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People always think that change will produce noticeably different outcomes, but that’s often not the case. I remember hearing a vintage radio interview where an old chap was moaning about the service from the GWR and was looking forward to nationalisation. I have also recently heard an old radio...

My local newspaper referred to delays problems on the ‘train tracks’ rather than the railway lines the other day.

As so much of Cross-Country's business is leisure/social travelling, would it perhaps be better if XC services were opened-up to competition and/or replacement by Open Access operators. This would ensure that ticketing would need to be online or via an app meaning that all passengers would have...

Whilst I appreciate that times have changed and the new regulations must be rigorously enforced, I can’t help but reflect on how many tens of thousands of people opened and closed doors, boarding and alighting from packed trains at hundreds of busy stations thousands of times every morning as...

Do they run ghost trains on the Mid Haunts?

I know this is going off-topic, but before we're all nudged back on-track I think a unified passenger train livery for England would be good, as it's unlikely that Scotland or Wales will change as these services are devolved from the UK Government. I think a livery that reflects the red and...

I don't think I have had the pleasure of sitting in a comfortable train seat since the first class REP/4-TC seats disappeared from the Waterloo to Bournemouth/Weymouth line. And to make matters worse today, some trains no longer even have first class of any kind.

The demolition of the main station building with its lovely clock tower at Southampton Central, leaving a major city with meagre cramped and claustrophobic station facilities cowering beneath the squat brutalist architecture of the Overline House office development.

It’s amazing how good blue and grey still looks now when it’s clean, which most trains are today compared to the days of BR. Imagine how much money could have been saved had the incredibly well designed corporate identity not been tinkered around with and then ditched for the plethora of sector...

Trying to travel with Cross Country simply became a real test of endurance and was more trouble than it was worth. Eventually every single journey I undertook between Birmingham International and Southampton Parkway involved standing, sometimes literally squashed so tightly it was impossible to...

You are absolutely right. What the railways need is real change, I would like to see all Inter-City type services entirely privatised and being operated on a totally 'open access' arrangement. A few rural services could be directly funded by central government if subsidies are needed, and...

It could be done, independent financial and industry analysts would have to undertake a thorough survey to assess the market value of each of the businesses and arrange for a way for the shares to be compulsorily purchased. There would likely be strong resistance from some shareholders as they...

That's absolutely true and even many environmentalists would agree with this statement. In fact, during the last EU elections in the UK I decided I wanted to vote for the Green Party, but before I was willing to commit I contacted my regional candidate to ask for her thoughts on the use of...

Yes, we certainly had a platform bell at my local station, Netley which was rung from the signal box - one ring for trains running towards Southampton/Salisbury and two for those travelling towards Fareham/Portsmouth. I was never sure if these were for the passengers or for the staff, but as the...

Definitely the best suggestion. A really thorough overhaul and refurbishment, toilet retention tanks fitted and then just plain common sense from passengers and staff!

They were threadbare and clapped-out when I last regularly travelled on them about five years ago - goodness knows what they must be like now!

I much preferred the days of REPs and TCs on my line where one could travel from Waterloo to Bournemouth without a single word of announcements, other than perhaps the hearing the muffled voice of the station announcer at Southmpton Central.

There's already far too much government involvement with the railways already. The network should be under state control, as is the case with roads. I would like to see regional/metropolitan passenger services come under the control of local/regionally-funded transport authorities, but the...

I remember when 4-TC 417 was in service in the 1970s, one of the driving trailer seconds featured MK2 seating. Someone told me that it was to assess the viability of re-fitting the REP/TC fleet with MK2 type seating to improve the experience for travellers on what was then considered an...

It's probably getting close to the point in time where most working locomotives are converted to oil firing. Most of younger generation and their families just want to see, hear and rid on a choo-choo and indeed many youngsters have no concept of the idea of coal. The GWR converted several of...