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Paul Bigland

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Tag Archives: Talgo

The first TALGO train in the UK. The first of many?

01 Saturday Feb 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Barrow Hill, Railways, Talgo

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Barrow Hill, Railways, Talgo

On Tuesday 28th January a rather special sort of train was put on display in the UK for the very first time. TALGO UK donated one of their very high-speed train vehicles to Chesterfield Borough Council to celebrate the company establishing its Head Office in Chesterfield and confirmed ambitions to develop an ‘Innovation Centre’, co-located with Barrow Hill roundhouse, where the TALGO train has gone on display.

Carlos de Palacio, President of TALGO (seen here) handed the vehicle over to Councillor Tricia Gilby, Leader of ChesterfieldBorough Council.
The invited audienc look on as the TALGO train is handed over at Barrow Hill roundhouse.
The coach is from the sets built for the sleeper service from Madrid/Barcelona – Paris. Other vehicles from the 250 kph sets are being ‘upcycled’ for use at 330 kph on lines raduating from the Spanish capital, Madrid.
L-r. Cllr Tricia Gilby receives a model of a TALGO train from, Jon Veitch, MD of TALGO UK and Carlos de Palacio, President of TALGO.

I’ll write more about TALGO and their UK ambitions (including constructing a train building plant at Longannet in Scotland) tomorrow.

Rolling blog: doing the TALGO tango once more…

28 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Railways, Rolling blogs, Talgo, Travel

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Railways, Rolling blogs, Talgo

06:15.

I’m preparing to head off to Halifax station for a journey to Barrow Hill for today’s TALGO press event. Let’s see how the day progresses…

07:05.

I timed my walk to the station impeccably. As I crested the top of the hill above our house I arrived at the same time as a snowstorm! The weather often changes here as Spring Edge is the high point of the valley summit. After here it’s a long, gradual descent sll the way to Halifax town centre and the railway station. The snow was whipped by the wind and lasted for several minutes, leaving me (in my long black coat) looking like a Dalmation!

I arrived at the station with a few minutes to soare before the 07:07 to York arrived. This is being worked by a 3-car Class 195, so there’s been no struggle to get a seat. I’m now defrosting slowly in the warmth of the front coach.

Whilst I was waiting one of the new Hull – Halifax services arrived. In a sign of the times this was worked hy a 3-car Class 158, the type of units that were the backbone of Northern’s ‘express’ services before the CAF units arrived. The fact they can be spared and cascaded to secondary duties says a lot about the way the Northern fleet’s expanded. The train was almost empty when it terminated at Halifax, although I’ve no doubt its return trip will be profitable…

Journeys end for one of the new Hull to Halifax services

07:45.

I’ve arrived at Leeds via the usual game of sitting outside waiting for a platform to become free…

08:30.

I’m now rammed into the luggage area (formerly the shop) on a 4-car Voyager that’s running 9 mins late due to congestion between York-Leeds. The train’s packed with a mixture of long and short distance passengers. Folk heading down South of Birmingham as far as Plymouth whilst others are taking the short hop from Leeds to Wakefield. It’s one of my dislikes about the Cross-Country network. It’s neither fish nor fowl.

Having left Wakefield 10 mins late I’ve 25 mins to enjoy staring at this bulkhead..

At least my time in Leeds was profitable. The station was awash with new trains operated by Northern, LNER and TPE and passengers scurrying through the place, heads down or buried in scarves as they head to work on this cold winter’s day.

11:51.

Phew! A busy few hours af Barrow Hill where Talgo handed over one of their former sleeper cars which were used on Madrid/Barcelona- Paris services. Fitted with the company’s unique Rodal independent wheel system they’ve never been seen in the UK before. I’ll blog about this event separately as it justifies it.

20:10.

Well, that was an interesting day! Not only was it a chance to catch up with a lot of old friends, it was also a great opportunity to learn more about the exciting plans Talgo have for the UK as they’ve developed.

After the event a few of us congregated to talk about the world before heading off in different directions. I’d plans to make the most of the sunny weather. Sadly neither lasted. Snow flurries followed me South and by the time the last two of us started the trek Northwards the weather was positively Arctic! I left Jon at Sheffield to leg it from an EMR 158 tl one of its Northern cousins. By the time I transferred to yet another of the Class at Leeds to get to Halifax I felt I should’ve been wearing thermals!

Rolling blog: it’s Showtime!

14 Wednesday Nov 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in Rolling blogs, Talgo, Transport, Travel, Uncategorized

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London, Rolling blogs, Talgo, Transport, Travel

06:45

I’m up early and waiting To grab a quick breakfast before heading off to the Institute of Mechanical Engineers with my colleagues from TALGO, ready for this morning’s press conference where the company has an exciting announcement to make…

07:25

Sunrise over Hounslow.

My fellow conspirators on the tube.

The District line may be busy, but at least the stock is full size – and air – conditioned!

08:50.

