Recent content by ianhr

When I passed through just over a week ago Westhoughton and Hindley appeared to have attractive gardens, presumably looked after by local residents, and lots of mature trees. Presumably the trees at least will have to go. Interesting that the map shows Lostock even though there are no platforms...

If the TP North scheme were to be fully comprehensive it would include Church Fenton-ThornhillLNW via Castleford and Heaton Lodge-Miles Platting via Hebden Bridge, which would be useful for freight too.

Furthermore SNCF and RENFE do not seem favourably disposed to overnight trains at the moment. I believe the only remaining overnight train in France is the InterCite Nuit Paris Austerlitz-Toulouse-La Tour de Carol, and in the Iberian Peninsula the Sud Express is currently suspended.(?)

Yes, this group is a very useful resource for anyone interested in the Southern, especially modelling.

Returning to headcodes I have just realised that there was an odd class of pre-war suburban unit that carried numerical rather than letter stencils, these were the 8 2-SL and 4 2-WIM units which operated the South London (Victoria-London Bridge via Denmark Hill) and Wimbledon-West Croydon via...

Yes they seemed to try to deal with the incompatibility problem by segregating the fleets geographically, with the Eastern section becoming 100% EPB and the Central and Western divisions using the SUBs, with a few exceptions. The 06 Victoria-Holborn Viaduct via the 'wall of death' line, the...

Well I think the technique is well known to a lot of Southern train crews. I would have thought the task became a lot more difficult when they changed from the cast iron 'gravity' shoes, which were held in contact with the conductor rail by their own weight, to the spring loaded de-icing shoes...

We are wandering a long way off the original topic of SR headcodes but this is interesting and maybe worthy of a new thread. Yes, at that time cWW1 and the 1920s there were no flexible plastics and the usual insulating materials were waxed paper, rubber, various fabrics and wood. I am not sure...

Yes that is my understanding. The first LSWR 3-E units were even cruder. The full line voltage went through the control stand and there were uninsulated conductors in the cabs and switchgear compartment (which was above floor between the motorman and guard's van)! I'm not sure if it is on record...

Until the 1960s there was quite a strong prejudice among enthusiasts against anything that was not steam. The Southern Electric system in general was derided and often referred to in derogatory terms, "tramway", "electric worms" etc. As explained above the Central section/Brighton lines were...

Thanks for all the very informative replies, as I thought, quite a complex subject and a long transition.

Yes that intrigues me too. I have started another thread.

Does anyone know much about this and which stock (pre-grouping, big 4 e.g. Bulleid, Gresley, Stanier etc. Mk1 and Mk2) and diesel and electric locos were involved? I believe some diesel classes e.g. Class 40 (?) had steam heat boilers, what about the 1.5kV Manchester-Sheffield line and the...

Yes, luxurious. You would always go for one of these. What a contrast to the Shebas which were probably the most uncomfortable trains ever, although 4101 had a pseudo composite trailer. I believe at some point all the remaining compartment trailers were withdrawn and replaced by saloons to deter...

Yes, I agree it does. It also has the rather odd semi circular scoop type vents over the door droplights rather than the more usual lozenge shaped toplights. The early history of the Bulleid 4-SUBs is very complicated but described in great detail in David Brown's "Southern Electric" Volume...