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    Landslip at Wellington (Shropshire), Birmingham - Shrewsbury services suspended

    Thank you ! - I will get one of my potential letter writers to draft something for Modern Railways - he has a good track record of getting things published ! - these things often wind up people. Parking up a 158 and hiring buses to shuttle to Wellington is utter nonesense , when the admittedly...
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    Landslip at Wellington (Shropshire), Birmingham - Shrewsbury services suspended

    A simple question - as there is a bit of spare capacity on TfW and no doubt the signalling staff at Salop - would a simple extension of the Cambrian services , as booked a reversal at Salop and extend to Wellington and reverse there and back to continue booked workings.......... I am sure that...
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    Landslip at Wellington (Shropshire), Birmingham - Shrewsbury services suspended

    Friend went Salop to Crewe yesterday - plenty of space on the Cardiff to Manchester loco hauled and the slow shuttle had been sensibly upgraded to a 3 car vice a 153........
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    Richard Bowker sums up the DfT well

    Also breaking the log jam on delivering the Southern power supply "problem"
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    Annoying television adverts...

    The whole advert scenario really is a put off to watch TV - some being incredibly poor quality , overemphasis on gambling and particular brand destroyers such as Ikea and Pot Noodle that we have taken to recorded programmes which allows one to niftly fast forward and avoid the bilge.
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    Station announcer phraseology no longer used

    About the only nice things of standing on the freezing cold , dark and bleak pre-rebuild Blackfriars station was a real old boy of presumably West Indian heritage who manually called out the southbound suburban services in a distinctive accent with the odd variation - "the Elephant and Castle"...
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    Worst damage to a locomotive sustained while hauling a railtour?

    King George V had an argument with a bridge (somewhere on the North and West ?) as a result of track renewal causing the loading gauge to be changed. Pretty sure the safety valve brass cover was torn of.
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    1970s Railway Accident Documentary Series.

    I did my BR rules and regulations at the much missed training center at the Grove , Watford - a pretty full-on course I have to say (unsurprisingly) - and we watched this twice with one of the instructors (senior regional inspectors brought in for the course) - commenting on the particular...
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    Freiburg v Cambridge

    My eldest son worked for 6 months in Freiburg and lived in Breisach so a commuter in on the local train. This was 5 years ago - and it was diesel operated then , since electrified. A cheap weekly ticket was bought. This route also operated steam tourist trains in summer. Plans in hand I think...
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    Where to learn more about Great Western Railway fire brigade?

    Thanks - very interesting. Not all GWR files are at Kew - there is an appreciable quantity (cross referenced to the Kew Archives) - but located at the Wiltshire Archives which may be worth an on line search. There are some also at Swansea in the West Glamorgan archives.
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    Where to learn more about Great Western Railway fire brigade?

    I am a great fan of the National Archives at Kew - not just for railway material - and I have found by rootling around (old term) several interesting files on the effect of Nazi bombing raids which are easily checked out - two of particular interest were on the 2 day bombing "incidents" at...
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    South Coast 3rd Rail Issues - 24th February 2024

    In my day - the North London Line 313's (used on the DC and Richmond - North Woolwich) had one pick up shoe per motor car removed as the 3d rail was so out of gauge due to indifferent mtc by the then Railtrack and whilst losing a shoe was a nuisance - there was a real risk of it causing a broken...
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    South Coast 3rd Rail Issues - 24th February 2024

    I can only refer to a young and keen driver who had great difficulty in getting back from Hampton Court (there was not much moving down there that day) - so he said he was not going down again - so words were had on the phone and his next trip was with an 8-VEP and he was back in "normal" time...
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    Why don't East Midlands Trains stop at St Albans?

    There is some pressure to increase usage of Luton Airport as an airport - not supported by most locals of course - but there is still a busy airport there with desire to serve somewhere a bit more that Corby - such that the old slow Nottingham etc is still relevant in my view. (it was suggested...
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    South Coast 3rd Rail Issues - 24th February 2024

    Depends how long ago it was - but there might have been catch points for wrong direction running (which would have been needed to be clipped , scotched and handsignalled)
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    Why don't East Midlands Trains stop at St Albans?

    Read with interest to say the least. Agreed the incentive (even with free travel) - to go north on East Midlands means a change twice or circulate via St Pancras which basically is a "no" - a few timetables ago there was a Luton Airport Parkway stop on the slow Nottingham which worked very...
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    South Coast 3rd Rail Issues - 24th February 2024

    "Fast" Bournemouth trains had the 4-REP power cars marshalled "inside" in snowy and icy weather to give better traction - and I recall putting 4-VEP's on the Waterloo - Hampton Court service as they manager a lot better than the single powered car 455's which really struggled .....
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    Why are things so expensive?

    Roger Ford of Modern Railways wrote as far back as 2002 on the cost explosion of rail projects , noteably on the West Coast main line which was then coming out as three times previous estimates - but then the Ledburn Junction example of 18 weekends all lines blocked (reality only 9 were really...
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    Pulling Semaphores after a train has passed

    I used to correct working documents in the late 1970's by the pasting in of inserts - a tedious job but one had to keep on top of it. I was given a Tanganika Railway rulebook when 222 Marylebone Road closed down (it was festering is some drawer modified in much the same way - but probably done...
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    Pulling Semaphores after a train has passed

    That is the message I was taught .........

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