over the GCR and that the metropolis of Bagthorpe junction was underneath the rest of the immediate area, incredible how these things can so easily vanish. I am determined to dig out my old maps and notes and give the place a good going over, I doubt whether my son up there will be impressed, but who knows, I gave him a bit of a history lesson on the phone yesterday and he seems keen for me to go up and give him and his mates a city tour, but what do I know anymore, it's all changed so much.

Slight change of geography, but not so far removed. Did anyone see railway night on BBC4 last thursday, thought it was great, all of it.

Thing was, the delectable Julia Bradbury went and traced the route of the old Midland line from Bakewell through Millers Dale to Blackwell. It was great, sad to see the remains of a once important route and sad to see the tunnels all closed off. I recall my last trip up that line on a special to Belle Vue Zoo from Nottm Midland, hauled by a Class 5, head out the window all the way. We went Youth Hostelling up there in the mid 60's when the line was still open and tried to follow the route as best we could, we ended up catching the 4 wheeled German railbus from Millers Dale station to Buxton, bumpy, but interesting.

Look out for it on a thursday night, BBC4, a series of 6 programmes with Julia walking abandoned railways, I don't know which one's they are, but if the first one is anything to go by, I thought it was pretty good for that sort of mass TV thing, I'm just upset she didn't invite me along.

[Other Soul labels?]

Can you remember any artists/tracks?

Oh dear, I have all my vinyls, singles and albums stashed in the loft, Direction Records? when were they about, Google, and you have a good list of artists but they don't jump out at me. I recall that my original copy of Wooly Bully by Sam the Sham and the Pharoahs is a yellow lable, would it be the same company.

OOh they've just played Bonnie Rait, 'I can't make you love me' on the radio, now thats a bit of class for Radio 2.

I've got various Stax light blue singles including Otis and Booker T, I've got some Sam and Dave stuff but I swear that the labels are black.

Talking of light blue lables, how about Blue Horizon Records that covered British blues bands in the 60's, I've got stuff by Fleetwood Mac, Chicken Shack and possibly a rarity by that one man band who was always at Uni, can't thing of his name, Dusty something, 'Is that a man down there' was the name of the track, can anyone remember.

Ah ha checked on Google and it's Duster Bennett, apparently these things are collectable, but then what isn't, I presume they have to be in as bought unplayed condition to be worth anything, yes mine are in their original sleeves but they've been round the country and to various parties and covered in whisky when I was deejaying at a cellar disco in Minehead, as well as at Portsmouth Poly, but thats another story.

There were also the early Blue Beat and Ska lables, which I'm sure were also light blue, I've got a 1965 single of 'Al Capone' by Prince Buster as well as a couple of his early albums.

It's interesting why record companoies changed the colour of their labels. I have a pre-release copy of Hey Joe by Hendrix on Polydor which is red, the next release, Purple Haze has a white label, then the following singles were all on black labels, or were they all multi coloured and it was the luck of the draw.

[Duxford 08]

Fair enough chaps, but I found out that the Shuttleworth Display at Old Warden, which isn't too many miles away from DX, was cancelled on Sunday due to the weather, which quite frankly was crap here.

Call me a cantankerous, defeatist git if you like, but I was only trying to save you the trouble of coming down here for nothing, OK, you saw a bit of flying, but it sounds more like a typical day at DX rather than one of their usual scintillating displays. For example, in July I had a site meeting up that way and parked up in the lane opposite to eat my butties. Apart from the usual Rapide take offs, the Tiger Moth trips, the Harvard trips, I was treated to two scintillating Spitfire aerobatic displays, followed by the arrival of the B-17 Liberty Belle from California, run in and break, amazing but typical, and in lovely weather too, and all in a half hours lunch break. That's what I've got used to.

The French are usually pretty daring, don't insult them, if it was too bad for them to perform, then so be it. I once saw the Red Arrows appear there, give one pass and vanish into the murk.

I'm probably spoilt, well, having been living just down the road from DX since the museum and their airshow venue was created, I've seen some amazing displays over the years, so you get a bit blase about it. This was the first Autumn airshow since it's creation that I've ever missed. The point is, as you hadn't been there for 18 years, I didn't want you to be dissapointed and suffer another Fairford disaster, as it was, I don't think you saw anything like the best that a DX airshow has to offer, I'll see you at Legends next year, then you're talking about the real business. Lets not fall out about this.

Mr Rob T

If you are going to DX next month, can I make a suggestion, if anyone is talking to me anymore.

Time your trip for Rememberance Sunday, the nearest date to November 11th. It's fantastic.

First of all, if you have a big family, entrance is free, but the atmosphere is amazing.

To stand in this place and witness the 2 minute silence at 11 o'clock is unbelievable.

Last year, the F-15 pilots from the USAF at Lakenheath attended the service when the Anglian Regiment were given their medals for combat in Afghanistan, it had me in tears, perhaps it was just a special day, who knows, but it is certainly a place for consideration and thought for those who have given their lives for freedom, whoever they are.

On a typical note, you usually get a Spit flypast, but the crosswinds were too strong last year, I shall be there again this year, I shall have to go through the ritual and walk through that bloody landing craft in the tank hall and think of my dad, bless him, what a place to think of our heroes, I'm so glad it exists and we have the chance to do it, it's living and breathing, it's better than putting flowers on a grave.

[Sherwood Station?]

In the 60's we attempted to walk the route of the Nottingham Surburban line, it was difficult even then.

We found the station masters house at Sherwood Station which had been abandoned and seemed to be awaiting demolition. In the garden forming part of the fence was the original sign for Sherwood tunnel, all tunnels had signs, they would say 'Sherwood Tunnel 1760 yards', or whatever.

Thinking it would probably be lost forever, we wanted to save it, but it was huge, no way could we carry it off. I hatched a plan to go back with my old man and get it in his car, but he only had an Austin A-40, no way would it fit inside. We hid it in the undergrowth hoping for another cunning plan. Whether anyone found it and saved it I think is unlikely, it probably ended up being burnt, sad isn't it.

We also attempted Mapperley tunnel one day about the same time when the track was still down, the weather must have been previously bad as the water was streaming from the roof, so badly in fact that we got part of the way in and were totally soaked and gave up in disgust, we never went back.

I have more adventures involving other sites including Carrington Station signal box some of which resides in my shed, but I'm starving, I need some breakfast, I'll get back to this later if anyone is interested.

[Duxford 08]

I hope Beefsteak has lots of woolly jumpers and some good waterproofs. It's atrocious down here, high crosswinds, persistant rain, low cloud, poor visibility. I doubt whether much will be happening today, but we tried to warn him.

Lets not also forget the 3 hour trip back home along the A14 and M6, nice.