One for the railway heads

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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby sandabound » Tue May 05, 2015 8:22 pm

RDR wrote:Anybody been following the problems with West Coast Railway, it's recent SPAD and failures, allegedly in its safety systems? WCR is currently suspended from operating on network rail and given it crews 75% of steam charters hardly any steam trains are on the network just now. They also run the Jacobite from Fort William to Mallaig so it's not clear what will happen to that.


I knew WCR were suspended, one of their drivers did the SPAD, but I never knew anything about it's safety systems failures.
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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby moonbeam » Tue May 05, 2015 8:25 pm

Word on the grapevine suggest diesels for the Jacobite.
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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby yoker brian » Fri May 08, 2015 6:15 pm

From the Herald website today.

Harry Potter steam train suspension revoked.

Published 8th April 2015

Brian Donnelly

Rail chiefs have lifted a ban on the operator of the steam train service famed as the backdrop in the Harry Potter film series.

Network Rail put the suspension in place after one of West Coast Railways' trains ran through a red light on a separate line south of the Border.

WCR, which operates the train from Fort William and Mallaig that includes the Glenfinnan Viaduct which JK Rowling's Hogwarts Express crosses, met a number of conditions set out by Network Rail ahead of the end of the six-week ban.

It is understood the Lancashire-based firm's ban was the first UK-wide network ban since the railway was privatised more than 20 years ago.

The incident which led to the suspension involved a WCR steam train on the Great Western main line between London and Bristol.

The train ran through a red light at Wootton Bassett in Wiltshire on March 7, endangering those on board and others on the railway.

In an earlier letter to WCR, Network Rail stated: "Network Rail has had concerns about WCR's performance of its safety obligations for some time and recent events led Network Rail to believe that the operations of WCR are a threat to the safe operation of the railway."

The Department for Transport's rail accident investigation branch said the train had failed to stop and its crew had not contacted signallers.

Recommendations to the firm included better train driver monitoring and better management of train protection systems.

WCR said: "We are delighted to announce our 20th season running the world famous Jacobite Steam Train from Fort William to Mallaig.

"The Jacobite will steam out on schedule on Monday May 11 and all services thereafter remain unchanged.

"We welcome with open arms all passengers travelling."

It said it is "hosting the 'Greatest Railway Journey in the world' voted by Wanderlust Magazine".

A spokesman for Network Rail said: "We are now satisfied that West Coast Railways have addressed all of the actions set out in the suspension notice that took effect on Friday, April 3.

"As a result, Network Rail has revoked the suspension."
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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby sandabound » Sat May 09, 2015 12:24 pm

WCR will be all Chuff Chuffed with that news ::):
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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby peasy23 » Sat May 09, 2015 8:01 pm

Stolen from a friend's Facebook, passing through Springburn station earlier today.

Image

And heading past the signalling centre.

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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby InkMan » Mon May 25, 2015 8:54 pm

Has anyone here used the Virgin First Class lounge within Glasgow Central Station? I am swithering about upgrading on a journey to first class as it twenty five extra but can't seem to find any reviews about the place. It it clean and tidy and is the food and drink ok?

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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby gap74 » Tue May 26, 2015 1:20 am

It's absolutely tiny - literally a small corner of the ticket and travel centre next to the Gordon St entrance.

I used the Euston one a couple of years ago (since refurbished) and it was OK, but I had just come off the Sleeper and only had a couple of cans of juice. It, at least, has showers and other facilities that there's no room whatsoever for in Glasgow.

If it's only an extra 20 quid or so and you're doing more than a few hours on the train itself, I'd say go for it - you'll get your money's worth in grub and drink on the journey, not to mention a slightly bigger, nicer seat with a power socket and less chance of noisy buggers disturbing you. If you don't generally eat and drink on the journey, though, then standard is fine.
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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby InkMan » Tue May 26, 2015 2:59 pm

gap74 wrote:It's absolutely tiny - literally a small corner of the ticket and travel centre next to the Gordon St entrance.

I used the Euston one a couple of years ago (since refurbished) and it was OK, but I had just come off the Sleeper and only had a couple of cans of juice. It, at least, has showers and other facilities that there's no room whatsoever for in Glasgow.

If it's only an extra 20 quid or so and you're doing more than a few hours on the train itself, I'd say go for it - you'll get your money's worth in grub and drink on the journey, not to mention a slightly bigger, nicer seat with a power socket and less chance of noisy buggers disturbing you. If you don't generally eat and drink on the journey, though, then standard is fine.


