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The tight curves on the south side include two spirals, of course. I made a special trip not long before the base tunnel opened. Here’s a - terrible, admittedly - shot of the route as we approach the tunnel from the north (heading to the right). There are no spirals on the north approach but you...

Yes, the provision of a much flatter north-south route for freight was a significant part of the business case for the base tunnel (and the other one at Monte Ceneri).

Tenuous railway history link alert. That Newcastle venue is Robert Stephenson’s original locomotive works.

There was quite a maze of connections just to the east of what is now the Thameslink line south of Farringdon, serving Smithfield [meat] market, as you say. I’m not sure who else had running powers, but almost certainly the Midland, Great Northern, and the London Chatham & Dover. The general...

And if you ever need to buy a selfie-stick… The warning is valid, of course - even a golf umbrella can get you a bit of a tingle from the overhead. A great read. The trip sounds all the better for including some less obvious destinations - quite a few of which I haven’t done (and I thought I...

As you discovered, the H&C platforms are effectively part of Paddington main line station, and give you an excellent first-hand illustration of how the GWR ran broad gauge trains on to the Met in the early years. If you have the time, it’s the nicest way of getting further east to Kings Cross...

It was the successor to the North Country Continental. A version of that train seems to have been run by the Great Eastern and its allies (and post-1923 by the LNER) from the opening of the quay at Harwich in the late 1800s. As a splendidly bucolic wander round England it had no equal.

Yes, it’s quite a repair. The distortion was obvious, and apparently the early investigations from the civil engineers were accompained by those sucking through teeth noises that you hear when an expert looks at your car - it seems to have been held up by string and chewing gum for the last 100...

Canfranc Station has been restored and put to hotel use. Discussions about restoration of the route on the French side continue. It sounds pie in the sky - but so did the station restoratio.

Readers of these threads will look longingly on bona fide timetables… https://content.tfl.gov.uk/elizabeth-line-december-2022.pdf for now and… https://content.tfl.gov.uk/elizabeth-line-timetable-may-2023.pdf for the summer. As you surmise, it’s currently xx01 and xx31 from Terminal 5...

Yes, the line is now operating over its full length - albeit in what might be termed “overlap” mode. This change happened in December. Trains from Reading and Heathrow now run through Paddington - i.e. the low level Elizabeth Line platforms - to the central section and on through Liverpool...

I was actually thinking of the Met’s original offering 100 or more years ago. These days you’re right of course. That said, the morning peak sees trains that run non-stop from Moor Park to Harrow, and from Harrow to Finchley Road (i.e. not stopping even at Wembley Park). In the evening they all...

Not to mention insider dealing. Sir Edward Watkin was Chairman of both the Met and the GC - and the South-Eastern and the Channel Tunnel company, so it’s easy to see the optimistic lines on which his mind was running.

Two cars survive in separate ownership, and increasingly poor condition.

The DD sets were designed by Bulleid just before nationalisation. In practice the disadvantages - of which longer station dwell times were one - meant that only the two prototype 4-car sets were built. They survived until 1971.

The Metropolitan’s main line northwards out of Baker Street would definitely be classified as commuter rather than rapid transit. It got rich on stimulating housing development near its line in what was then - early last century - green fields. Even cut back to Amersham it’s a fair way - but a...

The locomotive has arrived with the sleeper from Penzance. In normal working, this is now the only time diesel traction is used under the roof (the 8xx trains are all in electric mode at this point). That Class 57 is indeed “old” - a few re-engineered from the original Brush Class 47 of the...

Yes, I suspect the good folk of Twyford would not wish to stretch their imagination in the Reading direction.

Nice report. That overall roof at Farringdon is typical of a surprising number of stations on the sub-surface lines, where the station is just in a cutting. Earl’s Court is a particularly good example. That’s a train of S-stock in the picture - a great improvement, with full-width links between...

A quick tunnel under Windsor Castle would sort it. What could possibly go wrong?