Operations and services | Friends of the NRM

Operations and Services
Stories covering: all aspects of railway services and facilities and research to improve services.

Use arrows beside the story “tasters” to chose the one you would like to read, then click on the picture. For more information on the category codes and coverage

Stories covering: Train operations in general, such as train scheduling, train formation, public and working timetables, disruption to services, and research to improve services.

General

A Fine Time Was Had by All

Some railway celebrations over the years Openings of new railways were usually accompanied by celebrations. Bands, bunting, flags,...

The Role of Guards from 1874

List of duties to be carried out by passenger guards on the Great Western Railway. . . . . . . There is no doubt that passenger guards...

Heat and light

For trains in the worst of weathers. . . . . . . With the costs of fuel, lighting, heating, weird weather and global warming very much in...

Another Award!

Did you know that Shrewsbury's Severn Bridge Junction signal box was given away award from the National Railway Heritage Association. And...

Kings Cross PSB - closure

Kings Cross PSB opened on 4 July 1976 as part of the ongoing ECML resignalling programme. It was fitted with an NX Panel of the Henry...

Improvisation at a time of national (royal) emergency

Queen Victoria died on 22nd January 1901 at Osborne, on the Isle of Wight. On the day before the funeral, the coffin was taken by Royal...

Freight Services

Stories covering: All forms of freight train operation, including goods station and marshalling yard operations, handling regular and special goods.

The Vinegar Works Line

Railway signals deployed for road users in Worcester. . . . . . . The Worcester Railways Act of 1870 authorised the building of a line to...

Rabbits and Railways

A one-time revenue source - and unwelcome tunnellers. . . . . . . . In the days when rabbits were an important part of the national human...

The Humble Wagon

Summary: A brief history of mineral wagons and reminiscences of loose coupled shunting. . . . . . . . Some of us might remember standing...

It was ninety years ago today

On the 28th March 1930, the journey of one of the Great Western Railway’s strangest export loads started. The load was a complete...

Passenger Services

French Exchange

British and French enginemen try each other’s locomotives. . . . . . . In the late 1950s, Richard Hardy (who was generally known as Dick...

Child Emigration starting by Train

To Canada and Elsewhere. . . . . . . From 1887 onwards, 16,000 children in the care of the Barnardo’s charity for vulnerable children had...

Feeling The Heat

Hot passengers, hot tracks and warm bananas. . . . . . . . Let’s look first at the well wrapped-up passengers of old. Engineer Archibald...

Rabbits and Railways

A one-time revenue source - and unwelcome tunnellers. . . . . . . . In the days when rabbits were an important part of the national human...

The Funeral Train of King George VI.70 years ago, Paddington to Windsor.

70 years ago on the 15th February 1952, the nation was in mourning following the death of King George VI. It was arranged that the King’s...

The “Wallingford Bunk”

In 1864, an independent company secured powers to build a railway from Wallingford Road, Moulsford through Wallingford to Watlington – a...

The “Marlow Donkey”

On 28th June 1873 the Great Marlow Railway Company’s line opened for passenger traffic. At two miles and 61 chains long, it became the...

Buy British!

90 years ago in November 1931, the westbound Paddington to Penzance “Cornish Riviera Express” hauled by “King” class locomotive number...

The Bristolian

One train that was always guaranteed to rattle the windows of my booking office and leave a vortex was “The Bristolian” Paddington to...

Queen Victoria's early rail journeys to Balmoral

Prince Albert had bought the Balmoral estate unseen in 1848. That year, Queen Victoria and Albert travelled by a circuitous rail route...

Holiday Trains – The Inside Story

Holiday tours by train in the East Midlands including Mystery Tours and Starlight Specials. . . . . . . Rather like you, I imagine, I...

Pilgrims' progress

Pilgrims arriving at Lourdes station: photo courtesy of the Archdiocese of Liverpool. Since the apparitions seen by Bernadette Soubirous...

The High Speed Train is now slipping into history

As we see the withdrawal and re-purposing of BR’s High Speed Trains, we can reflect on one of their glory days at least, now almost 35...

Stories include: All forms of passenger train operation such as commuter, Inter-city expresses, sleepers, excursions and luxury trains.

Road, Water, Air, Ancillary Services

Stories include: Road bus and road-coach services, road collection and delivery services, ferries, hotels and catering services.

“Blazing Saddles”

Railways at one time encouraged tourist bicycle traffic. (With apologies to Mel Brooks and his 1974 film of the same name.) Bikes were...

The little friend in the corner

The “Friend” is the Great Western Railway (GWR) Automatic Train Control system. Known as ATC, it was first used on the Henley-on-Thames...

Getting the meat to Smithfield

As a child familiar with red Underground trains, I remembered the excitement of seeing a steam train coming out of the tunnel into the...

An interesting load for the GWR

During a spell working in Exeter in 1970, my daily route to work took me past the bronze equestrian statue of General Sir Redvers Buller...

Riding a "toad"

The name “Toad” was the Great Western Railway (GWR) telegraphic code name for the goods train brake van. There was also the “Toadfit”...

Hotels and Holidays

The story of Dean and Dawson, travel agents, and Sheffield’s Royal Victoria Hotel. . . . . . It was a pleasant morning in the hotel...

Telephone: 01904 636874
Email: nrm.friends@sciencemuseum.ac.uk

The Friends of the National Railway Museum

Operations and Services
Stories covering: all aspects of railway services and facilities and research to improve services.

Use arrows beside the story “tasters” to chose the one you would like to read, then click on the picture. For more information on the category codes and coverage

General

Freight Services

Passenger Services

Road, Water, Air, Ancillary Services

Operations and Services Stories covering: all aspects of railway services and facilities and research to improve services.

Use arrows beside the story “tasters” to chose the one you would like to read, then click on the picture. For more information on the category codes and coverage

General

Freight Services

Passenger Services

Road, Water, Air, Ancillary Services

Operations and Services
Stories covering: all aspects of railway services and facilities and research to improve services.