Surrey
Meeting Reports
Tuesday 13th December 2011
Level Crossings
John Tilly - Director Señalización Ltd
John began his railway career 43 years ago as an indentured apprentice on railway power signal engineering with London Underground, progressing through various roles in the industry before joining HMRI for 9½ years and eventually setting up his own railway industry consultancy business in 2009.
John set the whole subject in context with a brief historical outline of level crossings, with the relevant railway acts from the earliest in 1839 right up until the present day. Then came a list of serious UK level crossing incidents with fatalities. In general there are between 12 and 13 fatalities a year although this reduced to only 4 in 2010. These are mainly pedestrians and even 4 is too many but this gives the UK one of the best safety records in the world for level crossings although he was unable to give any clear reason why. When compared with road fatalities, which barely make the headlines, this is a very low figure.
He showed examples of the many and varied types of level crossings giving excellent details of the workings of and responsibility for each. It was interesting to note that even the slightest mistake or out of date signage for example, may give a motorist or pedestrian an excuse for not being prosecuted over a level crossing incident where their carelessness or disregard for safety is a prime contributing factor. Moving to the present day, John presented good arguments, including both safety and cost effectiveness, for restricting building new level crossings and closing some existing ones by finding better alternatives. He explained how railway systems engineering is a good example of the need for input from many sources such as both railways and highways and how this affects the planning and running of level crossings. There were some excellent examples, with good detail, of how lack of knowledge and forethought can cause tremendous problems both for the railways and for road users at level crossings. It clearly takes a lot of careful planning and correct maintenance to get it right and he illustrated how important it is for everyone to work together to this end.
John moved on to some examples from abroad for comparison, as well as highlighting how we can learn from each other using both education and technical innovations that are being trialled elsewhere. But to make the safety point what better than a quote from an Australian level crossing sign “Your family won’t have to scatter your remains. The train does that for you.”
After some classic illustrations of the apparent complete disregard for the potential dangers by some members of the public, both from the UK and abroad and using still pictures as well as some very entertaining but scary video footage, he showed that the UK still has one of the best safety records in the world for level crossings although he made the point that the 3½ years he spent involved with the aftermath of the Ufton incident with its fatalities in 2004 is not something he ever wishes to repeat again.
The evening ended with a lively question and answer session and the vote of thanks was given by branch member Lewis Orchard who highlighted John’s expertise and what an enlightening, informative and entertaining presentation he had given.
Tuesday 22nd November 2011
Thirty years of the TGV
Mike Bunn
Michael kindly stepped in when our advertised speaker unfortunately had to withdraw.
He began with the reasons for the development which were mainly problems of insufficient capacity on the existing rail network and displayed a map of the railway network in France as illustration showing where the worst ‘pinch points’ were at the time. Next came details of the initial planning which included discussions about whether existing lines should be upgraded or new ones built.
It was decided that a brand new dedicated high speed (HS) line should be built and the government effectively signed a blank cheque – a remarkable level of support and financial investment by the French state. The French government also ensured that as much as possible would be sourced from within France and the development of the Train à Grand Vitesse (TGV) was already in process with the first prototype, developed by Alsthom and SNCF, completed in 1976 at the same time as the trackwork began on the first stage of the Paris to Lyon HS line - from Vergigny to Sathonay just north of Lyon. Decisions had been taken for specifications for the new HS lines as it was already clear that conventional lines would be inadequate for running trains at the high speeds specified for the new TGVs – 270kph. A new signalling system would be required, as well as integration with the rest of the network, which meant that the TGVs would have to incorporate both conventional and high speed signalling systems. The new trains would also have to give a quiet and comfortable ride for passengers and this was achieved with aircraft style seating and even the 30 year old TGVs are very comfortable. Other technical challenges with integration into the existing networks included designing the TGVs for dual voltage operation - 1500V DC and 25kV AC.
Such good progress was made that the first section was open for public service in 1981. Success was enhanced by properly training all staff working on the new services, working on passenger familiarisation and the introduction of a computerised ticketing system which was generally successful. The 116 km second section of the new line between Vergigny and Lieusaint was delayed to enable the A5 autoroute to be constructed at the same time to avoid two lots of disruptive building works, and brought the HS line to within 22 km of the centre of Paris and the Gare de Lyon railway station. This section was opened in 1983.
