Edwin_m

Frogs make a change from mice and birds.

The shorter journey time is necessary to achieve the capacity objective. If there's no time saving then why would anyone choose the new route over the old one? It won't. Firstly, the GWR and HS2 tracks aren't parallel here, and making them so would involve demolishing large swathes of residential areas nearby. Secondly, even if they were parallel they wouldn't be at the same level, unless even more property was demolished to create ramps at each end. Thirdly, both HS2 and GWR will have more than one platform track in each direction, so cross-platform interchange with other lines isn't really possible without the risk of suddenly having to go to a totally different platform. And fourth, interchange between HS2 to/from the north and Elizabeth Line will be in both directions, for central London and Heathrow or further west.

Gizmo will examine any fragment that falls to the floor, but the only non-meat ones he eats are peas.

We have a hose that lives coiled up in a special container fixed to the wall, and can be pulled out by hand and retracted by a spring. The brake is somewhat dodgy so it occasionally winds itself up on a whim, but is otherwise hassle-free.

The way the Cross Country timetable works, there is a good same-platform connection at Cheltenham for Bristol.

Can't speak for HS2, but 120 year design life would be typical for civil structures on a rail project.

Perhaps someone witnessed an attack on some poor innocent rodent?

No worse than a station named after a bear.

The fact the slew at Hook was done quickly actually demonstrates that when the conditions are right, the railway can achieve things like this. But OOC is an entirely different kettle of fish, as previous postings attempt to clarify. At least there are some rail alternatives here. Probably not easy to strengthen the Central, District and Piccadilly lines but I'd like to think Waterloo-Reading and Marylebone-Oxford would be run at the maximum possible frequency and train length.

I got a red screen last night saying that the site was blocked due to linking to fortunateperson.space. I didn't follow the link on the blocked message, as it might itself have been some form of malware. Searching for mentions of that website suggested it is considered a borderline scam site.

My first visit to this since lockdown and it remains as good as ever. As feedback, I suggest for next year a couple more signs to point the way from the main entrance to Hall 4. It was noticeably less crowded than the other rooms and with its floor plan being on a different page in the exhibition guide, I fear some visitors may have missed it.

I recorded the series - I think there were only four episodes. It was obviously filmed in 2019 but I don't recall seeing it previously. Definitely worth a look.

The buffer area is reminiscent of an electric Networker. I wonder if it's a mockup of the cab end of one of the Networker derivatives, probably a high speed one, proposed for various projects in the 1990s but ultimately killed off by privatisation.

This series just shows it's possible to make a programme with wide appeal, without "dumbing down". Hearty congratulations to yourself, to Siddy, the Museum staff, and not forgetting all those behind the camera who made it happen.

I'm led to believe this rating for HS2 is because the re-planning of the project to take account of the Government's postponements hasn't been finished yet, so there is no plan in place to achieve what they are now being asked to do. There's probably not enough budget either, as the postponements have increased costs.

I recall advertising in the UK for the Dacia Denim which was by appearances a badge-engineered Renault 12. They may have done the same with other models too.

Indeed. I'm vaguely familiar with these systems but not enough to say which one it was. The ILWS team were colleagues of mine for a while (including older versions of several of those appearing on that video) and I can confirm it was never deployed other than for trials.

There was something very similar at Grantham station before lockdown when I changed trains there quite often, and it may still be there. It was frequently switched on and would emit a short "safe tone" every 10s or so, then a high-low warbling when a train was approaching. This is indeed a system to warn track workers. The "safe tone" is to confirm it is still working.

I guess we could say this track is being laid for HS2, in that both its construction and its maintenance (hence also its operation) rely on a connection into this site off the classic rail network. I may be wrong on this, but I think HS2 is only doing the EWR earthworks and structures around the HS2 interface, not the track. So it's not being laid by HS2. The owner, operator and maintainer of this infrastructure will be Network Rail, up to some defined interface as mentioned. So it won't actually be part of HS2.

https://onebigcircle.co.uk/case-studies/network-rail/

That's clearly a very logical rule, as you clearly can't control the horse with a phone in one hand and a baguette in the other. Not to mention the umbrella you need to keep dry.

Web search suggests there are or were several cat cafes across the UK - but one I happened upon in Manchester a few years ago appears to have closed during lockdown.

At least you have a source of toilet paper.

Apologies, I was thinking of the second RAIB report I mentioned and got it into my head you hadn't linked to the first one.

I presume it is this one: extension://bfdogplmndidlpjfhoijckpakkdjkkil/pdf/viewer.html?file=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.railwaysarchive.co.uk%2Fdocuments%2FRAIB_Esher2005.pdf Signaller realised that if he put the signals back against a particular train as required by the rules, it would be more at risk of being struck by another one that had passed signal at danger due to poor adhesion. Another one here: Rail https://www.railwaysarchive.co.uk/docsummary.php?docID=4795 Driver did the right thing in reversing the train off an embankment that was being undermined by flooding, without consulting Control first. Two hazards here: a multiplicity of signal aspects close together can be difficult to discern from a distance, and if the individual signals have red aspects then the driver has pass a red signal, which is considered to degrade its importance in other situations (though it's allowed for subsidiary aspects and could be got round by only having one aspect, lit only when no proceed aspect was displayed). Problems of signal sighting may also be worse if multiple signal heads need to be easily viewable somewhere where space for them is limited.