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Paul Bigland

Monthly Archives: February 2018

The benefits of hindsight

28 Wednesday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in The 'Beast from the East', Travel, Weather

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The 'Beast from the East', Travel, Weather

Like many people, I took the mickey out of the ‘beast from the East’ as this weather front’s been called. It didn’t affect me travelling down to London yesterday and whilst it provided some spectacular clouds and snow showers, it didn’t really cause much disruption.

It’s had the last laugh.

When I was wandering through central London with a colleague after the Bradshaw address I went flying on an icy pavement. Apart from the loss of dignity it caused a minor sprain to my left wrist – just days before I start a 450km cycle ride around India.

This morning, when I threw back the curtains of my hotel I found Finsbury Park coated with a fresh dusting of snow. I wasn’t worried as the sky was a deep blue, so I took my time getting out and caught up with some work. What I hadn’t seen was the skies to the South…

It was only when I checked out that I saw the vast build-up of leaden clouds. Thinking “Oh well, this might be good for some snow shots” I headed over to some old photographic haunts on the East Coast Main Line and arrived at Alexandra Palace just in time for the blizzard! Now, I lived in London for 25 years and it’s not the first time I’ve taken snow scenes around there, but this was some of the fiercest weather I can remember. The wind was whipping the snow almost horizontally, so much so that I had to give up and retreat to Harringay station which is a little more sheltered. The Fast lines gave the game away, the line-speed is 90mph there, so the 4 foot was pretty clear of snow because it’s whipped away by fast moving trains. The snow was so heavy that they filled up again within minutes. Admittedly, It made for some good shots but it also made me start wondering if I might have problems getting home…

DG290844. 700052. Harringay. 28.2.18

A Siemens Class 700 powers through the snow as it passes Harringay station, heading for Peterborough.

DG290781

91107 pushes a VTEC service towards Kings Cross through a snowstorm at Harringay

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After the snow came the sun. Here’s 365503 arriving at Kings Cross.

What reassured me was the sight of Grand Central’s 1148 Kings Cross – Bradford flashing past me on its way North. It was a false sense of security. When I got back to Kings Cross after doing some cycle kit shopping I found that both following services (the 14.48 and the 16.03) were cancelled, leaving me with the option of hoping the last one at 19.52 was running, or coming up with plan B.

I’m currently sitting on Plan B, the late running 16.50 Kings Cross-Sunderland!

The idea is to bail out at York and catch the 19.18 Northern service to Halifax, which is the last through train of the day. After that I have to change at Leeds. If I do get back to Halifax at 20.38 as planned there’s a couple more obstacles.

It’s minus 5.

There’s no taxis running.

I’ve a mile and a half to walk home.

I’m carrying several bags (including a f**k-off 14kg camera bag).

The last part of the walk home is either down a steep cobbled hill (suicide), or an almost as steep tarmac road.

This is going to be fun…

The icing on the cake is that I’m in a rush to be back as Dawn and I have made new wills and we’ve got an early morning appointment to sign them tomorrow as I’m off to India on Friday.

I can hear the ‘Beast from the East’ laughing now!

20:38 update.

As with most plans, it never survived first contact. We were signal checked for several minutes outside York, which meant that we passed my connection on the way. Tbe good news is Trans-Pennine Express were running a 19:40 to Liverpool, which I caught (mid blizzard) instead.

DG290909

The railhead conditions weren’t great and the unit struggled, but it got me Leexs in time to catch Northern’s 20:19 to Brighouse via Halifax. I needn’t have rushed. It was 10 late leaving due to the driver being delayed on their way in on another service. There’s a lot of snow on the ground here and more’s falling, so it’s going to be interesting to see what happens when I get to Halifax…

23.00 update.

Well, I finally made it home!

DG290920

One of the Class 155s built for the Calder Valley services brought me home…

The snow persisted all the way which actually worked in my favour as it’s a damned sight easier to walk across fresh snow than the icy, compacted stuff. I even made it down the infamous hill without going arse over tit.

20180228_2159273393590.jpg

 

The ‘Beast from the East’ has arrived…

27 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Railways, The Railway Children, Travel, Weather

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Railways, The Railway Children, Travel, Weather

This morning we woke up to a covering of snow across the Calder Valley, whilst the media have been going into overdrive about the ‘Beast from the East’ as the weather front’s been christened, the effects are no more serious than anything we’re usually used to seeing in Yorkshire. Here’s the view from our bedroom, looking across the valley.

