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

Just back from a two-day conference on & for Heritage Railways ...

Very Interesting overall, and some of the talks were thought-provoking, to say the least !
 
Thats the second year running and the third of fourth time in recent years. Michael Oliver will be turning in his grave.
 
Not "news" but this might be of some interest to Train People. I figured there must have been some trains here at one point what with various industries and the wartime activity around Scapa, but there were more than I thought.

rogerfarnworth.com

The Railways of Orkney

Well, here’s a thing. …… “A holiday on Orkney sounds lovely but where is the railway interest,” I thought. …….. We are holidaying on the Orkney Islands (Ap…
rogerfarnworth.com rogerfarnworth.com
 
iona said:
Not "news" but this might be of some interest to Train People. I figured there must have been some trains here at one point what with various industries and the wartime activity around Scapa, but there were more than I thought.

rogerfarnworth.com

The Railways of Orkney

Well, here’s a thing. …… “A holiday on Orkney sounds lovely but where is the railway interest,” I thought. …….. We are holidaying on the Orkney Islands (Ap…
rogerfarnworth.com rogerfarnworth.com
Click to expand...
Another reason to plan a visit !

There are a lot of places that have "forgotten" ie abandoned railways.
Anywhere that had coal / mineral mines, for example.

Quite often, when driving around the North-East / Cumbria I'll spot something that tells me there was a railway line "over there" - the clues can be quite subtle or very obvious ...

e2a - If I remember, I'll take an image ...
For example, I know that the various quays at White Orangehaven had railways on them, and I've been able to find various traces.
These puddles on the West Pier are in the places where rail track was laid, [in another image there is the remains of a chair]


whn - west pier details par StoneRoad2013, on ipernity
 
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Bring back the Bulleid designed tavern coach!

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1703785156899.png
In 1949 British Railways developed the "tavern car", a fully-functioning pub on wheels for use primarily on Southern and Eastern Regions. It was designed by engineer Oliver Bulleid (who, amongst many other things, also brought us the double-decker trains) and the eight cars were decorated like traditional English pubs with white-washed walls, dark oak beams and carriage lamps. Even the exteriors of the train cars were built in a mock-Tudor style, divided horizontally with the top half of the car a cream color and the bottom half consisting of fake brick and each of the eight cars was given the name of a classic English pub. Complaints surrounding the claustrophobic nature of the cars quickly surfaced and within a year BR added more windows to aid with light and airflow. For the best part of ten years travellers could speed through the English countryside while pretending to have a drink in a favourite pub but by 1959 all of the tavern cars had been transformed back into conventional dining cars.
Click to expand...

(From Old London Photos)
 
Great idea - not very good in practice. The excellent Sir Peter Parker - one of the very best BR Chairman and a man would have done almost anything for -a true gentleman in every respect , - got challenged by some bloated Tory about the cost of meals in dining cars in the 1970's. Sir Peter quoted the cost of a breakfast and lunch (which even I as a student could afford and partook) , and said whilst enjoying it - one could watch the countryside of the Thames Valley , the Pennines , the West Coast line north of Preston , the Devon seawall etc - (other options are available) - whereas in Simpsons of the Strand etc - one paid more and unless lucky to get a Thames View you saw nothing without even arriving at your destination........

Excellent , excellent manager.......
 
There's a little Railway in North Wales that used to serve Draught Beer {and on Sundays, but only when the train was moving}

fond [?] memories of helping the stewards load the barrels and bottles ...
 
T & P said:
Glad to read it’s from a broken pipe. It wouldn’t bode well if that was sea water leaking through the wall… :hmm:
Click to expand...

it's not the tunnel under the sea, it's near Ebbsfleet (in north kent) - it's ballsed up the south eastern high speed service as well.

SE railway tweeter

There will be a very limited service to and from St Pancras International for the rest of the day because of flooding in a tunnel in the #EbbsfleetInternational area.
Click to expand...
 
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