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  1. 4

    Why did the Wickford recovery take longer than Harrow & Wealdstone in 1952?

    What? The prosecution of (for instance) Driver Trew is described in a footnote to the Lewisham report (he was acquitted in a second trial after the jury in the first failed to agree). Prosecution of the individuals involved is not a modern development, and many railwaymen have been jailed over...
  2. 4

    Old London Underground trains

    Are you sure about that? There's no mention of such a device in any of the standard histories.
  3. 4

    Why did the Wickford recovery take longer than Harrow & Wealdstone in 1952?

    If the railway were still actually important to the short-term economic life of the country, it would be reinstated much more quickly. But it isn't, so it's not.
  4. 4

    Euston Dining Club Menu 1963

    Re-using expired circulars and similar bumph by writing on the back would have been standard practice in those days, a hangover from paper shortages during WW2. It's more likely that the menu was something that came into the GM's in-tray every day, and would have been fair game for re-use. I...
  5. 4

    Closed Shrivenham Station - four lines to two

    Since the station remained open to passengers until 7.12.64, and trains calling at it had to use the loop, that would have been difficult. Cooke records that the down goods loop from Ashbury Crossing to Shrivenham station was converted to a siding (accessed from the Shrivenham end) on 27.5.62...
  6. 4

    Closed Shrivenham Station - four lines to two

    The standard source for this kind of informations is R A Cooke's Track Layout Diagrams of the GWR and BR WR. Section 23 of this mammoth work says that at Shrivenham the up loop was converted to a siding on 20.5.66, and the down loop was taken out of use and the signal box closed on 5.6.66, and...
  7. 4

    2018 Barns Green crossing collision - RAIB report?

    No, that was not the subject of an RAIB investigation. The preliminary examination concluded that there were no lessons for the railway in this event. RAIB staff provided evidence for consideration at the inquest, as reported in your link.
  8. 4

    Report of collision Bedford (Elstow) - 19/06/26

    The investigation will cover That will include the competence and fitness of the driver.
  9. 4

    "Doh" railway moments

    I fell foul of this in 1974 when I travelled, aged 14, from Liverpool Street to Wymondham. Told by the ticket clerk at Liverpool Street that he could only sell me a ticket to Norwich and I would have to rebook there, I duly stood in a long queue at Thorpe, only to be told curtly when I got to...
  10. 4

    How long did Sykes' Lock and Block last?

    All of the South Western suburban lines which came under Feltham panel around 1973 were worked by Sykes up until then.
  11. 4

    History of BR Standard Bakelite (Penguin) Block Instruments.

    Here's one of the early wooden prototypes:
  12. 4

    Farewell to the Kings Railtour, 28/04/63

    Photos of the tour show that any repaintng was limited to the front buffer beam. The repair for Butlins was actually done after the tour, in July 1963: https://uk.pinterest.com/pin/king-class-6018-king-henry-vi-undergoing-overhaul--583145851746502570/
  13. 4

    Farewell to the Kings Railtour, 28/04/63

    Many previous histories agree that 6018 was stored at Swindon over the winter of 1962-63, and then put to work for a week on Birmingham-Leamington services to enable it to be fettled up for the SLS tour, but I have not seen any evidence that it was put through the works- where has this unlikely...
  14. 4

    Railway memorabilia / book shops in London in the 1990s?

    The shop on Harrow Hill was called The Roundhouse, and was the successor to Mike's earlier establishment in Northwood High Street, from where he published several books in the 1960s. The long-suffering assistant was Iris.
  15. 4

    Signal Boxes - different regions / companies

    Any block instrument using ordinary three-position three-wire block can communicate with another instrument using the same system, regardless of who manufactured each instrument. So, for instance, a box with BR standard "plastic" blocks can work with a box using LNWR Fletcher's blocks, Midland...
  16. 4

    Ups and Downs

    The GCR (which had its HQ at Manchester London Road before the London Extension opened) was entirely consistent- Up was from Manchester towards Sheffield, and then onward to London. However, it did not change the designation for trains which didn't go up the Extension- if you turned left at...
  17. 4

    Victorian Level Crossing Fatality Procedures

    If it's an obvious suicide, as almost all such events are, it is still the aim to get things moving as quickly as possible. The BTP have a target of two hours to get trains running again. However, if a high-speed impact is involved, it can take a long time to retrieve everything. That wasn't...
  18. 4

    How bad was Connex South Eastern back in the day?

    The suburban service (out as far as Strood and Sevenoaks) was DOO Networkers; everything else was known as "main line" and was operated by 400 series units (CEPs, CIGs and VEPs) or 465/466 Networkers with guards (only for the short run from Strood to Gillingham as I recall), and not forgetting...
  19. 4

    How bad was Connex South Eastern back in the day?

    As I recall (as the HMRI inspector covering Kent in that period) the Hayes line service, all Networkers, was adequate. The main safety concern was about SPADs and the suitability of the monitor system used for DOO train despatch.
  20. 4

    Co-acting semaphores - sky arms

    The GWR used co-acting arms just as much as other companies. Examples are illustrated on pages 40, 147 and 148 of Adrian Vaughan's Pictorial Record of Great Western Signalling, and on pages 50, 110 and 274 of David J Smith's GWR Signalling Practice. There probably weren't many examples...

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