Northmoor

I think that's what's called accessing criminal records.

Mmmm. Attractive at the Eastern end up to round Luton Hoo, then it rapidly goes downhill. I can't imagine too many would pay to travel between Luton and Dunstable, for pleasure. Interestingly neither proximity to a large local population or connection to the national rail network, contribute greatly to the number of passengers carried on a preserved railway. I believe what became the Yorkshire Dales Railway at Embsay, originally had this intention, but the line remained open for the stone traffic, so Embsay to Bolton Abbey would not exist. Coincidentally my Mother took exactly the same journey to school in the 1950s, but by train. It was a real loss; Dunblane - Callander and possibly onto Strathyre would have been a spectacular steam railway, within easy travel of Edinburgh and Glasgow (as demonstrated by the number of day trippers in the area at weekends). As you suggest, it would replace the B&KR and possibly the Strathspey Railway; wasn't this formed by a group of members who wanted the SRPS to locate their operations further North?

MotoGP from Jerez when about half the riders in the three classes are Spanish. The place is going to go absolutely mental.

Not too often you get a 12-car 455 rake, @Peter Kazmierczak. I believe that for Princess Diana's funeral, some Basingstoke stoppers ran in this form to cope with the numbers. Anyway, I arrived at Waterloo this morning to find the celebrity 455/8 almost adjacent: Also spotted on the commute this month, a 701 in passenger service: Last Thursday, a real oddity when the 1950 Reading service left from Platform 1, I don't normally get to see the station from this side: As predicted it needed a convoluted route to get to the Reading Line platforms at Clapham, losing eight minutes being pathed through all the conflicting movements. Fortunately, despite the guard seemingly always managing to be well away from the doors when stopping - delaying opening the doors by vital seconds - the driver clearly tried and managed to make up two minutes, so still made the connection at Ascot.

<cough> If I had that kind of money spare, I'd probably buy a share in the real thing.

Bath to Templecombe is a pretty ambitious preserved railway! But the clue is in the word "imaginary" I suppose. Consider this: The S&DRHT at Midsomer Norton wouldn't exist; The S&DRT would never have moved from Radstock to Washford in the early 70s, The North Dorset Railway at Shillingstone might not have got off the ground, The Gartell Light Railway probably wouldn't either, if your scheme had taken over the railway soon after closure, there would likely have been no interest in what became the Avon Valley Railway at Bitton. That's quite an impact. If the original Kingsbridge branch scheme had been successful it's likely the Dart Valley wouldn't have been created. Not quite the same thing, but there would be no Whitrope Summit Heritage Centre if the Border Union Railway had taken over the Waverley Route in 1970. There are many preserved railways which took over lines closed to passengers or freight after 1969-70, which had they survived much longer, would have survived into an era when traffic was increasing a rail closures became politically unacceptable. The Swanage and Mid-Hants both fit into this category.

My former manager knows, or knew, the victim in that case. It's worth reading the RAIB report if you think he was "leaning out"; I think it suggested that the clearance between coach body and the signal post at that speed (so allowing for the dynamic envelope) was no more than a few inches. Anyone with their head out enough for just one eye to be able to see forward, would have been fatally injured. Just like the fatality of a young woman between Bristol and Cardiff (is this the one you're referring to?), there was a suggestion she was completely inside the coach, but was struck by something fouling the loading gauge and which came through the open window.

On the opposite platform face to the Aldershot bay at Ascot, the track is still there and overgrown to a similar level.

It's often been discussed on here, the low prices achieved for kit-built locos and unbuilt kits. Today I was following the Vectis Model Trains auction (and working at the same time, honest, if my boss is reading this) which comprised both some specific collections - someone had clearly amassed about half the diesels in a late 1980s Lima catalogue - but there were quite a few lots consisting of pairs of unbuilt or part-built loco kits. The limited descriptions didn't make it clear if motor/gearboxes were included and in only some cases were wheels obviously present, but lots of these kits were selling for little over £20 each. One lot of a completed and painted Hawksworth Pannier, a built but unpainted SR Terrier and a not-started SR P Class, I think sold for £40 (+ fees + postage). People pay more than that for Hornby starter train set locos. As well as a couple of 1980s Mainline locos bought out of nostalgia, I did win a Keyser Princess Coronation and Q-kits "Kestrel" for £35; the former will probably be sold on and the latter will be added to the project backlog of Diesel Prototypes: LMS 10000, Deltic and Falcon. I have probably acquired the components for all these for about £100, combined.

