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There are times when you despair of this country. This is one of them. Rather like the end of the Speedlink network it is a shock and deeply disappointing. For railfreight it always seems to be one step forward, three steps back.

Train station, which I've always considered an Americanism, annoys me intensely. I dislike hearing it and reading it. For me it was and always will be a railway station

Yes it did. Saw the Kelloggs train many times at New Barnet heading south from Hatfield to go up the WCML to Trafford Park. Big train too

Excellent post.

On the other hand, Beeching axed many routes where there was no apparent passenger demand at the time but now would be very well used and closing them has obviously been a mistake.

Exactly my feelings. In the 1970s and 1980s I sometimes travelled up to Scotland on a Sundays and the diversions via Hellifield and the S & C were never a problem (the opposite in fact - the scenery is lovely) you stayed on the train, did not have the hassle and inconvenience of changing on to...

Hope it's not the beginning of the end for the line. It was so busy with S & C freight in the 1960s and 1970s, and the Sunday diversions from the WCML were important too until they decided to bus passengers between Preston and Carlisle, something I will never, ever understand.

Isn't it another example of the railway operating for its own convenience than what passengers want? Back in the 1960s from Blackburn you could travel to Liverpool and Blackpool direct, as well as Manchester, Leeds and Bradford, and they were all well used. The Blackpool services were cut back...

Some excellent pictures there and a reminder of the variety of traffic on the MML all those years ago. I liked the Peaks It looks to me like 2 tracks through the station with up and down relief lines north of it, possibly because of what appears to be significant gradient?

How many other and what sort of freight trains use the Highland main line these days?

Thanks for the picture. I assume the MML used to be 4 tracks there?

Probably explains why the Corbys are switched to the fast at Wellingborough. It does seem odd though to reinstate the 4 tracks, and electrify them, but not improve line speeds, making the investment less useful

Has the Wellinborough - Bedford section been restored to 4 tracks? If so I would have thought one of benefits would be the flexibility to run the Corbys on the slow lines. According to the platform staff at Wellingborough the xx55 and xx25 (?) consistently depart 5-10 minutes late waiting to...

Repairing the roads and keeping them in good order is more important than expanding the existing Public spending is too low yes, but taxes avoidance and evasion needs to be clamped down on, not tax rises

Taxes raised from motorists go into the general tax pot - to be spend how the government wishes. That doesn't mean the tax raised should be spent on roads

Apologies if this has been posted before Is there a reason why southbound Corby trains arriving on the slow line in the refurbished platform 4 at Wellingborough are held at signals for 5 minutes in order to wait for a southbound express to pass and then cross over from the slow and follow it...

Hang on old chap. Blackburn's a fine town with a grand, old famous (and successful) football club. I take it you're from that other place 10 miles east? Talking about Bacup, I travelled on the Bacup-Manchester line through Ramsbottom as a child and know it quite well. The town's economy would...

VW Passat bought in Manchester in 1981. The car (built 1975) was in lovely condition, with shine unmarked red paintwork. It cost £900. Unfortunately, mechanically it was a shocker and cost me £1,500 over the next 2 years just to keep it on the road. I must have renewed just about every moving...

Disappointing not to see Tavistock on your list. It's been mooted for many years but never seems to make any progress. Wasn't a housebuilder given permission to develop only on the basis that the rail link was restored? Either way, it seems as far away as ever

"Taxpayers' money" doesn't exist. It's government money, to spend (or not) how it wishes One of the lessons of Beeching is that replacing trains with buses only leads in the long term to the eventual demise of the bus service and no public transport services at all. I look occasionally on...