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Recent content by Dougal2345

  1. Dougal2345

    Standard 9F no. 92219 off to the Highlands

    The following is from The Railway Magazine, March 2024:
  2. Dougal2345

    Plans to reopen Totton - Fawley/Hythe (again!)

    In the local press again: Fears plan to reopen Totton to Hythe railway line has been 'shelved'
  3. Dougal2345

    Are printed versions of the London Connections map still available?

    My 2019 edition is starting to fall apart - and the Elizabeth Line that I've hand-drawn onto it, isn't as clear as it might be...
  4. Dougal2345

    Plans to reopen Totton - Fawley/Hythe (again!)

    Hunting for any news about this, all that came to light was this from last November: Scrapping part of HS2 mean trains to Hythe could come back Leaving aside the guff about HS2, most concerning was: "It would appear that the business case isn’t as strong as might be hoped." I had the...
  5. Dougal2345

    ATOS Anne Announcements - Publicly Available?

    Oh, is that the same Liz Crowther who was the Radio West receptionist in "Shoestring"? Always thought she had a nice voice. So it's fair to say you "couldn't give ATOS" about Anne...? :D
  6. Dougal2345

    Eurostar/Le Shuttle suspended 21•DMR•23 – wildcat strike

    What makes you think anyone here cares about that? The purpose of the railway is not to get passengers from A to B, but to act as a large-scale cash-generator for the most ruthless of railway workers. They've presumably got hundreds of extra euros in their pockets now; the affected will have...
  7. Dougal2345

    How to mitigate the effects of stranded trains in future incidents

    Might it be an idea for the "crisis control centre" in these situations to have the ability to make direct PA announcements on the train(s) affected? It strikes me that much of the problem is that the driver (or guard/OBS if applicable), even if they know some fraction of what's going on, are...
  8. Dougal2345

    TfL proposes to withdraw Day Travelcards

    On a few recent trips to London I've found a lot of LU ticket gates don't seem to accept paper tickets any more... the slot is still there but it feels blocked. Is this just lack of maintenance or is the plan to phase out paper tickets entirely? (It's quite annoying when you have a queue behind...
  9. Dougal2345

    What were the design considerations behind the Eurostar departure lounge at St Pancras?

    A slight digression perhaps, but passing through the Gare du Nord yesterday, I was wondering why it is necessary to pass through two sets of automatic passport gates (French and English, I guess) when they presumably do exactly the same thing? Can't both customs systems be wired up to a single...
  10. Dougal2345

    Paris

    Eeek! I was on the Metro yesterday, Montparnasse to Gare du Nord... I was grumpy that I didn't get a seat for what's a fairly long journey, but perhaps in retrospect that was a blessing! Also noticed on the Eurostar the Japanese lady sitting next to me used wet wipes to wipe down her entire...
  11. Dougal2345

    Why people DO travel by train...

    Just to "invert" the Why people don't travel by train thread if I may, and give some reasons why this person does travel by train. I'm a single person who's never learnt to drive. Pre Covid I commuted daily to work by train and would usually have a day trip by train on Saturday, and maybe...
  12. Dougal2345

    Russia invades Ukraine

    Unfortunately there are also reports of an artillery shell shortage for Ukraine: https://edition.cnn.com/2023/09/17/europe/ukraine-shell-supplies-intl/index.html
  13. Dougal2345

    TRIVIA: Buildings that were demolished soon after being built

    Yes a great shame... managed to catch three of those in their final years. Planned to get the train to Dunston and was disappointed to find that in 2009 services were few and far between, so got the bus instead.
  14. Dougal2345

    Aslef strike around Tory conference dates

    Coming back on the Eurostar that day, so will be stuck in London rather than completing my journey home... Had already anticipated this though and and last week booked a room in Slough Premier Inn (£84!) for the 30th just in case (I assume I'll have no problem getting there on the Elizabeth...
  15. Dougal2345

    TRIVIA: Buildings that were demolished soon after being built

    I think this was "Demolition": https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Demolition_(TV_series)

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