The Anonymous Widower

Rail Operator Crosses Line For First Time In Years

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.

This is the sub-heading.

An operator’s first passenger train has crossed a historical and scenic route for the first time in more than a decade.

These three paragraphs give more details about the reason for the trip.

Avanti West Coast’s 07:54 GMT from Wigan was the first to run on the Settle to Carlisle route earlier.

The 73-mile line is renowned for its picturesque views across the Yorkshire Dales and the North Pennines via the Ribblehead viaduct.

The route is usually only used by Northern trains operating between Leeds and Carlisle, but Avanti is using it as a diversion while work to replace the Clifton Bridge take place over the M6 near Penrith.

I’ve only ridden the Route once and that was on a day in 2014, when the weather wasn’t at its best.

Afterwards I wrote Long Live The Settle And Carlisle, so the trip couldn’t have been that bad!

These paragraphs give the reason for and details of the diversion.

The Settle to Carlisle line does not have overhead power lines, meaning Avanti is using bi-mode Class 805 Evero trains which operate on diesel.

Several timetable changes have been made during the engineering works, with disruption expected until 15 January.

Until 5 January, the railway will also be blocked south of Preston, meaning on these days the diverted services are running between Wigan North Western and Carlisle.

But if Great British Railways could get their act together and convert a sufficient number of their Hitachi diesel bi-modes to battery-electric bi-modes and do some testing and a few calculations, the problem would be solved.

In 2021, I wrote Through Settle And Carlisle Service Under Consideration, after Modern Railways wrote an article of the same name.

Could Lumo Run A Lincoln And Glasgow Service Via Doncaster, Leeds And Settle?

In South Yorkshire Now Has Better North-South Connections, I calculated that Doncaster station now has 173 express trains per day, that stop at the station.

So why not add five or six express trains per day to Doncaster, Lincoln, Leeds, Settle, Carlisle and Glasgow?

And why not ask Lumo to run it, as they’d know how to run such a service?

 

January 1, 2026 Posted by | Transport/Travel | , , , , , , , , , | Leave a comment

Offshore Wind Turbines In 2025: China Continues Leading In Single-Unit Capacity, Vestas’s 15 MW Turbine Installed At Offshore Wind Farms

The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on offshoreWIND.biz.

This is the sub-heading.

In offshoreWIND.biz‘s 2024 annual wind turbine overview, you could have read about the first 16 MW floating wind platform installed offshore and a 26 MW prototype under construction, both in China, and a 21 MW prototype being assembled in Europe. Wind turbine generator (WTG) technology did not stop progressing in 2025, with Chinese OEMs still leading capacity-wise, while in Europe, first offshore wind farms are now featuring 15 MW turbines and a 21+ MW model was installed onshore for testing.

The article is very much a must-read and there is a lot of innovation going on.

As a comparison, between 2020 and 2026 we commissioned or are building these offshore wind farms in the UK.

  • East Anglia One – 2000 – 714 MW – 102 x 7 MW
  • Hornsea One – 2020 – 1218 MW – 174 x 7 MW
  • Kincardine – 2021 – 49.5 MW – 6 x floating
  • Hornsea Two – 2022 – 1386 MW – 165 x 8 MW
  • Moray East – 2022 – 950 MW – 100 x 9.5 MW
  • Triton Knoll – 2022 – 857 MW – 90 x 9.5 MW
  • Seagreen Phase 1 – 2023 – 1400 MW – 114 x 10 MW
  • Dogger Bank A – 2025 – 1235 MW – 95 x 13 MW
  • Moray West – 2025 – 882 MW – 60 x 14 MW
  • Neart Na Gaoithe – 2025 – 450 MW – 54 x 8 MW
  • Dogger Bank B – 2026 – 1235 MW – 95 x 13 MW
  • East Anglia 3 – 2026 – 1372 – 95 x 14 MW
  • Sofia – 2026 – 1400 MW – 100 x 14 MW

Average sizes for the various years are as follows.

  • 2020 – 7 MW
  • 2021 – floating
  • 2022 – 8-9.5 MW
  • 2023 – 10 MW
  • 2025 – 8-14 MW
  • 2026 – 13-14 MW

It can clearly be seen that in the last few years, turbines have been getting bigger.

I have some thoughts on the article.

2025 Saw Some Plans For And Installations Of Some Very Large Turbines

These four monsters were mentioned at the start of the article.

  • 26 MW – Prototype installed for testing (China)
  • 21.5 MW – Prototype installed for testing (Europe)
  • 15 MW Installed at offshore wind farms (Europe)
  • 50 MW Twin-turbine platform; Announced (China)
It would appear that much larger turbines are on the way.
This will not only mean some wind farms will be built with larger turbines, but also some older wind farms could be refitted with new larger turbines.
I Am Looking Forward To Seeing A Twin-Turbine Platform In Action
These posts talk about Swedish and Chinese designs.
Note.
  1. The Chinese seem to be providing turbines for both manufacturers.
  3. The TwinHub is the Swedish design, being built for trial in Cornwall.
  5. This new design is a 50 MW design, whereas these two are 32 MW.
It will be interesting to see how costs of single turbine designs compare with twin-turbine designs.

 

 

January 1, 2026 Posted by | Energy | , , , , , , , , , | 2 Comments