Tuesday 8 March 2011

Pointless signs - Watford West

This from @kpmarek, via Twitter...

Watford West a station that couldn't be more abandoned!




UPDATE: This from @alrispoli, via Twitter...

Official statistics for 2002 through to 2005 show that 51 passengers in total used it!

iDave waves bye-bye to Bombardier?

Exciting news from the home of the UK rail industry!

Cameron, the Saviour of Libya, encamped the entire cabinet in Derby yesterday.

Local wags suggested that the visit was designed to educate Petrol-head on the difference between a manufacturing and an assembly plant.

Not of course a differentiation that is likely to worry Hammond, as the visit took place several weeks before the winner of the Thameslink fleet is due to be announced.


Meanwhile Number 10 diary watchers wait to see if iDave will be visiting Angela Merkel on or around the 31st March...

NR speeds up project work - Official

This from NR's Internet Rapid Rebuttal Unit...

I know Eye viewers love their timelapse footage and I have a great new one to share here:



A whole year of construction work on our stunning new Western Concourse at King's Cross squeezed into a minute.

More information on the project here.

Pointless sign - Pitsea Up Siding


UPDATE: A Crank writes (aka Tony Miles, for it is he)...

A flurry of texts arrived last night from my friends at c2c.

Eye's "pointless sign" of the destination "Pitsea Up Siding" is nothing of the sort.

It is a very accurate sign for the first destination of the c2c railtour on Saturday - and gained much respect from those on the platform. It was indeed the first time a railtour has visited that short section of track and for those who tick off the bits of track they have covered it was hugely appreciated…

The internet forums have been heaping praise on c2c for Saturday's tour which covered every bit of track promised, ran to time (or early) and was joined for the whole day by c2c MD Julian Drury & other members of the c2c top team who were happy to chat with passengers and even take suggestions for future tours.

So - lot's of point to the sign actually! (I hope you'll run this comment - I had an excellent day out!)

Stagecoach puts DB to shame!

This from the Mad Hatter...

According to EMT...

In just six months, East Midlands Trains has fitted WiFi onto all of its 27 Meridian trains and 11 HSTs. This means that all passengers travelling from stations on the mainline route to London including Sheffield, Chesterfield, Derby, Nottingham, Leicester, Market Harborough, Corby, Kettering and Wellingborough can now fully benefit from this new service.

Wifi in 6 months!

So why has the mighty Deutsche Bahn proven unable to do the same?

With the failure of WSMR, the takeover of Evergreen 3 by NR and Arriva Trains Wales now a five day railway is DB all it's cracked up to be?

Rather than assembling bid teams perhaps DB should devote additional resources to solving its current problems?

UPDATE: This from Mr Tuppence Worth...

Good work from Stagecoach.

However, those of us not having the luxury (?) of travelling in first class have to pay high fees for this service.

You can’t use it free for a limited amount of time and can only view EMT propaganda without paying up.

Indeed, if using it on a regular basis it would make far better sense to invest in mobile broadband – and you can use that elsewhere too.


One small thing though: is it the MML or those Meridians which mean mobile signals are dire when you Get On Board with EMT?