A Low-Alcohol Beer With Flavour
I was buying my usual gluten-free IPA in Marks and Spencer in Islington, when I saw this beer next to it.
This beer is just 0.25 units for a half litre bottle.
It also has flavour, as it is brewed by Adnams.
But the amazing thing was I had no adverse to the beer despite being coeliac, although I’ve never claimed to be a serious one.
Waterloo Upgrade August 2017 – Walking Between Wandsworth Common And Clapham Junction Stations
These pictures show my walk this morning.
These are my thoughts on the various things I saw! Or in some cases didn’t!
Wandsworth Common Station
Wandsworth Common station is a curious station in some ways, as it certainly wouldn’t be built in the middle of Wandsworth Common in these conservation-minded days.
It also has an eleven trains per hour (tph) frequency to the next stations; Balham and Clapham Junction. Some trains take as little as two or three minutes.
Passenger numbers in 2015-16 at the three stations are as follows.
- Balham – 10,115,000
- Wandsworth Common – 1,690,000
- Clapham Junction – 32,282,000
Wandsworth Common station would appear to be just an overflow station to take pressure from the other two much busier stations.
In the Gibbs Report, one of the things that Chris Gibbs says is that there are too many Off Peak services.
Surely four or six tph stopping at Wandsworth Common station is enough, given that there’s only 24 parking spaces and bus stops are 450 yards away.
Currently, there are six tph between Victoria and West Croydon stations and all stop at Wandsworth Common station, with the fastest journeys taking thirty two minutes.
There are also six tph between Wandsworth Common and Norbury.
Surely on both these services stops can be eliminated, which would save a couple of minutes per stop.
Timing the trains for something like a Class 377 train and using a more efficient stopping pattern, might reduce timings between Victoria and West Croydon to under thirty minutes, which must help Southern to run a better service.
But would the good burghers of Wandsworth allow the simplification, even if it became a faster service?
The Cat’s Back Bridge
The Cat’s Back Bridge is a pedestrian bridge across the railway to the North of Wandsworth Common station.
The replacement of this bridge is described in this article on Rail Engineer, which is entitled A Trio Of Southern Bridges.
The article has some clear before and after pictures taken from the railway.
Wandsworth Seems An Information-Free Borough
Walking from the bridge to Clapham Junction station might have been quicker, if there had been some maps or information.
Perhaps, Wandsworth doesn’t welcome walkers!
At least I found a couple of helpful policemen!
Breakfast At Revolution
I had a hearty gluten-free breakfast at a bar-restaurant called Revolution in Clapham.
Incidentally, Clapham surprised me with the quality of the shops.
There were also a couple of interesting cafes, including one that was gluten-free and vegan called Without.
Clapham Junction Station And The Waterloo Upgrade
Again there was a lack of information.
Plenty of helpful Customer Service personnel were in attendance at the station, but some better signage was needed, for those unfamiliar with the station.
Conclusion
Wandsworth Council need to get their act together with regard to information.
I live in Hackney and the maps are so much better!
Do We Spend An Average Price On Food Items?
This may seem a silly question to ask, but I tend to do most of my food shopping in Marks and Spencer and like the convenience of using contactless payment.
But I have found on average, that my average payment is just a few pence over a couple of pounds.
So when I get to fourteen items, unless there is something I have to get, like supper, I stop shopping.
I was surprised how similar the average item cost was each time.
But then I don’t buy much, as I live alone and I’m coeliac. And I do shop elsewhere as well!
One thing I do wonder, is that since I’ve been counting, I seem to be throwing away less food, so perhaps it’s stopped me buying too much!
The Americans Reinvent The Sausage Roll
This article on the BBC, describes a row about the American’s reinvention of the sausage roll.
The sausage roll is ours, so to paraphrase The Sun.
“Hop Off, You Yanks!”
The Beer In Spain Makes Up For The Lack Of Rain
Before I was diagnosed as a coeliac, I used to like my beer. For a few years afterwards, I could drink bottles of Guinness from Park Royal, but like the brewery they are now history.
But in this trip to Spain, I have drunk four different gluten-free beers and as I post this, I’m seinking a bottle of Estrella Damm Daura and very reasonable it is too!
I used to get it from Waitrose, but her upstairs got it replaced with the aptly named Celia.
One day, I intend to share a bed with a Celia, whilst we drink appropriately bamed bottles.
I’ll add that to my bucket list!
By the way Cecelias need not apply!
I
Fruit And Veg Farmers Facing Migrant Labour Shortages
This the tutle of an article on the BBC.
It makes some ontrtesting points blaming the weak pound and Brexit.
Perhaps twenty years aho, I read an article in a msgazine about a team of engineers and scientists working on developing an automatic apple-picking machine.
The article finishes by saying in a couple of decades, we’d only be eating fruit that could be harvested by machine.
We don’t seem to be there yet!
London To Karlsruhe Via Paris
I took Eurostar and a TGV to Karlsruhe, using these trains.
- Eurostar – St. Pancras 08:19 – Paris Nord 11:47 – £115 from Eurostar
- TGV – Paris Est 13:55 – Karlsruhe 16:25 – £69.19 from Voyages SNCF
I took these pictures on the way.
Note.
- I bought both tickets on-line.
- Premium Economy in the new Eurostar trains is more cramped than the old ones.
- Eurostar’s Premium Economy gluten-free breakfast more than filled a hole.
- Paris Nord to Paris Est is just a Metro.
- I took a diversion via Republik, which was a good place to wait in the sun.
- I stayed in the Schlosshotel in Karlsruhe, which was one of several acceptable ones by the station.
I could probably have done the journey cheaper by flying, but it would have had more hassle.
Breakfast At Saltaire
On my way back from Skipton station, I stopped off for breakfast at Saltaire.
