11/5/11 - Unlike the 'A-Team', I can't always use the phrase 'I love it when a plan
comes together', since in real life sometimes they don't! And this update really
rubs that in...
Take the 'Cathedrals Express' railtour yesterday. The steam loco 46115 'Scots Guardsman'
was due at Cadder Yard near Bishopbriggs at lunchtime, was then due to go back to
Cowlairs without its support coach to turn on the triangle there, and return to
Cadder. Later in the afternoon the railtour was due to arrive with 61994 & 44871
and soon after head south with 46115. Well I got the afternoon off, and headed for the
bridge at the south end of Cadder yard where I could film most of the the comings and goings.
When I got there 46115 had clearly been and gone, which I had expected, and I filmed it
coming back, which can be viewed
here
. I had time to kill before the railtour arrived so I went away, but although I came back
with plenty of time the railtour ran 45 mins early and arrived before me! Then, half an
hour or so before the railtour was due to leave a coal lorry needed into Cadder yard past
where my car was parked, and the railtour left while I was moving the car! However I was
able to get ahead of it by using the M8 & A8 to go out to Whifflet, and the resulting
video can be seen
here. Since an early departure
had turned into right-time running by Whifflet, and since 61994 turned out to have left
early for Fife, I couldn't catch up with that either. And it wasn't until the next day
(today) that I found out that 44871 had stayed behind at Cadder, not that it would have
been worth going back there to film an engine not doing much. Oh, and I got rained on more
than once. And still enjoyed myself! Oh and stills pictures may follow at some point, but
not today!
Or take our plans to re-paint FPE88 in time for the Lathalmond running day on 15/5/11. There
is no doubt that a re-paint was needed, since we have been patch-painting peeling sections
of the roof for about a year now, and we got good weather at Easter. George wanted to
reproduce an advertisment livery that FPE88 had once carried, which required the midsection
of the bus to be painted blue. OK, we bought blue paint (possibly not the right shade but
shade-matching from old photos is a losing game!). We painted the bus (and I will put up
pics of the re-painting someday). George got the bus measured for the advert vinyls and
ordered the rest of the insignia. However the plan collapsed at this point as the vinyls
won't be ready in time. Oh well, nothing for it but to take the bus with no insignia at
all! Now I videoed FPE88 on the 1st of May with the re-paint finished apart from the wheels,
which I have now uploaded to YouTube and which can be seen
here. But I have also taken stills
from it, and the best of them can now be viewed on a page entitled
Red, (Off-)White, & Blue!.
Two plans that didn't work out, but the results are interesting nonethless!
-------------------
11/5/11
Details - description and links to two new web pages.
Headline ->
15/4/11 - I must really getting back into the swing of things if I'm doing
an update after only a week! Well, yes, sort of, since this update is two
sets of pictures from camcorder footage taken in the last couple of days
and isn't anything I had 'on file'!
Firstly I took the day off work on Wednesday 13/4/11 as FPE88 was booked
for it's annual MOT. Since the best way to ensure a pass first time is
to have a carload of tools parked outside to fix minor problems on the
spot, I was able to get ahead of FPE88 a couple of times on the way and
also filmed it going into the test station. And I went on at lunchtime
today to capture stills pictures from this footage and set them up as
a web page under the title
MOT Day 2011
And the other set of pictures are really fresh, as they are taken from
camcorder footage of an inspection train that ran south through Bridge
Of Allan today that I managed to film through taking a carefully timed
morning coffee-break. (I get wonderfully accurate 'Gen' these days! :-)
And the traction? Well I called the page
31s Out Inspecting!
Oh and I'll still wish you 'Happy Easter!' in advance, just in case it
takes me more than a week to do another update! ;-)
-------------------
8/4/11
Details - Greeting, details of thirteen recent YouTube uploads with a channel
link, and info about two new pages in the Special Delivery section.
Headline ->
8/4/11 - Three months since the last update, and in case I don't have time for a
further update in the next week or two, I'll err on the safe side and wish you
a Happy Easter! Of course, and not for the first time since the start of last year,
the reason is pressure of work, but since it pays the bills, it's a habit I'd
better not break! But having recently finished on a large upgrade project, at
least there might be a bit less for a while...
Winter is obviously not a good time for filming, as camcorders don't go well with
bad weather & darkness, but I have done some filming in the last month or so and
have in fact uploaded 13 new video clips to YouTube recently. Three are of EMUs at
new stations on the Airdrie-Bathgate route, as I used any excuse to get these new
stations on film, and Class 334s definitely fit that description! Next up, just
after the clocks changed, I tried out a new place to film at the Alloa loop on the
SAK, and have uploaded a clip of a typical
early evening coal train to Longannnet. Then there are a couple of clips of FPE88
& FRA1 at Methil, just to keep bus enthusiasts happy! Perhaps the most interesting
uploads are six clips from last Monday of a special working on the BKR and the E&G
to move 37906 back down to England after its 'holiday'. 26024 kicked off by hauling
37906 and 57001 up to Manuel unction, after which 57001 took over for the main
line journey with 37906, which I filmed as it passed Linlithgow. The most recent
upload, for now, was the DBS Perth coach-cleaning run a couple of days ago, which
I caught up with at Polmont thanks to having the afternoon off. Individual links are
too much trouble (sorry!) but they can all be found amongst the 243 (!) uploads
here!
And what of my website? Well it takes more time that uploading to YouTube, but I
felt it was time to get updating again and thus have made the effort. However I
still didn't have that much time to work on it and had to had to stick to
pictures that were easily available. I therefore used stills from this weeks videos
to create pictures sets of
26024/37906/57001 on the BKR, 57001/37906 passing Linlithgow,
and the DBS Perth coach-cleaning run at Polmont.
Too easy? Maybe I'll have the time for something more ambitious next time!
-------------------
5/1/11
Details - New Diesel Daze page for stills from the Bo'ness Class 37
gala on 2/1/11, and message below flags both the new page and the
YouTube uploads that go with it.
Headline ->
5/1/11 - Happy New Year! And I'm wishing you this only 5 days into 2011, rather
than belatedly a month or two late... However, thanks to the holiday season, I
both had the time for an update and also a large new set of interesting pictures
that I wanted very much to add.
