Recent content by DynamicSpirit

Realistically, if you were going to cut something in order to make way for something else, I'd be tempted to cut Euston-Chester; Whenever I've been on one of those trains, they seem to have been pretty lightly used. Chester is not that big a destination by itself. If you made up the difference...

Really? That seems surprising. The smallest possible distance any schoolchildren would be travelling to do that would be from Chertsey to Hounslow. That would mean their school is an awfully long way from home. There must be a very exceptional school somewhere along the line to cause large...

Shrewsbury to Stafford is about an hour's drive (and 30 miles distance) - long enough to be pretty inconvenient for someone who wants a train journey to London! So even a slower service should attract custom. I would think the issue is not so much the competition from Stafford but more that...

Diesel and electric locomotives that pull passenger trains seem to be typically the length of a short carriage - so a pretty large space, which I assume is devoted entirely to the engine plus two driving cabs. But DMUs have been around since the 1950s and EMUs since the 1890s, and they rather...

Journeys won't be that long. For people who want the Elizabeth line, I'd expect Thamesmead to Custom House on the DLR to take 14-15 minutes. That's based on Thamesmead to Beckton Riverside is a similar distance to Woolwich Arsenal to King George V, which takes the DLR 4 minutes, and Beckton...

I have sometimes wondered why that service runs to Weybridge when a grade separated junction exists to allow it to run instead to Woking - which I imagine would be a lot more useful to many more people.

The difference being that none of those projects - with the exception of the Bakerloo Line Extension - provide a rail service to any large area where lots of people live that currently lacks any rail service at all. Thamesmead has long been considered a priority because it's - almost uniquely in...

It would also be easier to swap goods between lorry and rail and back in the way being suggested if we had an established container system for lorries in the same way that we have for railways - so that a some kind of freightliner container - designed to a common international standard - could...

I've now found the relevant bit of the consultation that mentions the possible turnback locations, at Royal Victoria and West of Canning Town. I hope they go for the Canning Town option - since remodelling Royal Victoria sounds a very expensive way to provide inferior connections.

You mean a turnback siding from the East? That seems an unfortunate place to put it: If you're going to turn back trains from Beckton/Thamesmead, then that should really be done at Canning Town, to allow for the Jubilee line interchange there.

The seats at the very front of the train are the best for views, since you can see out the front window. But they get taken very quickly. Your best chance of getting one is to pick a quiet time, board the train at its terminus, and be very quick to board. For specific routes: I reckon most of...

TfL say they have now decided on a preferred route for the proposed DLR extension to Thamesmead and have opened a new consultation about it. They are proposing to build a ground level station at Beckton Riverside, alongside Armada Way, and an elevated Thamesmead station, which as far as I can...

I was in a train that stopped at Rugby platform 2 today and was struck by how wide that island platform is. Must be in with a shout as one of the widest? The platform 3-4 island at Preston is pretty wide too, although a lot of the width is occupied by the waiting room and other buildings.

I thought all platforms at Euston, apart from platform 1, were island platforms (And if I recall correctly, platform 1 shares a gateline with platforms 2-3 anway)? Thatwould imply that in principle, it's always possible that a gateline might give access to more than one train. But perhaps Avanti...

You are correct :) I was referring to the suggestion that members of the public attach their own 'be quiet' stickers to the backs of train seats. I'm pretty sure that, however well meaning that might be, it would amount in practice to vandalism.