The Little Trains are Popular
At least something is booming amongst all the gloom. According to this report, all the small branch lines are popular and are showing substantial increases in traffic.
And it’s not just the traditional branch lines. Recently, I’ve travelled a couple of times on the secondary line between Cambridge and Ipswich. It used to have some of the worst rolling stock in Europe. Now it has much newer and larger, Class 170 trains, and traffic is rising fast. The newer trains are typically ten years old, but this is nothing compared to some of the rubbish, like Pacers, operating in parts of the UK.
Obviously, there is a need for more and better services on a lot of these lines. Hopefully, this will be rectified in the next few years, as the most suitable trains, the Class 170s are fairly numerous and a lot are used for fairly long distance services, where longer and larger trains are needed. So the new trains would go to these services and the current units would be relocated. But remember a new carriage costs the best part of a million pounds, although in this country, we are very good at rebuilding old ones to a modern standard.
Farewell Dr. Zebra
Little is to be found on the Internet about George Charlesworth, who died last month. He was the man, who suggested the black and white stripes to improve pedestrian crossings and was therefore nicknamed Dr. Zebra. His obituary is here.
He is one of those few people, who have earned a similar inscription on their grave as Christopher Wren.
Reader, if you seek his memorial – look around you.
There are only a few of whom that can be said.
Police Waste More Time and Money on Chris Huhne Case
That’s what it looks like according to this report on the BBC.
Enquiries started in May, so surely even the dimmest officer in the Essex Constabulary could have ascertained what the truth in this case is.
Either Chris Huhne was driving the car, in which case he should take the consequences or his wife was.
As they are both fairly high profile, I suspect that proof as to their whereabouts at the time should be fairly easy to obtain. I suspect too, that the CCTV at Stansted Airport would show the answer too. Unless of course Chris Huhne had dressed up as his wife, so that he could get off a speeding charge. But of course, nothing in his past life would indicate he would do that! One of the biggest problems men have with this, is often they are a totally different size to their wife.
It sounds to me that this case might end up with a more serious charge.
Whatever happened to the beloved criminal quote of “It’s a fair cop, officer!”
The Private Thoughts of Engineers and Scientists
Some years ago there was an attack on the Tokyo Metro using sarin gas. Although it killed a number of people and injured many more, it could easily have been a lot worse.
At the time, I knew a guy who was and hopefully still is a world class chemical engineer, who worked in the pharmaceutical industry. I asked him, just how easy it was to make Sarin gas. He said it was fairly easy, but in most cases, sarin will kill you before you use it, unless you can get the proper protection, which is the most difficult part.
He did however tell me a much more easy way to paralyse a city and cause a lot of damage. I will not repeat it here, but judging what I don’t see in London, other people have had the same thought and made the carrying out of such an attack impossible.
What worries me now, is if we had a jokey conversation in a chat room on the Internet about an attack similar to that in Tokyo, would our doors be kicked in?
DLR Extension Delayed By Thefts
According to this article, the new extension to the Docklands Light Railway has been delayed by thefts.
Hopefully, it will open at the August Bank Holiday.
I have a feeling that this is the first section of the DLR, that hasn’t opened on time, so that’s not a bad record, considering of all the bits of the railway, this is one of the least important and won’t really be needed before Eastfield opens.
Getting To And From The Race
Getting to the cycle race in London today was easy. I just took a 38 bus, got off at Cambridge Circus and then walked through to The Mall.
Not at any time, was I told that the bus was being diverted, although once I got off, I realised this was the case as it didn’t go down Shaftesbury Avenue, but meandered around Trafalgar Square and on to Victoria via Whitehall.
It was coming back that I had the problem, as no-one had any clue where I could pick up a northbound 38 towards the romantic, Clapton Pond. There was one diversion sign for the drivers, but none indicating where the stops were. To make matters worse, entry to Charing Cross station seemed impossible.
In the end I decided to go to Tottenham Court Road and get a Central Line train to Bank. I did find a 29 bus that took me part of the way and dropped me north of the station.
I thought that at Bank, I could get a bus home, but the stop was closed, with the helpful sign, that it would close from the 2nd August until further notice.
A Helpful sign on a Bus Stop
It just said go to the next stop on the route. I was lucky in that a bus arrived and the driver let me on unofficially. But what if you’d been a lost tourist told to take a bus from the stop.
