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The company was set up by Adrian Shooter and other ex-BR managers. It was financially backed by John Laing and 3i. It was set up specifically to bid for the Chiltern franchise and did not bid for any others.

The timings here are about face! Building a station at OOC was planned because it became clear that Crossrail 2 would not be built in time for the originally projected completion date of HS2 reaching Euston. It was anticipated that the sixteen or so HS2 arrivals per hour would have completely...

I find this suggestion that German railways developed diesel hydraulics because they were not allowed to develop submarines somewhat questionable as I cannot imagine which bodies would have been responsible. The Allied Powers controlled the country until the Bundesrepublik was created in 1949...

Curious - there are several posters in this forum who revel in the 'thrash' and 'clag' produced by big diesel locomotives. So it can't be 'totally unacceptable'.

Amen to that! More dangerously the concept of the 'rich pensioner' who benefits more than other people from some real or imagined perk is in the same category of vilifying groups of people whom one wishes to blame for perceived injustices. See also 'immigrants', 'jews', 'fat cats' and so on...

All designs are a compromise between what might be desirable and what is possible given existing site constraints, the ability to have access to the site(s) for construction work, disturbance to the neighbours and the money available. In the case of the 'long trek' from the overbridge to the...

Some minor, but important, clarifications. The IET contract did not require the DfT, or the TOCs involved, to order or purchase any trains at all. The requirement of the contract between the DfT and Agility Trains was for Agility Trains to procure sufficient rolling stock from the manufacturer...

Yes, essentially the 1989 built circulating space was built on the site of the old South Eastern station. There were also sidings between the South Eastern station platforms and Blagrave Street / Forbury Road with a domestic style low metal fence (with spiky points!) along the boundary line. The...

Foot warmers - some worked with a chemical which released heat after it had been shaken. Used before the age of steam heat...

I’ll try… This is very simplified and is most accurately described using the language of mathematics but the concept is based on the fact that if a conductor, a length of wire for example, is moved in a magnetic field then a voltage difference will be produced between the two ends of the...

The junction at Wokingham is interesting as the Reading, Guildford and Reigate Railway was the first route built and is the straight route southeast from Wokingham. It opened on 4 July 1849 with the Wokingham to Reading section entering service on 15 October 1849; it was operated by the South...

So, an entirely ‘for-profit enterprise’, such as the barber I use, does not provide a service to the public? Accepting the constraint that he only cuts men’s hair he is quite happy to offer a service to anyone who walks into his shop. I would call this a public service or, possibly, even a...

So Lumo does not offer services to the public? What an out of date comment. Why should passengers ‘lose out’ through an ‘ORCATs raid’?

Railcards offer time limited discounts and are intended to encourage people to travel at 'off-peak' times of the day when there is spare capacity in the trains — they are not valid all day as is suggested by the comparisons given in @negone's post. Hence they are only valid after (generally)...

If that is what people were prepared to pay, then that is what the assets are worth. (I would also point out that subsequently, in the three years up to July 1999, the ROSCOs purchased over £2 billion of new rolling stock. This far exceeded the amounts that BR spent on new rolling stock over...

Isaac Newton tells us that acceleration is proportional to the accelerating force divided by the mass of the object being accelerated. All the vehicles you mention are locomotives which means that the acceleration rate is determined by the total mass, that is locomotive plus coaches, of the...

As an alumni of the University of Surrey I would argue that in its areas of expertise it can well be mentioned in the same breath! It is, after all, one institution whereas Oxford and Cambridge are made up of many. Although not as old as the two institutions you mention it has a respectable...

I’m pretty sure that the newer French LGVs, e.g. the Sud Ouest, have been built like this. Uses standard road building techniques and equipment and then simply put ballast and a railway on top. Simples!

Virgin was required by the DfT to oppose open access applications on its patch. It had no choice in the matter.

Your assumption that the space is devoted entirely to the engine and driving cabs is wrong. Have you ever looked inside a large locomotive or sought out some drawings of the interior layout? There are some basic concepts in relation to locomotive and train design that are necessary to...