More Pictures From Crossrail
Crossrail is certainly a gift to photographers, as these pictures in City AM show.
Thoughts On Solar Energy
On my trip to Wales on Wednesday, I was surprised at the number of houses and buildings in the valleys that were sporting solar panels.
I was surprised because according to the general view of the Welsh weather, there doesn’t appear to be enough sun. Although to be fair, Wednesday was a day of clear skies and a warm sun.
The cynic in me, asks whether the Welsh government is giving out a big subsidy or there are a lot of aggressive and ultimately successful salesmen about. But as to the latter, the Welsh have never struck me as particularly gullible. They also have a reputation of being rather careful with their money.
So, I have to come to the conclusion that the economics of solar panels must be getting better.
Here, in Central London, you don’t see too many solar panels, although Blackfriars station is roofed with solar panels. Wikipedia says this.
In January 2014 the Blackfriars Railway Bridge became the world’s largest solar-powered bridge having been covered with 4,400 photovoltaic panels providing up to half of the energy for the station.
Blackfriars station is a station that it is a good place to put solar panels.
1. It is an all-electric railway with no polluting smoke from diesel engines, that might damage the panels.
2. The platforms are a long low horizontal building with quite a large roof area.
3. Because of its position on a bridge, Blackfriars station is probably not a prime candidate for building offices or housing on top of the station.
4. Stations are also designed for the long term and I doubt that any major work will be done at Blackfriars for several decades.
I think we’ll be seeing several other stations being given solar roofs if the economics are right. Not all stations have magnificent Victorian train sheds like Kings Cross, Liverpool Lime Street, Paddington and St. Pancras or are candidates for serious oversite development like Euston, Liverpool Street or Marylebone.
Even Sainsburys are getting into the solar game. With supermarkets and other sheds, the adding of solar panels can help to make the stores less dependent on the grid, but I doubt many will last as long as Blackfriars station without a complete rebuild.
It would seem to me that large commercial applications, will have one major effect. They will bring the prices down.
Coupled with technological improvement like this one, we could be entering a virtuous circle for solar energy, as the shorter the payback time, the more likely a company, organisation or individual will invest.
Solar energy as a local power source has a few advantages.
1. As it produces electricity that can be fed back into the grid and the control systems can be very sophisticated, it is a very efficient way of generating and distributing electricity.
2. The drive is on for electrical equipment like lights, washing machines and cookers to use less electricity, which means people are getting used to pay to save energy, thus making the decision to cut energy bills further by installing solar panels easier.
3. Battery technology is getting better and it won’t be long before the sight of small solar powered units which can power the office-in-a garden or other remote sites become very common.
4. There is nothing mechanical to go wrong, as there is with anything to do with the wind.
The only problem that at present seems to hinder the installation of solar panels on buildings, is the attitude of some councils. Getting a better attitude is partly due to better design and sighting, but a bit of government push would help.
Progress Is A Lot Of Small Steps
In Liverpool University’s Insight magazine, there is an article entitled A Surprising New Use For Tofu Ingredient. The details are here on the University’s web site, This is the first paragraph.
The chemical used to make tofu and bath salts could also replace a highly toxic and expensive substance used to make solar cells, a University study published in the journal Nature has revealed.
It appears that a researcher has found that you can replace expensive and highly toxic cadium chloride in solar cells with cheap and safe magnesium chloride.
Small developments like this make me think that the day when I fit solar panels to my flat roof a bit closer.
Transport for London Drops An Interchange
I noticed this Tube map at Whitechapel station today.
Transport for London Drops An Interchange
The interchange at Embankment seems to be missing. It was certainly there when I went through the station this morning. Although for many months lately, the interchange wasn’t able to be used during escalator rebuilding.
There is a piece in Business Insider, which discusses the omission.
What would Harry Beck have thought?
Finally I Find The Five Car Class 378 Train
On my way out today I actually caught the elusive five-car Class 378 train at Haggerston. I only rode one stop and then attempted to get the classic Overground picture from the southbound platform at Hoxton, of a train in front of the buildings of the City of London, like the one in this post.
And then coming home, I saw it again at Whitechapel! These are the pictures I took.
This is what I think is the best of the classic pose.
Five Car Class 378 South Of Hoxton
I shall be trying to take the perfect one.
A Visit To Risca
Risca is one of those places that I remember from my childhood. But in an unusual way.
My father was a letterpress printer and one of the type founders he used were called Riscatype and based in Risca in Wales.
It was one of my jobs from about the age of seven or so, to unpack the new type and put it away in the appropriate cases.
So as I wandered up and down the Valleys I just had to stop at Risca and Pontymister station.
This was my first visit to the area.
The visit sums up the problems with some of the Valley Lines. I took a train to Risca, expecting to get the next one back to Cardiff. But due to the nature of the service of one train per hour and the single track north of the station, the two trains cross at the station. So the outcome was that I had an hour to wait for the next train. Luckily, the pub called the Mason’s Arms was welcoming and I spent forty minutes or so, drinking a glass of well-cared-for proper cider.
