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Misc steam railway, traction, station and rail-related news

Major service disruptions on long-distance routes owing to cracks being found in IET stock. This is the National Rail alert for GWR, but LNER and Hull Trains are also affected.

Find details of current incidents | National Rail

A portal into UK rail travel, including information on ticket purchase and promotions, train times and delays, and more.
www.nationalrail.co.uk www.nationalrail.co.uk
Owing to the short notice unavailability of carriages which form Great Western Railway High Speed train services, there will be no train services or alternative means of transport available for throughout journeys in either direction on the following routes:

  • London Paddington - Swindon - Bath Spa - Bristol Temple Meads
  • London Paddington - Swindon - Bristol Parkway - Newport - Cardiff Central - Swansea
  • London Paddington - Reading - Taunton - Exeter St Davids - Plymouth - Penzance
  • London Paddington - Reading - Oxford - Evesham - Worcester - Great Malvern - Hereford
  • London Paddington - Reading - Swindon - Gloucester - Cheltenham Spa


CUSTOMERS INTENDING TO TRAVEL ON THESE ROUTES ARE ADVISED NOT TO ATTEMPT TO TRAVEL
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ETA: BBC News: High-speed rail services cancelled after cracks found in trains
 
Last edited:
StoneRoad said:
Don't recall the original HST having such a problem ?

and loads have already been scrapped ...
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It could have done, though. Any new piece of engineering is going to have at least the potential to yield problems, and I guess that anticipating fatigue cracking is probably still something of a dark art.
 
existentialist said:
It could have done, though. Any new piece of engineering is going to have at least the potential to yield problems, and I guess that anticipating fatigue cracking is probably still something of a dark art.
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not sure i can quote any examples on the railways, but may be worth pointing out that london transport's RT class of buses (the generation before the routemaster) was partly 'grounded' in about 1940 with a problem with the braking system. the last RT (albeit built after the war) left London service in 1979.

and the routemasters had a spate of steering columns collapsing resulting in fairly urgent attention to the whole fleet in about 1959/60 (the designers had not appreciated that some drivers hung on to the steering wheel while climbing in to the cab.)
 
Puddy_Tat said:
not sure i can quote any examples on the railways, but may be worth pointing out that london transport's RT class of buses (the generation before the routemaster) was partly 'grounded' in about 1940 with a problem with the braking system. the last RT (albeit built after the war) left London service in 1979.

and the routemasters had a spate of steering columns collapsing resulting in fairly urgent attention to the whole fleet in about 1959/60 (the designers had not appreciated that some drivers hung on to the steering wheel while climbing in to the cab.)
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The Class 31s had to be re-engined; the 50s had all kinds of problems, mostly due to their rather technically complex setup. The first 56s from Romania were a disaster, all the earlier classes of electric locomotive had severe problems, with one of them being very prone to bursting into flames. The 86s smashed the track to pieces, er, and that's all without going back to the 50s and 60s, which were largely a serious of clusterfucks with a few notable exceptions.

Then there's the Central (?) Line Tube trains that broke axles or dropped traction motors onto the track, or something...
 
existentialist said:
The Class 31s had to be re-engined; the 50s had all kinds of problems, mostly due to their rather technically complex setup. The first 56s from Romania were a disaster, all the earlier classes of electric locomotive had severe problems, with one of them being very prone to bursting into flames. The 86s smashed the track to pieces, er, and that's all without going back to the 50s and 60s, which were largely a serious of clusterfucks with a few notable exceptions.

Then there's the Central (?) Line Tube trains that broke axles or dropped traction motors onto the track, or something...
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Not forgetting the class 158's , which had similar problems to today's.

The Glasgow Blue trains were withdrawn from traffic a few weeks in , due to electrical explosions. Commendably a steam service was reinstated over the weekend , prudently the old stock and loco's had been kept handy. Took months to get them right.
 
Great film. That line where he mentions seeing steam puffing up from within an industrial site reminded me of being in Germany a few years back and seeing fireless dampfspeicherloks shunting at a chemical plant. Very weird in the 21st Century:

 
Artaxerxes said:
Great British Railways (only covering England) are now replacing our disjointed franchising model by erm, continuing to farm out rail services to private firms but apparently all the fares are centrally managed now?

www.theguardian.com

Great British Railways plan aims to simplify privatised system

Government sets out ‘bold new vision’ for train industry that includes focus on efficiency
www.theguardian.com www.theguardian.com
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I've not yet looked at this in detail but in reality it's sort of a continuation of what's been going on with many franchises for some time now.

