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  1. M

    Derbyshire Wayfarer validity

    Derbyshire County Council has run out of money and is one step short of joining Birmingham, Nottingham and others in the financial mire. Anything which costs council money is under review and is likely to be cut/abandoned if is not statutory or funded from elsewhere. I don't know what the...
  2. M

    Platform bells to signal trains to passengers

    I remember the 'weasel bell' on Doncaster station in the 1970s to call a porter to the barrier to do some 'weaseling' - a passenger needing assistance with luggage which would likely generate a tip.
  3. M

    Trivia: Three letter station names?

    I could also imagine some soviet nations having numbered rather than named stations, though would probably be of the format ‘Station No.4’. A lot of stations in remote areas are simply 123Km or suchlike based upon their distance along the line Meanwhile, France has the now closed stations of...
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    Trivia: Stations that primarily serve business parks

    Stanlow & Thornton served Stanlow oil refinery and nothing else Port Sunlight was built as a private station for Lever's soap works until becoming a public station with its own direct private access to the factory until the 1960s Cold Meece station was built for a Second World War munitions...
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    Nottinghamshire & Derbyshire Bus News

    Andrews of Tideswell bus T4 FEG burnt out on Monsall Road on Tuesday evening 28 November Photos posted on line and on BBC but no other details seemingly available https://www.facebook.com/groups/730191328210324/?hoisted_section_header_type=recently_seen&multi_permalinks=1022733545622766 I think...
  6. M

    [Trivia] How far can you travel on standard gauge track?

    I remember back in the 1970s that Harworth Glass Bulbs (off the South Yorkshire Jt line) used to export by rail in through ferry vans to Iran. I've seen BR 'Through to the continent with BR' vans running Eastwards through central Turkey back in 1979, they had got there of course by the ferries...
  7. M

    The demise of "Victoria's" (as a suffix for station names)

    Since we've ventured away from the UK, there's Victoria station on the Athens metro line 1
  8. M

    Britain's infrastructure is too expensive - Railways, Trams, and Roads all cost more to build in Britain

    It's Millions of GBP per mile - an essential qualification which I didn't state It's the average for each country of the GPB figures shown in the final column of the table.
  9. M

    Britain's infrastructure is too expensive - Railways, Trams, and Roads all cost more to build in Britain

    Simply taking the rail project cost by mile for each project by country, the average by country doesn't show the UK in a bad light USA £1,277 Australia £617 Singapore £452 Canada £450 Denmark £361 Germany £348 Norway £334 Sweden £305 Japan £264 Italy £240 UK £211 Spain £128 France £119 S Korea £73
  10. M

    Alternative to merseyrail under the mersey when no ferries and have bike?

    Restricted times yes, but a ride you must do if you've never tried it - quite an experience.
  11. M

    Cobbs historical rail atlas

    Cobb got a PhD for his work, Jowett didn't..............
  12. M

    BR Shift working questions

    The roster clerk had one of the most difficult roles trying to ensure everything was covered and if it wasn't, finding the best combination within national agreements, local practices and knowing who could be relied upon to fill the gap. Overtime was a big motivator for some people but would...
  13. M

    Out-of-gauge traffic

    I remember in the mid 1970s Doncaster Division claimed the record for carrying the largest load ever carried on British railways. If I remember correctly, it was a cracker for one of the Immingham oil refineries carried from Immingham Dock. The claim was recognised in the Guinness Book of...
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    British Rail Concessionary travel

    Back in the early days of BR, through until the 1960s, free passes depended upon grade. My father was a booking clerk on the Western Region and his free travel was confined to the region - reflected in the locations of family holidays whilst I was growing up. Even in the early 1970s there were...
  15. M

    England and Wales interurban bus map

    Just discovered this map - an excellent tool. The X17 route from Barnsley-Sheffield-Chesterfield-Matlock has been doubled between Chesterfield and Matlock to two an hour, with alternate buses travelling through to Wirksworth. Wirksworth is also served by the 6.1 between Matlock and Belper and...
  16. M

    Trivia: Platforms on one 'fast' line but not the other?

    Port Sunlight had two platforms on the outer tracks of a four track railway meaning one was on the fast and the other on the slow - I think it was Down fast and Up Slow
  17. M

    Ecclesfield Oil Terminal

    One of the other big changes was that up until the 1950s a lot of petroleum products were carried in oil company owned tanks on wagon-load services and tripped into small rail served oil depots. There were numerous of these around the country. In some cases wagon-load fuel was unloaded directly...
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    Ecclesfield Oil Terminal

    I worked as a relief shift manager at BP Ecclesfield numerous times in the early 80s. Rail was the only means of supply to bring in refined fuel which was then discharged into the storage tanks before being loaded into road tankers for delivery to the customer. The main fuels were 2 star and 4...
  19. M

    Railway owned boats.

    The Furness Railway (FR) also operated 'Lady of the Lake' on Coniston. The FR took over existing services on Lake Windermere in 1872. The service remained in railway ownership until the sale of Sealink in 1984 In 1914 the FR ran 'Swan', 'Teal', 'Cygnet', 'Tern', 'Swift' and 'Britannia' on Lake...
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    Railway owned boats.

    BR - Eastern Region GER ran 'motor boat' services from Harwich to Shotley and Felixstowe, continuing the service started originally by the GER which also included a service to Ipswich The LMS ran services on Loch Awe and Loch Tay in Scotland as well as jointly with the LNER on Loch Lomond which...

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