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On my travels around the country, I made some recordings of semaphore signals changing aspect. I noted that those at Worcestershire tended to change aspect immediately after the passage of a train, while those in Cornwall often took quite a while. I concluded that the Cornish signals were manual...

The outward leg of a return from Glasgow to Edinburgh is valid via Falkirk, and a passenger might presumably choose to break his journey at Falkirk. It wouldn't be much of a stretch to say that he could break at Falkirk High and resume travel from Falkirk Grahamston. What would a bit more...

This is a mobile phone tripod that I found at approximately 17:42 today on-board 2F10 operated with 319381. If anybody here knows anyone who has lost a mobile phone tripod on this or on '9381's previous diagrammed service, 2A97, please respond. Until then, I will use the device for my own...

The area around New Malden Junction contains various piece of redundant railway infrastructure which aren't shown on any old maps to have ever accommodate a track. The first is the diveunder at the junction itself, which has an extra bore to accommodate a track diverging from the Up Kingston and...

Tomorrow, I intend to start early to get an unusual working (a new addition to the timetable, due to the snow & strikes last week this is the first time it'll actually run!), so tonight I cycled to my local station to purchase a travelcard ahead of time. I found both Scheidt & Bachmann...

I have been looking at this diagram of Euston Underground station (original here). Euston is quite possibly the worst station on the Underground, certainly in zone 1, to enter & exit. All passengers other than those changing between the Northern & Victoria lines have to pass through the same...

Every now & then here in South London, one encounters an EMU which makes a rhythmic sound every couple of feet. At speed this sounds remarkably like a steam locomotive. My first thought as to what causes this is unevenly-worn tyres. Most of my encounters with trains that do this have been in...

This is a song I came up with during what would turn out to be my second-last ride behind an HST, on the London to Nottingham route that is, quite fittingly, almost exactly 125 miles long. I sang this out the droplight pulling into Nottingham where I missed my connection because it was 2 minutes...

No-where on-line have I been able to find a key to the lettered codes displayed at left (cropped screenshot from Hellfire gensheet). I have managed to work out that the capital letters are stabling codes (45134 operates in the East Midlands, so TO would be Toton; EH is possibly Eastleigh), but I...

Upon first hearing about the "Ipswich in 60, Norwich in 90" schedule on the service which I call the "IC3 East Anglian" (the intercity service on what was under LNER Table no. 3), I inferred that its primary benefit would be in enabling a Swiss-style timetable in which the principal...

I am trying to make a map to show all the lines I have been on. I have downloaded the Project Mapping blue lines map & converted it to PNG, but MS Paint is not liking its large file size (52.1MB). Is there a map I could use that shows all lines & stations that has a smaller size when in PNG?

Class 455s have blinds at the front indicating the route of the train (although this is rarely correct). These display a number at the end, e.g.: "Guildford via Epsom 16" "Chessington Sth via Wimbledon 18" "Kingston via Richmond 21" "Hampton Court via Surbiton 30" "Waterloo via Kingston 24"...

Maps of stations, each accompanied by detailed & thorough collection of images, have begun disappearing from the NRE website. It is not a systematic process, but a gradual phasing-out of such pages when they would otherwise need updating. Most of the new maps appear to be from Some stations...

Planning a trip up to Glasgow, I noticed the following at Lancaster C on the Sunday table: TPE Glasgow Central - Manchester Victoria service 1M93 arrives in platform 4 (the Up main) at 10:40, & stays for 1 minute. 2Y09, a Northern sprinter to Leeds departs shortly afterwards at 10:41. This...

As I understand it, before 1956, there were 3 classes on British trains: 1st, 2nd & 3rd. Not all trains had all classes, & by the 1950s it had long been the case that the vast majority of trains had 1st & 3rd classes, but not 2nd. In 1956, 2nd & 3rd classes were merged, & in 1987 it was renamed...

There is a very concerning culture to be observed in the gatestaff at a particular station on the WCML between Watford Junction and Tring which I'm not sure I can name for legal reasons. I must also disclaim from guaranteeing perfect & complete factual accuracy of this post. I have had two...

When I watched the train scene of Mr. Bean as a child, with my autism I would be too focused on the details of what was outside the window. I have now identified it to be the Brighton mainline out of Victoria, so Mr. Bean is presumably catching a plane from Gatwick (the next scene is set on a...

This would use new curves to run both the Up Transpennine & Main lines onto the Farnley Viaduct (closed because the 1987 electrification was cheapo). The canal bridge would have 7 tracks: DW (Down Wellington) for trains arriving into the terminal platforms. RW (Reversible Wellington) UW (Up...

This is the LNWR's work (or more precisely the Northampton & Banbury Junction Railway's) near Towcester. Both single lines arrive at the junction, double, merge, & become single again. My only hypothesis is that this is preliminary work for later doubling of the line, which to my knowledge never...

This proposal involves using the Lancs & Yorks line from Manchester to Liverpool to create a freight corridor between the two cities. It is an alternative to proposals to use the Canada branch, which would consume capacity on the Chat Moss line. From Pendleton, the former fast lines would be...