Tag Archives: Railways

Rolling blog. Valley escape…

13 Wednesday Jul 2022

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , ,

07:45.

After a week where I’ve never left the Calder Valley I’ve broken free again to have an awayday taking pictures. A client has requested a bunch of pictures. Most (but not all) I can supply from my archives, but there’s one gap and another section where the pictures are too dated – so here I am – off to get what’s required and hopefully get a few other shots for another client in the can. Thankfully, Dawn’s made enough of a recovery from Covid that I don’t feel guilty for leaving her for the day. Thankfully, I remain free of that capricious little bug this time.

Right now I’m on the first leg of my journey aboard Northern’s 07:19 from Halifax to Leeds which is worked by a 3-car Class 195 – which is just as well as it’s a very busy train.

Today’s adventure begins…

We lost many passengers at Bradford Interchange as they headed into work but we gained even more for the next leg into Leeds.

I must admit I’m looking forward to my awayday. It’s been lovely having the time at home with the weather having been so glorious. I’m glad I wasn’t stuck trackside somewhere in full PPE but after a few days I do get itchy feet and a camera trigger-finger!

My first stop on this trip will be Derby in a few hours time. Feel free to pop back later to see what I get up to and how the day progresses…

08:35.

So far so good. At Leeds I had 10 minute connection time to catch Cross-Country’s 08:11 service down to Derby. This train’s worked by a pair of 4-car Class 220s and it’s also busy. There’s lots of laptops open in my coach – including mine. On the opposite table to me are three Geordie women bashing away on their keyboards or making business calls. I’m guessing they’re on their way to a business event or training course.

The 220s were busy when they arrived in Leeds and they filled up even more at Westgate despite some seats being vacated by Leeds -Wakefield travellers (an unlikely commuter flow I must admit).

17:00

Umm, where was I? Right now I’m heading back to Derby from Nottinghan to reprise my shots now the sun’s moved around. Arriving at Derby and making a recce of the site I realised that – whilst the archive shots I have are out of date they’re great to have as you can’t replicate them in 2022. Oh, and someone took years to build a walking great bridge on London Rd which is the reason my archive pictures are now precious.

18:45.

Where was I part 2! After stopping off at Derby to get the pictures I needed now the sun’s moved round I’m heading home. Right now I’m on an EMR service as far as Sheffield. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to get out and about again, but what a contrast to last week in Germany. I’ll not ‘go-there’ right now as I’ll upset some people. Anyway. Today’s been a good day. I’ve fulfilled my missions and even had chance for a quick visit to a pub that has a gate straight onto the platform. 5 points if you know where this is?

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

Thank you!

7th July picture of the day…

07 Thursday Jul 2022

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , ,

I’ll bet that surprised a few of you! After today’s political events in the UK you’d expect me to be in full splenetic flow, eviscerating the shit-show that passes for Government and the lying bag of custard that’s meant to be our Prime Minister.

Don’t worry – it’s coming. I have the same view as many commentators about Johnson, the resignation and the Tories who’ve suddenly found a sense of morality and ethics (from God knows where) in order to turn on him in the hope they’ll save their seats or satisfy their own personal ambitions. But as the old saying goes – revenge is a dish best eaten cold. I’m saving that particular pleasure for tomorrow.

Instead, you’re going to be treated to another picture from my German trip. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to spend a few hours watching the world go by in Braunschweig and also to gather pictures of their rather unique tramway. Braunschweig trams use a unique 1,100mm gauge, whilst most networks use the standard 1,435mm (standard) gauge used on railways around the world. A few stations do have isolated pockets of dual-gauge track as at one time back in the late 2000s a tram-train network was proposed for Lower Saxony.

Braunschweig possesses some beautiful buildings that make a great backdrop in pictures – such as this one.

Here’s tram 1955 in front of the Residenzschloss which was the grand residence of local Dukes in the 18th – 20th centuries. Nowadays it’s a museum. Tram 1955 is one of the later Tramino vehicles ordered for the network which runs AEG/LHB GT6Strams from 1995, Alstom NGT8D’s from 2007, Solaris Tramino GT8S from 2014 and Stadler Tramino IIs from 2019. Braunschweiger Verkehrs-GmbH ordered seven Tramino II trams from a joint venture of Stadler Pankow and Solaris to complement the 18 Traminos they bought in 2014.

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Germany, the main event…

05 Tuesday Jul 2022

Posted by in Air Travel, Germany, Railways, Rolling blogs, Siemens, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

07:00.

