Monthly Archives: December 2019

Rolling blog: Heading South for Xmas…

20 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, London, New trains, Northern Rail, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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09:10.

I’ve begun my migration South as Dawn and I, plus her parents, are going to be staying in Surrey over Christmas in order to be near her brother and his young family. But first I have a few things to do in London, including catching up with old friends.

Right now I’m en-route to Manchester aboard the 09:06 from Sowerby Bridge to Wigan Wallgate. Once upon a time you could have expected this service to have been worked by a Pacer. Today it’s been allocated a refurbished 2-car Class 158, number 901 – one of the batch bought by the West Yorkshire PTE back in the 1990s. There’s an odd mix internally as it’s fitted with the new seats that are in the Class 195s but it retains the old (battered) tables and there’s no USB sockets or wifi.

As we traverse the Pennines I’m noticing that a lot more of the 2-car Class 195s are in passenger service now. Before the timetable change they were quite rare. It’s a positive change for passengers and I’m looking forward to seeing the full fleet in service next year.

09:30.

We’ve now crossed over the border ino Lancashire where the weather’s just as dull, wet and miserable as it was in the Calder Valley – but at least it’s mild!

09:42.

This train’s an ‘all shacks’ stopper which is full and standing now it’s left Rochdale. There’s a mix of Christmas shoppers heading into the city and others like me who’re heading South for the holiday.

11:44.

My train was late into Victoria as we played the usual game of sitting outside waiting for a through platform to become free. Oh, for the days before British Rail flogged off half the station to build an arena and demolished so many platforms!

I’m now taking my first trip on Avanti West Coast. There’s not a huge amount of difference at this stage in the game. The Pendolino’s look almost exactly the same internally apart from a few notices. The staff are their usual friendly and efficient selves, they just make slightly different announcements. The wifi screen’s changed, but beyond that…

I’m currently speeding through Warwickshire at a rate of knots past a very damp and flooded landscape. Everywhere I look I can see fields under water, whilst rivulets of rain cascade down the window, holding their own little races as they go. Inside the train it’s warm and cosy, leaving me feeling sorry for the sodden sheep I’ve just seen by the lineside. Right now we’re flying through Rugby, a town and station I know well having spent a lot of time here in the past – including a Xmas and Boxing Day trackside many years ago, working on the infamous Rugby blockade which was part of the West Coast upgrade!

12:01.

We’ve just paralleled the M1 motorway, which is easy to see because it resembles a linear raincloud due to all the spray that’s being thrown up by the vehicles on it. I’m glad I’m on a train instead!

12:16.

The rain’s finally abated as we speed past flooded fields around Ledburn and the location of the great train robbery, an event sanitised in popular culture but never forgotten by those members of the railway family because of what happened to the train’s driver, Jack Mills, which was always glossed over in the myths around the event and subsequent films.

12:30.

We’ve just passed Wembley yard, where the presence of a Grand Central class 180 has completely thrown me!

Rolling blog: carols, trains and travel…

19 Thursday Dec 2019

Posted by in London, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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07:00.

I’m about to make my way to the station in order to head to London to join today’s Rail staff Carol service.

Hopefully the railways are behaving themselves today. So far things seem to be OK at Halifax but let’s see what happens in the real world shall we?…

08:06.

Compared to yesterday when temperatures were below freezing today’s remarkably mild and the walk to the station was rather pleasent apart from the drizzle. I’m in no particular rush this morning so i’m heading to London via Leeds. My first train of the day is the 07:57 from Halifax to Bradford Interchange which has come from Huddersfield. It’s worked by a single car Class 153. Despite that, the train has seats to spare, even after calling at Low Moor – which is a pleasant change!

08:29.

I wasn’t in Bradford long as I caught the slightly late running 08:20 service which was following behind my ‘Dogbox’. This was formed of a 3-car Class 195 and also had seats to spare.

By pure chance I chose a seat at a table and found myself sat opposite a chap I knew called James who used to be a barman in one of our favourite pubs (The Moorcock Inn). This was the first time I’d seen him since the last time we bumped into each other by chance – on the Staten Island ferry in New York! Funny old world, isn’t it?

