caradoc

Sorry to be pernickety but there were still a few Warships in service in 1972; The only one I ever saw working was 807 Caradoc (hence my user name) on our summer holiday that year in Weston-Super-Mare. You were obviously very unlucky !

I received bridge strike reports from the Police, members of the public, and sometimes the lorry driver responsible; For whom I did have sympathy, knowing even as I was taking their details that there would be consequences for them, these must however be commensurate with the incident and its results. Personally I feel that their should be severe sanctions for the employer, to encourage hauliers and others to ensure their drivers are properly trained, assessed, and of course given the correct equipment and skills they require. Because, quite frankly, the number of bridge strikes is ridiculous, and sooner or later one will cause a serious railway accident. BTW another bus loses its roof at a railway bridge, a couple of days ago: https://www.bedfordshirelive.co.uk/news/bedfordshire-news/luton-hitchin-road-bus-crash-5852321

So as a layman why say it all ? I make no apology whatsoever for challenging such statements, in my role as railway staff I dealt with bridge strikes nearly every day - My personal record was three, not in one week, or one day, in one shift; And not in the whole of the UK but in just in Scotland.

I take it you are also a qualified structures engineer and therefore able to judge the condition and strength of a bridge from a couple of photos ?

My first solo train journey was at the relatively ancient age of 12, when my parents kindly agreed (and paid) for me, at the end of a family holiday, to be dropped at Worcester and travel home to Oxford. This was summer 1972 and I clearly recall seeing the first 08 3000 outside Shrub Hill, but stupidly I did not record the loco on the train home, quite possibly a Hymek.

Not to mention bypassing Leicester and Nottingham (or rebuilding the line right through those cities, which would make HS2 opposition look like a tea party) and destroying the Great Central Railway and the GCR (N); We're as well with a purpose built new railway, which will serve, just as the WCML has, for decades and centuries to come.

Apologies if the question has already been asked, but is there any reason apart from the domino headcodes (easily changed) why BR blue 47012 would not be suitable from it's TOPS renumbering date onwards ?

As phil-b259 mentions elsewhere, there is track damage beneath the train, which does complicate things.

Indeed, and for that reason service reductions have been in force for well over a year. These proposals are for the service from May 2022. If Covid is still having a major effect on staffing levels then I would fully agree with planned reductions, but that is not the reason Scotrail are giving.

Comments on Facebook along the lines of 'how dare they destroy part of our railway heritage for a film'.... I'm not sure whether they're taking the mickey or genuinely believe a preserved loco was sent hurtling off a cliff !

A service reduction is exactly what this is, because the Perth/Edinburgh service will run via Dunfermline stopping at nearly every lamp post, therefore fulfilling two service needs with one train, and giving Perth a very poor service to and from Edinburgh, given that via Stirling is longer than via Fife, and only 4 or 5 trains go that way anyway; The Edinburgh/Perth trains take around 95-100 (ninety-five to one hundred) minutes ! Among other 'highlights': Glasgow Queen St/Edinburgh service runs half hourly calling at Croy, Falkirk High, Polmont, Linlithgow and Haymarket; There are additional peak hour trains which miss Croy, Polmont and Linlithgow, but call at Bishopbriggs and Lenzie instead ! Any ambition to provide an express service linking Scotland's two largest cities has been well and truly abandoned, and Scotrail has a real nerve classing this service among their Inter City group. Glasgow Queen St/Cumbernauld/Falkirk/Edinburgh service, only recently introduced, no longer runs between Falkirk and Edinburgh. Glasgow/Kilmarnock service is two trains per hour, but half of these call at all stations, ie also forming Barrhead locals. Cathcart Circle services, except for a few in the peaks, are withdrawn, meaning the Maxwell Park side of the Circle has only an hourly service during the day, 50% of pre-Covid level, and the Queens Park side 3 trains per hour, 75% ditto. Glasgow Suburban services in general go down to an hourly service (vice half-hourly) in the evenings. I fully recognise the decline in passenger numbers, not helped in anyway by the railway industry itself effectively telling people 'if you dare get on a train you will die of Covid, and probably kill your granny too', and would have expected to see cuts in additional rush hour provision given the fall in commuting, but these cuts go far beyond that and will seriously damage attempts to get people back on trains. They also make a mockery of the Scottish Government's environmental policies by forcing people to use road transport vice rail - I wonder what their just-appointed little Green helpers will make of that ? All in all, a disaster for Scotland's Railway.

Certainly not me ! I am eternally grateful that by the time I started on BR as a Booking Clerk LSD was history.

Hopefully the sign on the new tank will have 'gauge' spelt correctly..... The sign at Bakers Tank deserves to be shot at !

Absolutely; Just this morning I was on a local bus into Oxford, early in the morning. Having stopped at traffic lights we moved off when they changed to green, only for a luxury coach to cross in front of us, without any doubt having driven straight through the red light.

Your ambition and dedication in making such a cycle is outstanding Jamie, I am in awe of your achievement. My longest 'similar' trip was in Summer 1976 when I and a friend spent a week cycling round Derbyshire and South and West Yorkshire, in pursuit of railway depots and loco numbers. I still recall the effort it took between the Youth Hostels in Matlock and Langsett (Penistone) via Buxton, nothing compared to your trip of course !

Facing point on a passenger line into a gated siding, surely very unusual ?

Thanks for that, until the wording was changed from train to railway station I didn't have a clue what the story was about....

Model Rail Scotland in February 2020 was my last exhibition, and my first one post-pandemic was expected to be Warley this November. Not any more......

IIRC when BR electrified the Weaver Jc/Glasgow route, the OLE mast number plates used km measurements instead of miles. And that is surely the answer to the whole imperial/metric/freedom etc debate.

OK, but given the relative quietness of the M6 Toll compared to the M6 proper the cunning plan doesn't appear to have worked !

I've always thought it a great pity that the Bournemouth electrification was 3rd rail rather than 25kV OLE from, say, Woking, but no doubt the greater cost of installation and stock provision made that a non-starter, given that BR could not afford to electrify through to Weymouth or even just Poole.

Strange; I've used the M6 Toll northbound and southbound, through choice, many times, but I certainly don't recall any lack of signage resulting in people being forced onto it, quite the opposite.

Happy Birthday from me too David, and thanks again for the photos.

Many years ago I travelled overnight to Munich, stretched out in a compartment. Unknown to me the train doubled as a commuter service towards the end of the journey and when I awoke, dishevelled, bleary-eyed and confused, there were four smartly-dressed Germans sat on the seat opposite me. Thankfully they did not seem in the least upset !

Cardiff/Holyhead (only, at present), eg on the 24th June the 1712 from Cardiff was 67008.