SM42

It is interesting that if this is to be installed by 2020 on freight locos, then presumably the same will apply to passenger trains too, or at least not be too far behind.  One then has to wonder why such a lot is being spent replacing lineside signals with err.. lineside signals that, if the logic follows, only have an intended life cycle of around 5 years.

Andy (Still cynical) 

Gordon

In a simple terms this new system will do away with lineside signals and  replace them with a display in the cab. This means that trains can run closer together as some technical magic occurs and the system  knows where all the trains are, how far apart they are and what is a safe distance between them allowing for their different braking characteristics etc. and can advise on safe maximum speeds for each train given the location and speed  of others around it.

Andy

Interesting how it will make freight trains safer. Are freight trains falling off the rails on a daily basis due being signalled by coloured lights at the side of the track?.

Whilst this looks good on paper, did no-one ask about all the passenger trains that use the railway? Are they going to have the same technology fitted? 

This has all the hallmarks of creating  a political good news story when the reality, in terms of delivery timescales, will be a lot more disappointing.

Andy (being cynical) 

I was talking geographically rather than administratively about the ends, but nonetheless, problems when they do occur can cause massive delays and all we can do is sit back and try and make the best of it. I have waited in the tunnel for 2 hours before whilst a problem was resolved ( I think this was due to a mass trespass in France) but that just meant more nap time disturbed only by the very angry Frenchman in the car in front who gave any passing member of staff an earful. 

The one thing that is really missing are some better facilities in the loading areas. Toilets OK, but if you are going to spend two or more  hours waiting there when it all goes pear shaped, surely some access to food and drink would be a good idea. Even if it was just a mobile unit that could brought round when needed. Lord knows what you do if you have small children to entertain.

All we were given as an option when we had to wait it out there  was to return to the terminal and then have to go through security again (which was the cause of the delay in the first place)

The fact that the whole thing works as well as it does 24 hours a day, not to mention the freight and Eurostar services that use the tunnel as well , is quite remarkable really.  

Andy

I've found in my experience that things go pretty well with Eurotunnel. 

Only had one really annoying experience  when  we were bumped off  a 2320hrs  and had to spend two hours at loading waiting for the 0120hrs even though we had got there whilst loading was in progress according to the screens  despite the 40 minutes to get through security. Seems they had been bumping people all day because of delays due to heightened French security checks (after the terrorist attack in Brussells the day before )  that we had expected and allowed for but Eurotunnel had not by not calling people from the terminal earlier.

An e mail to customer services resulted in a  voucher towards our next crossing being offered. A very fair and reasonable response I thought

Our latest trip back from Calais on Friday night was a bit chaotic and the gallic shrug was put to use a couple of times. We arrived 3 hours early for our crossing ( we had allowed some contingency time in the 720 mile trip to Calais which we didn't use entirely) and quite rightly we had to wait for a couple of hours as it was busy . Time for some shut eye.  

However we were called to loading surprisingly early and ended up with in a queue with people who had just been bumped apparently  and eventually ended up on a coach / high vehicle carrier. Lots of headroom and nice wide driveways so no clipping curbs or dodging wing mirrors round toilets. I suspect something had broken down earlier and they were doing their best to shift the backlog. 

We always use the tunnel now as despite there being a price premium over the ferry, I can get some shut eye despite the air con and announcements, have a comfy seat  and you don't generally get kids running round screaming like things possessed.

Oh and they are a very reasonable to deal with if you need to change your travel plans. 

They get a thumbs up from me even if no-one on the ground and facing the public  seems to know what's happening when things go wrong.

The only thing that really annoys me is the rather bizarre set up at the English end when you leave the terminal and then go through security. The French end is much better organised with security first  and then the departure lounge,  like an airport. 

Andy

there is someing similar just south of banbury but the opposite way round, they have cut back the foliage and smoothed off the bank to get a view of the signal on a left hand bend, all fine and dandy straight after the new installation was completed but now its startign to grow again, not to an extent to effect the signal but give it another year

 

the daft thing with that particular signal is had they sighted it 200m futher back it would have been on the end of a straight with 1/4 mile of visibility

Jim

It may be worth highlighting this if you haven't already so a pre-emptive strike can be arranged. 

PM me if you want

Andy

I have all sorts of stuff from all over. 

I stopped pre nationalisation era spending many years  ago and went all late 80s /early 90s BR.

Then I started to take an interest in things a little earlier and so started the very pleasant pastime of recreating (as near as possible)  trains seen in photographs. So now I have mid 60s stuff as well. 

Then just for the hell of it a modern coal train (class 66 and HTAs?) because I saw them out of the window every day.

My recent adventure into European HO I have deliberately confined to post 2006 for very sound financial reasons, although the odd one gets through if it is SM42 shaped. (Can't think why). 

You could say I fall between two stools here. Yes I buy things that go together in a train, but not necessarily trains that go together and I also buy trains that go together too.

Still it's fun 

Andy

Well I'm back home and fed and watered and now relaxing. 

Feet ache but at least standing all day Saturday seems to have made my bad back better. So yay!!

