This from the Major...
"Perhaps you would like a copy of my Lovely Book ma'am, there's quite a pile of them over here."
Hulleys’ Closure - My Thoughts
1 year ago
Thursday, 15 July 2010
First for book retailing
Wednesday, 14 July 2010
George Behrend RIP
This from Andy Roden...
George Behrend, the author of that seminal book on the Great Western Railway, Gone With Regret and many other fascinating volumes on railways, passed away on Monday.
George had been in good health until a couple of years ago (he came all the way down to Cornwall to talk about the Save Our Sleeper campaign ) and his recollections of railways at home and abroad were astonishing and utterly fascinating.
The book for which he is justly renowned will provide both an epitaph and, one hopes, continued inspiration for future generations of railway writers and staff: after finally tracking a copy down, Gone With Regret certainly inspired me immensely and I know it has done the same for many others too.
I’m sure plenty of ‘Eye’ readers will wish to raise a glass in tribute to George Behrend, now sadly Gone With Regret.
UPDATE: This from Richard Burningham of the Devon & Cornwall Rail Partnership...
Noticing the news of George Behrend’s sad passing reminded me of one of his other books.
One with perhaps (for those of the green badge persuasion) the best railway book title ever - “Don’t knock the Southern”.
UPDATE: This from Nicky Gardner of Hidden Europe magazine...
We were very pleased to see the mention of George on your website this morning.
You might appreciation our words in honour of George published here.
Drummond deserts Eye - Shocker
This from Clarence Spad...
LINES WRITTEN ON SEEING BULLDOG DRUMMOND'S ARTICLE IN RAIL
So Bulldog Drummond DSO MC
You were a hero of the Royal Loamshires
But now you are in RAIL magazine
I think you are a deserter
From Railway Eye
Also I have my doubts about Bulldog Drummond's so called regiment as I cannot find any Class 45 locos bearing this name.
However when I showed the RAIL article On Network Rail finances to my mum she said it made her feel a lot better about her £250 overdraft so he would still be most welcome at platform 5 of Reading station (the interesting end).
UPDATE: This from Bulldog Drummond...
I fear that Clarence is confusing me with my father, Drummond senior, who most definitely was in the Royal Loamshires.
The article was published in RAIL because at over 2,000 words it would have sludged up the nervously brilliant repartee of this blog.
Tuesday, 13 July 2010
Transport Select Committee news
The members of the Committee were appointed on 12 July 2010
| Member | Party | Constituency | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Louise Ellman MP (Chair) | Labour Co-op | Liverpool Riverside | ||
| Angie Bray MP | Conservative | Ealing Central and Acton | ||
| Lilian Greenwood MP | Labour | Nottingham South | ||
| Tom Harris MP | Labour | Glasgow South | ||
| Kelvin Hopkins MP | Labour | Luton North | ||
| Kwasi Kwarteng MP | Conservative | Spelthorne | ||
| John Leech MP | Liberal Democrat | Manchester Withington | ||
| Paul Maynard MP | Conservative | Blackpool North and Cleveleys | ||
| Angela Smith MP | Labour | Sheffield Hillsborough | ||
| Iain Stewart MP | Conservative | Milton Keynes South | ||
| Julian Sturdy MP | Conservative | York Outer | ||
As yet no dates for sessions of the Transport Select Committee have been published
Bag a bottle of Bolly with Railway Eye!
Man on the Slow Train offers Eye readers a bottle of Bollinger!
Tis the season when the branch lines and rail byways of our land should be on show to the world as the tourist season is upon us.
OK, we can do nothing about plodding Pacers and ancient 150s. But how about some clean windows and toilets that aren't locked out of use? Perhaps the occasional courteous conductor?
I'm offering a prize for the best slow train service of 2010.
I'm currently travelling around Britain for my new book On The Slow Train Again and would love to hear about your experiences.
My current fave is the Far North Line to Wick, with super refurbed 158s - lovely seats and even retention toilets. Washed windows and charming staff, too! By contrast, horrid London Midland trains bearing confusing maps of lines 100 miles distant.
There's a bottle of Bollinger and a signed copy of On the Slow Train, courtesy of Random House publishers, for the best entry.
Send your entries to Michael Williams at mwmedia.uk@gmail.com
Monday, 12 July 2010
Villiers vignettes....
An occasional series celebrating the relationship of the Minister of State for Transport with her Department...
This answer given by Theresa Villiers on Wednesday the 7th July, (with a bowler tip to Flat Cap and Whippet):
Sadiq Khan: To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what new rolling stock orders have been placed for each rail franchise since 2007. [4042]
Mrs Villiers: Rolling stock orders for franchised operators since 2007 are as shown in the following table.
| Franchise | Order date | Type | Vehicles |
And where are the Greater Anglia 379s that were ordered on 2nd April 2009?
