London Rail
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The poster at right – ‘Five marvel at mythical Mumbles’ is GWR’s latest Famous Five poster. Its a lovely one and yes the area around the Mumbles is certainly a delight. But getting there? The text says:
‘Explore legendary places with Great Western Railway. Up to 21 trains per day from London Paddington to Swansea, and then a scenic bus ride to the beach.’
How much better it’d have looked had it said ‘a scenic tram ride to the beach’ – the Mumbles railway had once been the very means of directly accessing the beach at many locations. The ‘scenic bus’ is a poor substitute because it’s basically less convenient for the beach! One can’t argue with the scenic views around the bay though!
London Rail briefly
Llangollen Canal breaches again!
The Llangollen canal’s gone again! The cause is a fallen tree & culvert. It occurred late pm 6 August 2026 – local news & Youtubers have reported it & filmed the site. Its not looking too serious despite fields being flooded somewhat. The flow of water to Hurleston looks like its stopped due to low levels. CRT may need to drain the canal for repairs. It’ll mean another set of pumps to re-route the vital water supply to Hurleston reservoir. This latest Youtube video shows an emergency cofferdam being put in the canal.
Posts Round-Up
- A TfL spaghetti farce?
Art on the Underground’s new endeavour has a fun theme for children this summer –… Read more: A TfL spaghetti farce? - Congo cab ride – the unseen story
A train cab ride released over a week ago has garnered over three million viewers… Read more: Congo cab ride – the unseen story - TfL tube map poster changes
This is a quite different post especially considering the considerably hot weather that abounds at… Read more: TfL tube map poster changes - The Surrey Iron Railway #2
The world’s first railway to be authorised by an Act of Parliament was the Surrey… Read more: The Surrey Iron Railway #2 - London’s first CTC project
The tube was the first in the UK or Europe to adopt automated train control… Read more: London’s first CTC project - New Mill’s mystery ‘DMU’ tunnel
A recent video from Our History Underfoot (26th May 2026) covering the former Hayfield branch… Read more: New Mill’s mystery ‘DMU’ tunnel - The Morden-Edgware line
When it comes to the history of the London Underground, the Morden-Edgware Line is essentially… Read more: The Morden-Edgware line - The Wetterhorn Aufzug
Switzerland’s first ever cable car was once to be found near Grindelwald. Sometimes it is… Read more: The Wetterhorn Aufzug - The Surrey Iron Railway
Plateways, characterized by their flat-topped rails or “plates” often laid on stone blocks, were designed… Read more: The Surrey Iron Railway - From revisionist to factual
Remember the post A Revisionist Surrey Iron Railway? This post goes further that the detail… Read more: From revisionist to factual - Was canal breach partially due to hidden culvert?
A quick post on the latest involving the Llangollen canal at Whitchurch especially after a… Read more: Was canal breach partially due to hidden culvert? - Waymos – the way to go!
A short post on those exciting (or in the eyes of some, infernal) new autonomous… Read more: Waymos – the way to go!
Recent Comments
Yes it has been uncovered for sometime as videos by Riley Robey and Kieran and Lottie have shown. I have…
The secondary culvert, which was buried as a result of the breach, has now been completely uncovered, flushed out, and…
Yes, these are terrible misrepresentations of the true route of this historic railway. The fact that so many remains of…
Thanks for your comments. Yes these boards, which can be seen in Coulsdon on a recent visit I made, are…
The REASON I have a dark mode site is because it hurts my eyes and brain to have to constantly…
Malte: Have written a new post on the Whitchurch breach largely as a result of your comments. (Published 2.30am on…