Long Live The Settle And Carlisle
Or as I rode the Settle and Carlisle line yesterday from North to South, should I call it, the Carlisle and Settle?
I’ve never ridden it before and I can’t understand why, as it is a spectacular line running through magnificent scenery.
The weather yesterday wasn’t good as the pictures show. But that didn’t stop the 15:05 from Carlisle being about two-thirds full. Most seemed to be small groups, whohad had a day out and were returning to Leeds. But judging by their clothes, they weren’t going to stray far into the hills.
If this a typical journey on a wet Tuesday afternoon in late January, there can’t be much wrong with the way the line is managed, as a partnership. Judging by the age of many of the customers, the ridership is probably a tribute to the Senior and other railcards.
Reading various web sites it would seem that Network Rail have got to grips with the magnificent Ribblehead Viaduct, the track and other structures, and the Settle Carlisle Railway Development Company seem to have been doing their best in restoring stations and other lineside structures. I also found this article on the Network Rail web site about improving communications and signalling.
It would appear too, that there is a lot of enthusiasm and common sense in securing the future of this line.
So what do I think the future will hold?
The Development Company and others want to see more trains on the line. Currently, there are seven trains in both directions between Leeds and Carlisle, with the first leaving at 05:29 from Leeds and 05:50 from Carlisle. If that isn’t a schedule to get people into the hills for a heavy constitutional, then I don’t know what is? The train I rode was one of Northern Rail’s two coach Class 158s. It would be interesting to see how crowded these trains get in the summer! Obviously new trains are out of the question, but with the Manchester-Liverpool-Blackpool electrification, there might be some more of these Class 158s available. If those backing a direct Manchester to Carlisle service over the line, they’ll certainly be needed. But people have said to me, that there is a shortage of decent diesel multiple units in the UK.
Surely though, greater capacity on the line will help to generate tourism in the area and all the much-needed employment it creates!
As I write this note, it has been announced that the West coast Main Line has been closed due to overhead line problems at Penrith. So like the problems I encountered last Saturday on Greater Anglia, there I suspect, a lot of frustrated passengers and rauilway managers and staff, wondering what is going to happen!
So perhaps one option might be to electrify Settle to Carlisle and the related Leeds to Morecambe line. This would provide a double-tracked by-pass from Carnforth to Carlisle. This option, which could also be used by freight trains is discussed here. Remember that the West Coast Main Line is mainly double-track, so an electrified Settle to Carlisle line, would give some extra much-needed capacity between the North of England and Scotland. Admittedly, it wouldn’t be a 200 kph like the West Coast Main Line. It certainly, is a line that can take heavy trains, as the media is always showing pictures of trains like steam driven excursions using the route.
As I indicated earlier, there is a shortage of diesel multiple units and this is often the reason that drives services on the UK’s railways. Greater Anglia run a deplorable service from Ipswich to Felixstowe using a single coach Class 153. But it’s not their fault that they can’t get hold of something bigger and better. Nothing else exists!
I have said before that the High Speed Diesel Trains, that will be surplus to requirements after the introduction could be reused on some of the lines in the UK like Settle to Carlisle and Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh. As Chiltern have shown, if the Mark 3 coaches are refurbished and returned to their original seat layout, they ride like Jaguars and are some of the finest trains in the world.
On Settle to Carlisle line, they would be ideal to allow the reinstatement of direct Glasgow to Leeds and East Midlands services, which currently go via Edinburgh.
I don’t know what is going to happen in the next few years, but without doubt, something will happen to invigorate the Settle to Carlisle line.
The line will outlive us all!
A Stupid Football Supporter
Is this message for the most stupid and bone-headed football supporter, who happened to be at Leeds United on Tuesday night?
He had parked his Chevroler Spark, LT12 FNE, in the wrong place and despite umpteen public address calls to move it, he obviously ignored them, as they put this message on the big screen.
A Stupid Football Supporter
The message stayed there for quite a time, so draw your own conclusions.
The fact that Leeds United could program the screen like this, is impressive. I wouldn’t have been so polite.