In starting what’s going to be a busy day here in Germany. Right now I’m preparing to head down for breakfast and a caffeine booste before we all meet up for a trip to the Siemens signalling factory here in Braunschweig. The company have got a full programme planned for our visit, but I should still have time to blog about what we’ll be seeing and learning. The world of railway signalling is constantly developing in the digital world. As one colleague described it – signals were all about keeping trains apart. Now they’re about getting them to run as close to each other as is possible. Here’s today’s agenda.

Then later this afternoon we head back to Hannover for our return flight to the UK. I won’t be back in England until late so I won’t be home until tomorrow, but hey ho…

Keep popping back to see what we get up to. But right now – it’s coffee time…

08:41.

The day begins…

10:30.

We’re just about to come back after having a coffee break. It’s been a really interesting morning so far which kicked off with a wide-ranging presentation on the company’s plans and aspirations from Siemens Mobility CEO, Michael Peter.

There’s far too much to describe here but some of the points touched on included how intelligent software and monitoring systems can lead to 100% fleet reliability and save time and money on traditional cyclic maintenance – both on trains and assets themselves. Cloud based interlocking was also discussed with some fascinating examples given about Norway, where the entire rail system is controlled from Oslo – including diagnostics.

Next up was a presentation on Digital solutions from Johannes Emmelheinz, CEO of Customer Services. One point raised was how trains and infrastructure need to work hand in hand and how digitalisation can enable this.

The third presentation was from Bart van Munster, CEO of Squills, a company that’s become part of Siemens. Squills provide ticketing services across the UK and Europe.

13:20.

After another really interesting series of presentations (I’ll tell you the story about passenger journey tracking and the Berlin Depech Mode concert later) we broke for lunch with some fabulous food prepared by the staff of the Siemens canteen.

18:00.

The afternoon was a very enjoyable as we enjoyed a rare tour of thee world’s biggest signalling factory. The site is involved in some cutting edge projects which I’ll be talking about in another blog. Here’s one, the complete resignalling of the Norwegian rail network which will be controlled from Oslo.

Our day came to an end after the tour and a final presentation on cloud based interlocking. Then it was back to the real world. Our small UK contingent (all three of us) decided to catch the 16:54 back to Hannover, only it was cancelled due to an incident on the line. The station was packed and we were looking at all sorts of possible plan B’s when the stock for the 17:20 rolled in, so we jumped on that. It was soon packed as other trains had been cancelled or were running late.

It got us as far as a place called Peine, where we’ve been sitting for the past 15 mins with no information on what’s happening. Ho hum…

18:15.

We’ve now sat at Peine for 30 mins – with absolutely zero information about what’s going on. Not a single announcement has been made.

19:00.

We were on the move shortly after after my last update – some 40 plus mins late. The service to the airport is hardly clockface and it’s only hourly so we abandoned plans to eat at Hannover Hbf and caught the next service to the airport – the 18:57, where we’re enjoying a mostly empty train with good a/c. Upstairs on a packed double- deck coach (our last train) is not the place to be on a sunny day like this.

21:40.

My final German update. A few of us are now relaxing at Hannover airport before our flight arrives. I can’t say it’s my favourite airport. Much of it is closed or deserted and what isn’t closes early! There’s one food outlet in our terminal and the sole duty free shut at 21:30. Still, the glider’s a nice touch…

23:17. (UK time).

I’m back in the Sceptic Isle having bid goodbye to my colleagues on the plane. The flight was quick and passing through Heathrow terminal 5 was quite painless. Everything worked perfectly.

Shame I can’t say the same for the rest of the UK as it seems I’ve returned to a political shit-show. The Chancellor and Health Minister have both resigned, along with a bunch of lesser political functionaries. It wouldn’t surprise me if more go as despite this, Johnson will do everything he can to cling to power. New lackeys will be appointed in their place and the whole rotten edifice will continue in the same lying, delusional vein whilst the country’s economy continues to fall apart. I see the FTSE 100 lost 2.86% today, continuing its awful spiral, having lost 6.74% in the past month, leaving a lot of people poorer and pension funds looking rocky. If only I could have stayed in Germany…

Is this country ever going to wake up and shake off the delusion that the Tories can be trusted with the economy? They’ve done little but wreck it ever since the Brexit referendum.