In this case the story goes back to the late autumn, when we got asked
if we could provide a free bus service for the Bo'ness Class 37 Golden
Jubilee gala, due to the lack of non-rail public transport on Sunday
2nd January 2011, and were happy to do so. (We were of course promised our
fuel costs back, which is only fair!) So on the day we made our way
there in FPE88 to run shuttle services to Bo'ness from Linlithgow
station, got to see no fewer than 5 Class 37s in action, and we
fitted in some train travel around our bus service as well into the
bargain!
Of course I filmed & snapped FPE88 and quite a lot of the railway activity
around Bo'ness station, and also managed a return trip to Manuel behind
37175, which I think looked the best of the locomotives in use that day
since it was in BR Blue, so I have no shortage of material. As usual, I
have uploaded the best of my videos to YouTube, which in this case
adds up to 5 clips of FPE88 and 12 of the Class 37s, and these can all be
found
here!
The stills pictures
presented a bigger problem as the ones of FPE88 at an event would normally
belong under 'Rallies & Events' and the railway pics elsewhere, but I
decided the pictures all belonged together and have set them up in the
'Diesel Daze' section of my photo album -someday soon I will sort out
links so that the pictures can be access from the J-Files as well, but
right now you can see them
here.
What a way to start a new year... :-)
-------------------
29/10/10
Details - New section added for pictures of static displays set up with pics
from my visit a week ago to the NRM. Message below links without doing more
than hint at the NRM, but since the pic page has no text or captions yet
I needed to get people to go via the index. (Which is wasted effort if I
post a direct link on scot-rail as usual!)
Headline ->
29/10/10 - Six months without an update! Alas not only have I not had the time
to sort out one, I haven't even set a new personal best for non-updates! (The
record is well over a year! :-) However those of you that follow my YouTube
uploads will know that I have been taking the time to upload new videos over
the months, and indeed have on several occasions uploaded 'sets' of clips,
which is why the grand total now stands at 180 uploads, some of them fairly
interesting! Since I haven't updated my own links, these can be best accessed
directly
here!
However I had to get things back to normal (whatever that is!)
sometime and since I had a set of stills pictures taken with my camcorder
last week that I really wanted to put live, I got to work. However they
didn't fit any of the existing sections of my album all that well, so I
did what I usually do - create another section! In this case it's a section
for pictures of items On Display!
Obviously I'm starting this section up with only one set of pictures, but what
a set of pictures! (Hint: I was in York... ;-)
-------------------
23/4/10
Details - Message about YouTube uploads Feb-April being linked to Jeff's
Video Album! as described below.
Headline ->
23/4/10 - I'm tempted to believe that I'm a victim of the Chinese curse 'may you live in
Interesting Times!', as the last two and a half months have been a seemingly endless
stream of interesting events! Alas a lot of that is work-related (which I finding quite
interesting, even if most people wouldn't :-), and since it involved getting to work for
6.30am on quite a number of occasions it's hardly surprising that website updates simply
stopped for the duration, since by early evening lately I often can't keep my eyes open,
let alone work a computer. However many interesting things outside of work have been
happening during that time and I have filmed as much of it as I can so that I can
document them here sometime. For now however, you will have to be content with a hasty
update to the Jeff's Video Album, page so that there is a
working link (fingers crossed) to all 82 of my current YouTube uploads, fourteen of
which I have uploaded in the last 5 days! Highlights include the steam locos 6201
'Princess Elizabeth' and 70013 'Oliver Cromwell' visiting Scotland, views of the first
Freightliner Class 70 to work trains in Scotland, a visit to the SAK by the
'Mini-Banana' (950001) and probably the last footage of A103OUG before it's re-paint
into a 1980s Fife Scottish colour scheme, which is being carried out as I type this
message! 'Interesting Times' is absolutely right!!!
-------------------
4/2/10
Details - Message about more YouTube uploads and corresponding links added
to Jeff's Video Album! as described below.
Headline ->
4/2/10 - What a difference a week makes! After my message this time last week
about having created a page with links to all my YouTube video uploads I
expected a quiet week, with maybe one or two more uploads from my 10 months
of filming with my new camcorder. Well I found a few clips I hadn't previously
uploaded, and they have enjoying modest success (by my standards anyway!). Then
things got busier when, yesterday, I took very carefully timed coffee-breaks
to see and film an ECS working from Edinburgh to Perth and back - 12 coaches,
top & tailed, with three blue-grey coaches in the rack. Two uploads, 150-odd
hits in around 24 hours. Excellent! However the triumph of the week is that I
sorted out five pieces of 'old' camcorder footage from 2005 onto a DVD,
managed to find free software to convert them in to .avi files on my computer
at work, and have now uploaded them. A fair amount of work, but was it worth
it? Well they are the majority of the footage I have of 26040 with it's engine
running (before it's battery set failed on us) so the answer is Yes! I now have
all 60 of my uploads linked in at Jeff's Video Album,
so my next problem is stopping myself uploading a lot lot more! But not this
week...
-------------------
28/1/10
Details - Added 'Jeff's Video Album!' as described below. Although it looks
like a main section of my website, it is currently only an index page (and
some associated picture files) acting as an index to my vids on YouTube,
but that suits me as it won't be so hard to maintain!
Headline ->
28/1/10 - Belated Happy New Year! I'd like to say that I have had a productive
time since early December, but as far as web pages goes, I have to admit that
isn't the case. And the recent bad weather hasn't helped our preservation
activities since we mostly work outdoors. And although I had a recent trip to
Manchester at my employers expense, I haven't had the time since to do much
about the modest camcorder footage I filmed there.
However it's not all doom and gloom as I discovered in mid-December that
I could once again upload pieces of camcorder footage to YouTube after a
period of months where my attempts were being mis-processed, and have now
more than doubled the number of clips of mine that can be viewed there. But
that brought to a head another worry of mine - none of the clips were linked
in on my website and it was high time I did something about that. So I have!
Visit 'Jeff's Video Album' to see a (more or less)
complete list of my uploads. And if you enjoy any of my videos please
re-visit the list or my YouTube 'Channel' from time to time as I'm confident
there will be more like these along soon!
-------------------
4/12/09
Details - Updates as described below!
