edcayton

I see the BRDC is having the usual hand-wringing about the BGP. Considering dropping it from 2019. Yawn. Posturing by the blazers about the costs not met by income as usual. In my yoof, the Grand National was always under threat, because Mrs Mirabelle Topham, who owned the place, wanted, she said, to sell it for housing.

 

Silverstone is far from my favourite circuit, and its ownership by a bunch of people steeped in an era when winning cars were painted green doesn't help. But this is the ideal time of year for rattling such sabres. And the media loves it.

They should still paint the winning cars green though

Ed

Insomnia....... Mike, I am astounded by what you said about the lack of bogs on CrossRail trains. It's absolutely ridiculous. As for flushing beer cans, the older style lav's with a flap and you can see the sleepers rushing by underneath would work.

I'll try to go back to sleep, night all

Ed

ISTR that Shui went to Ferrari when they were not at the top of their game. It must surely be the ambition of any F1 driver to drive the red cars, I won't be at all surprised to see Lewis move there. Next year perhaps?

Ed

Morning all from a bright but cold and rapidly getting lighter Charente.   Last day here for a few months and it has really started to feel like our new home this time.  It gets harder to leave each time we have to go back.   We had a good day yesterday and made good use of the fire permit and got rid of huge amounts of Brash.  Beth and Martin's girlfriend pruned the line of roses in front of the house.   Afterwards we went into the local town for a Chinese meal.

 

Just a few photos to show the work that's been done.

 

When we bought the house last November it became obvious that at one time the garden had been well planned and planted but that the trees and especially shrubs had been allowed to flourish for too many years with no control.  The house was also very dark, even in summer and the satellite dish was badly obscured by tree growth.

This is the view last November.

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This is the same view now.

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Three trees have gone, one of which was dead and the wood burns well.  Some more trees will be planted in due course further from the house.

A row of trees alongside the drive at the rear have now been crown lifted and thinned out.

170102-2.jpg

I've also managed to clear large growths of Ivy and Rhododendron from the wall that we share with the local Mairie.   Thus now looks a lot better but the remaining ivy can be kept under control.

The tree growth had now produced a formidable pile of logs in the shed  and the barn owl will watch over it while we are away. 

 

overall we are very pleased with the results and will look forward to see how it looks in the summer.  

Meanwhile breakfast has been consumed and cars and the trailer will be packed soon  We are off towards St Malo at lunchtime.

 

Keep safe out there we do not want any more members of the GDB club.

 

Jamie

Good morning all.

Jamie-two questions. In the before and after pics it looks as though you have chopped down a grain silo. Is this right? And in the last one, is that a privy? I'm dead jealous.

Ed

Morning all and belated HNY.

@  Neil, does the IoM have hard water? If so then something could have built up over the years leading to trapped water now. Just a thought.

Best wishes to all

Ed

Happy New Year to all.

 

Not managed to get here for a few days, so have just skimmed the past few pages. The rugby match partly organised by my son managed to raise well over £1000 for the Calvert Trust in Keswick, as a memorial to his family fiend who, passed away in 2015, and who the Calvert Trust helped look after in his final years. It was also a great catch-up with loads of people I hadn't seen for a while.

 

Yesterday, we went to some local car dealerships to replace Mrs Gs car, which failed its MOT a few weeks back. We were interested in a small Hyundai, it when we went to see it, the inside was full of a mouldy growth, which was truly disgusting. For a car about a year old, and supposedly valeted about three weeks ago, it was just ridiculous. We did look at some other small cars, but the local VE dealership was closed, so we couldn't look at the VW Up, which is a possible purchase.

 

Mrs G then decided that we needed some shopping, so came home via Tesco. They were busy reducing all sorts of stuff, so we came away with far more than we had planned to get. Then she decided we should go to Morrisons as well, where more reduced stuff was purchased. She then suggested doing the same is Asda, but I declined, as the freezer was nearly full, and there would be nowhere to store all this stuff. On our return home, I left her to load all this food into the freezer, which she just managed to do, after much rearranging and muttering!

 

NIce sunny morning here today after the rain passed through yesterday evening. I suspect that any New Year revellers celebrating outside will have got very wet!

A lot of cars have suffered from flood damage this year. They should have been written off and scrapped, but there are always a few crooks.

Ed

Snap! Mine also arrived from Tower this morning. Hooray. They kept to the original price too. As to the weight, I think it's like a cat with a magic gravity switch and weighs more out of the box than in.

Ed

Is the green painted or self-coloured plastic please?

Ed

My lovely cleaning lady has, as promised, just brought me a Christmas dinner. I had half or more of a bottle of Asti with it so am feeling mellow.  Many thanks to Nicky, and a happy Christmas to all.

Ed

As a child I used to be so excited that I got up really early (3 or 4) on Christmas morning. I would sometimes meet my Dad who had not gone to bed from Christmas Eve, finish the assembly of or playing with my toys! When our boys were young we let them have a couple of small presents in their room, but they knew that all the pressies under the tree would wait until the rellies arrived.