This isn't the first time that the Minister has misled the House.
A previous statement on HLOS rolling stock given by Villiers contained double counting!
When prompted by Captain Deltic a Special Advisor (SpAd) said she would raise it with the officials concerned.
Good to see that the Coalition promise to reduce the power of SpAds over Civil Servants has already been delivered on!
UPDATE: This from the Major...
Sadiq Khan is obviously enjoying his time in opposition.
As Shadow Secretary of State he gets to ask questions of the new Government in the full knowledge that the answers given will be crafted by the same lacklustre officials who previously made him appear a laughing stock at the Despatch Box.
Evidently the Department's officials have learned nothing from Foster's excoriating review of their communications skills.
UPDATE: This from The Hatter...
According to Theresa's answer new rolling stock has been ordered for the Virgin West Coast franchise.
Sadly this also is not strictly true.
The new Pendolini were procured by Virgin Rail Projects (prop. Beardie, but an entirely seperate company to Virgin Trains) for the West Coast franchise.
These much needed, overcrowding busting, trains are due to be delivered from July 2011.
Sadly, owing to Officials on the line and the wrong type of Civil Servant, they will not actually carry any passengers on the West Coast Main Line until 1st April 2012 when the new franchisee - not necessarily Virgin Trains (prop Beardie) - is due to takeover.
Happily this tax payer funded rolling stock will sit comfortably in sidings for many months, without turning a wheel in revenue earning service, because Sir Humphrey says so.
Welcome to Fred Karno’s railway.
Stockade station - HMP Walton
This from a Mr Mallins...
Welcome to Walton.
The closing of the station to facilitate ticket barriers, on both sides in this case, is an horrendous sight.
Looks just like a prison.
UPDATE: This from King Henry...
What I don't understand about horrors like the barricades at Walton is that the project must have involved dozens of people and a budget decision.
And yet not one single manager had the sense to say, "stop, this is utterly incompatible with our efforts to welcome passengers".
Railway Garden Competition - Basingstoke
This from the Ninja...
Day of the Triffids recreated in the old bay at Basingstoke..JPG)
Bearing in mind the void into which the unaware might drop, this is perhaps one location where platform fencing would offer a real safety benefit...
Friday, 9 July 2010
TSSA backs Reichsbahnmarschall Abbot
At last some good news for Labour leadership candidate Diane Abbot
Abbot has been trailing behind in the leadership race but all this looks set to change with today's exciting announcement that the TSSA have thrown their paperclips behind Diane's campaign.
Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the union, said, "Diane was the only candidate who supported our policy of a publicly owned railway without any qualification or hesitation.
"Labour went into the 1997 saying it was going to reverse the Tories' privatised railway but never did anything to undo that damage over the past 13 years.
"We want an affordable state-owned railway system like the rest of Europe. Diane agrees with that very sensible policy and we shall be asking our members to vote for her accordingly."
Fear not Gerry, a state owned railway system is exactly what you'll get.
Unfortunately the state in question appears to be Germany.
South West Trains expands onto West Coast?
This from Driver Potter...
I refer to the July 2010 edition of Modern Railways (Page 22 if you're interested) wherein is made mention of incidents with ice-bound Bendydildos:
"Ice also built up on and under the train. in one incident, a lump of ice was dislodged as a Class 390 was passing a Class 450 EMU. The ice bounced between the vehicles, breaking half a dozen windows on each train."
Us SWT boys aren't known for hanging about, but there is a limit to how far you can coast - Waterloo to the West Coast Main Line is probably asking a bit.
Can I claim my prize for "Pedant of the Month" now, or do I have to wait?
UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...
That should be Smart*rs* of the month and I can only blame the Editor for not covering up my deteriorating faculties for once.
Wednesday, 7 July 2010
Railway Garden Competition - Also Abroad
This from Storm Force...
This taken on a recent trip at Sveti Rok ob Sotli in Slovenia. 
The train is stopped in the station!
Railway Garden Competition - Abroad
This from Tb...
This view of Alstetten in Zurich just shows how poor the Swiss railways are compared to Britain.
Note that there is no garden to admire between the extended service intervals and no fence to lean on at the platform end.
Also there are no signs telling me what I can and cannot do - help!
In the panic that such unbounded freedom causes, I realised that Network Rail should offer it's consultancy services to help the Swiss correct both their poorly maintained infrastructure and lackluster punctuality record, for which they are rightly pilloried.
Perhaps, if they try hard enough, they too can achieve post Hatfield levels of performance?