Despite the time of day and the hordes of people joining us at New Pudsey there were still seats free for some of the dozens who joined us at Bramley. At one time we’d have probably have left people behind here, so it looks like the capacity and service increase is working.

09:50.

The fact that my Northern service was late into Leeds meant there was no chance of me making a tight connection so I had half an hour to explore and watch the world go by. A look at the huge information screens on platform 11 showed me that whilst there were cancellations and delays, things had improved significantly compared to earlier in the week.

Services were worked by a mix of old and new vehicles but Pacers were nowhere to be seen, which was a real sign of the times. What were very much more in evidence was Northern’s new Class 195s. With the changes going on I was a little surprised when my LNER service turned up as it was worked by 91129 hauling a rake of Mk4s. I’d been expecting a new Azuma. Still, it’s probably my last chance to ride behind this old workhorse.

I managed to get a table seat in the Quiet coach and set up my laptop to get some work done. We’re South of our Doncaster stop and the coach is busy but not overly so especially as we’re carrying extra passengers because the next train (the 0945 from Leeds) has been cancelled. We’re currently bowling along at 114mph underneath overcast skies, so I’m going to take a break and get some work done….

11:26.

We’re on the approach to Kings Cross and the lineside’s a hive of activity as Betwork Rail and its contractors mobilise, ready for the big Xmas blockade that will kick-start the major expansion and renewal of the stations throat.

12:40.

The carol service has commenced.

18:57.

Normal service has been resumed! The Carol service was a lovely event which brought out people from across the rail industry (high and low) as the pictures I’ll add tomorrow will show. Afterwards, a few of us from across the spectrum adjourned to a nearby hostelry to chat about events in the railways and politics. I’ll name no names, but it was a fascinating discussion. 2020 is set to be a very interesting time. Whilst we were carolling, the Queen’s speech was being delivered in Parliament, which made it clear that the StopHs2 campaign’s dead in the water. Few in the industry were in any doubt before, but now Johnson’s government have made it clear.

Right now I’m en-route to Leeds aboard an LNER ‘Azuma’. It’s been a great trip as I’ve a table, power-point, wifi and coffee! OK, the view out of the window isn’t up to much this time on a December eve – but what the hell…

22:10.

I’m relaxing at home before another foray to London tomorrow, so here’s a taster of the carol concert pictures.

Today’s mixed messages

18 Wednesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Chris Packham, Musings, Railways

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I’ve had another busy day home-based, doing all sorts of different things, but as the weather has been freezing and the valley fog-bound for much of the day I’ve really not minded. That said, I would have liked to have ventured up to Scotland to say goodbye to yet another old BR train fleet that reached the end of the line today. Scotrail retired the last of the 16 Class 314 electric trains that have run around Strathclyde since 1979, giving the old girls quite a decent send-off too by all accounts. This blog looks back at their lives and times.

Instead of a Scottish sojourn I’ve been up to my neck in paperwork whilst waiting for various home deliveries. Dawn ordered something via Amazon which was fine as they emailed me with a 2-hour delivery slot between 8-10am and kept to it. I’d ordered some printer inks which were being delivered via Yodel, whom I’ve heard lots of bad things about. I wasn’t re-assured when I went to track my delivery via the link to the Yodel website this morning. I found that I was delivery number 73! My first thought was “Oh ‘kin hell – 73? In a day? I’ve no chance” Here’s a screen grab from 13:00

My pessimism was entirely misplaced. Their tracking system worked perfectly, as did the countdown allowing me to nip out and not stress about missing the delivery. Finally, just before 17:00 the chap rang the doorbell and I had time to commend him for getting through so many drops in a day. Our chat revealed he’d had a fun time with the weather as most of his drops had been up in the high Pennines and it was only now he was dropping down into the valley, so he’d battled through ice, rain and fog to get to me!

On another front, I have had time to look at some comments on social media friends have linked me in to, including this outstanding piece of hypocrisy from celebrity environmentalist Chris Packham, who tweeted this earlier today.

