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It's abysmal - mind you, our section of the NDL has had no trains all weekend - again. We are in a situation where trains are not to be relied upon, and the cycle of decline intensifies. Weekend rail travel becomes ever harder to plan properly. 1727727697 Very, very sadly, that point was...

The answer to your question is; yes, they could hurt rail travel but the impact is likely to be tiny. For all the problematic things about rail that you say they avoid, there are opposite things that are negative - traffic jams, the stress and fatigue of driving long distances, breakdowns, lack...

The question for the modern railway is how much of the core rostering should rely on overtime? It's been asked many times before, but it still seems to be a problem.

The simple philosophy of the privatised railway is play (contractually) safe at every opportunity, in contrast to the former philosophy of 'let's see what we can do for our passengers'.

Perhaps it is a combination of many things - the frequency of significant disruptions on a particular route (the SWML is quite frequent), how well passengers are informed during the event, what alternatives there are, the proportion of commuters/regular travellers being affected, and so on. One...

Many thanks to all.

No - there were various responses, but I still am not certain about the '440 yards' rule. I just wanted to know if that distance still stands; purely out of interest, not having heard it before.

Wow - that is some inflation...!

Indeed - known as the 'Bore' sub-class...

In Surrey, I saw one today (24 September!) running on the North Downs line, so who knows how early they may start in some places.

I've heard that red tail lights are not required for stock moves of under 440 yards (and that white lights may be left on for those moves), which I had not previously been aware of. Is this true, or is it an old/defunct stipulation (the use of yards as a unit suggested to me that it is quite old)?

The old (still extant?) operating procedure from the 1960s did essentially just that. A set time had to elapse to allow exhaust dispersal before the next train (by then there were far more electrics than steam) could enter. I boarded the train involved at Sevenaoks and there was a thick 'fug'...

Among many other possible factors is the fact that the London rail network has always been tube-heavy to the north and main line-heavy towards the south. The Southern electric system flourished into a dense system and served several termini, whereas the surface suburban network to the north is...

Absolutely so. 'Proper' fog (i.e. visibility below 100 metres) is noteworthy these days, and much of what some people call 'fog' is actually mist (visibility below 1000m, which are the aviation definitions, I believe).

Timetables are padded, without doubt. In today's compensation-based atmosphere, TOCs seek as much slack as they can get - very many journeys are now significantly slower than a few decades ago. Missing CJ here would I imagine recoup the dwell time (which should be a minute or so) plus the...

The railway continues to tie itself in knots while passengers are subjected to ever more bizarre cancellations.

If it was a prospective Army Officer (and I have no idea, I'm only latching onto your comment), it doesn't say much for their security awareness!

With 60-coach trains? Is that the rail equivalent of the the triple-decker RT?

Probably a large number of different reasons according to the situation. At my local station we have "Gatwick Airp't" despite the screen being twice as wide as the name! SWR has 'Basingstke' on its 444/450s, etc, etc. The list is huge, and so often the space available to display the full name...

Modern signals (LEDs) are intense and so sighting is very rarely a problem, especially as multi-aspects give warnings of the likely following aspect. I imagine the requirements for semaphores are the same as ever. 1726246949 Really? Much as I love steam traction, I recognise that it cannot be...