Rolling blog. Positional move…

17 Tuesday Oct 2023

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

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Today I’m travelling from Halifax to Swindon where I’ll be spending the night in a hotel ready for a commission tomorrow. In railway terms it’s known as a positional move.

Right now I’m on an LNER ‘Azuma’ from Leeds to London, having travelled to Yorkshire’s most bustling city on a busy 3-car Northern service via Bradford.

800102 working the 10:45 from Leeds to Kings Cross.

11:20.

We’re currently at Doncaster, waiting for the road South. This train’s fairly quiet so I’ve bagged a table bay to myself in coach C as most people never venture towards the back of the train. There may be a storm on the way and tomorrow’s job (outdoors) may get ‘interesting’ but here in Yorkshire we’ve high cloud and hazy sunshine. I’m hoping to be able to garner some library shots on my way but as I’m loaded down with a suitcase with all my PPE I’m not going to be venturing far from stations en-route.

Right now there’s time to settle down and do some work – as well as catch up with the latest copy of RAIL magazine which includes my article on HS2 and the bridge over the route near Aylesbury.

12:20.

With the train having called at Peterborough (and stood to time as we were four minutes early) my coach has filled out a bit with a mixture of American tourists, students and what look like day-trippers, all heading for the capital. The weather’s continuing to improve the further I head South. We’ve clear blue skies and cottonwool clouds with long periods of sunshine. Long may that continue! Right now we’re speeding across the Cambridgeshire flatlands ahead of time yet again.

There’s an interesting contrast in this coach. The party of middle-aged and younger Americans are sat chatting. I can’t see them as they’re sat behind me, but I can hear them. In the table bay opposite are three women students. There’s not a word being spoken. One’s sat there with headphones on, staring at her smartphone. Of the pair opposite her one’s on her phone whilst the other has it on the table in front of her as she gazes out of the window.

13:35.

My visit to the capital was brief. I didn’t hang around at Kings Cross because it’s a regular haunt so I immediately headed for the Underground

I decided to cut time short when I arrived at Paddington and saw how devoid of trains it was and how many services were shown as delayed. That was a shame as I rarely visit nowadays but there’s little to shoot in an empty station! In contrast trip across London on the underground was quick and easy. I only had a couple of minutes to wait at Kings Cross St Pancras before a Metropolitan line train arrived to whisk me away.

Comfortable but uncrowded conditions on the Met…

Right now i’m on the 13:31 hrading for Cheltenham Spa as it was the first available train I can use to get as far as Reading

17:25.

I’ve made it to Swindon via a few stopovers on the way, including one at Didcot where I came across evidence of another terminally stupid and short-sighted Tory transport decision. The line from Didcot to Oxford was being electrified when then Transport Minister Crhis (failing) Grayling cancelled the project. Contractors literally walked away from the sceme when it was half-completed, wasting £ms of pounds. Sound familiar? Yep, it’s the usual dither and delay we’ve come to expect from this rotton government. Here’s the legacy. Electric services from Paddington terminate here with a diesel shuttle to Oxford. Madness.

Right, it’s time for me to go to work and meet the good folks from the Permenant Way Institute who are here for their two day practical course which I’ll be shadowing.

22:00.

This blog’s no longer rolling! It’s time for me to call it a day and prepare for tomorrow as I’ve a busy day ahead. Breakfast kicks off at 06:30 before we head over to the training centre to don our PPE and for the students to get experience of what it’s like actually building and installing overhead electrification trackside. There’s a great bunch of participants from all areas of the rail industry so I’m really looking forward to the challenge of getting the pictures needed – despite the weather.

In the meantime, I’ll leave you with on last picture from the day. This is how electrified Thames valley services look nowadays with the diesels displaced and sent to Bristol and beyond. Here’s a Paddington – Didcot service calling at Twyford earlier this afternoon.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

HS2 and the ‘Disintegrated not-a-plan’ aka ‘Notwork North’. A history of Tory dither and incompetence.

