eatus-maximus

I thought that but..... Yes they do. Apparently they had First class and retention toilets fitted.

If it isn't railway land, or there is a public right of access, there is nothing the railway can do.

I would have thought the MLBS would have been the better coach to motorise, given the underframe is entirely different anyway.

Turns out it was Precision Labels... DELLNER COUPLINGS CLASS 57, 47 & 37

I did say I was going from memory, which is going back 20 years, and to be fair I thought it was implicit that we were talking about a lower speed diverging route. I have adjusted my post though.

GNER examples of mixed rakes of coaches (not locos), are exceptionally rare, in part because their spare stock was in short supply compared to the number of full rakes they had, but also because they were quite quick to repaint stock, in complete rakes, but that is not to say it didn't happen. I can't link properly from work equipment, but a Google image search for "GNER Doncaster 1997" will bring up a picture from Flickr. I am also aware of a very short period of time when the 'Mallard' refurbishments were happening, where a couple of Virgin livery Mk3 coaches were inserted into GNER HST rakes to extend the trains to 9 carriages, but at this point I cannot source a photo. Examples of Virgin/Intercity, Midland Mainline/Intercity, Midland Mainline/Virgin/Project Rio, and basically anything First Group/GWT/Intercity are not hard to find.

Precision Labels have waterslide transfers. PRECISION DECALS - D61-A

In the UK, from memory, there are two ways that a 'high speed' junction could be approached. If the signaller has set the junction for the train to pass AND it is clear to proceed (no conflicting movements), the process will start three signals away from the junction. The driver will see two flashing yellow aspects, followed by one flashing yellow aspect, then a steady single yellow aspect with route/junction indicator before the junction. The driver should expect the signal after the junction to be red. As the train approaches (distance may vary by junction), the signal may change to a less restrictive aspect. If the signaller has NOT set the junction and/or it is NOT clear to proceed over the junction, the process starts three signals before the junction. The signal will show two steady yellow aspects, the next one yellow aspect, and then the final signal before the junction is red. It will stay red until the route is set and the route is clear to proceed. As always, if the route clears and the junction is set whilst the train is approaching, a signal may change. For example, a double yellow aspect could change to a single flashing yellow. A route/junction indicator is only shown on the final signal before the junction. The indicator will usually only show for a diverging route, but there are exceptions. This process may change if there is a signal in the middle of 'a junction', see the Colwich accident (1986??) for more gruesome details on that!

My understanding is that most of the trains on the national network do not meet the current standards, so what do they want to replace them?

The Mk3 and Mk4 DVTs are very different. Not much in common at all. ATW transfers are available from Precision Labels. I saw some 3D printed couplers the other day, can I think of where I saw them... no... but they are out there. When the 57/3 locos were first converted, they did not have Dellner couplers. These were a later addition. At various points some have had the couplers removed, but with the mounting point still in place.

Apologies if it has already been mentioned, but I'm genuinely curious as to why there is a NP 59 at Peak Forest.

There's been a few promotional liveries, or variations, Liverpool Capital of Culture '08, Pride, Remembrance Day, Eurovision, and Andy's Man Club spring to mind.

Whilst my opinion is that your first sentence is true, unlike the closure of ticket offices I lack the necessary information to state it as fact.

Northern do offer Advance fares on many routes, many on the day too (with a deadline of 5-15 minutes before travel), but unlike many other Train Companies, they're not available on the day from ticket offices.

Made worse by decisions not to recruit. Some train companies have not recruited for ticket office positions since the beginning of 2020, meaning training courses for staff movement within the company do not happen either. My company has a staff deficit of approximately 10% and no sign of recruiting in the near future.

Nice, someone slates the entire BBC news team and you say nothing, I slate, potentially, one person in the entire BBC and you want proof or I'm 'running away'. It is a potential for sure. Someone probably thought it would be a good idea to show 'they are better' than the TOCs (or Shapps), but as most people seem to know where the instructions came from, it really isn't the win they might think it is. They could have done that in a much better way, saved face more easily, so I'm not sure about that, but there may be some truth in that. Usually it is whichever gives the best reason to do what they want to do, but in this case I think it is tickets issued as a percentage of all sales on the National Rail Network, that seems to be how it is being reported atleast. Naturally these figures will include sales from business, which often are booked through a third party provider online with no choice of using a ticket office, but will not count the numbers of people collecting those tickets, or asking for advice, at ticket offices (because they are not sales).

If you want a 22 page essay, yes. I figured this thread was about ticket office closures though, so like I say, not wanting to get bogged down in a tangent.

