Through London In The Dark On A Bus
To start the journey back from Palermo, I needed to get to Gatwick Airport for the 06:20 easyJet flight.
I did think about checking in to a hotel at the airport, but in the end I got up early aiming to catch the 04:00 Gatwick Express to the airport.
I looked for a taxi and in the end I took a night bus from close to my house to Victoria.
It was an unusual and almost magical experience, as I sat up front at the top, on a virtually empty bus, that sped through an empty city. It ran a bit faster than the schedule.
Some of my friends advised against this method of getting to the airport, as you don’t know who you’ll meet. But I didn’t meet or even see anybody, except for the bus driver and another passenger on the bus, who took the same route to Gatwick.
If I have to get an early flight from Gatwick, I will use the same method again.
Off To Palermo Tomorrow
I’m off to Palermo tomorrow on the 06:20 easyJet flight out of Gatwick, to do another home run by train.
My schedule is looking like this at the moment.
8th – Palermo
9th – Naples
10th – Genoa
11th – Turin
12th – Geneva
13th – Paris
14th – I’m booked on one of the last Eurostars back to London.
It’s Not A New Train
This may look like a new train, but it’s just a well refurbished one!
The story of the refurbishment of these Class 455 trains is detailed here in Wikipedia. It includes this comment.
This refurbishment was so comprehensive that many passengers thought the refurbished units were new trains.
But refurbishment of trains is something we do well in this country. And there are lots of similar trains built like these Class 455, running all over the UK. Some like the Class 317 are already being earmarked for full refurbishment and upgrading.
So don’t despair that the old rattletraps on your line are beyond improvement. Some designer or engineer has ideas for your trains. Whether they will get done is up to the Treasury, which is not a real bastion of hard core engineering and design.
Sheffield’s Wayfinding Liths
Sheffield seems to have put up better maps since I was last there.
There’s more here on Connect Sheffield.
It does at least seem that other places are jumping on Legible London’s bandwagon.
A Stopover At Lincoln
Although my ultimate destination was Sheffield to see Ipswich Town play, I had brunch with an old friend at Lincoln on the way.
In some ways Lincoln and its station is a very sore point in the UK’s rail network. And my brief visit flagged up many of them.
The rail service from London for an important city like Lincoln, is inadequate despite many promises of direct trains from the capital. I changed at Newark and the train from there to Lincoln was a very clean, but very crowded Class 153. But then it was run by East Midlands Trains, who aren’t exactly famous for providing services that customers want, as my trip earlier in the week to Derby showed.
I found the information at the station to be up with the worst in levels of inadequacy. I knew that our meeting place; Carluccio’s was in the High Street, but I ended up walking the wrong way down it, as maps were not of the standard that many places now have. If they want to get tourists from London on the eight hundredth anniversary of the signing of the Magna Carta in 2015, they ought to get some wayfinding experts in to advise.
There is also the infamous level crossing that causes endless holds-up to pedestrians and drivers going about their business. Surely, this relic of the nineteenth century should be done away. But as Beeching removed the obvious solution, it looks like it is something that the city will have to live with for some time.
Peterborough Station Gets Improved
Peterborough station is one I used to use a lot, as I changed from trains from East Anglia to the North. It is getting improved.
It certainly needs it and hopefully, the city will get the station it deserves.
The East Coast Main Line’s Lightweight Catenary
I tried to get a good picture of the overhead wiring or catenary as the train went north to Newark. This was the best I got.
The East Coast Main Line’s Lightweight Catenary
Compare this picture with some I took last week of the electrification at Eccles. As the lines at Eccles are not designed for 200 kph, you can understand, why the East Coast Main Line‘s electrification is not very robust and frequently gets dragged down.
Travelling In Style
I travelled up to Newark for Lincoln in First Class in one of East Coast’s Inter City 225 trains.
I’ve head a rumour that in a few years time, we’ll be seeing these units working from Liverpool Street to Norwich and Ipswich.
Yet again East Anglia will get a hand me down, but what a high class one!
They are so much roomier and more comfortable than the Pendelinos used by Virgin on the West Coast Main Line.
I doubt though, the lines to Norwich will allow these trains to reach there full speed of 200 kph.
A Steamy Morning At Kings Cross Station
I had wondered why there was a train to Norwich on the destination board at Kings Cross station.
This is the reason why.
A couple of times in the 1950s or 1960s, I went to Ipswich from London by train with a Britannia Class at the front. I wonder if I was ever hauled by Oliver Cromwell.
I am not a particular enthusiast for steam trains, but they are very much part of the world’s technological heritage. I do think it as pity though, that we didn’t save more for posterity, as the enthusiasm they generate, is something that many of us need more of. It might even inspire more students to be the future engineers, we definitely need in this country and in fact most of the world.
It is also amazing to see a 1950s-designed steam locomotive amongst all of the high speed electrics, at possibly the best recently refurbished station in the world.
Imagine the excitement and probable increase in tourism, if every Saturday, we could see a vintage locomotive steam out of Kings Cross. The demand is probably there, but I doubt we have enough reliable main-line steam engines to provide such a spectacle. Remember that steam locomotives are not noted for their reliability.
Kings Cross Station In The Morning
As I left Kings Cross station at around eight this morning, I got a good view of the station and the square in front, in the morning light.
The morning is always the best time.
Although, as I returned tonight, the floodlit station looked even more magnificent.
What was the train to Norwich doing in the station?
The Anonymous Widower 