Hang on, isn’t this is the same man who’s organised a dishonest media campaign against building High Speed 2, the one chance we have to have the rail capacity we need to cope with modal shift from air and road to rail so as to cut transport Co2 emissions in order the tackle climate change? The very same! I’m no ‘celebrity environmentalist’ but I’ve never dreamed of taking an internal flight in the UK! I’ve always travelled by much more environmentally friendly rail – but then (unlike Packham) I’m not jet-setting around the world to lecture folks on how to be green. Packham’s statement begs a question. If this is his ‘last’ internal flight, how many has he taken before now? This seems like a classic example of ‘do as I say, not as I do’ and it shows why so many people are cynical about the ‘green’ movement. Mind you, Packham’s got form. I’ve already exposed his nonsense about Hs2 being the ‘biggest deforestation programme since WW1″ here.

Tomorrow I escape the Calder Valley for some time down South, so expect a rolling blog documenting the day, which might be interesting if the new timetables are providing the same ‘fun and games’ as they have been. Watch this space….

A good day to be at home!

17 Tuesday Dec 2019

Posted by in Musings, Railways, West Yorkshire

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The second day of the new rail timetable’s not going well, so I’m glad I’ve been at home catching up on paperwork and chores. Sadly I missed another batch of Pacers heading for storage as I didn’t check Real Time Trains until too late! The number of Pacers in service is declining rapidly, so if you’re that way inclined – catch ’em whilst you can! Here’s a previous blog looking back over their lives and times.

To be honest, today’s weather’s hardly been conducive to photography either as we’ve had sunshine atop the valley whilst the bottom’s been surrounded by haze. I did venture out to get some shopping at get my daily miles in but I didn’t bother taking the camera as it seemed like a waste of time.

This evening I’ve been watching live train schedules on RTT and feeling sorry for the poor buggers trying to get home from places like Huddersfield, where the Trans-Pennine service appears to have gone into free-fall with many trains cancelled and the ones working in from Leeds or Manchester already rammed by the time they arrive.

Mind you, it’s not just TPE. I saw this on RTT earlier which amused/bemused me. Northern’s new Halifax-Hull service is having its own problems too!

Well, you can’t get much slower than a cancelled train!

I’ve remarked before that TPE always seemed to get off lightly when it came to complaints about rail services. It was always Northern Rail getting it in the neck, but this looks to have changed as I saw this tweet from Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham earlier. Of course, he stuck the boot into Northern first!

How stripping either of their franchise and leaving the services to be run from a desk in the Department of Transport by an ‘operator of last resort’ is going to make things better is anyone’s guess. But at least you can keep the problem at arms length then…

My plans for the rest of the week keep changing as jobs keep changing. I did have a job in Wales pencilled in for Thursday but this has been cancelled. Instead I’m going to be heading back to London for this annual event;

All change (in more ways than one)…

16 Monday Dec 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Northern Rail, Rail Investment, Railways

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Today was the first day of the new winter timetable for the railways and a visit to my local station and a perusal of social media tells me it’s not gone well in a lot of places. Certainly not across Lancashire and Yorkshire where both Northern and Trans-Pennine express seem to have had a difficult day judging by the lists of cancellations, delays and pictures of overcrowded stations posted to Twitter. The industry’s not exactly covering itself in glory right now, despite there being so many good news stories.

The truth is, our rail network is trying to cope with massive increase in trains and passengers without the same growth in infrastructure to take them. Sure, there’s also other (human) problems like train-crew issues and training plus the technical problems of introducing new trains – and let’s not even talk about the mad 27 day strike on South-Western Railway!

However, the real problem is resilience. We’re trying to fit too many trains on a network with very little spare capacity and tight timetabling of both trains and crews which can easily lead to a ripple effect, especially at choke-points like Leeds and Manchester.

Understandably, passengers are getting pissed-off. They’re not interested in the causes, they just want a reliable service that’ll get them to work/home on time every day. It’s hardly too much to ask, but it is the biggest challenge facing the railways right now and I’m not sure the new timetables are going to help. At least the red-herring of rail renationalisation and fears of a complete political and managerial reorganisation of the rail industry has disappeared as a consequence of the election result.