Headline ->
4/12/09 - Another month has gone by, and apparently it was the wettest on
record! But that hasn't stopped me from filming so I have, as usual, been
able to put yet more new pictures live without finding the time to put a
new message here until now! This time the emphasis is on railways as
three of the four new sets are from when I caught up with BR Blue ex-Haymarket
47270 doing training runs and filmed it at three locations, while the fourth
set is from a few days ago, when I went out to see
yet another delivery to the Bo'ness & Kinneil Railway, this time of two
of their railtour coaches that were being returned to them by WCRC after a
short hire. Alas that working was done on the day by 57601 rather than a
Class 33 or 37, but I filmed it anyway, and also 47643 which had been
sent up from Bo'ness to fetch them after delivery. Of course all of these
picture sets qualify for inclusion in my photo album section for pictures
of unusual railway workings, so to see them, just visit
Special Delivery!.
However for any bus fanatics out there, I can also pass on the news (for those
who haven't already seen a copy) that I have managed to persuade the editor of 'Buses'
to publish not one, but two of my pictures, and on different topics at that!
It started over a month ago when it occurred to me to send him one of my better
recent pictures of FRF63 in Ayres Red to see if it might be of use to him, and
he said yes by return of email, which pleased me greatly as I had never had a
picture published in any bus-related magazine before. A day or two later, as
already mentioned in my last update, I saw Stagecoach 22406 on a test run in a
special livery, and on the Monday sent the editor a picture of that too. And
(a bit to my surprise), he published both, and in the next issue as well, which
came out about three weeks after I had sent the second picture! Of course, both
pictures appeared here first, but they look sooooo good on a glossy magazine
page! (For the record, the pictures of 22406 and FRF63 are on pages 76 & 78
of the December 2009 'Buses'.)
And what of preservation recently? Well we've been hard at work but this
doesn't always translate into usable pictures, especially when the weather is
bad. Progress on FRF63 has been good though, as we have got it's Gardner
6LXB engine running smoothly now, and after a change of generator and voltage
regulator it is now recharging it's batteries. Other electrical work continues...
As for FRA1, we have now repainted all it's wheels (a slow job given the bad
weather) and if we can also get it to re-charge it's batteries we will be well
on course for an MOT next year.
Yes folks, despite the weather, I've had a good month!
-------------------
4/11/09
Details - Fiddled around with some index pictures, did some file tidying
and did other updates as described in the headline.
Headline ->
4/11/09 - Once again it's been a few weeks since I last typed up a fresh
message for my homepage, but as usual I have been busy and have done a
number of assorted updates in that time. As well as more pictures in the
FRF63 Reborn!
section, I have added another set in the J-Files Galleries section under
the title of
Bus Shunting & Other Pictures!
, which document a recent afternoon when we took FRF63 for a short test run
inside the yard and when parking the buses up swopped it's parking position
with that of FRA1 for good measure. However that isn't all, as I have put live
a new section of my photo album this week. For a while now I have wanted to
include things other than railways in the album, but the difficulty is sorting
out reasonable pictures. In the case, of buses (excluding of course those covered
in the J-Files), I wanted at least some pictures to be to reasonably good quality
but until I saw (by chance) a Stagecoach bus specially re-painted for commemorative
reasons out on a test run I didn't have any quality pictures. (And wasn't going to
take bus pictures I didn't even want just for this purpose!) Of course, to remain
topical, I then had to put the new bus pictures section live right away!!! So bus
anoraks everywhere can now be underwhelmed by the contents of a section I have
called Bus Travels! (Yes, another
corny title is born! ;-)
7/10/09
Details - One update and some captioning as described below.
Headline ->
Headline ->
7/10/09 - Another jump of a few weeks without an significant update? Actually
this time yes! Well mostly. I did do some tidying up & captioning
of FRF63 picture sets on the fly in mid-September, but then ran into problems
with the laptop I borrow from work to do my webpage editing. (Buy my own PC?
Nah, I'm Scottish!) So on weekday nights recently I've
been replacing car brake pads, visiting supermarkets, watching TV, etc, etc.
However I'm back editing now! And about time too as our progress on FRF63
has got as far as starting it up and getting it to move - last Saturday we
(only just!) persuaded it to crawl out of it's parking space and pose for
pictures alongside FRD187, FPE88, and FRA1. Since four buses were involved,
the results are in the J-Files Galleries section under the title of
Four Ex-Fifers In A Row!
However it won't be doing that again this weekend - on the Sunday we took the
front wheels off to clean them up and then paint them...
9/9/09
Details - Various updates as detailed below, plus a silent entry in
the 'Capital Country' section of the photo album using pictures
from a trip to Edinburgh on a leave day most people outside work
didn't know I took off!
Headline ->
9/9/09 - Four weeks without an update? Actually no - the problem is that
I have been making so many minor updates that I decided not to put up
a message here about any of them until I felt that the total amount of
new material justified it. The bulk of the new pictures are of FRF63,
which isn't surprising as it is the project we are spending most time
on at Methil right now. As there is quite a lot of FRF63 material, I will
simply refer you to the
FRF63 Reborn! pages to see it (and I'm beginning to catch up with the
captioning of the FRF63 pictures as well!). Another section that has got larger is
The J-Files Galleries
where I now have three sets of pictures instead of just one. And I have
also added in the Lathalmond August weekend and a few pictures of the
(very wet) Ladybank rally which can be reached via
The 2009 Rally Season
index. Yes, despite the weather, it's been busy!
12/8/09
Details - Two new picture sets of A103OUG and the SAK as detailed below
Headline ->
12/8/09 - One of the problems with having better camera & camcorder
technology is how fast new material accumulates. The last few weeks are
a case in point as I had so many sets of pictures of FRF63 piling up, I
just had to sort them all out and then put the new section about FRF63
live in the J-Files. However that meant delaying another couple of
picture sets which I spent last night fixing up and which can now go
live in turn! The first of these is a set of pictures of A103OUG I
took myself as I was able to visit Rennies on a day when Alan, who helps us
at Methil and is a co-owner of it, was there and working on it, and these
can be seen under the title _Overhaul Pictures From 29/7/09_. The second
set are of the SAK, where I managed for the first time in daylight to see
(and film) two coal trains passing at one of the loops and these appear
under the title _Seen In The Passing!_ Well that's the worst of my backlog
dealt with, although another will surely be along soon!
