Author Archives: Paul Bigland

After the floods…

10 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Sowerby Bridge, Weather

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Despite some awful weather last night where the wind howled and the rain beat down, the waters of the River Calder subsided and the flooding abated. We’re not out of the woods yet as the forecast isn’t exactly brilliant, but Ciara, the storm that’s caused so much damage has blown over. Now there’s time for the poor sods who’ve been flooded to start picking up the pieces. Again.

I’d originally thought I might head over to Mytholmroyd to document the damage but I’ve been too busy to tear myself away from the computer long enough. I had a big batch of pictures to get finalised for one client, then deal with enquiries and picture requests from another, so I’ve spent most of the day huddled in the office cross-referencing picture databases. It’s not the most glamourous side of the job, but it has to be done.

Finally, after getting the pictures away to the client I went out for a stroll to stretch my legs and also clear my head. The wind may not have dropped, but the temperature certainly has. An arctic blast followed me most of the way, especially up on the promenade above our local woods. I’d have liked to have stayed out longer but as I gazed out across the valley I could see the next storm approaching, blocking out the view of the Calder Valley towards Mytholmroyd as it made its way Eastwards.

Uh, oh – it’s coming my way…

Thinking it was a snowstorm I decided to get home before it caught me. I almost made it before the hailstorm (for that’s what it was) nailed me a few hundred metres from home! Drying out at home I thought I’d venture out again once it had passed, but the bugger keeps coming back. Every time I poke my head outside I find fresh hailstones on the door mat!The weather across the North-West and Yorkshire’s looking pretty mixed tomorrow so I may end up having another day in the office. If the Government does finally pull it’s finger out and the speculation is correct, tomorrow will see some big announcements on investment in infrastructure, which *should* include the new HS2 rai line. That said, we’ve been here before, but I’ll be glad to have the time to sit, analyse and blog about the contents of any announcements and see how the predictions I made when the Oakervee review was announced last August have stood the test of time. You can read that blog here.

I suspect we’ll see a lot of wailing and gnashing of teeth from those opposed to HS2. Most of it will be pure social media froth from the reprogrammed pro-Brexit trolls, plus the dwindling bunch of real people who live on the route but who’ve spent the past 10 years pretending to themselves that they were some sort of coherent campaign that actually had any political clout. I think for some of them the decision will take some time to sink in as they’ve listened to little else than the voices in their own little echo-chamber for so long. I’ll be interested to see what the announcement does to the tiny protest groups that are on several sites on the route. Will the announcement make more of them realise the futility of what they’re doing? After all, it’s all very well thinking that the decision whether to go ahead with HS2 hasn’t been made so you might actually achieve something. But when it becomes obvious that’s not the case…

Either way, we’ll be moving on to a very different chapter as construction of HS2 ramps up. No doubt there’ll still be some hiccups. On a project this size it would be a miracle if there wasn’t. I’ll look forward to what’s said with interest.

Once the nights get a bit longer I expect to be busy documenting the construction of Phase 1 and some other UK rail projects too…

Storm Ciara floods the Calder Valley.

09 Sunday Feb 2020

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

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This morning we woke up to the sound of the arrival of storm Ciara as strong winds and driving rain hit the Calder Valley. This is how it looked and sounded from our bedroom at around 10:30.

It’s certainly been a heck of a storm. I can’t remember when I last saw so much torrential rain arrive in such a short time. When it subsided I started checking social media and found that Ciara was already causing chaos in the valley. Both Hebden Bridge and poor Mytholmroyd were flooding, despite the millions that are being spent on new flood defences – especially in the latter town. Then I saw that our own town, Sowerby Bridge was also flooding for only the second time since 1968.

Dropping what I’d been planning to do I donned my waterproofs, grabbed the camera bag and headed out. Here’s a collection of photographs and videos of some of what I saw.

My first port of call was the new bridge over the River Calder which is almost immediately below the house. The bridge itself is a massive modern structure which was in no danger from the floods. Thankfully, the new housing estate which is sandwiched between the river and the canal was also safe, although the canal was also perilously close to overflowing.

