locoholic

So you're arguing that the Great Western Mainline is actually HS4? I wonder sometimes just how desperately bad a rail scheme would have to be before some people on here would admit it was no good.

As has been pointed out on here before, people know that the "HS" in HS2 stands for High Speed. Trying to claim it's now all about capacity simply reminds people that the project has suffered from mission creep, which prompts nagging doubts about sub-optimal design and desperate political spin to make the line sound less like a vanity project. And that's before people think about all the budget overspends and missed deadlines of other high profile rail projects like Crossrail and the GWML electrification.

But there are many, many examples where convenience for the rail industry or the DfT completely overrule what passengers and other stakeholders want.

I'm afraid that's just meaningless waffle, and a very woolly justification for spending billions of pounds of taxpayers' money.

Silly - communism hadn't been invented. You now instead seem to be praising a time when most people weren't allowed to vote - a small price to pay for getting infrastructure projects bulldozed through without opposition! The point is that you seem to be irritated by the fact that the UK has progressed to a stage where ordinary people have a voice and don't just have to mutely accept things. HS2 isn't funded in the Victorian way, by gullible shareholders voluntarily buying shares. Taxpayers have no option but to cough up and to most, HS2 looks increasingly like very bad value for money.

It comes to something when a person's passion for anything that runs on rails means they endorse the working practices of a repressive communist one-party state.

The success of some other "niche" RTR diesel models (Clayton, NBL D600s, Class 14, Class 16, Falcon, Lion, etc) says otherwise. Some locos are hopeless failures but still somehow charismatic. I would like an RTR Class 74. After the issues with his Class 71 and 14xx I had definite qualms about DJ Models, which have subsequently proved to be well-founded. Maybe I wasn't alone, and that's why there weren't many orders for the loco? I'm hoping that some Hornby Class 71s make it to the bargain bin, so I can have a go at converting one to a Class 74.

Last weekend I took a few pictures of the depot at Aberdeen Waterloo. The wagons look to me like the "Silver Bullets" used for china clay traffic. Does anyone know what they're used for at Aberdeen, please?

The Northern powerhouse already exists - in Scotland. I rarely venture north of the border, and last weekend was astonished to find there are now FIVE modern electrified rail routes between Glasgow and Edinburgh (via Lenzie, Cumbernauld, Bathgate, Shotts and Carstairs)! That is a level of investment that northern England can only dream of. The answer would seem to be to devolve powers from Westminster to a northern regional assembly. One thing's for sure - the current set-up is delivering nothing, nor does it look likely to in the future. If the Scots compare the situations north and south of the border, no wonder they want independence!

https://www.scotsman.com/news/transport/police-to-travel-aboard-flying-scotsman-to-deter-fans-from-tracks-1-4924419

Of course, the only possible conclusion to draw from this tragic tale in our zero-risk society is that the old-fashioned design of railway station with unfenced platform edges is fundamentally unsafe and should be abolished forthwith. Whilst I have tremendous sympathy for the staff and emergency services faced with such a situation, it must be remembered that similarly horrific scenarios are an everyday occurrence on our roads, but strangely these attract much, much less publicity and are regarded as an unavoidable fact of life.

Who was "flailing?" I was just looking along the train to see the loco. Incidentally, in the course of the whole twelve hours there was not one single chance to get a decent photo of the loco. The station staff at Aberdeen seemed to derive immense satisfaction from preventing access to the other platforms, and the empty stock for the return journey appeared at the platform only a minute before the scheduled departure time. And then of course there was the diesel on the back, which did a considerable amount of work during the trip. In today's paper there's a story about "bored"children train surfing. Now there's a risky activity.

That is exactly the idiotic mentality that is so annoying - ignore the actual situation in order to make it easier for the jobsworths. There is no risk whatsoever from leaning out of a stationary train window at a platform, but we'll ban it anyway. That is only one step away from insisting that every passenger remains seated for the duration of the journey, except for when they absolutely must go to the toilet. In fact, we'll install lockable seat belts to make absolutely sure.

It can be quite annoying when someone thinks that just because they're in possession of a card they have a monopoly on wisdom. I would hope that I would never put myself in a position where the driver of an oncoming train would be caused alarm. But the railway still has places where that happens even though no-one is trespassing, such as at footpath crossings and crowded platforms. I don't envy train drivers in those situations, but the railway is not some kind of magic environment where human nature can be counteracted by fences, rules or cards. Recently there was a spate of incidents in my area of children at night lying down in the road in front of oncoming cars to give the drivers a fright. Amazingly, no-one was hurt, but it illustrates the bizarre thought processes that occur in some people's minds. I'm sure those children would have been mucking around by our local railway line if Dr Beeching hadn't closed it 54 years ago. Maybe that's the best way of ensuring no railway accidents - close the railways? When was the last railway fatality in Iceland, after all?

I think that photo is proof that the Tamworth area has more than its fair share of stupid people. Who took the photo?

But technically I could have been thrown off the train for doing something that is not even remotely risky!

A significant amount of the railway network is now hidden behind six-foot high security fencing, installed at a cost of many millions of pounds, the cost of which is ultimately borne by passengers, freight users and the taxpayers. Anyone who manages to get past that deserves to be prosecuted, as there is no ambiguity as to its function. As I've posted elsewhere, however, there are situations where very significant risks are still present. A crowded, narrow platform with non-stop trains passing at 70mph or more felt very unsafe indeed to me yesterday.

Yesterday I was told off for leaning out of the window of a Mark 1 carriage on a railtour - whilst the train was stationary at a booked platform stop, and the window I was leaning out of was adjacent to said platform. I've been trying, but I simply can't think of any risk attached to this activity at all. This is in marked contrast to the situation at the start of the railtour, when several hundred people were crammed onto the very narrow platform at Linlithgow, with trains passing at line speed (75mph?) just inches away. The potential risks of that situation were very serious indeed, but apparently that is acceptable. What has gone wrong? Why is there such a big gap between actual risks in reality and nonsensical rules?

To summarise; someone with delusions of grandeur and competence has issued statements which confirm he's actually a bit of a pillock.

A good few years ago I discussed with an established model manufacturer the possibility of commissioning a version of one of their models in a different, more popular scale. A couple of months in, DJ Models announced they were going to do the same model. As that suddenly increased the financial risk considerably, I pulled the plug on my project, even though "my" manufacturer reckoned that DJ was not credible. How I now wish I had taken the gamble and pushed ahead with the project! PS. No, it wasn't a Fell diesel.

This morning I saw Duchess of Sutherland making an impressive ascent of Llanvihangel Bank between Abergavenny and Hereford. I could swear that there was no diesel at the end of the train, but pictures of it north of Hereford show a WCR Cl 47 tacked on the back. Does anyone know if it was added at Hereford, please, or am I just very unobservant?

Are there any WCML passenger train diversions via the S&C these days?

I guess no-one on here was remotely surprised by this, which is why the news wasn't posted?! https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-48054789

But is now presumably permanently off the menu due to HS2?

I wonder how long it will be before we have to book a space on the M25 (pre-paid, of course)? I'm sure Beardy would like to have a go at running a motorway.