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I travelled north from Skopje to Belgrade in 2011. The carriage was an ex Norwegian Railways first class coach. It was very comfortable. When I sat down I thought I was in a leather seat but it quickly became obvious that the shiny patina was dirt polished into the fabric with a tobacco...

When I lived in Leicester in the late 1970's I have a vague memory of a Kettering to Glasgow night service, maybe Fridays only. I think I was told its purpose was to serve the Scottish steel workers who came to operate the Corby steelworks. Can anyone confirm this?

I travelled from Cosenza to Catanzaro in autumn 2022 and saw from the bus the work in progress to to reinstate the missing section. The section from Catanzaro down to the Lido looked like a work in progress with little sign of progress. I took the coach from Cosenza to San Giovanni and saw work...

In the 1990's I advised a friend to use the service for her commute from Surbiton to Croydon. She gave up on it quite quickly because of cancellations and went back to changing at Clapham Junction.

There was a bombing at Atocha station in 2004 killing 191 people. When I was there I was surprised by the airport like security till I heard of the bombing. I had absentmindedly walked through an exit and got very firmly stopped. Probably not the best place for trainspotting.

The Via Verde de la Sierra Norte de Sevilla starts a couple of miles north of Cazala Constantina station on the route from Seville north to Merida. It is a good train ride. After the train leaves the mainline to Cordoba( and AVE line beside it) it winds its way up into the hills causing my ears...

There is an article in todays Evening Standard about the Elizabeth Line problems which prompts me to write this. I experienced a half hour delay on the Elizabeth Line recently which appeared to be due to wrong decisions in the signalling centre. When I arrived at the east bound platform at...

I travelled from Poznan to Berlin in 1984 in a Belgium railway carriage. The train was the Moscow to Hook of Holland service. You could get a cup of tea from the samovar in the Russian coach next door. My compartment was full of western Europeans returning from an archaeological conference at...

In reply to Yorkie, the lady at Pisa Airport was in a proper uniform and I am sure an agent of Gatwick Express. As I did not buy a ticket I do not know what she was charging.

At Pisa Airport I witnessed a lady working the queue boarding a Gatwick flight. She was selling tickets for the Gatwick Express hoping to find passengers who had never been to Gatwick presumably

I often commuted from Peckham Rye in the 1990's and 2000's. There were 4 trains an hour: two the south London line trains and two from Dartford. Unfortunately Dartford trains left a couple of minutes after the former and followed it slowly down the LBSC tracks to past Clapham High Street so...

You might have a point. I realised this at the time and tried to tell the capostaziune that I would stay on the platform. My Italian is very limited so it is possible. As you have knowledge of the Puglia railways have you any idea why they abandon trains at any spare sidings? Some look like...

I was in Gallipoli (Puglia) in October. I asked to photograph two abandoned diesel locomotives yards from the platform. I was told no and directed to the stationmaster. He politely but firmly said no as well. I have a suspicion managers might be embarrassed by the quantity of locos, dmus and...

'Bangers and Mash.' Of which there used to be a lot between the rails at Paddington before all toilets were the retention type! 'Riding the Cushions' as against riding the footplate for drivers travelling in comfort.

Thank you very much for the trainsplit recommendation. It is much better than the GWR website and cheaper. Combining it's clear seating plan and a Youtube clip of boarding and walking through an 802 carriage I was able to select a good seat. The tricky bit was had to make sure I knew which...

I am travelling to Barnstable and back from London and would like to reserve a seat on the 802s with an actual view out of the window. Judging by photos I have fair chance of no view at all. The GWR site does not allow you to choose a seat. Is there a diagram online which shows the positions...

When I first arrived in London in 1976 I walked/trespassed the line from Dalston Junction towards Broad Street. It seemed possible as the viaduct used to carry three tracks and I thought that late on a summer evening there would be no trains- I was young and a country boy! Sure enough a train...

In answer to the problems raised and hopefully not causing any more boggling- Firstly where I am suggesting for an extended ELL to begin to rise to cross over the NLL is to the east of the bridge over the ECML. The area used to contain many sidings up till the 1980s and this can be seen on...

Rather than extending the ELL through Primrose Hill, have a Stratford to Willesden Junction shuttle use the route terminating in the bays there. The NLL through Hampstead Heath could then be an extension of the ELL. They would be segregated from each other by the ELL bridging the shuttle east of...

Many years ago I saw a reference to an act of parliament for quadrupling the line between Nunhead and I think Crofton Road junction beyond Peckham Rye Station. I saw it in a government publication of post war plans for London railway improvements. I think there was a time limit after which it...