Recent content by scarby

There are still outdoor alarms in Sweden which are tested at 3pm on the first Monday of the month every three months. They are very loud.

Is it? I have done that frequently travelling from Stockholm to various EU destinations. Biarritz is possibly the best where I can be literally on the street easily within 5 minutes of the aircraft doors opening.

Interestingly, in the current June issue of Rail Express there is an interview with Severn Valley Railway managing director Gus Dunster. Well worth buying and reading while it is still on the shelves this week. In it, it says, "Gus is pragmatic enough to recognise that the general public's...

Beach station on the Scarborough North Bay Railway.

While you want a good performance in every match, international friendlies have little or no bearing on what happens in the big tournaments. I realise people pay good money to watch but these days these games are no better than pre-season matches are for league clubs and the results likewise -...

Nor did all but one of the other participants. In addition, several big guns have flopped, notably Germany not even getting out of the group in the 2022 World Cup and in fact Germany haven't got near the final in the last three major tournaments. Lest we forget also Italy failing to qualify...

Absolutely. While people fare dodging when the rest of us pay really annoys me, the other side of the coin is that I don't feel comfortable with someone who is at the bottom of life being singled out by the media as if they are some sort of menace.

I have been booking some tickets through LNER and the above message comes up repeatedly during the booking process when booking tickets with other operators who do not offer seat reservations. For example, the 11.17 to 12.13 from Nottingham to Sheffield with Northern. Seats: No seat reservation...

I saw James McCartney, son of Paul, at a gig in London recently. I wouldn't have recognised him but a friend pointed him out.

The Covid pandemic, or at least any prominent mention of it in the news.

An interesting subject. From a personal point of view I have noticed a new phase in diesel preservation. That is, the preservation of 'newer' diesels. If I went to a heritage railway and found the only options were a Pacer and/or HST working I'd be extremely disappointed. And I certainly don't...

I would have been celebrating! Each to their own of course, but I am curious why today's generation of OAPs would still be fixated on steam. It was different 20 years ago but for someone who is 70 today steam would have already been relatively rare to experience as a school child and as they...

Thanks a lot for the explanations. Yes, being familiar with some parts of Southeastern I can can see how it could be very difficult to catch someone travelling without a ticket between two un-gated stations, particularly short journeys.

Having seen this thread I actually just watched the first series which is available through YouTube. A couple of things struck me: 1. One issue was people paying with invalid payment cards which then go on to reject payment. Presumably because contactless payment needs to be so quick, the...

So that just leaves 69015 to emerge. This I believe is built around the shell of 56009, which will complete a story of remarkable survival. After withdrawal, 56009 was renumbered 56201 and its shell apparently occasionally used as some sort of test bed at Loughborough for 15 years before being...