Transport for London must get their signage right when they divert buses. Not everyone knows the bus network, as well as I do!
The Man In Seat 28
The title is a direct crib from that excellent train website, www.seat61.com. Use it if you want to find out how to get anywhere by train.
I did get my sandwiches, after failing at the Angel this morning, in Liverpool Street station, and here they are laid out on the table that I didn’t have to share, as I sat in Seat 28 in Standard Class.
Marks and Spencer's Gluten Free Sandwiches
I should say that Liverpool Street now has three Marks and Spencer food stores and I got my lunch from the one in the Broadgate or western entrance.
They are certainly going to make football a lot easier for me, as now I won’t have to worry about lunch or supper. Especially as until now, Ipswich was a virtual gluten free desert. The Marks there is listed as selling gluten-free sandwiches, but I haven’t checked yet.
Seat 28, also gave a very good view of the Olympic Park, as it was on the left side going towards Ipswich. The seat also has a full window.
The Olympic Park from Seat 28
Unfortunately, if you want the best view, you’ll have to be up front with the driver. I’ve done this once and it’s the only way to travel.
I should say that the jouney home wasn’t as pleasant. I had deliberately taken a later train and I took a table seat in an almost empty carriage. But then three obese middle-aged men joined me, hemmed me in by the window and proceeded to talk loudly amongst themselves all the way to London. They talked mainly about rugby and beer. I may have interest in the first, but I certainly have no interest in the sort of beer they droned on about. I also didn’t like the way they talked about their long-suffering wives.
In the end I decanted from the train at Stratford and took the North London Line home. Perhaps, next time I don’t want to be disturbed, I’ll book First.
Today’s trip and my last one to Plymouth and Bristol illustrate that train catering is getting more and more irrelevant for many people. I haven’t bought anything except coffee, Coke or perhaps a water for months now. I either take everything with me, buy something from Marks in the station or make sure I eat well before travelling. As for example there is a Carluccio’s either in or close to St. Pancras, King’s Cross and Liverpool Street, it can’t be long before most large stations have a sensible gluten-free cafe. Most stations too have a coffee shop at least up to Starbucks standard.
I suspect that train catering will disappear completely within a few years. At the Zoo Late, you could pre-order Gordon Ramsey picnics. How long before someone does luxury picnics, that you pre-order and pick up at the station before you travel? They could even be delivered to your seat in First Class!
If you are a food supplier, the great thing about train passengers, is you get at least two goes to sell them food. Obviously, I bought my picnic today before I got on the train and I could even have bought a glass of decent wine in a plastic glass at Marks. But suppose, I’d been going to Brighton to walk on the promenade, I might have brought my lunch when I arrived. And if you’re changing trains at say Liverpool Lime Street, you could buy your food between trains.
So if you run a dedicated train catering service, you’ve got real competition!
So I think that in a few years, the food available to rail travellers will be very good and probably lightly alcoholic if you want a drink. The catering will certainly be better than that on the roads, where everything is over-priced and over-curled.
I think that some of the new trains are even prepared for the revolution. The new trains, I used to get to Cambridge a couple of weeks ago, are built with trays for laptops and/or snacks. All it needs is to make sure the litter is either taken out by the passengers or cleaned up at the end of each leg!
Sandwiches, Juice and a Bottle of Wine
As you can see, all are neatly stowed in my new bag.
Sandwiches, Juice and a Bottle of Wine
It really is proving a good buy. As are the Marks and Spencer Gluten free sandwiches.
The Cambridge Busway at Cambridge Station
I went to Cambridge on my way to football at Ipswich yesterday. The infamous Cambridge Busway is now open.
As you can see from the pictures, there would appear to be a lot of work to do, to make the walking experience between the trains and the buses a lot easier.
Gluten Freedom For Coeliac Travellers in the UK
When I went to Plymouth, I bought a gluten-free ham salad from Marks and Spencer in Paddington station, to sustain me on the journey.
It was excellent.
Today, I had an egg salad sandwich from their shop in Moorgate. It was equally good.
They’ve even got a list on their web site of all their stores that stock the gluten-free sandwiches.
Travelling just got a whole lot easier for coeliacs in the UK.
The Anonymous Widower 