20180227_072236

Not too beastly (yet)…

I’ve had a quick look at real-times for our local train services where (apart form a couple of very early cancellations) everything seems to be running normally and to time. Of course, the forecast reckons that there’s more snow on the way, so we’ll have to see how things pan out.

I’m heading down to London today to attend tonight’s George Bradshaw address at the IMechE where Network Rail Chairman Sir Peter Hendy will be speaking. I’ll be staying down tonight and coming back tomorrow so this blog will get updated as I travel. The contrast between North and South should be interesting. The South tends to go into a panic over a bit of snow, whilst up here you can tell when it’s bad – the posties stop wearing their shorts.

I’ve a lot of travelling to do this week as I’ll be heading back to London on Friday to fly out to India for the Railway Children ‘Ride India’ charity cycle challenge (it’s a wonderful cause, so please help me to help them by sponsoring me via this link). I’ll be blogging from India when I can.

Meanwhile, enjoy the snow!

Whilst walking to the station I spotted this and wondered what story it tells…

A Yorkshire Cinderella?

Heading South on the trains has been fun, whilst there was a lot of snow around home, the more Easterly I got the thinner the snow was! By the time I arrived at Doncaster there was hardly anything on the ground and the station was bathed in bright sunshine. A pair of snowploughs sat, forlornly, in the sidings as they clearly weren’t needed. All changed by the time we reached Newark because then we started hitting the blizzards. The rest of the journey has been a real mix and match: Blue skies and fields with fresh dusting of snow contrasting with leaden skies and almost white-out conditions as the tendrils of snow sweep in. Then just as rapidly as it arrives, it clears and we hit a patch where houses and fields are untouched, they’re little green oasis in an otherwise monotone landscape. It’s lovely to watch from my grandstand seat in a nice, warm train!

20180227_125000

Fields North of Peterborough after a fresh coating of snow.

UPDATE: 16:40.

Now I’m in Central London before heading off to the Bradshaw address. The capital’s had a dusting of snow but nothing like many places which is hardly surprising as the capital’s always a degree or two warmer. On thing I did notice was this lovely ‘tiger-stripe’ pattern on the roof of St Pancras station a few minutes ago.

DG290688

I’ll see if I can add a couple of pictures from tonight’s address later…

 

 

Back soon…

24 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Food and drink

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Food and drink. Pubs

I’ve had little time for blogging these past few days, although there’s one or two in draft form. I’m hoping to publish them tomorrow. Today’s taken up with social activities as Dawn and I are being taken out for a meal by friends as a wedding present. We’re heading across the border into Lancashire to Nutters restaurant. I’ll post some pictures and let you know what the food was like later.

This evening we’re off to another friends 21st in nearby Siddal, so I’m expecting it’s going to be a fairly late night!

UPDATE

– and so it was! The pair of us are having a lazy (ish) day today after yesterdays entertainments. Our mean with friends was a very convivial occasion in great surroundings. Nutters restaurant is located in a former sanatorium high up the hills overlooking Rochdale. It’s a lovely building with high ceilings, ornate windows and lots of character.

20180224_161334

The bar area by reception is a mix of period and modern.

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Looking into the restaurant area from reception.

Our group shared a selection of starters off different menu’s – including the fixed business lunch menu. Dawn really enjoyed her scallops whilst I tried the Lancashire potato cake which (whilst beautifully presented) was a tad disappointing.

20180224_192444

The scallops were delicious!

 

20180224_142318

The Lancashire potato cake. Great presentation but the sauce was rather bland, the tasty cauliflower made up for it.

Several of us had the Bass with a chili and ginger risotto as a main course. The fish was lovely but none of us could detect either the chilli or ginger in the risotto.

 

20180224_145021

To finish off I sampled the sticky toffee pudding. As with all of the meals it was very well presented, it also tasted delicious!

20180224_153334

 

DG290427

Our group outside Nutters. See what I mean about the building? You can read about its history on Nutters website. 

After the meal Tony Allan (of Phoenix brewery fame) drove us back to Yorkshire via Littleborough, where we stopped off for a swift half at a wonderfully eccentric pub he knew called the Red Lion. This multi-roomed pub is stuffed full of knick-knacks, from a multitude of mirrors to pianos via horse brasses and historic photographs. Oh – and cobwebs…

20180224_170427

 

The bar in our room was just as entertaining, whilst we perused the pumps, deciding what to have, the barmaid said ‘Oh, ignore them, they’ve not been on for years, we keep them to stop the bar looking empty”…

20180224_170409

There and back again – by Eurostar to Amsterdam in a day

20 Tuesday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Eurostar, Travel, Uncategorized

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Today I was fortunate enough to be part of the press corps sampling the first Eurostar service from London to Amsterdam and I have to say – it was a great trip.

