So who promised 'er indoors afternoon tea on the Royal Yacht on her birthday tomorrow? Watched the promises of horror conditions unfold in the days proceeding our departure by train London to Edinburgh today.
Our LNER Azuma departs LKX on time at 11:00, shoots past the great bytham Mallard speed record sign at 127mph, and rolls into Edinburgh Waverly 9 minutes late at 15:31.
25 minutes later the power fails at Edinburgh Waverley, stopping all services. Meanwhile further down the East Coast Main Line, power fails at Peterborough, chaos reigns all the way up and down the ECML
Stick with me kid I tells the trouble and strife, Cieran? Fingers up to Cieran!!!
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Nice one!
I did Britannia a few years back, was quite surprised how ordinary & plain most stuff was on there.
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Yeah and I believe the power to Waverley is expected to be off till tomorrow morning! Gonna be chaos!
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Seems power cut knackered the rail signalling.
All Rail traffic in Central Scotland disrupted - no trains to Aberdeen from Edinburgh until Saturday.
Holyrood wants 20% less journeys by car by 2030 and for more people to rely on Public Transport.
Trains run well when the weather is OK - too hot, too cold, too wet, snow, leaves on lines - the network crumbles.
Bus operators are cutting back on destinations, frequency of service and cutting early morning/ late buses as they lose money on many routes as demand is low.
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>> Trains run well when the weather is OK - too hot, too cold, too wet,
>> snow, leaves on lines - the network crumbles.
Trains run fine for most of the time. Like any form of transport they can be affected by extreme weather as well as other external factors.
As a commuter between Euston and either Northampton or Milton Keynes from 1990 until 2013 the vast majority of journeys were pretty much to time. Having got the 17:10 off Euston I'd be in my car and pretty much exactly the same place waiting for the lights at St Andrew's road when the stock market report towards the end of the 18:00 news on Radio 4 came on.
There were periods of seemingly endless disruption due to Euston's 'throat' being rebuilt and the gauge corner cracking farrago but, like roadworks, they were eventually sorted.
Most common predictable and regular cause of disruption involved lorries and bridges with one at Kings Langley being a particular favourite of illiterate or innumerate lorry drivers....
Driving to Kettering yesterday there was a massive jam westbound on the A14. Mercifully I was going east or I'd undoubtedly have missed at least one of my appointments.
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If railways in the UK didn't exist, and you wanted a high speed line, you would plonk it exactly on the existing route of the east coast main line. Flat, straight, mostly good geology, it's damn near perfect. What you wouldn't do is string the overhead line equipment from wires attached to two girders either side of the track. It was done on the cheap, and they come down with depressing regularity.
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Watched a prog about the winter of 62/63 a while ago. The diesel trains were freezing up so they had to rely on steam to keep the railways running.
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I was at college in Leicester in that winter. I lived in digs and shared a room with another student. There was a hand basin between our beds and I remember waking sometimes to find the face flannels frozen.
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Winter 62/63 was a cracker - months of freezing weather.
The UK ran on coal - coal fires (very few had central heating as North Sea Gas Exploration was in it's infancy), coal powered electricity generation "coal delivered by wire"
Thanks to CEGB there was loads of spare capacity in contrast to today when we rely on electricity imports, even in periods of low demand!)
I was in my final year at school - everybody made it in, even staff that lived some distance away and came by train & bus- very few teachers had cars in these days.
Winter 2010/11 was bad in Scotland - November the first snow and we had snow in the my garden until March. I was on Chemo, the central heating was running 24 x7 as the treatment was Cryogenic which made me even colder.
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>>The diesel trains were freezing up so they had to rely on steam to keep the railways running.
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...things have moved on a bit since then ;-)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=RN_X2UTqYtA
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Well, with no Storm to blame my good luck has run out.
Coach short in consist means my reserved seat wasn't, so I stole someone else's who was due to board at Newcastle. Signal failure at Darlington means train rolls into Newcastle 40 minutes late. Explained how unlucky the hopeful planned occupants of my seat are, so off they slunk.
