Mystic Eye spot on the money again

This from Modern Railways...

O'Toole and Franks leave National Express Group.

Eye hopes that hasn't spoilt yesterday's Brain Teaser.

Adonis exposed - Shocker

Telegrammed by Leo Pink
According to Wikipedia...

Adonis (we presume they mean our transport secretary) "is a central cult figure in various mystery religions".

Sounds about right.

The First Church of the Live Catenary, Community Rail, The Blessed Congregation of the Elevated Velocity, not to mention the Cult of the TramTrain.

Noble Lord we believe, help thou our unbelief.

We are the Champions no more?

Telegrammed by our International Correspondent
What has happened to Rail Champions?

Set up by the fragrant "BBC Legend" Maggie Philbin, with help from Messrs Marshall and Harris of Railnews fame, Rail Champions claims to be a business that is:

"dedicated to strengthening your company's brand. We provide creative solutions to your advertising and marketing challenges, increasing your company's presence in the UK Rail Sector."

Alas.

You won't be able to find out about them on anything as fancy-dan as the internet, because their website is suffering from Error 404 syndrome.

But if you use the Google cached facility you can still find it... just.

No wonder their portfolio of renowned clients is password protected.

Eye's exciting new Brain Teaser competition

Mary, Nicola and Ray start out on a journey.

Mary takes both the train and the bus.

Nicola chooses the coach.

And Ray prefers to walk.

So what is the price of fish?

Eye's election update from Mr Khan

Mr Khan reports on #bigotsgate and the economy...



Please BBC include a slot for Mr Khan on Thursday night.

Railway Garden Competition - Clapham Junction

This is the country's busiest junction...


And on Monday it looked like Dingly Dell.

Please could someone at NR get a grip on vegetation control?

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

It must be Dingly Dell.

Isn't that Mr Blobby in the background?

Fire sale at Arriva Cross Country

This from Crossed Lines...

More Arriva Cross Country fares madness after the 23rd May.

Having taken a right royal kicking for the UK's first £1k+ rail fare which no one bought (No shit Sherlock. Ed) it would appear that Arriva Cross Country have retreated into the bunker.

The latest fares manual reveals that they have capped all First class Open Returns at £640!.

A few examples…

• Exeter St Davids to Edinburgh – now £665.00, on 23 May £640.00 (3.76% decrease)
• Bristol Temple Meads to Aberdeen – now £704.50, on 23 May £640.00 (9.16% decrease)
• Newquay to Kyle of Lochalsh – beginning of year £1068, on 23 May £640.00 (40.07% decrease)
• Newquay to Kyle of Lochalsh – now £921.00, on 23 May £640.00 (30.51% decrease)
• Penzance to Wick – now £934.00, on 23 May £640.00 (31.48% decrease)

Presumably this more than generous discount, on tickets no one has bought, is supposed to be penance for not providing the promised WiFi, etc...

UPDATE: This from Barry...

Having just had a quick look at the NFM05 data on The Manual, it's not just the FOR that's been capped.

The SORs have been capped at £420.

Or, to put it another way, the most you'll pay for an Anytime Return is £10 less than the relevant 7 Day All Line Rail Rover.

UPDATE: This from @SWLines....

Congratulations are surely due to The Thin Controller.

This means that nationalised East Coast (prop Lord Adonis) now offers the UK's most expensive ticket.

This being a £749 First Open Return via London on the Newquay to Kyle of Lochalsh route.

Pointless signs - "Special" passengers

East London line well and truly back on the network

This from Pastor Redwonn...

What a splendid opening last Tuesday of the new East London line.

But just how quickly did operator London Overground record its first SPAD on the new railway?

Five minutes?

Five hours?

Five days?

Perhaps we should be told?

Lookalike - Up the Khyber?

Railway Garden Competition - Southampton

What a lovely view for VSOE passengers travelling down the Eastern Docks branch.


With a bowler tip to Paddyworksontherailroad...