After such a positive couple of days It’s deeply frustrating (and embarasding) to return to the kakistocracy that the UK has become under Johnson and his Cabinet of the incompetents. It’s painfully obvious that the only reason Sunak and Javid have resigned is political survival and a crack at Johnson’s job as PM. They’ve no more commitment to the country or public service than the man they hope to replace. But how many Tory voters will fall for it I wonder?

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Outward bound…

04 Monday Jul 2022

Posted by in Air Travel, Germany, Rolling blogs, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

05:30.

It’s an ungodly hour here at Heathrow but I have coffee, so things aren’t too bad. I arrived late last night and bedded down at the airport for a few hours. As I’m flying from the modern Terminal 5 that wasn’t too bad. There’s plenty of space, I had a bottle of beer which helped make the floor softer and I’d also packed a small cushion in my suitcase to use as a pillow which made all the difference as I got a decent night’s sleep – saving myself silly money on booking an airport hotel room which I’d only have occupied for a few hours anyway.

06:30.

I’m now airside. Checking in and the baggage drop was pretty painless, as was security which was busy but the staff were both polite and efficient. One thing I did notice was the number of people who’re wearing masks again. Not only has Covid not gone away but cases are rising – something our Government and the media seen strangely quiet about. Despite this, it’s good to see how busy Heathrow is now that life is returning to some sort of normality – although with everything that’s going on in the world right now I’m not entirely sure what ‘normal’ is anymore.

Heathrow terminal 5 at 06:30 is not what you’d call quiet…

I’ve an hour to kill before my flight to Hannover boards so I’ll spend the time people-watching, catching up on some work – and blogging. I’m not a great fan of airports. I’d rather have caught the train to Germany but as I’m someone’s guest I have to go with the flow. Even so it’s interesting as I love travelling and the Pandemic years severely clipped my wings. This is only the second time I’ve left the septic isle since 2019 – and both trips have been to Germany. I’d love to get back on the road again but with everything that’s going on I can’t see that happening for a while yet. Still, I can’t complain. I’ve a busy schedule these next few months with lots of interesting things to keep me occupied – like this trip. Funnily enough, whilst writing this I wondered when it was that I was last in Hannover. A quick look at my Zenfolio website brought the memories flooding back. I was there 10 years ago for the recreation of the British Military train. This was the service that ran to Berlin during the cold war and an old friend – the late Major John Poyntz – was OC at one time. You can find the pictures from that event here.

17:00. (German time).

And relax! The flight wasn’t bad – only 90 mins and I managed to get some shut-eye which was useful. As I disembarked I bumped into another colleague. Chris Jackson from the Railway Gazette was on the same flight. The two of us hooked up for the onward journey to Hannover by rail, then on to Braunsweig. Siemens had sent me a rail ticket confirmation which no-one (including a couple of very helpful locals) could get to work in the ticket machines! Instead, I bought one of the month-long 9 euro rail passes that Germany is offering people to encourage people to get back on trains. It makes the UK’s ‘great rail sale’ look positively limp in comparison.

Having checked into our (very nice) hotel I had to do a quick bit of writing for a living, then headed out to explore the town which has a great little tram system and still has the odd vintage vehicle out in service. Here’s one passing the Rathaus earlier.

Right now I’m relaxing in the square outside the Rathaus and enjoying Konig Ludwig weissbier whilst I watch the world go by. We all meet up for a meal at 20:00 but I’ll probably try and get an hours kip in beforehand.

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Another adventure…

03 Sunday Jul 2022

Posted by in Germany, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

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.

HS2 ‘rebellion’. Dumb and dumber…

25 Saturday Jun 2022

Posted by in 'Green' madness, Hs2, HS2Rebellion, Politics, Railways

≈ 4 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

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/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Rail strike – the aftermath….

22 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by in London, Photography, Rail Live 2022, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , , ,

08:15.

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/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Rail strikes – day 1…

21 Tuesday Jun 2022

Posted by in Photojournalism, Politics, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

,

09.20

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/

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

Thank you!

The HS2 Phase 2B Hybrid Bill (Crewe – Manchester) passes 2nd reading.

20 Monday Jun 2022

Posted by in Hs2, Parliament, Politics, Railways

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

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…

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

Thank you!

More HS2 progress in Parliament.

