rodent279

Stronger couplers as well, presumably AAR type buckeye (UK buckeye couplers are 3/4 height, so i assume not compatible).

The green goddess waits right time at Bridgnorth, with the 1340 to Kidderminster on a wet 4th November, with 1934 built LMS dining car 7511 at the front.

Nothing new there. Biggest flaw in the HST was the slam lock doors. Air operated doors had been standard on new mainline stock in mainland Europe for years.

Ooh, controversial! You're braver than me!

Does this help? Don't know whether the pipe visible above the front of the bogie is SH or VB. 46045 at Butterley, 2001. Other end of same side of same loco just over a week ago at Kidderminster. Again, it's either a SH pipe or a VB pipe. And a full on broadside, same date.

Here is TV looking I must say very fetching in black. Would be quite nice to see it given the full LNWR lining and BR early crests just for the last few weeks in traffic. Rather a shame it's out of ticket, I'd rather like to see someone bite the bullet, break the last big fictitious livery taboo, and paint a full size, standard gauge steam logo in BR blue with arrows and TOPS style number.

That's going to about double the length of the line?

Question for the railway civil engineers out there. A narrow gauge, say metre gauge, line could have smaller radius curves than a standard gauge line. Presumably it could also have steeper gradients. Given that, could it actually have the same line speeds as a standard gauge line? The ruling line speed on the Berner Oberland Bahn, where the first photo above was taken, seems to be about 70km/h according to Open Railway Map.

I wonder if it would be viable as a 3' or metre gauge line, maybe carrying standard gauge wagons on piggyback trucks, like on certain narrow gauge lines in mainland Europe. It could even be electrified at 1500v DC, powered by locally based hydro-electric power stations. Fast forward to the 1980s, and we see something like this running hourly services between Garve & Ullapool, taking about 45 min each way:- With something like this running tourist trains on weekends and holidays, during the summer:- Interesting idea for a model.

Thanks, Leeds makes much more sense than Newcastle!

We all await with bated breath.....

Or "Should 45015 have been restored?"

Going back to HSTs coupling nose to nose, here's a (not great) shot of 43316 & 43320 coupled together at Kidderminster SVR on Sunday 5th Nov, apparently on their way to Mexico. For the record, 43306 & 43307 were the two others in the consist, with Rail Adventure 43468 & 43480 either end.

Just proves the point that there are no stupid questions, just stupid answers. Look at the many and varied responses, and wealth of info that has come out of a simple question.

Going even further OT, the DB V200 diesel hydraulics had 3 different engine types and 2 different transmissions, all fully interchangeable, both within class & with certain diesel unit types. So far as I am aware, they were not divided into different sub-classes.

Seating & luggage arrangements, plus as @adb968008 says, engines.

You can usually do both (if there is a ticket office, and it is open).

Not according to Brian Haresnape's British Rail Fleet Survey vol 5 High Speed Trains. This covers prototype & production HSTs, APT-E & APT-P, and the Blue Pullmans. P56-57 has a photo & drawing of the front end of a production power car with the cover removed. There is a socket in there, but it is described as a socket for a shore supply to power the air con etc when at a station or depot.

Call me a cynic, but one could be forgiven for thinking the government, Whitehall & HM Treasury are actively conspiring against the people.

So far as I am aware, it was not possible to couple two HST sets together in multiple. I'm not even sure if it was possible for one set to push or pull another in an emergency -can someone confirm? I can't think of any DMU or EMU types that can't work in multiple with at least others of the same class.

Not first time use today for me, but first time on business. I travelled from BPW on an IET, baled at Paddington, used Crossrail (I can't call it Elizabeth Line) to Whitechapel, then H&C to Aldgate East. Short walk to Leman St, under 25 min from leaving Paddington concourse to walking though the door of the office. My main problem was the lack of signage at Paddington. It was not obvious which way to walk, the signage for Elizabeth Line seems rather thin on the ground. Apart from that, it all works, and seems to be a fairly good example of when it's done properly it works well.

So did the prototype HST trailers carry different numbers when they were first built, and we're they later renumbered into the 40xxx, 41xxx & 42xxx ranges?

I don't know for certain, but taking my favourite example, Holland, my brief stay and 4 train journeys (all booked via the NS app) left me with the distinct impression that there is less of a bewildering array of fares to choose from. I suppose that means you might not get some of the bargain basement dirt cheap fares, but if you are expecting to buy one of those at a TVM and find you can't, you're likely to feel dissatisfied or ripped off.

I should count your blessings if I were you....

Would a simpler ticketing system/fares structure be a help in the more widespread adoption of TVMs?