focalplane railblog

This blog is moth-balled!

2007-09-26T12:51:00.001Z

For the time being I am going to post all entries on the main focalplane blog. A sort of KISS thing which will essentially destroy my "hub and spokes" concept.

Station

2007-09-10T09:49:00.000Z

I'll be there on the 16th.

Good news for Amtrak

2007-09-09T22:28:00.000Z

This article promises much for the future of US rail. Maybe. It's up to the politicians now.

Steam on the Main Line

2007-08-20T03:24:00.001Z

This morning I took a high speed train to London. A newly outfitted one, with the updated First Great Western interior. While waiting at Taunton station I observed a number of "anoraks" waiting at the London end of the platforms. Clearly something was up. As our train drew out of Taunton I forgot all about it but then, as our train went under the flyover junction, there was Battle of Britain Class "Tangmere", no. 34067, thundering past with a special of crimson coaches. Very nice too! But no photograph!

Excursion Trains

2007-07-30T02:53:00.000Z

I recently stumbled upon a main line excursion train operating along the West Somerset Railway.

An eleven coach excursion train from London Victoria arrived at Crowcombe Heathfield while we were waiting for our "local" to arrive from Minehead. The train was hauled as far as Bishops Lydeard by light pacific Battle of Britain Class "Tangmere", no. 34067. For the journey to Minehead the train was piloted by the magnificent Somerest and Dorest Joint Railway 2-8-0 no. 88, immaculate in its prussian blue livery.

I know these excursion trains must be well advertised but I never seem to know about them until its too late and, of course, I am usually in the wrong place to enjoy them anyway. So it is good see how well these ventures seem to be doing. Given the lousy weather this summer, a day on a train makes for an interesting and dry alternative to sitting on a sea front lashed by the rain!

First Great Western Upgrades its HSTs

2007-06-20T22:06:00.000Z

The ageing fleet of ex-BR high speed Class 43 trains are getting a new lease of life on First Great Western and what a refreshing makeover it is. Leather seats in First Class that recline, grey, mauve and dark blue decor, improved lighting and UK (naturally) style power outlets. Add to this a glass of wine immediately after departure from Paddington (Friday evenings only!) from friendly staff and this might just be the new face of British Railways! A great start to the weekend.

The 2007 Bradshaw Timetable!

2007-05-01T07:45:00.000Z

Network Rail has a released a mammoth UK railway timetable - the modern printed equivalent of the old Bradshaw. Now available as a huge pdf file. The principal reason for downloading this is so that you can refer to the timetable on-train and check how late the train is running! Enjoy!

Paddington Station - First Class Lounge

2007-04-05T08:04:00.000Z

When you have been travelling all night and end up 7 time zones from where you were, the last thing you may want to do is stand on a cold concourse for an hour waiting for the next train up the Cotswold Line from Paddington.

Fortunately, if you have a first class (senior) ticket, there is an alternative - First Great Western's First Class Lounge. As good as most airport lounges, this sanctuary has two large rooms, one very conservatively furnished in green leather, the other in modern dark blues and reds. It was only later that I realized the symbolism here - green leather = Great Western Railway, dark blue/dark red = First Great Western!

The GWR room has a fine model of King Class 6000 "King George V" in its entrance. I should have taken a photograph but, well, jet lag is the excuse! next time.

Exeter - London

2007-03-27T18:53:00.000Z

I recently travelled on a high speed Adelante train run by First Great Western from Exeter to London Paddington. This was a limited stop service (Taunton and Reading only) and made the journey in just over two hours. There were a couple of signal checks, both apparently due to work on the line, but the train arrived in London on time. The one let down with this service was the fact that FGW failed to put up the seat reservation tags. It didn't matter as the train was not full, but why offer seat reservations if most of the time they are not posted?

I was on my way to Heathrow and could have changed to a bus service at Reading but, due to previous experiences I decided to pay more and use the Heathrow Express. With a heavy suitcase in tow this was definitely a good plan. The Heathrow express was nearly empty at 10 a.m. on a Monday morning.

1000 Carriages by 2014

2007-03-14T07:10:00.000Z

With severe overcrowding forcing many commuter passengers to stand, the government will today announce an additional 1,000 carriages by the year 2014. That's in seven years' time.

Strange that it took so long to come to this. In the early 1990s I used to commute on the "New Guildford Line" into Waterloo and standing room only during the rush hour was normal back then.

The idea of adding extra coaches to trains makes sense only if the platforms at all the stations will accommodate them. I wonder if that one has crossed their minds?

Is there a train wreck?

2007-02-23T20:59:00.000Z

This post on the BBC website makes you wonder. I mean, where exactly are the police when you need them?

(Later: Yes, there is a train wreck and with one fatality. Emergency service did apparently arrive on the scene soon after the derailment but the early reports suggested otherwise. The area of the accident is described as being remote but, from my field work days in what was then called Westmorland, the area around Greyrigg is not inaccessible, thank goodness.)

Chiltern Railways Update

2007-02-20T11:41:00.000Z

Another journey on Chiltern Railways. The latest timetable has some interesting revisions with fewer stops on the trains that start further away from London Marylebone. The 6:44 a.m. from Warwick Parkway now only stops at Leamington Spa and Banbury. It's a shorter train so the seats are just as full (but no standing!) Also all the long distance trains (i.e. those that go further north than Banbury) are now Clubman trains, offering a slightly better seating arrangement than the Turbos that are used for the London commuter services.

Both journeys were on time. The 9:00 p.m. from London was less than half full.

Ticket prices have risen than the Retail Price Index that is supposed to measure inflation (except that lots of highly inflationary goods and services are not included in the RPI calculation, making it a meaningless standard). So, although the service is slightly improved the cost has gone up yet again, no doubt forcing more people to consider the alternatives. But this was on the day the London Congestion Charge area was doubled. Alternatives? Not really.

Can Beeching be Undone?

2007-02-17T13:29:00.000Z

Dr. Beeching was the Chairman of British Railways in the 1960s when the decision was made to significantly cut back services in order to streamline the system and "save money". Looking back on those times the entire philosophy made a lot more sense then than it does now. The legacy we have is the realization that the UK has no coordinated transport policy. That is what went missing during the 1960s, a period when there was still the time and resources to have made a difference.