Each new section of HS line has brought its own technical and engineering challenges and SNCF seem to love good publicity and have set up and succeeded in achieving a number of world speed and other records along the way. There are now nearly 2000 km of HS lines and new generations of TGV rolling stock with capacity further enhanced on many services using specially designed double deck stock.
It was interesting to note that development of the TGV and HS network has meant that some other aspects of railways in France have, perhaps, not had as much attention as they might otherwise have had. It was also noted that there will be no more blank cheques for future development and changes to the funding arrangements will probably mean that further developments are more difficult to finance although there are still grand plans for the future.
With a good mixture of history, illustrations, maps, technical information and details of problems overcome, we were brought right up to date. An excellent, comprehensive and informative presentation.
ILR 28-11-2011
Tuesday 25th October 2011
Strictly Freight Only
Brian Ringer
Having promised us an evening with no passenger trains, hence the title, Brian began by giving a brief outline of his railway career beginning with an early interest in freight operations as a boy growing up in North London living near the Lea Valley main line observing a steady procession of freight trains passing through. The first photograph shown was taken when he was aged about 10 which he described as not being the best quality but of historical significance as it shows a Thomson Houston Class 15. Brian gave the technical details of the class, the problems with it and the attempts to overcome them. He followed with an outline of his career with BR having joined them as a management trainee after completing a degree in economics, and went on to talk about how rail freight has developed over the years and changed enormously in that time.
We heard about old working practices and the difficulties in improving productivity especially when outdated legislation meant that it was practically impossible for BR to run a viable freight operation and compete for business on equal terms with road haulage particularly in the late 1950s and early 1960s. The second slide showed a local trip freight and Brian described it as a licence to lose money as it comprised one locomotive, 4 wagons and a brake van using 3 staff. All this was just to get the 4 wagons from a local yard to the marshalling yard in a way almost unchanged since the 19th century – hardly good economic practice.
What was BR going to do about it? A modernisation plan in the late 1950s included building larger yards to enable a greater throughput to try and bring costs down. This failed as the markets had moved on before any improvements could be made. Then there were also problems with poor choice of new diesel locomotives to use as a replacement for steam. He went on to explain how Dr Beeching tried to make the rail freight business more economically viable in the 1960s by analysing what services made money and which did not, for example block train operation was successful but many other services operated at a loss. Interestingly, block working was not a new idea and Brian also described other rail freight practices that were successful although not entirely new ideas.
There were some particularly interesting slides of some of the most successful and innovative ideas to improve the business including specialised freight wagons. A nice example of this were the car transporters which came with an entertaining and technically very interesting description of their development and improvement over the years – a very successful innovation from within BR itself. With new ideas to promote the business through the 1980s and improvements in productivity, there were still external factors that could not be avoided like the closure of factories that had previously used rail to transport their products. The next big milestone was privatisation and what has happened since then to railway freight services.
As well as being very knowledgeable, Brian is an excellent story teller. With some serious failures and spectacular successes along the way, we were shown the changes, right up to the current growing demand for rail freight services. This was not a collection of nostalgic and historic photographs but a first class education in social and economic history and showed how the fortunes of the railways were, and still are, very closely linked with the wider political, social and economic situation.
Saturday 1st October 2011
Visit to Wessex Integrated Control Centre (WICC)
On Saturday 1 October 2011 a small group of 14 mainly Surrey Branch members enjoyed an interesting visit to the Wessex Integrated Control Centre at Waterloo Station. This is jointly operated by South West Trains (SWT) and Network Rail (NR) and there is also either an engineer or technician from Cubic Transportation Systems Limited, the company that supplied the gateline machines for South West Trains, in case of any faults. We had a comprehensive visit explaining all aspects of the work done here including signalling systems, ensuring the trains run in and out on time, what happens when there are problems and the ‘phone a friend’ hotline from SWT. This was an excellent demonstration of the benefits of SWT and NR working together to the benefit of both. The complex control and integration was made to appear very easy by the skill and professionalism of all the staff.
The RCTS group waiting for the start of the visit Irene Rabbitts
Our thanks go to branch member Geoff Noakes for arranging the necessary permissions for us for the visit.
