Mike_Walker

We all have every confidence in your skills as MC.

See you there!

Mike

8 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

No doubt this gloomy environment is affecting all the TOCs. I became aware a few weeks back (from a member of  XC traincrew at Plymouth) that my former colleague Tom Joyner had quit as XC MD. When people like him - as former traincrew - jump ship it's probably holed below the waterline. 

And Tom is one of those experienced career railwaymen the industry cannot afford to lose.

4 hours ago, D826 said:

Chiltern is often cited as an example of how things went well.  My recollection, (which may be incorrect) is that Chiltern total route modernisation was undertaken by Network South East.

Yes, the Chiltern line was the subject of Total Route Modernisation under the dying days of NSE and BR but like so much else it was done on the cheap and handed Chiltern a railway with modern trains and signalling systems but without the capacity to expand the service beyond the level BR finished with.

As a a result, Chiltern had to spend a fortune (underwritten by its then major shareholder Laings) to pay first Railtrack then Network Rail to provide the enhanced capacity through three major upgrade programmes that were known a Project Evergreen I, II and II which between them delivered:

Double track from Princes Risborough to Aynho Junction (singled by BR).

Additional platforms at Marylebone and Princes Risborough.

Multi-storey car parks for commuters at several stations.

New additional depots at Wembley and Banbury to handle a fleet that almost doubled in size.

A substantial upgrade to the signalling installed in BR's TRM to reduce headways and raise maximum speeds from a general 75mph to a norm of 100mph.

And last, but by no means least, the opening of completely new services to Aylesbury Vale Parkway and from Bicester to Oxford.

None of these would have occurred if BR had not been privatised and a similar programme would be unlikely to be repeated in future under the present renationalisation plans.

Sadly, further plans were scuppered when Laing were the subject of a hostile takeover which led to Chiltern ultimately ending up in the ownership of DB through Arriva.  The new owners are systematically asset stripping and siphoning off profits to prop up the losses made by DB in Germany.  The result is Chiltern's service is going downhill as is customer satisfaction (once chart topping) and staff morale.  Most managers and many experienced staff from the Shooter era have had enough and moved on.

Adrian Shooter's autobiography and his book about Chiltern are well worth a read.

Finally, to bust a myth about the huge profits being made by the TOC owners.  They simply aren't.  Since the pandemic and the cancelling of all the franchise agreements and their replacement by management contracts, the operators are paid directly by the government in the form of their costs plus margin which is a puny 2%.  Which is why it's proving almost impossible to attract bidders when contracts come up for renewal.  Would you want to run a business for such tiny return?

I think if you asked a broad cross section of the Great British Public if there should be a means of preventing them falling out of moving trains they'd almost universally reply "yes".  At the end of the day that is what CDL does.

A week or so ago I was chatting to a neighbour who knows very little about railways but had read reports in the national press that "all steam trains were to be banned" over this dispute.  I explained to him the background to why CDL should be fitted and the role of both WCRC and the ORR in this and he fully accepted the argument and agreed that WCRC should follow the rules in place for a very good reason.

As others have said, those that are making the most noise in support of WCRC are those who are not in possession of or understand the full facts.

On 16/04/2024 at 21:13, Gwiwer said:

I have made further enquiries regarding comments made above.  And I have found a link to order programs.  Not in adequate time for them to reach me before Sunday however.  

 

Who knew that for something under the banner of Cornwall Bus Preservation Group a/k/a Penzance Vintage Bus Running Day I would have to search the internet for "Thames Valley"???  A body many miles away but somehow linked - probably through individuals - with the Penzance event.  

 

The various pages and FB sources for the event do not obviously direct anyone to the Thames Valley link and are silent as regards timetables, routes and vehicles.  Indeed the FB page for the PVBRT has an "events" link which directs you to nowhere at all.  

 

On Facebook there is an obscure link to something called "tvagwot" which of course does not come up in search results for the more logical enquiries.  

 

So if anyone connected with the event is watching I do know that there are programs available but it has taken so long to find the information, and it is so obscure, that I shall still not be attending.  Simply because I don't known what is happening when and where, I don't have the whole day to spend waiting for buses and I don't really want to ride around on something I drove for a living relatively few years ago.  

"tvagot" is the Thames Valley & Great Western Omnibus Trust headed up by Colin Billington and based near Maidenhead.  He has loads of connections in the south west and much of his collection is based down there.  The group also organises the Kingsbridge running day in addition to that at Penzance.

