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The day 'TheSlash' took us to...

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Coxster

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...Coventry! Today, 'The Slash' drove upto Coventry Railway Centre to help out. He picked 'Feltham2105' up at Soton Parkway and me up at Basingstoke (Seth hadn't even left his bed!) and he drove us up. Upon arrival, 'TheSlash' introduced us all and went to pick 'Metrocammel' up from Coventry station.

We started off by starting to remove some old points in terms of jacking the rail up and removing the chairs. They then uncovered an old point that would fit from under a bramble bush. All the chairs for the point were moved to a safe location ready for tomorrow.

There is a huge variety of stock up there from shunters to SUBs, EPBs, MLVs (soon to be at the EKR - shameless plug), a 50 (50040 IIRC) and amongst other things, a DMSO(b) from a Class 457 - looks great!

The dumper trucks were in constant use all day (and didn't 'Metrocammel' love that!). All in all, it was a great day complete with a miserable amount of snow. If you want to see something different and have a good old laugh, Coventry is the place to be.

P.S. 'Metrocammel' must now be reffered to as 'farmer'. There will probably be some pictures upload shortly...

Cheers for a great day out to all, particulary Steve. Much appricated!

http://www.emus.co.uk
http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CovRC
 
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960012

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Thanks again steve. Damon you forgot the prigles rack!!! and plus my naem is feltham2104 not 2105!!!
 

Coxster

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feltham2104 said:
Thanks again steve. Damon you forgot the prigles rack!!! and plus my naem is feltham2104 not 2105!!!
Picky, all so picky.

As for the Pringle rack - it is Coventry's latest addition :lol:
 

TheSlash

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Glad you enjoyed the day guys, i said you'd like it :lol:
Look at how much work got done, even with all the f*ing around that went on :lol:
Basically the set of points i started to put in late last year, didn't have all the special chairs needed. The point found on site appears to have all the chairs needed, so i've got to arrange a date to go up and try it out.
 

Techniquest

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Sounds like you had fun.

Even though I had a last-second change of mind last night about going, I was due to awaken at 0645 to get the 0725 to Hereford. Unfortunately, I missed two alarms and awoke for 3 seconds at 0824. Damn, too late and far too tired to get up, went back to sleep, awakening at approximately 1200!

Hence it was too late to go to Coventry. I would have LOVED to come up for some track laying! Still, the early bird catches the worm I guess. But then the early bird didn't go to sleep at 0300, not 0045 as planned...

Sorry to have missed the event guys. If any of you go up again, let me know. If nothing else, I need to see that 50!
 
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Tom

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Julian, it sounds like its quite normal for you to go to miss things.
 

Techniquest

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Not normal. I do what I can to attend events. Indeed, I've been known to skip more important things just to go number crunching when something interesting is known to come through.

I've had an exhausting week, time to sleep was well deserved now. If I hadn't gone to Reading yesterday, opting to bash bus routes instead, I would have saved some money and got enough rest to do a bash and work to Coventry, having got to sleep quicker. Still, the event has passed, and Reading was an implusive decision based on a need to get some 458s seen.
 

Coxster

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tubechallenger said:
Julian, it sounds like its quite normal for you to go to miss things.
He's been on quite a few meets, especially in the days of TTF.

What about you then Tom. You went to meet three of us at Daves meet but aprt from that... ;)
 

Techniquest

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Coxster said:
tubechallenger said:
Julian, it sounds like its quite normal for you to go to miss things.
He's been on quite a few meets, especially in the days of TTF.

What about you then Tom. You went to meet three of us at Daves meet but aprt from that... ;)

lol, thanks for that Damon. I did do a lot of TTF meets, but that was due to factors affecting decisions no longer being applicable. The main meet from there I will remember is the Brighton 31s meet, I travelled a long way, second longest distance to be there, spent a lot of money going, missed a lecture and hence a trip to Bicester was gone, as was intention to complete the BSc in Transport Management. I notice now that people more local didn't go (I'm looking at you here TC)...

When it comes to the crunch, I'll travel a long way, spend a lot of money and time for a meet. Today was an exception as I wanted sleep it seemed more than a life-changing experience.
 

Coxster

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When we did the Brighton 31s a couple of years back I don't think TC was active on TTF.
 

TheSlash

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Well today failed to get going with the track work really, but i used the time to survey the materials and tools at my disposal.
Basically we have to change a set of points as the chairs for the current set aren't available.
The current set of points is all unscrewed , unkeyed etc, so are ready to come straight out, the new set needs transporting across the field to the site. I hope we will be able to lift the heaviest part of the switch with the JCB, the back up plan would be to drag it and position it using jacks.
I have proposed the weekend of 28/29 January and/or 4/5 February to Graeme Gleaves who generally organises work parties, as soon as he gets back to me on these dates, i'll begin organising people immediatly.

