Recent content by TheGrew

If part availability is an issue, I can't imagine them being used for anything else. You would just end up in the Class 483 situation, where you would ever shrink the usable number of a small subfleet by cannibalising the parts from the others. I wonder if that is already occurring with the 9...

Apart from the prison and Quarry Bank is there really anything in Styal other than some admittedly rather nice houses? I would have thought that if you live in the Wilmslow 'suburbs', other than its namesake station, Handforth and Alderley Edge would be more convenient.

Mount Pleasant Road in Southampton I have often thought, would spend more time down than up. It fortunately isn't super high traffic, though.

Nothing easy, but if the Dornoch Firth Bridge could have a track installed on it (with approaches on either side), you could bypass a significant amount of track!

With NPR i completely agree with this approach. I think at the moment, though trying to path additional fasts on Chat Moss will be too much of a challenge.

I think it does a reasonable job; however, I think the 'separated' bit ends too soon. I would continue to run it over the old railway alignment to at least Worsley Road or Monton. I also think, for better or worse, the public prefers trams to buses on the whole, and it gives off a certain amount...

I have suggested on other threads that a route going down the Oxford road corridor would be well used. Perhaps then taking over the Leigh guided busway to the west. This is all crayons though

For me I think the way to improve rail in the North is an increase in local services. I see this primarily being done with electrification of commuter routes and the deployment of 'lighter' infrastructure as per Metrolink. I genuinely think a combination of current and former rail alignments...

Unfortunately many of the ferry companies have been run into the ground by private equity. I do genuinely wonder if the rise of an increasing electric ferry fleet might help a little though.

Thanks for posting that, it's a really interesting read. I think, unless you can somehow get the Elizabeth line trains onto the fast lines without conflicting movements at the Paddington throat, you couldn't realistically replace HEX operationally. To solve that operational problem, I wonder...

For me, it would be the electrification of the entire Cross Country network (effectively electric spine++), any other sensible infill electrification, and key freight corridors.

I think a consistent hourly Gatwick extension from Reading would be well used. No idea how easy it would be to path or if there are enough units. But I think it would give a lot of people an attractive route to the UK's second airport.

I live in Newton-le-Willows and regularly use the station. You don't specify which day you plan to travel, but the car park at Newton-le-Willows does get busy Tuesday-Thursday by about 8:30 AM as above, though it does tend to get quieter during the afternoon. There is also a little bit of...

I hoped to make it clear this is a hyperthetical. Electrification of non-electrified lines is priority.

Whilst I would like to see wires where there is no electrification currently. If there were to be a conversion of the 3rd rail to 25kv I would have thought it would make most sense to start at the edge and work towards London, as complexity is likely to increase the further in you go. This...