One for the railway heads

[sandabound]

There used to be a squad of Italian guy who lived on this train in the late 80's early 90's, they travelled round the system working on God knows what, I never go to find out.

[Dexter St. Clair]

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/heritage/glasgow-built-steam-train-stops-off-at-edinburgh-1-3394468

THE GLASGOW-built steam locomotive Scots Guardsman stopped off in Edinburgh Waverley Station earlier this week

[RapidAssistant]

Glasgow Queen St station revamp reveals old signs

RENOVATION work being undertaken at Glasgow Queen Street has uncovered the remains of old signage at the station’s lower level.

The signs, appearing to be handpainted, carry the names of suburban stations on the network, such as Jordanhill and Alexandra Parade.

Built prior to the Glasgow Subway, the Low Level line between the High Street, Queen Street and Charing Cross is the oldest underground railway in the city.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/herit ... -1-3377056

Wow! Thanks for posting that one. All the years I was down in that station every day for 12 years when I worked in the town and didn't know what was behind the yellow panels!! Shame the 1970s plastic bench seating is going - another link to my past wiped out

Although I remember back in 2000 when they were doing the ceiling and lighting replacement in the Low Level station, they did move the bench seats forward by about a foot, and for a brief time the blue tiling behind was visible until they boxed it all back in again.

[Godsgift]

Glasgow Queen St station revamp reveals old signs

RENOVATION work being undertaken at Glasgow Queen Street has uncovered the remains of old signage at the station’s lower level.

The signs, appearing to be handpainted, carry the names of suburban stations on the network, such as Jordanhill and Alexandra Parade.

Built prior to the Glasgow Subway, the Low Level line between the High Street, Queen Street and Charing Cross is the oldest underground railway in the city.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/herit ... -1-3377056

Wow! Thanks for posting that one. All the years I was down in that station every day for 12 years when I worked in the town and didn't know what was behind the yellow panels!! Shame the 1970s plastic bench seating is going - another link to my past wiped out

Although I remember back in 2000 when they were doing the ceiling and lighting replacement in the Low Level station, they did move the bench seats forward by about a foot, and for a brief time the blue tiling behind was visible until they boxed it all back in again.

I remember the old signage so well. I travelled to school in Bearsden every day from the low level through the old Partickhill station and before the low level a central was reopened. I can still hear the announcements for Dalmuir Via Yoker etc.

[RapidAssistant]

Glasgow Queen St station revamp reveals old signs

RENOVATION work being undertaken at Glasgow Queen Street has uncovered the remains of old signage at the station’s lower level.

The signs, appearing to be handpainted, carry the names of suburban stations on the network, such as Jordanhill and Alexandra Parade.

Built prior to the Glasgow Subway, the Low Level line between the High Street, Queen Street and Charing Cross is the oldest underground railway in the city.

http://www.scotsman.com/lifestyle/herit ... -1-3377056

Wow! Thanks for posting that one. All the years I was down in that station every day for 12 years when I worked in the town and didn't know what was behind the yellow panels!! Shame the 1970s plastic bench seating is going - another link to my past wiped out

Although I remember back in 2000 when they were doing the ceiling and lighting replacement in the Low Level station, they did move the bench seats forward by about a foot, and for a brief time the blue tiling behind was visible until they boxed it all back in again.

[I remember the old signage so well. I travelled to school in Bearsden every day from the low level through the old Partickhill station and before the low level a central was reopened. I can still hear the announcements for Dalmuir Via Yoker etc.

Does anyone remember the original automated announcements at Queen Street Low Level - the female voice that used to go "The train that will shortly arrive at this platform, is for Airdrie. Calling at High Street, Bellgrove etc etc etc...", then when they opened up the extension to Drumgelloch a live announcement had to be tacked on at the end. I often wonder who that woman's voice was - does anyone know? And how the system actuallly worked - was it triggered by the track circuits whenever a train approached, or was it done manually by someone in the control room?

[Vinegar Tom]

No doubt this one is famous in railway circles, but it tickled me when I found it next to Carlisle Station. Especially when I felt brave enough to take a snap after the massed hen-night crowd moved off.........

01 LMS and or by vinegartom40, on Flickr

[DavidMcD316]

Does anyone remember the original automated announcements at Queen Street Low Level - the female voice that used to go "The train that will shortly arrive at this platform, is for Airdrie. Calling at High Street, Bellgrove etc etc etc...", then when they opened up the extension to Drumgelloch a live announcement had to be tacked on at the end. I often wonder who that woman's voice was - does anyone know? And how the system actuallly worked - was it triggered by the track circuits whenever a train approached, or was it done manually by someone in the control room?[/quote]


creepy.

I was just thinking about that very voice this morning!!! :)

[tobester]

Does anyone remember the original automated announcements at Queen Street Low Level - the female voice that used to go "The train that will shortly arrive at this platform, is for Airdrie. Calling at High Street, Bellgrove etc etc etc...", then when they opened up the extension to Drumgelloch a live announcement had to be tacked on at the end. I often wonder who that woman's voice was - does anyone know? And how the system actuallly worked - was it triggered by the track circuits whenever a train approached, or was it done manually by someone in the control room?

Try emailing John Yellowlees at First,he may be able to help you - [email protected]

Im taking its triggered via the headcode and location on the system via the track circuit as that whole area is TCB controlled.

