woodenhead

Some nice tunnels near the end

Which exactly proves the point that the railways are run by the DFT, always have been, doesn't matter what the name on the side of the carriage says the trains will run. A franchise is just a licence to run the trains on behalf of the government, they have certain freedoms within the scope of the contract but ultimately they are doing the Government's bidding and they don't then the Government will put someone else in charge but it will be the same staff running the actual trains with a different badge on their uniform. No failure of a franchise has ever seen the trains stop - however, if a company like Grand Central got into difficulties the trains would simply be shunted into the siding of the Rosco's choice and left until someone else leased them or they were scrapped. At the moment the ex franchisees are running the services they are told to by the DFT - 50%,60%,70%,100% of their services with the Government subsidising any shortfalls due to lack of passenger income. Grey areas may be stock refurbishment - Avanti have Voyagers going through refits, do they stop or continue, I would hope the latter but if the DFT decide that isn't a priority then it may come to a halt - of course the refurbishment is keeping staff employed so maybe it's a wise investment and it continues. I don't know what the current status of that programme is so I am just guessing here.

I believe Boris just wanted to be the leader, I don't think he is in charge. I think one person's rampant rule breaking in order to 'test' his eyesight put paid to any idea that Boris was fully in control.

Strategically privatisation gave the Government distance when large monopolistic industries came face to face with changing industrial realities. The UK had a wealth of aging, resource heavy, union dominated industries falling behind emerging economies and were a millstone around HMGs neck. The Government had the choice to invest heavily, address union issues and rebuilld these industries anew or allow private companies to try and do so and if they failed it was not the Government's fault. Looking back now, privatisation raised a lot of capital for the Government, allowed the UK public to be involved in decision making (through buying of shares, which they then quickly sold) and then not worry what came next. In some respects it was a bit of a con - not many members held on to their shares, the businesses were sold cheap then large investment houses purchased them at a higher price from Joe Public who felt they had made a profit to spend on themselves, the large investment institutions got their hands on things that could later be broken up and sold off. You could argue perhaps that the government economists could see what the future held, recognising there would be a temporary lift before the realities that these monolithic industries would need to radically change, sell or simply be absorbed into larger international conglomerates but it would now be something that the Government was not responsible for and could deflect away from. A more unpalatable thought would be that those in charge knew if they invested wisely in the rising economies abroad and waited they would gain massively later on when the UK industries failed or became absorbed into these new international organisations. Back to Railways - they were never suitable for selling off and the Government knew it because left wholly to the private sector Serpell would have been enacted quickly and such pruning would probably have killed off the rest apart from maybe commuting into London. So the Goverment had to concoct a form of privatisation that would give them UK public the impression it was private, but it never really was. Railtrack very quickly demonstrated what happens when you let go of infrastructure - they cut costs and eventually something went bang and in the worst way. Network Rail rose from the ashes, it was now back in the hands of Government and remained so. The franchising arrangement was a big con, making the public think that it was the private companies making lots of decisions but in reality they did as they were asked in the proposal and the one that would take the least or pay the most to Government won - even if the plan they offered was unfeasible and quickly evaporated when faced with realities. To me it seems the big winners in all this have been the ROSCOs - they got the stock, have continued in the main to be the people who control it (apart from the few HSTs owned by First). Every franchise let seems to involve new stock being procured - sometimes before the previous stock even had a chance to turn a wheel in revenue earning service. I don't yet understand why the most radical arm of the Tories now being in charge are talking language like the opposition, but that is another debate and not for this forum I imagine.

The new app uses bluetooth to detect other phones not a mobile signal - that is only required to occasionally check in and establish if anyone you have previously come into contact with has now declared they have the virus. Sadly the original NHS version was actually better at utilising the Bluetooth connection to establish who you have been next to and for how long, the Google/Apple version less so and will result in more errors until they decide to update their base software to use whatever algorithms the NHS had. The app is also anonymous, it doesnt want to know your name or contact details and you don't log in to it, it just uses algorithms to generate codes that constantly change to record your locations and close contacts for x days before the data is deleted. You don't even by the looks of it have to share if you test positive; which seems rather selfish, you want to know if you're infected but wont do the decent thing and tell others. My big concern with the app is actually to do with the users of the app - the system would appear (and rightly so otherwise there would be serious invasions of privacy concerns) to use self reporting of covid as the basis for alerting. i.e. you indicate to the app you are self isolating, this uploads an anonymous notification to a central database which is read by other phones and alerts anyone who has been near to the person alerting within set guidelines. Sounds perfectly plausible and sound, but what if some idiot decides to visit 20 locations today, mill around in a mask and then go home and alert the system that they are self isolating even though they know there is nothing wrong with them - would that then mean lots of people in those 20 locations suddenly find themselves in self isolation (under threat of a fine now). Or friends who want a couple of weeks of Government hand outs (for the low paid) using the system to spoof a self isolation and then claim the benefit. Reading some notes it does appear that the system would link tests to the app if you book the test via the phone, but that would also suggest that you can self report if you've not used the app for the test booking. I understand the system will be useful and when visiting places scanning QR codes is better than giving everyone your name, address and contact number, but I'd rather the government get in place a proper testing regime, get their messaging right, play by the rules themselves and ensure robust contact tracing via traditional methods and not just let an app be the only hope.

Always seemed like a genial chap, very much not your typical Ferrari head of. At least F1 will be run by someone who has been involved in the organisation at a level that understands the stakeholders.

