Recent content by Sad Sprinter

I believe it was an Old Oak to Rainham tunnel with an underground station at Waterloo. I can’t remember the project name, but it was proposed within the last 5 years. 1713955168 But what IF more international platforms were needed as a thought experiment, what would happen then? If HS1 can’t...

I have an idea for a 3 mile branch line in South London based on the Addiscombe branch. The branch will have two intermediate stations. I’m trying to figure out what the time timetable would be like. I imagine it’ll take about 11 real minutes to get from end to end. Assuming a train leaves on...

The poster does raise an interesting point though, what if we did need more platform space? It’s a question I’ve asked myself for a while. The only way I think would be to use the javelin platforms for more international trains - assuming they’re shorter than the current Eurostars which are what...

My understanding was that the early 80s computers used to do demand modelling predicted insane passenger numbers for the Eurostar, hence the crazy long train. Although I might have completely misread that passage. 1713818567 No it absolutely was. Growing up in South London and weaving through...

Surprised no one's mentioned the story of a pacer substituting a HST from Exeter to Paddington...

Yes, 8 Eurostars an hour from London as planned by BR in 1991. It was, and I was surely one of the people that championed HS1 when it opened, but looking back, running the Eurostar into Waterloo was actually amazing. I used to love watching the Eurostar run over the high streets of South...

Thanks, how did it work before the THameslink Programme?

The East Croydon to London Bridge line has its fast line in the middle, but unlike other paired by direction routes like the ECML or SWML, there's no flyover to get the tracks into a paired by use format. How do the London Bridge approaches work for the Brighton main line services? Do they just...

A combined Northern Transit Authority seems like it would segue into Northern Devolution. Something which I see will want to be replicated across England. But surely the current woes of Northern and TPEX wouldn't actually be helped by any sort of devolutionary measure?

Leeds, Bristol and Birmingham should have Undergrounds more so than trams. Especially Birmingham. Southampton and Portsmouth could do with some kind of light rail. Maybe Bournemouth too. Liverpool should have one. Or at least break the Merseyrail loop and extend the line eastwards. Stoke on...

If Watkin really, really wanted to reach the Channel, the best route for the GC would have been to put the GC tracks on the north side of the Met from Neasden, and punch eastwards through Haversack Hill to Camden, and heading either by viaduct or tunnel towards the St. Pancras area where access...

I suppose by the time The Great Central reached London in 1899, it was probably way too expensive to build another cut and cover railway. Especially through the West End down to Victoria. Baker Street was going to be the original terminus of the Great Central wasn’t it? How that would of worked...

Yes I’ve been on the Eurostar on two occasions in two years and didn’t hear that on the outward and homeward bound legs. I remember when I first went on it in 2000 and they made the channel tunnel announcement and the carriage went silent to listen. Was very exciting

I knew you would know. That’s right it was the ELL, I think it was mentioned in a London Reconnections article a number of years ago.

If I'm correct I think the plan was to just run down the Metropolitan to Farringdon and onto the Chatham system? Great question.