Cheers for that mate. I have only used the suite at Euston myself so was wondering what the comparison is like. It is the journey to London to I was as well fork out the extra cash even if the lounge in Glasgow isn't up to much.

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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby gap74 » Tue May 26, 2015 3:06 pm

I'm just heading in there to book some tickets myself. Did a Google Image search to see if it was as rubbish as I remember...

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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby SomeRandomBint » Wed May 27, 2015 8:18 pm

I used to sit in there waiting to buy my tickets to go see my boyfriend in Wales! ::):

As for upgrading to First Class - if you're going at the weekend, you get a sandwich chucked at you and free crisps/juice/tea but that's about it. Because of the weekend upgrades it tends to get quite busy in First Class as well as cattle class. If you're travelling earlier in the morning or later at night it's worth it though. That's just my cheapskate opinion though.

On an unrelated note, very much enjoyed Neil Oliver's documentary on the Quintinshill Disaster the other night. Still available on BBC Iplayer until 21st June - http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b05vqx7v/britains-deadliest-rail-disaster-quintinshill
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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby gap74 » Wed May 27, 2015 8:31 pm

It wasn't bad, but I stumbled on this 1972 episode of BBC's Horizon series which had actual eyewitnesses and a look inside Quintinshill Signal Box, which still existed at the time - from around 2 mins in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcgX3cyE5vc

(Bugger it, tried 8 times to remember how the YT embedding works, cannae mind!)

Yeah, weekend first upgrades aren't up to much on the WCML, but I came back once on an ECML weekend first ticket and we were plied with plenty of tea, sandwiches and snacks - unlike the pokey wee box you get on Virgin. Mind you, now that Virgin run both of them...

Booked my first class tickets today for a trip to London in July. Down on a Friday afternoon, back on Monday afternoon. £150 all-in but I had £67 in delay compensation vouchers so bit of a bargain. Women behind the desk said they do free wine in the first class lounge in Glasgow on a Friday afternoon too, so I might well make use of it after all!
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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby SomeRandomBint » Wed May 27, 2015 8:45 pm

gap74 wrote:It wasn't bad, but I stumbled on this 1972 episode of BBC's Horizon series which had actual eyewitnesses and a look inside Quintinshill Signal Box, which still existed at the time - from around 2 mins in.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YcgX3cyE5vc

(Bugger it, tried 8 times to remember how the YT embedding works, cannae mind!)

Yeah, weekend first upgrades aren't up to much on the WCML, but I came back once on an ECML weekend first ticket and we were plied with plenty of tea, sandwiches and snacks - unlike the pokey wee box you get on Virgin. Mind you, now that Virgin run both of them...

Booked my first class tickets today for a trip to London in July. Down on a Friday afternoon, back on Monday afternoon. £150 all-in but I had £67 in delay compensation vouchers so bit of a bargain. Women behind the desk said they do free wine in the first class lounge in Glasgow on a Friday afternoon too, so I might well make use of it after all!


Don't worry, C&P'ing it works! I watched the Neil Oliver one on the bus and it struck me as odd the way he kept saying it was the forgotten disaster. I wish they'd gone a bit more in depth with comparisons between more modern accidents though.

Aye, I came up the East Coast Mainline about a month ago first class on a Saturday and it was rammed. We got a butty but they did keep coming up and down with a tray with drinks and snacks. If you're going Friday and Monday though, you'll get the proper table service with complimentary booze!
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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby BTJustice » Sun Jun 14, 2015 8:43 pm

Another wee poke over the bridge at Polmadie today;

Imageglasgow cycle 140615 by Dave Campbell, on Flickr

Imageglasgow cycle 140615 1 by Dave Campbell, on Flickr

And out in Clydebank (I was on a long cycle)

Imageglasgow cycle 140615 6 by Dave Campbell, on Flickr

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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby gap74 » Fri Jul 10, 2015 2:55 pm

I see the there are various engineering works going on this weekend in the Rutherglen/Cambuslang area. Virgin are saying their trains are running but with a slight diversion - anyone know what these will be? Are they going through the Cathcart Circle?
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Re: One for the railway heads

Postby BTJustice » Sun Jul 12, 2015 4:38 pm

I saw a Pendolino going over Aikenhead road earlier and the bridge by my house (going over Carmunnock rd) has had a train on it nearly every 10 minutes.
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