• About

Paul Bigland

~ Blogging on transport, travel & whatever takes my fancy.

Paul Bigland

Tag Archives: Railtex

Bog-eyed and screen-tied

17 Friday May 2019

Posted by Paul Bigland in Railtex, Railways

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Railtex, Railways

After the past few days adventures I’m back at home and glued to my computer screens, trying to edit the hundreds of pictures caught in the queue after so many events, but right now I’m taking a break as we’re off to visit friends in Mytholmroyd tomorrow, so I’ve also been busy cooking a lamb tagine as the pair of us offered to cook. There’s also a queue of blogs building up as I’ve seen and learned some fascinating things at Railtex. Here’s a taster. Alstom (in conjunction with leasing company Eversholt) are ready to rebuild and convert old BR Class 321 electric trains to hydrogen power. It’s a fascinating project which I’ll write about shortly, in the meantime, here’s a couple of pictures of the mock-up of the train, which has been named ‘Breeze’. The basic concept is to provide an alternative to the old suburban diesel trains that run into and between our cities

DG323576. Alstom Class 321 Hydrogen powered train model. Railtex. Birmingham. 16.5.19.crop

DG323588. Alstom Class 321 Hydrogen powered train model. Railtex. Birmingham. 16.5.19.crop

Right, off to bed…

 

 

Rolling blog: back to Railtex

16 Thursday May 2019

Posted by Paul Bigland in Railtex, Railways, Rolling blogs

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Railtex, Railways, Rolling blogs

09:59.

After a decent night’s sleep I feel ready to tackle another day tramping round the Railtex trade fair at Birmingham’s National Exhibition centre. There’s lots to see and photograph, people to chat to and lectures to learn from. Let’s see what happens…

14:30.

I’ve been run off my feet this morning getting pictures for clients and to clients, so there’s been no time for blogging at all. I’m writing this as I’m sending pictures of yesterday’s events to ACoRP right now.

I had a long shortlist to get this morning, which has really kept me busy. Plus, I needed to get shots of the keynote address by the Shadow Transport Minister, Andy McDonald MP. Despite the froth from the Taxpayers Alliance and the Lord’s Economic Committee, Andy made Labour’s unswerving support for HS2 plain

19:47.

Well, this ‘rolling’ blog turned out to be far more static than I thought it would be. There simply wasn’t the time to take the volume of pictures clients required and blog at the same time. I had an extensive picture request list from one client handed to me this morning, which had a silver-lining as I learned an awful lot about some industry innovations that would otherwise have passed me by – which is why I really enjoy working at these events. You get so much from them. Afterwards, a few friends and I decamped and ended up in an old haunt. The ‘Great Western’ pub in Wolverhampton which is sandwiched between the high and (former) low level stations. Let’s just say that it’s not a pub you’ll stumble upon – and they had a long-time favourite beer on, “summer lightning”

Chatham House rules apply to the conversations we had but it was a great end to a hectic few days. Now I’m on the 19:15 from Wolves to Manchester Piccadilly which is just pulling into Macclesfield. I’ve been doing this trip for years and moaned about it in blogs several times so I won’t reprise the argument. All I can say is – roll on HS2!

21:01

I’m now on the last train of the day, heading home from Manchester Victoria to Halifax. As is my wont, I always walk between the two stations, which isn’t always easy with the amount of kit I’m normally carrying. Tonight it had grown because my friends at the Talgo stand had given me a huge amount of unused fresh fruit and snacks to take home with me. In Piccadilly Gardens I spotted a charity that had set up a stand to feed the dozens of homeless people living on the surrounding streets. Without a second thought I went over and donated the food I was carrying. I’ve blogged about this before, so regular readers will understand my feelings about the issue. I know that Carlos, the President of Talgo would approve of my actions…

Rolling blog: and so it begins…

14 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by Paul Bigland in Birmingham, Engineering, I love my job, Photojournalism, Railtex, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

Birmingham, I love my job, Railtex, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

06:18.

It’s a bright and beautiful morning here at Sowerby Bridge station. The sun’s shining, the birds are singing and I have fresh coffee, thanks to the Jubilee refreshment rooms on the station.