Railway Garden Competition - High Wycombe

These Buddleia nicely top off the huge retaining wall at High Wycombe station.


No doubt they will look truly glorious by mid summer.

With a bowler tip to Central User...

Introducing "What Typo!".

Telegrammed by Billy Connections
Not a new magazine but Eye's latest, exciting, competition.

Using your skill and judgment you are invited to guess which of the two plaques below was formally unveiled today.

This one...


Or this one...


The former or the latter?

What a forgiving friend Mrs Paint-Shoppro can be...

Don't poo-poo Looby Loo

This from Thomas Crapper...

Unveiling plans for a new 'bog standard loo' for train travellers, Chris Green said ancient, dirty and inadequate toilets that hark back to the Victorian age of steam must be ripped out.

He urged Britain's 2,500 stations to install a standardised national model that is clean, efficient and available to waiting passengers.

Clearly the so-called 'station tsar' is behind the times.


This three year old photo of the formal opening of the new toilets at Welwyn Garden City shows that the Government's rail manager of choice was well ahead of the times.

UPDATE: This from S N Barnes...

I do hope that the new equipment will come with the same clear instructions, here is an fine example from the urinals which graced the facility at Stirling Station.


Of course Crapper's patent actually refers to the U bend, which forms the airtight seal to stop the smell of the sewer from coming back up the pipe.

Could we perhaps see this as a retrofit to some of the more modern on-train 'facilities' that seem to suffer from this problem?

Bulldog's book review: A century of Change

Telegrammed by Bulldog Drummond
Bulldog's flinty old heart was warmed by Mike Horne's and Jonathan Roberts' launch of their book 'A Century of Change - Britain's Railways and the Railway Study Association' at the German Gymnasium Kings Cross last night .

It is a packed hamper of a book bursting with nuggets skillfully gleaned from the RSA archives by Mike complemented by some crystal-ball gazing by Jonathan.

Bulldog, who wishes to make absolutely clear he is not in any way related to Orlando Figues, was genuinely impressed.

The Railway Study Association may be struggling a bit to make its voice heard in an industry where many bosses take a Year Zero view of the profession they have joined. In this rather dismal environment Mike and Jonathan have significantly added to RSA's credibility and produced a great read.

Make a stand, be a thinking railwayman. Go out and buy this book!

Pointless signs - King's Cross

The Age of Austerity beckons

This from the BBC's Nick Robinson...

The American economist David Hale says that the governor of the Bank of England has told him that the next British government will need to launch an austerity drive so tough that it will threaten its political survival, potentially leaving that party out of power for a generation.

Farewell electrification, Crossrail, a new Thameslink fleet, add your own pet project here, etc...

Railway Garden Competition - Stratford

Good to see that the new Stratford International station is preparing to enter Railway Eye's famed Garden Competition.


Or is the shed perhaps Eurostar's new first class lounge?

When choice and competition doesn't matter

Telegrammed by Bulldog Drummond...
Nick Hassell in his Times Tempus column today does quite a good job analysing Stagecoach's recent (fairly creditable) performance.

But he ends up talking, as most analysts do, of upcoming sector consolidation.

Have any of these deep thinking hacks paused for a moment to think what the Competition Commission response will be?

The Government contracted passenger transport industry is already reduced to a handful of serious players.

Any fewer and CoCo will, rightly, see huge conflicts of interest.

What buses and railways want are more varied and interesting players rather than the present narrow field dominated by European nationalised railways and Scottish bus bandits.

As the lights dim put the Kettle on

This from Richard Trevithick...

With the ubiquitous 'Tornado' strangely missing from Captain Deltic's collection of IEP alternative "Top Trumps", the owning Trust is now looking to join the horsepower race by building a second replica.

This time a Gresley P2 - allegedly the most powerful kettle to run on British metals.

How soon before they set up a production line?

If Government doesn't get its finger out on a nuclear power programme the Carnot Cycle locomotive could be the saviour of the railways.