Search results

In the 1980s different parts of London could be defined by what buses were in use. East and South East London it was Leyland Titans. South London was B20 DMSs and South West,West and North London was Metrobuses. That was until route tendering came along and changed things.

In GNER days I remember getting an easy days overtime when a class 91 was dragging an HST in passenger service. Can’t remember what was wrong with the HST but they wanted to get it back to Craigentinny. The rear HST power car was left running to provide power to the coaches and because there was...

I was allowed to pick up my first weeks wages in cash as I was a 16 year old who hadn’t got a bank account sorted but after that it had to be paid 4 weekly into a bank account. I remember getting £3 quarterly for bank charges which I believed BR would’ve offered as an incentive to get people to...

When I started in 1991 we got an annual leave allowance of 21 days plus 9 bank holidays on top. If you were rostered to work on a bank holiday you got double time plus a day in lieu to take whenever you wanted so as a result bank holiday working was very popular. Indeed I remember one occasion...

When I was a fitter at Bounds Green in the 90s we worked a 3 week recurring roster that went as follows: week 1Sun R/D Mon R/D Tue 08:00-18.00 Weds 08.00-18.00 Thurs 08.00-18.00 Fri 08.00-18.00 Sat 08.00-18.00 week2: Sun 08.00-18.00 Mon 08.00-1800 Tues 08.00-18.00 Weds 08.00-18.00 Thurs R/D Fri...

Am I in a minority by not really liking Coffee and failing to see the attraction of the stuff? When I was a kid growing up in the 80/90s Coffee seemed to be a choice between Nescafé and Maxwell House and if you wanted one when out and about a greasy spoon cafe would knock you one up in a...

I worked on the Mark 4s pre Mallard refurb at Bounds Green. They were awful things when compared to a Mk3. Horrible grey/pink colour scheme. Red vestibule carpets that looked really bad when worn (later replaced with black matting), Lino in the toilets that was all bubbled and had loads of tacks...

Well not if it turned up at the same time the train would be due but the train in question departs from Wickford at 04.21 so a bus at 04.00 would get to Shenfield in time for the 04.38 departure to get into Liverpool St at 05.06 so I could stomach getting up 20 minutes earlier. Admittedly for...

As per the title do train operating companies have an obligation to provide rail replacement buses to cover planned cancelled trains? The reason I ask is because of overnight engineering work Greater Anglia are cancelling the first up service of a morning from Southend Victoria to Liverpool St...

VTEC/LNER have a similar policy of not taking on anyone with a safety of line incident on their record. As a result the qualified drivers they take on seem to be ex managers who are more likely to have a clean licence by virtue of hardly doing any driving to be involved in an incident or...

As per title,but what is the point of these things? I keep seeing TV ads for them and there’s no way I’d ever talk to one. Alexa what’s the weather like? Well I can look out the window or watch the weather forecast or look at the app on my phone. Alexa add Cat Food to my shopping list? What’s...

Kings Cross-Newcastle Doncaster-Leeds Hertford Loop Ferme Park/Bounds Green Signed by all drivers in addition some drivers also sign: Hitchin-Peterborough via Royston/Cambridge/Ely/March Peterborough-Doncaster via Sleaford/Lincoln/Gainsborough Lincoln-Newark Traction-all drivers sign...

Even if they was allowed to run at 125 blunt end leading they probably wouldn't have the opportunity as the usual reasons they run blunt end first is because of a problem with the DVT or a TDM failure meaning the 91 has been run round so then the lack of a rear E70 brake control unit means speed...

They must have been cleared for 125mph blunt end first once upon a time as I remember one of my first jobs when I started as an apprentice at Bounds Green in 1991 was to change the max speed stickers in the cabs from 125mph to 110mph in the no 2 cab and from 140mph to 125mph in no 1 cab.

After working on the railway for 26 years and having safeguarded travel facilities I've never actually got round to travelling on the sleeper to Scotland. So I'm thinking of heading up to Glasgow on the Lowland Sleeper using my travel facilities but the thing that has always put me off is the...

Hi all. I've decided to head up to Scotland next month and after staying in Inverness overnight on Sunday 4th June I want to catch the early train that arrives in Kyle at 11.30 then make my way to Mallaig where I've booked a ticket on the afternoon Jacobite service. It's the getting from Kyle...

If you stand on Platform 1 at Alexandra Palace station between 1700-2000 you are pretty much guaranteed to see a class 08 in action as we take the sets on maintenance out the shed at Bounds Green and put them into the yard to free up space for the trains coming in for servicing at night. If you...

There isn't an average turn length at Kings Cross. Our turns can be anything between 6-11 hours long. As a rule the Leeds turn generally come in at 6 hours, nice short jobs there and back. The Newcastle turns are generally around the 8 hour mark but with a few horrible 10 hour turns on a Sunday...

The i Pad is used for TAS (Timetable Advisory System) which is basically a glorified schedule card. You input your headcode before you start your journey and it's will tell you what stations you stop at and on the approach to a station that your booked to call at you will get an audible alarm...

Going out on the 07.35 KX-Leeds today. So much for keeping it on the Newark services