Pointless signs - Hyde North

This from the Banker...


Evidently attention to detail is also lacking in Tameside as this sign on Victoria Road for Hyde North shows.

Eye wonders if Sealink ever served Hyde North?

Labour leader ducks a meeting with RMT!

An extra-ordinary tweet from @RMTLondon...

So Ed Milliband didn't go to Durham Miner's Gala as he 'didn't want to share a platform with Bob Crow.'

Eye thought it was only Boris who ran scared of Crow Bar Bob?

Meanwhile, in more encouraging news, the BBC is saying that Petrol-head will meet with the RMT this Wednesday to discuss the Thameslink contract.

To jaw-jaw is better than to war-war.

Pointless signs - King's Cross

This from a Mr Malins...


Perhaps more about attention to detail than an actual pointless sign?

Pointless signs - Feet on or off the seats?

Miles and chains - a sign of the times?

This from the late Edmund Gunter...

Sadly the new generation of railway employees appear ignorant of traditional British units of measurement as still used by the railway.

This particular example has been an affront to my eyes for many years as a regular commuter on the Portsmouth Direct.

I noticed in August 2005 that the cast iron structure plates on the footbridge at Haslemere station had been replaced by new aluminium ones with the distance of 42m 80c cast into them.


I mentioned this to Network Rail friend and the plates were recast with the correct 43m 0c on them, which I noticed in October 2005.


In October 2008 Network Rail decided to change the style of the structure plate from the cast aluminium ones to corporate standard "road sign" material with a reflective backing and the incorrect 42m 80c returned!


Nearly three years on the "wrong" plates are still there.

Presumably attention to detail on today's railway is now optional?

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

Why isn't there a bar code, or some other scanable identity recognised by the Asset Register, on the last one?

UPDATE: This from The Man by the Photocopier...

Actually, the latest plate suggests that the primary distance is 42 metres, according to SI.

Since the railway will have to change to metric units as ERTMS spreads (and the Rule Book has already largely been converted), perhaps we should bite the bullet and consign these increasingly irrelevant Imperial... (Sadly, owing to pressures of space, Eye is unable to reproduce all the rabid Metric rantings of The Man by the Photocopier)

Do Christmas Turkeys have privs?

This from Smalltrousers...

It's often said that the modern railway has a touch of the surreal about it, but maybe none more so than this.

The Railchat forum (billed as "The Professional Rail Staff chat site) is currently hotly debating the HS2 project.

The site's members are firmly in the skeptic/anti camp and have backed using as 'slightly more objective" evidence that High speed is highly polluting from none other than 'Transport Watch'.

Those familiar with Transport Watch will know them as the people who've long campaigned against the rail industry and called for the entire network to be torn up and converted into roads.

So, we have a rail staff opponents of HS2 supporting, as 'objective', an organisation that wants to tear up the country's railways.

Turkeys evidently can and do vote for Christmas!

Hammond shy at Silverstone Grand Prix

This, amazingly, from the late Denis Jenkinson, legendary correspondent of 'Motor Sport'...

I though Eye readers would like the inside gen on why Transport Secretary Philip Hammond looked so surprised when it came to presenting the second prize.

Aside from the fact that there was no envelope to open, he was also expecting to present the cup to the Chairman of Bombardier - rather than some Australian who had been going round in circles for an hour and a half.

Still, going nowhere fast must have made a pleasant change from watching his Rail Directorate going nowhere slowly.

And following the Thameslink debacle he no doubt shared the annoyance of Jenson Button, who also had a wheel come off.

UPDATE: This from 31154...

Hammond didn't actually present the cup to "some Australian", he presented the cup to German driver Sebastian Vettel, so the second time in a month he's presented a prize to the Germans!

What I found most amusing was when Hammond was a bit slow moving off the podium and said Australian gave him a blast of Mumm right in the face, turning Petrol-head into Champagne-Head!

