Après le Déluge...

Surely First Great Western won't be allowed to profit from this?

According to thisiscornwall.co.uk...

TRURO railway station has been closed after torrential rain caused the roof to cave in above the ticket office on Thursday morning.

Passengers can only buy daily tickets in cash from a machine on platform two; all advance tickets and payments by card are unavailable.

Eye trusts that Passenger Focus is on the case, even though it's the weekend?

Cash back

Bill Cash, Conservative MP for Stone, received overwhelming support in a constituency vote of confidence.

Apologies - just wanted to run that headline.

Blazing Saddles

The Fact Compiler likes a good western.

Others, on the other hand, prefers them bad and mean.

Please don't follow this link if you are a P-way engineer of a sensitive disposition or a member of the Safety Taliban.

UPDATE: This from our International Expert...


And here is what the Maybach Railgrinder could do if left to its own devices...

Economist - Loss of East Coast saves NatEx a fortune

Has The Economist seen better days?

It would certainly appear so, judging by this howler...

National Express reckoned it could pay the government £1.4 billion a year by 2015, assuming that revenue grew by 10% a year until then.

Saved from paying DafT such massive sums, NatEx should now be able to afford a suitable leaving present for Beau Bowker.

Something small and useful, like Oman perhaps?

Old joke recycled

This from the Daily Telegraph...

SIR – Now that Gordon Brown’s administration is to take over the East Coast main line should the 10am King’s Cross to Edinburgh be renamed The Lying Scotsman?

Keith Porter
London SW14

With a bowler tip to our man at Buggleskelly

UPDATE: This from "Old BR Hand"

A more charitable name might be The Trying Scotsman?

The Reshaping of British Broadcasting

Exciting news from the world of broadcasting.

This in the Grauniad...

ITN newsreader Alastair Stewart calls for 'Beeching' inquiry into BBC.

Beeching of course not only closed lines, he also introduced the freightliner and merry-go-round concepts.

Judging by the number of comedy repeats on the Beeb the latter is already in place.

Summoned by Bells!

Sir John Betjeman will be spinning in his grave.

The saviour of St Pancras station and quinetessential Englishman has a pub named after him at the station he saved.

Situated just inches above the former Burton beer store could there be a better place for a cooling ale in the summer heat?

Alas, not yesterday.

The beer was "off" leaving thirsty punters with a choice between fizzy continental lager or head-banger's cider.

Perhaps My Lord Adonis should intervene?

UPDATE: Leo Pink splutters...

This is, of course, the Station Czar's fault.

Adonis should should call in the so-called Chris Green and give him a right royal rollicking.

But what did Adonis expect appointing an old-BR manager for this vital task?

Missing DafT Press Releases

***If you are not getting any government press releases emailed to your inbox Guido has found out why.***

Motorail

Spotted on the ECML yesterday


The Eye is happy to confirm that this was not a spoiling tactic by the Continuity NXEC.

UPDATE: This from 'Concerned NR Employee'...

Standing with your back to a moving train in the middle of the line whilst using a mobile isn't terribly sensible and it's something we are specifically warned against at safety briefings.

And shouldn't he be wearing a hard hat?

Thank you 'Concerned'.

If you look closely at the picture you will notice that there is a very large object, at a stand, on the left hand running line.

Similarly, in the middle of the right hand running line, there is a slightly smaller object which is also going nowhere.

Perhaps the use of the telephone is, in some special way, connected with the complete lack of forward motion being displayed by both of these objects?

Of course the Eye completely takes on board your sensible point about the wearing of hard hats.

Although it would appear that at certain places local arrangements may apply, as illustrated below:

'Nuff said?

UPDATE: This from Dreadnought...

Not wishing to contradict ''Concerned NR Employee" but (there's always a "but" when someone says that), as I understand it the train is on the Up Fast and the car is on the Up Slow.

So the staff in question were actually facing the train when it approached and the photo was taken looking back after the photographer had passed them.

The Fact Compiler also stands corrected.

Tudor Trains

Apologies for the lack of posts.

Been resting after yesterday's exertions.

Normal service will be resumed Friday.

Meanwhile enjoy poor deluded John Prescott pretend he has travelled on a nationalised train.



John of course was New Labour's first Secretary of State for Transport.

So what did you do to deliver the supposed nationalised utopia John?

That's right. Bugger all.

Eye hopes the mock Tudor Beams we paid for have blended in well at Prescott Towers!