I didn't see much of the show as usual, but what I did I thought was excellent and I only managed to spend £6 (Mrs SM42 says Yay!) 

I had a great time and met a lot of interesting people who stopped to gaze and were then accosted by some bloke in green who was loitering around our stand trying to get people to talk to him.. 

If you did stop and chat, all I can say it was a pleasure. 

Best comment was from someone who "just popped in to see if you people were real." Needless to say we are and he was quite astonished at how big the hobby is. 

A big thank you the Warley team.

Andy 

Can I just add to the positive feedback. 

I consider Wakefield to be one of the must see shows and have been a regular visitor for around 15 years now and  thought the standard and mix of layouts this year was by far one of the best yet.

We visited on Friday night and even the trek up the M1 went without a hitch.

All in all a fine evening was had and the rest of the weekend was then free to indulge Mrs SM42's various wishlist items.  

​Well done and thank you to the exhibition team. 

​See you next year.

​Andy

Will be there all weekend helping out on the CMC stand

 

However the key news is ... SWMBO is baking millionaires shortbread ! Yippee

 

Phil

Can I put a shortbread  order in for stand B87 Phil?

If anyone is passing do stop and say hello. (There may not be shortbread of any description though) 

Andy

On a Central European theme a Tarpan Honker in 1/87, military spec

Look it up. 

Beast.

Andy

Sorry about that Jim. I thought they would have told you before you got to Wolverhampton.

 Could have been worse though, It was touch and go whether you went via Soho as well or stayed at Oxley all night. 

Just a shame I wasn't there to see you pass. Cannock needs waking up a bit and a 56 is just the thing to do it.

Andy

Glad you enjoyed the little detour I arranged for you to dodge round the engineers

As soon as they said you were on the logs I knew I was in safe territory.

I thought you might be getting a little rusty on the Cannock Line and could do with a refresh anyway 

Andy

Yes this is Cliffe Vale china clay terminal.

The final destination for 6M72 and start point of 6V70. Trains I used to see on  regular basis on my way to school for 6M72 and later in they evening for 6V70 during the 1980s. 

Andy

Not sure when Cockshute closed, but when I was a student in Stoke between 1988 and 1991, locos could be found at the north end of the station on the up side. 

Usually a  56 or a couple  of 20s lurked about those areas.

Andy

Wrong.

The air is not free to fly through.

See post 110 above.

 

There are fairly hefty charges to use the airspace and the operation and maintenance of the airspace environment (air traffic management, otherwise known as ATC) is also very costly.

Indeed. I recall seeing a TV program where the flight plan was being tweaked to get the lowest cost combination of fuel use and airspace charges where fuel cost  going around a country was  less than the airspace charge of going over it. 

 I hadn't until then even considered that the air above us is a valuable source of national income. 

Of course the airport charges are one of the reasons low cost often leaves you at an airport that has a cheek to call itself after whichever city might be within two hours drive.. 

Airports further out tend to need the business more and will probably be open to accepting lower charges just to get the routes and cash coming in. This is probably why you can get a Ryanair flight from Bristol, but not Heathrow and of course  Stansted is not London despite what it claims and perhaps if you squint at the map a bit. 

Andy

Certainly.  They apply a weighting that responds to demand (or lack of) and adjust prices accordingly.  Another old trick (which may still be in use) is to use cookies to track flights investigated on a particular device.  If you check a fare, but don't book there and then, and return to the same flight later, the price will have gone up - whereas looking at the same flight on another device it will still be at the lower price.

This makes sense as  couple of trips ago to the land of the pole, I was sat next to guy who had booked on Wednesday for the Saturday flight and had paid £8 each. 

As far as cookies go I'm not  sure this works as another recent trip by SM42 ran into website problems that wouldn't complete payment. After several goes over the next couple of hours I gave up. 

The next day we had an e mail from the airline saying we hadn't finished our booking and when we tried again its was suddenly £10 cheaper on each leg. 

Andy

 

The landing begins way up there in the cruise 

 

The cruise. 

I like that

I once read the a description of the cruise as "hurtling through the stratosphere in an aluminium tube surrounded by 1000s of litres of highly flammable aviation fuel barely protected from blazing furnaces". 

I was also once told that a firm landing reduces tyre wear as they spin up faster. Whether that is true or not I don't. know. 

Ryanair certainly hold the record for  worst landing ever in my experience  ( I really thought they had gone too far and damaged the plane.) In fact there was no spontaneous applause on that occasion it was that bad. 

Wizz hold my record for most concerning. Should the terminal building at Poznan be off the right wing when the plane touches down? Must have been almost halfway down the runway. I was half prepared for a go around 

But back to the Ryanair debacle. 

It is interesting that they are appraently refusing to rebook on alternative carriers but I did hear it said on TV the other day that their own conditions state they will do this. (don't know if this is true. haven't used them for nearly 12 months now)  That would be different, using their own T&Cs against them. 

Andy

Regular flights to Mrs SM42's motherland from Stansted with Ryanair sort of put me off flying in general. I don't mind the flying, its the airports and all the faffing about  I hate

In those days we didn't have a lot of choice of carrier and now we drive more often than not. 500kgs of luggage capacity, no messing about at the airport, Eurotunnel let you change reservations by paying the difference in fare, straight to the door and overall a much nicer experience where the trip is part of the adventure. 

