Recent content by L+Y

Nope: big fan here too, and I'm somebody who was initially sceptical! Just shows how subjective liveries are, I suppose.

Does anybody have Northern's current electric diagrams to hand, so we can try to work out what will go where in terms of 350s? I'm assuming this is all going to be a lot more complex than a simple like for like swap of 323s to 350s with a couple of spares for Staly-Wigan?

Another vote here for "not as bad as feared", though I agree it might look odd on odd carriage numbered units. Wonder if the yellow end will be applied to stock currently running without it?

Tend to agree with the comments re Salford Crescent, which I've used to interchange between Pic and Vic-bound services before: both coming from the Southport line and from the WCML. In some cases the situation can be somewhat alleviated by swapping the connection to Bolton, but a desire to ramp...

I've seen photos of a Midland (specifically Midland) Pullman set with yellow ends, presumably right at the end of use in 1966/67. Did any run in service in this condition?

Inspired by a post in the predictions for 2026 thread: what would the trajectory of the railway have been in the absence of the Covid-19 pandemic? Obviously a lot of this will be wrapped up in politics, so for the sake of argument let's assume a point of divergence in January 2020: the Johnson...

Does anybody have any updates on future 99 deliveries? I think I read somewhere GBRf suggesting that they'd need at least six locos in the country before they can start regularly using them in service?

Still plenty of NNW branding about: here's St Annes station yesterday!

Last timetabled working on Burscough North Curve I'm aware of, per a 1969 WTT, is a Saturdays-only ECS DMU from Blackpool North Carriage Sidings to Southport. In addition there was an odd shunting movement in the early hours of the morning where the loco off a Manchester to Southport newspaper...

As a slight aside to this thread: when were the first mk2 workings on and around the WCML? Very anecdotally I've seen late steam on early mk2s on railtours in 1968, but not on service trains. A lot of WCML expresses seem to be entirely mk1 until at least 1970, with earlh mk2s dribbling in...

Always been a fan of yellow ends, so naturally I think this is an improvement. That said, I do think the new Chiltern 68 livery is the first attempt I've seen at a livery without yellow that looks half decent.

I've often wondered if a return to public displays and announcements of headcodes, at least for longer distance services, might be a way to help limit confusion for passengers on Advance tickets. It works for airlines...?

On some of the Lancashire options that are being discussed... 1. Southport to Preston on paper I think would be viable- Banks, Hesketh Bank/Tarleton, Longton and Penwortham are now large villages/suburbs comparable in scale to Burscough or Parbold on the Southport to Wigan line, which attract...

I've always had a soft spot for 350s and in theory would like to see them with Northern- but I think the 323 replacement plan falls down when you consider you'd be replacing 6 car 323s with a single 4 car 350 on the busy Bolton corridor. Given platforms on this route have only recently been...

Another fan of the livery here, though I agree with comments bemoaning the loss of yellow ends! Anybody able to do an AI mockup of how the livery would look with YE on the 68?