Chris116

Don't post any pictures of your old Tri-ang 3046! Hat, coat and exit stage left at speed!

Entry into platform 4 at Surbiton seems to be controlled by a stop-em-all signal. The previous train can have left platform 4 over 10 minutes previously but you still get stopped!

I would not expect them to be experts on Railway tickets but they should be able to see that the ticket is for the right day and the right route. They will leave any additional details to the staff and ticket gates at any station they may actually get to use a train on their journey.

You simply show the paper ticket.

I still like the idea of an outdoor ice rink!

I have to point out that 'Big Boys' are 4-8-8-4 Union Pacific locomotives and what you have in the picture is far superior being from the GWR.

My old Senior Railcard expires on 2nd October and after the mess National Rail have made I today (17th September) I received my new Railcard which started on 11th September. So having cheated me out of three weeks validity on the renewal they then on the basis that it is a new Railcard cheat me out of 6 days validity. Delboy would more honest than National Rail.

Very pleased to see that my threat of repeats is working so well. Saves my a load of aggravation having to do all that copy and paste nonsense!

That is a very nice ice rink you have. Just needs the boards around the edge and some skaters!

Totally agree, it is a farce that they don't all do things the same way. The machines at Wimbledon will serve me a ticket from boundary zone 6 to Alton. You just ask for tickets from another station. But I have come across others around London that do not have that facility and at Liverpool Street when I asked how I could buy an extension for my Freedom Pass to Rye House I was told to use the ticket office or get out at the boundary station. The ticket office was closed due to staff sickness and there was no way I was going to take an extra half hour on my journey. Result loss of fare for the railways from someone who always pays. After that incident I made sure I used the machine at Wimbledon to buy the ticket.

I normally did buy all my tickets from my local station ticket office for exactly the reasons you give and also that I was in the ticket office at West Brompton when it was closed. Sadly just before Covid my local ticket office would not sell me advance tickets for a number of journeys claiming they were sold out but upon checking my phone they were still available and the clerk told me that if I was so clever I should stop wasting his time. Since then I have followed his advice and renewing my Railcard is the first problem I have had.

Yes, very simple if the link they send you to renew your Senior Railcard doesn't decide you are buying a new card without telling you until after you have made payment.

Those who are older than you, are grumpy old men and those who are younger than you, are grumpy young men. If you are asking for a friend then it is their age that is the dividing line!

In 2001 my American then fiancee, now wife, was on her first visit to London. She wanted to see Buckingham Palace and the changing of the guard. We were in the big crowd and enjoyed the spectacle. We had noted that the Queen had a morning engagement in North London and an afternoon engagement in South London. This made us think that she would drop in home for lunch and with the crowds gone I asked one of the policemen if the Queen was expected. The policeman said he could not tell me the answer to my question but he did confirm that 'if' she came home for lunch then she would enter by the gate we were standing near to. A few minutes later the police radios burst into life and shortly after the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh arrived in a short motorcade. The car stopped next to where we were standing and both the Queen and the Duke looked at us and waved. They were off duty but still were looking out for her subjects and tourists. I was already a royalist but that event made me even more devoted to the only monarch I had ever known until Thursday evening this week. Thank you for all you did for your country Queen Elizabeth II. Long live King Charles III.

Just trying to get back to the occasional joke in this thread!

If this thread drift continues I shall start reposting the fourth joke from each page starting with page 13.

Thread drift!

Oops, I meant National Rail and typed Network Rail. I have sent a reply saying that if their link sends me to the wrong place then they should sort their system out and that I consider them guilty of fraud. I await their reply.

Yes, it says you now have to supply a photo that will appear on the new Railcard. What I found rather silly was that you had to prove your age after having had a Senior Railcard for six years. Almost as if they think you might have ceased to be over 60.

About a week ago I received an email from Network Rail regarding renewal of my Senior Railcard. Having checked that the email really had come from who it claimed I clicked on the link and renewed my Senior Railcard. Having paid the system then confirmed the details with the new card starting from five days later instead of three and a half weeks later when my current Railcard expires! I therefore contacted Network Rail who have responded that I have bought a new Railcard rather than renewing the current one. The link I followed did not give me any option on what date the card should start and gave no clue that I was doing anything other than renewing the Railcard. I immediately emailed Network Rail asking them to sort out the problem and they have now replied saying that I used the wrong link and they do not alter the dates on a Railcard. In my view they have conned me out of three weeks validity and then had the cheek to say they hoped I enjoyed my new Railcard. For anyone else renewing their Railcard I would just say don't trust the link Network Rail send you as it could sell you short.

I had a great afternoon and evening on the Mid Hants Railway. Had a nice Alton - Alresford - Medstead trip behind S&D 7F 53808. Then switched trains to get back to Alresford behind 30925 Cheltenham which also hauled the RAT.

I am having a afternoon and evening out on the Mid Hants Railway today. Doing my first RAT guard duty since February 2020. Always an enjoyable time as the Real Ale Train is great fun for everyone although as guard I have to take all the passengers safety very seriously. I am hopeful that there will be a steam engine on the front as there has been some rain over the past week but if we have had to follow other lines and go diesel hauled again then that will not spoil my trip.

I have two J70's in BR livery (68219 and 68223) so I have ordered both BR teak coaches from Hattons. I already had some Hattons Genesis teak four wheelers so will play mix and match.

I used to have a very large Tri-ang TT collection and layout and can confirm that it was very hard to get any of the steam locomotives to haul more than three coaches even on level track. Good Brush type two diesels could take four. I found the DMU the most trouble to get running with only one of my five sets being able to run as a three car unit. The best of the rest would occasionally run as a two car unit and the other three were only suitable for filling sidings. The problem with Tri-ang TT was that the wheels/axles were very stiff and you could park trains on a 1 in 40 gradient without a loco and the train looked as though the brakes were on! Good luck with getting any trains longer than four coaches to run without re-wheeling all the stock.

Sorry, I only saw this one. Thanks for the quick response.