Following the visit to the WICC, six members continued with a tour of some of the lines from Marylebone and Paddington to see recent changes on these lines. Arriving at Marylebone underground station it was noted that the original name ‘Great Central’ is still displayed in the tiles on the platforms. The group then travelled by Chiltern Trains to West Ruislip, followed by the Central Line to Greenford, First Great Western to Ealing Broadway, West Drayton, and Heathrow Connect from Hayes back into Paddington. After a welcome tea-break on ‘The Lawn’ the tour continued on the Bakerloo Line to Willesden Junction and then by London Overground to Clapham Junction before the journey home. All trains were on time and the quick connections were easily made until the arrival at Willesden Junction. Here there was a 15 minute delay on the Stratford to Clapham Junction train, which was full on arrival at Willesden. At Shepherds Bush, Olympia and West Brompton there were many more passengers trying to crowd on and few getting off. The conditions were probably worse than on weekday peak hours, and getting off the train and off platform 2 at Clapham Junction was a slow process.
Marylebone Bakerloo Line, northbound platform (towards Queens Park) - viewed as the train leaves the platform Alan Norris
Our thanks to Surrey Branch Chairman Alan Norris for another very interesting and successful tour of some of the lines around London.
Tuesday 27th September 2011
The Kings Cross Redevelopment Project
Tom Fernley / Giles Bayram – Network Rail
The new season of indoor meetings got off to an excellent start in the new venue with a presentation by two speakers from Network Rail. After introducing themselves, Tom and Giles gave some background history to King’s Cross, then setting it in the modern context of current railway projects within central London including Thameslink, Crossrail, Farringdon, Waterloo, Blackfriars, London Bridge and Kings Cross. Its neighbour St Pancras was also mentioned as a now successfully completed project. The original railway station (Grade I listed) was built by the Great Northern Railway in time for use by exhibitors at the Great Exhibition of 1851 although it was not open to passengers until 1852, with the original façade designed by Lewis Cubitt being added in 1853. Even then it was just a façade with the departures entrance to the West and the arrivals to the East and there were problems with this layout from the very beginning. There were problems too with the construction of the train shed roof as the laminated timber beams were badly affected by the atmosphere within and as a consequence the roof began to spread. The office block to the east was built as ‘ballast’ to stop the spread and a few years later the timber was replaced with wrought iron. Various other ‘fixes’ have been done over the years and major redevelopment has been considered for a long time including plans to demolish the Great Northern Hotel (Grade II listed) – another King’s Cross landmark.
The current redevelopment, covering a much wider area than just the railway station, has been split up into seven carefully linked projects to ensure as little disruption as possible to passengers and rail services and includes preserving the hotel in conjunction with its present owners as this building, while an integral part of the area, is not owned by Network Rail. Another problem to be addressed is the planning consent for the 1973 southern concourse built on at the front and blocking off the view of much of the original façade. This structure is now inadequate and was only given temporary planning consent to be reviewed annually. The local authority refused to keep granting a renewal which is another reason for the brand new concourse area now taking shape on the western side - a modern rather beautiful ‘organic’ shape and style that works very well with the original buildings. The huge area around the station (mainly to the north and east) is also being redeveloped in partnership with several developers, the local authority and all the other stakeholders of which there are many. The challenges involved, the careful planning to ensure as little disruption as possible, the timescales and tight budgets were all mentioned before Tom and Giles systematically went through each of the seven projects including their own involvement. The presentation was illustrated with both historic and modern pictures and with an interesting piece of time lapse photography to show progress on the new concourse construction. The final project will be the public square in front of the façade and work on this is scheduled to begin the day after the 2012 Paralympics closes.
This much loved ‘old lady of a building’ is being restored and brought right up to date, in consultation with English Heritage, to sort out all the current problems in the best way possible and deliver a station fit for the 21st century.
The evening finished with an equally interesting question and answer session and the vote of thanks was given by society member Geoff Brockett.
ILR – 4-10-2011
Saturday 16th July 2011
Visit to the Romney, Hythe and Dymchurch Railway
Although the weather started off badly with heavy rain and wind, Saturday 16 July saw a small group of Surrey Branch members and guests meet up for an interesting visit to the 15” gauge Romney, Hythe & Dymchurch Railway.
Most of the group had arrived early to explore independently but the formal visit conducted by RHDR volunteer Andy Nash began with a ride on the 12.08 from New Romney to Dungeness hauled by 4-6-2 Pacific No 1 Green Goddess. After an excellent lunch of locally caught fish and chips, some of the group decided to work this off by climbing up to the top of Dungeness Lighthouse. The view was literally breathtaking and it was an interesting experience going outside at the top given the strong wind which resulted in almost horizontal stinging rain and, unsurprisingly, some of the group declined this delight.
