| 31/12/2012 | Crook Inn campaign hits funding target [BBC News] |
| The building housing what was one of Scotland's oldest pubs could be saved, after local residents raised enough money to buy the property. The Crook Inn at Tweedsmuir, which dates back to the 17th century, was closed almost six years ago.
A community campaign to raise £160,000 to save the hostelry site hit its target, hours ahead of a deadline set at the end of 2012. |
Looking south along the trackbed of the Talla Railway between Broughton and Victoria Lodge in 2004. The old Crook Inn stands to the left between the trackbed and the road.
[John Furnevel //2004] | 
View south towards Tweedsmuir along the trackbed of the Talla Railway by the Crook Inn. Remains of the locomotive servicing facilities still stand a century after the line was lifted, although there is no trace of the wooden platform built here in 1899 by contractor John Best. The pillar on the skyline marks the route of the 35 mile long subterranean Talla Aqueduct, constructed between 1895 and 1905, which continues to supply millions of gallons of water each day to the City of Edinburgh.
[John Furnevel 25/04/2009] | 
^Time gentlemen....PLEASE!^ ...the landlord called, from his bunker at the far end of the car park. All part of that special Friday night ambience at the Crook Inn in the early part of the 20th century, thanks to contractor John Best, a wooden platform off to the left and the workers trains from Talla. Photographed in November 2005.
[John Furnevel 11/11/2005] |
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| BBC News | |
| The Talla Railway | |
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| 29/12/2012 | InterCity 125 designer Kenneth Grange knighted [BBC News] |
| Designer Kenneth Grange - creator of the InterCity 125 train and Britain's first parking meter - has been knighted in the New Year Honours list. [From Mark Bartlett] |
The GNER 0755 Inverness - London Kings Cross ^Highland Chieftain^ at speed through Linlithgow station in May 2005.
[John Furnevel 11/05/2005] | 
The first of the grey liveried National Express East Coast HST sets stands in the winter sunshine at Kings Cross on 19 December preparing to embark on its 530 mile journey with the 1400 service to Aberdeen.
[Mike Gibb 19/12/2007] | 
A BR InterCity 125, stands at Bristol Temple Meads in 1985 with a service to London Paddington.
[John McIntyre //1985] |
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| BBC News | |
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| 28/12/2012 | RMT union consults over escalating Network Rail dispute [BBC News] |
| Railway signal workers in Scotland are being consulted on escalating a long-running dispute over shift patterns. The RMT union made the announcement as members prepared to stage a fresh wave of strikes in the Stirling area on Hogmanay and 5 January. |
Interior of Stirling North signal box, May 1990. [See image 28834]
[Bill Roberton 13/05/1990] | 
A view of Dunblane signal box and its associated infrastructure on 6th May 2012. Special thanks are due to Network Rail and associated contractors for kindly removing the overlooking footbridge for the day to allow me to record this once in a lifetime image [see image 15697].
[Mark Dufton 06/05/2012] | 
Still a fine sight, despite a dwindling number of working leavers. Stirling Middle Junction signal box, photographed looking south on 5 May 2009.
[David Panton 05/05/2009] |
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| BBC News | |
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| 27/12/2012 | Huge chocolate train steams into records books [Telegraph] |
| Belgian chocolatiers have created the world's largest vintage steam train made out of chocolate, in an attempt to boost the country's internationally renowned chocolate industry. The 110-foot detailed sculpture of steam-powered locomotive created by chocolatier Andrew Farrugia is made up of 2,755 pounds of chocolate and took 784 hours to complete. [From Mark Bartlett] |
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| Telegraph | |
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| 26/12/2012 | China opens world's longest bullet train line [CNN] |
| China's Beijing-to-Guangzhou high-speed rail (HSR) link opened on Wednesday, a 2,398-kilometer journey rated the world’s longest HSR train line. Once a Shenzhen-Hong Kong HSR link is completed in 2015, the line will connect Hong Kong with the Chinese capital. |
A high-speed train during its trial trip from Zhengzhou, capital of central China^s Henan Province to Beijing, on December 14 2012. [Photo courtesy CR]
[See above 14/12/2012] | 
Map showing the new 1,428 mile Beijing - Guangzhou high speed route, the final section of which is scheduled to open on 26 December. [Photo courtesy Asahi Shimbun]
[See above /12/2012] |
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| CNN | |
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| 24/12/2012 | The restaurant at the end of the universe gets into wedding mode [Herald] |
| IT will be a wedding feast like no other, at one of the highest and most remote railway stations in Scotland. The bride and groom will arrive in March to get married on the deserted shores of Loch Ossian on windswept Rannoch Moor, a 20-minute walk from remote Corrour station. [From John Yellowlees] |
Having deposited a surprisingly large number of passengers at the station, 156463 departs from Corrour for Fort William on Saturday 27 October 2012.
