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The FR/WHR are I think planning to do some major work to the cob over the winter of 2011/2012, with the addition of a second platform for the WHR - once that work is completed a full service can be operated through to Porthmadog. Until then, there will only be one or two trains per day. The...

It'd be Newquay-Par, Par-Plymouth, Plymouth-Edinburgh, Edinburgh-Inverness and Inverness-Kyle of Localsh. Possibly less if you can get a direct train from Newquay to Plymouth, or from Par to Edinburgh - you can't do Newquay - Kyle in one day though, you have to overnight somewhere or catch a...

Indeed, they'd be very good on the Nottingham - Cardiff / Birmingham - Stansted services. Personally, I'm not convinced of the need for a first class section on those services - it's only 9 seats, always seems to be empty or used by railstaff and the fares are far too much for it to be of any...

Indeed, it will - they've said they're designing them as commuter trains but as they're planning to use them to replace 168s I can't imagine they'll be that commuter-ish - the 168s are quite nice to travel in - dare I say it (apart from the engine noise and speed) possibly nicer than Pendolinos...

Yeah, you can cram more seats in a Mark 3 coach by sacrificing some of the comfort (i.e. tables), as FGW have proved, but a Voyager coach somehow has less seats and less comfort than the standard 72-seat Mark 3 layout from the 1980s.

Not if there's far more airline seats and fewer tables in the same space - the idea of having more space is that more comfort can be afforded to the seats there, not that they can give the impression that more seats are crammed in!

Fair enough, the windows aren't that wide - I was referring more to the height :P I think its the combination of the smaller windows, higher seat backs and slightly narrower body shells that makes the Pendolinos seem worse to me... Unfortunately yes it is, but table seats are a comfort...

There are several reasons I dislike the interior of both Voyagers and Pendolinos; the bodyshell makes the train more confined and thus less pleasant. Coupled with the small windows, this makes the Pendolino feel rather like an aeroplane, which isn't really a design train operators should be...

I'm looking to book some tickets from Birmingham - Paris for someone on Sunday 1st May - the tickets are now available but the Eurostar website only allows through tickets via Chiltern - Moor Street and Marylebone. Travel via Virgin -New Street and Euston would be preferred, with the quicker...

During my work experience with Network Rail, I attended a meeting with Cross Country, and Sarah Kendall (Production Manager? with Cross Country) was there, and I was offered a mornings return cab ride anywhere on Cross Country Trains - I plumbed for an HST from Birmingham down to Bristol and a...

dThe vast majority of staff at heritage railways are volunteers and get no pay for what they do - they just enjoy it! And I don't know - I think the fact that heritage railways all operate under Light Railway Orders decrees that they must keep below 25mph, otherwise all sorts of other overhead...

The last few times I've been to Birmingham International, they've still used the zoning system. You normally get 'The train now standing at platform 4 is the xxxx Virgin Pendolino service to London Euston, calling at xxxx. First Class will be located in the Gold Zone.' It appears on the LED...

I've never really got why the Plymouth - Edinburgh's call at Burton and Tamworth, surely the stop would be much better on the Reading - Newcastle's that are quieter (don't go to Leeds) and quicker (go via Doncaster) - sure you'd lose the direct train to Leeds, but it would improve journey times...

Generally, the 220s are 4-car, the 221s are 5-car (although there are some 4-car 221s). But the main difference is that the 220s used to be non-tilt 'Voyagers', the 221s were tilting 'Super Voyagers', back under Virgin Trains. Thus they had different types of bogie. The tilt on the Cross...

Back when the Pacers were first shown round, Centro was one of the only PTEs which refused them, and ended up going for 150s instead. Birmingham hasn't had any form of Pacer in passenger service since the trials of the 140s as far as I'm aware :)

There's one loco-hauled diagram with a return train past Dawlish Warren Monday to Friday, calling at 1147 southbound (destination-Paignton), then passing through about 1322 northbound (destination-Cardiff)

In my opinion, our rail network would have had a better past 15 years or so had British Rail still existed. Admittedly, I can't say I'm old enough to remember British Rail, but it strikes me that something like a rail network is far better organised as a single institution, and having that in...

Nope, all their services do full meals, so you get a free breakfast at weekends just as you do during the week :)

As far as I know, the 442s retained compartments in first class (although there was also some open first class seating) right up until they were withdrawn in January 2007, and they may have even re-entered service with Southern/GatEx with compartments before being refurbished sometime more recently?

That'd be one of the South West Trains Class 442s in as-built condition (although refurbished I believe?) - they were the only Mark 3s with compartments