Slow Train To Liverpool
On Saturday, I’m flying out from Liverpool to Gdansk in Poland to start one of my home runs by train back to London.
You might argue why I’m starting from Liverpool rather than one of the London airports.
It’s because I’m seeing Ipswich Town play their last away match of the season at Burnley and it seems logical to take a flight from the more convenient Liverpool Airport.
I had thought, it would be easy to get a train between Burnley and Liverpool, as I’ve driven the route in the 1960s and it must have taken about two hours in my 1950s-vintage Morris Minor. So surely, there must be a train in about that time to speed me on my way, with a change at Preston.
If I was to do it today, I can do the journey in two hours and eight minutes with just that single change, but on Saturday, it’s a journey of two and a half hours changing at both Preston and Ormskirk. At least I end up in Liverpool at the station nearest to Carluccio’s, so there should be just time for a good late lunch and then a taxi to the Airport, from the rank next to the restaurant.
Fifty years on, we don’t seem to have made much progress!
Although things should get better in the next few years, as the Northern Hub spreads its electric tentacles.
A Slow Train From Shenfield
My train back from Ipswich was a stopping one and stopped at Shenfield, before crawling its way to the next stop at Stratford.
So I got a good look at all the stations in between and I think it is true to say, that for many Crossrail can’t come soon enough.
A lot of the stations have simple staircases with no lifts to provide access between the platforms and the street.
At least though the improvements that are programmed, can be done to a convenient schedule without waiting for the main tunnels to be fitted out and the arrival of the new trains.
Do Cats Like Mark 3 Carriages?
I took this picture of a smug cat in his cage on the train to Ipswich.
Do Cats Like Mark 3 Carriages?
I didn’t get a reply to my question.
A Gluten-Free High Street In Watford
I went to see Ipswich play at Watford yesterday and ate lunch in Carluccio’s in the High Street there. Their restaurant is actually in a sandwich between Nando’s and Jimmy’s World Grill, both of which seem to cater for gluten and other allergies.
A Carluccio’s Sandwich
There is also a Pizza Express on the other side of the road.
For the first time, I used the Overground to get to Watford, by travelling to Watford High Street station. This station is due to be rebuilt in the next few years as part of the Croxley Link project. As the Watford Junction station and the tracks through it are also being remodelled, it looks like Watford is getting a full transport makeover.
Should Scottish Islands Be Given More Independence?
The BBC this morning is running a report about more independence from Scotland and the rest of the UK.
Scottish Secretary Alistair Carmichael has promised to deliver greater powers for the Northern and Western Isles.
The Orkney and Shetland MP said government from Edinburgh had been “just as bad and just as dangerous” for the islands “as it is from London.”
He hopes to deliver “genuine and long lasting reform,” and said an agreement should be in place by midsummer.
Why not?
It could be argued that a greater degree of independence hasn’t done the Isle of Man and the Channel Islands any harm!
But if we look at giving this independence to any area of the UK, giving them control of their strengths and natural resources and such things as infrastructure, education and planning could only be positive.
I probably know most about infrastructure and especially railways than anything else and if we look at Scotland and London, where transport policy has been partially devolved, we’ll see a lot more rail projects than say in the North East or South West, so I’ll look at one example.
If East Anglia had control of its transport, they would have probably dualled the A47, A11 and A140 by now and would be seriously thinking about improving the London to Norwich and the Peterborough to Ipswich rail lines. The latter is probably needed to be electrified, to enable Felixstowe to compete with the London Gateway.
This type of local control could only be good for an area.
But as I said in this article on Mayors, central government doesn’t like to give up power.
The Bacon Factory Curve Opens
The BBC are reporting that the Bacon Factory Curve or the Ipswich Chord to give it its official name, is now open. Here’s the summary.
A new £59m railway giving the Port of Felixstowe a direct link to the Midlands is opening to freight.
Until now freight trains have had to travel in to Ipswich and then out again, adding a hour to journeys.
Hopefully, this small piece of track will improve timekeeping of trains that pass through or by the junction.
As I first posted about this curve in February 2013, construction has been pretty fast.
Have the government and Network Rail decided that lots of small projects can improve the efficiency of the railway significantly?
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?
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.
The Anonymous Widower 