Recent content by JKF

Back in the day I reckon Portbury (current population 827) would have been in with a shout, although the shipyard station wasn’t open for very long. And maybe New Passage, which is barely a hamlet. Though I guess historically there are plenty of other examples.

Is this near the old smelter site? I did some site investigation work there about 15 years ago, around the time they put the grade-separated junction in on the A63. I have a vague recollection of there being plans for a station even back then, as part of the wider development of the site...

Are they running along the four foot chasing the train like in that Thomas story?

I guess that 50,000 tonnes of stone won’t be coming from very far away then!

Were the 333s any bother? Seemed like good trains when introduced on the routes out of Leeds, a real step up in quality, and I don’t recall any fuss about reliability etc, although I wasn’t really following trains in much detail at the time.

on the day Virgin took over running East Coast services many years back I saw a set in Leeds station with the class 91 attached the wrong way around, with the flat end at the front. I remember thinking ‘Branson hasn’t got the hang of this yet’. Unfortunately my phone was out of battery so I...

It’s great to see a blue grey Mk1, I wish we had a rake of them for mainline railtours!

There’s a turntable at Swanage, but nothing at the Bournemouth end. I guess a diesel could tow the ECS with forward facing loco to Bournemouth for the outbound service, it turns at Swanage (or another loco put on the front) for the return. Then the ECS taken back to sidings at Furzebrook or...

We nearly lost another one too recently - in poor condition and being sold from a difficult to access pub location and many expected it to be scrapped on site. It’s gone off to provide holiday (or restaurants?) accommodation I believe, at a place which has already restored other carriages. Not...

Could they do something like run regular steam charters at weekends from Bournemouth in the summer, more on the lines of the Jacobean? There would be a good market in Bournemouth, and if it’s sold more as a trip on a steam train it won’t matter that it takes longer than the bus. Nothing like a...

Currently safeguarded land will be sold off to chums from school, who will then make a handsome return when it is inevitably sold back to the state once the ludicrous decision to cancel the scheme is reversed by a more grown up government. Trebles all round!

I’d say large logo was more ‘remembered’ if anything, a classic period for many enthusiasts, but can understand that might not be everyone’s perspective. Maybe the only class where every loco carried it (though not sure if 007 did - would have been green for 1985)

I used to get around (including camping trips) on a Pashley ‘butchers bike’ with the big metal rack on the front. At 24kg unladen lifting it to hang on the hooks when they were using a HST rather than cl91 was barely possible. It was also too wide to get in the narrow cupboard for bikes they had...

If they are taking a bike I suspect they would!

Yes, saw that after I looked at the London connections map. Would it be a valid journey on a national rail ticket though? I know cross-London tickets include tube e.g. I used to do KX to Charing Cross quite often a few years back, but this wouldn’t really be traversing London, more a case of...