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  1. M

    LNER Mk4 livery.

    I don't normally pay much attention to liveries, but today at Leeds saw an lner class 91+mk4 with red area that looked like it had been applied by some chap with a rattle can. Is that really the best they can do?
  2. M

    EV battery disposal - who pays, how and when?

    So far very few EVs have been scrapped and thus few batteries have needed to be disposed of. In a few years time that number of batteries will be huge. How will these be disposed of or recycled, by whom and who will pay? Surely taking them to the scrapyard isn't a viable option? Will the likes...
  3. M

    Time to re-examine costs of safety?

    Heavy rail is obviously a mature product. Initially safety was very poor, but over the years layer upon layer of safety measures have been added beyond that of any transport solution apart from aircraft. A similar thing happened with mainframe computers where from an initial anything goes...
  4. M

    Electric vehicle styling

    Styling of cars is a somewhat subjective matter. Petrol and diesel cars have always been constrained by the bulky engine at the front, yet there are many great styling examples... In fact the majority are quite stylish. Given that the battery in an electric car is not really an impediment to...
  5. M

    Heavy Bogies

    The bogies on trains appear to me to be extremely heavy and possibly over-engineered. Why don't they look at reducing the weight by using alternative materials in bogies and wheelsets?
  6. M

    Class 88 tesco

    The new Tesco refrigerated service will use class 88 presumably on electric power. If it needed to use diesel power on this train could it travel at a reasonable speed?
  7. M

    Standardise to save costs?

    Why on earth does a new fleet need to be specified and built pretty much every time new stock is required? When the new fleet appears, it often - cannot be connected to other existing trains easily - has completely different electronics to any other train (so is very buggy) - utilises...
  8. M

    Lifting Forth Bridge Restrictions

    The forth bridge features an enormous amount of steel which ought surely to be sufficient to provide a high speed transit safely. Sadly it has lots of restrictions. Is this due to a poor design embracing beauty over substance? What measures could be taken to remove speed restrictions?
  9. M

    Ravenstruther Sale

    This terminal has been purchased by Cloburn Quarry Co. They intend to supply aggregates all over UK. Does anyone know if they will send any trains going south over WCML, S&C or both?
  10. M

    New platform for Huddersfield?

    AIUI, new hudds platforms 2,3,4,5 will be through platforms with very frequent service. Platform 1 is for penistone and 6 for terminators from east - Bradford and Wakefield. Whilst that is enough for current terminator provision, would an additional terminator platform be a wise move...
  11. M

    185's for Huddersfield to Sheffield

    The 150/2s currently used have fairly poor acceleration and despite a refresh aren't particularly nice. The journey time is poor partly because of lack of passing loops, but also because of many station stops. Could spare 185's be the answer (in due course). Much better acceleration, more...
  12. M

    Trivia - places both correctly and incorrectly pronounced in announcements.

    Barnsley station announces train to "dodduth" (dodworth) correctly. Northern trains on-train automatic announcement passing through same station "dod worth" (incorrectly)
  13. M

    Speeding up Rail Projects?

    Rail is very good at transporting large numbers of people and freight from one significant place to another. When a new freight flow is in sight or passenger behaviour alters the time taken by rail to respond is simply too long and cost is much too high. Simple example Quarries at Horton in...
  14. M

    Glass Station Awnings

    Just left Barnsley station. Awnings are filthy, letting hardly any light through. It's not obvious how they can be cleaned without a line possession. Surely, if there is a glass canopy, there should be means to clean it without disrupting traffic? Or perhaps they never intended to clean it?
  15. M

    Islands of unity or disunity

    Can anyone explain why there are always calls from some for a united island of Ireland yet others want to disunite Scotland from the island of Great Britain?
  16. M

    Stockbridge to penistone.

    As I understand it, the line from Sheffield to Stockbridge will be reopened. The line from Huddersfield to Sheffield via Barnsley is slow, bit quite well used given the hourly frequency. How difficult would it be to reopen the bit from penistone to Stockbridge?
  17. M

    Emergency braking and sanders

    When a train encounters an emergency situation, the brakes are applied. When the brakes are applied, are Sanders automatically applied or if they are not, should they be?
  18. M

    Old age and nhs

    Sadly, even If all of the country's income was spent on the NHS, people would still die eventually. The medical profession has a relentless goal of extending life expectancy even when many of those people will be in a care homes with dementia. When the planet is overpopulated does it really make...
  19. M

    Can the MML linespeed be improved?

    The MML is in general rather slower than the ECML. Whilst I appreciate that the curves at market harborough don't help, the rest of the line looks pretty good for 125mph. Where are the pinchpoints or other reasons it's slower than ECML and can it be improved economically?
  20. M

    Roadworks - Why didn't they take advantage of quiet roads during lockdown?

    During best part of 2 years of covid, when roads were empty hardly any work was done. Now it seems many roads are being dug up by council (Barnsley and Huddersfield that's you) and utilities often alternative routes as well. As it was outdoors, why on earth wasn't this work done during covid?

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