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It's made it to Reading TCD, within schedule and without needing a 'top up' at Oxford: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:K00487/2024-02-16/detailed

Indeed! Lived in Stroud at the time spent an enjoyable week (or was it two?) photographing and riding on the steam services. Had runs behind Drysllwyn Castle, Clun Castle, Burton Agnes Hall, Hinton Manor, KGV and BR Standard Class 4 76069. Was a great occasion marred as others have said by the...

Interesting comments on the boat trains. I travelled to school on the Upminster - Grays branch starting in Sept 1965 and in my first year recall leaving early one day for a hospital appointment. I distinctly recall seeing a boat train passing through Grays station en route for Tilbury consisting...

Very true. In the 60's and 70's four car class 302s comfortably handled the off-peak traffic that was on offer while the peaks required 12 car trains on the 'main' line via Upminster and 8 cars on the Tilbury loop. Nowadays there is much greater off-peak traffic on the line.

That is what Mark Hopwood, GWR MD said at a presentation to the RCTS in Didcot some weeks ago. Apparently the Vivarail administrators had thrown in the spare D78 carriages as part of the deal whereby GWR (on behalf of the DfT) had acquired some of Vivarail's assets. He was wondering what to do...

Did a Reading to Brighton return in the late 90s and that was the route we took. Train was a class 158 and very comfortable it was too.

I commuted on the line to school between 1965 and 72 and used it quite a bit during the 70s and early 80s. Generally services were pretty reliable during that period with few problems from the class 302s or the infrastructure. By the late 80s both trains and infrastructure were getting knackered...

I don't think it's untensioned. The OLE from Colchester to Clacton/Walton must be amongst the oldest 25kV AC installations in the UK as I think it dates from 1959 and was used for testing the first class 302s. Perhaps the Styal line electrification predates this. It's the same design as was...

Actually that wasn't true, the LNER planned to use the original tunnels and wire right through them. Pages 88-89 of E M Johnson's 'Woodhead - The Electric Railway' have two photos of the Woodhead portals of the original single bore tunnels, one of which is dated 1950. They both show OLE...

On the class 302 EMUs used on the LT&S in their original layout, there were no on-train ticket checks. The units were originally non-corridor with a mix of six a side compartment seating and five a side saloons. Same applied to many of the GE units.

This is correct and has been pointed out by myself and others elsewhere. The 'higher tension' for power changeover is a myth that seemingly refuses to die :D The wire tension on the Series 1 OLE on the GWML is higher than used elsewhere on NR but is the same throughout.

Almost. You're correct in that the LNER plan was to wire the electric (now Metro) lines first (in order to save money as they were broke), but after nationalisation sanity prevailed and BR wired the lot out to Shenfield in 1948/9. I presume that when BR implemented the LNER resignalling scheme...

Wasn't that the end where the fire was in the forward power car? If the OTMR recorder didn't survive then hopefully the one in the rear power car will give investigators the information they need.

Good question - there is a system called APCO (Automated Power ChangeOver) which works using lineside balises (beacons) which signals to the train to change traction mode (and which mode to change to). However, from what I've read from informed insiders elsewhere, most traction changes on the...

They are usually started shortly before the traction changeover. They are switched off when running on electric. It's a while since I've been on an 80x doing a traction change but IIRC, westbound Oxford fasts (not stopping at Didcot) would have the engines running between Goring and Cholsey for...

No it isn't, that myth regularly appears. It's the same tension throughout the GWML Series 1 electrification (which is higher than used elsewhere in the UK). The locations simply have to be plain line wire - no overlaps, neutral sections or junctions. They are at specific locations so that NR...

The design work is being done by Furrer + Frey who did the same for the GEML rewiring. The LT&S electrification dates from 1962 (tho the wires were up before then but not in regular use). The 1500v DC electrification in 1949 ran from Fenchurch St to Gas Factory Junction and then through to Bow...

It's on the edge of your area but much of the Midland & South Western Junction Railway is cycle path. The section from the southern edge of Swindon to Marlborough and back is a nice ride and (mostly) fairly level. Park at Coate Water on the SE edge of Swindon and follow the signed route up to...

Reported elsewhere that the Severn Tunnel will be available to 80x on electric from Sunday 24th May.

I doubt if they can in regular service. Also a report from a GWR driver/manager elsewhere implies that an 80x has already traversed the tunnel on electric (presumably on test) so it appears that there is a way round it in special circumstances.