Leeds Has Now Got Liths
Last time that I went to Leeds, this wasn’t there outside the station.
Leeds Has Now Got Liths
It’s good to see more towns and cities jumping on London’s bandwagon. The system is called Walk It Leeds and there’s more here.
I think that in a few years time, every city and town will have a top class wayfinding system. The next thing that needs sorting out, is a system so that visitors can use the buses easily.
Most of these systems are computer generated, so to do another place, just needs to put in the co-ordinates of where you want a map and run the program, changing the colours and logos to suit.
The Bill For RBS Goes Up
On the first of January, I wrote this post, entitled Will We Ever Get Rid Of This Worthless Bank.
But now according to reports, like this one on the BBC, the bill is going to get bigger. The BBC article says that the bank needs another £3.1 billion for claims relating to the financial crisis. As there are sixty three million of us, that means, that even the granny in the council house and the baby just leaving the hospital will have to find another pound a week.
So next time, you look at your bank account or count the change in your pocket, think of the mess that the prudent Gordon Brown, dropped us in.
Now Lloyds Bank Has Card Problems
What is it with the UK banks computer systems, as Lloyds had problems last night, as is reported here.
Beware for a surge of spam targeting Lloyds customers.
Would a Labour Government Target Smokers?
There are a couple of reports in cyberspace, that Andy Burnham, the shadow health secretary wants to bring in more anti-smoking legislation.
I suspect, that many non-smokers and virulent anti-smokers like myself would welcome this, but would the idiots, who still smoke?
According to the Sunday Times, Labour peers are going to try to introduce a ban on smoking in cars containing children this week. I suppose if it passed, judging by the stupidity of the average smoker the coaltion and not Labour, would get the blame.
I actually, think we should go further and ban smoking in any moving vehicle. Partly, this is based on my experience as a child of my father filling and lighting his pipe on the move. On one ocassion he set his trousers on fire!
Canada Bans Marmite
I have some sympathy for the Canadians about this story on the BBC, as I can’t stand the stuff. C, on the other hand, was an addict, and I miss taking her, her morning cup of hot Marmite every day.
Is this discrimination against the British, as there is nothing in the article about banning the similar product from Australia; Vegemite? But according to Wikipedia, Vegemite is also banned.
E-Cigarette Ban For Under-18s
I am unsure about e-cigarettes, as to me, smoking in any form isn’t good for you! Smoking was probably a factor in my youngest son getting the pancreatic cancer that killed him, so that might explain my bias.
But I am pleased to see in this report, that the government is going to ban e-cigarettes for under-eighteens. Here’s the first few paragraphs.
Under-18s in England are to be banned from buying electronic cigarettes, the government has announced.
Experts say it is not yet known what harm the tobacco-free devices could inflict and that their contents could be damaging young people’s health.
An estimated 1.3m people in the UK use e-cigarettes which were designed to help smokers quit.
I’m not sure about the last bit, as those that use them in my experience don’t seem to be quitting. Like most things, they were invented to make money.
An Open Letter To GreaterAnglia
As I have been travelling up and down to Ipswich from London since probably about 1963, when I used to put my bicycle in the guard’s van and have it hauled by a Britannia between my parent’s main and retirement homes, it was inevitable, that one day I’d end up in the sort of incident that I did last night.
I should say, that after the death of my wife and son to cancer, and a serious stroke, I retired to London from Newmarket, and as I’m still a season ticket holder at Portman Road, I come up for every Ipswich Town home match.
Yesterday incidentally, was the first day, when my chosen train up (down in your terminology) to Ipswich, the 13:30 from Liverpool Street hasn’t been within a minute of its scheduled arrival time of 14:43 and I missed the first few minutes of the match. Luckily, Ipswich left the excitement for later. As I’ve taken this train, perhaps fifty times in the last three years, that is probably not a bad record.