Clearly they do need to work on the publicity side of things.

3 hours ago, giz said:

I seem to remember that one mod was to the multi working connection so that they wouldn't match the 158s to stop Regional Railways borrowing them.

Correct. Chris Green didn't want RR pilfering his trains so the 159s along with the 165 and 166 Turbos had two wires reversed in the coupler electrical connection meaning the units could couple with RR 15x units but not work in multiple.  

Post privatisation Chiltern have their 168s wired the same way and when the ex-TPE 170s became Chiltern 168/3s and the Chiltern 172s went to West Midlands a simple wiring mod was needed.  Likewise, the SWR 158's have had the same mod.

WO4625 was a specially modified Leyland Bull TQ1 which was usually a goods vehicle chassis.  The original body was by Dodson.

On 05/04/2024 at 12:09, St Enodoc said:

The bus in the "famous photo" is an LWL (can't post it here for copyright reasons), which we've discussed before on these pages. The SUS is slightly too modern for the MCL, being supplied to WN/SN in 1960 according to that link.

 

I've got an old Little Bus Company Dennis Mace kit, that was given to me by my late friend and colleague Tony Swift. One day I'll build it in his memory.

 

http://www.little-bus.com/bus-kits/mace1.html

If it's the photo I'm thinking of at Burngullow by Peter Gray, then it's 365, GTA390, which was a 1942 Bristol L5G which was stretched to 30' in 1955 and fitted with a new ECW 39 seat body making it in effect a LL5G not a LWL which were 8' wide.

I too would love to have one of those SUS kits - or two actually, one WN and one in Thames Valley livery for the two ex-WN (and three ex-Bristol) ones that worked over Marlow Bridge.

At Bourne End there used to be a sign at the end of both platforms that read 'COMMENCEMENT OF TOKEN SECTION' and every 'N' on both was reversed.  I always regret not taking a picture.

Back in 1974 when Alder Valley were expecting a trio of minibuses to work across Marlow Bridge, the prototype was displayed at the Commercial Motor Show with 'MORLOW' on the destination display.  I pointed out the error and a quick scroll through the blind showed Morlow Bottom and Morlow Common as well.  Luckily it was corrected before delivery and the other two were also correct.

Hi Nick,

Not sure exactly when it was built but I think it was there in the 1980s.  I'll ask around and see if I can get a more accurate date.

Mike 

They look pristine so perhaps new ones being delivered from the manufacturer?

I really like that shot of 165125 passing Little Marlow at what is officially Vineyard No.2 Crossing and almost in my back yard.  I was at Swanage at the time where it was much less sunny!

The road in the photo stitch is the former track bed to High Wycombe and is one of several such developments that have replaced the old route which makes reopening well nigh impossible.

No issues with shadows at Marlow now.  The row of overgrown and neglected conifers were felled last week much to the disgust of the local residents.

Another useful shop is closing down.  Collectables R Us in High Wycombe citing the usual complaints of rising rent and service charges along with hassle from their landlord, reduced footfall and spend despite being in a prime location in the town's main shopping arcade, and a steady rise in shoplifting which the police seem completely unwilling to do anything about.

They will continue on line and are actively looking for an alternative location within the town.  Fingers crossed they are successful - for one thing, they always had the best stock of Humbrol both acrylics and enamels of anywhere I know.

11 hours ago, St Enodoc said:

Cake - no problem. Pasty - probably not. Hard to come by round here and if you do find one it really isn't worth the search.

Then make your own! 🙂

I always thought that T24 signal at Truro was a prime example of over-engineering.  It was installed at the time of the Falmouth branch upgrade to allow Down trains to depart from the Up platform.  In the good old days it would have been a simple post but not today.  Note the substantial square post and platform, with railings, from which the signal sprouts on a traditional 4" post.  I was told this was required by modern standards so that the arm and spectacle lenses could be cleaned safely.  

In my book it is only surpassed by the replacement of CJ13 at Shrewsbury where a simple but rotting LNWR timber post was replaced by an enormous bracket structure which looks like it could support the weight of a battleship and even the signal post is actually two 4" posts fishplated together!

