Monthly Archives: March 2019

Down memory lane: Stratford (East London) lunchtimes in 1997

14 Thursday Mar 2019

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I’m currently continuing the marathon of scanning all my old rail and travel slides, which has led me up to memories of March 1997, 22 years ago…

Back then I was still living and working in London. Lynn and I had moved from Bromley-by-Bow in the East to a new home in Crouch End in North London but I still commuted daily to Bow as I remained working in social housing in those days. Rather than use public transport I’d cycle as it was quicker, cheaper and healthier. Having my bike at work meant that it was easy for me to pop down the road from Bow to Stratford at lunchtimes and get some pictures at the station. I was keen to do this as we were leaving the country for 18 months later that year and I knew so much would have changed when we got back (as it had when I left the UK between 1991 – 1992). Here’s a few pictures from those lunchtime sessions. One of the great beauties of Stratford (apart from the fact it was always busy) was that you never quite knew what would turn up!

06413. 86220. 13.30. Liverpool St - Norwich. Stratford. 12.3.97crop

Here’s class 86 no 86220 passing through Stratford with the 13.30 Liverpool St – Norwich on the 12th March 1997. 15 of these former West Coast workhorses had been transferred to the Anglia region when the line to Norwich was electrified in 1986. 86220 remained in service until 2002 when it was withdrawn due to a transformer failure. The rest remained in use hauling passenger trains on Anglia until 2005.

06407. 37046. Stratford. 12.3.97crop

On the same day EW&S operated ‘split box’ 37046 hauled a short civil engineers train through the station, heading for the North London line. These locomotives has a long association with the area, with many based at the old Stratford shed.  They still pop up today, 60 years after they first entered service. This particular loco was transferred to Europe for a few years to work on contracts building high speed lines in France. It returned to the UK in 2007 and was scrapped by CF Booth Rotherham in 2009.

06425. 365534. 315803. Stratford. 17.3.97

I popped back to Stratford on the 17th March when I snapped this unlikely combination. 315803 leads 365534 through the station en-route to the depot at Ilford. The BR built 315s were used on the Liverpool St – Shenfield services and are only just being replaced by the new Bombardier built Class 345s now. The 100mph Class 365s were the last BR built EMUs, having been constructed in 1994-95. The first 16 of the 41 strong fleet were used on the Southern region whilst the remaining 25 were used on services out of Kings Cross to Peterborough, Cambridge and Kings Lynn.

06427. 90138. Stratford. 17.3.97crop

EW&S operated 90138 heads for the North London line with a train of cars and vans from the docks at Dagenham or Tilbury. Stratford was and still is an important freight route, funnelling traffic from the Eastern ports through to the North and West. 90138 was eventually given its old number of 90038 back. It’s been stored unserviceable at Crewe since July 2005 and faces an uncertain future. To the right of the picture is my trusty bike, which I still use today!

06430. 47702. Stratford. 21.3.97crop

I was back to Stratford on the 21st March. Engineers trains often produced oddities such as this. 47702 has fallen on hard times. This former passenger locomotive was built in 1966, originally for BR’s London Midland region before being transferred to the Western region. In 1979 it was converted to ‘push-pull’ operation and worked high-speed (well, for then) services between Edinburgh and Glasgow. In 1990 it moved back down to the Western, working Thames valley services before they went over to DMU operation in 1992. It then ended up working Network SouthEast trains out of Waterloo before being transferred to Stratford in 1993. After being downgraded to a freight pool it was part of the fleet purchased by EW&S. In the picture it still carries the cast depot plate depicting the Stratford shed symbol of the ‘cockney sparrow’ although it was allocated to Toton by now! Whilst in Scotland it was named “St Cuthbert” but in this picture it carries the “County of Suffolk” nameplates previously worn by 47584. After a long and varied career the loco was stored at Toton in 2000 and used a source of spare before finally being cut up in January 2005.

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The farce in Parliament rolls on.

13 Wednesday Mar 2019

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Following yesterday’s political theatre in Parliament, today brings part 2 of the farce. MPs are to be given a ‘free’ vote on the no-deal scenario. There’s just one tiny problem, it’s all utterly pointless. The BBC has reported that the wording of the motion will be this.

