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My father was a fireman at South Dock shed in Sunderland in the early-1940s, mostly working local passenger trains. One day his driver gave him a go at the controls to give him some experience of accelerating and braking. My dad completely misjudged the braking distance for one station and...

Thank you coppercapped. I stand corrected and apologise for the inaccuracies. But I stand by my assertion that road hauliers should be made to pay the full costs of the use of the roads, even if this is passed-on to consumers. They've had it far too easy for far too long.

It's used in the manufacture of cement (as is pulverised slate from North Wales)

The simple answer would be road-pricing. If hauliers were forced to pay the full costs of road construction, maintenance, pollution, congestion, policing, bridge-bashing and other accidents they would be less-able to undercut the railways for freight rates. When Ernest Marples launched the...

I'm reminded of the time I arrived in Stranraer on the ferry from Larne in the 1970s. At the bottom of the gangplank stood a police officer and, not knowing his purpose, I showed him my passport. He was furious and gave me a good telling-off. Apparently I had made a highly-controversial...

The current small lift from Platform 4 often attracts a queue of passengers. At the very least we need a larger lift.

I note today that vegetation clearance has been taking place on the Up side between Hinksey North and Kennington North. Could this perhaps be in anticipation of the eventual reinstatement of the Up Relief line?

The line closed because it was deemed to be "unremunerative", whatever that means. Since there are no toll booths on the A61 to pay for its maintenance and policing that must also be unremunerative. Closure was enacted by Labour transport minister Barbara Castle who during her tenure ruthlessly...

I saw Polanski give a passionate address to a huge crowd at the Shambala Festival and would love to see him as MP for Holborn & St Pancras (ie Camden)

"8pm til 6pm"? This is why we have a 24-hour clock!

I spoke to a police officer about non-enforcement of the 20-mph speed limit on a local road that goes past a primary school. Most motorists there can be seen doing around 30-mph. The officer patiently explained that if everyone exceeding 20-mph in one day were taken to court it would clog-up the...

Chiltern are doing their bit this morning, running Oxford-Birmingham services in the XC paths: https://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/service/gb-nr:09539/2026-08-23/detailed

In my time at Railtrack Swindon I had to deal with the person at EWS Doncaster in charge of South Wales coal traffic who had been recruited "off the street". He had never been to South Wales, had never been down a pit and couldn't even pronounce Cwmgwrach!

I started as a railman* at Preston station on 22 July 1974 and dealt with the first summer of electric trains which were quite a novelty. There was a lot of engine-changing and portion-working: Euston-Blackpool, Liverpool/Manchester-Glasgow/Edinburgh, etc. * There were no "railwomen"!

I would nominate West Coast Motors' 423 from Ardrishaig to Oban via Kilmartin. We used it as a paddlesteamer replacement service back in May when the Waverley trip from Glasgow to Oban was cancelled. A spectacular route.

If railfreight operations are "heavily subsidised" then so is road freight: a haulier can take a container all the way from Southampton to Scotland without once encountering a toll-booth.

One of the great benefits of privatisation for rail-freight was the introduction of real rail-on-rail competition. I remember BR freight sales managers visiting customers and giving them a take-it-or-leave-it offer with the annual increases in rates. With eager road hauliers waiting outside the...

Yes indeed. Boomtown finished last night so it's going-home day for the survivors (I speak as a veteran!)

I was a TOPS clerk at Warrington Arpley 50 years ago and the system was based on punched-cards. A train would arrive in the yard with each wagon represented by a card which would be placed in racks in the same way as the wagons were shunted. When it came to dispatching a train the cards would be...

So Class-99 electric-haulage of biomass trains between Olive Mount Jn and Miles Platting seems unlikely now.