The River Calder at Copley. That group of trees normally sit on an island in the middle of the river. Beyond is the embankment of the railway from Halifax to Sowerby Bridge.
A Landrover drives through floods outside the recycling centre on Copley Valley Rd. Much of the road was flooded, cutting of large parts of Sowerby Bridge from the other, including the railway station. The video below shows the level of the water in the Calder immediately behind where I’m standing. You can see the recycling centre through the trees.

Industrial units on Walker Lane on the banks of the Calder are flooded. The river runs behind them. Note the tail lights are illuminated on the red car as the water fuses the electrics

The river is normally flowing to the left here! This container was bobbing up and down gently, but thankfully it hadn’t broken free to drift downstream. Notice the ironworks has got its flood protection barriers in place. I just hope they worked. Further upstream towards the centre of Sowerby Bridge I took the next video which shows the level of water at the bridge by the old Gasworks site.

The river is overflowing into the Calder and Hebble Navigation in central Sowerby Bridge whilst narrowboat owners can only sit it out and hope their homes don’t get beached.
Debris builds up on a bridge across the Calder.
Looking back from the last shot with the railway passing overhead.
The A58, West St is submerged under several feet of water. This is the lowest point in Sowerby Bridge. Behind me is the Calder whilst the Ryburn flows behind these buildings to the left, where it joins the Calder just under the railway bridge. This area bore the brunt of the Boxing Day flooding in 2015.
The view of Sowerby Bridge from the bridge over the Calder.
Flooded properties in central Sowerby Bridge next to the river.
A drowned car in a residential carpark with the river behind.
Water boils under the main bridge across the Calder in the centre of Sowerby bridge whilst detritus builds up against it. Police had closed the bridge due to the flooding on the other side.

16:29.

The storm (for now) has abated. But more gales and rain are forecast later. It’s been impossible for me to get over to Mytholmroyd as the roads are flooded, as is the railway further down the valley at Walsden. So, spare a thought for those who’ve been flooded out of their homes once more.

Here’s a look at the railway at Walsden which graphically illustrates why the Calder Valley line’s closed.

It’s now 23:41 and I’m about to call it a day. I’m lying in bed listening to the wind and the rain beating against the window once more. God knows how things will look in the morning…

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Waiting for the wind to blow.

08 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Uncategorized, West Yorkshire

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After the past few days gallivanting I’ve enjoyed a restful domestic Saturday at home with Dawn today. Because there’s been a severe weather warning and people have been warned not to travel discretion seemed the better part of valour. Besides, I had an awful lot of pictures to edit and get onto my Zenfolio website, which kept me out of trouble for most of the morning.

I’m writing this at 20:00 and whilst the wind is certainly starting to rise it’s hardly hurricane conditions out there. Even so, we’ve battened down the hatches which in this part of Yorkshire means that we’ve moved all the plastic recycling bins into the porch. There’s not a lot else to do where we live as we’re high up on the valley side. If we needed to sandbag the front door against flooding it wouldn’t just be us who’re in trouble, it’d be the whole damned planet!

Meanwhile, as we wait for everything to blow over, here’s a couple of examples of the pictures I’ve been taking and adding to my Zenfolio website.

Northern’s new CAF built Class 195s continue to spread their wings. Here’s one of the two-car versions arriving at Chesterfield whilst working a Leeds to Nottingham service.

Don’t tell the Woodland Trust! The overgrown lineside at Chesterfield is being cleared of trees and scrub that’s being encroaching on the lineside for the past 30 years. This area used to be the operational railway but as freight patterns changed many goods yards were abandoned and became overgrown. The problem is these trees can cause a danger to rail safety and need to be removed.
The end is near for the BR built Pacer trains as their derogation for disablity legislation runs out in the next few months. This is now a rare sight at Manchester Piccadilly. To make the services compliant each Class 142 is operating with a Class 150 which is fitted with a disabled toilet.
Gorgeous winter light at Manchester Piccadilly station yesterday.

Rolling blog: go West…

06 Thursday Feb 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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09:44.

