Network Rail’s Pigeon Eradicator
This is not what you think it is on the platforms at London Paddington!
Network Rail's Pigeon Eradicator
It has shades of Hancock in The Radio Ham, where he was annoyed with pigeons on his aerials, so he gave them 1,000 volts and a very cheap thrill.
You may think it is to stop the pigeons sitting on the video cameras, but it is a fiendish device to kill them, by giving them a large electric shock. Note how one camera is angled so it can see the pigeons on the spikes. This allowed the charge to be accurately timed. The pigeons are then recycled in the meat pies on the trains from London.
What A Way To Run a Railway
GBRf is a rail freight company in the UK and it has a shortage of motive power.
Could this be in part to what I saw last Thursday, whilst sitting outside a pub outside Thurston station in Suffolk, where in a brief period of perhaps forty minutes, three long freight trains trundled along between Felixstowe and Peterborough? I’ve done this many times before and never seen one. So as I’ve reported before a lot of heavy freight is now going by train.
So I was surprised to see that they are hiring in a 50-year-old Deltic locomotive, Royal Scots Grey, to move freight in the North East. It must make commercial sense to both companies involved. It is rather a tribute to the Deltic, but surely with better planning a few years ago, instead of scrapping these wonderful locootives, they should have been properly stored. After all one my most memorable train trips was behind a Deltic.
We sometimes decry the quality of engineering in this country. But the list of things we should be proud of keeps getting longer and the Deltic has just got itself added.
The High Speed Diesel Train Revisited
I said in The Train That Won’t Go Quietly, that it is likely that the High Speed Diesel Train or IC125 will still be in front-line service in 2030 or perhaps even 2040.
A lot on my part was speculation, but articles have started to appear in respected journals, that show 2035 is not only easily achievable, but achievable with increased fuel efficiency, much higher service intervals and with meeting all regulations concerning safety, doors and toilets.
The most surprising thing I read in the article in Modern Railways, was that a full computerised structural analysis on the Mk. 3 coach showed that they were good for a sixty year lifespan and were very much better than expected. They also found that the coaches were very stiff, which probably explains why passengers like the ride. I certainly find it better than a Pendolino.
But knowing the way governments think and engineers design and make-do and mend, I think that 2035 will be a date that when they retire the last IC125, will be long in the past.
I’m travelling on two tomorrow as I go to Swansea to see Ipswich play. The trains cover the 191 miles from London in around three hours including stops.
Customer Service – London Bridge Style
I know London Bridge station is being rebuilt as a consequence of both the Thameslink upgrade and the hideous Shard, but I doubt you’ll find a worse main station in the whole of the UK.
Like all of the stations and lines south of the Thames, they were planned by a devious and possibly cruel Victorian mind. An example is that as London Bridge is the most easterly of the London rail stations serving the south, you’d assume it would serve all of the stations in Kent. That is an extremely logical and wrong assumption, as you get to places like Margate from either Victoria or St. Pancras.
No wonder you get confused tourists like a group of Spanish, who were trying to get to King’s Cross, by taking a train to Victoria from London Bridge and quite a few other stations, and then using the Victoria line. I told them to use the direct Northern line and was left wondering what idiot had advised them to go via Victoria. It couldn’t have been anybody in customer service as the Information Desk was closed.
Closed Information Box at London Bridge
The London Buses kiosk was also closed.
Closed Bus Information Kiosk at London Bridge
I was trying to get to North Dulwich and was advised to take the 9:48 from platform 15. At the last minute, I was told it would leave from 14 and got there just as it pulled away. After looking for some non-existent help, I found a board which said that there was a train on platform 14 at 10:03. So I ran back and after several goes, I finally got through the barrier, when a ticket inspector let me through.
One of problems I had to get through, was that in strong sunlight, the LEDs that show a green arrow or a red cross on the barrier, can’t be seen by someone like myself with degraded eyesight. After the kind inspector let me through, he said he had problems himself with the barriers and hopefully the new ones arriving soon would solve the problem.
By God’s Wonderful Railway to Bristol
To many, the Great Western Railway from Paddington to Bristol, Wales and the West is a cut above all of the other lines radiating from London.
As I was brought up close by the main line out of Kings Cross to the North and could hear tha A4 Pacifics and later the Deltic as they picked up speed through New Barnet, my affections are generally towards that route. One of my most memorable railway journeys happened on that line.
The Great Western Main Line differs from the other major lines in the UK as it was built on a grander scale and virtually straight for most of the way to Bristol. In other words, Brunel got his engineering right. In many ways it was the first high-speed line to be built anywhere in the world. (In fact as much of the line speed between London and Bristol is 125 mph., it meets the European definition of a high speed line.) Today the workhorses of the line are High Speed Diesel Trains, like the one where I rode in the cab from Edinburgh to Inverness.
But in some ways the line is showing its age.
Renovating the Roof at Paddington
Finally, as the picture shows they are doing something with renovating Paddington. It is long overdue and it’s not much better now, than when I used the station to go to visit Plessey in the 1970s. It has also been announced that the line will be electrified as far as Cardiff. Why this wasn’t done years ago, I have never understood. Perhaps the reason it hasn’t been electrified is that the High Speed Diesel Trains have outperformed even the most optimistic expectations. But even then it took them so many years to name a power car after the man behind the project, Terry Miller, as good engineers are so undervalued by politicians.