I usually go home on the 17:09, so that I can experience the comfort of First in a Mark 3 coach. Yesterday though, we were advised to take the Football Special and in common with everybody else, I ended up on Colchester station. At least the buffet was open, and I was able to get a decent cup of hot chocolate, as from my knowledge of railway electrification, I knew from the fact that all the lines for London, were blocked by fallen trees, we could be in for a long wait.
But Ipswich fans tend to be fairly stoic and resourceful, especially after the troubles of the last few years. I thought and hoped, that my mate, Ian, who lives in Kent and had also been at the match, might be in the area, and as luck would have it for me, but not I suspect for him, he was visiting his father in Colchester Hospital.
So unlike others, just after 18:30, I was sitting comfortably on my way south. Ian lives near Ebbsfleet, so he was able to drop me at the station there, to get the High Speed service to Statford, which is an Overground ride away from where I live in Hackney.
I was starting to get hungry, but as I’m a coeliac, getting food at Stratford and the nearby Eastfield shopping centre is difficult, as not even Marks and Spencer, has anything like a gluten-free sandwich and there is no restaurant that I trust to serve a meal without gluten.
So instead of getting home at about seven, I was home just before nine, which given the circumstances and probably the experiences of other passengers, wasn’t too bad.
It is interesting to compare the trip[, with one I took on Deutsche Bahn in similarly awful weather, where I was abandoned at Osnabruck on a trip from Hamburg to Amsterdam, and left to my own devices. With incidentally no offer of compensation.
Obviously, you will always have problems with trees by the line, if we continue to get this awful weather. And obviously now, unlike in the 1950s and 1960s, there are no Britannias to periodically clear the trees, by setting fire to them.
In some ways, you suffered from one of the problems of an all-electric railway, which is obviously vulnerable to an event as last night. It would of course have helped if the line from Ipswich to Cambridge had been electrified, as it would have enabled the ferrying of Ipswich passengers for London to Cambridge, for onward travel. But that infill won’t happen for some years, if it ever does.
I think that the only solution, that might help, would be if you had a couple of Class 88 engines to run direct services to Yarmouth, as their go-anywhere capability would have allowed a shuttle via Cambridge. But then the first of these is a few years away from being built.
I think, under the circumstances, you did as well as could be expected. But probably the fact, that Ipswich had won, meant most fans were in a good mood. But you can’t please everybody!
Certainly though, your performance in times of smaller troubles over the last few years, has in my experience, been a lot better than some other companies I could name.
Tagliatelle With Beef And Red Wine Ragu
This is a Lindsey Bareham recipe that I did for supper yesterday. I’d decided to do it in the morning, but when Waitrose were selling 400g packs of diced braising steak for just £2.25, I couldn’t resist making two portions of the ragu, with one for supper and one for the freezer.
I started by taking the whole pack of diced braising steak, which I seasoned and browned it in a couple of tablespoons of hot oil in my Le Creuset shallow casserole.
Browning The Diced Steak
The meat was then scooped out of the casserole and then 100g each of finely chopped onion and celery, together with some garlic, a tsp of thyme and a pinch of chilli flakes were then gently softened in the meat juices and tossed for five minutes.
Cooking The Onion, Celery And Spices
I then took 100g of finely chopped chestnut mushrooms and added them to the pan. I cooked this until it was all dark and juicy.
Cooking The Mushrooms
I then chopped the meat and added this to the pan.
150 ml of red wine was added and it was allowed to bubble up for a few minutes, before stirring in a 400g tin of chopped tomatoes.
It was then baked in the oven for 60 minutes at 160°C.
I served it with some of Carluccio’s gluten-free pasta.
Tagliatelle With Beef And Red Wine Ragu
My one mistake was perhaps not to put in quite enough wine, so it was perhaps a tad dry.
I shall make this again, I see the diced steak on offer at Waitrose. I know I don’t need to economise, but it shows you can make a delicious meal for two with £2.25 of steak, an onion, some celery, a tin of tomatoes, some spices and some wine.
This recipe also shows the usefullness of my shallow casserole. It is definitely something that I don’t regret buying.
The Anonymous Widower 