Today weather’s far too good to be stuck at home so I’m having another day out with the camera. This time I’m heading West from Sowerby Bridge – and hoping I’ve not made a mistake in doing so!

I’m currently sat on the 09:22 from Sowerby Bridge to Chester. The weather in the Calder valley was wall to wall sunsine and the valley looked stunning. Then we passed through the Summit tunnel into Lancashire and arrived into a blanket of fog! It’s a fine example of what a barrier the Pennines are and how they can influence the weather.

13:07.

Phew! Now, where was I? I’ve been on the move so much and making the most of the weather that I haven’t had a chance to blog. I’m currently on a service from Manchester Piccadilly that’s heading to Blackpool North.

After disembarking at Victoria earlier I strolled across town to Piccadilly in bright sunshine. The fog I’d encountered earlier had quickly burned away, leaving Manchester’s reputation as a wet city in tatters. My first move was out to Stockport, where I wanted to get shots of trains crossing the famous viaduct. With the sun in the right place you can have fun with a long lens here, but the shadows from the overhead wires present a challenge. I’d been hoping to grab a shot of a Pendolino in the new Avanti livery, but there was no such luck.

Moving back North I stopped at the elevated and open station at Levenshulme where the overhead masts span all four tracks to give a wide vista. Plus, the bare lineside trees don’t cast heavy shadows at this time of year. There’s also the opportunity for some interesting backlit shots.

I moved on again when I felt the shots were in danger of getting repetitive. Heading back to Piccadilly I changed trains once more to enjoy a brief stop in Bolton. The new CAF 331 that carried me there had a noticeably rough ride on the way. Something I’d never noticed before so I can’t ascribe it to train or track. I’d be curious to repeat it in an old DMU to see if there’s a difference.

Bolton was a bit of a bust. Heavy shadows blocked any worthwhile shots, so I’m now on my way to Wigan…

15:40.

My Wigan sojourn was interesting, but it didn’t yield many pictures as the light (or me, depending on your viewpoint) was in the wrong position for the shots I had in mind. On the bright side, I’m now fuelled-up on chips and curry sauce – which is giving me a few calories to burn off!

Right now I’m on another Northern service. This time the 15:24 from Wigan North Western to Manchester Airport. Oddly, it’s worked by a diesel Class 195 as it originated from Windermere. Hardly the most ‘green’ diagram as it’s ‘under the wires’ all the way from Oxenholme.

16:50.

I arrived back in Manchester as the sun was just at tipping point. I had intended to visit an old vantage point on the Castlefield Corridor but the volume of new building in the past year has meant it’s disappeared. The sun’s been blocked out by high-rises, casting the whole area into shadow. Instead I added some pictures around Piccadilly, then backtracked to Oxford Rd. Abandoning the railway I wandered the backstreets to explore to photo opportunities in the new skylines. I’ve always found architecture and cityscapes fascinating. They make for some great pictures, so the past hour’s been spent exploring to find photo opportunities that will become impossible by the end of the year as the railway from Castlefield to Piccadilly will become hemmed in by new building.

Here’s another sight that will disappear even sooner…

A pair if Pacers at Manchester Piccadilly. In a sign of the times these units now work in tandem with Class 150s as they’re fitted with ORM compliant toilets.

21:33.

My day in Manchester was rounded off by what could be the inauguration of the the first branch of the Irish Railways Record Society outside of London. 50 people from across the North turned up to hear Dick Fearn and Tim Morton sound out the idea.

Rolling blog: plan B…

05 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, Yorkshire

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08:38.

My computer problems continue, which means life is less than planned at the moment. I did manage to resurrect my old machine yesterday by reinstalling Windows 10 but by the evening it developed Alzheimers again. First it ‘forgot’ how to send emails, then it gradually lost the will to do everything else as well! I’ve now had to reset it for a second time just to get a few bits and pieces done. The new machine has been ordered and will arrive tomorrow*, so I’ll be spending yet another day installing programmes and gubbins.

