Footloose…

25 Wednesday Jul 2018

Posted by in ACoRP, I love my job, Scotland, Travel

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Sorry for the lack of a blog yesterday. It’s not that I wasn’t doing anything. Far from it – I ended up following the sunshine to Blackpool (of all places) to try and get pictures for two different clients. You’ll see some of the fruits of my labours on my website just as soon as I can upload them. Today I’ve been in Sconny Botland again, with the same sort of mission. The weather was far better than the forecast predicted. I ended up walking miles to research some locations so I’ve had a pretty good physical workout as well as getting pictures. Right now i’m coming full circle. I went from Halifax to Preston to Glasgow via the WCML before checking out locations on EGIP (Edinburgh- Glasgow Electrification Programne). Now I’m returning via the East Coast and York (plus Leeds).

Here’s what the view at Berwick looked like.

It’s funny the places you (unintentionally) end up in this game. After getting some lineside shots I was walking back to the road and spotted this. I’d never even heard of the event before now.

There’s an irony to this today as earlier a UKIP MEP and Brexit zealot called for the treason laws to be revised so that wanting to remain in the EU would be classed as treasonable!

bannerman

This is how far some folk in the UK have completely lost the plot.

Right, bedtime for me now. It’s been a long and sweaty day where my Fitbit stats don’t really reflect what I’ve been up to as they don’t account for the weight of my camera bag!

fitbit

Tomorrow I’m off judging stations tomorrow, but expect a big photo update by the end of the day, Meanwhile, here’s a teaser. The new Hitachi Class 385s have finally gone into service this week.

DG303661

More on the Gilligoon fake furore…

23 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by in Hs2, Rail Investment, StopHs2

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Predictably, yesterday’s story (for that’s what it was) in the Sunday Times has caused the usual predictable outcry from Hs2 antis that the project should be cancelled. Equally predictably, non of them have bothered looking at the timeline of events (including a general election) that demonstrate this was never going to happen.

Not only that, but no-one’s bothered looking at the latest IPA Annual Report on Major Projects for 2017-18. Because if they had they’d have realised how Gilligan’s story focussing as it does on an outdated report really is today’s chip paper.

Firstly, let’s remind ourselves what the DCA ratings system is.

DCA ratings

The IPA report looks at several rail projects, not just HS2. These are;

Crossrail (moved from Green to Amber)

Thameslink (moved from Green to Amber)

Midland Mainline programme (remains on Amber)

Hs2 (remains on Amber/Red)

Great Western route modernisation (remains on Amber/Red)

North of England programme (remains on Amber/Red)

East-West rail (remains on Amber/Red)

Southwest route capacity (remains on Amber/Red)

Rail franchising programme (moves from Amber to Amber/Red)

Intercity Express Programme (moves from Amber to Red)

Eh? Hold on, the IEP programme, which is delivering new Hitachi built trains every week to GWR and soon to LNER ‘appears to be ‘unachievable’? Tell that to the passengers who’re riding on those trains!

DG302957. 800304. Bristol Temple Meads. 18.7.18

One of the ‘unachievable’ IEP programme trains (left) alongside one of the venerable HSTs they’re replacing, seen at Bristol Temple Meads earlier this month.

Of course, sensible, pragmatic people will take the IPA report for what it is, a guide, not gospel. But that’s not the anti Hs2 mob, obviously! The truth is, Hs2 has remained at Amber/Red now for several years. Looking back at the programme’s progress and timescale I doubt it will move from that for several more years (despite what then Transport Minister Patrick McLoughlin once claimed) especially as there’s still the final Phase 2b Hybrid Bill to make its way through Parliament.  Then there’s the construction contracts to be let for phases 2a and 2b. What is interesting is that despite all the claims from those opposing Hs2, the project’s never moved into the red category – which (if all the scaremongering over increased costs was true) you’d have expected it to.