#Ed

Just rung Tower and the green ones have arrived! Mine should be here tomorrow. With black bonnet

Ed

Once you are in York, remember the whole city is a castle! The walk around the walls is very pleasant, there is Clifford's Tower and, as Mike says, the Castle Museum. When a man is tired of York he is tired of life  .

Ed

Mawnin' awl. Currently on a short visit at my parents' up in Schleswig-Holstein until Friday. A longer visit will doubtlessly follow next year but we wanted to see how things are after their move here. I can say that it is a rather nice house they got!

 

The Prius ran just fine, too. Cannot recall ever having been travelling on a similarly comfortable car.

 

Yesterday also saw the delivery of our first NGT10 tram, so I joined a sizeable crowd of colleagues (many of them equally rail-nerdy) to brave the cold at Heiterblick in the early morning...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Exciting times!

 

Have a good one, folks!

I'm surprised they didn't split that for transport, it's a heck of a long load. I'll bet you are looking forward to driving it.

Ed

You raise the example of motorways - well then back in the 1950s when the M1 was being built from Watford to Rugby there is no way it justified being built with 3 lanes - 2 would have done perfectly well based on the traffic predictions of the time. However the designers knew that it would not stay this length forever and that this section was just the INITIAL phase of a much larger project. As such they built it as 3 lanes from the outset to accommodate the traffic due to generated when the M1 extended into the East Midlands and ultimately on to Yorkshire and the M6 was extended south to meet it. In fact part of the problem with our motorways is precisely the number of intermediate junctions, including those that have no strategic function but whose existence has spawned lots of development and have allowed said routes to become overburdened with commuter traffic that was never intended when the network was being drawn up. This is one of the disadvantage of not tolling roads - in an era (1950s - 1990s) when that meant staffed toll booths (rather than using ANPR technology and pre payment etc) the desire for a junction had to be compared against the costs of staffing it. As a result distances between junctions in counties such as France (where lots of motorways are tolled) are generally grater than ours and said motorways are rarely used a de-facto by-passes of intermediate towns as they tend to be in the UK.

 

Thus HS2 is NOT just a London to Birmingham line - like the M1 (and the southern bit of the M6) the completed route will stretch from London to Lancashire and Yorkshire and THAT is what it is being designed around. Adding lots of intermediate connections or stations to phase one would cause a significant reduction in the ability of HS2 to do its job - which is long distance services to the North West and North East of England. Birmingham is merely an important mid point en route, but as with the M1, represents a useful destination to aim for and thus allowing construction of the entire line to be phased and resources not overstretched by trying to do too much at once. Once the full network is built there simply will not be any space for trains from 'local connections' as it will be fully utilised by express services to the north. Between London and Birmingham you will have 18TPH to play with so assuming say 4TPH to Birmingham, 4TPH to Leeds 4TPH to Manchester (2 TPH (2 possibly transferring to the WCML at Crewe / Lichfield to serve the likes of Stoke), 2TPH to Liverpool, 2TPH to Scotland via Preston and 2 TPH to Newcastle there is no room for extras*.

 

So yes phase one on its own may seem sub optimal and bereft of connections - but that is deliberate and in no way devalues the HS2 project AS A WHOLE - which includes the Manchester and Leeds legs plus the relief they can provide to cross country services.

 

Yes you could add 'temporary' services from extra local connections until the project is completed - but one thing the Thameslink project in London showed is that regular users get VERY upset if you muck around with their train services - to the extent that they are willing to forgo the doubling of the frequency and improved service reliability just so they can get out at City Thameslink rather than the preceding stop (Blackfrairs) As such filling up phase 1 with services that will have to be removed a few years later is not a good idea - nor is it good value for money to provide lots of local connections that will only be used for a short period.

 

The only connection that is lacking is one on the approch to the Birmingham terminus itself. While its clear New Street can never be rebuilt to accommodate double deck trains the equivalent length of two coupled TGVs (Hence the Curzon Street HS2 station), it would be possible for the proposed 'Classic compatible' trains to pass through new street onto Wolverhampton or South West towards Worcester and Cheltenham (amusing that route eventually gets wired).

 

* Note:- if you think this sounds low, its worth remembering that many experts consider the proposed 24 TPH for Thameslink as being unachievable and 18TPH actually compares quite well with what ONE of the WCML tracks (remembering there are two pairs) can reliably provide. Hence the reason for HS2 being designed to accommodate long double decked trains as this allows for continued passenger growth even when the actual number of trains that can run has peaked.

Please stop comparing UK and France. Their area is 2.5x ours and I'm guessing their "through" traffic is much greater. Transport "needs" are very different. You talk about long distance services from London to the NW and NE of England, but these are not long distances and I don't believe the French would have built the TGV network for two branch lines

Ed

Ed

One of the problems with any form of infrastructure be it rail,road or other transport systems they tend not to be for the benefit of those who will be affected by its presence/construction, but a greater number of others. Unfortunately a sad fact of life.

