caradoc

Those photos remind very much of Mossend TOPS office, where I spent a two-year hiatus from my Control career, 1987-89. There had also at one time been another TOPS office not far away at Dalzell, dealing with the local steelworks traffic, whereas Mossend handled more general freight. The number of offices set up when TOPS started was astonishing!

I don't either, as it is (especially if a lorry or bus is involved) extremely dangerous! OTOH I have stopped behind a queue of cars at traffic lights, only for another car to come up and stop alongside me, inches from my handlebars. And there was the time I was cycling along a main road when a car overtook me and immediately turned left, forcing me to go left also. I managed to catch up with the Driver on the side road to discuss the incident, only for them to say 'but I was indicating', as if that made it OK. As always, we all, whether pedestrians, cyclists or motorists, should consider and respect others.

The BBC News report does say that more is being done than just track renewal; 'Engineers will also be clearing vegetation, completing level crossing maintenance and stabilising earthworks by Gillingham tunnel.' Perhaps the last item is the real reason for the extended closure?

Looking forward to it also, being just a bus ride from home, but surprised that Douglas Blades (bookseller) won't be there?

The station diagram you included shows Platform 3! Although it is an unusual layout with one platform at right angles to the others, non-enthusiast members of the public might indeed be confused by that...

Hmm... only a Sprinter enthusiast with too much time on their hands would make that particular journey! Far better by HST to Plymouth, Voyager (with a reserved seat, hopefully) to Birmingham, Pendolino to Edinburgh or Glasgow, HST to Inverness. Onward to Thurso however would most certainly be a local service, because given the route and population served it has not, and never will be, anything else.

What a completely nonsensical comparison, similar to those posted on Facebook every now and again, with photos of a TGV, an ICE.... and a 153; Trains designed and used for utterly different purposes. But it suits the 'European trains are all wonderful, ours are all rubbish' narrative.

That was simply not, ever, the case in my 32 years as a railway operations controller, with BR, Railtrack and Network Rail.

And very much further north of the river too - In Scottish Region Control the Glasgow electric desks were referred to as the tramcar sections! We retorted by pointing out that we ran more trains in an hour than the sheep-molesting section controllers did in a week.....

I'm still grateful now, 40 years on, when a booking office clerk at Reading, that the regular passenger we had for Llwynypia travelled on a Forces Warrant, so his destination was written rather than spoken! I've mentioned before I think the passenger for Tavistock who was taken aback when we told him the fare, the journey time, and the bus ride needed; It turned out he wanted Tavistock Place in London.

And yet despite 'common sense having departed' we now have the safest railway, for passengers and staff, than we have ever had, at any time, with just one (one too many, but still just one) fatal accident in the last 16 years.

Yes, as per other replies, 21 minutes seems perfectly reasonable to me. How long do you think it should have taken for the Driver to bring the train to a stand, contact the Signaller, report what had occurred, agree on a course of action, shut down the leading cab, walk through the train to the rear cab, open it up, advise the Signaller they were ready to make the move and receive permission for it, drive the train back inside the signal, shut down the cab, walk back through the train, open up the cab and set off? And of course keep the Guard advised of what was happening too.

How did the NR end of things make a meal of it all? It seems that the train was simply reversed back in behind the signal and was then correctly rerouted.

Indeed; Signallers, and also for example Controllers, work an extra hour in Autumn and an hour less in Spring; It never worked out for me that the first was balanced out by the second! Also, if Saturday nights are covered by 12-hour shifts, Autumn necessitated a 13-hour turn.

Perhaps Labour should say that their long-term intention is to complete HS2 as originally planned, when circumstances permit, and therefore, should they (as seems likely) win the next General Election any property sold off between now and then will be compulsorily repurchased for the same price.

My workplace (Glasgow Control) for the last two years of my railway career was relocated from Buchanan House (in Glasgow) to the West of Scotland Signalling Centre, in the triangle of lines at Cowlairs. The walk there from Springburn station, as I described it to a forthcoming visitor, was 'through the pee-stinking underpass, past the wasteground and the burnt-out pub'. One of my female colleagues encountered a flasher at the underpass one evening. Some things never change!

And it's 'have a go at cyclists' time again, which some just can't resist.

C11798; It is hard to believe that Class 156 has now worked the West Highland Lines for well over 34 years, having lasted longer than their diesel loco predecessors, Classes 27 and 37; and possibly some of the route's steam locos too.

A possible solution to that is to cut back EL services elsewhere, eg nothing west of Maidenhead, or fewer running all the way through to Abbey Wood. Yes and there is also the issue that half, and on some hours all, of the Oxford/Paddington fast trains are through to and from the Cotswold line, not to mention longer journey times via Chiltern and missing Reading!

This is the most disgrace failure of political vision and leadership, at least as far as railways are concerned, since Labour cancelled the Channel Tunnel in 1974. This, Mr Sunak, is what you will be remembered for, when your tenure as PM comes to an end.

The Emergency Services response to this incident is surely understandable, given that the most recent railway accident in Scotland was Carmont, and that the initial 999 call would have been made before the extent of damage and injury was known.

I agree. The foot crossing would be at the Tavistock end of Bere Alston station (so over one line only) and a 5mph PSR could be imposed over it; Given that every train would be stopping there anyway it would be a minimal performance issue. Plus there would be the other usual railway safeguards such as cattle guards, every train having a headlamp and sounding the horn. Have we really got to the point of demanding that, no matter what the cost, railways alone among land transport must be 100% safe 100% of the time, even for those trespassing on or abusing them, therefore preventing schemes such as this from proceeding?

Whereas people with a background in railway operation and management have a different view!

Using Lumo it is possible to arrive in Edinburgh, from London, at 1008 and depart for home at 1958; With LNER the corresponding times are 1114 and 1936. Which seems a useful amount of time in Edinburgh to me. And of course a 50 minute flight time is airport to airport, not city to city.

Also cross-platform connections between Tube and National Rail at Barking and Stratford. Something similar at OOC would have been good but as @Edwin_m explains it is not practical. However, as HS2 is at a lower level than the GWML, changing between the two should result in just one flight of stairs/escalator and a passageway to negotiate.