Do British Trains Do Toilets Well?
I travel on trains a lot and so I tend to use the facilities quite a bit.
I have come across the concessional blocked one on a train, but in the last few months, all have been immaculate.
A lot of the ones I’ve used in stations over the last year, have been immaculate too, like the ones at Southport, Wigan and Lowestoft!
In my travels across Europe, if I give the British toilets say eight out of ten, some countries don’t get above five. And we’re not talking about countries with lower standards of living than the UK.
So perhaps toilets are something that British trains do well?
Why Is Liverpool Street In London So Named?
I pass through Liverpool Street station in London several times a week. As I have strong educational and connections to Liverpool, I’d started to wonder why the street that gives the station is so named.
Liverpool Street is the street that lies in front of the main south entrance to the station and you cross it going between the heart of the City of London and the station.
It is obviously, a road that doesn’t go or point anywhere near Liverpool.
So it is either a name chosen by some developer in the mists of time or perhaps it is named after a historical figure.
The obvious candidate is one of the Earls of Liverpool. According to Wikipedia, it was named after the Second Earl of Liverpool, who was Prime Minister from 1812 to 1827.
Wikipedia doesn’t record if he visited the city after which his title was named.
Painting The Bridge At Hackney Downs
There no messing about here, as they get to work painting the railway bridge at Hackney Downs station.
Compare these pictures with those I took on Wednesday in Manchester.
Is Hastings Going To Get A Modern Railway?
It has been reported that the Marshlink line between Ashford and Hastings is going to be upgraded so that high-speed Class 395 trains can run along the South Coast.
Hastings to London would be reduced to 68 minutes. In this post, I said the following.
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 Wikipedia on theHastings 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.
So the reduction in journey time is a good one.
From Upminster To Romford
When I heard this morning, that the Romford to Upminster line was to get a new train, I thought it was something I should visit. So I took the District line to Upminster, used the branch to get to Romford and came back to Liverpool Street on the first train. These pictures tell the story.
Both trains two and three were Class 315. The train to Romford was surprisingly busy for about twelve o’clock. They both sounded to be in reasonable mechanical condition and the only problem with the trains, is the awful pink colour around the doors.
It looks like these trains will be sent to Wales after refurbishment. So perhaps the Welsh can choose another colour scheme.
New Train For Romford To Upminster
Until this morning, I didn’t know there was a train line from Romford to Upminster. But there is and it has a comprehensive Wikipedia page, which says it generally has a half hour service run by an elderly Class 315.
Today though, one of my trawls picked by the news that Transport for London has asked for tenders for new trains for the West Anglia and Gospel Oak to Barking services. The story is on Global Rail News. This the last paragraph.
Thirty of the new trains will replace the current West Anglia stock, which will undergo a deep clean and rebranding. Eight more will go the newly-electrified Gospel Oak to Barking route, with the remaining unit going into service on the Romford to Upminster line.
So the Romford to Upminster line gets the 39th train.
This section is on Wikipedia about the future uses of Class 315.
As most duties of the 315s will be taken over by new Class 345 Aventra trains once Crossrail is built, it has been suggested that the 315s could be cascaded to the Wales and Borders passenger franchise to be used on Valley Lines services in the Cardiff area following electrification.
If most of the class do go to Wales, it will be a long way to move the single train on the Romford to Upminster line for servicing.
I can only see one reason why the order will not go to Bombardier to deliver some more of the excellent Class 378 and that would be because the company didn’t feel it wanted to bid.
My Poor Boots
I took this picture when I got home yesterday.
My Poor Boots
The sand from the walk on the beach just doesn’t seem to drop off!
Manchester Metrolink’s E-Ticketing
Manchester tram system, Metrolink, is introducing electronic ticketing. This is one of their trial readers.
Manchester Metrolink’s E-Ticketing
The system is called Get Me There and from what I can find, it will be on another different system to London’s Oyster.
As Oyster is being modified to accept contactless bank cards, I would hope that Manchester will do the same.
As we are still a united kingdom, surely we need a set of ticketing rules that are the same across the country.
First amongst these rules is that all ticketing systems for public transport must work with contactless bank cards. Surely, the lack of any major opposition to the abolishing of cash on London’s buses, is proof that London has got their offering right. In two years or so, no visitor to London with a contactless bank card will need to buy a ticket.
This surely is a great attraction to all visitors to a city.
The next step in London, may well be that if you are over the requisite age, you can nominate a bank card to be your Freedom Pass, thus cutting the number of cards people have to carry.
Is This From A Green Perspective?
I saw this sign in Manchester.
Is This From A Green Perspective?
As one myself, I of course think that pedestrians look right.
The Co-Op’s Fancy New Headquarters
One Angel Square is the Co-Operative Group’s new headquarters.
It may have won lots of awards as a green building, but it’s surrounded by a see of that very green symbol, surface level car parks.
I had had difficulty finding the building too, as it wasn’t on any maps in the city centre. To get to the building, you needed to cross a busy dual carriageway.
If it’s a really green building, then surely it should have its own tram stop, but that was a rather shabby walk away.
With the news from the Co-Op this morning of Lord Myner’s resignation, it strikes me that the Co-op these days is a vanity institution and a gravy train and ego trip for some of those who control it.
The Anonymous Widower 