The first problem was the simplification of the network. Perfectly usable railway lines were scrapped and the land sold off. What was exactly done with the proceeds of this huge sell off may never be known. Did it build new motorways? You could argue that it did but it is quite probable that they were going to be built anyway and the huge road license fund plus taxes on fuel almost certainly paid for the road system several times over.

The second problem was that nothing was put in place as a public transport alternative. Bus services were introduced and then subject to cutbacks. Today those bus services are better than ever (since Beeching) but still a far cry in efficiency. The permanent rights of way could have been used by dedicated public transport systems (light rail, trams, buses) but key pieces were sold off while other stretches were quietly incorporated into farmland.

The third problem is that only very rarely have provisions been made to integrate the transport system. Heathrow had to wait decades before it was connected by a high speed rail service to London. London itself is supposed to be the railway hub of the nation yet anyone transfering from one terminus to another will know what a hassle it is, particularly with luggage.

The fourth problem is that the railways are now more popular than ever - to the point that it is now considered OK for London's commuters to stand up for journeys of more than half an hour - every working day - and yet still pay for an exhorbitant season ticket that used to be based on the understanding that they would be seated.

Recent discussions on Brumblog suggest that significant expansion could take place if logic and a long term view prevailed. The concept of a European style grand terminus for Birmingham goes against the short term solution of rebuilding New Street Station a second time in 40 years but it certainly makes a lot more sense! Will it happen? Don't hold your breath. Building shopping centers carries a lot more weight than the consideration of how to get people to travel to them!

Another British Transport Film

2007-01-25T09:13:00.000Z

With the present day concerns about how two inches of snow can disrupt trains in the Southeast of England, here is a fine black and white movie from the Age of Steam called Snow Drift at Bleath Gill:

In this morning's Daily Telegraph, Boris Johnson takes some wild swings at politicians and railway operators. Some of it isn't quite right (Adelante trains are actually new trains!) but the thought that the government minister in charge of transport is personally tinkering with the modern day Bradshaw timetable is truly scary.

Southern Pacific System Maps

2007-01-12T20:48:00.000Z

I have a rare copy of a classic book - A Century of Southern Pacific Steam Locomotives - that contains a complete set of eighteen plates showing the various Divisions of the Southern Pacific Rail Road. All the way from Portland to New Orleans via southern California! They represent the SP at its zenith (c. 1920 tho' each map may have a slightly different date on it).

The maps were only published with the book and many of the copies have, I am sure, been lost for ever. So I have scanned them (they are too large for a single scan per map so will have an imperceptable "stitch" down the middle) and made them available on focalplane.com for download as quality jpegs.

They should be of interest to anyone who loves the Espee!

Steam Locomotive Nicknames

2007-01-04T16:21:00.000Z

Steam engines have characters, even seemingly identical locomotives will have different characteristics. Steam engine afficionados used to give nicknames to their favorite locomotives and here are a few from my childhood on the old London Midland Region:

Princess Coronation Class 4-6-2 - Semi - so called because after the full streamlining was removed to ease maintenance there was a small beveled slope to the top of the smokebox.

Princess Royal Class 4-6-2 - Lizzie - after Princess Elizabeth, named after the present Queen.

Royal Scot Class 4-6-0 - Scot - obvious!

Jubilee Class 4-6-0 - Joob - well that was the way we pronounced it!

Patriot Class 4-6-0 - Pate - as above

Class 5MT 4-6-0 - Black Five and/or Micky - the former is explained by the fact that the class was always painted black unlike the other large passenger locomotives, the latter nickname has never been explained to me!

Class 5MT 2-6-0 - Crab - well, the frame of this design was odd but I don't think the locomotive ever moved sideways!

Class 3F 0-6-0T - Jinty - Why Jinty? I know not!

Adelante

2006-11-14T15:34:00.000Z

The recent trip from Reading to Moreton-in-Marsh was uneventful. On time, comfortable first class car of the Adelante design. But why couldn't the Britsh Rail desk at the Heathrow Coach Station sell me a combined Senior First Single ticket through from Heathrow to Moreton? They could sell me a return ticket, but not a single! So I bought the coach fare to Reading and then wondered how long the queue would be to buy the onward train ticket at Reading. Forunately I made it in time to pose my next question:

"Where will the first class car be on the 12:22 train to Hereford?"

"Depends. It's either the 2nd or the 4th of five. Depends on whether the train is running forwards or backwards."

"Hmm. I have this very large suitcase. Where do you suggest I stand?"

"In the middle."

Well, I supposed I asked for it!

First Great Western

2006-10-16T06:59:00.000Z

I recently made a one way trip from London (Paddington) to Exeter on a high speed First Great Western express. The 16.05 from Paddington takes just over two hours to cover the distance (at one point the train had covered 125 miles at an average speed of 83 mph, including one stop and two signal delays). I sat in First Class for a change (Chiltern doesn't even have first class) and the experience was pleasant enough.

The scenery is exceptional, particularly as the journey followed a sojourn in West Africa and an overnight flight into Heathrow followed by a day working in London. I would normally have dozed off under such circumstances but the route continually delighted me with fresh scenes of rural England.

After a stop in Reading the train went non-stop to Taunton and I never saw a significant settlement between the two stations. I did see a white horse carved into a chalk hillside and I did notice a few small rivers and streams but the majority of the scenery was simply pastoral, green, sunny and lovely.

By Taunton the train was running 10 minutes late due to the signalling stops. Unlike Chiltern Railways with its lax timetables that usually mean the faster trains arrive early at each station, First Great Western may have been set some formidable goals for timekeeping.

The High Speed 125 train sets are beginning to show their age and will need to be refurbished or replaced as some facilities are either tired or non-existent. But they do go quite fast!

More on the Ticket Barriers

2006-10-02T11:06:00.000Z

Marylebone Station have replaced the old ticket barriers with new ones. But, the program that is now about 10 years old still rejects my Senior Railcard ticket before 9:30 a.m. even though it is valid.