BBC

“Declines to approve” is meaningless, as by simple operation of law, we crash out of the European Union on March 29th. MPs have already approved this by triggering article 50. Unless that’s revoked it’s automatic. Barrister David Allan Green (another long time legal observer of this shambles) explains.

David Allan Green

&

dag2

So, what now? How do we stop the Brexit clock ticking? No-one seems to have the answer to that other than by somehow hoping to move the hands on the clock back a few hours. Meanwhile, we have May still playing games by offering meaningless votes and ‘Magic Grandad’ Jeremy Corbyn pissing off more Labour MPs and supporters by blank refusing to carry out his own party policy and banging on pointlessly about a general election he’s unlikely to win. And all the time, the clock’s ticking…

The physical storm that’s battering the UK today is nothing to the economic one that our politicians, in their stupidity and weakness, have triggered, and unless something serious happens in the next two weeks, that storm will arrive at 11:00 on the 29th March 2019.

UPDATE.

Events move on and unfold. This tweet from investigative journalist Carole Cadwalladr outlines the machinations going on behind the scenes from some of the spivs who funded the Leave campaign and who stand to benefit.

carole

This was always the danger. The UK can ask for an extension of article 50, but it needs all the EU 27 to agree. Meanwhile, the EU is also making its position clear.

ver

Now, can any Brexit supporter explain how any of this sounds like us taking back ‘control’? I’d love to know…

UPDATE TO THE UPDATE.

It’s now Wednesday evening and Parliament’s been voting. The farce turned into a circus as motioned were agreed, then withdrawn and amendments rose and fell. The upshot was explained by Robert Peston.

peston

Or, as David Allan Green put it,

DAG3

And there’s the issue. We now have Schrödinger’s ‘no deal’, where it’s been taken off the table whilst remaining on it.

Parliament has decided to reject ‘No Deal’ in a non binding vote. They’ve expressed their ‘will’ but no-one’s defused the Brexit bomb and the clock’s still ticking, with the thing due to explode on March 29th…

 

 

Our self humiliation continues

12 Tuesday Mar 2019

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Today, Teresa May will (in front of the whole world, which is both agog and quietly laughing to itself), stick lipstick on her pig of a EU withdrawal agreement and try and sell it to Parliament, despite them having resoundingly rejected it only a few weeks earlier.

The lipstick is her claim that she’s secured ‘legally binding’ changes to it regarding the backstop. Anyone with half a brain can see this is nonsense, but such is the level of delusion in our politicians – and sections of the media, some will swallow it. Those in the  legal profession, such as the blogger David Allan Green haven’t. As he’s pointed out.

david

david2

Will MPs fall for it? Who knows? It’s a farce that the whole of the UK and the rest of the EU is caught up in because our politicians have neither the guts nor brains to put a stop to it and say ‘this is madness’.

UPDATE.

The Attorney General has published his legal advice to the Government, which piles on Teresa May’s agony.

ag

There is no ‘legally binding’ new agreement, that bollocks has been exposed. So, what now for May’s deal?

UPDATE, 19:26.

So, there we go. May’s ‘deal’ is dead. It was rejected in a vote by 391 to 242, that’s a majority of 149. There was a dull inevitability about this, the only question was how many votes would go against her. Now the farce continues tomorrow, with Parliament voting on a motion that could see ‘no deal’ finally taken off the table. It was always an empty threat that frightened no-one in the EU as they were always far more prepared for the consequences than we were as their politicians weren’t living in cloud-cuckoo land over what the consequences of such a step would be. Many of ours never were – and still aren’t.

What next? Despite the complete absence of a backbone in many MPs nowadays I really can’t see them voting for us to leave without a deal. They may be weak, they may be deluded, but the instinct for self-preservation and the knowledge that history would excoriate them must be felt in their bones.

It now looks like the can will continue to be kicked down the road, with the UK having to ask the EU for an extension of article 50. All the Brexiters claims of us ‘holding all the cards’ and having ‘taken back control’ are exposed for what they were. Lies. It’s up to the EU to decide if they will give us that extension. In theory, they could refuse. They could say, ‘Nah, we’re so sick of your childish political games and arrogance that it’s time you faced the consequences of your actions, so screw you’. They won’t of course, but as the ball’s in their court they can set the time limit on the extension. But, what if they did refuse to extend the time limit, and the UK’s MPs have voted that we can’t leave with no deal. What then?