Meanwhile, progress on Hs2 continues. On a project of such a vast scale there’s bound to be bumps along the road, but what’s clear is that those bumps are being ironed out. The next couple of years will be exciting times for the project. Away from all the hype and hyperbole, work continues every day, preparing the ground for the main civils work on phase 1 to start (just have a look around the Euston area to see that). In Parliament the Phase 2a Hybrid Bill Committee are making steady progress. There’s a complete absence of anti Hs2 groups gumming up proceedings this time as Hs2aa has folded and StopHs2 don’t even get a look-in. The Phase 2a bill is expected to get Royal Assent by the end of 2019, then we move on to the final Phase 2b bill. The project still maintains cross-party support, so there’s nothing to stop Hs2. There’s no national anti Hs2 campaign anymore, so barring a major political earthquake, the project’s unstoppable.

 

 

 

 

More anti Hs2 Gilligoonery in the Times today

22 Sunday Jul 2018

Posted by in Andrew Gilligan, Hs2, StopHs2

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Today’s Sunday Times carries yet another attempt at a hatchet job on Hs2 by one Andrew ‘transcription error’ Gilligan, a man who’s churned out stuff trying to discredit Hs2 as long as the project’s been going. Of course, none of his fanciful claims have come to pass, but that’s never stopped either him, or the gullibility of Hs2 anti’s who continue to grasp at every straw he throws them.

The latest stuff is that Gilligoon has supposedly been passed a copy of a report, dated December 2016, written by Paul Mansell, an IPA adviser embedded full-time in HS2. As usual, we have to take Gilligoon’s word for this and what its contents say as none of the report is reproduced in his article. Instead, we have to rely on snippets written in quotation marks. Such as,

“The assessment describes the scheme as “fundamentally flawed”, in a “precarious position”. And, the project is “highly likely” to go as much as 60% over budget and cost “more than £80bn”

So, it’s the usual cut and paste job by Gilligoon, where we have to rely on the great man’s reputation for accuracy and integrity. At least (for once), his article doesn’t use the standard lazy journalists phrase and claim that the report is ‘damning’.

The rest of the article is the usual mish-mash of previously reported speculation that’s been added to pad it out and try and make it seem more than it is. So, we get a repetition of the ConHome kite flying that Michael Gove’s been canvassing opinions that if he becomes PM, scrapping Hs2 would be a vote winner – ignoring the fact Gove’s just as  likely to end up in prison for his role in the vote Leave illegality as he is in No 10!

We also get treated to recycling the story that Hs2’s land purchase costs are billions over budget and – just for good measure – the story that Michael Byng has calculated that Hs2 will cost north of £100bn.

So, it’s the usual speculative numbers bullshit bingo! For years we’ve had Hs2 antis throw around invented numbers, each one more fanciful than the last. We’ve had £60, 80, 100, 123, 150 and even £200bn presented as the ‘true cost’ of Hs2 over the past 9 years!

Meanwhile, what’s happened in the real world since this report is meant to have been written (December 2016)? Here’s a timeline.

23 February 2017: Hs2 phase 1 gets Royal Assent.

8th June 2017: A general election. The one where ConHome tried to pretend that the Tories were serious about dropping Hs2!

17th July 2017: £6.6bn of Hs2 construction contracts were let. On the same day the Bill for hs2 Phase 2a was introduced into Parliament.

30th January 2018: The phase 2a bill passes 2nd reading with a massive majority of 295 to 12. The bill is now proceeding through Parliament.

Looking at events since December 2016 it’s clear that the Government has had several opportunities to pull the plug on Hs2. They haven’t. But hey, why let facts get in the way? Andrew Gilligan never has!

 

 

Homeward bound…

20 Friday Jul 2018

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I’ve had little time for blogging today as it’s been a hectic one that’s coveted a lot of ground. So, no change there then! We started off in London, ended up in Angmering (then Brighton) before Paul Cook and I went our seperate ways. I hung around to get a few pictures, before sampling the new Gatwick Express stock to get back to London. Back in the capital I headed up the West Coast main line on a poorly Pendolino where the tilt had failed, which meant that I missed my connection in Manchester. Plan B meant I rushed across town by foot (having just avoided a downpour) to get a train from Victoria to Halifax. I’m now on a rather scruffy ex-Scotrail Class 158.