South Devon Railway

2006-09-24T18:58:00.000Z

Although we didn't ride the trains, we did spend a short while at Buckfastleigh station, taking photos that are on the Flickr photostream. The locomotive of the day was Churchward heavy freight 2-8-0 # 3803, an unlikely locomotive for this quintessential GWR branch line. I am sure it made easy work of the five carriages to Totnes and back.

The branch line up the Dart Valley from Totnes to Ashburton ran through 9 miles of beautiful countryside but never made a profit. So it was no surprise that the line got the axe in 1962 when Dr. Beeching ran his fingers over the numbers. Given the countryside and the hugely strong sentiment for preservation at the time, the line was saved and the Dart Valley Railway was formed as commercial enterprise. The first preservation train ran in 1969. By 1989 the company ran into increasing financial difficulties and volunteers rescued the line, forming a charitable trust, the South Devon Railway, under which the line is operated today.

Construction of the South Devon Expressway (A38) no doubt helped in the demise of the DVR and at the same time severed all hope of extending the line to Ashburton. But today the 7 miles from Totnes to Buckfastleigh are fully operational with one intermediate station at Staverton.

Southwest Trains

2006-08-27T18:39:00.000Z

For a change, a report on another Train Operating Company. This time a three hour journey from Honiton to London Waterloo on Southwest Trains "West of England" service.

We were able to buy the tickets in advance, saving money and also getting reserved seats. The train arrived on time and it is a very modern one, basically a diesel multiple unit (dmu) in the modern style with an interesting and eye catching paint job. But from here on things starfted to slide. Our seat reservations were not there (a card should be inserted in the seat back but there were none). The conductor explained that another company prints the tickets at Exeter but there had not been time to install them. Hmm, why do it at all, then?

Two elderly ladies joined the train at Crewkerne, also with reserved seats. Train staff did nothing to help so we re-organized about 12 seats so that evryone could be more comfortably seated. Passenger cameraderie seems to get better when service drops!

Next, a mother and child failed to get off the train at Andover. The drinks trolley blocked their way. So on they went with us to Basingstoke. This was where the two ladies needed to change trains for their final destination, Carlisle (a long way off). Several of us helped them and blocked the door mechanism so that the train could not leave. The conductor was not around to help but, strangely, he was there to help off a bright young thing at Clapham Junction - and she had no luggage!

The train arrived on time in Waterloo. Our return journey a few days later was much better, except our seats were supposed to have a table and it had gone missing!

A Possible Project

2006-08-15T10:15:00.000Z

At the moment I am traveling up and down the Chiltern Line from Warwick Parkway to Marylebone quite regularly. Looking out the window I see things that remind me of traveling in the days of steam when there were a lot more branch and connecting lines as well as stations and other items of railway interest. So it would be interesting to chronicle the line with the help of Google Earth, old maps and modern photographs. This could be a major project but it's only an idea at the moment.

The Digbeth Viaduct

2006-06-15T07:06:00.000Z

While on last Saturday's Flickrmeet I have to admit that I used the old Great Western Railway blue brick viaduct as a prop rather than a subject. But on reflection when naming some of the photos I realized that this is a colossal enterprise that entered onto the city map in Victorian times when much of Digbeth was already developed.

The viaduct stretches across the valley of the River Rea, a diminutive brook that is now contained in a storm drain. The viaduct provides the necessary height for trains to plunge into the city center tunnel (itself on a steep incline) and make it to the other side of the city where the GWR chose to build their station at Snow Hill. Moor Street Station came later and was actually built on the northern end of the viaduct.

The brickwork dates back to the late 1800s and is in superb condition, a real testiment to the quality of bricklaying at the time (possibly of mostly Irish origin). The classic blue bricks used by the GWR came from Staffordshire where the Late Carboniferous Etruria Blue Marl provides an excellent brick-making clay. These bricks were also used in canal building and, together with the special mortars developed, provided a water-tight seal.

The viaduct is capable of holding four tracks but only two are used today. In addition to the main line there is also a spur that goes nowhere. Here is a link to Google Map that shows the main viaduct and the abandoned spur.

Ticket Barriers

2006-06-14T05:50:00.002Z

Blogger is playing up - this time it published twice! Generally it's server is proving to be troublesome today.

Ticket Barriers

2006-06-14T05:50:00.000Z

My tickets often don't work at London stations' ticket barriers. Yesterday I found out why. As usual, my ticket weas rejected on trying the leave the platform at Marylebone Station (Chiltern Railways). I went to the "human" gate and remonstrated that my tockets never work. The patient ticket inspector kindly put me straight. "Your ticket was bought north of Leamington, therefore it is long distance. These barriers were installed by Network Southeast. Network Southeast did not recognize long distance Senior Railcard tickets. The barriers still don't so always come through this gate in future." (How many years have passed since privatization?)

I Love Railway Stations!

2006-06-01T13:52:00.000Z

Well, when they are attractive as this one, I do! Click on the image to learn more.

Another Chiltern Railways Journey - post City of Truro

2006-04-12T19:51:00.000Z

Another trip to London, less than a week after firing and driving City of Truro on the GWR. An interesting experience as I found myself looking out the carriage window at the terrain and thinking I was driving a King Class 4-6-0 back in the 1950s! Really need a good head of steam; time to coast and fill up the boiler; vacuum brake about now to honor that speed restriction!

Life may never be the same again.

Fire and Drive Experience Travelogue

2006-04-09T04:00:00.000Z

The travelogue is complete and uploaded. What a day, most memorable and I have April to thank once again for the inspired choice of a birthday present last November! April has additional photos here

No Black Prince. . . . City of Truro instead. . . . Wow!

2006-04-07T20:15:00.000Z

OK, the day has been and gone. And what a day! If you are the slightest bit interested in steam trains and want to spend a day in the company of people who share your feelings, then a "fire and drive experience" is for you. The Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Railway are not the only ones who do it, but they do it very, very well and are strongly recommended.

The first news of the day when I turned up early to help (and was given a pile of rags and a can of WD-40 to de-grease and clean the running gear) was that Black Prince was out of commission and the locomotiove would be Great Western 3440 "City of Truro". I had previously been told that this would not be possible but apparently the National railway Museum (custodian of the National Collection) had O-Ked its use under a new ruling.

