Do you have a favourite railway company from the past?

I'm far from an expert on railway architecture, but my first thought on seeing that photo was the North Eastern Railway's station at Tynemouth, now on the Tyne and Wear Metro.

Well, I don't know that area too well & have to say never went there as a youngster, but interesting-great minds thought alike in Victorian times?









Yes, the lack of logic to it is one reason it's so appealing & stays with us. I have to say the salmon-pink & green valancing of the LSWR platform canopies still stand out, even in old black-and-white photos.

Is that the old Coulsdon north building?

Indeed it is, or was, as it's now housing!




As long as none of us has to dress up like Bela Lugosi in the 1932 film version in a fetching curly wig, or indeed in the gorilla suit the murderous assistant wears in that one, we can probably keep it on topic and still emulate the Edgar Allen Poe story.

Being a central Londoner and with a father who had a car, the only time we went on trains when I was a kid in the 60s was when we took the train from Paddington to Fishguard to get the ferry to Rosslare.

British Rail will be my favourite train company from the past. unlike its many modern counterparts, it did actually make an effort to run the service properly, and with due care and attention - given the constraints in which it operated - in comparison with Govia-Southern who seem grossly incompetent in running a train service.

I was only primarily thinking of Govia-Southern and Govia-Southeastern in mind, as the news states, they rank the worst in passenger satisfaction.

Open Access Operators are a totally new concept here, so cannot be counted in this comparison.

The first railway as we understand the term had more 'open access' operators that Company trains. That is why it was called a 'public railway'.
The only period when outside operators were not permitted to run trains was during the Nationalisation Caper, when rail operations were conducted on a closed, Soviet-style basis.

So, Coca Cola is a 'Soviet-style' company because only it's own product is allowed in it's cans?


Would you expect McDonalds to allow Burger king to sell their products from McDonalds assets?

I really fail to see how a company not allowing others to use its assets to provide a competing service is 'Soviet'.

"I really fail to see how a company not allowing others to use its assets to provide a competing service is 'Soviet'."
It isn't. A Soviet-style operation being closed does not imply that a closed operation is Soviet-style; in exactly the same way that all of Alma Cogan may be dead, but not all dead people are Alma Cogan.(Apologies to Monty Python)
The BR Regime was 'Soviet-style' because the railway professionals who had the knowledge and expertise to run it were constantly over-ruled by professional politicians with a different agenda.

I have a fascination for the Great Central. I live near the Joint Line between Northolt Junction and High Wycombe. The stations are in GW style as were the signal boxes (go to West Ruislip to see both) but the bridges were Great Central in style. On my travels to places like Helmdon, much can be found remaining of the former main line, sometimes on a large scale.

On a walking trip in the Peak District last year I was heading to the Barrow Hill Roundhouse which I knew to be a Midland structure. Walking beside the Chesterfield Canal I came across the remains of bridge abutments, the Great Central brickwork was so obvious. In fact I was standing below where a station had stood serving the massive Stavely Works. You may well spot the odd manhole cover with Stanton & Stavely on it, the works has been demolished and just the old head office still stands.

Quorn & Woodhouse station on the GCR preserved line is a very typical GC station, one of the best in preservation in my opinion. I never travelled on the GC Line but as a child travelling along the M1 with my parents in the sixties I can remember the line running alongside the motorway south of Leicester.

London Tilbury & Southend Railway for me! Apart from spending my early working life commuting on this line, I can remember on the evening of the withdrawal of steam locomotives the sound of whistles coming from Southend Central - the drivers must have been marking the occasion. I also believe that Joe Brown was once a fireman based at Plaistow shed.

as I lived across the road from the East Coast Main Line my favourite has to be the the LNER only because of their magnificent locomotives. However apart from the LNER my other favourite is without doubt the Metropolitan Railway only because I worked on the Met when I first joined LUL.

Oh yes, the Robinson 4-6-0 types, with the single 'long' splasher!