Recent content by brad465

This is going to be a headache of sorts should the Bakerloo Line pursue level boarding for the deep level platforms. The line might need to raise all its platforms on the underground section in order to be of the same/similar height to the platforms shared with Overground. At least with the...

If speed is the problem, run an extra service non-stop between Tonbridge and Redhill that then goes to Gatwick; the line is 85mph except for that 40mph level crossing (which could do with being closed/upgraded). It could also run non-stop between Maidstone West and Paddock Wood; now that 2tph...

How many 10-car 221s actually run with XC where both units are open? I've encountered one or two before in recent years and can't remember if one was locked out or not, but either way a 10-car is rare (although if they can run they will presumably be more common now 8x 5-car are on the way). A...

Applied for a 3-year railcard yesterday under the new criteria and the email I got this morning suggests it was successful. I did the impact declaration form with the private counsellor I had already been seeing and was qualified in relation to this (they also revealed they were unaware of this...

If Delay Repay incentivised TOCs to improve punctuality, it would be worthwhile, but often the delays are not entirely within their control, whether because an external factor causes it, or solutions to internal ones are not being permitted by the DfT (e.g. more reliable rolling stock, more...

After Channel 4 did their Reform UK donation sting, ITV have done a sting to uncover the poor vetting of candidates with their racism and other extreme views. I'd love to know what universe the councillor who claims King Charles is a Muslim inhabits...

I remember in Year 8 of school (2008-09) this was the year my school converted to biometric payments in the school canteen. For most of the year the queue was slower while everyone got used to the system and teething troubles were sorted out. But once running smoothly it was easier and faster...

2034 would make them 33 years old, which doesn't seem too extreme (unlike say 313s and 455s that reached their mid-40s), unless they've had pretty bad reliability issues (which wouldn't surprise me given they're related to the 458s that have had a catalogue of problems in their life).

I think a Strood-Gatwick service is more likely than a Strood-Reading one. If no paths exist from Redhill-Gatwick, then it would still make sense to at least merge Strood-Redhill into one service.

When a unit (whether 175 or anything else) does a simulated passenger run, assuming this has to include unlocking doors, how do the operator stop passengers inadvertently boarding them?

A more realistic prospect (but still a long way off if possible), is Southern order some BEMUs to replace all their 171s and these are cascaded to the likes of XC.

Couldn't find any other discussion on this, but some sad news from West Somerset with the railways chair dying suddenly, having been central to turning round the railway after the financial troubles it went through around the turn of the decade...

That's probably just the BBC looking at places XC serve and assuming they will all benefit from this move without really doing a deep dive into what runs where.

Looking on RTT, there are no diagrams in the schedule yet that suggest it's leaving the site anytime soon. A light loco turned up from Derby yesterday, which is probably the one pictured. So either 175104 is just being shunted into a different siding, or it's being prepped for transport by road.

Probably too much of a bespoke microfleet in that form. Southeastern could do with more HS1 service capacity, but really it needs to be something that could do any current service 395s do, especially if said fleet has a follow-on order that also replaces 395s.