Wow, wow wow!!!!! This locomotive is special in that it claims to have been the first steam locomotive to have exceeded 100 mph. Here is what Wikipedia has to say about the claim.

Needless to say both April (car chasing) and I (on board) took lots of photos and these will be put together into a travelogue as soon as we can. But I have processed two High Dynamic Range photos of the locomotive, one of which is shown above. Just to whet your appetite!

12 hours (or less) to go!

2006-04-06T20:38:00.000Z

Well, the countdown continues. Plans are to take lots of photos (if I can) and write the whole day up as a travelogue. I will be traveling after all! The thought of driving a 140 ton steam locomotive is a little daunting but at least the tracks should keep me out of trouble. No doubt you'll read all about it in the newspapers if I don't!

92203 Black Prince Photo - 1

2006-04-01T19:33:00.000Z

OK, a few posts of recent photos of 92203, Black Prince, starting with this one.

6 Days to Go!

2006-04-01T12:07:00.000Z

Next Friday, April 7th, I finally get to learn to drive. A steam engine, that is! Today I visited the GWR and learned that, assuming all goes well, I shall be firing and driving Standard Class 9F 2-10-0 number 92203, Black Prince. Wow! One of Britain's most powerful and successful locomotives.

Exciting!

Timekeeping vs. Passengers!

2006-03-26T10:17:00.000Z

I heard an interesting story yesterday about train services in southwest Wales. If you live west of Swansea then your local train company is Arriva. The mainline service from London to Swansea is supplied by First Great Western. As good as this fast service to and from London may be, if the train from London runs late and arrives in Swansea after the scheduled departure of the "connecting" train to Camarthen, then Arriva's timetable will take precedence over the passengers wanting to continue west from Swansea.

Why? Well, it all comes down to the bureaucracy of adminsitration of the Train Operating Company franchises. If trains depart and arrive on time there is a better chance of retaining the franchise. Whether or not the public is being served by those trains!

The other side of the argument is that on single line workings the timetable must be adhered to and of course there is some merit in that. Once one train is late all trains will be late (as we know from experience on the Cotswold Line). However, the reason for having transport at all is to provide people with the means from getting from A to B efficiently. Perhaps the timetable needs to be revisited by those who have overall jurisdiction.

Severn Valley Railway

2006-02-23T17:13:00.000Z

A photo essay covering two days spent hiking and traveling on the Severn Valley Railway in early summer 2003.

This type of itinerary is an ideal solution to our desire to get out and "do things". It allows us to hike, enjoy preserved steam trains, take lots of photos and meet interesting people! I think we'll be doing more of the same this year once the season starts up after Easter!

Durango & Silverton Railroad

2006-02-22T12:55:00.000Z

I have just completed and uploaded a short travelogue featuring this wonderful narrow gauge line that has preserved a portion of the Denver & Rio Grande system. We rode the train from Durango to Silverton in July 1996 and it was one of those unforgettable trips (probably No. 6 on our all time exciting rail journeys list!) The D&SRR does it right!

Chiltern Railways scores another two points!

2006-02-16T10:03:00.000Z

Went to London on Tuesday morning (06:44 departure from Warwick Parkway). Train arrived on time in Warwick and was two minutes early into Marylebone. Returned Wednesday evening (19:50 departure from Marylebone). Arrived on time in Warwick.

I have noticed that the timetable seems to have quite a lot of slack in it. There are several places where the trains generally run slow, probably due to permanent way work. Gerrards Cross and Wembley Stadium are both examples where construction is ongoing. And last evening the train seemed to be arriving early at every station, then having to wait for the timetable to catch up!

There may be political and economic reasons for this. Train Operating Companies are judged by their timekeeping, so having a slack timetable means that they can record a higher on-time rate. And this translates into keeping the franchise when it comes up for renewal.

That apart, the line continues to impress. Not only are the trains clean and the staff friendly but the fellow passengers often make good travel companions - such as the couple from Sutton Coldfield last night.

Reminiscing the Cambrian Coast Express

2006-02-10T20:20:00.000Z

When I was a lot younger than I am now, basically during the late 1950s, I used to travel from Birmingham to Portmadoc in North Wales where my father's partner had sought a healthy refuge from the smog of Birmingham*. We always took the Cambrian Coast Express. At times this monicker seemed a little extravagent as the train could hardy be called an express. But the locomotive carried a headboard and they had a dining car, so it was, in many ways, worthy of being a "named train".

So tonight I googled "Cambrian Coast Express" and I got this. Fascinating reading and some of it explains wher the CCE was not always an express!

*Irony: my father died aged 58, my father's partner lived well into his 80s.

Another Chiltern Railways Journey

2006-02-01T21:33:00.000Z

Well, the trains to London seem to be fine. On time, roomy, comfortable, etc. The trains from London don't quite make the same impression. Tonight, for example, the train left on time (exactly) but we started to get ontrain announcements that the rear one, then two, carriages would have to be emptied owing to a "shortened platform". The railway company (?Chiltern) apparently has a policy that a train that is too long for a platform must lock down the carriages that won't be alongside said platform. Why didn't they announce this before the train left London?

And wait a minute, this situation happens every day on the Cotswold Line and they don't lock down the "hanging" carriages!

But apart from that, the journeys in and out were just fine!

Chiltern Railways vs. First Great Western

2006-01-18T21:35:00.000Z

It almost seems unfair to make comparisons. But I’ll try to be nice. And remember, this is based on one return journey – your mileage, as they say, may vary.

Chiltern Railways operates a second tier service between the first and second cities, from London Marylebone to Birmingham Snow Hill, utilizing what used to be the Great Western main line via Banbury and Leamington Spa.

Many years ago this was how my family would travel up to London, catching an express hauled by a “King” Class 4-6-0, then the most powerful steam locomotive in the land. So there was a measure of nostalgia in my mind as I arrived in good time to catch the 6:44 a.m. service from Warwick Parkway to London. Except that Warwick Parkway is a new station that didn’t exist in the 1950s.