15 hours ago, Southernman46 said:

As I've often bored everyone before said in my many many posts in this and other Wessex related threads - NR are riding their luck in Wessex with bankslips, trees and this latest type of thing, etc, etc - they've got lucky YET AGAIN with a high-speed derailment that probably didn't get messy as there was no intervening S&C and the adjacent platform may have "helped" and as MW said above the conductor "check" rail effect - (I understand 100+ insulators destroyed - small price to pay) BUT It is only a matter of time and probability before there is a serious incident in this area...............................

 

However, I hope the result this time won't be like the Western Route with the Route Director washing their hands resigning and someone from the DLR being employed as their replacement to "fix" it with soundbites 🙄

It's not just on the Wessex route but across the entire network.  Here on the Western, senior TOC managers tell me they lie awake at night dreading the prospect of a major incident such as another Hatfield which they are powerless to prevent but is, and I quote: "Long overdue and likely to happen at any moment."

Landslips, falling trees, failing and badly maintained signalling, crumbling bridges and multiple broken rails (another yesterday on the GWML) are all the result of Network Rail's failure either due to incompetence and/or a lack of investment due to Treasury cutbacks.

When it happens, and it will, don't blame the train operator but NR or more correctly the government.

It does, at present these are non-public "ghost" trips replicating the service conditions using 230001.  Once they have proved reliability, passenger trips will commence.  The cancellations last week were due to the unit being attacked by the local scum bags requiring GWR to clean off all the unwanted additional "livery".  Unlike sHitachi who leave it on IETs for weeks even if it is highly offensive.

Especially as I understand it was doing around 90 when it hit the obstruction.  Luck to have not been worse, seems the conductor rail acted a bity like a check rail and kept in line.

On 01/03/2024 at 21:05, EmporiaSub said:

Not going well on the island, though SWR are being vague about the issues.

Staff say there’s issues with the wheels…..

 

According to a senior SWR manager on Monday, the issue is with unexpectedly heavy wheel wear which requires several wheel sets to be replaced.  The reasons causing this are unknown but are being urgently investigated by specialist engineers.

Went today and thought the layouts were excellent but TBH I thought the venue was a bit of a warren.  It would have been helpful to have a more detailed plan in the quide to navigate around.  That said, I think I saw all the layouts and met up with several friends.

On 12/02/2024 at 05:41, Darius43 said:

There’s an awful lot of boilerplate padding in these reports.  Section 4.1 on the implications on actually constructing the new route, i.e. knocking down buildings and actually realigning away from the original route is particularly short considering the acres of pages devoted to non specific statistics.

 

I followed the route on Google Maps and the thing that struck me was the extent to which the trackbed has been built over.  Took three minutes to form the conclusion that this project is a non-starter.

 

The cost section also illustrates why this is extremely unlikely to happen.

 

Still, that’s more public money for Atkins to produce a spectacularly padded-out report rather than spent for the direct benefit of the Council’s constituents.

 

Cheers

 

Darius

Couldn't agree more.  Although there are a small number of locals who make a lot of noise over this it is never going to happen simply too much of the original track bed has been lost.  Also, Wycombe District Council is no more having been replaced by the new unitary Council for  Buckinghamshire which displays little interest in transport matters particularly public transport.

The tragedy is that the line was closed in the first place.  It was deliberately run down by BR who first divided the Maidenhead - HW service into two at Bourne End forcing through passengers to change trains then recasting the timetable to make this impossible without very long waits so patronage collapsed and closure was "justified".  It was indications that a similar policy was being imposed on the remaining Maidenhead - Marlow section that led to the formation of the MMPA which successfully fought to turn the line's fortunes around.

Incidentally, one member of the MMPA committee around 1980 was quite youthful (still at school) who went on to carve quite a name for himself in the industry which is why it is said today that the Marlow Branch is the most important part of the GWR network.  After all, the trains show the "route number" 01 on the front!

Like this.

There were two of this design at Boscarne Junction, the one next to the signal box was definitely used for lamp oil etc. whilst this one was coal store.

I managed to get some nice 3D prints for my model of Boscarne Junction.  Can't remember the source now but I think this was probably it: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/203560177693

The chap I got them from also did me a half width one.

Not as far as I'm aware of.  My American friends are always amazed at what we can access on line.

UP General Motors PDA-4101A bus 27 dating from 1949. Used on feeder services in the Los Angeles area, it has 32 seats and a large baggage area at the rear. Sacramento CA 3 May 1991.