Correction: I was when was writing the last few paragraphs. Right now I’m at Halifax station, trying to remember what this wet stuff is on the road outside. Wait a minute, I remember – it’s rain!

Now that I’m home for the weekend I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging much. I’ve a huge backlog of pictures to deal with and I suspect the missus might have some other plans in mind for me too…

Rolling blog: Westward ho!

18 Wednesday Jul 2018

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I’m wearing my ACoRP judges hat again today and heading down to Devon before pitching up in London later.

The day started early and my walk down to Sowerby Bridge station was noticeably colder as the weather’s really cooled compared to temperatures of late. That said, the rain that’s finally arrived has been a Godsend for gardeners and farmers, who’ve really been struggling because of the lack of rainfall.

My first leg of the journey was to Manchester Victoria, then a brisk hike across town to Piccadilly. The city was just beginning to wake up. Commuters were flooding in and the dozens of homeless people who ‘live’ in shop doorways around the centre were also stirring. It’s so sad to see how many of them there are now. A decade of austerity and an increasingly callous Government has increased their numbers dramatically. Now with the depressing fiascos in Parliament and the increasing likelihood of us crashing out of the EU without a deal in a ‘hard Brexit’ scenario I fear we’re going to see even more people begging on the streets. The country’s heading for the political and economic abyss and no-one seems bothered. I’m beginning to understand how educated German’s must have felt in the 1930s…

As I’d left earlier than planned I just managed to catch the 08:27 Cross-country service from Picadilly. It’s a peak train, so whilst it was busy it wasn’t overly so. As soon as we pulled away the TM did a ticket check and caught a group of lads trying to wing it to Totnes on off-peak tickets. They were given the option of paying the £150 difference or get off at Stockport and wait. They (reluctantly) chose to get off!

I used to do this trip fairly regularly. Manchester to Birmingham takes 91 minutes. When you consider this is two of our major cities we’re talking about, that’s pretty slow and that’s reflected in rails tiny market share. Once Hs2 phase 2b opens in 2033, 91 minutes will be reduced to 40 and the trains will be far superior to Cross-country Voyagers! Mind you, Leeds to Brum will see a masdive improvement too, meaning I’m more likely to use that route and save the schlep across the Pennines. Times wil reduce from 1 hour 58 minutes to just 49! It’s slashex journey times like these Hs2 anti’s always ignore in favour of their old canard that only 20 mins is knocked off Euston – Birmingham (that was always a lie as it will be 35).

As I write this we’re trundling through the Wolves-Brum corridor, so I’m going to break off and pack up my kit. I’ll blog again after Birmingham.

10:23

I’ve just left Birmingham on Cross-country’s 10:17 to Plymouth. There wasn’t much chance to mooch around as I only had 20 minutes between trains. I have to admit, the city’s grown on me over the years. Like Manchester, the centre’s a refuge for far too many homeless people (a disgraceful state of affairs in such a developed nation) but there’s been a new confidence in the city in recent years and a lot of investement. It’s heartbreaking to see all that being jeapordised on the altar of blind political dogma.

My train westward’s a packed 4-car Voyager (220020 for the number crunchers) with hardly a spare seat already. After decades of passenger growth, 4 car trains on long-distance services like these really aren’t fit for purpose. When the cross-country franchise comes up for reletting I’ll be very interested to see what the successful bidder intends to do to replace them…

13:08.

After a break at Bristol I’ve met up with Paul my fellow judge and swapped my Voyager for a Cross-country HST to Exeter. I’d not been to Bristol since GWR cascaded the ‘Thames Turbo’ Class 166s to the area, so my stopover allowed me to get some new library shots.

Now we’re bowling across the Somerset levels in style.

