hexagon789

I will happily stand corrected, but I believe the Harrogate via Leeds services still worked to/from Exchange until 1969 when the services towards Lancashire or Yorkshire were transferred to Lime Street. Glasgow/Edinburgh services transferred in 1970 and the last services at Exchange were then mostly local trains to Bolton, Wigan, Southport and Ormskirk. A quick search of Flickr produced a photo from April 1967, captioned as a train to Liverpool Exchange. Not damning evidence, no, but it makes the case for Exchange being the terminus still stronger.

Realtimetrains.co.uk suggests present rolling stock is mostly 150 and 195, but a few 156s were showing yesterday as well. One in multi with 150, the other alone on an evening Sheffield.

Agreed, unless the Advances are particularly cheap the lack of date flexibility means than a Railcard-discounted non-Sale Advance is probably better for many people, especially those with said railcards!

They definitely are, a brief 5 min search produced Sale Advances for Paddington to/from Bath, Bristol, Plymouth, Torquay and Penzance (those were the only five flows I checked), ranging from for various dates through the second week of February. Perhaps don't use the GWR website though... ;) I use one of the splitting sites with more functionality and the ability readily compare trains over a wide range of departure times through the day. Most of the cheaper services appear to be in the 1100-1400 time bracket.

Because they weren't classified as locos until around the mid-80s or so.

They are sold in tiers, but the displayed price is by default the lowest available tier for that train, so the flex is presently £20 on top. So if the 1000 is £89, the flex would be £109; if the 1030 is £69, the Flex would be £89. If there are no Advances left, you are correct that only flexible fares will be left - which would now become the Anytime fare. Well that's what people have been asking. What's to stop people buying a cheaper Flex for the 1100 for instance and flexing back to the 1000, even making a new seat reservation if they wish.

They've already been scrapped. The previous round of 'fare simplification' with single-leg pricing reduced the options in Standard Class to: Advance Single Super Off-peak Single Anytime Single The middle of those three (and the Off-peak option for First Class) is now bring replaced with a 70-min Flex option set at £20 over the Advance fare.

It was a TRSB and TRUK. The TRUB came later as essentially a combo TRSB and TRUK in one vehicle.

Happens with passenger trains too - had a 225 set a few years ago with brakes isolated on both bogies on one coach, so we were restricted to 5mph under the permissible for all speed restrictions exceeding 35mph. Less common with multiple units, but can still happen.

The link in my previous post gives the set formations with the relevant individual vehicle numbers.

Other than the two Mk3 workings, Glasgow to Aberdeen didn't become push-pull until May 1985. (The loco is a 47/4 anyway, not a 47/7, so electric heating but no push-pull capabilities.)

Lovely selection from Crich there, an interesting collection of different Trams and associated vehicles.

Also Inverness-Aberdeen and Settle-Carlisle. The latter for one season pending platform extensions to permit 4-car units to call at all the intermediate stops. The West Highland sets split at Crianlarich though, not Fort William. The service pattern being three workings to Crianlarich, splitting into an Oban and a Mallaig portion; plus one Fort William to Mallaig and return working. http://members.madasafish.com/~dysgraphyk/156/class156_misformed.htm Can't happen now, as all 156s now have fixed bar intermediate couplers and hardwired multi working cables to improve reliability.

I had read that as well, but certainly at the moment the maximum operating speed is only 100km/h. It is my understanding that before the railways were privatised and passenger trains axed, the maximum on Mexican mainlines was apparently only 110km/h (a 'metricated' 70mph dating from the steam era supposedly).

Seems reasonable for such a maximum speed, though I've no idea of how many stops there are nor the general topography of the route but 30-35 or so mph averages on 60mph lines is about usual here for example, albeit usually on branches or regional lines.

100km/h linespeed currently reputedly.

The NYC MAS was 85mph, and they were quite strict about compliance, perhaps the strictest railroad, others were very more concerned aboit image and timekeeping. Nevertherless, 6mph in excess of linespeed was an automatic 3 demerit points on an engineer's record - reach 12 and there were official sanctions. Now I know the Niagras were capable of higher speeds, though 95mph is the official maximum recorded, but I'm suspicious of 100mph in daily service given the NYC 85mph ceiling (most mainline routes were only 80) and strict compliance measures. The Pennsy had an 80mph ceiling. Indeed, only two 'roads' officially permitted 100mph in the steam era - the Milwaukee and the Santa Fe. The IC only upgraded to 100mph in the diesel era and never permitted steam locos to officially run at such speeds. Official Employee Timetables, many available freely online document, the permissible speeds for reference.

Three diagrams in fact.

Well, the December timetable change was on the 10th and there are still Castle sets in service currently. There are now 3 diagrams Mon-Fri & Sat for the Castle sets (none on Sundays) until the June change. They are now all concentrated exclusively between Penzance & Plymouth bar one extension to Exeter returning ECS and the opposite on Saturdays (ECS to Exeter, returning in service).

Is t possible that 100mph was first authorised without the lineside signs being updated - ie on a trial basis? I seem to recall there were initial concerns over the increased braking distances.

It was 1964. It is mentioned in Modern Railways and The Railway Magazines of the period; the latter in the April 1964 issue which I have.

EPS125 in places via Macclesfield, otherwise normal limit is up to 110 but mostly 90/95. Via Wilmslow there is no EPS, but normal limits go up to 110 and its more continuous at 100-110.

The GEML was 90 max until 1970.

Well quite, but 75mph was never the official ceiling in Scotland for many years and only gradually increased on, very much on a line-by-line basis.

I think the LNER marked out most speed restrictions from the 1920s on, with their system being adopted by BR. The SR and LMS I believe only marked severe reductions in speed and the GWR only where there was a lack of a clear landmark to aid drivers.