That reminds me.

Recently, I noted references to 'NLS' on the Coffee Shop forum which were clearly not related to the station code of my local railway stop.

I therefore expanded the definition of 'NLS' in our forum's Abbreviations and Acronyms page, at https://www.firstgreatwestern.info/acronyms.html , in the interest of clarity.

The National Library of Scotland is an absolutely brilliant resource, particularly for maps: I commend them to all of our members and readers.

CfNLS.

 
Love it at first read and going back to enjoy in more fully in a minute.  I am very much aware that many a true word is written in jest.

 
It's six years since I rubbed my crystal ball, and having found it when looking for Christmas decorations earlier this month, I've given it a good rub to see what it has to offer. The last time it was hopelessly inaccurate, but who could have foreseen the pandemic? I've downloaded some cheap AI to help it this time, will the results be any better for predicting 2026?

1 - January 2026 - The big story is the leak by a disgruntled ex-ORR employee of the details of Lord Hendy's new dynamic fare structure, the centrepiece of his policy of simplifying the UK's train fares. In the Guardian article in which it is revealed, the draft computer program is run and gives (in some cases) more different fares for a sample journey in a week than there are passengers travelling that route. The leak also includes a draft of the new seven-volume routing and permitted use manual, designed to ensure that no-one can ever use a ticket with a cheaper fare for a journey on another one between the same two places. In the resulting furore, Lord Hendy resigns, the proposals are dropped but some of the cost of developing the software is recouped by selling it to Ryanair.

2 - February 2026 - Dismay at Go-op when ORR finally terminates their provisional track access agreement. Their dismay is deepened when they seek legal advice about a court challenge, and are told that their funds of £25-19, two old buttons and an old Coke can ring-pull are insufficient to fund the action. Their email offer to Richard Branson to help with his bid for a new cross-channel service goes unanswered.

3 - March 2026 - Concern in Scotland as SNP Transport Secretary Fiona Hyslop announces the award of the contract to replace ScotRail's aging fleet of HST to Ferguson Marine "to keep jobs in Scotland". There is however delight among the many fans of HSTs, who now know that they can look forward to many more years of holidays in Scotland to travel on their favourite trains.

4 - April 2026 - Political turmoil in the UK. Premier Starmer and Chancellor Reeve resign after a no-confidence vote fuelled by many competing campaigns for a new Labour leader and triggered by another set of poor economic figures. The subsequent leadership contest sees the Labour party split into four new parties - Pro Palestine, anti-Trans; Pro-Israel, anti-Trans; Pro-Palestine, pro-Trans and Pro-Palestine, pro-Trans. Andy Burnham decides that maybe Mayor of Greater Manchester is not such a bad job after all. In the subsequent chaotic snap General Election, Reform wins a narrow majority in a seven-way split vote. New PM Nigel Farage tries to find a new Transport Secretary and Rail Minister, but after Francis Bourgeois, Michael Portillo and Christopher Awdry all turn him down, he appoints Reform donors, the London property developers the Candy brothers, to the two posts. They promise a new national rail policy in the coming three months.

5 - May 2026 - After the Candy brothers announce their first proposal, a 75% reduction in staff at ORR and DfT, staff at both organisations go on indefinite strike. When Laura Shoaf, chair of shadow GBR and the managers of the remaining franchises ask the new government who should now give them instructions, they are told to "just get on with it".

6 - June 2026 - Eddy Dempsey, leader of RMT announces national rail strike in support of his campaign for an inflation-busting 8% pay claim and a return to guard/TM operated doors throughout the GBR system. In response, Donald Trump sends his trusted negotiator Steve Witkoff to help the new government settle the dispute. He emerges after three days hard negotiation with Dempsey announcing he thinks he has the basis of a settlement he is sure GBR will accept, involving all passenger trains having at least five RMT staff on board, and annual pay rises of at least 10% for the next five years. He then spends another three days at GBR and emerges  announcing he thinks he has the basis of a settlement he is sure RMT will accept, involving a three-year pay freeze and all passenger trains becoming one-man operated. Farage sends him back to Trump, settles the strike with a one-off 15% pay increase and is criticised in the Commons by Louise Haigh (Pro-Palestine, pro-Trans, Sheffield Heeley) for throwing away public funds to get a quick settlement.

