cunningduck

3 hours ago, Market65 said:

Hi, Dave. I like the York photo’s which are full of interest and nostalgia. In the first photo’, of a class 47, D1514, on a Leeds to Newcastle train, in August, 1965, J242, the fifth Mk1 from the 47, carries the coaching stock roundel, with Restaurant Car lettering, which surely makes it an RSO. You certainly don’t have trains like that on that service anymore. A single class 185 on Transpennine Express these days.

 

With warmest regards,

 

Rob.

But I’d prefer a 185 to a 150 from Scarborough to Liverpool! 

On 22/06/2019 at 16:03, NorthBrit said:

I missed seeing her last year.
A six star luxury cruise ship
Regent Seven Seas Cruises ship, 'Seven Seas Navigator' at the Port of Tyne 20th June 2019. 
She is on a 11 day Southampton to Dublin 'Round Britain' cruise.
The cheapest fare (and still very luxurious) for the 11 nights is £ 5789 per person.

 

 

Roll on to our next cruise.

It’s made it to Greenock, £6k to go to Greenock???

Do I dare ask why coal was carried in ISO containers?

Well I had my first experience of an 800 last week from Bristol to Paddington. Overall I was very impressed, I couldn’t tell whether it was running on diesel or electric (much as that embarrasses me!), the seat was comfy, luggage space adequate, trolley  sufficient (and appeared 3 times over the journey), and it rode fairly well!

I rate it as better than an HST because it didn’t lurch sickeningly as it started, didn’t have random drafts from the vestibules, had nice toilets and didn’t make me jump out of my skin every time another train passes...

2 hours ago, peterfgf said:

Aren't resource centres where they put all the nice shipbuilders' models that used to fill the Science Museum and Greenwich Maritime Museum?  The ones that present day curators (with a degree in curating and no idea of industry) can't understand and want to use the space released for interactive children's shows?  Visitor numbers count above all and to hell with the importance of the contents.

End of rant.

Peterfgf

Rant doesn’t entirely apply to the Glasgow’s Riverside Museum, where I spent at least 3 hours looking at (over 100 I’d guess) ship models!

3 hours ago, jamie92208 said:

I don't know the exact figures but I believe that the only major internal passenger flow by air, within the Mainland UK, is London to Edinburgh/Glasgow. Most of the others are marginal.   London/Leeds struggles but only keeps going because it takes you direct to Heathrow for connections.  I strongly suspect that a modest reduction in journey time between London and Scotland after HS2 opens in full, would spell the end of most air traffic on that route.

 

Jamie

I think that Glasgow/Edinburgh to Exeter/Bristol/Southampton are all profitable, judging by the amount of services per day and passenger loading as when I’ve used them!

The 321 to 320 conversions do seem a bit mad though.

 

Are the Scotrail routes in question physically configured as a "multiples of three" railway in terms of platform and loop lengths etc? Or is it a question of better power to weight? (all of the mk3 EMUs only have a single power car per unit)

 

I can't help thinking SDO might have been a better solution if it was just platform lengths that were the issue?

 

J

Mostly yes, Scotrail is set up for units of 3, most DOO screens (on platforms) are spaced for 3 or 6 coaches. All electrics were 3 coaches until the 385s and 380s turned up with 4 coach sets in the order.

Incidentally I came across this yesterday, with the still unhelpful announcements giving out numbers "First Class is in Coaches 1,2, 9 & 10" causing confusion when the unit came in in the formation of F, G,H,I,J,A,B,C,D,E.

 

On a slightly related note, their Scottish cousins - the 385 fleet - has been entirely grounded today after a serious braking failure yesterday in the Winchburgh area. The 800s I gather are also suffering some issues but thankfully not the extent of the 385s.

A particular shame, as the 385 I experienced recently was swift, comfortable (seats and ride) and very impressive. It was ugly though!

https://t.co/tySdxpRG8M

 

Photos of them hooked up to 73/9s and 92s with Dellners

I’m sure that’ll make the marshalling at Edinburgh/Carstairs easier for all involved!

