Trains To Bexhill
I went the one-train way to Bexhill from Clapham Junction. This may by convenient, but it is rather slow. It takes one hour fifty three minutes from Victoria and there is just one comfortable Class 377 train every hour during the day.
Class 377s At Bexhill
You can do the journey in one hour forty one minutes using HS1 and changing at Ashford from St. Pancras, but as with Victoria, there is just one train an hour.
To illustrate the poor train service in this part of Sussex, if you go from Charing Cross to Hastings, you can do it normally in about one hour forty-five minutes, on a train with innumerable stops. At the moment a lot of the services are replaced by buses due to landslips. If you read Wikpedia on the Hastings Line, you’ll see how it was built by the worst of Victorian gerry-builders and how some of the line has been single-tracked, so that normal-sized trains can use the line. Until 1986, the line was operated by special narrow trains.
It would seem that something ought to be done.
There is an unelectrified line called the Marshlink Line, that links Hastings to Ashford. There is a proposal to upgrade and electrify this line, so that high speed commuting services from St. Pancras, can serve Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne.
As an aside here, some years ago, I looked at a business proposal in Hastings. After driving to meet a guy there, I had to go to see a client near Gatwick. It took me nearly two hours to cross half of Sussex in a fast car, as the roads were completely inadequate. Since then the Hastings by-pass has been chopped, so surely creating a modern railway from Ashford to Eastbourne and on to Brighton and Portsmouth, should be a priority?
I can’t find any reference to how much it would cost to upgrade the line, but it would surely benefit more people than the proposed hundred million pounds, that are being spent according to reports in Somerset.
Navigating Around Bexhill
Why is it that so many towns that want to attract visitors, have such poor maps and information? I saw just one solitary lith by the De La Warr Pavilion.
A Lonely Lith In Bexhill
But the worst crime was the only usable walking map at the station, which was positioned for those, who were tall enough to be basketball players.
How many people after visiting a town, where they got lost, go back and tell their friends about their experiences?
Let’s hope that Bexhill increases the number of liths and especially puts one outside the station.
Should Oyster Become A Bank?
This suggestion was put forward by the Social Market Foundation in a report yesterday.
Oyster is a trusted brand and it handles billions of transactions in a year, so expansion into a contactless bank, would probably be something that could work.
I also get better information from my Oyster card than I get from my debit or credit card. I can see my last journeys at most ticket machines in London, but can I find out the last five transactions on my debit card at a cash machine? I don’t think so!
So perhaps the other side of this suggestion, is should bank cards be more like Oyster?
It Just Had To Happen!
The Londonist is organising a pub crawl based on Crossrail stations.
An Historic Station On The Overground
Wapping station on the Overground is more or less unique. It is built into the access shaft that was used to build the Thames Tunnel, so must in some ways be the railway station in the world, with the oldest structure or building. It certainly has lots of brickwork and other interesting structures.
It’s also a good place to go to see trains going through the Thames Tunnel.
I sometimes wonder, what the well-known resident of Wapping, Alf Garnett would have thought of the Overground. Compared to the 1960s, the journey that Alf would take from Wapping to Upton Park to see West Ham United, is the same, but he would probably be complaining about the new trains on both lines, where you can walk from one end to the other.
Rebuilding For The Future
In Modern Railways this month, there are a series of articles about how old engines and trains are being rebuilt or used to make up for a shortage of new motive power.
Class 73
The refurbishment and the fitting of new modern diesel engines to some of the 1960s-built Class 73 locomotives is described. One aim is to give them another 10-20 years of life.
Class 37
The Class 37 is a few years older than the Class 73 and also may be getting new engines to prolong their lives.
Class 365
There is also a report on the refurbishment of the Class 365 electric multiple units. Wikipedia says this.
Starting from January 2014, the first trains in the fleet will undergo a refurbishment by Bombardier Transportation at their Ilford site, some of which will be completed on a two-part basis with a second stage starting from the summer of 2014. The first unit to be put back into service is 365 517, which began operations on the 16th of January 2014.[8] The initial refurbishment comprises new seat upholstery, new flooring, interior and exterior repaint and an engineering overhaul to maintain reliability. The second stage of upgrades will bring the units in line with the latest disability regulations by installing two wheelchair bays, new external door buttons and vestibule grab handles, a new wheelchair-accessible toilet, a new fully automated passenger information system with audio and visual announcements, and a call-for-aid in the wheelchair and toilet areas. This will be retrofitted to units that have already undergone refurbishment prior to the start of works.
That looks pretty comprehensive.
Class 20 And Western Champion
This is probably the strangest use of old locomotives and describes how the 1950s-designed Class 20 and the Class 52 called Western Champion.
The Class 20 probably took part in the most outrageous train movement, ever done in or from the United Kingdom. Three Class 20s took a train of a eight thousand tonnes of aid to Pristina in Kosovo. It’s described in detail here.
Old Trains As New
This article describes how the Class 321 electric multiple units are being as the article says re-imagined. A demonstrator has been built.
All of this emphasises that rebuilding trains is something that we’re good at.
To And From Margate
I took these pictures on the journeys between Stratford International and Margate stations.
One thing you can say is that the Class 395 makes a good camera platform, if you get one of the tables.
It is certainly one of the more interesting train journeys out of London, with plenty to appeal to children of all ages.
Is This The Most Unwelcoming Station In The UK?
To get to Margate, I’d bought a Senior Off Peak Standard Class Ticket from Stratford International station to Margate.
As I got to the station a few minutes early, I had to wait for nearly twenty minutes on a draughty platform, with only a little sun filtering into the cutting of the station.
To make matters worse, a couple of Eurostar trains thundered through and frightened the daylights out of me!
It certainly isn’t my favourite station and next time I catch a train there, I’ll wait upstairs until the last minute. Or go from St. Pancras!
The Immaculate Lady On The Train
This morning I took the Overground to Stratford to catch the high-speed train to Margate, so I could have a look sat the town and its attractions and hopefully get some fresh air in the sun by the sea.
Opposite me, was a Chinese girl of about twenty, and a white lady of about my age. The Chinese girl appeared to be sketching something, so I stood up and asked her, saying that in all my years no-one had ever made a drawing of me. I also exchanged a few words with the other lady, who from her accent was English, or had lived here all her life.
As the girl wasn’t drawing me, I returned to my seat and carried on with my sudoku.
I then looked at the English lady, who was immaculate dressed from top to toe, in the style of someone twenty years younger, with a just-above-the-knee black skirt, black tights, a beige cashmere roll-neck jumper and short boots in a harlequin design. She’d let her hair go grey and it was held back with a clip. I can’t remember what her coat was like, but as C always did, she was wearing expensive leather gloves.
We both left the train at Stratford and exchanged a few words. I did at least compliment her on her style, before we went off in different directions.
Why is it, I can’t find myself a girlfriend like that?
Tidying Up Dalston Kingsland Station
They would appear to be getting to grips with the vegetation at Dalston Kingsland station.
As the Dalston Eastern Curve Garden is under threat from the expansion of the shopping centre, why don’t they ask that team to improve the station?
One surprising thing, is that you rarely see a vandalised garden in Hackney. This doesn’t fit the stereotype.
The Anonymous Widower 