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

[existentialist]

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

View attachment 272445

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

I used to quite often visit that place when I was a kid - fond memories. It'd be lovely to be near enough to visit this exhibition, as I'm a bit of a transport typography fan myself.

 

[teuchter]

The BR design and typography at that point was quite outstanding. The double arrow symbol has endured through privatisation and is still recognised. Station signage from that era that remains almost always looks better and clearer than the jumble of different styles that's been added since. The classic liveries such as the 'large logo' one and the railfreight sector ones remain very popular in the 'heritage' sector and even with the main line freight operators who occasionally pain their locos into retro liveries. The 125 and it's original branding still look even a little futuristic.

No-one has done any better since and many have done very considerably worse.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

at a tangent (and possibly taking a liberty on this thread) the national bus company also were fairly big on corporate identity (although opinions vary about their choices of insipid shades of red and green for buses, plain white for coaches, and insipid blue for staff uniforms) - more about it all here

 

[editor]

Cracking picture



Mumbles Road, Swansea

 

[StoneRoad]

Cracking picture

View attachment 273094

Mumbles Road, Swansea

The tram is ex-Middleton route, Leeds ...

 

[quiet guy]

Be about the last time there was a proper integrated public transport network

 

[StoneRoad]

Be about the last time there was a proper integrated public transport network

Tyne & Wear managed a fairly good attempt at a network, until maggie de-regulated the buses ...

 

[Puddy_Tat]

The tram is ex-Middleton route, Leeds ...

umm

now you mention it, there's certain similarities (more so in colour) but fairly certain that's an original swansea + mumbles car (or pair of same, since they could run in multiple) like this -

not a 'middleton bogie' -

I've never seen any reference to middleton cars going to swansea. One swansea + mumbles car did end up in the unsuccessful preservation project at middleton but didn't survive

 

[editor]

Nice little project

 

[StoneRoad]

Nice little project

Yeah, I saw that lot [loco & rolling stock] about two or three days after delivery ...
[weather was appalling at the time and went back later to snap some images, which are currently lost in the ether]
We spent some time wandering about the old station site and discussing what the new owners might be planning.

 

[T & P]

Perhaps this is more about trucking skills than railway news, but an impressive delivery nonetheless. Required as the branch line in question is currently cut off from the rest of the network...

 

[19sixtysix]

The BR design and typography at that point was quite outstanding. The double arrow symbol has endured through privatisation and is still recognised. Station signage from that era that remains almost always looks better and clearer than the jumble of different styles that's been added since. The classic liveries such as the 'large logo' one and the railfreight sector ones remain very popular in the 'heritage' sector and even with the main line freight operators who occasionally pain their locos into retro liveries. The 125 and it's original branding still look even a little futuristic.

No-one has done any better since and many have done very considerably worse.

Talking of BR design. The APT holds the Glasgow London record on a line that hadn't had the upgrades for the pendalinos. The Italian trains built on APT technology sold off by thatcher were delivered a good 20 years after the ATP should have been in service.

London to Glasgow fastest rail journey attempt fails by 21 seconds

The Avanti West Coast service was hoping to break the record set 36 years ago.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[editor]

Great stuff

The railway signal box staffed entirely by women

The signal box on the Cumbrian Coast line is the country’s first to be staffed entirely by women.

www.bbc.co.uk

 

[StoneRoad]

Great stuff

The railway signal box staffed entirely by women

The signal box on the Cumbrian Coast line is the country’s first to be staffed entirely by women.

www.bbc.co.uk

I saw that, well done those ladies ! Manual boxes are hard work, just how hard depends on the layout ...
Must try for a visit to that station later in the year.

 

[editor]

Thank fuck

Repetitive train announcements to hit the buffers | ITV News

'See it, say it, sorted', apologies and messages about refreshments could soon terminate early, it's been revealed. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

 

[StoneRoad]

Thank fuck

Repetitive train announcements to hit the buffers | ITV News

'See it, say it, sorted', apologies and messages about refreshments could soon terminate early, it's been revealed. | ITV National News

www.itv.com

I'm in favour of the minimum level of announcements, when station stops are close together it is quite annoying for there to be too many. Also, I often find that they are far too loud, sometimes the opposite when there is a lot of track noise. To get a repeat of a very long all-stations list when no-one boarded at the request stop is really very annoying ...

I especially hate the "Metal Micky" ones where the Station names are mis-pronounced. Entertaining when the LED display and the Metal Mickey don't agree with each other and even more so when they're both on the wrong route !

 

[teuchter]

Selfishly I'd like to have zero announcements - but I thought they were there for the visually impaired?

What I'd like even more than zero announcements would be enforcement of the rules in quiet coaches

 

[hash tag]

Also announcements are for people who are resting their eyes.

 

[Dogsauce]

I was making a nice video of some kettles at Temple Meads yesterday when that bloody ‘please do not leave luggage unattended on the station...’ announcement blurted out dead fucking loudly from the PA system. Kind of killed the vibe a bit (as did my elder son who was having a massive fucking tantrum at the time)

 

[hash tag]

I am sure there are many heritage railways who are struggling because they have no income but still have to fund
maintenance Etc. One such example Royal Deeside Railway Home page

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Great stuff

The railway signal box staffed entirely by women

The signal box on the Cumbrian Coast line is the country’s first to be staffed entirely by women.

www.bbc.co.uk

think it may have happened in the 1939-45 war as well.

some accounts from 'railway women in wartime' at Railwaywomen in wartime. Letters and reports describing their work

I'm in favour of the minimum level of announcements, when station stops are close together it is quite annoying for there to be too many. Also, I often find that they are far too loud, sometimes the opposite when there is a lot of track noise. To get a repeat of a very long all-stations list when no-one boarded at the request stop is really very annoying ...

but I thought they were there for the visually impaired?

yes, but think a sensible balance is needed. on some bits of railway, there are so damn many audio announcements that people tend to filter all of them out, then not notice the important ones...

 

[Puddy_Tat]

on flickr today

southern railway publicity stunt from 1938

 

[editor]

Surprisingly entertaining for a local news paper

Cornish ghost railway line that trains seldom use

It sees one train a week at most, and hasn't seen a passenger in 120 years

www.cornwalllive.com

 

[Storm Fox]

Surprisingly entertaining for a local news paper

Cornish ghost railway line that trains seldom use

It sees one train a week at most, and hasn't seen a passenger in 120 years

www.cornwalllive.com

I've been on the Looe Valley Line a HST (on a stopping service to Liskeard), and they still had, a couple of years ago semaphore signals there on the mainline. Then a Class 150 (I think) down to Looe, lovely journey and just outside Looe the train stops at a level crossing to check for cars before proceeding.

Looe is lovely, but managed to fine the one restaurant that didn't do fresh fish and chips and the fish was out of the freezer and only just edible.

 

[hash tag]

Just unbelievable ( sorry if posted elsewhere ) Cheshunt: Police hurt before stolen car driven along railway line

 

[editor]

Just unbelievable ( sorry if posted elsewhere ) Cheshunt: Police hurt before stolen car driven along railway line

Love the caption: "Twitter user ContainerDave said he saw the vehicle on the railway tracks"

 

[editor]

Yes please!

Testing cargo deliveries by rail to town centres

A scheme to use converted passenger trains to deliver freight into the centre of towns was tested last week using Euston station.

www.ianvisits.co.uk

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Yes please!

or

?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

and needs these trolleys

 

[existentialist]

Particularly useful in view of the difficulties in recruiting lorry drivers...