Today’s our final day in Surrey before heading back to Yorkshire tomorrow and it feels like the country’s starting to emerge from its festive hibernation. Trains have resumed running, the stock markets have re-opened and the shops have resumed their sales after having a less than merry Christmas. That said, you could tell that social media was still suffering from a slow news day. My timeline was full of folks outraged by a QC admitting he’d killed a fox with a baseball bat to protect his chickens whilst others were having an attack of the vapours because the “Gavin and Stacey” Xmas special on TV had used the original lyrics of the Pogues song which included the word “faggot”. Ho ho ho…
After a slow start due to the gloomy, overcast weather the four of us ventured into Farnham to collect some groceries and also check out some of the sales. The town’s not blessed with the panoply of outlets that nearby Guildford can boast of but it still has more than many. I managed to pick up a very nice long-sleeved polo shirt from ‘Fatface’ for £20, which was 50% cheaper than a few days ago. To be honest, I’d rather have piles than go shopping, but when needs must at least getting a bargain takes the sting out of things!
Despite the sales Farnham seemed fairly subdued. There certainly wasn’t the frenetic activity I’d seen just before Christmas when it seemed folks were stockpiling for the Zombie Apocalypse more than anything else (Firearms excepted, obviously). The busiest place we encountered was the nearby by-pass which had all the haste of a funeral cortege.
We’re now back at my brother-in-law’s after a quick visit to the local pub. The parents are dozing in the TV room, the kids are holed-up in their bedrooms playing on various electronic devices and I’m sat in front of the fire with the dog whilst typing this. Meanwhile, Dawn and Darren are busy in the kitchen preparing chicken chasseur. I’m on stand-by for washing-up and veg-peeling duties if needed but they seem to have everything under control.
After such stunning Christmas Day weather Boxing Day’s been a real disappointment here in Surrey. The morning’s been dominated by continuous rain and heavy winds. Foolishly, I hadn’t brought my full set of waterproofs and didn’t fancy getting a soaking, so I reluctantly flagged the traditional Tilford Boxing day walk. Dawn and her parents decided to have the day out in the car whilst I stayed at ‘home’ in the chalet and crack on catching up on some work (the beauty and the curse of being freelance, there’s always something to do, no matter what the season).
The silver lining was the fact our chalet is within a stones throw of the Duke of Cambridge pub which was one of the pit-stops for the walkers so I had chance to join them for a quick drink. Despite the weather, the mixed group of adults, kids and dogs were in good spirits – especially after drying off in a pub for a while!
After an hour or so they left to complete their walk and I headed back to the chalet to finish the work I’d lined-up. Whilst I was at ‘home’ I turned on the TV in the vain hope of finding a mild diversion that I could half-watch/listen to whilst concentrating on other things. That’s when I realised once again that you can have dozens of TV channels in a TV package but 95% of them are utter shite unless you’re a child or someone with the attention-span of a Goldfish. Looking through the schedule I’ve found one ancient Hollywood film that was pure propaganda for the US during the Vietnam War (The ‘Green Berets’, directed by and starring John Wayne) plus loads of channels that are all about flogging you stuff. I ended up turning it off and listened to music instead.
It’s Christmas day and there’s a long list of family commitments ahead, so there’s going to be little, if any time for blogging today despite me having plenty of thoughts that I could pen. Instead, I’ll restrict myself to wishing all my readers a very Merry Christmas (wherever you are). I hope you all have a peaceful and enjoyable day.
Here’s one of the presents that was under the tree for me…
It’s Christmas Eve and the Platt family and I have congregated in Surrey, where Darren, my brother-in-law lives with his family. As it’s Darren’s son Sam’s 12th birthday we’re all off to a Spanish restaurant in Guildford to celebrate.
Considering the time of year the weather’s surprisingly mild – if wet! The amount of flooded roads and sodden fields has dropped since we arrived a couple of days ago, but there’s more rain forecast, which could make the traditional Boxing Day stroll a bit of a challenge. You need wellies, not walking boots around here right now.
Even without the rain it’s a challenge to get around as Tilford is partially cut-off do to one of the two bridges over the river Wey that provides access to the village is closed for rebuilding. A temporary pedestrian bridge has been built to allow folk to get to vital services like the local pub, but for vehicles the detour adds miles to the journey. The bridge is expected to remain closed until late 2020, which is causing a lot of grief. I’ll add some pictures later when I get time.
