Recent content by hermit

It wouldn’t.

As has been mentioned, the 3-platform arrangement is useful for terminating trains and for separating out trains only going to Portsmouth & Southsea. But platforms 2 and 3 can also be used , particularly when there is disruption, to hold two trains waiting for a path to the Harbour. On several...

Pimlico to Nine Elms - less than a mile, with the Thames in the way. Change at Stockwell and Kennington or Victoria and Embankment.

I’ve never understood why a non-sailing ship needs masts at all, but there’s no doubt a good reason.

Sorry to hear that. Even when we weren’t using the train it was our favourite refreshment stop on car journeys to reach the hills. Always a friendly welcome.

So do I. Just as well, given that the leisurely connections between the Portsmouth and West of England trains usually give you plenty of time to appreciate its charms.

People requesting a stop at Ashey on the IW Steam Railway are few and far between, except on the one day a year when the IW Grand National is held nearby. Usage will no doubt increase once the Railway’s plans for a full restoration of the station building come to fruition.

Ryde Pier Head, Brading and Lake.

Referring to Southgate station - yes, I was there yesterday, and can confirm that, as I recalled from my childhood growing up in the area, you cannot see daylight both ways. The station is close to the Oakwood end of the tunnel and light can be seen, but the tunnel towards Arnos Grove is too...

Exeter St Davids

It still has two WHSmiths. There used to be a third, tucked away on the long walk to the long-distance Brighton platforms (15-19). It also has two Leons and two M&Ss.

Lymington Pier

Indeed. On my journeys on the line the stations at Calstock, Bere Alston and Bere Ferrers have also been quite well-used, no doubt partly due to the tortuous road journeys required to get from any of them to Plymouth (which was of course the reason why the line has not been closed). On the...

When I was working in Edinburgh in 1978/79 the menu on my journeys home to London on Friday evenings was, I recall, invariably a choice of steak or turbot, and very good it was too. I don’t think the restaurant car was open for my return journeys on Sunday evenings. As time passed I found more...

Not as bad as Cromer, (a terminus where trains don‘t terminate). Hidden away behind Morrisons.