Murray Tremellen
@drmtremellen.bsky.social
Historian and museum curator. #ActuallyAutistic. Views my own. He/him.
And I laught a hollow laugh when I think of all those faux-environmentalists who told us that HS2 was only being built because of 'vested interests in the railway construction industry'. Perhaps those vested interests weren't quite so powerful after all.
December 18, 2025 at 9:01 AM
And I laught a hollow laugh when I think of all those faux-environmentalists who told us that HS2 was only being built because of 'vested interests in the railway construction industry'. Perhaps those vested interests weren't quite so powerful after all.
I suppose you could call it proto-PoMo? 😂
December 15, 2025 at 5:49 PM
I suppose you could call it proto-PoMo? 😂
It's a constant gripe among the autistic community that we are the ones who actually say what we really mean, and yet society repeatedly tells us that we have a 'communication defecit' because we are 'rude'. Hmm. 🙃
December 15, 2025 at 3:51 PM
It's a constant gripe among the autistic community that we are the ones who actually say what we really mean, and yet society repeatedly tells us that we have a 'communication defecit' because we are 'rude'. Hmm. 🙃
But did it rain on the plain whilst you were there? 😉
December 15, 2025 at 3:50 PM
But did it rain on the plain whilst you were there? 😉
TBF, we've already had ample proof that blue livery can look good on trains. Caledonian Railway, Great Eastern Railway, SDJR, North Western Railway... 😉
December 9, 2025 at 9:38 PM
TBF, we've already had ample proof that blue livery can look good on trains. Caledonian Railway, Great Eastern Railway, SDJR, North Western Railway... 😉
...compatible with each other, giving far less flexibility in train formations. Again, another one of those post-Beeching reforms which might be good economics, but does nothing to help customers.
December 4, 2025 at 10:36 AM
...compatible with each other, giving far less flexibility in train formations. Again, another one of those post-Beeching reforms which might be good economics, but does nothing to help customers.
...there is another issue here, in that in the days of loco haulage, every carriage was compatible with every other carriage, and it was relatively easy to pull an extra one out of a siding to deal with peaks in demand. The modern railway mostly comprises fixed-formation DMU fleets which aren't...
December 4, 2025 at 10:36 AM
...there is another issue here, in that in the days of loco haulage, every carriage was compatible with every other carriage, and it was relatively easy to pull an extra one out of a siding to deal with peaks in demand. The modern railway mostly comprises fixed-formation DMU fleets which aren't...
...add extra carriages. Of all the capacity constraints, this one ought to be the most easily fixable.* But it won't be fixed, because our railways continue to be governed by the sacred laws of economics, rather than by the needs of a public service. That's where we've gone wrong.
*Admittedly...
*Admittedly...
December 4, 2025 at 10:36 AM
...add extra carriages. Of all the capacity constraints, this one ought to be the most easily fixable.* But it won't be fixed, because our railways continue to be governed by the sacred laws of economics, rather than by the needs of a public service. That's where we've gone wrong.
*Admittedly...
*Admittedly...
...in demand. How can we expect them to cope with that, if there's no slack in the system?
Admittedly, there are other constraints on capacity etc. lack of paths, crews, etc. But I've certainly been in situations over the years where a short train has been overcrowded but it is impossible to...
Admittedly, there are other constraints on capacity etc. lack of paths, crews, etc. But I've certainly been in situations over the years where a short train has been overcrowded but it is impossible to...
December 4, 2025 at 10:36 AM
...in demand. How can we expect them to cope with that, if there's no slack in the system?
Admittedly, there are other constraints on capacity etc. lack of paths, crews, etc. But I've certainly been in situations over the years where a short train has been overcrowded but it is impossible to...
Admittedly, there are other constraints on capacity etc. lack of paths, crews, etc. But I've certainly been in situations over the years where a short train has been overcrowded but it is impossible to...
...Holidays, etc. Beeching scrapped them all because it wasn't economic to maintain assets which might only be used for a couple of weeks each year.
For an economic viewpoint, that's undoubtedly true. But the reality is, any public transport system will always experience peaks and troughts...
For an economic viewpoint, that's undoubtedly true. But the reality is, any public transport system will always experience peaks and troughts...
December 4, 2025 at 10:36 AM
...Holidays, etc. Beeching scrapped them all because it wasn't economic to maintain assets which might only be used for a couple of weeks each year.
For an economic viewpoint, that's undoubtedly true. But the reality is, any public transport system will always experience peaks and troughts...
For an economic viewpoint, that's undoubtedly true. But the reality is, any public transport system will always experience peaks and troughts...
We're gonna have to re-write the history books...turns out steam wasn't abolished in 1968! 😂
November 26, 2025 at 10:57 AM
We're gonna have to re-write the history books...turns out steam wasn't abolished in 1968! 😂