Letters

IT IS always good to read Lord Berkeley’s contribution to The RM as he is one of the few politicians to talk common sense. His words on HS2 (RM May) were very much to the point and shows how the Department for Transport is out of touch as usual. It is surely essential that in…

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READING of the concerns raised regarding the pollution caused by diesel-powered trains, I was reminded of those superb cutaway drawings by L Ashwell Wood that appeared in the Eagle comic. One was of a rather futuristic idea of a Uranium 235 atomic-powered locomotive, that was published as a centre spread in the Eagle for August…

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THE RCTS column (RM March 2018) says ‘Shed permits were rarely if ever issued to single applicants whereas group visits were usually more successful’. It would appear, depending on the Region in question, the general minimum number was 10 or 12; the maximum 25 or 30. However, I successfully applied for several permits for two…

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AS THE editor has previously commented about the seats and their positions on new trains’ seats entering service, here is a passenger point of view. Whoever has designed the new Class 800s has never actually travelled on a train, or at least not for some distance. The seats in Standard Class are worse than sitting…

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IN THE January issue the editor asked what readers consider to be the ugliest multiple unit front end. The ugliest (or shall we say, least aesthetically pleasing) front end I have come across is the driving coach end (cabcars) of the push-pull units that operate between San Luis Obispo and San Diego in Southern California…

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HAVING seen your pictures of the new Bombardier and CAF trains for the new West Midlands franchise, I am bound to say that the front ends look dreadful, partly because of the continuing presence of a vestibule connection. What is the real need for this carbuncle, which doesn’t seem to feature in such prominence elsewhere…

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THE feature on the Hither Green accident by Fraser Pithie was very interesting, and while it was a terrible accident, it’s no exaggeration to say that it gave us all pause. As a civil engineer for BR (now retired), the outcome affected my work on the LM, and later SR, as well of hundreds of…

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PHIL Mathison’s request for information about the illustrious Master Neverers will all be told in ‘Never Again – The Book’, now being finalised for publication in 2018. The book has taken five years to put together and is a rich mix of the very best ‘mastershots’ in colour and black & white, but just as…

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KEITH Farr’s ‘Battling for the Far North’ (RM September) brought back many memories of travel on a line where a winter diesel-hauled run included a water stop en route to top up the steam heating boiler. My picture (above) shows No. 26045 on the 11.47 Thurso/Wick-Inverness taking water at Helmsdale on April 6, 1982. J A Cassells,…

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I PICKED this picture up on a recent visit to Brighton and wondered if any reader can identify the exact location? So far the following have been put forward: LB&SCR Brighton, Preston Park, Lancing Works, Eastleigh Works, Ashford, GWR Swindon, and Midland Railway, Derby Works. David Worth, Paignton Read more Letters, Opinion, News and Views…

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