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No, relax, I'm not asking how many signals there are on the GB network! Just curious how many signals a driver might need to observe and respond to over the course of a journey. I appreciate this will vary widely but, for example, on a non-stop run from Crewe to Euston (Fast Line all the way...

Between 1929 & 1932 the LMS/ S&D bought a few Sentinel geared steam locos. Basically, what were they used for? By 1955 they were based at Crewe South (2), Bath (2), Shrewsbury (1) and Ayr (1). The Shrewsbury loco was used at Clee Hill. The Bath locos were, I think, outbased at Radstock (for...

On another Forum someone is insisting that the London artics didn't have wheelchair spaces. I hardly ever used them and can't find a clear answer online - so did they? Some were in use in Brighton until recently so presumably they must have been so fitted?

Can anyone explain the history and operation of the signalling installed on the ex-LSWR main line (I think between Woking and Basingstoke)? It's described as "air-operated block signalling". When was it installed (I've seen c.1903 quoted) and how did it work? Thanks.

Okay, let me explain. Walk through a BR Mark I Brake Second and when you walk along the side corridor and then into the brake section there's a mesh partition between where you walk and the parcel (etc) space. I'd always assumed this was a longstanding practice but looking through some layout...

I read that there was a proposal in the 1930s for a direct Exeter-N Abbot cut-off but cannot find any details. Was it intended to follow the Teign Valley line or follow a new alignment. Given the stiff gradients, curves and single line of the Teign Valley route a new alignment would seem the...

In 1955 there were 3 Stanier 2Ps 41900/3/4 allocated to Green Ayre. My understanding was that they were sent there c.1951 when the original MR electrics were withdrawn and before the adapted ex-LNW units were available for service, which I'm told was c.1953. So if the "new" EMUs were in service...

Leeds City station had a complex role with the North Eastern Railway, the Midland and the LNW all using it. So does anyone know what the station pilot arrangements would have been in the mid-50s? A Holbeck 3FT? Something from Neville Hill? Or something else? Thanks.

Anyone know what happened to this today? RTT seems to have it right time to Crewe; stood there and left 20 late, 40 late by Leominster and formed of 2x153 o_O

I understand Scotrail are looking to recruit a trainee driver at Kyle. Limited route knowledge, not much variety - but the views ! :D

Looking at a 1950s timetable I note that the overnight train from Euston arrived around 0545, then left again at 0630 to arrive at Stranraer Town a few minutes later. Does anyone know how this was done? My understanding (I've never been) is that this would require a reversal. So, train...

Somebody has told me that the open access trains that run this way (GC to Bradford?) are restricted to 20mph on this section. Is that true? And if so, why?

To head off a thread on Disputes & Prosecutions that is at risk of going seriously off-topic I thought I'd start a thread here for memories of PT (i.e. Privilege Travel - Staff Concessions - Free Passes etc) travel. To kick off I'll throw in my happy circumstance of having had an entitlement...

Has anyone ever claimed to be a "record holding" trainspotter in the sense of having seen more locos than anyone else? I'm thinking in a lifetime (which I presume would be someone who lived through the steam/ early diesel transition) but also in a single year. For the latter I'm thinking the...

Did anyone else see the back end of today's programme. She interviewed someone remotely presumably from his home - in the background were a couple of sidings and some old wagons. Kingswear?

Further to my request re main-line diesel locos, I turn to the electrics. 20001-3 were at Durnsford Road. Now this was a SW depot yet most of the coverage I've seen of these locos seem to involve the Central Division - Newhaven boat trains and the like. Of course, other than Portsmouth the SW...

I've been doing some research on 1955 traffic patterns and loco workings and would be grateful for any info on the use of diesel locos at the period: Ivatt locos 10000 and 10001 were based at Camden (along with 2 of the three SR locos - 10201/2). I know they were used on the WCML, including...

I'm working on a project centred on 1955 but need some info re the Tilbury line; specifically loco workings. I assume most workings out of Fenchurch Street used a mix of the Stanier 3-cylinder and Standard 4MT 2-6-4Ts. What would the Whitelegg 4-4-2Ts be used on at that date? Presumably the...

I thought I knew the railway system pretty well but then I come across new ones! Today it was Bilton or Bilton Sidings which I think was near Harrogate (between there and Knaresborough perhaps?). It seems to have handled around 40 trains per day, mostly through services (e.g. Newport-Normanton...

I know that the nine locos of the 4700 class were used on overnight fitted freights between London and the West Country, Bristol and the West Midlands but does anyone know exactly what trains they worked?