One of the similarly-positioned gems in the Liverpool Poly Engineering block was, "Don't beam me up Scotty, I'm having a sssshhhhhhhhhhhiiiiiiiii..................

Didn't Wayne Gardner admit he'd crashed on a Grand Prix slow-down lap, because he was, "Distracted by this great pair of t*ts in the crowd"?

I don't agree with some of your posts but thank you for that very reasoned post. If only some others on this and other RMWeb threads had the same self-awareness.

Expect to see it all on boot sales within a 50 mile radius very shortly.

Bit like my mate years ago who went for an eye test. "Can you read the bottom line of the chart?" "What, where it says Made in England?" Or when I did my bike test. "Can you read the plate on that blue car down there on the left, please sir?" I replied with what I read. The tester looked at me like I'd answered him in Norwegian. "That blue car on the left, there", pointing at a car about three car lengths away. I gave the right answer, then "Sorry I was looking at the dark blue one down there" (about 100 yards away). "What, you can read that? I probably couldn't tell you what car it was". Not quite as good vision now, need reading glasses but still pretty clear. I remember reading how Freddie Spencer, 1980s motorbike racing genius, once said how leaning into a corner he reckoned he could still resolve individual blades of grass alongside the track.

Oh dear.

Growing up in West Wales, I don't recall ever reading/hearing about anyone being hit by a train door or falling out of one. Are you suggesting the regulations on slam door stock didn't need to be applied there, only in the locations/routes where there had been serious injuries or fatalities?

Thank you. I know some believe these statistics are "tricked" by fewer passengers and staff not working on the line when trains are running. Well unless the work isn't being done at all, removing people from the risk is a perfectly accepted safety mitigation while (at least pre-pandemic) passenger-journey numbers were at record levels, so that excuse doesn't wash either.

I agree it isn't about demand but it is very likely to be about available capacity, specifically the impact of a failure or most likely late running. Steam loco performance is so far from that now achievable by modern EMUs that if they end up missing their (often very generous) path, they are likely to cause much worse disruption than if that were to happen further away from London. The regular correspondent on Main Line runs in HR magazine has long been obsessed with the idea that steam specials should be allowed to run at up to 90mph to allow margins for recovery. While I suspect this is more to do with his particular interest in fast running - which the vast majority of travelers would have zero interest in - it would also achieve very little as it is the desperately slow acceleration compared to modern multiple units, that causes problems with pathing. Not something that has to be worried about too much North of Fort William.

That is very rapid in considering whether to defend low-lying areas, which is why I believe the plan is NOT to defend the Fairbourne peninsula, one of several such areas around the British coast. If the sea has risen 4 inches in 40 years, the implication is that current sea defences will normally be over-topped several times a year, instead of perhaps once every four years. If I ran the Fairbourne Railway, I'd be looking for a new site to relocate to already.

Probably very realistic then......?

I obtained quite a few OS Maps surplus from Boscombe Down which are normal 1:50,000 Landrangers with all the power lines, wind turbines and communications masts highlighted.

Some people think maps are quite adequate....... https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/sailor-using-road-map-to-navigate-is-rescued-710914.html

Agreed, The Death of Stalin is a minor masterpiece. One of my favourite films is coincidentally one which barely departs from the book. In Fred Zinnerman's The Day of the Jackal, the script almost adheres to the book word-for-word.

I've got one, it's from Life-like. I've similar plans for mine.

I'm a fan of John Wyndham's novels. While it looks a bit crude now, the 1980s TV adaptation of The Day of the Triffids was rather good, the early 21st century one less so. The Village of the Dammed is an excellent telling of The Midwich Cuckoos and while obviously updated for the 2020s, I thought the recent TV version had adapted it rather well. One thing I didn't think transferred well to TV was "Hitch-hikers"; some of the ideas are so bonkers it was best on the radio where as the saying goes, the pictures are better.