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  1. Greenback

    Central / Heart of Wales Line - historical

    I haven't done a trip on the HoW since the first half of 2017, bu the trees were certainly getting in the way of the views back then. I don't necessarily want them all chopped down, but cutting them back a bit would be nice.
  2. Greenback

    Station name suffix

    I always thought that the Exchange suffix referred o he ability to change between routes, as in I'm exchanging one train for another! It seems appropriate for Wrexham, at least, but I'm not sure about the others :)
  3. Greenback

    A different route for British Railways?

    Maybe this particular route is not the best example of how costs could have been reduced. I'm not saying that every line could have been saved, and the unsuitable DMU's used between Taunton and Barnstaple were more of a hindrance than a help by the looks of things. As much as some may not have...
  4. Greenback

    A different route for British Railways?

    I wasn't talking so much about the local trains, although from what I've seen of old timetables the service was too irregular and infrequent to be of that much use anyway. I was thinking along the lines of the Llanelli - Pontardulais section being closed and the Bont to Swansea line being...
  5. Greenback

    A different route for British Railways?

    A lot of decent points have been made so far, on both sides of the discussion. I agree that Beeching tried to follow a systematic approach to closures, and I agree that many of the closures were necessary. I also think that some were very strange, and I firmly believe that not enough thought was...
  6. Greenback

    How Many mainline stations did Swansea have before 1960’s?

    Thanks Stafford, for confirming the R&SB station. On the subject of Landore, I suppose that while the high level and low level stations would have initially been operated as separate entities, but I expect that after the Grouping at the latest they were run as a single entity?
  7. Greenback

    How Many mainline stations did Swansea have before 1960’s?

    If you include the stations such as Cockett, Swansea Bay, Upper Bank, Landore, Mumbles Road and Morriston, which have always been areas considered as part of Swansea (at least during my time), then there were at least 9. I believe that the Rhondda and Swansea Bay had a station or two on the...
  8. Greenback

    London to Fishguard and Milford Haven services

    It seems incredible these days that there were sleepers from London to Leeds, Manchester and Liverpool!
  9. Greenback

    When did Cardiff General become Cardiff Central?

    Thanks for the welcome back. I'm very glad to be here again after my sudden illness over a year ago. I think it's right that the General was dropped from Reading when the Southern terminus was closed. As you may remember, I worked in Reading station for a while, and some of the long serving...
  10. Greenback

    London to Fishguard and Milford Haven services

    I think the Milford Haven sleeper service was withdrawn when the Mk 3 sleeper coaches came in. The HST's to and from Milford Haven were supposed to be a replacement for the sleeper trains. Many thought they wouldn't last long, but they stayed for longer than I expected. The early 1980's were a...
  11. Greenback

    When did Cardiff General become Cardiff Central?

    When I was but a lad in the early 1970's Neath still had old brown totem signs saying Neath General on them. 1973 sounds right for the change of name.
  12. Greenback

    6 inch maps on Rail Maps Online

    The disappearance of these maps on Railmapsonline is a sad loss. The site is far less useful without them.
  13. Greenback

    Boat Trains

    We've caught the morning Fishguard boat train a couple of times to get back to Llanelli quickly, either after staying in Cardiff or when we've made an earlier start than usual from somewhere like London or Reading. Strangely enough, it's always been a 158 when we've gone west, but when we've...
  14. Greenback

    Boat Trains

    The morning rail connection to the ferry at Fishguard runs fast from Cardiff calling only at Bridgend, Llanelli and Whitland. The return also runs via the Swansea District Line, but calls additionally at Carmarthen. Both trips take around 2.5 hours, and still had the feel of a boat train the...
  15. Greenback

    Past rolling stock Birmingham - Aberystwyth

    I saw the Cambrian Coast Express one summer Saturday at Shrewsbury in 1991 and from what I can remember it was Mark 2's hauled by a Class 37. I may have got it wrong. It was a long time ago and I only took a passing interests in loco's in those days.
  16. Greenback

    A heretical notion

    This very true. The majority of people would have had no reason to leave their own village very often. I know that my ancestors on Gower were extremely self sufficient, though they did not have what we would consider a comfortable life by today's standards. From what I've been told and...
  17. Greenback

    "The Clansman" and other childhood memories

    I was always fascinated by trains like The Clansman when I started getting the old BR timetable books way back in 1981. The first couple I bought had lots of sleeper services in them, too! I always wanted to ride direct to Inverness via the West Coast route. Sadly, I never got around to it :cry:
  18. Greenback

    Nationalisation in 1948 and Privatisation in 1994

    I've split this thread from the original discussion about Scotland and the Dutch operator there, as the discussion about nationalisation and privatisation had become utterly off topic. As part of creating a new thread, I assigned a new title.
  19. Greenback

    Dealing with stranded Excursion Train Passengers

    TPO's would have been very much off limits to ordinary passengers. Many other overnight trains conveying milk, parcels and newspapers had carriages attached. People in these parts who are a certain age still talk fondly about the milk train that ran from London via Gloucester overnight. It...

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