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Had a steel rod or similar object (according to the driver) placed on the track near Ledbury last summer. The LM 150 I was on performed an emergency stop after striking it - the bar made a hell of a sound as it was getting mangled underneath the train. The driver and guard checked down the...

His stories are usually pretty serious and the way he told us was very believable. You've reminded me actually, (it was quite a while ago) that he was holding the dead man's handle at the time and after falling out the train did indeed make an emergency stop, but the RAF were called out due to...

My ex-RAF helicopter pilot maths teacher once told us a story of a service up in Scotland quite a few years ago (tried googling it but nothing came back), when a driver took a leak out of the cab door while the train was doing a decent speed. Anyway, the driver fell out the door in the process...

Remember that EMT HSTs (being at Duffield) have Paxman VP185s, which make a significantly better sound than MTUs!

Some very sorry looking ex-Virgin Mk3s were rescued from Long Marston and I believe are now back in service with FGW. The Cl43 you are probably thinking about is ex-Virgin 43101, now 43301 with CrossCountry. You really would have doubted it would ever make it back into service in it's final days...

No doubting that will happen. I hope they revert back to the old headlights too! It will be strange to see HSTs in preservation but I think they have a future even after IEP has displaced them from the Padd-Bris/Cardiff runs. The MML needs extra stock to cope with the increasing amount of...

I'm really interested to know what you guys expect to happen to HSTs once the Hitachi SETs start ousting them from the GWML and ECML. Will they be sent to the scrapyard or be cascaded to other IC networks not pencilled in for electrification any time soon such as the MML and Cross Country Route...

Don't kill me for quoting wikipedia but it says ARH plan to overtake both ICEC and Virgin's franchises when they expire in 2013. I don't trust the article though as why would ARH be ordering new Polaris stock if the Pendos will run strong on the WCML for another 30 yrs and the ECML is due for...

What about Alliance Rail Holdings?

Seems collisions with large objects are more common than I thought! Unbelievable that it doesn't to cross their minds that something like a bike on the tracks could spell disaster for a train full of people, yet there aren't any accidents! Cheers fellas very informative :)

Recently I was travelling back from Wales with a few mates when we were on our final leg of the journey (Hereford-Worcester) at about 22:40 on a Sunday night. We were pretty weary after three days of not much sleep (plus a few drinks ;)) and the 7 hour journey from Pembroke. We were on an...

Most likely would've been a class 421 or 423 slammer as my first mainline trip was on that line in the mid 90s :)

Just read from an article that investigations are continuing and there are suspicious circumstances :( My thoughts to families/friends and driver involved.

First train I went on was probably an NSE 4Cig/Vep slammer into Waterloo in the mid 90s from Winnersh.I swear they may have been playing classical music over the loudspeakers! First trip on my own was a Central Trains 150 into Worcester when I started high school (2006).

Quite a few years back found an untouched and neatly laid out (but cold) McDonalds cheeseburger/fries meal complete with cup of tea neatly laid out with napkins on the chair of an old 4Cig slammer at Reading once. Bizarre!

Ah yes, should've noticed seeing as there's clag coming from the individual cylinders, but if the silencers are still on why is the engine so noisy, do the manifolds really have that much of a silencing effect?

Sorry meant 'dreadful' in bashers' terms :)

One dreadful sound!!! :D http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gjV7WpoyLs&feature=related

I too really dislike the harsh white light of FGW Mk3s at night; there is no cosiness about the interior, with shades of blue and the white light - reminds me of being in a hospital or dentist's! The white lights were installed at refurbishment, I can only guess it's due to the shade of light...

When the IEP program begins to oust HSTs from the GWML in 2015/2016 (perhaps half the fleet?), is there a possibility of GWML HSTs being cascaded to the XC network to increase capacity in the core areas? The core of XC's network isn't electrified and doesn't have comparatively high line speed...