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Anyone know what this is about? Seen at Oxford earlier today. A Class 165 with “Minehead” shown on the indicator board.

I’m sure we all know the story about how motor coach number 1 was set aside for preservation but was destroyed in a paint shop fire at Derby Works where it had been sent for overhaul. The fire was in 1957- the same year as withdrawal. Had all of the other coaches already been scrapped by then...

I’m about to do a few weeks stint of travelling between Banbury and London daily for work. I’ll be getting a 7 day season ticket (with Travelcard) for the purpose. I like a bit of variety so I was wondering what routes would be valid with this ticket? Presumably to/from Marylebone via High...

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/avanti-class-221s-to-cross-country.276083/page-9#post-7245439 More Crosscountry woes today. 17:39 Oxford-Piccadilly. 4 coaches. People unable to get on. First Class virtually empty. Train staff telling people they can’t get on...

Another Merseyside query. I recall once hearing someone tell me that before electrification, some long distance steam services (or at least through coaches) ran from Liverpool Central low level. Does anyone know if there is any truth in that? Any information appreciated!

I would love to know more about this short-lived service. Does anyone have any information about it? Timetables? Route etc? It is mentioned, and there is even a tiny bit of black and white footage of a train departing, in the Merseyside Memories No.7 DVD “Steam on the Wirral”. I understand...

https://www.railvolution.net/news/first-railjet-2-in-passenger-service#:~:text=On%2022%20March%202024%2C%20%C3%96BB,long%20and%20offers%20532%20seats. ÖBB’s new Railjet 2 train in Austria. Brand new. Has all the stuff we used to have in the UK like restaurants and compartments that we are...

On the 1807 ex Marylebone. All being booted off at Wembley Stadium. The 68s aren’t that old. What is happening?

Ah, the pandemic has some benefits, such as the doubling up of XC train lengths, which meant, al last, everyone could get a seat. I’m now on the 17:15 to Piccadilly, ex-Reading, and it’s like being on the the tube. 4 coaches on a summer Friday afternoon are just not sufficient. I know the...

As I’ve mentioned before, my job takes me all over the UK by rail, so I get to ride on quite a variety of rolling stock. It seems to me that as the stock gets newer, the leg room gets better but the seat comfort itself gets worse. Today I’ve had the joys of plenty of legroom in a hard ironing...

Moderator note: Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/eurovision-liverpool-a-rail-nightmare-waiting-to-happen.246794/ This would have been a good time to reintroduce the recent(ish)ly mooted return of trains to and from Bristol and Reading. As it is, no will and no dosh.

There is the odd picture here and there on the internet of “fantasy” liveries, some of which relate to fictional 70s BR steam. This got me thinking, if the Modernisation Plan had not happened, and the 50s built BR steam locomotives had been allowed to live out their “natural” lifespans, when...

OK, so I and others have complained for years (here and elsewhere) that CrossCountry trains are just too damn short and often packed to standing. During the pandemic, some of us had to keep travelling. On the core Birmingham to Reading section the frequency was cut from two trains per hour to...

Don’t get me wrong, I love the deeply padded comfortable seating of the BR Mk1 stock as much as the next… They are the mainstay of most heritage lines, it seems, but for those who want to experience a diversity of rolling stock types, I thought it might be an idea to have a list of lines where...

Just seen two Class 37s thunder through Leamington topping and tailing two Mk1s in BR blue. Any idea what this was?

On a late running 7:57 XC service from Banbury heading south. 25 minutes late. Down from 9 coaches to 4. Jammed in the vestibule next to the First Class coach. First Class is largely empty with a total of 6 passengers. Announcements apologising for the overcrowding. Those asking if First...

8.06 packed and standing from Banbury for several days running now while rolling stock can be seen sitting idle en route. Any plans to lengthen to pre-COVID levels yet? Also, are they any nearer to sorting out the problems with the 68 hauled sets? Chiltern are usually very good at sorting...

As on the tin, really. As Arriva are the parent company, how easy would it be to transfer the un-used 68 hauled sets to XC to restore, for instance, some Newcastle-Reading diagrams lost to the doubling up of the Voyagers?

As an almost daily user of Cross Country trains (as well as other operators) as my work takes me all over the country, I have often lamented here that the services offered fall well short, (in terms of facilities) as comparable services on the continent or even the long distance services into...

As it says on the tin. Feel free to draw, model, describe or design your ideal interior or exterior plan (or both!) and tell us what sort of services it would be used on. I’ll post my own as soon as I can get my camera working again!