On the plus side, more and more new trains are entering service across the network. LNER retired the last of the venerable diesel High-Speed Trains (HSTs) yesterday and Northern continue to make inroads into the BR built Pacer fleet, which is why I popped down to Sowerby Bridge station this morning. Three more Class 142 Pacers were working under their own power from Newton Heath Depot in Manchester to be stored at the old colliery sidings at Gascoigne Wood near Selby. Here they are on their way.

142057 leads 142048 and 142053 through Sowerby Bridge on their last journey through the Calder Valley after 33 years in service.

On Wednesday Scotrail finally dispense with yet another of the old BR built fleets, this time it’s the Class 314 EMUs which have worked around Strathclyde since 1979. I’ve looked back at their lives and times in this blog. As this graphic from the Rail Delivery Group shows, our trains are getting younger. Now all we’ve got to do is make them run on time…

Winter hills…

15 Sunday Dec 2019

Posted by in Food and drink, Huddersfield, Musings, West Yorkshire

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We’ve had a chilly weekend in West Yorkshire, very much four seasons in one day sort of weather where there’s bright sunshine one minute, then you’re getting pelted with hailstones before being soaked by heavy rain.

Yesterday afternoon we went to see my Father-in-Law perform with the Honley Male voice choir at Huddersfield Town hall. They were supported by the excellent Carlton Frickley Colliery Band and also a local female choir from nearby Rastrick. It was a lovely, joyous event in a stunning setting. Here’s a shot from the end of the event when everyone was in the festive spirit, including the audience who were joining hands and swaying along to the songs!

Afterwards Dawn treated me to a belated birthday present, an excellent meal at Café Thai in West Vale, where we had the tapas menu in their upstairs restaurant. Thai food lends itself to the tapas format extremely well. We ordered three dishes each, which was plenty as the portion sizes are generous. Among the dishes we ordered was this, Pla Goong. Grilled prawns with a salad of red onions, coriander and garlic, along with a typically Thai spicy dressing that was the perfect fiery accompaniment.

We also sampled duck in a red curry sauce, steamed mussels with Thai Basil and a marinated Tofu dish, ‘Pad Char’ – none of which could be faulted.

Today’s been much more a home-based event. This is the view we woke up to from our bedroom window this morning, with the first snow of the season on the high hills and dark skies threatening more…

Election result. What does it mean for HS2?

14 Saturday Dec 2019

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, StopHs2

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With the last result declared, Johnson’s Government now has a clear majority of 80. He no longer needs the backing of parties like the DUP and it waters down the influence of special interest groups or rebels.

As I predicted, the StopHs2 campaign had a lousy election. Long on bluster, they’ve always been short of any serious political influence and this is obvious in the results. They were never a genuine threat to any MPs on the route. A good example is on the phase 2b route at Erewash where Maggie Throup, the local Tory MP has always made her support for HS2 plain. Despite the fact their was a vociferous anti Hs2 candidate standing against her for the Green Party (Brent Poland) and there’s a local Stophs2 ‘action’ group she increased her majority by 4.4%!

Meanwhile, over in Bolsover, the prominent anti-HS2 MP and Labour veteran, Dennis Skinner lost his seat! What’s been crystal clear is that the big issue has been Brexit, not Hs2.

Here’s a bit of number crunching. Of the 41 MPs who voted against Hs2 Phase 1 back In 2014, just 20 of them are still MPs. Plus, 7 of those 20 actually voted FOR Hs2 phase 2a! Whilst a few new MPs have stated their opposition it doesn’t affect the numbers. For example. Labour’s John Barron in Rother Valley who was opposed to HS2 has been replaced by a Tory MP with the same stance. Some of the new Tory MPs in the Chilterns are making noises about HS2, but it’s nothing more than posturing to keep some of the locals happy. Phase 1 is a done deal, there are no more votes in Parliament to be had.

Where does this leave HS2? Johnson’s Conservatives made big inroads into the Labour heartland of the North and Midlands. He now has to deliver on his promises to the people who’ve lent him their votes. He’s promised to ‘level the field’ between North and South and invest in infrastructure. Cancelling HS2 would send entirely the wrong message to people who have bought into his promises. He can’t ‘get Brexit done’ and he needs their votes again in five years time. With Hs2 (and NPR) he can at least offer them something tangible.