11/8/09
Details - The new section for FRF63 went live silently about a week ago
(after being in draft since April!) but having added even more new pictures
of it from the weekend I felt it was time to mention it on the home page
as detailed below.
Headline ->
11/8/09 - My latest update adds a new and fairly large section about
a bus that up to now I hasn't featured in the J-Files at all. Despite
our having been involved with it's original preservation in 1997 and it
having been bought by one of us and moved to Methil in 2003, I
was baffled about how to include a bus that is difficult to photograph
where it is parked, which we weren't working on, and which looked terrible
anyway due to the previous owner having removed a lot of body panels!
However since Easter we have been working hard on it (between rallies
anyway) and it is high time I introduced you all to _FRF63_ an ex-Fife
Fleetline.
21/7/09
Details - Two new sections as detailed below, plus some other work on
pages that aren't nearly ready to go live yet!
Headline ->
21/7/09 - In the last 4 weeks I have added two whole sections to the J-Files. The first of
these is a catch-up exercise to add in details of AGE748B, which is a JCB 4C we were gifted in
2004. Although we did a lot of restoration work on it soon after we got it, much of which I
filmed at the time, I somehow never got around to adding it into the J-Files. This I have
now corrected, and although the new section is still gradually being tidied up and typically
lacks captions and some explanatory text, it can now be viewed at
_AGE748B_. The second new section is quite different, however. Since the spring of 2008 we have been
helped out at Methil a lot by Alan Scott, who is a fellow preservationist who
lives in Fife and who became a co-owner in a bus preservation project at that time. Since
Alan is a good friend and doesn't have a website of his own, I would have been happy to add
his bus into the J-Files anyway, but as it happens _A103OUG_ has a much more interesting
history than I realised when I first saw it, and Alan is working hard to give an
interesting future as well!
22/6/09
Details - Copious updates in the last 5 weeks, most made silently until referred to
in the headline below which is lengthy as a result.
Headline ->
22/6/09 - I have made a fair number of updates in the last 5 weeks or so without somehow finding
the time to flag them up here. However since several of these are pictures from various vehicle
events, I can start by saying that all the new bus-related updates are accessible from the index
page for The 2009 Rally Season.
However I have added much more than that in recent weeks as I created a whole new section of my
photo album called Scottish Central to
give me a place to put pictures taken at Stirling and at other places along the Scottish Central
main line that don't belong elsewhere. Of course the idea only occurred to me when I wanted to
set up a batch of new pictures taken at Stirling and couldn't find a suitable section to put
them in... A couple of weeks after that I spent a day off work chasing (unhurredly - it was
a day off after all) a special working - the SRPS were due to get back locomotives that they
had sent to attend a diesel gala elsewhere and I filmed and then captured pictures of the
Return Convoy From Keighley.
And I'm still not finished, since last Friday I sacrificed my afternoon coffee break to go and film a
passing railtour at Bridge Of Allan whose traction can easily be deduced from the page title -
Western Chieftain!
A further development is that after a few early experiments in uploading footage from my new
camcorder to 'YouTube' I have started to do so on a bigger scale, and now have 15 'clips'
available for viewing there (4 bus & 11 railway). I haven't time to try and link them in
right now, so I'll content myself by saying that a YouTube search on 'jw26040' (my username
there) ought turn up at least one of them, and that having seen one, YouTube then offers the
chance to see other clips from the same source. And the most recent one, featuring the railtour
mentioned above, has now been viewed 158 times! Guess I must be doing something right...
Phew! I thought that this entry would never end but I seem finally to have run out of new updates
to mention. Never mind, some more will doubtless be along soon! ;-)
14/5/09
Details - As given in the headline!
Headline ->
14/5/09 - Updates in two sections this time round. Firstly, having kicked off our 2009 rally
season last weekend, I have sorted out some pictures of our two days at Steam In The Park
2009. However on Tuesday, I went out to film a special train that was due to pass though
Alloa, and since I started a bit early, have ended up with a photo feature in my SAK pages
called Turbostar, Freightliner, & Measuring Train, which, however clunky as a title, is at
least a fair summary of the pictures on the page! Captions to follow...
5/5/09
Details - Various updates to the J-Files, including updated indeax, added
sections for 'FRA1' and the 'J-Files Galleries', as well as belated notice
of recent pictures of FPE88 getting a chassis wash added silently a week
or two back.
Headline ->
5/5/09 - Over a month since the last update, but hardly a minute wasted! To start with I
have added pictures of FPE88 getting a chassis wash here, which helped in getting it
through it's annual MOT test. However a more significant addition to the J-Files has
been the addition of two new sections. The first of these I have rushed through in a
hurry as we took delivery of yet another bus, known to us as FRA1. And, triggered by
doing some photography of FRA1 alongside our other buses a couple of days ago, I found
the need to create the 'J-Files Galleries' to cover picture sets that show off more
than one of our 'projects'! Last, and probably least, since I was editing the J-Files
index page anyway, I added some extra pictures at the top, just for fun!
25/3/09
Details - Belated message about updates I did a week previously plus addition of
'Quicklinks' and mention of that in the headline.
Headline ->
25/3/09 - You'd think that after nearly three weeks I would have another update of some sort
and you'd be right. Except that this is mainly to tell you about updates I did last week!
Aided by stills from a new camcorder, I added pictures of 60163 'Tornado' leaving Fife on
7th March 2009 here
and some pictures of coal trains on the SAK on 18th March 2009 here, but it's taken the better part
of an (admittedly busy) week to find the time to put a message up about it. However I can
now also mention that I have added a section of 'Quicklinks' lower down on this page so
that those of you who visit my website often can jump directly to some of the pages and
sections that I suspect will be the most visited. However (sensible) suggestions for other
quicklinks within my pages are welcome, and will be considered on their merits!
5/3/09
Details - Pictures of Tornado on it's first visit to Scotland now added.
Headline ->
5/3/09 - Sometimes events catch up with you and you just have to push through an update! In this
case the new Peppercorn A1 'Tornado' visited Scotland last Saturday, and I couldn't miss that.