7 - July 2026 - At the beginning of the month, there is uproar as the Candy brothers publish their new rail policy. All the London main-line terminals are to be sold for redevelopment as up-market blocks of flats, and the rail network is to be reduced to the Elizabeth Line, whose trains will be repainted in GBR's new Union Jack livery. Following riots and a further huge fall in the Governments opinion poll ratings (already battered by scarcity of fresh fruit and vegetables and consumer electronic goods after imposition of Trump-style tariffs and an invitation to President Trump for a second state visit - fortunately for the King, his doctors issued him with a sick note saying he should not be stressed by attending any state functions), Farage, ever the wily populist, fires the Candys and announces his own rail policy, involving re-opening all the lines closed by Beeching, restoring steam traction to the entire network and making it compulsory to sell warm beer and cigarettes at all catering outlets on the system. Mayor Kahn announces his own counter-proposals, involving TfL taking control of all the old Network Southeast lines and renaming the South West Mainline as "The Tolpuddle Line".

8 - August 2026 - Unhindered by the DfT and ORR, GBR gets on with it (as instructed) and issues provisional tenders for the replacement of all the DMU fleet that is more than 30 years old, and phased overhead electrification of the entire remaining un-electrified network. However no money is made available by Chancellor Tice, so all remain unfulfilled. Notwithstanding, both the Trans-Wilts and North Cotswolds lines record their first week without cancellations in living memory.

9 - September 2026 - Concerned by continuing problems with its IET fleet, GBR begins negotiations with Mexican and Nigerian railways for swapping some of their fleet for the return of the exported HSTs. Negotiations break down when both of them insist on retaining the HST seats to use in replacement for those in the IETs.

10 - October 2026 - Another political crisis engulfs the UK. A calm summer and early autumn results in the record annual arrival of illegal immigrants by boat across the Channel being achieved by October. Farage, recalling vaguely something from history lessons at school about an ancient king stopping the tide coming in by sitting in a chair at the edge of the sea takes an armchair to the beach at Dover and commands the migrants to stop. He is kidnapped by a gang of Albanian people-smugglers, who take him to Albania concealed in a container full of stolen car parts. To capitalise, they issue a demand for payment of £50 million in crypto currency, in default of which they will send him back,  and launch a fund-raising site on the Dark Web. Within 25 minutes of the site being open, the funds are raised, so Farage begins a lucrative new career in Albania selling crypto currency and bullion investment schemes on the Dark Web, but keeps his GB News contract, broadcasting weekly from a bar on the beach in Durres on the Albanian Riviera.

Notwithstanding the continuing ORR and DfT strikes, the Trans-Wilts and North Cotswolds lines both record their second cancellation-free weeks.

11 - November 2026 -  Another snap election is called, after Reform fails to agree on a new leader and splits into several factions. Another seven-way split vote occurs, but Kemi Badenoch eventually pulls together a workable majority after the return the MPs who previous defected to Reform and doing "supply and confidence" deals with the Lib Dems and the Anti-Palestine, anti-Trans and Pro-Palestine, anti-Trans Labour parties, securing the latter two by agreeing that they can have a free vote on any Middle Eastern-related matters. Before her ministerial appointments are made, Badenoch receives early Christmas cards from all her MPs each with a message pleading with her not to make them Transport Secretary or Rail Minister. Lord Hendy sends her his CV.

12 - December 2026 - The UK rail system has its least-disrupted passenger rail service over the Christmas period in years, because the failure of the outgoing government to allocate any funds for any major infrastructure works means no closures for them, but there are still problems due to a larger than usual number of temporary speed limits caused by overdue repair works on the network. New Rail Minister Lord Hendy announces further delays to the completion of phase 1 of HST2, the East-West line, the Leeds tram project and the re-opening of Botley Road in Oxford.
 
