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Monthly Archives: July 2015

Time to go home..

31 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in Desiro City, GTR, Rail Investment, Siemens, Thameslink

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It’s been a long day! I’ve spent most of the night/morning at the new Siemens/GTR depot at Three Bridges, waiting for the first of the new Desiro City’s to arrive from Germany via the Channel Tunnel. The set arrived at 02:19 this morning and myself and a video photographer were there to catch it.

DG219319

It was quite a moment. What most people don’t realise is that this is the culmination of many years hard work. Siemens were named preferred bidder for the trains way back in 2011.

Once the set was safely stabled we had a couple of hours to rest before the real work started. 700106 arrived split into three sections. In between the sections (and at each end) were barrier wagons used to provide the brake force to allow the train to move (and stop!). The whole lot had to be split & the sections moved into the main shed using the diesel loco which had brought the train in. Needless to say, this took quite some time & it wasn’t until after 9.00am that the first four cars were moved, gingerly, into the shed.

So, here’s what 5 years hard work looks like this morning.

DG219361

The first four cars of 700106 at rest on No6 road inside the shed. Believe it or not, but it only took 6 men to push this formation into place!

The first four cars of 700106 at rest on No6 road inside the shed. Believe it or not, but it only took 6 men to push this formation into place!

Now all that’s left to do is repeat the process 114 times over the next few years…

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Another manic Thursday…

30 Thursday Jul 2015

Posted by in Travel, Work

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Today was meant to be a relaxing one as I have a commission to cycle old railways in West Yorkshire to get pictures for a magazine, the weather’s being kind so I was looking forward to a stress-free day. Only in this job things don’t always go to plan. Instead of being able to relax & catch upon paperwork & editing on Friday it now looks I’ll be on a train back South this evening – just as the soon as I’ve ditched the bike at Leeds. At least I got home long enough to restock the suitcase. The next 36 hours promise to be rather long…

I really should get sponsorship from one of the Coffee companies.

UPDATE: 19:46.

What a great day we had. Sustrans did us proud & showed off some fascinating projects that are linking communities together using some of the regions old railways – and what impressive structures are on these lines too..

You’ll be able to read all about it (and see the pictures) in a forthcoming edition of RAIL magazine. Right now I’m on a VTEC service which is speeding is way to the capital, getting me in position for a very different type of job tomorrow. You’ll be able to see the results of this some time in the next 12 hours…

More crap reporting, this time from the Independent

27 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by in Crap journalism, Hs2, The Independent

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Is it any wonder the world of journalism is held in such low esteem nowadays? Take this example from today’s Independent.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/church-to-oppose-hs2-rail-link–because-it-would-desecrate-graveyards-9468659.html

The Church of England is to oppose Hs2? Really?

No, of course not -as the C of E made clear to the Indy – who ignored them & fabricated a headline anyway in order to cobble together up some cheap knocking copy.

Here’s what the C of E really said.

Indy

Is that so difficult to understand by the Indy’s wordsmiths that they manage to translate it into the exact opposite? No, of course not. It simply shows the declining standards of that newspaper & why hardly anyone outside the M25 reads it nowadays. The story isn’t even new but presumably the Indy wanted to jump on the bandwagon the Express started with their non-story about Brunel being dug up to make way for Hs2

I don’t know why the Indy doesn’t bother to change the colour of its masthead to red & join the other downmarket rags it obviously aspires to be nowadays.

Decamping to the South.

27 Monday Jul 2015

Posted by in Never a dull life, Travel, Work

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The start of another hectic week sees me heading back to London for a few days, hopefully to drier climes! Yesterday’s Pennine weather, with low cloud, drizzle & appalling light was more suitable for November than July. As I type this I’m gazing out of the window of my Grand Central train to the capital as it trundles its way past the power stations (and one remaining deep mine) in the Aire valley, sipping coffee whilst enjoying the ever changing views and slowly improving weather.

I’ve a host of pictures to get later but I’ve also a convivial evening to look forward to as I’m attending a book signing & reading in Kentish Town. An old friend, the writer Michael Williams will be reading from his latest book, ‘The Trains Now Departed’.

