Modern Railways and a variety of other magazines covered the receipt by ScotRail of their first 'active travel' class 153 converted to convey cycles, two-thirds of the unit being dedicated cycle space.

By chance, a few nights earlier and with a fair amount of lockdown time on my hands, I had been working my way through the box set of British Transport Films. Volume 2 includes Cyclists Special from 1955:

"An excursion train equipped with cycle vans takes a party of cyclists and their machines from Willesden and Watford to Rugby..."

That wasn't the most riveting 16 minutes of 2020 even with the lack of competition this year. But the practicalities and economics of running trains like this are fascinating. The physics of 1955 are no different to 2020. Cycles take up a lot of space. Space can be used for other things, not least people, and it costs money to provide it.

Because the world works in mysterious ways, it was no surprise to me when a couple of days later I came across an article in The Railway Magazine entitled Bicycle Brake-Van Competition. This proved that physics has been around for a long time as the competition was for:

"...the best designs, which in the opinion of the judges, shall best arrange for the proper, safe and economical stowage of bicycles in railway brake-vans, the objective aimed at being a brake-van that combines the advantages of close stowage, easy access to any particular bicycle, and safety of the machines during their transit, together with simplicity and economy of design."

When was this, I hear you ask? July 1898. I have PDFed the article for anyone interested - click here.