Visitors To The UK And The Two Together Railcard
The Two Together Railcard has just been launched in the UK.
I’ve since found out, that it is available to any two people, who habitually travel together in the UK, even if they aren’t resident here.
So it would be an ideal way for say an American, German or Vietnamese couple to get a third off rail fares, provided they didn’t want to travel before 09:30.
Trains To Bexhill
I went the one-train way to Bexhill from Clapham Junction. This may by convenient, but it is rather slow. It takes one hour fifty three minutes from Victoria and there is just one comfortable Class 377 train every hour during the day.
Class 377s At Bexhill
You can do the journey in one hour forty one minutes using HS1 and changing at Ashford from St. Pancras, but as with Victoria, there is just one train an hour.
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 Wikpedia on the Hastings 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.
It would seem that something ought to be done.
There is an unelectrified line called the Marshlink Line, that links Hastings to Ashford. There is a proposal to upgrade and electrify this line, so that high speed commuting services from St. Pancras, can serve Hastings, Bexhill and Eastbourne.
As an aside here, some years ago, I looked at a business proposal in Hastings. After driving to meet a guy there, I had to go to see a client near Gatwick. It took me nearly two hours to cross half of Sussex in a fast car, as the roads were completely inadequate. Since then the Hastings by-pass has been chopped, so surely creating a modern railway from Ashford to Eastbourne and on to Brighton and Portsmouth, should be a priority?
I can’t find any reference to how much it would cost to upgrade the line, but it would surely benefit more people than the proposed hundred million pounds, that are being spent according to reports in Somerset.
An Historic Station On The Overground
Wapping station on the Overground is more or less unique. It is built into the access shaft that was used to build the Thames Tunnel, so must in some ways be the railway station in the world, with the oldest structure or building. It certainly has lots of brickwork and other interesting structures.
It’s also a good place to go to see trains going through the Thames Tunnel.
I sometimes wonder, what the well-known resident of Wapping, Alf Garnett would have thought of the Overground. Compared to the 1960s, the journey that Alf would take from Wapping to Upton Park to see West Ham United, is the same, but he would probably be complaining about the new trains on both lines, where you can walk from one end to the other.
Rebuilding For The Future
In Modern Railways this month, there are a series of articles about how old engines and trains are being rebuilt or used to make up for a shortage of new motive power.
Class 73
The refurbishment and the fitting of new modern diesel engines to some of the 1960s-built Class 73 locomotives is described. One aim is to give them another 10-20 years of life.
Class 37
The Class 37 is a few years older than the Class 73 and also may be getting new engines to prolong their lives.
Class 365
There is also a report on the refurbishment of the Class 365 electric multiple units. Wikipedia says this.
Starting from January 2014, the first trains in the fleet will undergo a refurbishment by Bombardier Transportation at their Ilford site, some of which will be completed on a two-part basis with a second stage starting from the summer of 2014. The first unit to be put back into service is 365 517, which began operations on the 16th of January 2014.[8] The initial refurbishment comprises new seat upholstery, new flooring, interior and exterior repaint and an engineering overhaul to maintain reliability. The second stage of upgrades will bring the units in line with the latest disability regulations by installing two wheelchair bays, new external door buttons and vestibule grab handles, a new wheelchair-accessible toilet, a new fully automated passenger information system with audio and visual announcements, and a call-for-aid in the wheelchair and toilet areas. This will be retrofitted to units that have already undergone refurbishment prior to the start of works.
That looks pretty comprehensive.
Class 20 And Western Champion
This is probably the strangest use of old locomotives and describes how the 1950s-designed Class 20 and the Class 52 called Western Champion.
The Class 20 probably took part in the most outrageous train movement, ever done in or from the United Kingdom. Three Class 20s took a train of a eight thousand tonnes of aid to Pristina in Kosovo. It’s described in detail here.
Old Trains As New
This article describes how the Class 321 electric multiple units are being as the article says re-imagined. A demonstrator has been built.
All of this emphasises that rebuilding trains is something that we’re good at.
To And From Margate
I took these pictures on the journeys between Stratford International and Margate stations.
One thing you can say is that the Class 395 makes a good camera platform, if you get one of the tables.
It is certainly one of the more interesting train journeys out of London, with plenty to appeal to children of all ages.
Is This The Most Unwelcoming Station In The UK?
To get to Margate, I’d bought a Senior Off Peak Standard Class Ticket from Stratford International station to Margate.
As I got to the station a few minutes early, I had to wait for nearly twenty minutes on a draughty platform, with only a little sun filtering into the cutting of the station.
To make matters worse, a couple of Eurostar trains thundered through and frightened the daylights out of me!
It certainly isn’t my favourite station and next time I catch a train there, I’ll wait upstairs until the last minute. Or go from St. Pancras!