“Take back control” eh?

Of course, there’s one huge problem with this scenario. That clock’s still ticking, as Jolyon Maugham QC has pointed out via Twitter.

maugn

For those of you who don’t know Jolyon, he’s a QC who’s been at the centre of some very interesting court cases around Brexit. We are not out of the Brexit woods yet. There is one delicious irony in all this. It could be the Brexit extremists in the ERG who (by rejecting May’s deal) might have just killed off any chance of Brexit.

 

Rolling blog: Sun, snow and Sheffield

11 Monday Mar 2019

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08:00

This was the view from our bedroom window this morning as the snow had returned late last night and this time it had crept down further from the valley tops.

DG319764crop

Thankfully, the roads below us remain clear so we shouldn’t have any problem driving over to Huddersfield to meet up with other members of the ACORP team before catching the train to Sheffield. Watch this space…

09:12

Away we go! After a quick visit to ACORP towers we’re now bouncing our way to Sheffield via the scenic Penistone line aboard a Pacer.

09:47.

It’s a beautifully sunny day here on the Penistone line as we bounce and rock towards Sheffield, where the weather’s not looking as inviting. We’ve been in and out of the snowline several times already. Initially the train was quite empty but we’ve picked up passengers at every stop, especially at Penistone and Barnsley, the main population centres along the line. Now this 3 car train’s earning its keep.

11:15

Despite my earlier concerns about the weather the sun’s beating down on Sheffield, making it ideal for a spot of photography before the conference starts after lunch. Here’s one the the unique tram-trains. Hopefully this trial will be a success and we’ll see vehicles like this become a common sight. Ironically, I came to Sheffield for an Acorp conference on tram-trains way back in 2009. After years of plans changing and procrastination, the trams finally started running in 2018!

15:03.

The conference is in full swing right now. The event was opened by the Mayor of Sheffield, Dan Byles MP, who welcomed everyone to the city and spoke about the importance of community rail.

DG319850CROP

Winter returns – with a vengeance!

10 Sunday Mar 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

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The pair of us had a slow start to the day after a very convivial night with friends in Mytholmroyd last night. We’d popped round for a meal, a chat and a few drinks, but it was such a laughter-filled evening that it flew by. Next thing we knew 18:00 had turned onto 01:30! By the time we got home it was after 02:00 when we crawled into bed, so a lie-in this morning didn’t seem unreasonable. When we woke up it was to the sound of gales and sleet battering the cottage and that’s not changed all day. Winter’s returned with a vengeance! At one point it looked like we were in for some serious snow. Massive flakes the size of saucers were falling and we ended up with a fair dusting of snow atop the valley above Sowerby, but then the rain came in – as well as the sleet, and it soon vanished. To say that the weather’s remained ‘changeable’ would be an understatement. Discretion being the better part of valour we decided to can any idea of walking in the biting wind so restricted ourselves to nipping out to buy some DIY essentials, stock up on more condiments from our local Indian supermarket and nip into the Big 6 for a ‘swifty’. Well, for me anyway – Dawn’s been back on the wagon this week as part of her training for the Huddersfield half-marathon!

We’re now back at home, ploughing on with different things. I’m continuing to scan old slides whilst Dawn’s being industrious in the kitchen, making a vegetarian cottage pie but using Butternut Squash for the topping rather than potato.

Tomorrow the pair of us are off to Sheffield for a couple of days at an ACoRP conference, so expect different blogs about that. In the meantime, I hope you’re all staying warm and dry away from this turbulent weather.

Today’s mixed bag…

09 Saturday Mar 2019

Posted by in Down memory lane, London, Railways

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Today’s been exactly that. So far I’ve spent it at home, sitting in my office and avoiding the gales and rain that battered the house this morning. Instead of braving the elements I’ve been catching up on some paperwork, then scanning more old slides. The latest batch are all from my days living in London in the latter years of the 1990s. I’ve now moved on from 1996 to 1997. I was keen to document as much of the changing UK rail scene as I could as Lynn and I were only a few months away from packing in our jobs and leaving the UK for 18 months to travel around the world. I was still working in Tower Hamlets as a Housing officer, hence many of these pictures being taken at Stratford, just down the road from where I worked. Here’s a couple of samples.

