Recent content by Fleetwood Boy

Two unexpected sights. Buffet in a sensible place and a class 87 on a non London working. I genuinely don’t remember seeing either in the 4 or 5 years I travelled home from Glasgow but clearly my memory was wrong. I definitely walked all the way to the rear carriage looking for a cup of tea only...

I agree that remarshalling or turning was possible but I can’t ever remember coming across a southbound working that didn’t have the buffet as the first carriage.

The working at Carstairs meant the order swapped about and the buffet ended up inconveniently located in one direction. In the early 1980s I think the buffet always went to Glasgow. With the down trains, the Glasgow portion was on the front with the buffet between the two portions. On up...

Yes, I was surprised to see the Edinburgh portion arriving second, my memory of Carstairs attachments was that the portion from Edinburgh was already waiting in the loop to be quickly shunted onto the rear of the Glasgow portion. I’m trying to picture the track layout at that time, was it...

Indeed. The final step in the evolution of the locomotive classes mentioned was the Class 56. I still think DP2 is the design that got away, spoiled by too many bells and whistles in Class 50.

Interesting. When did it become the practice to utilise subclasses (eg 47/0) i wonder? Perhaps the original intention was to have separate classes but then it was realised using subclasses was a neater way of dealing with minor variations? Although I’ve always wondered about the logic of the...

This has always fascinated me, and I dream up all sorts of theories. In terms of timing, I think there are some clues: Classes 30 and 31 were used for the Brush Type 2s, so it was before completion of the re-engining programme. And Classes 21 and 29 were used for the NBL Type 2s, so it was...

The interesting thing is that until about 40 years ago Liverpool would be traditionally linked with Edinburgh and Manchester with Glasgow. This was even how the competing long distance coach services were organised. Yet now that a Liverpool to Scotland link has been reinstated it goes to Glasgow...

What I can’t remember anymore is where all the locos got shunted to and from. For the loco change on Blackpool trains it was simply electric shunted off to the north alongside the diesel which then replaced the electric. Electric shunted into the dock at north end of platform 3. I’m guessing...

Not sure it was that different to what’s being described for other locations without central scissors? Manchester portion arrived into platform 2, Liverpool portion into platform 3 stopping halfway along. Manchester portion shunted onto front after Liverpool loco released. Faff was then needing...

Good point. But weren't the DMUs the "wrong way round" compared to contemporary diesel locos too, so either it was a case of some design imperative or simply a case of left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing when the two types were designed?

And why not just standardise?

I get that Paytrain guards wouldn’t be able to sell to many destinations given the technology of the day but don’t understand why you wouldn’t be able to buy a ticket from a staffed station elsewhere. That’s just being down right awkward.

I think its the case that quite a few closures blamed on Beeching were actually not on his list - I guess partly a question of staff at BR getting the "stuck in" and widening the remit plus changing circumstances. My own local line was recommended for retention but was closed when the plans for...

Kind of similar. I once travelled home from work engrossed in my book. Got to my local station, looked out of the window as we stopped, for some reason didn't clock where I was (despite getting off there umpteen times a month) then off we trundled .... as we left the station, I thought...