Work party support
Just a few things about the Coventry site to help you be prepared for a visit. It is situated about 5 miles from Coventry city centre, next to the air museum, on the border of the airport. Transport to and from the station can generally be covered by the good will of people at site with cars
It currently does not have mains electricity or running water, although things can be heated {water, food} on a stove.
The site was originally a field and most of it still is, there is established dirt tracks for people and road vehicles. This means it can be muddy in wet weather.
The air museum has a toilet and cafe, there are no toilet facilities on the actual Coventry site at present.
High visibility clothing is not required, some volunteers wear company provided clothes because of their practicalities {ie i wear my NR coat or body warmer, another guy wears his overalls}.
Safety footwear and gloves are recommended, aswell as clothing that can get dirty
A good source of information is http://finance.groups.yahoo.com/group/CovRC/

Thats about it for now, thanks to everybody who came today and i'll hopefully see you on site again soon
 

Julian G

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Coxster said:
tubechallenger said:
Julian, it sounds like its quite normal for you to go to miss things.
He's been on quite a few meets, especially in the days of TTF.

What about you then Tom. You went to meet three of us at Daves meet but aprt from that... ;)
TC needs to spend some time away from the computer and away from eroding Hengistbury Head
and go to the next RailUK London Meet :lol:
 

metrocammel

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Yes, well im definately on for the next meet there, and Im filling in my application form to become a member atm. Plus, if you want some "mini-tables" from CEP 1523 theres plenty of them!!

Come to Coventry!
 

SERA01UK

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There will be lots more dates being posted soon by TheSLash and myself for further activity so plent of chances for CEP tables to be procured ! Oh and to get a bit of work done too.... :)
 

Techniquest

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metrocammel said:
Yes, well im definately on for the next meet there, and Im filling in my application form to become a member atm. Plus, if you want some "mini-tables" from CEP 1523 theres plenty of them!!

Come to Coventry!

I'll see if I can membership it too when I arrive.

Mini-tables? I'm interested in having one myself...
 

heart-of-wessex

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FGWFan

i believe that '50' you require is at Tyseley not Coventry :s

sounds interesting though, if its lifting constanlty, you must no i dont have muscles! lol
 

Techniquest

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heart-of-wessex said:
FGWFan

i believe that '50' you require is at Tyseley not Coventry :s

sounds interesting though, if its lifting constanlty, you must no i dont have muscles! lol

I know it is, but I could do with seeing the Coventry one as well! The more 50s I can say I've seen the better.

Regarding having muscles, well I'm not overly strong, but I'm experienced in lifting weighty bags up and onto my shoulders at the least. That one big white bag of wood brought home once was unliftable by two of us though, yet it had been lifted into the car! I see this event as a good chance to get some outdoor, real-life experience anyway.
 

Coxster

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The 50 is rather, errrm, being cut up though so the sooner the better if you want to see it in more-or-less one piece, rather than 8 :lol:
 

SERA01UK

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Coxster said:
The 50 is rather, errrm, being cut up though so the sooner the better if you want to see it in more-or-less one piece, rather than 8 :lol:

Not so !!! The owner and the CRC Ltd have reached aggreement for it to remain in staore at the site for the forseable future.
 

Coxster

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SERA01UK said:
Coxster said:
The 50 is rather, errrm, being cut up though so the sooner the better if you want to see it in more-or-less one piece, rather than 8 :lol:

Not so !!! The owner and the CRC Ltd have reached aggreement for it to remain in staore at the site for the forseable future.
Hmm, someone's been telling me fibs - good news though :D
 

16CSVT2700

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FGWFan said:
Oh right, no ambition to bring it back to its former glory then... :cry:

To be honest it's too far down the rusted road... it won't be able to be back to its former self without some MAJOR cash injection, spare parts will need to be sourced, paint, volunteers etc to restore it. As much as I'd like it to happen, its doubtful that Leviathan will be restored, even cosmetically

:cry: :cry: :cry: R.I.P. :cry: :cry: :cry:
 

Techniquest

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Pity still. Why do people leave things go too long before deciding it would be nice to fix it up? I guess I can talk can't I...The forum member who spends £2k in less than 2 years on rail enthusiasm...NOT on the useful things...Why oh why didn't I face up to it and accept the advice given by uni friends at the time...Life would be so sweet, I could have done an ALR in the summer of 2004, instead of working in a kitchen... :cry:
 

TheSlash

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Don't worry lads, its a volunteer thing, not a slave camp.
The heaviest thing one person would need to lift is a rail chair, Damon will tell you they ain't heavy.
If you find something is heavy, feel free to ask someone to help you lift it
 

Techniquest

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Naturally. Rail chairs aren't very heavy, although you should still take care in carrying them.

Is the 4th/5th February meet still going? If so I'll come along for that, would be an excellent opportunity to work in the diverted FGW HSTs over Abbotswood Curve with this meet to score more 350s off.
 
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