Werrington Dive Under – 10th August 2022
I passed the Werrington Dive Under today and took these pictures.
Note, that it is now more or less buried to the East of the East Coast Main Line.
When the weather gets a bit cooler, I’ll have a look from the footbridge.
Who Needs A Spoonful Of Sugar?
This article on The Times is entitled Lie Right To Help The Medicine Go Down.
These are the first two paragraphs of the article.
Next time you take an aspirin, try speeding up its effect by lying on your right. But don’t turn over, or you could be waiting a long time for pain relief.
Scientists have modelled the dynamics of the stomach in an attempt to understand how posture can affect drug absorption.
Strangely, I generally lie on my right.
In my life, I have done a lot of mathematically modelling of all sorts of systems.
It has surprised me several times how unexpected the results have been.
An Advance Single From London To York For £32.90 Bought An Hour Before The Train Left
I went to York and Manchester yesterday.
I had been planning to do this trip for a week or so, but as I have lots of other things to do, I didn’t want to decide on a date.
So on Monday, I went to King’s Cross and investigated how much a London to York single ticket would cost.
I was surprised to find, that if I bought it last minute from a ticket machine with a Senior Railcard, that travelling about eleven in the morning I could get a ticket for £55 on the 11:06, which is a service that terminates at York, but is a few minutes slower.
Everything was clear for a trip yesterday and just after ten, I turned up at King’s Cross.
The machine offered me tickets at £81.90 on the 10:30 and 11:00 services, but I was able to get a ticket for £32.90 on the 11:06.
I was also able to ask for and get a forward-facing window seat with a table.
It looks like LNER are trying to sell as many seats as possible and they have developed, an algorithm that does this.
If I look at buying a ticket for today on the 11:06 on the Internet, I’m offered the following prices.
- Advance Single – £32.90
- Super Off-Peak Single – £81.90
- Anytime Single – £94.35
There is even a First Class Advance Single at £45.90.
Conclusion
It pays to do your research.
It looks like a one-way journey by an electric car would take four hours and cost around £20.
Should We Follow German Advice On Rural Rail Reopening?
This article on Railway Gazette is entitled Benefits Accrue From Rural Railway Reopenings, Study Finds.
This is the opening paragraph.
Reopening rural railways offers an important spectrum of benefits, according to a study commissioned by the Federal Ministry for Housing, Urban Development & Building. These range from positive effects on land use to advantages for local and regional economies, transport, the environment and society.
It is an interesting article, which is very positive about reopening rural railways.
So perhaps we should follow Germany’s advice.
Plan To Build £150m Green Hydrogen Plant At Felixstowe Port
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in The Times.
These two paragraphs introduce the project.
A £150 million green hydrogen plant is to be built at the UK’s busiest container port according to proposals by ScottishPower, it emerged yesterday.
The energy company has devised plans for a 100MW plant at the Port of Felixstowe which will provide fuel to power trains, trucks and ships.
There’s a lot more to this project than it would appear at first.
Where Will The Electrolyser Be Sited?
The Times article says this.
The site will be around the size of a football pitch, on brownfield land within the port.
I have flown my virtual helicopter over the port and there could be a couple of suitable football pitch-sized plots.
Where Will The Electricity Come From?
The East Anglia Array is a proposed massive series of offshore wind farms, which will be about thirty miles off the Suffolk coast.
Wikipedia says this about the size.
Up to six individual projects could be set up in the area with a maximum capacity of up to 7.2 GW.
But the main thing about the East Anglian Array is that it is being developed by a partnership of ScottishPower and Vattenfall.
Negotiations shouldn’t be difficult.
This Google Map shows the town of Felixstowe.
Note.
- The Ports of Felixstowe and Harwich are opposite each other on the two banks of the River Orwell.
- The power cable to the East Anglia Array comes ashore at Bawdsey in the North-East corner of the map.
- The Port of Felixstowe has two rail links, which are not electrified.
I suspect that the electric power to the electrolyser might well be routed underwater to the Port of Felixstowe either from Bawdsey or possibly direct from the wind farm.
A Meeting With A Crane Driver
I used to regularly go to Ipswich Town away matches and at one match, I met a senior crane operator from the Port of Felixstowe. We got talking about electrifying the rail link to the port and decarbonisation of the port in general.
He was adamant that electrification of the rail lines in the port, wouldn’t be a good idea as containers occasionally get dropped or crane drivers aren’t as accurate as they should be.
Hydrogen-Powered Freight Locomotives
When, I told him about the possibilities of hydrogen rail locomotives, he felt this was the way to go, as no rail electrification would be needed in the port.
Hydrogen-electric hybrid locomotives would also be able to take containers cross-country to the main electrified routes to the North and West, where they would raise their pantographs and use electric power.
How many trucks would be removed from the A14, A1 and M6?
Will Greater Anglia Convert Their Class 755 Trains to Hydrogen?
Class 755 trains have a short PowerPack in the middle and are designed for conversion to hydrogen-electric operation.
