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My partner bought tickets from Preston to Glasgow as a late treat for us both - a day's shopping on Valentine's day (Saturday 14th). She bought advance tickets on Thursday. Timings were Outbound - 06:44 Return - 18:40 Sadly she became unwell during the day and we had to return early - I...

As far as I'm aware the signal box at Bamber Bridge controls several level crossings whilst signalling is from Preston. If there is a single overnight service is the box manned for a full shift or is it just covered in the time when the service is passing? James

There are obviously some drawbacks with running single class 20's - hence they were often coupled nose to nose meaning that 2 locos were required rather than one. Class 25s (and their Scottish brethren) were able to operate singly with no operational downsides. Why were 20's seen as a better...

On a rather bleary walk today I crossed under the WCML at Charnock Richard - slightly south of Euxton Balshaw Lane. The line is quad tracked with quite a gap between the Fast and the Slow lines. It is elevated on an embankment to cross the River Yarrow. Google Map View. I noted that on the...

The latest lottery win has been over £56,000,000 - a rather tidy sum. If you won it, what railway linked stuff would you do? The only proviso is you can't reopen lines and can only use the pool of stock at the present time. For me, I'd love to have a loco brought up to main line standard and a...

Is there any kind of list of abandoned rolling stock that hasn't been withdrawn? From memory there used to be several wagons outside Bolton that had been there many years and were cut up on site rather than being withdrawn and taken for scrapping. Certainly there used to be sidings full of...

Reading the recent thread - https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/rt-revd-eric-treacy-mbr-lld.285963/ I wonder why the clergy seem to be overly represented in the ranks of rail enthusiasts? James

When did the military stop authoring accident reports? Senior army officers would compile the accident reports and this continued well into recent decades. Why did this start and when was the last military authored report? James

My local station is unstaffed and often services are made up of two units connected together with no interconnection between them. If I wanted to purchase a Ranger ticket such as the Lancashire Day Ranger - https://www.northernrailway.co.uk/tickets/rangers-and-rovers/north-west it states on the...

How do drivers stay awake and alert during long waits at signals? It's not uncommon for freight trains to be held for many minutes in loops waiting for faster services etc to pass. At night, with the heater on I presume there must be sometimes when the eyelids become very heavy. What techniques...

I came across this absolute gem the other day - the last days of steam on a short spur to paper mills near Bury. I was wondering if any members can recall ever seeing it in operation - I have seen bits of the infrastructure still around. James

How fast and by what routes can one travel on heavy rail by scheduled services stopping at each of the main London Terminii? Each terminus can be visited only once. Virtual beers for the most imaginative moves. Rules. Each terminus can be visited only once except start and finish. Can...

There's figures around that show some Class 52 "Westerns" did upwards of 1,000,000 miles in revenue earning service, HSTs doing multiple million miles and Pendelino's easily surpassing these figures to get around 10 million miles plus. Which locos or units had the easiest but longest (regular)...

Back in the 1980s there was a novel called Bullet Train by Joseph Rance (ISBN 068803702X) about a Shinkansen with a bomb on board set to detonate if the speed fell below 50mph. What's the longest journey that this could be achieved in the UK above 50mph? Criteria are train has infinite fuel...

Not something I had ever heard of, and there's not a massive amount around on the interweb so it's time that thinking caps were put on! My grandfather was released from active duty post WW2 after service in Italy. He was to proceed from Mestre to Milan and by train and then via MEDLOC (Middle...

Hi all, I know it's been done to death and there is likely to be a definitive answer of "depends" but my partner and I are looking to spend a few nights in Cardiff later in the year - dates are flexible. We quite like the idea of travelling down by train and the first class experience as well...

https://www.gov.uk/government/news/near-miss-at-euxton-junction Luckily no injuries, but this must have been a really frightening experience. James

Yet another Woodhead conjecture thread, so apologies in advance. If in the 1970's Woodhead had been converted to 25KV OHLE would it have lasted longer? And how much is involved changing from the original 1500V DC to 25KV AC? James

I seem to remember that some loco works used to work on units or locos that were well away from their normal allocated areas. For example, Southern EMUs went to Horwich for painting- necessitating a long distance journey for a job that could potentially be done locally. Was there any reason for...

My partner and I are hoping to visit London on the coronation weekend Friday 5th to Sunday 7th May. Outbound seems fine, but the return is all greyed out until Wednesday 10th May. The journey is EBA (Euxton Balshaw Lane) to EUS. Any ideas? James