Recent content by jnty

This isn't really true in the sense that you mean - if I give you a message to pass on to a third person, I can crypographically sign it so that, provided I give the third person a bit of information (my "public key") in advance, they can tell if you've tampered with it. It doesn't even matter...

Something like this was common practice at Norwich before the 2013 collision and was mentioned critically in the report: http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/reports_2014/report092014.cfm

They'd have to stop, as you can't just ignore a clear stop signal on 'instict' - imagine the consequences if he was wrong. Once they realised what was fully going on, it would probably be unsafe to restart - activists would probably be on and in front of the train. No driver is empowered to...

The bridge carrying the canal over the Suburban Line at Craiglockhart Junction is a nice place to capture trains traversing the junction - you can get right down to the fence if you don't mind wading through a bit of vegetation. The view is towards Gorgie, and you can see the bridge where the...

I love it - no more almost getting run over by taxis barreling down the entrance ramp when trying to cross to P11. And Market Street is still pretty easy to get to.

No, unless it had been fraudulently obtained or special conditions were attached - for example, the railway had applied for it on the basis of a project on a section they knew was about to be CPed. Just as with every other entity, the company/society/organisation which owns the line would get...

Sorry - that was meant to say re-opening. Although it definitely is a matter of perspective - I'm sure there's plenty of people who don't frequent London and the South East who'd disagree with that.

This type of anti-Scottish abuse - suggesting that it's some sort of economic basketcase - is offensive to Scots on both sides of the debate and totally unnecessary. This must be one of the most momentous railway openings post-Beeching and yet another example of the refreshingly positive...

I might be wrong but I don't think rail replacement buses come down there any more.

Wouldn't they be doing the complete opposite of Beeching - opening a new part of the national network, rather than closing it? Assuming it was needed by the local community I'd imagine it would be an electoral boost more than anything. I have to say I'm quite surprised by the hostility people...

I gather that the Central power supply would also need to be significantly upgraded to successfully power all the points.

The points around Central are air-operated and have been since ~1908 (the semaphores were also electro-pneumatic then as well.) NR said the air compressor which drives the whole scheme failed, though I've heard reports of a hissing sound coming from an air reservoir on the platform so it's...

It might actually be because the existing stub of the line through Brunstane and Newcraighall still uses that up/down convention, but don't let that dampen your hopes!

I'm not sure, but as far as I know goods stations were for the sort of things BR were obliged to carry thanks to their common carrier obligations - goods that the US railways just wouldn't bother with.

Er..it very much was the case - lots of industry had private sidings precisely for this reason. The service, however, proved unprofitable owing to the costs of multiple shunts en-route and the fact that many services ran with much less than a full trainload of wagons.