caradoc

2 hours ago, rockershovel said:

but you will understand why, given my background over time in power, energy and utilities construction, I have long regarded HS2 as supremely irrelevant. 

 

Whereas people with a background in railway operation and management have a different view!

2 hours ago, rockershovel said:

Well, whoop-de-do. You can fly it about 50 minutes. You still can't do London-Edinburgh return and fit in any useful amount of work, in a day. 

 

Using Lumo it is possible to arrive in Edinburgh, from London, at 1008 and depart for home at 1958; With LNER the corresponding times are 1114 and 1936. Which seems a useful amount of time in Edinburgh to me.  And of course a 50 minute flight time is airport to airport, not city to city. 

22 hours ago, adb968008 said:

Some tube lines have this (bakerloo/jubilee at  Baker St, victoria/bakerloo at Oxford Circus).

 

Hopefully this happens at OOC.

Also cross-platform connections between Tube and National Rail at Barking and Stratford. Something similar at OOC would have been good but as @Edwin_m explains it is not practical. However, as HS2 is at a lower level than the GWML, changing between the two should result in just one flight of stairs/escalator and a passageway to negotiate.

I enjoyed the exhibition, and of course Carterton; Being within walking distance of my Mum's house was a benefit too! I did have a mad moment when I saw the bookshelves behind Carterton and briefly thought a  second-hand railway bookseller was attending...

ISTR that as well as the electrical equipment issue, there have been problems when flood water has affected the wheel bearings of certain train types (Pendolinos?)

19 hours ago, woodenhead said:

It's a one and a half mile tunnel - it gives the town of Greatworth relief from the incessant noise and vibration of a 2 track electrified mainline.

What a complete and utter waste of money; This nonsense needs to be highlighted every time someone complains about the cost of HS2. 

16 hours ago, Bernard Lamb said:

Louise Haigh made the comment in the HoC that when HS2 trains eventually start to run, it will take longer to get from Birmingham to Central london via Acton than it does on the WCML at present.

15 hours ago, Ron Ron Ron said:

That would depend on where you were heading for in central London.

Indeed, and I wonder whether the ease of changing between lines has been taken into account; Old Oak Common, with HS2 and the Elizabeth line at more similar levels, will be easier and faster than descending into the depths at Euston to access the tube. 

18 minutes ago, Michael Hodgson said:

Does spilling your cuppa count as notifiable ?

Only when it went over the computer keyboard!

On 14/09/2023 at 17:32, Southernman46 said:

the young lady from the Environment Agency (how they were there ??)

One of Network Rail Control's many responsibilities is advising the environmental authority (SEPA in Scotland) of any relevant incidents, although the majority of mine were hydraulic fluid leaks from tampers; Don't think I ever had to report milk pollution!

On 14/09/2023 at 09:22, 31A said:

One of my colleagues on the Continental counter at Cambridge Travel Centre once made the opposite mistake and went into all the details of Harwich-Hoek boat cabins, Berlin sleeping cars etc etc, then the guy said "But I only want to go to Walsall!"

And at our former workplace of Reading B.O. a guy one day wanted to go to Tavistock; He was aghast at how long it would take (including a bus from Plymouth) and the fare; It turned out he actually wanted Tavistock Place in London!

On 13/09/2023 at 16:47, KingEdwardII said:

Yes, but you would not dream of using that as part of a journey to get to Harwich!

But, especially since the advent of low-cost airlines, how many people actually want to go from Liverpool to Harwich - Precious few I would think!

On 12/09/2023 at 10:42, AMJ said:

One service that I used to like was the Manchester - Harwich boat train.  Often in the 80's it would have a celebrity loco.  I saw it with the GWR 47's in Sheffield.

Harwich/Manchester (formerly Liverpool but cut back by BR) was a one train a day each way service; Today there is an hourly through service between Liverpool and Norwich! 

Thanks again for your fascinating trip reports and photos Johann. 

The Finland section reminds me of my one and only trip, with two friends on our BR passes to that country in September 1985. We travelled north through Sweden to the border at Tornio (where I saved some Americans from missing their VR connection, they not having realised there was an hour's time difference), and on to Oulu where we stayed overnight. The next day we took the inland route to Helsinki, which was long but scenic (if you like forests and lakes), and we stopped at Ravintola which I could not find on the map; Then the next stop was also Ravintola ! As I now know that word means restaurant. 

We stayed in the Helsinki Youth Hostel, which was in the Olympic Stadium; Built for the 1940 event which of course did not happen, the Olympics were eventually held there in 1952. Helsinki is also the only place I have eaten reindeer. 

We travelled on to Turku, stayed there overnight, and returned to Sweden by ferry.  Locos travelled behind on our trip were;

2501+2634, 2317, 3012, 2568+2743, 2759+2543. 

