black and decker boy

The registration plate is visible in the photo: E10EFL that comes up as: Vehicle make LAND ROVER Date of first registration May 2014 Year of manufacture 2014 Cylinder capacity 2993 cc CO₂ emissions 194 g/km Fuel type DIESEL

OMG!!!! I need to sell the wife…… well done

Power door MK3s and PCs are massing at GT Yarmouth ready for their voyage. Quite a few there now

Given all the cutbacks, how intensive is HS2 actually going to be? Suggestions elsewhere are as low as 11tph and even that requires Euston I think. Chiltern manage a pretty reliable 12tph out of the 6 platforms of Marylebone in the evening peak (with slower accelerating DMUs) and that’s only a double track line. OOC isn’t designed as a terminal station so will throttle the capacity unless redesigned (perhaps a challenge as the box is being dug I think). They could perhaps save money building shorter platforms, the classic compatible services north of Curzon st will be limited to single 200m sets as none of the existing stations can handle 400m sets. If you make everything 200m (or 240m) you can reduce all 3 captive stations and perhaps add the odd extra Curzon St turn. if passenger numbers grow then you can extend later

Given all the cutbacks, how intensive is HS2 actually going to be? Suggestions elsewhere are as low as 11tph (and even that requires Euston I think). Chiltern manage a pretty reliable 12tph out of the 6 platforms of Marylebone in the evening peak (with slower accelerating DMUs). OOC isn’t designed as a terminal station so will throttle the capacity unless redesigned (perhaps a challenge as the box is being dug I think). They could perhaps save money building shorter platforms, the classic compatible services north of Curzon st will be limited to single 200m sets as none of the existing stations can handle 400m sets. If you make everything 200m (or 240m) you can reduce all 3 captive stations and perhaps add the odd extra Curzon St turn.

Don’t all cakes involve a rise?* Flat cake is no fun. Droopy cake is worse than a dodgy dipped digestive. Or are we straying into the baked cake vs biscuit debacle and no one wants to their pay to be biscuits unless you are a jammy dodger……

Dawsons at Middlesbrough Goods are still operating and receive / despatch an eclectic mix of goods

Not still open but you had a few such places in the Trainload / Speedlink ERA: Law Junction PD Stirling Mossend ISIS Salford Warrington Dallam there is the new Highland Spring loading point at Blackford You do get van traffic into places like DIRFT at Daventry but not short rakes. Aggregates & recycled stone seem to have taken over many of these locations these days and with a mix of wagon types and train lengths in use

Add another 10k for that 300 mile range. I disagree that the majority can’t afford that car as many do drive them, perhaps not off the forecourt as new but certainly once second hand. the bulk of EV sales at the minute are replacing the BMW 3 series / Passat / Merc C /Audi A4 in fleets. The lower BIK tax being a big driver. from this year onwards they will start to filter into the 2nd hand market in increasing numbers , my first Tesla was a19 plate on a 4 year lease.

Tesla model 3 (except the entry level trim) will do 300 miles in all weathers, there are few of a new trim; long range rear wheel drive - WTLP 385miles so real world 330 in winter, 350 in summer. Ive tried other EV (circumstance rather than choice) and for me currently, the only answer is Tesla. Never had a range, charging or reliability problem in 4 years of driving Model 3s

AIUI The recent direct award to Arriva XC includes an internal refurb / refit for the Voyagers

Even the government are stressing that HS2 will still meet the WCML at Delta junction (assume that’s Handsacre) and thence up the Trent Valley. this moves the congestion hot spot onto the Trent Valley rather than relieve it. all those Manchester / Liverpool to Brum services will remain where they are now and distinctly not HS. The approaches to the northern cities will remain as clogged and prone to delays as now. Freight & logistics will still struggle for paths. but it’s ok, Milton Keynes, Watford etc will gain extra stopping services.

They were all gone by December 1971 so there would be little change in rolling stock from Green (which most still carried) - so steam eta vacuum & unfitted wagons. A lot of 16t mineral wagons around central Scotland. The LGW grain wagons mentioned above. 12T box wagons etc loads of photos online. there is also a book on the 17s https://www.pen-and-sword.co.uk/The-Clayton-Type-1-Bo-Bo-Diesel-Electric-Locomotives-British-Railways-Class-17-Hardback/p/18826

https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2023-10-05/government-u-turn-on-rail-line-pledge-less-than-24-hours-after-announcement

The back tracking has begun, the list published yesterday has vanished and a 40 page report has popped up. reopening the Leamside line isn’t mentioned in the report…..

August 2022: The £830 million City Regional Sustainable Transport Settlement (CRSTS) is aimed at providing an integrated and inclusive transport network and was made possible thanks to the West Yorkshire Mayoral devolution deal Included within the investment is £160 million to develop and start to deliver the first phase of a Mass Transit network. Additionally, the programme includes fifteen new bus and cycle priority corridor improvements, three new cycling corridors, new zero emission buses, new electric vehicle charging points, improvements to rail stations across West Yorkshire as well as a rail accessibility package and essential highway maintenance and road safety improvements.    The programme will be delivered with an end date of 2027 https://www.westyorks-ca.gov.uk/projects/city-regional-sustainable-transport-settlement-crsts/

Only if you believe the hype. Leeds trams funding was already in place, as was more expansion of Metrolink. many of the rail schemes announced yesterday have no feasibility studies or business cases in place. Plenty of opportunities for HM Treasury to whittle them down on the grounds of poor BCR. Even those that get through won’t be seen in action until the 2030s many of the road schemes announced were existing committed schemes (ie with funding in place) but many were over budget so it’s taking rail funding to divert to roads. there is good news in the list, if it happens, but we’ve now lost valuable extra capacity along the WCML (and many consider it’s just got a lot worse on the Trent Valley) and on the critical approach into Manchester. Leeds station approaches also suffer a lack of capacity so again, loss of HS2 east and NPR makes solving them a lot more costly & difficult (so less likely to happen). NPR itself still doesn’t have a published route alignment nor date for hybrid bill or TWAO so is unlikely to see spades in the ground this decade. The terminology used yesterday suggests it’s more focused on the Liverpool to Manchester section than tunnelling under the Pennines.