Compared to driving to Stansted , the time is about double and the amount we move back an forth we more than save on excess baggage. 

Wizz have now opened a route from our local airport here to our local airport out there and although not perfect a mucher nicer experience than Ryanair. 

To me Ryanair seems to have lost its way a bit. I thought they were getting better with the two bag policy, but even that is getting silly now. Add to that the check in at last minute if you want it for free, using your ink and paper (admittedly Wizz have started this now) and I'm sorry but they have lost my business. 

I'll only use them as a last resort. 

Andy

Here's one I've dug out of the SM42 archives

Soldek, the first sea going ship built in Poland apparently, and resident of the Maritime museum in Gdansk back in 2007

Andy

A few years ago  a colleague of mine was asked, one night, to rescue a cat that had managed to get itself "stuck" by the track. 

Said cat was located after some searching in thick undergrowth below a road bridge. 

Despite his best efforts he was unable to persuade the cat to come out from its bramble festooned sanctuary and in desperation tried  "Come here you little b++++++"

At which point,  from the darkness above, a little voice said "His name's Murf

Andy

As with all green issues it seems to me that announcements such as these are just an excuse to justify future tax rises or charging regimes on  people for going about their everyday business. 

Come 2040 there will probably be a 60% tax on automotive  batteries because of the environmental concerns over production and disposal, 

In the meantime expect to be hit by road charging everywhere whilst there is no viable alternative (unless you live in London) to avoid it

When it comes down to it, paying more because of the pollution you cause doesn't stop pollution. It may reduce it but only if the amounts are eye watering. 

Since I started driving, traffic levels have ballooned (certainly in the last 10 years) and the price of fuel has gone up by around 200%. So that hasn't put people off to any great extent then . Any individual reduction in use has been surpassed by increased numbers. Perhaps £5 / litre might but there may be civil unrest if that happened. Look what happened when it hit £1 / litre

At present there are limits to the practicality of a purely electric vehicle over the conventional petrol and diesel. 8.5 minutes to get you 30 miles or 2-3 minutes to get you 400 miles, not to mention the sheer amount of space you'd need to charge up the average throughput of a petrol station if everyone was there for at least 8-10  minutes but probably longer. 

The technology is out there but as I understand it is not practical for road use as the batteries are the size of a house. Could this be solved in 22 years? Maybe,  if there was some sense of central government support for the R&D (this is after all a significant shift in transport policy)  but I don't get the impression that that will be forthcoming and private enterprise and ultimately the consumer will be expected to pick up the bill. 

Still in the meantime, based on a dodgy piece of statistical jiggery-pokery from 30 year old US research,  we can all try and force people to switch to petrol, double CO2 output and kill the whole planet quicker , totally ignoring the particulates, benzene content other nasties from petrol and of course the non combustion sources of road pollution.

Once that is done we can use the petrol pollutants argument to add £2 per litre tax on the stuff and sit back and watch the money roll in whilst we force people to go electric and dream up some wheeze to tax that. Oh and bicycles will have a 300% sales tax on them too.

Cynical?

Me ? 

Never.

Andy

It's 2042 and there you are with 5 miles of range left. Only another 30 to go to get home. 

I'll just pop in here for a charge. 

Oh it's full. Never mind someone might finish in 14 hours. 

I just hope that batteries develop by then. It seems to me that the mobile phone battery in the last 20 years has developed to the stage where it can barely manage to run a phone for  a day and of course some do have a nasty habit of bursting into flames whilst being recharged.

Personally I favour hydrogen power as the future. Clean and quick to refill. Of course we could start building a network of overhead electrified mesh over all the roads and then we just need a pick up on the back, like the dodgems (driving in Birmingham won't change then!) . better start now as there's a lot of road to cover. 

Still doesn't solve the problem  of particulates from the brakes and tyres or the nitrogen pollution from your central heating  or LPG powered vehicle though. 

Andy

Someone I know of Polish origin regularly flies aback for all her dental work and she reckons it saves her a lot. Granted she does stay with family so does not have to pay for a hotel

I don't know if she gets a discount being a Polish national but from the limited experiences I have had, even paying full price is not that expensive.  One other thing is that fillings are white, as standard, from what I have heard so no horrible looking amalgam.

In fact, in my experience as an English patient, medical care in Poland (and I've had more experience than I would care for, so much so I am now sort of  registered with a doctor. Don't ask)  has been excellent, although you do have to consider the language issues and choose your supplier carefully. 

Andy

Times flies by when you're the driver of a train

And you ride on the footplate there and back again

 

Watched them all as part of childhood (like many others on here I suspect) but I used to love the train in Chigley. But I could never work out how it got back to its shed again - there was never a turntable or run-round loop when it seemed to end up?

 

A true TV legend. R.I.P.

Chigley is one of the first recorded instances of MGR working. They never ran round. 

Another  regular  of my childhood goes to the great TV show in the sky (not on Sky) RIP. 

Andy