Joined up Government explained

So on the very same day that Bombardier announced potential job losses, doddery Business Secretary Vince Cable launched the Made by Britain award.

This from The Manufacturer...

Likening the initiative to a ‘virtual Crystal Palace’, Mr Cable said that government will throw support behind apprenticeships, behind the new Technology Innovation Centres and channel support through the Regional Growth Fund.

The project is a collaboration between the Associate Parliamentary Manufacturing Group, of which FDF is an associate member, and the Royal Commission. All 650 MPs in the House of Commons have been asked to nominate a product that is manufactured in their constituency. The objective is to draw up a diverse and comprehensive picture of contemporary British industry.

Eye wonders what Derby MPs will nominate?

Railway Bothy - Berney Arms

This from The Sleeper....

The only station with two cycle hoops and no road access!

The station adopters live in Scunthorpe and Sutton Coldfield!

The bothy is an original 1999 Anglia Railways Crown Point and RSPB joint production (no glass in windows designed as bird watching hide)

It has it's own website (run from a garden shed in Sutton Coldfield)

The only station with a beer named after it!

The only station with regular class 90 electric locos passing by with no overhead line! (summer Saturday loco hauls to Great Yarmouth from London run via Berney Arms)

Locally designated HS3 - Route to the Sea!

Cruella travels down memory lane

Saviour of the Jammy Dodger, Theresa Villiers, has been reliving past glories!


"And as thanks they gave me one this big!"

Cameron and the weasel words

Eye understands that when David Cameron took the cabinet to Derby in March he paid a visit to the Bombardier site.

At the time iDave made much about the importance of the UK manufacturing base in driving the economy forward.

Sadly there appear to be no photographs on-line of his historic visit to Litchurch Lane.

So here is a picture of the Prime Minister showing his backing for another doomed national institution.


'Nuff said.

Plaudits for the Department for Transfer - Shocker

This, unbelievably, from Gordon Gekko...

Time to stop whining about your cockamamie train factory, Limeys!

Don't you realise your Department of Transportation is right there with the zeitgeist.

That smart guy Osborne on the London Telegraph gets it:

The financing element gave Siemens of Germany a big advantage over the three other bidders because of its higher credit rating – one vastly superior to Bombardier's, which is below investment grade.

Siemens' debt is rated A+ by credit rating agency Standard & Poor's – six notches above Bombardier's BB+. The other two bidders, Alstom and Hitachi, are respectively rated BBB and BBB+.

So wise up!

It's about buying finance not goddam trains!

Who cares whether they are made of aluminum, plastic or, given your backward country, wrought iron.

Anyway, I've tipped my good buddy Donald Trump the wink and expect him to announce that he has bought the Derbytown site and plans to convert it into the Royal Derbytownshire Golf Club.

How's about that for a level playing field!

Remember, greed is good.

DafT dithers as SWT commuters suffer

This from Pontius Pilate...

Can I say how encouraged I am to see that hand washing over major issues is now this government's official transport policy, as this written answer shows?

Maria Eagle (Garston and Halewood, Labour)
To ask the Secretary of State for Transport what representations he has received from train operating companies on the use of the Class 460 Gatwick Express electrical multiple units which had been expected to be without an operator from 22 May 2011.

Theresa Villiers (Minister of State Rail and Aviation)
Southern Railway continues to operate a number of Class 460 electric multiple units beyond the previously intended end date.

The use of these units, once they are no longer needed on this route, is a matter for the rolling stock company to agree with train operating companies.

In fact ROSCO Porterbrook had agreed a deal for the future use of its Class 460 fleet as part of SWT's proposals to introduce 10 car trains to relieve severe over-crowding .

But DfT took so long havering over the terms of the deal that the tender validity ran out.

So now SWT has had to restate the ITT and has got updated offers from the original bidders which are now being evaluated and will go to the DfT who will no doubt start a new interminable analysis.

