Recent content by Sean Emmett

Belaugh Green Level Crossing on the Bure Valley Railway (about a mile west of Wroxham) is an open crossing over a public road. It has a westbound PSR of 5 mph, but only 2 mph eastbound, due to poor visibility. From my visit in May 2026 I gather there are plans to upgrade it with barriers, as...

Even time yes mile a minute, 60 mph or more. Have posted this before, but Ascot - Waterloo in 40 mins timetable and under 34 mins achieved seem like a dream now. When looking after mum until quite recently I often took the 07.29 from Ascot to Waterloo. Not much progress compared with the M7...

Amazing detail, thx. I was brought up in Ascot and remember the major timetable change with the fast trains happening in 1977. I have a leaflet somewhere. Yes there were 4tph off peak to Ascot, with stopper being caught up by the fast trains which called at Feltham and Staines only. Fast /...

Yep Rectory Road to Stoke Newington fastest time 0m 57s nbd, 1m 00d sbd. Lelant Saltings - noted! I thought it closed when the St Erth P&R opened. I forgot to include Wallaseys and Bootles.

Ok some ideas based on Railway Performance Society station-to-station 'fastest times', many of which already mentioned Start to stop one minute or less James Street to Moorfields 23 chains. 0 minutes 45 seconds. Canada Water to Rotherhithe. Nbd 0m 46s, sbd 0m 46s. Farringdon to City...

I'll need to give this some thoight, but as a train-timer my test would be where the station to station start to stop time is less than a minute. In essence, the shortest 'fastest time'. Example on the Whitchurch branch already quoted and St James to Moorfields can be under a minute.

There's more green than the Southern. On the 9 cars at least, leave the end vehicles in green, add a bit of lining out, and paint the middle vehicles in chocolate and cream...

re 33/1 on Ashford - Hastings. I have a clear recollection of a 33/1 hauling a 4VEP (not a 4TC) and not getting the braking quite right and, er, missing the platform at Ham Street. One of 4 instances I have noted this happening (class 150 at Oldfield Park, class 507 missing a stop on the...

Recently I had a problem trying to book a Bristol to Crewe (via Hereford) open return. Somehow I had chosen the m-ticket, rather than e-ticket. At the time I hadn't appreciated the difference. I booked during a tea break at work, to avoid queuing at Temple Meads, and selected my outbound train...

From buffer stops at Porthmadog to buffer stops at Blaenau Ffestiniog was measured in c. 1990 as 13 miles 56 chains 5 yards. I understand the buffer stops haven't moved since then. I was part of the Railway Performance Society team that moved the mileposts to reflect the re-surveyed line with...

The Test Match Special commentary team used to mention the 'Chester Flyer' and Altrincham stoppers during lulls in the play.

Trip to Barnstaple on Saturday reminded me that Yeoford has an unused platform on the Okehampton line, as mentioned previously on this forum, if not this thread. But I understand timings would be too tight to allow for a stop there, in addition to the proposed Okehampton Interchange, so the...

Thanks. Have trawled through the posts again and can't recall P1 at Salisbury being mentioned? I arrived there back in 1988 on a steam special in near as dammit even time from Templecombe. IIRC calling on signal into the platform. Temple Meads P2 is an interesting one as I have seen a...

On 31 July 2021 the Aberdonian railtour hauled by Tornado (unassisted) arrived in platform 2 at Aberdeen after a lengthy signal stop outside the station due to congestion. IIRC due to one or more failures of trains in the other platforms. I did post on the Nat Pres website at the time about...

I have arrived in Aberdeen P2 behind 'Tornado', departed and arrived at Southall P0 on the (steam) railmotor, arrived and departed at/from the down platform at Yeovil Jn on various specials. Departed from Kyle down plat (P2?), only to be shunted to the main up plat, behind a 37 before finally...