Cuneo and the mouse that roared...

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According to the Terence Cuneo Memorial Trust:

When Terence Cuneo died in 1996, there were many of his friends who felt that his achievements, as one of the 20th Century’s best and most versatile painters, should be recognised and celebrated in some way, to encourage future generations to know and enjoy his exceptional talent.

A few like-minded people, together with our family, formed a committee. The goal was simple, to raise enough money to commission a statue of Terence Cuneo and give it a home in the most public and appropriate place possible...

Along with the statue, the committee considered that it would be a fitting tribute if the Cuneo name could also be given to an annual prize at The Slade School of Fine Art, his alma mater. As a result of this ‘The Terence Cuneo Memorial Trust’ was formally established as a Registered Charity in March 2002.

It is a measure of the affection in which Terence Cuneo was held by the Royal Family that HM The Queen graciously agreed to head the subscription list.

Thanks to a magnificent gesture from an admirer of Cuneo’s paintings, Philip Jackson, the renowned sculptor was commissioned to create the statue.

With the help of Network Rail the 1.5 times life size Bronze Statue of Terence Cuneo now stands in the main concourse of Waterloo Station - adjacent to the Eurostar Terminal.

And how fares the statue today?

Sadly it stands neglected, covered in dust and detritus and almost invisible between a rash of new fast food kiosks.




What a reflection on the way the railway treats its heritage.

Come on Network Rail - you can do better than this.

UPDATE: This from Driver Potter...

Never really understood why they didn't put the statue under the station clock...

Reports of IEP demise much exaggerated?

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The Cassandra's of the railway are ever keen to predict the demise of the IEP (too bloody right. Ed).

However,if rumours circulating around the industry are to be believed, the project may have legs yet.

For no sooner had nationalised East Coast lost one IEP Project Director to Nexus than they immediately appointed another one!

Apparently it will be no less a figure than John Veitch, whose previous role was introducing another troublesome fleet - Virgin's Pendolini.

A welcome return to the industry for John, who starts at the state owned operator tomorrow.

Meanwhile Eye wonders who is picking up the tab for the post - East Coast or DfT?

Imperial Wharf opening falls flat

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A bowler tip to London Connections for reminding Eye that the new Imperial Wharf station was due to open today.

Alas

The first train to call at the new (and much delayed) station this morning... was cancelled:

Headcode: 2M18 UID: W43986 27/09/2009 0815 Clapham Junction [CLJ] to Watford Junction [WFJ]

Location FD Sch. Sch. Expected Expected PL Lateness DR
Arr. Dep. Arrival Departure
Clapham Junction [CLJ] 0815 Cancelled 2
LTCHMRJ Pass 0817 Pass -
Imperial Wharf [IMW] 0819 0819 Cancelled Cancelled
West Brompton [WBP] 0822 0822 Cancelled Cancelled 4
Kensington Olympia [KPA] 0826 0825 2 -1
Shepherds Bush [SPB] 0828 0827 2 -1
NPLE813 Pass 0832 Pass -
MTRBDGJ Pass 0835 Pass -
Willesden Junction [WIJ] Pass 0841 Pass -
WLSDNNJ Pass 0842 Pass -
Wembley Central [WMB] Pass 0844 Pass -
Harrow & Wealdstone [HRW] 0848 0848 Cancelled Cancelled
Watford Junction [WFJ] 0858 Cancelled 10

One just hopes members of the Fourth Estate were still aslumber...

A case for Hall and Green!

Telegrammed by The Master
Plymouth may be home to the Royal Navy, but the Spar shop on the railway station certainly isn't home to any wine buffs.

As the chiller cabinet contains bottles of Merlot - a red wine!

Perhaps Lord DafT Vader will ask his 'stationers' to demand that Network Rail address this epicurean faux pas (once they've taken direct control of the station)?

TfL - Can't count, won't count

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Boris launched the first of the London Overground class 378s at Willesden this morning.

Alas, the supporting press release contains a real howler.

It would appear that in TfL-world, adding a 4th car to the 3 car trains will add "50% extra capacity"!

Perhaps unsurprising, therefore, to hear that TfL are having real problems balancing this year's budget.

UPDATE: This, arithmetically, from a Beancounter (Ret'd)...

Obviously numbers are not The Master's strong point.

Old Trains carry 460 passengers (approx).

New Trains (3 car) carry 500 passengers +40 an 8% increase.

New Trains (4 car) carry 700 passengers + 240 on Old Trains - a 50%+ increase (on OLD trains).

With 175 in each car (mainly standing) let's hope the Air Con will be "up to the muster"!

A new era unfurls #4

Telegrammed by the Master
You men of old... look and weep.


Taken on Friday at Carlisle on the New West Coast Main Line (costing circa £9.0524bn and counting).

Who could begrudge Network Rail directors their bonuses when they've presided over such a monumental success?

