Ron Ron Ron

Go back to page one of this thread. (use the double-arrow button to the left of PREV (previous page) at the top or bottom of this page). .

Nick What is your question or what problem are you trying to solve? .

" icon of Britain". ???? As Jim has already said, the e300 (a.k.a. Class 373) is a French TGV, shrink washed to fit the UK loading gauge. The last one I went on, about 6 months ago, showed evidence of rotting away, with cracks, splits and corrosion on the body panels, near the coach ends. p.s. I thought the shoe gear was removed nearly 10 years ago, after HS1 opened? .

New track machines for TfL's Elizabeth Line. http://www.crossrail.co.uk/news/articles/cutting-edge-maintenance-trains-to-keep-elizabeth-line-running-smoothly http://www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-News/state-of-the-art-maintenance-trains-on-the-way-to-support-elizabeth-line Photos https://www.flickr.com/photos/tflpress/28196253067/in/album-72157670599274278/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/tflpress/28195835867/in/album-72157670599274278/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/tflpress/28195835437/in/album-72157670599274278/ https://www.flickr.com/photos/tflpress/29191712748/in/album-72157670599274278/

The LH101 is being advertised at €149 (£131) by a well know German shop and on-line retailer. The SET 101 consisting of the LZV200 + LH101 is priced at €290 (£256) Meanwhile, the LZV200 on its own is priced at €284 (£251) ????? Go figure, as they say......! .

Shunting mode is included. There's supposed to be improved usability with quicker or easier access to things like the loco stack. I have a feeling that the rotary knob is not just for speed control, but may also used for selecting locos in the stack and adjusting settings and in programming, but I've yet to read the manual to confirm this. Loco naming is supposed to be coming with the LZV200 and LZV100 update, so the handset should be able to display those names. However the new display screen is positively archaic and information is still being presented in a baffling or difficult to read format, rather than in a more intuitive way, or by using plain language and symbology. Sadly this is an opportunity wasted and a completely out of date product IMHO. p.s.

An update on progress with the Western Rail Link to Heathrow. The final round of public consultation has been completed and the next significant stage will be the submission of a Development Consent Order application. However, the timescales have been extended and the project is again being pushed back. Bear in mind that originally, preliminary construction of the rail link should have started last year and work should have been in full swing by this year (2018). Some will remember that the project was pushed back by 2 years and then subsequently another 6 months plus, while further rounds of local authority and public consultation were carried out. All of that has now been completed and subject to the SoS giving the go ahead and a DCO being approved, construction work was due to to start next spring. The latest information suggests that there is further delay in the process and the DCO application will now be submitted sometime in 2019. If planning consent is given and the SoS presses the green button, construction work may not start before 2020. 3 years late. ..

Is the Wessex Giant on permanent display to be seen all summer, or only brought out on special running days, due to the age and fragility of the exhibit? ?

The first S. Korean goal was enough to put Germany out with so little time left, but the second one was fantastic for the pure humiliation. WAAAAAAAY !!!!!

It's quite the opposite Mike. Placing the new terminal building back-to-back with T5, creates a centralised hub that enables easier passenger interchange between the terminals and allows them to share the railway station below stairs. As proposed by HAL, most of the new aircraft parking stands associated with the new terminal will not be located alongside the new terminal building, but will be located around a satellite complex to be built between 09L/27R and the new runway; connected to the terminal by a passenger transit system. Most of the aircraft using the new satellite complex will have ready access to 2 runways, the present 09L/27R and the new runway. Any aircraft that need to cross to/from this New part of the airport, will be able to use the new taxiways that will be located beyond the western end of the 09L threshold. These taxiways will be positioned sufficiently far away that aircraft using them will be separated from and not interfere with movements on 09L/27R. The development plan also involves continued redevelopment of the current "Central Area", which will see the new T2 being doubled in size and T3 being demolished. This will create another large hub to match the one being created at the western end (T5 + the new terminal). This arrangement will be a significant improvement over the former position of having several independent terminals scattered in three areas of the airport. Discounting T4, located on the south side of the airport, passenger traffic will be concentrated in two large terminal complexes, each with road and expanded rail access. I believe the intention is to have a transit link between the "West" and "East" terminal areas. As a hub airport, this is much better for connecting passengers and in theory should make Heathrow a better, or more competitive proposition when choosing connecting flights. With this large increase in terminal capacity, it's uncertain what the future of T4 will be. HAL have not been clear on this, but it's likely T4 will be closed and removed in due course. Building the new terminal to the north of the new runway would be a poor idea and its isolation would mirror that of T4 at present. Ron .