 

As I said have travelled twice to Italy in the past 18 mths by train and the channel tunnel link and the TGV main lines are stunning. Down to the French/Italian borders in a matter of a few hours. Do these lines benefit those who are close to the lines both sides of the tunnel, I guess not many. Those it does benefit may have to travel to get a connection to the trains that use it.  Does it mean these lines are not worth the trouble they have caused those affected the building of the lines of course not.

 

I can understand the upset and concern it is and will cause those living on the route, I believe it will benefit those both travelling long distance plus those on other lines which will have the shorter distance travelling enhanced using the slots which will move on to the faster lines.

 

 

Yes, but the French (and other EU mainland) TGV form a network of long distance high speed lines, and the Chunnel and HS1 form a logical extension to this.

I would like to see such a network in the UK but it ain't gonna happen. But a long distance line ( at least from Glasgow/Edinburgh) which joins HS1 would be a different proposition. This would be for political reasons (to make the Scots feel part of the UK), and, yes, for national pride if we do it better than the rest of the world.

Who is the proposed line for? As Mike says most of the population will have to travel into London to get on it, and his Parkway station makes a lot of sense. As it is, someone suggested it will make life easier for people in Leeds to commute to London. Really? We can not continue this madness. We need to be saving energy and not inventing new travel by any method and that is why I am agin it.

Ed

 

Mind you, 'twas ever thus. I read in a history of the Great War (WWI) that while the British were relying on huge numbers of semi-skilled and unskilled workers in their shipyards - many of whom were barely literate and numerate, the Germans were employing the latest technology and skilled workers who had completed secondary and technische hochschule educations. A trivial factoid, perhaps, but who's selling - world wide - expensive and much sought after cars in 2017? Certainly not British Leyland. Both unions and management in the UK would do well to carefully study the German system (and German unions - like IG Metall aren't pussycats and German management a lot more pragmatic and realistic than their UK equivalent [not that either are without fault]).

 

Talk later!

 

iD

Sorry Doc, but that has upset me. These barely literate and numerate, semi- and unskilled and probably unionised people won two wars against the Germans. Efficiency is not everything.

Ed

I can see benefit to travellers from Peterborough, Grantham, Newark and Retford. Given that HS2 will increase capacity on the ECML by taking direct Leeds traffic off the ECML there will be more capacity for commuter traffic on the line. As it is there are already people who commute daily from Doncaster to London and although they might not benefit directly it will open up Leeds as a new hub into which to commute either via the ECML or even on the new line.

 

It won't benefit my commute (Peterborough to York) but may open up some diversionary routes if, as suggested, Leeds/York will be wired as a result of the additional traffic that is expected. That diversionary route would have been most welcome this morning with a down 225 failing at Shaftholme and blocking the down ECML for an hour. The impact of that took nearly 5 hours to clear. That is the problem we are trying to run a 21st Century service on 19th Century infrastructure and it simply cannot cope. Upgrading that 19th Century infrastructure will be far more disruptive and far more expensive than any new build.

Possibly better to upgrade the 20th century OHLE.

Ed

Having travelled to Italy and back on holiday for the past 2 years using the Channel tunnel then the TGV has shown me how valuable and enjoyable long distance train travel is. I think having a main artery to major centres, then using the existing system for the final destination would be a major step forward for public transport

 

OK a few would have their lives disrupted and have to uproot, but that has always happened when building major transport infrastructure.  

Yes, but HS2 won't be "long distance" train travel, and hardly qualifies as "major" transport infrastructure.

Ed

Just got the Xmas double issue Autocar. In a summary of the year's road tests the least powerful engine had more than 100 bhp. It's not so long since that would have been one of the more powerful tested in a year.

Ed

Good morning all.

I don't understand this strike business. I happen to think that it must be wrong for one man to be in sole charge of a train which can weigh hundreds of tonnes, carry hundreds of people and travel at over a hundred mph. But I remember the "Bedpan" dispute which saw new DOO trains languishing in sidings for months. Time has passed and we are where we are. So is there a reason why these particular trains on these particular services should not be DOO when so many others are?

Best wishes

Ed

Surely in a station this compact there would just be a berth track circuit in rear of the home and the one box, especially by the 1960s?

 

If it's very short there could be a distant arm on the advanced starter, or even on the platform starters too if it's very very short. Which is argubly more decorative than the shunt ahead arms

I was supposing more than plain track beyond the bridge. Agree that one box may have gone by the 60's (and some track).

Ed

I wasn't suggesting the economics was a mystery, I understand that entirely.

 

The mystery is how they expected UK modellers not to notice.

 

It is only very recently that they have finally acknowledged that their "00" track isn't actually 00. For over 50 years in the Railway Modeller the pretence was carefully observed and everyone was expected to keep shtum.

 

Martin.

It is 00 in as much as 00 trains can run on it.

Ed

They have just said on the radio that the Russians interfered in the US election to help Trump win!

Ed

//Pedant mode on//

. A Ford Capri and vehicles of similar age are classic cars.

 

//Pedant mode off//

 

steve

Not all would agree

Ed