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In years gone by, Cradley Heath towards Birmingham? Imprinted on my memory from the late 80s are the ageing Class 116s struggling to get up Old Hill Bank with a full load of commuters.

Presumably the cost savings made by not handling cash will be passed on to customers with reductions in the price of fares. Isn't that how a free market works?

I do wonder why stations on the WCML were treated so differently on either side of New Street. The first three stations on the Wolverhampton side (Monument Lane, Winson Green and Soho) all closed in the 1960s, while nothing closed on the Coventry side. I can't really see the point of Adderley...

Sorry this is a bit late, and I know I shouldn't dredge up old threads The 740 Ludlow to Knighton reverses twice on its journey, at Leintwardine (The Lion) and Bucknell (The Tyndings). The Leintwardine reversal point is prone to floods, while the Bucknell reversal is a 3-point turn at a...

According to the SARPA newsletter (Aug 2010), "Until 1950 Shrewsbury had 9 platforms, and then they were renumbered and reduced to 7" There is still an 8th platform of sorts with a rusty set of rails leading to it, although it's not numbered or publicly accessible. The remains are now more...

A Leyland National and a couple of bread vans at Cradley Heath sum up my earliest independent bus travel to and from school Photo credit to Walsall1955

I had a quick look at his column, hoping to find a detailed critique of what I think is an interesting, if somewhat superficial report. Instead I find that Mr Walmsley has produced nothing more than the sort of sneering condescension you might expect from the pen of Richard Littlejohn. It reads...

Jewellery Quarter, opened 1995 on a site within a few hundred yards of Hockley (closed 1972).

I feel that Telford (population 150k) is relatively under-served for its size, although recent timetable changes (pre-Covid) have improved matters. Car ownership is fairly low, and there are commuting flows to and from Shrewsbury, Wolverhampton and Birmingham. The 2 trains an hour to Birmingham...

What a beauty! I've never seen one of those. I love my home county of Shropshire, but often cast envious glances down at Devon, Cornwall and the South Coast when it comes to interesting wildlife. Although we have got pine martens now.

What a beauty! I've never seen one of those. I mean I love Shropshire, but often cast envious glances down at Devon, Cornwall and the South Coast when it comes to interesting wildlife.

Not sure. The wings don't look like a natural resting position, so are probably damaged in some way. It's difficult to tell from the side view - do you have a top-down view, by any chance? For IDs that I'm completely stumped by, I use iSpot. https://www.ispotnature.org/ It's a crowd-sourced...

It's busy though - social distancing has been a challenge on this route over the last few weeks! it's also very dark at night, if you happen to have been to Haughmond Hill to look for glow worms or nightjars (but I may be the only person who actually cycles there and back for this). Yes, it...

A small Shrewsbury example was the spur built by BR between Sutton Bridge Junction (following the course of Severn Valley route to Bridgnorth) and the Oil Terminal at Abbey Foregate, formerly the Shrewsbury terminus of the Potts. I think it was built in the 1960s and closed in 1988. A lot has...

It often takes a day or two for the water that fell on the Welsh mountains to get down to Shrewsbury. By the time the flood peak gets to Shrewsbury, there's often blue skies, the birds are chirping, and it's all idyllic - apart from, of course, that the Severn is a raging torrent. Just back...

If this sort of threat is the best solution that the railway can come up with, after 10 years notice of the deadline, then why not go for it. I'm sure it will win friends in Westminster and Whitehall.

I'm not condoning level crossing misuse, but stepping into the road users' shoes for a moment - to them it appears that there is a bunch of grown men playing trains, and getting in the way of people doing proper work (farmers, delivery vans, etc). Threatening a visit from the BTP is unlikely to...

I noticed that, but I wasn't going to say. It's like that big pile of gravel that has been used to fill the hole in Platform 3. I think it's what's called value engineering.

Just walked over the Dana footbridge tonight. Less than a week after reopening, someone has already daubed the fresh new surfaces with graffiti tags in black paint, and someone else has scratched the woodwork with a screwdriver or similar. Only a small amount of litter so far, although the used...

I shall have a look tomorrow! It'll be nice to see the Dana freshly painted, at least a few weeks before the graffiti, burn marks and half-eaten kebabs reappear. Shrewsbury station has been freshened up nicely with the recent refurbishments. But I do wish we had a permanent staff to maintain it...