The rest of the week is going to be far less relaxing! I’ve a interview shoot to do in central London first thing Tuesday morning, then a hectic day getting other pictures before another night in a hotel South of London ready for a 2am start on a ‘hush hush’ job that’ll involve a lot of waiting – and a lot of coffee. Hopefully you’ll see the pictures plastered all over the media afterwards.

Wednesday afternoon will see me heading back to Yorkshire, ready for a very different commission on Thursday which involves cycling along old railways around Yorkshire on some hired Brompton folding cycles (I can’t bring my own bike as we move between locations by car, apparently).

If the weather smiles on me on Friday, I’ll be back in Leeds all day. If not, I’ve got a plan B & C up my sleeve…

Not exactly a dull life, is it?

Classic media hysteria & Stop Hs2 deceit from the Sunday Express.

26 Sunday Jul 2015

Posted by in Crap journalism, Hs2, Joe Rukin, StopHs2, The Daily Express

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The Sunday Express, a newspaper well known for hysteria & inaccuracy has published this piece on Hs2.

“Isambard Kingdom Brunel may be the father of British railways but it might not save his grave from being dug up to make way for HS2″

http://www.express.co.uk/news/uk/593825/HS2-given-permission-exhume-the-dead-build-new-train-line

And the evidence for this is?

There’s none, it’s complete bullshit, as anyone who actually bothers to read the article & use their brain will realise – which probably rules out a goodly percentage of Express readers.

Hs2 spokeswoman Katherine Button explained the truth: “We have made one precautionary application as we are doing some ground investigation in Kensal Green Cemetery in London. The cemetery manager does not believe the site we have chosen contains burials but we have agreed a specific careful excavation process to prevent the unexpected disturbance of human remains.”

So, not only is Brunel not in danger of being being dug up, no-one else is either.

Tucked away in the article is this rather salient fact. ‘The tunnel under Kensal Green Cemetery is expected to be between 80ft and 115ft down’ All Hs2 Ltd are doing is drilling a test bore to assess the ground they’ll be tunneling through, nothing more.

Not that you’d get StopHs2s resident ranter Joe Rukin to admit the truth. Given the opportunity to comment he comes out with his usual deceitful rubbish, claiming that;

““It is not a great surprise they haven’t told anyone about this. The whole project has been a catalogue of mistakes.

“You don’t make an application like that if you don’t need to do it. It is clear they have strong suspicions that they will need to exhume bodies.”

Not told anyone? Hs2 Ltd have gone through a formal application process & got all the relevant permissions from the authorities concerned, they’re not exactly turning up in the dead of night like some modern Burke & Hare! There’s also the small matter that all this has come to light beforehand precisely because of that formal process. Needless to say, in a further effort to scaremonger, Rukin also completely ignores the fact that if you’re tunnelling 80ft underground, there’s no need to dig anyone up.

Clearly, Rukin & the Express are well suited. Both love scaremongering & have a cavalier attitude to facts. Perhaps Rukin can get a job with the Express when Joe Elliott finally sees sense & pulls the plug on funding Stophs2.

The anti Hs2 mob get shown up by the Woodland Trust

25 Saturday Jul 2015

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2

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In another of life’s delicious ironies the Woodland Trust have intentionality exposed how little real support the anti Hs2 mob have. How? By launching this Twitter campaign.

irony

In just 24 hours they’ve had far more people Tweet than the anti Hs2 mob have ever managed to find! Remember the antis laughable ‘Twitterstorm’ from 2 years ago (you’d be forgiven if you didn’t, it was an abject failure). Or Hs2aa’s more recent ‘thunderclap’? So much for laughable claims that the anti Hs2 campaign’s bigger then the poll tax demos.

Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week – No 9

24 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week, Hs2

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For some reason the anti Hs2 campaign has always attracted the Walter Mitty types & this weeks chosen campaigner is a classic example!

Step forward Nicholas Batty…

Today’s superbly daft tweet sets the scene.

batty

‘Relentless & expanding rapidly’? How deluded can you get?

I’ve blogged before on the true situation with their campaign but let’s have a look at the state of play since I wrote that back in January. In the past 6 months the anti campaign’s failed to make any impact on a general election. Unlike previous years it’s not organised a single national event, demonstration or gathering- nor has it any planned. It’s failed to capture much media attention and its social media penetration is poor (to say the least). Here’s the latest ‘scores on the doors’ to illustrate the fact.

scores on doors

The usual caveats apply. Not all followers are supporters etc. The figures show that not only is the anti campaign growing slowly from a ridiculously small base, in some cases it’s going backwards! To put these figures in perspective, over 46 million people are registered to vote in the UK! So much for ‘expanding rapidly’ eh?