As this leaves me somewhat incapacitated I’m heading out for the day in order to get some new library pictures even though the weather’s not exactly at its best. The law of Sod has been invoked and tomorrow’s forecast is looking far better. I might have to be crafty in what I do with getting my new machine delivered.

Right now I’m just packing the camera bag and working out where will be best to head for. Stay with me to see how the railways behave today…

10:45.

I’m on my first train of the day, but not from Haliax as I hitched a lift with Dawn this morning. Now I’m on a TPE Class 802 as far as Leeds although the set itself is going to Edinburgh. This is one of the trains TPE have reinstated after the December timetable debacle. Mind you, Edinburgh isn’t the only exotic new destination served by direct trains from Huddersfield. You can now visit the fleshpots of Redcar Central too if you were so inclined…

11.28.

The trip to Leeds was both pleasent and uneventful. The service was a minute late at Huddersfield but easily made that up by Leeds. The front coach of the Hitachi built set was only 10% occupied so there was no problem getting a seat. The extra capacity the new TPE trains are providing’s making travel on the crowded Manchester – Leeds corridor far more pleasent now. Gone are the days when it would be a miracle if you bagged a seat.

11:32.

My sojourn in Leeds was rather shorter than last weeks! I had about 20 mins to observe the station in action before catching the 11:11 Cross-Country service that’s heading for Plymouth. Despite the fact it’s only a 4-car Voyager I’ve managed to find a seat on here too. As usual with XC there’s a real mix of humanity aboard.  Grannies laden with suitcases, student types with their headphones and laptops, the occasional businessman and there’s even a pooch staring balefully at me from between the seats.

16:05.

That’s been an entertaining few hours. Having stopped off to get pictures at Sheffield I was greeted by lovely sunny weather. The station’s in a state of flux at the moment as Northern’s new trains are putting in an appearence on more and more services, but the place is still a stronghold of the old Class 144 ‘Pacers’ who operate a lot of Northern’s short-haul services to the likes of Doncaster and Huddersfield. The newer interlopers (the 195s) have taken over further reaching stuff like the Lincoln services, whilst Class 170s are working to the likes of Scarborough.

If you want to bag a Class 144, Sheffield’s the place to visit!

Having got some shots in the can I headed off to Chesterfield where I hit a weather front. A band of cloud extended South but it still allowed me to get some interesting shots from the old footbridge North of the station and allowed me to shoot what would’ve been straight into the sun otherwise. Network Rail’s contractor’s have been busy removing lineside vegetation which has opened up views that haven’t been possible for decades. The work provided me with some good scene-setting shots too. I didn’t hang around long. Just an hour, as there’s no point repeating the same shot ad nauseum. Having got what I wanted I caught the train back to Sheffield where the weather was less dull.

It might not be the most attractive view that’s been opened out by the lineside clearance, but it’s still a view!

Having grabbed a few more shots and resisted the temptations of the Sheffield Tap I’m now heading back to Leeds on a Northern ‘Express’ service. Well, it would be express if the 90mph Class 158 diagrammed was available. Instead, it’s being worked by a rather clapped-out Class 150 which is only cleared for 75mph. As you can imagine, our timing is a tad awry…

16:05.

The 150 finally staggered into to Leeds where the poor quality of the light’s made me decide to cut the day short and head home to Halifax. Admittedly, I have an ulterior motive. Tonight Dawn and I have planned a lovely evening together at home so I’m happy to get back and make the house feel the part in preparation.

My ride back from Leeds is aboard another 3-car Class 195 on the York – Bkackpool North diagram. It’s running 5 mins down which the Conductor has apologised for, citing ‘technical issues’ with the set earlier.

18:00.

The weather may not have been too good in Leeds, but it’s a lovely sunset here in the Calder Valley…

*Well, that’s when the Dell website claimed it could be delivered by, only that changed when I’d actually specced the machine.

