Bradshaw:The Traffic Circular/Volume 2/Number 3

Welcome to the latest edition of the On Our Lines periodical newsletter, The Traffic Circular! You can find the entire archive of past Circulars here, and you can also sign up to receive the newsletter direct to your email inbox here. For those of you on our Discord server, we’ll also post every edition in #public-address as it’s published. What's new? It’s been a hectic few months here at On Our Lines – and across the transport network as a whole! The ongoing industrial action has dominated many of the headlines, with all the main railway trade unions involved in various disputes. It looks like these are set to continue across Christmas and into the New Year, but it is hoped that a settlement may be reached soon. We stand with our friends and colleagues across the sector in their fight for their jobs, pensions and more. Nevertheless, there’s been several positive developments – most notably, the completion of the Elizabeth line, with through running commencing between the new Central Operating Section tunnels and the legacy railways to the east and west on 6 November. Bond Street station also opened a week prior, and it’s easy to see the impact that this new railway is already having on travel patterns in London. Sticking with London, we held another edition of London’s Transport Race in on 26 November. Whilst quieter than some recent Races, in part due to strike action being taken by some train drivers on the day, it was still lovely to catch up with old faces as well as meet some new ones, as well as continue to tweak and get feedback on the operation of the Race. As we’ve said before – we’ll keep putting these on for as long as you want to come, and we firmly believe in keeping them as accessible to everyone (be that physically, financially or in any other way) as we possibly can. Read on for details of Races planned for 2023… The end of the year is in sight, and it’s safe to say it’s been a busy one! Whilst we’ve not been as active as we would have liked for various reasons, we’ve still managed to fit in a large number of social activities and events for the community, with more planned for next year. This has included four Transport Races (one of which was our ‘Expert Mode’ event), two in-person socials and three SimSig Sessions. We’ve got two more events coming up before the end of the year too – keep reading for all the info! Feeling social? We love getting out and about and meeting members of the On Our Lines community! We run numerous events throughout the year, hopefully to suit all interests and budgets, and we’d love to see you come along to one! You can find the most up to date list of events either on the ‘Events’ tab on Discord or on the homepage of Bradshaw, but here’s a little flavour of what we’ve got coming up over the next few months! Our final in-person social of the year took place on 7 December, when we headed west to travel on the final Chiltern Railways ‘Parliamentary’ service from West Ealing to West Ruislip. Four members of the community braved the cold weather and joined over a hundred others for the trip, which became protracted due to trespassers on the track further along the line! Thanks to those who joined us, and we hope to see you at an event in 2023! Date & Time Name Start point Synopsis 28 December, c16:00 SimSig: A Cornish Christmas Your computer, wherever you are! On Our Lines plays SimSig… this time we’ll be heading to Cornwall, with a chain featuring Exeter (free), Plymouth and the brand new Cornwall simulation. Sign up is open now! 8 January 2023, 10:30 New Year Gathering TBC We’re still finalising exact details of our New Year Gathering, but keep an eye on Discord and our social media to be the first to know! 21 January 2023, 10:00 London’s Transport Race – 6 London Kings Cross London’s Transport Race returns for 2023, with new bonus points, new Side Quests and the same familiar routine – visit six stations and a landmark in the fastest possible time! 25 March 2023, 10:00 London’s Transport Race – EXPERT Mode – 2 London Kings Cross You loved EXPERT Mode so much that we’re doing it all again! Join us for a harder version of our popular Transport Race, where you’ll randomly select six stations – and a landmark – anywhere in London. 