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Regular viewing of the webcam (linked from post 31) permits a guessing game as to what specific tasks are currently in progress. Do the two trailers near the telescopic crane (at noon on Wed 15/11/23) suggest diving operations?

I have the impression (from RTT) that Avanti have run a number of trains from Glasgow to Preston and back during the day today. If this is correct then criticism for cancelling all trains north of Preston is pointing at the wrong target. Splitting the Glasgow to London service at Preston may...

Short Term Planning for freight, as outlined above, was a rather different sport from additions and amendments to the passenger service. I had the pleasure of both at different times during the 1970s. The processes were somewhat different: in degree of detailed timing of trains, extent of...

Two points about resilience today compared to the past: a) When main lines were signalled from many (labour intensive) manual boxes almost all failures of signalling were highly localised. Keeping trains moving during failures was easier because there were the necessary competent staff...

If one is only familiar with a route from occasional journeys and perusal of timetables etc it is easy to assume that all or most of the passengers boarding at the start of the journey are travelling all the way to the end. In the case of Euston to Glasgow and vice versa the proportion of end...

Whether a train was included in the WTT, in the weekly STN or on a single sheet notice was determined by two main considerations: a) How many times the train was planned to run b) How far in advance it was possible to document the train When I was involved in train planning in the early...

Weekly STNs were produced by each Region (the region I worked in was subdivided into four parts each with its own STN). Additional trains were only included in STNs following agreement with the bits of the organisation affected (including any other Region(s) into or through which each trains...

When I was a Traffic Management trainee (early 70s) we were set a project, at The Grove near Watford, to assemble a proposal for the revival of transport of coffins by train. At that time the demand had shrunk to nil or negligible scale. Various improbable operational and marketing ideas were...

The WCML daytime 'weave' in the 70s and early 80s was a operational nightmare. The times for possession of the two tracks were significantly different for the two directions, which made for plenty of conflict at the junctions at each end of the section. During these times at the beginning or...

As I remember it the evening/night arrangements for the London end of the WCML are provision for all trains to be pathed to operate over one pair of tracks and to be timed to the speed limitations of the slow lines. On any specific occasion engineers' possesion(s) can be taken for part or all...

I was involved in editing STNs in 1972/3. A proportion of passenger train and related empty stock and light engine movements were not included in the weekly notices (our region was divided into four sections each with its own weekly notice) because the details were not available in time for the...

During the period when I was involved with Motorail (as a member of staff with duties including Kensington Olympia and also as an occasional customer, latterly to and from Euston) I am fairly sure that motorail trains did not carry any dedicated Motorail staff. Staff on the train would have...

As I understand it from ex-colleagues: renumbering bridges happened extremely rarely (almost never) because of the extent of paper records about bridge works (maintenance and renewal etc) which were tied to the bridge number (within the line of route). It was also very unusual for a route to be...

I travelled from Kings Cross to Mallaig without changing train in the autumn of 1970. I dont think any vehicle did the entire journey. The vehicles to Mallaig started from Glasgow Queen Street. The sleepers from Kings Cross were detached at Fort William. So whether you consider that to be...

in 1973 the selection process for staff applicants to the Traffic Management Training Scheme included a day of internal railway exams (set by the Royal Society of Arts) followed some time later by an interview process spanning two days. The number of successful staff applicants was usually...

I observed (from passing trains) some of the crossovers at Hanslope being installed on Sunday 18th October 1970. On that weekend, and other weekends around that time, two of the four tracks of the WCML remained open throughout the normal operating day and the timetabled train service operated...

The letters TBM often refer to a Temporary Bench Mark ( a fixed point for establishing local levels during construction of works). This is a more widespread use than Tunnel Boring Machine (of which there are not many about).

What is the significance of 'via Bescot'? Apart from diversions during engineering work or disruption, almost no trains between Birmingham New Street and Stafford/beyond went via Bescot. Normally they called at Wolverhampton, which, while possible via Bescot, was decidely unusual. Diversions...

Karlsruhe is well worth a visit for anyone interested in the excellent tram-train network.

References above to the LBSCR not having heard of Engineers Line Reference are correct and not surprising. ELR was adopted nationally from what was originally a Western Region Civil Engineering Department system of identification of routes and locations (by adding milepost...