16 Monday Oct 2023

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Railways, Rishi Sunak

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November 2021 brought us, after a long wait, the Integrated Rail Plan (IRP). Less than two years later, it has been blown away by something that is quite the opposite – something that is not integrated, and not all about rail, although if ‘Plan’ means a hastily compiled wish list of things that ought to happen anyway, a Plan it might be.

Of course, there’s two gargantuan holes in this ‘plan’. The £36bn ‘saved’ by scrapping HS2 North of Birmingham doesn’t actually exist as it hasn’t been borrowed yet, and many of the items on the list will fall foul of the footnote hidden away at the bottom of page 24. Few, if any of them are likely to pass the business case test.

The howlers in this Disintegrated Not-a-Plan (DNP), such as promising to build tram routes that opened years ago, have caught attention, but the elephant in the room has escaped comment – despite it being a £12 billion elephant, a third of the promised total spend of £36 billion. That elephant is that, having cancelled HS2 Phase 2 into Manchester, and the new approach from the West that HS2 would have built for Northern Powerhouse Rail (NPR) trains from Liverpool to share, £12 billion has had to be ‘protected’ for NPR to build an approach all on its own, without the benefit of HS2 trains to share it. Of course if NPR does that, a big lump of cost drops out of HS2 Phase 2b, which will overnight appear a much sounder investment.

It had also been proposed that NPR would take over HS2’s proposed Birmingham – Manchester services, and extend them to Leeds to make up for loss of the dedicated HS2 route via the East Midlands. This however becomes impossible without HS2 Phase 2b to Crewe and Phase 2a from Crewe to Birmingham, as there is no way on Earth that the existing lines have the capacity for those extra trains, particularly at the key bottleneck of Stafford.

Other elements of the IRP, less than two years old, are blown out of the water. The IRP carefully explained how truncating HS2’s Leeds/York line at a disused power station near Loughborough, and taking trains into Nottingham on existing lines, would release more capacity on the Midland Main Line for better interurban and local services that HS2’s dedicated route would have done. That never struck me as plausible, but now the DNP claims that the its predecessor IRP would have led to worse services at stations such as Leicester, Market Harborough and Kettering. No such nicety as evidence is produced to show why the DfT, the specifier of train services, would specify a worsening of services, nor any suggestion as to how the DNP would improve them (spoiler alert – it won’t), let alone improve connectivity between the South Midlands and Yorkshire and the North East in the way that HS2’s original plan would have done.

The IRP explained in great detail why Bradford should not have a new station on a TransPennine high speed line; now apparently that is essential, to the tune of £2 billion. Now I don’t mind at all if Bradford does have a high speed station after all, it’s only down the road from me in Halifax, but what has changed since the IRP to make what was once impossible so essential now?

Turning to other things that the DNP does propose, about £8 billion is apparently going to be spent on mending potholes. But if local authorities were properly funded, the potholes wouldn’t need mending in the first place, as mending of potholes is not a one-off job but an ongoing commitment. So where is the next tranche of pothole-mending funding going to come from – you can only cancel HS2 once! Weirdly this part of the DNP admits that the government is going to do a most un-Conservative thing in borrowing so as to fund revenue expenditure. It’s almost as mad as Liz Truss borrowing £bns to fund tax cuts for the rich.

One very good thing in the DNP is a promise to upgrade junctions north of Ely, downgraded from proper junctions to single-lead connections by Network SouthEast, but now part of the Felixstowe – Nuneaton freight artery. In fact it is so good a thing to increase freight capacity from the East Coast Ports that one wonders why it has been so long coming. But where are those freight trains going after Ely? If running via Nuneaton and the West Coast Main Line to the North West and Scotland, they will simply run into the same congestion one the route via Stafford that Phase 2a of HS2 was meant to relieve by taking non-stop InterCity trains onto their own line.

