title: Romanian Land Forces

text: The Land Forces ordered about 100 United States Army Humvees; the first eight were delivered to the Military Police in December 2006. 31 Piranha III armoured vehicles (LAV III variant) and 60 URO VAMTAC high mobility vehicles were also ordered in 2007 for deployment in Iraq and Afghanistan. The land forces are also purchasing additional Piranha III armored vehicles. The Land Forces ordered 227 Piranha V armoured vehicles. The first batch of 36 vehicles, produced at GDELS-Mowag's facilities in Kreuzlingen, Switzerland, entered service with the 26th Infantry Battalion "Neagoe Basarab", also known as the Red Scorpions, in Craiova in October 2020. Another 191 units will be produced in Romania, at Bucharest Mechanical Factory.


title: Romanian Land Forces

text: The evolution of the special forces within the Romanian Land Forces led to the establishment of the 1st Special Operations Regiment on 1 August 2009, headquartered at Târgu Mureş. It later became the 6th Special Operations Brigade on 25 October 2011, composed of a special operations battalion, two paratrooper battalions and a logistic battalion.


title: Romanian Land Forces

text: The most famous and well trained unit is the 1st Special Operations Battalion ""Vulturii"", which was legally created in late 2005, after several batches of graduates had already been selected. Members of the special forces battalion have benefitted from courses abroad, such as the United States Army Special Forces (Green Berets) course, the United States Marine Corps Force Recon course, as well as other courses. The Special Forces battalion became fully operational during 2007, after a company had already been commissioned in early 2006.


title: Romanian Land Forces

text: The current Romanian reconnaissance battalions (the 313th, the 317th and the 528th) are also considered special forces units, and were formed in the 1960s during the communist regime. After the revolution, the units suffered from a lack of funds which resulted in the temporary disbandment of the 313th Battalion. However, their equipment was completely overhauled in the past few years and the combat readiness and capabilities have regained full strength.


title: Romanian Land Forces

text: The Rapid Intervention Squad (DIR) of the Ministry of Defence is an elite special operations unit currently belonging to the Romanian Military Police. It is a special unit inside the military, formed of highly skilled individuals, a very large percentage of its members being champions in martial arts, kickboxing, athletic disciplines and so on. DIR was, until December 2003, top secret.


title: Romanian Land Forces

text: After the Romanian Revolution, many firing ranges and training areas were closed and abandoned due to lack of funds. Currently, the military schools and training units of the Romanian Land Forces are directly subordinated to the central headquarters. There are 5 military high schools (Câmpulung Moldovenesc, Alba Iulia, Craiova, Breaza, and Constanța), five military academies, one officer school (Pitești), 3 training schools (Sibiu, Pitești, Buzău) and 9 training battalions.


title: Romanian Land Forces

text: In the past few years, many training exercises have taken place in Romania with other Balkan or Allied countries. Most of these exercises took place at Babadag, which is one of the largest and most modern training firing ranges and military facilities in Europe, with a total surface area of 270 square kilometres. It was announced on December 6, 2006 that 1,500 U.S. troops stationed at Mihail Kogălniceanu, which in time will form Joint Task Force East, will be using Babadag as a training base.


title: Romanian Land Forces

text: The Romanian Land Forces distinguishes four career paths: officers ("Ofiţeri"), warrant officers ("Maiştrii militari"), NCO's ("Subofiţeri") and enlisted men ("Soldaţi şi gradaţi voluntari"). The Marshal rank can be given only in wartime by the President of Romania; in fact, Romania had only three marshals coming from the officers` rank in its history: Ion Antonescu, Alexandru Averescu and Constantin Prezan. Kings Ferdinand I, Carol II and Mihai I also held the rank of Marshal of Romania. King Carol I held simultaneous ranks as Russian Marshal and German Field-marshal.


title: Judge Holden

text: Judge Holden is a purported historical person, a murderer who partnered with John Joel Glanton as a professional scalp-hunter in Mexico and the American South-West during the mid-19th century. To date, the only source for Holden's existence is Samuel Chamberlain's "My Confession: Recollections of a Rogue", an autobiographical account of Chamberlain's life as a soldier during the Mexican–American War. Chamberlain described Holden as well-spoken, intelligent, and physically quite large, as well as perhaps the most ruthless of the roving band of mercenaries led by Glanton, with whom Chamberlain briefly traveled after the war. Holden, Chamberlain describes, "had a fleshy frame, [and] a dull tallow colored face destitute of hair and all expression."


title: Judge Holden

text: Chamberlain makes it very clear that he strongly disliked Holden: "I hated him at first sight, and he knew it," Chamberlain wrote. "Yet nothing could be more gentle and kind than his deportment towards me; he would often seek conversation with me." He was popularized as the main antagonist of Cormac McCarthy's "Blood Meridian" (1985).


title: Judge Holden

text: In the novel, "The judge is a massive, hairless, albino man who excels in shooting, languages, horsemanship, dancing, music, drawing, diplomacy, science and anything else he seems to put his mind to. He is also the chief proponent and philosopher of the Glanton gang’s lawless warfare."


title: Judge Holden

text: The second in command, now left in charge of the camp, was a man of gigantic size called “Judge” Holden of Texas. Who or what he was no one knew but a cooler blooded villain never went unhung; he stood six feet six in his moccasins, had a large fleshy frame, a dull tallow colored face destitute of hair and all expression. His desires was blood and women, and terrible stories were circulated in camp of horrid crimes committed by him when bearing another name, in the Cherokee nation and Texas; and before we left Frontreras a little girl of ten years was found in the chapperal, foully violated and murdered. The mark of a huge hand on her little throat pointed him out as the ravisher as no other man had such a hand, but though all suspected, no one charged him with the crime.


title: Judge Holden

text: Holden was by far the best educated man in northern Mexico; he conversed with all in their own language, spoke in several Indian lingos, at a fandango would take the Harp or the Guitar from the hands of the musicians and charm all with his wonderful performance and out-waltz any poblana of the ball. He was “plum center” with a rifle or revolver, a daring horseman, acquainted with the nature of all the strange plants and their botanical names, great in geology and mineralogy, in short another Admirable Crichton, and with all an arrant coward.


title: Judge Holden

text: Not but that he possessed enough courage to fight Indians and Mexicans or anyone else where he had the advantage in strength, skill, and weapons. But where the combat would be equal, he would avoid it if possible. I hated him at first sight and he knew it, yet nothing could be more gentle and kind than his deportment towards me: He would often seek conversation with me and speak of Massachusetts and to my astonishment I found he knew more about Boston than I did.


title: Judge Holden

text: Some amateur historians have interpreted the name "Judge Holden" as a pseudonym, and hoped to establish his true identity. Popular candidates include Charles Wilkins Webber, an educated man in the region who once used the pseudonym "Holden".


title: Judge Holden

text: A fictionalized Holden is a central character in Cormac McCarthy's 1985 Western novel "Blood Meridian". In the novel, he and Glanton are the leaders of a pack of nomadic criminals who rob, rape, torture, and kill across the borderlands between the United States and Mexico. Throughout the novel, Holden brutally murders dozens of people, including children. Searching for additional evidence for Holden's existence has been a hobby for some Cormac McCarthy scholars.


title: Judge Holden

text: As depicted in "Blood Meridian", Holden is a mysterious figure, a cold-blooded killer, and, it is implied, a child-rapist; aside from the children he openly kills, he is seen enticing children with sweets, and a child often goes missing when he is in the vicinity. At one point in the novel, he is seen naked with a naked twelve-year-old girl in his room. Holden displays a preternatural breadth of knowledge, including paleontology, archaeology, linguistics, law, technical drawing, geology, chemistry, prestidigitation, and philosophy.


title: Judge Holden

text: He is described as nearly tall and completely bereft of body hair, including eyebrows and eyelashes. He is massive in frame, enormously strong, an excellent musician and dancer, a fine draftsman, exceptionally articulate and persuasive in several languages, and an unerring marksman. His skin is so pale as to have almost no pigment. This strange appearance, as well as his keen, extremely fast reflexes, strength, agility, apparent immunity to sleep and aging, and multifarious other abilities point to his being something other than a normal human. In the final pages of the novel, McCarthy makes more direct reference to the Judge as a supernatural entity, or even as a concept personified.


title: Judge Holden

text: In 2002, "Book" magazine rated Holden as the 43rd greatest character in fiction since 1900. He is regarded as one of the greatest characters of modern literature, likened to a "Captain Ahab of the desert." Harold Bloom described him as "short of Moby Dick, the most monstrous apparition in all of American literature."


title: Judge Holden

text: In his essay "Gravers False and True: "Blood Meridian" as Gnostic Tragedy", literature professor Leo Daugherty argued that McCarthy's Holden is—or at least embodies—a gnostic archon, a kind of demon. Harold Bloom, who declared McCarthy's Holden to be "the most frightening figure in all of American literature", even came to regard The Judge as immortal. However, unlike Daugherty, Bloom argues that The Judge defies identification as being under any "system" such as Gnosticism, citing the passage in the book stating that there was no "system by which to divide [The Judge] back into his origins". Rather, Bloom "resort[s]" to literary comparison with Shakespeare's Iago, a methodical dispenser of strife.


title: Judge Holden

text: In Terry Pratchett's novel "Making Money", set in the Discworld universe, the professional assassin Cranberry shares similarities with Judge Holden as described in "Blood Meridian". In particular, he is described as having "no body hair", while his head is so bald that "the gleam from his head could blind you in sunlight". He is also described as educated and bookish.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The West Coast Main Line (WCML) is one of the most important railway corridors in the United Kingdom, connecting the major cities of London and Glasgow with branches to Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Edinburgh. It is one of the busiest mixed-traffic railway routes in Europe, carrying a mixture of intercity rail, regional rail, commuter rail and rail freight traffic. The core route of the WCML runs from London to Glasgow for and was opened from 1837 to 1869. With additional lines deviating to Northampton, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh, this totals a route mileage of . The Glasgow–Edinburgh via Carstairs line connects the WCML to Edinburgh, however the main London–Edinburgh route is the East Coast Main Line. Several sections of the WCML form part of the suburban railway systems in London, Coventry, Birmingham, Liverpool, Manchester and Glasgow, with many more smaller commuter stations, as well as providing links to more rural towns.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: It is one of the busiest freight routes in Europe, carrying 40% of all UK rail freight traffic. The line is the principal rail freight corridor linking the European mainland (via the Channel Tunnel) through London and South East England to the West Midlands, North West England and Scotland. The line has been declared a strategic European route and designated a priority Trans-European Networks (TENS) route. A number of railway writers refer to it as "The Premier line".


