St. Pancras And Leicester Via Corby
This OpenRailwayMap shows the route between Kettering and Leicester via Corby.
Note.
- Kettering station is in the bottom right corner of the map.
- Kettering is on the Midland Main Line from St. Pancras.
- North of Kettering the route splits into two.
- The Midland Main Line goes North-West through Market Harborough to Wigston junction and Leicester.
- The Midland Main Line is electrified to Wigston junction.
- The Corby branch goes North-East to Corby, which is indicated by a blue arrow.
- The Corby branch is electrified to Corby.
On Saturday, I went to Leicester and because there were engineering works at Market Harborough, the train went via Corby.
Over The Welland Viaduct
After Corby, the train went over the Welland Viaduct and I took these pictures.
It is an impressive viaduct and is the longest viaduct across a valley in the United Kingdom.
I have some further thoughts.
Could The Corby Service Be Extended to Leicester?
Consider.
- Between Corby and Leicester is 40.8 miles of track without electrification.
- Trains could call at Oakham, Melton Mowbray and Syston stations.
- Oakham, Melton Mowbray and Syston stations, could be given an appropriate number of trains every day to Leicester, Corby, Kettering, Wellingborough, Bedford, Luton, Luton Airport Parkway and London St. Pancras International stations.
- No new infrastrructure would be needed.
- I suspect an hourly service would be sufficient.
I am fairly sure that a Class 810 train fitted with batteries could work the route.
Leicester, Oakham, Melton Mowbray And Syston Stations Would Get A Direct Connection To Luton Airport
Some travellers might find this very useful.
Leicester Station Would Have A Neat Passenger Drop-Off For Luton Airport
I wrote about this in Busiest UK Airports Raise Kiss-and-Fly Fees, Says RAC.
Every rail station needs a passenger drop-off as good and affordable as the one at Leicester station.
Busiest UK Airports Raise Kiss-and-Fly Fees, Says RAC
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
This is the sub-heading.
More than half of Britain’s busiest airports have raised “kiss-and-fly” fees for cars dropping off passengers close to terminals, according to research from the RAC.
These two paragraphs add details.
The motoring group found 11 out of 20 UK airports had put up prices since last July, with Gatwick, Bristol, Leeds Bradford and Southampton joining Stansted in charging the top rate of £7 to park for a matter of minutes.
In contrast, at nine of the 10 busiest airports in the European Union there are no drop-off fees.
I don’t drive and these days I can’t walk very far, but I travel around the UK and Europe without any difficulty.
Here are a few tips.
Use James Cameron’s Packing Method
James Cameron was one of BBC’s most famous and much-travelled journalists and his life is documented in this Wikipedia entry.
The Wikipedia entry says nothing about his packing method, which my late wife and myself used after hearing him describe it in one of his excellent documentaries.
Sort everything you think you’ll need into two piles. Each pile contains half the shirts, trousers, swimwear, underwear etc. that you think you’ll need.
Pack each pile in a separate case and leave one case behind.
As to money he said, work out the most you’ll need and double it. These days with credit cards, that is probably not so relevant.
Choose An Airport With Good Step-Free Public Transport
I’m lucky in London, in that I can get a bus within a hundred metres of my house, that takes me to Moorgate, Bank or London Bridge stations, which give me direct access to City, Gatwick, Heathrow, Luton, Southend or Stansted Airports.
Step-free access to some airports in the UK is abysmal.
Use A Train From A Station With a Properly Designed Drop-Off Area
These pictures show the taxi rank and drop off area at Leicester station.
The building would appear to have a Grade II Listed taxi rank and free twenty-minute car park.
How many other stations have well-designed facilities like these?
According to this article on the BBC, Preston station has an innovative solution.
If you spot any others, let me know!
Service Your Car Near The Airport
For three or so years, we had a car, where there was a main dealer a couple of stops on the Piccadilly Line from Heathrow.
So we dropped the car in, walked a short distance to the Underground and started our holiday with a tube ride.
It just needs a bit of research.
I don’t drive anymore after a stroke, but if I did, my car would be serviced by a garage, I could get to on public transport.
Nigel Farage Speech: Persistent Offenders Would Face Life Sentences
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
This is the sub-heading.
The Reform UK leader pledged more prison spaces, deportation of criminals and zero-tolerance policing as part of a six-week Lawless Britain campaign drive.
These three paragraphs give more detail about what criminals can expect and how much it will cost.
Every shoplifter would be prosecuted and stop and search powers used to “saturation point” under Nigel Farage’s pledge to make Reform UK the “toughest party on law and order this country has ever seen”.
He said that a Reform government would crack down on prolific offending by imposing life sentences on those who commit three or more offences.
The Reform leader set out plans to spend £17.4 billion to cut crime by half in the first five years if the party wins the next general election — an annual cost of £3.5 billion.
At least hanging and flogging aren’t mentioned. But he does suggest sending one of our worst child murderers to El Salvador and that Britain would leave the European Convention on Human Rights.
This paragraph says how he will pay for this law and order policy.
Farage said Reform would pay for the £17.4 billion law and order crackdown by ditching HS2 and net zero policies — money which has also been pledged for other policies.
I have just done a little calculation about how much offshore wind power should be commissioned by January 2029, which will likely be before the expected 2029 General Election.
- In October 2023, there was 15,581 MW of operational offshore wind.
- Currently there are 10,842 MW under construction, that should be commissioned by January 2029.
- There is also 2,860 MW of smaller wind farms, which have yet to be started that should be commissioned by January 2029.
- That all totals up to 29, 285 MW or 29.3 GW.
- Another 12 GW of offshore wind is scheduled to be commissioned in 2029 and 2030.
Currently, as I write this we are generating 29.3 GW from all sources.
I asked Google AI how much solar energy we will have in January 2029 and got this answer.
In January 2029, the UK is projected to have a significant amount of solar energy capacity, with the government aiming for 45-47 GW of total solar power by 2030.
Let’s assume the sun only shine half the time and say 20 GW on average.
We’ll also have 4.4 GW from Hinckley Point C and Sizewell B, as all other nuclear will have been switched off.
I asked Google AI how much energy storage we’ll have by January 2029 and got this answer.
In January 2029, the UK is projected to have around 120 GWh of battery energy storage capacity, according to a European report. This is part of a broader goal to reach 400 GWh by 2029 for the EU-27, with the UK contributing significantly to this total.
If there’s say another Great Storm, the dozens of interconnectors between the UK and Europe should keep us all going.
It looks to me that by January 2029, we’ll be substantially on the way to being powered by renewables.
Most of the net zero money will have been spent and we’ll be almost at net zero.
Phase One of High Speed Two has a target date of 2030, and I suspect that the engineers working on the project will get trains running between Old Oak Common and Birmingham Curzon Street stations before the General Election, just because if NF’s going to cancel the project, they might as well do their best to get him to lose the election.
So at best he might get a year’s savings from stopping High Speed Two, but an unfinished High Speed Two, will be a joke on NF and make him look a complete laughing stock!
The Anonymous Widower 