Happy New Year!

 

 
Looking at Plymouth and thinking that a lot of it developed quite late in the day and also, generally, 'How did this work'? Long distance Southern services - did they all start from Friary, tour the city and call at North Road and then Devonport before their onward journey? At... Catdown Bridge on the approach to Sutton Pool, did the Plymouth and Dartmoor Railway fade away and see its track lifted before the GWR reused the alignment and laid track once more? And at Laira, is that a flat crossing of the first on the scene P&DR across the GWR's line into Millbay Station?

Oh, and Albert Road crosses a good tunnel-over-tunnel intersection with little separation (with, for good measure a pub, the 'Railway Inn' sitting by the intersection and the location of surface buildings there very much constrained by the infrastructure beneath) . There's little indication of how the disused tunnel beneath the in-use railway is accessed for inspection. Perhaps there's an access between the two.

Mark

Plymouth on NLS Maps, two 25" to the mile sheets side by side...

https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/side-by-side/#zoom=15.5&lat=50.38584&lon=-4.17952&layers=168&right=178

 
Too easy to speculate here

 
Even on Boxing Day, this sad thread continues ...

 
A sad news update, from the BBC:

 
You're not a Droxford fan then!
I visited the then new QE2 just before her maiden voyage from Southampton with a few from our radio course.
Taken around by the QE2 chief radio officer, amazing to see.
Also confirmed my view that I didn't want to serve on passenger ships, but chose BP Tankers!
My first few ships had Droxford engines, which frequently caught fire, so we had to stop, let the engines cool down, and proceed onwards.

Thank you CfN/grahame for the engine room pictures; happy memories.
Hopefully with May sailings from Cornwall we might be able to sail this year.

 

As in this case, there sometimes appears to be an assumption that people know where the station is. In this case I didn't, in relation to the local road system.

 
I was living on Hayling Island, and we had a sunken road between farmers fields. I woke up to what was the top of a double decker Southdown bus visible between between the fields. Southdown policy was that crews were not allowed to leave an in-service bus. Fortunately the driver and conductor lived locally and their wives carried tea cans (remember the time before Thermos flaks were widely available) to them across the fields. I believe it was mid morning before the company said they could leave the bus.

The bigger risk nowadays is more likely to be a Q-Day, when a cyber attack takes out the majority of modern infrastructure in the country.

 
You'd reach the station along that road unless arriving by helicopter/parachute, so the bus stopping there does make sense!  Replacement buses serving the centre of a town/village rather than the station some distance from anywhere also makes sense, provided it's clearly signposted, along with warnings on journey planners.

 

60 years ago far fewer people had access to a car.

I can see an argument for Boxing Day services, pretty much everything else is up and running and there are a lot of sporting events/sales etc, but let's be honest, we can't rely on the railway providing the advertised weekend services at the best of times, so expecting them to do it at Christmas? No chance. Although the Unions would no doubt see it as a potential pot of gold for their members.

I think Christmas Day services would largely be carting fresh air around, can't see the need for them. People who do travel are largely looking for door to door (or airport) services at this time of year and all forms of public transport are pretty thin on the ground, hence the car is a better option for most.

 
For 26th December 1962, adding OTD for the big freeze of 1962/3 which is within my living memory

From Wikipedia


I remember my mother's school friend Hilda Rowley arriving back from India - via a ship and staying with us in Orpington before she headed back home up north.  We were cold anyway and had a problem sourcing any more coal to keep the house warmer.  The only thing we could obtain was some stuff called "Glowco" and we came to understand why - it glowed rather than burned and we had some of the dreadfully near-useless stuff clogging our bunkers of what felt like years!

