SwissRailPassion

Both major routes to Scotland are run by Virgin. Do they want MORE?

I agree with the OP. TT gives detail and scale whilst not being too small. It's an excellent size for modern homes where space is short. I found N gauge too small and I would like to run 6 and 7 coach trains, TT would enable this in a moderate space. I think there is potential to create a new market here. Modern rolling stock with 23m carriages and class 66's coming in at a foot long in OO really eat up space. TT would be excellent for modern image.

Virgin trains has offered me a ticket for £40 so I tried Virgin East Coast a few seconds later, and for the same journey they found me one for £35.

Does anyone have any info on how the daily goods was handled at Bridlington. There seems to be no signalled backing move from the sidings along the excursion lines and through 5 to the goods yard. This movement happened daily.

Thanks for posting these, very informative and beautifully drawn. Each day the goods trip working to the goods yard would come into 7 or 8 and then shunt back to run round in the sidings. After that it would run wrong direction along 5 to the goods yard. There appears to be no signalling for this move between South and Quay. Am I missing something?

Just seen a pleasant film from the 60's inluding a 22 shunting at Coleford Junction in the Forest of Dean.

The skinhead 31 looked extremely good when I first saw it a few years ago. What a shame about the rot. I hope Hornby or Bachmann produce a new model soon, there will be demand.

I have had 4 class 22s and all have been sent back because of light failures , wobbles, poor pick ups and running badly in one direction. In the end I've given up and got a refund.

I must go out and buy the HM. It's a brilliant layout. It seems to have plenty of interest, through station and branch terminus plus sidings and diary. I'd be reluctant to change it if it works for you.

Are these flame proof?

Exeter Salisbury Waterloo trains diverting via Westbury due to signalling problems. Have so many problems ever occurred in the SW in the space of a few days?

South west line now open at Crewkerne first up train on its way.

Road costs are immense but few in the public have any conception of them. A short section of Glasgow motorway came in over 500 million. One roundabout on the A64 came in at 10 million. 150 million will get you quite a few miles of new conventional railway but not a large amount of new road. The forecast for next week is not good, more storms (forecast on 06Z GFS) on the way to make the repair work more difficult. It's a real engineering challenge and NR are rising to it. Excellent updates on the NR website btw. http://www.networkrail.co.uk/improvements/dawlish/

New lines are built or re-opened due to political will.The mechanism of government in Scotland allows political will at the local level to drive policy at the national level. Hence a brand new electrified double track railway between Bathgate and Airdrie, the Alloa re-opening, and the Borders railway. In England we do not have the more direct democratic representation that the Scots have. Thus, hardly any new routes have been opened. In England we have to get things through Westminster and Whitehall, that is not easy or fast. Things are changing with the present coalition; the Whitehall generation that was allergic to new schemes has passed on. In Switzerland, new lines can be built after a Cantonal referendum. It was the will of the people that tunnels at Lotschberg and Gotthard were made. At Lucerne the recent diversions were a public vote, and a vote in Geneva approved the massive CEVA tunnel currently underway to link Annemasse with Central Geneva and the airport. At Dawlish it's a repair job. A longer term solution may be a small diversion or a more robust defence which can be environmentally and aesthetically satisfactory. The wish for the LSWR route re-opening is not just nostalgia. It arises from the collective generational grief after too many lines were closed. Too many communities were isolated in the cuts and were blighted by poor transport links. There is political will at the local and regional level to expand the network, but in England it must be focused to translate into viable schemes. Only then can it go through the considerable hurdles to get noticed. It's very frustrating. It will be interesting to see the West Country politicians at work and how far their lobbying will be effective.

From photos in the Daily Telegraph at least one house is undermined and may have to come down. The next storm is approaching, can the damage be contained? Very high wave heights are predicted for Saturday although the tide is lower. Let's hope the engineers can stop any further serious washouts in the short term. A wave wall or extra wall seems a good long term idea but these do affect the beach and are difficult to model. Thanks for your posts Captain Kernow. Btw are you singing in the Railway Eye Blog video ? http://railwayeye.blogspot.co.uk/search/label/Bloody%20weather

Pity the people in the houses. They looked to have been undermined.

It may be cheaper to rebuild from Okehampton and use it as a secondary and diversion route.

Storm force winds expected Friday night into Saturday. The tide may not be so high but the gap is exposed to further washout.

It's under the houses here https://mobile.twitter.com/sophiepierce/status/430998381398614016/photo/1

There must have been a surge in pennies when they signalled Bude.

Informed sources are telling me the construction schedule is to be substantially recast.

Excellent to hear from an insider Mike. Sir David Higgins is the only man with the proven skills to bring the project to fruition. He will be bring clarity and purpose. I think it has been badly managed so far. Birmingham as a first objective was a PR disaster and the railway takes too long to build. Toton and Meadowhall are weak concepts. There is much work to do to refashion the project. Big infrastructure needs to be in the right place. We need the politicians to go for Boris Island, close Heathrow and build Hs2 from both ends at once.

A remarkable event! North Yorkshire County Council supporting a rail transport scheme. Is this a first?

Do we build this line now? Or do we wait 10 years and then have to build it in a hurry as we will be the only advanced country without a significant high speed network. We must, as a country, plan for the future, not for 2010.

People are worried about 42 billion here in UK, but the Chinese are spending much more than that each year. 63 billion is this years reduced budget! This year around 3,700 miles of new railway will open. This puts things like the Todmorden and Ordsall curves and our national shortage of carriages in perspective. http://www.railjournal.com/index.php/asia/china-plans-yuan-630bn-rail-investment-in-2014.html?channel=542