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The WCML was not originally conceived as a single route, but was built as a patchwork of local lines which were linked together, built by various companies, the largest of which amalgamated in 1846 to create the London and North Western Railway (LNWR), which then gradually absorbed most of the others; the exceptions were the Caledonian Railway in Scotland, and the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR) which both remained independent until 1923. The core route was mostly built between the 1830s and 1850s, but several cut-off routes and branches were built in later decades. In 1923 the entire route came under the ownership of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) when the railway companies were grouped under the Railways Act 1921. The LMS itself was nationalised in 1947 to form part of British Railways (BR).


title: West Coast Main Line

text: As the most important long distance railway trunk route in the UK, BR carried out an extensive programme of modernisation of the WCML between the late-1950s and early-1970s, which included full overhead electrification of the route, and the introduction of modern intercity passenger services at speeds of up to . Further abortive modernisation schemes were proposed, including the introduction of the Advanced Passenger Train (APT) in the 1980s; an ill-fated high speed train which used tilting technology, which was required to allow faster speeds on the curving route, and the abortive InterCity 250 project in the early-1990s. Further modernisation of the route finally occurred during the 2000s in the period of privatisation, which saw speeds raised further to and the introduction of tilting Class 390 "Pendolino" trains.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: As much of the line has a maximum speed of , it meets the European Union's definition of an upgraded high-speed line, although only Class 390 Pendolinos and Class 221 Super Voyagers with tilting mechanisms operated by Avanti West Coast travel at that speed. Non-tilting trains are limited to .


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The core section between London Euston and is long, with principal InterCity stations at , , , , , , , , , , and .


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The central core has branches serving the major towns and cities of Northampton, Coventry, Birmingham, Wolverhampton, Stoke-on-Trent, Macclesfield, Stockport, Manchester, Runcorn and Liverpool; there is also a link to Edinburgh, but this is not the most direct route between London and Edinburgh.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Originally, the lines between Rugby, Birmingham and Stafford were part of the main route, until the Trent Valley Line was built in 1847; this formed a direct connection between Rugby and Stafford. South of Rugby, there is a loop that serves Northampton; there is also a branch north of Crewe to Liverpool, which is notable since Weaver Junction on this branch is the oldest flyover-type junction in Britain. A loop branches off to serve Manchester; another between Colwich Junction in the Trent Valley, south of Stafford via Stoke-on-Trent; one north of Stafford, also via Stoke-on-Trent; and one via Crewe and Wilmslow. A further branch at Carstairs links Edinburgh to the WCML, providing a direct connection between the WCML and the East Coast Main Line.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The geography of the route was determined by avoiding large estates and hilly areas, such as the Chilterns (Tring cutting); the Watford Gap and Northampton uplands, followed by the Trent Valley; the mountains of Cumbria, with a summit at Shap; and Beattock Summit in South Lanarkshire. This legacy means the WCML has limitations as a long-distance main line, with lower maximum speeds than the East Coast Main Line (ECML) route, the other main line between London and Scotland. The principal solution has been the adoption of tilting trains, initially with British Rail's APT and latterly the Pendolino trains constructed by Alstom and introduced by Virgin Trains in 2003. A 'conventional' attempt to raise line speeds as part of the InterCity 250 upgrade in the 1990s would have relaxed maximum cant levels on curves and seen some track realignments; this scheme faltered for lack of funding in the economic climate of the time.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The WCML was not originally conceived as a single trunk route, but was a number of separate lines built by different companies between the 1830s and the 1880s. After the completion of the successful Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830, schemes were mooted to build more inter-city lines. The business practice of the early railway era was for companies to promote individual lines between two destinations, rather than to plan grand networks of lines, as it was considered easier to obtain backing from investors.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The first stretch of what is now the WCML was the Grand Junction Railway connecting Liverpool and Manchester to Birmingham, via , and , opening in 1837. The following year the London and Birmingham Railway was completed, connecting to the capital via , and the Watford Gap. The Grand Junction and London and Birmingham railways shared a Birmingham terminus at Curzon Street station, so that it was now possible to travel by train between London, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: These lines, together with the Trent Valley Railway (between Rugby and Stafford, avoiding Birmingham) and the Manchester and Birmingham Railway (Crewe–Manchester), amalgamated operations in 1846 to form the London and North Western Railway (LNWR). Three other sections, the North Union Railway (Wigan–Preston), the Lancaster and Preston Junction Railway and the Lancaster and Carlisle Railway, were later absorbed by the LNWR.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: North of , the Caledonian Railway remained independent, and opened its main line from Carlisle to on 10 September 1847, connecting to Edinburgh in February 1848, and to Glasgow in November 1849.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Another important section, the North Staffordshire Railway (NSR), which opened its route in 1848 from Macclesfield (connecting with the LNWR from Manchester) to Stafford and Colwich via Stoke-on-Trent, also remained independent. Poor relations between the LNWR and the NSR meant that through trains did not run until 1867.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The route to Scotland was marketed by the LNWR as The Premier Line. Because the cross-border trains ran over the LNWR and Caledonian Railway, through trains consisted of jointly owned "West Coast Joint Stock" to simplify operations. The first direct London to Glasgow trains in the 1850s took 12.5 hours to complete the journey.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The final sections of what is now the WCML were put in place over the following decades by the LNWR. A direct branch to Liverpool, bypassing the earlier Liverpool and Manchester line, was opened in 1869, from Weaver Junction north of to Ditton Junction via the Runcorn Railway Bridge over the River Mersey.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: To expand capacity, the line between London and was widened to four tracks in the 1870s. As part of this work, a new line, the Northampton Loop, was built, opening in 1881, connecting before rejoining the main line at Rugby.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The worst-ever rail accident in UK history, the Quintinshill rail disaster, occurred on the WCML during World War I, on 22 May 1915, between Glasgow Central and Carlisle, in which 227 were killed and 246 injured.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The route came under the control of the London, Midland and Scottish Railway (LMS) on 1 January 1923 when railway companies were grouped, under the Railways Act 1921.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The LMS competed fiercely with the rival LNER's East Coast Main Line for London to Scotland traffic (see Race to the North). Attempts were made to minimise end-to-end journey times for a small number of powerful lightweight trains that could be marketed as glamorous premium crack expresses, especially between London and Glasgow, such as the 1937–39 Coronation Scot, hauled by streamlined Princess Coronation Class locomotives, which made the journey in 6 hours 30 minutes, making it competitive with the rival East Coast Flying Scotsman (British Railways in the 1950s could not match this, but did achieve a London-Glasgow timing of 7 hours 15 minutes in the 1959–60 timetable by strictly limiting the number of coaches to eight and not stopping between London and Carlisle.).


