Well, what can I say? I wasn’t blogging yesterday as we were having too fab a time. *Caveat* I don’t always blog just because I’m not – honest! Our happy trio went to see Paloma Faith perform at the Piece Hall in Halifax last night and all agreed she was absolutely brilliant. Her two hour set flew by. Admittedly, the three of us had made a day of it and enjoyed a decent Italian meal and a few drinks beforehand, which added to the sense of occasion. Oh, and the stories I could write about the people watching!
Today’s a different ballgame – ish. After a late night Dee and I had a lazy morning before heading off into Halifax once again for a couple of drinks as I’m on my travels again. The town centre was buzzing with people as tonight it’s Paul Weller’s turn to entertain. The Piece Hall concert season is really putting Halifax on the map – and it’s lovely to see. Here’s a pic from last night – taken on a mobile phone as I couldn’t take my kit inside for obvious reasons!
But for me now, it’s a change of tempo – and country. Right now I’m heading down to London as I’m a guest of Siemens in Germany for the next couple of days. I’m part of a press trip – more of which will be revealed later. First, I’ve got to get to Heathrow…
20:00.
Having bid goodbye to Dee I caught a busy Northern service to Leeds via Bradford. Passengers were flocking off the train to come and join the fun in Halifax at yet another sell-out gig which meant I’d no problem getting a seat to set up the laptop, log on and start blogging. Right now I’m on LNER’s 21:45 service to Kings Cross. It’s another busy train but coach C is unreserved and I’ve managed to blag a table. The evening’s following a familiar weather pattern that’s been with us for a while now. The days may be crap but later the skies clear, leaving us with some stunning evenings.
21:30.
What a pleasant trip this has been. A quiet carriage and a lovely evening outside. What more could you ask for? The one interesting aspect is how many more people are wearing masks again. Despite the Government pretending, Covid has never gone away. The opposite in fact. Clearly, some people trust the medical profession and not our shambolic Government. My camera bag has a stash of masks as we’re expected to wear them in Germany – and sensibly so.
Christ on a bike – are we really into July already? Where the hell has the year gone? I’ve so much to fit in yet half of 2022 is already history! I’ve been remiss with blogging recently because of trying to catch up with the past (such as slide scanning) and also planning for the future – but expect a few rolling blogs over the next week. After the fantastic Nile Rodgers and Chic concert the other week a band of us are off to see Paloma Faith at the same venue tomorrow.
On Sunday I’ll be heading South as I’m flying out to Hannover from Heathrow on Monday morning as part of a Siemens press trip. There’ll be plenty to write about between then and when I get back to the UK on Tuesday – and there’s still the journey back to Yorkshire. Expect some fun!
In the interim, I’m hoping to be able to edit some of the old slides that I’ve been scanning – such as this one, which I took in Calcutta (now Kolkata) India in February 1998. I first went to Calcutta in 1992 and I fell in love with it straight away. It’s Marmite, you love it or hate it and many Westerners simply can’t cope with it, but I find it a fascinating city.
Kolkata has two Indian lasts. It’s the last place you’ll find rickshaws like this, pulled by human muscle-power – and it’s the last place in India where you’ll find trams (but that’s another story).
Many Westerners are reluctant to use these rickshaws as they see it as demeaning. The problem with that attitude is that it doesn’t help these guys earn a living and keep their families. It’s something I learned having spent a long time travelling in India. These people can’t afford your guilt. When I’m there I’d use them, not haggle too hard and then tip generously afterwards – and thank the Gods that by a pure accident of birth I’m not in their situation.
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I’ve escaped the Calder Valley today as it’s time for one of my regular perambulations to Milnesbridge in the nearby Colne valley. The weather forecast suggested today was going to be a wet one but the day dawned with a mixture of sunshine and cloud so I’m taking the risk and heading out early in order to explore on the way.
The first leg, strolling downhill to Sowerby Bridge was rather pleasant as the slight breeze stopped me overheating as I’m carrying the (slightly slimmed-down) camera bag today.