I even switched my camcorder over to widescreen recording, which I don't normally use because
it's an early implementation and has problems, which I was reminded of when I went back over
the footage last night to capture vsnaps from it - I found that I had to manually stretch out
the captured images to make them usable as the camcorder had squashed up the widescreen image
into a 640x480 pixel picture! Oh well, I'm in the process of speccing up a new high-definition
camcorder anyway... As for the images of Tornado, I have put the entire set up
here - enjoy!
13/2/09
Details - After many weeks of work, have decided to go live with my new Photo Album despite
it not being nearly as developed as I had hoped. However I had to take the plunge sometime
and I judged that there was now sufficient material to form a 'critical mass' and I'd be
better going live than waiting any longer! The old version 2 of the album will stay live
for a few weeks yet.
Headline ->
13/2/09 - A belated Happy New Year to you! It's over three months since I have done an 'official'
update, but I can assure you that this one has indeed taken more than 3 months to get ready.
As hinted at back in October, I felt I was now long overdue to rebuild 'Jeff's Photo Album'
as the current version (nominally version 2) was somewhat dated and indeed had embedded within
it the original pages I set up over a decade ago! It was plagued by poor layout (often with
one picture per web page!) and used rather small pictures. (Although I am not able to increase
most picture sizes by much due to many pictures not having been taken or captured at very
high resolution in the first place!) Having transferred over (and improved on) some of the
previous picture sets, and having also added fresh pictures to fill out the growing structure,
I have now decided to put live the new Version 3 of 'Jeff's Photo Album' despite it having (in
places) my usual problems of missing captions and a need to add more material, since I have to
do so sometime! I won't put a link here since it's linked in below, and as a bonus I have left
in a link for the old version for now, just in case anyone wants a last look around it!
31/10/08
Details - Have done various small updates recently and have now updated my home page so that it is
more like newer indexes.
Headline ->
31/10/08 - What, no update for a whole month! Well not with new pictures, but in addition to 'silently'
doing some sorting out of the picture sets I have been putting up so hurriedly in the last couple of
months and doing other minor tinkering to fix mistakes, I decided to do some long overdue tidying up of
my home page to make it more uniform with the other index pages. The only part of my website that now
really needs an big update is my Photo Album pages, but that won't happen quickly as I will have to sort
through many of the pictures to see which are substandard (standard for this website being 640x480
pixels and reasonably viewable), and what, if anything, I can do about that. Of course I (hopefully)
won't be neglecting the rest, but as I don't know myself what I might be adding next in the J-Files or
my SAK pages, I can only suggest checking back from time to time!
26/9/08
Details - The section on FPE88 is now mostly working, and some fixing up of the new
26040 pages has also been done.
Headline ->
26/9/08 - More updates after only a week. If I don't watch out this could become
habit-forming! A few interested people have spotted in the last month or so that
I had set up an index page for a section on FPE88 (and also that practically
nothing about it worked as the links were mostly to non-existant pages or totally
dummy entries!). Anyway over the past week I have got much of that section working,
the major exception being a sub-section about FPE88s restoration. On the flip side
there are a fair number of picture sets now available in the new FPE88 Galleries
section which, like the FRD187 Galleries, compliment the existing Events & Rallies
section. Typically, there isn't much captioning yet, but you can't have everything.
And at least one person spotted some of this new material within 24 hours of it being
set up! For those who prefer trains to buses, I have also done some partial sorting
out of about half of the new pictures in the 26040 Restored! section I announced
last week for good measure!
19/9/08
Details - New section '26040 Restored!' added to the J-Files as described in the headline
below.
Headline ->
19/9/08 - At long last I have done what at time I thought was going to prove impossible,
in that I have actually managed to capture and/or sort out all the usable pictures I
have of the restoration of 26040! Admittedly there are practically no introductions or
captions at present, and I have no idea when (or if!) I will catch up with that, but
at least I have got something new about 26040 live! See the pictures at 26040 Restored!
3/9/08
Details - Structure and colour scheme changes to the J-Files, plus a new event
calendar page, as described in the headline.
Headline ->
3/9/08 - I have spent some time in the last couple of weeks in updating the format of many
of the older parts of the J-Files so that the pictures are all on one page instead of
having a page each! I took the chance in most cases to tinker with the colour scheme
to use colours that are at least an vague approximation to those carried by the
preserved item in question (just for fun!), but haven't done a lot to the picture
captions which I mostly just copied across. None of that qualifies as adding of new
material, I admit, but it badly needed to be done. And there is one new page listing
the rally events we plan to attend in the near future - there are only two outings left
in 2008, but at least I have got a page sorted out for this at The J-Files Rallies
& Events Calendar .
14/8/08
Details - One new railway photo feature as explained in the headline below.
Headline ->
14/8/08 - My old photo album pages (some parts of which date back to 1995!), haven't had
an update of any kind for about 18 months, until a few minutes ago! It's only a short photo
feature of a single locomotive, but 20905 spent a long time allocated to Haymarket depot (as
D8325 and 20225), and thus was well worth an evening out yesterday to take some pictures.
It was in Scotland to deliver an HST power car to Craigentinny, and couldn't have been needed
elsewhere as it waited for over a week before departing this morning to take the same power
car (43068) back south. See my pictures of 20905 at Craigentinny on 13/8/08 .
31/7/08
Details - Message as below, which announces the addition of new sections in the J-Files
and hints at more updates to come. Not announced are various peacemeal SAK updates
since April, since it would be really old news now!
Headline ->
31/7/08 - At long last I have dragged the J-Files section at least partially out of 2002!
Yes, inertia about doing updates, followed by a long time spent creating, improving, and
updating my SAK Pages has meant that nothing of consequence has been added to the J-Files
in well over 5 years, until this week. However what I have done so far is to add (much
needed) new material about preservation projects not previously covered and the rally
events we have been attending in the last couple of years, so the rest still awaits an
overhaul, which I will hopefully attend to sometime soon. As well as the updated main
index for the J-Files new material can be found about FRD187 , and also our trips to
Rallies & Events, and a broken (!) link to a forthcoming set of pages about FPE88
for good measure... (I'm working on it, honest!)
10/4/08
Details - Message as below, which refers to SAK Progress Reports up to 50 being live,
with 48 captioned, plus the new SAK Galleries section having been created in the last
week. The changes since 8/2/08 have gone live peacemeal and silently, as I didn't want
to change my homepage every few days!