title: West Coast Main Line

text: In 1948, following nationalisation, the line came under the control of British Railways' London Midland and Scottish Regions, when the term "West Coast Main Line" came into use officially, although it had been used informally since at least 1912.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: As part of the 1955 modernisation plan, the line was modernised and electrified in stages between 1959 and 1974. The first stretch to be electrified was Crewe to Manchester, completed on 12 September 1960. This was followed by Crewe to Liverpool, completed on 1 January 1962. Electrification was then extended south to London. The first electric trains from London ran on 12 November 1965, with full public service from 18 April 1966. Electrification of the Birmingham line was completed on 6 March 1967. In March 1970 the government approved electrification between Weaver Junction (where the route to Liverpool diverges) and Glasgow, and this was completed on 6 May 1974. The announcement, after five years of uncertainty, was made 48 hours before the writ was issued for a by-election in South Ayrshire. "The Observer" commented that, if the £25 million decision was politically rather than financially motivated, it would have the makings of a major political scandal.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: A new set of high-speed long-distance services was introduced in 1966, launching British Rail's highly successful "Inter-City" brand (the hyphen was later dropped) and offering journey times as London to Manchester or Liverpool in 2 hours 40 minutes (and even 2 hours 30 minutes for the twice-daily Manchester Pullman). A new feature was that these fast trains were offered on a regular-interval service throughout the day: hourly to Birmingham, two-hourly to Manchester, and so on. With the completion of the northern electrification in 1974, London to Glasgow journey times were reduced to 5 hours.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Along with electrification came modern coaches such as the Mark 2 and from 1974 the fully integral, air-conditioned Mark 3 design. These remained the mainstay of express services until the early 2000s. Line speeds were raised to a maximum , and these trains, hauled by and electric locomotives, came to be seen as BR's flagship passenger product. Passenger traffic on the WCML doubled between 1962 and 1975.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The modernisation also saw the demolition and redevelopment of several of the key stations on the line: BR was keen to symbolise the coming of the "electric age" by replacing the Victorian-era buildings with new structures built from glass and concrete. Notable examples were Birmingham New Street, Manchester Piccadilly, , and London Euston. To enable the latter, the famous Doric Arch portal into the original Philip Hardwick-designed terminus was demolished in 1962 amid much public outcry.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Electrification of the Edinburgh branch was carried out in the late 1980s as part of the East Coast Main Line electrification project in order to allow InterCity 225 sets to access Glasgow via Carstairs Junction.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Modernisation brought great improvements in speed and frequency. However some locations and lines were no longer served by through trains or through coaches from London, such as: Windermere; Barrow-in-Furness, Whitehaven and Workington; Huddersfield, Bradford Interchange, Leeds and Halifax (via Stockport); Blackpool South; Colne (via Stockport); Morecambe and Heysham; Southport (via ); Blackburn and Stranraer Harbour. Notable also is the loss of through services between Liverpool and Scotland; however these were restored by TransPennine Express in 2019.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: British Rail introduced the Advanced Passenger Train APT project, which proved that London–Glasgow WCML journey times of less than 4 hours were achievable and paved the way for the later tilting Virgin Pendolino trains.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: In the late 1980s British Rail put forward a track realignment scheme to raise speeds on the WCML; a proposed project called InterCity 250, which entailed realigning parts of the line in order to increase curve radii and smooth gradients in order to facilitate higher-speed running. The scheme, which would have seen the introduction of new rolling stock derived from that developed for the East Coast electrification, was scrapped in 1992.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: By the dawn of the 1990s, it was clear that further modernisation was required. Initially this took the form of the InterCity 250 project. But then the privatisation of BR intervened, under which Virgin Trains won a 15-year franchise in 1996 for the running of long-distance express services on the line. The modernisation plan unveiled by Virgin and the new infrastructure owner Railtrack involved the upgrade and renewal of the line to allow the use of tilting Pendolino trains with a maximum line speed of , in place of the previous maximum of . Railtrack estimated that this upgrade would cost £2 billion, be ready by 2005, and cut journey times to 1 hour for London to Birmingham and 1 hr 45 mins for London to Manchester.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: However, these plans proved too ambitious and were subsequently cancelled. Central to the implementation of the plan was the adoption of moving block signalling, which had never been proven on anything more than simple metro lines and light rail systems – not on a complex high-speed heavy-rail network such as the WCML. Despite this, Railtrack made what would prove to be the fatal mistake of not properly assessing the technical viability and cost of implementing moving block prior to promising the speed increase to Virgin and the government. By 1999, with little headway on the modernisation project made, it became apparent to engineers that the technology was not mature enough to be used on the line. The bankruptcy of Railtrack in 2001 and its replacement by Network Rail following the Hatfield crash brought a reappraisal of the plans, while the cost of the upgrade soared. Following fears that cost overruns on the project would push the final price tag to £13 billion, the plans were scaled down, bringing the cost down to between £8 billion and £10 billion, to be ready by 2008, with a maximum speed for tilting trains of a more modest – equalling the speeds available on the East Coast route, but some way short of the original target, and even further behind BR's original vision of speeds planned and achieved with the APT.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The first phase of the upgrade, south of Manchester, opened on 27 September 2004 with journey times of 1 hour 21 minutes for London to Birmingham and 2 hours 6 minutes for London to Manchester. The final phase, introducing running along most of the line, was announced as opening on 12 December 2005, bringing the fastest journey between London and Glasgow to 4 hours 25 mins (down from 5 hours 10 minutes). However, considerable work remained, such as the quadrupling of the track in the Trent Valley, upgrading the slow lines, the second phase of remodelling Nuneaton, and the remodelling of Stafford, Rugby, Milton Keynes and Coventry stations, and these were completed in late 2008. The upgrading of the Crewe–Manchester line via Wilmslow was completed in summer 2006.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: In September 2006, a new speed record was set on the WCML – a Pendolino train completed the Glasgow Central – London Euston run in a record 3 hours 55 minutes, beating the APT's record of 4 hours 15 minutes, although the APT still holds the overall record on the northbound run.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The decade-long modernisation project was finally completed in December 2008. This allowed Virgin's VHF (very high frequency) timetable to be progressively introduced through early 2009, the highlights of which are a three-trains-per-hour service to both Birmingham and Manchester during off-peak periods, and nearly all London-Scottish timings brought under the 4 hours 30 minutes barrier – with one service (calling only at Preston) achieving a London–Glasgow time of 4 hours 8 minutes.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Some projects that were removed from the modernisation as a result of the de-scoping, such as a flyover at Norton Bridge station, were later restarted. A £250 million project to grade-separate the tracks at Norton Bridge that allowed for increased service frequency as well as improved line-speeds was completed in spring 2016. Other projects such as the replacement of a weak bridge in Watford allowed line-speeds to be increased from to decreasing journey times.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The main spine of the WCML is quadruple track almost all of the route from London to Weaver Junction, south east of Runcorn. At Hanslope Junction (near Milton Keynes), the line divides with one pair going direct to and the other pair diverting via to rejoin at Rugby. The spine continues north in quadruple track until Brinklow, where it reduces to triple track. The line between Brinklow and Nuneaton has three tracks, with one northbound track and fast and slow southbound tracks. The line then reverts to quadruple track at Nuneaton. North of Rugeley, there is a short double track stretch through the Shugborough Tunnel. The line is then quadruple track most of the way to Acton Bridge railway station, except for a double track section between Winsford and Hartford. The line is double track from Acton Bridge railway station to Weaver Junction (where a double track spur to Liverpool branches off). The line is double track from Weaver Junction to Warrington Bank Quay, but the line is quadruple track between Warrington Bank Quay to Wigan North Western. At Newton-le-Willows, the slow tracks join the Liverpool to Manchester line to pass through the centre of the town, while the fast tracks take the direct route via the Golborne cut-off. There are two more stretches of quadruple track, otherwise the line is double track to Scotland. The first is from Euxton Balshaw Lane to Preston, and the second is a busy section around Glasgow.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The WCML is noted for the diversity of branches served from the spine, notably those to/from the West Midlands and North Wales, Greater Manchester, and Liverpool. These are detailed in the route diagram.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The complete route has been cleared for W10 loading gauge freight traffic, allowing use of higher hi-cube shipping containers. The route passes through Nuneaton and the Midlands and this area has been called the "Golden Triangle of Logistics".


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Nearly all of the WCML is electrified with overhead wires at . Several of the formerly unelectrified branches of the WCML in the North West have recently been electrified such as the to Line on which electric service commenced in May 2018 along with the – line which saw electric service commence in February 2019. Wigan to Liverpool via St Helens Shaw Street and St Helens Junction were also electrified in the 2010-2017 timeframe.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The majority of stock used on the West Coast Main Line is new-build, part of Virgin's initial franchise agreement having been a commitment to introduce a brand-new fleet of tilting Class 390 "Pendolino" trains for long-distance high-speed WCML services. The 53-strong Pendolino fleet, plus three tilting SuperVoyager diesel sets, were bought for use on these InterCity services. One Pendolino was written off in 2007 following the Grayrigg derailment. After the 2007 franchise "shake-up" in the Midlands, more SuperVoyagers were transferred to Virgin West Coast, instead of going to the new CrossCountry franchise. The SuperVoyagers are used on London–Chester and Holyhead services because the Chester/North Wales line is not electrified, so they run "under the wires" between London and Crewe. SuperVoyagers were also used on Virgin's London-Scotland via Birmingham services, even though this route is entirely electrified – this situation is, however, changing since the expansion of the Pendolino fleet; from 2013 onward Class 390 sets have been routinely deployed on Edinburgh/Glasgow–Birmingham services.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: By 2012, the WCML Pendolino fleet was strengthened by the addition of two coaches to 31 of the 52 existing sets, thus turning them into 11-car trains. Four brand new 11-car sets are also part of this order, one of which replaced the set lost in the Grayrigg derailment. Although the new stock was supplied in Virgin livery, it was not expected to enter traffic before 31 March 2012, when the InterCity West Coast franchise was due to be re-let, though the date for the new franchise was later put back to December 2012, and any effect of this on the timetable for introducing the new coaches remains unclear.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Previous franchisees Central Trains and Silverlink (operating local and regional services partly over sections of the WCML) were given 30 new "Desiro" Class 350s, originally ordered for services in the south-east. Following Govia's successful bid for the West Midlands franchise in 2007, another 37 Class 350s were ordered to replace its older fleet of s.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The older BR-vintage locomotive-hauled passenger rolling stock still has a limited role on the WCML, with the overnight Caledonian Sleeper services between London Euston and Scotland using Mark 3 and Mark 2 coaches until their replacement with Mark 5 stock in October 2019. Virgin also retained and refurbished one of the original Mark 3 rakes with a Driving Van Trailer and a locomotive as a standby set to cover for Pendolino breakdowns. This set was retired from service on 25 October with a rail tour the following day. In November 2014 the "Pretendolino" was transferred to Norwich Crown Point depot to enter service with Abellio Greater Anglia having come to the end of its agreed lease to Virgin Trains.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: In September 2022, following the death of Queen Elizabeth II, locomotive hauled services returned briefly to the WCML once more when incumbent operator Avanti West Coast employed a rake of Mark 3 coaches (hauled by a Class 90 locomotive) to provide additional services to Euston for those wishing to travel to London for the Queen's lying-in-state and subsequent funeral.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The following table lists the rolling stock which forms the core passenger service pattern on the WCML serving its principal termini; it is not exhaustive since many other types use sections of the WCML network as part of other routes – notable examples include the InterCity 125 HST on certain CrossCountry services (primarily through the West Midlands area) and the London North Eastern Railway InterCity 225 between Edinburgh and Glasgow Central.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The current principal train operating company on the West Coast Main Line is Avanti West Coast, which runs the majority of long-distance services under the West Coast Partnership rail franchise. In November 2016, the government announced that the (then named) InterCity West Coast franchise would be replaced by a new franchise called 'West Coast Partnership', which includes operating the planned High Speed 2 (HS2) service as well as the existing West Coast Main Line express services. In August 2019, the DfT announced that First Trenitalia West Coast Rail (trading as Avanti West Coast) was the successful bidder. Avanti West Coast commenced operating the franchise on 8 December 2019.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Avanti operates nine trains per hour on the WCML from , with three trains per hour to each of and , one train per hour to each of , and via the Trent Valley (one train per hour continues to Scotland via alternating between or ), five trains on a weekday to and three trains on a weekday to Bangor. There is also one weekday train in to/from . Additional peak terminating services run between London Euston and , , , , and . Additional trains during the early morning, late evening, rush hour and night that terminate or start at Birmingham. There are also two daily services between London Euston and and four daily (Monday to Friday) services between and .