06305. 56066. Bow-Heck Plasmor. Bow Midland goods yard. 26.2.97crop

On the 26th February 1997 EW&S Class 56 (56066 for the number crunchers) sits in the old Bow Midland goods yard with empty Plasmor concrete block wagons, ready to return them to Heck on the East Coast Mainline. This service is about the only thing left in the picture that hasn’t changed. It still runs today! The background and surrounds to the picture have changed completely. The shot was taken from the Docklands Light Railway station at Pudding Mill Lane. This has been swept away by the tunnel portal for Crossrail and a new station opened on a new alignment further South. The housing estate you see in the background is the Lefevre, run by Tower Hamlets Housing Action Trust (or HATs as they were known). This is where I worked. My job was to manage this estate, which was being demolished in phases and the tenants rehoused in new, modern, low rise properties.

06321. 86246. 11.25 Liverpool St-Harwich. Stratford. 26.2.97crop

Another place that’s unrecognisable today. This is Stratford in East London. Class 86247 pushes the 11.25 from Liverpool St to Harwich through the station on the same date in 1997 as the last shot. The whole area’s been transformed through investment. The station’s been rebuilt and expanded. The area to the left is now the massive Westfield shopping centre. And, if you’d have told us this station would one day be the key gateway to an Olympic games, we’d have looked at you like you were mad!

OK, that’s enough memories. Now the pair of us are off out for a meal with friends in Mytholmroyd, Sue and Geoff Mitchell, who are stalwarts of the local station friends group. See you later!

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StopHs2: Shutting the stable door in Haddenham…

08 Friday Mar 2019

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Politics, The Green Party

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Yesterday there was a local Council election in Haddenham and Stone, a ward on Aylesbury Vale council in Buckinghamshire. The seat had been held by a long-serving Conservative Cllr who had passed away at the age of 82. In yesterday’s election the seat was won by the Green Party’s David Lyons, a well known local Green party member who’d stood before, coming second in 2015. Here’s the result, thanks to the excellent Britain Elects website and Twitter feed

greens

So, with no UKIP or Independent candidates standing and the long-standing Cllr deceased, The Greens won the seat with an impressive 36.5% swing. Picking the bones out of this one would be interesting as it suggests a lot of voters have swapped allegiances for a whole host of reasons. Does anyone seriously believe UKIP voters decided to go Green en-masse?

Here’s a background on the constituency and the players from Britain Elects. It adds some valuable context.

Of course, Hs2 passes through the area and antis are falling over themselves to claim this is a backlash against the project. No doubt some of that is true – especially as preliminary construction work has started. This is no longer a project that was on the drawing-board. Now there’s visible evidence on the ground, which tends to concentrate a few more minds. However, it’s clear that Hs2 isn’t the only issue in the area, as some local Tweeters have pointed out. Housing is also a big issue with 500 new homes due to be built in the area.

halber

As is often the case in Council elections the party that won had put in a lot of effort on the ground and built up a following behind a local man. Add this the demise of a long-standing incumbent and some local issues like Housing and Hs2 and you can see why the Greens have managed to go from 2nd to 1st place. Was Brexit a factor as some people are claiming? Probably, but again, these are local elections which tend to reflect local issues, so you can’t read too much of the national picture into them and get a true image.

So, what does this mean for Hs2? Absolutely nothing.

For a start, these decisions are way above a local Councillors pay grade. Parliament, MPs and the Lords decide on these things, not Councils. This is the political equivalent of a flea trying to bite a rhinoceros. It’s also worth noting that the Council David’s been elected to will be abolished in 2022, so his shelf life isn’t long.

If those opposed to Hs2 had real political muscle they would have shown it long before this. 2010 would have been good, or in any of the local or national elections since. It never happened. Even if Hs2 was the primary consideration (locals suggest it isn’t), this is very much a case of someone shutting the stable door long after the horse has bolted!

Update

I’ve done a bit of digging and found the actual numbers of votes cast, and the results from the May 2015 elections which is the last time the seat came up. You can draw your own conclusions…

haddenham

haddenham 2

Meanwhile, the Independent’s Europe Correspondent, Jon Stone (@joncstone on Twitter) has added this, detailing why some of the Nimbys in the area just might be upset with Hs2!

jon stone

Could we be faced with a delicious irony here? A Green party win because of a few disgruntled golfers? After all, golf courses aren’t exactly on top of the Green Party’s list of favourite things!

