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Probably not much of a diet. If you were to remove the engines and diesel tanks from the centre vehicle, you'd be changing the "dynamic envelope" (how it behaves through pointwork and around curves, or when buffeted by air circulation when passing other trains, going under bridges/through...

Buses generally have a pretty high drag coefficient, being basically brick-shaped. Making the door flush with the bodyside will have a tiny, almost immeasurable impact on fuel efficiency (probably more significant for electric buses rather than diesel). However it'll reduce noise to a level that...

Probably a bigger impact on noise than fuel consumption.

The 323 order was typical of how BR procurement was handled under the Major administration- throw a few scraps to the North, but then pull the plug a few months later rather than authorising the follow-on order for Airedale/Wharfedale.

I know what you mean about loco-hauled... it's a "traditional" set-up so it ticks the enthusiast box, but even modern iterations of loco-hauled stock is not that different to an MU. During the brief stint of mk5a sets on TPE I always thought the sets looked better (more like "proper" trains)...

If the old Transperience museum at Low Moor had been a success, a 323 unit (or just a driving car) would have been a nice addition to the collection as the units were built in Leeds. If it wasn't for the component sourcing issues they'd still have plenty of life in them though, and I wouldn't...

If my memory serves, part of the NGT compensation went towards White Rose station... a project that was famously well managed! I'm also pretty sure that reporting at the time of the cancellation of the trolleybus, had Leeds City Council as the recipient of the compensation rather than the...

My first purchase for a good while- three OO9 War Department wagons from Rails for the trench railway diorama. I'll need to remove the WD markings for true period authenticity, but that's probably a job for winter time... A bit expensive really, but I had some points built up which took the edge...

Any particular reason you'd do Skipton to York? I'm not sure it's a great move to potentially disrupt the "triangle" by introducing an additional risk factor. I'd be keeping everything that goes up Airedale or Wharfedale as-is, being largely segregated into the Wellington bays at Leeds.

With the drop in freight movements via the Settle & Carlisle, there should be plenty of paths available for ECS movements from Shipley depot. As for the possibility of through running towards York, the Doncasters (or Huddersfields once the wires are up) would be a much more suitable candidate...

It's just a poorly-worded statement. Shipley depot is necessary primarily because Neville Hill will be cut off for long periods, but as the TP electrification will mean a larger electric fleet, it's more economical to build a new permanent depot for additional electric sets. There's unlikely to...

This is a railway thing primarily, but is related to the adoption of the Weaver Network branding: I visited Outwood station recently and noticed that the brick mosaic of WYPTE's "M" logo which was situated at the entrance to the car park has been dug out and tarmacked over. The one depicting the...

The trend for silver-on-black number plates on cars that wouldn't have had them when new, needs to be consigned to the dustbin of history. Maybe if it's a 1970s Mini or a late Moggy Minor you get a pass. Over the weekend saw a Lancia Delta (probably the same one I saw a couple of weeks ago) and...

Also roundabout collisions tend to be glancing, as opposed to the "T-bone" or head-on collisions which you'd get at a crossroads. It's all well and good to say that road incidents should get more coverage, but how do you mandate the media to give those events more coverage? Incidents on the...

Railway accidents are far rarer, and because road collisions are so common the police will get plenty of practice on how to quickly gather evidence before handing the site over to the clean-up team. Unless there's been a fire (or a particularly heavy impact or a load being shed) the road surface...

Had another annoying one yesterday, as I started at Huddersfield but it had me changing at York for Northallerton... but it keeps me on my toes by throwing the odd curveball!

I didn't intend to suggest a causal link... but whoever becomes the next Labour leader (likely Burnham, but not guaranteed) will most likely continue with business as usual, at least at the Department for Transport. A new Labour mayor of Greater Manchester will likely do the same. However if a...

In the unlikely event that there's a change of party when a new mayor of Greater Manchester is elected, that'll change more than a change of PM will. I didn't agree with Burnham (as GM Mayor) expanding his Bee Network branding onto the railways, and don't agree with West Yorkshire going down...

Some of the quirks are no problem once you've encountered them, as long as you remember it the next time it comes up again- for example it insists on doing the Wakefield shuffle if you start at Huddersfield and need to head south towards London or Birmingham, despite Leeds being an easier...

Without giving any spoilers, I was not happy with the way it routed me from some guesses today. If there's a direct train it should use it, even if it takes a little longer.