20:00

The day’s moved on. We’re now on Brunel’s ‘billiard table’ East of Swindon. The judging visit went well and we met a group who’d never entered the awards before. Afterwards, we had time for chips and mushy peas by the seaside. Well, it would have been rude not to!

Oddly, our direct train to London from Exeter eschewed the Berks and Hants route via Newbury. Instead it passed through (non-stop) both Bristol Temple Meads and Parkway as the first stop was Swindon. I’m obviously out of touch with developments here nowadays, but then my excuse is that I can’t be everywhere all the time!

Rolling blog: North of the Border (down Glasgow way).

17 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by in Railways, Rolling blogs, Scotland, Travel, Virgin West Coast

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I’m currently heading up to Scotland as part of a recce for a job and to get some library pictures. Only to say that it’s all going a bit pear-shaped is an understatement!

The trip started well. My train from Sowerby Bridge to Preston was worked by a pair of ex-GWR Class 153s and I had no trouble securing a table on which to set up my laptop and do some work en-route. The ex-GWR units are comfortable enough and the journey flew. At Preston I managed to race across platforms to catch the 09:41 Virgin service to Glasgow. Congratulating myself on making the connection I looked for somewhere to sit and found the train was only around 30% full, making it easy to get a seat with a table and power socket in Coach C. I even treated myself to a ‘meal deal’ for £5.50 as I hadn’t had time to have breakfast. To catch up on some work I bought myself the £10 for 7 days wifi access, but I have to say the speeds are a bit pedestrian. The wifi was good when it was first introduced, but now that the world and his wife’s carrying a gizmo that can connect to it, it’s far too overloaded, and sloooowww…

Bowling North through under some turbulent skies everything was fine until we got to Carlisle where we sat, and sat and sat. Eventually the Train Manager came on the PA (apologised for not having done earlier) and explained a combination of a fault on the train and a signalling problem had delayed us by 25 minutes. Finally, we were on the move and I enjoyed watching the Scottish borderlands fly by and the weather improve. Then we came to a halt outside Carstairs…

Very quickly the Train Manager was back on the PA. You could hear the pain in his voice as he explained that there was another signalling fault ahead and that we were expected to be delayed by another 30 minutes. His apologies were profuse.

So here we sit. It’s 12.20. I should have been in Glasgow 21 minutes ago…

12:22.

We’re on the move, but how far? As we crawl closer to Carstairs I can see another Pendolino slowly rounding the curve from the station towards Edinburgh. We’ve passed another heading South in the station and now we’re free and accelerating to line-speed. Phew!

19:26.

Well, I made it to Glasgow and hour late, which rather cut down on what I was planning to do as this was a flying visit after all. Still, I did get chance to have a look at the work that’s being done to improve Glasgow Queen St – which really has made a  huge difference to how it looks. The awful 1960’s buildings that boxed it in have been demolished, so now it’s possible to appreciate the span of the roof – in the same process that’s made such a huge difference to Liverpool Lime St station.

DG302862

Goodbye to all that…The arch of Glasgow Queen St emerges from the ruins. Note the North British lettering on the building in the background

I also managed a quick trip on a ‘happy train’, which is the nickname given to the Class 365 EMUs that are on short term lease to Scotrail whilst the technical issues with Hitachi’s new EMU’s are sorted out. I’m a fan of the 365 as I used them all the time when I lived in London. To my mind they’re the best of the BR built EMUs. I was impressed with their performance in Scotland as I took one as far as Falkirk High. They go like stink! On the return I travelled on a modern Siemens Class 380. The passenger ambience is better as they have a/c, plug sockets and bigger tables, but the acceleration was little different.

DG302886. 365509. 365537. Falkirk High. 17.7.18

Ex-GTR Class 365 ‘happy trains’ No’s 365537 and 365509 call at Falkirk High whilst working a service from Glasgow to Edinburgh

Now I’m heading back South on the 17:40 Pendolino. I’d loved to have stayed in Scotland longer but I’m back on ACoRP judging duty for the next three days and I’ve got to get home and back as I’m off to Dawlish in the morning!