Yesterday, the Sunday Telegraph carried their latest anti HS2 nonsense when they reported that “Dozens of MPs” had signed a letter opposing HS2. There was only one problem, it was complete nonsense and a classic of the Sub-Editor’s art where the headline bears no relation to what’s in the article. Why? Because the letter was actually signed by less than two dozen MPs. In fact, only 21 had signed it.
Even the increasingly down – market Telegraph realised that this fiction was a bridge to far for many of its readers to swallow and soon dropped the ‘dozens’ claim from its website, but not before the tiny bunch of people still opposing HS2 has worked themselves up into a frenzy, sharing the original tweet. Here’s an example.
Here’s part of the Tel’s article, which reveals that things are not exactly as was claimed.
“New” group? No. it’s an old one resurrected, as the actual letter from the 21 makes clear.
Unsurprisingly, the letter also reveals that the majority of these MPs are from constituencies on the route of HS2. It also reveals they’re nearly all of a particular dogmatic wing of the Tory party, the Brexity section that’s allied with the political lobbyists ensconced in 55 Tufton St, in other words, the ‘Taxpayers Alliance’ (who never reveal who funds them, or how much UK tax they actually pay – if any) and their fellow travellers the IEA.
The idea that they’re somehow growing political force that threatens HS2 is what they’d like you to believe. The truth is rather different, for several reasons. Firstly, the newly MPs who oppose HS2 don’t make up for the numbers of anti HS2 MPs who’ve left Parliament such as Kate Hoey, Kelvin Hopkins, Dennis Skinner, Frank Field or Madeline Moon. They (mostly) just represent a different party. Let’s crunch some numbers. A total of 41 MPs voted against Phase 1 of HS2 back in 2014. Only 20 of them are still MPs. Several of the 20 that are left from the original 41 such as Hollobone, Fabricant and Davis, have signed this letter.
But…Of the 20 remaining opposers of Phase 1, seven did a volte-face to back building Phase 2a. leaving a grand total of just 15 MPs objecting, showing that they’re hardly a united or coherent front. We can expect this to happen again when the Phase 2b bill passes through Parliament.
The letter also exposes the fact these MPs really don’t have a clue what to do about HS2, hence the mixed messages about it. No doubt some would like to see it stopped, others are aware that campaigning against it would leave them with a battle on their hands as they’d face stiff opposition from local business groups like LEPs, Chambers of Commerce, transport groups and elected Mayors.
Whichever way you cut the numbers it’s clear that the opposition to HS2 in Parliament hasn’t grown, it’s mostly just changed party. This leaves Labour in an interesting position. Keeping their strong support for HS2 could well help them win votes back in the North as the limited real opposition to HS2 remains concentrated in the Tory shires and the Chilterns which they’ll never win anyway. It also leaves Johnson in a position that if he wants to hold onto the North he has to deliver on his promises to ‘rebalance’ the economy and invest in infrastructure and cancelling HS2 would send entirely the wrong message. Also, Phase 1 is a done deal as it has Royal Assent, there’s nothing the Chiltern/phase 1 Tory MPs can do other than posture as there’s no more votes in Parliament in regard to that phase, which leaves them in a bit of a bind. Voting against Phase 2b won’t stop Phase 1, but it could lead to some interesting conversations for ‘newbie’ MPs with the whips office, conversations ambitious new MPs may not want to have. Why provoke the ire of your party bosses over something you can’t win?
Whatever happens, don’t expect a resurrected “HS2 Review Group” have any more success in stopping HS2 than its previous incarnation.
UPDATE. 25th January 2020.
To say this tiny group of Tory MPs opposing HS2 haven’t been getting their own way wold be an understatement, despite the attempts of one or two of their new number to raise their profiles by sounding off about HS2, far more Tory MPs have written to the Prime Minister in SUPPORT of building HS2 – as this article in the Guardian reveals.
I was woken this morning in a way I haven’t been for many years now. It was by the sound of aircraft on their approach to Heathrow airport. When I lived in North London this was always my alarm call as the first flights into Heathrow would circle across Crouch End on their approach to the airport.
Here in Clapham they’re a little lower, but the effect’s exactly the same. I stayed with an old friend last night and this is the view from his flat. Clapham junction station and the ever changing skyline of central London.
I’ll be getting some shots around here shortly before heading off to Surrey. Here’s one of them. Gatwick Express unit 387217 leads sister unit 216 on a service heading to Brighton via the airport.
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!
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.
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….
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;
Paul Bigland 