But the position of the DNP on running HS2 to Euston instead of tipping all passengers out in Zone 2 makes quantum mechanics look simple! In the Prime Minister’s speech to his conference, Euston seemed safe. But subsequent reports suggested that the tunnels from Old Oak and the station itself would only be built if private funding could be found for 10,000 houses with a station on the side. Then Tweets sorry Xs from the Treasury, normally the villain of such pieces, were unequivocal that Euston would be built. As it should be, because to be blunt, without it the £44 billion or so now being invested in Phase 1 of HS2 has no significant value; with Euston, it has.

But what isn’t in the DNP? Nearly everything that matters if you want a step-change in rail capacity in the North. What’s the biggest problem today? Stations, and Manchester Piccadilly and Leeds in particular, both of which eke out capacity by putting two or even three trains into the same platform. This is operationally fragile as well as confusing for passengers, and if you lengthen trains to provide more seats, becomes impossible. By removing the London trains into their own station, HS2 would have freed two platforms at Piccadilly for local services to become at the very least more reliable, , and ultimately more numerous.

A Pendolino arrives at Manchester Piccadilly on the 11th July 2023. Without the new HS2 station (which would be built to the left of the picture) this battered and congested station throat is all the capacity there is.

Is an obscure and shadowy process in a Manchester hotel room really how to decide to spend £36 billion of investment capital?

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

15th October picture of the day…

15 Sunday Oct 2023

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Politics, Travel

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You’ll have to forgive me, as I’m having a pensive and thoughtful day so this blog is going to be hard to write. After all, humanity’s world’s not exactly going well right now, is it? I sometimes wonder how much better the planet would be if we hadn’t crawled out of the primordial swamp, grown feet then opposing thumbs and ‘developed’ into homo-sapiens as we seem hell-bent on destroying both ourselves and the planet. For an animal with such a huge brain-pan we can be incredibly dumb.

Right now I’m looking around at what’s happening in the Ukraine and also Palestine and Israel and wondering ‘what the fcuk’? Our capacity for death and destruction seems to outweigh everything else – including the ability to reason. Seeing what’s happening in Israel and Palestine (and that’s before we get into a discussion about whose borders are whose) I’m left thinking of the saying that ‘an eye for an eye leaves everybody blind’. I abhor the violence from both sides, but I’m also old enough to have followed the conflicts in that part of the world since the 1970s and know the answer is anything but black and white – just seemingly intractable.

I’m beginning to feel that the world is becoming a very unstable place for a whole host of reasons – which includes social media and the power of a small bunch of billionaires -and utterly useless, sell-out politicians. Now, I’m not a paranoid, conspiracy-loving person but I’ve always subscribed to the adage ‘follow the money’ – and the money is concentrated in fewer and fewer people’s hands – and philanthropists they ain’t.

Humanity at its best is capable of incredible things. Music, medicine, science and architecture, humour and compassion being just a few. So why’s so much of our time taken up with shit? Maybe I’ve reached that age where I look at what time I have left (whatever that is) and think it’s time explore what’s left of this beautiful planet before we completely screw it up and I can still enjoy it. Yep, I’m in one of those retrospective moods tonight. Anyway – my blog – my rules!

I’ll leave you with a picture that’s less dark than my thoughts. This is what I could do with right now. A palm-fringed beach, sunsets and solitude. Here’s a spectacular sunset at Viti Levu, Fiji, on the 7th March 1999 when the world seemed a very different place. This is the simple, natural beauty of a planet we seem hell-bent on rendering inhospitable, to ourselves and every other creature on it. But hey – it’s so important that I have that SUV to drive down to Waitrose…

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Rolling blog. Making (photographic) hay whilst the sun shines.

14 Saturday Oct 2023

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade, Travel

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10:35.