Headline ->
10/4/08 - It's been hectic in the last couple of months, and although I have been finding
the time to work on my SAK webpages, I have been making changes so frequently that putting
messages up here about the changes would have taken too long. However, as well as now having
no fewer than 50 Progress Reports (48 with captions!) on my SAK Rebuilt! section, I have now
through sheer necessity set up an SAK Galleries section as I needed somewhere to put up
pictures of the first trains I have seen running on the SAK. Yes folks, trains! I was lucky
enough to catch the first day of First ScotRail driver route-learning over the SAK on Wednesday
2/4/08, and then the frist EWS test coal train to longannet over the SAK on saturday 5/4/08.
To catch up will all the new material, go to SAK Rebuilt! and The SAK Galleries.
8/2/08
Details - Message as below, referring to SAK Progress Reports up to 43 being live,
plus one for 12th January 2008, and that 35 are captioned, with the alterations
and additions having been done silently in recent weeks as the material was got ready.
Headline ->
8/2/08 - I've been pushing onward with the SAK progress reports, and now have 44 reports
available in all, with 35 captioned so far. More will follow soon, but not too many as I have
nearly caught up with my supply of pictures, and may yet catch up with the captioning!
As always go to SAK Rebuilt! and browse all you wish!
11/1/08
Details - Message to indicate that SAK Progress reports up to 18 are
now captioned (NB captions have been added ad hoc for several months
without details being added to the formal update history here, a
process which will continue as no new pictures or pages are involved)
Headline ->
11/1/08 - Happy New Year for 2008! For once I have managed to get that message up on
this page in January rather than February or later! I wish I had a lot to announce
but all I can offer right now is that in the last couple of months I have been slowly
catching up with the captioning of the many SAK pictures I added last February (!) and
now have all the 'SAK Rebuilt!' progress reports captioned up to Progress Report 18. This has
reduced the number of pictures easily accessible by a bit, since I have cut out duplications,
out of focus images and suchlike, but the pages should make a lot more sense now. To read
the new captions (and the older ones for that matter!) go to
SAK Rebuilt!.
7/2/07
Details - New photo feature about the visit of Classes 67 and 185 to
Stirling today
Headline ->
7/2/07 - Today I went and saw a special working arrived at Stirling Station
consisting of a new Class 185 DMU topped & tailed by EWS Class 67s. Since I
have been having an awful week at work I have cheered myself up by putting
together a feature about it. So here is _Classes 67 & 185 At Stirling On 7/2/07_.
2/2/07
Details - SAK Progress Reports 8-23 added and linked in, albeit with
no picture captions.
Headline ->
2/2/07 - Belated 'Happy New Year'! Having been seriously busy at work
in the autumn of 2006 I was hard pushed to collect material about the
rapid progress being made on the SAK rebuild let alone put pictures of
it happening onto web pages. However I had to make an effort on this
sometime and now I have. Alas I am still short of time and since the
captions were taking the longest I have simply set up the pictures I
have captured from my assorted camcorder footage and will (hopefully)
sort captions for them gradually. There is the bonus that you get to
see all my pictures since I haven't had the time to pick and choose
which ones to use either... Since I have today linked in no less than
16 sets I can't provide links here, so go to
'SAK Rebuilt!' where they are all waiting!.
11/7/06
Details - SAK Progress Report 6 added and linked in.
Headline ->
11/7/06 - Well I've had a month or so off from website updates but progress on the
rebuild of the SAK waits for nobody, least of all me, and I have added a small progress
report with BIG news! The plain track isn't yet assembled (as far as I know), but I
discovered last Friday that two points(!) have now been assembled from their component
parts. Find out where by reading
'SAK Rebuilt! Progress Report No 6'.
8/6/06
Details - SAK Progress Report 5 finished and linked in.
Headline ->
8/6/06 - Two updates in one day! The 5th SAK Progress report
promised below is now live. It's at 'SAK Rebuilt! Progress Report No 5'.
8/6/06
Details - SAK Progress Report 4 finished and linked in. Work on No 5 started.
Headline ->
8/6/06 - After only one day (officially) live I added a 4th progress report
to the new 'SAK Rebuilt!' section yesterday, and the good(?) news is that last night I
did some more filming and will be adding a 5th report very soon! Anyway you
can now read 'SAK Rebuilt! Progress Report No 4'.
6/6/06
Details - Have finished the new SAK Rebuilt section of the SAK pages and linked it in. It
currently has 3 progress reports and an easy edit to add the next one.
Headline ->
6/6/06 - After several lunch-hours of (fairly) hard work, I have sorted out some reasonably
up to date pictures of the work being done on the SAK project and created a sub-section of
the SAK pages to display them on called SAK Rebuilt!.
29/5/06
Details
-> Noticed today that a feature I prepared in 2003 using fresh East Lancs diesel gala
pics never got linked in. A simple job but I am kicking myself for forgetting and have linked it in now!
Headline ->
29/5/06 - I have only just noticed that due to a slip-up I forgot to link in a
12-page feature I prepared three years ago! (Shows you how often I browse my own
website, doesn't it!) However the photos are as good (or bad!) as they were in 2003
so I have sorted out a few typos and link errors and can now present:- The East Lancs Diesel Week 2003.
26/5/06
Details
-> First new photo feature for a long time, plus some updating of
Feature Index intro which badly needed some re-wording!.
Headline -> 26/5/06
Three updates in a week! I will get brain fever at this rate! Anyway I have today rushed
through my first 'regular' photo feature for some considerable time due to having gone
to see the annual Fort William Steam ECS Passing Coatbridge on 25/5/06.
24/5/06
Details
-> Finally got the SAK pages linked in. Did some work on the
layout of the home page to provide pic links to main sections. Headline -> 24/5/06
Two updates in a week - that's two more than I managed in the whole of
2005! But a bit less surprising when I tell you that I have been
working on and off (mostly off) for a year or so on a set of pages
about the railways of Clackmannanshire (where I live) and have finally
got my act together and got them into a viewable state (prompted of
course by the rapid progress on the SAK project recently). Since it is
a whole new section in it's own right, you will find a link to it
below, but for those in a hurry here is a direct link to Jeff's SAK
Pages
19/5/06 Details
-> Put a 'stop-press' SAK picture on the home page. Headline ->
19/5/06 It's been
a long time since I updated the site and I am not ready for a big update right
now either (soon, soon...) , but I took a picture this morning that I want to
make available right away. I visited the level-crossing on the Cambuskenneth
Road at Causewayhead this morning as a small detour on my way to Glasgow to see
what progress had been on the 'SAK' project and was amazed to find that the
contractors have been welding rails together preparatory to laying sleepers and
doing final assembly on the track. Apart from work within the site of the former
Kincardine Power station this is the first sign I have seen of tracklaying.
