Recent content by Chz

I'd thought that tram adhesion on acceleration was still problematic (even with sand), but track brakes make stopping a doddle. The downside is extreme track wear at regular stopping areas, but when you're sharing the street with traffic it beats ploughing into people/cars.

No, it doesn't. If it was 2x2 metro-style seats there would be more standing room, but it's 2x2 first-class seats which take up just as much room as 2x3 metro. That's why my train is immensely more packed than it was previously. Well over 100 less seats and not any extra standing room.

I've noticed that some of the Class 456 units on the Southern have disappeared from service in recent weeks. I assume that's part of the plan to send them over to SWT? Never to return? It's all very nice to have a ratty old 456 replaced by an Electrostar, but what on earth are they thinking...

I'm amazed that no-one can remember back when the Desiros first arrived. They'd canned the Juniper order due to them being so unreliable, but the Desiros were just as bad when they got here at first. In fact, due to the fact that they'd been working out the kinks for a few years already, the...

Would they re-form them for 10 car trains, or would they run 455-456-455? The latter seems like a bit of a pain to manage for forming up trains, but you can't have a 456 hanging off the end when there are still going to be platforms that only hold 8 cars!

You say that with such certainty. How many people from this particular incident do you believe will go to court and be found guilty and fined? You are correct in that a prosecution has a good chance (not a guarantee, I might add) of ending in a fine, but what crown prosecutor is actually going...

I thought the Cl.455s in their old NSE guise were quite abominable. They're like entirely new stock since their refits - to the extent that the Southern and SWT refits seem to be entirely different stock as well!

Most curved stations just have the one, but that compound S-curve at CLJ's higher numbered platforms is crazy. And yes, Bank and Embankment (Northbound) on LUL are crazy too.

I was wondering about it myself last week, but the state of the rail (and lack of a third one) convinced me that nothing's going to happen there. It dead ends south of Norwood anyhow, so far as I can tell. I'm not sure why you'd want to terminate there instead of heading on to West Croydon where...

And even that was East Germany. No-one in the West still made such things. Oddly enough, there's not a lot of call for boilers of that size and construction.

The LD50 of THC is so ridiculously high that you'd die of carbon monoxide inhalation long before the active ingredients of cannabis killed you if you tried to smoke that much (see below). In reality you'd be passed out on the couch before you did yourself any serious harm. In contrast, it's not...

I'm not sure what the measurements are, but it definitely *feels* like Southern's 455s have a bit more space in their 3+2 sections than the 377s do. I get a 377 in the morning and a 455 back in the evening and the 377 definitely feels a bit more cramped in some way. That said, I've nothing...