caradoc

C1879; Interesting to see a loco-hauled service at Harwich Town, especially docked on top of a DMU! I wonder if there was an issue preventing running round at Parkeston Quay, where IIRC these trains normally terminated? (Thanks again for your wonderful pictures and dedication in posting them David)

Today's timetable shows three trains per hour, in the Up direction generally at 15, 35 and 55 minutes past each hour from Piccadilly.

The bedroom in Coventry station was interesting, but it wasn't clear I think whether there was only the one, or several?

Or by the time HS2 is fully completed Star Trek style transporters will have been perfected, and we will be able to step onto a pad in London and instantaneously materialise in say Glasgow. Just need to make sure a fly doesn't get mixed up with your pattern.....

I agree! However, all they had to do is, rather than say, twice, 'the Hornby Princess', just say 'the Princess' (I accept that neither person who said that was a Hornby employee, but presumably someone told them what to say).

I've just watched this programme rewrite model train history - The 1950s Hornby Princess? After that it hardly seems worth mentioning the Bulleid Pacific on the turntable with the tender the wrong way round. Unbelievable.

Not having booked ahead (due to train strike/family issues uncertainty) I paid for a Guide at the door, and IMHO it was excellent value for money at the low price. A great advantage would of course be having a Guide in advance, enabling one's day to be planned, but that imposes a whole new level of expense and organisational complexity.

I got the shuttle bus from Wood Green (just after 1000), was lucky to get one of the last seats upstairs, and a number were told they could not stand upstairs; Whether they found space downstairs or had to wait for another bus, I do not know. Hence the bus did not/could not stop at Alexandra Palace station! By the time I got to Ally Pal the queuing seemed to have become organised; It was long but moved quickly, although more delay was caused queuing to pay on the day (due to internet issues?) The bag search I found intrusive and unpleasant, have not encountered this at any other model railway show, including big ones such as Glasgow and Warley; But I presume this is a venue requirement and beyond the control of the show organisers. Coming back there was a lack of shuttle buses so I had to pay for the W3 (my Scottish pensioners' bus pass not being valid south of the Border). As to the show itself, it was indeed excellent, with wonderful inspiring layouts (my favourite being Blowers Green) and more traders than I have ever seen in one place before! Thanks to all involved in organising and running it.

The result of the match, and therefore the Six Nations Championship, was decided in that one moment. Perhaps replays of such incidents should only be shown at real speed, not slowed down so much that it appears a geriatric granny could have avoided the contact.

I travel roughly once a month between Glasgow and Oxford, and the obvious route is via Birmingham with one change. However, post-Covid, Cross Country reduced the Reading/Birmingham corridor to one train per hour vice two, and Avanti withdrew their Glasgow/Birminghams altogether. Some of the latter have since been restored, but not all. In addition, in the last timetable change the Scotland-Birmingham trains were retimed to arrive at Wolverhampton at the same time as the Manchester-Reading departs, therefore severing what was previously a 6 or 7 minute connection. So for the last three years I have been travelling more and more often via London, the speed-up of WCML services by using HS2 will (eventually) make that an even more attractive option.

Not necessarily; Old Oak Common will actually be easier to get to for some passengers than Euston, thanks to the GWML (from the west) and the Elizabeth Line (from the east and south east). But I agree that delaying Euston is not a good thing overall, at all.

Covid?

The solution before Euston opens is surely to run an intermediate service, removing from the WCML the trains which benefit most from HS2, perhaps 3 an hour to Manchester and Birmingham, and 1 an hour to Liverpool and Glasgow, thus making use of the new railway while releasing some capacity on the WCML. Also, what are the arrangements for the temporary terminus at Old Oak Common, just the platforms or could turnback sidings be provided to increase capacity? Regardless, I do not share the pessimism evident here, HS2 has most certainly not been cancelled, just delayed in certain areas. Given that there will be multiple General Elections before HS2 is operational, with most likely a change of governing party too, the plan is almost guaranteed to be altered again (although anyone pinning their hopes on a new government resurrecting grandiose plans for new railways should remember which party cancelled the Channel Tunnel in 1975....)

I will be very sad to see the HSTs disappear, they still provide an excellent passenger environment, and have been a feature of my rail travelling and working life since 1976 (when I was still at school) When Scotrail's sets go too it really will be the end of an era. One wonders how XC in particular will manage without even their few sets. The obvious solution would be for XC to take Avanti's Voyagers when they become available, both to replace the HSTS and provide additional capacity, but there seems little prospect of that happening.

If the show has to be on one day only, then Saturday for me, thanks to the far better public transport available. (I am lucky in that my nearest big show, Glasgow, is over not one, or even two, but three days! Which allows to me visit one day for spending, and another for viewing, without having to brave Sunday trains.....)

There was also one at Hunterston Power Station, which I visited some years ago. Their Control Centre was interesting, viewable through glass but off limits to absolutely everyone but those actually on duty there.

Presumably those same councillors were quite happy receiving their electricity from coal-fired power stations? How things change!

Indeed, it is hard to understand the Council's concerns, given the difference in safety standards between road and rail transport, and, as stated in the linked article 'The council would not tell the media exactly what its safety concerns were'. Which inevitably makes one think, why on earth not tell us?

The Caledonian Sleeper is a Scottish Government franchise so it is they who subsidise it already. (Where the Scottish Government gets its money from is of course another thing, and probably best not discussed here.....)

Is there any particular reason why tickets for Alexandra Palace are specific to one day? Those for other shows, such as Model Rail Scotland and Warley, are not.

Very much so; In the Glasgow area the adapter coupling was/is kept at Shields Depot, so using a diesel loco to rescue a stranded EMU required; Diesel loco (obviously!) Driver for same (of course), but one who signed the route from the loco's origin point, to Shields Depot, and then to the location of the stranded train - Very often a Route Conductor Driver was also required. Fitter to attach adapter coupling to loco. Arranging all the above took time, and staff resources, if it was possible at all, which it often was not; And on one occasion we had indeed managed to arrange everything, only for the diesel loco's TOC to then cancel the move because their Driver was not deemed competent in 'traction handling', ie using a diesel to haul an EMU. So yes, using another unit is by far the quickest and simplest move.

Reducing car use is of course a laudable aim, but there have to be suitable alternatives: In Oxford the supposed 'local' bus operator, the Oxford Bus Company, has recently withdrawn 50% of the service along one route to the city centre (the Marston Road), and has ceased serving two estates altogether, Northway and Risinghurst. (nothing to do with HS2, sorry!)

To answer the question; Oh yes! Two examples from Scotland: Rutherglen East Junction, before the route towards Coatbridge and Whifflet, the R&C Line, was electrified (obviously!); Train from the Argyle Line wrong routed onto the R&C, Driver took the route and train became dewired. Staff attended and concluded another EMU could attach to the stranded train, without becoming dewired itself, and haul it back; Unfortunately they had miscalculated and the rescue unit became dewired too. IIRC a loco was eventually required. Edinburgh Waverley West end, when only the two outer lines through the Mound Tunnel were wired. Virgin Trains substituted an electric-loco hauled train for a booked HST, however; The Railtrack Controller (not me!) omitted to advise the Signaller, and the train was routed via the centre Mound Tunnel, and the Driver took the route. The resulting delay was thousands of minutes.

And of course, had BR used a lighter loco than a Peak it would just have provided another reason for the likes of Greenpeace to dismiss the demonstration as faked.

Thanks to you and everyone else involved for another great show. The minute's silence on Friday for Ukraine was a nice touch.