[John Gray 27/10/2012] | 
^For what we are about to receive....^ a group of hikers sets out under distinctly threatening skies after disembarking from a train at Corrour in October 1980.
[Frank Spaven Collection (Courtesy David Spaven) /10/1980] | 
At 1520 the northbound service for Fort William pauses at Corrour. It^s been 15 years since I was a regular user of Corrour and the new station house and a waiting room on the platform are distinct improvements over the old Mansard roof house and no shelter whatsoever. Pity there^s no door on the new waiting room.
[Ewan Crawford 15/02/2010] |
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| Herald | |
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| 23/12/2012 | UK floods: Exeter railway tracks protected by dam [BBC News] |
| Flooding problems in Devon are continuing after the River Exe burst its banks. Railway engineers are working alongside the emergency services to try and prevent water reaching a vital signal box on the Paddington to Penzance line at Exeter. |
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| BBC News | |
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| 22/12/2012 | Services confirmed for Conon Bridge railway station [BBC] |
| Train services have been confirmed for a Highland railway station which is being reopened to help ease congestion during bridge repairs. The platform at Conon Bridge in Ross-shire has been shut since 1960. [From John Gray] |
Approaching Conon Bridge from Dingwall.
[Ewan Crawford //] | 
The early morning train for Inverness off the Far North Line crossing the river at Conon Bridge on 23 November 2003 on the way to its next stop at Muir of Ord.
[John Furnevel 23/11/2003] | 
The overgrown platform at Conon station (closed June 1960) photographed on 5 February 2011. A new station (to be named Conon Bridge) is proposed for the village, hopefully before 2012, when there are major road works planned for the Kessock Bridge. These are expected to result in significant delays to road traffic, particularly during in the morning and evening peaks. Protracted discussions regarding the cost (£1.6m for a basic platform and shelter) and ^who pays?^ have delayed the project.
[John Gray 05/02/2011] |
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| BBC News | |
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| 21/12/2012 | Christmas exodus gets off to disastrous start with rail delays [Telegraph] |
| Vast numbers of Britons are taking a two-week festive break this Christmas, with the exodus already well under way, according to transport experts.
But the fire in an equipment room at Acton station in west London has led to many services being cancelled to Paddington station, forcing travellers to find alternative routes on one of the busiest days of the year. [From Mark Bartlett] |
In addition to the ^Heathrow Express^ there is also a stopping service running between Paddington and Heathrow Airport using class 360 emus and branded ^Heathrow Connect^. On 4 June 2011 unit 360202 arrives at Ealing Broadway platform 3 with such a service on its way to the airport, while a Central Line train is preparing to head for town at platform 5 in the background.
[John McIntyre 04/06/2011] | 
A Heathrow Express bound for Paddington runs past the camera towards West Ealing station on 4 June 2011. On the far left is the Greenford line.
[John McIntyre 04/06/2011] | 
An aggressive looking Heathrow Express stands at Paddington on 20 July 2005, with its minder bearing more than a passing resemblance to Vinnie (watch your head in the door sir) Jones.