Enjoy! <Picture>
25/2/04 Details
-> Added a page as described below. Headline -> 25/2/04
A whole year has gone by during which I have been too busy or too de-motivated
to do website updates. Sadly, this is just like me!!! However it's never too
late to get back to doing updates (not with a site like this anyway) and I
promise to try just a little harder. My addition today is very small however, as
it is a single page about 'Suggested Categories Of New Railway Line' in
connection with a thread on the 'scot-rail' email group (which I recommend).
Typically I have managed to post to the group the wrong URL, so I just saved the
file under both names...
18/2/03 Details
-> Added a rushed feature of the pictures I took of the northbound 'Hogwarts
Express' at Carstairs. Headline ->
18/2/03 Not had the
time or the inclination to do updates recently (Happy New Year by the way!) but
I took a day off work yesterday to travel down to Carstairs and see the 'Hogwarts
Express' pass through on its way to Fort William to do a weeks filming. I got a
fair amount of camcorder footage and 34 digital pics, and I've set the pics up
(some what crudely on a single page) as a feature accessible from Jeff's Feature
Index. Enjoy. (I'll fix them up better soon, promise!)
1/11/02 Details
-> Fixed up the pics of the railway move under the title 'Heading
West!', and linked it from all over the place! Updated the J-Files status page
also. Headline ->
1/11/02 I've spent
lunchtimes & coffee-breaks this week fixing up my pictures of the move of
26040, the KL100, the BR Standard Brake-van and the MCV in a special section of
the J-Files. This is because four different preservations were being moved at
the same time, all of which might have their own section of the J-Files one day
like 26040 already has. Anyway, the pictures are to be found in a section
called Heading West!
24/10/02 Details
-> Two new picture sets in the JCB section of the J-Files. I've also
made a small update to the J-Files status page, but I have decided that in
future I won't list updates to that here as I hope there will be too many!
Headline ->
24/10/02 Less than a
week and I have pushed through an update. Admittedly it is only two modest
sized sets of pictures of the JCB in action in the relevant section of the J-Files, but I am out of practice and needed to try something simple! Anyway, I
have been getting email recently about the JCB (thanks folks!) so an update of
some sort there was overdue.
18/10/02 Details
-> I've updated the J-Files status page and put some paragraphs on the
home pages to make up for not having had the time to put up features on the move
of 26040 and the other railway stuff on 24th & 25th Sept. I'll need to catch
up with that soon though!
Headline ->
18/10/02 It's been a
busy summer for me, both at work and in my preservation efforts. The big news
is that 26040 and the three other preserved railway items that my friends and I
own have now been moved to the lorry yard at Methil West where we do our
preservation work. After many frustrating years (8 if you want to know),
including many irritating hitches in the last year or so, we can finally get
back to doing railway preservation as well. <PARA> I'd like to say I have
reflected all this in the J-Files with a major update, but as I said above,
I've been busy! Never mind, it's never too late to add more stuff (I would say
that, wouldn't I), and in the meanwhile as well as typing this message, I have
updated the status page in the J-Files not only with up to date news on the
items showcased in the J-Files, but with news on the preservation projects I
ought to add as well. This includes details of item I have only called 'Project
M', since I am not ready to add it to the J-Files (as distinct from not having
the time!). <PARA> As for the rest of the website, I'm not sure what I
will add next, or when it will happen. But keep checking back, as when I am in
the mood for updates, things can change almost daily, especially if I am a bit
less busy at work! I am glad to say that even with few updates, I still get a
few emails from people, and am happy to answer queries and give more
information (if I can).
1/7/02 Details
-> I have again rushed through a feature, this time of the Class 58s
that passed through Fife at the weekend.
Headline ->
1/7/02 The second
update in a week after almost nothing this year - weird! Anyway, this one is
the result of me seeing Class 58s Passing Dysart On 29/6/02 .
28/6/02 Details
-> Rushed through a feature from a trip to Carstairs yesterday evening
while it is still fairly topical and thus of interest to someone!
Headline ->
28/6/02 Updates have
been rare lately, but I was in the mood this week both for going somewhere and
in putting together a feature about it. As I came back with 103 digital snaps I
was faced with a presentation problem as a single page would be too much, and a
page for each picture would be impossible. I settled for putting pictures in
groups and ended up with 14 pages of varying lengths, but with brief captions,
a viewing order, and the ability to jump forward or back thanks to a quick and
easy set of page links at the bottom. We'll see how this works out. (Something
has to as I am turning out to be a menace with a digital camera!) Here is Law
Junction & Carstairs On the Evening Of 27th June 2002 .
1/5/02 Details
-> An interim update just to prove the site isn't abandoned! One new
feature only.
Headline ->
1/5/02 I haven't had
time for updates but I have taken a fair number of esnaps in recent months so
it's time I made some available. Here is a 'quick & dirty' feature of 58
esnaps I took at Edinburgh Waverley On 21/4/02 ! (Warning - they are on
a single web page which might take a while to load!
14/1/02 Details
-> Resuming updates, starting with appropriate message and some bad TJ
pics.
Headline ->
14/1/02 A (Belated)
Happy New Year! I'm sorry that I haven't been able to do updates for a while,
but I'm hopeful I will have a little more time this year. I'm short of fresh
material, but here are a few really bad pics of Thornton Yard from 13/1/02
showing parts of a new coal conveyor under construction.
21/6/01 Headline ->
21/6/01 Went out
taking esnaps at Grangemouth and Mossend East Junction last night, and have put
the results onto my Rough Cut page in Jeff's Photo Album.
