Recent content by nick parish

I think the reason, 28 years ago, was that some passengers were anxious about safety on late evening trains (which were then the old slam door trains), and so all trains after about 9pm opn the line were convreted to 455 - meaning people could see the whole carriage when boarding, and if they...

Does anyone know what will change - if anything - when SWR is ‘nationalised’ later this month?

Crushed into a sweltering 4 car 455 at 17.10 from Wimbledon to Epsom yesterday, it definitely felt like there is a stock shortage. This service should be 8 and ideally 10 cars. (I respect the statistics though, but an overall picture masks some of the specific problems).

I have a memory that when the 458s were being made ready, there was a time the Ascot to Guildford line was converted to bus in order to free up crew for training. Am I right? And could such be done again to speed up 701 entry to service?

As an Epsom resident, we had our MPs regular updated emailed yesterday. One of the issues he addressess is overcrowding on the Waterloo bound services, particularly from Worcester Park, explaining that he is pushng for more services but stock shortage prevents this until the 701 introduction. He...

I went to Bracknell for a job interview in 1996. Have I remembered correctly that inbetween the two trains an hour to Reading there were shorts from Ascot - Reading? I think I got a train going to Aldershot and changed at Ascot to the Reading train from there.