A Design Crime – Milk In Plastic Tubes
i got my morning cup of tea on the Caledonia sleeper, with milk in plastic tubes.
A Design Crime – Milk In Plastic Tubes
I hope the young man, who first designed this abberation, is truly sorry for what he created.
I say young man, as nobody over fifty starting to feel the aches and pains of life would have created this design.
It was certainly a man, as any woman, who had worn nail polish, would probably have discarded the idea.
Years ago, when I chewed my nails, I certainly wouldn’t have been able to open these awful containers.
They should be consigned to the dustbin of history and I declare them a design crime.
Edinburgh Tram’s Elaborate Catenary
When I’m in Edinburgh, I always think that the overhead wires for the trams are over-elaborate and intrusive.
The picture was taken as I arrived. Compare that picture, with this one in the centre of Birmingham.
The Birmingham design is a lot simpler and as the trams are both from the same builder, you can’t say that the Midland Metro is designed to easier rules. This system could surely have been used on Princes Street, where I took this picture.
There is no excuse for bad design.
The Midland Metro is also showing the way for its extension, by using battery power through the historic centre.
Edinburgh Haymarket Station Gets It Right
Edinburgh Haymarket station is another example of Network Rail’s stations with a wide bridge over the tracks, like Leeds, Derby and most spectacularly Reading. London Bridge will join the club in the next couple of years.
As most trains stop at both Waverley and Haymarket stations in Edinburgh, I think passengers will ask themselves, why they would ever use the truly dreadful Waverley station?
- Access to the trams at Waverley means using endless steps and escalators to get to Princes Street and then an uncovered walk to the tram.
- Trams at Haymarket are just a short level walk outside.
- Taxi drop at Waverley is difficult with more steps. It’s on the level at Haymarket.
- Tickets to Edinburgh allow you to go to either station.
- Coming from the West and needing the tram, will passengers increasingly change at Edinburgh Park station?
Don’t fall into the trap of getting off at Edinburgh Waverley, which now always seems to be called just Edinburgh.
My only reservation about Haymarket is the station’s size.
Is it big enough for an important rugby match at Murrayfield, where the savvy will arrive at Haymarket and take a tram?
And will it be big enough, when the trams are extended, as they surely will be?
A Design Crime – The Forthside Bridge In Stirling
I first wrote about the Forthside Bridge in Stirling in Stirling, when I thought it was impressive.
But on my second visit to the City, I realise that practically, it isn’t as good as you’d expect.
It’s biggest problem, is that it was not properly integrated with the station, the main road through the city and the shopping centre.
I was staying on the wrong side of the tracks and to get to my train, I needed to cross the bridge, enter the station and then walk back across the tracks on another bridge.
In a sensible station design the bridge in the station would lead to a second ticket gate on the other side. One guy told me, it used to and he thought about buying a flat on the other side, until the ticket gate was removed.
Note.
- When I arrived on Friday night, I went to the Shopping Centre to buy a jumper at the Marks and Spencer there! It closed at 18:00. On a Frioday night! Ridiculous!
- On Saturday, I went to Pizza Express at about 21:00. Staff probably outnumbered the patrons.
- It was certainly a lot busier on the other side of the tracks.
So was one guy about eighteen right, when he said the bridge was all bullshit.
I’m nominating the Forthside Bridge in Stirling as a design crime.
Mystery Tours Of Glasgow
On Saturday, I was staying at Stirling near to the station and wanted to get to Glasgow to have a look at the closure of Queen Street station, for upgrading Queen Street Tunnel, platform lengthening and electrification work.
This article on Network Rail’s web site, which is entitled Glasgow Queen Street Tunnel upgrade, says this.
The work is starting just before the Easter bank holiday weekend, and lasting much longer, with a 20-week closure of the high-level Glasgow Queen Street Tunnel from Sunday 20 March to Monday 8 August so that the concrete slab track inside the tunnel can be renewed safely.
