Brown envelope 3 by 4 inches, with top corner missing so notes ( incl. £1 note) could be counted and a cellophane window at the front so the coins could be identified and counted. Any problems, returned sealed envelope to pay clerk for a recount. Once the seal was broken, you owned any discrepancy.

 

As I found out on a one day business trip some years ago from Leeds to Edinburgh. Having just a notebook and pen on me made me even more suspicious in their eyes, and I was given the full nine yards - security wise - both going there and returning in the evening.

Platforms 3 and 4 at Preston, the large central island, cover the main West Coast mainline services to London and Scotland. These are completely open right up to the main exit on Fishergate. The local services to Blackpool, Barrow, East Lancs, Manchester and Liverpool tend to use the side island platforms of 1 and 2, plus 5 and 6. These connect to the main exit/interchange by narrow footbridges, or at the centre of the station, by a subway. It is these chock points that have the RP^▸ (Revenue Protection, or Responsible Person, depending on context) team pretty active as they check new local arrivals and exits, plus interchange from the WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line).

You need to see to believe the amount of revenue protection personnel regularly deployed at Preston, particularly platforms 1 and 2 which serve Blackpool, East Lancs, Manchester and Liverpool. Those folk don't mess about!

1: Romford, Platform 1. Liberty Line

I do, and have a reproduction of it somewhere in a book I own.

6: Inside the avalanche shelter on the Kyle line near to Strome Ferry.

You make a good point. Certainly you would want the horse and rope past the bridge on the main towpath before unhooking the rope from the horse and passing around, by hand, on the inside of the columns to continue the journey.

Grahame, horses are measured in hands aren't they. Those cut marks look about one hand apart 

I am glad you saw the rope marks. I was tempted to mention them - which are now on the towpath side rather than towards the canal, as one would expect. The location was on my lunchtime walks when I worked in the Paddington area.

That last canal picture looks like 'Gunpowder Bridge'.

1 looks like Inverness

I do wonder exactly keeps failing. There are many components associated with points that are not necessarily part of the mechanical points themselves. Is it detection? Track circuit sytems?

Wasn’t it in 1892 that our last dual gauge main lines disappeared?  The gap between the Main Line platforms at Cholsey (as with many others on the GW^» (Great Western - used as an abbreviation for the area / lines under the Great Western franchise, as opposed to FGW which includes "First", the company operating them too. For tickets - about) main line) is considerably larger than the later Relief Lines as a legacy of Brunell’s early work.

Being a semi retired geologist, I have enjoyed many countries on Earth; some good - some definitely not so good. In many of the good countries I have sought out their railed transport without having actually travelled on it - being the rail nerd that I am in my spare time . I have sat down this afternoon and written them all down, and can see that I have entered 43 different countries in my time and travelled by rail in 15 of them. There are at least 10 others where I have only transited the airport (airside) and may have taken a railed airport inter terminal shuttle at some of them.