D854_Tiger

Apparently there is major disruption on the Stourbridge Town branch, all services shown as being delayed by three minutes. Now I know the journey only takes three minutes, so a 100% delay ain't great, but major disruption. Half the services on the main line are cancelled though so you will be three minutes late for a connection that isn't coming.

Actually I think I meant to say Merthyr and Brecon there, that was the one with the big hill

In Japan it is considered impolite to use a mobile phone in the seated area and in Japan politeness is taken very seriously, and when your fellow passengers point out you must not use your phone, it will not be because it is highly irritating, but out of concern that you might be about to embarrass yourself. I once watched a pair of delightful Japanese kids in a bullet train, who clearly considered it the height of naughtiness to risk standing in the first class (for all of half a second) then retreating to the standard class in fits of giggles. I suspect they must measure naughtiness over there on a different scale to the one we use.

I believe they do pay them a lot more nowadays (ducks just in case) and due to the sheer number of applicants, in practice, you're not going to get in without a higher education and I believe the TOCs do stipulate some kind of engineering qualification is preferred. My old university professor took early retirement to become a train driver, it had always been his dream job, and because the TOCs nowadays do not engage in age discrimination they took him on. He will have retired full stop, by now, but for a while there was at least one PhD Mathematician driving our trains, I reckon he could have coped with those controls and given you the logarithmic, hyperbolic and reciprocal readings off the top of his head, whilst he was at it. Mind you, he would have been as confused as I was this morning by those treacherous b******s at the BBC insisting on giving us the level of snow in cms, not inches the way I think, why can't they speak English I had to explain what a cm was to my old mom. I wouldn't say I have a chip on my shoulder over the EU or that I'm really all that anti-European but I still haven't forgiven them for the metric system, which has always struck me as being rather vulgar with its simplicity.

Thanks for that, couldn't find them on Google. So according to their map it will be confusion on the Birmingham - Coventry line, with West Midlands laying claim to the class 323 International shuttle (plus some peak only workings through to Coventry) but the lions share of stoppers (three out of four per hour) will be London and North Western. Privatisation did lead to an element of confusion on our railways (but at least it was logical) but if you really want a dog's dinner you can always rely on politics.

I believe the plan is for the five car sets to eventually gravitate to the Oxford and Cotswold line and the Cheltenham line and will only turn up on one (two sets) train per hour (out of four) on the far busier core routes to South Wales and Bristol so that they can divide en-route. Apparently, they will be doubled up or replaced by a nine car set at peak times on those routes as well. At quieter times of the day they may well turn up anywhere but the class 180s seemed to cope on that same basis. Having said all that, it will happen, sods law says it will happen, at the worst possible time and after a preceding train (or trains) has been cancelled, then we get to see how many people can fit into a Mini.

i believe it was a universal law over the Neath and Brecon, with the Pannier tanks always facing uphill and never being turned to ensure it.

Indeed, and everything written in Japanese as well.

Well they don't seem to have a website up and running yet, least I can't find one, or is the two websites. Might be an idea though.

Well I like it.

My mom deeply offended me once, on a day out at York, when I pointed out a Deltic and she called it a bit ugly. I was in deep shock, in great need of a safe space.

P.P.S. Maidenhead and Slough as well. Also Southall has considerable ties with Brum, within the Asian community. A colleague claims to have to go down there on an almost fortnightly basis for the weddings.

P.S. I believe Chippenham tickets are valid that way as well.

Swindon and the Airports mostly. Swindon is quite a popular booking from the north, out of XC via Reading, so much so, that the routing guide always used to have a specific easement, making fares valid, as XC doesn't stop at Didcot the obvious changing point.

Back in the day, Midlands - South Coast services (originating from either Snow Hill or via the GC) used to call at Reading West to avoid the reversal at General. But I would certainly not like that as Reading is my preferred route for both Heathrow (via Paddington - sod the coach) and Gatwick, best way to do it when lugging bags around and, let's face it, you're never in a rush nowadays when flying, the amount of check-in time they insist upon.

The only XC section, nowadays, that would benefit from tilt is between Stoke and Manchester as most of XCs other 125 mph operation doesn't require it. Birmingham all the way through to Edinburgh, via York and Newcastle, has substantial amounts of 125 mph running but none of it requiring tilt. The only other bits cleared for 125 mph are Reading - Didcot and Wolverhampton - Stafford again neither requiring tilt. Then, if the DfT were serious about reducing the timings between Birmingham and Manchester some limited stop services would be the best way to achieve that and that prospect does get raised from time to time, indeed, I believe it may well happen depending on the outcome of the new WCML franchise discussions.

I believe the correct term is 'snowflake'.

I seriously doubt most drunks on trains have got tanked up on buffet prices. By all accounts, in Scotland, after the 9 pm watershed, all the Irn Bru bottles come out, a colleague reckoned they were wall to wall on the train he was on to Aberdeen.

They don't have laws in France, only suggestions. It always makes me laugh when they accuse us British of being such bad Europeans, for resisting the imposition of yet another EU regulation, when you know full well most of the usual Continental suspect pretentious b******s have absolutely no intention of taking any regulation seriously.

Apart from LT Underground trains, all electric trains use their wheels and earth for the return current. How and where is this physically achieved on the train, is it done via the bogie frames, next to the traction motors, or elsewhere. I take it as given that the rest of the train is well earthed also. I'm guessing they don't have Hornby style brushes scrapping against the wheels.

For a while, there was a summer Saturday Voyager, heading to Bournemouth, that ran non-stop New St - Basingstoke. A must do for me, at the time, as it took the through lines at both Leamington and Oxford, rushing along at speed, only to spend twelve minutes waiting time on the Reading avoider. When the Bristol route is closed they have occasionally diverted the West Country services via Oxford that can be great fun in a Voyager normally Bristol to New St with just one stop at Oxford.

Most especially if it was showering smuts all over the spilled diesel.

There could well be relief on the way though. The BBC has been commissioning a whole bunch of studies on teenagers, how they interact with each other via their use of telephones, and one surprise outcome has been the discovery that nowadays they never actually make any phone calls. Indeed, further to that, many don't even know how to make a voice call, so used are they to texting and using instant messaging apps. Then the real surprise many of them have developed an aversion to ever doing so, a whole area of social skill they have never experienced and indeed are quite scared to even consider, even worse, fear of ever actually having to meet anyone face to face. There is even talk (and I kid you not) that they may have to introduce these skills into the school curriculum, so important are they deemed to be for later life. The lesson seems to be that to truly understand the impact newer technologies like smart phones have made and are changing our society, you need to study those that have grown up with them.

A colleague recalls an incident on a train journey where a right old stand up bun fight developed between a married couple. Turns out the husband had gone to the toilet, leaving his phone behind, whereupon it rang so the wife answered to discover his mistress was calling.

They certainly lack the acceleration of a Voyager but XC services are hardly timed to exploit it. As for 125 mph running, between Manchester and Bournemouth there are only two short sections where that is possible - Reading to Didcot (assuming the train is offered the fast lines) and Wolverhampton to Stafford. North of Stafford, 125 mph isn't possible, as tilt has been disabled on all of XC's Voyagers, though the four car units were never equipped for tilt anyway.