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What's in the news lately?
~The railway is in the process of being restored to public ownership (link above) - in short, passenger railway services are to be provided by public sector companies, instead of by private companies' franchises. The fine details are a little vague at this stage, and the rolling stock - i.e. the trains - will almost certainly continue to be leased from private companies.
~ScotRail plan to replace the venerable HSTs (railmagazine.com/news/2024/09/03/scotland-to-replace-hst-fleet/)
~UK's first battery-powered intercity train begins tests on the mainline (railtechnologymagazine.com/articles/uks-first-battery-powered-intercity-train-begins-testing-national-rail-network/)
~Network Rail will waive railfreight track access charges for six months (railwaygazette.com/uk/track-access-charge-waiver-aims-to-attract-new-freight-to-rail/67235.article/)
~First HS2 viaduct complete (mediacentre.hs2.org.uk/news/hs2-celebrates-first-completed-viaduct/)

Cool stuff to do?
~lner.co.uk/our-destinations/popular-destinations/trains-to-york/things-to-do-in-york/ - take a trip at 125mph from King's Cross to York. Make sure to spend an hour or two in the National Railway Museum near York station, and take in York Castle and the city's Viking history exhibits afterward.
~avantiwestcoast.co.uk/where-we-go/destination-guides/lake-district/ - journey through the Dales into Oxenholme, and go mountain biking through the gorgeous natural scenery of the Lake District national park.
~www.sleeper.scot/destination/ftw/ - take the Caledonian Sleeper from London to Fort William, then change onto the westcoastrailways.co.uk/jacobite/steam-train-trip/ Jacobite steam train that'll take you over the famous Glenfinnan 'Harry Potter viaduct'.
~scenicrailbritain.com/lines/st-ives-bay-line/ - the St Ives Bay Line will take you to the sandy beaches of Cornwall.
~cadw.gov.wales/visit/places-to-visit/caerphilly-castle/ - visit the largest castle in Wales, a short walk from the station.

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...and no book recommendation this time around - dunno about you but lately I've been absolutely hooked on the Olympics and, right now, the Paralympics. Here's a pair of the specially-liveried Eurostar trains at St Pancras, who've been ferrying TeamGB athletes & para-athletes between London and Paris.

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so what's stopping the government run rail franchises to slap the double arrow onto their trains and call themselves British Rail again?

>>2016941
Not a lot - it's probably what the end result will look like. Right now, the law needs to be changed so that this can happen, and so Parliament has to come to an agreement on exactly how it should be changed, and what it should be changed to.

Meanwhile, 'shadow GBR' is being set up by the people in charge of the Government-run rail franchises and Network Rail, ready to take over responsibility for passenger rail travel once they're ready and legally allowed to, and to make whatever improvements are possible in the meantime. Here's a brief speech from yesterday made by the Transport Secretary about this process: https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/establishing-a-shadow-great-british-railways

>...and no book recommendation this time around
Is that because nobody reads them?

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>>2016934
>First HS2 viaduct complete
The Colne Valley viaduct is now finished, as well: it's now the longest rail bridge in Britain. They've yet to actually install the track and sound barriers, of course, and there's the remediation work to the construction site, but there it is.

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Standard in the new 810s...

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...and First. Still going to be a year or so before they end up in service, though.

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https://hs2.green/our-conference-motion-e01-green-rail-strategy-for-the-midlands-and-the-north/

Grand Central's now open in Belfast, or the bus interchange portion at least ... supposedly the trains will be transferring to the new station 'sometime in the autumn' so, great, just in time for the nice weather lol. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_YCWnfFLsL0

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>>2016941
>so what's stopping the government run rail franchises to slap the double arrow onto their trains and call themselves British Rail again?
Give it time. Once they end this silly arrangement with the rolling stock all being leased from private owners you'll probably see something similar to pic rel, just replace Russia with GBR and Soviet Union with British Rail.

>>2017950
>Once they end this silly arrangement with the rolling stock all being leased from private owners
It's be nice, but given everything else in the news lately, I'm not sure anybody's going to find a few billion between the couch cushions to basically nationalise the ROSCOs as well.

