Heritage Steam And Diesel Locomotives To Run Under Digital Signalling
This page on the Network Rail web site is entitled East Coast Digital Programme Selects Atkins And Thales As Key Partners For Heritage Rail Vehicles Pathfinder Project.
To illustrate the sort of rail vehicles they mean, the page is headed with this picture of a Stanier Black 5 locomotive, which is by courtesy of West Coast Railways.
These are the first four paragraphs of the page.
Atkins, a member of the SNC-Lavalin Group, and Thales have been appointed by Network Rail to deliver an industry-first pathfinder project for Heritage Rail Projects as part of the East Coast Digital Programme.
The pathfinder will carry out design and trial fitment of the technology to determine if it is a viable technical and commercial option for heritage vehicles.
The option of retro-fitting the technology would enable heritage steam and diesel vehicles to continue operating on mainline infrastructure in radio-based train control. In a world first, the pathfinder project will see European Train Control System (ETCS) in-cab signalling equipment, supplied and installed by Thales, trial fitted on Tornado and designed for a Black 5 steam locomotive, as well as a Class 55 Deltic diesel locomotive which was built over 40 years ago.
These vehicles have been selected because they are best placed to support the project. Tornado is a large modern build with established designs and power, and the Black 5 and Deltic are representative of other vehicle types.
If this project is successful, we will continue to see heritage steam and diesel locomotives on the UK rail network.
ITM Power Raises £250 million
The title of this post, is the same as that of this media release from ITM Power.
There is a also a sub-title.
Manufacturing Expanded To 5GW Per Annum By 2024
ITM Power are certainly going large.
Given the number of plans for electrolysers published around the world, a 5GW annual production is by no means over ambitious.
Crossing The Mersey
I took these pictures as the train to Liverpool crossed the Mersey yesterday.
Note.
- The green bridge is now called the Silver Jubilee Bridge, but when I lived in Liverpool and worked at ICI in Runcorn, everybody called it the Runcorn-Widnes Road Bridge.
- The train is on the Ethelfleda, Britannia or Runcorn Railway Bridge depending on your preference. I tend to use Britannia, as the guys I worked with used that name.
- The three towers of the cable stayed Mersey Gateway Bridge can be seen in several pictures.
- Fiddlers Ferry power station is now decommissioned, but was an almost 2GW coal-fired power station.
In January 2011, I took a video as I crossed the Mersey and it is shown in Train Across the Mersey.
The Future Of Fiddlers Ferry Power Station
The Wikipedia entry for the power station, says this about the future use of the site.
Demolition of the station was due to begin in 2020 and will take up to seven years. The land upon which it sits will be redeveloped, with Warrington Council stating it had designated the land as an employment site.
As it obviously has a high-capacity electricity connection and there is a lot of offshore wind power in Liverpool Bay, I would feel it could be an ideal location for a large battery of perhaps 2 GWh.
The Future Of The Britannia Railway Bridge
The bridge was opened in 1868 and is Grade II* Listed.
Did the designer of the bridge; William Baker ever envisage, that in the future his bridge would be carrying trains over 250 metres long, that were capable of 125 mph?
Probably not! But in a few years, the bridge will be carrying High Speed Two Classic Compatible trains between London and Liverpool.
Alstom’s Widnes Factory
I took these pictures as the train to Liverpool passed Alstom’s Widnes factory, soon after crossing the River Mersey.
There has still been few announcements lately on the progress of the Class 321 trains being converted to hydrogen-powered Class 600 trains.
Perhaps, they are too busy updating Avanti West Coast’s Class 390 trains.
Arriving In Liverpool Lime Street Station – 14th October 2021
I took these pictures as I arrived into Liverpool Lime Street station today.
Note.
- The train arrived in Platform 9.
- I arrived in the last coach and took the pictures walking to the front of the train.
- The platform is just long enough for an eleven-car Class 390 train, which is 265.3 metres long. These are the longest trains in Avanti West Coast’s fleet.
- The train was numbered 390130 and named City of Edinburgh.
Network Rail’s platform designers seem to have pulled out all the tricks to fit an eleven-car Class 390 train in Platform 9 at Liverpool Lime Street station.
The new seven-car Class 807 trains will only be 182 metres long, so would appear to fit Platform 9 easily.
In Could Avanti West Coast Run A Lumo-Style Service Between London And Liverpool?, I looked at the various options to run a two trains per hour (tph) service between London Euston and Liverpool Lime Street.
I came to these conclusions.
- The shorter Class 807 trains would be needed to run services that stop at Liverpool South Parkway station, which has shorter platforms.
- If both hourly services were run by new Class 807 trains, there would be a 54 % increase in hourly capacity.
- If one service was run by a Class 390 train and the Liverpool South Parkway service was run by a Class 807 train, this would give a 77 % increase in hourly capacity.
