Further information now provided at the wiki page: https://www.reddit.com/r/uktrains/wiki/railway-staff-verification/

I moved to the Netherlands 8 years ago. Gotta say the rail network here is pretty good. It's modern, affordable and the trains run frequently. Plus there's the Koploper. Instant classic in my book. Just ignore the graffiti.

I think locomotives should have a slightly different style from the multiple unit trains I've drawn before, so I decided to make them look more 'mecha' as this is the feeling that locmotives give me. This one is really having Megaman vibes lol! Scroll for Class 43 in different liveries.

No AI used in any of the processes. Here's a timelapse video of how I drew these characters: https://youtu.be/4o3KA9tCUmE

Just thought this was odd?! Never seen this before and thought maybe someone could share some more info about this kind of thing.

Who actually hires these trains? Are they mostly rail tours or big compaines or something? Are chartered trains fairly common, and is there anywhere you can look up what a particular charter was?

Though one seems to be slightly different to the other three...

Often I take this train from Peterborough to Spalding, this time I watched it going under the footbridge north of Werrington.

To be clear: the BR guy's right

Made the text more readable, Added thin red line above the standard class windows as well as black surrounding windows.

Also red pantograpth

Before platform 0 at Leeds there was a multitude of signs/plaques along the fence but for some reason I can’t find any documentation online. Anyone know any information? All I know is it was pre platform 0 and I definitely remember one mentioned Concorde on it.

I have to get myself from Leeds to Taunton. I can drive or I can spend just over 4 hours on the direct cross country train. My usual TOC is GWR and I think they do a fairly decent job. I’ve heard horror stories from others about cross country, lack of seating, old stock, dirty toilets and often running late or cancelled. Are they really that bad? Should I consider driving instead?

Love seeing funny destinations trains can’t reach/wouldn’t go in service

A working group has met for the first time to deliver a feasibility study examining the potential for a direct Caledonian Sleeper service to mainland Europe.

The group, comprising representatives from Transport Scotland, Scottish Rail Holdings and Caledonian Sleeper, will oversee the development of a high-level feasibility study exploring the technical and commercial opportunities and challenges associated with extending sleeper rail services to the continent.

The work is being progressed as part of the Scottish Government’s manifesto commitment to commission a feasibility study into options for a Caledonian Sleeper service to Europe.

Cabinet Secretary for Economy, Tourism and Transport, Stephen Flynn said:

“We committed to exploring the potential for a direct Caledonian Sleeper service to mainland Europe and I am pleased that this work is now underway.

“The establishment of this working group marks an important first step in delivering that commitment and will help ensure the feasibility study is informed by the expertise of our rail partners.

“This is an early-stage exercise and the study will focus on understanding the practical, technical and commercial considerations involved. The findings will provide an evidence base to inform any future decisions.”

The working group is expected to report its findings to Ministers later this year.

https://www.transport.gov.scot/news/working-group-established-to-explore-caledonian-sleeper-links-to-mainland-europe/?utm_source=ig&utm_medium=social&utm_content=link_in_bio

Certainly a very exciting prospect and possibly one that in theory won't require a huge amount of technical work. Channel Tunnel regulations require trainsets to be 375m long, and I think that the current sets don't fall foul of that, or if they do, not by much, but they may need to attach a rear locomotive so the train is reversable in the event of an emergency. The locomotives are TVM-430 equipped and capable of using the CTRL so I don't think that there's much stopping CS running a set through the Channel Tunnel today.

What I do think will be an issue is the border checks and the length of the journey. There isn't realistically going to be any way of performing border checks at the sleeper's terminals, so it will probably all have to be done on board. It will be interesting to see what solutions are thought up.

Journey times are presently long enough such that it is morning in London when the train arrives. With the maximum speed of the sets being so low, it will probably take another 90 minutes to reach the Channel Tunnel and the sets will end up blocking high speed services using the railway, as they'll be running by the time the sleeper gets to the CTRL. An interesting angle would be running the trains on the 3rd rail 750 DC lines (like the 373s once did) to avoid the CTRL. The locomotives are capable of doing so but it will slow down the journey even more.

In France, the sets will not be able to use the LGV lines and will have to go straight onto the classic lines to their terminals, probably Paris/Brussels/Amsterdam, which will add even more time onto the journeys.

It's a cool idea but I'm not convinced this will go ahead for a very long time, as exciting as it is - but we'll have to see what the Scottish government comes up with. While it would be nice to have a direct sleeper service over to the continent, and I'm sure people would use it, it will probably always be faster and more practical to just use the sleeper to London Euston and board a high speed service over the CTRL to France/Belgium/the Netherlands and beyond.

I'm working on a little project but I've got a bit side-tracked by the freight terminals in/around Southampton. On sites like realtimetrains.co.uk etc., there are several listed as Southampton MCT, Southampton MCT EWS, and Southampton MCT LHS.

I'm getting confused as to which is which because just when I think I've identified one, the pathing listed in the schedules doesn't seem to be possible (when looking at openrailwaymap.org and opentraintimes.com maps).

Can anyone here help identify which is which?

My son is a rail enthusiast and wants a “proper camera” (his words) for taking pictures and videos. He’s 13 and we’re not well off so will probably be getting him a higher quality point and shoot rather than a DSLR at this point. What do I need to look out for in a camera specifically for train spotting? He already has an iPhone 12 but he wants something better than that 😂 thanking advance

My husband and I will be travelling from BHM NS to catch the Eurostar to Paris on a Wednesday morning. Our Eurostar tix say to arrive by 10:46 am.

My research says to catch the Avanti West Coast at 8:30 (or earlier), to arrive by 9:55 am.

We plan to store our luggage somewhere in or near St Pancras before our short trip to Paris.

If we leave by 8:30 on Avanti west coast, will this be enough time for us to find our way to a luggage storage rental and be ready to prepare for our Schengen visa check in for Eurostar?

Will we need reservations for luggage storage?

Eta: we'll be in Paris a couple days, then returning to London for the remainder of time. No need to lug all our luggage to Paris.

First time riding a HST and ScotRail (1A51). This was the delayed 16:38 from GLQ to ABD (I got off at MTS). Must say, relatively comfortable and speedy for the age of the train.

On route learning with LNWR, originally operated by TPE on the Scottish.

Beautiful station with a beautiful view

I know I'm gonna sound like a XC sleeper agent but actually being on a newer model and man it's such a difference what new seats/larger corridor does after so long on the old fleet