Parkway stations are designed to act as out-of-town hubs with ample car parking. Thus they have large parking areas and minimal facilities on the platforms. But at Warwick, Chiltern Railways have made an effort to cater to the traveler with a modern booking hall (ticket office) that includes a small café serving excelent coffee and hot bacon baps cooked right there while you wait.

The platforms are simple concrete affairs with glass-screened shelters that don’t offer a lot of protection from the elements but the indicator board in the booking office helps to advise when to take the elevator or stairs up to catch the train.

Class 168 diesel multiple units operate the line. Chiltern Railways calls them “Clubman” trains and boasts that they are designed for the business traveler. Certainly at 6:44 a.m. the only travelers seemed to be in suits so the system seems to be well designed for its customers. The cars are light and airy with open vestibules, tables between seats, etc. They operate at speeds up to 100 mph and cover the distance from Warwick to London (about 100 miles) in an hour and a half including three or four stops. The ride is good, mainly due to the fact that these are modern trains running on welded rails.

On my train there were plenty of seats available. It may get a bit busier later in the morning. I shared a four seat table with one other passenger who got on down the line at Bicester North, the last stop before a fast run into London.

It was dark, of course, being January, but after a while the dawn light illuminated some of the scenery and I was able to reminisce the old days when those Kings would bark out their four cylinder rythym as they accelerated out of stations or up the steep Chiltern Hills incline that gives the modern day company its name. We were soon gliding passed outer suburban stations such as Denham and Beaconsfield which are served by commuter stopping trains, then into the northwest suburbs of London. The train slowed through Wembley where the new national stadium is nearing completion and then on into Marylebone Station, one of London’s smaller and more attractive termini. For more details, see this focalplane entry. I glanced up at the time – four minutes early!

The journey home was almost as good, but only because the train was late departing and seemed to travel much slower than the morning train. Even so it made up time, suggesting the timetable may have some slack in it. A train leaving London at 17.55 would be expected to be standing room only but it wasn’t, with plenty of spare seats.

I was a little concerned by some talk I overheard from regular passengers about the level of service. Trains get canceled on this line too, it seems, and even occasionally they send a train out early (which is not good if you are running behind schedule). The none too happy passengers blamed management for the poor running of the trains.

So how does the service compare with the Cotswold Line?

First of all, there was no delay in the morning and a slight delay in the evening. All too often the Cotswold Line suffers from significant delays and cancelations – part of the problem being the single track working northwest of Oxford.

I had several choices of train times – certainly more than on the Cotswold Line. London departures from Warwick Parkway leave at 6:00, 6:44, 7:06, 7:19, 7:43, 8:17, 8:41, etc. There are also more options in the evening, including a later last train (22:10).

The train was comfortable with plenty of space. Compared with the Cotswold line there is not much difference here but because there were fewer people on the Chiltern train it felt a lot more spacious. Much quieter as well.

Station and onboard staff were definitely friendlier and more helpful on the Chiltern train. First Great Western needs a big shake up in this department.

Marylebone Station is closer to Central London than Paddington and is a more pleasant place to wait for a train.

Regular passengers seem to think the Chiltern service needs a big shake up. Interesting that one of them was also an ex-Cotswold Line commuter!

I think I will continue to use Chiltern for the time being and will report again after a few trips have been completed. If anyone from the TOCs reads this, please feel free to contribute to a discussion!

Train Operating Companies and Choice

2006-01-17T13:04:00.000Z

Depending on where you live in the UK, you might be fortunate in having a choice of Train Operating Company (TOC) to get you from A to B. If you do, that can be a good thing. Let me explain.

We live close to the Cotswold Line run by First Great Western. The Cotswold Line has a long history or poor service, starting out as the Oxford, Worcester and Wolverhampton or OW&W which soon became known as the Old Worse & Worse. By the 1960s the Beeching Axe very nearly fell but a glancing blow made the line essentially a single line track. This creates timetabling problems and also limits the frequency of service. With some stations having short platforms the alternative of using longer trains less frequently has resulted in some strange on-train announcements!

Several times recently we have suffered from canceled trains (even though there was no mention of the cancelation on the internet) and this does three things to one's mental state. First, the next train may be 1 or 2 hours away. Second, it fosters little confidence in using a train to connect with an airport, forcing us back on personal transportation, etc. Third, the annual price increases not only raised ticket costs faster than inflation but also cut back on the availability of "money saver" options.

So we decided to visit the neighboring Chiltern Railways station at Warwick Parkway which is a 30 minute drive away (the nearest Cotswold Line station is 15 minutes drive). The ticket office staff were most helpful. With a frequent half hourly service all day this double track main line seems to be progressive and a lot less prone to delays and cancellations. They also have some really good off peak travel bargains.

Well, the proof of the pudding will be in the eating - I bought a ticket for tomorrow - so stay tuned for a report!

The Gulf Coast Eagle Travelogue

2006-01-15T00:11:00.000Z

I have just completed the second railroad travelogue in a week. The Gulf Coast Eagle was a two day event in June, 1995, organized by the Gulf Coast Chapter of the NRHS. Some of my files had gone missing on this event (and the t-shirt with a fine sketch of Union Pacific Challenger 4-6-6-4 No. 3985 on it has long been sent to t-shirt valhalla). So I was fortunate to have the missing blanks filled in by long-time Gulf Coast Chapter members Don Kendall and Bill Waldrop - thanks guys!

I note that there are no excursions planned by Union Pacific for 2006. How sad that nothing much is going on these days.

The Katy Flyer Travelogue

2006-01-13T11:47:00.000Z

A new feature on Focalplane was uploaded this morning. The Katy Flyer was a one day rail excursion from Houston to Smithville, Texas, and back on November 5, 1994.

To go with the travelogue I have also uploaded a pdf file of the original onboard edition of the Gulf Coast Railroader. Be warned, however, this is a large file!

More scanning a prelude to some new Travelogues

2006-01-12T10:31:00.000Z

I am continuing to scan old (up to 20 years old) photos pulled out of storage. Many of these have a railroad motif to go with this railblog and of course they are loaded up onto Flickr.

There are several Union Pacific excursion trains featured that were organized by the Gulf Coast Chapter of the National Railroad Historical Society. Starting with the first of these I plan to do three focalplane travelogues. The text will have both factual details and personal memories of the trips, no doubt mellowed through the course of time. As you will know from reading the previous post, one of these scores as the best trip we have ever made by rail!