- The Liverpool South Parkway service or both services would be very close to two hours.
Whatever is done, it would be a flagship service between London and Liverpool.
Goodbye To My Gallstones
It is now some weeks since I said goodbye to my gallstones.
They were in my bile duct and were discovered by using an ultrasound probe on an endoscopy at Homerton Hospital. I didn’t even put on a hospital gown.
I had that endoscopy, as I did my two previous ones at Addenbrooke’s Hospital in Cambridge to check for coeliac disease without a sedative, as Addenbrooke’s likes to be efficient and cutting out sedatives reduces the manpower required, cuts the need for recovery beds and allows patients to drive home.
After this endoscopy, I came home the way I arrived – on the bus!
I would say that a good endoscopy operator should be able to do the procedure without a sedative. Although in this case, the nurse holding the oxygen tubes up my nose, was stroking my beard to calm me down. Not that I needed it! But it was a nice action!
I had the removal of the gallstones with a sedative, but I only remember the anaesthetist saying something like “Lovely” as he threaded the camera and attachments down my throat.
They broke into my bile duct from the duodenum and then inserted a balloon, which was then inflated to flush the stones back into my duodenum.
I must have dropped off and I woke without any pain or even discomfort.
One complication for me, was that I am on Warfarin, but I dropped my INR to one before the operation, so that there wasn’t blood everywhere.
I have had some after effects.
Where Has My Constipation Gone?
Since I was about sixty, I have suffered from constipation and my GP has prescribed a laxative.
I felt it was a family trait as my father was also a sufferer.
But since the operation, I have only taken one pill, that may not have been necessary.
My Appetite Has Returned
I am certainly eating better and I have not put on any weight.
Conclusion
If you have gallstones and removal is suggested, go for it!
How To Build A Liverpool-Style Optical Bench
When I worked at ICI in Runcorn, one of the guys had developed a very accurate instrument for measuring trace chemicals in a dirty process stream. I remember one of these instruments was used to measure water in parts per million in methyl methaculate, which is the misnomer or base chemical for Perspex.
All the optical components needed to be mounted on a firm base, so a metre length of nine-inch C-section steel beam was chosen. The surface was then machined flat to a high accuracy.
In the end they found that instead of using new beams, old ones decades-old from the depths of a scrap yard gave better accuracy as the steel had all crystallised out. Machined and spray-painted no-one knew their history.
But they were superb instruments and ICI even sold them abroad.
Bradford Seeks Support On Rail Project Which Could Deliver £30bn Benefits
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
This is the first paragraph.
Delivery of a new city centre railway station in Bradford is estimated to boost the city’s economy by £30bn over ten years, with Bradford Council now seeking government support to deliver the major rail project.
The article also says that the the station, will be built on the site of St James Market, which is owned by the Council.
This Google Map shows the market and the surrounding roads and railways.
Note.
- Bradford Interchange station is in the North-West corner of the map.
- St. James Market is marked by the red arrow in the middle of the map.
- The railway Between Leeds and Bradford Interchange stations via New Pudsey station curves in a loop South of the market.
- The railway going South from Bradford Interchange goes to Bradford Low Moor and Halifax stations, before taking the Calder Valley Line via Hebden Bridge to Manchester Victoria station.
I think it would be feasible to build the station on the current route between Leeds and Bradford Interchange stations, with perhaps a mixture of through and bay platforms.
This second Google Map, shows Mill Lane Junction, where the lines from New Pudsey and Bradford Low Moor stations join South of Bradford Interchange station.
Note.
- Bradford Interchange station is on the rail line to the North.
- The proposed new Bradford station and the existing New Pudsey station are on the rail line to the East.
- Bradford Low Moor station is on the rail line to the South.
It would appear that an extra chord should be added to the junction to allow trains between Manchester Victoria and Leeds via the Calder Valley Line can call at the new station in Bradford.
Current trains between Manchester Victoria and Leeds using this route have to reverse at Bradford Interchange. The new station and the extra chord would avoid this.
Conclusion
I think that this proposal has possibilities.
20 Ropemaker Street – 13th October 2021
I pass this building every time, I go to Moorgate.
I took these pictures today.
The architects have put up this video.
I shall be following this twenty-seven story building as it reaches for the sky.
Osterley Becomes 89th Step-Free London Underground Station
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Rail Technology Magazine.
So I went to Osterley station and took these pictures.
Note.
- Osterley station is Grade II Listed and was built in the style of Charles Holden.
- It does look that there is also step-free access between train and the platform for most wheelchair-users, buggy-pushers and case-draggers.
- The two new lift-towers are typical steel-and-brick constructions.
I don’t think that the most militant member of the Heritage Taliban will object to the quality of the design and the construction.
The Anonymous Widower 