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  1. DerekC

    LNWR Claughton Class - and Princess Alice

    I recall my dad (in about 1957. when taking me to see trains on the WCML, far from my usual spotting grounds on the Hertford Loop and Lee Valley) getting sad about the fact that the LNWR "Claughton" 4-6-0s had all gone. Does anyone know why they were scrapped after only twenty years or so of...
  2. DerekC

    £4bn underground line mooted to connect Southampton and Portsmouth

    Here is a link to a New Civil Engineer article under the above headline. https://www.newcivilengineer.com/latest/4bn-underground-line-mooted-to-connect-southampton-and-portsmouth-06-07-2022/?tkn=1 Much as it is a nice idea, it sounds a bit hopeful in today's economic and railway context!
  3. DerekC

    Tokenless Block

    Can anyone tell me which sections of NR single line infrastructure are still operated on "Tokenless Block" principles? For those interested and who don't know what that is, there is good article here; (I have copied the important bit below)
  4. DerekC

    Near miss at Coltishall Lane User Worked Level Crossing, Norfolk, 21 January 2021

    (As far as I can see there isn't a thread on this already) RAIB has just published its report on the above incident and it's worth a read. Here's the link and the summary...
  5. DerekC

    Heat Pump Experience

    I am interested in gathering practical experience with heat pumps. I can contribute mine. Two years ago we replaced the six night storage heaters in our small village hall with an air source heat pump feeding low temperature radiators. It cost about £15K of which half came as a grant from our...
  6. DerekC

    Ukraine Railways and the Russian Invasion

    Almost every TV bulletin on Ukrainian people fleeing from the Russian invasion shows, without comment, a packed train about to leave from an eastern city or at Lviv or at the Polish border. Ukrainian railway staff are clearly sticking to their posts and continuing to operate the railway in face...
  7. DerekC

    Covid Pass - Scam Text?

    I have just received the following text: To me that's obviously a scam because there ain't no such fine, but what worries me is that it appears to come from NHS-NoReply and appears directly below a text from my local GP about vaccination clinics. It may look pretty convicing to some. How is...
  8. DerekC

    World War II - US Army Ambulance Trains

    I was reading a railway history of Tewkesbury the other day, and saw a mention of ambulance trains operating in WWII to a temporary US Military Hospital at Malvern and had some interesting snippets on their operation. The source cited was O S Nock's Britain's Railways at War, 1939-1945. I...
  9. DerekC

    Great British Railways - Whole Industry Strategic Plan - Call for Evidence

    Noting that GBR has launched a "call for evidence" for the government's "Whole Industry Strategic Plan". The link is here: https://gbrtt.co.uk/wisp/
  10. DerekC

    Correlation between Brexit Voting and Covid-19 Death Rates

    Here is an interesting summary of a research paper that I haven't managed to find the original of yet: https://www.gla.ac.uk/schools/business/news/headline_821384_en.html
  11. DerekC

    How common are serious wheelslide incidents?

    Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/derailment-and-collision-near-salisbury-fisherton-tunnel-31-10-21.224217/ We should be careful that we don't rush to judgement on this one. RAIB made it clear that they will be looking at train braking system function and...
  12. DerekC

    Wheel Cleaner Recommendation

    I have a collection of old OO-gauge steam outline locomotives (mostly rescued from the scrap road and rebuilt) which I get out and run occasionally. I have been going to build a layout one day since about 1998! I get fed up with cleaning the wheels, particularly the old Triang ones made of...
  13. DerekC

    What would a "London Central" have looked like?

    Idea prompted by this post in the "Worlds Most Complex Trackwork" thread. If the British Government in the early 1840s had decided to take a hand in the strategic planning of the national network, would there have been one or more central London combined stations? If so where and with what...
  14. DerekC

    COVID-19 sampling study finds no trace of virus at major rail stations

    (Hopefully this isn't covered in another thread - if so I can't find it) This study is receiving quite wide publicity and is certainly helpful to getting people back on trains: https://www.imperial.ac.uk/news/227473/covid-19-sampling-study-finds-trace-virus/#comments
  15. DerekC

    Public Accounts Committee - Overview of the English railway system

    The above document has just been published and is well worth a read. It's available at: https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm5802/cmselect/cmpubacc/170/17002.htm It's too long to quote in full here but here is the contents list and three (for me) key extracts. The website contains...
  16. DerekC

    Northern Ireland post-Brexit

    With the resignation of Edwin Poots, the DUP is descending into further chaos. See: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2021/jun/18/why-did-edwin-poots-resign-as-dup-leader-and-who-will-replace-him What do members think the next moves are likely to be? Clearly there will be another...
  17. DerekC

    London & Birmingham Railway 1838 - what services were operated?

    Does anyone know, or can recommend the best source of information about the services initially operated by the London & Birmingham Railway in 1838?
  18. DerekC

    Signal Passed at Danger (SPAD) and near miss at Sileby Junction 05/05/2021

    RAIB is investigating a SPAD and near miss at Sileby Junction: https://www.gov.uk/government/news/signal-passed-at-danger-and-near-miss-at-sileby-junction?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=govuk-notifications&utm_source=6d8f032d-ae71-4ea8-9a8f-8a0cd3b01f3a&utm_content=daily
  19. DerekC

    Israel - Palestine Conflict

    I post this thread because it seems right that the subject should have an airing on the Forum, but I appreciate that I am skating on thin ice. Whilst thinking about it and trying to find out more last night, I found the following video from "Jewish Voice for Peace" which seems to me to...
  20. DerekC

    Ministerial Ethics in the modern era.

    Mods note to @DerekC - Title and post amended slightly, because although the subject has been covered in the thread below, there is definitely an important discussion to be had about this... https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/will-keir-starmer-last.216099/ Is our PM right, and are people just...

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