Recent content by Dr_Paul

I was on a Waterloo service at Barnes a few years back when we were held for 20 minutes or so because of trespass. The guard kept us well-informed of what was happening: a woman had stepped down on to the track at Putney and was walking along towards Barnes. He told us that the current was off...

I think that this bloke thought that the railways still transported horses -- in 2011! See the BBC report < https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-13437279 >.

Thanks for the correction. I should not rely upon my memory alone, which can be unreliable. Looking at the various photographs of 4VEPs on the Internet, it's come back to me what the conversions were like, with one additional door on each side, one for each bay.

With 4SUBs, they were usually three saloon carriages and one compartment trailer, but I'm sure that a few were all compartment carriages. Can anyone confirm this? Were the 4SUBs reformed in order to get rid of compartment carriages, or had they been withdrawn by the time this happened with...

There's a bloke near me who has for years kept three motors in his front garden. He uses one whilst the other two sit gathering dust and losing air in their tyres, having been SORNed. Every few years, he buys a new motor, then the older of the two inactive ones disappears, and the one he was...

A double-deck learner bus had its roof chopped off when it attempted to go under the railway bridge in the A215, Portland Road, near Norwood Junction station. The bridge is 12' 3" and there are several warning signs. BBC report here.

That's right; what savings would be made in running four-car trains would be negated by the additional expense and inconvenience incurred by dividing them. I made the point in that discussion that it is rare to see a single four-car unit running out of Waterloo these days, whereas the past...

I've long thought it odd that the fine was shown as 40 shillings and not as two pounds. My memory of the old money was that round pounds were called that and not turned into shillings -- that is, 'one pound', 'two pound', 'five quid', 'ten nicker' -- that shillings were used colloquially up to...

I have the sad feeling that the chance to build a big transport hub linking the various lines through Willesden Junction and Old Oak will be passed, and will within a few years be bitterly regretted. Having an interchange linking the lines out of Paddington and Euston, the North and West London...

The station started off as Islington, then became Islington or Highbury -- the 'or' being an intriguing conjunction, possibly unique -- then Islington and Highbury, then Highbury and Islington.

Rather than try to wedge a general station into London as it exists today, why not just build a new capital city somewhere central in Britain, with the general station at its centre, and the main, suburban and inner-city mass transit lines properly planned from the start? Problem solved!

Something that has intrigued me for a while is how the BR Standards locomotives were received by the workforce, in particular drivers and firemen. Prior to nationalisation the main companies had designed their own locos; were the Standard classes popular or otherwise with the workforce, in...

Does this explain the various classes of 0-8-0 freight locos with a large overhang at the front, which made them look as though they were 2-8-0s missing their pony truck?

The connection between the Dudding Hill line and the former LNWR line at Harlesden was an afterthought. What is now the bridge over the canal that carries the link was originally the way to a wharf on the canal, going round an impossibly sharp curve on the canal's north bank. The wharf was...

Suburban services to Waterloo services in the 1960s and 1970s were nearly always 4 SUBs, in pairs during the rush hours, and singles off-peak. There would be quite a bit of coupling and uncoupling at Waterloo at transition times. It's very rare to see a single 455 running into Waterloo these...