Labour’s Muddled Thinking
There is an article in The Times today, which says that Nulabor and the Tories have fallen out over the high-speed rail link to the north. Originally, Ruth Kelly planned that there would be a major transport interchange at Heathrow, but Lord Adonis, felt that Wormwood Scrubs International would be better. The Tories are sticking to Ms. Kelly’s old plan.
Now, I’m not a transport expert, but both of Heathrow’s competitors; Schiphol and Charles de Gaulle, have high-speed rail connections. So surely it is important that you can get on a high-speed train at Heathrow and travel to Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and all points north. Looking at the plan in The Times, you might even be able to get a high-speed train to Kent and dare I say it France, Belgium and Holland.
It just shows how Nulabor can’t see a good solution when they’ve got one. Perhaps in this case, it’s because they want to give the inmates of the Scrubs a quick getaway and they think that some of their colleagues might be there.
Roof Details at St. Pancras
After the success of the post on Roof Trusses, here are a few details of the roof at St. Pancras.
It really is the most spectacular example of Victorian engineering. Apparently, the blue colour is original, but the steam trains soon put paid to that!
The Meeting Place at St. Pancras
I like sculpture and I often think it is the dominant art form, as it can be placed in the open so that everyone can enjoy it. The Meeting Place is by Paul Day and it is in St. Pancras in London.
Rebuilding King’s Cross
Nearly all of the transport projects for the 2012 Olympics in London are now in place. The last one is the rebuilding of King’s Cross.
The station will be opened fully by 2012.
Dover to St. Pancras by Javelin
Javelin is the code-name for the trains that will be used to shuttle passengers from central London to the Olympic site at Stratford.
You might expect that these trains are still on the drawing board or at best in some factory somewhere being built. But no! They are up and running daily down the High Speed One line and then on to Dover and the Kent Coast.
So what do I think of the Javelins.
They are excellent and when compared to the Eurostars that run to Paris and Brussels, the build quality is better. But of course they are people movers and have no catering, although I thought the leg room might have been better. I also timed the Javelin at over 120 mph.
So will they fulfil their Olympic role of moving people from Stratford to Central London. I timed that part of the trip at about six minutes!
So overwhelmingly they will!
Incidentally, this winter the Eurostars have been having all sorts of troubles with snow. I asked a train conductor, whether the Javelins have had any problems. He said no!
Crystal Palace 3 – Ipswich 1
Selhurst Park is a dump. It looks like it’s been nicked from all sorts of places and to me sums up why as a North Londoner, you rarely venture far south of the River. Whoever’s idea it was to put the river in the centre of London had a good one, as it creates a proper barrier between what is worth seeing and what is not. Selhurst Park is definitely in the once seen, why did you bother category.
Selhurst Park
This picture shows the bad view from the visitors’ stand, but it doesn’t do justice to the old wooden seats, the cramped conditions, the bad screen and the general dereliction of most of the ground. The pitch wasn’t good either.
The football was ruined by the sending off of Jon Stead. The foul was bad, but as he’d just been upended by a Palace player I suspect, he was too angry to think about what he was doing. It was the sort of foul though, that some referees would have been lenient with.
So I left a few minutes before the end and struggled to get back to civilisation, eventually taking a bus and then a train from Penge. And that was cold, but then all trains south of the Thames seem to be much colder than those north of the river.
I’ve now woken up and found I have a splinter in my palm. From those dreaded wooden seats no doubt!
Fast Train to Rotterdam and Den Haag
It has just been announced that Thalys is now running fast through to Amsterdam. So I looked up and see if I could book from Ebbsfleet to Rotterdam for a reasonable price at a reasonable speed. I actually would go to Den Haag, but couldn’t find that on the Eurostar web site. Or should I say, I could find it, but I couldn’t book it!
In mid-January, I have found that I could do the trip in three hours and forty-seven minutes for a return cost of £127.50 with a credit charge of £3.
So how does that compare to easyJet?
easyJet on the same days costs £47.98 with a charge of £8 for the credit card.
The parking at Ebbsfleet and Stansted are about the same and I suspect you can get them for about £70, with perhaps an extra tenner for diesel for Ebbsfleet. And then you have the trains at the other end, which would both be just a few Euros.
As to time, the flight takes about five hours door-to-door and the train takes about six and a half.
So is it a no-brainer to take the plane?
No! I hate airports and all of the ridiculous rules. Not all are security too!
So it is perhaps why I actually prefer to take the boat. The last trip, I used Stena from Harwich and because I had a problem with the Lotus, I came back the same way. It is not really such a long trip in terms of time, as I would do Harwich-Hook overnight. But then coming back, you have the annoying delay, whilst they keep you on board, so you might have breakfast. I don’t, as their offerings are not gluten-free!
I normally go over using Norfolk Line from Dover to Dunkirk, which usually takes about eight hours door-to-door. That may be a lot slower, but I can fill the car with all the goodies that expats can’t get in Holland. And I can also take my Brompton!
Cost of the ferry is usually about £60 with perhaps about the same amount for diesel. I know that calculating the cost of motoring on the fuel cost is not valid, but it is the way we always add it up!
So perhaps, the easiest and most relaxing way is to drive via Dover. At least you get a nice break on the boat and can listen to BBC Radio 5 Live all of the way. And it’s only three hours slower than the plane.
A Man with a Bookcase
Sometimes things just happen that make you smile ever so much. One such thing happened last night as I made my way home from Oxford on a Victoria Line train to Blackhorse Road, where I had parked my car.
A guy entered carrying a bookcase and as the train was a bit crowded comments were made. These started to get funnier and funnier and for the five stops he was on the train, there was a lot of jokes and laughter. The journey moved very quickly.
Here’s a photograph of the guy sitting on his bookcase.
Man with a Bookcase
Before he left, I talked to the guy and found he was a photographer called Mario Guarino from Naples in Italy.
This episode made me think of the Roman Polanski short film, Two Men and a Wardrobe. It was made in 1962 and I think I probably saw it at school. I hope it is still worth watching!
By Train to Oxford
When I went to Oxford on Saturday, I could have driven. But I parked at Blackhorse Road station on the Victoria Line and then took the tube to Paddington changing at Oxford Circus, as it is only a short walk between the platforms. From Paddington it was just an hour by train direct to Oxford.
The journey worked out well and I didn’t wait long in either direction and there were no delays. Taking the train also allowed me to do some shopping in Oxford Street and have coffee with an old friend on the way back.
Going it was just a typical Networker multiple-unit, but coming back it was a proper High-Speed Train.
High Speed Train at Paddington
The High Speed Train or HST was a stop-gap design that has been in service for over thirty years and it is still one of the fastest, if not the fastest, diesel train in the world. Like good wine they are getting better with age! Not bad for something designed in eighteen months.
What is not generally known about the HST is the name of the designer; Terry Miller. At least East Midlands Trains have now put his name on a power car of one of his outstanding trains.
They will soldier on for at least another decade until they are replaced by electric units. But will these be as reliable? And good?
Whilst at Paddington, I took this picture of Brunel’s roof.
The Roof at Paddington Station
It needs a proper St.Pancras treatment!