Wandering On The Valley Lines
I took some of the Valley Line trains from Cardiff.
The weather was good, as you could see. I first went up to Risca and then after returning to Cardiff, I took a train up to Bargoed.
On this trip and my previous one some weeks ago, I encountered typical Welsh scenery with lots of clean and tidy stations, many of which were being upgraded with lifts and decent access.
But although the train to Risca was a decent Class 158, the other journeys were done in Pacers with more rattles than a large nursery.
The lines are crying out for electrification and a fleet of much better trains.
Comings And Goings At Cardiff Central Station
Cardiff Central station is a busy station, that is on the main line from London to Swansea and is also a hub for all the local services serving the valleys and other parts of South Wales.
A Platform 0 has been added, which I used to catch my train to Risca, but it is rather tacked on to the station.
A new Platform 8 is also being added, on the other side of the station.
There are plans to upgrade the station and the South Wales Main Line and the Cardiff Valley Lines will be electrified. I hope that when both projects are completed it becomes easy to change from say a train coming in from Ebbw Vale to a fast train for London.
It’s all a bit chaotic at present and I know it’s not politically correct to say so, but showing destination boards in two languages means that travellers like me, who are unfamiliar with the lines and the station find it difficult.
Some things must be done in my view.
1. Have a better Valley Line schedule, where perhaps all trains going one direction use Platform 0 and those going the other use Platform 8. One example of many, is that the Ebbw Vale line has only one train an hour. So supposing you are going to an important event on the line and you’re coming from London, it could be an hour waiting at Cardiff Central. As Network Rail said about East Anglia, all branch lines need at least two trains an hour.
2. Create a much better information system, that doesn’t confuse travellers. Incidentally, I wouldn’t mind if station names were only given in Welsh, as that would simplify things a lot. I would think that most Welsh would understand a visitor, who pronounced a Welsh town like Treorchy or Maesteg in an English manner. After all, Welsh uses just the Roman alphabet like say Italian or Dutch, and is not like Hungarian, Turkish or Greek.
3. Make the access from Platform 0 to the main platforms a lot better.
I think that it’ll all be better when work is completed, judging by the way station rebuilds in the UK have turned out.
On The 10:45 From Paddington
I went to Cardiff taking the 10:45 out of Paddington. I chose this train as it features First Great Western’s Pullman Dining.
I had a simple brunch consisting of the most exquisite kedgeree, washed down with juice and a lot of genuine English tea. By the latter, I really do mean tea grown in Cornwall.
This is certainly the way to go to South Wales. First Great Western say this about booking on most trains except the ones that leave around 18:00.
Pullman Dining services are open to all ticket holders although, on busy services, priority is given to First Class ticket holders. Please contact the Pullman Service Leader when you board to request a table in the restaurant. Pullman Dining services do not operate on weekends or public holidays.
When did booking a meal in a high class restaurant be so easy?
The train I was on, also called at Reading at 11:10, gets to Cardiff at 12:46 and then goes on to Swansea, reaching there at 13.44, so it is very convenient for a lot of journeys.
The only problem was that the actual train I was on, didn’t have the wi-fi fully installed. I read that this should be running and free in the New Year.
I do hope that this concept succeeds, as travellers like me, who aren’t strapped for cash, will certainly use this type of service as a treat.
My First Class ticket, which I bought on-line the day before, cost me £31.55 and I paid £18.00 for the lunch, with its excellent food and service.
As I have been known to take the occasional day out in Bristol, I do wish a similar service was offered to there. And what about services to Torquay and Cheltenham?
Obviously, First Great Western know the economics and they certainly have a whole fleet of InterCity125s, with which they can run the service.
So will we still see these magnificent trains reborn as high-class leisure trains serving the West Country for upwards of twenty years in the future? I suspect we will, as these trains seem to have more survival genes, than a whole pack of London mongrels.
Did Terry Miller and his team in Derby realise what they were creating?
Will The Felixstowe Branch Be Electrified?
In the previous post on diesel-hauled freight trains on the Overground, I mentioned Network Rail’s Anglia Route Study.
This study says two things about the Felixstowe Branch.
There will be more double track to increase capacity and it is an aspiration to have two trains per hour on all branch lines from the Great Eastern Main Line.
If the latter is implemented on the Felixstowe branch, it will be a good thing, but it would need another train and the increased frequency would probably be opposed by the port.
If the line were to be electrified, the finding of a reasonable Class 313/315/317 train to work the branch shouldn’t be difficult and it would be faster and with better acceleration than the current Class 153, so it could keep out of the way of the freight trains.
As a lot of the line is to be double tracked, I wouldn’t be surprised if this work, at least makes electrification possible.
I sometimes think, that I can remember reports from the 1950s, saying that London to Ipswich and Norwich together with the Felixstowe branch would be electrified by 1964.
The Anonymous Widower 