2015 has shown that the anti Hs2 campaign only really exists on social media nowadays. The ‘action group’ network that Hs2aa used to boast about (claiming over 90 +) has been shown to be less than half that. No new groups have formed since Phase 2 was announced but plenty have folded.

The anti campaign was further embarrassed when the Mid Cheshire ‘action’ group published their 2015 AGM minutes online. These exposed the fact only 23 people attended out of a Cheshire population of 700-800,000! Unsurprisingly, the group has since taken the minutes off the web. No doubt the ‘action’ group network will dwindle further one the petitioning process is completed. After all – what are they for anymore when there’s nothing going on?

So, where’s any evidence (outside of his own fevered imagination) to back up Batty’s claims? There’s none. Anywhere.

Of course, this isn’t the first time Batty has come out with abject nonsense. Back in 2013 he claimed that there were ‘thousands’ of anti Hs2 protesters in central London ahead of their annual rally. Only around 500 actually turned out to be real. But then Batty is a typical Walter Mitty who invents his own attendance at these events as well as that of others. Mind you,if you look at his profile, then do some research, it seems that’s not all he’s invented…

You’ve got to hand it to the anti Hs2 campaign, they really do know how to attract some very ‘special’ people.

The National Trust whitewash history

24 Friday Jul 2015

Posted by in Censorship, National Trust

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During our summer break Dawn & I visited Cragside, the historic home of William George Armstrong, 1st Baron Armstrong, who built the house & made it the first property in the world to be lit by hydro-electric power.

Armstrong was a prominent industrialist & inventor who founded the Armstrong Whitworth manufacturing company which was a huge employer in Tyneside. It was also a major armaments developer & supplier, both to the British government and abroad. Amongst its other products it supplied warships to the Royal Navy and the navies of Russia & Japan, as well as the Austro-Hungarian navy.

In fact, Armstrong received his knighthood for surrendering the patent of a vastly superior 18 pounder rifled field gun he’d developed to the British Government. Not that you’d know any of this by reading a single one of the displays about his life up at Cragside! His former home is now owned by the National Trust and they’ve seen fit to whitewash his history and concentrate on his scientific work. The only mention you find in his illustrated timeline is one picture of the field gun. You will find a picture of the swing bridge his company installed on the Tyne. What you won’t find is any of the details. The bridge (costing £250,000) was paid for by Armstrong. Why? Because it allowed warships to proceed up the river to his Elswick works where they were fitted with their armaments!

It’s a great shame that the National Trust have seen fit to censor Armstrong’s history in this way. Why they’ve done so is a mystery. I thought the NTs job was to preserve the past, not to try & edit it.

Pragmatism prevails on Hs2.

22 Wednesday Jul 2015

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, AONBs, Hs2

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Yesterday the Chair of the Hs2 petitioning Committee, Robert Syms MP announced that they had rejected the idea of a full length tunnel to take the railway underneath the Chiltern’s AONB. You can read the full decision here. It was a decision that surprised no-one but a few fundamentalist antis & those naive enough not to understand the issues.

The idea was always a non-starter. there’s lots of reasons why but the main ones are cost & (perhaps more importantly) the precedence it would create. If new transport corridors like Hs2 have to be buried under the Chilterns, what would happen when any have to pass through other AONBs or National Parks? After all, there are 46 AONBs covering 18% of the UK. Many of them are grouped to the North West of London, as this map shows (Interestingly, it also shows how the Chilterns is one of the smallest AONBs). It was an impossible demand & the Committee sensibly rejected it.

Whisper it, but the Chilterns aren’t particularly special. Only 5% of the AONB is virgin landscape. The other 95% is man made. It’s an area already criss-crossed by railways & motorways & I don’t see the local anti’s clamoring to have building restrictions applied that might prevent land being taken by factories etc. Let’s be honest, much of this is about protecting a few folks house prices as much as it is about the environment.

Of course, this decision doesn’t bode well for the anti’s other ridiculous demand – that the Euston terminus is abandoned & Hs2 is terminated at Old Oak Common instead.