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  1. 1

    'Big Boy' banks a real freight train

    It appears that the other day restored 'Big Boy' no. 4014 was out on the main line somewhere in Nebraska when it was called upon to assist a stalled freight train. There are various videos on YouTube, including for example this one: Here there are clips from the same video with commentary from...
  2. 1

    Newhaven ferry check-in times

    I have a foot passenger booking from Newhaven to Dieppe for later this week. It includes the somewhat confusing message: ‘please check in at least 90 minutes prior to departure (Last presentation 45 min)’, and when I e-mailed them to ask about it, I got the equally unhelpful reply: 'That...
  3. 1

    Potential for disruption in France?

    I'm considering a brief visit to Normandy sometime between now and Christmas; this would involve some travel on regional trains and local buses. France is presumably feeling some of the same inflationary and public spendng pressures as the UK, it has a reputation for militant workforces, and I...
  4. 1

    'Highland Chieftan' on Scotrail strike day

    My aged parents (not quite so aged as to need passenger assistance, but the smoother their journey the better) are booked on the 'Highland Chieftan' from Stirling to King's Cross on Saturday 29th October, when it's now been announced that RMT members at Scotrail are having another strike (not...
  5. 1

    Already-planned RRBs on strike days

    If replacement buses are scheduled due to planned engineering works, and a strike is then announced for the day in question, is it a safe assumption that the buses will run as planned (assuming no unrelated problems like bus driver availability)? My particular journey is from Heysham to...
  6. 1

    e-ticket printing size

    On the now-closed e-ticket thread, in response to this: @yorkie said: The PDF software I use will print multiple pages per sheet. Do people know how small you can print an e-ticket before it gets too small to scan properly? From Yorkie's comment I presume that two pages per A4 sheet is OK...
  7. 1

    Bicycles on Cross Country

    Can anyone answer some questions about taking bikes on XC's Voyager routes, in particular Leamington Spa to Oxford? It's quite a long time since I last took a bike on XC, or indeed any train requiring a reservation for it; I'm asking partly on behalf of a colleague who would find it useful to be...
  8. 1

    Oyster card expiring?

    I have an unregistered PAYG Oyster card, which I've had for many years but only used occasionally (I'm not in London, other than the very edge, that often, and when I am, I often have a paper outboundary Travelcard or a through ticket from one side of London to the other). In late September I...
  9. 1

    Isle of Wight questions

    I'm planning a day trip to the Isle of Wight -- out to Cowes with Red Funnel, walk to Ryde, return via Portsmouth; I'll probably buy a day return to Eastleigh and then singles to Cowes and from Ryde. The outward journey is fine -- you can't reserve on the Red Jet service even if you want to...
  10. 1

    Anthracite as a locomotive fuel

    (Starting a new thread because it's off-topic for the one where the subject arose). Apparently some of the American railroads used anthracite in locomotives, and at least one made much of it in their publicity: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phoebe_Snow_(character). There's an article on the...
  11. 1

    Oxford-Scotland fares in late May/early June

    I'm planning a possible journey from Oxford to Stirling and back in a couple of weeks (which if it goes ahead will be my first Anglo-Scottish train journey, and only my second long-distance one of any kind, since pre-Covid). The not-London Off-Peak Return costs £165.90 according to brfares.com...
  12. 1

    Chiltern ticket machines and fares via Oxford

    A few weeks ago I had occasion to travel form Haddenham & Thame Parkway to Didcot (on a Saturday afternoon, so the ticket office was closed). I was surprised to find that the off-peak day single fare, routed Not London, was £29.50 (BRfares.com indicates that you can go via London, which must be...
  13. 1

    SWR services from Exeter on 2nd October

    Further to my earlier investigations of how to get from Penzance to Reading on 2nd October, I now find that the Exeter-Waterloo service has entirely disappeared from NRE. The SWR mixing deck for ticket purchase shows a service averaging one train per hour for much of the day, but at more...
  14. 1

    Your first experience of foreign train travel

    (Inspired by the recent History and Nostalgia thread on people's first memories of train travel) What was your first experience of train travel in a country other than the one where you grew up? If you know of any earlier journeys that you were too young to remember you can mention both those...
  15. 1

    What's happened to the 17.55 Basingstoke-Reading?

    It's in the printed GBTT (yes, I know that's not infallible), and the pdf on the GWR website, and the timetable poster at the south entrance of Reading West station (I didn't check the main entrance), but when I tried to board it there today it wasn't on the dot-matrix boards, and it isn't in...
  16. 1

    Diversions in Hampshire next weekend

    The NRE journey planner is showing XC trains to Bournemouth next Saturday taking longer than usual and omitting Winchester etc., and RTT confirms diversion via Laverstock; the XC website shows this as a late notice alteration. SWR services are still shown by NRE as running normally, and there's...
  17. 1

    '...and connections' Advances -- which trains can you connect into if delayed?

    If you have a '[TOC] and connections' Advance ticket, and the train operated by the TOC in question is delayed so you miss the intended connecting train, does anyone know what the rules are about which train you can take instead? 1) If the missed connecting train is reservable, can you take the...
  18. 1

    Weekend First with a change of train

    I presume all Weekend First schemes are TOC-specific, i.e. you can't buy a single upgrade covering travel on more than one TOC (if anyone knows differently, please say so). Are they also train-specific, or can they cover travel on more than one train of the same TOC? For example could...
  19. 1

    Problem buying SailRail ticket

    I'm trying to buy a ticket from Didcot to Rosslare for this Friday, but so far without success. Loco2.com offers a SailRail standby ticket, but when I click 'add to basket' it says 'Sorry, we weren't able to confirm your booking.' Raileasy says 'no fares found' if I search for departure at...
  20. 1

    SailRail and other Irish ticket questions

    I'm advising a friend in Ireland who hasn't used SailRail before, and I think is only an occasional user of public transport in general, but there are various things that I'm not sure about, so I thought I'd see what the collective wisdom of the forum had to say. Hopefully some of the points...

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