How about some Rail Forums predictions... (With apologies in advance to those that are mentioned, it is good natured I promise!)
Trip Planning and Reports: Techniquest gets his last Scotrail unit in February, and to celebrate eschews BK and goes to 'the Scottish Restaurant' (for a Big Mac)
International Transport: in March, someone asks about connection time from Eurostar to Thalys at Brussels Midi.
Disputes and Prosecutions: only 1,658 new posters claim to have forgotten to pay their fare, they've never done it before, honest guv, and it only happened because the machine wouldn't take Guernsey pound coins / refused 5 different credit cards / the dog ate my delay repay vouchers.
Railway Jobs and Careers: Someone gets a driver job on their first application.
Traction and Rolling Stock: The debate about seat comfort on class 387 and 700s continues throughout the year, with forum members taking rulers and pliance meters on board to measure padding depth and 'give'. A new correspondent from Paris, a Monsieur Ricard de N'avec-Cheveux-Pas, invites everyone over to sample the upholstery on RER line A, which settles the argument once and for all when it is realised there isn't any.
Meanwhile in May, a new forum member asks if anyone has any opinion on Voyagers. The internet goes down for a fortnight.
Infrastructure and Stations: on April 1st, a new poster asks what those funny white signs are underneath platforms with the red sliders on and the numbers alongside. You know, the ones that look like faders on a mixer. Railsigns explodes.
The NR Route Managing Director (Western) discovers the Dawlish Sea Wall thread, and has it printed off for bedtime reading at Easter. He finishes it in September, and recycles the 28,000 tonnes of paper as an off shore sea defence. The locals are up in arms about the loss of tourists due to there being no 'exciting wave action' and demand the return of his MBE.
Every thread discussing possible reopening of lines closed during the Beeching has comments complaining of the shortsightedness of those decisions approximately 50 years ago (before most of the posters were born). Meanwhile another thread predicting what is going to happen this year gets it 90% wrong....
UK Railway Discussion:
A Daily Mail article on how 'hopeless' the railway is gets both barrels in a public Facebook response from a TOC MD, with a quote of 'why let the facts get in the way of a story'. The journo is too scared to respond.
Meanwhile jonmorris0844 posts to announce that he has been sent a fancy new winter jacket, which arrived unsolicited, postmarked Derby. A week later two of the buttons fall off.
Three weeks before every new franchise is due to be announced, a poster confidently predicts who will win it, based on a discussion with a bloke down the pub who once played tennis with the wife of an ex guard who knows someone who empties the bins in the York drivers' signing on point. Three weeks later the announcement is made, and it is a surprise to everyone, not least the winner.
October sees a dramatic twist, with the latest wiki-leaks release giving out the real names of all Rail Forums members. It is realised that those who appear to be knowledgeable about all things rail related are either a) actually working for North Korean intelligence, b) 14 year old girls taking the p*ss, or c) rail employees just making it up for a laugh.
And finally, on December 31st infobleep posts to say he has finally caught an SWT service that runs on time. Unfortunately it is scheduled to reach Guildford at 0001, and therefore counts as next year.
Happy New Year!
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