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I wonder which one his wife thought most appropriate? :) Ah, thanks for the explanation. Mr Scott certainly had a mind for intriguing names. I remember a friend told me 50+ years ago that one of the Hal o' the Wynd plates had ended up in a pub in South Shields or thereabouts, but I've never...

Alas, yesterday, two of the northbounds from Swansea (2M00, 2M39) failed to materialise (and hence, of course, their southbound equivalents). Only 2M37, the 11.05 ex Swansea, made it through - largely to time. https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:V22069/2026-08-09/detailed#allox_id=0...

I'd say the trains on the Bedford - Cambridge line were about 33% filled on average in their final years. It was, essentially, a 1 train per-two-hour service, usually 2-car DMUs (one afternoon service had 4-car, but I don't know if that ran throughout), plus on loco-hauled, 3 carriage morning...

Lol! Thanks for this. I knew next to nothing about naming policies from the late 70s onwards, except that there were some awful ones! Hal o' the Wynd might have been speedie - but I'm not sure, was it a racehorse name? Maunsell was clearly a spoil sport! :) Yep, some good points above...

Unfortunately I'd be surprised if it was a 'reasonable' success. As I remember, the very first day the first train from Swansea was caped, as were some other trains in the six (?)-week period the trains were scheduled. But I'd certainly be happy to get info from anyone who used these trains back...

<NB – This thread is not meant to be about the modern prices/monetary values of locomotive nameplates and other railwayana. There is, somewhere, a dedicated thread for that subject.> For some random reason while washing up this week my mind wandered to consider locomotive nameplates, or rather...

I have no running experience with steam over the S&C, but I would imagine that once 'over the top' it is very easy for the train to reach 60 mph on the downhill sections. At the northern end, even a compound 4-4-0 could average 60 mph start to stop from Appleby to Carlisle on an express. (this...

Wow. Hope the trains were not too cosy then!

Either that, or simply not schedule it in the first place. In fact, statistically, if it runs each day, each way, to time all the way to/from Cardiff (or within 5 mins), it will be something of a miracle. Performance on the HoWL this past week has been pretty miserable. I'd say on average...

Ah, OK. so I looked this up on Northern and it said this offer was ending today! But what exactly was the offer? £1.50 for travel between Carlisle and Settle, or all the way to Leeds? Good enough if the former, absolute bargain if the latter.

ITYWF in the earliest days of this service c 1988-92 time, perhaps 3-4 trains went via Derby and Belper in total per day. Certainly as I remember, in the evenings, because there were two HSTs on St Pancras-Nottingham turns which were extended to Leeds (for maintenance), BR diverted two of the...

Thanks for reporting in on this. The up working sounds encouraging, but what are the £1.50 tickets? Some sort of special offer, I presume? I'm sure that encourages bottoms on seats, but it can hardly cover wear and tear on the seats and the extra fuel to move the body mass over Ais Gill, I'd...

Yes and no. That is to say I agree for a leisure journey to the Dales - Ribblehead-Dent etc, but leisure (and other travel) do not just go to the Dales, as others in here have testified. Indeed, (IIRC) your goodself wrote some time back that the 07.47 was the only effective train to do Leeds -...

Sorry to hear of your travel troubles and hope you make it for your boat for an enjoyable trip. But just imagine trying to get to Shrewsbury yesterday from the southern half of the Heart of Wales line! Take a look at RTT at, say, Llandovery...

I'm sure we are all glad you enjoyed the trip, but news that there were just four of you in the rear carriage for the entire trip does not sound encouraging (especially in the summer season) for those of us who would like to see the route attracting healthy traffic numbers. One of the units...

To be fair, as I suspect you know, the Germans had strong cultural ties with both Saxon and Schwabian Germans who had emigrated to Transylvania after the Mongol hordes (if not Mongol, some other hordes) had laid waste the lands in the 13th C. These settlers had guaranteed nationality rights...

I have wondered why the LMS did not concentrate London - Manchester traffic on the LNW route, which surely must have been faster (and shorter?) most, if not all years throughout LMS ownership. It came in useful to have the Midland route in 57-66 of course, when electrifying the West Coast...

I should hope so too! I would hope nobody ever thought of follow up orders after the initial shambles! Good grief! So the myth of some possibilities of a 'liberal Romania' useful to the UK's overall E European policy persisted beyond 1979! Who was in charge of the FCO's East European Desk...

For some random reason when mixing my yoghurt shake earlier today, I wondered why the LNER (I mean, the original one, at the post WWI grouping) was so named, given that arguably its main claim to fame then and even now was that it was the principal route from London to Edinburgh. (See also...

Yes, I allowed myself to run away with the argument(s) and ruin both. What I should have said was: I think the closure of Northampton - Wellingboro was a tragic loss, and should have been kept back in 64. Not for a mere Northampton - Wellingboro shuttle, but for a Northampton - Corby...