6/6/01 Headline ->
5/6/01-6/6/01 I have
started to sort out the pictures that were on my Rough Cut page, and the first
feature resulting from that set is Grangemouth On 31st May 2001, featuring
distant views of DRS 20314 parked in the TDG container yard. I have used the
digital camera to take about 3 dozen more esnaps however, and they are now on
my Rough Cut page!
31/5/01 Headline ->
31/5/01 I
have added a new page to the Photo Album - the 'Rough Cut' page. It often takes
me a while to edit pictures and set them up with web pages, and I am therefore
putting some of the raw pictures on a special page to make them viewable faster.
I've started it off with esnaps taken today at Grangemouth, Whifflet and Mossend
with a cheap digital camera I am trying out. If you can stand the download time,
visit Jeff's Photo Album to have a look!
29/5/01 Headline -> 29/5/01
Just as I had decided that the 15 sec auto-advance period on many of my features
and my J-Files picture sets was too short, someone else mentioned it in an
email! I have therefore set them all to 30 secs. (Some of the captions still say
15 secs, but ignore that as I'm changing them separately.) So if you find any
page advancing too fast, email me at once!
7/5/01 Headline -> 7/5/01
Now that the nights are longer and the weather warmer, I've started visiting
Mossend Yard again. Here is a set of 26 vsnaps from An
Evening At Mossend Yard On 30/4/01 featuring two Class 56s, an EPS 37, the 'Malcom
Flyer', and much more besides!
12/4/01 Details
-> 3 new features in photo album covering GM & Greenhill. Headline -> 12/4/01
Three topical new features to celebrate Easter.
Firstly a set of vsnaps of Grangemouth On 9th March 2001 showing construction
work & loading in the new Malcom railhead, a petroleum tanker train, and the
afternoon Freightliner trip working departing.
Next up is The 'Malcom Flyer' Departing From Grangemouth on 28/3/01.
Last, and in this case most (rather than least), is a set of 29 (!) vsnaps of
Evening Trains At Greenhill on 4/4/01, which just happens to feature the 'Malcom
Flyer' again!
14/3/01 Details -> Added Steve
Jones to the list of photo contributors in previous headline and changed second
date to 14/3/01
5/3/01-8/3/01 Details -> Last
entry replaced with this one. Headline ->
I have added 3 extra pictures
of 26040 to the
J-Files
courtesy of Simon Lazenby, Martin Arrand, and John P. Whitby. (I'm
continuing to hunt the web for more - nice work but time consuming!)
5/3/01 Details & Headline ->
I have added an
extra picture of 26040 to the J-Files courtesy of Simon Lazenby's excellent
'Platform 1' website.
16/2/01 Details
-> 26040 + extra Rapier pics in J-Files. Headline ->
A big addition to the
J-Files - about 73 tons and 50'6" worth. Yes, I have finally got around to
adding a set of pages about 26040, which I am involved with preserving but
haven't made a fuss about before since it has been in storage since 1994. But it seems to me that it is high time, since
the J-Files could not be complete without it!
2/2/01-6/2/01 Details - > JCB
added to J-Files,
many small fixes. Headline - New
Year, New Century, New Millenium, New Section In My Website! Almost since I set
up this website I have featured a modest number of personal preservation
pictures, but I felt it was long overdue for me to give preservation the space
it deserves. So I am pleased to unveil a complete new section devoted to my
preservations. Please visit the J-Files !
2/2/01 - Details -> After plugging away all
week, I have created and put live the 'J-Files'. They start only with the
Recovery, Cub and Rapier, and even these need more pics, but it is a start. JCB
not moved over. Class26, Std Brake-van, MCV and Viking still to be
scanned/captured and added. Previous preservation pics still in the album - will
fix this soon!
26/1/01 - Details -> New feature
showing a train at Methil PS in1996. The new 'slide-show' html code is now standard for new
features. Headline -> My
first new feature of the year is taken from 1996 camcorder footage and shows a
Train Departing From Methil Power Station
23/1/01 - Photo features 3,4 & 5 updated with std colour scheme, captions and new 'slide-show' html code.
17/1/01 - Details - Photo features 1 & 2
updated with std colour scheme, captions and new 'slide-show' html code.
Headline - Welcome
to a new year, decade, century & millennium! (Don't believe the hype a year
ago - simple historical facts and primary school arithmetic make 2001 the
correct year.) After a (much needed) break I have started the year (etc) by
trying to produce a automatic slide-show in my photo features. Since I haven't
been able to scan anything in recently, I chose to re-visit my first four photo
features to bring their appearance up to date, add captions, and try out the
'slide show' code. The results can be seen by going to my Photo Features page.
21/9/00 - 2 new photo features -
Polmadie open Day on 16/9/00 and Whifflet on 5/5/00.
20/9/00 - 4 more new photo features -
Motherwell, Mossend, Polmadie and Newton. All taken from my mammoth day out on 5/5/00.
18/9/00 - 2 new photo features with
vsnaps of a derailed EMU at Glasgow Central and of some trains at Cardonald, all
taken on 5/5/00.
14/9/00 - New photo feature with
vsnaps from an evening I spent at Carstairs on 5/5/00.
7/9/00 - New photo feature on the
Bo'ness & Kinneil Diesel Day held on 3/9/00. The supply of vsnaps is
limited only by my access to the necessary equipment.
6/9/00 - The recent photo feature on
Grangemouth has been revised with 3 extra pictures showing the first rake
of container flats to visit the yard.
4/9/00 - New photo feature on
Whifflet using vsnaps taken from footage shot 2/5/00. Further extension of
Monotype Corsiva font usage - will eventually convert all text I think !
31/8/00 - New photo feature of the as
yet unfinished Grangemouth container terminal using vsnaps from camcorder footage taken on
24/8/00. Also revised indexes in the photo album.
2/8/00 - Updated to add a photo feature on a steam trip to Mallaig in 1984.
21-27/6/00 - Updated to experiment with format/appearance/colour (improvement was
badly needed). An extra links page was added to simplify the home page so that I
can expand this website more easily in the future (hopefully).
Back
to Jeff's Home Page
Disclaimer
These pages are owned and maintained by Jeffray Wotherspoon. The storage
space for these pages is provided by the University Of Stirling, but it is in no
way responsible for the contents of these pages. Please email me at jeff.wotherspoon@stir.ac.uk
if you have any questions, comments, problems etc.