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As regards current collection at high speeds, I can't help wondering whether there are more advances to be squeezed out of current collection rather than making the OLE heavier and clunkier (Series 1 again). Having the whimsical freedom that comes from knowing next to b*****r all about...

Thanks very much for that 59cosG95. I appreciate your reply. What I was thinking of was the way the horizontal cantilever on MK3a assemblies wasn't actually horizontal. For pull offs it sloped upwards as it left the down cantilever and for push offs it sloped downwards. It just looked so...

Engineers, manufacturers and OLE designers take note of the above 3 posts. We are a force to be reckoned with! OLE can be beautiful and I agree with the MK3 sentiments. My 'thing' was the way the register arm supporting cantilever sloped to accommodate push on/ pull off (something lost in MK...

I find this very interesting and it's wonderful to talk with people whose finger is on the pulse: thank you. As an outsider I have this completely unreasonable vision of a grand unification theory of everything OLE, and this marvellously elegant yet invincible design that copes with anything and...

It seems (to me anyway) that the Master Series is simply a conglomeration of existing designs. Is there a new de facto design on the horizon that does away with all the worst of previous systems, incorporates the best, and is unique in itself?

MK2 OLE seems to have been concurrent with the original incarnation of MK3, but much less successful. It wasn't well thought of at Shields Depot. Funnily enough, to my eye at least, it has some similarity to the SM1 equipment that replaced it on much of the route. Mk3a/b is very elegant...

Interesting thank you. Was Airdrie-Bathgate the last scheme to use MKIII OLE?

Here's a pic (Wishaw). MKIII dates back to the late 60s and was (I believe) originally implemented on the Lea Valley line. The IIIa variant made some improvements and was used not only the WCML Weaver Junction - Glasgow project, but other suburban lines in the Glasgow area and the BedPan line I...

I often think that our OLE has become a real hotchpotch... Mk1, Mk2, Mk3 in its variants, UK1, SiCAT, Series 1, Series 2 and others. As every aesthete will testify, the zenith of OLE design was MK3.

Much of the original MKIIIa equipment on the WCML has now been replaced by UK1, just to further complicate things.

I have a lot of sympathy for history and heritage and while I have little knowledge of the goodly populace in those parts, with their well-meaning bucolic faces and kindly hearts, I am not displeased to see the bulldozer of 'progress' thwarted occasionally. As far as train operation goes though...

The GWML has been inflicted with what must be the most ugly and intrusive OLE in the UK. Did Series 1 ever really have to be so regressively heavy and cumbersome, even when 140 mph running was expected? I appreciate the problems with headspan stability, but there must be a more elegant way of...

Interesting stuff. Particularly interesting is the re-emergence of SICAT into UKMS. I thought it had been abandoned in the UK after Larkhall and Gourock line. I have to say, it's a lot less ungainly/downright ugly than Series 1 AND Series 2. And shorter masts make a big difference.

Yes. According to (I think) Video 125 and Paul Coia it happened on the Stranraer line.

I love it, and with that wonderful cladding it really does shine out like a shaft of gold when all about is dark.

From what I've seen there's very little business deriving from Carstairs. I'm under the impression that the occasional sevices which do serve the village do so more out of contractual obligation than financial reward. I'm not even sure that even these sparse visits haven't succumbed to the...

It's got a waiting room (at certain hours of the day on a leap year when there's a full moon and other signs and wonders)

Carluke. Down platform at 0550 on a pre-dawn Winter's morning. It's not unusual for commuters to snap like sticks of frozen rhubarb in the -272 degrees wind.

FWIW The old Military Port No. 1 line (from Faslane Junction on the WHL Line) was right hand running when double track. Reason being, to get WW2 era drivers used to continental operations. Sadly closed in 1981 of course.

Cheers hwl.