Recent content by alexjames

Just to make my personal position clear, I have long since taken the view that CR2 should have been built many years ago. But the political reality is that it has little prospects of getting funded any time soon. Any discussion, here or elsewhere, of the details is crayonista fantasy. We are...

If I might repeat a time worn saying of my invention, "Geordies begin at Radlett". That is, of course, stated from a South of Radlett perspective.

One other point about North Rhine Westphalia, if you fancy some German football, is that a match ticket is also a free NRW zonal travel pass for match day through to end of service. Valid on all modes bar ICE trains. Or it is for CL games which is my sole experience in the area. I assume the...

Thanks.

I see that we are agreed that a 60+ Oyster is a season ticket for NRCoC purposes. I have recently acquired one and have been trying to maximise its usage. A recently planned weekend day trip to South Wales seemed to represent an opportunity. Advances off Paddington were a silly price thus...

Some problem between Watford Junction and CMK as per the announcement on the 10.37 off WJ to New Street that I was on. WCML apparently closed thereafter for a while. Service I was on eventually terminated late at Birmingham Airport and was then taken out of use. It was a horrible little 5 car...

Dunno why people seem to be unaware that many or most Virgin WCML trains to and from Euston are thinly populated outside the "peak" times. This has been the case for many years and has been extremely obvious to this occasional observer for just as long. Does rather damage the case for HS2...

Q-Park have a few in the West End of London within reasonable walking distance of Oxford Circus, Baker St etc which charge £36 per day. Chuck in the congestion charge and I think we have the winners.

Harrow on the Hill is another porky. As we all know, railway stations and hills are mutually exclusive in the UK. Or near enough. Tediously steep uphill walk between the station and the hill. Not that far but best avoided by the unathletic. And all the other Harrow stations are...

The problem with many long distance Sunday services is that there are fewer of them, as has been mentioned above, and they tend to be more expensive. I assume that is because more people are travelling (per available train, not absolutely). Particularly annoying for me because most of my long or...

I fail to understand why we are having this discussion. It is entirely obvious to any intelligent railway user that guards on trains (all trains and that includes, inter alia, London Underground/Overground and similar operations) are absolutely essential for passenger safety and wellbeing...

Tut, tut. Martin's comments above are highly discriminatory. One should have rather more sympathy for the object of his advice. The miserable bacteria brained youth is entirely the victim of current mores. To reach the conclusion that books are of no use merely demonstrates that the...

Do I get a reward for not being on ****ter, facebook or anything similar and not possessing or having the use of a cellphone? Not many of us holdouts left. Not that I have anything against cellphones - please do yap away as much as possible via such devices. Us Vodafone shareholders do enjoy...

The problem with that thesis is that most of the railway's capital assets are valueless. Marylebone station, for example, is worth a substantial sum as a redevelopment site. Its current realisable value is negligible if it continues as a railway station. Meanwhile, NR's debt requires servicing...

This might be a use of language point rather than a technical matter. As BB21 points out, it is not permissible. But to answer your question: yes you can. All you have to do is... 1. Find an Oyster reader on a Virgin platform so you can check in. 2. Make sure that your selected...