On train a code is entered and works (hopefully) via satellite as it approaches the station, if it fails it can be manually advanced by the driver, however on 156s it can be advanced or reset from any cab

[the researcher]

Does anyone remember the original automated announcements at Queen Street Low Level - the female voice that used to go "The train that will shortly arrive at this platform, is for Airdrie. Calling at High Street, Bellgrove etc etc etc...", then when they opened up the extension to Drumgelloch a live announcement had to be tacked on at the end. I often wonder who that woman's voice was - does anyone know? And how the system actuallly worked - was it triggered by the track circuits whenever a train approached, or was it done manually by someone in the control room?

Try emailing John Yellowlees at First,he may be able to help you - [email protected]

Im taking its triggered via the headcode and location on the system via the track circuit as that whole area is TCB controlled.

On train a code is entered and works (hopefully) via satellite as it approaches the station, if it fails it can be manually advanced by the driver, however on 156s it can be advanced or reset from any cab

if you look on the live train departures and click on a train due or departing there are circles at each station and it shows whether the train is late on time or even(sound of fanfare) early but sometimes it doesnt show anything it also shows trains which leave 5 mins before their departure time which must annoy people arriving at the correct time only to find the train has gone

[RDR]

Went down and up to London, last week on a Class 390 Pendilino.
Been on them before but first time for a while.
05:40 down ran to time.
16:30 back up ran late, about 25 minutes due to signalling problems at Watford and then being stuck behind slower trains, due to being out of its path after the delay.
Comfortable journey but made me think about two things.
It's a nice train but why have they never managed to get rid of the smell from the toilets?
I always thought express trains got priority, so why did it end up stuck behind local stopping services?

[gap74]

Think they're being refurbished soon, so hopefully the toilet thing might get sorted then - although I've never noticed it being so bad - maybe I just don't have such a sensitive sense of smell!

Hopefully they'll add more power sockets in standard too.

Been on the 4.30pm up many times - that's the fast one only booked to stop at Preston, yeah? On two occasions, despite numerous announcements, someone on my carriage has reacted with horror upon leaving Preston to discover it's non-stop to Glasgow. On the second such occasion, they actually made a quick stop at Carlisle to let them off!

Have never had it be late but it does seem to routinely run slow for a few sections, presumably where it's behind something slower - makes me wonder how much quicker it would be if a clearer path could be found for it.

[RDR]

Think they're being refurbished soon, so hopefully the toilet thing might get sorted then - although I've never noticed it being so bad - maybe I just don't have such a sensitive sense of smell!

Hopefully they'll add more power sockets in standard too.

Been on the 4.30pm up many times - that's the fast one only booked to stop at Preston, yeah? On two occasions, despite numerous announcements, someone on my carriage has reacted with horror upon leaving Preston to discover it's non-stop to Glasgow. On the second such occasion, they actually made a quick stop at Carlisle to let them off!

Have never had it be late but it does seem to routinely run slow for a few sections, presumably where it's behind something slower - makes me wonder how much quicker it would be if a clearer path could be found for it.

That's the one. just the stop at Preston, so pretty fast, in fact I wonder if that's the quickest train of the day?
Toilet smell does vary, but it does seem to be a problem that they have never been able to sort.

[gap74]

Aye, it's the only one that makes just a single stop - think it's booked at something like 4hrs 9mins, so about half an hour quicker than the usual ones.

Spending each of the next two weekends doing that trip, although at least one is a cheap first class ticket so can overcome any malodorous nuisance with the free booze...

[Alycidon]

Have never had it be late but it does seem to routinely run slow for a few sections, presumably where it's behind something slower - makes me wonder how much quicker it would be if a clearer path could be found for it.

This could be down to the way performance is rated for the train operating companies and Railtrack. In the old days everything was shunted out of the way for the express, no arguments, but now the controllers try to avoid the domino effect whereby If one train is delayed, and other trains are stopped/looped/shunted to get out of the way and are also delayed the statistics look bad with several trains delayed. If everything else is allowed to run to time and only one train is delayed then it looks better on paper.

[RapidAssistant]

Went down and up to London, last week on a Class 390 Pendilino.
Been on them before but first time for a while.
05:40 down ran to time.
16:30 back up ran late, about 25 minutes due to signalling problems at Watford and then being stuck behind slower trains, due to being out of its path after the delay.
Comfortable journey but made me think about two things.
It's a nice train but why have they never managed to get rid of the smell from the toilets?
I always thought express trains got priority, so why did it end up stuck behind local stopping services?

I haven't been on a Pongolino for over 4 years now. As I live on the eastern side of the country these days I've little incentive to use Virgin anymore, plus their fares have rocketed. Do the toilets still stink??? Jeez!! The problem was apparently that the aircon ducts were dangerously close to the vents from the toilet tanks.

Usually, you are right - the strategy is to cause the minimum amount of disruption, so faster services will get routed around a stopper - funnily enough I was on an East Coast HST on Thursday night down to London and we were held up at Grantham by "line problems" - we were held for 45 minutes whilst faster non-stop services behind us all overtook us. I guess as Alycidon says above it can be influenced by the available train paths, and what has to be in what position when at a later time. So it could be some obscure operational reason why you were kept behind the stopping service, but probably it was still to minimise the overall disruption to the timetable.