Whilst I was waiting for the train I had time to read some of the local history boards that line the platforms thanks to the efforts of the station friends and funding from Community Rail Network. This one in particular caught my eye. It’s the story of a local man who invented a product many of us are familiar with that was (and is) sold around the world. Meet Frederick Walton…
I love these history boards as they’re informative, educational and add to people’s understanding of an area.
Right now I’m on a 3-car Class 158, the 09:24 from Sowerby Bridge which is heading for Leeds via Brighouse. It’s a relatively quiet train that’s slowly filling up on the way.
10:25.
As usual, I swapped trains at Dewsbury to retrace some of my steps to Huddersfield. Whilst I was there I remembered the station commemorates two local men who were important in the modern digital revolution and computer age.
Right now I’m sipping a coffee having scoffed a bacon roll from the excellent station cafe. This will fortify me for my next leg. As I’ve so much time in the bank I’m going to eschew my normal route (walking along the canal from Slaithwaite to Milnsbride) and walk directly from Huddersfield, shadowing the railway to visit a couple of photographic locations en-route.
12:05.
I’m now high above Milnesbridge having walked from Huddersfield through a district called Paddock. I’ve not been that way since the pandemic and it’s rather depressing. So many shops and pubs closed their doors for the final time – although they didn’t know it at the time. The deadly combination of Covid and Brexit has proved fatal to so many businesses.
Right now I’m at a local landmark which offers stunning views.
12:45.
That last picture was taken atop the Longwood Tower. I’ve now descended, passed under the viaduct you see in the picture and climbed above it on the other side. Now it’s time for a break, rest and go off the grid for a while. Catch you later…
15:30.
My final visit to Milnesbridge (for now) over and done with I caught the bus back into Huddersfield before transferring to the train for a trip to Leeds. My Hull bound TPE service was the quietest I’ve been on for a while but then it was a 6-car! The earlier train I caught from Dewsbury was absolutely rammed Wwith people and suitcases, many of whom appeared to be heading for the train’s final destination – Manchester Airport.
15:50.
My trip to Leeds was interesting as some Network Rail compounds have sprung up as part of the forthcoming TRU (Transpennine Route Upgrade) including a large one at Batley which I need to visit. Leeds station was in the interregnum between rush-hours yet still contained plenty of people. I only hung around long enough to catch the first train out to the Aire valley and Bingley that I could. I’ve decided to pop in and join a group that (despite regular invitations) I’ve only managed to catch up with once before. ‘Wind Up North’ is a weekly meeting of present and former rail staff (and friends) that moves between different pubs in different towns. Today the rendezvous is the new pub/restaurant in the old stationmaster’s house at Bingley.
16:52.
Here we are…
The station building is just out of shot to the right and the railway in a cutting behind.
Sadly, as the rendezvous point only had one real ale pump working we adjourned to another fine establishment just down the road, the, Chip N Ern Ale House. which is where I took this shot of some of the gang..
21:35.
Tempting as it was I didn’t stay for more than a couple of pints as I’ve a busy few days ahead of me. Having travelled back by walking across Bradford city to connect via the two stations then walking home through Halifax I feel rather virtuous as the beer I had has certainly been burned off! I also managed to dodge the incoming rain which was fortunate. Now I’m looking at this sky out of the bedroom window.
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Today’s been another mixed bag here at Bigland Towers and one enlivened by having a four-legged friend for company again – even if this canine companion was only on loan for 24 hours!
Dawn was up bright and early as she decided it was her turn to take ‘Bernie’ out for a walk. The pair of them padded off long before breakfast and ahead of the rain clouds that threatened to put a damper on the day.
Absolved of such duties I stayed at home and brewed to coffee, ready for their return. I’d various work jobs on my ‘to do’ list as well as household chores so the day’s pretty much flown by. We bid goodbye to ‘Bernie’ this afternoon as her owner came to collect her. Shame – I could have got used to taking her for a walk via our local pub but that would only have got me into trouble! Still, I managed to get out for a stroll (sans dog, and pub) when the weather brightened up as I had some shopping to do in Sowerby Bridge as well as drop the latest old slide sales into the post.
