Recent content by L+Y

Quite remarkable how quickly the axe fell after the report was published.

To follow on from that re Beeching- which was the single worst year of the Beeching era?

Mentioned in the latest Main Line that it's hoped to get at least some of the MK1 TPO's back in service this year.

I seem to remember when visiting grandparents (so before 2013) there being regular semi-fast trains from Lichfield City alongside the stoppers. Does anybody have any timetables from the era?

Ormskirk - Preston is my local line, and I have a lot of personal sympathy with the idea of a Burscough extension and Curves revival. I put it low on my ranking due to its distance outside the City Region: despite the fact that both Croston and even moreso a new station at Midge Hall/near...

Just for fun- how would you rank the most to least sensible options for expanding the Merseyrail network? Taking into account political desirability, cost of reinstatement, possible revenue streams, regeneration benefits, and of course general connectivity. Here's my basic list: and I may be...

Forgive what may be a dense question because I'm behind the times on this- does 13x Mk5 sets replacing 6(?)x Mk3 sets free up an internal cascade of sufficient DMUs for East West Rail services? Are Chiltern still responsible for EWR?

Yep- I'm pretty sure it's Preston.

The Northern routes I'd suggest are theoretically better than the S&C are the Airport - Barrow and Windermere routes, plus Blackpool - York, to cascade 195s. But appreciate it ain't at all likely!

Here's a quick look at the works underway at Ormskirk station yesterday. For two days only, but this must be the first time since summer 1970 without a buffer midway along the old Down platform!

I hope this isn't too far off topic to ask: how many 50s aside from 400 ran on the WR before TOPS renumbering? I think I've seen at least one photo of a non-400 loco: possibly D413?

Was a final decision ever made about the trialled Heinz workings on the Wigan-Southport line? I assume business cases didn't stack up in the end.

Chiltern seems to be a relatively sensible idea given their experience of class 68s, and the DMU cascade it would enable for EWR. All that said, I wonder about the political optics of cascading new trains from the North to the Home Counties- who remembers the last time Chiltern pinched TPE...

How quickly did the NSE class 50 rundown happen? And were there any appearances of a 50 on a regular service after May 1992?

While I'd broadly agree with this, I would guess that had the line survived, it'd probably be better patronised now than either the Southport-Wigan or Preston-Ormskirk lines. Banks, Hesketh Bank/Tarleton (effectively one large village nowadays), Longton and most of all Penwortham are substantial...