It’s the largest piece of engineering on the Edinburgh to Glasgow line since the railway was built. Renewing more than 1,800 metres of slab will mean 10,000 tonnes of existing concrete slab will be removed, as well as 4,000 metres of new rails laid, and more than 150 staff will be working on the project every day during the 140-day period.
A lot of other work will also be done at the same time.
So Network Rail and Scotrail have called up the spirit of Baldrick, and devised a cunning plan. This map shows the rail lines in the Glasgow area.
Glasgow Rail Lines
My route in from Stirling to the low-level platform at Queen Street was something like.
- Larbert
- Croy
- Lenzie
- Bishopbriggs
- Springburn
- Duke Street
- Belgrove
- High Street
Coming back from Glasgow Central, the route was something like.
- Mount Vernon
- Bargewddie
- Kirkwood
- Coatbridge Central
- Cumbernauld
Although the train didn’t stop until Stirling.
These are some pictures taken on the Jouney into Glasgow
And these were taken on the way out.
It certainly seems there are more wayus of moving trains through Glasgow, than most other cities.
You almost wonder looking at these pictures and the routes that I took, that Network Rail and Scotrail have an alternative philosophy.
- Most platforms seem to have been lengthened to at least eight cars, which mean they’ll handle two Class 385 trains coupled together.
- Most of the lines through Glasgow seem to either be electrified or seem to be having wires installed.
- It should be noted that the route I took back to Stirling, would also enable a service to be run from Carlisle to Perth via Motherwell, Coatbridge, Cumbernauld and Stirling.
- Once, the TransPennine routes are electrified, Manchester to Edinburgh can go up the East Coast.
- Are Network Rail going to apply some of the innovative interchange philosophy I wrote about in Better East-West Train Services Across Suffolk?
If electric trains can get everywhere and they are twice the capacity of the current diesel trains, then mathematics and scheduling rules, says you can get more trains through the system.
So could they be looking to increase the capacity of the two Glasgow stations and open up circular routes between them?
I don’t know the answer, but I do believe that when the EGIP program is complete, it will be interesting to see if more passengers are able to use the trains. What is being done is very different to previous proposals.
Carlisle To Glasgow By The Scenic Route
One of the reasons for my trip to Carlisle station, that I wrote about in Carlisle Station Gets A Makeover, was to explore the Glasgow South Western Line, which was the only line in the Borderlands, that I hadn’t explored.
These pictures tell the story.
My first reaction to the line is that, the well-maintained stations need more services.
I’ll put my thoughts in the following section.
More Services
Abellio Scotrail have ordered new electric Class 385 trains from Hitachi, which comprise eighty train sets, that total 192 carriages.
These can’t run on the Glasgow South Western Line, but will replace several modern diesel multiple units for service all over Scotland.
I suspect that if the Borders Railway gets four car trains, then there would be some lengthening and increase of frequency on this route.
Incidentally, the conductor on the train I took, said that more services will certainly come.
An Improved Diversion Route
What is more likely to drive improvements is the need for a diversion or alternative route for the West Coast Main Line between Glasgow and Carlisle.
Reasons could include.
- The West Coast Main Line is very busy.
- Diversions because of blockades or bad weather.
- There is a need for more Anglo-Scottish freight services.
- Freight services will be increasingly hauled by electric or bi-mode locomotives.
Unlike many diversion routes, the Glasgow South Western Line is an 80 mph line with sections of double-track and 100 mph maximum speed
Electrification
Electrification of the diversion route, would probably be essential, as most traffic on the West Coast Main Line uses electric traction.
The conductor I spoke to, was surprised that British Rail hadn’t electrified the line in the 1970s, at the same time of the major West Coast Electrification.
As schemes go, it wouldn’t be the most expensive of schemes., as the line appeared to go through fairly easy countryside, with not many bridges and tunnels.
But the biggest advantage is that at both ends of the line, there are electrified lines, that can be used to provide power for the line at both ends.
Look at this Google Map of Gretna Green station‘s position with relation to the West Coast Main Line..
