Electric counties?

[tbtc]

The most imprtant cities (eg Glasgow, Birmingham) were given one letter postcodes

A bone of contention that one, since Edinburgh has to make do with "EH" as "E" is "East London". Annoys a few folk back at home, that one

I remember trying to sort out a league table of how "important" a city was, based on things like getting a short phone code (0121, 0131, 0141 etc), a one letter post code etc

(going badly off topic, sorry)

 

[Ivo]

Off-topic maybe, but sounds like fun

We could stage a big argument as to the real Second City of England! Surely Manchester and possibly even Leeds overpower Brum these days?

N.B.: Just so I can claim to have contributed to the real thread here, a little point about home. Essex has only part of the Sudbury branch as a non-electrified route, so must be close to having the highest proportion (especially if you use the argument of it having only one track). Otherwise, the XC and NXEA 170s, to Brum and Lowestoft/P'boro respectively, are it.

 

[Greenback]

A bone of contention that one, since Edinburgh has to make do with "EH" as "E" is "East London". Annoys a few folk back at home, that one

I remember trying to sort out a league table of how "important" a city was, based on things like getting a short phone code (0121, 0131, 0141 etc), a one letter post code etc

(going badly off topic, sorry)

The relative imprtance of cities was a bit different in the late 1950's when these things were being decided (it may have even been earlier!). Industry and ports were considered vital to the country's economy, which is why Sheffield was included. It's arguable whether Sheffield or Liverpool would be considered in the same way today - Leeds has grown in importance as a regional centre, for example, and may well be thought of as 'L' if postcodes were being introduced now!

 

[Lampshade]

The short dialling codes are more to do with the problems that would arise in a large city if it had a standard 5 digit area code - there are only 999999 possiblities for phone numbers, which if there are 1000000 people to give numbers to in said city is a bit of a problem. I think this is why 0171/0181 in London were abolished for 020.

 

[krus_aragon]

The short dialling codes are more to do with the problems that would arise in a large city if it had a standard 5 digit area code - there are only 999999 possiblities for phone numbers, which if there are 1000000 people to give numbers to in said city is a bit of a problem. I think this is why 0171/0181 in London were abolished for 020.

Even fewer than that, when you consider all the six digit combinations that you can't use:

0xxxxx - overlaps with STD codes
999xxx - the emergency services
etc...

 

[NLC1072]

Essex will have no diesel services from the 12th December when the 170's stop running out of Liverpool Street to Peterborough/Lowestoft direct and will terminate in Ipswich instead... shame that I liked the 170's every now and then for a change to a boring 360 or a slightly interesting 321...

 

[jopsuk]

Only Sudbury, on the Marks Tey-Sudbury line, isn't in Essex.
Further- Stansted airport is in Essex, served by Cross Country diesel services- Great Chesterford is the first station in the county they pass through from the North, serving Audley End on the way to the airport.

So, Essex won't go Electric-only until the Sudbury branch gets wires and the Ely-Birmingham route does too. There's more than just the LTS and GE lines in Essex!

 

[tbtc]

So, Essex won't go Electric-only until the Sudbury branch gets wires

Are there plans for that?

Its a self contained diesel branch line on an electrified main line - surely prime candidate for electrification?