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

[StoneRoad]

editor Mumbles274 Puddy_Tat chainsawjob davesgcr teuchter spitfire
and please tell anyone else that might be interested ...

Please complete this survey to support the Heritage Railways on the Isle of Man [it's only a few minutes of your time - a bit more if you make a longer contribution of your opinion at the end.

Isle of Man Heritage Railways Independent Review and Economic Impact Assessment - Cabinet Office of the Isle of Man Government - Citizen Space

Find and participate in consultations run by the Cabinet Office of the Isle of Man Government

consult.gov.im

There's actually a vocal minority on the Island that want to close all of the lines, some even saying that they don't contribute to attracting the tourists and visitors ...

The final report was published recently ...

https://www.gov.im/media/1381802/isle-of-man-heritage-railway-review-final-report_compressed.pdf

[however, it disappeared off the site this morning - 24th January 2024, reason unknown]

But the "recommendations" summary may still be accessible

https://www.gov.im//media/1381635/iom-heritage-railway-review-recommendations-final.pdf

 

[teuchter]

Wasn't there myself but this was this morning:

 

[editor]

Platform 13, Victoria Station. Lovely signage!

 

[editor]

Some cracking semaphores still in use in Sri Lanka:

 

[editor]

Lots of period detail in this photo of Hammersmith (District line) tube station (1933)

 

[The39thStep]

Is there a light at the end of the tunnel for supporters of the Wigan- Pyongyang express ?

Simon Calder on why UK tourism in North Korea will return sooner than you think

Exclusive: British visitors could be back in the ‘Democratic People’s Republic of Korea’ by the summer

www.independent.co.uk

 

[editor]

Northfield Halt on the Metropolitan District Railway, 1910. The site was opposite the current Northfields Station.

 

[PR1Berske]

ORR approves new London-Preston-Stirling service:

New train services between London and Scotland get go-ahead

Grand Union to run services from next year in move that regulator says would increase choice for passengers

www.theguardian.com

 

[Bus Honeygun]

Hot on the heels of Merseyrail's retro Class 507...



More of this sort of thing, I say. Anything to pep up today's vapid UK rail scene.

 

[teuchter]

ORR approves new London-Preston-Stirling service:

New train services between London and Scotland get go-ahead

Grand Union to run services from next year in move that regulator says would increase choice for passengers

www.theguardian.com

Good news for those of us who want to get to and from the north of Scotland. There used to be a direct service from Inverness to Euston via the WCML but it stopped in the 90s; this will partially restore it. A change in Stirling is a lot easier than one in Glasgow that involves walking between the two stations.

 

[StoneRoad]

Got back quite late yesterday from attending the Heritage Rail Association's Spring Conference in Llandudno.

One of the topics covered was that of level crossing safety, and the devastation that results from those incidents. We heard from railway staff, emergency services and the families left behind.
Very emotional.

Please take care when crossing railways !

 

[tim]

It's time to go Nationwide with a retired colonel in North Wales and his private train.

 

[StoneRoad]

It's time to go Nationwide with a retired colonel in North Wales and his private train.

Yup, and the private station in later years !

I've heard many a tall tale about him, his manor and the deviation ...

 

[StoneRoad]

A bit miffed with various storms ...
Starting - probably - with Desmond in Dec2015 and the very wet weather in February 2024.
Basically, the Cumbrian Coast Line is shut North of Workington, as the River Derwent & the tides have been attempting to wash the railway viaduct into the Irish Sea ...
Which has cobbled my plans to go to Whitehaven by train ...

 

[T & P]

Not sure if this should go here or in the ‘cost of UK railway tickets’ thread, but never mind. In one of the streaming services (probably NowTV but not sure) the non-skippable advert segments before each episode have been taken over by GWR and LNER of late. I am sure I remember seeing the latter on main TV terrestrial channels as well. Here are both





I’m all for any efforts to get more people to use the train instead of driving, but way to miss the point… In the former case, concerning regional leisure travel, don’t bloody try to pitch an amazing looking classic convertible car travelling through the English countryside on a gloriously sunny day being inferior to the same journey undertaken by train. Nobody in the world who owns a car is going to be deterred by the laughably improbable mishaps encountered by the car users shown in the ad. And nobody in their right mind who can drive is going to be sold to switch to travelling by train to arrive slightly earlier when the very narrative of the advert is pitching a leisurely car journey through B-roads, where the arrival time is the least of the occupants’ concerns.

