Recent content by Dr Hoo

Are current ‘accidents’ routinely treated as Crime Scenes then? (I am not including cases where there is a clear suspicion of line obstruction or sabotage.)

On this aspect in particular it’s worth pointing out (yet again on these Forums) that the performance regime compensation is purely calibrated to cover the Marginal Revenue Effect, i.e. loss of future business triggered by the rail product being seen as unreliable. It does not cover Delay Repay...

The Reshaping Report analysis concluded that the ‘financial improvement’ was ‘over half of the total direct expenses’ (Page 99)! Worth bearing in mind that the irregular York-Hull service tied up no fewer than than four units+crews during the morning shift. Meanwhile the increase in car...

Please ‘show your workings’ in relation to York-Beverley. Bear in mind that it had loads of level crossings that hadn’t been modernised. In fairness to Ernest Marples and Dr B it’s worth noting that Automatic Half Barriers were rolled out during their tenure (but largely on lines that had...

I agree that it doesn’t really matter who closed the line (or any other routes) almost 60 years ago. Nevertheless dragging in irrelevant and inaccurate rhetoric does nothing to improve the focus on current cases for service enhancements or infrastructure investment.

Yes, the advent of the NCR21s was a major step forward in deterring fraud. Even various paper coupons could be folded round a ‘dummy’ to be inserted and validated with the print. Back in the 1960s it was far more down to vigilance by the Station Master. A good one, often from a clerical rather...

To be pedantic, it’s named after two rivers, but the River Link (in Oregon) is rather a long way from the routes served. I’ll get my coat… ;)

The September 1955 Bradshaw has both LM and E region timetables for Dukinfield Central. They seem to be heavily focused on Guide Bridge-Stalybridge shuttles but with some through workings to Stockport. They show the same calls in different layouts. Without getting too bogged down on SX, SO and...

Always referred to as ‘The Top Drain’ in my experience in Euston House. (To distinguish it from the (Bottom) Drain - the train crew and station staff canteen somewhere under Euston Station.)

Yeah, so ‘indirectly’ that it occurred under the Wilson, Labour, government, elected on a “halt to major rail closures” manifesto, ably assisted by its own choice of BR Chairman (recruited from inside the industry).

The Peak Line, Ambergate-Chinley, wasn’t on Dr Beeching’s list so I’m not sure what your point is.

Hmm… Unemployment payments and other ‘benefits’. Then there’s often the issue of remediation of sites that a bankrupt and defunct organisation cannot be pursued for. More in the context of this thread; suppose that rail freight is allowed to wither and die as a matter of ‘policy’. That would...

Thank you for that.

I think that you mean that it’s a chilling portent of what a future balkanised, silo-minded outfit GBR might be like. Instead of welcoming longer trains with more capacity let’s take the centre cars out and make sure that loads of passengers of other legs of the Norwich-Liverpool route have to...

We always seem to be hearing how ‘Anglia’ ( or whatever it’s called now with GA, c2c and Network Rail all one happy proto-GBR family). So what are they doing about ‘their’ station, which seems to be unfit for purpose?