I’m here to catch to 06:23 to Manchester in order to get to Birmingham and the Railtex trade fair.

06:52.

The first chariot of the day was 158849, one of Northern’s refurbished fleet and one that’s been fitted with new seats and USB sockets. It’s only a two car so it’s packed after leaving Rochdale. It’s also remarkably quiet as most people (including me) are staring at their portable devices! This is a great example of how you can have a large group of people who are together in the flesh but are miles apart mentally!

07:38.

I’m now on TfW’s (Transport for Wales) 07:30 to Milford Haven as far as Crewe.

I walked between Victoria and Piccadilly which is always a depressing experience this time of morning as it’s painfully obvious how many people are sleeping rough. Forget the stories about “professional beggars” who return to their council flats each evening, these are real people curled up in doorways or huddled on pavements. A decade of austerity and a government that doesn’t really give a shit has made the problem worse than when I worked in housing back in the 1990s. It’s not going to get any better either. The UK’s flirting with fascism in the form of Nigel Farage and his Brexit party. People who blatently lie through their teeth and have no manifesto or policies other than crashing us out of the EU and who say they won’t tell us what they stand for until AFTER we’ve voted for them! How the hell has the country got itself in this state? I’ve never been more pessimistic about the future of the country as I don’t see much sign of people waking up to what’s going on and the road we’re heading down.

07:50.

We’ve called at Wilmslow, where a sizeable chunk of the folk on this two-car train decanted. Clearly, this time of day this train is a commuter service masquerading as a long-distance train. Next stop is Crewe, so I’ll be interested to see how many get on.

08:18.

I’m now on London Northwestern’s 08:18 to Birmingham New St, which is a 4-car Class 350, which is pretty much full and standing. There’s a few spare seats, but they’re the middle ones in sets of three, which most folk avoid. I’m sharing a vestibule with a bunch of LNW drivers who’re clutching notices about splitting and joining trains at New St. I’m assuming this has to do with the May timetable change. In age old fashion they’re grumbling about the new diagrams and rosters!

09:42.

Almost there! I was delayed changing trains at New St because some of the toilets are closed for refurbishment. New St being New St it was a trek to the alternatives which had folk queuing out of the door! Now I’m on a slightly delayed TfW service to Birmingham International.

14:54.

Phew! It’s been a full on day so far and started as soon as I walked through the Railtex door at 10:00. I’ve finally found time to sit down for a few minutes and get some pictures edited. Here’s a glimpse of the show so far.

DG322474cop

As usual, Siemens have a big presence at Railtex. This is one half of their stand!

DG322509crop

The Talgo stand. The company are bidding for the HS2 train contract (amongst others).

DG322554crop

It’s a Breeze! This is a model of the Class 321 train that Alstom are converting from electricity to Hydrogen.

DG322573crop

The Tratos stand always serves a good lunch for anyone leaving their business card.

19:54.

Right, where were we? Oh, yes – Railtex. I left the show an hour ago and I’m currently on virgin Trains Pendino snaking it’s way to London. Today feels like a bit of a blur as it’s been so manic. Trying to get round the show to take it all in is bad enough. Then there’s the need to be in certain places at set times, constantly bumping into friends and colleagues and trying to blog/upload pictures. By the time the day winds down you’re knackered. That said, the end of the event was fun. Alstom had a really interesting drinks reception to chat about their ‘Breeze’ hydrogen train, so a lot of us hacks met at that, afterwards we moved over to the main networking event which was a great opportunity to catch up with folk and shoot a few more pictures like this one of the band who did a great job of keeping us all entertained.

22:45.

The final update. It’s been a brilliant day. After tearing myself away from a very convivial couple of hours with friends at the end of the show I emerged, blinking, into the light and realised just what a stonking day it must have been weather wise. Now, having caught a train down to London I’m ensconced in the basement of a hotel in Kings Cross that makes me think of scenes from the bunker in ‘Downfall’ – only with better bathrooms. When you realise that to get to your room you have to press -2 you do start to get suspicious…

Hopefully I might actually see a bit of sunshine as I tour the London stations taking part in tomorrow’s event. Watch this space…

A personal view of Railtex

16 Saturday May 2015

Posted by Paul Bigland in Hitachi, Rail Investment, Railtex, Railways, Siemens

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

Hitachi, Rail Investment, Railtex, Railways, Siemens

Earlier this week I spent a couple of days at the Railtex trade trade fair at the NEC in Birmingham. In truth, I could have done with being there for all three days as the show had a record number of exhibitors and an awful lot to see & do – and people to talk to.

