Tuesday, 3 September 2013

How not to do PR. No 94

Eye congratulates the Press Officer Scotland for First UK Bus! 

Two suggestions.

In the first instance probably best not to send out a doco with tracked changes visible.

And secondly, don't then panic and send an email to all those you originally blind copied but this time listing all of them in the 'To' field. 

This tends to show the extent of the original c0ck-up and more importantly adds to your discomfort...

No matter - we've all done it, once!
 

Of course everyone will 'ignore the last e-mail' and look forward to the 'statement' that 'will be issued by Chelsea... at 2p. today'.

Meanwhile, Eye hopes the communications around depot restructuring in the Midlands and South East are going to plan
?

UPDATE: This from Nameless Bus Industry Journalist...

I received the said missive from First UK Bus, but noted that the actual media holding statement has just arrived from Chelsea at 15:13 rather than the promised '2p.'


Good to see First UK Bus are on top of punctuality!!


Monday, 2 September 2013

Pointless sign - Platform 6, Derby


Silver stump watch - be afraid, be very afraid

They are mutating!



Runaway!

Pointless sign - Class 450

This from Messrs Cuthbert, Dibble and Grub...


Where to begin?

Pointless signs - Burton upon Trent

This from the Wicked Weaver... 

Gateway to the National Forest (or so it says)?




Strikes me, we're already there.

Friday, 30 August 2013

Railway Garden Competition - Forest Hill

This from a Dr Gloucester...


I hope you enjoy the following specimen, which was spotted recently at the aptly named Forest Hill station:


I wonder if this might also qualify for a Pointless Signs entry?

Wattage Watch - Slough


Railway Garden Competition - Britannia Bridge


Thursday, 29 August 2013

Pointless sign - SWT 455


HS2 redesigns train after criticism - Exclusive

This from MC Hammer...

Thought you might be interested in having a sneak preview of HS2 rolling stock.

Apparently it has been designed specifically with the IoD, IEA, UKIP, John Bercow and the Chilterns in mind.



Its codename is the 'Nimby Nonk Train'...

Wednesday, 28 August 2013

Pointless sign - Reading

This apparently sent from Samsung Tablet...


Good luck with that one!

London to Brighton - 60 Glorious Years

This via the Beeb with a bowler tip to @PaulCliftonBBC...

A brilliant side by side view of London to Brighton in 1953, 1983 and 2013:



Paul Clifton's report can be found here.

Good effort.

Tuesday, 27 August 2013

The silence of the Lambs...

So today the Institute of Directors came out against HS2.

Don't forget to cancel your IoD membership in protest (shurely 'sign up as many people as possible to overturn this guff'! Ed)

Perhaps timely, therefore, to publish this article that appeared in Passenger Transport on the 2nd August...


The next edition of Passenger Transport is published on the 30th August.

Pointless sign - Cannon Street



With a bowler tip to @JimWaterson

The road to hell is paved with....

This from Just for Stu...

Here is the Metro leaflet for the Leeds Festival.

Note the stern injunction about mud and boarding trains:


And here is the concourse at Leeds Station on Monday afternoon, with most of Bramham Park deposited on it.


Presumably clean up costs are having to be borne by the railway?

On the plus side the Metro leaflet makes no mention of muddy festival goers being denied access to the station...

Railcare out of administration?

Sources suggesting that Railcare may have come out of administration.

New owners believed to be Knorr Bremse.

Awaiting details of implications for Wolverton and Springburn... 

UPDATE: This from ITV...

Rail maintenance firm Railcare has been sold to Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems, securing two UK sites and more than 200 jobs, said administrators BDO. 

UPDATE: This from Knorr-Bremse...

Knorr-Bremse Acquires Railcare Business

Knorr-Bremse Rail Systems (UK) Limited has acquired the rail vehicle component and overhaul business of Railcare.


The acquisition sees the UK Company of the global Knorr-Bremse Group taking over the Railcare operational sites at both Springburn in Glasgow and at Wolverton near Milton Keynes.


Following the acquisition Knorr-Bremse has formed a new company called Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited. This company now joins the three other established Knorr-Bremse Rail Group operations in the UK. Located at Melksham in Wiltshire is the UK engineering and manufacturing headquarters, at nearby Corsham is a satellite precision machining operation and at Burton-upon-Trent in Staffordshire, Knorr-Bremse operates a specialist HVAC facility.


Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited will be fully supported by Knorr-Bremse UK but will operate as a specialist company with its own identity. The company will continue to offer customers its previous portfolio of services and remain fully focused on train maintenance and repair.


Paul Goodhand, Managing Director of Knorr-Bremse in the UK commenting on the acquisition of Railcare said, “We are delighted to welcome Railcare into the Knorr-Bremse family of companies based here in the UK. My team and I in the UK and the Executive Board of Knorr-Bremse are committed to the future success of Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited. We see Knorr-Bremse RailServices operations developing and expanding in the future in what we view as a dynamic area of rail operations with much potential. Railcare currently has many skilled and experienced individuals working at both its sites, in vehicle overhaul and repair but also in specialist incident repair and logistics. We believe that with the support of Knorr-Bremse, both in terms of solid financial investment and in process and management experience and support, we will, together with the existing team, be able to create a strong, new company. Our vision for Knorr-Bremse RailServices (UK) Limited is to create a company which supports customers in keeping their trains running through offering them an outstanding range of quality train maintenance and repair specialist services going forward.”
 

ENDS

Friday, 23 August 2013

Lookalike - TfL red faces edition

Railway Garden Competition - Long Eaton

This from John-John...

The 1745 from St Pancras had a brush with Long Eaton's reforestation programme yesterday.


There was a time when one could safely walk along the cess, sight signals, etc...

Best foot forward at St Pancras!

This from the Wicked Weaver...


Nice!

Railway Garden Competition - Ashurst