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This thread https://www.railforums.co.uk/threads/fastest-time-record-between-london-and-newcatsle.249514/ tells of a 2½ hour journey from London to Newcastle. The fastest trains on the 165 mile Swansea - Paddington route are about 2¾, could that be shaved down to 2½ with the current...

It is widely commented that XC Voyagers do not have as good capacity as other similar trains. Living in part of the country that doesn't see 'em, why is this? Any why has nothing been done? With one or two AWC seets possibly going for scrap, could seats from them be transferred? I'm...

With Northern already being in the OLR club, and Transpennine Express touted as it's latest member, would there be any benefits in TPE being absorbed into Northern? A sort of North British Rail ;0

In the early 1990s the 1st floor premises between platforms 5 and 7 at Bristol Temple Meads were refurbished and split with Guards occupying one half and catering crew the other. I remember talk that these premises had been previously (originally?) used by (female?) catering staff overnight...

Would running trains Paddington - Reading - Swindon - Bath - Bristol, missing out Didcot and Chippenham make a significant difference to journey times into Bristol Temple Meads? Also, is Chippenham really an intercity station, or would it be better served by enhanced local services? I'm not...

It seems Lumo's ECML loadings are very good and the company is profitable a year into service. One woulkd assume they are looking for more paths, does anyone know if they have the stock on order for extra paths? Also, any rumours about extending sets to increase capacity/sales? Rather than...

Lots of mention on the unwritten etiquette as a railway passenger thread of it being cheaper for families / groups to travel by car and although not everybody can, a huge number of people do take that option, which is an environmental problem. Train travel has lots of advantages but price is a...

Phubber: - Someone who snubs people by concentrating on their phone I'm sure most forum members will feel they are not phubbers, but we all seem to do it occassionally! What interesting words have you discovered recently?

Apologies if this is already covered. I know there are 1001 posts about who should get Avanti 22x fleet but now they are starting to trickle off-lease, decisions must be forming. XC has always been the forerunner but would they be more reliable than HSTs in the short term for Scotrail? Could...

Currently having a discussion regarding some public toilets located 'near to' the former entrance of Blackpool South. These were a seperate building to the station building, which was demolished in 1985. I am trying to find out if these were 'public' toilets or 'railway' toilets - my brain...

Looking at long distance franchises, specifically LNER and Avanti, they concentrate on their core product. The only long-ish distance operator I can see who tries to combine long-distance with regional services is EMR and we know how well that's going (honourable mention perhaps to Greater...

Firstly, let me make it clear that I'm essentially in favour of HS2. However, the new PM, if they stick to Tory ethics is going to want to cut taxes, whilst the rest of the country want them to up state support due to the multiple crisis we are in. Money needs to be found. To me HS2 seems a...

Being stuck in West Wales, I have zero experience of class 387. I am drawn to a Cardiff -Padd service on 19 July @ 9:51 RTT says this Starts as Class 80x on electric, changes en route! I'm guessing that refers to pathing, not the actual train as a little research suggests this is a 387. How...

Safety on the railway has progressed incrementally over the decades and we are all grateful for that. However, just as a little nostalgia fix, I remember working catering turns in the early 1990s in Mk1 RBRs. Whilst we were using microwaves in the HSTs the MK1s (even when used as just buffets)...

It is the end of the last millennium, Virgin have the XC franchise and are genuinely running trains all across the country - including some (eg Birmingham London) that were perhaps treading on other franchises domains! I think that was acknowledged by the fact they were shown on platforms as...

As you may know, Alliance Railway, Great North Western and Grand Central have all made attempts to operate Blackpool North to London and all feature in Arriva's back catalogue! Despite pulling the covid-plug on Grand Central's attempts, which were very advanced, Arriva certainly thought that...

Having read that the Inter7city sets have not been a great success for ScotRail, and having travelled today on a GW Castle set, stopping every 10 minutes (not what they were designed for), I wonder if there is a notable difference in reliability between these two sibling (ex GWML?) fleets? I'm...

This relates to tomorrow (9 March) so not a Tops request because I guess no one knows what units will be allocated! However, can anyone tell me if 09:22 1L14 is usually 9 car or 2 x 5 car? In either case, any clues where coach K is likely to be (want to be close to the buffers - disabled)

There seems to be a lot of talk elsewhere about the folly of GWR having so many 80x 5-car sets, suggesting 9 cars woud be preferable in so many cases. How'bout the excess 5-cars are merged into 8/9 car sets. This would need construction of a small number of coaches BUT would release a large...

Hi all, want to do this, probably on 8 March Neath 1005 Cardiff 1050 TFW 158 Cardiff 1122 Hereford 1230 TFW 67/Mk4 Hereford 1239 New St 1409 WMT 172 New St 1430 Derby 1505 XC 221 Derby 1532 St.Pancras 1709 EMR 222 Paddington 1834 Bristol TM 2007 GW 800 Bristol TM 2021 Cardiff...