My friend Dante reckons that DfT's Rolling Stock non-policy has become a new circle of hell in its own right.

UPDATE: This from the Grim Reaper...

In fact, Network Rail, in a brilliant price of coordinated timing with DafT, has already started extending the relevant SWT platforms, all due to be completed for the December 2012 timetable.

No doubt DafT will still be getting round to opening the envelopes in December next year, while cosily-packed SWT commuters (if they can actually see out of the window) look upon the new platform extensions vying for the top spot in the Railway Gardens competition.

Exciting New Eye Feature - Railway Bothys!

This from the Mad Hatter...

Whilst Eye is renowned for its Railway Garden Competition, how about a similar challenge for railway garden sheds!

Here is the bijou, sumptuous air-conditioned up-side waiting shelter at Manea, Cambs, complete with a solitary bearded passenger, sheltering from the elements.

Although the photo was taken at 10:08, the 'customer' had a seven and a half hour wait for the next stopping service to Ely.


Here’s the challenge - can Eye readers supply a better picture of a rail Bothy?

Do you know a better rail Bothy? Perhaps there are industry celebrities pictured inside? If so contact Eye at the usual address.

UPDATE: This from a Mr Frank Cheevers...

Fully expect that this entry will be disqualified on account of its age (not on this occasion, Ed), but I was particularly proud of the waiting shelter which Les Crabbe (seen here) built for Kempston Hardwick.


This followed a request from the Bedford-Bletchley Rail Users Assocation for some kind of waiting room.

It was built almost entirely from reclaimed materials garnered from locations on the branch.

The only cost, apart from Mr Crabbe's wages, was for the roofing felt and nails, which cost BR just £31.

Happy days under Chris Green!

PS In latter days I became friendly with railway architects - they didn't find the hut aesthetically appealing

Pointless signs - Berney Arms

This from 31154...


From a timetable "commencing 22nd May 2011".

UPDATE: This from The Sleeper...

That's all due to the fact that Berney Arms is the only open station on the National Rail Network with no lights, since it's one oil light was put out in 1970.

So in BST the evening train runs but in GMT it is too dark.

Eye notes with comfort that this part of Norfolk still appears to be on the Julian calender.

UPDATE: This from Connor...

Berney Arms isn't quite the only station on the National Rail network without platform lighting.

Coombe Junction in deepest, darkest Cornwall also has that honour. It doesn't get anything as fancy as a different timed train each day though.

The evening service was simply moved to one hour after the morning one a couple of years ago, after being cancelled everyday for 6 months of the year for many years before that.

ScotRail redacts BR - Shocker

Wolmar on the nail!

This from the World's Greatest Living Transport Correspondent, writing in today's Grauniad...

It is difficult not to be pessimistic and see this as the end of an era stretching back nearly two centuries. However, the failure to give the contract to a home-based company is playing badly in the Tory party. It gives the lie to Cameron’s promise to support British manufacturing jobs.

Train travel is booming and there is an obvious lack of rolling stock. With a bit of will, extra carriages could be ordered to lengthen existing trains and possibly give hope to Bombardier that it should hold on with the prospect of getting the large Crossrail order in the middle of the decade.

It is not a lost cause, but it will take a fierce and vocal lobby to effect another Cameron U-turn. Steam will never return to Litchurch Lane, but perhaps, just perhaps, train manufacturing may remain there if enough pressure can be built up.

Indeed.

UPDATE: This from Steve Strong...

The Financial Times made the same point today:

There is, nevertheless, consensus that the government could take one measure to protect the Derby factory’s health. Bombardier won the UK’s last big train order, for the Stansted Express. But the order was placed in February 2009.

The Derby and Derbyshire Rail Forum, an industry group, insists such long gaps between orders contributed to Tuesday’s announcement. “The proposal to reduce Bombardier’s Derby workforce . . .  points . . . to the failure by successive governments . . . to address the peaks and troughs of rolling stock demand,” it said.

