Restoring Your Railway Planning Funds Allocated
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the first paragraph.
The Department for Transport has announced the successful bidders for the third ’and for the foreseeable future final’ round of funding from the Restoring Your Railway programme’s Ideas Fund.
The DfT received eighty-nine applications and these were the lucky thirteen.
Reopening The Darlington – Weardale Line To Passenger Services
I haven’t covered this one before, so I have written a new post.
See Reopening The Darlington – Weardale Line To Passenger Services
Reopening The Ashton – Stockport Line To Passenger Services
I wrote about this line in July 2020 in Beeching Reversal – Stockport And Ashton Line.
Reopening The Middlewich Line To Passenger Services
I wrote about this line in July 2017 in Business Case Requested For Middlewich Reopening.
Introducing Passenger Services On The East Lancashire Railway Between Rawtenstall And Buckley Wells Near Bury
I wrote about this in January 2019 in Rossendale Reopening Prospect.
Reopening Corsham Station
I haven’t covered this one before, so I have written a new post.
Reopening Stonehouse Bristol Road Station
I haven’t covered this one before, so I have written a new post.
See Reopening Stonehouse Bristol Road Station
Reinstating The Line Between Tavistock And Bere Alston And Providing New Services To And From Plymouth
This would appear to be a change of emphasis, so I have written a new post.
Reopening The Gaerwen – Amlwch Line On Anglesey
I wrote about this in March 2017 in Reopening The Anglesey Central Railway
Reopening The Oswestry – Gobowen Line
I haven’t covered this one before, so I have written a new post.
See Reopening The Oswestry – Gobowen Line
Reopening the Stoke – Leek Line
I haven’t covered this one before, so I have written a new post.
See Reopening the Stoke – Leek Line
Reopening The Askern Branch
I haven’t covered this one before, so I have written a new post.
See Reopening The Askern Branch
Reopening The Don Valley Section Of The Former Woodhead Line Between Stocksbridge and Sheffield Victoria To Passenger Services
I haven’t covered this one before, so I have written a new post.
Reinstating the Beverley – Market Weighton – York Line
I wrote about this in July 2020 in Beeching Reversal – Reinstatement Of The Beverley And York Rail Line
The DfT will provide up to £50 000 to cover 75% of the cost of developing early-stage proposals and business cases for each scheme.
Reopening The Don Valley Section Of The Former Woodhead Line Between Stocksbridge and Sheffield Victoria To Passenger Services
On October 27th this Beeching Reversal Project was given £50,000 to build a case for reopening.
Stocksbridge is introduced like this in its Wikipedia entry.
Stocksbridge is a town and civil parish, in the City of Sheffield, in South Yorkshire, England. Historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire, it lies just to the east of the Peak District. The town is located in the steep-sided valley of the Little Don River, below the Underbank Reservoir. It blends into the areas of Deepcar, Bolsterstone and the eastern end of Ewden valley around Ewden village, which are also within the civil parish. The population of the civil parish as of the 2011 census was 13,455.
This Google Map shows the area.
Note there are a large number of steel related industries all connected by an extensive railway system.
This Google Map shows part of the area to a more detailed scale.
I suspect that a station could be built somewhere to the South of the works.
I have followed the Stocksbridge Railway out to the East and it takes a loop to the South to Deepcar Tram and Railway station, as is shown on this Google Map.
Note.
The Eastern end of the Stockbridge site is in the North-West of the map.
Deepcar station is shown by a blue dot in the South-East corner of the map.
This Google Map shows Deepcar station in greater detail.
Note.
- The Stocksbridge Railway curving to the West is clearly visible.
- The other railway going North is the former Woodhead Line to Manchester.
This map clipped from Wikipedia shows the Lines through Deepcar station.
This shows the route between Stocksbridge and the former Sheffield Victoria station.
I have also found this article on the Sheffield Star, which is entitled Passenger Trains Could Return On Sheffield To Stocksbridge Don Valley Railway Line After major Funding Boost.
This is a paragraph.
The plans also involve reopening Sheffield Victoria station, which could serve a new Barrow Hill line to Chesterfield, stopping at Darnall, the Advanced Manufacturing Park, Woodhouse and other new stations, similar funding for which was granted last year.
This would seem to be a sensible plan.
These are my thoughts.
Sheffield Victoria Station
This Google Map shows the site of the Stocksbridge Line going through the centre of Sheffield.
The line starts in the North-West corner of the map and goes diagonally across.
The site of Sheffield Victoria station is at the Eastern edge of the map and is shown enlarged in this Google Map.
The street and hotel names are a giveaway.
There would appear to be space for a simple station with one or two platforms on the single-track through the area.
My preference would be for a single bi-directional platform, as has been used successfully at Galashiels station.
With well-placed passing loops, stations like these can handle two trains per hour (tph) and they can be step-free for all users.
Onward To Chesterfield
The plans as laid out in the paragraph in the Sheffield Star would appear to be feasible.
Darnall and Woodhouse are existing stations.
It would serve the proposed new station at Waverley, that I wrote about in Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – A New Tram-Train Route To A New Station At Waverley.
Chesterfield station will be rebuilt for High Speed Two, so extra platforms could surely be added.
I wrote about plans for the Barrow Hill Line in Reinstatement Of The Barrow Hill Line Between Sheffield And Chesterfield.
It certainly looks to me, that taken together the Barrow Hill and Stocksbridge schemes could be a valuable new railway for Sheffield.
Rolling Stock
I have ridden all over Karlsruhe in Germany on their tram-trains, which are a German variant of Sheffield’s Class 399 tram-trains and I can see no reason, why the combined route couldn’t be designed and built for these trains.