OTD log - replaced:1226    2019    ~ Every HST Livery?     https://transportdesigned.com/pictures-every-single-hst-livery-ever/    hstyatt

 
Posted today onto the Southern Electric Facebook Page

 
Complete solution:

1. Paddington to Oxford and north Cotswolds
2. Bradford-on-Avon, Bath, Bristol and Filton Abbey Wood
3. Maidenhead to Marlow
4. Glasgow to Oban, and also onwars through Bridge of Orchy
5. Yeovil Junction to Pen Mill
6. Newquay to Par
7. Leeds to Goole
8. to Southminster
9. to Helston

 

Hmm.   From another topic:


My wife was a serving Merchant Navy officer, on the 'Queen Elizabeth II', before I met her and led her back on to dry land.

Somewhere, I have pictures of the 'engine room' on the QE2, where you could have parked a whole fleet of London buses, without even touching the sides.

(My wife of over 30 years now was in the Engineers team: I therefore had onboard unrestricted 'staff' access to those deepest bowels of the ship - as well as up to the Bridge, actually.)

More anecdotes are available. CfN.

 

Yes, 24 is Luxembourg at the main station, and 29 is Austria ... further completions of exact places I'll fill in tomorrow.

Luxembourg isn't actually all that small ... all the other micros states would fit in there, but the others it is wedged between are all much bigger.   

Members should be thankful that there's a handful of more obscure countries visited without rail interest seen, or in the case of Iceland you've already seen picture of the only exhibition loco from every angle!

 

It is, isn't it. Of course, everyone forgets Luxembourg, as if it's tiny like Lichtenstein or Andorra. I'd actually just been looking there, but to see if the hillier bits of scenery and buildings might fit no. 29. So far it was a draw with a less mountainous bit of Austria, which must now be the best bet. Specific location definitely "somewhere" - or perhaps "nowhere (middle of)" fits better.

 
Dovey Junction is a mile along the footpath to the A487 - the nearest road.

 
Oh, for goodness' sake.

After much more poring over my paper remnants of grahame's original itineraries, I conclude that image 24 is, as close as you can get to it, platform 6 in Luxembourg's main railway station.

I shall now go to lie down, with a cool Taunton towel across my fevered brow.

 
When will Waverley be in our area in 2026?   From the Waverley Excursions page

South West: Friday 22nd – Monday 25th May
Bristol Channel & South West Wales: Wednesday 27th May – Wednesday 17th June

South Coast: Thursday 3rd – Tuesday 22nd September
London & Thames: Wednesday 23rd September – Sunday 11th October

From 11th October 2025 ... let me show you what Waverley looks like (and an excuse for sharing some pictures)

 
Rats! but you are right, now I come to think of it. This part of Rugen is mostly flat (there are some hills and cliffs on the north-east coast, but not near here), and the Rasende Roland runs at a level mostly alongside roads.

So do I consult Wikipedia......

 

Right country ... but as I recall the Rugen Island line is through fairly flat countryside and there's no bridge that would be that high above the railway.  So it's elsewhere in Germany.

 

I take it that a RRB for Berney Arms would be a Rail Replacement Boat.

 
Looking at no.3 again, fortified by a traditional Christmas turkey lunch and a few glasses of sparkling wine, it has clicked!

Small black tank engine, green coaches, it can only be-

Germany, Rugen Island and the Rasende Roland narrow-gauge railway!

If the quiz master requires a location on the line, I might consult my Kompass map to see if it helps....

 

You need to bear in mind, Chris, that the planned / outlined trip to Istanbul and beyond turned out to be a trip to Narvik and beyond so you can take the early thoughts you have a copy of with a pinch of salt.

 

Courrour?

Berney Arms doesn't even get a RRB, passengers are told to go to Reedham or Great Yarmouth instead.

 

Correct for Bodoe, Norway.  A big crowd for a tiny train ... and that was the start of an interesting ride.

Here are the three that remain to be identified up to even the country level. 

3.


24.


29.

 



I, too, would have got that one, obviously. 

 
To my mind 3 and 29 were always going to be hard ones, not being "places". Since Austria is still availble one should be there. 24 is maddening, as it ought to be well-known.

28 might not have been Sweden, since SJ run much of the railway in Norway as well as Sweden. But while the train in 11 is barely visible so no help, there is writing on the hotel in the background. That leads to Bodø, Norway, fitting in with 28 being Sweden.