title: West Coast Main Line

text: West Midlands Trains provides commuter and long-distance services on the route, which terminate at . They are all operated under the London Northwestern Railway brand. There are two trains an hour from London to Birmingham; one calling at the majority of stations "en route" and one calling only at , , , , , , , , , and . There are three trains per hour from to . These London–Birmingham stopping services are roughly one hour slower, end to end, than the Avanti West Coast fast service. There is also an hourly service from to calling at , , and .


title: West Coast Main Line

text: West Midlands Trains also operates an hourly service between and , serving , , (peak times and Sundays only), , , , (once a day on Mondays to Saturdays), , , , and . Some services also call at , , , , and . Trains also call at (Sundays only). This service was introduced in 2008 to coincide with the withdrawal of the similar Virgin Trains service. Under 'Project 110' this service was reconfigured in December 2012 and to operate 10 mph faster using enhanced British Rail Class 350/1 units.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: A service to is provided half-hourly from Euston; one calling at , , , , , and and one calling at , , , , , , and . An hourly service operates to calling at , , , , , and .


title: West Coast Main Line

text: West Midlands Trains also operates an hourly stopping train on the Marston Vale Line from to as well as a 45-minute service on the Abbey Line to . These are both local branches off the WCML and classified as part of it.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: After the Central Trains franchise was revised, London Midland took over services running on the WCML between Birmingham and Liverpool. In August 2017, London Midland lost the West Midlands franchise; West Midlands Trains took over in December 2017. Services on the WCML are all branded London Northwestern Railway services, and all local services around Birmingham are branded West Midlands Railway services.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: TransPennine Express provides services along the WCML between Manchester Airport or Liverpool Lime Street, and Glasgow or Edinburgh (alternating serving each every 2 hours).


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Southern provide an hourly service between East Croydon and Watford Junction, which calls at all station on the West London Line, then Wembley Central, Harrow & Wealdstone and Watford Junction. 2 trains per day extend to Hemel Hempstead.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: London North Eastern Railway operates one train per day between Glasgow Central and London King's Cross via Edinburgh Waverley, operating over the West Coast Main Line route between Edinburgh and Glasgow.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: CrossCountry operates services from Plymouth, Bournemouth and Bristol Temple Meads to Manchester Piccadilly; these trains run along the West Coast Main Line between Coventry and Manchester Piccadilly. Some trains from Manchester Piccadilly to Bristol Temple Meads are extended to Paignton and Plymouth, and on summer weekends to Penzance and Newquay. CrossCountry services between Reading and Newcastle also use a small portion of the West Coast Main Line between Coventry and Birmingham New Street. Services towards Reading are often extended to Southampton Central (or occasionally Bournemouth) and 1 train per day towards Reading is extended to Guildford.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: CrossCountry also operates a 2 hourly service to/from Glasgow Central, which operates to either Penzance, Plymouth, Newcastle upon Tyne, Bristol Temple Meads or Birmingham New Street. On summer weekends trains from Glasgow Central also operate to Paignton, Penzance and Newquay. These services use the West Coast Main Line from Edinburgh to Glasgow Central.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Abellio ScotRail operates services on sections of the West Coast Main Line for example near Glasgow with Argyle Line trains running on the section from to before veering off on the short branch to Lanark or heading along till Carstairs. The North Berwick Line runs from Glasgow Central High Level via Motherwell to Carstairs and onto Haymarket, Edinburgh Waverley and North Berwick.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: At the Glasgow South Western Line runs for several miles before heading west towards , , and Stranraer.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Caledonian Sleeper operates services down the length of the West Coast Main Line, providing an overnight service between London and Scotland.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: A number of items of work are under way or proposed to accommodate additional freight traffic between the Haven ports and the Midlands including track dualling. The 'Nuneaton North Chord' was completed and opened on 15 November 2012. The chord will ease access for some trains between the Birmingham to Peterborough Line and the WCML.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The Ipswich chord was opened at the end of March 2014 allowing trains to run without reversing from Felixstowe towards the Midlands.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Planned flying junction and track diversion in the – Norton Bridge area. This replaced the previous level junction where the Stafford to Manchester via Stoke-on-Trent line diverges from the trunk route at Norton Bridge, avoiding conflicting train movements to enhance capacity and reduce journey times, additional freight capacity was also provided around Stafford station. This allowed two extra off-peak trains per hour from Euston to the North West, one extra train per hour from Manchester to Birmingham and one additional freight train per hour. The resignalling work associated with this project was due to be completed in summer 2015 and the Norton Bridge work was complete in December 2016, followed by a new timetable introduced in December 2017.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Re-signalling work the WCML spur track from Liverpool to Weaver Junction was underway in 2016. Signal control moved to the Manchester Rail Operating Centre removing five local signal boxes. The signal improvements will improve journey times on this section of track.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: Virgin Trains put forward plans in 2007 to increase the line speed in places on the WCML – particularly along sections of the Trent Valley Line between Stafford and Rugby from 125 to 135 mph (200 to 217 km/h) after the quadrupling of track had been completed. This would permit faster services and possibly allow additional train paths. was claimed to be achievable by Pendolino trains while using existing lineside signalling without the need for cab signalling via the use of the TASS system (Tilt Authorisation and Speed Supervision) to prevent overspeeding. In practice, regulations introduced by the HMRI (now ORR) at the time of the ECML high-speed test runs in 1991 are still in force prohibiting this. Network Rail was aware of Virgin Train's aspirations; however, in November 2009 Chris Mole MP (then Parliamentary Under Secretary of State, Transport) announced that there were no plans for this to happen and thus for the foreseeable future the maximum speed will remain at .


title: West Coast Main Line

text: In promoting this proposal, Virgin Trains reported that passenger numbers on Virgin West Coast increased from 13.6 million in 1997/98 to 18.7 million in 2005/6, while numbers on CrossCountry grew from 12.6 million to 20.4 million over the same period.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: In the "London & South East Rail Utilisation Strategy" (RUS) document published by Network Rail in 2011, a proposal was put forward to extend the Crossrail lines, currently under construction in central London, along the West Coast Main Line as far as and . The scheme would involve the construction of a tunnel in the vicinity of the proposed new station at in West London connecting the Crossrail route to the WCML slow lines with a potential for interchange with the planned High Speed 2 line. Under current plans, a proportion of westbound Crossrail trains will terminate at due to capacity limitations; the RUS recommends the WCML extension as it will enable these services to continue beyond Paddington, maximising the use of the central London tunnels. The RUS also notes that diversion of WCML regional rail services via Crossrail into central London would alleviate congestion at Euston station, and consequently reduce the need for infrastructure work on the


title: West Coast Main Line

text: London Underground network which would be required to accommodate HS2 passengers arriving at Euston. The Crossrail extension proposal has not been officially confirmed or funded. In August 2014, the government launched a study into the Crossrail extension.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: In June 2019 Network Rail formed five 'regions' for helping to support Britain's railways. In August and September 2019, 14 'routes' responsible for the operation, maintenance and renewal of infrastructure were assigned across these regions. The West Coast Main Line runs through two of these regions ("Scotland's Railway" and "North West and Central") and is a part of 3 routes ("Scotland", "North West" and "West Coast Mainline South").


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The cities and towns served by the WCML are listed in the tables below. Stations on loops and branches are marked **. Those stations in "italics" are not served by inter-city services run by Avanti West Coast but only by local trains. Between Euston and Watford Junction the WCML is largely but not exactly paralleled by the operationally independent Watford DC Line, a local stopping service now part of London Overground, with 17 intermediate stations, including three with additional platforms on the WCML.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The final table retraces the route specifically to indicate the many loops, branches, junctions and interchange stations on the core of the WCML.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The North Wales Coast Line between Crewe and Holyhead is not electrified. Services between London, Chester and Holyhead are operated by Super Voyager tilting diesel trains. Formerly in the case of one of the Holyhead services, a Pendolino set was hauled from Crewe by a Class 57/3 diesel locomotive.


title: West Coast Main Line

text: The WCML is noted for the diversity of branches served between the London and Glasgow main line. The adjacent diagram deals with the very complex network of lines in the West Midlands that link the old route via Birmingham with the new WCML route via the Trent Valley (i.e. 1830s versus 1840s).