Abandoning their website I put in call to a real live human being and spoke to a charming Indian lady who placed the order for me and told me that the problem at the moment is getting the processor chips, so my new machine won’t be ready for at least a week. This delay means I’m going to have to be creative with my use of backup laptops and nursing my old machine until the new kit arrives. Now I’m praying no last minute, urgent jobs crop up until it arrives…

Technology woes…

03 Monday Feb 2020

Posted by in Musings, Uncategorized

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Sorry for the lack of blogging but I’ve been busy with a variety of other things. Today I’ve been occupied at home as I’ve had a chap in replacing part of the bathroom floor that had been damaged by a slow leak on the water pipes to the bath. With the action taking place behind the seclusion of a bath panel you don’t realise there’s a problem until the damage is done.

Whilst the bathroom was being knocked about I was in the office next door knocking out another batch of old rail slides from 1990. By this evening I’d managed to get 40 scanned and was working on the next 20 when my laptop threw a wobbler. Despite several attempts to revive it I’ve had no success. In the morning I’ll speak to the manufacturers helpline but I’m fearing the worst.

At least everything’s backed up and there’s no danger of me losing any pictures. It’s just a massive pain in the arse. I was looking at buying a new machine as my Dell XPS 13’s almost four and a half years old and it’s taken a battering. It’s been around the world with me and seen constant use in all sorts of conditions. Apart from the cost the biggest inconvenience is the amount of time it takes to fettle a new machine by installing all the specialist programmes, software, apps, drivers and data. That is if you can find all your contracts and passwords for the stuff. Sometimes that takes longer than getting them up and running! I suspect I’ll be getting little that’s productive done for much of this week.

If I can’t get the damned thing working in the morning It’ll be a case of ordering a new machine, then heading off out to get new pictures whilst I’m waiting for it to be delivered later in the week. At least I’ll have chance to rolling blog as well – watch this space…

The first TALGO train in the UK. The first of many?

01 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by in Barrow Hill, Railways, Talgo

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On Tuesday 28th January a rather special sort of train was put on display in the UK for the very first time. TALGO UK donated one of their very high-speed train vehicles to Chesterfield Borough Council to celebrate the company establishing its Head Office in Chesterfield and confirmed ambitions to develop an ‘Innovation Centre’, co-located with Barrow Hill roundhouse, where the TALGO train has gone on display.

Carlos de Palacio, President of TALGO (seen here) handed the vehicle over to Councillor Tricia Gilby, Leader of ChesterfieldBorough Council.
The invited audienc look on as the TALGO train is handed over at Barrow Hill roundhouse.
The coach is from the sets built for the sleeper service from Madrid/Barcelona – Paris. Other vehicles from the 250 kph sets are being ‘upcycled’ for use at 330 kph on lines raduating from the Spanish capital, Madrid.
L-r. Cllr Tricia Gilby receives a model of a TALGO train from, Jon Veitch, MD of TALGO UK and Carlos de Palacio, President of TALGO.

I’ll write more about TALGO and their UK ambitions (including constructing a train building plant at Longannet in Scotland) tomorrow.

Rolling blog: The Railway Children charity sleep-outs tonight.

30 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by in Railways, Rolling blogs, The Railway Children

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I’m helping the Railway Children charity this evening by volunteering to with their sleep-out at Leeds station tonight. 30 people are dossing down on the station from 21:30 until 07:00 tomorrow to draw attention to the work the charity does, and also help raise much needed funds. You can find the details here. Tonight, teams will also be sleeping out at London Bridge Station, London Waterloo, Liverpool Lime Street, Manchester Piccadilly, Milton Keynes Central, Birmingham New Street, Glasgow Central and Derby Railway Station.

I’ll be making my way over to Leeds later, so stay with me to see how the day/night unfolds as I’ll be updating the blog on a regular basis…

16:52.

I’m on my way, complete with camera bag, mat and sleeping bag. Even though we’ll be bedded down inside the station I’m glad the weather’s mild tonight. The walk to the station was actually quite pleasant! I’m now on a Northern (but not for much longer) service to Leeds via Bradford which is worked by a CAF class 195 running its traditonal few minutes late. I’m not going to get into the ins and outs of the Northern franchise, I’ll save that for anither blog. But passengers won’t be seeing any changes for a while…

After a swift reversal at Bradford we’re already on our way ul the bank en-route to New Pudsey. It’s early enough for the train to be busy but not packed. I’ll bet the return working will be tho!

