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Curious arrangements this evening - 3 successive intermodals used the Down Fast between Stafford and Crewe, while passenger trains overtook them, using the Down Slow. Any suggestions why this would happen?

Friends from Canada coming over in a few weeks. The only rail travel they're planning is London - Wolves Monday 29 April (need to be there by lunchtime), returning Wednesday 1 May - any time. Looking at options there are advance singles at £50 available, flexible off-peak at £100, and open at...

British Railways shedcodes (1955): 71A Eastleigh, 71B Bournemouth, 71C Dorchester, 71G Bath, 71H Templecombe, 71I Southampton Docks, 71J Highbridge. So were 71D to 71F ever used, and if so where? And if not, why not? And why was I used as a suffix in 71 (and also 65) but skipped in 6, 51, 84...

In the summer of 1906 EH Bostock imported some unusual animals (Thylacine and Tasmanian Devil - so no bigger than a big dog) for his Scottish Zoo in Glasgow. They arrived in Plymouth and - I assume - then went by train. Thoughts please on the following: Would they have travelled as "premium...

The 1202 Euston-Chester was cancelled today between Crewe and Chester "due to planned train being replaced with a slower train (MS)". Not sure if that actually means anything, particularly given that passengers were directed to the 1421 TfW booked service which wasn't replacing anything! So...

Okay, to explain - my interest is mainly in railway operating rather than engineering. And I'm intrigued by what locos were used for, rather than what they looked like, who designed them or what colour they were painted. And my particular interest is in the 1950s. The use of some classes is...

Happened to see what I think was the Mansfield FC team coach (the vehicle, not the guy who advises them on tactics!). Does anyone know the operator or the identity of the vehicle?

Freightliner's 86622 left Crewe on a lowloader a couple of hours ago, presumably for scrapping?

Posters on here were very helpful regarding freight on the Looe branch, so . . . In the steam era (specifically the 1950s) was there a freight service to St Ives? And, if so, how did it work given the fairly intensive passenger service and the lack of passing places? TIA

A friend of mine heard this on a train today on the pa and assumed I'd know what it means. I don't! I think it was on an Avanti service.

We are all familiar with steam locos topping up their water supply en route either by chucking a water column outlet into the tank or tender at a station stop or by use of water troughs. Has en route coaling ever been used in the UK or elsewhere? I know there have been cases of locos having...

What freight has used the Looe line (including Moorswater/ Cheesewring) over the years? Given the difficulties of working the Liskeard - Coombe Jn section there were presumably strict limits on loadings, speed, brake power etc. And were there freight services to Looe itself? I have seen...

I have a pretty good idea of the sort of work covered by most depots over the years, but some are a bit of a mystery. One such is Langwith Junction, which had a substantial allocation of freight locos. I assume its work was largely coal within a Sheffield - Chesterfield - Nottingham - Worksop...

No, relax, I'm not asking how many signals there are on the GB network! Just curious how many signals a driver might need to observe and respond to over the course of a journey. I appreciate this will vary widely but, for example, on a non-stop run from Crewe to Euston (Fast Line all the way...

Between 1929 & 1932 the LMS/ S&D bought a few Sentinel geared steam locos. Basically, what were they used for? By 1955 they were based at Crewe South (2), Bath (2), Shrewsbury (1) and Ayr (1). The Shrewsbury loco was used at Clee Hill. The Bath locos were, I think, outbased at Radstock (for...

On another Forum someone is insisting that the London artics didn't have wheelchair spaces. I hardly ever used them and can't find a clear answer online - so did they? Some were in use in Brighton until recently so presumably they must have been so fitted?

Can anyone explain the history and operation of the signalling installed on the ex-LSWR main line (I think between Woking and Basingstoke)? It's described as "air-operated block signalling". When was it installed (I've seen c.1903 quoted) and how did it work? Thanks.

Okay, let me explain. Walk through a BR Mark I Brake Second and when you walk along the side corridor and then into the brake section there's a mesh partition between where you walk and the parcel (etc) space. I'd always assumed this was a longstanding practice but looking through some layout...

I read that there was a proposal in the 1930s for a direct Exeter-N Abbot cut-off but cannot find any details. Was it intended to follow the Teign Valley line or follow a new alignment. Given the stiff gradients, curves and single line of the Teign Valley route a new alignment would seem the...

In 1955 there were 3 Stanier 2Ps 41900/3/4 allocated to Green Ayre. My understanding was that they were sent there c.1951 when the original MR electrics were withdrawn and before the adapted ex-LNW units were available for service, which I'm told was c.1953. So if the "new" EMUs were in service...