No 12 John Southland at Hythe hauling the evening heritage train (with Heritage Group headboard) with passenger David Newsom on the platform Andy Davies
The return on the 14.00 service was behind No 14 Captain Howey – a Bo-Bo diesel hydraulic from 1989; and on arrival back at New Romney we enjoyed a comprehensive visit around the workshops, sheds and maintenance facilities where Andy was ably assisted by RHDR volunteer Robin. As well as seeing all the locomotives and rolling stock not in use on the day, there was a running commentary explaining current activities and giving some of the historical background to what was on display. Also seen in steam were 4-8-2 Mountain Class No 6 Samson and 4-6-2 Pacific No 2 Northern Chief. Other locomotives not in use on the day were seen under cover in the sheds including dismantled 4-6-2 Pacific No 9 Winston Churchill in a number of locations. This was indeed privileged access with excellent explanation, and questions being answered freely. Afterwards there was a little time to visit the model railway exhibition in the café building before joining the evening heritage train by which time, luckily, the weather had cleared.
This special service is run by the RHDR heritage group in two parts – on this occasion Part II from New Romney to Hythe and back – which was preceded by a plentiful buffet. The service was hauled by No 12 John Southland – an earlier example, dating from 1983, of the same type of Bo-Bo diesel hydraulic as No 14 Captain Howey – hauling two coaches and the bar car Gladys which was just large enough for the entire complement of passengers and the three members of the heritage group in the characters of Mr Gresley, Mr Greenly and Captain Howey for the evening. There have been many changes over the years since the railway was officially opened on 16 July 1927 and each of the stops en route was accompanied by interesting descriptions of the historical significance of the sites and eccentricities of the founders, and brought much more of the background of the railway to life.
All too soon we arrived back at New Romney to finish the buffet and return home. An excellent, informative and entertaining visit and our thanks go to Andy and all the other volunteers who looked after us so well all day and into the evening. This is a fascinating working railway well worth visiting.
Tuesday 24th May 2011
Branch AGM followed by Double Bill
Following a brief AGM the evening was devoted to presentations from two members.
Graham Cartland-Glover gave a fascinating insight into his long involvement with the Ffestiniog Railway and more recently the Welsh Highland Railway. As a teenager he lived in Solihull and using his bicycle and staying at youth hostels he was able to get his first contact with the Welsh narrow gauge railways. Later he lived in Liverpool, and he and his family made an annual trip to see and help as a volunteer on the Ffestiniog Railway. Graham was an architect and town planner and he used his professional expertise to provide guidance and draw up plans for the various station buildings on the reconstructed Welsh Highland Railway. Dinas station was his first project where the original WHR building was restored. At other stations he was commissioned to draw up plans for new station buildings appropriate to the surroundings. Graham has been involved with landscaping at Waunfawr and Rhyd Ddu stations, where he has designed and laid out the garden plots on the platforms. The WHR has an ‘adopt a station’ policy and Graham now maintains the station gardens at Rhyd Ddu during his regular trips to the WHR. Graham also showed pictures of the K1 locomotive and various coaches on which he worked during their restoration for use on the WHR. Altogether it was a most interesting talk which explained Graham’s title ‘Ffestiniog and Welsh Highland – why go so far to enjoy yourself?’
The second presentation was ‘Addlestone to Beijing by train’ when Irene Rabbitts showed pictures taken during her trip with husband Andy Davies in 2010 across Europe and Siberia to China. Their travel itinerary was planned and booked independently. From their first train (a South West Trains Desiro at Addlestone, their local station) to arrival at Beijing a multitude of different trains and locomotives were photographed. A wait at Brussels Midi provided an opportunity to capture the wide variety of SNCB trains using that station. Later photos were shown of the bogie change operation which takes place at the Poland – Belarus border (and also later at the Chinese border). This was a slick operation where the coaches are lifted on jacks in a long shed, and the new and old bogies are pulled in and out with cables. Photos of some of the ornate Moscow underground stations were taken during a two day stopover. On their journey on the Trans-Siberian railway they took photos of many locomotives and trains at the various stops. Except at one station where there was a ‘jobsworth official’, they did not encounter any hindrance in taking photographs. The interior of the Mongolian Railway restaurant car was particularly ornate. Irene’s presentation provided a good insight into what is one of the ‘must do’ journeys in the world.
