4630

On 17th April 2024, 34046 'Braunton' passing Colne Bridge, between Huddersfield and Heaton Lodge Junction, with the outward working of 1Z80, The White Rose rail tour from Hereford to York - 34046 having taken over at Crewe... ...and in the early evening approaching Brighouse, on the Calder Valley, heading west with the return working 1Z82 - 34046 having taken the lead at Gascoigne Wood Down Loop for the route back to Crewe.

It could be argued, yes. And with supporting evidence of what might have happened it may be possible to convince some. But as BR didn’t continue there isn’t and can’t ever be conclusive proof - one way or the other. The irrelevance of the graph in isolation though is shown by what happened in 2021. The graph shows a massive dip. Clearly privatisation had failed. Oh wait. How about some context. Ah yes. COVID. That’s the point. It’s the context that’s important to help support, interpret and explain the movements highlighted on the graph.

I’m reminded of the phrase that correlation doesn’t necessarily imply causation.

As always, the devil will be in the detail, for which at the moment, for very good reasons, there isn't a lot of. But to pick up on one particular point in your post to ponder on; In the period from nationalisation in 1948 until privatisation in 1994 British Rail's staff had, to the best of my knowledge, a largely uniform set of employment terms and conditions and pay scales. I've no doubt there was also some limited local and regional variations to take account of particular variables. This homegenous situation, not without conflict I grant you, evolved over time by mutual discussion and eventual agreement(s) between BR and the associated trade unions in the industry. The situation now is quite different. That homogeneity as I understand it is significantly eroded. To give one example, for historical reasons due to the TOCs previously involved and the way that franchises in the north operated and were changed over time, train crews at the current Northern have different sets of terms and conditions depending which side of the Pennines they are based at. That has implications for the operations of services on Sundays, for example. But to use your example of train drivers, what's the potential outcome likely to be if there is an attempt to harmonise the drivers' pay scales at say Avanti West Coast (who I understand are at one end of the drivers' pay spectrum) with say Northern (who I understand are towards the other end of the pay spectrum). Do you harmonise pay scales up, or down? If you harmonise up, where does the funding come from to support that? If you harmonise down, what will the impact be? How do you achieve harmonisation overall whilst minimising the impact on staff affected? Over what timescale do you try to achieve that? There are no easy answers here. And this is just one dimension of a very large and unwieldy issue. As I said at the start, the devil will be in the detail.

Without wanting to take the thread off in a whole different direction that risks acrimony, the wrath of the moderators and eventual locking, an examination of the history of the privatisation of the water industry and in particular the issues at Thames Water might throw some light on "...why people have problems with shareholders, etc..." The net effect of which is best summed up in my mind by the phrase "Privatise the profits, but socialise any losses."

Darius, I’m in awe at your ability to turn MTK’s assortment of castings and body shells so rapidly into such excellent models. Don’t you ever rest?

There's a seven page article about the Transpennine Route Upgrade (TRU) in the May issue of Modern Railways. Much of the content will be familiar to readers of this forum, but the article draws on input from Neil Holm, who is the TRU Managing Director, so IMHO should be the definitive version of the project, in terms of scope, and current and planned progress. Not yet Jamie, but I don't believe the instal was planned for during the recent rail line and Bradford Road closure. It'll be during one of the later closures.

There's a bit more about Roy Cross here for anyone interested. http://roycrossfineart.co.uk http://roycrossfineart.co.uk/airfix-gallery He didn't do all of the Airfix box art, although he was apparently the most prolific.

On 19th April 2024 West Coast Railway Company's 57313 'Scarborough Castle' arriving at Brighouse to terminate with the Northen Belle rail tour set, having completed an Afternoon Tea outing as 1Z66 from Skipton... ...57313 then eased the empty coaching stock away working as 5Z66, Brighouse to Crewe Down Refuge Siding, via Bradley Wood Junction towards Huddersfield and Greater Manchester... ...with 57315 on the rear.

Colas 56090 rumbles towards Brighouse on 19th April 2024 with 6E44, Colas Ribble Rail at Preston to Haverton, discharged bitumen tanks. Rather nice to see (and hear) as this working has been in the hands of Colas class 70s (including the hired-in Freightliner 70) for awhile.

Whenever I point out a glaring railway inaccuracy or implausibility in a film or on TV, it’s usually followed by a loud schhhhhhhh from Mrs 4630 and accompanied, with a hint of menace by, “Will you just stop it. It’s a drama, not a documentary!”

GBRf 60047 Scafell Pike heading west along the Calder Valley towards Brighouse in the early evening on 17th April 2024 with 6M09, Drax Power Station to Tuebrook Sidings, empty IIA-D biomass hoppers.

If it was the 1st April we'd presumably be thinking something along the lines of what a good joke. As it's not the 1st April the only appropriate reactions are "Really?!" and "Oh FFS".

On a cool and misty 2nd April 2024, GBRf 60076 Dunbar rumbles towards Brighouse with 6M34, Drax Power Station to Tuebrook Sidings, discharged biomass hoppers.

I know Halifax Old Road very well as my house is located on the other side of the Grimscar Valley looking across towards it. It’s a well known short cut into Hudds from the M62 and is also now a nighttime racetrack for the local boy (and girl too I would guess) racers. 😕 It’s a bit of road around here that I go out of my way to avoid! There is a lot of enabling work going on now virtually the full length of the line between Huddersfield and Dewsbury. There was a short concrete span on an artic trailer when I was there on the 31st, but it appeared to me to be too short to bridge the gap. It’s on my list to investigate tomorrow.