24 April 2023, 10:00 London’s Transport Race – 7 London Kings Cross London’s Transport Race returns. Will you visit six stations and a London landmark – without running – in the fastest possible time? Stations of the Month Our Stations of the Month challenge continues to run - if you don’t know how it works, then each month we randomly select one National Rail station from each region of the country, one London Underground / DLR, one light rail/tram and one heritage railway station every month to be the Stations of the Month. To earn points, just take a selfie at one or more of the Stations of the Month and at the end of the year there will be a prize for the person with the most points in each category - and maybe some bonus prizes too, so be creative with those selfies! During October and November, we have had submissions for Ashford (Surrey) (@dlpb#7369, @Thryduulf#8980, @Tubetrainboy#8551), Aspley Guise (@madmetroguy#8165), Derby (@SharpSpiral#8351), Greenock West (@dlpb#7369), Lea Bridge (@jarley#2168, @Thryduulf#8980, @dlpb#7369), Leyton Midland Road (@SharpSpiral#8351, @Thryduulf#8980, @dlpb#7369, @J_Finney#8905), Pewsey (@jarley#2168), Pimlico (@dlpb#7369, @Thryduulf#8980, @Lcawte#2212, Didi, @Tubetrainboy#8551), Reading (@tahan#9864, @dlpb#7369, @Thryduulf#8980), South Quay (@jarley#2168, @Thryduulf#8980, @dlpb#7369), Stone Crossing (@Thryduulf#8980), Tame Bridge Parkway (@dlpb#7369), Wilmslow (@dlpb#7369) and Wombwell @dlpb#7369). Full details can be found here. At the end of November the leaderboard looks like this: Participant Entries Bonus points Total @Thryduulf#8980 38 4 42 @Jarley#2168 35 3 38 @dlpb#7369 15 1 16 @SharpSpiral#8351 10   10 @madmetroguy#8165 6   6 @goldenarrow#8573 2 2 4 @isbsp#7104 2 2 4 @Tubetrainboy#8551 3   3 @Hazzles#8732 2 1 3 @overground#4011 2   2 @J_Finney#8905 2   2 @ULTRA_4K_DJ#5821 1 1 2 @🦉🦉#9472 1   1 @casimmons#3091 1   1 @Minion_Josh_#8802 1   1 Sharon 1   1 dansoper  1   1 @Cheeky#1617 1   1 @tahan#9864 1   1 Didi 1   1 @Lcawte#2212 1   1 The stations for December have been chosen and are listed below and in the December 2022 Stations of the Month thread in #challenges-on-our-lines, where you should post your pictures. Full details are also on the Stations of the Month page. The Stations of the Month for December 2022 RailMiles As of 2359 on November 30th, here's what the On Our Lines RailMiles league looks like this: Discord username RailMiles username Points @laurencec123#3791 laurencec123 35299mi 26ch @SharpSpiral#9351 Slaffter 28561mi 67ch @BipedCroissant8#9479 KcEdwards 17929mi 32ch @jarley#2168 jcmg 17887mi 10ch @Minion_Josh_#8802 minion_josh_ 12601mi 75ch @casimmons#3091 Girlonrails98 11366mi 19ch @J_Finney#8905 J_Finney 8569mi 71ch @Lcawte#2212 lcawte 7091mi 9ch @NickBrunning#8155 Nick_on_Platforms 5334mi 71ch @deadly#3721 deadly 3540mi 74ch @gsnedders#1742 gsnedders 3201mi 33ch Be sure to keep logging your journeys and see how you stack up in our On Our Lines league! Just ping @jarley#2168 if you would like to be added to the league on RailMiles. You’ve Got Mail? Want to stay in touch by email? If you'd like to receive future editions of The Traffic Circular by email, you can now sign up to our mailing list here. We’ll send our monthly newsletter straight to your inbox, as well as other occasional emails about upcoming On Our Lines events. You can unsubscribe at any time. Picture of the Month Don’t forget that you can enter up to three photos each month for our Picture of the Month competition! The winning photo, as chosen by our Patreons (@Ticket Holders) and Staff team, will be shared across our social media platforms for the following month, and immortalised here in The Traffic Circular forever! October's winning entry comes from @Hazzles#8732, with a photo of 'Sir Nigel from the box window just now'. "Sir Nigel from the box window just now.” - @Hazzles#8732 Meanwhile, the winning entry for November came from @SharpSpiral#8351 with “Standard 5 pauses at Quorn & Woodhouse on a local passenger train”. "Standard 5 pauses at Quorn & Woodhouse on a local passenger train.” - @SharpSpiral#8351 Credits Written and edited by Jarley (@jarley#2168).