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale is a 2012 crossover fighting video game developed by SuperBot Entertainment, in conjunction with Bluepoint Games, and published by Sony Computer Entertainment. It features various characters drawn from different PlayStation video game franchises competing against each other in multiplayer battles. The game was released in November 2012 for the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita video game consoles.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: Development of "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" began in 2009 under the working title of "Title Fight". The game's existence was leaked prior to its official announcement in April 2012, along with a significant number of its playable characters. "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" was one of the first games to be included in Sony's cross-buy program, allowing those who purchased the game for PlayStation 3 to receive a free copy of the PlayStation Vita port.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: The game received mixed reviews. Critics praised the game's multiplayer components and gameplay mechanics, but the game was criticized for its lack of content and presentation.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" is a platform fighter, similar to the style of Nintendo's "Super Smash Bros." series. Up to four players can battle each other using characters from various Sony franchises such as "God of War", "PaRappa the Rapper", "Infamous", and "Sly Cooper", as well as third-party franchises like "BioShock". Battles take place on a 2D plane, with players able to freely move around a stage to approach or escape their opponents. Different attacks are performed by pressing one of three attack buttons in combination with a directional input. Players damage their opponents to receive "AP" orbs that build up a power meter at the bottom of the screen. Players can also find orbs scattered across the stage during the match, or can perform throw attacks to remove AP orbs from their opponents. Earning enough power allows players to use one of three levels of special attacks named "Super Moves" which can be used to defeat opponents and earn points. Level 1 super moves have the lowest AP cost but typically cover a short range and can only hit one character; in contrast, Level 3 supers require significant amounts of AP but have an extended duration time and can potentially defeat multiple opponents before they expire.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: Battles take place in one of fifteen different battle arenas, with many featuring elements and stage hazards that can damage characters and cause them to lose AP. Each stage is based on a combination of two games, such as "Sandover Village" (based on "Jak and Daxter" and "Hot Shots Golf"), "Dreamscape" (based on "LittleBigPlanet" and "Buzz!"), "Stowaways" (based on "Uncharted" and "BioShock Infinite"), and "Hades" (based on "God of War" and "Patapon"). As time passes, a stage's second representation takes hold, usually introducing an additional hazard into the level. During gameplay, item pick-ups will spawn on the battlefield, such as the Hedgehog Grenade from "Resistance", the Gravity Shield from "Wipeout", Baumusu's Axe from "Rise of the Kasai", and Razor Claws from "Ratchet & Clank". These items can be used to augment a player or attack an opponent, causing them to lose AP. Both stage hazards and items can be disabled in the game's options menu.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: The game features a traditional single-player arcade mode, in which players must defeat several randomly-selected opponents, followed by a character-specific rival battle and, ultimately, a battle against the game's main antagonist and final boss, Polygon Man, the former mascot for the Sony PlayStation in North America. Multiplayer modes include time-based matches, where players compete to achieve the most kills within a time limit; stock-based matches, where players attempt to be the last one standing; and kill-limit matches, where players compete to be the first to reach a certain number of kills. The game also features a single-player challenge mode, in which players attempt to complete specific objectives. Completing matches and fulfilling objectives with a character will gain them experience points; leveling up a character will unlock bonuses such as in-game costumes, victory animations, and profile icons. Prior to the shutdown of its online multiplayer servers, the game featured cross-platform play between the PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita versions.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: Rumors begin circulating that an unknown entity is seeking the strongest warriors in all worlds, gathering many powerful opponents to prove itself superior. Heroes and villains from the many worlds begin searching for this new threat, either seeking to protect their worlds or in pursuit of fortune. After crossing many worlds and defeating those they encounter along the way, the player character encounters the source of the challenge, Polygon Man, who attacks them. After Polygon Man is defeated, the victor absorbs his power and returns to their own world, where they decide how to use their newfound power.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" was originally going to be developed by Naughty Dog, who was in the middle of the development of "The Last of Us". Publisher Sony Computer Entertainment therefore decided to form SuperBot Entertainment in 2009 specifically to work on the game. Game development began in 2009 with a creative team that included members from several Sony and former third party development teams. Omar Kendall, formerly a designer on the "UFC" series, the "Backyard Wrestling" franchise, and "", assumed the role of game director after joining SuperBot. In early 2011, it was discovered that the independent studio based in California, SuperBot Entertainment, was working on an un-announced "combat heavy" multiplayer title for the PlayStation 3. In November 2011, images of the game (then codenamed as "Title Fight") popped up online, showing Sweet Tooth from the "Twisted Metal" series and Kratos from "God of War". It was claimed the game features a number of Sony mascots such as Parappa the Rapper, Sly Cooper, Nathan Drake ("Uncharted"), Colonel Mael Radec ("Killzone") and Fat Princess. Arenas include a Sandover Village stage (from "Jak & Daxter"), a "Hot Shots Golf" stage, a "LittleBigPlanet" stage and a "Buzz!" trivia mini-game.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: SuperBot Entertainment was linked as developer of the game, who confirmed to be working on a "very amazing PS3 game" for Sony Computer Entertainment America. According to a job advert, SuperBot was after a senior combat designer with "a strong familiarity with fighting games and fighting game theory". Another job advert asked for a lead designer with "a strong familiarity with online mode and matchmaking design as they apply to console gaming". When Eurogamer contacted Sony to ask about the rumor that they were making a "PlayStation 3 exclusive "Smash Bros." rival", Sony declined to comment stating "we do not comment on rumor or speculation".


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: In April 2012, the name "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" was revealed via a Sony survey that asked gamers what they thought of the name of the game, and the game itself, which was uncovered and published by PlayStation Lifestyle. The site claimed the PlayStation 3 exclusive would be announced at E3 the following June. Shortly after this, Sony registered the domain for www.playstationallstarsbattleroyale.com, alongside the shorter www.playstationallstars.com. On April 23, 2012, a tweet by the newly formed SuperBot Entertainment Twitter page said: "Boot sequence initiated." At the same time, "GTTV" promised to reveal a major new PlayStation exclusive on April 26. The game was officially revealed on the April 26, 2012 episode of "GTTV" as "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale".


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: In May 2012, in an interview to Digital Trends, game director Omar Kendall was asked about the possibility of PlayStation Vita version of "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale", and he simply replied, "Maybe... stay tuned." A Vita version was announced at the Electronic Entertainment Expo 2012, to be developed by Bluepoint Games, and was confirmed to feature cross-play with the PlayStation 3. In July 2012, it was announced that former Capcom community manager and Evolution Championship Series (EVO) co-founder Seth Killian had taken a role at and Santa Monica Studio, where he would assist "PlayStation All-Stars" developer Superbot Entertainment.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: Several public and private multiplayer betas were held between July and October 2012. The multiplayer betas featured a limited roster of characters and stages, and were used to test server loads, matchmaking, and cross-platform play between PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita. In late July, files found in one of the multiplayer beta versions of the game pointed to an array of unannounced characters and stages, including levels set in the worlds of "Resistance", "", "PaRappa the Rapper", "LittleBigPlanet", "Killzone", "LocoRoco", "BioShock Infinite" and more. An array of character names were also uncovered inside the demo's files, including ""s Dante, Evil Cole from "Infamous", Raiden from "Metal Gear" and others. A number of leaks uncovered the information, which started on Reddit. Resourceful users of the GameFAQs forums and NeoGAF each added more information, which also included a list of in-game items. SuperBot producer Chan Park later acknowledged the leak's legitimacy, though he noted that changes had been made since the beta build's development and that the leaked content did not fully reflect the content found within the final game. The last of the leaked characters were officially announced on August 31, 2012.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: On August 13, 2012, SuperBot Entertainment announced that the game had been delayed by one month from its original October 2012 release to November 2012. Chan Park claimed that the delay "will let us spend more time polishing and tuning the game, and it will give us a chance to incorporate some of the great feedback we're receiving from the current limited beta to ensure we are creating the best possible fighting game experience."


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: Originally scheduled for a worldwide release in October 2012, "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" was delayed and released on November 20, 2012 in North America, November 21, 2012 in Europe, November 22, 2012 in Australia and New Zealand, November 23, 2012 in the UK and Ireland, and January 31, 2013 in Japan. Players who pre-ordered the game received a voucher for a downloadable content pack, which included an exclusive set of costumes for all of the game's playable characters. With the exception of the third-party characters, these costumes were later released as premium DLC on the PSN store; the third-party costumes were instead offered as free DLC several months after launch. As part of Sony's cross-buy initiative, players who purchased the PlayStation 3 version received a voucher for a free copy of the PlayStation Vita version.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: On May 1, 2012, Sony announced the PlayStation Store Royale Contenders Sale – a "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" sale to celebrate the announcement of the game. The sale included discounts on titles such as "God of War Collection", "", "Killzone 3 Multiplayer", and "The Sly Collection". The sale began on May 2 and ran for one week.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: At gamescom 2012, Sony Computer Entertainment announced their new cross-buy program, in which players who purchased new PlayStation 3 copies of the game would be able to download the PlayStation Vita version at no additional cost. "PlayStation All-Stars", along with "" and "", were the first games announced for the program.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: The music track "Genesis" by Justice was featured in several pieces of promotional material following the game's announcement, while the game's opening uses the song "Finale" by Madeon. The game's advertising included a television commercial produced by the "Robot Chicken" creative team.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: On November 15, 2012, Seth Killian announced that the first downloadable content for "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" would arrive in the form of two new playable characters: Kat from "Gravity Rush" and Emmett Graves from "Starhawk", along with a new stage, "Fearless", based on "Heavenly Sword" and "WipEout". The characters were available for free during the first two weeks of their release, though the new stage was not. Killian also mentioned that Kat and Emmett, along with all future potential DLC characters, would be treated "just like the 20 launch characters," complete with single-player story modes, minions, trials, unlockable costumes, and more content. The DLC was released on February 12, 2013. Players are still able to access downloadable content stages in online ranked matches even if they do not own the content. Additional costumes and minions are also available to purchase as DLC. After Sony Computer Entertainment ended its working agreement with Superbot Entertainment in January 2013, it was announced that forthcoming DLC would be handled by Santa Monica Studio. On February 27, 2013, Zeus from the "God of War" series and Isaac Clarke from the "Dead Space" series were revealed as the second set of downloadable characters. Zeus and Isaac were released on March 19, along with a new stage, "Graveyard", based on "" and "The Unfinished Swan". A voucher to download Zeus and Isaac Clarke was included with all new copies of "".


