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Wasn't 'Parkway' originally intended to signify a station that was near somewhere but not actually in it, like a kind of park & ride for the railway? Tiverton Parkway springs to mind (near the location of the old Tiverton Junction, and not in Tiverton - it's actually in Burlescombe, 6 miles east...

Yes, but that wasn't the way the Gauge Commission was thinking - they got it right by accident, you could say. They went for the "greatest convenience to the greatest number" rather than what worked best. Interesting that they were proved right anyway.

During the Gauge Commission's trials, Brunel's broad gauge performed consistently better than Stephenson's (one of whose trains actually derailed) and the Commission acknowledged its superiority, but it was a numbers game - as most of the country was laying what's now standard gauge, it made no...

I remember being on one of those services and cringing at the guard's announcement to change at Oxford for "Bye-cess-ter" (Bicester). Should I have said something? I don't want to embarrass anyone, but nor do I want them to carry on embarrassing themselves!

Couple this with the OP's comment "The announcement was obscured by the engine noise" and you have a nightmare situation for those who are elderly, disabled, hearing-impaired, less mobile etc. Surely in these days of disability legislation, there should be some way of ensuring that a platform...

Well, thank goodness we also have staff members like you, Gems. Restore the balance.

And at the same time, I remember that when we went to church the men removed their hats/caps as a mark of respect but the women had to put theirs on, for the same reason. Never did understand that.

Yep, I was a booking clerk for a time! And we did indeed ALWAYS ask. Pax would ask for things like "Weekend Day Return" (eh?) and various other things that made no sense. Or we would sell them the ticket, and then they'd pull out a Senior/Student/Forces Railcard and say "Do I get a discount with...

Wasn't there a recent thread about the rights & wrongs of selling the customer exactly what they ask for even if you know that there's a better alternative?

And driving with low blood sugar, such as people who skip breakfast and then drive through the morning rush hour. Many of the accidents at that time have hypoglycaemia as a cause as it can affect concentration, memory and response time (I remember reading this in a newspaper but can't find a...

Freight, yes, but not so much passenger traffic beyond the North East corridor. Friends I visit always ask why I'm taking the train (e.g. Chicago--Phoenix) instead of flying. It just doesn't make sense to them.

Exactly. I posted on another forum that I witnessed a young child having a panic attack when being told to squeeze into a bursting-at-the-seams Voyager at Temple Meads heading for Dundee just before Christmas, 4 carriages. That post was met with a very unsympathetic response, to the effect that...

Very interesting article on BR corporate identity, including uniforms, but it doesn't mention Hardy Amies: https://thebeautyoftransport.com/2015/03/18/the-full-xp-british-railways-corporate-identity-1964-1986-part-1/

Can't answer that question but would like to offer an observation that ties in with it. My best buddy was a train driver in the last days of BR, when all drivers wore uniform that included a peaked cap. He always wore his cap, and gave the good reason that if he had to be in the engine room for...

It's doutbless going to be hard work but it's an initiative worth applauding. You only have to read the bulletins on the Rail Passengers' Association (previously NARP, the National Association of Railroad Passengers) website to see how hard Amtrak has to fight to avoid being shut down.

Wishing you good health and a less stressful time, Dyda.

It isn't that nobody likes your offer, more that the people reading your letter are likely to be busy, dealing with many such letters, and will really appreciate a letter that gets to the point and deals with the relevant facts. Your edited letter now does that well. I also agree with you about...

I well remember regularly enjoying the 50s on the Brum--Padd run in the late 1970s. Except for the day that I was coming back to Oxford from Wolverhampton, and the pantograph failed on the train that should have got me into Brum for the last Padd (2040, I think). Cue everything stopped for a...

I can help with three of those: at King's Cross this June, when Alycidon was running the Albert Gilmour tour. I was so happy to catch her with a 125 and a 225. (Photo quality isn't great but this is a screenshot from the video I took on my phone.)

DanTrain, I just wanted to thank you for raising this issue. Some of us out there really do care about this. Surely in this day and age TOCs should know about booked assistance, and that knowledge should be a prime factor in decisions to cancel/terminate. Now that people with disabilities have...