18:10.

I’m waiting for the others to arrive as I got here early to have chance to get a few photos beforehand, but I hadn’t expected to find this!

A former LNER power car being moved from storage at Ely to Leeds Neville Hill depot where it’ll find a new life with East Midlands Railway. 57301 is on the front.

21:50.

I’ve been so busy I’ve not had time to blog until now. 30 of us are bedding down on the North concourse at Leeds, opposite the Wetherspoons. Network Rail have sent a huge group of people that includes their Route Director, Rob Mackintosh and several other senior staff. Although most of us are railway, there is one young lady from ‘First Direct’ who’s turned up. There’s several people I know, like former Angel Trains Director Malcolm Brown, plus folk who’ve taken part in previous fundraising events like the 3 Peaks. The atmosphere’s excellent as everyone knows they’re doing something worthwhile.

The sleepers hearing from one of the Railway Children staff about the valuable work they’re doing.

22:34.

The station’s quietened down over the past hour but now numbers are ramping up again as folks arrive to catch their last trains. There’s a few racous souls but most are good natured. We had our own bit of theatre earlier when a well dressed chap wobbled out of the Wetherspoons to sit on the plastic seats nearby and take a phone call. Gravity abd drink were too much for him and he slid off the seat and wbded up supine on the floor whilst he remained on his phone. A couple of our kind souls went to his assistance!

Folks have found a variety of ways to pass the time. Some have already bedded down with a book or phone, whilst half a dozen people are passing the time playing cards invthe centre of the concourse where there’s a collection of plastic seats. The only thing that’s making life uncomfortable is the gale blowing in through the open doors to the car park opposite where we’re bedded down.

00:26.

The station’s winding down and so are we. Most of our group are curled up in their sleeping bags now although not all are sleeping. Some will stay awake most of the night as this is too alien an environment to feel relaxed in. There’s too much noise and too many lights as far as they’re concerned. But they’re still doing it – because they care about the work the Railway Children does, and I really admire them for that.

This isn’t the first time I’ve slept on a railway station. Or slept rough. There’s far too many stories for me to tell in this blog. But I will tell one.

Back in 1986 I remember bedding down on a railway station in Tamil Nadu in India. The train I was catching was at 3am. I was travelling on a very tight budget, so what was the point of paying for a hotel room? Instead, I joined the throng of people you always find sleeping on stations as Indian railways run all hours of the day and night due to the vastness of the country. We had our heads against the building so that if anyone walked past it was only your feet they’d stand on. The mats we were sleeping on we laid down over the metal grilles that covered the rainwater drain next to the building, then we fell asleep. After a while I was woken by this odd skittering noise I didn’t recognise. It took a couple of minutes before I realised it was made by rats running up and down the drain just inches beneath my head.

In comparison, tonight is luxury…

00:56.

I’m amazed none of our group have yet tried to kill the bloke going up and down the concourse with the tile cleaning machine. It’s not him, or the machine – it’s the bloody siren attached to it…

00:59.

I take back everything I said about the tile cleaner. A MEWP’s just been driven into the concourse so guys can attend to some elevated work. The sounds of its poorly silenced diesel engine are so bad it’s almost drowned out the sounds of snoring from an adjacent sleeper! This is the sort of thing rough sleepers out up with day after day…

Oblivious to (or because of) us the bloke in the basket relates every minor detail of what he’s doing to his oppo on the ground. I now now more than I ever wanted to about worm drives on adverts.

04:00.

The MEWP and men have changed their advert and disappered, leaving us a few hours peace to get fitful sleep, thanking our lucky stars that this is a one off, not our everyday exustence.

05:00.

I’m awake and decided to explore the station, which is still a ghost town apart from a few passengers who’re on their way home from clubs and earky shift rail staff booking on or who’re already at work. Northern have started the day badly with the first train to Manchester cancelled and others delayed.

