ANSWERS: 4
  • No. The authorities would never allow it.
  • Interesting journey, perhaps, if you wanted to go from Newcastle to Liverpool. Might have to go via London. But anyway, I have a feeling that the whole network is connected, don't ask me why though.
  • Well, BR is long gone: the track is currently owned by National Rail. I think the whole network is fully connected. There are some sections of track which cannot take all trains (e.g. the specially narrow trains which run from Reading to Gatwick because of a narrow tunnel). Obviously, you cannot take an electric train everywhere, because some tracks are not electrified and there are at least two different systems in use. You might not be able to go on some of the metropolitan Light Rail schemes. There are a few narrow gauge railways you certainly would not be able to use, but they have never been part of BR.
  • The whole country was connected until Lord Beecham weilded his axe and chopped must of the branch lines. Now it is not possible. Apart from the other logisical problems, H.M.R.I. would stamp on the idea at an early stage. You can't even get to every London Underground line without coming off the rails. The Waterloo and City is the smallest self contained line in the UK - possibly the world. When they bought new trains, they had to dig up the road and plonk a crane there to lift the units out car by car and place the new ones in.

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