Recent content by JonD

Ah, good point. I assumed that they must stable the 455s at (or near) Guildford rather than Waterloo. Cheers all! Jon

Oh, interesting. I had looked at the Surbiton option as a last resort, but hadn't realised that SWT would be expected to stump up. I guess that sort of makes sense. Odd, there's no 01:05 listed on either SWT website or National Rail... Thanks for the info guys. I just wanted to make...

Hi All, I'm out in London tonight, and want to get a late train back to Claygate. But I'm slightly nervous that the last train out is at an odd time, not one that matches any of the other clockface times for this service. Does anyone know how often the 2G75 23:50 Waterloo to Guildford gets...

Yes, a quick check on Wikipedia and I realised the error of my ways. Mind you, 2 people had already corrected me by the time I got back to the forum! :D --- old post above --- --- new post below --- Yes, the 350/1 has 2+2 seating like the 365 which is a lot more spacious. But what...

Hi All, (EDIT: OOPS, I meant Class 350 Desiros, not the APT, though that would be even more interesting...) I've had the pleasure of travelling on an express service from Kings X to Cambridge lately on a 365 Networker Express and it was absolutely lovely. It made me wonder why we are...

Everyone feel free to laugh heartily at such niavety, but if there is a problem of the wires blowing off the side of the pan, given that the pan curves down at both ends, why not have it curve up instead? Would this foul other parts of the OLE?

Old Timer, you make me smile! I just want to thank you for your excellent technical summary of OLE which I found really interesting and helpful. I'd never understood why the ECML electification seemed so much cheaper to implement. Jon

But does the government actually pay for these replacements, or does it just set the wheels in motion for others to finance (given that the government isn't going to end up wanting to *own* these trains) I've got another thread of just this topic because I'm thoroughly stumped by all this...

Really? So does the stock end up being owned outright by TOC instead of leased from a ROSCO? If so, is the government financing it? And, does the TOC in question get any say about they specification, or is it entirely a DFT party? Thanks for the useful info! Best regards Jon

Hi All, I've been reading Roger Ford's Informed Sources column with interest regarding the various new rolling stock schemes that the previous government was putting in place, but it suddenly occurred to me that I must be missing something. This may be a total newbie question, but how do...

Ahh, yes... that would make sense and it looks about right too. Thanks! I tried working back from what the Desiros replaced, but it seems there we too many combinations. Looking at Wikipedia for the 442s it's pretty clear that was the train! Thanks so much! Best regards Jon

Hi All, I remember getting an express (it may even have been called an InterCity) train from Southampton Parkway to London Waterloo in 1993, which stopped only at Basingstoke, and was really pretty fast. I know this route is now run by 450s and 444, but I can't for the life of me think what...

Hi All, I stood and watched a couple of MTU powered HSTs leave Reading the other day, and stood up at the driver's end, looking through the cab window. I noticed that all the drivers pushed it up to notch 1 when pulling away and left it there for several seconds before moving up the notches...

Hi All, I was watching a few trains go past Stevenage on the ECML yesterday when there was a long gap in the Intercity trains, and when a train finally appeared it was going very slowly. When it finally got near me I realised it was a southbound class 66 hauling a load of concrete blocks...

Interesting points about the problems of wasted space at terminii due to loco and DVT, and the joining/seperating of units partway through a journey. But I don't understand: a) how is a carriage with embedded traction simpler to maintain than a seperate loco?? b) how is a carriage with...