The event was opened by Network Rail Chairman Professor Richard Parry-Jones who delivered a keynote speech in which he talked about way technology is transforming lives (and railways), the cost of providing extra capacity & his worry that the industry is under-providing capacity for future demand. Afterwards he went ‘walk-about’ to visit some of the exhibitors such as Siemens, Hitachi and Derby based Rail Vehicle Engineering Ltd (RVEL).

Network Rail Chairman, Professor Richard Parry Jones chatting to Andy Lynch RVELs Managing Director on their stand at Railtex

Network Rail Chairman, Professor Richard Parry Jones chatting to RVEL Managing Director, Andy Lynch on their stand at Railtex

Meanwhile, the show was getting into full swing. The Chinese had a big presence this year with both CSR and CNR having large stands that must have kept Chinese model makers busy for months as both displayed huge numbers of product models – including CNRs high speed trains. On the CSR stand a signing ceremony was held to seal co-operation between the company & the universities of Birmingham, Southampton & Central London by forming the China-UK joint research & development centre for rail technology. In a statement, CSR said the centre would look at developing new technologies, new materials and new production processes.

DG213298. China - UK rail research co-operation agreement. Railtex 2015. 12.5.15.

Although they had separate stands, the two companies are merging to create the world’s largest railway equipment manufacturer. The merger should be complete by the end of the year.

Elsewhere, Hitachi were demonstrating their 3-D interior images and design theory of their ‘British Bullet train’ – a potential offering for Hs2. The design draws upon key influences from existing and influential rolling stock in the UK. Using these to look forward & address the needs of future passengers by providing a train that has the flexibility to grow and evolve with their needs. Take a look..

Sleek & stylish, the British bullet train from Hitachi.

Sleek & stylish, the British bullet train from Hitachi.

How standard class might look

How standard class might look

Could this be the 1st Class of the future?

Could this be the 1st Class of the future?

The Europeans had been busy too. Siemens had a large stand showcasing their impressive array of products, including Trains, signalling systems & power supplies. In a low key launch the company had slipped out a model of a new 125mph EMU for the UK market – the Desiro Verve. Siemens told me they’ll be doing an expanded launch for this train later in the year.

The new Desiro Verve.

The new Desiro Verve.

Of course Railtex wasn’t all about new trains. One of the strengths of the event is variety of exhibitors from the massive multinationals through to the small UK companies who supply equipment & expertise worldwide. Railtex is the ideal opportunity to check-out what they have to offer. It’s also a fantastic place to touch base with companies you already work with -and meet potential new ones. I ended up working for several at the event itself as well as arranging new business. At the end of day 1 the networking event allowed many of us to meet in an relaxed atmosphere over a drink & some snacks before heading off to more events – or take the weight off tired feet!

Day 2 began with another keynote address, this time by Alstom UK President  Terence Watson (wearing his Rail Supply Group Co-Chair’s hat). Terence spoke about the value of the rail supply chain, how big the world wide market is – and how small UK exports are at the moment compared to the likes of China & Germany.

Wednesday seemed far busier than the first day & I found myself tied up with visiting as many of my contacts, colleagues & friends as I could before I had to leave. This meant that I missed out on many of the interesting seminars that I’d wanted to listen to altough I did make time to get to the Hs2 update. Sadly, Prof McNaughton was double booked, so a change in the programme saw him replaced by Jon Kerby, Director of BIM at High Speed 2 who talked more generally about the strategic implementation of BIM & the development of a digital railway. I’d have loved to have made it to the Thameslink & Great Western route modernisation seminars too, but I ran out of time. Another day – hopefully…

From my personal perspective Railtex was a great success. Many others I talked to thought so too. I’ll certainly be back next time. One theme I was left with was the continued development of rail technology & the growth of high speed rail. What was on offer at Railtex shows just how uninformed & stupid Jeremy Paxman’s Financial Times rant about HS2 & HSR being ’19th century’ really is!

