#Railnatter

Latest Episodes:

#RailNatter Episode 43: US railroads can be Good, Actually (with Justin Roczniak) Jan 06, 2021

Show notes

That’s it! 2020 is finally over! It can only get better, right?!

To celebrate, this episode of #RailNatter is a corker: we’ve got Justin Roczniak a.k.a. @donoteat01 off of Franklin and @Well There’s Your Problem Podcast bursting some preconceptions that us exceptionalist Brits might have about US railroads… Oh, and quite a lot of other stuff, too (this one ran long, as you might have imagined it might)!

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

#RailNatter Episode 42: Snow versus railways (with Alex Priestley) Dec 30, 2020

Show notes

Well, everyone is hopefully stuffed full of carb-rich food at this point, and given that (for British viewers at least) it is probably four degrees and drizzling outside, I thought it would be best for us to think about snowier times…

Who better to join us to talk about snow than certified/certifiable snow nerd and in-denial Bahnnerd Alex Priestley? We’ll cover what snow is, how it impacts on the railway, how the railway deals with it, and two times we escaped snow-based railway calamity (and yes, we’ll mention snow sheds and jet engines mounted on flatbeds).

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

This episode is also the meaning of life, the universe and everything.

#RailNatter Episode 41: What do the railways do at Christmas? (with Bonnie Price) Dec 23, 2020

Show notes

Yuletide Greetings, all! It’s the first of the #RailNatter holiday specials, and Bonnie Price has joined us to talk about what on earth the railways get up to when the trains are all tucked up in their depots!

We cover what a blockade is, what sort of thing we do when they are in place, and why we both think the future of the railways would be brighter if we were more comfortable with spreading them around the year a bit more…

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

#RailNatter Episode 40: Four fatal derailments that changed the permanent way for good Dec 17, 2020

Show notes

Four post-war railway disasters changed the modern permanent way (a.k.a. track system) more than any others: Hither Green, Tattenhall, Ulleskelf and Hatfield.

All of these fatal tragedies exposed cracks in our understanding of the way the permanent way worked, resulting in the industry learning, developing, and becoming safer. This week’s #RailNatter will explore the legacy of each in turn.

Join LIVE to ask your questions and hopefully see how important and powerful incremental innovation is.

Note that this episode contains images and descriptions of train derailments that some viewers may find upsetting.

#RailNatter Episode 39: What is slab track and why is it good (with Ivana Avramović) Dec 16, 2020

Show notes

I harp on about slab track quite a bit, not least in relation to its improvement in the whole-life costs and impacts of intensively-used railway infrastructure… But what exactly is it, and how does it work?

Well, Ivana Avramović is from PORR, which is the world’s leading manufacturer of slab track, and she’ll be joining us for tonight’s #RailNatter to explain all!

Tune in LIVE to ask your questions!

#RailNatter Episode 38: Get an e-bike for Christmas (with Lindsay Broadwell) Dec 03, 2020

Show notes

This week’s #RailNatter is for everyone who thinks that cycling and railways are a perfect match… Lindsay Broadwell and I will be talking all things e-bike! We’ll touch on bike provision on trains, trolley buses and nuclear, too…

See you LIVE for much chat!

#RailNatter Episode 37: Why is it so important to tell people that Hyperloop is bad? Nov 26, 2020

Show notes

There’s been a lot of transport nonsense in the news recently: Hyperloop pretended it carried some passengers, Elon Musk’s Loop outed itself as completely useless, the Cambridgeshire Autonomous Metro is asking for people to submit ideas as to what on earth it is…

In all cases, real transport solutions are pushed further away. So I thought I’d do an episode of #RailNatter explaining why it is so important to trash talk this junk, how best to do it, and the best tools in your rhetorical armoury to make use of.

Join LIVE to ask all your questions!

#RailNatter Episode 36: What exactly is sustainability? (with Simon Kendler) Nov 25, 2020

Show notes

In Episode 36 of #RailNatter, we are being joined by bona fide young rail professional Simon Kendler!

Given that both of us call ourselves sustainable transport advocates, we thought it would make sense to discuss what exactly “sustainability” means in a transport context… What constitutes “sustainable” transport? Is it all about the colour green? Are railways sustainable? Is anything?

Join us LIVE to ask us your questions!

#RailNatter Episode 35: Scenic Rail Tours Of An Hour In Length – Inverurie to Elgin Nov 18, 2020

Show notes

For Episode 35 of #RailNatter, we are trying a new intermittent format: Scenic Rail Tours of An Hour In Length (as requested by the Patreon people)!

For the first episode, we are going back to my roots and taking a virtual trip from Inverurie to Elgin… What is there to see and do? What will we find out along the way? Will this format actually work?

Join LIVE to find out!

Here’s the link to the NLS’s old mapping comparison website: https://maps.nls.uk/geo/explore/

#RailNatter Episode 34: A Correspondent’s Guide to Europe’s railways Nov 11, 2020

Show notes

This week, I am very pleased to say we have long-time audio-only #RailNatter listener (oh, and the Independent’s Policy Correspondent) Jon Stone joining us to talk about his experiences of mainland Europe’s railways during his time posted as Brussels correspondent…

Where could Britain learn from our mainland railway colleagues? Is there anything that we do better? Just how terrible is #RailNatter in an audio-only format?

Join us LIVE where Jon will be answering these and many other questions.

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