locoholic

It's been tried already!

Aysgarth would make a better terminus than Redmire for the Wensleydale line. And maybe Mr Smith can foresee a time when Network Rail decides that mainline steam is just too much bother on busy routes? I can understand the concerns of some regarding Smith's stewardship though: both Carnforth and Hellifield are eyesores.

Which programme, please?

Strictly speaking, one word cannot be an oxymoron, as it can't contradict itself. Back on topic, I'm guessing the latest anti-HS2 blast by fictional comedy journalist Jonathan Pie and Chris Packham will get people on here very hot under the collar. It even makes me wince, and I'm no fan of HS2, and that's without considering all the swearing. It is quite literally "fake news".

Excellent news.

This time they would ensure a happy ending by removing all the lamp-posts.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-48995511 Am I being too cynical by suggesting that this review is aiming to shield politicians and civil servants from receiving the blame for rail-related cock-ups? Having previously stated that the franchising system should be scrapped because it has failed, Williams seems to have bottled out of such a radical plan of action, and now simply proposes longer franchises, presumably to allow for longer, bigger failures? I guess he's been leant on by the money men and civil servants who, after the timetable change and electrification fiascos, are now completely allergic to the idea of radical change in the rail industry.

In the right area... was there a Peak called "Blackpool Tower"?

And yet again claims that hydrogen is totally green, without mentioning the massive amount of energy required to capture the hydrogen in the first place. Of course, if the energy comes from solar or a wind turbine, that's fine (apart from the carbon footprint from manufacturing said devices). But if it comes from other means of generation, it's worse than just running a train on diesel.

I remember 40 years ago when I bought Decline of Steam I was annoyed by the lack of information in the captions. I was only 14. All these years later I've learned enough from other books to be able to guess most of the details in Transition, and I can just enjoy the images.

It should be easy for the printing to include the discoloured patches where the nameplates used to be - acting as a marker to use when glueing on the nameplate, or easily hidden by weathering for those who want the model to represent the period after the name was removed.

It's a good argument for English regional devolution. Absolutely nothing to do with Brexit.

45009 at Sheffield, 17 April 1981, working the Parkeston Quay Manchester train.

Does the strengthening of the Dawlish Sea Wall mean that train passengers will no longer be able to see the sea properly? https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-48472901

We've had all such doom-laden predictions before. I distinctly remember someone saying that no-one would make new RTR wagon models because the tooling costs were almost the same as a loco, but the sale price was much less. Then Accurascale made their lovely wagons...

You mean in case it actually returns to being about HS2?!

The latest book in the style of the Rev Awdry - "Hamish the Homesick Engine".

I think I've seen a King and Tornado at an SVR gala, and perhaps an A4 and a Duchess. Shame that the Caley tank failed yet again, and had to be put on the naughty step at Winchcomb, shuffling around the station limits with a couple of wagons. All the trains seemed pretty full, which is good news for the railway.

How many decades is it since the UK had a government with a credible industrial policy and the willingness to acknowledge our national interests, let alone safeguard them? Ravenscraig, Llanwern , Redcar... every time I think, "that's it, we've reached rock bottom now, the retrenchment will stop". Seems I was too optimistic.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-48327739

You are quite correct - the original builders of the A14 between Cambridge and Huntingdon were very stupid not to build the road "adequately" in the first place. The Romans (for it was they) should have foreseen the likely growth of traffic over the next 2000 years and built their road as a six-lane motorway with grade-separated junctions, and to hell (Hades?) with the expense. I trust this illustrates adequately the fallacious nature of your argument?

And there's another patronising, arrogant personal comment! Obviously simply being a "railway person" means that you are superior!

The situation is "intolerable" on the M25. In fact the situation is intolerable on most roads. Why should drivers have to scan the road ahead to avoid potholes damaging their cars? The housing situation is intolerable. I could go on. It is typical uncritical rail enthusiast thinking that a crowded platform means we need a new high speed railway. Railways soak up public money like nothing else except the NHS, and the benefits the NHS delivers are much greater and more useful to society as a whole.

High speed does NOT equal high capacity. There's the small problem that stopping distances increase almost exponentially as speed increases, so headways increase. It's the same principal behind Smart Motorways that limit speed, instead of telling drivers to speed up because the road is full.. Yet again you seem to think that trains are exempt from the laws of physics. And the "marginal" extra costs are highly suspect. I have never said that there is no need for a new railway line to be built. I just think that the design of HS2 is wrong, and it should be part of the classic rail network. The current trend for trains to be restricted to one route is producing a network that has no resiliance and where nearly-new trains are sent to the scrapheap when other lines are desperately short of rolling stock. The almost total lack of criticism of HS2 on this forum, and the personal attacks on those that do put their head above the parapet says far more about the mentality of the average rail enthusiast than it does about the merits of HS2.

The demand can stay suppressed - "do nothing" is a viable option, just as should be the case at Heathrow. I would prefer the addition of a new conventional rail line (with intermediate stations) from Old Oak Common to Rugby, and the quadrupling of the line from Coventry to Birmingham.