What A Difference A Good Win Makes
I went to see Ipswich Town for the first time in a home match for some time.
The trains were actually trains and not buses and the match was worth seeing as Ipswich beat Millwall by three goals to nil.
Let’s hope this sequence of wins continues. I’m off to Leeds on next Saturday.
Rehearsals At Queens Road Peckham
I took these pictures as a London Overground train did a touch-and-go at Queens Road Peckham station.
On Sunday, they’ll be doing it for real!
But what a lovely day despite it being so cold!
Phyllis Is Deep Under Hyde Park, Digging Hard
This article is a good update on how the Crossrail tunnels are progressing.
There doesn’t seem to have been much protesting, so either the company has been lucky or it is doing a good job.
I Don’t Believe It!
I’ve just checked the trains for Saturday to see if I can get to Ipswich for the Millwall game. And there are no buses, but a train all the way there and back.
Does this mean they’ve finished the upgrading of the catenary?
When I checked earlier in the year, this match was still down as one with buses.
Or did they take what I said seriously and feel that Millwall and Ipswich Town fans on buses together wouldn’t be a good thing.
After all, Greater Anglia are still saying here on their web site, that there is engineering work over the weekend. But none during the day on Saturday. Let’s hope they don’t drop a few spanners and bring back the dreaded buses.
Falling Out Of Love With Driving
The BBC is carrying a report about how we’re falling out of driving.
I had a stroke two years ago and my eyesight went, so I stopped driving. I could probably get my licence back, as my eyesight has improved, but I just don’t want the hassle.
I’ve moved from Suffolk to leafy Dalston in London and use buses and trains all the time now,
Do I miss driving? Not at all, despite my last car being a Lotus. My bank account doesn’t miss driving either!
Sensible Grab Rails
I mentioned here, that the Transpennine Express trains didn’t seem to have enough things to hold on to, when they are crowded. I took these pictures today in London.
I suppose they were extra and the Treasury didn’t want to pay for them. But on a crowded train, they are a necessity.
Virgin’s Second Class First Class Offering On Saturdays
I travelled up and down to Manchester in First Class. To say it wasn’t crowded would be an understatement.
Empty First Class On Virgin Trains
I have no problems with the seats or tables, but the food at weekends leaves a lot to be desired for a coeliac like me.
I’ve noted before that Virgin don’t have anything gluten-free except drinks and it gets worse as bananas have been deleted.
If Hull Trains can do an excellent gluten-free meal,surely Virgin can!
As it was because the train was late into Euston, I could have had a problem, but despite being rather bare, Marks and Spencer provided something good.
I don’t think I’ll be going First Class on Virgin so often.
U and Non-U Coaches
I took this picture yesterday coming back from Manchester.
U and Non-U Coaches
There used to be a lot of humour based on U and non-U English, but I haven’t heard any for some time.
It’s all about how class defines the words you use.
I suspect the coach labeled U, is one of the new ones added to lengthen the train.
Platform Edge Doors
I travelled on the Jubilee line this morning and the line has platform-edge doors in the central section around Canary Wharf station.
According to this web page, Crossrail will have them too in the centre section.
Now I know that in theory they are a good way to stop suicides and accidents with drunks, but do they just just move the problem elsewhere?
After all, the preferred way of suicide in the 1950s was to put your head in a gas oven. Suicides continued despite safer North Sea gas.
I suppose we won’t make station platforms totally safe, until all lines have platform-edge doors. But that would be rather expensive.
Manchester Piccadilly To Horwich Parkway And Return
Going from Manchester Piccadilly station to Horwich Parkway station for the Reebok Stadium is a journey that should be easy.
For a start, the platforms are at the back of the station and not logically on the concourse.
Walkway To Platform 14
As the picture shows there is a moving walkway, but I do wonder how many people get lost trying to find it. I know the station fairly well, so when I see Platform 13 or 14, I know where they are. There is also a bridge to Platform 13-14.
Bridge To Platforms 13-14
But then unless you know your connection, you probably wouldn’t use it. I did use it, when I returned after the match and the signage on the bridge is very poor. The arrangements at Birmingham New Street station are much better.
When you get to Platform 13 or 14, things don’t get better, as there is just a small waiting area. The actual platforms are usually teeming with passengers waiting to get on the trains.
Manchester Piccadilly is a classic case of bad design. And bad design probably fifty years too late. It did have a big makeover in 2002, but they are really dealing with the immense problems that date from the 1960s, when the station was built out of the old London Road station. To say British Rail did a bad job, would have been giving them more credit than they deserve.
The station probably needs a decking built over the platforms to give access to the trains. This is the sort of thing that is happening at many stations around the world. The alternative as at St. Pancras of a large space underneath is probably not possible.
In spite of all this, Wikipedia says this about the station.
According to an independent poll carried out in 2007, Manchester Piccadilly has the highest customer satisfaction level of any UK station, with 92% of passengers satisfied compared with the national average of 60%
I would assume that they interviewed passengers going to Euston. Now that and its Underground station is a total disgrace! But Manchester deserves a station to the same standard as Leeds or Liverpool.
The train when it arrived to go to Horwich was the usual totally inadequate Transpennine Express three-coach Class 185 diesel multiple unit. If ever there was a train designed by civil servants it is this one. They do their best, but they are just too small. Wikipedia says this.
The loss of seats relative to an equivalent three-coach 158 means that more passengers have to stand at peak times. An increase in passenger numbers since the trains were brought in to operation has meant that some passengers are unable to board 185s at peak times due to them being seriously overcrowded.
They also have a serious lack of handholds for those who have to stand.
The route between the two stations is the Manchester to Preston line, which is slated to be electrified. So hopefully as many of the other lines in the area will also be electrified, this will solve the train problems as new electric ones will be needed and hopefully the Class 185s will be lengthened.
But like Picadilly station, which is totally inadequate, this line should have been electrified in the 1960s as a follow on to the electrification of the West Coast Main Line. After all, when linked to the electrified Manchester to Crewe line, it serves as a diversion for trains when the West Coast Main Line has to be closed.
The whole area, shows how when you don’t invest in infrastructure, it all comes back and bites you a few years later.
The Anonymous Widower 