(15 Dec 2013, 4:04 am)alibill_36 wrote [ -> ]The train you seen was the RHTT train (leaf buster) which on the 28/11 was worked by 47805/47810 with two wagons sandwiched between them.
3S77 Carlisle - Carlisle via the world due south through Durham 08:30 back north 13:53.
Off Carlisle 03:35 due back..........16:45 the smoking/steaming would be the jets on the wagons blasting the crap (if any) off the tracks.
Ah, there you go. That would explain it.
Certainly didn't get a good look at them due to the Voyager, but what I did see, ties in the example you gave.
However, it was a good while before 8.30 that it went through and at 8.30 a freight train was heading south.
Dragging my family down to NRM Shildon tomorrow for The Great Farewell. Was unable to go to York when the 6 remaining A4s were all there, but I suppose I've now got a second chance
(16 Feb 2014, 11:46 pm)Adam wrote [ -> ]Dragging my family down to NRM Shildon tomorrow for The Great Farewell. Was unable to go to York when the 6 remaining A4s were all there, but I suppose I've now got a second chance
How are you getting down? Car, bus train?
It is a good day, especially if you have never been before.
There were a few buses in last time we were there, inc the United bus that used to appear on Heartbeat.
For a small donation, it would take passengers on a short run to Heighington and back.
(17 Feb 2014, 10:13 am)andreos1 wrote [ -> ]How are you getting down? Car, bus train?
It is a good day, especially if you have never been before.
There were a few buses in last time we were there, inc the United bus that used to appear on Heartbeat.
For a small donation, it would take passengers on a short run to Heighington and back.
We just drove down in the car. It's been a good few years since I was last there so it was good to go back.
No buses apart from the museum's own Iveco Eco Bus were there.
I overheard one steward saying the museum was "at full capacity". The overflow car parks were both full.
Great day out on the whole. Managed to get a shot of all 6 A4s together, as seen below
EDIT (18:20): Fixed it
(17 Apr 2014, 10:32 am)Andreos Constantopolous wrote [ -> ]Don't take selfies by a railway line!
http://www.thepoke.co.uk/2014/04/17/man-...-to-train/
If that had been me driving I'd have got a fishing hook and heaved him up by his back collar then have an Indiana Jones style battle with him in the cab (like he did in Raider's of The Lost Ark in the cab of the truck)
(17 Apr 2014, 6:02 pm)Marcus wrote [ -> ]If that had been me driving I'd have got a fishing hook and heaved him up by his back collar then have an Indiana Jones style battle with him in the cab (like he did in Raider's of The Lost Ark in the cab of the truck)
He has been a lucky fella!
ps - you have messaging turned off, I cant reply to your pm.
(23 May 2014, 6:21 am)citaro5284 wrote [ -> ]Go Ahead/Keolis have been awarded the new Thameslink franchise
http://go-ahead.com/media/news/2014-news...-2014.aspx
Good to see. First are hopeless. I was stuck on a morning journey to Brighton on Monday, and they only seemed to have 4 car sets running instead of the advertised 8. It'll be good to see the horrendous 319s go too.
Some of the money given to them by the Dft is eyewatering.
On top of that, Go-ahead can receive millions of pounds in performance benefits - by doing the job as its supposed to be done, all by the midpoint of the contract.
Can anyone confirm if the Key will be standalone or will it be integrated into a system whereby a Key holder from anywhere in the country can use it on one of these trains?
(23 May 2014, 11:48 am)Andreos Constantopolous wrote [ -> ]Some of the money given to them by the Dft is eyewatering.
"The franchise departs from previous models, with Govia now handing over revenue to the government rather than paying set premiums. Instead, the DfT will pay Govia a flat fee of around £8.9bn over the seven years, from expected revenues of £12.4bn – effectively generating a total premium of £3.5bn from Govia in traditional terms"
Not bad
(23 May 2014, 11:48 am)Andreos Constantopolous wrote [ -> ]Some of the money given to them by the Dft is eyewatering.