The brightening evening weather gave me chance to sit and relax in the sunshine on our terrace and top up my Vitamin D before returning to the office in order to relaunch my slide scanning project. I never did manage to finish this during Covid and the reopening of the world’s meant that the final few 1000 pictures have had to take a backseat to other (paying) jobs. Now it’s a question of fitting in scanning around other things, but I wanted to get a load prepped ready to be able to fill in an hour or so if the weather turns.
Another things I’ve relaunched now that my monthly eBay quota is about to renew is selling off original rail slides that are duplicates of ones I’ve already scanned. Expect many hundreds to appear in July, but in the meantime here’s 130 to choose from.
OK, it’s getting late so onto today’s picture, which is one of the latest batch of old slides I’m scanning. This was taken in Chennai, Tamil Nadu India in February 1998. Lynn and I had taken the bus into Channai (Madras as was) for a day, swapping the beach at lovely Mahabalipuram for the frenetic pace of the city. Whilst we were waiting for the bust to depart on the return this group of street-children clambered aboard to hustle. Kids being kids, it wasn’t long before they broke off to play games!
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It’s been a ‘dolly mixture’ sort of day today due to a combination of factors. As it’s officially the day of rest both of us decided our day wouldn’t be starting at first light and enjoyed the fact we had no commitments until the afternoon – so we relaxed until late morning with coffee and various aspects of the world-wide web to catch up on all manner of things.
The indifferent weather was another good reason for not rushing. Whilst the mercury is certainly teasing the upper end of thermometers clouds were doing their best to make the day unpredictable. My relief was that the cementing of some stone steps I completed yesterday could be uncovered and left to cure as no rain was on its way. The simple pleasures in life, eh?
This afternoon we popped around to help a friend who’s got the mammoth task of clearing out another dearly departed friend’s house. It took us a couple of hours just to examine the stuff they’d hoarded. It’s sad in so many ways. You spend a lot of your life amassing collections of all sorts of stuff and then, when you die, it’s up to others to decide what to do with it. I’m glad that I’ve shaken off the collecting bug and now my life’s about downsizing rather than cluttering. As they say – you can’t take it with you – either when you’re travelling, or to the afterlife…
Afterwards we headed over to other friends as tonight we’re dog-sitting. It’s something we’d never have been able to do whilst we had our revered and ancient moggie (Jet) as he couldn’t tolerate other cats. A dog? There would have been hell to pay! But now we can, and ‘Bernie’, our friends cockapoo is getting used to our home for the night. She’s a lovely dog who seems quite relaxed about being with us for the for awhile. I took her out for a walk earlier which she loved as there’s so many unusual smells around here due to the combination of woodland and wildlife that surround us. I even took her to our local (dog friendly) pub which raised a few eyebrows as people aren’t used to me having a canine in tow. She was an instant hit!
Now we’re back at home, winding down ready for another busy week. So, for today’s picture, allow me to introduce you to ‘Bernie’…
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I had to laugh when I came across the latest missive on the HS2 ‘rebellion’ website! It’s a masterpiece of bluster and not understanding messaging. Allegedly, after 47 days, the protesters who’d hidden themselves away in tunnels no-one cared about have given up. Of course, they try and spin this as a ‘victory’ and add various lies, bombast and empty rhetoric to cover their tracks, but they’re so full of themselves they forget what the salient message is. Here’s the text of their failure.
Let’s cut through the crap and get straight to the points shall we? They’ve given up after 47 days, having achieved what, exactly? The answer is – nothing. This was never more than a publicity stunt. Their problem was – it didn’t attract any real publicity! The camp above the tunnel was swept away within 24 hours leaving the tunnellers isolated. The satellite camp didn’t last much longer, which meant the troglodytes in the tunnel couldn’t get any messages out, so no-one was interested. The days passed by and it became obvious the HS2 security teams and bailiffs weren’t going to risk anyone’s lives digging them out. Why should they? There was no rush to get them out. Why? Another serial failure (Mark Keir) gave it away in his puffery above. “Hs2 do not even plan to use this woodland until 2024”. So what was the point of this stupidity? These muppets were going to stay underground for the next 2 years? These were crude tunnels, not the bloody Maginot line!
This futile protest always had a sell-by date, but the tunnellers (in their isolation) had no idea that date expired almost as soon as they headed underground with no communication with the outside world.
