Talk:TOPS

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User:JeremyA removed the following text:

== Access to TOPS ==

For anyone obsessive about trains in Britain, of course, access to the TOPS system is the holy grail; knowing what locomotive is where, what trains it is going to work, that kind of thing. The catch is, of course, that the system is considered company confidential and the information within it is not generally considered available for the general public.

Therefore, the best way to get access is to work for a railway company and have access through one's work. The second best is to have a friend in that situation! Care, of course, has always been required; accessing TOPS for personal reasons has, when found out, sometimes resulted in disciplinary action or dismissal, though generally only flagrant violators have been so punished.

I agree with him that the current version was not in an encyclopedic tone or cited/verified, but I believe there's still important info there that should be expressed in some form, so I think it better to leave it here as a note to research and add material. There are probably accounts in the enthusiast press that could be cited here. Matthew Brown (Morven) (T:C) 04:28, 25 April 2006 (UTC)

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I find it amusing that in the sample at the end of the article, the train in question is over two hours late. Typical, really... J-Deeks 20:01, 21 April 2007 (UTC)