20:24

I’m kicking my heels in Preston waiting for my connection, so there’s time to use the wifi and upload a few pictures. I’m kicking myself as it’s been a beautiful evening which would have been ideal for some lineside pictures, but I’ve no time to spare…

 

A classic own goal from Stophs2!

17 Tuesday Jul 2018

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, StopHs2, Uncategorized

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I can’t think of when I last blogged about the Stop Hs2 campaign. Mainly because there’s nothing going on! There’s no active national campaign anymore, just a few local groups, most of which are moribund. Stop Hs2 (otherwise know as Joe Rukin and Penny Gaines) are a complete waste of space. Their ‘campaign’ consists of increasingly rare posts to their website, or the occaisional moan about Hs2 on Twitter and, err – that’s it. They’ve gone from proactive to reactive, swapping campaigning to stop Hs2 to nothing more than moaning about Hs2 (and railways in general). Not that they get much reaction. Officially, they’ve over 6,000 followers on Twitter, but it’s painfully obvious many of those accounts are defunct (or bots) as the retweet & response rathe is tiny. They’re lucky if to get a couple of dozen retweets or responses.

Until now…

Stupidly, one of the pair decided to make disparaging remarks about the fans of singer Harry Styles, who’ve been using the #hs2 hashtag to discuss the name of the artists second album. StopHs2 made the cardinal error of thinking the hashtag was somehow their property and posted a patronising response!

stophs2 styles

The reaction (understandably) was predictable. StopHs2 were schooled on politeness and how fanbases are international!

styles 1

styles 2

Some UK folk enjoyed StopHs2’s own goal…

styles 3

So, Stophs2 finally manage to make an impact on Twitter – and it leaves them with egg on their faces around the world!

Calder Valley rail improvements

16 Monday Jul 2018

Posted by in Rail Investment, Railways, West Yorkshire

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There’s not much of a blog today, despite me being out and about. A combination of poor weather and the need to sort out some bids for work has kept me otherwise occupied. That said, I did stop off at Hebden Bridge on the way home to get some pictures of the work to extend the length of both platforms. I have  to say, it’s been speedy. In the space of a few weeks the work’s got as far as this.

DG302806. Platform extensions. Hebden Bridge. 16.7.18

The Leeds bound platform with much of the side of the new platform in place, including the stone facing which will disguise the concrete structure, allowing the new to blend with the old.

DG302818. Platform extensions. Hebden Bridge. 16.7.18

Another view of the same platform extension, this time showing the cable runs inside.

DG302811

150204 passes the footings of the extension to the Manchester bound platform at Hebden Bridge

Tomorrow I’ll be heading North of the border, so expect another rolling blog…

 

Rolling blog: Northbound

15 Sunday Jul 2018

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What a stunning day for travelling! The weekend weather in Surrey’s been superb. Yesterday’s Tilford fete was a ball, but now it’s time for me to leave Dawn & the rest of the Platt family behind and begin the trek North – whilst doing a bit of work on the way.

Right now I’m on the 12:30 from Farnham to Waterloo which is a busy four-car Desiro. The air-conditioning is welcome. The teenage lad sat opposite, gossiping about his mates relationships on his mobile phone less so. I feel like i’ve been press-ganged into taking part in a Surrey soap!

The weather was so good I opted to stop off in Woking to get a few pictures to top up the library. Last time I was there was in in 2010 after giving a picture show to a local group. The shots I got afterwards appeared in a number of magazines but the weather was nowhere near as good as today. mind you, the skylines changed a bit too. Here’s a couple of shots from today.

DG302664. 66955. Woking. 15.7.18

Freightliner’s 66955 pulls away from Woking with a Romsey to Eastleigh engineers train that had been recessed in the yard.

DG302678

450085 leads a sister unit out of Woking on the road to Guildford.

I stayed for an hour then headed on in to London before wending my way North. I had planned to stop off again but the closer I got to home the more the clouds rolled in, so I called it a day and headed home.

There’s always tomorrow…