caradoc

There is no way on earth this topic was ever not going to become a political interchange, with the removal of posts such as an earlier one of mine, despite my best efforts to avoid naming names or taking any particular stance on the issue.

If that does happen would it not prove the Governing party right ?!!! (Although I don't believe that a service of 4 trains each way daily, formed of 5 car EMUs and calling at a very limited number of stations is really going to devastate LNER's business, and Lumo themselves seem to be targeting airline passengers as much as rail).

Featuring in a future episode..... working water troughs !

Roundabouts are horrible things for cyclists to negotiate, fortunately as I am now a leisure rider only I am mostly able to avoid them. Perhaps the driving test should include cycling round one, preferably in pouring rain and a howling gale ?!!

I can only say that is in no way my experience, either as a cyclist, motorist or pedestrian. And as a cyclist, IMHO going through a red light is utter madness, because there is every chance of something much bigger and more solid than you coming through the junction !

Not quite sure how it is far easier having to provide another loco, and traincrew, and fuelling/charging/maintenance/repair facilities for that loco, rather than arrange the terminal so that the main line locos can position their train in an unwired portion of line for unloading/loading, as at Coatbridge ?

Cyclists, because clearly it's National Have a go at Cyclists Day (or is that just every day ?) Did you also count how many motorists who, on seeing traffic lights change from green to amber, speed up to get through ASAP, whether or not they are still amber or red when they actually pass them, instead of stop ? Because that is something I see every time I'm out.

Some of the unloading lines are through roads, wired at both ends but not in the middle.

Looks a really interesting visit, thanks for the pics, but a slight caption correction; 66232 is 66236 !

At Coatbridge FLT the approaches are wired at both ends. Down electrically-hauled trains run past the terminal and propel into it from the north end, the locos run round and attach to the south end of trains for departures. No diesels, capstans or reach wagons required !

Living in Scotland I do not use GWR that often, but being in Oxford at present I used one GWR train on Wednesday and two today, and all were on time, clean and adequate for the passenger loadings. So no complaints from me !

From what I have read (also on RailUKForums) the train was routed through a platform road at Swindon but did not stop because the earlier SSO there had been rescinded at Bath, partially at least at the request of the Traincrew due to severe overcrowding. Clearly the message did not get through to a number of passengers, although why the train could not still have stopped to set down only is unclear. Whatever happened, issuing and advertising SSOs only to later change them is asking for trouble, given that passengers may not always hear, or pay full attention to, on-train announcements.

Yes, it's on ! At Pollokshaws Burgh Hall again, as per recent years. https://www.clydesidemrc.com/cathcart-exhibition

My first post-Covid exhibition (since Model Rail Glasgow in February last year) will be Cathcart over the weekend of 30th/31st October. I am looking forward to it and am very grateful to all those making it possible. I will of course wear a face mask and will take my vaccination 'certificate' although I am unsure if it will be required. I doubt whether pre-booking and specified entry times are necessary for a relatively small show such as this (regarding the latter, if entry times are to be specified should not an exit time be specified also - If so, how would that be enforced ?). Valid points, to which I would add, who actually examines the vaccine passport and deems it valid, what training and knowledge do they have for this duty ? The process also requires the examiner to come into close contact with the examinee ! My vaccine passport is a document from NHS Scotland which I printed at home, showing my two vaccination dates, and the vaccine administered - It would be the easiest thing in the world to create something similar on a computer.

Not necessarily ! I became a Line Manager (on the railway) in 2008..... after 30 years service and experience.

Not really; The reasons the GCR London extension route is largely useless for HS2 have been said many times over. Agree 100%; Every single place of significance served already had, and still does have, a perfectly adequate main line railway.

As one of my colleagues said after a particularly trying day on the railway, 'I wouldn't trust the fitters at x to put the chain back on my bike'.....

5025 has just been returned to service, and most magnificent it looks too !

It looks like GWR are still having to make other short notice changes; For example, on the 16th August the 0514 Worcester SH-Paddington was a 9-car set, 802108; Yesterday it was a 3-car 165 running to Reading only, which appears to be a variation for this week.

So, what are we saying here ? That someone involved in the dual plot jumped the gun and tipped off the BBC in advance ? And apart from anything else, how did the conspirators expect the collapse of WTC7 to be explained as a terrorist act when a plane had not crashed into it - something of an oversight, surely ? Like others here, I simply cannot accept that had this been a Government or big business plot, that fact would still be covered up after 20 years.

Was Beeching's report actually entitled 'The Reshaping of British Railways and Tramways' ? I didn't think so, but according to an article in the current (Issue 939, Sep 8-21 2021) Rail magazine, 'Britain's tramways didn't escape Beeching's axe, and routes back from the Blackpool waterfront were dismantled in the 1960s'. This has to be the most ludicrous example of falsely blaming Beeching yet.

I thought I was offering an olive branch, but don't worry Sam, I will not quote you, respond to you or otherwise engage with you in any way on here in future.

I take it that is a reference to my response to your post in the Bridge Bashing thread ? In that case you and I spoke from very different backgrounds and experiences Sam, but please do not on my account feel unable to think and post anything you want - But also be prepared for responses from others !

Agree absolutely, a brake van ride on the Epping/Ongar Railway in a Shark gave me a whole new appreciation of, and sympathy for, Goods Guards !

Blaming Beeching personally for closing railways is wrong; He was appointed by the Government of the day, who had in turn been appointed by the population in a democratic election, to deal with the huge losses BR was incurring. Many of the more foolish closures occurred long after he had left BR, for example Penrith/Keswick, Bangor/Caernarvon, as mentioned above Bourne End/High Wycombe, and of course the Waverley route. And poor old Beeching even gets the blame for closures which were nothing to do with him, for example a book in front of me states that the Princes Risborough/Watlington branch 'fell victim to the Beeching Axe'.... in 1957 !