[John Furnevel 20/07/2005] |
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| Telegraph | |
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| 20/12/2012 | Christmas rail strikes called off after agreement between ScotRail and union leaders [Scotsman] |
| RAIL strikes which threatened to cause chaos for thousands of travellers in the run-up to Christmas have been called off following an agreement between ScotRail and union leaders. |
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| Scotsman | |
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| 19/12/2012 | Mudslide derails BNSF train near Everett [KOMO News] |
| EVERETT, Wash. (AP) - A mudslide has derailed a Burlington Northern Santa Fe freight train just south of Everett. BNSF spokesman Gus Melonas says the slide came off a 100-foot slope and struck the train at about 1:30 p.m. Monday, in the same area where a slide covered the tracks earlier in the day. Seven cars were derailed. Witness Ricky Ivelia saw the whole thing unfold. [From Richard Buckby] CLICK ON LINK BELOW. |
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| KOMO News | |
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| 19/12/2012 | Train hopping: Why do hobos risk their lives to ride the rails? [BBC] |
| Train hopping is a long-established tradition in the US, particularly popular in the Great Depression when the jobless took to the rails to find work. But why would people risk their lives hitching a ride on a freight train today? [From Mark Bartlett] |
BNSF Dash 9-44CW units 4441 and 1004 (with the assistance of four other locomotives unseen in this picture) get to grips with the eastern slope of the 5,800 foot Bozeman Pass between Livingston and Bozeman, Montana in September 2009.
[Andy Carr 21/09/2009] | 
A 5-unit lash-up (colloq) gets ready to take a heavy freight out of Rigby Yard, Portland, in October 1999.
[Bill Roberton /10/1999] | 
A freight train with the leading BNSF locomotive lying in the Big Horn River on 12 May 2010, following a derailment in Wind River Canyon.
[(Courtesy Brian Granger) 12/05/2010] |
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| BBC | |
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| 18/12/2012 | Steam train takes to London Underground in test run [BBC News] |
| A steam train built more than 100 years ago took to London's Underground system at the weekend. Transport for London is operating a service on 13 January to commemorate 150 years since the first London Tube journey.
A test run took place in the early hours of Sunday morning in preparation for the 300 passengers who applied for tickets through a ballot. |
Looking north from the Metropolitan platforms at Baker Street in July 1994 with A60 stock at Platform 2 about to head off into Metroland.
[David Panton 08/07/1994] | 
Looking out from the old trainshed along District Line platform 9 at Ealing Broadway in July 2005. This being a particularly wet day the external platforms are in use!
[John Furnevel 20/07/2005] | 
London Underground C Stock, stabled at Edgware Road sidings in September 2008.
[Michael Gibb 12/09/2008] |
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| BBC News | |
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| 17/12/2012 | Festive travel misery as ScotRail staff to strike on December 22 and Christmas Eve [Evening News] |
| Passengers face uncertain festive train travel after ScotRail’s main union announced strikes on the Saturday before Christmas and Christmas Eve over the sacking of a ticket examiner. |
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| Evening News | |
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| 15/12/2012 | Scottish rail strike: Talks fail to prevent Christmas action [BBC News] |
| Rail strikes in the run-up to Christmas are to go ahead after talks between ScotRail managers and trade union officials failed to achieve agreement. |
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| BBC News | |
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| 14/12/2012 | World’s longest high-speed rail opens Dec 26 [Morning Whistle] |
| The Beijing-Guangzhou high-speed railway, which is the world’s longest, is opening on Dec. 26, according to the China Central Television. With this, a trip between Beijing and Guangzhou, a distance of 2,294 kilometers, will be cut from 20 hours to eight hours. |
A high-speed train during its trial trip from Zhengzhou, capital of central China^s Henan Province to Beijing, on December 14 2012. [Photo courtesy CR]
[See above 14/12/2012] |
Map showing the new 1,428 mile Beijing - Guangzhou high speed route, the final section of which is scheduled to open on 26 December. [Photo courtesy Asahi Shimbun]
[See above /12/2012] |
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| Morning Whistle | |
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| 14/12/2012 | Edinburgh Haymarket station crane lift delayed [BBC News] |
| Work to lift part of a new 110-tonne superstructure onto Haymarket station in Edinburgh has been delayed. The move, due for overnight on Saturday, has been postponed because of a mechanical problem with the 1,000 tonne crane needed for the lift. Network Rail said it was disappointing but it expected the work could go ahead later in the week. |
Looking west along Shandwick Place towards Haymarket station on 12 December with tramworks in full swing. In the background, work is also underway on Haymarket station and interchange, with the jib of the 1,000 tonne capacity crane now on site protruding well above the station roof. [See news item]
[John Furnevel 12/12/2012] |
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| BBC News | |
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| 13/12/2012 | ScotRail workers to strike on Christmas Eve [BBC] |
| Workers on ScotRail will strike on 22 December and on Christmas Eve in a dispute over the sacking of an employee, the RMT union has said. In November, staff voted overwhelmingly in favour of taking action.
