Remember the joke, they must be a popular band there on every Sunday

When we had two/three platforms at the railway station, there was a side platform, where the train would terminate from Middlesbrough, Darlington direction.

Now we have 1 and 3/4 or 1.75 in new monies. Not quite Harry Potter.

Also, being able to see Seaton and the Headland when coming back into town from the south, it was a great view, that made me feel back home, from travels further afield.

Apparently there is two new services from Middlesbrough to Newcastle that can't stop at Hartlepool because the new/old platform isn't finished yet.

Followed by keeping a ferret down your trousers for 3 minutes no doubt Mr.S?

do not think the town has fared any worse than many other northern towns where railway services are concerned. many have lost one of the two stations they had plus losing half the platforms as the one left also has. if there are no services its pointless having platforms for a ghost train.

The Boro stations problem is it doesn’t have a track heading south, if you want a south bound train you have to go to Eaglescliffe.

If the Grand Central can manage to stop, then the runaway local carriages can.

The problem with the Boro station is trains have to enter then reverse to leave, I don’t see it as a threat to Grand Central, this adds loads of time to a southbound/northbound journey.

It’s a dead end….that’s the problem.

There is going to a direct train London from the Boro in December,
A new direct train service between Middlesbrough and London launches today (Monday 13 December) for the first time in 31 years, in a huge boost for the North East. The daily weekday service will drive opportunity in Teesside, providing better connections for workers and a major lift for tourism.
It will run onelectric wires between London and North Yorkshire, before switching to diesel to Middlesbrough, does that mean changing engines ?

The first paragraph is bollocks. How is it a ‘boost’ for the North East when they’re about the only place left in the North East without a direct link to London!
We’ve had a direct service for several years, has it boosted our tourism?
What tourist sites are there in the Boro?

So glad that Rich Suntrap axed HS2 - what an opportunity for the borer.
Bet Young Keith Houchen is cracking one off, as we speak!
Just as well it was borer and not Stockton, as that's officially a shithole!

What tourist sites are there in the Boro?[/quote]

I'll start with the obvious ones- A19, A66 and the Tees Flyover

As my old fella would have said (insert shit town name)
GREAT place to come from.......... NO good to go to!

They could plant ivy around the transporter and when it grows up call it the Hanging Garden of Boro-gone.

Indoor League with Fred Truman (puffing on his pipe whilst having a pint of bitter)

Such classics as Shove Ha'penny
Bar Billiards
Bar Football
Table Skittles
Arm Wrestling
Darts (Yorkshire Board - no trebles)

Some of the women (if you can call them that) were more frightening than the men!

Ahl si thee!

It got me thinking about the borer as a tourist ‘destination’ till a couple of years ago our lass got her car serviced at the dealers over near Cargo Fleet….. the dealer would drop me off in the town centre and pick me up three hours later…..after you’ve bought yourself a breakfast and dragged it out for half an hour it really drags cos there really is feck all to do apart from shop..which I detest.

its like every other dump in this country where they all think its a tourist destination. makes you wonder the mentality of these tourists who cannot wait for a few days in teeside or a long weekend in dewsbury.

Boro used to have some decent shops about 10yrs ago, But there again we probably did also.

Teesside Park and the same retail parks we have In Hartlepool was the reason shopping centres are desolate.

Not exactly…the catalyst is free parking …..because basically it’s the only difference….the first thing you do to fight back is give free parking.

and when we are priced off the roads even free parking will become pointless. how will people then get to these out of town concrete jungles then and carry stuff home. kids in the future can then walk around them and show em how we used to live. a real tourist attraction when that happens.

I wouldn’t say it’s the free parking as it’s relatively cheap to park in the town centre, it’s the lack of quality shops. Will the parking charges remain in place when the new quango takes over or will the Council still own the car parks ?

never watched it because of truman. typical professional yorkshireman like many from this county who i have to live with. if there was a yorkshire tartan they,d wear it more than the scots do on every possible occasion.

The centre lost big names because of the rents, curb them and give free parking.
If you’re in their every day as some people are it isn’t..£2.10 a visit for 3 hours say three days a week is £24.40 a month
If you work there it’s over six quid a day five days a week is £24x 4 = £96 a month.
Free parking means no rushing around all the time in case your ticket runs out for more relaxed shopping and more sales for shops.

The train will be a bi-mode one that can seamlessly switch from electric to diesel when the electric pantographs end. ie at Northallerton when it leaves the East coast main line.

How many trains a day from Boro to London?

Four going down and none coming back….sorry, couldn’t resist it..

a bloody sight more than a direct train to manchester i imagine. don,t get me started about shutting the line north of harrogate through ripon that three reletives regularly used to get what they used to say, going home meaning back to west hartlepool as it was in those days.

Pearl Harbour

There's a fair amount of direct trains frpm Boro to Manchester.

But no one ever comes back on the return train …..

Roswell incident

When they are not cancelled.

yes its better when they are on strike as you know where you are.

Think if you work anywhere you should get reduced or free parking. Visitors are another matter. Unless its a real rip off like a tenner for 4 hours like leeds i,m not bothered about paying. Know the lads who run a car park in haworth who have been on national tv because they are quick on giving out tickets. I agree with them for the reason they give that visitors are quite prepared to pay through the nose at the rip off tourist shops but hate to pay to park their cars putting on the minimum to overstay and then bleat about it later.

Parking charges are everywhere now, Council employees, NHS workers have to pay parking charges, taking people’s eyes out all run by private companies like Parking Eye etc.
Big money to be made by owning car parks,
ParkingEye had been bought by Capita for £58 million in 2013. But is has now been announced that the business will now be owned by Macquarie following a sale worth £235 million.

Yanks every where.

does go to show that if the average person is priced off the road even car parking companies businesses will not be worth a light. just wonder if the greenies realise how much unemployment they,d create if they had their way never mind the distress it would cause by a life changing situation for people.

The greenies answer is wind power not realising no wind no power too much wind and they have to shut them down. Just ask anyone involved in bird watching what their opinion is on wind turbines, they say they are killing hundreds of birds.

Trouble with wind turbines is they’re made from unrecycleable oil based resins …basically these sparest masochists with the general knowledge of the average sprout would have us living in the Middle Ages….they envisage a world where the wealthy and necessary will survive.

nanas box of dates ...mixed nuts and those f nutcrackers which i had to master the use of. .

Big Foot..Loch Ness Monster...only a fool would dismiss them.

Snake down his trousers, more like, mr P....i was more than a match for Travolta on the dance floors back in my day..

Sure you weren't suffering from night fever back then

Dettol used to treat your knee wound and neat

rings round ya calfs off wellies

You mean you wore a white suit

The big boys sending their best eleven in the FA CUP, no matter who they were playing.

Ankle deep muddy pitches.

Steaming dog turds