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What A Year...

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Coxster

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Hmm, what a year 2005 is. Not only are some of the oldest trains on the network going (slammers, many LHCS services etc) but South West Trains are also saying good bye to some of they're newest trains - the Class 458s on December 10th.

Let's give the Class 458 JOPs the same send off as the slammers by doing most of the routes they have covered, or in fact, why not all the routes they have reguarly covered? Reading - Waterloo - Alton - Woking - Basingstoke and return - wouldn't even take all day :lol:
 
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traveller1030

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Don't forget the passing of London's icon of mass transportation for the past four decades, the Park Royal Vehicles Routemaster. A friend likened it to 'his childhood ebbing away from him', sentiments I agree with, sob...
 

richa2002

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Damned disgrace they're getting rid of the RMs. If it is because the disbaled can't get on, then have half the fellet new, half the fleet RMs. Problem solved. This country is being run by the minorities..................
 

Techniquest

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Couldn't agree more with that last remark there. It's got to the point we're not allowed to call our before-opening meeting at work a 'briefing' anymore, as we have done for Goodness knows how long. Now it has to be called a 'meeting'. Something to do with it not being permitted to use the word 'briefing' in Birmingham, so we're not to do it either. For crying out loud, why?!

Soon we won't be travelling on trains. No, soon it'll be 'mass transportation vehicles' or something stupid.

And yes, the above rant has relevance, in that it's mainly all cropped up in 2005.

Negativity besides, we've had a lot of interesting events this year. Community Railfest, the VT ADEXs in the summer using HSTs (thank Goodness there's some common sense somewhere!), the introduction of 350s, the loss of slammers and RMs, two symbols of London gone; we're about to lose 458s, something I hate to think is actually happening; we've had the West Highland meet in June, a smashing success if I may say so; we had the FoSW meet, which was awesome fun for those who didn't go. Oh, and ATW have their new timetables to start soon, none of which I'm incredibly happy with. Improvements? HA! Clockface times? HA!

Yes, 2005 has been an interesting year all round. 2006 promises to be equally interesting IMO.
 

HSTfan!!!

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Sorry to sound like an absolute idiot but I never did know why the 458's were going..... hence my lack of southern knowledge lol! :oops:
 
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Tom

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HSTfan!!! said:
Sorry to sound like an absolute idiot but I never did know why the 458's were going..... hence my lack of southern knowledge lol! :oops:
When the Class 450s were ordered, there were enough to replace the 458 fleet cause it was appalling at the time of order. And it's better to have a common stock money-wise rather than loads of different stock.
 

Tom B

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Bit of a waste though, replacing perfectly good trains with new ones. Why not spend the money on something else? I bet they'll be moaning there's not enough for x, y or z soon.
 

heart-of-wessex

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Jamie C. Steel said:
FGWFan said:
we had the FoSW meet, which was awesome fun for those who didn't go.

Was it an incredibly boring and tedious meet then?

Actually FGWfan has told me it was great, so i think what he IS trying to say is it was awesome fun, but those who didnt come missed alot...
 

tramboy

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8 Jun 2005
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It has been a good and a bad year...

...personally, Uni is good. Except for some points, but that's a long story. Passed a few exams which means that I'm still here too. Also I've seen the odd 92, which is always enjoyable!

...on the more rail related side, this year has been "middling" (and yes, that is a word!) Good is the introduction of new stock, and the refurbishment of old stock (take for instance the MkIVs...one flaw is the lack of the vestibule end seats, but who am I to quibble with that!) Good will also be the opening of the DLR City Airport extension, a great addition to a great self-contained railway. Also good, 222s on Hull Trains services.

...Bad (in my opinion) is the loss of regional 373 services, as much an operational pain as they were, they did the job well. Where are they off to now? Well, one can only assume back to North Pole to sit for a long time again. Also bad, the sudden U-Turn on Light Rail in the country...i can see the odd point whereby sometimes too much money has been spent, but to hold operators/PTEs in suspense for so long before cancelling it is a bad thing. We definitely have to improve the light rail system planning and construction regs in the UK, otherwise we're left behind by the Continent soon. Finally, we see the back end of the RM for the last time (in a sort of proper service...I know some will carry on!) but that's a London icon gone.