19 Sunday Jun 2022

Posted by in Hs2, Hs2 Phase 2B, Politics, Railways

≈ 8 Comments

Tags

, , ,

Tomorrow (Monday) The High Speed Rail (Crewe – Manchester) Hybrid Bill is scheduled for its 2nd reading. This is the most important step in the bill’s progress through Parliament as its at this stage the principle of the bill is established. This means that it’s unstoppable, any further votes are on details and amendments to the bill, not on stop/go. No-one’s killing this bill.

There will be a few interesting things to watch out for. One is how many MPs will vote against it. There’s not a cat in hell’s chance of the bill being voted down as it has cross-party support, but I’m sure there’ll be a few MPs making symbolic gestures – either out of right-wing political dogma (the Venn diagram of MPs who’re rabid Brexiters and also oppose HS2 is a perfect circle) – or to play to the anti HS2 gallery in their constituencies. It’s all posturing of course, but that’s politics for you.

Another thing to watch out for is which MPs will be chosen to sit on the Hybrid Bill petitioning Committee. They can’t be MPs who have constituencies on the route itself, but exactly who they are can give an indication of how smoothly the bill may progress. The phase 1 Ctte was fortunate to have some talented MPs appointed to it. Hopefully the same will happen this time.

The numbers of people who petition the Ctte is another guide to its progress. The phase 1 bill was inundated with petitions (over 1500) as opponents of HS2 though they could kill the bill by dragging out its progress. They failed. Many of the petitions were carbon-copies of each other so they were simply lumped together. The phase 2a bill received less than 200 – a sign of how the opposition to HS2 had collapsed. Now that the anti HS2 campaign’s folded completely it’ll be interesting to see who does petition. You cannot petition unless you have ‘locus standii’, which means only individuals, groups of individuals, companies or organisations who are directly and specially affected by the bill have the ‘right to be heard’ by means of petition. The process is outlined in this document. This rules out any groups like HS2 ‘rebellion’ but as they’re in no fit state (organisationally or intellectually) to do so I’d be amazed if they even bother. It also rules out any of the Nimbys or groups from Phase 1 and 2a.

Sadly, the Golborne spur is to be dropped from the phase 2b Hybrid bill as a political sop. However it’s not dead by any means. Sir Peter Hendy’s Union Connectivity Review recommended that the government examine the case for moving the spur further North, joining the West Coast Main Line (WCML) South of Preston. Work is underway to establish such a route – which would still use some of the original proposal. Time will tell…

Whatever, the phase 2b bill will ensure that HS2 reaches Manchester. It also shows how the anti HS2 campaign has collapsed. There’s no protests being organised by anyone – not that there’s anyone left to do so! Those days are long gone!

With StopHs2 having thrown in the towel and the protest movement having lost most of its activists as many have simply disappeared or run away to join other hopeless causes meaning there’s no credible opposition left on the ground. What there is left is just two people underground! They’re in tunnels at the former ‘bluebell’ camp in Staffordshire. They’ve now been there for 41 days. 41 days of utter futility as their self imposed isolation isn’t stopping a thing! Nor is it attracting any media attention. Attention that was the only raison d’etre of HS2 ‘rebellion’ nowadays as it helped to keep mugs parting with their money via crowdfunding. Put simply, they can stay there as long as they like because they’re not in anyone’s way. they’ll run out of food long before the land is needed for HS2 construction!

Meanwhile, the High Court will be ruling on the route-wide injunction application any time now. If that’s granted (and there’s every likelihood it will be) it’s ‘goodnight Vienna’ for the protesters and their hopeless attempts to physically stop HS2. The High Court papers (which are updated regularly) can be found by following this link. The latest addition shows that 16 named protesters have signed undertakings to desist from trying to stop HS2. These include Daniel Hooper (aka ‘Swampy’) who was regarded as an asset because – although he never stopped a thing – he was a media attraction. These 16 were some of the backbone of the protest camps, which has seen the number of activists decimated.

No doubt I’ll be blogging about the phase 2B Hybrid bill on an occasional basis as it progresses on Parliament. I’ll do an update once it passes 2nd reading on Monday. I’ll also blog about the High Court injunction hearing when the Judge announces their decision. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with a scene from outside Parliament on the 21st April 2014 when the HS2 Phase 1 bill passed 2nd reading with a stonking majority of 452 to 41! You won’t be seeing scenes like this tomorrow!

In 2014 there were still several umbrella groups organising against HS2. But, even then they vastly exaggerated their support, both politically and on the ground. This was their demonstration outside Parliament on the day the first HS2 Hybrid Bill passed 2nd reading. They couldn’t even muster 100 people.

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

Thank you!