05:50.

Most of our sleepers are awake and packing their bags ready to face the day, off to hunt for coffee and warm food.

It’s been an experience I’ve not had for years and it’s an event I’m really happy I could help the Railway Children with. I’ll upload some pictures later today once I’ve got home and edited them. I’ll also let you know how much the event has raised.

In the meantime, thanks for following the adventure. Now it’s my turn to head iff in search of coffee!

The MEWP

StopHs2. The fat lady’s about to sing…

30 Thursday Jan 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Railways, StopHs2

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– but not today, despite the earlier claims of the BBC. Right now, she’s sucking throat lozenges, preparing for the final act which (if I’m right) will be next week.

The stage has been set by leaks to the media that the Chancellor and Midlands MP, Sajid Javid has thrown his weight behind building HS2 as the economics stack up for, not against the project. As Javid is a very Senior member of the Government and the man in charge of the money, this is hugely important. We’ve also seen a chorus of ‘get on with it’ from many of the new intake of Tory MPs in the North, much to the chagrin of Northern antis, who tried to pretend the ‘newbies’ were all against the project.

Whilst the announcement may not dot every ‘i’ and cross every ‘t’ in relation to Phase 2b of HS2, it will certainly mean there are no more questions over phase 1. Not only that, but from what I’ve been hearing, the phase 1 contractors are expected to hit the ground running. Whilst the project’s been delayed awaiting the political go-ahead, they’ve not been kicking their heels. They’ve refined their work plans and are keen to crack-on with them.

This will be the death knell of StopHs2 which has always been a phase 1 based campaign. It renders them completely irrelevant. Oh, there might be a few isolated protests due to local Nimbys and ‘Extinction Rebellion’ but they’ve already shown they’ve neither the numbers or the muscle to actually stop the work continuing. The idea they’re puffing that ‘Middle England’ will turn out to ‘protect’ the countryside and stop HS2 is pure bluster. They’ve fallen for their own social media spin and the numbers of voyeurs who watch their futile antics via Facebook – but who’ll never do anthing more than send ‘thoughts and prayers’.

Also, the law on these protests has tightened up since the heady days of “Swampy” and the road protests of the 1980s-90s. How many of these middle-class, middle-aged (and over) protesters are prepared to collect a criminal record other than ones by Max Bygraves or Des O’ Connor? They may protest while it’s felt the project hasn’t got a formal ‘green light’, but how many will still bother when it has and the full weight of the construction companies with thousands of men and hundreds of machines move in?

In the meantime, the froth will continue for a few more days, but I think even most antis have worked out how this is going to end. A few die-hards are still blustering on Twitter and Facebook from their armchairs, whilst the reprogrammed pro-brexit trolls spout absolute garbage, sometimes in incomprehensible ways like this.

“Beachams”? I think it was trying to refer to Beeching, but it got lost in translation!

I wonder how Joe Rukin’s job hunt is going? Not very well by the look of it. he’s reduced to recording this incoherent and rambling video from his bunker! The hilarious part is he’s asked his supporters to forward this car-crash to the PM! Bless…

A guest blog on the Berkeley evidence to the Lords EAC from William Barter.

29 Wednesday Jan 2020

Posted by in House of Lords, Hs2, Railways

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Here’s the first of what may well become a new feature. Guest writing from friends and readers of this blog. The expression “rail expert” is terribly overused. Most of the time it’s used to refer to journalists like myself who may know about the railways. We wouldn’t dream of using it of ourselves, because the more we know, the more we realise how little we know. However, I think that if anyone can be classed as an expert in his subject it’s William, so I commend this blog to the house! William sent this to the Lords Economic Committee in response to Lord Tony Berkeley’s recent evidence to said committee.

Yesterday, you took evidence from Lord Berkeley to the effect that the business case for HS2 should be based only on 14 trains per hour (tph), as the nominal capacity of 18 tph on the HS2 trunk route is impracticable. He is wrong.