- They are very good on hills.
- They can work on both 750 VDC and 25 KVAC overhead wires.
- The closely-related Class 398 tram-trains in Cardiff will have batteries.
- They are already working successfully in Sheffield.
- There must be design advantages for stations.
- Travellers in Sheffield are used to the tram-trains.
- There is maintenance and operational experience in Sheffield.
It is also my belief, that Class 399 tram-trains would make excellent replacements for Sheffield’s current trams. I wrote about this in Sheffield Region Transport Plan 2019 – Renewal Of Supertram Network.
Electrification
Looking at the Stocksbridge and Barrow Hill Lines together, I believe there is a strong case for electrification of both routes with 25 KVAC overhead wires.
This would enable the following.
- Class 399 tram-trains to work the combined route.
- East Midlands Railway’s Class 810 trains to access Sheffield station via the Barrow Hill Line on electricity.
- Electrified freight trains could use the route.
It could also be an easy route to electrify and be a good start to the electrification of Sheffield, which will happen in the future.
Electrification Between Sheffield And Clay Cross North Junction For High Speed Two
This electrification is needed for High Speed Two’s connection to Sheffield. It will also entail a lot of disruption for trains between Derby and Sheffield.
For these reasons, I believe that opening up the Barrow Hill route early between Sheffield and Chesterfield could be an excellent blockade buster.
Conclusion
There’s more to reopening the Stocksbridge Line, than as a local service in Sheffield.
Australia’s FFI Plans $8.4 Billion Green Hydrogen Project In Argentina
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on S & P Global.
A couple of weeks ago I had not heard of Fortescue Future Industries (FFI), but then they did the deal with JCB, that I wrote about in JCB Signs Green Hydrogen Deal Worth Billions.
This paragraph gives a few more details of the deal with Argentina.
The Australian company, which produces green hydrogen from electrolysis powered by renewable electricity, first plans to test the wind power potential in Rio Negro, a southern province in Patagonia, before building a pilot facility and then shifting into full-scale development.
This Google Map shows the Rio Negro province.
Note.
- The province is outlined in red.
- Buenos Aires is on the estuary of the River Plate in the North East corner of the map.
- Puerto Madryn is a convenient port to the South of Rio Negro, which was founded by the Welsh.
According to the article, it looks like much of the hydrogen will be shipped to Germany.
Conclusion
Fortescue Future Industries is extremely serious about hydrogen.
A Comment On The Obituary Of Sir Archie Lamb In The Times
In The Times today, there is an obituary of diplomat; Sir Archie Lamb.
This is one of the comments.
My husband comments: ‘When Lamb was knighted, he said to the Queen “may I ask something, Ma’am?” She replied “as one of my ambassadors, you may ask me anything” “ in that case, may I be knighted as Archie Lamb? I hate my given name, Albert.” “Ah,” said the Queen, “though you can change your family name, you cannot change your given name. But I can. Arise Sir Archie.” Archie told me the story, long long ago. Se non e vero, e ben trovato.’
Priceless!
RMT Head Office Closed Due To Strike Action
The title of this post, is the same as this article on ITV.
Looks like a case of the biter bit!
My First Ride On A Class 484 Train
These pictures tell the story of my first ride in a Class 484 train.
Note.
- Ryde Pier Head station could do with a refurbishment.
- The train was formed of a pair of two-car units.
- The interior shows its origins in London Underground D78 Stock.
- There is a fully-functioning information display.
- At some stations, there is step-free access between train and platform.
These are a few of my other thoughts.
Ride
This was like a D78 Stock train on a good day after a major service.
Operating Speed
I timed the train running along happily at 40 mph on my phone.
Build Quality
More 2020 than 1978.
Timekeeping
The single train was running an hourly service.
As time went on it was getting further behind schedule.
Could this have been due to the power supply not being able to power two trains at the same time, in the same place on the line?
I have just looked at the Real Time Trains figures for yesterday and they are documenting power supply and signalling problems.
It also looks like some trains lost time between Ryde St. Johns Road and Brading. Perhaps this section is short on power.
Customer Reaction
It appeared to be positive.
Portsmouth Waterfront – 1st November 2021
I took these pictures as the ferry to the Isle of White left Portsmouth.
I would have taken some of the ferry, but I caught it with just twenty seconds to spare.
A Dreadful Hot Chocolate At Woking Station
On my trip to the Isle of Wight today, to ride on the new Class 484 trains on the Island Line, I got on a Portsmouth & Southsea train, rather than one to Portsmouth Harbour station.
I was told be the guard, that it would be convenient to change at Woking station, which I did.
I took these pictures at the station.
Note.
- I alighted on Platform 5, where there is a Starbucks.
- I bought a hot chocolate in the Starbucks.
- I then moved to Platform 4 to catch my train to Portsmouth Harbour.
- It was a bit of a precarious platform transfer as the lifts are at the other end of the station.
- Where there was a Pumpkin.
It’s a pity, I didn’t wait to get my drink, as it was one of the worst Hot chocolates I’ve ever tasted.
Later I had a much better hot chocolate in another cafe at Ryde.
Bakerloo Line Extension | TfL Instructs Consultants To Work Up Tunnel Designs
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on New Civil Engineer.
This project is the Mayor’s pet, as it is good for those that vote for him in South London.
But I believe that the West London Orbital Railway should have a higher priority as it serves an area that is in massive need of improvement in public transport and can be delivered quickly and for a lot less money.
New $1 billion-plus Project In Queensland To Double World’s Green Hydrogen Production Capacity
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on ABC News.
The Anonymous Widower 