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Visiting Tyneside this weekend quite by chance I managed to ride on 555003 twice in 3 journeys. Looking very smart but aren't those seats hard? First journey was lightly loaded and most seated. I opted to stand on the second trip - and was amused to note that many were not sitting when seats...

Which is the point I was making :D All these speculative suggestions should be unnecessary if commonsense was applied. Situations like this might be avoided if we had one train operating company that owned all the rolling stock - and new stock was delivered in full operational condition on...

However the bus and coach industry could run coaches every 10 minutes point to point if the price was right - and the public didn't prefer a quicker train journey. Which is why Lumo is doing so well.

Just to see the full picture there are also coaches competing on price. It takes a long time, but many are fully booked days in advance. Until he got a car my grandson used them from Newcastle to London and found them more comfortable than Lumo, his second choice for speed.

And can, and do, regularly operate in 5 and 6 car configurations between Nottingham and Liverpool.

A railway user looking in to this wouldn't believe their eyes. It's very simple. EMR have trains to run (most) of their services now. Keep them until the new trains are introduced. Negotiate extended leases. Those responsible for late deliveries pay compensation to EMR to go to lessors. Part...

My small office used to host area meetings every Friday morning at 8.30, the venue chosen having good road access and free parking. Agenda item 1, 8.25 discussion of Nigel's usually colourful socks. Front door locked at 8.30 with tight 30 minute agenda then back to offices. Area Manager was very...

It's probably too early to know how well TPE are doing with their hot food catering in 1st class on some services. Sounds good but not practical on my South Pennine trains.

Those old 158s on the challenging Liverpool - Norwich route are doing very well and ridership is increasing. The days when 156s and 153s were regularly substituted to make 4 car trains are long gone but 2 car 158 or 170 trains are still appearing too often. It's good to see 6 coach 170s at times.

I recall that in Newcastle, although I don't think it was on Sundays. Weekly power cuts about tea time one day a week in the late 1940s, candles out on blue enamelled plates.

I'd agree, not least for points I made in my post 223 above.

When I bought my car 11 years ago I was spending a lot of time driving in the Peak District all year round. I found a set of winter tyres and wheels on special offer at the main dealer - at £500 it was so good it wasn't to be missed. Worked a treat. We haven't had a really bad winter since. I...

Indeed, but I again caution on the potential complexity of this short stretch to get it done right. In 1904 it was widened to provide 4 tracks into Sheffield. The Beeching era didn't just close branch lines. There was a big push to reduce track mileage and points and incentives with grants to...

Tell that to the chap I sat next to recently from Sheffield to Newcastle, too full for any catering to move down the train. He was on his way from Newton Abbot to Glasgow having started in Torquay and heading for somewhere up the West Highland line to pick up a boat. He was a seasoned traveller...

Memories, of a hot day driving up the M1 near Wakefield and realising rear nearside had deflated suddenly - just after entering a contra flow section! Suited and on the way to a business meeting in Leeds. Fortunately I found a gap in the crash barrier to pull off, jack up and remove the...

Precisely!

A good idea until you look at the costed details and the fear that whatever gets done would probably restrict any further improvements for 50 years. It has to be done in a way that allows for very substantial growth in passenger numbers. 100% at least with modal shift and a growing population.

I look forward to a suggestion that racing pigeons would be an ideal cargo for special trains:D it worked in the 1950s.....

The devil is in the details:s Try to rely on timetable N23 published on Northern's website and displayed at stations and you'll see an hourly stopping service between Manchester and Sheffield on Sundays; https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/travel/timetables Try to book and 1 in 3 is missing...

Many being Seatfrog trade ups in my experience, a way to get any seat.