Based on experience I'd say your first issue is "a University sub-Professor", which is a career path that doesn't hold as much weight for intellectual debate as it used to, though this is a rather large generalisation, I'm sure there are still some very good ones out there (other 'professions' to be wary of include "Lawyers" and "Customer Service Managers/Trainers", though again they are a generalisation). Not wishing to get bogged down in this tangent but if I recall correctly, one of BBC Verify's first reports was littered with verifiably false and inaccurate statements of "fact". The bits that were accurately true seeming to be grossly outnumbered. Given the level of detail in Northern's proposal (which is the one I am most familiar with), I doubt it is as much as you think (detail is something they didn't really waste any time on from what I can see), though it is probably a fair chunk of money. Transport Focus actually released the questions it asked of the TOCs and the responses given. In Northern's paperwork was the response to a question of how people could get tickets which were not available through the TVMs. The answer given was that they would try to make as many as possible available, but that it was 'not commercially efficient' to offer all of them by those channels. Someone actually signed off on that response.

R and RA ("Right Away") signify that platform duties are complete. This is a local system operated by dispatch staff and not connected to the signalling system. I believe the instruction to station staff is not to illuminate the indicator until the main signal has a proceed aspect (to reduce the chances of a SPAD). So typically the signaller will set the route and release the signal, then the dispatch duties will be completed, and the R/RA indicator is illuminated, before the train can depart.

£2,70 is off-peak, £2.80 is peak time.

It is indeed the future, as is not being advised to buy Railcards when applicable, as is not being able to buy a full range of tickets.

The Help Points are contracted out (at one point last year the Help Points at my local station were disconnected due to a sudden ending of the contract), I'm unsure if it is one contract for all train companies, or each with their own though, but this would explain their inability to grasp the situation very quickly. Their information is likely to be about as vague as the web page they are reading from. With any disruption, train companies will usually have a time either for resumption of service or when they expect "normal" service to resume. This is not always made public, but is probably where the time came from. The departure boards are a largely automated system with some manual input. Unless altered manually, the expected times shown will adjust according to where the train is on the track compared to where it should be. When a train is stationary or has not started it's journey at the expected time, it will default to "Delayed" to avoid changing the expected time by three minutes every three minutes. If the train is subsequently cancelled, it will likely just disappear from the board with no explanation. Obviously with big disruption the boards are less likely to be manually altered for every train. These are the systems that the railway plans to use to help replace ticket offices, along with cheap TVMs that barely work and DOO trains.

Yeah, I presume he has friends with access to AI war machines that definitely aren't made on a budget..... anyway.... I don't know of any specific changes to conditions yet, however, Northern and the RMT are technically still in dispute over DOO (DCO), several BR era units have been noted with new monitors installed in the cab, albeit plated over, and of course the 195s and 331s at Northern were all designed with DOO (DCO) in mind. I would expect all of the new units Northern might want to also be fitted for DOO (DCO). I believe the last pay offers to the RMT/ASLEF still had DOO in them, though more as an agreement to consider at a later stage on a more local level. It's difficult to know what TSSA agreed to because they didn't even know they had agreed to close the ticket offices.

Northern's units had shoes and shoe fuses removed. It should be possible to refit them though. Failing that, the stored GWR 769s are tri-mode I believe. No-one likes fitting 3rd rail these days though, even the Merseyrail extension has seen batteries fitted to the units.

Let's also note here that the Underground is a far simpler system with a far simpler fares structure, and yet many British people still struggle, nevermind the tourists. I remember once working at City Thameslink a good few years ago, at the Holborn Viaduct entrance, on a LUL strike day and a smartly dressed woman walked down to the ticket office. She asked if she could get to King's Cross from there due to the strike. "Yes" I said, "there's a direct service, eight trains an hour". "Brilliant" she exclaims, "from there I can get home to St Albans". At which point I had to break it to her that there were also eight trains an hour (four 'quick trains') direct to St Albans. Turns out, she had been changing from train to tube at King's Cross Thameslink for the Circle line to Barbican and then walking along Long Lane and up Snow Hill to the Goldmann Sachs building across the street (in fairness the station entrance is well hidden from the street... aside from the massive BR sign). City Thameslink had been open for twenty years at that point and even Farringdon was direct train from St Albans. Not only was she making a longer journey than she needed to, but she was also paying more for the privilege. What happened on the Underground will not work for the railway, but yes, that does appear to be the plan. The DfT are behind these plans to close ticket offices and remove Guards, so you can expect that rule book to be ripped up and single control rooms being placed in charge of many station ticket barriers remotely to cut down on staff, probably with low hours agency workers contracted out by profit making TOCs.