Recent content by Steve Tasker

It was ever thus. I stood on Lime St station ,1962,watching the overhead wires being erected. The WCML electrification was subsequently paused beyond Crewe for quite sometime before continuing .We can only hope common sense will prevail and a continuous program of electrification will get the go...

Didcot to Paddington Great Western stoppers,off peak,according to Dec timetable will,from Reading, not be stopping at Taplow,Burnham,Langley,Iver,Southall,Hanwell,West Ealing,and Acton Main line , whereas Elizabeth line services will be stopping at some,if not all of these ,so would have thought...

There are new rails waiting in the cess . Presumably this loop is to allow GW services to overtake Elizabeth line services in the new timetable come December ?

Goring and Streatley in use. Also, what news about the up relief loop back of Iver and West Drayton stations which was being relaid recently. Is it now in use ?

There is no real alternative to electrification in the long term if we are to have zero carbon emissions by 2050 because neither hydrogen or battery power will fit the bill . It’s just when the Government realises this is the question.

Have been to Didcot Parkway quite a lot recently and every IET I have seen has pan up going both ways .

Spent an hour,or so,at Didcot this a.m. and all IET’s both ways were pan up other than the Oxford’s.

Goring to Paddington yesterday and return both on time .

Live near Goring. I would say that about 50% of IEP’s running on diesel in this hot weather !

Going back a bit and having travelled into Paddington a number of times recently ,I notice that the up loop which goes behind Iver station is wired but the track is not in very good condition and hardly used. What is the purpose of this loop and if it is for freight trains,or Crossrail trains...

So, if the 800’s are going at 125 mph through Steventon on diesel they’ll have to slow down to 80 mph in order to raise the pan ? If that is correct then why not go back to what I mentioned in a previous blog and that is a blanket 60 mph restriction on ALL traction, diesel or electric, through...

Rail mag has posted that GWR is delaying its’ introduction of new Hitachi trains on stopping services to Newbury and Berwyn until further notice. New CCTV cameras will have to be fitted so that the drivers can see when doors can safely be closed. Longer 9 car Hitachi trains on the route to the...

Still cannot reconcile changing over from electric to diesel to electric in such a short distance with all the potential problems of starting up Diesel engines from cold . Roger Ford says the drivers are having to change over manually (BOTTOMS) as the balises cannot be trusted ? Also, drivers of...

What is the risk at 60 mph? If that speed is OK for the 387’s then should be OK for the 800’s? Have you read Roger Ford’s article on Steventon in Modern Railways December edition ? All those unnecessary signs ;- pan up pan down, no electrics beyond this point,etc.etc. The drivers need a PhD in...

All seems a lot of bother changing back and forth from electric to diesel and back again. Why not run on electric through Steventon at 60 mph with both class 800’s and 387’s ? With their superior acceleration there cannot be much time difference ?