Recent content by notverydeep

Note that there are sometimes cases of 1400s being substituted for units. I was in the Douro for a few days this summer and we observed IR861 / 866 to be a unit throughout on one day (8 August), but a 1400 the next. There was also some significant delay that day due to a 1400 failure on a later...

Passengers will self-evacuate from stranded trains. There are a number of variables that will influence how long it will be before this occurs, including perceived proximity to viable alternative routes, such as a station, road or obvious settlement. Weather conditions, the level of crowding...

At least until the 1990s freight trains departing Westbury through Dilton Marsh towards Warminster (the summit being at Upton Scudamore) were often banked uncoupled. The line climbs around 60 metres over four kilometres. I’ve no idea whether banking still occurs routinely…

I recall a stormy night (the early hours of 28 March 1987) when I was aboard 1S19 (the Bristol to Glasgow and Edinburgh sleeper - 15 coaches), 87030 slipped to a stand somewhere on Beattock. 86420 and 86425 were hauling a freightliner train behind and were brought up to 1S19 an coupled up. The...

The difference between these two numbers is likely that the NICE Quality Adjusted Life Year (QALY) is their calculated value of the life to the individual, but the Value or preventing a fatality (VPF) will include the (average) cost of the consequences to the organisation as well as the QALY...

Agreed (and hence my later update to the post above...).

That is a good question. The advice to staff is that they are not valid on "InterCity" services. But in a post British Rail world, is there a strict / contractual definition of the term "InterCity" for National Rail services? I don't think there are any Avanti West Coast commuters in my area, so...

Many of these small electrics will be a still better bet economically, when they start to come onto the second hand market at 3 to 5 years old…

On Mondays to Fridays there is just one scheduled nonstop train from King’s Cross to Welwyn Garden City; train 1C98 leaves King’s Cross at 18:54 and arrives at WGC 16 minutes later at 19:10. It is a Cambridge semi-fast ‘peak’ train, others are first stop Welwyn North (last stop in the London...

96014 and 96121 (paired) are shown as stopped waiting parts with a return date of the end of July, 96035 and 96056 see my reply to @Martyn40192 in the Stock Requests thread. 96033 is paired with 96056 so the same applies (2028 date). 96036 is paired with 96035, so again the same as that unit in...

91007 is in service, currently at West Ruislip as part of train 32 - it is martialled as one of the two centre units - likely because of defective cab equipment, 91343 and 91147 are the active cab units in the composition. It looks like it hasn't been a leading car since 2023. 93078 was in...

Yes, all are shown as in the Heavy Overhaul / Programmed Lift project, several also show that they are awaiting materials. Their return to service dates are either late July (3543) or Late August, but if there are supply issues with parts, could be longer I would guess... Only 3247 is showing...

Is it perhaps a V50? That was the one that was basically a Volvo version of the Ford Focus Mark II estate, usually with a bit more internal refinement. On further research V70 does seem correct - the roof rail on a V50 has no centre support, which is present on the V70 - but the photo does seem...

You can buy a ticket for someone else to use entirely (such as a family member). What you cannot do is both use the same ticket at different times, for example buying (say) a return ticket, using the outward portion and then giving the return to someone else, or give a travelcard that you have...

21469/470 was stopped just before the pandemic in 2020 following a minor derailment and has a (probably) nominal return date at the end of the year - it is located at Ealing Common Depot (probably not visible from passing trains). The Jubilee units listed are all long term stopped with little to...