hexagon789

It was intended, and still is, for two further XC services each way per hour to call. These being one call per hour each way in the South West to Scotland and the Bristol to Manchester routes. Accommodating the stops requires not insignificant alterations to the timetable without omitting stops elsewhere, so it will need a future recast to solve this. (I understand the alternative was to omit Cheltenham in alternative services.) I'm not aware of aspirations for this to happen next year, especially given that the long planned changes to the timetable periods have been postponed, throwing next year's changes into a bit of chaos already.

I think most were 12 before the air-cons appeared, then the standard Anglo-Scottish timing load became D385 (11 vehicles). 1E11 is down in the workings books as 12 vehicles, but 13 (an extra TSO) on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays. The timing load is the maximum D455 (13 vehicles) all week, with a scheduled journey time of 6hrs 32.

They ran as 3-car in the Summers of 1989 and 1993. Corkerhill made up six 3-car sets specially, each running as 6 to Crianlarich, then 3 each to Oban & Mallaig. The 158 issues precluded this being repeated in 1990 and 1991, as 156s had to cover for the not yet available 158s on Edinburgh - Glasgow and Glasgow - Aberdeen. The Inverness - Aberdeen sets were also made up as 3s for the first year (1989), with four such sets leaving a single 2 spare. Again the 158 issues meant this wasn't repeated, in fact the service reverted to loco-hauled in 1990 to free up the 156s to Haymarket.

Notes I have taken from the Summer 1987 PTM shows the Oban/Fort William/Mallaig sets as still having a BSOT. They are shown as Mk1 Vac Brake and Load 6: BSK - TSO - TSO - TSO* - TSO* BSOT (*Mk2 vehicles). Five sets total. Nothing stated on heating but I presume the original document would have this detail.

Warm store until Spring 2024 when the current TPE lease on them runs out. Then - who knows...?

They hauled a few conventional trains in the early years. Including the Peterborough commuter Mk2 set.

The regularly hauled the evening Peterborough commuter Mk2 set in revenue service in the early years. They have also worked a few railtours of predominantly Mk1 coaches.

They were used until late-1999. The introduction of the 170s and the September timetable change enabled their final withdrawal through cascading. Most were actually replaced by 150s/158s rather than 156s, which remained uncommon in the Fife area - there was a peak Kirkcaldy stopper which was booked 156 but everything else booked 150 or 158 AFAIK. Later, the one of the subsequent batchsles of 170s (the units numbered 450-461) enabled the withdrawal of the 150s (which went to Wales IIRC) and the Fife/Perth local services became the 158/170 mix they remain to this day.

Mexico for the new Tren Maya network out of Cancún.

Yes, and quite logically. In 1923, the Subway was taken over by Glasgow Corporation who of course operated Glasgow's extensive tram network. Indeed, I understand that the Subway in this period was administered as though it was in effect another tram line.

At the end it was a single SLEP, shunted on/off by an 08.

46 (I counted twice to be sure), so an even more impressive 2300 tonnes... :)

What about Scarborough to Holyhead in a 150/2? That was a scheduled service for a period in the latter 1980s until the 156s and 158s came in.

I don't know where you get £11 from but the four main return fares (Std Class) are in the fares database as: Off-Peak Day Return (Northern Only) - £5.20 Anytime Day Return (Northern Only) - £6.40 Off-Peak Day Return (Any Permitted) - £6.70 Anytime Day Return (Any Permitted) - £8.20

Given the greatly lower % of people buy at the station now (compared to online, commonly through an app) and even fewer from a ticket office than a TVM, this has been a few years coming I think. One of my local stations (suburban, 6tph) still has a ticket office - staffed Mon-Fri 06-14 hrs. According to the published stats, it sold 7 seaon tickets and fewer than 140 tickets in the last annual period. That cannot be sustainable - that's about 1 ticket every two days of the days that it's open.

The circular in question specifies "legacy traction", not HSTs specifically - so that's anything pre-1995 out of service: HSTs 156s 158s 318s 320s

The Enterprise became railcars (to use the Irish term) after steam finished. NIR and CIE then independently switched to loco-haulage during the early 1970s. New-build dedicated push-pull sets appeared from 1997 and remain in use today, though plans have just recently been drawn up for their replacement.

Quite Anything is possible with the right will

The prototype refurbished Hampshire unit 205101 (fitted with gangways etc during its refurb) had its control systems modified so that it could, in theory, multi with an EMU.

Depends on precisely what the main clientele is. On something like a luxury dining charter - I suspect most people, particularly in First Class, don't care about the sounds, smells and smuts...

Getting more common to see AC stock behind steam. Especially given most tours have a trailing diesel on the back, which can easily supply power for the coaches (though generator brakes are often used too).

Excellent selection of photos.

J3305 is just a lovely shot there - classic Northern Highlands...

Notch 1 is an identical engine speed to idle. Traditionally the technique was straight to 3, 4 when rolling and then 5. Some drivers did go right to 5 - with mixed results at times, some load governors didn't appreciate the 'whack it open' technique and would consequently give no power. The modern technique is to start in 2, and go through each notch in turn as amps settle. Usually getting into 5 at 20-25mph. The short sets accelerate pretty quickly, so not uncommon (at least with ScotRail) to not always use 5 starting away from intermediate stations if the permitted speed isn't very high. Braking is another thing which has changed - use of the higher steps and Full Service was common for stations stops and speed restrictions as much as for signal checks. Post-defensive driving, most TOCs adopted a Step 2 'initial' policy. Step 5 and 6 remained frequently used for signal checks, especially as some TOCs adopted a further policy of requiring speed to be reduced to 60mph by the single yellow on four-aspect multiple aspect signalling.

Never in relation to the Glasgow Subway - which was always denoted as 'cable hauled'. A different matter from the Cowlairs incline from Queen Street, which was described as rope-worked and I believe used a hemp rope.