#Railnatter

Latest Episodes:

#RailNatter Episode 73: Is electrifying motorways really a good idea? Aug 04, 2021

Show notes

We’re getting back to our #RailNatter roots in this week’s episode, as I’ll be doing a mostly “big face” Q&A to talk about the e-Highway plans proposed by the UK government for trial on the M180 near Scunthorpe. Is putting catenary over a motorway a good idea? How will it actually work in practice? Is this yet another distraction technique for a government desperate not to actually invest in rail?

Tune in LIVE to find out!

Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord.

This was Ela’s first proper upload. How did she do? Tweet Gareth and tell him!

#RailNatter Episode 72: A page-turn through the UK’s Transport Decarbonisation Plan Jul 28, 2021

Show notes

The UK government has FINALLY released their Transport Decarbonisation Plan, and in this week’s #RailNatter we’ll be looking at whether it’s worth the paper it hasn’t been printed on…

I have so many questions that need answering, frankly.

It’s a classic page-turn, so do join LIVE to get involved!

#RailNatter Episode 71: What happened to all the freight? Jul 21, 2021

Show notes

This week we’ve the pleasure of being joined by Iain Kitt, who will use British Transport Films to guide this #RailNatter through the story of rail freight’s twentieth century decline…

We look at the key figures and establish if the common villains actually had anything to do with this trend, or whether there were bigger things at stake. Indeed, we explore how this is actually a story of innovation against almighty odds, and one that is now, ever so slowly, paying off again.

Join LIVE to get involved!

#RailNatter Episode 70: Reopening the Great Central is no alternative to HS2 Jul 14, 2021

Show notes

Right, well it is high time we had another proper live #RailNatter like the olden days, so your wish is my command…

I’m back in the chair this week to talk about the Great Central Railway, why it was brilliant, why that doesn’t make it some form of panacea today, and to talk about how engineers choose between reusing existing alignments versus creating new ones.

Join LIVE on Wednesday at 7pm!

#RailNatter Episode 69 (nice): How to make trains go faster Jul 07, 2021

Show notes

This week’s episode is charging forwards at an increasing rate of knots, as Steve Wood guides us through the ways that we can make trains faster… And no, Hyperloop is not the answer!

We cover the law of unintended consequences, bang the “the railway is a system” gong a few times, and point out that playing with the slow bits may well be far more useful than playing with the fast bits. We also touch on HS2 and get a signallers perspective on the beauty of Colton Junction!

I’m properly on holiday this time, so whilst you can all join LIVE I will in fact be entirely unable to… So fingers crossed this launches when it is supposed to!

#RailNatter Episode 68: The three generations of signalling control and interlocking Jun 30, 2021

Show notes

We’re back for a proper live #RailNatter episode, and this time Danny Scroggins is joining us to talk about the three generations of conventional signalling control and the three generations of conventional signalling interlocking…

You’ve been asking for signalling episodes, so this one should really hit the spot!

Join LIVE to ask your questions and get involved!

#RailNatter Episode 67: Rail Live 2021! Jun 23, 2021

Show notes

Last week, the British rail industry returned to Long Marston after a year’s hiatus, as Rail Live 2021 kicked off… Whilst lots of us in the industry have been sorely missing the event, lots of you don’t get to visit at all, so I thought I’d dedicate a nice long episode towards showing you what it’s all about!

First up, I walk through the site and give you an overview of what visiting is like, what sort of things you get to see and why it happens in the first place. Then I’ll pick out some things that particularly interested me, like the Merseyrail Class 777, the Network Rail NMT, the Network Rail helicopters and the Vivarail Class 230. There’s lots of other stuff to see as well – plus a lot of cameos from past and future #RailNatter guests!

I round off with a good long chat with Nigel Harris, managing editor of RAIL magazine and the man in charge of making Rail Live a reality each year.

I’ll drop into the chat LIVE, so do join in the fun as there are lots of easter eggs strewn about for you to spot!

#RailNatter Episode 66: Why isn’t Standard Track Gauge Four Foot Eight And A Half Inches? Jun 16, 2021

Show notes

Hello from the mid-Rail Live pub! As a result of my being down in Stratford-upon-Avon (recording next week’s #RailNatter!), this week’s episode is a pre-record and we are revisiting track gauge once more…

Having established why standard track gauge is 4ft 8.5in, now we will spend an hour working out why it *isn’t* 4ft 8.5in!

Do join in LIVE with the chatter as I’ll be dropping in to say hello!

#RailNatter Episode 65: What should the Scottish railway map look like? Jun 09, 2021

Show notes

This week’s #RailNatter is picking up after our Welsh railway network episode (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SyJBN…) – and this time we are in SCOTLAND!

What should the Scottish railway network actually look like? I’ll take a more analytical look at things and think about how our “algorithm” might be improved to create optimised and realistic rail networks entirely automatically…

Join LIVE to have your say!

Episode 64: The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail (PART TWO) Jun 02, 2021

Show notes

IT’S HERE! The Williams-Shapps Plan for Rail has FINALLY been published, and we’ve had almost exactly a week of everyone shouting about it.

But what does it actually say? What doesn’t it say? What is missing? Will it mean real positive change or more of the same? Well, in this beefy #RailNatter two-parter, we’ll be doing the now-traditional page-turn to attempt to answer all of these questions, and more…

Join LIVE at the usual time to share your thoughts!

Download the report here.

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