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: Shortly after E3 2013, Shuhei Yoshida of Sony Worldwide Studios commented on future DLC releases, mentioning the game's sale of 1 million units but claiming "it was not enough to have the momentum in terms of a business standpoint to continue to add characters or do a sequel". Both Abe from the "Oddworld" series and Dart from "The Legend of Dragoon" were planned for release as downloadable characters, along with a stage based on "Gravity Rush" and "Journey"; however, due to low sales of previous content, development on this content was cancelled. On August 4, 2013 Santa Monica Studios confirmed that there would be no more DLC characters or stages, but said that they planned on releasing four outfits formerly exclusive to those who pre-ordered the game, as well as skins for Zeus and Isaac.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: In September 2018, Sony notified players that the multiplayer servers for several of their PlayStation 3 titles, including "PlayStation All-Stars", would be shut down the following month. Sales of the game's online pass were also halted in preparation for this change. The shutdown was later delayed to January 31, 2019, at which point all of the game's online features were disabled.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" received generally average reviews. Critics praised the game's multiplayer and fighting mechanics, but criticized its lack of content, still images in campaign mode and few cut scenes. The use of super moves as the only way to defeat a player had mixed reception. While some critics thought it lacked depth, others believed that filling up the meter to land a knock-out added strategy to an otherwise only decent fighting experience. The game currently holds a 74 score for the PlayStation 3 version and a 75 score for the PlayStation Vita version on Metacritic.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: Video game talk show "Good Game"s two presenters both gave the game a 6 out of 10. While the game's combat mechanics were praised, criticism was drawn towards the "flawed" Super Moves mechanic, saying, "In most fighting games each attack you do is chipping away your opponent's health bar. Or in "Smash Bros." it's adding to their damage counter, and the higher their damage the further your attacks knocked them, but in this game all you have is the super meter! Each attack adds fuel to it. But if you miss with your super, all the attacking you did for the last few minutes amounts to nothing. Essentially all your progress is erased". The selection of playable characters also drew criticism, as the hosts felt many of the characters were added due to their marketing appeal rather than appropriateness for a fighting game.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: "PaRappa" character designer Rodney Greenblat was happy to see PaRappa return to video games, but he was not happy to see him in a violent game. "I'm very happy that PaRappa is making a bit of a comeback, but not so happy about him being in a weapon filled battle game. Actually the Battle Royal game is fun, and I have to do what I can to get Parappa back in the game scene. My hope is that Sony realizes the golden true potential of Parappa and asks me to design some new games. I've learned a lot, and I think Parappa could be great again," said Greenblat.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: IGN gave the game an 8/10, declaring "It combines characters, environments and ideas into a tight package that’s worthy of consideration for anyone who owns a PlayStation 3 and PlayStation Vita and considers themselves a brand loyalist or simply a longtime fan ... I know it’ll be hard for some skeptics to believe, but PlayStation All-Stars is its own game, and it even happens to do some things better than what inspired it." GameSpot gave the game a 6.5/10, commenting "There are better, more fluid games out there for the serious fighter, and there are more accessible ones for those interested in a bit of silliness. In attempting to mix the two, "PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale" merely ends up being competent at both and the master of neither."


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: On December 21, 2012, the game was nominated for IGN's Best Overall Fighting Game and won the IGN People's Choice Award.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: The game also received Fighting Game of the Year, at the 2013 D.I.C.E. Summit's Interactive Achievement Awards.


title: PlayStation All-Stars Battle Royale

text: Shuhei Yoshida confirmed that over a million copies of the game had been sold by June 12, 2013, though he conceded that, at the time, this was not enough to justify a sequel or developing further DLC for the game. He stated that while he was personally happy with the cross-over implementation of the characters and worlds, he saw more potential for it to come together using different gameplay mechanics. In August 2013, a free-to-play minigame collection, "PlayStation All-Stars Island", was released for iOS devices as a cross-promotion with Coke Zero. The game was later made available for Android platforms as well, but both platforms only saw a limited release in specific European territories.


title: Honeywell AGT1500

text: The Honeywell AGT1500 is a gas turbine engine. It is the main powerplant of the M1 Abrams series of tanks. The engine was originally designed and produced by the Lycoming Turbine Engine Division in the Stratford Army Engine Plant. In 1995, production was moved to the Anniston Army Depot in Anniston, Alabama, after the Stratford Army Engine Plant was shut down.


title: Honeywell AGT1500

text: Engine output peaks at , with of torque at that peak, which occurs at 3,000 rpm. The turbine can provide torque in excess of at significantly lower RPMs. The engine weighs approximately and occupies a volume of , measuring .


title: Honeywell AGT1500

text: Development had started by 1964 with a contract given to Chrysler in 1976, originally as an engine for the later cancelled MBT-70.


title: Honeywell AGT1500

text: In the early 1970s, the AGT1500 was developed into the PLT27, a flight-weight turboshaft for use in helicopters. This engine lost to the General Electric GE12 (T700) in three separate competitions to power the UH-60, AH-64, and SH-60. Serial production of the AGT1500 began in 1980; by 1992, more than 11,000 engines had been delivered. In 1986, with the Cold War about to wind down, Textron Lycoming began developing a commercial marine derivative, which they called the TF15.


title: Ground and neutral

text: Ground and neutral are circuit conductors used in alternating current electrical systems. The ground circuit is connected to earth, and neutral circuit is usually connected to ground. As the neutral point of an electrical supply system is often connected to earth ground, ground and neutral are closely related. Under certain conditions, a conductor used to connect to a system neutral is also used for grounding (earthing) of equipment and structures. Current carried on a grounding conductor can result in objectionable or dangerous voltages appearing on equipment enclosures, so the installation of grounding conductors and neutral conductors is carefully defined in electrical regulations. Where a neutral conductor is used also to connect equipment enclosures to earth, care must be taken that the neutral conductor never rises to a high voltage with respect to local ground.


title: Ground and neutral

text: Ground or earth in a mains (AC power) electrical wiring system is a conductor that provides a low-impedance path to the earth to prevent hazardous voltages from appearing on equipment (high voltage spikes). The terms and are used synonymously in this section; is more common in North American English, and is more common in British English. Under normal conditions, a grounding conductor does not carry current. Grounding is also an integral path for home wiring because it causes circuit breakers to trip more quickly (ie, GFCI), which is safer. Adding new grounds requires a qualified electrician with knowledge particular to a power distribution region.


title: Ground and neutral

text: Neutral is a circuit conductor that normally completes the circuit back to the source. Neutral is usually connected to ground (earth) at the main electrical panel, street drop, or meter, and also at the final step-down transformer of the supply. That is for simple single panel installations; for multiple panels the situation is more complex.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In a polyphase (usually three-phase) AC system, the neutral conductor is intended to have similar voltages to each of the other circuit conductors, but may carry very little current if the phases are balanced.


title: Ground and neutral

text: All neutral wires of the same earthed (grounded) electrical system should have the same electrical potential, because they are all connected through the system ground. Neutral conductors are usually insulated for the same voltage as the line conductors, with interesting exceptions.


title: Ground and neutral

text: Neutral wires are usually connected at a neutral bus within panelboards or switchboards, and are "bonded" to earth ground at either the electrical service entrance, or at transformers within the system. For electrical installations with split-phase (three-wire single-phase) service, the neutral point of the system is at the center-tap on the secondary side of the service transformer. For larger electrical installations, such as those with polyphase service, the neutral point is usually at the common connection on the secondary side of delta/wye connected transformers. Other arrangements of polyphase transformers may result in no neutral point, and no neutral conductors.


title: Ground and neutral

text: The IEC standard (IEC 60364) codifies methods of installing neutral and ground conductors in a building, where these earthing systems are designated with letter symbols. The letter symbols are common in countries using IEC standards, but North American practices rarely refer to the IEC symbols. The differences are that the conductors may be separate over their entire run from equipment to earth ground, or may be combined all or part of their length. Different systems are used to minimize the voltage difference between neutral and local earth ground. Current flowing in a grounding conductor will produce a voltage drop along the conductor, and grounding systems seek to ensure this voltage does not reach unsafe levels.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In the TN-S system, separate neutral and protective earth conductors are installed between the equipment and the source of supply (generator or electric utility transformer). Normal circuit currents flow only in the neutral, and the protective earth conductor bonds all equipment cases to earth to intercept any leakage current due to insulation failure. The neutral conductor is connected to earth at the building point of supply, but no common path to ground exists for circuit current and the protective conductor.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In the TN-C system, a common conductor provides both the neutral and protective grounding. The neutral conductor is connected to earth ground at the point of supply, and equipment cases are connected to the neutral. The danger exists that a broken neutral connection will allow all the equipment cases to rise to a dangerous voltage if any leakage or insulation fault exists in any equipment. This can be mitigated with special cables but the cost is then higher.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In the TN-C-S system, each piece of electrical equipment has both a protective ground connection to its case, and a neutral connection. These are all brought back to some common point in the building system, and a common connection is then made from that point back to the source of supply and to the earth.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In a TT system, no lengthy common protective ground conductor is used, instead each article of electrical equipment (or building distribution system) has its own connection to earth ground.