On top of that, Go-ahead can receive millions of pounds in performance benefits - by doing the job as its supposed to be done, all by the midpoint of the contract.
Can anyone confirm if the Key will be standalone or will it be integrated into a system whereby a Key holder from anywhere in the country can use it on one of these trains?
I doubt it. I was told by Brighton and Hove last year that I couldn't have a Key card, because I had one with Go North East. The system recognised BOTH my email address and address as duplicate. After no luck with both sets of customer services, I got round it by adding an extra smtp address to my mailbox, and by misspelling my address on my Brighton and Hove registration.
I did suggest that my existing key card number just be added to their system, but that appeared to be a no go either.
(23 May 2014, 5:06 pm)citaro5284 wrote [ -> ]"The franchise departs from previous models, with Govia now handing over revenue to the government rather than paying set premiums. Instead, the DfT will pay Govia a flat fee of around £8.9bn over the seven years, from expected revenues of £12.4bn – effectively generating a total premium of £3.5bn from Govia in traditional terms"
Not bad
Not bad at all, Investors seem to think so as GoAhead were the best performing share on the market yesterday up £1.74 to £21.13
A nice result for anyone holding GoAhead shares or taking part in a share save scheme.
(23 May 2014, 5:42 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]I doubt it. I was told by Brighton and Hove last year that I couldn't have a Key card, because I had one with Go North East. The system recognised BOTH my email address and address as duplicate. After no luck with both sets of customer services, I got round it by adding an extra smtp address to my mailbox, and by misspelling my address on my Brighton and Hove registration.
I did suggest that my existing key card number just be added to their system, but that appeared to be a no go either.
Curious to see it in practice.
Going from the information you have provided - a bus passenger (who has used their Key to get a bus to Brighton station), will not be able to use it on the next stage of their journey via train from Brighton, on either of the Go ahead franchises.
Hopefully they have enough about them to get it sorted asap.
What this also does, is create a monopoly on the Brighton line, with Go ahead also owning Southern.
Curious to see how prices evolve on the route which was previously in competition, with another toc.
Overall, the London Midland, Southern, South Eastern and what is currently FCC operations, give Go ahead an absolutely massive footprint leading into and out of London.
Fingers crossed they can ensure positive employer relations going forward, otherwise the network will grind to a halt - damaging citaro5284's healthy shareholder profits!
(23 May 2014, 5:06 pm)citaro5284 wrote [ -> ]"The franchise departs from previous models, with Govia now handing over revenue to the government rather than paying set premiums. Instead, the DfT will pay Govia a flat fee of around £8.9bn over the seven years, from expected revenues of £12.4bn – effectively generating a total premium of £3.5bn from Govia in traditional terms"
Not bad
An excellent deal for the country, economy and taxpayers eh?
(24 May 2014, 8:00 am)Andreos Constantopolous wrote [ -> ]An excellent deal for the country, economy and taxpayers eh?
3.5bn profit.....too right an excellent deal, of course the revenue risk is now with the government as opposed to the TOC (bit like QCS). If people stop travelling, the profit will reduce, and of course if more people travel, even more profit for the government.
(24 May 2014, 8:10 am)citaro5284 wrote [ -> ]3.5bn profit.....too right an excellent deal, of course the revenue risk is now with the government as opposed to the TOC (bit like QCS). If people stop travelling, the profit will reduce, and of course if more people travel, even more profit for the government.
Why give them in the first place?
The revenues per year (over a 7yr period) is predicted to be £1.3bn as well as £1.1bn revenue in franchise payments per year.
Go ahead get that AND millions of pounds for doing their job by getting trains to run on time.
The Government hand over £9bn and generate £3.5bn profit over 7yrs.
I struggle to see any benefit to the taxpayer in that deal at all.
That £9bn from the Government is to cover Go ahead operating costs! The Government are giving a multi-national company £9bn so they can run trains.