There is also enough material to do a travelogue on the Durango and Silverton Railroad in southwest Colorado.

5 Exciting Train Journeys

2006-01-09T19:33:00.000Z

5. The first ride of many we have taken on British Steam Preservation Lines, the Bluebell Railway in 1995

4. Our honeymoon train, from Genoa to Ste Margherita in 1996

3. The first trip we made on Eurostar, from London to Paris in 1995

2. An entire day traveling on the Amtrak California Zephyr from Salt Lake City to Denver in 1998

and, to top the list

1. A day long excursion from Houston to College Station, Texas on the Union Pacific Executive Train hauled by #3985 Challenger, riding in the exclusive Harriman Dome Car, in 1996

The Yank

2006-01-08T21:44:00.000Z

Most posts on the Focalplane Railblog are either US or UK themed. This one manages to combine the two! It's about a steam locomotive, affectionately known as "the Yank", that started life in the US during World War II, was shipped to Europe for the war effort, found its way via Italy and Greece to a freighter bound for England and a complete rebuild.

U.S. Army Transportation Corps Class S-160 was a typical American Consolidation (2-8-0) design freight locomotive, built at the famous Baldwin, ALCO and Lima Works from 1942 to 1945. A total of 2120 locomotives were built. Designed to fit the smaller loading gauge of European railways, it is nonetheless a large locomotive, having the power output not far below the largest British express steam locomotives of the day. The four axled smallish (4' 9") driving wheels undoubtedly gave the locomotive tremendous pulling power on the war time freights, moving large quantities of materiel from port to front line.

The S-160 was first exported to the UK and there is an account of a train of 119 S-160s being dead-hauled from a port in Wales to commissioning workshops.

Soon after D-Day the S-160s left for mainland Europe where they assisted the war effort in exemplary fashion. The simple design aided easy maintenance and it is no surprise that the S-160 became an essential part of the post-war reconstruction of Europe's infrastructure. The design was not without flaws, however, but these were probably attributed to the austerity of the design.

Our locomotive started out life as USATC S-160 Class, Number 3383 and appears to have been constructed in 1944. It may have gone straight to mainland Europe but what is known is that it served for many years with the Italian State Railways before being sold to the Hellenic State Railway of Greece in 1959.

It was found in storage by enthusiasts and this began a long process of repatriating the locomotive to the UK where it was eventually restored to the glory you see in the photos. Along the way, the owners decided to upgrade some of the war-time materials, using stainless steel, for example. This should insure a long life for this particular war horse.

When photographed, the locomotive was painted in the colors of the British Army's Longmoor Military Railway (LMR) and given the number WD 701. I am not sure about the historical accuracy of this re-naming but does it really matter? The LMR was located in Hampshire and was used for training purposes by the Royal Engineers. It closed in 1969. By the way, WD stands for "War Department".

One final item. The owners decided to confer a name on this locomotive in honor of the man who, more than anyone else, necessarily brought the United States into World War II. The very fine brass name plate "Franklin D. Roosevelt" does justice to "the man who understood".

The locomotive is currently out of service, needing routine boiler repairs. But here is a photo of this great engine storming up one of the steep Mid-Hants inclines.

Firing & Driving Experience Course

2006-01-07T12:47:00.000Z

This morning I received my ticket and a letter from the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway for my birthday present from April. Exciting. I have until April 7 to get ready. I have my safety boots (Redwings, the best!) and a "Union Pacific Steam" cap, but I need some cotton (not nylon the letter says) overalls and working gloves. Perhaps Pete will lend me one of his many pairs?

If you are interested in witnessing this event, I am sorry to say that the railway is closed and the train cannot take passengers for insurance reasons. But we will have lunch at the "Harvest Home" pub in Winchcombe and of course you can always stand on a bridge and wave! When not actually firing and driving I hope to be able to take some photos.

Curzon Street Station

2006-01-06T00:02:00.000Z

Or what's left of it after 150 years of basic neglect. This photo is courtesy of Pete Ashton.

The history of Curzon Street deserves a page of its own so I need to get to work. But just in case it doesn't get off the ground soon, at least this photo will round off the recent posts on Birmingham's central stations (New Street, Snow Hill and Moor Street).

But I probably need to go somewhere else next!

Moor Street Station Trivia

2006-01-04T14:57:00.000Z

Having written at length about New Street and Snow Hill, the main-line through stations of Birmingham, here is something on Moor Street, built as a terminus around 1909 for local services to the south and southeast of the city.

Although Snow Hill was a large station (I remember that its platforms seemed to be very long, but then I was quite small at the time) the tunnel under the center of the city restricted train movements and could not be enlarged (it was partly built using a cut-and-cover technique so boring a second shallow tunnel would not be possible). So the original Moor street was built as a terminus to the west of the through lines emerging from the southern end of the Snow Hill Tunnel.

Steam locomotives were used to haul the local passenger services to Leamington Spa and Stratford-upon-Avon and the class used after World War II was the Great Western 56XX Class 0-6-2T tank engine. These seemed to be just as efficient running backwards as forwards, which was just as well, because they spent half their lives running in each direction. This is not unusual for tank engines, of course, but the added reason why these tanks engines were not turned was that the nearest turntable was at Tyseley. So Moor Street Station was equipped with a traverser next to the buffer stops.

When a train pulled into the station, the locomotive uncoupled and moved forward onto the traverser. The traverser then moved the locomotive sideways until it was aligned with the adjacent track. It then steamed back on the adjacent track to be attached to the other end of the train.

The traverser is long gone and will not be replaced. However, the gaps under the platforms are still there and can be seen on my photo of the Station on Flickr. I have added a note to show where you should look.

New Street Station Greeting Card!

2006-01-04T09:49:00.000Z

This photo is of a greeting card I have that shows New Street Station as it was either before or after World War II (probably just before as the roof of the LNWR station was damaged during the war and was dismantled for safety:

New Street Station was, of course, completely renovated in the 1960s. This was due to traffic congestion and the change to overhead electrification. At the same time the original Bull Ring (two words) was destroyed in favor of the 1960s shopping center.

