Recent content by Johnnie2Sheds

I'm interested to know how " the timetable" is deemed more important than unblocking the horrendous 1980s bodge layout that is Syston-Leicester-Wigston. Derby has been sorted, as has Nottingham, so why not Leicester? Of course it was managed decline, or death by a thousand cuts at the time, but...

And electrification through to Elmsall junction. The three East Midlands cities on the Midland, along with Sheffield should be electrified as a matter of urgency for the survival of the line. The layout at Leicester needs the Derby treatment to allow higher speeds and greater freight capacity...

Can I just say I like them too. And the Avanti versions. There, I'm not always moaning on here.

RE: First sentence, when the idiots took over. It's an absolute farce. Mind, not having to suffer a rancid voyager is a bonus I suppose. Didn't "control" used to be the regulator in a PSB? Replaced by Network Rails control and each TOCs control? Efficient then, going through many people to make...

I was there on the day of opening the stations at Barrow, Sileby and Syston. I still have the guff being handed out on that day. On topic: Chances of a reopening of the rest of it? Nil. AFAIR neither the city or county council wants it.

Imagine me, as a leading railman, (yes, that long ago) train despatching at a midlands university town, having one minute to get rid of trains, being confronted many times at semesters end with a crowd of students with luggage all waiting patiently to get in one door. The solution? Blow whistle...

I'm not a metallurgist, so at the risk of being shot down, surely some clever person or persons could lower the expansion coefficient of a given rail steel recipe to lessen the effects of buckling? No idea how. I'm just talking out of my bottom me dears. Perhaps converting the RHTTs to spray...

If we want the BBC, we're going to have to pay for it. Including it in general taxation would eliminate the freeloading. If we don't want it, AFAIK there is only one political party to vote for and good luck with that. Even though the BBC annoys me intensely on occasion, I think I would heave...

Railways are not a nature reserve and that damn Buddleia especially needs sything into oblivion. It looks unprofessional and a complete mess. As with everything in this country the railways have been stripped down to the last ha' penny.

Cancelling them would be a wonderful opportunity for the MML to be reduced to a commuter service to Corby, with Leicester passengers being pointed towards Nuneaton, Derby towards Tamworth, Nottingham towards Grantham and Sheffield to Doncaster. I'd be careful you don't give the idiots in charge...

Loughborough had one operated by the signalman. One ring for P1, two for P2. Platform 3 didn't yet exist. Needless to say it was silenced with the removal of the box.

Interesting then, any idea as to what went wrong?

AHH, right. I was not upset because the BO went home. He probably started early and had enough of the days proceedings and passengers. I was annoyed at the way the railway has been stripped of any common sense or resilience. A couple of points that need adjusting because of the temp or an axle...

Absolute farce. The boss (Mrs Blue Shunter) and I went for the 11:32 off Stafford, aiming for Lichfield. The Avanti Pendolino due to leave a few minutes before, remained on Platform 1 (our platform) well after it's departure time of 11:24. Both trains then started showing "delayed" on the...

How spoilt we were in the 1970s with a dozen mkll a/b and a diesel. The last rancid Voyager ride I enjoyed was York - Tamworth stood with a load of others in the stinking sarcophagus like vestibule with no air con. A uncivilised travesty of a train whose only redeeming feature is that it is...