locoholic

Some high-spec stripey LMS coaches to go with the new streamlined pacific?

Bachmann put their 94xx into tooling in September, possible there could be EP shots in the next 3 months depending on when Bachmann next decides to do some publicity.

 

The last thing Hornby needs is to do is duplicate a newly tooled model from a competitor that would mean both would likely lose out - even if Hornby was able to get out first there will still be xx% of the market that will choose Bachmann.

If I was a Hornby shareholder I would be wondering why the old Lima 94xx wasn't being used with an updated chassis to steal some of Bachmann's thunder.

One thing that I wish Hornby would do is 21st century versions of the old Hornby Dublo models, such as the A4 Silver King, Duchess of Atholl, Cardiff Castle and the rebuilt Barnstaple, all done in replica Dublo-style boxes.

My money's on a Crampton loco, like "Liverpool"!

The Wales that suffered the Beeching era closures (incidentally he did not propose closing Carmarthen-Aberystwyth, a landslip did that, and even then the line survived for some time to serve creameries) has changed somewhat.  Shops, offices, banks, and hospitals are more centralised in the larger population centres, and capacity of what was never a good road network except for the northern and southern corridors is much more stretched.  The situation is, on the face of it, more conducive to successful rail operations.  Despite this, the Cambrian and Central Wales have only survived with a lot of political input, and are difficult to justify economically, presumably part of whatever rationale there is for this scheme.  It is no more daft to provide a railway from Carmarthen to Aberystwyth than it is from Llanelli to Shrewsbury, or Shrewsbury to Pwllheli.  Or Llandudno Jc to Blaenau Ffestiniog; only in the post industrial South are sufficient passengers to be had.

 

But the Central illustrates the point about politics.  Closing it would be political suicide, and the former Secretary of State, George Thomas famously informed Harold Wilson when the line was scheduled for closure in 1969 'but, Prime Minister, you can't close it, it runs through five marginal constituencies'.  And those constituencies do not have the same Nationalist support as Carmarthen-Aberystwyth, or the Cambrian downline from Machynlleth for that matter either.  

 

The reality is that even a bus service linking Cardiff and Holyhead once a day, and Aberystwyth from both 3 times (the 'Traws Cambria), failed due to lack of traffic; a railway has no hope!

Carmarthem - Aberystwyth was definitely on Dr Beeching's closure list. The flood damage just meant it closed early.

I just wonder if political expediency saved some lines, whether devolution and nationalism means that a national Welsh rail network is perceived necessity, regardless of economics.

London has developed as a world centre of finance because a nucleus was allowed to develop which attracts similar and supporting businesses which feed off each other.  Companies do not want to be told where they can locate by government; there was an experiment at that called the Soviet Union which wasn't exactly a roaring success.

 

Whereas the current system results in people living eight to a room or in garden sheds in London - not a "roaring success" either.

George Hudson would be proud of HS2.

Looking at this issue through the other end of the telescope, if Carmarthen - Aberystwyth is such a basket case, why is the the line from Shrewsbury to Aber still open? And how should the railway network in Wales be developed, or is it doomed to be fossilised as just the routes that Dr Beeching couldn't get closed?

The problem being that the two end points are not particularly large in population or have major employment. If one end had been say Cardiff then similar to Borders railway it could work. If the line was built(rebuilt) you could possibly see a class 153 may be once a hour at peak time then every two hours. Would that ever foot the bill for a new line. Better to spend the money on Cardiff and Swansea commuter services.

 

Re the Gwilli railway the Newcastle Emlyn branch had been suggested,

 

Keith (use to live in West Wales beside the Whitland Tenby)

 

Depends how much of a premium Welsh train travellers are willing to pay to be able to go from one end of Wales to the other by train without straying into England!

Comparing this with the Borders Railway is like comparing apples to oranges, in my view. Even the most optimistic BCR cannot run close to justifying rebuilding it.  There's little intermediate traffic to attract (shades of Hadfield to Penistone on the Woodhead) and insufficient commuter traffic, even potentially, to come anywhere near paying for itself.