Howay man - all it needs is for the penny to drop and someone in the Government to realise that instead of turning a £3.5bn revenue profit by whore-ing out this particular railway, they could generate £12.4bn by keeping it in house.
(24 May 2014, 8:48 am)Andreos Constantopolous wrote [ -> ]Why give them in the first place?
The revenues per year (over a 7yr period) is predicted to be £1.3bn as well as £1.1bn revenue in franchise payments per year.
Go ahead get that AND millions of pounds for doing their job by getting trains to run on time.
The Government hand over £9bn and generate £3.5bn profit over 7yrs.
I struggle to see any benefit to the taxpayer in that deal at all.
That £9bn from the Government is to cover Go ahead operating costs! The Government are giving a multi-national company £9bn so they can run trains.
Howay man - all it needs is for the penny to drop and someone in the Government to realise that instead of turning a £3.5bn revenue profit by whore-ing out this particular railway, they could generate £12.4bn by keeping it in house.
They could generate 12.4bn, but then take away the cost of operating it you are probably still down to the same figure for profit, but if the government wants to franchise the railways out, thats the name of the game, I dont blame Go Ahead or any other train operator.
Figures quoted yesterday I believe said Go Ahead would only be making around 3% profit, which lets be honest is not that good.
(24 May 2014, 9:23 am)citaro5284 wrote [ -> ]They could generate 12.4bn, but then take away the cost of operating it you are probably still down to the same figure for profit, but if the government wants to franchise the railways out, thats the name of the game, I dont blame Go Ahead or any other train operator.
Figures quoted yesterday I believe said Go Ahead would only be making around 3% profit, which lets be honest is not that good.
I agree, it isn't that good of a margin.
However as a taxpayer, I would prefer the 3% (according to Goldman Sachs circa £250m) in the public purse, rather than it sitting in the kitty of a plc.
http://orr.gov.uk/news-and-media/press-r...rt-2012-13
(28 May 2014, 7:32 pm)citaro5284 wrote [ -> ]Quite like George Muir's comments at the bottom.....
http://www.passengertransport.co.uk/2014...ranchises/
The sexist comment stood out to me. It's completely unacceptable to use the phrase "ditzy airhead" when describing a women.
But as for his comments as a whole. The last paragraph sums it up for me. Whilst I appreciate that things like track works are outside of First's control, I don't see why the drop in payments should allow the construction of commercial premises, and to allow them to maintain their fleet?
Fancy me going running to HMRC and telling them I'll be paying 75% less tax this year, as I need that money because I fancy building a conservatory and installing a hot tub in the garden...
(28 May 2014, 7:48 pm)aureolin wrote [ -> ]But as for his comments as a whole. The last paragraph sums it up for me. Whilst I appreciate that things like track works are outside of First's control, I don't see why the drop in payments should allow the construction of commercial premises, and to allow them to maintain their fleet?
Fancy me going running to HMRC and telling them I'll be paying 75% less tax this year, as I need that money because I fancy building a conservatory and installing a hot tub in the garden...
I think where he is coming from is that the trains, buildings etc are all part of the franchise and should be paid out of the franchise. An example is why should First pay to maintain the fleet, when the fleet is not their's in the first place.
Of course, your house is your own property, so you should pay for the conservatory and hot tub yourself
(28 May 2014, 8:04 pm)citaro5284 wrote [ -> ]I think where he is coming from is that the trains, buildings etc are all part of the franchise and should be paid out of the franchise. An example is why should First pay to maintain the fleet, when the fleet is not their's in the first place.
Of course, your house is your own property, so you should pay for the conservatory and hot tub yourself
Don't really have much of an idea bout the complexities of deregulation of the rail industry, but I thought they leased the trains from a leasing company? Which are owned by banks?
I'm convinced that if I went and leased a car off a proper company, I'd be expected to maintain it to their requirements, at my own expense.