If you want to see more pictures of Railtex,follow this link to the gallery on my picture website;

http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p508759096

 

 

Recent Posts

  • 28th February picture of the day…
  • Crazy anti-HS2 campaigner of the week. No 29.
  • 27th February picture of the day…
  • It’s the Hs2 ‘rebellion’ pantomime season!
  • 24th February picture of the day…

Recent Comments

Steve on Crazy anti-HS2 campaigner of t…
Steve Barber on Crazy anti-HS2 campaigner of t…
Paul Bigland on High speed 2 update No 4.
KLS on High speed 2 update No 4.
KLS on It’s the Hs2 ‘rebe…

Archives

  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • June 2013

Categories

  • 'Green' madness
  • 'Think Tanks'
  • 144e
  • 2005 London bombing
  • 2017 General election
  • 3 peaks by rail
  • 3 Peaks by ral
  • 51M
  • 7/7
  • Abandoned railways
  • Abu Dhabi
  • ACoRP
  • Adam Smith Institute
  • Adrian Quine
  • Advertising
  • Air Travel
  • Aircraft
  • Airports
  • Airshows
  • Allan Cook
  • Amsterdam
  • Andrea Leadsom MP
  • Andrew Gilligan
  • Andrew Haylen
  • Andy Burnham MP
  • Anti Hs2 mob
  • AONBs
  • Arambol
  • Architecture
  • Australia
  • Bali
  • Bangkok
  • Bank holidays
  • Barrow Hill
  • Belgium
  • Bigotry
  • Birmingham
  • Blue passports
  • Boris Johnson MP
  • Brexit
  • Brighouse
  • Brighton
  • British Railways
  • Calder Valley
  • Canals
  • Carillion
  • Censorship
  • Charities
  • Cheryl Gillan MP
  • Cheshire
  • China
  • Chris Packham
  • Claire Perry MP
  • Class 313
  • Class 314s
  • Class 455
  • Class 507
  • Class 508
  • Class 60s
  • Class 91
  • Communications
  • Community
  • Community rail
  • Corbynwatch
  • Coronavirus
  • CP5
  • Crap journalism
  • Crazy anti Hs2 campaigner of the week
  • Crazy kippers
  • Crewe Hub
  • Cuba
  • Customs
  • Cyberattacks
  • Cycle India
  • Cycling
  • Dawn
  • Democracy
  • Desiro City
  • Diary
  • Dispatches
  • Donald Trump
  • Doomed
  • Down memory lane
  • East Midlands Railway franchise
  • East Midlands Trains
  • Easter fairy stories
  • ECML
  • Economic illiteracy
  • Economics
  • election2015
  • Engineering
  • Environment
  • Eurostar
  • Euston
  • Extinction Rebellion
  • Fake News
  • Festivals
  • Flooding
  • Flora and Fauna
  • Food
  • Food and drink
  • Foot in mouth
  • Gardening
  • GBRf
  • General election
  • General election 2019
  • Georgetown
  • Germany
  • Glossop
  • GNGE
  • GNRP
  • Goa
  • Grand Central trains
  • Great Western Railway
  • Greater Anglia franchise
  • Green madness
  • Green Party
  • Gt Missenden
  • GTR
  • Guido Fawkes
  • GWML
  • GWR franchise
  • Gwyll Jones
  • Halifax
  • Harvil Rd Hs2 protest
  • Harz railway
  • Heathrow 3rd runway
  • High Speed 1
  • High Speed UK
  • History
  • Hitachi
  • Hong Kong
  • House of Lords
  • HS North
  • Hs2
  • Hs2 Bow Group
  • Hs2 petitions
  • Hs2 to Crewe
  • Hs2aa
  • HS2Rebellion
  • HSUK
  • Huddersfield
  • Humour
  • Hurricane Ophelia
  • I love my job
  • Imperial College London
  • India
  • Indonesia
  • Infrarail
  • Innotrans
  • Internet
  • Ireland
  • Islamophobia
  • Jacob Rees Mogg
  • Jeremy Corbyn
  • Jeremy Corbyn MP
  • Jo Johnson MP