Lewis Orchard gave the vote of thanks to both Graham and Irene for their enjoyable presentations.
Tuesday 19th April 2011
Copyright BR - the work of the BR photographic unit
John Goss - Former BR photographer
John started with a brief introduction on the history of railway photography and went on to explain the reasons for BR (British Railways) producing their own photographic records - originally as an insurance policy and to confirm that works had been done - which was still the case at privatisation. They also took photographs for promotional purposes and of things that went wrong.
John joined the railway in 1965 after steam locomotives became more of an interest than studying to be a solicitor and his first photograph was taken in the early 1960s, of 1424 at Gloucester, on his sister’s Bantam Colour Snap camera. A friend introduced him to the photographic unit at Paddington and, following an interview with Edgar Ansty of British Transport Films (BTF) fame, he joined the accounts department while waiting for a vacancy in the photographic department which he succeeded in joining at Paddington two months later. At that time the old stables were filled with cardboard boxes containing glass plate negatives, some as large as 15” x 12”. There were 73 photographers, 9 of whom were based at Paddington and initially he was a ‘tea boy’ before becoming assistant to one of the photographers. In due course the BR Board at Marylebone centralised the photographic unit reducing the number of photographers to 52. The plan was to eventually dispense with the unit altogether and outsource the work and by 1985 there were only 5 photographers left: 3 at York, 1 in Glasgow and John at Croydon. At privatisation John left the railways and became a freelance photographer.
Most of the photographs shown were copyright BR with the negatives now the property of the NRM. The photographers had ‘all installation’ track passes and could photograph whatever was happening on the railway and the photographs were not normally pre-arranged. After 10 years at Marylebone, John joined the Engineering Photographic Unit at Waterloo which was eventually absorbed into the BR Public Relations Department.
After the introduction John divided the main part of the presentation into sections including operations, Railnews, Sealink News, engineering, permanent way and privatisation. One of the earliest photographs showed a steam locomotive running under the newly commissioned overhead electrification on the West Coast Main Line, and the wiring train installing the overhead catenary. He also showed one of the ‘tricks of the trade’ – an electric loco slightly out of focus to give the appearance of speed. Sometimes they had to work with models as in the example of ‘happy families’ at Euston - not his favourite work as the models tended to have attitude! Highlighting the contrast with current regulation came a photograph showing smoking in the waiting room at Glasgow – definitely not to be seen today. Also in this section was Willesden Freightliner depot by moonlight – the first professional photograph taken by John on his own and published.
Of interest was the test coach IRIS showing internal and external views with lighting from the unit illuminating the tunnel where the coach was located. John likes working at night and, as a lot of the engineering work took place at night, this was reflected in the photographs shown. Next came Class 252 on test at Derby and on the main line near Pangbourne. During the HST development he was visiting Derby about once a fortnight and he also showed the APT-E under test on the mainline as well as a photograph of Class 252 and APT-E together at Swindon, the only occasion this occurred and a unique opportunity as there had been no official notification – gained by a chance piece of information at the station and well worth missing his connection to get the shot. Penzance HST depot was photographed each month during its construction and John would take his own photographs in his spare time, walking the whole line between Penzance and Plymouth during that particular building programme. At the end of this section John included pictures of HST carriages being build at Derby Litchurch Lane, the design department mock-ups of carriage interiors and finally, almost the entire BTF staff in a Mk.2 coach - instead of using models.
The Sealink News section began with Motorail on the Fishguard line, followed by two Seaspeed SRN.4 hovercraft at Dover and publicity photographs for Sealink including the South of France. Other photographs of interest were of a Class 33 on the Weymouth Quay Tramway, the launching of St George at Swan Hunter’s Yard and more publicity work with some excellent night shots taken on the Channel Islands where all the work was done on foot as there were no expenses to be had to pay for a hire car. An article “Know Your Ships” included scenes of cars being loaded and unloaded on the Isle of Man. As the ferry had broken down there was time to spare which John used to photograph the Isle of Man railways for himself. Sealink News sometimes contained pages of special offers including one for swimsuits where the models were photographed in February but luckily the goose bumps did not show in the final pictures.
