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  1. 318259

    Trivia: Colourful station names

    National Rail Scotland: Blackridge Greenock Central Greenock West Greenfaulds Whitecraigs Edinburgh Trams: Balgreen (Edinburgh Trams) Berlin S-Bahn: Grünau Grünbergallee (Ignoring Grunewald because it has a u and not a ü) Berlin U-Bahn: Rotes Rathaus (Ignoring Rosa-Luxemborg-Platz...
  2. 318259

    Trivia: Stations on four track lines that have platforms on three of the lines.

    A few people have already mentioned Purley and Purley Oaks. They deserve an honourable mention for their bizarre platform layout. The Brighton fast line runs through both stations and they have platforms that are closed to the public unless a service is about to stop there (mostly engineering...
  3. 318259

    "City Status" Communities with the word "Town" in one of their station names

    How tremendously silly of a national train operator. Naming an Intercity service after the cities it'll actually serve within its borders and not including other cities in other countries you can't get a direct train to and are across the sea. I definitely wouldn't call the ScotRail services...
  4. 318259

    Scotrail fleet procurement competition - Class 156, 318 & 320 replacements

    The end cars of the 334s have 2+2 seating with armrests (but no tables). They’re quite comfortable, even on longer suburban journeys. I used to get them form Glasgow to Ayr quite a lot. The middle cars have pretty nasty 3+2 seats with a very narrow aisle. They’re not so great, especially...
  5. 318259

    Getting to Shetland from Grimsby

    Stonehaven is nice enough, and the fish and chip shop at the seafront is excellent. It’s not a station that the intercity services often stop at. It’s usually the local service to Inverurie that stops at Stonehaven.
  6. 318259

    Glasgow Trainspotting

    Patrick isn’t unmanned – there are staff downstairs and they keep a pretty good eye on the security cameras. They don’t care what you’re doing, even if you’re standing on the platform for hours, as long as you don’t smoke or vape. If you do either of those, even out on the open platforms...
  7. 318259

    Where will the last semaphore signals be on the national network?

    The "last ones standing" will probably be Anderson's Piano on the West Highland Line. It's a wild setup, but if it ain't broke...
  8. 318259

    Glasgow Central - low level refurbishment

    Yeah, the new platform announcer is horrid. The old Ditra / Allison McKay system sounded much better.
  9. 318259

    Trivia: Worst branding elements used for a public transport service

    You’re not kidding. “First’s branding of ScotRail” is my answer to this thread. National Express ran ScotRail until 2004. They didn’t plaster their name on anything – they kept the old ScotRail name and logo, and just changed the colour scheme. The average Joe probably didn’t even realise...
  10. 318259

    Edinburgh Tram developments

    As someone who uses the trams when I'm in Edinburgh, and grew up living in Germany where most cities have a tram system, it's great. The fact that there's a massive free car park at Ingleston right next to the motorway and you can jump straight on the tram is fantastic. Cancelling the trams now...
  11. 318259

    [Trivia] Stations abroad which have an excessive number of platforms

    I’m guessing “BER Airport Terminal 5” is the old Schönefeld station? If so, it was always a bit depressing and run-down. A lot of rural Hungarian stations are good examples of this, especially on the Budapest - Esztergom line before it was electrified and rebuilt a few years ago. You had...
  12. 318259

    Trivia: Examples of errors or faults or quirks with station automated announcements or departure screens or CIS systems.

    At Paisley Gilmour Street, you can change for “the bus link to Glasgow Airplort”. Fletcher Mathers recorded every station name twice for ScotRail’s automatic announcements - once for the middle of a sentence or list of stations that goes up in tone, and once for the end of a sentence or list...
  13. 318259

    Trivia: Stations with more platforms than they need for regular service

    Kilmarnock. It’s a big station with two through platforms and two bay platforms. It’s one of those stations that was just never the same after the Beeching axe, with most of its lines closed. It has a half hourly service to Glasgow which is usually just a two-car 156 and is partly...
  14. 318259

    Trivia: Stations on triangluar junctions (such as Earlestown)?

    The Berlin U-Bahn has a station called “Gleisdreieck” (rail triangle) for this very reason. After a nasty accident, it was completely rebuilt as a grade separated crossing and the station has platforms at both levels.
  15. 318259

    Stations rebranded to Great British Railways design / Rail Alphabet 2

    ScotRail almost certainly won’t be adopting the new GWR style. They went through a massive rebranding, re-signing and repainting exercise back in 2010, when they launched the ScotRail brand and stopped letting the franchise holder make these decisions. ScotRail sign branding
  16. 318259

    Using station as pedestrian through-route

    Hyndland station in the west end of Glasgow is an interesting one. It serves as a useful shortcut with a big residential area on one side of the station, and a hospital and main road on the other. Hyndland has an island platform, and there’s a modern accessible footbridge with lifts and stairs...
  17. 318259

    Trivia: Stations where passengers headed for a completely different destination end up on a regular basis

    The PIS discussion is an interesting one. At Glasgow Central, trains to Neilston are shown as <Neilston> so they don’t get confused for Newton. Trains to Edinburgh Waverley on the Helensburgh line just show the destination as “Edinburgh”. The automatic announcement system just says “Edinburgh”...
  18. 318259

    Trivia: Newest fleet of trains to be wholly scrapped

    They weren’t scrapped as such, but the fate of the Class 460s is interesting. They were bought to serve the stand-alone Gatwick Express franchise, and introduced in 2000. The government decided to roll Gatwick Express into the Southern franchise, and the trains continued past Gatwick to...
  19. 318259

    Trivia: Stations where passengers headed for a completely different destination end up on a regular basis

    Germany has two cities called “Frankfurt”, at complete opposite ends of the country. Both have railway stations. I wonder how many international business people in suits have ended up in Frankfurt (Oder) instead of Frankfurt (am Main).
  20. 318259

    Glasgow Central - low level refurbishment

    It's impossible to describe. It's not like any other underground station or system I've ever set foot in. The Glasgow Subway smells like damp old tunnel and egg. The Berlin U-Bahn smells like tar and Jeyes Fluid. Glasgow Central Low Level? It's like a mixture of egg and bad breath with a hint...

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