didcot

Breaking News. Red Bull over spend 2023 due to paying FIA/race stewards to give anyone who collide with their cars, even when it's RB's fault a penalty. How the !@#$%%&& did Hamilton get a penalty for that.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-alpine-confirm-team-principal-otmar-szafnauer-and-sporting-director.13bpB2bdAZnfQCpbv3BZGL.html Otmar Szafnauer and Alan Permane out at Alpine. Pat Fry also leaving for Williams. Sounds like a coup de etat!

Callsign must be GW78XX surely.

I've gone weak at the knees and in the wallet as well. Stunning.

Agreed, as you say people from all over the world want to travel the Harry Potter line. It brings in money to the area and it must be very disappointing for travellers. Are west coast employees at Fort William to explain the situation or are the station operators taking the flak? I don't know that answer. But fitting CDL and also tanks for toilet discharge is not breaking news. Failure to comply, regardless of any fatalities or not in the past is irrelevant. The ORR have stated the requirement and it needs to be adhered to. You wouldn't be surprised if you were pulled over by the old bill for not having tax, mot and insurance. It's a legal requirement, no argument.

Funnily enough the same thing cross my mind and assumed eject was for the American market rather than bail out.

LSL have an agreement with the group who own Sir Nigel Gresley I believe that is beneficial to both parties. Also the same group have been reported to be returning Bittern to working order for LSL in the near future. I think the Duke of Gloucester group have a similar arrangement with Tyseley. Not quite run and restore, but something along those lines. I also think Ian Rileys Black 5s are employed on the Jacobites.

The set up at Crewe is probably on equal terms these day with West Coast. I don't know if they are a TOC in their own right or have to use the services of West Coast and the like to provide drivers for their tours. There are a number of groups with mainline registered motive power, but the crews to operate them must be thin on the ground.

That sums it up nicely @Mike_Walker

The difference is that you are running trains on the national network and as such is more heavily regulated than a preserved lines. Don't preserved lines fall under the light railway banner and thus restricted to 25mph? Hence the exemption in certain areas.

The topic of CDL has been covered in Steam Railway recently. One tour operator has complied with the ORR and fitted it to it's stock at a reported cost of £600K. Other haven't and in West Coasts case has been given extensions to honour bookings. It is also reported the West Coast are seeking a judicial review on the subject. So CDL can be fitted, at cost, but it seems some are reluctant possibly due to cost. It isn't a surprise that CDL was going to be required. Some operators push the boundaries whilst others comply. Surely the ORR should be clamping down hard on those that fail to comply to regulations. If you draw a line in the sand you have to stick to it, otherwise you will be retreating up the beach and into the grass.

That and Lando breaking Crashtappen's trophy. 🤣

Ted's Notebook has been more interesting than most of the races this year!

Or a set of chains from an Oxford Die-cast Aveling and Porter steam roller.

If you are planning on travelling see below https://westcoastrailways.co.uk/news/important-travel-information-the-jacobite-1

Looking good. It's going to get expensive soon with the imminent arrival of these, Thunderbolt, Railmotor and Manors. I will be waiting by the letter box to intercept the credit card statement at this rate.

Must be a cat specialist!

I don't get RB. Too quick to hire and fire. No support or so it appears for struggling drivers. Look at how Albon is performing in the right environment.

https://www.formula1.com/en/latest/article.breaking-ricciardo-to-replace-de-vries-at-alphatauri-from-the-hungarian.2yhnzxE6XpSUZwzHfr9rXp.html Read about it here. Pretty ruthless by all concerned. But we've seen it before with Kyviat and Albon. At least Albon is in a good place now.

Made us chuckle. My lad and his girlfriend managed to make it into Ted's Notebook.

Ted Kravitz has just mispronounced Brad Pitt's surname as Brad Ti@.

Nice one Lando and Lewis. Good to see the crowd behind them. Good result for Alex Albon.

My lad and his girlfriend were waiting at the team entrance behind the barriers as per my earlier post. There was a little lad with a sign with Go Max on one side and Nick de Vryes on the other. Franz Tost hoped over the barrier to sign in. Christian Horner took one look and said "can't reach" and walked off. My lad showed me the video. Sums RB up.

My lads autograph/selfie tally has gone up. Mercedes engineers Bono and Shov. Alex Albon and girlfriend. About 20 minutes ago George Russell.

My eldest is adding to his tally of autographs today. Franz Tost, George Russell and Esteban Ocon. There is a two barrier system that keep the public away from the drivers etc by about 3 feet. So you chuck the pen and hat at the driver, they catch sign and through it back. My lad dropped the pen out of reach so Esteban climbed over the first barrier, signed the cap and had a selfie with him. He got a cheer from those around him. What a nice thing to do.