Today’s a day full of sunshine and the promise of decent photographic weather. I’ve a dinner date with my in-laws this evening near Huddersfield so I’m going to take the long way there, taking the camera with me to have a look at progress on the Trans-Pennine Route upgrade to see if there’s anything worth getting shots of. I’ll blog through the day, so feel free to pop back and see what I get up to…

12:00.

I’ve made it as far as Dewsbury having arrived here from Sowerby Bridge. Trains are packed today. My three-car was full and standing from Sowerby and rammed after Mirfield. The good weather’s bringing everyone out – including the rail-alers doing the railway pub-crawl. This isn’t the best day for exploring as the Trans-Pennine route West of Huddersfield is closed so services are much reduced. Even ao, there’s a few pictures to be had and sites to note.

My train departs from Dewsbury.

15:15.

Sorry for the gap but I’ve been busy shuttling between Dewsbury and Brighouse whilst enjoying the gorgeous sunshine – and dodging torrential showers! I’d intened to get a few lineside shots but the combination of low sun and rain made that foohardy, which is a shame – but hey ho. Instead I took the opportunity to enjoy Brighouse station joining the TPE network. Right now I’m on my way to Huddersfield, having stopped the latest weather bullet in the shape of this storm that’s just passed over Dewsbury. I didn’t make it to the cover of the canopy before the heavens opened.

Here’s 802213 working 9M32, the 1244 Newcastle to Liverpool Lime Street.

At Brighouse – which joined the TPE network for the day – I captured 802209 stopping at the station whilst working 1P25, the 1154 Liverpool Lime Street to Newcastle.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Rolling blog. Derbyshire delights…

12 Thursday Oct 2023

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

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06:35.

Up at sparrow-fart once more. It’s a busy morning here at Bigland Towers. I’m preparing to head out for the day and Dawn is busy with her HIT (High Intensity Training) workout in the living room. The weather’s hardly conducive to early starts. It’s dark and cold outside now that temperatures have returned to their seasonal averages rather then the bizarre ones we’ve had recently. According to the thermometer it’s just 3 degrees.

I’ll be walking down to Sowerby Bridge station shortly to catch my first train of the day to Manchester. I’m planning another foray out to Glossop and area. I’ll be blogging throughout the day, so let’s see what happens…

07:35.

Walking downhill to the station was fun this morning. Looking across the valley from the bedroom window it looked everywhereas covered in fog. Once I’d left the house and descended ahundred meters or so the valley was clear. Then, when I looked behind me I realise our cottage was up in cloud level!

I’m now on the late- running 07:22 to Manchester which is a busy four-car set.

07:50.

We’ve now left Todmorden and this train’s getting very busy. As we traversed the Calder valley I realised Sowerby Bridge is lucky as everywhere else IS covered in fog! Today’s the first day of autumn where I’ve observed commuters wearing hats and gloves. Shorts are confined to the back of the cupboard for now. Judging by the number of people clutching hot drinks the local coffee shops will be happy with the change in the weather!

07:55.

We’ve passed through the Summit tunnel into Lancashire and – as is often the case – there’s very different weather on the other side. Rochdale has no fog at all. Instead it’s bathed in winter sunshine!

08:38.

Here’s how busy my train was as it approached Manchester Victoria – and what it was like trying to get through the gateline.

Right now I’m on the train out to Glossop which is much more relaxed as we’re going againt the flow. There’s just a handful of us in the front car. Several of those are young women all using their phones as mirrors as they apply their make-up!

09:25.

The light’s lovely this morning so I stopped off in the middle of nowhere to get a few pictures. Let’s have a guessing game with the station name. It carries the same name a former member of the band “10cc”.

Not a rubber bullet in sight…

10:20.

I’m having a quick break here in Glossop whilst I have a coffee in the lovely little Twig coffee house on the station – and respond to a couple of work emails to sort out next week’s jobs.

The old ticket office (the window is to the right).

Here’s one of my camera pictures showing the old 1,500 dc electrification structures that still predominate along the line, although this section’s had the contact wires simplified.

15:15.

