Alpine Swifts
At night and in the morning, the air over Dubrovnik is full of alpine swifts.
This picture, which is the best of a bad lot, shows a few ducking and diving by the sea and the city walls.
There were several photographers trying to get the ultimate picture.
Excursions From Dubrovnik
I hadn’t planned what I would do in Dubrovnik and it was only when I got there, I reaslised you could take an excursion to Mostar.
Unfortunately, all excursions seemed to leave early in the morning, so as I only had one full day in the city, I had to miss out.
So if you’re having some time in the city and might weant to have an excursion, book it early.
How Dubrovnik Suffered
The map on the right of this picture, shows all of the damage sustained in Dubrovnik during the break-up of Yugoslavia.
War Damage On A Map Of Dubrovnik
The scale of the damage in the fighting between over the city, is well shown on this map, although most now seems to have been repaired.
The cause of the war between Croatia, Serbia and Montenegro, will long be debated, but as with Syria and Russia, it is usually because a group of nasty men want to cling to power and enough of their electorate can be bribed to back them.
A version of that map should be forcibly tattooed on all the war criminals and their supporters in that insane war.
Up And Down The Dubrovnik Cable Car
I took these pictures as I rode the Dubrovnik Cable Car.
The island beyond the city is Lokrum.
I have this feeling that if you timed it right, the light could be very good on the way down.
First Impressions Of Dubrovnik
I arrived in Dubrovnik in mid-morning and took the airport bus to just outside the old city.
My hotel was in the old city, just off the main walk across the old city between the bus station and the old port.
Flying To Dubrovnik
I chose the flight leaving at 05:55 on a Sunday morning deliberately, so that I would get another half-day in Dubrovnik.
But it wasn’t the best journey.
- I walked round the corner to get an N38 bus to Victoria at about 0200 and all seemed to be stopping short at Piccadilly Circus.
- Piccadilly Circus was rather strange at two-thirty in the morning and was surprisingly empty.
- In the end, I took a taxi to Victoria.
- Gatwick Expresses don’t run at that time in the morning, but I just managed to catch the 0300 to Gatwick, which is not the fadtest of trains.
- I got into Departures easily, but then had to walk miles through duty-free, where I never buy anything.
- I also forgot to buy my toothpaste and deodorant.
- It was the main terminal and buying a gluten-free breakfast from someone I trust was off menu.
We’ve got no-frills airlines, why not a no-frills airport, which would only have a cafe that does gluten-free food, toilets and a Boots?
After that the flight was uneventful.
This picture shows my first view of the sea off the Dalmastion Coast.
If you want to see what a pilot sees on a typical flight into Dubrovnik, watch this video.
You should be able to recognise the distinctive coastline.
The Future At Shenfield Station
There is an article on Rail Technology Magazine, which describes how Network Rail completed £14.5 million preparations for Crossrail over the bank holiday.
This is one of the comments by Andrew Gault, which describes the operation of Shenfield station after Crossrail opens.
Plus the new new bay platform (Platform 6) at Shenfield is soon to be built and once the new Platform 6 at Shenfield is built and opened then Crossrail Elizabeth Line trains will use Platforms 5 and 6 as a terminus with Platform 4 being used for Abellio Greater Anglia’s Southend Victoria trains to stop on Platform 4 freeing up Platform 3 for Semi-Fast trains and Stopping Commuter trains to Ipswich, Braintree, Colchester, Clacton-on-Sea and Intercity trains passing through Shenfield towards Norwich and Ipswich and yes Shenfield will see more passengers using Crossrail Elizabeth Line once the full service is in operation in late 2019/early 2020 and same with Abbey Wood, Reading, Maidenhead and Heathrow Airport.
Is Mr. Gault indicating that some or all fast Ipswich and Norwich trains will stop at Shenfield?
If he is correct, then it will certainly make getting to Portman Road for Tuesday Night matches a lot easier for me.
Gerrards Cross Station
I’d never been to Gerrards Cross before and when a friend suggested I go to see her for lunch, I got on a train.
The journey had been complicated because there had been a complete signal failure at Marylebone, so in the end I took the Central Line to West Ruislip station. Checking the Oracle as I came out from London, I was able to determine, that the odd train was running and I was likely to catch one a couple of minutes after my tube arrived. I did and I arrived in Gerrards Cross station an hour later than I’d planned.
This Google Map shows the station and the local area.
Gerrards Cross
I had a pleasant lunch in Pizza Express with my friend.
Gerrards Cross is certainly not a town, where I would chose to live, but it is one of those rare towns, where you could get together to have a pleasant lunch or conduct a business meeting close to the railway station.
Note that the pictures and the map show how the Tesco supermarket, is built over the railway.
This tunnel collapsed during building and blocked the railway for a few months. Luckily no-one was hurt, but I do think Tesco got a bit of a bruising to their ego.
My view is that we need more schemes like this to reclaim railway land, so we can build over the top. Although, housing, offices and public buildings like hospitals would be preferable to yet another unnecessary Tesco supermarket.
In Could A Chiltern Metro Be Created?, I looked at Chiltern Railways’s plan for a metro service between Marylebone and West Ruislip stations.
In the post, I asked if it would be better if the service was extended past West Ruislip.
At present, Gerrards Cross has an off-peak stopping service of one train per hour into Marylebone.
If the Metro does get created, I’m sure Gerrards Cross could benefit from more stopping services into Marylebone, but as Gerrards Cross is a station with only two tracks, I doubt it would be used as a terminus, as on my trip, trains were going through without stopping every few minutes.
West Ruislip and Beaconsfield stations, which both have two platforms and enough space for four tracks would appear to be better choices for the Western terminus of the Chiltern Metro.
In an ideal world, I would like to see island platforms between the fast and slow lines at the terminus of the Chiltern Metro, so that passengers travelling between stations on the Metro and Chiltern Main Line services.
But I doubt there is sufficient space at any current station for this layout.
Virgin’s New Train On Test
I took this picture near to Stevenage.
Virgin’s New Train On Test
Virgin’s new Class 800 train is under test.
The Class 365 Trains Are Looking Dated
I travelled to Peterborough on a Class 365 train.
The interior wasn’t in anyway bad condition, but it certainly shows how design has moved on in the last twenty years.
These are pictures of Thameslink’s Class 387 trains, which are a couple of years old.
Design moves on and gets better.
The Anonymous Widower 