Pointless signs - A60 stock
With a bowler tip to Oily Spanner...
A bit worrying that this obvious piece of information has to be displayed in the driving cab of Underground trains.
Maybe driverless trains are the answer after all?
Pointless signs - Smethwick Rolfe Street
This from D0260...
How's this for a cracker, seen last week at Smethwick Rolfe Street station between Wolverhampton and Birmingham on the WCML.
It has two completely useless signs as well as a garden on the platform.
The sign nearest is so rusty , that nothing at all can be read on it, I haven't a clue what it used to say.
The second sign in six foot tall overgrowth says "Passengers must not alight here".
Really!!! Prizes surely for ideas how that would be possible anyway.
The final shot shows the vertical garden wall of greenery taken from where I was standing, looking in the opposite direction
There were enough poppy seed heads visible to be of interest to Afghan producers.
Tuesday, 6 July 2010
Lookalike: Grand Central's Marilyn?
This from The Master...
It appears that the soi disant 'veteran' observer was in Yorkshire this weekend running a straw-race.
Rather than impersonating Baroness Thatcher perhaps he should have done a turn as Marilyn? 
Then again perhaps not.
Selling off NR - Cui bono?
Telegrammed by Bulldog Drummond
Interesting that two very similar stories (Alistair Osborne in Friday's Daily Telegraph and Tom Winsor in the Times today) suggest that the Government could trouser £12bn by selling off Network Rail.
This is based on the accounting wheeze that the Regulatory Asset Base is really 'worth' £36bn.
The figure is arrived at by deducting the debt of £23bn which supposedly leaves an equity of £12-13bn.
Complete fantasy of course as the RAB is not a realistic asset valuation in commercial terms and it conveniently overlooks the question as to who would want to invest in a business that has such huge debts, which can only be propped up by massive government subsidy and borrowing that, in part, goes to cover normal running costs and paying debt interest.
Network Rail is a complete dog's breakfast of a business and is only viable with huge levels of taxpayers' moolah.
The only people who can have any possible interest in selling off this business are the huge army of bankers, lawyers, consultants and general hangers on who are experiencing thin pickings at the moment.
It is certainly not in the interests of the taxpayer or those who want a properly run and cost-effective railway.
Monday, 5 July 2010
Ding dong the train is dead!
***Foster review of IEP expected 07:00 Tuesday morning***
More tomorrow...
UPDATE: This from Reuters...
A decision on whether to proceed with a programme to replace the Intercity Express trains will be taken alongside a wider review of government spending in October, the Department for Transport (DfT) said.
No shit Sherlock.
UPDATE: Foster report here...
And just a flavour to wet your appetite:
The Department for Transport’s strategic positions have appeared to some in the industry as susceptible to change and unpredictable. Questions are asked about the coherence of IEP, extended electrification, high speed rail and overall strategy.
The real issue here, I believe, is that there has been insufficient communication between the Department and the industry, including communication about IEP, and this has opened the way for significant negativity to develop. This is a key area for attention and further improvement.
This problem, particularly with IEP, appears to have been amplified by DfT’s procurement approach, which has placed heavy emphasis on commercial confidentiality and thus relied on independent advisers and consultants rather than industry expertise. This has engendered a sense of disengagement and disenchantment which I believe could and should largely have been avoided. I also ask a number of questions about arrangements for managing the costs and coherence of independent advice within the Department.
Smooth words fail to mask damning conclusions.
UPDATE: This from the Shunter...
Erm, so the review concludes by suggesting a further review?
I propose that Captain Deltic should be remitted to do it, but by Friday lunchtime, if he needs that long...
UPDATE: This from Captain Deltic...
Whilst Sir Andrew has taken a notably gentle tone, I found this variant of the motorist seeking directions in Ireland, diverting.
"I must record here that if I had a reasonably blank sheet of paper I would not manage the programme like this"
As for the suggestion made by The Shunter - please accept my apologies, but owing to pressures of work the earliest I could do this is next Wednesday.
UPDATE: This from the Torygraph...
The announcement by Mr Hammond could also jeopardise as many as 12,500 jobs which the previous Government said would have been created or safeguarded by the project.
Indeed - in Japan.
UPDATE: This from @sharpsharp, via Twitter...
From p22:
Depending on the exact mixture of newly acquired, re-engineered and cascaded rolling stock, and the technical approach to the provision of services beyond the present electrified network, it seems likely that more than half of the benefit on the East Coast route, and probably around three quarters of it on the Great Western routes, could be captured for between 40% and 60% of the cost.
Eye congratulates the Department for Transport on its masterful understanding of Value for Money procurement.
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