But Aberystwyth is stuffed full of students, who are habitual train travellers.

Eeee look Ethel, more money to consultants, quelle surprise.

Also, that's the Gwili Railway shafted, looks like they will be moved to M & M route possibly?

 

Mike.

Which bit of the Manchester & Milford, since all of it (Pencader to Aberystwyth) is required for the proposed reinstatement? The Gwili Railway is in the most scenic section of the old Camarthen & Cardigan Railway - it is hard to think of another section of disused railway nearby that is as attractive and accessible.

Why on Earth does the consultant's report superimpose the proposed route onto a 1-inch Ordnance Survey map from the 1950s, meaning that it is impossible to see directly the impact on the current situation?!

Of course, this is pure pie in the sky, but is less damaging and has a better return on investment than the Welsh government's previous flirtation with infrastructure investment, the Swansea Bay tidal power scheme.

At the risk of rocking the boat and being an odd one out here I don't primarily blame policians for the current debacle of major programs. The money was made available and programs approved followed by them going woefully over budget and facing huge delays. I don't know how much of it was DafT completely failing to understand resource constraints and program risk, and how much was down to inadequate program management by NR but the net result is billions squandered, programs deferred, others facing cuts to cut costs, further delays etc. I am sure that there are good reasons for some of these issues and equally sure some are down to management failures. If it was your money (and it is if you pay taxes) would you be happy to just keep throwing money at these programs in the hope that eventually it will all start working? Politically I think that there was a major mistake in approving a major spending spree at the turn of the last decade and subsequent transport ministers have inherited a complete mess. The unfortunate consequences are that the lost value of wasted money is already having a baleful effect and it will be a lot harder to persuade a government to fund future major upgrades.

It's a 21st Century version of the 1955 BR Modernisation Plan.

I always thought that 'Crossrail' was a far more suitable name than the 'Elizabeth Line'

Is it called Crossrail because every time it is delayed and the cost rises it makes people cross?

Did I say £1billion funding shortfall? I meant £2 billion, of course!

Crossrail is in the papers again, with stories that it needs a £1 billion funding bail-out. Does anyone know what the extra money is needed for?

Does anyone know if Hornby are now supplying R3618 Royal Observer Corps to retailers with the correct tender, or is it still up to customers to spot the error and get their own replacement direct from Hornby?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-46432260

Reduced profits

They shouldn't expect to make a profit at all after the fiasco they've put their customers through recently.

At the moment the terminology is very clear and intuitive - like 'this platform for XXXXX & London' or 'over the bridge for stations to Reading' which is, and has long been, the usual style of signing at all the Thames Valley stations plus of course the PI screens give platform numbers along with train times and destinations.  Nothing could be clearer to people with a limited sense  sense of geography or knowledge of which way is east or west.

Car drivers are expected to know East and West, so why not train passengers? The "usual style" of train service used to terminate at Paddington, but that is going to change soon, so it's reasonable to expect train information to change too.

Am I the only one having trouble with their website? The formatting seems to be all over the place.

Works fine on my PC, utterly hopeless on my old iPad.

I'm bemused by the comment from  Manuel Cortes of the TSSA, who said "it was always nuts to have one person responsible for heading up both these enormous infrastructure projects."

 

Does he really think it's just one person making all the decisions? 

I doubt it. After all, having responsibility doesn't mean taking every decision. But then, there is one person above Sir Terry who apparently never bears any responsibility for anything - Chris Grayling.

Disappointed that the spec doesn't include industrial grade smoke generator!

Nice bit of photo-bombing there by the Tartan Arrow CCT - one of those is a must as well 

Only one?

You're going to rename it Kev? 

 

 

 

Jason

Maybe Kev won the St Leger or the Derby?

How will it be possible to put a nameplate on D9008 when the BR emblem will be in the way? And after naming, small BR emblems were applied at the cab ends, weren't they?