That was a busy few hours! I’ve been exploring the area around Broadbottom station in order to get a few scenic shots in open country as well as check out the remains of the old fan of sidings that was Mottram yard. They were already abandoned when I was a kid, having closed in about 1970 but the arrival sidings remained open for loco changes from electric to diesel. Now the whole site’s woodland. Only a few clues as to their former use remain.

The yard was to the left. The remains of the short platforms for Mottram staff halt can be seen on the remaining lines. The view’s looking towards Manchester.

15:30.

Time for a refreshment break and a beer I’ve never tried before. The glass tells the tale…

18:35.

Home time. Well, heading back across the Pennines at least. I’ve manged to get most of the pictures I was after before the sun disappeared. Plus I’ve had an interesting time exploring and discovering new places. I’ll add a few pics from the camera later. Right now, it’s standing room only on the 18:21 From Manchester Victoria. So much for “but no-one’s travelling by train anymore”.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

11th October picture of the day…

11 Wednesday Oct 2023

Posted by in Derbyshire, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways

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Today’s been one of those that didn’t exactly go to plan – but in a good way! After I’d finished editing the latest batch of pictures and getting them off to a client I’d intended to catch up with sorting stuff around the office – a sort of ‘autumn cleaning’ if you like – then blogging about the latest Sunak/HS2 debacle. The weather’s certainly changed here compared to the balmy days we’ve had so far, with temperatures staying in single figures, so I thought it was time to make the place more streamlined – and cosy. Instead I got sidetracked with pitching a story to a magazine which they’ve decided to run with so I became embroiled in initial research. Before I knew it, several hours had passed. Then I had a contact about a short-notice commission which I’ve managed to squeeze into next week. So, that’s the autumn cleaning and long blog out of the window for now as I’ve events in Derbyshire and Wiltshire to attend as well as an article to write.

Now I’m prepping for another day out in the Manchester area tomorrow (expect a rolling blog) as the weather’s promising to be half-decent and I’m running out of time to get the pictures I require, which means an early start tomorrow to make the most of the shortening days. I’m going to miss the long summer evenings, but the consolation is that winter sunlight (when you get it) is far superior to harsh summer sun – especially for artistic shots. Well, if you happen to be in the right place at the right time anyway!

Now it’s time to go as I’ve stuff to prepare. I’ll leave you with an image from the Hope Valley taken on Sunday. You can find the full selection in various galleries on my Zenfolio website, simply follow this link to see which galleries have been updated.

A Trans-Pennine Express Class 185 heads West towards Manchester through the gorgeous Hope valley.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Rolling blog. Sunshine interlude…

10 Tuesday Oct 2023

Posted by in Derbyshire, Manchester, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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13:15.

After a few days at home blogging about our lying Prime Minister and the deceit that’s “Network North” I’m having an interlude. Don’t worry, there’ll be another blog on Sunak and his sorry sorry saga of deception and incompetence this evening!

After an appointment in Sowerby Bridge that prevented me leaving earlier I’m now on a train to Manchester as the weather’s really too good to miss and I still have a long list of pictures I need to work my way through for a client. Feel free to pop back and see what I get up to as I’m not entirely sure what that’ll be myself!

Back to short trains and no stabiliser rail…

14:35.

After a relaxing (and sunny) journey to Manchester I added to my daily step total by walking between Victoria and Piccadilly stations through a busy city centre. En-route a plan had formed in my mind, so I’m now on the 14:33 to Glossop. I’m going to be looking at a couple of potential picture locations en-route – and a stop at one of the most misnamed stations in England…

“No mate, this isn’t the train to Stoke!”

15:45.

Maybe I should retitle this blog as the sunshine interlude didn’t last long at all this side of the Pennines!

My visit to Glossop lasted all of 30 mins. Just long enough to recconoitre a few photo sites as the light changed which was rather frustrating. Still, it means I have ideas worked out for the future. Plus, I did update my images of the gorgeous station at Glossop which still boasts a ticket office, barrier staff and a great little cafe.

