Search results

I’m absolutely certain it would have done. Just look at what happened with the big accountancy firms in the 80s and 90s. The North London and LTS got absorbed by the LNW and Midland just a few years later, and the GSW was doing its best to get chummy with the latter. It’s not hard to see the...

Again, the GE might have found it easier to raise money for electrification had they been part of a bigger entity. I think your list of the operational changes to passenger services is a realistic one, and goes to show that there wasn’t a great deal of low-hanging fruit. Freight-wise I think...

To me, this is the most interesting of all the big railway what-ifs. It was more than proposed; it was agreed by all three companies but was thwarted by the government/parliament on the grounds that it was “anti-competitive”. Which was daft as post-1900 there was a far greater amount of...

Is the ride on IETs really that bad? I’ve always put it down to the seats. I’ve always felt that are basically good trains that have been spoiled by horrible seats, garish lighting and cheap-looking interior finishes.

Smaller/narrower stations that have been built over (Charing X, Fenchurch St, the east side of Liverpool St) don't seem to have been as badly affected in this regard. There's something particularly oppressive about the Brighton Side of Victoria; it's as bad as Euston. Maybe it's the contrast...

True! I’ll try to contact Picc…

I left my coat on the luggage rack of the middle coach of 2U35 (185148 according to RTT) when I got off at Wakefield Kirkgate at 0914 this morning. Trans Pennine have directed me to LNER as the train terminated at York. That seems to have taken me to missingx.com, which reports that they...

I haven't got any evidence to back this up, but I reckon a lack of enthusiasm from BR killed Picc-Vic. The "lack of money" excuse really doesn't wash give what was available for the two others you mention. Both Merseyrail and T&W enabled BR to divest themselves of pesky non-London suburban...

North of Liverpool is flat and has a mild coastal climate. North of Manchester is hilly and has (had) a harsh Pennine climate. Might the Bury system have been chosen on account of its greater oomph, as well as its ice-resistance? I don’t think the L&Y were at any time considering main line...

A mistake, in my opinion. In order to succeed, GW green needed the highlights provided by those little brass bits. In locos without them it didn’t look anything like as good.

To me :D and a bargain compared to the last 3rd Edition that went for £580, according to your post #36. I’ve still got my green set with the spine of the fatter volume mended with invisible tape. I’ll post on here when I get round to putting it on eBay.

Ah fair enough. Yes the station was just round the bend on the branch. It’s still a hell of a lot of earthworks!

I can understand why the earthworks at Heaton Lodge and Ravensthorpe are huge as they are for either all-new or significantly widened trackbeds. Why the need at Deighton though? It was always four track there. Is it because in the four track days there wasn’t a station on the main line?

They were indeed nippy! The 115s were designed for the “Chiltern” suburban services out of Marylebone; the CLC was a billiard table by comparison and they really shifted. The exhausts made an awesome noise as they got going. Their high-density suburban layout, with doors at every seating bay...

Thanks @Merle Haggard and @Magdalia for your interesting answers! The GN seemed to be good at getting itself into financial hot water; the Queensbury lines cost a fortune to build and were a basket case from the start. The 1909 proposed merger with the GE and GC made a lot of sense.

Any idea why the GN sent coal this way rather than along their own line to London?

Thanks. Will try to locate it.

Above is from the most interesting 304s/310s thread. What else got dropped?

Not that unusual. I was a regular on Alty-Oxford Road from DC days to 1975 and would ride on an AM10 once a month or so. They looked really stylish and suited the all-yellow ends, which the AM4s most certainly didn’t. The ride was a lot better than the latter as well, though as a result the...

Blackpool South was never a grand station. It was thrust into undeserved prominence in the 1960s thanks to the truncation of the Blackpool Central line there. The original Blackpool North is the one that should have been retained. Perfect location, not over-large and not in bad condition when...