That’s in the independent anti-motorist state of Welsh Wales. Rishi doesn’t worry about transport policy in Welsh Wales and generally now seems just to do the opposite as he is “the friend of the (English) motorist”

Our motorways are already extensively covered by ANPR cameras. many of our major cities have ANPR coverage and certainly do if they have a congestion charge or ULEZ. a lot of council car parks have ANPR cameras. that’s not full coverage but it’s easy to see how a time & distance charging scheme could be introduced. Rishi won’t do it though as he’s ‘on the side of the motorist’

Crossrail was given a red rating but is now operating and I believe, exceeding passenger forecasts. you cannot build NPR without HS2 or n me as divert adding costs & programme into NPR. NPR hadn’t yet got a route defined nor been laid before Parliament so remains at least 10 years from spades in the ground. HS2 2a to Crewe is still 3 or 4 years away from the big ticket works so cancelling it saves pretty much zero this year or next. HS2 2b to Manchester hasn’t yet got it’s act of Parliament consented so is still 6-8 years away from full construction on the ground (and cost) so cancelling it saves pretty much zero this year or next or the year after that. HS2 build cost has been around £5bn per year to date. That will continue for the next 4 to 5 years as phase 1 gets built out & commissioned. the earning potential of a stub branch line from West London suburb into Birmingham is really shockingly limited. HS2 benefits and earnings exists from the whole not from a tiny part. our politicians (and HM Treasury) seem to not understand that and clearly think the population can be hoodwinked into thinking they’ve saved us £50/£60bn today to spend this year which simply isn’t true.

Charging investment continues: The largest InstaVolt charging hub in Cornwall is now live, with 12 chargers at Bodmin Retail Park on the Launceston Road, just off the A30! The site will provide a major boost to EV drivers in the South West and those travelling into Devon and Cornwall during the summer months. The opening follows the launch of our 8 charger hub at Gissons Hotel, just outside of Exeter. With a McDonalds on-site and only 2 minutes from Bodmin town centre, our 12 charger hub is the perfect spot to recharge! 12 Chargers Up to 160kW Improved Accessibility On-site amenities taken from LinkedIn

Thank you. Yes, 5 weeks unemployed and thankfully agreed a new position on Friday. They’ve ordered me a Tesla today - small companies are very agile at decision making it seems. Delivery could be next week. Taking after Mr Ford, my choices were black, black or a long wait. I opted for black!!!

I negotiated a public sector road job a couple of years ago. Client (a county council) had committed delivery dates with their political masters, funders and external developers. They gave me their programme. It was 6 months to design, secure planning, secure DfT grant funding, complete the design and then build it. their own & DfT gateways added up to 8 months. Planning permission, 4 months. we, after a lot of tussle, going round in circles and the involvement of additional external consultants settled on 19months as an achievable target for opening. tgen covid struck and we found utilities they hadn’t thought about. It opened earlier this year, over 36months since I started that negotiation. In 2021 I lead on a national highways mega project (£500m). The project had spent £100m of that pot without delivering anything in the ground except one small roundabout improvement. The rest was spent on designs (we had around 350design staff engaged most months), our staff of just under 100 (50% being on the ground doing surveys etc and commercial staff to pay the bills, 50% doing non construction stuff like comms, HSEQ, EDI, data collection, document control etc), some land purchase, a lot of expensive planning & legal support. HS2 is no different, it’s size & complexity needs large £££ to get it through sufficient design & planning processes to make the hybrid bills work, feed / satisfy any CPO requirements and prepare ITTs and appointment of the design & build contractors. Utility diversions are mega slow, mega expensive and again, need dedicated teams to manage otherwise they become a real & present danger to the main works. Ditto newts, bats, mice, voles, badgers, fish, birds etc. the legal consents to deal with them need multi year surveys and can take up to a year or more to secure. Court injunctions & prosecutions will follow if you ignore such rules and just crack on. It takes years to get these mega projects to the point you can mobilise diggers. That is how our legal policies are set up. That is not HS2 specific. It’s U.K. specific.

They are all 2019 prices. the media like to quote the original budget at £30 odd BN but don’t add that was at 2010(ish) prices and the £71bn is 2019 prices. i doubt we are talking £180bn at 2023 prices (quoted in the press this weekend courtesy of the biased anti Lord Berkeley. But £100bn is most likely I’d say (and will undoubtedly be more in 2040 prices when the final invoices come in).

According to this report to Parliament in June this year, £22.5bn has been spent on phase 1 £0.9bn has been spent on phase 2a £0.7bn has been spent on phase 2b £0.7bn has been spent on east Mids link giving a total of £24.7bn. current rate of spend (and therefore the order of savings that would result in later years of phase 2 was binned) is £5bn per year. Phase 1 is predicted to outturn at £40-45bn. Phase 2a is estimated as up to £7bn Phase 2b is estimated as up to £19bn https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/hs2-6-monthly-report-to-parliament-june-2023