Ranging Around Suffolk And Norfolk
I took the 09:30 Mark 3 express out of Liverpool Street station to Ipswich, buying a Day Ranger ticket for East Anglia north of Ipswich and Cambridge on the way from the conductor on the train for £11.40.
I hadn’t really decided on a route, but I started by taking the single coach Class 153 to Felixstowe and back.
The service between Ipswich and Felixstowe is now nearly twenty trains each way in the day and it seems to be more reliable since the Bacon Factory Curve has opened, which means that the service doesn’t have to thread its way through freight movements in Ipswich yard. Hopefully incidents like the one I suffered here, will happen less often.
When I lived in the town in the early 1960s, there were just a handful of services each way. It did wonders for a teenager’s social life when you didn’t have a car. The train I took wasn’t full, but it was pretty busy, with lots of families and tourists with buggies and bikes.
I wonder how long it will be, before the Felixstowe branch will be generating enough traffic for a two-car train? As it is, because of the length of the line, where a journey takes just twenty-five minutes or so, it means that an hourly service can be achieved with just one train.
There have been calls to reopen Felixstowe Beach station, but this simple schedule would be broken and two trains and some clever train operating would be required. So I’d be surprised, if it ever opened. It would probably be a lot cheaper to fund a bus, that met the train and distributed and collected the passengers all over Felixstowe.
The only way it will open, is if they electrify the line and the Port of Felixstowe encourages staff to come to work by train to a rebuilt Felixstowe Beach/Port station. But again, a bus from Felixstowe station would probably be better and more affordable.
Unfortunately, from Felixstowe I had to return to Ipswich to get the train to Lowestoft, as there is no easy train connection at Westerfield any more between the Lowestoft and Felixstowe branches .
At Ipswich, I was treated to a passing through of one of Mark 3 expresses in Greater Anglia’s new livery. These coaches just refuse to go quietly.
On the trip to Lowestoft, I used the new disabled toilet, that as I reported had been recently installed in the Class 156. The most remarkable thing about using the toilet was that I didn’t realise it was the new design. It was different and slightly more compact, but you didn’t have to think about how you used the door or the flush. But then that is the test of good design. If your target users don’t immediately know how to use something, then it is a bad design.
At Lowestoft I walked across the platforms to take another Class 156 on the Wherry Line to Norwich, where I stayed on the train to take the Bittern Line to Sheringham, where I intended to have lunch.
I did make a mistake in that my train back from Sheringham to Norwich, didn’t connect with a direct Cambridge train, as many do. So I had to go to Ely on a Nottingham service, before buying a ticket from there to London on First Capital Connect. My Ranger ticket covered the journey to Ely and I spent another £12.50 to get home.
Greater Anglia’s scheduling of the trains I took was excellent, as I didn’t wait more than a few minutes at either change of train or service. Looking at the timetables, it would appear that some journeys like say Beccles to Sheringham use these quick changes to minimise journey times. With a few more trains, it might even be possible to tie all these services together on an hourly basis. After all, if you knew that if you turned up at Lowestoft, Ipswich or Norwich and that in a few minutes your next train would be leaving, it would be a great incentive to travel by train.
Judging by the people, I saw on these busy trains, Greater Anglia will find that their services around Norfolk and Suffolk will see an increasing patronage.
I Bet This Story Is Raising A Few Laughs In Suffolk
This story from BBC Norfolk, about how a fire station it Downham Market in Norfolk is probably raising a few laughs in Suffolk. Here’s the first part.
A Norfolk fire station gutted in a blaze that destroyed a fire engine was not fitted with sprinklers or alarms.
Norfolk’s deputy chief fire officer Roy Harold accepted the service should have followed its own advice.
It’s probably a warning to us all, to check our fire alarms and smoke detectors.
John Edrich
John Edrich was in his time a difficult opening batsman to get out and if there was a fight on the pitch, he would do his best to win it. Wikipedia says of him.
He earned a reputation as a dogged and fearless batsman, and his figures show that he was amongst the best players of his generation.
Now he has a bigger fight on his hands; a rare form of leukaemia called Waldenström’s macroglobulinemia. He seems to have got some respite from the cancer using injections of mistletoe. It’s reported here in the Mirror.
I’m not belittling the mistletoe effect, but to my unmedical mind, it could just be that Edrich, is just applying his dogged and stubborn attitude to enjoying himself and staying alive. After all, he was born and brought up in Norfolk and all East Anglians have a stubborn determination, unmatched by most of the country.
An Insult To Ipswich and Suffolk
The Tour of Britain cycle race starts this morning in Ipswich. The BBC radio traffic reports placed Ipswich in Norfolk.
They did correct it later. Or in fact, they didn’t repeat it again.
But yet again Suffolk is treated badly by the media. As it is by government, where more funding always goes to North Anglia.
