Newcastle Station
Newcastle Station is unusual in that it is built on a curve, but as you’d expect from an area which boasts William Armstrong and Robert Stephenson, it is not a station without a lot of very good ironwork.
When I arrived I couldn’t find a tourist office for a map. However, I did find one later when I asked at the railway information desk.
Newcastle from Peterborough on the Train
On Saturday, I went up to Newcastle for the first time since 1968. I’ve passed through it several times since, but I’ve never actually spent any time in the city. But as Ipswich were playing Newcastle I thought it was too good an opportunity to miss to take a visit.
I could have driven it, but I felt it would better let the train take the strain. Or rather the train from Peterborough.
InterCity 225 Train at Peterborough
I had a good run to Peterborough in just under an hour and was able to park in the car parking close by the station. This is not always the case, as parking at Peterborough seems to be a bit limited and also a bit expensive. Surely, if you want to encourage rail travel you must provide lots of parking at an affordable price!
But on Saturday it was only six pounds for the whole day and there was plenty of space.
The train was also on time at both ends of the journey.
The only problem with the train was that I had to travel backwards in First. But I did like the free coffee, although they weren’t too sure about which of the snacks and meals were gluten free. So I declined.
Thameslink Programme Construction
Thameslink Programme (or Thameslink 2000 as it was called!) is one of those rail construction projects that everybody says is very good and yet it has been delayed for years.
I can remember walking to a client around Borough High Street some years ago and there were lots of posters up saying that they didn’t want it. Did they delay it? Probably not, but the Treasury likes any reason for delay as that means they don’t have to spend the money.
But at least now you can see that construction has started.
Blackfriars Station Under Construction
As we passed under the bridge, you can get a view of the remains of the second of the two railway bridges at Blackfriars. It is the older of the two bridges having been built in 1864 and there is still a lovely crest on the South Bank of the Thames.
The Old Blackfriars Railway Bridge
The redundant pillars left when the bridge was demolished in 1985 are to be used to support part of the new Blackfriars station that will be over the river. There will also be a station entrance on the South Bank.
You can read more about the Thameslink Programme at the official site.
It looks like it will be worth all the money they are spending.
Cannon Street Station
When I was growing up, Cannon Street station was just a shell.
Cannon Street Station
Now it has an office block cradled in its arms.
I hadn’t realised until I read the Wikipedia entry for the station, that the development of the station was involved ion one of the worst corruption scandals of the 1960s; the Poulson affair.
The architect selected to design the new building was John Poulson who was good friends with Graham Tunbridge, a British Rail surveyor whom he had met during the war. Poulson took advantage of this friendship to win contracts for the redevelopment of various British Rail termini. He paid Tunbridge a weekly income of £25 and received in return building contracts, including the rebuilding of London Waterloo and East Croydon. At his trial in 1974 he admitted that shortly before receiving the Cannon Street building contract, he had given Tunbridge a cheque for £200 and a suit worth £80. Poulson was later found guilty of corruption charges and was given a seven-year concurrent sentence; Tunbridge received a 15-month suspended sentence and £4,000 fine for his role in the affair.
Those were the days!
Are Ferries and Trains Profiteering?
Out of curiosity I looked at the Norfolk Line website to see how much it would cost to go out Dover to Dunkirk on the 23rd and back on the 28th.
The prices seem to be very similar to those that I normally get.
I also found that you can get from Perpignan to Paris for about £90 on Wednesday. There are even seats available tomorrow, although they are a little bit more.
Remember those TGV Duplex are massive trains carrying over a thousand people in one go.
On the other hand the cheapest train fare from Paris to London is £223. Is that rip-off Britain?
Heroic Stories?
Someone had an e-mail read out on BBC Radio 5 because they were having to take a train from Edinburgh to Nice. I’ve done most of that journey.
Here’s my reply.
A few weeks ago I had a small stroke and was banned from flying.
I went from Cambridge to Nice for a holiday and back by Eurostar and TGV. It wasn’t too bad, but TGV food is rubbish compared to Eurostar. Especially, if you’re a coeliac like me and need a gluten-free meal.
I’m off to Holland at the May Bank Holiday and booked the train, as I find short haul airlines not worth the hassle and I’m smuggling gluten-free bread mix back into the UK.
They didn’t read it out.
You may ask why I’m smuggling gluten-free bread mix into the UK. My prefered mix, Dr. Schar, is now no longer available in the UK.
New Trains for Old
I came back yesterday on the Victoria Line to Blackhorse Road. As the first train stopped at Seven Sisters, this meant I had to change trains, but I got a unique comparison between the original trains built for the line in 1967 and the new 2009 stock coming into use.
From Highbury and Islington, I used one of the new trains to Seven Sisters.
New Trains on the Victoria Line
And then it was one of the regular trains to Blackhorse Road.
In some ways, it is a tribute to the 1967 trains, that they stand up well in the comparison. But they feel slower and the ride is better in the new ones. The aisle is wider too, but then they have less seats to be able to increase capacity over the old trains.
Whether passengers will like to stand so much is open to question!
But the trains will be faster and there are more of them.
If I have one gripe it is that the trains do not have the traditional London Underground door plate that shows when the train was built.
Liverpool Street and the Kindertransport
Liverpool Street Station is one of London’s finest stations.
It also has the memorial to the Kindertransport on the main entrance.
The station was the main terminal for all the trains from Germany carrying mainly Jewish children to safety from the Nazis before the Second World War.
Would I Go Cambridge-Nice by Train Again?
Let’s count the positives.
- It was interesting. I know that is a word you shouldn’t use, but there was a lot to see.
- Security. There wasn’t a lot of time spent taking off shoes and having machines check you for bottles of water. They do check as you go on the Eurostar, but it’s not that intrusive.
- Meals on Eurostar aren’t that bad and are better than the airlines. But then you don’t need them on the plane.
- It was a lot more comfortable than a plane.
- I had a large table, which would have allowed me to play patience if I had wanted.
- I could plug in the laptop.
- Luggage was as much as I wanted and not subject to silly rules.
- I could have taken my Brompton.
And the negatives.
- It took twelve hours door-to-door, whereas the plane would have taken about six.
- It was lonely, but then my life is most of the time.
- It was more costly, but then I did travel First Class.
- I had to take an extra train to get London.
But remember I had no choice this time because of the stroke.
I think that if say I had to go to Lyon on business, that I would definitely use the train and for Marseilles I would make a decision based on train times and cost. But Nice, unless I had to use the train, then I would take the plane. Although like my late wife and I said, we’d have probably enjoyed taking the train one-way and the plane on the return.
Overall though, it was an exercise worth carrying out.
Eurostar to a Cold England
Lille was cold and it wasn’t a bad interchange with just a hundred or so metres to walk between tracks to transfer from the TGV to the Eurostar.
I did get a gluten-free dinner on the train. It was some sort of fish. I’ve tasted better, but it filled a hole.
I was perhaps a couple of minutes late into St. Pancras, which meant that I had no chance of catching the 19:15 to Cambridge. So I had to wait for the 19:45, which got me back to Cambridge on time.
The taxi got me home about fifteen minutes short of twelve hours after leaving Nice.