I can remember this view as a child in the post war years and a number of features still haunt my memory. For example, the carriageway between the two halves of the station.

The train shed on the left is the original LNWR station that became the terminus for the London & Birmingham Railway (forcing the closure of Curzon Street). Trains on this side served London Euston, Crewe and all points north west of Crewe. The roof was, at one time, the largest span in the world (see the previous post for pictures inside the station).

The train shed on the left is the original Midland Railway station and was added later. The curved platforms had to fit into the landscape and the tunnels at either end of the station. This half served a cross country route from Derby to Bristol and set the scene for the modern day rail system that is run by Virgin Trains.

The elevated cross roads in the foreground still exists today despite all the changes that have taken place. The roads involved are Navigation Street and Hill Street. Here is the Google Map of the area centered on the intersection.

The church on the skyline is St. Martins in the Bull Ring. The Birmingham City trams and buses are very much in evidence, the dark blue and cream paint scheme being standard. The locomotives in the foreground look like Midland 4F 0-6-0 class locomotives but they could well be 4-4-0 passenger engines.

Finally, the 1960s Grade II listed New Street Station signal box is now located within the limits of the picture and would hide some of the tracks in the foreground.

Nostalgia Trip

2006-01-03T22:05:00.000Z

I have just spent a happy hour going through this site which is titled "Rail and Birmingham". Most of the photos are post-Beeching era and therefore tend to show stations with bus shelters on them (not to mention the modern hell hole that is New Street Station!) But there are also some fine archived postcards and photos that remind us that Birmingham was, in many ways, the railway center of the world in the mid-1800s. The two first long distance railways, the London & Birmingham and the Grand Junction Railway both set their sights on the manufacturing heart of Britain.

The original station building, Curzon Street, was soon replaced by New Street and here are two links to postcards that show what a fine structure it was:

Link 1 - New Street Station, 1903 Postcard (photo)

Link 2 - New Street Station, Unknown Date, re-touched Postcard

Not to be outdone, the Great Western Railway, having been denied access to New Street, built Snow Hill Station and topped it off with a fine hotel:

Link 3 - Snow Hill Station, early 20th Century

Nothing is left of either of these structures. A few bits of Snow Hill, however, have found their way into the renovated Moor Street Station which is seen in this photo from the focalplane Flickr set:

Flickr Groups

2006-01-03T12:59:00.000Z

While Flickr is a wonderful concept with a powerful amount of user-freedom built in, this does lend itself to the system being a little unwieldy at times. Because any Pro user can set up a Group or Pool, potentially there can be as many groups as Pro users. I have selected Railroads as my primary group but there are several others that make sense, such as the recently started British Preservation Railways Group.

Some Flickr members seem to post individual photos to as many as twenty groups. I am not sure this is really in the spirit of Flickr but so be it. My philosphy will be to add selected images to the more specialist groups that I decide to join. These will the "best of" and "model specific" shots that should have overall appeal.

I may eventually start a new group for the Gloucestershire and Warwickshire Steam Railway if no-one else does first.

Finally, most uploads to Flickr probably fit the "right brain" psychology of being creative and artistic. Many of my railroad pics fit the "left brain" psychology in that they form a logical and factual archive. If I can add "right brain" nuances to a railroad photo, all to the good, but they won't always be there!

New Year Resolution

2006-01-01T15:50:00.000Z

Today we visited the Gloucestershire & Warwickshire Railway at Toddington where I signed on as a member and informed them that I want to be a volunteer on the permanent way. The current major project is extending the line north from Toddington to Broadway and I think I might just be useful! I will also pen a report here from time to time even though the extension project has its own website. While at the GWR we took a few photos that have been uploaded to Flickr. Here's the best of the bunch (click on the photo to access the rest):

More on the Private Business Car "Intrepid"

2005-12-31T18:16:00.000Z

I just uploaded a sequence of four shots that show the Intrepid being attached to the eastbound Sunset limited at Houston's Amtrak Station. A useful addendum to this earlier post. Here's the first of four, click on it to see the others:

Southern Railway Q1 Class

2005-12-31T15:40:00.000Z

The Southern Railway Q1 Class 0-6-0 locomotive is an odd looking beast - all function, very little style. As Wikipedia points out, there is a very good reason for this.

The picture above was taken in 1995 at Horsted Keynes Station on the Bluebell Railway. It shows the austerity design that was forced on wartime Britain. The forty Q1s became an important factor in the preparation for D-Day as the Southern Railway had never focused on heavy freight operations until this time of need. The class has the distinction of being the most powerful 0-6-0 ever built for British railways. The Southern Railway's Chief Mechanical Engineer at the time was Oliver Bulleid who was also instrumental in designing the "Merchant Navy" and "West Country/Battle of Britain" semi-streamlined pacifics.

Only one of the forty survived into preservation and this was the first, numbered C1 by the Southern Railway, then 33001 by British Railways (post 1948). In 1995 it was working on the Bluebell Railway but it is now back with its owner, the National Railway Museum in York.

Here is another view of the locomotive, stored at Sheffield Park, the MPD for the Bluebell Railway.

Stone Rails

2005-12-30T18:17:00.000Z

In France they call it the "Chemin de Fer", in America the "Iron Road". On Dartmoor, in southwest England, they managed without any iron! The long abandoned granite quarries near Haytor were far from the coast and onward transport by sea to London (where the granite was used to build the London Bridge that is now in Arizona). So a special granite railway was constructed to allow wagons to be sent downhill. Horses pulled the empties back up. Much of the flanged track is still visible on the moors. Unlike most railways, the track had the flange, not the wagon wheels.

Up on the moors the tracks diverge to the five quarries and switches can be seen in several places:

In order to maintain a reasonable downhill gradient, cuttings were also made:

Here is more information on the English Heritage website

Private Business Car "Intrepid"

2005-12-30T15:48:00.000Z

This fine "varnish" privately owned business car is based in Houston and may be seen in a spur off of the Amtrak Station. However, it is also quite likely to be anywhere on the system as it is often hired out. The picture below was taken after it was detatched from the eastbound Sunset Limited on which it had been riding from Los Angeles.