We left St Pancras at 08:31 and our Siemens built e320 managed to set a new speed record between London and Brussels by completing the journey in 1 hour 46 mins – two minutes ahead of schedule.

I’ll write in more detail at a later date, but for now, here’s a few pictures from the day.

 

DG289706

Eurostar staff waiting to welcome us aboard train 9114 to Amsterdam.

 

DG289701

To celebrate the record run from London to Brussels Eurostar provided champagne and Belgian chocolates.

DG289785

Guests were treated to a selection of Dutch speciality food and drink, including cheeses, meats, stroopwafels and gin!

Here’s part of the new Eurostar lounge and customs post on platform 15a of Amsterdam Centraal

DG289948

4032 stands at platform 15 at Amsterdam Centraal. This is where the new Eurostar lounge is situated so it will become the normal platform for the service to use.

If you want to sample the service yourselves, the new service starts running on the 4th April and tickets start at £35 one-way. Tickets are on sale now.

 

Another Stophs2 apathetic fiasco!

19 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Anti Hs2 mob, Harvil Rd Hs2 protest, Hs2, StopHs2

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Anti Hs2 mob, Harvil Rd Hs2 protest, Protest, StopHs2

I’m working in central London today and serendipity meant that nearby the Harvil Rd stophs2 protesters were ‘up before the beak’ at the Royal Courts of Justice, where Hs2 Ltd and the DfT had applied for an injunction against 8 named protesters (that’s all there is on a regular basis). Here’s the details, care of the protesters own Twitter account.

cv

Rather foolishly considering they’ve so little support, the protesters called for a demonstration outside the hearing. They publicised it via Twitter and the Penny & Joe show (formerly known as Stophs2) joined in…

stophs2

10.30-12.30? That suited me fine, so I decided to pop along and see how they were doing and what the media scrum would be like. Would the City of London police be out in force to keep order I wondered? I thought I’d give them plenty of time, let Joe Rukin get his inflatable elephant set up and the party get into full swing, so I didn’t pop along  until 11.30. This is what I found. Nothing, no-one, nada, zip, not a sausage – nothing….

20180219_111320

The Rolls building’s to the right of the picture. Considering that Hs2 passes through NINE London constituencies holding a total of 1,079.897 souls that’s an impressive bit of apathy!  It also highlights the Harvil Rd protesters problem. Unlike when they flit between Hillingdon & Euston, when you’re up in court, you can’t be in two places at the same time!

Twyford Down they ain’t….

Welcome to the week

19 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Grand Central trains, Travel

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Grand Central, Travel

The long spell of wet weather’s continued its run this morning so for the first time in a long while I was left with no option but to get a taxi to the station. Normally I walk the mile and a half as it’s good exercise – and it saves me a fiver! There is an upside to the rain. It’s not snow, so the weather’s obviously warming up…

Right now I’m en-route to London aboard the first Grand Central train of the day from Halifax, the 07.08. Today it’s being worked by one of the ex-GWR Class 180s that transferred to GC after being displaced by the new Hitachi Class 800s. The GWR 180s aren’t bad but they need a little TLC and a refresh to bring them up to GC standards. Whatever type of set used, what remains unchanged is the friendliness of the GC staff running them. One of the beauties of being a regular traveller on a small company like GC is that you soon get to know the staff, some of the old hands have been with the company since it started the West Riding service from Bradford back in 2010.

Now it’s time for me to sit back and enjoy the trip. I have coffee, porridge for breakfast and wifi, plus ever changing scenery outside the window. See you later!

Best laid plans…

18 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Charities, I love my job, The Railway Children

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Charities, I love my job, The Railway Children

Well, I had planned to spend a few hours catching up on blogging today but in the finest tradition of Harold Macmillan, events got in the way. That said, there’s going to be plenty to blog about in the next few days. I head back to London tomorrow for a day’s photography in the capital. Apparently, there’s a StopHs2 demonstration outside the High Court as the DfT’s taking out an injunction out against the Harvil Rd protesters. I might just swing by to see how few Hs2 antis turn out to protest.  After that I have a job to do for one of the railway industry magazines.

Tuesday is a day I’m really looking forward to as I’ll be on the Eurostar press trip launching their new service from London to Amsterdam. Expect a few tweets from @paulbigland1 during the day!