Under Railnews royalty was photographed whenever they went by train and John showed a number of examples like Ivor Warburton greeting the Queen at Eastleigh and Princess Anne presenting the best station awards in 1987. Then there were the celebrity photographs such as Ginger Rogers at Southampton - one of the last stars to arrive by steamship to perform in London. A cinema coach was attached to the special train from London and John was to photograph the reporters watching Top Hat and Tails but there were only 4 of them! There were good publicity photographs of naming ceremonies and other special occasions including the Airtour Suisse at Gatwick Airport Station. It was also not unknown for photographs to be altered before final printing to get an otherwise impossible picture.
A small technical hitch when changing carousels gave an opportunity for questions and answers before continuing with John’s speciality of photographs taken from a height and if he can climb something to attain a higher vantage point he will. For example when HS1 was being built he climbed a lighting tower to get his photographs and did so on a monthly basis. However, he learned to beware of kestrels that like to nest in lighting towers. Work included being sent out to photograph accidental damage and, more seriously, the wrong arch falling down during bridge demolition and replacement works at Lewisham – unfortunately resulting in two fatalities. In later years there were more restrictions on publication.
Engineering showed interesting scenes both from an historical and an engineering perspective including the Brighton Station throat remodelling where John had gone to photograph the signal box panel being lifted out. The job took longer than expected and was not helped by the worsening weather conditions. Further photographs showed the impressive Selhurst Depot lighting, Clayton Tunnel before and after restoration, ballast packing in the Severn Tunnel with Kango hammers and Tilley lights, and how not to light a Tilley light.
The penultimate section on Permanent Way began with sleeper work at Redbridge, followed by the West Highland Line near Currour, the laying of prefabricated track panels at Headcorn, laying of conductor rail, ballast cleaning and thermite welding and, back to John’s speciality of heights, the weather vain on top of Cannon Street Station Tower accessed by climbing a vertical ladder with Gordon Pettitt. Of historical interest again was the Waterloo And City Line stock at Derby and the Isle of Wight 1938 tube stock in NSE livery. Moving to Wales showed the Snowdon Mountain Railway with three days of official photography for an educational film strip and a visit to Vale of Rheidol Railway taken as publicity photographs towards the end of BR. Final photographs included a model of the new Queenstown Road Flyover to allow Eurostar into Waterloo, a site meeting at Hook in a field of cows, and a signal in the middle of the track at Bickley Junction where the track had been relaid around the existing signal which was still in use, and the Atlantic Road Bridge at Brixton being rebuilt for Eurostar. The rebuilding of Chelsea Bridge as one of a series of 50 being rebuilt meant many weekends out photographing them. Also shown was the building in progress of Waterloo International and the section finished with photographs of St Pancras and the interior of the Midland Hotel.
The final section on privatisation was very short with a misspelled parking fine sign, a steam special at Marylebone headed by 46229 and taken from a signal gantry, a DMU with bad exhaust, and Stonebridge Park PRDC. The very final pictures – a sleeping cat in Pulborough signal box and a young John with his cameras working out in the field.
An excellent presentation showing some fascinating and possibly unique railway photographs with a coherent commentary bringing it all to life. Working for the BR photographic unit gave John and his colleagues unrivalled access to all areas and much that was shown is of significant historical value. A very interesting and informative evening on a more unusual aspect of railway photography.
The vote of thanks was given by branch member Adrian Palmer.
ILR/APD 24/4/2011
Tuesday 22nd March 2011
American Wanderings
Gordon Davies - RCTS Branch Liaison Secretary
Gordon Davies needs no introduction to most RCTS members and to use his own words, up until 1994 he was ‘not interested in foreign muck” - that is until he saw an advertisement for a holiday in the USA including the Californian Zephyr (train) and others. It looked interesting and so he decided to go and have a look for himself. This was just the start of an on-going love affair with the USA, its peoples and trains and last August’s visit was his twenty second. As part of a brief introduction Gordon displayed a map of the USA showing the railway lines and explained how the presentation would move around the country finishing up on the Californian coast.
