Recent content by PhilipF

Ah yes, a really lovely route that I thought was one of the most scenic rail rail trips I'd been on, fact better than the "heart of Wales" line that I'd travelled up to Shrewsbury from Swansea on. Shrewsbury down to Newport passes through some lovely rural scenery, but then so does the "mid...

Think I should say, I don't agree here. I've 'rode' virtually the whole length of this line 'all across the "top of Spain"' , most of it was cut into "cuttings". So, not much to see at all. The section of FEVE which travels South, may very well be of much greater interest, but sorry to say we...

I use "RTT" on my smartphone. Really handy for finding when trains are due to arrive at the local stations, will also give the platform number, so, darned useful should one need to change at the next one :D

Agree completely. I grew up in the war, and on a farm that has the main Bristol London GWR line running through it. Tell you, I had my "fill" of steam hauled trains at that time. I did enjoy watching them, specially the goods trains, with their "brake vans" at the rear, always thought that would...

Think that is awful when on a train, I'm always viewing out the window, always something fresh to see.

Struck me that Michael got well 'out of kilter', as regards his visit to Redditch - should have com directly following his opening visit to Birmingham. But for some extraordinary reason, he "claimed" to require road transport to reach, of all places Ashchurch to catch a train to Cheltenham...

I've never had much to do with railways, but have become much more interested in them now, and since we've started to use them so much :) I've not had a very high opinion of GWR - as they now like to call themselves. However, saying that, I very much doubt that a commuter would ever have any...

We toured by rail round that country around fifteen years ago. Flew to Basle. Then from there on would usually reach a suitable town round midday - look for a hotel, book a room, then take another rail ride in the afternoon. and centre ourselves in that area for a couple of days or so. Fifteen...

Lot of quarries dispatch their stone by rail. Also the network has been improved on some lines to allow for trains of containers to use that route. Not sure how much fuel is transported by rail - sure some is.

Last spring we took a trip to Koblenze in Germany, spent some of our five days there taking trips round the network there. One thing that very much struck me, was the number of unused trainsets in sidings on the system. Yes, and one poster to this thread mentioned SWT. This operator does seem to...

This morning the FGW train that starts soon after 0900 from Southampton, destined for Great Malvern, broke down at Westbury, and was cancelled. The following Portsmouth Cardiff train, was so utterly packed when it reached Bradford-on-Avon, that virtually all those who were waiting there, were...

Couple of police seem to be on Bath spa station virtually all the time, struck me the other day must be rather a boring job. Bit of a puzzle as to why they are needed, only two platforms, and in the daytime too.

I do wonder if these people really have much idea of geography? They all seem to concentrate themselves to their perception of the closest port to England, but there are numerous other places of entry they could try.

Must say I find the European Rail timetable, educational and interesting. It includes maps of each countries rail networks for example, well worth obtaining a copy. http://www.europeanrailtimetable.eu/

We've been in Brixham for a few days, and there are really high tides here now. Last evening the wind was from the west, so in theory the line should have been somewhat sheltered. Just how bad could it be if the wind was from the east?