British Rail article

[Anonymous]

I have read your article with interest, may I point out that as a former British RailWAYS fireman who at the end of steam went as a British RAIL GOODS guard, I finished my railway career in 1992 after many years on the main line and I was working GOODS trains up until that date !!

WE NEVER called goods trains frieght trains except Freightliners, the last train I ever worked was 7H22 from Willesden to Manchester and it was a GOODS train with a GOODS brake van on the rear because part of it was loose coupled.

Camden

[RudyRockvilleMD]

First, welcome to this forum.

My latest experience with the railroads in Great Britain is with passenger service, and it dates from a trip from London to Newcastle to photograph some trains in late October 2002. My experience was mixed. In one case the train crew was friendly helpful and pleasant. Then I ran into one case where a station staff member couldn't (or wouldn't?) tell me about a competing train passing through his station, and another case where the platform staff didn't know whether an approaching train was the 13:56 or the 14:05 train from Newcastle to London.; I had seat reservations on the latter train. The train left Newcastle on time, it was half hour late arriving in London, and it by the time it left York there was standing room only in Standard Class, and all of the seats were taken in first class.

My wife and I were impressed with the Heathrow Express, but not with the slow as molasses lines to check in for our BA flight to Baltimore, but that's not a railroad problem.

The following day my wife and I went to Stratford Upon Avon. A lady and her daughter boarded the train at Reading expecting to go to Stafford and Liverpool only to find out she was on the wrong train; She had a near panic attack until aa few of us got together and found out she should have taken the train following us; it would have taken her to Liverpool directly. Our return from Stratford Upon Avon to London didn't go smoothly at all. Our train from Leamington Spa, (a brand new Virgin Trains train) was not only late, it was packed, and our car was badly overheated. Admittedly this was only a moderate problem, but we couldn't find anybody on the train to complain to, and to try to correct the problem.

I hope all of the railroad problems in Great Britain have been worked out.

[Anonymous]

I was somewhat amused to read the article written by Don Phillips about British Rail. The views expressed were somewhat reminiscent of a scene from a bygone age. Perhaps the article should have been in the Preservation section?

Let me explain. Firstly, British Rail has not existed for over 10 years. I assume he is not talking about British railways, as he used a capitalised version of Rail, and thus I assume he is using the defunct proper name. Even this website quotes "Lessons for U.S. passenger rail from British Rail."

Secondly, we do not refer to freight trains as "goods trains". This harkens back to probably the 1950s or earlier. Systemwide they are known as freight trains. The freight operating companies also call themselves freight companies and not goods companies.

Thirdly, what's all this about underinvestment, old, disorganised, etc? Maybe 4-5 years ago but not now. Those sort of comments come from newspapers like The Sun and the National Enquirer.

I could go on, but you get the point.

So, Don, you obviously haven't been to the UK in a while. Why don't you pop over and pay us a visit - and then write an informative and accurate article about it?

Geoff M.