Recent content by TBirdFrank

https://www.nic.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/NIC-Rail-Needs-Assessment-Call-for-Evidence.pdf You have a week to respond

Well at least I managed to get a couple of minutes on Radio Four's "Any Answers" to get a kick in against what the Tory party inflicted on us twenty five years ago, that the answer is re-unification of the industry under railwayman management and that Grayling must be sacked. Full Stop - end of...

If you read what I said - all I asked is that for one day every ten years our "preserved railways" should perhaps reflect their origins. Of course railways have to be commercial - what they don't have to be is arrogant and unsympathetic to their own histories. If modern managements and...

This is the railway that after thirty years in business can't even find a loco of its own to operate, and despite your disdain for enthusiasts is looking for them to fund the purchase of a loco to operate on the line. I rest my case.

Dear Neil - standing room only yesterday at Loughborough - you really need to revise your business outlook!

Fifty years since the end of steam - time for a visit to the galas at the Severn Valley and GCR. Chose to go by train to both - when will I ever learn??? fifty years since we had decent length loco hauled and Mk1 and 2 trains to travel on, comfortable seats and you could trust timetables...

I did the SVR today - a bit curate's egg! No book signing because there were no books. 5110 and 8773 cold and silent, 5110 getting oiled over by a bunch of old codgers - who seemed quite familiar somehow! No working Black Five because 5231 failed its boiler test. 43106 on one injector but...

QED - plot lost, probably never to be found again. The night amongst real railwaymen and real enthusiasts was a pleasure.

Shaw - whilst I do not disagree with much of what you say - if for a single weekend on the 50th anniversary the people who run our "preserved" railways cannot acknowledge where their hobby and jobs came from, then they do not deserve our custom or support and have become merely fairground rides...

Its basic sustenance with no pretence of fine dining. Polystyrene cups of soup, plates etc, plastic cutlery and very basic food. A case of if you don't want to carry sarnies or patronise the buffet car but no more.

This weekend must be the biggest disgrace since preservation began with the exception of the SVR and the GCR. The main line promoters are an absolute insult to what happened fifty years ago this weekend. No steam to Blackpool or over Copy Pit. No steam to Carnforth - you couldn't write it. As...

There is only one purpose for the railway industry and that is to be as profitable as possible for its shareholders. Anyone who thinks otherwise is just naive. But the railway industry in the UK makes a net loss you say - and that's why the UK taxpayers are being bled dry by the most byzantine...

Andy "what do I say today?" Burnham - master of the soundbite. Mind you, I agree that High Lane is one of the sites to be taken off the table. GMSF want compliant site owners and the High Lane crowd don't want this at any price - didn't know dairy was that profitable! I am likely to disappear...

Go and see CAB and get some proper advice.

And as I wrote the budget for the shortly to open Hazzle Grazzel to Airport section of the A555 I shall take the appropriate amount of notice of your comment. If you want improvements - specify works appropriate to the need.