In article ,
Tim Streater wrote:
In article , Roger Hayter
wrote:

Dave Plowman (News) wrote:

In article ,
wrote:
Ever been on a train where it drops off a few carriages? ;-)

No I'm too young.

Still quite common round here.

Don't know where that is, but it used to be common on Southern Region.
And they still do it on the Cambrian line. But it involves a stop and a
10 minute delay for one half.

That's not "dropping off a few carriages". The St Panc - Ashford HS
service routinely splits at Ashford, half goes on to Dover and half to
Margate. Trains from Kings X to Cambridge often picked up the other
half that had come down from King's Lynn and then back to Kings X.

But that's not what's being talked about.

Hmmm, I could just see the train splitting at Ashford *without*
stopping - but they'd have to be bloody nippy switching the points.
Then the second train would need a driver - perhaps pick him up on the
fly too, like they used to do with mail on the expresses.

Not quite sure how slipping off a couple of coaches could work in practice?

Fine on a very lightly used service - but how are they moved out of the
way? And how are they retrieved? You could hardly slip them back on to a
fast moving train. Would seem to date from the days of steam, rather than
present day local services with usually more than one driven car.

--
Is the hardness of the butter proportional to the softness of the bread?*

Dave Plowman London SW
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