It's also sort-of based on the TfL buses model where there's one 'brand' visible to the passenger and there's quite a lot of central control/regulation but behind the scenes the services are operated by various private companies. It's what I've been saying should happen, for some time.

It'll not please those attached to the idea of nationalisation but that's a red herring in my opinion. What people should really be worried about is the broader approach, eg to what extent revenue is expected to come from fares and what that means for ticket prices.
 
Yeah, generally it’s a move in the right direction, but the gammon-pleasing name can just fuck off already.

Strange that the Tories were being incredibly oppositional to local authorities that wanted to put TFL-style quality bus contracts into place to try and sort out the mess of deregulated buses - Leeds was one place trying for this but got slapped down. It was seen as a threat to free market ideology. Is Brian Souter not throwing money at Tories these days?
 
So it's the Great British Railways but it doesn't cover Scotland, Wales or Northern Ireland. Will Prue Leith and what's his face the baker be sending someone home each month?
 
Dogsauce said:
Yeah, generally it’s a move in the right direction, but the gammon-pleasing name can just fuck off already.

Strange that the Tories were being incredibly oppositional to local authorities that wanted to put TFL-style quality bus contracts into place to try and sort out the mess of deregulated buses - Leeds was one place trying for this but got slapped down. It was seen as a threat to free market ideology. Is Brian Souter not throwing money at Tories these days?
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It not only needs to happen for buses too but the oversight regulation-wise should cover all modes. And then maybe we'd have some chance of integration between rail and bus timetables and ticketing, like other countries have been doing for decades.
 
New Nightjet services have begun from Amerstardam CS to Vienna , via Munich and Innsbruck. Excellent news for the future , if not for today.


Now sleeper car services are allocated to the 4xx number series. This working has been allocated "420" - something that has caused some wry comments. Perfect I think either for the anticipation of going to Amsterdam , and of course "something for the journey" back to Germany with great care of course.

Must have been deliberate IMHO.
 
editor said:
The last ever Pacer train. Can't say I ever liked the things.

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Some of the most unlovable stuff, railway-wise, has been the most enduring. I could see them taking their place in history alongside autocombusting electric locos, the Bulleid Leader, Decapods, Sprinters, and all the other obscure and mundane bits of technology that, at least in some cases (Bulleid Leader, I'm looking at you :hmm:), quietly got on with a job and served well past their anticipated lifetimes, but regardless of their technical deficiencies, have become disproportionately remembered.

Pacers were shit...but they defied the odds, and ended up as a kind of plucky underdog. And we all love a plucky underdog, don't we? :D
 
Puddy_Tat said:
meh

i still think they are / were shit
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Oh, so do I. I didn't encounter them often, but my recollection of pretty much every Pacer journey was a miserable, uncomfortable, noisy ride, usually in the rain (which, TBF, can't be laid at the Pacers' nasty flappy door). And they're a symptom of a nasty attitude towards public transport, as well.
 
this came up on tweeter today.

construction of the 'overhead electric' lines somewhere in south london

image1-online11.jpg
 
Don't know whether any Urban rail enthusiasts are following this story, but there's a row going on over the transfer of Locomotion No.1 from Darlington to Shipton.

I found out about it cos a band I like got involved.

As it happens, family folklore has it that we are descended from George Stephenson's sister, so it's sort of doubly relevant.

Anyway, FB fundraiser for the campaign. Don't miss Eastfield.

 
Interesting free exhibition showing loads of British Rail typography at the Design Museum

1623146847276.png

www.urban75.org

A look around the Design Museum in Kensington, London – twenty photos -

Winner of the European Museum of the Year Award in 2018, the Design Museum moved into its new home in Kensington in 2016, taking over the former Commonwealth Institute, a Grade II listed building from the 1960s. The museum is now part of Kensington's cultural quarter, joining the Royal College...
www.urban75.org www.urban75.org
 
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