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1. Except with written permission from an operator no person on the railway shall, to the annoyance of any person:

1. sing or
2. use any instrument, article or equipment for the production or reproduction of sound

I would rather drive down to London from the the Midlands than get on a train again. If it's more than 2 people in the car it's actually cheaper too.

Someone I work with was talking about rail strikes again, and I had to explain how there are two different unions, one for people who work on the tracks and one for train drivers. But it made me think: if train drivers are going on strike, and if the train companies are privatised, what do we care if they get paid more? It's a private company; my taxes don't pay train drivers. Do they?

>>2018551
>my taxes don't pay train drivers. Do they?
They don't. The closest you'll get to that kind of thing would be how Network Rail - the 'everything that doesn't move or breathe' people - currently exist in a legal fiction where they're an independent private company but just so happen to be underwritten by the Government so that they can borrow money from banks at favourable-ish rates. Like a 16-year-old being put on their dad's car insurance.

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vaguely interesting: there's track drainage work going on around Berwick this month, so for a few weekends it's Azumas up part of the WCML after doing a loop-de-loop in Newcastle.

(a rare thing since privatisation - one of those shitty 'it's cheaper + less faff for us to put on rail replacement buses than it is to have drivers maintain route knowledge outside their normal patch' things)

Scratching my head a little at this:

>https://www.railmagazine.com/news/2024/09/17/hull-trains-reveals-possible-sheffield-timetable

Hull Trains are after launching a direct Sheffield-King's Cross train, going via Retford - so doing a big loop around Gainsborough and Lincoln before joining the ECML at Newark. According to the article it's for the benefit of the Worksop catchment area:

>Hull Trains believes there is an untapped market which would make this new service worthwhile, saying that an estimated 350,000 people in the Worksop and Woodhouse catchment areas would have direct rail access to London with this planned new service.

...but Worksop already has an hourly train to Sheffield, which is of course on the Midland Main Line with St Pancras at the other end. Surely there's no pressing demand for a 'long way round' service to the station that's next door to St Pancras?

https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/excitement-builds-for-railways-200th-anniversary-across-the-south-of-england
>Railway 200 celebrations on track, as more partners get on board
>International festival programme unveiled, inspired by journey that changed the world
>National rail sale, largest assembly of trains and rail exhibits, national locomotive ‘whistle-off’, and much more!
>[big-ass list]
>These, and other events across the UK, are being publicised on a new interactive map on the Railway 200 website (www.railway200.co.uk). Other activities include anniversary-related train namings, open days, heritage trails, rail staff and public events, commemorative books, exhibitions, competitions, school and public talks, steam shows, site visits, murals, quizzes and charity fundraising.

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This sounds promising, as well:

https://www.railmagazine.com/news/2024/09/19/replica-of-locomotion-no-1-to-re-enact-first-rail-passenger-journey
>The celebrations will include a re-enactment of the first journey on the S&DR, taking place on 26, 27 and 28 September 2025. A newly renovated replica of Locomotion No. 1, the passenger carriage Experiment and coal waggons will run on sections of the original S&DR line over three days. Spectators will be able to see the train at designated locations and visit special events organised along the route over the three days. The Anniversary Celebration is sponsored by LNER and the festival team is working with Network Rail on route planning and delivery of the event.

I'm genuinely pleased that there's a 'proper history' angle to this as well: it feels just and right for Locomotion No.1 - or at least the NRM's replica - to have a fire lit in its belly and to haul a train along the same line its predecessor did, two centuries previous.

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sshhh ... train is sleep

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJx6MdesrY4

Like another world. Hard to believe it would all be obsolete within what, ten years?

What is a good example of a shunting yard devoted to the maintenance/assembly of engines and other rolling stock and nothing else?

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>>2019899
Doncaster Works

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>>2019899
Swindon Works, for the GWR - literally put the town on the map.

>>2019923
Such a shame it's partly derelict, these days: there's the big, wide, ornate overhead footbridge leading straight from the platforms to the old works, and it's all barriered off