The RMT claimed one of its members was sacked after trying to make sure a passenger had the correct ticket.
ScotRail said the dates chosen by the union were 'cynical in the extreme' and a 'clear attack on the travelling public across Scotland at Christmas'.
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| BBC News | |
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| 13/12/2012 | Borders to Edinburgh rail route main contractor agreed [BBC] |
| Network Rail has appointed BAM Nuttall as main contractor for the delivery of the Borders railway in a £220m deal.
The contract includes detailed design and construction works for the route between Edinburgh and Tweedbank. Network Rail said it would see about 500 jobs created between now and the 2015 deadline for reopening the line. |
Seen from a carriage window of the ^Scottish Grand Tour No.6^ railtour on 4 January 1969, the Edinburgh end running-in board at Galashiels station and a totem which hopefully now graces someone^s study wall. The recently demolished (2012) Beechbank Mill, latterly converted to flats [see image 39258] forms a backdrop.
[Bill Jamieson 04/01/1969] | 
St Margarets B1 no 61099 on an Edinburgh – Hawick service, probably the 4.10pm ex-Waverley, seen here running between Gorebridge and Fushiebridge. The photograph is thought to have been taken in the summer of 1964.
[Robin Barbour Collection (Courtesy Bruce McCartney) //1964] | 
A train on the Waverley route in the early 1960s, thought to be the 1.40pm ex-Carlisle, crossing the Gala Water at Torwoodlee on the northern edge of Galashiels shortly after passing Kilnknowe Junction. In the foreground the Peebles loop can be seen diverging west. Note what appears to be a newish ^banana van^ (with yellow spot) amongst the tail traffic. [With thanks to Alasdair Taylor]
[Bruce McCartney Collection //] |
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| BBC News | |
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| 12/12/2012 | First glimpse of New Street's bright future [Network Rail] |
| An early glimpse of Birmingham New Street’s bright future appeared this week as the first sections of the station and new retail destination's stunning new façade were installed.
Workers have started the huge task of installing 8,000 reflective stainless steel panels which will eventually envelop the entire building. When complete in 2015, the façade will transform the drab, grey station building which has dominated the city centre for the last 40 years into a futuristic transport hub and aspirational retail destination for Birmingham. |
Some of the 8,000 reflective stainless steel panels which will eventually envelop the entire building at New Street when complete in 2015. The façade will transform the drab, grey station building which has dominated the city centre for the last 40 years.
[Courtesy Network Rail /12/2012] | 
Arrival at Birmingham New Street in February 2011. Some time soon, they will have to stop imagining what they might do to rebuild New Street, and give the existing station a nice big clean.
[Ken Strachan 05/02/2011] | 
Artist^s impression of the new Stephenson Street entrance to Birmingham New Street.
[Courtesy Network Rail /12/2012] |
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| Network Rail | |
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| 12/12/2012 | Plans for wi-fi on ScotRail trains due to be announced [BBC] |
| Plans to roll out wi-fi on more ScotRail trains are expected to be announced by the Scottish government. |
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| BBC News | |
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| 11/12/2012 | One of the best railway stations in the world [New Straits Times] |
| MOST of us who work or stay in Kuala Lumpur have passed by the Kuala Lumpur Railway Station in Jalan Sultan Hishamuddin. My brother once pointed to a group of tourists who were standing by the roadside taking pictures of the historic landmark. 'They seem to appreciate the building more than we do,' he said.
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| New Straits Times | |
| Pictures | |
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| 10/12/2012 | Passengers see clear improvement as final pane installed at Waverley [Network Rail] |
| The final pane of glass was installed in Edinburgh Waverley’s new station roof on Thursday 6 December as Network Rail’s £130m project to improve the station moved another step closer to completion.
Glaziers working on behalf of principal contractor Balfour Beatty installed the 24,700th pane of glass near the station’s western entrance two and half years after work began on the eastern side of the station.
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Up on the roof. View east from Edinburgh^s North Bridge in September 2011, showing work in progress on the roof of Waverley station. The old glass roof is in the process of being replaced by more than 24,000 (twenty four thousand) clear glass panels, installed as part of a 3 year project due for completion in 2013. The result of this work will be ^...to flood the station with natural light and totally improve the environment for passengers^.