If Scotland Votes For Independence, Where Do Orkney And Shetland Go?
Only now, with the referendum on Scottish Independence now being seen on the horizon, do people start to think about the real problems of the vote and what happens afterwards.
This article in the Guardian lays out the problems of the northern islands. This quote is given.
All the Shetland ever got from Scotland was dear meal and greedy ministers.
It may be true and I have heard something similar all over Suffolk, as people always feel that other areas of the UK get better treatment. In Suffolk’s case that usually means Norfolk.
Somehow, we must find a better way to spend taxes all over the UK.
Why Saving Marham is a Lost Cause
There is a big campaign in Norfolk to keep the Tornado base at Marham open.
Itb won’t work, as there is an election in Scotland and the Lib Dems will make sure Lossiemouth is saved.
The A11 Missing Link Goes Ahead
Or that’s what it looks like after the government’s cost cutting according to this report on the BBC.
I know you could have argued that in our current state all road projects should go, but this is one that will pay for itself in lives saved because of the dangerous Elveden village.
The upgrading of the A14 through Cambridge has been scrapped, but if the Felixstowe to Peterborough rail freight mprovements kick in as they should, then the congestion caused by heavy lorries may decrease. Remember too, that a lot of the cars on this section of the A14 are commuters working in the high-tech businesses in the Cambridge area and these are just the commuters that might use alternative technological alternatives.
So if it was the A14 or the A11, then the A11 is the more iportant. It’s just a pity though, that there appear to be no plans in place to improve the links between Great Yarmouth and the rest of the country. The A11 Missing Link will be a great help, but work on the Acle Straight would very much be welcomed.
The Missing Links in East Anglian Railways
Travelling from east to west or vice versa by public transport is difficult in East Anglia.
Peterborough-Ely-Ipswich is not too bad with a fast train every two hours and bits and pieces in between. But now that the rail line is being upgraded to carry more freight, it surely should be possible to improve this service and the very much related Ipswich-Cambridge service I use about twice each week.
On the other hand Kings Lynn-Norwich-Great Yarmouth is only possible by Ely, as the line from Kings Lynn to Norwich via Dereham is long gone. And it takes over three hours compared to the hour and a half for the fast trains between Peterborough and Ipswich! So who in his or her right mind would go by rail. People like me, who have no alternative, I suppose!
I doubt that the Kings Lynn-Nowich missing link will ever be built, but as Kings Lynn will become a Thameslink station in a couple of years, there should be an increase in the variety and frequency of services into London and beyond. Hopefully, this will also mean increased frequencies btween Ely and Kings Lynn, which might make the Kings Lynn-Norwich-Great Yarmouth journey a lot easier.
There is also another missing link that a lot of people feel should be reinstated and that is Cambridge to Sudbury. If this line was to be reinstated, it would link the Marks Tey to Sudbury branch to Cambridge, via Long Melford, Cavendish, Clare and Haverhill. A station at Haverhill would be a bonus for me in my state, but then the town has grown substantially since it lost its rail link in the 1960s. I do think though that the sums don’t really add up for this line, but it would be a nice must-have, if we start expanding railways again. Schemes like this do seem to be getting the nod again in Scotland!
Since I originally wrote this piece yesterday, I’ve found this web site of the Norfolk Orbital Railway. They are proposing a reconnection of the railways from Wymondham to Sheringham along disused and heritage lines. This would be a welcome addition to the infrastructure of Norfolk.
Completing the A11
If the A47 Acle Straight is a problem in East Norfolk, then the much delayed Elveden bypass is a problem at the south west corner of the conty.
Local MPs are trying to get the project moving again, but I’m not hopeful, they’ll have any affect.
Just as at the Acle Straight, there is a rail alternative for those travelling between Cambridge and Norwich, but it needs more capacity and a more frequent service. At least though Cambridge is to get extra platforms, which may help.
But the rail route can’t take the freight for Norfolk, that comes off the A14 and the M11!
The Infamous Acle Straight
When I went to Great Yarmouth, the train travelled alongside the A47 or Acle Straight for a few miles close to the town.
The Acle Straight from the Train
I have written about this road before, as it is very dangerous. You can just see a few vehicles on the road, by the windmill.
But it would appear that nothing will be done to improve transport links to Great Yarmouth!
Perhaps an alternative to improving the road, would be to increase capacity on the railway line. In common with much of the services in East Anglia, trains are typically inadequate two-coach diesel multiple units, running on a mainly single-track line. The station at Great Yarmouth could also do with a substantial upgrade.
But then Great Yarmouth station is very typical to those around East Anglia. As an example, Bury St. Edmunds station is a total dump and completely out of keeping with the town. Only Norwich has a station, which is fit for purpose.
But then here in East Anglia, we know how to live on the scraps that the Treasury dishes out!
The Anonymous Widower 