(Is this right? Ed)

Stuff Weary Travellers; count the money.

Telegrammed by The Master
One of the beauties of rail over air travel is that you don't have to turn up two hours ahead and queue for check-in.

Alas the modern railway is doing its best to bugger up this benefit.

Despite arriving 28 minutes early at Waterloo today all my time was spent queuing at the self-service machines to try and buy a ticket.


Fifteen machines are provided, but despite this chaos descends as soon as anyone unfamiliar with them joins the queue.

Each transaction takes an age - and it's not as if you can just walk on to the train and buy your ticket.

Of course Waterloo is now gated and SWT take great pleasure in administering a penalty fare to any passenger foolish enough to attempt buying a ticket on the train.

So much for a pleasurable travelling experience.

I made my train with only a few minutes to spare and sans any refreshments.

Thanks SWT.

UPDATE 26/05/09: This just in from 'Mike'...

Victoria on 19th May...

Despite the two companies operating services there both being owned by Govia, there are separate machines, with only two on the South Eastern side. Only one of which was working.

Off to the South Central side only to see a notice taped onto all machines "Due to a download problem, Southeastern destinations are not available from this machine".

If it wasn't for the barriers, Southeastern are pretty good at selling tickets on Ramsgate/Dover trains.

How un-joined up is that?

Planning for the future

Telegrammed by the Master
NR's reputation for customer service will take a great leap forward from 2010 when the Leeds train planning office moves to, err... Milton Keynes.

Scotrail and TPE are reported to be non too impressed.

NR have acquired premises in this 'world class' town and are intending concentrating many more functions on the site.

But few staff seem keen to make the move to the land of concrete cows.

That's one way to reduce headcount.

UPDATE: This just in from DOS at Rugby...

The move to Milton Keynes, and planned centralisation of functions currently carried out in other locations, may well be connected to Mr Coucher residing near by.

Perhaps even he is finding a daily commute to Euston too expensive!

UPDATE: This just in from the Major...

I suspect Mr C has few problems with the cost of his MK commute.

Whether he's quite so happy at his train being late so often is another matter.

Station usage shocker

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You may remember the little faux pas from the spotters who run the 'Going Loco' forum where they managed to confuse reopening an old railway line with a brand-new one.

Well, it seems that they're at it again.

They've attempted some analysis of the latest station usage figures from ORR and come up with this gem:

"In a rather disappointing finding for the newly opened Ebbw Vale line the 2 stations with the lowest usage are both on it. Crosskeys was the least used station with 8 people in the 2007/08 period. 2nd least used station was Llanhilleth with 10."

Hardly surprising really.

Llanhilleth (28th April 2008) was opened three weeks after the reporting period and Crosskeys opened two months (7th June 2008) after the reporting period!

A career with DaFT certainly beckons.

UPDATE: This from an 'Anonymous' reader...

They've come up with another stunner today in their 'Front page news'

"The Rail Regulator has published its report on the average of rolling stock on the network, which shows that the average age has risen to a five year high. [b]The average age is now 15.5 years, compared to 15.7 in the Summer of 2004[/b]."

Err...

One hopes that putative careers at DafT have nothing to do with statistical analysis.

UPDATE: This from a completely 'Anonymous' reader...

I had hitherto thought that was patently obvious ...

Yeo off message?

Telegrammed by the Master
The Master attended Monday night’s Railway Study Association annual dinner.

An occasion where the great and the good of the railway industry get to meet the strange fraternity of men with an over abundance of pens in their top pockets.

The guest speaker was Tory Tim Yeo MP, a choice which puzzled many as he’s not known for his knowledge of the rail industry.

Tory Tim quickly alienated many by needlessly sticking the boot into the corpse of BR in a poor attempt to defend privatisation.

But it was his remarks about Colchester station which confused the most.

Tory Tim criticised the station as being an unpleasant place to use because it didn’t offer “an airline experience”.

Presumably he meant that you can just pitch up, buy a ticket and board a train.

Rather than have to turn up two hours before and queue for security with your shoes in your hand whilst your luggage is sent to another country.

Electrify, Electrify, Electrify (in Dalek voice)

Telegrammed by The Master
Anyone in doubt over the benefit of 'infill' electrification schemes would do well to pay attention to what's happening in Cheshire tonight.

Virgins VHF service to and from Manchester would be in tatters after a level crossing incident at Congleton if it were not for the fact that the line from Crewe to Kidsgrove was electrified a couple of years back.

With infill, Pendolinos can still serve the stations required of them - albeit late.

DafT please take note!

FCC by name, don't give a FCC by nature

Telegrammed by the Master
Another piss-poor show from FCC staff at Finsbury Park this morning.