Glossop station. The former ticket office to the right is now a lovely little cafe. There’s still an office here but it’s moved closer to the gateline.

15:55.

Having had a spin to Hadfield on the Glossop shuttle I’m about to head back towards Manchester.

The end of the line at Hadfield. The last stop on what was then the famous Woodhead freight only route to Penistone which closed in 1981.

16:55.

The beauty of this job is that you get to explore. Some places are better than others but they all add to your knowledge and experience. Here’s a station that only opened in 1985 but those naming it obviously had a sense of humour and tongues firmly in cheek. Meet ‘Flowery Field’…

Seriously?

Apparently, the name is due to its proximity to one of Manchester’s biggest parks. You’d be forgiven for not knowing that as you pass through! I got off to explore at it’s only a few minutes walk from another station on a different line – Hyde North.

This area of Manchester is pretty run down but there was a ray of hope as I cut through a nearby cul-de-sac although it took a minute to sink in. I passed several children playing in the street, drawing on the pavement with coloured chalk – just as my generation did half a century and more ago. They were outdoors interacting with their peers, not stuck indoors in their rooms ‘virtually’ interacting with people miles (or even continents) away.

Hyde North stations and it’s environs lived down to expectations and made me realise why I’d never bothered stopping. It has no architectural merit apart from the old footbridge. There’s a couple of basic shelters of modern design but that’s it. Admittedly, the local friends group have tried to brighten the place up with some art (and good for them) but I fear they’re trying to push water uphill! The area surrounding the station’s a mix of residential and commercial with little appeal. This is as good as it got.

19:30.

My return home way delayed by ‘shit happens’. I decided to have a quick pint in the city centre and ended up helping a woman who limped into the pub after twisting an ankle. She was both embarrassed and tearful so I ended up staying with her and helping her limp to a taxi before the cavalry arrived in the shape of some of her former pupils (she’s a Teacher) in town on a night out. Good deed done for the day I arrived at Victoria to find the new pub on the station was open for business and buzzing.

I’d passed the Victoria Tap earlier but fitting out work was still going on – even though pumpclips were advertising what draught beers were ready. I asked the young lady who served me how long they’d been open. Her reply was “about 3 hours!”

The tap’s only small. It’s a narrow two room establishment at the end of the station but it has a beer garden out back which is by the tram tracks and underneath the station roof. The range of beers is good and the prices are very competitive. A pint of ‘Farmers Blonde’ cost me £4.20.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Rishi Sunak, HS2 and ‘Network North’ – the lies continue…

09 Monday Oct 2023

Posted by in Hs2, Railways, Rishi Sunak, The Labour Party

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The widespread derision that greeted Sunak’s plan to fool people that by scrapping phase 2 of HS2 he suddenly had £36bn to spend on some wonderful and well-thought out new initiatives wasn’t what he was expecting. But when you’re as out of touch with the real world as multi-millionaire Sunak is – that’s not really that surprising.

Some sections of the media, both right and left, smelled a rat and – aided by people on Twitter who did the digging for them a slew of stories appeared, illustrating that some of these projects already existed whilst others were ones that had been sitting on drawing boards for years, were already in the pipeline or had already been rejected/cancelled by previous Tory PMs – the ‘new’ Bradford station being a classic example.

Useless Transport Minister Mark Harper and his sidekick Hugh Merriman were trotted out with Yorkshire leaders to pretend that there was suddenly £2bn to spend on a new station at Bradford. In truth it was no more than a cheap PR stunt which local leaders allowed themselves to be dragged into. There is no £2bn. There are no costed plans for such a station. there’s no planning permission, no land acquisition, no public enquiry or any of the other formalities required before anything actually happens. There’s more chance of me winning the lottery than anything remotely useful happening before the next general election, but the fiction has to be maintained in the hope of keeping a few Tory votes. For Bradford, it’s always ‘jam tomorrow’.

