rodent279

Doesn't that mean that any corrosion issues are likely to be more serious, and potentially more expensive, to repair than on a vehicle with a separate body attached to a chassis?

The 39 Steps, complete with all its railway related continuity errors! For such an iconic film, it seems incredibly amateurish, and half-baked.

At the risk of drifting further off topic, we visited the mining museum at the now closed Snibston Discovery Park, a few years ago. I was astonished to learn that there were no sick bays, or doctors, in mines, up until the 1950's. Furthermore, if a miner was off sick, or suffered an injury at work which meant he couldn't work, then they went home, without pay, and treated themselves if they couldn't afford a doctor. What medical facilities there were, were provided by the men themselves, at their own cost, usually via the Union. I think we forget how lucky we are, and how far we have come.

I need to check whether it's still there, but there used to be something similar in the up Slow platform at Leighton Buzzard, it said LNWR STOP TAP.

Now an LSWR-GNR connection is an interesting idea, obviously there is the loading gauge of the W&C tunnels to be considered, but that's not insurmountable. That opens up the prospect of through trains from Yorks and the NE to the South Coast & West Country via London. Also, given a connection via the District into Liverpool Street, via the connection from the Met, the prospect of through trains from East Anglia to the South Coast & West Country.

Did any MK3 sleepers make it into ScotRail livery? BR ScotRail that is, not post-privatisation ScotRail.

I must have missed out on something.. .

I guess you just can't know what the impact on history those million plus lost lives would have been, had they been lived to their fullness.

I guess if the glass broke, then it would require renewing. Maybe they broke often enough for someone to decide enough was enough, they are of limited benefit anyway, let's just plate them over as they go through works? When were the last survivors with glass portholes?

That is the root cause of so many of Britain's C20th woes.

Would there have been a Great Depression? Well that depends on the outcome of whatever form WW1 took. If it was just a small, regional affair, contained to the Balkans, leading to some sort of split on the Austro-Hungarian Empire, then the Treaty of Versailles wouldn't have happened. The subsequent crashing of Germany's economy, coupled with skyrocketing inflation, arguably wouldn't have happened, at least not to the same extent. Whether the other global factors that lead to the Wall Street Crash would have occurred, leading to the events of 1929 as we know it, is speculation. Maybe, but on a smaller scale? Maybe it would have been just a European recession? Without WW1 being fought to stalemate, there would have been no asking for terms by the German government, and no perceived "stabbing in the back", as it was put by Hitler. Arguably the Nazis would not have risen to power, and the whole course of 20th century history would have been different.

Agree, certainly the LYR/LNWR merger would have happened, as it did some 18 months in advance of the Grouping anyway. It's interesting to speculate where a merged LY/LNW group would have extended electrification? Would there have been a case for the Midland and GC merging?

Didn't D200 make it to Penzance on at least one occasion?

What was the Northern Heights project? I guess one easy win is that M-SW and Shenfield electrification might have been completed earlier, say mid to late 1940's. M-SW may have been extended further west, to Old Trafford, and East to Doncaster, as I believe was originally contemplated. Not sure about the GW electrifying the South Devon hills, but Dawlish may have got it's inland diversion, as I believe that had actually got as far as taking possession of some land before war intervened. Euston may have had a major rebuilding, and commuter services on the Midland diverted to the new station, as this was planned by the LMS, along with new open plan sliding door EMU's for the DC lines. I think nationalisation would have happened anyway eventually, as the Big 4 weren't in a great place even before the war.

Sticking my neck out here, but I think the unloved Pacers, and (less unloved) Sprinters arguably did for local & regional passenger services what the HST did for InterCity. Saved it from the abyss. Pacers didn't work from the box, I know there were problems with excessive flange wear on bendy routes, and there were issues with train detection-but they lasted over 30 years, so can't be all bad. Sprinters do seem to have worked from the box though. Edit:-maybe both weren't "masterpieces", in the sense that say Halls or Crabs were, but they have largely done the job they were designed for, over several decades. Arguably they've also done jobs they've not been designed for as well, such as long distance work- I think that is where their bad reputation stems from.

It was publicised as phONE day, and yes, it was 1995. I lived in Leicester at the time, which saw its numbers changed from 0533 xxxxxx to 0116 9 xxxxxx. Bristol, similarly, changed from 0272 xxxxxx to 0117 9 xxxxxx. Around 6-7 other cities changed as well, including Sheffield, Nottingham & Reading. London codes, having changed in 1990 from 01 xxx xxxx to 071 xxx xxxx, also had the 1 inserted. I still remember one of the adverts - bottle of Perrier I think, and 71. Eau 71.....geddit? Shows the power of advertising.

Thanks all. I thought the answer was no, but I wasn't aware of the bogie connection. They (158's) do look as if they have a profile to accommodate a limited degree of tilt. I guess incorporating tilt into a bodyshell already packed with engines and transmissions would have been too much!

I think I've seen the answer to this somewhere else on here, but can't find it. Is the class 158 bodyshell related to, or derived from, the Mk4 carriage design? Also, am I right in thinking that the body profile on 158's was designed to allow tilting equipment to be fitted at some point in future? (I know Mk4's were). Cheers N

Didn't realise Ranelagh Bridge lasted that long-I thought it had closed in 1980! So basically OC was closed for the weekend, anything requiring repair would have been done at RB, and anything in the Open Day was locked in for the weekend?

Question for @stationmaster - what arrangements were made for maintenance work, and for loco movements on & off shed while the open day was on? Were movements carried out at night? What if in an emergency you needed one of the locos on display, during the opening hours, while the shed was full of normals?

And all 5 are EE products (thought not necessarily built in an EE factory). Continuing on the same theme, here are another 4 EE built or derived products. EU06-02 was built by EE in the Vulcan Foundry, in 1962. Behind it stands another 3 of the Polish version of the EU06, the EU07. All but identical, the Polish versions were built in the hundreds, construction continuing well into the 1970's. Krakow Plaszow, 20.03.2004.

Since we seem to be doing twins, here are a pair of first generation TGV's at Gare de Lyon, in May 1983.

And here it is, 2 years later, at Nuneaton. https://flic.kr/p/xxjmBW

Have just realised that Pendolinos aren't EMU's, as they can't run in multiple with each other. I guess they are simply electric units, EU's.

Forelock, old chap, forelock. Fetlocks are wot 'orses 'ave, guv. Edit-I stand corrected. Seems forelock is something wot 'orses 'ave an all...