Note the PowerPack has four slots for diesel engines, batteries or hydrogen fuel-cells.
A Better Working Environment
But my fellow supporter felt the biggest gain in the port, would come with replacement or updating of all the vehicles and handling equipment, as if all these machines were hydrogen-powered, this would greatly improve the working conditions for the dock workers.
ScottishPower’s Vision
This press release on ScottishPower’s web site is entitled ScottishPower Vision For Green Hydrogen Fuels Hub At Port Of Felixstowe.
Conclusion
The Port of Felixstowe is doing the planning for this in the right way, as ensuring the hydrogen supply in the port first, is the logical way to transition to hydrogen power.
But then, I’ve watched the Port of Felixstowe grow since the 1960s and they usually get their decisions right.
The press release starts with these bullet points.
- ScottishPower explores green hydrogen at Port of Felixstowe to help decarbonise the UK’s busiest port.
- The project could help kick-start the low carbon transformation of the UK’s heavy transport sector.
- 100MW facility could deliver up to 40 tonnes of green hydrogen per day – enough to power 1300 hydrogen trucks.
- International export also being explored.
And these two paragraphs.
ScottishPower, with Hutchison Ports, is exploring the opportunity to develop, build and operate a multi-hundred MW green hydrogen production facility at the Port of Felixstowe – with the potential to decarbonise industry and transportation in the region.
Both companies have set out their vision to help create a greener port, which could provide clean fuel for customers at Britain’s busiest container port.Plans are being developed to use green hydrogen for onshore purposes, such as road, rail and industrial use, with the potential to create liquid forms, such as green ammonia or e-methanol. This could, in turn, provide clean fuels for shipping and aviation, and create opportunities for cost-effective export to international markets. The project aims to continue engineering and site development works to align with customer demand from 2025 onwards.
It is certainly a very extremely ambitious vision!
But then the county of my conception, has a tremendous determination to succeed. And often against all conventional logic!
Barking Riverside To Barking – 8th August 2022
This post and Woodgrange Park To Barking Riverside – 8th August 2022 are a pair and show the area on the date given. This is so I can show it as it develops in the next few years.
I took these pictures returning from Barking Riverside station.
Note, that this side of the line, is dominated by Barking substation, lots of overhead cables and views of the viaduct.
This 3D Google Map shows the viaduct from the West.
Are there any other viaducts, which comprise a whole branch line?
Woodgrange Park To Barking Riverside – 8th August 2022
This post and Barking Riverside To Barking – 8th August 2022 are a pair and show the area on the date given. This is so I can show it as it develops in the next few years.
I took these pictures going to Barking Riverside station.
Note.
- The route passes the ventilation shaft for High Speed One.
- It goes through and over the concrete viaducts and bridges of Barking station.
- Renwick Road station could be built in the area to serve five thousand proposed houses.
- It then crosses over the Barking Freight Terminal, which is sure to be developed either as a larger freight terminal or housing.
- The houses of Barking Riverside have sheds in their gardens.
What are the circular structures in the penultimate picture for?
What A Stupid Place To Park A Bike!
These days my eyesight, has almost returned to normal after my stroke in 2011 and I rarely bump into things, that I did in the first couple of years after suffering from the stroke.
Today, though I came across this hire bicycle, that some twit had left where a light-controlled crossing meets the pavement.
The idiot deserves at least points on their driving licence or a suspended sentence for their stupid behaviour. Or perhaps, the bike hire company need a hundred pound fine?
It has been stated on The Times, ITV and other web sites, that the next Transport Bill will include a review of cycling law.
That should also include rules about how to park a bicycle.
The Plans For Giant Seaweed Farms In European Waters
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on the BBC.
The article describes how the Dutch are developing the growing and harvesting of seaweed.
This is all fascinating stuff and reminds me of reading of a company called Alginate Industries in the Meccano Magazine in the 1950s.
I can’t find much about the company, except that they were taken over by Merck & Co in 1979.
The Wikipedia entry for alginic acid, gives this information on alginates.
Alginates are refined from brown seaweeds. Throughout the world, many of the Phaeophyceae class brown seaweeds are harvested to be processed and converted into sodium alginate. Sodium alginate is used in many industries including food, animal food, fertilisers, textile printing, and pharmaceuticals. Dental impression material uses alginate as its means of gelling. Food grade alginate is an approved ingredient in processed and manufactured foods.
I remember the Meccano Magazine saying that alginates were an important food additive and UK production came from the North of Scotland.
This page on the Secret Scotland wiki gives details of current alginate production in Scotland.
Has Wikipedia replaced the Meccano Magazine, as a source of information for scientifically-inquisitive children?
ZeroAvia Hydrogen Powered Jets For American Airlines?
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Aviation Source.
The article states that American Airlines will be investing an undisclosed amount into ZeroAvia and that it might use their regional hydrogen-powered aircraft in the United States.
The Anonymous Widower 