title: Ground and neutral

text: Stray voltages created in grounding (earthing) conductors by currents flowing in the supply utility neutral conductors can be troublesome. For example, special measures may be required in barns used for milking dairy cattle. Very small voltages, not usually perceptible to humans, may cause low milk yield, or even mastitis (inflammation of the udder).


title: Ground and neutral

text: So-called "tingle voltage filters" may be required in the electrical distribution system for a milking parlour.


title: Ground and neutral

text: Connecting the neutral to the equipment case provides some protection against faults, but may produce a dangerous voltage on the case if the neutral connection is broken.


title: Ground and neutral

text: Combined neutral and ground conductors are commonly used in electricity supply companies' wiring and occasionally for fixed wiring in buildings and for some specialist applications where there is little alternative, such as railways and trams. Since normal circuit currents in the neutral conductor can lead to objectionable or dangerous differences between local earth potential and the neutral, and to protect against neutral breakages, special precautions such as frequent rodding down to earth (multiple ground rod connections), use of cables where the combined neutral and earth completely surrounds the phase conductor(s), and thicker than normal equipotential bonding must be considered to ensure the system is safe.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In the United States, the cases of some kitchen stoves (ranges, ovens), cook tops, clothes dryers and other specifically "listed" appliances were grounded through their neutral wires as a measure to conserve copper from copper cables during World War II. This practice was removed from the NEC in the 1996 edition, but existing installations (called "old work") may still allow the cases of such "listed" appliances to be connected to the neutral conductor for grounding. (Canada did not adopt this system and instead during this time and into the present uses separate neutral and ground wires.)


title: Ground and neutral

text: This practice arose from the three-wire system used to supply both 120 volt and 240 volt loads. Because these "listed" appliances often have components that use either 120, or both 120 and 240 volts, there is often some current on the neutral wire. This differs from the protective grounding wire, which only carries current under fault conditions. Using the neutral conductor for grounding the equipment enclosure was considered safe since the devices were permanently wired to the supply and so the neutral was unlikely to be broken without also breaking both supply conductors. Also, the unbalanced current due to lamps and small motors in the appliances was small compared to the rating of the conductors and therefore unlikely to cause a large voltage drop in the neutral conductor.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In North American and European practice, small portable equipment connected by a cord set is permitted under certain conditions to have merely two conductors in the attachment plug. A polarized plug can be used to maintain the identity of the neutral conductor into the appliance but neutral is never used as a chassis/case ground. The small cords to lamps, etc., often have one or more molded ridges or embedded strings to identify the neutral conductor, or may be identified by colour. Portable appliances never use the neutral conductor for case grounding, and often feature "double-insulated" construction.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In places where the design of the plug and socket cannot ensure that a system neutral conductor is connected to particular terminals of the device ("unpolarized" plugs), portable appliances must be designed on the assumption that either pole of each circuit may reach full main voltage with respect to the ground.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In North American practice, equipment connected by a cord set must have three wires if supplied exclusively by 240 volts, or must have four wires (including neutral and ground), if supplied by 120/240 volts.


title: Ground and neutral

text: There are special provisions in the NEC for so-called technical equipment, mainly professional grade audio and video equipment supplied by so-called "balanced" 120 volt circuits. The center tap of a transformer is connected to ground, and the equipment is supplied by two line wires each 60 volts to ground (and 120 volts between line conductors). The center tap is not distributed to the equipment and no neutral conductor is used. These cases generally use a grounding conductor which is separated from the safety grounding conductor specifically for the purposes of noise and "hum" reduction.


title: Ground and neutral

text: Another specialized distribution system was formerly specified in patient care areas of hospitals. An isolated power system was furnished, from a special isolation transformer, with the intention of minimizing any leakage current that could pass through equipment directly connected to a patient (for example, an electrocardiograph for monitoring the heart). The neutral of the circuit was not connected to ground. The leakage current was due to the distributed capacitance of the wiring and capacitance of the supply transformer. Such distribution systems were monitored by permanently installed instruments to give an alarm when high leakage current was detected.


title: Ground and neutral

text: A shared neutral is a connection in which a plurality of circuits use the same neutral connection. This is also known as a common neutral, and the circuits and neutral together are sometimes referred to as an Edison circuit.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In a three-phase circuit, a neutral is shared between all three phases. Commonly the system neutral is connected to the star point on the feeding transformer. This is the reason that the secondary side of most three-phase distribution transformers is wye- or star-wound. Three-phase transformers and their associated neutrals are usually found in industrial distribution environments.


title: Ground and neutral

text: A system could be made entirely ungrounded. In this case a fault between one phase and ground would not cause any significant current. Commonly the neutral is grounded (earthed) through a bond between the neutral bar and the earth bar. It is common on larger systems to monitor any current flowing through the neutral-to-earth link and use this as the basis for neutral fault protection.


title: Ground and neutral

text: The connection between neutral and earth allows any phase-to-earth fault to develop enough current flow to "trip" the circuit overcurrent protection device. In some jurisdictions, calculations are required to ensure the fault loop impedance is low enough so that fault current will trip the protection (In Australia, this is referred to in AS3000:2007 Fault loop impedance calculation). This may limit the length of a branch circuit.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In the case of two phases sharing one neutral and the third phase is disconnected, the worst-case current draw is one side has zero load and the other has full load, or when both sides have full load. The latter case results in formula_1 , formula_2 or formula_3 where formula_4 is the magnitude of the current. In other words the magnitude of the current in the neutral equals that of the other two wires.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In a three-phase linear circuit with three identical resistive or reactive loads, the neutral carries no current. The neutral carries current if the loads on each phase are not identical. In some jurisdictions, the neutral is allowed to be reduced in size if no unbalanced current flow is expected. If the neutral is smaller than the phase conductors, it can be overloaded if a large unbalanced load occurs.


title: Ground and neutral

text: The current drawn by non-linear loads, such as fluorescent & HID lighting and electronic equipment containing switching power supplies, often contains harmonics. Triplen harmonic currents (odd multiples of the third harmonic) are additive, resulting in more current in the shared neutral conductor than in any of the phase conductors. In the absolute worst case, the current in the shared neutral conductor can be triple that in each phase conductor. Some jurisdictions prohibit the use of shared neutral conductors when feeding single-phase loads from a three-phase source; others require that the neutral conductor be substantially larger than the phase conductors. It is good practice to use four-pole circuit breakers (as opposed to the standard three-pole) where the fourth pole is the neutral phase, and is hence protected against overcurrent on the neutral conductor.


title: Ground and neutral

text: In split-phase wiring, for example a duplex receptacle in a North American kitchen, devices may be connected with a cable that has three conductors, in addition to ground. The three conductors are usually coloured red, black, and white. The white serves as a common neutral, while the red and black each feed, separately, the top and bottom hot sides of the receptacle. Typically such receptacles are supplied from two circuit breakers in which the handles of two poles are tied together for a common trip. If two large appliances are used at once, current passes through both and the neutral only carries the difference in current. The advantage is that only three wires are required to serve these loads, instead of four. If one kitchen appliance overloads the circuit, the other side of the duplex receptacle will be shut off as well. This is called a multiwire branch circuit. Common trip is required when the connected load uses more than one phase simultaneously. The common trip prevents overloading of the shared neutral if one device draws more than rated current.


title: Ground and neutral

text: A ground connection that is missing or of inadequate capacity may not provide the protective functions as intended during a fault in the connected equipment. Extra connections between ground and circuit neutral may result in circulating current in the ground path, stray current introduced in the earth or in a structure, and stray voltage. Extra ground connections on a neutral conductor may bypass the protection provided by a ground-fault circuit interrupter. Signal circuits that rely on a ground connection will not function or will have erratic function if the ground connection is missing.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Vail is a home rule municipality in Eagle County, Colorado, United States. The population of the town was 4,835 in 2020. Home to Vail Ski Resort, the largest ski mountain in Colorado, the town is known for its hotels, dining, and for the numerous events the city hosts annually, such as the Vail Film Festival, Vail Resorts Snow Days, and Bravo! Vail.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Vail was incorporated in 1966, four years after the opening of Vail Ski Resort. The ski area was founded by Pete Seibert and local rancher Earl Eaton in 1962, at the base of Vail Pass. The pass was named after Charles Vail, the highway engineer who routed U.S. Highway 6 through the Eagle Valley in 1940, which eventually became Interstate 70. Seibert, a New England native, served in the U.S. Army's 10th Mountain Division during World War II, which trained at Camp Hale, 14 miles south of Vail between Red Cliff and Leadville. He was wounded in Italy at the Battle of Riva Ridge but went on to become a professional skier after he recovered.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Seibert, with other former members of the 10th Mountain Division, returned to Colorado after World War II with the intention of opening a ski resort. During training for ski troopers at Camp Hale, he bivouacked on Vail Mountain and identified it as an ideal ski mountain. In the early 1960s, Seibert got funds from a group of Colorado investors, including Jack Tweedy, and with Earl Eaton bought a ranch at the base of the mountain and eventually incorporated as Vail Associates. As plans continued for a new ski resort, Seibert hired Morrie Shepard as Vail's first ski school director. Shortly after, Shepard recruited Rod Slifer from Aspen to be the assistant ski school director. Slifer also became the only real estate broker in the early years of Vail and would later be the broker in the transaction that allowed Vail to buy a ranch, now known as the world-famous Beaver Creek.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: In December 1962, Vail officially opened for its first season. It operated a gondola lift and two ski lifts on the mountain owned by the United States Forest Service. The village was established at the base of the mountain for local residents and offered lodging for visitors. It quickly grew throughout the valley, with housing added first in East Vail and then West Vail, and additional lodging added in Lionshead in the late 1960s.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Within the first year, the village had a ski shop operated by Dick Hauserman and Joe Langmaid, a ski boutique operated by Blanche Hauserman and Bunny Langmaid, a hotel and restaurant operated by Pepi Gramshammer, and the mountain had a manager. By 1969, Vail was the most popular ski resort in the state. In 1988 Vail opened China Bowl, making Vail the third largest ski area in North America.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Vail's average elevation is 8,150 feet (2484 m) above sea level. The town has a total area of , with no lakes (there is, however, at least one pond). Gore Creek flows from east to west through the center of town.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: The town is surrounded by the White River National Forest and the Vail Ski Resort is leased from the United States Forest Service. Mount of the Holy Cross is visible from Vail Mountain.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Vail Mountain rises from 8,120 feet (2,476 m) to 11,570 feet (3,527 m), giving a vertical rise of 3,450 feet (1,052 m).