During the election campaign Johnson made it clear that he’d go along with the recommendations of the Oakervee review of HS2. As the leaked report shows Oakervee recommends building HS2 in its entirety. Does anyone seriously expect Johnson to cancel it? There might be some tweaks to the Phase 2b route, but it’s worth remembering that another scheme Johnson backs (Northern Powerhouse Rail) will share 50% of Hs2 Phase 2’s tracks. You won’t get one without the other.

Of course, Johnson’s government could cut the cost of HS2 by renegotiating some of the construction contracts which have loaded on costs due to the transfer of risk from Hs2 to the contractors, which would make a lot of sense and save billions, making him popular all round and pull the rug from under the remaining HS2 objectors.

My prediction is that we’ll see Hs2 phase 1 get the go-ahead very quickly to end the uncertainty and Phase 2a resume its course through the Lords. What’s left of the StopHs2 campaign has no serious political influence and Johnson has a lot on his plate. The last thing he needs now is to fight a needless battle with Northern and Midlands leaders by scrapping any of HS2.

Watch this space…

Went the day well? Election thoughts…

13 Friday Dec 2019

Posted by in General election 2019, Musings, Politics

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Well that’s settled then. Presented with a choice between a slow, lingering death and a lingering, slow death, the country chose. Instead of ‘Magic Grandad’ Jeremy Corbyn the country opted for the blond buffoon and serial liar Boris Johnson – and gave him a working majority. The tactical voting many of us hoped for failed to change anything. The only ‘Portillo moment’ was when Lib-Dem leader Jo Swinson lost her seat in Scotland by 149 votes. The SNP now hold 48 of the 59 Scottish seats.

Now we know where we stand and Johnson is expected to deliver on his promises, which is where where the trouble starts. Get Brexit ‘done’? How? This is going to drag on for years. The only thing that’s getting done is the poor saps who fell for it.

Meanwhile, the hard-left in charge in Labour are already forming their wagons into a circle and defending Corbyn in their usual fashion. It’s everybody’s fault but theirs. They’ve been ‘betrayed’ by the voters – again. Don’t expect any humility or introspection here, it’s not what they do. Labour are looking increasingly irrelevent in a post-industrial UK. Like the Tories, they hark back to the past rather than have an eye on the future. Can they change with the hard-left in control, or will they wither on the vine?

What now for the Lib-Dems and the centerist voters made homeless by the Tories and Labour moving to the political extremes?

At least the stock markets have bounced back (the FTSE is currently up 1.84%) and sterling has strengthened, it’s up 1.9% against the US Dollar, so some of us have made some money for now. The poor? You’re on your own now. Many of you fell for the idea that a bunch of entitled old Etonians, ‘Spivs’ with Belizean Diplomatic passports and multi-billionaire media moguls had your best interests at heart, Good luck with that…

As we now know where we stand for the next few years, many people will be making plans, including international companies with operations in the UK but markets abroad. EU citizens will be too.

I wonder how long the euphoria in Tory ranks will last before the magnitude of the situation begins to sink in? Will Johnson dial down the rhetoric now he’s not held hostage by the likes of the ERG, or will he hold fast to the anti EU sentiments and keep up the lies and claims he can do the impossible and get Brexit ‘done’? We’re about to find out. He has a lie to make reality and it’s only going to end one way.

One other observation. Our electoral system is broken. First Past The Post has led us to this. Look at the numbers of people voting for particular parties, then look at the number of MPs they have. Until that changes democracy in the UK’s a joke.

This election has settled everything, and nothing. But it has got rid of a lot of uncertainty and set parameters for the next few years, and many people will be planning accordingly. Expect the United Kingdom to look a very different country (or countries) in a few years time…

Rolling blog: the election unfolds…

12 Thursday Dec 2019

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22:50.

I’ll keep this up for a while but hardly all the way through the night. An exit poll, carried out by Ipsos MORI for the BBC, ITV News and Sky News, suggests the Tories may win 368 seats and Labour 191. If this translates into reality, it will be a disaster for Labour and allow the Tories free reign, which means we’re stuffed.