You're correct, though it depends where you live - here in Manchester it is enhanced restrictions and in parts of Wales you cannot travel without good reason.

So Boris mentions closing of establishments at 10pm and a request to work from home - the selfish brigade look at that and cause a return to panic buying - with loo rolls again being bought in bulk. Don't people learn, they didn't all get the sh*ts last time round, its the same virus so they won't get the sh*ts this time. Shops did not shut first time around, no-one has placed any restriction on going to the shops or in fact of going anywhere (except parts of Wales) - you just shouldn't be out and about without good reason after 10pm at night. It's hardly a massive restriction that will affect anyone going to the shops.

Crewe station used bays for a mix of passenger trains and parcels, at the south end. Before the remodelling there were two dedicated parcels bay platforms but afterwards these ended up in the platforms that had been used for Cardiff services with the dedicated platforms removed - I assume at that point the remaining bays became dual use.

Hence it snuck around at low level hoping not to be spotted. I was watching a formation of Hercules in the Mach Loop on YouTube when it dawned they are similar in length to a Lancaster - in fact they are 9 metres longer. You forget just how small these 'big' bombers were in their day.

Boris has announced a pause in reopening conference centres (and crowds at sporting events) - I guess that puts paid any physical exhibitions in the next 6 months, there was to be a GETS in Manchester in March which was only announced last month. Of course nothing is concrete until the exhibitors confirm such cancellations and of course six months is a long time away.

I don't think any YouTube video or image elsewhere will prepare you for the size of this layout nor impair the desire to actually see it in person

It was, flats on the site now if I recall - just the Friendship and some of the old shops still standing but with new uses. So you'll remember the big BP filling station where McDonalds is and the rather nice cake shop which was in the row of shops next to it. Thinking about it, the David Bowler place may have been vacant at the beginning and taken over by David Bowler - I can remember swinging on ropes in there but it would have to have been empty.

When did the 104s become synonymous with the route? But talking of 57-66 then there are: Black 5s Hughes Crabs Jubilees Stanier 2-6-2T Stanier 2-6-4T Britannias 9Fs B1s Clans Midland 4fs Evan a Doncaster A1managed a trip from Lincoln

I remember there being some sort of travel agency in the part of the building right next to the goods entrance and the chemist on the other side of Ladybarn Road, plus the fishmongers just behind the station building - but the actual station building I don't remember what it was used for until it became a wine bar and I certainly remember it then hazily.

Almost like it was designed by a railway modeller for operational interest.

Productivity can be measured in many ways, it doesn't take a great deal to figure out if someone isn't doing their job. Any office based company with big offices in cities will be reviewing their portfolio fast - the exodus has begun. There will still need to be offices, there are still good reasons to have them, but the savings that a company can make, the ability to expand and contract with much less risk when it comes to property will drive this going forward. Covid has delivered something that even a nationwide broadband service could not, a step change in working environments. There are still though a lot of people who have to travel in to work - what those numbers look like when the businesses that draw them in depend on office workers remains to be seen - that our economy has been service based for so long will soon come home to roost.

They thought about it but CBA

Spech, did you ever hang around in the David Bowler tyre place?

I think it more than just a middle class thing, I think it also comes with age. When we moved to our present home 8 years ago we had the luxury of an extra room on the ground floor which was to be the dumping room and a railway room for me. I wasn't working from home full time at the beginning but soon realised I could slot in a desk with a screen, which became two screens plus my laptop and my days of commuting were over apart from business travel to Cumbria or south. The little room was great but I never felt I could leave it with the window open at it was at the front of the house so when my eldest child moved out in 2019 I took his room as my new layout room / office - bigger desk and luxury of open windows and a view as it is on the second floor. Having worked from home for 6+ years now this pandemic has seen other people mimic my lifestyle but I've had the time to get used to the isolation, if anything, the pandemic has brought the people who used to see each other in the office into my world and have to be more online. But I am aware that it's not ideal for everyone, some people were stuck in bits of their house or their bedroom because their house was full or it was their parents - for them reopening the offices has to be a priority and my company is now beginning down that road, but we all have options, we are neither forced to the office nor discouraged from going in. In terms of using your house as an office - don't set aside a room to be the office and nothing else, that's when it starts to become a business space, as long as it remains shared then no CGT concerns - mine remains a railway room with a desk in it where I also play games on my personal laptop.

It's not uncommon for people doing sensitive work or dealing with the general public whilst working from home to have to be isolated from others in the house. My wife works for the NHS and I work in Software development - we work in seperate rooms from home - when she is on a call she shuts the door so her conversation isn't audible, though generally I have no idea what is going on due to the headphones and you tube mixes I have on.

I realise now looking at Rails, these are the two additions to the range to be offered hence pics. I really don't like that version of GWR though haha

Apologies I was more aiming for a third person sentence about us being regularly confined to homes rather than at you.

Second wave, first wave - doesn't really matter. We just need to find a way to live with this virus until it burns itself out or morphs into something less virulent. Hiding in our houses hoping for a miracle cure isn't the answer it's just a reaction.

There was an air of melancholy all along the railways back then I think - it wouldn't surprise me if the 'improvements' at Crewe were actually an overall cost saving. The junctions were end of life so whilst replacing the pointwork simplify the station and then sell the improved speed for non stop services (not that there were that many).