Osborne Says Redevelop Euston Before HS2
There is an article in the Standard, where George Osborne says priority should be given to the redevelopment of Euston station, before HS2 is constructed.
I use the station several times a year and compared to Kings Cross, Liverpool Street, Paddington, Waterloo, Marylebone and St. Pancras, it is totally inadequate. It is even worse at the moment, than London Bridge, which is currently a building site.
What makes it so bad, is the lack of connection to the Circle line and the endless dingy walks from the other Tube lines to the station. There is no disabled access to the Underground.
There is a lot of scope to do this rebuilding right. These factors should be considered.
- The effect of the Croxley Rail Link to Watford Junction, which should be completed in 2017.
- Any development at Watford Junction, that could ease pressure on Euston.
- Could Willesden Junction be used to take passengers off the West Coast Main Line?
- Should an Old Oak Common station be built?
Properly planned, rebuilding of Euston,. adds a whole new dimension to HS2. It even questions whether HS2 terminates at Euston!
Could George Osborne’s view on Euston station be coloured, by his own personal experience and those of his constituents?
It doesn’t matter to me, as redeveloping Euston station is good sense, for all sorts of reasons!
The High Speed Train Got Through
I’ve just found this clip of video on the BBC’s web site.
It just shows the sort of conditions that these trains of the 1970s can withstand. It also shows why they will never electrify this line between Exeter and Plymouth.
This other video shows the work going on to repair the line. Note the wall of shipping containers filled with ballast to give protection to the workings and properties by the railway line. But even these have been breached, as is reported here on ITV.
It’s all extreme engineering at its most way out. Hopefully the engineers will win, but it should lead to better techniques for the next set of problems.
Hackney Goes Back To The Future
I’ve posted about rebuilding the footbridge connection between Hackney Downs and Hackney Central stations before.
TfL have decided to replace it after seventy years and Hackney Council has approved the proposal as reported here. It seems to be positively received.
Hackney Central ward cllr Vincent Stops welcomed the news. He said: “It is quite exciting that this proposal remakes an historic connection between Hackney Central and Hackney Downs stations that was lost in 1944. It will greatly benefit Hackney residents and those visiting Hackney Central town centre. Now permission has been obtained I am determined that Marcon and Aspland Estate benefits both in terms of the re-provision of play facilities and that the green wall and tree cover really improves the outlook of residents and reduces train noise, a long standing issue for the estate.”
I wonder how long it is before TfL decides that the two stations are one and renames them to either Hackney or Hackney Junction.
I suspect that the renaming will get more objections than the five who objected to the footbridge. One was objecting that it might mean to a loss of car parking spaces.
Thoughts On My Home Run From Marrakech
Once I got on the train towards London I felt safe, although even then, I could have suffered from overhead line problems or a breakdown in the tunnel.
But the whole holiday could have been so much worse!
Getting off the plane in Marrakech was a very protracted affair, as the guy in the row behind needed a wheel-chair and this held everybody up, whilst his conveyance arrived.
I was virtually last off the plane and it took me forever to get to the luggage carousel, where there was just one bag going round and round on the conveyor. It looked like mine, as it was a grey/blue Mandarina Duck pull-along. So I picked it up and got ready to pull it outside for my taxi.
But something wasn’t right! I checked the pocket, which was where I put my book and I found a blue scarf that I didn’t remember as being mine.
Then I noted it had a red label with the company Rambler on it. Now that wasn’t the company I’d used, so I checked the label, which was in a name of Burnage!
It wasn’t my case and obviously Burnage, whoever he was, had taken mine!
But the place was deserted, so I evenbtually left the case and went outside.
A guy was holding up a board saying Ramblers, so I approached him and eventually I was reunited with my case.
But the Ramblers party, were on their way to God knows where and as I had no mobile phone how would they have reunited me with my case, which of course contsined my medical supplies!
A bad holiday could have been turned into an absolute disaster.
The morals of this trip are as follows.
- Don’t use travel agents, who book you economy, when judging by your record with them, you’ve always used Club.
- Make sure that the wi-fi and/or Internet in your hotel comes highly recommended.
- Don’t travel on the same plane, as idiots named Burnage.
- Don’t go to Chamartin station and above all avoid the hotel there.
- But above all don’t lose your mobile phone!
I reckon I spent about two grand on this holiday and the only pleasure I had in Marrakesh was an afternoon in the hamman. I could have spent the money on an exclusive massage with half-a-dozen blondes and got a lot more pleasure!
I do have one regret though. I had thought of doing a home run from Marrakech by train and ferry, but my son was apprehensive. When I decided to come home, I should have gone straight to the station and got a train to Tangier, followed by a ferry to Spain, from where I could have got a train to Madrid and onward to London.
To read all of my Home Run from Marrakech posts, click here.
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The Anonymous Widower 