Yesterday, I went with a friend to Bristol to see Ipswich play at Ashton Gate. We left on time at 10:00 from Paddington and just 99 minutes later we arrived in Bristol Temple Meads. The distance is 118.5 miles, so the average speed was a shade under 72 mph, including stops at Reading, Swindon, Chippenham and Bath. Not bad for a nearly forty year old train, but it did have the advantage of two men of vision; Brunel and Miller. I have a feeling that the last High Speed Train in regular service might be well in the second half of this century.
M1 Closed on Busiest Sporting Weekend
The M1 is closed on the busiest sporting weekend of the year, with two FA Cup semi-finals and the London Marathon.
But it probably won’t be as bad as it could be, as Manchester United fans won’t have much trouble getting up to Wembley from Surrey.
It does though illustrate the folly of not allowing an extra rail route into London from Manchester via the East Midlands.
Is There A Need For An Evening Football Rail Ticket?
When I’ve gone to football at Ipswich evening matches lately, I’ve had to go by Cambridge for other reasons, so I’ve had to buy a ticket from Cambridge to Ipswich and then one from Ipswich to London. I’ve never had a problem buying the last ticket and the ticket has been reasonably priced. Last night, I booked a seat on the 18:10 to get to Ipswich, as I was travelling in the rush hour. I didn’t want to go earlier as Ipswich is a gluten-free desert. But I was unable to buy a reasonably priced ticket in either London or Ipswich. I then thought, that this might be due to the hour change and there were no late trains, so I left the match at half time and then got a ticket to Colchester for £6.20, where I duly arrived at about nine o’clock on a train that was returning to London virtually empty. At Colchester, I bought a ticket to London for under a tenner and then caught the 21:30 to Liverpool Street. Again the train was virtually empty. So the trains were running and I could have seen the whole match. But the machine wanted to charge me £24 for the ticket, as against the £19.80 I paid to get to Ipswich in the rush hour.
Next Thursday, it’s the Norwich match and I’ll be going. I can get up for £19.80 in the rush hour and back for £5.30 after the match on any train.
It all just blows my head in.
Why couldn’t I get the £5.30 ticket last night and in the end travelled in an empty train?
What is needed is a special football ticket, that applies to evening matches outside London, at places like Ipswich, Norwich, Reading, Watford, Milton Keynes and Brighton.
If you travel out by train, you should be able to buy a much-reduced ticket for the journey home on production of a valid match ticket. After all the return will probably be on an empty train.
Incidentally, some Ipswich fabs don’t buy season tickets because of the difficulty of getting to evening home games by train. So both the train company and the football club are losing out.
How To Annoy Customers
I’m going with a friend to see Ipswich at Bristol on Saturday.
The aim is to go down on the 10:00 from London in Standard and return on the 18:00 in First.
I have a Senior Railcard and my friend has an Annual Gold Card Railcard.
When trying to book on-line, I couldn’t seem to get a discount for the Gold Card. Shown is a chat I had on-line with one of First Great Western’s customer service agents (FGW).
FGW: Hi, my name is FGW. How may I help you?
Anonymous Widower: I am travelling to Bristol from London on Saturday and have been trying to purchase tickets. I have a Senior Railcard and my travelling companion has an Annual Gold Card. Is it right that they get charged more than me, and the discount doesn’t apply. We aim to travel down standard on the 10:00 and return on the 18:00 in First.
FGW: Please give me your journey details including the journey dates and the train times selected.
Anonymous Widower: I already have.
FGW: Are the times mentioned the exact train times ?
Anonymous Widower: Yes
Anonymous Widower: I haven’t booked yet, but I know seats are available.
FGW: Is it Bristol Parkway ?
Anonymous Widower: No Temple Meads
FGW: I have checked for the journey and would like to confirm that the discount for the annual gold card discount will be available only if you book the tickets at the station.
FGW: Online the discount will only be available for the Senior Railcard.
Anonymous Widower: Why can’t I get it on-line? My companion does not live near me and won’t be in London until Friday. I know that if you buy on the web you get a better fare. I have also had a stroke and feel that buying tickets on-line is easier for me.
FGW: There are some policies that are set by the company. I am advising you as per them.
FGW: You need to book tickets on the station for the Annual Gold Card discount.
Anonymous Widower: Thanks for your help.
It should be simple and easy to buy tickets without too many petty rules.
In the end I bought the other ticket without the discount.
The Non-Arrival of a Refund from East Coast
On the 3rd of February, I travelled down from York on the 19:35 East Coast train from York. The train was about ninety minutes late into King’s Cross and forms were given out to claim a refund. I filled the form in the next day and posted it to Newcastle in the envelope provided.
I have not heard anything since.
It could be a malfunction of the postal service, but since I have moved, I regularly send letters to my old house in Suffolk and know that they arrive the next day, when I put them in the box opposite my house here.
On Sunday, I tried to report this non-arrival of the refund through the East Coast web site. I got a server error, asking me to submit it again. I didn’t as it was quite a long form and after all, it’s not that much money in the greater scheme of things.
But I tried again to submit the e-mail and still got a server error.
I also tried to send a simple e-mail saying that I was getting server errors and got another server error.
It really isn’t good enough!
So I put a letter in the post.
The Anonymous Widower 