Despite the platform screens being out of order staff still couldn't drag their sorry backsides from their offices to actually inform people of platform changes - or even bother to use the PA except to announce that the PIS wasn't working (no shit Sherlock! Ed)

The result being that all the passengers waiting for the 11:06 to Cambridge were left stranded on platform 5 whilst their train came and went from platform 3.

Come back WAGN - all is forgiven!

Crisis, what crisis?

Telegrammed by The Master
Anyone travelling through Kings Cross on Saturday morning could be forgiven for thinking 'crisis, what crisis?'

There certainly seemed to be no sign of passenger numbers slackening in the wake of the economic downturn.

NXEC departures were rammed, with a mid morning Glasgow service full and standing.

Arrivals were equally busy, including Grand Central's first train of the day.

No doubt the cheeky decision by all three Open Access Operators to freeze fares in 2009 will continue this trend.

Future in the past

Telegrammed by The Master
Inter TOC co-operation and holding connections for late services isn't always the stuff of myth, as passengers on todays 0845 Padd - Swansea have found out.

Those punters using the train to get to Fishguard anxiously scanned their watches (or admired flooded fields) as their train was held outside Bristol Parkway due to an AXC service blocking its path.

Perhaps Arriva felt guilty, as the TM on the FGW train came on the PA to apologise for the delay and announce that ATW had agreed to hold the connection and allow punters to make their train.

So, if it can be done on this occasion...

Railways Illustrator file

Telegrammed by The Master
Rail enthusiasts are notorious for disliking change.

So it was brave of Pip Dunn (Editor of Railways Illustrated) to stick his head in the lions mouth and ask for feedback on his mag's new look from members of the WNXX forum.

Perhaps predictably, a lot of the feedback wasn't exactly a ringing endorsement of the changes.

To redress the balance Railway Eye has launched an exciting new survey into the Railways Illustrated redesign.

Please select your choice from the options on the right...

The last shall be...

Telegrammed by The Master
The revision of the ATOC guidelines on enthusiasts appears to have hit a stumbling block.

Regular readers of Railway Eye will recollect that ATOC circulated revised draft guidelines on photography at stations to the industry several months ago.

These are inline with Ian Johnstone, Chief Constable of the BTP, claiming that enthusiasts are additional eyes and ears on the network.

Alas, it appears that one of the TOC owning groups has decided to be difficult and break ranks .

Unless sanity (and diplomacy) prevails we may yet see camera-wielding enthusiasts being frog-marched off sizeable chunks of the rail network in the future.

Such an unedifying spectacle would be a massive PR blunder causing the industry acres of hostile media coverage.

Railway Eye hopes that this can be resolved by wiser and more senior heads first?

Less is less

Telegrammed by The Master
One has to wonder who the bright spark is at VWC who thought that replacing all the quiet coach stickers with far fewer, smaller ones was actually a good idea.

Trying to get some antisocial cretins to take heed was bad enough before - now that you need a magnifying glass to read them and a map to find them it's bound to cause even more friction.

Perhaps it's a cunning plan to ensure that quiet coaches are abandoned all together?

Better late than never

Telegrammed by The Master
***BBC reporting NR's 'stay at home chairman' Sir Ian McAlasiter soon to do just that - permanently.***

Old queen

Telegrammed by The Master
Passengers longing for an end to the disruption caused by Victoria line upgrade works didn't know whether to laugh or cry this afternoon.

PA announcements across the network relayed the dismal news that the "planned early closure" of the Vic had been cancelled yet again.

One can't help wondering if LU's in-house engineering contractor Metronet tuned the clock back to year zero when it was taken over by TfL earlier this year?

Without the pressure of time there seems scant desire to make use of hard won extended engineering hours.

Perhaps Tiling is to join Whiff-whaff as a 2012 Olympic event?

Lifted

Telegrammed by The Master
Railway Eye readers may remember that Ruth Kelly was subject to much ridicule when she told the Transport Select Committee that her department had safeguarded the route of a non-existent closed railway between London and Birmingham.

Well we may owe the Secretary of State an apology as it's obviously an easy mistake to make!

After all, even those fonts of all railway knowledge (trainspotters) get it wrong sometimes.

Hence this interesting interpretation of the news that has appeared on a railway forum with the rather appropriate name of Going Loco:

Chiltern Railways have announced a 200million scheme to reopen the line from High Wycombe to Oxford, which has been shut since 1964. A Transport & Works Act application will soon be made to move the scheme forward, with Chiltern Railways taking the lead in developing the project. Chiltern say that this will be their priority following the completion of Aylesbury Vale Parkway.

The ambition would be achieved by linking the Chiltern line to Bicester Town station, from where trains could continue through to Oxford. This would give Bicester new links both to Oxford and London, as well as providing further travel opportunities between Oxford and London, to compete with First Great Western

The link in question is a brand- new chord at Bicester which has never been shut because it's never been open!

Perhaps a career at DafT beckons...