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Rolling blog: London beckons…

07 Thursday Mar 2019

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07:50

I’m heading back to London today as I’m picking up a load of old slides that were with a picture library. They were digitised years ago and now the library is moving premises so wants to give them back. Rather than entrust them to the post I’ve arranged to collect them and do some work whilst I’m down there.

Unfortunately, the weather here in the Calder valley’s dismal, I just hope the forecast for the South-East’s accurate. I’ll keep you updated on my travels and any travails.

09:07.

Having just missed a train I was left kicking my heels at Sowerby Bridge station for 25 minutes in the cold, rain and sleet! Sadly, there’s no warm waiting room to seek refuge in. The station’s facilities were severely pruned in BR days, especially on the Leeds bound platform which I was on. There have been improvements. At least now there are ticket machines on both platforms and simple platform shelters, but they’re not much use in a Pennine winter other than to keep the rain or snow off you.

At least my train was on time, a refurbished three car Class 158 rolled in at 09:04 and now I’m seated in the warmth, heading to Leeds.

09:25

Me and my big mouth! We left Halifax packed to the gunwhales but on time. Then it all went a bit Pete Tong. We’re currently crawling from signal to signal for reasons unknown as neither driver nor conductor have made an announcement. Still, this has given me plenty of time to observe all the shiny scarlet painted Pandrol clips which attach the rails to the sleepers. Their colour betrays the fact a lot of the rails on the route have been renewed recently.

09:47

We’re now on our way from Bradford Interchange 12 minutes late. The crew have remained mute. There’s not been a single announcement explaining why, far less an apology for the delay. It’s a classic example of poor customer service. It’s not as if the PA isn’t working as the Conductor’s just announced the next station stop!

10:13

To add insult to injury, when we approached Leeds the Conductor treated us to the usual long-winded announcement about tickets, security and luggage yet she completely neglected to mention the we were late, never mind even offer an apology! This is simple, basic customer service and it’s where the railway is so inconsistent.

In complete contrast, I’m now on LNER’s 09:15 to Kings Cross. Before we left the Train Manager announced this Mk4 set was short formed (it’s had coach C knocked out for unscheduled maintenance) and offered repeated apologies to passengers with reservations, telling them which coaches had spare seats.

Talking of maintenance, due to the current shortage of Class 91s, I have this on my train! 90036 ‘Driver Jack Mills’

14:45

I’ve been too busy to blog these past few hours as I’ve been constantly on the move. I changed trains at Stevenage in order to catch a Siemens ‘people-lover’s in the shape of a 12 car Class 700 to Finsbury Park, then backtracked to my old stamping ground of Harringay on a decript Great Northern Class 313.

Walking down to Green Lanes evoked lots of memories. Far too many to share here. It’s still as vibrant an area as ever with some fantastic Turkish cafe’s and brilliant greengrocers. My destination was the station which bisects the lane high up on an embankment. The ‘Goblin’ as the Gospel Oak to Barking line is known was electrified last year. The electrification was completed late. Even so, the new Bombardier built Class 710 electric trains that were being built for it were even later and still haven’t entered service. The problem is, the old diesels were due elsewhere. Some have already left and the last three will depart on March 18th. As a stopgap, London Overground have converted three Class 378s from five cars to four and are using them instead. Here’s one at Green Lanes earlier.

It’s really rather odd seeing these units on the Goblin as they make you feel you’re on the wrong route and are really on the North London Line!

15:31

I’m now hopping across London from Finsbury Park to Brixton via the new Thameslink tunnel, Blackfriars and Herne Hill.

18:11

I’m heading Northwards again now after a busy day. It was lovely being back in Brixton again. Living in the Pennines is lovely because of the scenery, but I do miss the hustle and bustle of London and the sheer diversity of the place. After picking up two big bags of slides I had time for a mooch around the Brixton arcade which was very quiet as it was the end of the day. It’s gone upmarket. Now there’s lots of great looking little bars and cafes as we as all the butchers and fishmongers.