title: Vail, Colorado

text: It has a skiable area, 33 ski lifts, 193 marked skiing trails on three faces: the front side, the back bowls, and Blue Sky Basin. The seven back bowls are Sun Down Bowl, Sun Up Bowl, Teacup Bowl, China Bowl, Siberia Bowl, Inner Mongolia Bowl, and Outer Mongolia Bowl. Blue Sky Basin includes Pete's Bowl and Earl's Bowl—to commemorate Pete Seibert and Earl Eaton. The mountain resort also includes 17 miles of recreation paths, botanical gardens, and an outdoor amphitheater.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Vail has warm summers and cold winters because of its elevation. Depending on the classification used, it is either an alpine or subarctic climate transitional with humid continental due to the mild daytime temperatures in September bringing the daily mean to around . Minimum temperatures mostly remain below the freezing point from late September to late May. The town receives an average of of snowfall per season, with even more in the surrounding mountains. Roads may close occasionally during heavy snowfall. Summer temperatures can reach the 80s, but are more often in the mid to high 70s. Combined with mountain breezes, this makes summers refreshing and cool. For being a borderline subarctic climate daytime temperatures are very mild, indicating high diurnal temperature variation due to the altitude.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: The 2000 census found 4,531 people, 2,165 households, and 762 families living in the town. The population density was . There were 5,389 housing units at an average density of . The racial makeup of the town was 94.13% White, 0.29% African American, 0.49% Native American, 1.66% Asian, 0.09% Pacific Islander, 1.43% from other races, and 1.92% from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino people of any race were 6.20% of the population.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: There were 2,165 households in which 11.8% had children under the age of 18, 30.0% were married couples, 3.0% had a female householder with no husband present, and 64.8% were non-families. 33.2% of all households were made up of individuals, and 2.7% had someone living alone who was 65 years of age or older. The average household size was 2.09 people and the average family size was 2.62 people.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: The population age distribution was 9.9% people under the age of 18, 14.8% from 18 to 24, 47.9% from 25 to 44, 22.6% from 45 to 64, and 4.7% who were 65 years of age or older. The median age was 32 years. There were 140.1 males for every 100 females, and 143.0 males for every 100 females age 18 and over.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: The median household income was $56,680, and the median family income was $66,389. Men had a median income of $33,534 versus $32,065 for women. The per capita income for the town was $42,390. About 1.8% of families and 6.6% of the population were below the poverty line, including 0.9% of those under age 18 and 7.2% of those aged 65 or over.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: The Vail economy relies heavily on tourism. The main attraction in Vail is winter sports such as skiing and snowboarding on the mountain, in addition to snowmobiling and snowshoeing, among many other winter sports. Vail is also a summer resort and golfing center. Summer activities include guided hikes, mountain biking, horseback riding, carriage rides and fishing. Vail is also developing as a cultural center, with various art and music venues active throughout the summer. The town has a developed culinary center, with a variety of restaurants.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: A Vail Resorts spokesperson said in 2022 that there is a deficit of some 6,000 beds for the county’s work force.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Vail has a council-manager form of government and is led by a seven-member town council elected at-large. The current mayor is Kim Langmaid, whose seat will be vacated following the 2023 town council election due to term limits.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: The flag of Vail is flown by government buildings and businesses in Vail. It is composed of three stripes which are light blue, white, and dark green, which represent the blue Colorado sky, white powder snow, and the surrounding Evergreen forest, respectively. Centered on the flag is the original Vail element, which consists of two "V"s, the upper to represent the surrounding mountains, while the lower represents the Vail Valley. A gold wreath surrounds the element to represent excellence and achievement.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Vail's public schools are part of Eagle County School District RE-50, with high school students attending the nearby Battle Mountain High School in Edwards. Eagle County Schools also offers the Vail Ski & Snowboard Academy, a joint program with area ski programs for students in grades 5–12 who are involved in competitive skiing and snowboarding. Private schools in the Vail area include Vail Mountain School (K-12), Vail Christian High School (9–12), St. Clare of Assisi Catholic School (K-8), and the Vail Academy (PK-8). Higher education is available at the Vail Eagle Valley campus of Colorado Mountain College.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: A broadcast translator for public radio station KUNC allows listeners in the Eagle Valley to listen at 99.7 FM.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Two specialty television networks have stations in Vail, Plum TV and Resort Sports Network. The latter, branded as TV-8, also broadcasts on the low-powered UHF station K34QB-D. The Ski Channel is available only on DirecTV on Channel 1860.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: During the mid-1970s, Vail became known as the Western White House of President Gerald Ford, when he conducted much of the nation's business from "The Lodge at Vail" hotel. The national media followed Ford to Vail and often broadcast television pictures of Vail's mountain slopes.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Vail is served by Eagle County Airport near Gypsum, to the west. Native Americans used to call the area near the airport the "hole in the sky" because storms seemed to avoid it. Vail is modeled on European ski towns, many of which are car-free, and the town is partially pedestrianized. The town operates the largest free shuttle bus system in the United States and has ten hybrid-electric buses. At each bus stop, a sign reports when the next two buses will arrive.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: The In-Town Shuttle provides service every five minutes during peak winter times, and every 15 minutes off-peak, between Golden Peak, Vail Village, the business district, and Lionshead, with live schedule information provided at bus stops by Global Positioning System technology, which tracks buses. Other routes centering on the Transportation Center service the East and West Vail districts on a scheduled, but less frequent basis.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Eagle County provides bus service from the Transportation Center with service to Vail, Leadville, Minturn, Eagle-Vail, Avon, Beaver Creek, Edwards, Eagle, Gypsum and Dotsero.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: The Colorado Department of Transportation, through its Bustang program, provides intercity transportation to Vail along its West Line. The West Line goes from Denver to Grand Junction and back.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: Interstate 70 runs east–west through the middle of Vail and is the only road to or from Vail, with exits at East Vail, at the base of Vail Pass, the town of Vail, and West Vail. From the east, the highway comes from Denver, away, passes through Eisenhower Tunnel and over the Continental Divide, by-passing Loveland Pass, and over Vail Pass, dropping down into Vail Valley. To the west, it meets U.S. Highway 24 at Dowd Junction, passes through Avon, Edwards, Colorado, and Eagle, through Glenwood Canyon traveling and on to Grand Junction, and reaches Utah, where it ends at the intersection with Interstate 15.


title: Vail, Colorado

text: In West Vail, U.S. Route 6 (which still exists as a service road between East Vail, Vail, and West Vail) merges with I-70 at Dowd Junction. I-70 roughly follows the original Highway 6 route until the two highways diverge again in Silverthorne, to the east.


title: Bobbie Nelson

text: Bobbie Lee Nelson (January 1, 1931 – March 10, 2022) was an American pianist and singer, the elder sister of Willie Nelson, and a member of his band, Willie Nelson and Family. When she was five, her grandmother taught her to play keyboards with a pump organ, and after successful appearances at gospel conventions held in Hillsboro, Texas, her grandfather bought her a piano.


title: Bobbie Nelson

text: Nelson married Bud Fletcher when she was sixteen. He established a band called "The Texans", which she and her brother joined. The group later dissolved in 1955 after she divorced Fletcher. His death six years later resulted in her suffering a breakdown and briefly losing custody of their children. In 1965 she moved to Nashville, Tennessee, after her third marriage failed. She played in restaurants and different venues until she was called by her brother from New York in 1973 for a session. She joined Willie Nelson on the piano during his sessions with Atlantic Records, that produced "The Troublemaker", "Shotgun Willie" and "Phases and Stages". The same year she joined "The Family" full-time and began touring with her brother.


title: Bobbie Nelson

text: Nelson was born in Abbott, Texas, on January 1, 1931 to Ira Doyle Nelson and Myrle Marie (née Greenhaw). Her mother moved to Portland, Oregon, soon after her brother Willie was born in 1933 (Willie later relocated their mother when he reached adulthood). Her father remarried and also moved away, leaving them to be raised by their paternal grandparents. The Nelsons, who taught singing back in Arkansas, started their grandchildren in music.


title: Bobbie Nelson

text: Nelson's grandmother started instructing her to play piano on a pump organ when Nelson was five. Her grandfather took her to singing gospel conventions that were held on the courthouse in Hillsboro, Texas, where she performed for the first time—in front of about a thousand people. Impressed by her potential talent, her grandfather bought her a piano for $35 when she was six. Three years later, she started playing with Willie and singing with her grandmother around the house. She began playing in functions at Abbott High School and in church with her brother. When she was fourteen, she began traveling with evangelists around Austin and throughout Texas.