Railway Garden Competition - Castleford

This from the Wicked Weaver...

Might Eye advise its readers of a bonus for those planning a trip on the "Scarborough Express" later this month?

The short platform at the Castleford stop enables the front carriages to be adjacent to the 'orchard'.


Just reach out and touch...


Some ripening is still required, but the opportunity for a free lunch should not be declined.

UPDATE: This from Retired BR, Railtrack, Network Rail...

This is of course the new green carriage washer.

It works well as long as its been raining, which I’m told it often does at Castleford.

It also washes the faces of gricers who are not quick enough to put their heads in, so is multi purpose.

Wolmar airbrushed from Manchester - Shocker

Oh how the mighty have fallen!

The Fact Compiler has received this plaintive email from Wolmar:

Please can you put this on your website:

Engines of war: Launch lecture for the Railway Children

I am giving a lecture on behalf of the University of Aberdeen at the German Gymnasium on September 28th on my new book, Engines of War, how wars were won and lost on the railways.

The drinks at the lecture are being kindly sponsored by Bircham Dyson Bell and all profits will go to the Railway Children.

Doors open 6 for 6 30pm

There are only a limited number of tickets available at £15 each which includes £5 discount on the purchase of the book and you can be sure of a place now by clicking here:

So what, I hear you say, nothing new in Wolmar rattling the Railway Children collection plate.

Indeed so.

But surely it can't have escaped Comrade Wolmar's notice that his lecture is taking place in London at the very same time that the Labour Party Conference will be in full flow almost 200 miles away!

Eye suspects that with Lord Adonis now a mere backwoodsman none of the Smelly Socks can be bothered to sign off Wolmar's delegate pass...

IEP resurrected - Shocker

Telegrammed by Sir Humphrey Beeching
Although retired I still receive all the Departmental bumpf, including updated pages for the DfT officers handbook.

One replacement page in the post today foxed me, but my sharp eyed lady wife spotted the change

In the section on abbreviations and acronyms (there is a difference, you know), all the initials were the same, but IEP now stands for Intercity Extension Project now defined as 'Further life extension of IC125 high speed diesel trains, with re-engineering and reliability upgrades to 2025 or 2035'.

I look forward to seeing what my erstwhile colleagues will make of the SOFA (currently Statement of Funds Available) following October's Comprehensive Spending Review.