Category: London
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England and Wales’ canal network will receive an additional £6.5 million in government funding to enhance resilience against extreme weather and maintenance costs. This adds to the existing £52.6 million annual funding for the Canal and River Trust (CRT). The investment aims to extend the life of critical assets such as embankments and reservoirs, supporting…
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Today (Saturday 31st January 2026) Great Western Railway’s battery train (Class 230) began public service. Initially it will operate Saturdays only with a view to increased coverage during the week as the year progresses. I attended the first day’s operation in the early morning with the 08.15, 08.45 and 09.15 trips from West Ealing to…
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The small and somewhat cramped accommodation on platform one at Paddington station has been replaced by a new a bigger unit right on the Lawn itself. The new Assisted Travel Lounge is sited near platform nine and it was formerly separate shop units (including a Whistlestop store) that were merged and refurbished to create this…
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A famed British Rail ship that’s for sale? Erm, which one was this then? Well it was one that stood right by water but it was also one that never floated! The last ‘captain’ of the said ‘ship’ had been one who owned a world-wide business concern that included a privatised yet highly reputable railway…
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Cab ride on Crossrail (aka TfL Rail/Elizabeth line) in December 2019 which was filmed and uploaded to Youtube – hence this is a 5th anniversary post of sorts! The event in question was the first day TfL Rail services to Reading officially started. In a report written on that full Class 345 round trip it…
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Well after 186 years it finally happened! GWR trains go to Euston! That had been the original intention back in the 1830s when Brunel and the London and Birmingham Railway had agreed to share the new terminus at Euston. What happened next was a series of disagreements which led to Brunel setting his mind upon…
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This is a post examining the long held refutation that double deck trains simply cannot be used on our gloriously tinpot railway systems. This is the second part of a response I have made claim in regards to a Twitter thread on the subject – and that tweet was yet another refutation the UK could…
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This is a follow up to other stuff on Wandsworth’s Young’s Ram brewery and the Surrey Iron Railway. Some further stuff related to the former waterway (known as McMurrays canal) which served the town and its brewery was found thus this post was created. Since there’s very little written on this canal, it seemed a…
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A few weeks back I had written draft posts with the title Tinpot Railways – these being about the huge disbenefits of Britain’s railways and the backwards culture that is promulgated – it critically examined the role of our railways in new and unthought of ways. By way of my research I know Japan’s railways quite well…
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The history and construction of the lines that make up Thameslink are of considerable importance because they are what made the original ‘Thameslink’ network possible. It didn’t really work however as everyone saw London as the place where all their trains went to and any onward journeys were simply a case of using the sub-surface…
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