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