As it happens, faster journey times and ease and convenience vs cars are on the other hand the overriding winning factor for the long distance trios advertised by LNER. But incredibly, railway operators seem to operate under the impression that this will be a revelation to the travelling public. The entire fucking world and their dog are already fully aware that in a straight comparison, of course travelling by train to a destination 200 miles away is always going to be so much more pleasurable and faster than driving. The reason most people with access to a car don’t do it is because it’s depressingly often so much cheaper for a family or even a couple to drive themselves. Perhaps LNER should have used their ad campaign to announce ticket price reductions, or even better, employ their marketing budget to drive down fares.

Sorry, rant over.

 

[marty21]

Just got an email from TFL which seems to be influenced by Spotify

They are watching us

 

[editor]

This is a fascinating development:

"What it means for the people here is that we'll be creating a site where the railway industry across the UK and Europe will come here to carry out testing for their innovations in a way that they just can't do anywhere else. We've got 170 companies now from across Europe who've pledged their support for what we're doing and who want to be able to use this place, so that's just going to create jobs and opportunities for people."


He added: "There are some sites elsewhere in the UK and there are some sites in Europe, but none of them do what we are planning to do so we are unique. There is nowhere in the UK where people can do high speed testing of trains on a looped track, and that sounds insignificant but actually being able to just drive continuously round without having to reverse the train every time you do a test is a huge time saving.

"We've got planning consent to operate this place 24 hours a day so if our clients want to run tests for 24 hours they can. There are other loop test sites in Europe but they have really long waiting lists and they're a long way away in places like the Czech Republic or Poland. These are also set up for testing trains and not infrastructure, things like the tracks, the sleepers and the ballasts, the drainage and electrification systems, telecommunications and increasingly the signalling systems. This facility uniquely allows our clients to be able to bring together all of their railwa

The railway in the middle of nowhere no-one will ever travel on

A £400m Global Centre of Rail Excellence facility is being built on an old opencast site, and it's pretty unique

www.walesonline.co.uk

 

[Puddy_Tat]

couple from flickr today

Greenwich trams, late 1940s, definitely before Greenwich became touristy



Brighton, 1968



I'd not realised that 'BRUTE' trollies had been around quite as early as that.

 

[editor]

The magnificent Victorian architecture of Millers Dale station.

The same scene in 1970



(Image from Changing trains in the middle of nowhere: Miller’s Dale Station )


The station site is now a car park. The line is a splendid walking trail.

Millers Dale railway station - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[teuchter]

DARPA picks Northrop Grumman to develop 'lunar raiload' concept

The proposed rail system could help humanity set up shop on the moon.

www.space.com

 

[Elpenor]

Was wondering, as am at Penzance station, where they store the night riviera during the day?

And where is it stored at the London end?

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Was wondering, as am at Penzance station, where they store the night riviera during the day?

And where is it stored at the London end?

penzance and reading depots

Night Riviera - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

 

[Elpenor]

penzance and reading depots

Night Riviera - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org

Thanks, interesting. I did see what I thought was a depot and remember paying staff based out of Penzance when I worked within railway industry (for the company that built the new HST). Didn’t think there was anything between Penzance and Laira depot, but must admit I didn’t get very hands on

 

[neonwilderness]

There’s a small depot at Longrock, you pass it if you walk along the coast to Marazion

 

[teuchter]

Always seems a bit nuts to me that it's serviced at Reading at the London end - going on for a 100 mile round trip each day.

 

[Puddy_Tat]

Always seems a bit nuts to me that it's serviced at Reading at the London end - going on for a 100 mile round trip each day.

yes - presume north pole can't handle it?

 

[Elpenor]

Yes I assumed it would be at North Pole.

 

[T & P]

We watched today The Great St Trinian’s Train Robbery. Whilst very silly, it has some great train action and a variety of 1950s/60s rolling stock on show.

I particularly loved what I can only describe as a wagon the size of a car equipped with an engine, presumably for exclusive use of railway maintenance crews to hop on and travel on the line to wherever they needed to reach. Are such contraptions still in use nowadays?

 

[neonwilderness]

I particularly loved what I can only describe as a wagon the size of a car equipped with an engine, presumably for exclusive use of railway maintenance crews to hop on and travel on the line to wherever they needed to reach. Are such contraptions still in use nowadays?

I spotted this at Corrour a couple of years ago



I doubt it gets much use on busier lines though

 

[Puddy_Tat]

I particularly loved what I can only describe as a wagon the size of a car equipped with an engine, presumably for exclusive use of railway maintenance crews to hop on and travel on the line to wherever they needed to reach. Are such contraptions still in use nowadays?

it's called a wickham trolley (more here) - can't remember the last time i saw one other than at a preserved railway.

it was filmed on the longmoor military railway - the 'real' railway wouldn't let them piss about that much, from what i gather.