Mediaballs #3

Good to see that BBC Radio 4's World Tonight elected to interview Ken Livingstone on the National Express East Coast Story.

Out of thirsty Ken flowed the usual late night tosh about the evils of privatisation and the failings of Metronet - an infrastructure company.

Could that be the same Ken Livingstone who when Mayor decided to privatise the operations of the formerly publicly operated London Underground East London line?

Perhaps we should be told?

But not by the lame editors of the World Tonight.

Ford in The Thunderer!

Captain Deltic lets National Express off the hook, in an Op Ed piece in tomorrow's Times...

So the National Express bid was not uniquely optimistic. Nor, given the prescriptive nature of franchise specifications, did it make unrealistic promises. The problem was that the franchising process was locked into an expectation of perpetual growth. It was a perfect system until the economy failed to play by the rules.

Steel hand, velvet glove.

Fortunately the Prime Minister assures us the downturn started in America.

2009 Railway Garden Competition #2

Telegrammed by The Arborialist
On a nasty hot, stinky, sweltering day, Eyers might like to take a break from all that silly train stuff, and relax, with another calming, charming, Railway Garden.

This pastoral scene can be contemplated at leisure, between trains, on the northbound platform at Workington.


Super!

And please remember - try and keep your twinkle toes off the grass!

TTFN!

Beau Bowker - Chapter the First

Telegrammed by C P Wren via ouija board
Chapter the First: The new railway

'Good news Sergeant Dagineau, the Legionary Corps of Railway Engineers is to build a new line here to us at Fort Zinderneuf'.

'It is indeed good news, mon Capitan'

'Even better, sergeant, the Legionnaire in charge will be Colonel Bowker!'.

'Sapristy! Not Dicky 'Beau' Bowker! The living legend in the British railway industry'

'The very same, sergeant; but you know the rules of La Legion, never mention a fellow Legionnaire's past. Like many of us Beau Bowker has enlisted to forget'.

'Indeed, Mon Capitan, and he has much to forget, the Strategic Rail Authority, the National Express East Coast franchise bid and playing piano for Tony Blair's guitar hero fantasies'.

'Still, he now has a chance to redeem himself and one day he may be able to return to England'

To be continued...

Oakervee to Laing O'Rourke

It's all go today!

This from Construction News...

Former Crossrail non-exec chairman Doug Oakervee will be joining Laing O’Rourke to head up business development in the Pacific Rim region.

Please supply your own tag line - The Fact Compiler is off to the pub!

House of Commons statement at 7pm

Via Twitter:

SadiqKhan Just been inside Chamber of Lords for statement by Lord Adonis on National Express . I think I am making my statement to commons around 7pm

Tune in, turn off, nationalise - or something like that.

Mediaballs #2

This from Hillbilly...

BBC journos obviously don't read the Eye - dear Martha on the World at One was still saying LT& Southern at lunchtime.

But what's this?

Even the Captain must be feeling the heat.

Did I hear him say:

"...and Go Ahead... worried about their intercity Cross Country franchise"?

It's sure hot in these here hills.

UPDATE: Captain Deltic 'fesses up.

Yes having been doing background briefs and media appearances since sparrow fart the brain had been on sprint rating for too long by the time the lovely Martha interviewed me and I got my franchises crossed.

Elaine Holt, Chief Executive designate of the new East Coast rail line

This from PoliticsHome...

Lord Adonis 'also announced that Elaine Holt is the Chief Executive designate of the new East Coast rail line, and assured the Lords that “the government will receive the full revenues of a company that continues to make an operational profit”.'

The Fact Compiler congratulates yet another former First Group senior manager on making such a rapid transfer to the public sector.

Why it seems only three months ago that Elaine was MD of First Capital Connect.


Perhaps there is a chapter on Career Progression in Sir Moir's lovely book?

Elaine Holt to be new MD of East Coast

Announced in the House by Adonis just now.

More to follow....

Intermission!

After all today's excitement a little something for our gricer chums, who are probably bored rigid by all this high politics stuff.

This is a picture of 222103, taken earlier today...


Serious cranks will be delighted to know that it is a Hull Trains unit, under the control of Bombardier, on an East Midlands Trains route (no wonder the livery looks confused).

And one more thing. Like the rest of the fleet you probably can't use a mobile phone or connect to the internet whilst aboard.

Right. Enough of that.

Back to the spanking!