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We've received a letter from IRCAS on behalf of TfL properly addressed to our address but in the name of a person who does not live here and who we don't know. While there is an address to which appeals should be sent (but we're not appealing because the penalty fare notice isn't in our name)...

I’ve noticed a lot of southbound services from the higher numbered platforms at Victoria departing via what was once the reversible line ( the most westernmost of those crossing Grosvenor bridge) and crossing over at Battersea Park to the down fast. Mine did this from platform 15 just now. Is...

Why has it not proved possible to design carriage washers which clean the inward pointing part of the class 700 body profile (the bit at the bottom of the body)? While the top three quarters of the carriage body aren’t too bad the bottom seems continually caked in dirt, which is all the more...

I’m on this train which is taking the very much lesser used route via Crystal Palace. Yes, I know it’s not uncommon per se, but I haven’t gone this on a non-stop train for a long time. Assume there must be trouble through Norbury.

South Croydon Junction is where the five tracks heading south from East Croydon split into two tracks to East Grinstead and four tracks to Purley. From east to west there’s the down slow, the slow reversible, the up slow and two fast line tracks which aren’t part of this discussion. There’s a...

All today platforms 9-11 at London Victoria have been closed. All Gatwick Express trains cancelled as are some suburban services. The station is closed from 23:00. It’s described as a points failure. Does anyone have any more details?

Bad things happen but Southern have compounded them. Lots of disruption; stern announcements not to join trains not advertised and then Southern does advertise the 18:08 departure in good time. The train is on the platform. At 18:15 the driver is announced to be at Clapham Jct. Didn’t they...

At about 19:40 this evening a blue Class 153 passed Purley Oaks northbound on the slow line. Assume a Network Rail train of some kind but there’s nothing on Real Time Trains. Can anyone help?

As a companion to the stations which have lost their previous higher status are there stations which are now as grand as they have ever been? My candidates would be Stratford, King’s Cross and London Bridge. Stratford has trains to places never contemplated in olden days - Heathrow, Reading...

There is a footbridge about half way along the platforms at London Charing Cross which allows in the morning rush hours only, direct access to Northumberland Avenue. It has Oyster/contactless readers but no barriers. Does anyone know if the readers come in automatically at 07:30, the official...

A thread in the History and Nostalgia section mentioned drivers being told to accept via Herne Hill or via Catford routes at Shortlands Junction so long as their train was not scheduled to stop at any intermediate stations before London Victoria. Are there any other locations where drivers are...

They’ve been around for a long time and are among the oldest units on National Rail services. I’ve not heard of plans to replace them; have I missed something?

It looks like this service https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:L80263/2021-11-05/detailed is going to use the down fast to down slow cross-over at Forest Hill on a few early mornings in November. Don’t know if any track bashers are interested in rarely used, in passenger service...

Has anyone else seen this Tom Scott YouTube video of the most useful model railway in the world Apologies if I can’t get the link to work. 1632762221 Sorry, maybe I get advance notice as a subscriber of his (or maybe my linking talents are very limited).

Allegedly this forum has lots of contributors from the North-West. I’m not one of them, but I have just bought Joe Brown‘s Liverpool and Manchester Railway Atlas. It’s a splendid book and so highly recommended. Incredible historical detail (for example on tramways and detailed inserts going back...

Are there any semaphore signals left on overhead electrified routes? I have this vague recollection of there being a box and semaphores in Willesden Yard in the 1980s, but can’t recall others. For this discussion Block signalling with colour lights such as at Stockport does not count. If none...

I’ve been wiling away some hours watching German cab-ride videos. While the sheer extent of the infrastructure continues to impress I remain surprised that mechanical boxes still seem quite prevalent. For example Hanau, east of Frankfurt-am-Main still seemed to have three, maybe four mechanical...

Deliberately excluding services through the Channel Tunnel what’s the longest, by distance, freight train journey in the UK? I’d like a regular (one a fortnight) service or better.

Having spent some of lockdown looking at cab ride videos from Germany, and following them on a map, there see to be plenty of cities there with freight avoiding lines. So my question is how many exist(ed) in the UK. My candidates are, Doncaster (south west to north east), York, Crewe, Carlisle...

I was wondering whether there are any stations which have a six or seven days a week service which are busier on a Saturday or Sunday rather than any one of Monday to Friday. So stations served only at the weekend don’t count. So to be extra clear the highest daily passenger count must be on a...