Harper managed to look even more stupid yesterday. After a number of impossible schemes in the ‘Network North’ report were pulled from the official website, Harper claimed in an interview that the schemes that had disappeared weren’t real commitments to do things (no shit!) they were just ‘examples’ of what could be done – with money that doesn’t exist! That’s not what Sunak had said, but then everything Sunak had said was a lie anyway.

I keep banging on about this but it’s important to understand why the £36bn claim is such an outrageous lie.

HS2 phase 2 was due to be constructed between 2023 and 2035, with services starting between then and 2041. That meant spending would be spread out over nearly two decades with peaks and troughs during that time depending on the intensity of construction or fit-out work. There is NO pot of money sat in the Treasury labelled “for HS2” that’s just waiting to be spent on other things. The vast majority of the money hasn’t even been properly budgeted for or even borrowed yet! Governments borrow money depending on the needs of regular spending reviews. Right now, that money doesn’t exist. You don’t borrow money needed in 2033 in 2023 (never mind money needed even later) as you haven’t even worked out how much you’ll actually need. All you really have is a forecast. They’re projections, not actual costings – or cash.

There is no £36bn. It’s a projection, a possible future budget, not real money in the here and now.

Sadly, a lot of the public have no idea of the reality here, and part of that blame lies with the media, who are woeful at telling people the truth. There’s a number of reasons for that. Part is laziness, part’s pressure to churn out stuff and damn the truth – and part is deliberate misinformation from ‘client’ journalists who’re really just mouthpieces for the Government – and say what they’re told to. Especially if the outlet they work for happens to be one owned by certain millionare media ‘tycoons’ who use their ownership of newspapers and TV channels to further their own personal/political agendas. That said, some journo’s working on left of centre outlets aren’t averse to spinning a story to fit a misguided ‘green’ agenda.

The end result is the same. Joe Public is woefully misinformed on subjects like HS2 – either by accident or design.

Here’s an example from today. A newspaper from those well-known ‘Northern’ counties – Devon and Cornwall – published this piece on the Camelford by-pass, entitled ‘Camelford bypass set to benefit from HS2 cancellation funding”

Wow! Camelford is going to get a new bypass now, eh? No. Of course not. A local Cllr put the story right on Twitter.

Wait! What? There’s *already* an outline business case?

Yes. It was originally submitted in 2019 and refined in 2022. It’s been sitting on civil servants/ministers desks since then. And is doesn’t need money from HS2 either. The ‘Atlantic Highway Camelford Improvement’ is eligible for money from an existing budget, as the report mentions:

“The Department for Transport (DfT) has made the A39 a part of the Major Road Network. This means we can apply for funding from the current 5-year national roads programme (2020 – 2025)”.

You’re being lied to – again.

This is classic delay tactics by Ministers. Want to make it like like you’re doing something whilst you’re actually doing nothing? Simple, just commission another study or ‘review’ and kick the can even further down the road. Plus, it means no-one actually has to pony-up the money they don’t have and just lied about! Plus, remember the small print of page 24 of that piece of crap ‘Network North’ Sunak laughably claims is a plan;

“As usual, individual projects referenced in this document will be subject to the approval of business cases“.

I’m going to end on a slightly brighter note. Labour have opened their conference in Liverpool and some of the ideas they’re putting forward are going to make a few Tories nervous (and hopefully, criminals).

Firstly, Labour have said that when they form the next Governement they’ll appoint a Covid corruption commissioner to claw back some of the £bns that went missing on dodgy PPE and unworkable systems like ‘track and trace’.

Secondly, they’ll revisit the planning laws. Shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves pledged to “rebuild Britain”, including by speeding up the planning process for key infrastructure projects – such as railways, including HS2 and whatever survives from the mess the Tories call ‘Network North’. Plus, a motion calling for the HS2 high speed rail line to be built in full was backed by Labour delegates.

