Recent content by MrGrumpy

I was on 1S25 on Tuesday night with my wife and son. I woke probably around 0500 and went to the lounge as we pulled into Perth and a fair few people got off. Didn't think much of it until we went through Dundee! That's when the lounge staff told us about the derailment outside Inverness. We...

The staff are right, buses aren't trackable so they can't give info on where buses are. However, a call to the relevant TOC control should be made and they can contact their bus controller (if there is one) and they should be able to follow it up but they won't be able to tell where a bus is...

All you need is a 90 minute six-line closure just before the evening peak at East Croydon due to a security alert and you can kiss the GTR service goodbye for the rest of the day. And no BML2 project will get around that one!

IMO, you did have an actual ticket or a combination of tickets that allowed you to complete your journey. If NRES shows the bus journey from Padd to Euston as a ' Transfer' (usually means using the bus) then it's a valid journey as the tube is closed. The fact you had a pass entitling you to...

London Midland would probably have 'off costed' the taxi to GWR anyway so the staff at Reading probably thought along those lines and booked the cab there and then for you. Otherwise, there would have been an indefinite wait for a cab and a bit of faff at Euston whilst LM got managerial...

A few years back a baby girl was born, rather suddenly, on board a train at Otford in the middle of the evening rush hour. Probably one of the most unusual reasons for delaying a train on my shift. The 466 she was born on has been unofficially named 'Phoebe'.

Euston was indeed two seperate tube stations on the Northern Line until the mid-20s. The 'City Branch' being the former City & South London Railway, the 'Charing Cross Branch' being the former 'Charing Cross, Euston & Hampstead' of 1906/7. The City & South London was rebuilt from about 1923...

As a fellow GTR employee, I think you can have just seven polo shirts. However, it's good to have a couple of normal shirts on stand-by, just in case something a little more formal pops up requiring a tie.

Or is it a work-around for driver licencing?

Being a very regular user of Ashford's "Little & Often" service, I will stick my penny's worth into the discussion. My first initial reaction to the idea when it was announced was one of little faith. The idea of replacing a mix of Solos, Darts, Tridents and whatever Ashford depot could...

Everybody seems to have forgotten the 5-car 707s which MTR/First have decided to ditch... Just sayin'

Ironically, Stagecoach East Kent replaced Solos on the C around Ashford with front-engined minibuses! I will also say that the Solos that Stagecoach SE have are terrible. Loud, slow and like an oven.

The ELC-bodied Scanias that Metrobus use. The suspension is somewhat akin to having an iron girder under your bum and when turning corners the body would visibly flex in the opposite direction!

To some it may not be a big issue in "the grand scheme of things", but to the railway operating authorities, it could well be a big deal. Hi-viz clothing is there as safety equipment for persons who may be officiating the event or for railway staff to easily identify those who are supposed to...

Go-Ahead (despite their flaws) have got the right idea. All of their Smartcard tickets (in the south at least) are called The Key on Southern, Southeastern, Brighton & Hove and (I think) Southern Vectis. Therefore my staff pass does indeed (despite being told otherwise) does open Southeastern...