As for their ‘great escape’, this will be a pyrrhic victory. They’re willfully in contempt of court – and the courts don’t take such persistent flouting of their authority lightly. There will be arrest warrants outstanding here and it’s only a matter of time before the law catches up with these hapless and hopeless people. They may have flattered their egos by claiming a pointless record in a pointless protest, but that’s potentially going to come at a very high price – and all for nothing….
Where does this leave the anti HS2 protests? Up sh*t creek without a paddle. They’ve no camps left and no way to try and attract media attention (their primary aim) and also no way of trying to mug people for money through crowdfunders. It’s clear that the further North they moved the less support they had – especially amongst friendly landowners. The anti HS2 heartlands were always on HS2 phase 1 and much closer to London where they could draw on a pool of young Extinction Rebellion supporters. Informed sources tell me that the rump of the protesters are likely to retreat South in the hope of finding succor. The obvious flaw in this ‘plan’ is that HS2 phase 1 construction is well underway so pretending you can stop it is a fool’s errand. Add in the fact that most of the original protesters have given up and either buggered off or signed affidavits to say they’ll stay away and it’s obvious where this is going to end.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I have to admit, the day’s started well. I woke up to the news that the Tories had been roundly thrashed in both of yesterday’s bye-elections. The result in Wakefield was expected, but the Lib-Dems trouncing Tries in one of their safest seats wasn’t. As expected, it’s set a few cats amongst pigeons. Admittedly, I doubt it will lead to Johnson’s resignation. After all, he’s a man with neither scruples nor honour. He’ll hand on to No10 by his fingernails until he’s dragged from there kicking and screaming. He’ll have to be ejected by his own party or the electorate. I must admit I find the idea that his own constituents might finish his political career rather appealing if it wasn’t for the damage the man and the incompetent pets he keeps as a Cabinet could do in the meantime. I doubt Johnson will stay in politics after he’s ejected (one way or another). His only interest in politics was to massage his ego and get the top job. He’ll never stay on as a backbencher. Why would he? He’ll be off, being looked after one of the people he’s enriched who’ll give him a well-paid sinecure somewhere (preferably where he can’t do any more damage).
Apart from that been a busy morning/afternoon here in Bigland Towers. I’ve been kept occupied editing all the pictures I’ve been taking these past few days and getting them on my other website. You can find the results here. That done, it was time to finish type-swiping my latest article for RAIL magazine in order to be able to take some time off this afternoon as the pair of us are joining up with friends to go to the Piece Hall in Halifax this evening see too Nile Rogers and Chic in concert.
There’s only one tiny problem…
It’s an open-air gig and we’ve already had one absolutely torrential downpour with the weather forecast predicting thunderstorms to follow ! Now the sun’s out, making for a very muggy day with the temperature at 19 degrees. This could be interesting.
This means this is going to be a two-part blog, with the actual picture of the day added later. When I decide what it’s going to be…
OK. Here’s the picture of the day. The Nial Rodgers concert at the Piece Hall was an absolute stonker. It’s easy to forget just how many great tunes the man has written for other artists. Tonight he reminded us.
I had a lovely evening yesterday as I was invited along to supper along with my old friend to meet some of the people whom he’d been to school with in Ireland. This impromptu alfresco meal was unexpected by very enjoyable and took me back to the days when Lynn and I would host such events in the garden of our home in Crouch End.
A late night wasn’t much of a problem as there was no need to be up at silly o’ clock because of the aftermath of the rail strikes. The tube didn’t start running until 08:00 and trains until after 07:30. The best way for me to start my trek to ‘Rail Live’ was to catch the 07:49 to Reading, avoiding central London entirely. Seeing Clapham Junction so quiet at 07:00 during the week was really strange. There would have been more services running during the pandemic! Still, I’m now on my way West, looking forward to todays events on what promises to be a scorcher weather-wise…
08:45.
The further West I head the more the railway wakes up. We’ve just left Bracknell where the station’s teeming with passengers heading for London. In contrast, my train, which was packed when it left Clapham, gets emptier and emptier! But then when this pair of 5-car Class 458s turn around at Reading it’ll be scooping up folk heading for the capital. I wonder how busy Reading station will be?