It appears that those who stuff the envelopes and those that open them have all been guilty of willful neglect.

UPDATE: This from Kelvin Chain...

Several industry observers have commented on Bombardier's dogged refusal to lobby "enthusiastically" for its Derby plant.

Compare this with Hitachi where Hammond quipped that the Japanese Ambassador had his own chair in the Secretary of State's office!

Hammond's envelope opening may have cost Bombardier both the IEP and Thameslink fleets but other opportunities remain.

There are 105 Class 220/221/222 sets all ready for the addition of a power car to enable them to use the wires and create much needed additional capacity.

There is also the need to replace the deeply loathed Pacers and make a start on a structured programme to replace the 15x fleets before they fall foul of the DDA regulations in 2020.

With Hammond, Cable and Cameron facing a growing backbench backlash over their assassination of the UK's last train manufacturer now is the time for Derby to start lobbying!

UPDATE: This from a Mr Tony Miles...

Didn't I see Transport Minister Theresa Villiers enthusiastically applauding Roger Ford's call for the electric vehicles for the 220/221/222 sets when she was stood on stage at the Modern Railways Innovation Awards last month?

Clearly a supporter and Bombardier must recruit her to their campaign team at once!

UPDATE: This from The Major...

I’m having a ‘senior moment’.

Can somebody remind me where Bombardier built the Voyagers?

I’m sure it was abroad...

UPDATE: This from Corporal Pike...

Indeed, the train building community in Bruges await the order for additional vehicles for 220/221/222 sets with baited breath.

As I'm sure do Eurotunnel!

UPDATE: This from a most insistent Mr Miles...

The class 221 units were built by Bombardier at their Bruges (Belgium) AND Horbury (Wakefield) plants with Alstom Onix propulsion kit made in Preston.

So, OK, that's another closed Bombardier facility but if Alstom can switch from making Pendolinos in Birmingham to Italy then Bombardier can make additional vehicles for the 22X trains wherever it likes, especially Derby.

And maybe create some more work for the excellent folk at Preston at the same time.

Eye applauds any solution that meets the Prime Minister's previously stated desire for a UK 'Manufacturing Revival'.

Hammond - master of all he surveys

This from Sir Humphrey Beeching...

A most pleasant luncheon at Boisdale, in Pimlico today.

Over a thoroughly agreeable postprandial dram (the 35 year old Glenfarclas) my erstwhile colleague and I reflected upon young Philip Hammond's recent performance.

We both agreed that the Thameslink decision was masterful and I complimented my dining partner on the way it had played out.

"Of course" she continued, "our man has come on leaps and bounds in recent weeks."

"When was the last time," she asked "that you heard a Secretary of State admitting to opening his own envelopes?"

I looked at her in awe and refreshed our glasses.

"Perhaps," she suggested "it is a little unfair to call our man Petrol-head?".

"We much prefer Paper-knife!" she concluded with the smallest of chuckles.

It goes without saying that I picked up the bill.

Railway Garden Competition - Harrow & Wealdstone

Hammond fiddles while Derby burns

After a busy morning defending the arduous task of 'opening envelopes' it is good to see that the Secretary of State is still able to relax with friends.

This from the Campaign for High Speed Rail...

House of Commons launch for cross-party high speed rail group

A new cross-party group supporting high-speed rail has launched today at an event at the House of Commons. The All-Party Parliamentary Group (APPG), which is a powerful new voice in favour of building a new high speed rail line, has already secured the backing of MPs from across the political divide and is chaired jointly by Graham Stringer MP (Labour) and Stuart Andrew MP (Conservative).

Speaking at the launch event Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said:

“I am delighted that our plans for high speed rail have such widespread cross party support. This is a major project in the national interest which will take many years to complete and will benefit hugely from being taken forward with all-party support."

No doubt Cowardly-custard will soon be assuaging irate Chiltern residents with the comforting mantra that HS2 is all the fault of the previous government?