Meanwhile drivers hours have run out, rostered driver is trapped in chaos south of us
So here we sit, in the land of jeord, currently one hour late and counting
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...time to divest yourself of a few clothes and explore the Bigg Market, then.... ;-)
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No one needs see that. Even Geordies have some standards.
;-)
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Currently at a halt north 9f Darlington, 110 mins late so far. Full refund territory
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>> York, 140 minutes late
Proceeding at line speed now?
Even if you are I don't think you'll pick up much before the Cross and no doubt there'll be trains out of course and stopping ahead of you...
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Yes at line speed now, but with an unscheduled stop at Doncaster to come
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158 minutes late 8nto London KGx
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Claimed full refund from LNER. At least I had a (someone elses) seat, with trains cancelled and delayed there were bodies everywhere.
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Last year my missus and daughter booked train to London from Glasgow.
Day before train got cancelled but rescheduled at exact same time with 2 additional stops on it that their tickets were valid for. Same scenario on return journey.
Went to London. Came back Got full refund for both trips as both trains had been cancelled..
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>> Claimed full refund from LNER. At least I had a (someone elses) seat, with trains
>> cancelled and delayed there were bodies everywhere.
And LNER have accepted said claim, and will be transferring said money to my account. They are happy to do so under the "Attribution" principle in use on the railway. LNER will deduct all refunds they pay out from the access fee they pay Network Rail.
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We ventured to Sowerby Bridge (Calderdale) by rail yesterday, with the express intent of taking light refreshment in the afternoon.
The morning Carlisle train to Leeds was on time, where we alighted at Hellifield to dine on the £8 ‘ Fireman’s Breakfast’ at Shed24 on the platform ( full fry up, inc toast, marmalade and tea). Our connection on the Lancaster train terminating in Leeds was also on time, as was our second connection in Leeds terminating at Blackpool North. This part was used by Crystal Palace fans who had arrived on LNER and were alighting at Burnley. Some good natured banter with them...I know very little about football.
We alighted at Halifax, via Bradford Interchange and caught a bus to King Cross overlooking Sowerby Bridge. All downhill from there. Literally.
The return rail journey also ran seamlessly.....but it’s a long time on the train just to visit 6 excellent characterful pubs
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>> ....to visit 6 excellent characterful pubs
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....Puzzle Hall?
Hollins Mill used to do reasonable beer and food when it was The Works (I think) but haven't used it since.
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Gosh is the Puzzle still open?
I used to like that when it was a Ward's pub. Unique in that area.
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>> >> ....to visit 6 excellent characterful pubs
>> >>
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>> ....Puzzle Hall?
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Should you know the area...Big6 Inn, in a row of terrace properties, open fire, very friendly locals, then pass Wainhouse Tower, down a cobbled ginnel past an overgrown cemetery, to Wainhouse Inn. Shepherds Rest, Navigator, Hogs Head Brew House ( packed at 4pm, younger clientele, great atmosphere) Turks Head.
Most expensive pint all day was £3.80. £3.50 seemed the norm.
Finished the day at Talbot in Settle.
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Of those I only know the Big Six. A favourite in the day but I was probably in my 20's the last time I was there. Early 30's maybe. I'm glad it's still open, proper public house.
It was called the Bowling Green then but always (and I mean always) referred to as the Big Six. Nobody seemed to know why. Tetley's renamed it at some point which greatly helped people to find it.
Although it was probably acquired from the old Ramsden's brewery it had that Tetley's look, with a corridor and rooms off. It became a Tetley's heritage pub so it's probably still like that.
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>Well, with no Storm to blame my good luck has run out.
The joys of foreign holidays eh?
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>> >Well, with no Storm to blame my good luck has run out.
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>> The joys of foreign holidays eh?
Went to Disney, It disnae work
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Storm Cieran - smokie