After that I’m heading back to Yorkshire, ramping up my cycle training as I’m off to India at the beginning of March to take part in the ‘Ride India’ charity cycle ride to raise money for the Railway Children charity. Indian phone reception and internet permitting – expect regular updates about that too…

Brexitshambles…

17 Saturday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Brexit, Politics

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Brexit, Politics

Sorry for the break in blogging these past few days, I’ve been caught up with family stuff, work and cycle-training (more on which in the blog to follow)…

Today’s already been busy as we’ve picked up the ‘new’ car. Well, it’s new to us anyway!It’s an 11 month old Honda Civic that we’ve exchanged for our older 2014 model. Those three years have seen several refinements in the design of these Swindon made cars, the results of which mean it’s more economical and comfortable. Dawn loves driving it, which is just as well as I can’t: I don’t drive!

Being a passenger on the way home gave me time to think about what the future may hold for Honda’s Swindon plant because of the shambles that is Brexit. As things stand at the minute it’s looking increasingly likely that the price of new cars will rise by 10% and car plants like Swindon could face a very uncertain future. The Japanese have made it very clear that if the UK does leave the Customs Union and Single Market, leaving businesses unprofitable, they’ll be taking their businesses elsewhere. (link).

The problem is, our politicians aren’t listening. This week we’ve had a typically shambolic speech from Boris Johnson. It was lightweight, full of platitudes but absolutely devoid of any real content. We need answers about the Irish border, instead we got organic carrots. We needed to know what’s happening with the customs union, instead we got a sniggering reference to British sex-tourism in Thailand (link). It was cringe-making. The full text of the speech can be found here. Our politicians have become clowns, the problem is, the joke’s on us…

Now we have Teresa May visiting Germany, where the German Chancellor, Angela Merkel had to point out that she’s still none the wiser as to what it is the UK Government actually expects from Brexit (link). She’s not alone. It’s clear our Government has no idea either! Yet the clock is ticking ever louder. Businesses can hear it, many of us can hear it – but May’s government appears deaf. Mind you, Labour need new batteries in Corbyn’s hearing aid too!

I try to laugh, but in truth I’m angry – very angry, at the way the UK’s reputation’s being trashed on the world stage by the actions of both political parties and their spineless reluctance to be honest with people over the economic and social consequences of Brexit- not to mention their unpreparedness for what’s to come as a result of that inertia. Meanwhile, our EU neighbours aren’t. The Ducth have announced plans to recruit 750 extra customs staff to deal with the consequences of the UK leaving the Customs Union and single market (link). What are we doing? Nothing…

Rukin returns from the dead

12 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Hs2, Rail Investment, StopHs2

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Hs2, Rail Investment, StopHs2

You have to laugh. What passes for an anti Hs2 campaign nowadays is the Joe Rukin & Penny Gaines show formerly known as Stophs2. Penny lives in Bournemouth and Joe’s in Kenilworth so it’s easy to see why it’s not exactly a tight campaign. In truth, it’s a campaign in name only. Stophs2’s collapsed. They’ve gone from campaigning to moaning. They’ve no presence in the real world – they’re reduced to social media – and they’ve been pretty crap at that. They’ve a website, a Facebook page and a Twitter account, but lately they’ve abandoned them all apart from the occasional retweet.

Finally, Stophs2 ‘Campaign Manager’ (shurely shome mishtake. Ed) has broken his radio silence to post this on their website.

rukin

At least one MP was ‘paying attention’? His moan is that only 1 MP, Sir Kevin Barron (whose Rother valley constituency is on the Phase 2 route to Leeds) changed his mind to vote against Hs2.

OK, let’s dissect this nonsense. As usual, Rukin spins like a top but even he can’t disguise the fact that since the Hs2 phase 1 hybrid bill passed they’ve only ‘turned’ one MP. What Rukin fails to mention is that this one ‘win’ is more than cancelled out by the 7 MPs who voted against the Hs2 phase 1 bill but who voted FOR the phase 2 a bill. They were;

Steve Baker (High Wycombe)
Bob Blackman (Harrow Est)
Peter Bone (Wellingborough)
Chris Chope (Christchurch)
Mark Pawsey (Rugby)
Chris Pincher (Tamworth)
John Redwood (Wokingham)

Not exactly a victory, is it? Their campaign’s collapsed and seven of the tiny number of MPs who used to support them have changed sides. Let’s crunch the full numbers – when the Phase 1 Hybrid Bill stormed through 2nd reading it did so by 452 votes to 41, giving the project a majority of 411. Of the 41 MPs who opposed, 7 stood down or retired as MPs in 2015. Another two stood down before the 2017 election and another two lost their seats, so that’s 11 of the 41 gone. Now another 7 have changed their vote – which throws Rukin and StopHs2’s campaigning ‘skills’ into perspective. In the years since the Phase 1 bill passed they’ve lost, not gained political support & Barron’s change of heart is a pyrrhic victory at best. When you look through the spin and analyse the numbers, you have to ask – what the point of Stophs2 anymore?

