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Fenman

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Fenman last won the day on January 7 2011

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  1. Whatever their mechanical problems, the arrival of these coaches was for me an aesthetic revolution. Out went the quirky-looking old-fashioned designs, and in came modernity. I was in the western part of Eastern Counties country, so the dominant appearance was plain poppy red. But there was also a regular sprinkling of leaf green invaders from the Lincolnshire Road Car company. The local bus station was an impressive display of public service corporate identity. I’m a bit surprised no-one else has already tackled the National, but I’m delighted Rapido is now doing it. I imagine there might be demand at O scale… Paul
  2. The Campbell’s Soups factory in King’s Lynn had rail service (and I’ve seen models of dedicated branded wagons). It’s the only rail-served soup factory I’m aware of (its location was chosen partly because it was close to the vegetable-growing areas of the Fens). Class 31s were typical. The factory closed in ~2007 but a Google search hasn’t told me when railway service stopped. Sorry that’s not as helpful as it might have been! Paul
  3. The Fenline between Ely and King’s Lynn was singled over much of its length when it was electrified in the 1980s. Too much for today’s (or, rather, 2019’s) demand, and attempts to introduce half-hourly frequencies have foundered on the capacity constraints of the long single sections (and the junction at Ely North). Even with an hourly frequency, there are often untimetabled waits at, eg, Downham Market station, to enable a late-running train to leave the single-track section before the waiting train can restart. Paul
  4. Both Hornby and Rapido are making announcements on Monday. The times seem to be changing, but Andy Y has said they'll appear on here fron 08.00. Paul
  5. Me too. I thought it would definitely happen after some 313 units were transferred to Southern. I’d also imagined Rail Blue GN versions working splendidly alongside Hornby’s then-new HST. Or run-down Silverlink units on what are now the Overground lines. Still, now your brilliant build is nearly finished, maybe it’s one of the Big Announcements on Monday… Paul
  6. Even setting aside your eminently sensible comments, Ravenser’s comment about range limitations is simply not true. There are already EVs on the market with a range north of 450 miles (albeit at the expensive end of the market — check out the Mercedes EQS), and cars with a WLTP range >500 miles arrive in the new year. For my use case, it’s already clear that ICE cars are vastly inferior to EVs. YMMV, of course. Paul
  7. Unless you have the misfortune to live on one of the many routes that offer no apex discounts — just the same “flat-rate” (= high) fares at all times. Check out the 100 mile route from King’s Lynn to King’s Cross. “We’re all in this together” except when we’re not. Paul
  8. The problem is that most people assume Heathrow is monolithic, and that you just need a single station — and while you do write about all terminals you then cite a station at T5. But only ~1/3rd of Heathrow passengers are going to T5: the rest would need to change to a shuttle of some sort to reach their terminal. If the majority of airport passengers are anyway going to need to change to a shuttle, it makes no sense to add extra journey time and inconvenience to all the non-airport passengers (ie, the majority of any train) by making them divert via Heathrow. Instead you just have an all-terminals shuttle from Old Oak Common. Your proposed Heathrow loop was what was investigated in great detail, at the request of Lord Adonis, by the former Tory minister Brian Mawhinney. I’m no fan of his, but his report was a pretty comprehensive dismissal of the idea: the costs (including the ongoing ones) would vastly outweigh any benefits. The current proposal for a western approach off the GWML also seems sensible to me. Paul
  9. The Mk2b was the mainstay in the last years of LHCS on the pre-electrified West Anglia line, Liverpool Street—Cambridge—King’s Lynn, first in B/G InterCity, then in NSE, and as often as not hauled by Cl.37s. Damnit. I sold most of my 00 stock a couple of years ago and went large instead, but now I’m thinking maybe there’s some room for a little 00… Paul
  10. “These days”? It’s been going on for decades — and if you’ve only just realised then you haven’t been paying attention. “Yes Minister” is more than 40 years old and that was just reflecting what was then already long-established practice. Paul
  11. The electric division of the Milwaukee Road (it was a toss-up between that and the Anaconda: I love those primitive heavyweight electrics). If you had allowed interurbans I might have chosen the Bamberger in the early 1950s. Paul
  12. There are alternatives. I dunno: make it compulsory for cars to have a loudspeaker fitted which has a proximity alert, telling them to pull over right now? ALl the sound from that would be confined to the car, making it possible to have a less piercing warning for pedestrians, etc. That's probably a garbage idea, but what is interesting in your reply is your presumption that catering to the needs of a motorist who has deliberately chosen to coccoon themselves in silence is much more important than the environmental impact on humans going about their business in the open air. Priority for motorists yet again. And then petrolheads wonder why people start insisting on low-speed roads, blocking of rat-runs, and even legislation to discourage them from driving cars which pollute the lungs and brains of toddlers in built up areas. Back vaguely O/T, as a passenger I think these Flirts are rather good: much better than the tired old rattlers they have replaced. Paul
  13. Cars are increasingly isolated from the outside world, posh ones now even having double glazing. The consequence is that any warning noise has to be increased in order to penetrate to the driver. It’s why the sirens on emergency vehicles are getting louder and louder. The fact this all makes it very unpleasant to exposed pedestrians is apparently of no consequence. Paul
  14. Twenty-thirty years ago I had occasional evening meetings with a work dinner in Edinburgh, and the Sleeper let me then get back to my London office for a normal start to the working day. It was theoretically ideal, had a whiff of romance, and in reality never worked. I called them "dozers" rather than sleepers -- random points jarring suddenly shaking you awake; your bed running side-to-side instead of front-to-back making every change of speed worse; and occasional stops in the middle of the night where some platform worker would stand randomly outside a carriage window and shout "Crewe" (or whatever) in their loudest voice... And without going into TMI, my bladder has not improved with age: a schlep along the corridor was never any fun (though I understand some of the new trains have ensuites). So I think it's a non-runner? Not necessarily, actually. It's hard to predict the future, but the trends seem to be: discouraging air travel (look at how some European governments made airline bail-outs contingent on them stopping routes which competed with high-speed rail); a shift to EVs (and it's difficult to see how aviation could do that -- though, as I wrote, it's hard to predict the future); a world in which we have to live with Covid, which makes individual sleeper compartments much more attractive than being crammed into an over-crowded short-haul plane; less mobility for much higher prices... That world might be a little more amenable to overnight sleeper services. Though I'm still not betting my pension on it. Paul
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