10:00.
My visit to Reading station was brief but I’m always impressed by the scale of the transformation. It’s unrecognisable as the place I first got to know in the 1970s. It’s grown in both stature and services and the facilities are a vast improvement on what they used to be. It shows what can be achieved with the right levels of investment.
Now I’m on one of GWRs Class 800s. Having sped across Brunel’s ‘billiard table’ along the Thames valley and called at Oxford we’re heading into the Cotswolds and my next stop – Honeybourne…
17:45.
Apologies for the gap in the blog but it’s been a very busy and a very sociable day. As soon as I stepped off the train at Honeybourne I started bumping into people I knew. This continued after getting off the shuttle train and entering the ‘Rail Live’ site. Often I couldn’t get more than 100 metres before meeting someone I knew – which was lovely after all that time in lockdown. Oh, add in the fact the on-site phone signal wasn’t the best and that were so many stands to visit, things to photograph and folk to chat to I gave up.
I’ll post some pictures later as right now I’m making my way back North, which is proving to be ‘intersting’. I left ‘Rail Live in plenty of time as I’d no idea how train services might pan out in practice. GWR from Honeybourne to Worcestershire Parkway was fine and on time. However, my connection was an Arriva Cross Country service from Cardiff to Nottingham as far as Birminham where I’d have 15 mins to Interchange. Great in theory until you see your trains left Cardiff I mins late and it’s dropping not gaining time.
It arrived 10 down which wasn’t too stressful as my interchange was cross-platform. Well, in the timetable anyway. But right now we’re wheezing our way in fits and starts up the Lickey incline.
1750.
We passed Barnt Green at the top of the Lickey 17 mins late, so it looks like I’ll be waving goodbye to my connection. I wouldn’t normally be too bothered if it wasn’t for the fact tomorrow’s a strike day…
19:45.
Ever been happy that a trains late? I was. Not because my internal service was as it knackered any hope of a cross-platform Interchange. But the fact my following train was 5 down allowed me to make my connection despite an escalator scramble! I’m currently sat on a Cross-Country service heading for Edinburgh, which means I can get home to Yorkshire at least! The journey’s been lovely, despite the train being busy. I managed to blag a table seat after Derby which has given me a panoramic view of a gorgeous evening.
23:00.
OK, I’m home and it’s time to end today’s blog. I’ve a busy few days ahead of me and lots of pictures to edit. I’ll leave you with a taster from ‘Rail Live’. Here’s a selection of the new CAF built ‘civity’ trains for the West Midlands in store before before they enter service sometime in 2022.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I’m at Huddersfield en-route to London on the first day of the biggest rail strike the country has seen for 30 years. This normally busy station’s pretty deserted. There’s two Trans-Pennine express trains an hour running. One to Manchester and one to York. The 09:07 all stations Eastbound service had lots of people waiting for at although when the 6 car train arrived it was pretty empty.
Meanwhile, outside, the RMT union’s maintaining a large presence on its picket line.
Members of the RMT backed by other trade unionists including members of UNITE.
10:05.
Whilst Eastbound services were busy, far fewer were using trains in the Manchester direction. I’m currently in the front car of the 09:32 Huddersfield- Manchester Piccadilly. It’s clear most folk have heeded the stay away message.
10:55.
Manchester Piccadilly was a quiet as you’d expect with so few services running. The only new faces were a couple of camera crews who were filming reports on the strike. Arrive Cross-Country services were still running, along with Avanti West Coast. I’m currently aboard their 10:45 departure to London Euston with the first stop being Crewe. There’s plenty of room.
Pick a seat…
I’m in coach U along with four other people. The reduced service isn’t just the number of trains. The Train Manager’s announced there’s no food service in 1st Class and the shop is closed too – good job I decided to pack some sandwiches! I’ll have a walk-through later to see how full the train gets but right now it’s time to set up the mobile office and get some writing done.
11:15.
We’ve crawled our way to Crewe at reduced speed (for whatever reason) where I counted a grand total of eight people waiting for this 11 car Pendolino. Just before we arrived a member of Avanti staff cam through the train dishing out free bottles of water, which was a nice gesture. From what I can see, Crewe station’s deserted – apart from the bay platforms which are full of trains going nowhere.
