This just in from Tim...
Pictured is Hawarden Bridge taken a couple of weeks ago.
Do I win a prize?
Alas no Tim - but Network Rail are certainly in the running if Hawarden still looks this piss-poor today.
Can any readers supply more recent pictures?
Good news for York!
Provincial backwater Derby has abandoned its grandiose plans to become the UK's 'Rail Capital'.
According to This is Derbyshire...
PLANS to build a £15m centre for the UK rail industry in Derby have been scrapped.
The UK Rail Centre was intended to provide a showcase venue for the industry but the East Midlands Development Agency admits it has failed to attract investment for the project.
Derby was chosen ahead of York by the Railway Industry Association and the Rail Sector Advisory Group for the right to house the centre in 2005.
Alas.
Despite the East Midlands Development Agency spending £1.95m in 2006 on a 2.6-acre site close to Derby station no additional external funding has been forthcoming.
The design for the proposed centre also proved slightly contentious, with its eye catching 32m ventilation tower being nicknamed the traffic cone.
Perhaps apt now that this particular avenue for regional grandstanding has been closed off.
This just in from the son of John...
If you are travelling to Dublin Ferryport and need local information then the National Rail website provides the following helpful map:
You have to zoom out a long way though to see any useful landmarks...
Perhaps Messrs Hall and Green (Stationers to Lord DafT Vader) could ask NR to shift a couple of their major stations into this Equatorial paradise?
This just in from Lee...
With thanks to readers of the WNXX Forum who suggested Lee forward this to Eye.
Via Twitter...
Exciting announcement on smart cards (like Oyster) for all public transport in the UK...
Quite so minister.
Although not entirely 'like Oyster'.
Oyster works.
Whilst ITSO, on the other hand...
Network Rail's East Midlands' Route Utilisation Strategy makes interesting reading.
Here for instance...
3.1 Train operators
At present, four franchised passenger train operators and six freight train operators runservices over the lines covered by the Route Utilisation Strategy (RUS).
These are: CrossCountry, East Midlands Trains, First Capital Connect, Northern Rail, DB Schenker, Freightliner, First GB Railfreight, Fastline Freight, Colas Rail and Advenza Freight.
Indeed.
But what's this?
No mention of Derby based operator Serco, who run Network Rail's own infrastructure monitoring trains.
Perhaps the New Black Tower has identified another efficiency saving?
It's not just Pendolini, Voyagers and Merdians you know.
This from 'Doron' on Tuesday...
18/08/09 10:15 2H81 TOILET FAULT DIN 158712
First ScotRail Control and Inverness RETB SC report that Driver of 2H81 is not prepared to take train beyond Dingwall due to a disgusting smell emanating from toilets on 158712 which has now permeated the whole train.
Up to 69 minutes when I booked off at 14:00.
It makes you wonder if the toiletless TramTrain might not be such a bad idea, if they ever happen of course...
This just in from Dr Gloucester...
I found myself at Salford Crescent again this evening.
There may be an avid follower of the Eye in Network Rail at Manchester, looks like the abundant growth near the Relay Room has had a dose of Roundup (TM) since it was entered in the Railway Garden Competition.
Is this down to coincidence, or embarrassment, I wonder?
Over at the platform end, it's the same story, nowhere for those pesky Pacers to hide now.
To avoid distressing those of a sensitive nature, no Pacers were photographed during the compilation of this submission.
So, NR, if you're still watching, how about tackling this lot, viewed from midway along the Up Platform face.
Then maybe you'd like to deal with this, just round the corner at Ordsall Lane Junction. Yes, that's a signal in there.
The Fact Compiler compliments Network Rail on getting to grips with the vegetation at Salford Crescent and hopes it is able to continue the good work...
Telegrammed by Ithuriel
Why do the Government keep on insulting our intelligence?
According to the DfT's consultation document on smart and integrated ticketing:
"There is a Government sponsored national specification for smart ticketing called ITSO which is designed to make different schemes technically compatible with each other, facilitating seamless journeys. The specification is maintained by ITSO Ltd, an independent member controlled organisation".
So independent and member controlled that DafT nominates three directors to the board, each with four votes when the other members can only muster 11 votes between them.
Even Kim Jung Il would be impressed by such transparent democracy.
This from the BBC...
Lord Mandelson is in hospital for an operation for a "benign condition of the prostate", says a government spokesman.
What a triumph of modern science to find the one part of the First Secretary that isn't malignant... (with a bowler tip to Evelyn Waugh)
UPDATE: This from Surgeon General Potter...
Further to your coverage on Mandlesons continued pulse, I feel I should be the first to suggest a form of surgery that will suit all.
Please find below the solution to Mandy's health woes.
If it's good enough for Al Gore, then it's good enough for the Noble Lord Mandelson.
After all, people like Al Gore.
It's not just South African athletes whose gender is being called into question.
This from the Derby Evening Telegraph...
Network Rail route director Dyan Crowther said the plan was in response to a growth in demand for rail travel, with the national passenger demand of three million journeys made nationally per day predicted to rise by 28% during the next decade.
He said: "Demand for rail travel has grown significantly over the last decade, and while this success is to be welcomed, it brings with it the challenge of meeting this demand while improving services for rail users."
ATOC is keen to look into the matter...
Telegrammed by Leo Pink
Isn't it typical, you wait for years for a proposals for a new UK high speed line network then two come along.
Next week Network Rail will pre-empt the report from the Department of Transport's own company High speed Two Ltd, promised by the end of the year, with its own "costed and detailed business case for a new high speed line".
DfT Rail is reported to be puzzled by this. 'What have high speed lines got to do with Network Rail' is the view in Marsham Street?'
Network Rail point out that their High Speed Line study was underway long before HS2 Ltd was even thought of.
So a tip of the bowler to Iain Coucher for yet again being the only railwayman willing to plant his tanks on DfT Rail's lawn.
This beautiful piece from the Cornish Guardian....
This just in from John...
I noticed that you have included Topsham in the Railway Garden Competition.
Would it also be possible to enter it for the Pointless Signs award?
Here is a picture of a BTP sign on the station.
What's pointless about that I hear you ask?
Well it's stuck behind this display board (see below).
Perhaps the station is patrolled by Secret Policemen?
This from today's Gruaniad...
A study by Booz Allen Hamilton, a consultancy, argues that building and operating a new north-south rail network in England will generate more CO2 than taking the same route by air over a 60-year period.
No doubt it will be a similar length of time before the Noble Lord invites Booz Allen to undertake further work for DafT.
This worthy entry from Topsham
Why is the Down line of the passing loop so favoured?
This just in from the Wicked Weaver...
No more running for trains!
Is Derby station the first one in Europe to impose a speed restriction on passengers?
In due course will one be prevented from taking the stairs two-at-a-time?
The Fact Compiler has been stirred from his deckchair by the following extra-ordinary news.
According to Passenger Focus:
First Great Western (FGW) is set to introduce new restrictions on its cheapest Off-Peak tickets which will mean many passengers travelling into London in the morning and out of London in the afternoon will see their fares rise by 20%.
What can this mean?
Some say First Great Western has joined the ranks of franchise demics like NXEC, London Midland and Arriva Cross Country.
The Fact Compiler, almost replete from his well earned break, has a more charitable view:
Perhaps Mark Hopwood is leveraging these swinging increases as personal favour to First's Chief Executive - Sir Moir of the Lovely Book (pictured below)
No doubt the storage costs for the mountain of remaindered copies has started to make First Group shareholders twitchy...
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