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    Fantasy - GWML west of Old Oak Common

    I seem to recall that the old GWR planned on 6 tracking from Acton Yard to Slough as far back as the 1910 era.......of course that option has long dissapeared (along with slow coal trains with best Welsh coal heading for that there London , which was probably the reasoning behind their ideas) -...
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    Ways for passengers to stop trains in emergency

    Riding home on a dusty Northern Line train , when the observant guard pulled the brake handle down as a passenger seemed to be trying to get onto an already closed up train which was moving down the platform , not too fast , but there was a very impressive stop .....naturally there were some...
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    Death rate at British Rail vs Coal Board in the 1980s

    For marking out the casualty - before moving it clear , and before the arrival of some sort of Police.
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    Death rate at British Rail vs Coal Board in the 1980s

    Illegally riding on moving stock , sitting on a solid wooden brake stick - (as used for pinning down brakes ........)
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    Class 120 DMUs

    2 car 120 sets were used on the Central Wales line when I was a youth - excellent units , nice and warm in winter and had the luxery of orange window curtains. Very nice and I enjoyed a couple of illegal cab rides ! (the 108 replacements were inferior - but the poor 120's had asbestos - which...
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    Death rate at British Rail vs Coal Board in the 1980s

    PW gang in snow clearance duties at Severn Tunnel Junction I recall ........
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    Metropolitian line and Beeching: what might have happened?

    Of course the ill-fated Crossrail1 , included the Chesham Branch - but the Aylesbury & Met service was reduced to 10 TPH - and the spec was generally reduced to cut costs (for example a turnback at Harrow ! , not relocating Rickmansworth Station etc) - there were howls of protest over 25KV...
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    The mighty Class 74 (some questions!)

    I do not recall any issue with loco couplings for Freightliner working - special , strengthened green couplings generally used for intermediate workings - especially for heavy 1600T trains from say Felixstowe. Now and again , when time allowed I would send out the terminal assistant to scout for...
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    Television Adverts You Like.....

    BT i think , with Maureen Lipman consoling her nephew on his not very good results , that he has got an "ology"
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    Ways for passengers to stop trains in emergency

    I was taught that "any light waved vigerously" can be a danger signal - (my personal Bardic - retained after retirement has a red shade of course) , - anthing to attract attention IMHO , but Jenny Agutter in "The Railway Children" had innovative ideas.......
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    Station pilots

    Talking of the Motor Show - my brother in law was stationed as a BR fitter to stand by at the station , with a road van packed with every conceivable spare available. (he had some quiet , tea drinking shifts !)
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    Station pilots

    Ipswich had an 03 for the odd attachment to and from TPO services , and also for the then minimal workings to the Lower Yard and docks
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    Station pilots

    I seem to recall there was a 47 standng for pilot or rescue duties at Reading (General) in the 1970's , we used a spare half hour to scrub some of the dirt off the numbers just to kill time , using available resources from a toilet campartment. How sad is that ?
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    What is Control (not a philosophical discussion!)

    In the last days of 222 Marylebone Road , I found a discarded copy of the Tanganikan Rule book - fascinating document and carefully updated by it's one time owner - the classification of trains was interesting with total priority given to HMG's Governer being total and those conveyed solely...
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    Mk1 Carriages Before Blue/Grey Era

    There was a tale mentioned somewhere about a sharp supervisor at Clapham Yard who spotted a chocolate and cream BG , so he nabbed it and put into the Bournemouth Belle rake to give an uniform colour to the Pullman rake !
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    Dale Charman to leave LUL

    About the most impressive commute I ever came across was an LT guard (remember them ?) , who one serious disruption day and had only got as far as St Albans and who asked to use the internal phone , rang his TCS and reported that he had only got as far as that ! (he had travelled from Portsmouth...
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    Things in living memory which seem very anachronistic now

    Signalbox winter coal supplies delivered by rail - loco , and MCO + brakevan as a special (couple of handy blokes with shovels ,quickly done of course)
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    Fords (shallow rivers and streams that cars drive through)

    Yes - the Amman Valley in south Wales (fed from the Black Mountain) , and also the water power mill at Redbournebury near St Albans !
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    1970-1974 WCML Weaver Jct -Glasgow electrification

    Very fond memories as a young man , doing a Swansea - Glasgow excursion (which left at 0400 !) for £5 return - first ever trip to Scotland and we even managed an odd-on to go over the Forth Bridge as well. (to Inverkeithing I think) , much to the amusement of the booking clerk at Central (a long...
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    1970-1974 WCML Weaver Jct -Glasgow electrification

    Without a doubt - the HST's saved and developed the long distance passenger services. More would have been built without the dead hand of the then DfT ........

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