11:30.
We’re well South of Crewe now and hitting line-speed as the Pendolino gets into its stride. I have to admit, it’s been a trouble-free journey so far. The rail staff who are on duty (and there’s lots of them) are unfailingly cheerful and helpful. The pickets I met at Huddersfield were hardly the frothing mouthed ‘Marxists’ trying to bring down the Government as some sections of the media seem to be trying to make out. They were ordinary rail workers concerned about their pay and conditions during a period when we have a Government that that has neither a plan nor a clue what to do about anything other than keep Johnson in power.
12:55.
Despite stopping at Stafford and Milton Keynes we only picked up a few dozen more people. There’s four young lads in my coach who got on at Stafford, but those are the only extra punters in my car. It feels strange to pass so few trains on the West Coast Main Line but now we’re South of Watford at least we have the London Overground (which is running a near normal service) for company.
13:20.
We arrived into Euston 20 minutes early which was hardly surprising considering the amount of slack in the emergency timetable. I held back to count my fellow passengers as they disembarked. 6 from 1st Class and approximately 80 from Standard. From a train that can hold what? 550?
Euston station wasn’t as quiet as I imagined it might be. TV crews were on station on the mezzanine floor but spart from that everything seemed normal, just subdued.
Once you wander outside you realise another reason the place is so quiet. The London Underground’s also on strike, so many people couldn’t get to/from Euston even if they wanted to!
16:00.
After walking along to St Pancras and Kings Cross to bag a few more pictures – including some colourful RMT flagbearers outside St Pancras – I decided to walk across central London to Waterloo and explore some old haunts on the way. After all, it’s perfect weather for exploring and the city’s quiet. This city was my home for nearly 25 years and I have to admit I miss it – especially on days like this.
18:25.
And relax! I’m now relaxing in Clapham after an interesting day. The journey from Waterloo was painless as the 8-car train I caught had lots of seats available. In fact, the concourse at Waterloo reminded me of how it looked during the pandemic.
My travels are over for today but tomorrow I leave London to head to ‘Rail Live’ and onwards back to Yorkshire. Let’s see how quickly the railways bounce back from the strike…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
It’s late. The debate has gone on for many hours and there’s been some interesting interventions (and some batshit ones too) but finally, the votes were cast at 21:40 tonight. The Phase 2B Hybrid bill has passed 2nd reading by…205 votes to 6! (link).
I’ll write about this in more detail later (when Hansard publishes the transcripts) but it was a many faceted debate. It was clear from the off that the opponents of HS2 (well, the few that are left) had nothing new to say and the MP for Tatton, Esther McVacant set the bar low with her speech which could be best described as ‘batshit’. The Tory MP for Buckingham, Greg Smith, wasn’t much better. He’s a Brexiter and climate changer denier who’s keeping a seat warm on the Transport Select Committee – which is a complete waste of time as it’s clear that despite all the expert witnesses he’s listened to – he’s never learned a thing. Add in Bill Cash MP and Philip Davies, the MP for Shipley and you could see why the anti HS2 camp were in trouble. If these were their ‘big guns’ then it was obvious they were firing blanks!
Worse was to follow when it became clear that some of the MPs who were celebrating the dropping of the Golborne link were actually still in favour of HS2! I suspect the schizophrenia of their position will come back to haunt them as the Govt made it clear they’re still committed to improving rail links to Scotland (and there’s not many routes that line can take).
What was clear was that HS2 still maintains massive cross-party support. Of course there was the usual party-political point-scoring but even so, there was a lot of unanimity – especially amongst Manchester MPs who’re not going to stop agitating for an underground station in the city. It was the same with North Wales corridor MPs, one of whom made a very good speech about maximising the benefits of HS2 by electrifying the North Wales Coast line.
All in all it was an interesting debate as it was clear the opponents of HS2 were maginalised and they knew it.
Here’s the list of those whom voted against HS2. Can you guess what else it is that links many of them together? I’ll reveal it in my expanded blog.
As I’ve been saying for sometime now – stop HS2 is dead…
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