The details of the car are featured on this website. As with most private business cars, there is a master suite, a guest suite, accommodation for the crew and, as in this case, an open platform. A better way to travel must be hard to find. Unfortunately the costs are high. A friend of ours, Jim Leuders, makes a living working on private cars around the States. He can be gone for a month at a time. He says it is hard work, cleaning, cooking, serving, communicating with the train crew, etc.

Port Terminal Railroad Association, Houston

2005-12-29T22:45:00.000Z

This is an important "short line" with a roster of 24 modern switchers, the Mk1500D. The PTRA manages transfers of freight in and around the Port of Houston. The four photos uploaded starting here show the unique profile of these locomotives as they work around the South Wayside Yard. Here is a sample:

Exchanging Tokens on the Mid-Hants Railway

2005-12-29T21:46:00.000Z

One of the facts of life on single track railroad lines is that trains going in either direction use the same track! So head on collisions must be avoided. The traditional method for insuring that only one train is moving on any particular "block" is to give the engineer the key to the road ahead. The key is called a token and it looks like a loop of metal. This is so the token can be handed off and on a slowly moving locomotive. Here are three photos showing the exchanging of tokens on the Mid-Hants Railway. The locomotive has the token for traveling from Alton to Ropley. The signalman's assistant (he isn't dressed like a signalman!) has the token for the next block, Ropley to Alresford. As the locomotive, Southern Railway "Battle of Britain" Class 4-6-2 Pacific number 34051 Winston Churchill, approaches Ropley station, the two tokens are exchanged:

This is a good shot of the approaching train. A few seconds later and you can easily make out the two tokens:

And here is the act of making the exchange. The upper token is being accepted by the fireman on the footplate while the lower token is being given up to the signalman:

Most British steam preservation lines are single track and they all use this system as it is the most authentic to the period of steam haulage.

The Mid-Hants Line is also known as the Watercress Line. It runs from Alton to Alresford in northeast Hampshire and connects with the national system at Alton Station. It therefore has easy access from London Waterloo. Their website carries all the information you need to know. I rate it one of the better British Preservation Lines, basically because of its mainline character allowing the use of big locomotives and the steep inclines that test the mettle of engineer (driver) and fireman:

London Termini

2005-12-29T20:36:00.000Z

About ten years ago I started a photographic project - an essay of London stations with an emphasis on the termini that serve the lines radiating out from the capital. I started at the northwest corner with Paddington and then came Marylebone and Euston. At Euston I hit on a serious problem - security said that I could not photograph railway property. So the project foundered with less than 20% of the stations covered. As I was only visiting London occasionally it seemed that applying for a special pass might not be easy so I dropped the project. Here are a few images from the pre-privatization era (c. 1995).

Paddington Station was designed by Isombard Kingdom Brunel as the grand terminus for his broad gauge Great Western Railway. Like most things designed by this great engineer the station still stands but it had a narrow escape in the 1960s when developers wanted to remove the train shed roof and replace it with a concrete office block! Here's the recently restored hotel facade:

The main train shed looks magnificent from the footbridge half way down the platforms:

The next photo is of a little-noticed detail, the station master's office. This is no longer an important part of the station but in the early days of the Great Western, the Station Master stood on the balcony and timed the arrival and departure of the trains. Any engineers that were late could expect a severe ticking off from this important gentleman!

The diesel electric locomotive in the foreground is a High Speed 125 train set that forms the mainstay of modern Great Western inter-city services.

Marylebone Station is a charming small terminus that was originally built by the Great Central Railway. Today it is the home of Chiltern Railways and as such forms the London terminus of what was once the Great Western route to England's second city, Birmingham.

The train shed is small and quite different from that at Paddington:

The concourse has been restored and includes a small supermarket for commuters:

The railings outside reveal the true origin of the station with GCR prominently cast into the design!

Euston Station was built as a testament to the Victorian Age with huge doric columns announcing that this might just have been London's most impressive station. It was pulled down in the 1960s in order to make way for progress and electrification of the West Coast Main Line! Originally the London end of the London & Birmingham Railway, the world's first true inter-city link, it does have a vestige of its former glory at Curzon Street in Birmingham though this has been an empty structure for many years.

Lovely, isn't it?

The other end of the station shows the electrified system with dated electric locomotives and stock:

It was at this point that I was told to put my camera away. But outside the station I saw this statue of Robert Stephenson, the father of British railways:

Marathon, Texas

2005-12-29T20:22:00.000Z

The original Southern Pacific's Texas & New Orleans Railroad (T&ONRR) division spanned both Texas and Louisiana and, because of anti-trust laws in Texas, the SP ran the division almost as a separate railroad. Marathon, located at 4,000 feet elevation in West Texas, was an outpost of the railroad, a spot where water was available in the desert and an ideal place for replenishing ice on the many perishable freight trains that moved California produce east.

Today the Union Pacific owns the rails and more and more UP yellow is seen as the motive power across this, the southernmost US transcontinental railroad. There is not much left other than the track and a grade crossing. But the line still supports the Amtrak Sunset Limited three times a week in each direction and of course there are those long drag freights that disturb the sleepy town every few hours or so.

The original station at Marathon is now a museum. A few years ago it was stripped down and on blocks in a temporary lot having been moved from its original location:

Another relic of steam days is the foundation for the water tower. This concrete structure can be found a few yards east of the grade crossing in the center of the town:

Here is a shot of a stationary freight some miles east of Marathon with the leading locomotive showing the final SP colors:

I have more photos of freight trains passing through Marathon but they haven't been located and scanned yet.

Introducing the Focalplane Railroad Blog

2005-12-29T20:07:00.000Z

This blog has come about as a result of my activity on Flickr, in particular the project to load as many railroad photos as I can find. Why would I do this? Well, there are a lot of folk who are interested in railroads and there are many who model them in incredible detail. Photos help to get it right. These photos would be sitting in a box in storage if it were not for Flickr and Blogger!

The text of this blog will probably not keep up with the photos but the plan is to write up various locations, in particular private restoration railroads, excursions, etc. which will be searchable and thus provide a reasonably good resource.

And it's a way for me to get things down on "paper" before all my brain cells wander off.