The end is nigh for diesel trains? Don’t you believe it…

12 Monday Feb 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Jo Johnson MP, Politics, Rail electrification, Rail Investment, Railfreight

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Jo Johnson MP, Politics, Rail Investment, Railfreight, Railways

Today Transport Minister Jo Johnson MP made a policy announcement on the future of the UKs diesel train fleets – sort of, ish…

Because the policy is more of an aspiration, not a firm commitment. Johnson told the BBC that “I would like to see us take all diesel-only trains off the track by 2040. If that seems like an ambitious goal, it should be and I make no apology for that. After all we’re committed to ending the sales of petrol and diesel cars by 2040. If we can achieve that, then why can’t the railway aspire to a similar objective?” Once doesn’t have to be a Professor of English to spot the caveats in that.

The inherent irony here is that his Government has recently scaled back electrification of routes like the Midland Mail Line (MML) and has ordered many more diesel-electric bi-mode trains like the Hitachi Class 802s for GWR. Bi-modes are the worst of all worlds as they’re hardly energy efficient, OK, they may run on electric power for most of the trip, but then they’re carting around a lot of dead-weight in diesel engines and fuel.

This also begs questions about the 55 new CAF built Civity DMUs which are on order for Northern. Can these be converted to EMUs and (even if they can be) what does this do for the economics of the Northern franchise? Elsewhere, Porterbrook leasing are converting all-electric Class 319 trains to bi-mode by fitting them with diesel engines. The rolling stock leasing companies must be scratching their heads right now. They’ve got 1000s of older EMU vehicles coming off-lease in the next few years but without an extension of electrification, there’s nowhere to run them! Instead, we’re going to the halfway-house of bi-mode.

DG288445. 800023. Reading. 16.1.18

GWR are currently taking delivery of these Hitachi Class 800 bi-modes to replace their HST fleet. Does the Government seriously expect the MTU diesel engines to be redundant in 22 yrs time, and if so – how?

Whilst the announcement (or should that be ‘thinking aloud’) will be welcome news for companies like Alstom who have developed a Hydrogen powered train, it leaves more questions than it answers.

There’s one very noticeable omission in the ‘plan’: Freight.

The majority of the UKs railfreight is moved by powerful ‘go anywhere’ diesel locomotives. How will they be replaced by 2040 without electrifying the main freight routes? As many depots and sidings aren’t electrified train builders have fitted ‘last mile’ diesel powerpacks to electric locos. Realistically, can these be replaced by hydrogen or battery power by 2040? And what about the miles of freight lines where diesel operation’s the only viable option? Freight operators exist on very small margins as it is. How would this proposal affect the economics of their operations?

DG246897. Siemens Vectron production line. Munich. Germany. 27.6.16

Siemens Vectron locomotives under construction in Vienna in 2016. These modular locos are can be built as diesel or electric. The version in VR livery is an electric fitted with a ‘last mile’ diesel power-pack.

The current workhorse of UK freight operators is the Class 66. Without widespread electrification, what else could deliver the power at rail needed to move heavy freight trains hundreds of miles at up to 75mph? A Canadian plan for a hydrogen powered locomotive shows that it would be two units, with the second carrying the hydrogen. Doubling the size of the locomotive increases maintenance costs and potentially leads to shorter trains due to the capacity of sidings and loops (also increasing costs).

DG279645. 66206. Golant. 21.8.17

A DB Cargo Class 66 hauls empty china clay wagons away form the harbour at Fowey, Cornwall.

So, I remain sceptical about the ‘plan’ as I don’t see a firm policy or long-term strategy from DfT or Ministers that will allow this to happen, which is a shame as Johnson’s aim is laudable. Recently, I blogged about the change to air quality at Paddington station which was evident now the HSTs and DMU’s were being replaced by electric traction. Sadly, with diesel bi-modes and back-tracking on electrification we seem to be going in the wrong direction.

 

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