[John Furnevel 27/09/2011] |
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| Network Rail | |
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| 09/12/2012 | Below-inflation Scottish off-peak rail fare pledge [BBC] |
| Off-peak train fares will rise 1% below inflation from 2016, the Scottish government has said. The condition to peg off-peak fares at RPI -1, or 1% below the retail price index measure of inflation, will be written into the contract for the next rail franchise. |
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| BBC News | |
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| 09/12/2012 | London Overground: East to south London in three minutes [BBC] |
| Londoners have a new route on their tube map from Sunday, as trains start to run on the new extension to the Overground network. The new route runs between Surrey Quays and Clapham Junction, allowing passengers to travel directly between south west and east London, via the Docklands. [From Richard Buckby] |
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| BBC News | |
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| 08/12/2012 | Great Central Railway plans museum in Leicester [BBC News] |
| A multi-million pound museum is to be built for the only heritage railway of its kind in the UK. The museum would be built close to the Leicester North station of the Great Central Railway, which spans Leicestershire and Nottinghamshire. It is intended to be a 'significant annex' to the National Railway Museum. |
Preserved ex-LNER D49 4-4-0 no 246 Morayshire stands at Leicester North station on 9 October 2010.
[Peter Todd 09/10/2010] | 
The GCR Leicester North station slowly thawing out on a quiet January Friday. Notice the brick cutout for the now demolished signal box on the right and the bricked-up entrance to the former Belgrave and Birstall station on the distant overbridge [see image 31066].
[Ken Strachan 15/01/2010] |
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| BBC | |
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| 07/12/2012 | ScotRail 'protected from West Coast fallout' [Railnews] |
| THE SCOTRAIL franchise has been extended by seven months, after the Scottish Government took advantage of a clause in its contract with FirstGroup to protect Scottish rail services from what it described as the 'fallout' following the collapse of the West Coast franchise competition. |
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| Railnews | |
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| 06/12/2012 | Kintore railway station to be ropened to travellers after 50 years [STV] |
| A railway station in Aberdeenshire will reopen after 50 years, Transport Minister Keith Brown has announced.
Mr Brown said Kintore station would reopen between 2014 and 2019. The station was closed in the 1960s after more than 100 years in service. |
With the remains of Kintore station platform behind the photographer, an Inverness service disappears towards Inverurie on 19 October 2012. The line to Alford curved away to the left at this point and is still identifiable as such for a short distance.
[John McIntyre 19/10/2012] | 
An unidentified class 47 at Kintore in May 1987. The train is approaching the former junction for the Alford branch from the South. I had a fast car and no mortgage. Happy days.
[Ken Strachan /05/1987] |
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| STV | |
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| 05/12/2012 | Dalcross to get railway link [Press and Journal] |
| Inverness Airport could get its own railway station in little more than a year, it emerged yesterday.
Transport Minister Keith Brown revealed in a parliamentary answer that the disused Dalcross station will open for business between 2014 and 2019. [From Crinan Dunbar]
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The former Dalcross station, between Inverness and Nairn, viewed from the north side of the level crossing in July 2011. The station closed in 1965 and like a number of others on this line is now a private residence. If a new station opens for Inverness Airport as proposed it will be sited to the east of here.
[Mark Bartlett 01/07/2011] |
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| Press and Journal | |
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| 05/12/2012 | Virgin Trains to run West Coast Mainline for extra 23 months [BBC News] |
| The government has announced Virgin Trains will run the West Coast Mainline for a further 23 months - hours before a report into the collapse of the line's franchise deal is published. An inquiry has examined why the £5bn deal collapsed in October. [From Mark Bartlett] |
An up Pendolino service runs under Victoria Viaduct and into Carlisle station on 3 June 2010.
[Colin Miller 03/06/2010] | 
A Virgin Pendolino service for Glasgow Central stands at London Euston in July 2005.
[John Furnevel 23/07/2005] | 
The new 11 car ^Extendolino^ 390054 heads south at Euxton on 29 April 2011 with the 5T35 service to Edge Hill following a test run between Carnforth and Carlisle earlier in the day.
[John McIntyre 29/04/2011] |
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| BBC News | |
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