Bob Hobden wrote:
Or, at least, they did, until
Network Rail came up with an ingenious new solution to the age-old
problem of leaves on the line.

It isn't actually an age old problem.

The old fashioned rim brakes uses to "self clean" the crud off the wheels,
the safety driven move to disc brakes resuled (via the law of unintended
consequences) in the accumulation of crud on the wheels

Also, the drive to reduce costs over the past 25 years or so has meant that
embankmenst that were previously cleared, coppiced or manager in soem other
way were allowed to over grow. Step forward again the law of unintended
consequences! The drive to reduces costs gave rise to more leaves on the
line and a bigger problem.

If you want a safe and punctual train service, you can't have tree lined
tracks!

pk