I ate in Salts Diner and as you can see, I had a large gluten-free full-English breakfast with tea and juice for £9.95.
Serial Cooking – Cod And Tomato With Basil
I created this out of one of Lyndsey Bareham’s recipes from The Times.
I aimed to make it something i cook cook quickly from the store-cupboard and the freezer.
An Excursion To Axminster
My Devon Day Ranger allowed travel to Axminster, so I took a trip.
These are my comments on various topics.
Peninsular Task Force
According to the June 2016 Edition of Modern Railways, the Peninsular Task Force has made recommendations about this route.
- An improved line.
- An enhanced South Devon Metro
- A better diversion route.
- Speeding up of services between London Waterloo and Exeter by 36 minutes.
It will be interesting to see what actually happens.
Axminster Station
I was surprised to find that Axminster station is quite a sophisticated one as the pictures show.
It also had an excellent cafe that made me a fgluten-free bacon sandwich.
Class 800/802 Trains On The West Of England Line
The West Of England Line is currently certified for InterCity 125s, so it would probably allow Class 800 and Class 802 electro-diesel trains to use the route.
It might need some updating to some of the connecting routes East of Yeovil Junction.
Speeding Up Services Between London Waterloo And Exeter
Most of the services on this route are run by 90 mph Class 159 trains, which are well-matched to the 90 mph West Of England Line.
The current trains are diesel, which means they can’t take advantage of the electrified section of the line between London and Basingstoke.
In the June 2016 Edition of Modern Railways, this is said about services between London Waterloo and Exeter.
Journey time improvements of up to 36 minutes between Exeter and London Waterloo are forecast through a combination of linespeed improvements and trains calling only at Salisbury between Clapham Junction and Yeovil Junction.
The described stopping pattern would cut seven stops, at how many minutes a stop?
I have read that cutting a stop saves around three minutes a stop, but the amount will depend on a large number of factors.
- Braking for the stop.
- Accelerating back to line speed.
- The ease with which passengers can enter and exit, which is helped by wide doors and large lobbies.
- The quality of the driving.
Looking at the timetables various stops can take between three and seven minutes.
As an example, the Class 159 trains take 52 minutes between Basingstoke and Waterloo with stops at Woking and Clapham Junction, but a 100 mph electric train does it in 45 minutes with just a stop at Clapham Junction.
Without the actual figures, I can only take an educated guess.
An average of four minutes would mean finding eight minutes from linespeed improvements.
But there would be one simple way to speed up the trains.
Running Class 802 trains would certainly reduce journey times.
- They are electro-diesel trains, so could use the electrification between London Waterloo and Basingstoke.
- They have a 100 mph speed on diesel power, if speed limits allow.
- They have a 125 mph speed on electrified lines, if speed limits allow.
- Their undoubted power would get them quickly up to linespeed, thus reducing stop time.
- They have probably got better braking performance, than the current Class 159 trains.
But also consider.
- If linespeed is increased from the current 90 mph to perhaps 100 mph, the Class 159 trains can’t take any advantage.
- Running on electricity between London and Basingstoke, could also save a few minutes and some carbon emissions.
- Upgrading the line West of Basingstoke to allow higher speed where possible.
- Adding some more passing loops, at stations like Whimple.
- Any extra electrification past Basingstoke would be welcomed.
This could realise savings of perhaps fifteen to twenty minutes.
I am assuming the following.
- The more powerful Class 802 variant of the Class 800 train will be used, as speed on diesel power will be important.
- The trains can be fitted with third-rail shoes, like the closely related Class 395 train.
- I wonder, if it would be prudent to make all Class 802 trains dual-voltage.
Operationally, the trains may offer other advantages.
- If they are closely related to the Class 802 variant used by GWR for Peninsular services, this must be beneficial, as FirstGroup is involved in both train operating companies.
- It appeared to me at Exeter St. Davids that the Class 159 trains need a lot of refuelling, so the large fuel tanks of the Class 802 trains might save refuelling time.
- The joint fleet could be serviced at the same depot in perhaps either Exeter or Plymouth.
- Running similar trains on both routes from Exeter to London might give a marketing advantage.
- Five-car and nine-car Class 802 trains could be used as appropriate.
- It might be economic to extend some Waterloo services past Exeter.
A quick calculation shows that to provide an hourly service needs the following number of trainsets.
- Class 159 trains with a round trip of 7 hours – 7 trainsets of two trains.
- Class 802 trains with a round trip of 6 hours – 6 trains.
This could make the smaller Class 802 fleet easier to manage.
A South Devon Metro
The Modern Railways article has a brief reference to an enhanced South Devon Metro.
Currently, between Yeovil Junction and Exeter, there is generally one train per hour (tph).
This is not enough.
So in addition to the current service could the South West be seeing a modern diesel service from perhaps Yeovil Junction or Salisbury to Plymouth, at perhaps one tph.
But ideally, there should be four tph on the route to provide a Turn-Up-And-Go service.
New Stations
The stations at Axminster, Cranbrook and Whimple have recently opened, reopened or rebuilt.
There is also this article on DevonLive, which is entitled Second Cranbrook station still in the pipeline.
So could the eco-village of Cranbrook, get a second station called Cranbrook East?
I suspect that development of the line West of Salisbury could see some more and better stations.
Conclusions
The recommendations of the Peninsular Task Force should probably be followed.
I think we’ll see the following on the West of England Line.
- An enhanced service of at least 2 tph from Yeovil Junction to Exeter, with some extended to Plymouth.
- London Waterloo to Exeter in under three hours.
- A variant of Class 800 trains working the route.
- New and improved stations.
One great advantage is that First Group are at least part-owners of the two train operating companies in the region.
The Anonymous Widower 