mikejames

are you more or less promised greens all the way?

I was born in 1942 and lived close to the GWR /BRW mainline just south of Tyseley. An uncle was a driver there so got some unofficial visits. In those days kids were allowed much more freedom to wander about than would be allowed now, so i often went to 'watch the trains'. When about 10 I was allowed to catch the train to snowhill on a saturday morning and by about 13 I was going on various excursions all over the country - it developed an indepence I am glad I got/have. Occassionally on the saturday trips I would cross over to Newstreet but the old station seemed dirty and confirmed GWR was best! Obviously then engines must have copper topped chimneys!

i dont think its that simple transport is about places we want to go to and 'stuff' we need to carry the railways dont go where I need to go mike j

little unclear what more you want -but there are numerous Bradshaws available on line

my son asked the interesting question. Do other countries have rhtt efforts and do they 'do anything different from us?'

Apollo said I don't usually subscribe to Youtube channels but I have to this. If you dont like youtube I put green signals podcast into the search area and it offered me several alternatives (to listen - no video) including spotify as several have said material very interesting the earlier one on hs2 myths also regards mike james

I am suprised how small the tanks on the mpvs are compared with the several tanks on the loco hauled rhtt sets - eg the shrewsbury based one that goes all arround north wales. Do they work differently or have shorter routes or get 'topped up' en route or what? thanks for info you can supply mike james

A interesting point if true. Which way will the norther wall MP's vote? regards mike j

why?

re your trip to llandudno - you said unfortunately it suffered a bit of a slide approaching colwyn bay and it got a wheel flat on he leading bogie, it was inspected at llandudno and was within spec to keep running out of interest who is qualified to inspect the wheel and decide its ok. is it part of a drivers training for example or does an 'inspector' have to come from whereever the nearest is? thanks for all your informative posts reagrds mike j

Jim said 'pacer tour to llandudno on Wednesday on my day off' do report your experience I wondered about going but there reports of the 'ride' made me duck out. enjoy mike james

what does 'testing' involve? Do you have checklist of tests, or just 'drive it' and see if problems occur? regards and thanks for informative 'how life really is' info. mike james

Bangor (north Wales) is another station between two tunnels Plenty of operation interest if you have a LARGE spare room!!

the shrewsbury to shrewsbury north and mid wales rhtt ran this morning 56's top and tailing saw it at llandudno junc about 9.30 mike james

another box with the 'stop-em-all' reputation was the box south of oxford in steam days mike james

hi I didn't know who to ask and thought you might know - so here goes. Looking at container trains - to and from felixstowe for example. Most of them only have only a fraction of the maximum possible number of containers. I assume this is because the traffic isn't needed on the day. My question is. How do they decide where to put the containers. you might have thought at the front - less inclined to tip on curves - but doesn't seem to be the case. Does the distribution make any difference when you are actually driving - you often report 'trafford park' Any info you can provide - and your thoughts. Thanks in advance for your thoughts mike james

Given that Felixstowe is a dominant container port, I assume putting up wires to there has been looked at. presumably trains towards London could then use the wires so is the problem most stuff goes to ely and peterborough and the midlands over dominantly non wired routes? Similarly there was a plan (electric spine?) to add overhead wires to Southampton which was abandoned - not sure if for technical or cost reasons. Given the strategic review due soon - any hope?? mike j

A week or two ago I saw an article that said northern was testing the use of solid carbon dioxide to clear/clean the tracks. does anyone know if its happening? thanks mike j

to be honest I'm confused way up the thread people were saying 'blame the government - not the TOCS.' Certainly the government specified these trains but I would have thought that would be a functional specification i.e these trains must be able to do this..... run for so long between maintenance etc. It would then be up to the manufacturer to design a train to these specifications. I cannot see how the government (DFT) could be expected to detail design a bogie/link etc that doesn't crack So what exactly did the DFT specify incorrectly. DFT seems to come in for a lot of stick on this website and it is probably generally justified but I suspect not in this case. thanks for clarification mike james

two questions arising from above posts a) what are pp9s? b) I'm surprised ely peterboro line isn't high on electrification plans - how far down is it? regards mike james

sorry mike james

nonsense not a single spade has been dug in the north west yet. maybe in the future but...... mike james

hi There seems to be a lot of expert knowledge in the design of overhead electric supply systems in the members here. would someone be prepared to do a 101 course for the less expert of us?? (or provide a reference for us to study) thanks in advance mike james

in the conwy valley there are several castles the most visable is Dolwyddelan near the station of that name. Quite a walk! mike james

what's wrong with 37254? Is it a 'problem loco' or just you see too much of it? thanks for all the info. regards mike j