First, consider the theory, because if the theory doesn’t work there is no further argument. Taking into account realistic braking rates, the minimum time separation of trains at 360 kph can be calculated to be less than 120 seconds. For this calculation, please refer to my article in the Institution of Railway Signal Engineers journal ‘IRSE News’ for May 2019. More detailed modelling reflecting local features and constraints shows that this can increase to around 130 seconds. But it is clear that a flow of well above 18 trains per hour is possible on this basis.

Counter intuitively, though, the plain line headway at full speed in open air is not the binding constraint on capacity of the route. The highest headways arise in slow speed areas around stations particularly where approached through tunnels. The first implication of this is that the top speed of trains is irrelevant to capacity in practice, as raising it further would not create a new binding constraint, nor would reducing it ease a binding constraint.

The second implication is that it is these slow speed areas that need to be considered when assessing feasibility of the proposed capacity. HS2 has a technical standard that headways should be generally 120 seconds but not above 150 seconds. Modelling shows that even in the slow speed areas, 150 seconds technical headway is achievable. This is significant, as the International Union of Railways (UIC) guideline on practical exploitation of theoretical capacity is 75% for a dedicated high speed railway at peak periods. 150 seconds multiplied by 18 trains per hour gives precisely that figure. So using real data for the worst headways and the guidance of an international body, 18 trains per hour is feasible.

At this point, please note that, contrary to the evidence of Lord Berkeley, the HS2 business case is based on only 17 tph, with one further path pencilled in for possible future use. So the business case is even more robust in this respect.

That’s the theory. The issue then becomes whether the planned HS2 service can be operated reliably in practice, particularly in view of the risk of late handovers from the conventional railway. Frankly we can’t know until we try it, and that is no more or less the case for HS2 than for any other railway, but in accepting that one must also recognise that there is always management action possible to influence reliability, and that identifying a risk effectively means identifying where management action needs to be focused. One must also consider how robust HS2 can be expected to be in the face of such imposed delays, and the answer is – more robust than a classic railway.

The two big risks to service performance in the face of imposed delays are a) fast trains ending up following stopping trains once trains are running out of order, and b) conflicting moves at termini as the planned pattern of arriving and departing trains degrades. In the case of HS2, a) can be dismissed instantly, as there are no fast and stopping trains on the trunk route – all trains are running at the same speed, and all stopping only at the one station at Old Oak Common. If a later running train has to squeeze in to the flow, the consequent delay will decay over the next few trains. Moreover, the train that finds itself following a gap left by a late train can speed up in open air into that gap, thus allowing the delay to be eroded both before and after the late train. Then, b) is mitigated by the Euston track layout, which incorporates features that preserve robustness. Prime amongst these is a grade-separation in the station throat that makes the layout effectively two half stations handling half the service each, and so removes most of the scope for conflicts between out of course trains. Moreover, within each half-station, a platforming pattern that steps across from arrival side to departure side means that a later-running arrival will not normally create a conflict, as it will be in parallel with any later departure. For trains presenting seriously late, the option of turning back from Old Oak Common exists and has no parallel on the existing railway.

Lord Berkeley’s suggestion that 14 tph should be the maximum is based on two things:

  1. The UIC calculation outlined above, except that he has wrongly and inexplicably applied the 75% factor twice, first to reduce the theoretical 24 tph at 150 seconds separation to 18 tph, then again to reduce that 18 tph to 13.5 which he approximates to 14 tph;
  2. Evidence given many years ago, primarily to the Commons Transport Select Committee, by representatives of the French railways that they consider 14 tph or thereabouts to be their practicable maximum. Astonishingly, no-one ever asked them why! What feature of their railway sets this limit? From my argument above, I think it is unlikely to be the technical headway at full speed, unless a considerably less-than-state-of-the-current-art signalling system was in question. Where HS2 is constrained to 18 tph, as above in the slow speed areas, it is in effect like any other railway, many of which operate 18 tph now

I contend that the view expressed to you by Lord Berkeley yesterday is unfounded both theoretically and in practice. Please do not hesitate to contact me to discuss these issues further if this is helpful to you in reaching valid conclusions.

Regards,

William