Ready to rock and roll…

09:43. The President of TALGO, Carlos de Palacio (right), discussing the future with The Scottish Transport Minister, Michael Matheson.

09:55.

It’s official: TALGO’s factory site is Longannet in Scotland, with an Innovation centre to be built in Chesterfield, England.

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11:43.

Job done, I’ve taken my leave of IMechE and popped over to Parliament to offer my support to the people opposing the madness of Brexit which is carrying on across the road right now.

Weather wise, it’s a beautiful day in London.

Politically, it’s an utter shambles. The area around Parliament’s swarming with camera crews eager to grab shots of the political circus. Will we still have a Government in a couple of weeks? Who knows?

14:56.

I left the political madness and headed to old haunts out East to see how the Great Eastern suburban service from Liverpool St to Shenfield’s changing now. Having been absorbed into the London Underground a few years ago there’s further changes now. The Class 315s which have been the backbone of the route since 1980 are being replaced by the Bombardier built Class 345s. Only a handful of the new trains were running today, but the writings on the wall for the 315s as several have already headed off to various scrapyards. Mind you, I’m not complaining. The new trains are a lot more comfortable! Here’s what the interior of the 345s looks like.

17:10

I’m now homeward bound on Grand Central’s 16:27 Kings Cross – Bradford Interchange – and it’s absolutely rammed! This 5-Car Class 180 has people camped out in the vestibules in Standard Class whilst there’s just a single seat spare in 1st Class. Not bad when you consider this service is non-stop as far as Doncaster! Gone are the early days of the West Riding service when having a couple of dozen on was an average load, now GC are incredibly successful. The problem now is how they cater for future growth as the 180s are fixed formation sets – and a small fleet to boot.

The 16:27 has been retimed recently, which appears to have contributed to it’s excellent loadings (this is a Peak service too). It used to leave London at 16:05. That extra time in London means business folk have more flexibility, making it more attractive. Here’s how it looks in Standard and 1st today.

Rolling blog: the Talgo tango…

09 Tuesday Oct 2018

Posted by Paul Bigland in I love my job, Railways, Rolling blogs, Scotland, Talgo, Travel, Wales

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I love my job, Railways, Scotland, Talgo, Travel, Wales

It’s going to be a looong couple of days that will take in Wales, England and Scotland, but I’m here in Cardiff ready for the first press conference where Spanish train builder Talgo are ready to announce the shortlisted sites for the factory they intend to build here in the UK. I’ll be blogging throughout the day, so stay tuned.

Here’s the view from the room in the St David’s hotel where we’re holding the event.

The shortlisted site in Wales is at Mostyn, a port on the North Wales coast.

DG311331small

From L-R, Jim o’ Toole, MD of Mostyn port. Jon Veitch, UK MD, Talgo and Carlos de Palacio, President of Talgo

You can read more about what we’re up to in this article on the RAIL website. Here’s Rail’s Richard Clinnick having an exclusive interview with Jon Veitch.

11:34

Phew! We’re all packed up and the 5 of us are off to the second event of the day. We’re travelling on a Cross-country service to Birmingham, where the English part of the shortlist will be announced. These are sites at Chesterfield, St Helens and Leeds

Whilst we’ve been travelling, the news has broken that two sites in Scotland have been shortlisted, these are Longannet and Hunterston.

13:50.

We’re ready to rock and roll in Birmingham now. The stage has been set..

Oh, and the views out of the windows are amazing!

Now we’re waiting for the rest of the guests to arrive. Here’s material produced by two of the potential English sites. St Helens and Chesterfield.

17:10.

The Birmingham event was very well received. Here’s a couple of pictures.

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Carlos de Palacio, President of Talgo, speaking in Birmingham

DG311519crop

L-R Sir Simon Hughes, Talgo Strategic UK Advisor, Jon Veitch, UK MD, Talgo and Carlos de Palacio, President of Talgo

19:23.

We’re now over the border and heading for Edinburgh aboard a Virgin Pendolino. It’s been a fascinating day but we’re all looking forward to getting to our hotel. Tomorrow the fun and games starts again with a series of radio interviews before the main event.

Because of this – and for the sake of continuity I’m going to roll this blog over into tomorrow. Right now I’m going to enjoy a glass of wine and catch up with the world..

Meanwhile, next to me, Carlos, Simon and Jon are doing the same and chatting about the day.

Day 2

10:00

We’re all set up and ready for the Scottish event which is being held in a hotel with a fabulous view. I took this from the balcony of my room this morning!

Here’s the event set up to go. As well as being the Talgo photographer I’ve been mucking in to do the stage setting. Here’s one I made earlier…

11:57

Phew! Event over!

DG311667crop

DG311567crop

It’s been a very hectic few days but also hugely enjoyable. I’ve learned a lot about Talgo and I’m looking forward to visiting their Spanish factories in the future. Right now I’m looking forward to a few days at home in order to catch up with some writing and picture editing.

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