2005, "middling"...whether we'll get a better 2006 I know not. Personally I'm looking forward to travelling on a 185 on TPEX...nothing against the 158, but they are getting a little shabby. Also, we'll see if they can actually open CTRL2 on time in 2007...if anything goes wrong next year, then we can say no to that. Finally, we'll see what goes on in the light rail world...if anything. Back to 25 years of just our current systems hanging on again? I hope not.

Regards

Dave
 

Julian G

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I went to Reading back in February
I had problems with the camera
I first met joy54 in June and then Seth in July
and I bumped into Yorkie at Kensington on 2nd September
I went to Lymington and Coventry which were both good trips!
I went to Koln/Bonn twice, one in April and the other in August. I went on Frequent Steam Charter for just 10euros. <D
I went on the SET Slammer between London Bridge to Charing Cross in March
 

Coxster

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Cockfosters said:
Bit of a waste though, replacing perfectly good trains with new ones. Why not spend the money on something else? I bet they'll be moaning there's not enough for x, y or z soon.
8001 and 8002 are going to Gatwick Express and the others will apparently be going into temporary store. They may possibly be converted into AC units. The extra Class 450s ended up as AC and are now the WCML Class 350s.
 
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Tom

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Cockfosters said:
Bit of a waste though, replacing perfectly good trains with new ones. Why not spend the money on something else? I bet they'll be moaning there's not enough for x, y or z soon.

The 458s were not reliable when the 450s were purchased, hence the new purchase. :)
 
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Tom

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8004 and 8011 have been reported as 'Intl Load' in the past few weeks on TRUST - and some people believe these units are in Glasgow undergoing an AC conversion.
 

Galvanize

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I've had quite a good year so far:

Gatwick 73s (Including the final (yeah right) run.)
Silverlink Cobblers
Rhymney 37s
East Kent Railway DMU day
Crewe Open day
Barrow Hill
Final Southern Slammer
Southern Belle
Various HSTs
Mid Hants Diesel gala
Spa Valley diesel gala
 

Sprinter

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14 Jun 2005
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Walthamstow, London
2005 has been a mixed year

Firstly, with the positives:

--FoSW in August. Covered all the lines in the South West of England now(including the Summer Sunday only Okehampton line). The weather was great too, thus was able to do many miles of H-O behind HSTs

Although it was marred by SWT, who one night cancelled the 2100 ex ESD which would of connected with the last bus from Axminster to Lyme Regis (hence a 5 and 3/4 mile walk back from Axmin to Lyme Regis at about 0100 in the morning!!!).

Oh, if you want to catch the bus towards Exeter or Axmin in the morning its a steep walk up Harbour Road Hill (a 1/2 mile hike of 1 in 12)!!

--Other Forum Meets, including Bristol-Bath bus meet, the 31s & Maindee (last weekend) and of course the London Photting Meet....

Now for the negatives:
--The withdrawal of the Routemaster from mainstream London routes, Routemasters are far better for London's streets than the darned bendies and and seat many more people, plus you could feel the wind in yourface with proper opening windows (unlike these hopper windows which are not effective at slow speeds). Many conductors thrown needlessly out of thier job (many who had been doing the job for years).

--More LHCS services being replacing by units like Rhymney 37s, Cobblers etc.

So all in all, a rather mixed bag for me 2005 was.
 

Techniquest

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Thanks must go to heart-of-wessex for correcting what I wanted to say on page 1 of this thread. I must have accidentally missed some words out.

What I intended to say was:

'In August we had the FoSW meet, which was, for the benefit of those who didn't go, absolutely incredible. Those who didn't go missed out. 2006's FoSW meet is being anticipated highly.'

Basically, if Sprinter asks you to come along, I'd highly recommend coming for the meet. The best way to cover everything in the South West and beyond. This time, we have intentions to bash more stock, visit more stations, travel the rest of route 31 and X53 and much more. We have started planning what else we will do, this includes doing preserved lines (Seaton Tramway, Bodmin and Wenford Railway, Paignton - Kingswear round trip and more). Oh yes, and doing the summer ADEXs is a must.

As I said previously, 2006 shall prove interesting. Well, except in South Wales, what with no more regular locomotive runs. Pembroke Dock HSTs are due to return again, but apart from that there will be nothing of interest. In fact, that said there won't be any regular diesel haulage anywhere, apart obviously from the Fort William sleeper beyond Edinburgh. I'm not including 67s, by the way, as they're not of real interest.

2006 promises to be an ALR year for me, in that I should FINALLY be doing an ALR in the spring! :D
 
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