Andrea506

If they really wanted people to travel by rail instead of driving this sort of stupidity just wouldn't happen, just saying........

Meld was a filly while the other racehorses were stallions I believe. I reckon all the regiments would have been male, so just D9003 was a girl.............

The island was very busy with holidaymakers while I was there, the buses were full and the one train running was "standing room only" when I used it. I would say things are more or less back to normal now so why not run a second train during the day? Or is the long term plan to make the railway so unattractive that it can be closed altogether in a few years time?

Yes I can see your point but that doesn't account for the poor service on the rest of the line.

I'm just back from a holiday on the Isle of Wight. I can't help thinking that after all the money that was spent on improvements to the electric railway, the service is no better if not worse than previously. In August at the peak of the holiday season the train service during the day is just hourly and several terminate at Ryde Esplanade leaving two hour gaps in service at the Pier Head. They were running just one 2 coach train which was rammed full when I used it to get to the steam railway, while three train sets were idle in the sidings. I mentioned this in the hotel where I stayed and their opinion of the Island Line was "rubbish". Meanwhile Southern Vectis run four buses per hour between Ryde and Shanklin, which while slower at least I could sit down, and use a rover ticket valid all around the island (except on the trains!).

Sunblest Bread, that's a "blast from the past"!

We had that newspaper cutting on the noticeboard at work with a speech bubble coming from the cab, "Are we saying owt Bobby?"

Interesting thoughts. I've always felt, maybe unfairly, that the Ruddington operation was a bit of a "cowboy" outfit, certainly nothing like as well run as the GC. One particular gripe I had was their criminal neglect of one of the earliest Nottingham Atlantean buses which was just left outside to rot until it was saved by another group. I guess time will tell about the future.

Thank you for the information guys. The A60 bridge sounds quite serious because the gypsum trains for Rushcliffe use it, if it gets condemned that would stop the freight flow and the resultant revenue.

Right, I do think it odd though that they are apparently not open at all on an August Bank Holiday.

While looking at possible trips out on Bank Holiday Monday I had a look at their website to see if there was an event I could combine with walking around the nature reserve. They don't appear to be open on the bank holiday and all future events show "no trains running". Have I missed something? Are they in serious trouble?

When I was little my Dad used to take me and my brother to Nottingham Victoria to see the trains, we would stay until the "green diesel" came through! This picture reminds me so much of those days, I can barely believe it's over half a century ago and that beautiful station is now a shopping centre! Thank you for the memories.

That's the old Yard box which controlled the power signalling from Stoke to past Barkston before Doncaster Power Box opened. Pictured after closure, note the missing nameboard.

How times have moved on, 3d in old money! About 1 1/2p in todays currency, and yes, I am old enough to remember using Pounds, Shillings and Pence.......

That looks like a new bridge, presumably the original was in poor condition and had to be replaced.

That's one of the reasons why the GC was built with island platforms. Adding additional lines didn't require stations to be rebuilt. Had the original plans come to fruition it would have been slow lines in the middle serving the stations with fast lines running on the outside.

Those wooden seats would be marginally less comfortable than riding the Pacer, just!

Just a small correction, Desborough North was closed after a fire, not before.

Kibworth lost it's roof in a fire about 2 years before the end, the flat roof was a tempory fix for a couple of years. During the time the box was being repaired East Langton was reopened.

Yes, I remember now, the Up Home was right outside the box so this picture is definitely after closure.

Kibworth? Presumably immediately after closure with the nameboard missing.

I remember reading about when the prototype Deltic was being tested on the ECML they tried doing a full service brake application on passing a Distant signal at over 90mph, the train hadn't stopped before reaching the Home signal, hence the need for double block working and also one reason for the change to air brakes rather than vacuum.

One class not mentioned so far is the class 312 EMUs, provided with 4 character headcode boxes but not delivered until around 1976/7 so they were never used as far as I know.

All four open like in the picture denotes "The Royal Train".

There are three of these at Sutton on Sea near Mablethorpe. Two are occupied, the third was subject to an arson attack a few years back and has not so far been restored.