Does anyone know where that photo is taken? I didn’t think Polmadie shed went as far as the BabcockSwietelsky maintenance shed at the far end?

No, VW didn't do the same as everybody else. There is a fundamental difference between optimising performance for the test (entirely legal, if disingenuous and not good for consumers) and fitting a defeat device or using an irrational control strategy which is illegal.

We haven’t found out that anybody else used a defeat device yet, I don’t think we can conclusively say nobody else fitted one.

You are very misinformed to blame the government for the diesel emissions problem, the Govt owes you nothing, the car makers owe you the return of your money for selling a false bill of goods, cars which cheated past the conformance testsw.

They didn’t cheat the test, they just followed the letter of the law, not the spirit. Perhaps it is the regulators fault for setting a test that can be foiled?

I can’t help but think that at Franchise assessment time DfT may have looked at the “best” franchise, seen that it is over-optimistic and bound to fail. However since the Virgin West Coast debacle they may have had to award the franchise based on their own specified criteria, which I don’t think would include a clause along the lines of “don’t award the franchise to someone that is relying on Network Rail not to deliver so they can get bailed out”. Therefore they're tied to the best franchise according to their own criteria, which may not be the best franchise...

The set was seen being moved north on the A1 last night (around Grantham). Does anybody know where it’s going?

Here's 800012 leading 800010 past Langley Burrell after it's stop at Chippenham on 1A11 this morning.

IMG_0574-800012-800010.jpg

 

Jo

I’m not sure it’s a cool thing to say given how much bad press these things have received, but that looks excellent! Perhaps it’s all down to the photographer?

There was some mention in one of the magazines for a team that had organised that storage on the Fawkham junction link. I think they got some sort of award for it.

 

Jamie

Best International EMU Hiding Place 2016?

Any fool can tick boxes. They would hardly issue a document identifying the known risks, to say nothing of the unknown ones. Mandy-Rice Davies applies.

Ticking boxes and the Nuclear Regulatory framework in this country are two very different things.

And your response is complacent nonsense. What about an inside job? What about computer hacking? What about the myriad of supplier companies whose components or services could be got-at in any number of ways?

If those are your concerns the I would refer you to the literature that each Nuclear Site Operator can provide you with to demonstrate their adherence to Nuclear Site Licensing Conditions, which (amongst other things) will demonstrate how they ensure security of their site.

I think SMRs could be a long way away, given that nobody has built any commercial power generation SMRs yet.

I don't have sea charts for Ryde but it does not look so very difficult either to get the catamarans close to the shore at Esplanade or else build a hovercraft terminal at Portsmouth Harbour.

There isn't enough space around Portsmouth Harbour station due to the tight harbour entrance and congested shoreline (because I don't think the space next to HMS Warrior is big enough/accessible enough) and a displacement vessel would need a dredged channel to Ryde owing to the shallow approaches (very shallow).

The Trident replacement project is exactly the same. They'll have a "Made in Britain" sticker on them, but most of the technology and materials will come from abroad.

Besides, judging by the article, I think CAF are more interested in a servicing and logistics (stores warehouse) facility than assembly.

Add to that a bridge strike at Grantham (a lorry full of steel scrap has hit the bridge north of the station near Asda)

 

Given that bridges in Grantham now all seem to have had a large green piece of heavily anchored steel placed in front of them, this shouldn't cause much of a delay (or what would the point in adding the armour?).

FYI - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-34910891

Do those MTU4000s require replacement already? It's surely less than 10 years since they were installed?

All major manufacturers cheat to some degree when it comes to official tests.

Probably driven by an EU emissions testing regime that bears precious little similarity to actual driving, and hence creates vehicles which produce low amounts of CO^2/km under a specific set of circumstances (a low revving automatic shuffle to top gear at 40mph with the engine just above idle) but could be an awful lot better at real world driving (using more than the 1st 2000rpm of the engine's rev range!).

Great photos! It's impressive how you've captured the length of each trainset.

It would need to run into the station, or adjacent goods line, in order to use the main to main just south of the station.

The only other main to mains between there and Tallington are the emergency crossovers at Stoke Summit

Great news, thanks!