caradoc

'The Power of the 37s' (B.Morrison, Oxford Publishing Co 1981) has photos of 37s on parcels trains: Jun 74 37238 at Selby bound for the Leeds area Jun 74 37012 at Norwich on the 1840 to Liverpool St (a passenger/parcels/postal combo) May 77 37025 at Colchester bound for Liverpool St Sep 79 37159 near Bridgend with 3 vans for Bristol Sep 79 37241 at Gloucester with vans for Swansea Sep 79 37255 between Cardiff and Newport with vans 'from Barry storage sidings' Sep 79 37268 at Milford Haven Apr 80 37230 at Chepstow with Down vans (a particularly varied formation) From memory East Anglia was a hotbed for 37s on parcels trains, given the number allocated to Stratford and March.

The car gained access to the line via the LC at Cheshunt station, so it certainly is level crossing stupidity, of a particularly outrageous kind in this case.

A different situation, in that smoking on a train is a clear breach of regulations with no exemptions, which is not the case with mask wearing.

Personally I don't believe that railway staff (or anyone else other than law enforcement professionals) should have to challenge non-mask wearers; Has it been the policy of TOCs to instruct staff to do so ? Make announcements at stations and on trains but nothing more.

The May 1971-April 1972 WR passenger TT shows the only Sleeper services from Devon and Cornwall as those to and from Paddington; The WR/Scotland Sleeper started and terminated at Bristol. Correction; At that time the Bristol/North Sleeper ran to and from Newcastle, not Scotland.

The Milwaukee Road for me too ! Many years ago I bought Richard Steinheimer's wonderful book 'The Electric Way across the Mountains' and have been fascinated by it ever since. The Pennsy also, partly for its electrics but also because its dieselisation policy seemed to have parallels with the way BR went about it.

Compromise; Green one side, blue the other, with one end SYP and the other FYE. Everyone's a winner !

Control certainly are (occasionally) responsible for operational incidents, although the dewirement at Waverley was not one of my 'achievements'..... (And sometimes we even accepted the blame too).

Also perhaps a Controller omission too..... When the only electrified route west from Edinburgh Waverley was the Carstairs road, the two lines through the centre Mound Tunnel were not wired. One morning a Virgin XC departure, booked diesel traction, was electrically hauled instead. The NR Controller did not advise the Signaller who routed it as booked through the centre tunnel, the Driver took the road and the loco promptly became dewired, causing huge disruption and delay. All the holes in the Swiss cheese were aligned that day ! One question I have not seen asked is why London Road/Piccadilly would actually need six 1500v DC platforms, given that the only such trains were the half-hourly Hadfield EMUs and the hourly Sheffields. Two platforms could have coped with that, although three or four were certainly preferable for operational flexibility.

How high would an ejector seat at ground level (which is of course where a train cab is) need to fire the occupant to allow them to parachute safely back down ?!!

Thanks, I hadn't noticed that earlier (it actually says National Rail !). In which case, apologies to the BBC.

Even with the huge subsidy it receives, and the comparative simplicity of operating entirely within the UK, the Caledonian Sleeper is not exactly a budget way to travel ! Lovely though it sounds, I have to agree that the finances and technical complications make this proposal a non-starter.

The BBC News website, to no surprise at all (on my part anyway) is putting a negative slant to today's run: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-57511346 Saying, among other things, 'The recorded attempt was supposed to show the ease of travelling between the home nations'. And they go on to quote an average Edinburgh to London journey time of 5 hours 20 minutes, which is complete nonsense; LNER services take between around 4 hours 20 and 4 hours 40 minutes, depending on stops. Perhaps they are thinking of the Avanti 2-hourly Edinburgh/London via Birmingham services, not in any way the primary route between the cities. The BBC does have history for this kind of thing of course, for example quoting outrageous season ticket prices but omitting to say they were First Class.

It was financed by the North British, Midland, Great Northern and North Eastern Railways, although only the first actually ran trains over it ! Certainly, during my 30 years in Control in Scotland, it not having a number never caused any confusion; Unlike the situation between Dundee and Aberdeen, where the mileages and bridge numbers 'step back' at Kinnaber Junction, resulting in duplicate figures within a few miles (although with different ELRs).

Game appears to have been abandoned now. Best wishes for the player.

Something I find strange in the newsletter, regarding Seaward Way LC, is the statement that as the LC will now have full barriers, 'there is a need for CCTV so that the Signaller can clearly see down the road in both directions'. Surely the CCTV, as on NR installations, is needed so that once the barriers are down the Signaller can see that no vehicles or persons are trapped within them and signals can be cleared. Or is the Signaller expected to wait until no vehicles are approaching the LC, in either direction, before lowering the barriers ? Which might not do much for the timetable.....

The layout at Cannon Street seems rather complex for what was always a limited passenger service (and none at all after 1924 of course !). Thanks for posting Mick.

That is exactly what they do expect ! As quoted in this month's (June 2021) Railway Magazine, anti-HS2 protester 'Goldi' says 'why do people need to travel so much ?.... People should embrace slower lifestyles..... and should become more local.....'. Good luck to him on convincing everyone to return to a medieval lifestyle with most people rarely, if ever, travelling far from home, and even more luck to any Government that attempts to enforce that.

That's correct, and as befits its magnificence it has all sorts of special conditions; For example, wheelskate moves are not allowed over it (due to the type of rail used) and one of the first things I learned on being trained for the Freight desks in Glasgow Control was that it is RA8, but up to 4 vehicles of RA9 or 10 can be conveyed as long as no more than two are marshalled together. Information I have not needed since 1994 but still somehow remembered ! Despite its length, every now and again a trespasser would decide to walk across the bridge, usually resulting in traffic being stopped while the Police dealt with the situation.

HS2 should use that clip to show 'why we are building this new railway' !

Before I joined the railway points had frogs, either live or dead; Once in an operational role I never heard or saw the word again, it was always crossings ! And I agree that OLE is correct, not OHLE, simply because overhead is one word, not two. Railway terminology does change however, I recall the phrase Emergency Isolation (of the OLE) being replaced by Emergency Switch-off, because in this circumstance the overheads are not, at first anyway, earthed.

That looks as if both Up and Down through platforms will become islands. And the bus stops will be where I suggested bay platforms, which might not please the locals either.....

Whereas I, having voted Remain, would now seriously consider voting Leave, for a number of reasons, some of which have been discussed in this topic !

Interesting but are you sure that is still the case ? OBC's nos 901-3 are brand new Wrightbus Streetdecks, are these different from earlier Streetdecks in the 37x and 651 etc series ? And OBC 971-8 are Mercedes Sprinters !

It's a step forward (although the Youth Hostels Association whose relatively new establishment will presumably have to be demolished may not think so), but I won't hold my breath..... I'm intrigued by the reference to the Botley Road bridge, which 'will be replaced and the road lowered to enable standard double-decker buses to pass underneath for the first time'. At one time Oxford had fleets of highbridge and lowbridge buses, and every now and again a highbridge vehicle would attempt to pass under the bridge, with the inevitable result. However, IIRC, the bridge was rebuilt in the early 1980s, and from personal observation there is now no restriction on what buses run along Botley Road, and these vehicles are identical to those used elsewhere. Personally I still believe a much easier and cheaper solution would have been Up side bay platforms, say three, on the Beckett St car park site immediately south of the Botley Road; I believe there were objections to this by local residents, but given that once electrified, most if not all trains using these platforms would have been electric (Classes 387 and 80x), and in any case a row of buildings could have shielded the platforms from the homes, this could have been overcome, and would have provided the additional capacity needed on the through lines.