Recent content by furnessvale

The difference between the UK and countries like Germany and Switzerland is stark. Rather than spending the bare minimum on rail, they have spent that little bit more on things like flyovers. Build 2 flyovers a year for 70 years and you can transform a network. We have a lot of catching up to do.

Without detail checking it is hard to form a detailed assessment, but I do know at least two of the bridges have already been rebuilt using standard concrete arch units, plus this is an ex LNWR line which tended to have a slightly more generous loading gauge.

On the contrary, the NERA report, produced by government, taking several years and running to hundreds of pages, comprehensively demonstrated that the heaviest HGVs did not at the time cover their costs to society. Immediately people will say this report dates from 2000 and is therefore out of...

My squad was so successful it killed G in the north west stone dead so the powers that be disbanded the squad. The rest, as they say, is history. Catching "artists" is a complicated business. It is not a matter of sitting in a block of sidings waiting for one to turn up. Doing that is a...

When I ran an anti graffiti squad in the north west in the 1990s we managed to get the worst offenders 15 months in jail. It killed graffiti in the area stone dead. Sadly, you don't even get that for rape these days.

Once again you totally miss the true situation. No matter how much tax HGVs currently pay on their diesel, it still does not even cover the cost of road provision and is only sustainable by the cross subsidy of the private motorist. Red diesel is not untaxed but it pays a lower rate than...

Sad to say, this is true. Most trunking is done by road. With a few exceptions, FLL relies on international containers to and from the ports having abandoned their domestic network years ago. Same with Speedlink. With the extra cost of electric HGVs, although given even more government...

Red diesel is not tax free. It pays a lower rate as a reflection of the fact it has traditionally not been allowed for use in road vehicles. Although the duty on road diesel is not hypothecated, the higher rate paid by HGVs goes part way, but not fully, towards paying the cost of road...

That doesn't fit with the fact that some railfreight companies who own both diesel and electric locos, have from time to time put their electric locos into storage and used diesels instead, because of the high price of electricity.

Years ago, near Urmston in Manchester, there was a legal wall, where artists could paint their work legally. The prevalence of tagging and unlawful graffiti was quite marked in the neighbourhood and it increased in intensity as you approached the wall. I have dealt with a number of them...

Put the following address in your search box. https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/search/detailed/ Fill in the nearest station in the location box. Scroll down the TOC box to ZZ and select. Pick all day in the time box. Pick a recent date (no more than 7 back and not worth looking mare than 3-4...

At 12' 9" high New Smithy bridge should be capable of passing a standard single deck bus which is considered large enough for the much busier 199 Skyline service.

People say that trees stabilise ground, but whenever I see a large tree down I notice just how shallow rooted they appear to be.

Seems to be mainly limestone and sandstone in that area.

Correct. Page 44 of "Treacy's Routes North" has a photo of just such a working in 1957. The fireman on the pilot loco is my brother aged 17. They had just piloted a train down from Preston and were immediately turned round to pilot this train back. One can only wonder if modern youth would...