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I copied and pasted these (from, I think, an ERA document) about 15 years ago. Don't know if they are any use, but you're welcome.
Pat
PS I've just looked at zwk's link. Looks like my source was an early copy of that. Doh, should have looked first!
Reading the comments under the Telegraph article has made me realise just how many oxygen thieves this country has. Morons, most of them.
I can't find my comment trying to put them straight - at least I tried.
Pat
Regarding the -man suffix:
In the past there were few more formidable MPs than Gwyneth Dunwoody, Chairman of the Transport Select Committee. When someone addressed her as 'Chair' she replied that she was not a piece of furniture!
Pat
I am reminded of the remark of a Woking driver some 30 years ago, relating his reply when his son came home and told him that he was going to be a signaller. 'You're my son, and I'll always love you, but you're the enemy now!'
Pat
'Cutty Sark' started as a tea clipper, but when the steamships took that trade she was put into the wool trade. I remember (from a visit decades ago!) that the display said that screw jacks were used to compress the wool bales, to make room for more. All that suggests a low value cargo, with...
The same thing happened under a works train at International Junction, Waterloo, in 2017. After the August fiasco of the passenger train being routed into the side of a works train I contacted RAIB about it. The reply was that they were aware of the earlier incident. I do wonder if the same...
ORR Authorisation to Place into Service:
https://www.orr.gov.uk/sites/default/files/2023-12/stadler-rail-class-93-orr-authoristation-letter-2023-12-14.pdf
Pat
The first time I rode on a 350 I couldn't believe how it took off from rest. Being used to the 450s I assumed that the difference was down to the relative availability of volts, as they are the same units under the skin.
Pat
Alternative view: pesky passenger trains screwing up freight trains (and soaking up subsidy money like a sponge).
(Guess which bit of the railway I used to work in :D)
Pat
Mk1 underframes are capable of outlasting several rebodyings (is that a word?) so why look for new build? The bodyside parts (crash pillars, end pressings, &c.) are already available and being replaced in the heritage world.
Pat
I can't help feeling that WCRC have made life harder for themselves by sticking to Vacuum Brakes. (Indeed, aren't they the last user of Vacuum on the Network?) If they had converted to Air Brakes then half the battle for fitting CDL would be won.
Pat
Jim Fisk, who was Engineering Director of EWS at the start told a RCTS meeting at Woking that he listed the EMD part numbers of what he wanted (Cl 59 body, prime mover, alternator, motors, &c.), added the Group Standards and asked EMD to produce the design. This was in response to a question...
Basic question - what does 'designed by' actually mean? For example, Harry Wainwright was a CME of the SE&CR. He was a carriage man, and the only influence he had on locomotives was the gorgeous livery (as seen on D class 737 at the NRM). His Chief Locomotive Draughtsman was Robert Surtees, an...