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Mm. Children travelling alone? Passengers boarding at unstaffed stations, & also alighting at unstaffed stations? Barriers not working correctly? Passengers with no phone, and/or no credit card? Phone battery flat, or no mobile signal? We are gradually moving towards smartcard...

Bang on. The railways are not out to prosecute every youth travelling on child tickets, especially on a first offence. We would much prefer that you bought the correct ticket in the first place, & to continue to buy the correct ticket. Personally, I very much doubt that this will end up in...

Sorry, but you're just going to have to go with me on this one. What is booked on paper, & what actually transpires on the day, are two entirely different matters where units are concerned. The sole focus is to ensure that the train actually runs, so as not to incur cancellation costs. If a...

Well, you may be surprised to learn that the 142's are actually passed for line speed, which is currently 45mph. The track had all been relaid before the ban was lifted on them, & they observe the same restrictions as all other units. Indeed, it has to be said that 142's make a better fist of...

Northern's 142/150 diagrams have been interworked for a good number of years, & nothing is fixed. It all comes down to what unit is available at the start of the diagram, with the only exception being Hazel Grove-Buxton, which must have 150 or 156 units. When the 142's were passed for...

I worked it on Tuesday, when it had 153328 for company - on Wed, it was noted at NH next to 150150, so I reckon that Tuesday was its last day in service with Northern. A shame to see it go - a pleasant unit, & always felt far less claustrophobic than its Northern brethren.

Mm - quite agree. That is why I will only call for BTP assistance to my train when it is absolutely unavoidable, as I prefer to think of the bigger picture, & whether or not it is possible to keep matters under control when some village idiot (or more likely, group of village idiots) are on one...

Yes - I believe that all registered stock with steam/dual capability is with WCRC - comes in handy if there's no eth fitted loco to tag on the back, or if they're short of generator cars, & the train in question is rostered for a steam loco. There may also be some steam/dual stock in the SRPS rake.

I can only assume here that your friend is referring to HT class 156 units, that do occasionally stray onto GSWR services via Dumfries - Northern have never passed any of their stock on to FSR, save for 158's that never saw any active service for Northern, thanks to the usual DfT meddling.

The unit would have run from Man Vic, & then over the Ashton Moss-Denton line as ECS to Reddish Sth in order to pick up its truncated working - until the points are sorted out at Heaton Norris, Stockport punters are being conveyed by road transport instead. It is also quite possible that the...

The air suspension on the 52 car of 150141 went - erm - "twang" at Atherton, resulting in the unit travelling forward to Wigan CS as ECS at 45 mph - quite why it couldn't have run at least to Wigan in passenger service before being coshed is an answer I don't have. Over the last 6 years, the...

A 143 ?? Somehow, I really don't think so. The notion of a 144 appearing at Lime St is quite feasible actually - back in the day, Regional Railways ran an hourly service from Leeds via the Calder Valley, Man Victoria & Chat Moss to Liverpool, which saw classes 155, 156 & 158 making daily...

Hard to believe now, but whilst very infrequent, visits by the 144's to Man Piccadilly under ATN were not unknown, & they also found themselves on the odd trip over Copy Pit with York/Leeds-Blackpool Nth services. Then again, appearances over the S+C aren't exactly unknown.

Good man :):) Personally, I have worked more "****head/numbnut" specials than I care to remember, & I also have experience going right back to "slam door" units + coaching stock on BR - mm, there was a difference back then, though - regardless of the fact that we had no mobile phones, etc, when...

I would very much doubt that a 144 has ever been west of Man Victoria under the Northern regime - only Man Vic crews sign them, although many of us don't (myself included), & there are many drivers that don't sign them. As for Piccadilly, you can safely say absolutely not. That said, a class...

My reference to 150/1 units, my good friend, was purely in relation to their worthiness as a suburban dmu, & their capacity for carrying cycles, prams, heavy luggage, etc - aside from the cavernous former parcels area in the 57 car, there is also an excellent space in the vicinity of the toilet...

Even if we were able to muster enough units to run 6 car trains - & I am referring solely to dmu services here - our lamentable infrastructure would not allow for 6 cars to be in service on virtually every Northern route - indeed, we have an abundance of routes where we seriously struggle with 4...

Mm - worked 285 myself today for the 1st time. Undoubtedly in a totally different league to Northern 150's, except for one thing - the cycle, pram, heavy luggage, wheelchair, etc etc capacity is absolutely pitiful. Today, we had the booked 153 as company - at weekends, however, 285 is booked to...

Yes - the unit is 2+2 seating throughout, & that is precisely why it is on that particular diagram, given that it is also the only unit diagram on the Clitheroe line that starts/ends its day at NH, & does not go off wandering around the Northern operating area, as per other diagrams on the...

Personally, I believe that 285 is being kept on exactly the same diagram every day due to GMPTE's obsession with seating capacity - after Manchester/Salford, its only calls within GM boundary are Bolton, Hall I' Th' Wood & Bromley X - it is also booked to be coupled to a class 153 for the...