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Privatisation brought about a huge decline in literacy on the railway, mostly because different TOCs seemed to want to be different for the sake of it, and/or invented new terms for perfectly good existing ones - the classic 'calling points' instead of 'stations' was one that particularly grated...

I had assumed that this would be rejected for many reasons, the closest to home being the present signalling of the NDL precluding many more trains on the line without potential delays (not to mention the failure to introduce 3tph on the line owing to the level crossings issue), and the...

Agreed - the practical side of me sees the huge potential for problems under the existing signalling regime on the route, but the enthusiast side would enjoy the novelty! 1791375332 The same picture is used for all TfW stations - pointless in my opinion.

Oddly, this proposal popped up on the Google news feed while I was 'doom-scrolling' yesterday! I must admit I hadn't heard about it previously, but, judging by comments here, it looks 99% unlikely to succeed (and one wonders how much time and money was expended on an always-doomed bid). Had it...

Often not the case at complex road junctions.

Does anyone using the railway (apart from a few 'insiders') know or care that green livery equals First Group? In short, 'leaving a mark' only matters if it has a true commercial benefit - this doesn't. Again, though, I like the colour!

I actually would have liked the GWR green to be the basis of the GBR livery - simple, understated and elegant. It would need tweaking to include visible and useful indications such as first class yellow stripes (as applied to the 769s) rather than the futile grey pencil stripe! 1790944959 Fair...

I would have thought that any stock being repainted anyway now should be into the GBR livery, despite the fact that I much prefer the GWR one. This begs the question of how much other stock is destined to be repainted as a matter of course in existing TOCs' liveries, rather than the GBR one...

Exactly! What a wasted opportunity to go for GBR (much though I dislike the livery). Short-termism rules supreme.

My question is; is the considered opinion that if the 175s had not gone to storage as they did but transferred directly from their previous operator to GWR, would these problems have been avoided/greatly reduced? I am trying to form an unbiased view of the effect of storage on modern rolling...

Yes, but my point is that stock should be redeployed more quickly and efficiently to avoid long-term storage. The railway is short of stock and yet the yards are full. Artificial contractual hurdles between TOCs and ROSCOs in place from privatisation merely delay and complicate the basic...

Indeed, but today's stock is so much more complex and delicate compared to a few decades ago that there is so much more to go wrong.

I thought the days of a 'good driver' making up time were long gone, with over-speeding, etc., banished? Unless the schedule has a lot of slack, of course. 1790417058 Oh, the genius of long-term storage on today's railway! 1790417949 The key word there being 'finally". I would love to see a...

So, is it 10,000 or 1,000 miles that are required to be run fault-free? Both have been quoted here recently.

Same thing for all intents and purposes.

Off-topic, but I'm curious about your forum name - as another member (in this thread) has 800001, did you choose 800002 as the next one up or was there a specific reason to choose it? Only idle curiosity. We could be on the way to a fleet!

The constant messing about with yellow paint on platforms seems to be becoming unhelpful. Most people recognise the pattern shown as a road box junction, meaning do not enter unless your exit is clear. The meaning here seems to be different. It will be confusing to passengers and I imagine...

Some sarcastic posts being a tad harsh on a new forum member, perhaps?

I don't know whether to be glad that the stats back up my assumptions/observations, or in despair about the seemingly managed decline!

Thanks for that information, but the service has nevertheless been declining steadily again of late.