I haven’t been out on the railways too much in this bad weather, partly because there have been few events or charters that have grabbed my attention, but also because getting to them is a lottery. Living in Lincolnshire we have had some of the worst weather (thankfully now subsiding), so it has not made [...]

I think I’ve mentioned before about the appalling use of English on our nation’s train announcements. We are forever being told “the next service to arrive…” when we mean the next train and “take care when alighting this service”.
I heard two classics recently. I was travelling with East Coast on the HST set it hires [...]

Off to the cinema this weekend to see Mike Leigh’s new masterpiece, Another Year (not everyone’s cup of tea, as my wife forcibly tells me when we leave). Sorry to be an anorak, but when Ken, the big bloke from Hull, goes back north, how come we get an East Midlands Trains Meridian in shot [...]

I got a text last night from one of the A1A locomotives Ltd team telling 31108 was starring on ‘EastEnders’! Now, I’ve long stopped watching the programme because of its wholly implausible story lines (am I right in thinking Albert Square is statistically the unsafest place in the world for the number of murders per [...]

Down to Newcastle for a jaunt in half term week. Refurb 125 on the way there, 225 on the way back – I must say Wabtec did a superb job on the refurb work. Spyed a T&W Metro car in their yard when going past, Wabtec just getting going on fleet refurb for the Geordie [...]

In a few weeks a new passenger railway opens, from Airdrie to Bathgate in Scotland. This is excellent news and a great example of a close line being reopened. It also highlights the folly of closing railway lines that could have some use in the future.
I have long argued that if lines have to be [...]

Another busy week, down to Derby last Wed to see the new Class 379 at Bombardier, settled down in First Class with complimentary coffee and texted Captain Deltic to find out where he was sitting – back in steerage with Jarvis Cocker he replied. Common people like them! Twas true, the Cap’n was one seat [...]

I’d planned to get out with my camera on Saturday afternoon to photograph the diverted East Coast trains that were plying the old Joint Line through Spalding but grey skies and a bout of ‘man flu’ put pay to that, so I spent the afternoon in bed instead as train after train passed just a [...]

I’ve lived in the Lincolnshire town of Spalding for nigh on three years now, and while the train service is not amazing, in fairness is it pretty good for the size of town. But I always remain thankful we have a nearly hourly service to Peterborough at all.
That is for two reasons, firstly, in years [...]

At the Rail Summit yesterday, saw Roy ‘Value for Money’ McNulty for the first time. Impressed – a good presentation, considering he cannot really say anything. He ticked off the DfT for micromanaging, said the industry is less innovative than it was in the days of British Rail, and scotched the notion that the rail [...]