Gretna Green Station And The West Coast Main Line
At the Northern end of the line, there is masses of electrification in and around Glasgow.
Electrification of the route must have other advantages.
- Services could be provided by Class 385 trains.
- Kilmarnock gets an electric train service.
But surely, the biggest, is that modern electric trains would speed up the service considerably.
Carlisle Station Gets A Makeover
In If Manchester Victoria And Birmingham New Street Were The First Two Courses, Is Carlisle The Third?, I wrote how Carlisle station was going to get a £14.7 million upgrade including a new ETFE roof.
These pictures show the progress.
Note.
- There are two through lines in the station for freight and other trains that don’t stop.
- The four bay platforms at Carlisle are all electrified to some extent and it wouldn’t be the biggest task to make the station fully-electrified.
- It looked to me like a lot of the magnificent station building, isn’t being used to its full potential.
- The welcoming square outside the station needs an upgrade to become a real gateway to Carlisle.
I think that after the makeover, it will be a second very high-class station to mark the border between England and Scotland.
Carlisle could be in a unique position in a few years.
- It is already the best connected city in the Borderlands.
- Published plans mean that electric express trains will serve Birmingham, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Liverpool, Manchester and Manchester Airport, at least once an hour, with some places getting at least double.
- As I wrote in Arriva Rail North’s New Trains, new CAF Civity trains will be arriving, in both electric and diesel variants.
- After the current landslide at Armathwaite is cleared up on the Settle-Carlisle Line, these new trains will surely be running at least an hourly service to Leeds.
- The new trains will be providing an improvement in comfort, speed and possibly frequency on the hourly service to Newcastle, on the Tyne Valley Line.
- The new trains, would surely work their magic on the Cumbrian Coast Line around the Lake District.
- Scotrail is getting new trains too, and will some be used to provide a better service to Glasgow via Dumfries and Kilmarnock, using the Glasgow South Western Line.
If this doesn’t increase the numbers of tourists taking a rail-based exploration holiday of the Borderlands and the Lake District, I would be extremely surprised.
I’m not the only person, who thinks this way, as in the July 2016 Edition of Modern Railways, Theo Steel discusses options for the increase in traffic on the Settle to Carlisle Line.
In addition, other developments may happen, that will also increase Carlisle’s importance to the Anglo-Scottish railway system.
- The events of this winter, where the West Coast Main Line was closed because of bad weather, could see the Glasgow South Western Line improved and electrified to provide a valuable diversion route for train services between England and Glasgow.
- There could be a need for more Anglo-Scottish freight trains, but the West Coast Main Line is very busy. So will this mean that freight trains will increasingly use secondary routes like Settle-Carlisle and the Glasgow South Western Line.
- Carstairs station sits between Carlisle, Edinburgh and Glasgow and I can’t believe that Scotrail won’t use their new trains to improve services through the town. As ever, the improvements in services around Carstairs, will probably be driven by the need for new housing and commuting to Glasgow and Edinburgh.
The big question though, is whether the Borders Railway will ever get to Carlisle. If it does, then Carlisle will be ready with a refurbished and electrified platform, alongside the one currently used for services on the Glasgow South Western Line.
Network Rail seem to deserve a few plaudits for their foresight in preparing Carlisle station for the future.
Shared Space In Preston
Done properly, I think shared space can transform a town or city centre.
These are pictures of the centre of Preston.
It seemed to be working well as I left, during the morning go-to-work period.
A Walk Around The Ordsall Chord
I took this walk around the Ordsall Curve.
I’d taken one of Manchestewr’s free city centre buses and a walk to the Spinningfields area.
This Google Map shows the layout of lines in the area.
The Area Of The Ordsall Chord
Walking North-East to South-West along Water Street, the bridges in order are as follows.
- The Prince’s Bridge is a disused road bridge, noticeable because of its zig-zag construction, which will be demolished. There’s more on the bridge on this page on Manchester History.