I don't think anyone is disputing the fact that there isn't and probably can't realistically be a truly open market for passenger rail services, or more importantly the rail infrastructure. The point is that when there are areas that present an opportunity for private companies to provide good value and bring commercial efficiencies and discipline into play, they have in many instances been hamstrung by the system and meddling government departments. The lack of a clear strategic view is largely to blame for this.

Rockshovel, I think it's you who has made it "political" and expressing a very polarised view.

Rockershovel's point about a national strategy highlights a major shortcoming in the governance of the UK, particularly when it comes to infrastructure. Everything is done, or not done, in a piecemeal fashion, without attempting to establish wider ambitions and goals and then setting a course of action to achieve them. The decision a decade ago, reconfirmed a few years later under a new administration, to do a U-turn and start a rolling programme of rail electrification wasn't exactly set out as a carefully planned long term national project. The lack of strategic planning and subsequent problems encountered have led to piecemeal curtailment and cancellation of a piecemeal set of projects. The national infrastructure commission was meant to be the start of sorting out the lack of strategic planning, but as ever, not given any real teeth or power.

A preference for home based companies is not supposed to be allowed under EU competition law. Some might say we ( the UK) have suffered by playing with a straight bat under those rules, whereas others haven't. Under ever closer union, the ability of individual national governments to have such power is meant to be deminished or removed entirely. There's a very good argument to say that the "free market" has not been allowed to operate properly or freely. The ever increasing levels of government (DfT) micro management and meddling hasn't resulted in the sort of freedom that the market would need to be judged fairly. Just because one car breaks down, do we say all cars don't work and we must go back to the horse and cart? Ron

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-44609898 https://news.sky.com/story/heathrow-airport-third-runway-backed-by-mps-in-commons-vote-11416986 .

So how would a latter day BR be able to afford £8 billion plus for what is just one fleet of trains? They, or the government, would have to go out and borrow the money. The only way very large amounts of finance can be raised, is through a mixed portfolio of lenders. There would be no way of avoiding that. I'm sure the whole procurement process could have been much simpler and probably cheaper, but there would still be lots of legal and financial contractual matters that would have to be tied down. With so much at stake, every party involved needs to cover its own risks and protect its interests. .

The ECML is part of the national railway infrastructure, owned and managed by Network Rail, under the auspices of the DafT. i.e. "publicly owned". I think you may be referring to the Intercity East Coast rail franchise, now held by LNER, which is one of the operators who run services on the ECML? LNER, who hold the ICEC franchise, is a privately registered company owned by the DfT. It's managed by.....surprise, surprise.......the management of LNER, who are basically the former VTEC management team (no doubt, plus and minus a few faces). If I've read it properly, they are overseen by the operator of last resort consultancy, employed by the DfT, if not directly by a specific DfT team. TOC's don't usually own rolling stock, but lease it instead. The finance and lease arrangements are written so that they can be transferred between successive franchise holders. VTEC would have been paying the leasing fees for their train fleet and now LNER will have taken over that same lease. The new stock, in other words the new fleet that will be supplied under the IEP, is, and will be owned by Agility Trains, leased to the ICEC franchise holder. However, the finance that will be paying for the trains, is coming from an international finance consortium, managed by a division of HSBC International. The banks and finance companies that have stumped up the money include.... HSBC, Lloyds TSB, Mizuho and Bank of Tokyo Mitsubishi, Japan Bank for International Cooperation (JBIC), The Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi UFJ, Sumitomo Mitsui Banking Corporation, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Bank Ltd., Mitsubishi UFJ Trust and Banking Corporation and the European Investment Bank. .

£31.31 + £38.70 + £28.92 + £10.54 = £110 for 3 amps (£80 for 1 amp). A Roco MultiMaus system should cost no more than £80 to £90. Open the box, plug in and off you go. .

Putting on the pedant's hat for a moment. In DCC, the chip is the controller (i.e. a decoder). ..

PMSL at that c**p joke.

....and no high premium payments to be made. p.s. I rather think it will be "others" claiming, or celebrating that the so called "publicly owned" LNER can turn a profit. .

Worst still, it's written larger and more boldly .......if the livery on that driving car is anything to go by. .

Indeed, they originally hoped to introduce the 345's on 20th May when TfL Rail took over the Connect service. The issues around the signalling on the privately owned Heathrow branch, resulting in the 360's being kept on for the time being, have been aired on this forum before. As I said before, I believe the plan is for the 345's to take over in the later summer or in the Autumn. I guess that changeover may slip if the issues haven't been ironed out. .

Sudden death extra time then?

You're right. I was going from memory. I do see that there were ongoing related costs to that "divorce" in the following year though. Plus some write downs. .