  • Joe Rukin
  • John McDonnell MP
  • Johnathan Bartley
  • Journalism
  • Labour election
  • Lancashire
  • Laos
  • Law and order
  • Lazy journalism
  • Leicestershire
  • Liam Halligan
  • libel
  • Lilian Greenwood MP
  • Liverpool
  • LNER
  • Local elections
  • Local elections 2018
  • Lockdown
  • London
  • Lord Berkeley
  • LRT
  • M62 motorway
  • Major Projects Authority
  • Malaysia
  • Manchester
  • Manchester Airport
  • Manchester Victoria
  • MAPA
  • Mark Keir
  • Martin Tett
  • Melton Mowbray
  • Memory Lane
  • Merseyside
  • Michael Dugher MP
  • Michael Fabricant MP
  • Mid Cheshire against Hs2
  • Miscellany
  • Modern Railways
  • Monorails
  • Musings
  • Mytholmroyd
  • Natalie Bennett
  • National Rail Awards
  • National Trust
  • Nepal
  • Network Rail
  • Never a dull life
  • New Economics Foundation
  • New trains
  • New Year
  • New York
  • New Zealand
  • NHS
  • Nigel Farage
  • Norland scarecrow festival
  • Northern Powerhouse
  • Northern Rail
  • Nostalgia
  • Nottingham
  • Obituaries
  • Old Oak Common
  • ORR
  • Our cat, Jet
  • Pacers
  • Paris terror attack
  • Parliament
  • Pasenger Growth
  • Patrick McLouglin MP
  • Penny Gaines
  • Peter Jones
  • Peterborough
  • Photography
  • Photojournalism
  • Picture of the day
  • Poetry
  • Politics
  • Porterbrook
  • PR nightmares
  • Pubs
  • rail ale
  • Rail electrification
  • Rail fares
  • Rail Investment
  • RAIL magazine
  • Rail Moderinsation
  • Rail PR
  • Railfreight
  • Railstaff awards
  • Railtex
  • Railway Benefit Fund (RBF)
  • Railways
  • Rant
  • Religion
  • RFEM
  • Richard Wellings
  • Ride India
  • Road accidents
  • Rolling blogs
  • ROSCOs
  • Royal Mail
  • Royal Wedding 2018
  • RSPB
  • Rugby Observer
  • Rushbearing
  • SAIP
  • Scores on the doors
  • Scotland
  • Scotrail
  • Sheffield
  • Shrewsbury
  • Siemens
  • Signalling
  • Silly season
  • Simon Heffer
  • Singapore
  • Sleeper trains
  • Snail mail
  • Social media
  • South West Trains
  • Southport
  • Sowerby Bridge
  • Spectator magazine
  • Sri Lanka
  • St Pancras station
  • Stafford
  • Stamford
  • Station buffets
  • StopHs2
  • Surrey
  • Talgo
  • Teresa May
  • Terrorism
  • Tesla
  • Thailand
  • Thameslink
  • The 'Beast from the East'
  • The BBC
  • The Big 6
  • The Daily Express
  • The fog
  • The Grauniad
  • The Great Central railway
  • The Green Party
  • The Independent
  • The Moorcock Inn
  • The Railway Children
  • The Rodelblitz
  • The USA
  • The Woodland Trust
  • Tilford
  • Torquay
  • Tourism
  • TPE
  • Traffic congestion
  • Trams
  • Trans-Pennine electrification
  • Transport
  • Transport for Wales (TfW)
  • Travel
  • Twilight years
  • Twitter
  • Twitter (and how not to use it)
  • UK
  • UK steel industry
  • UKIP
  • Uncategorized
  • Vandalism
  • Victoria Prentis MP
  • Virgin Trains
  • Virgin West Coast
  • Wales
  • Walking
  • WCML
  • Weather
  • West Yorkshire
  • Worcester
  • Work
  • World War 1
  • World War Two
  • Yorkshire
  • YorkshireStopHs2

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in
  • Entries feed
  • Comments feed
  • WordPress.com

Blog at WordPress.com.

Cancel

 
Loading Comments...
Comment
    ×