- Then there is the single-track line, that the Museum of Science and Industry used to run their replica locomotive.
- The Windsor Link Railway which connect Salford Crescent and Deansgate stations, appears to share a wide bridge with the line to the museum.
- The last bridge is the direct historic line between Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly.
This Google Map shows the lines as they cross the Irwell in detail.
Across The Irwell
Note in the North-West corner of the map, the line between Salford Crescent and Manchester Victoria stations via Salford Central can be seen.
The Ordsall Chord will run in a North-South direction between this line and the line to Manchester Piccadilly.
Under Proposal in the Wikipedia entry for the chord, this is said.
The Ordsall Chord would preserve connectivity between the relocated East-West services and the city’s existing main rail interchange at Manchester Piccadilly. It would also improve rail access to Manchester Airport, which at present cannot be reached easily from Victoria. Without the chord, such operations would require for trains to be run on and then reversed back at Salford Crescent.
The would enable services such as.
- Huddersfield, Leeds and York to Manchester Airport.
- Leeds to Crewe without a change or a reverse in Manchester.
- Huddersfield to London without a change.
It will also enable services on the Northern branches out of Manchester to be connected to those going South, with stops at both Victoria and Piccadilly in Manchester. This will mean that passengers needing to cross Manchester will probably be able to change trains once, rather than use the tram. it should also mean that both major Manchester stations will be able to use their capacity better, as trains will go through Manchester rather than terminate in the city.
No-one could argue that building the chord is simple, although released images show it to be dramatic.
An Artists Impression Of The Ordsall Chord
Note.
- In the image, you can see the historic Liverpool to Manchester Line behind the bridge.
- Deansgate and Manchester Piccadilly stations are to the left with Salford Central and Manchester Victoria to the right.
After walking past the bridges, I crossed the river and followed Trinity Way virtually all the way to Salford Central station.
As I walked, I took these pictures.
The one thing that surprised me about this visit, was that propgress in the short time, they’ve had since all the legals were settled, seems to have been purposeful.
From Salford Central station, I was able to get a train to Preston, where I stayed the night.
The New Norton Bridge Junction In Action
I was travelling between Birmingham New Street and Manchester Piccadilly stations on a Cross-Country train.
After leaving Stafford station, the train took the new route through Norton Bridge Junction on the flyover over the West Coast Main Line to j0in the line to Manchester. The Norton Bridge page on the Network Rail web site, links to this map.
The New Norton Bridge Junction
Trains continuing up the West Coast Main Line take the black route, whereas trains to and from Manchester use the orange line and the branch to the North-East.
This pictures show my progression threough the junction.
I was sitting on the right side of the train.
It looks like the new route is being electrified.
Would this mean that an electrified service could be run on the following route?
- Euston
- Birmingham International
- Birmingham New Street
- Wolverhampton
- Stafford
- Stoke-on-Trent
- Manchester Piccadilly
- Preston
- Carlisle
- Glasgow/Edinburgh
There is also a current electrified route, using the Crewe to Manchester Line and the Styal Line.
- Wolverhampton
- Crewe
- Manchester Airport
- Manchester Piccadilly
Throw in the Ordsall Chord and I suspect that Virgin Trains, TransPennine and Northern Rail have been looking at their traffic, to see if the reconfigured and electrified Norton Bridge Junction could be to their and Manchester Airport’s advantage.
It should also be pointed out, that much of the line from Preston to Crewe, Stoke and Stafford will have line speeds of on or about 100 mph and the new generation of trains like Aventras, Class 700s and Class 800s will be able to take advantage.
It seems to me, that the Norton Bridge Junction and Orsall Chord projects at £250 million according to this document and £85 million according to Wikipedia, respectively, will help to improve services all along the corridor from Preston to Rugby via Manchester, Manchester Airport, Wolverhampton, Birmingham and Coventry.
Only when you take a train from Birmingham to Manchester and look seriously at Norton Bridge Junction, do you realise its significance.
The Anonymous Widower 