Labour are starting to look like a party preparing to take power, which is excellent news. Maybe the future’s not so gloomy after all…

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/

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I don’t believe it!

07 Saturday Oct 2023

Posted by in Hs2, Politics, Rishi Sunak

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The other week I visited a village called Shawford, in Hampshire and passed a pub famous as the location of the demise of the TV character who’s catchphrase is the title of today’s blog. It seemed very appropriate to use to describe the latest tone-deaf crass stupidity from our Tory Prime Minister, Rishi Sunak. Fresh from not levelling up, cancelling the majority of the UKs new green railway to drive a motorway through previous commitments to net zero, he tweeted this.

From his private plane.

I can only assume his recent list of culls included all of his PR advisors, as even the most tone-deaf intern could spot the optics of this. But Rishi? Oh no. As a multi-millionaire he’s so used to wealth and privilege it simply doesn’t occur to him.

But that’s it, isn’t it? Trains are for plebs. Who needs a railway when you’ve got access to a private plane? I assume the helicopter he normally uses must be in for servicing or summat

The sooner we eject these out of touch idiots from Government the better – before they do any more damage the the country…

I’ve a small favour to ask (as I’m not a multi-millionaire with a private plane)…
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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

RIP: John Russell-Brown.

06 Friday Oct 2023

Posted by in Down memory lane, London, Musings

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I’m writing this because no-one (apart from his close circle of friends) will know of John Russell-Brown – or JRB as we called him. I have to admit I’m no longer one of them as I haven’t seen JRB for many years, but all will become clear later.

Sadly, JRB died of cancer on the 3rd October, in London. Apparently, he’d been ill for several years but decided to refuse any more treatment.

I first met Jon when I was applying to live in the housing co-op in East London which became my home for a decade back in the 1980-90s. JRB was a friend of friends and when I got a flatshare there in 1986 we were allocated a flat just a few doors down the same balcony from JRB. The whole balcony became thick as thieves as we had a lot in common – beer (real beer) being one of them, although thinking back to those times my poison was real cider. Oh, there was food too. Jon lived on his own and could be quite a private person. He never married and in all the years I knew him he never had a partner. That was never a problem. Many of us didn’t – we just all gelled. It was very heady days. Then, Jon was a dispatch rider, often travelling daft distances on his motorcycle to deliver stuff. These were the days before the internet – or Amazon when you could make a living doing such things.

Jon could be quite imposing in his leathers. He was tall, well-built (but not fat) bearded with close cropped hair. He was also a gentle giant. He had a stammer, which I think he was quite conscious of but none of us ever mentioned, why would we? He was just a lovely bloke – and very knowledgeable about beer – and politics. We became good friends and part of a small group I nicknamed ‘The Corbin drinking crew’ – Corbin House being the name of block on Bromley High St we lived in.

Jon was also very well read. We used to have parties in his small flat which was filled with books and beer memorabilia. I remember he used to make his own houmous which contained so many cloves of garlic you wouldn’t have seen a vampire for miles!

Sadly, when Lynn and I moved to Crouch End in North London I lost touch with Jon – apart from when I attended the Great British Beer Festival (GBBF) where I knew I’d catch up with Jon as he was a volunteer on the Foreign beer stand. Sadly, moving to Yorkshire (and Covid) prevented me being there for some time.

But I’ve never forgotten Jon, or those fabulous and special days living in Corbin House. God, we used to have fun. Travelling around London to different pubs, attending the Canterbury beer festival and many others – and simply having a great time.

I’ve hundreds of pictures from those days but right now this is the only one I can find that I’ve scanned. I’ll do better soon. Here’s JRB flying kites with the rest of us on (I think) Blackheath in May 1995. I know I have better pictures. I’ll find one soon.

Jon may have gone – before his time too – but he’ll always live on in my memory, and that of all those of us who knew him. Sleep well, gentle giant. See you on the other side…