On my way back across town I cracked open the slide packets to see what there was and some wonderful memories came flooding back. The pictures date from 1990 to 2003. They’re a mix of social issues and travel photography from across the UK, along with some rail images. I’ve found memories of old friends and places, my days working as a Housing Officer in East London and a whole host of demonstrations and protests. There the Iraq war, ‘Fair’ fuel protest, anti Afgahan war and more. There’s even my nephews and neices! One day, I’ll find time to get the most valuable ones scanned…

20:49.

Well, my journey back all went a bit Pete Tong too due to late trains and dodgy connections. The East Coast Main Line has had another difficult day due to obstructions on the line and train failures. I won’t go in to much detail as I’d be typing a few thousand words. I did end up ‘doing a Jeremy Corbyn’ on my train out of London but in the peak that’s to be expected!

I’m now on a Cross-country service from York to Leeds! The bright side was that I managed to get a shot of an LNER liveried ‘Azuma’ under York station roof.

DG319757crop

21:47

It’s definitely been ‘one of those days’! My 125mph capable Voyager got stuck behind a late local service and staggered to Leeds where it arrived 10 mins late, so that was another connection missed. I’m now on the 21:39 Leeds-Manchester Victoria instead.

23:55

It’s time to bring this rolling blog to an end. It’s been a chilly walk home but, judging by the amount of salt scattered on the roads around Halifax, worse is to come. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. Goodnight folks!

Stop Hs2? Some people never learn!

06 Wednesday Mar 2019

Posted by in Hs2, Railways, StopHs2

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In the long list of failure of the anti Hs2 campaign, doomed petitions come close to the top. Time and time again they’ve started ones on the Governments petitions website, only too see it fall far short of the total needed. They’re a complete waste of time anyway as – in the unlikely event they reached the magic 100,001- all they’d do is secure a debate on Hs2 in the House of Commons. Note I said a debate, there’s no vote. Quite what antis hope to achieve is a mystery, but a new one’s been launched. Well, when I say a ‘new’ one, it’s actually been running for several months! To say it’s been under everyone’s radar is an understatement, but all of a sudden a few antis have decided it’s worth pushing via Twitter! Here’s a link to it. Poor John Duggan is one of the people desperately trying to puff it.

duggan

“Really rolling”? To date, it has a grand total of 1,604 signatures after 129 days.

petition

Problem is, to be anywhere near in with a chance it needed to average 555 signatures a day! It closes on the 24th April, in 50 days time. Sooo, that’s needing an average of 1968 signatures a day. Far, far more than it’s had in the last 130 days and every day it falls sort of that, the average goes up. You don’t have to be a rocket scientist to see the problem here. I can’t even be bothered to crunch any other numbers on this as it’s so hopeless. I’ll wait until it reaches the end next month.

Why Hs2 antis persist with these polls is a mystery. The only thing I can think of is that some of them have fallen for their own spin and bluster and genuinely believe there’s mass opposition to Hs2. They’ve never twigged that when people answer (often loaded) questions in opinion polls it’s pretty meaningless. It doesn’t mean they’ll actually act on anything, and it certainly won’t mean they’ll change their voting intentions for an issue that never comes anywhere near the rankings of things people consider important in elections.

Still, it keeps them happy, and gives me more ammunition to show what a hopeless campaign the anti Hs2 effort is!

 

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Southern railway nostalgia

05 Tuesday Mar 2019

Posted by in History, Nostalgia, Railways

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I’ve spent the day working from home despite the weather picking up today. Problem was, I’d too many other things to do other than head out with the camera – plus I’d arranged to be at home whilst a parcel arrived for Dawn.

Thus the day was spent editing pictures, uploading more to a client’s website as well as finishing scanning the last of the latest batch of slides to see the light of day after decades in storage. One was a picture of this little oddity, taken at Brockenhurst in 1996.

06202. Swing bridge across the tracks. Brockenhurst. xx.9.96.crop

This is a swing bridge which gave level access from one of the two island platforms to the road as the only other way was over the footbridge. It was installed when the island platforms were built in 1888. The bridge allowed parcels trollies, newspaper and mail to move to/from the station in the days when railways were general carriers. It also allowed passengers in wheelchairs to exit the station. It was refurbished after this picture was taken, when lighter handrails were fitted. Nowadays it’s totally redundant as the station footbridge has been renewed and the new one includes lifts. It was an unusual feature in its day and I can think of few stations that would have had one, the only other one I’ve heard of was Eastleigh, also on the old Southern Railway network.