Hentis-Rail.co.uk/News
Welcome to the new look news pages here at Hentis-rail.co.uk/news.
Why have I changed the lay out?
Compared to other parts of the site the news page looked a little bland and dated, so in my opinion it needed a fresh lick of paint.
Whats changed then?
Well the page design and layout has. Its based on the template I use for the 15mph productions, Dorset Freight & Events pages, which is a good template to try and get some sort of standardisation in certain areas of the site with. On the left hand side a Twitter feed for @antony_henley has been incorporated. I am not happy with the design and will try to find a better one to replace it, or it might go altogether. So if any of you have any ideas drop me a tweet or an email. I must also warn you that some of my tweets are a bit.... well lets say some can turn the air a tad blue. So you have been warned. One more thing I would like to mention is that I hope to work on an archive file thats in pdf format. but that wont be going live for a while. Its something I have to look more into. In theory I should be able to do it by using Open Office, as I said I am currently looking into it.
Monday March 28th 2011 Journeys end for the Hamworthy Quay line?
As the title suggests is it the end for the Hamworthy Quay line? Somewhen in February 2011 the Thompson Hill four wheeled shunter (pictured left) owned by Poole Harbour Commisioners was scrapped. The last time I saw this being used was in December 2006 where I photographed it hauling empty BYA steel wagons into a wharehouse that stored Steel Billets for a customer from the West Midlands. Since then it has seen little or no use what so ever. Adding to the fact that the rails on the quayside were lifted a few years ago as foundations for a new dockside crane had to be laid. Then the entrance to the line on the Poole Harbour commisioners side of the level crossing has been fenced in. This in addition to the cesation of COW trains (Crude oil waste) from Furzey island a few years ago and the lack of rail bourne traffic to and from the port I think not only put the nail in the coffin for shunter L116 but for the quay branch also.
In its day the following classes of diesel locos that either visited or were stabled were as follows 03, 04, 07, 08, 09, 20, 33, 37, 47, 56, 58, 59, 60, 66, 67 & 73. One of the most notable locos was 09025. Many a time I visited Hamworthy Quay and saw various class 08 and 09 shunters as well as various types of wagons, but 09026 was the loco I saw the most. When I went to Henry Harbin School I recall on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon the 08 or 09 shunter either going towards Bournemouth on a Friday for stabling for the weekend or Hamworthy on a Monday. Sometimes it went back to Eastleigh. One such move happened that sealed the fate for stabling shunters at Hamworthy. On an early morning movement from Eastleigh - Bournemouth, the shunter managed to "get away" from the driver, around Hinton Admiral. As it gathered speed the con rods fell off the shunter. It took most of the day to retrieve the loco back to Eastleigh, the line between Bournemouth and Brockenhurst was closed for most of the day.
There is still some traffic traversing down to the level crossing for loco run round purposes but this is only used when the stone train from Whatley Quarry is running, very rarely the Serco Test train might run down the branch, but this most of the time goes as far Ashmore Road crossing. Dorset's only commercial working shunter is no more and as locomotives either mainline or industrial have been "allocated" to/on the Hamworthy Goods Branch continuously for 164 years, this is the end of an era.
Talking about the end of an era it seems as though Foto-Pic, a site that many rail enthusiasts hosted their pictures on has gone belly up. With no word what so ever from the owners some three weeks after problems arose it seems as though an awful lot of people (we are talking in the hundreds of thousands if not millions worlidwide here) are not only out of pocket but also hours of work in photography and designing their galleries have gone. In a way I am glad now I went down the privately build your own website route and not go with Foto-Pics, dont get me wrong I nearly did, I had signed up and trying to design a set of galleries, but it didnt do what I wanted it to do so i went with the I'll learn it my self and DIY it. Really glad I did how ever I do feel for those that have lost their galleries.
Update to the site
This update includes a new News page. There is still a bit of work to do with this section but I am happy with the layout and the look. I have to, before the next update, work on getting the pdf archive up and running. Hopefully this is a simple task and I will see how I get on before the next update.
Dorset Freight has been updated with the addition of a new "Lifetime Log". Lifetime might not be the apropriate name as it only covers locomotive visits since 2008 to the present day. I dont have any earlier logs, which is a shame but seeing as I started logging locos since 2008 its an apt place to start. Have a look at the pdf file to see whats been down since 2008. Whilst you are there take a look at the 2011 Spreadsheet. You will however need Open Office to view this as Microsoft's Office/works will not work properly with it. Open Office is a free piece of software. See the Dorset freight page for more info and links to download Open Office.
a new page has been added to the Poole Gallery for 2011. Poole Gallery January - June has been added. No new tours have been added although it loos as though the tour pencilled in for April 9th from Pathfinder Tours has been either posponed or binned as its no longer listed on their website. Pic of the month has been added to, I am about to start work on a new section to the site. Its currently in the pre planning stage and shouldnt be too long before it live and ready to go. More news soon , I hope. Until next time, ttfn
Page updated:March 28th 2011
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