Will this prediction come true? Right now there’s no way to know, but exit polls have proved to be accurate in the past. If they are, it’s a disaster for the Labour party and those of us who want to see the UK stay in the EU. Typically, the hard left in charge of the Labour party are already crawling all over social media, blaming everyone else and accepting no responsibility whatsoever. It’s others fault for not being as ideologically pure as them.

Let’s see how things pan out as the first results start coming in, which won’t be for a few hours yet, but here’s a good example of how Twitter (and many of us) feel.

23:20.

The first result has come in and it’s from Newcastle (central). Labour have held it with a reduced majority. Sunderland South declared a few minutes later. It’s also a Labour hold. Here’s the change in votes.

It gets worse. Labour have lost Blyth Valley with a 10% swing. It’s the first time a Tory has ever won there.

00:01

It’s looking pretty crap for Labour. But none of them are taking responsibility. It’s the voters fault, not theirs.

We now move to Newcastle East, where Labour hold the seat with a reduced majority.

00:05.

Sunderland Central. Labour Hold, but the Brexit party and Lib-Dem votes are interesting.

00:20.

Despite the exit poll, it’s far too early to tell what’s going on as the only results we have are from the North-East.

00:29.

The first result from the South. Swindon North:

Conservatives hold it, and add to their majority.

00:42.

Hmm, I’m watching the Channel 4 news election news and it’s fascinating to see who’s part of this. Former Speaker of the House John Bercow’s really good. He has the insight you really need as he understands the political tribes and I love his precision in the English language.

01:06.

Nuneaton; Conservative hold with a much bigger majority.

01:24.

The Tories take Workington from Labour with a swing of 10%…

01:48.

The Tories again Peterborough from Labour (again). Things are not looking good and the exit poll is looking pretty accurate.

02:00

I can’t watch and blog at the same time. Plus, I’m now reaching for the wine- so goodnight!

Election day.

12 Thursday Dec 2019

Posted by in General election 2019, Musings, Politics

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It’s finally here. The general election that few people, other than the zealots on either side, are enthused about. One where many people see the choice being that between two lacklustre candidates, neither of whom are Prime Ministerial material, a choice between ‘Magic Grandad’ Jeremy Corbyn and the blond buffoon and serial liar Boris Johnson. It’s like being offered the ‘choice’ of a slow, lingering death, or a lingering, slow death in an awful campaign that’s been dominated by lies, deceit and efforts to mislead. The truth is out there, but it’s hidden by a fog of misinformation and hidden manipulation on social media.

Who’s going to win? I’ll be honest – I haven’t got a clue.

What I do know, though talking to friends and colleagues over the past year is that this election is different. The old tribal loyalties have been split asunder. This applies to both parties. I’ve talked to life-long Tory voters who won’t touch the present party as well as Labour voters who’re in exactly the same position. These people feel that both parties have been taken over by the dogmatists and fundamentalists who’ve dragged them both ends of the political extremes. Which was these politically homeless people will vote could have a huge impact.

So could tactical voting.

Whilst the pollsters are predicting a small Tory majority, I do wonder if their models can cope with the present uncertainties as some people are so torn they still don’t know which way they’re going to vote, even though the polls have already opened. Another factor is loyalty to individual MPs, which I’ve also heard people talk of.

Others have certainly made their mind up and decided to vote not for – but against a party and anyone who has the best chance of keeping them out, thus voting tactically as a damage-limitation exercise, because if one thing is dominating this election it’s Brexit, with the NHS close behind.

This swirl of uncertainties means we going to be in for a very interesting election night. One thing I will predict is that there will be at least one ‘Portillo moment’ – when the then Tory Minister unexpectedly lost his seat in the 1997, leading to enormous bouts of schadenfreude from his opponents.

If you’re still undecided and are reading this, the only thing I would urge you to do is vote for the good of the country, not for the good of any political party. There’s far too much at stake for that. Johnson isn’t going to ‘get Brexit done’. It’s a lie. He’s just going to drag us into another cycle of uncertainty that will drag on for years, because we never ‘took back control’, we gave it away. Now we do have a chance to take back control – from the charlatans and liars who got us into this mess in the first place.

Go. Vote…

13:25.

The day’s turned in to a wet and miserable one here in the Calder and Colne valleys. I wonder what effect that might have on turning out the vote, and which party may benefit from it?