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  1. O

    Labour promises rail nationalisation within five years of coming to power

    Labour have finally confirmed that they do not now intend to renationalise DB Cargo, GBRf, Freightliner, DRS and Colas which would have been disastrous for the rail freight industry.
  2. O

    The last coal train?

    Mixed train arriving at Porthmadog yesterday conveying coal from Dinas (first 2 vehicles):
  3. O

    Brexit matters

    One of the major shortcomings of the EU was the failure to standardise National Minimum Wages. For example in Poland it is currently 22.8 zlotys (£4.55) per hour whereas in the UK it is £11.44. That's less than half-pay for the same work. Any ambitious youngster in Poland needed to have a good...
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    [Trivia] Bus journeys faster than a train journey.

    Carmarthen-Aberystwyth!
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    Is green electricity subsidising rail freight?

    My view is that if the use of trunk roads and motorways were charged directly and there were to be toll-gates every 100km or so, then it could be argued that road haulage is not being subsidised. As things stand a haulier can take a 40ft box from Southampton to Glasgow without once encountering...
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    What is the point of Old Oak Common?

    A booking-office colleague used to take great delight in directing American tourists to Stratford!
  7. O

    What is the point of Old Oak Common?

    Indeed. Let's be grateful it's not at North Pole Junction!
  8. O

    Conwy Valley Line

    I remember in the late-1960s the late-morning train from Llandudno arrived at Blaenau Ffestiniog at 12:27 and the Crosville bus was due to depart for Portmadoc at 12:22. The bus schedule was so slack (due no doubt to trade union pressure) that the driver deliberately departed a few minutes late...
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    What is the point of Old Oak Common?

    "Old Oak Common" is a misleading name (one thinks of an ancient tree in a sylvan idyll). I'd prefer "West London Mega-Hub". It'll offer connections everywhere. Heathrow to Manchester, Birmingham to Shenfield, Slough to Stoke-on-Trent, the list is endless. For many journeys it'll be much more...
  10. O

    Non-Urgent TOPS Requests

    Could someone please supply the consist for yesterday's 6Z85 08:15 Bescot Down Side to Kingsbury condemned wagons for scrap? https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:R09268/2024-04-09/detailed
  11. O

    Cycle Bag Searching at Stations

    I wonder of this suspicion of cycles is from the perspective of a motorist who sees his road-space being taken up by cycle lanes and priority given to cyclists at junctions and on city-centre streets. He's perhaps developed a hatred of cyclists and this is one way to get his own back?
  12. O

    Security alert at Basingstoke today

    I once absent-mindedly left my briefcase in the staff canteen at Paddington station when I went off the buy an Evening Standard. Within minutes the whole area was evacuated and many of my colleagues had to leave their lunches uneaten. A simple mistake but I've never been more embarrassed!
  13. O

    Why are XC allowed to continue?

    I travelled today on 1O16 the 4-car 11:25 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth. It started off almost full and at each station crowds of potential passenger attempted to board until by Wolverhampton it was dangerously overloaded and many were left behind. The subsequent 1O18 was also only 4...
  14. O

    Services around Sarajevo

    I remember spending an evening at Sarajevo station awaiting a train to Ljubljana and the West. Suddenly the whole city disappeared in a complete blackout. Only the signal-lights remained on. That was about 1974.
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    Derailment near Grange Over Sands

    I note that the flask from Heysham has today been diverted to Kingmoor: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:60318/2024-03-28/detailed
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    Two trains on single track

    Fifty years ago in 1974 I was travelling on SNCF's couchette/sleeping-car Train 400 from Calais Maritime to Ventimiglia/Vintimille. After a crew-change stop in the north of Paris we joined the Grande Ceinture peripheral railway to circumnavigate the banlieues anti-clockwise and access Gare de...
  17. O

    Derailment near Grange Over Sands

    Is that a collapsed culvert? I think I can spot a concrete beam between the tracks.
  18. O

    WCML blockade - impact on EMR services? (29/03 - 01/04)

    Other options next year will be from Milton Keynes via Oxford to Paddington and via Bicester Village to Marylebone.
  19. O

    "Be prepared to vacate the seat or purchase a first class ticket"

    I was caught in First Class on a hopelessly-overcrowded Voyager recently. I have a bad knee and can't stand for very long. The train manager berated me for my offence, but let me stay without surcharge. He seemed to be annoyed that I hadn't asked him first!
  20. O

    Dangerous boarding procedures at Euston

    There's scope I believe for some enterprising IT geek with a railway background to set-up a user-friendly website which would collate information from realtimetrains and opentraintimes and show at-a-glance which platform your train will depart from, well in advance of any indicator boards and...

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