All in all a great holiday!

2 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

What the last Labour government did have was a Building Schools for the Future programme which was axed as one of Michael Gove's first acts on becoming Secretary of State for Education.

However Labour were in power for 13 years before that!

Presumably (surely) the 30 years lifespan of this stuff was not known when it was installed? 

21 hours ago, Halvarras said:

Call out to @caradoc, that's your namesake in the background waiting to head west with a mixed freight 😃

Thanks for the advice @Halvarras, 807 was the only Warship I saw working in BR days!

1 hour ago, spamcan61 said:

Given the trend in passenger stock has been away from LHCS towards MUs since the early 1950s I don't think it takes hindsight to see Nova 3 as a bad idea.

Indeed, one has to wonder why a larger fleet of IETs was not ordered, giving simplification of staff training, maintenance, deployment, and operational flexibility. 

But the elephant in the room is surely the locos; Once TPE have finished with them, DRS will be able to utilise the Class 68s for their own operations; Lovely new coaches without any locos to pull (and push) them are no use to anyone! 

24 minutes ago, TheQ said:

Smart motors ways? Definitely flawed.. nowhere to go if you break down, do you fancy spending a couple of hours standing up by the fence on the M62 in a winter gale?

Is it not recommended that occupants leave their vehicle even if parked on the hard shoulder, as there have been fatal accidents in such circumstances? Although I do agree that the principal of smart motorways is inherently flawed. 

5 hours ago, APOLLO said:

Even if Bimodes are used the change over will be Bolton station so the electrification is as much use as a chocolate teapot.

Why could bi-modes not change between electric and diesel at Hindley or Ince, depending on stopping pattern?

19 hours ago, Barclay said:

Then, despite the track being ripped to pieces, again, of course, in a blizzard, the line was back in use within 14 hours! This country actually used to function didn't it?

We also used to have a railway on which fatal crashes were an annual occurrence; While it is still one too many, there has been one such accident in the last 16 years. I know which version I prefer. 

18 minutes ago, Oldddudders said:

I wonder how they will travel next time they book a holiday? 

Possibly not by air, given the issues yesterday, today and ongoing......

But your point about the disruption caused by the incident is entirely valid of course.

Not necessarily regionally neutral, but a diesel stabling point based on Ranelagh Bridge or Kings  Cross would make an interesting model, depending whether you prefer the WR or the ECML!

15 hours ago, 31A said:

Thank you for a very interesting article.  I often use Carstairs station, as I have relatives living nearby.  This Information Board stands near the junction of Strawfrank Road and St. Charles Avenue, close to where the tramway would have started.  It includes the same photo of the tramcar that you have used to illustrate your article.

 

 

Interesting, thanks Steve. I might have to take a trip to Carstairs (not something I thought I would ever say) to have a look. 

On 08/08/2023 at 16:32, The Stationmaster said:

By the early 1970s we got very careful to make sure that whenever possible we used 1000s on Inter-Regional freight trains because officially nobody but Western men could drove anywhere north of the Region.  

It's fortunate none of your Westerns ever made it into Scotland, because one of our Power Controllers (sadly no longer with us) would have found a way of using it on Queen Street/Aberdeen services!

On 03/08/2023 at 19:50, big jim said:

I do remember in the bit too distant past the DRS curtain side container wagons were targeted by opportunistic thieves in Scotland (Abington loop?) who were slashing the sides and nicking the contents, namely whiskey, it then got to a point where that train was then signalled non stop through the area

The usual location for that was Craigneuk, on the mostly freight-only section between Holytown and Wishaw, a less than salubrious area where the S&T sometimes requested the BT Police to assist them if a fault occurred! And when Gushetfaulds Freightliner Terminal still existed, trains from there also had to be given a clear road through the Newton area after theft incidents. 

5 hours ago, Rivercider said:

I believe it was 1980 when BR made a significant reduction in the parcel train network

Yes, BR withdrew from the C&D (Collection and Delivery) parcels business then. 

From 1978 to 1980 I worked at Harlow Town, a station with two island platforms served by the main lines and Up and Down passenger loops. We were a PCD (Parcels Concentration Depot), ie where parcels were transferred from trains for delivery in the surrounding area by van. Our parcels, in Brutes, the BR trolleys, were unloaded while the train stood in the Up Loop. There was also however a short siding off the Up Loop, and a van (usually IIRC a GUV) was detached there each evening for the Royal Mail to load from their road vehicles, being attached to a later train.

13 hours ago, SZ said:

Why not run the train at 25mph and dispense with the locking requirement.

I suspect that if such a seemingly simple means of reducing safety requirements really existed, WCR would have already gone for it.