Search results

I can't follow this. Presumably the payments paid 'by DfT' are in respect of access charges subsidy - possibly what was explained herefurther explained up thread. So it would seem thattaxpayers paid the franchisee to run trains £2.388 bn being greater than £2.856bn (by £468m). (my emphasis)...

I'm hazy about the details but I think there's a building (?library?) in the City that was proposed for demolition and replacement in the 1970s and someone led a campaign against the plan. The building eventually was demolished and replaced. Now that replacement building has itself been...

There's some old railway paint schedules reproduced in books and it seemed to be the practice for the painters to mix up paint (possibly each morning) from the base constituents; for example, linseed oil, turpentine, oxides of iron and zinc in primers. Colours were from what I think was a...

Curiously, looking 1 month in advance & about now in the day, TfW seems to be the cheapest for the journey - £3.60. So obviously, they're not worried about crowding out longer distance passengers to Central Wales.

I have - possibly because they can't believe how long the journey is taking and checking that they haven't missed their stop. (Euston - Northampton - Birmingham).

Oddly, the RCTS History (written by people who saw it all first-hand) has a 'Liveries' section but it's silent on the question of absorbed locos.., but perhaps that infers they were not treated differently from native locos. Of course, there were other periods of 'absorption' such as that of the...

My emphasis. Just puzzled; one of the periods where other railways were 'absorbed' was around 1922-4. Included were locos. of the Cambrian and M. & S.W. J. and they both had express 4-4-0 types that were repainted by the G.W... Were they really painted black? As far as the many absorbed 0-6-2Ts...

The Southern Railway of the USA was unusual (unique?) in using 'railway' rather than 'railroad' in its title. Looking at Wiki the armband does seem to be very similar in colour and type face to the U.S. one. Probably someone got miss-led at a railwayana auction - not unusual

The omissions from the maps were discussed on another thread soon after the 730/0's introduction, but I am struggling to find it - although I did post on it.

On the subject of fares; I know people who live in Birmingham and they use a day rover type ticket (£5 or £7.50, not sure of the exact details) that includes travel on bus, tram and also rail; and the last includes Coventry (I think) - Birmingham - Wolverhampton (and valid on Avanti and XC as...

Particularly if the police 'accidentally' give you a 'glimpse' of the suspect. But in my defence I was 16 at the time and had been persuaded by the police that it would be the 'right thing to do', because the suspect had committed a serious crime (manslaughter/murder) and 'got away with it' -...

In the days of Inter City, some wag suggested that the then-blossoming variety of railcards should all be withdrawn and fares reduced; and a new railcard "Businessman's Railcard" introduced. Presentation of this would result in double the standard fare being charged. in effect, this is what...

mmm... Sprinters???

The figures are opaque to say the least; but isn't it the case (and with all franchises) that a proportion (?50%) of track access charges are paid by the DfT/Treasury direct to Network Rail, so don't count against the 'profit'? And does not Network Rail make a 'loss', showing that track access...

Tangentially, remember the late, great (imo) Rabbi Lionel Blue? He related against himself on the radio once that he was at school when he was told by the headmaster (I think) that his (Lionel's) mother had phoned to say that the family name had just been changed to 'Blue' to be more English...

Mentioned in the report - it was vac. piped through, so the guard did hear air rushing in when he did the brake test. Problem seemed to be confusion between piped and braked; I remember the standard question (white or red standpipes?) and I was only a freight trains office clerk // I thought...

It seems to be fashionable to be innumerate, a form of ignorance. 'I'm no good at Maths' (actually, you mean arithmetic) is so often said with pride. I was listening to a radio news and current affairs programme the other morning when the news presenter said that being taught maths was useless...

Thanks for the analysis; whatever the politics, it does seem like an 'HS2 cancellation bonus' that actually does benefit rail.

It appeared on the menu in Virgin Trains buffets, listed as 'Virgin Coke'. After a short time, someone then had to go round with a ball point pen crossing out 'Coke' and writing (scrawling, actually) 'cola' on every one. Perhaps not the best example of thought through branding, or...

My query - perhaps I was being opaque - was how electrification would result in higher passenger numbers, something which seems to be taken for granted without explanation. Thanks for the responses. It suggests that there won't be an increase in passenger numbers based on improved journey...