There have been many changes over the years since his first visit and many company names have either changed or disappeared. Currently the majority of rail traffic is freight with some limited passenger services and, perhaps somewhat in contrast to the UK, they do not snigger at railway enthusiasts in the USA although they do make jokes on occasion. One of the first photographs showed the meeting up of the Central Pacific Railroad with the Union Pacific on 10 May 1869 which effectively opened up the country by providing a truly transcontinental railway. This was the first of a number of interesting historical facts included in the evening although most of the presentation concentrated on more recent years and the many changes since 1994. There were photographs to illustrate such as Boston South station in 1999 with electrification just going in where services had been purely diesel up until then. Note was made of the restrictions on taking photographs on Amtrak stations unless you happen to be one of their passengers. Further pictures of locomotives on the commuter traffic in Boston showed that the windscreens were covered in heavy grilles to combat the problems of vandalism – the problem is obviously not unique to any one country. Elsewhere he described the variety of vehicles in use on the commuter services and an example of Newhaven, Connecticut where previously locomotives would have been changed part way through the journey whereas now they run-through to Boston as the electrification has been extended and the changeover is no longer required..
Photographs followed of different classes of locomotives including the HHP8 8000hp used by Amtrak. Impressively large though these are, they are being phased out as reliability is not good enough. Then came an FL9 ACBM – a diesel-electric locomotive of classic US diesel shape. The sheer variety of locomotives and routes and changes over the years are quite something and it was interesting to note that CP Rail - Canadian Pacific – have bought up some of the US railroad companies. Then there were the 2003 photographs of the then new Acela tilting trains on the New York and Washington to Boston services. Plenty of them, but all out of service at the time of taking the pictures due to a fault occurring throughout the fleet. Interesting to note is that only the coaches tilt and not the power cars.
Moving on to some rather splendid photographs of freight trains, he described how it is not uncommon to find freight trains sitting around apparently doing nothing, sometimes for hours or even days on end. This is because the drivers stick rigidly to the allotted hours that they are allowed to drive, call the despatcher to advise that they are at the end of their hours and the train has to wait until a new crew has been sent out. This must get interesting given the remote locations of some of the tracks. Not content with modern services, Gordon included photographs and details of various heritage sites and some of the enormous Union Pacific ‘Big Boy’ steam locomotives. Twenty five were built and 8 are in preservation although sadly none of the remaining examples is in working order. With a 4-8-8-4 configuration and a length of 132ft 9 7/8in it is the world’s largest steam loco even if not the heaviest, and an impressive sight to see. Another name appearing regularly on the steam preservation scene was the famous manufacturer Baldwin and a range of examples was shown at several different locations. It appears to be quite popular in the USA to mount old steam locomotives on plinths in public places as a celebration of heritage.
When the whole of the USA, Canada and Mexico are taken into consideration the total number of locomotives in service at present is around 36,000 - Union Pacific must be the biggest railroad company in the USA with 8,300 locomotives in its fleet.
With wonderful examples of a variety of liveries, several no longer in existence, old locomotives, newer models, amazing scenery and impressively long coal trains with locomotives at the front, middle and rear, there was much to impress not least the technical details provided and the clear explanations and descriptions. Anecdotes brought the scene to life like the tale of being watched by the policeman when they were taking photographs, who then came over and asked them what they were doing – no they were not in trouble fortunately - before calling a colleague and then giving them a list of where and when to expect the best viewings of the rail traffic in the area. Local commuter services and familiar worldwide suppliers like Siemens (eg on the Metro Rail in Houston, Texas) and Hitachi form part of the picture and it appears that these are gaining in popularity as fuel prices are slowly increasing making commuting by rail a more attractive proposition and a real alternative to individual car journeys in the more built up areas. A number of cities now have rapid transit systems for local use which also appear to be gaining in popularity.
We were shown some spectacular scenery and the interesting engineering solution to raising the line at the Tehachapi Loop in California where the line turns around and tunnels under itself through the artificial hill. It was entertaining to see one of the amazingly long coal trains on this line passing over itself on this loop in one picture and a good illustration of the sheer scale and length of some of the freight services. Other items of interest are the double stacked trains where containers are stacked two high as they do not have the same constraints as in the UK with regards to height. Also of note are the plans for further overhead electrification in California – trying to curb pollution in this state is certainly gaining in popularity and this is one way of doing so.
Long distance passenger services were very impressive with double deck Superliner passenger cars where all the utilities like washrooms, kitchens etc are on the lower deck and cabins and dining facilities are on the upper deck. This has the added bonus of giving better views out over the scenery as passengers are travelling at a higher level above the track.
With such an immense country and the sheer variety of locomotives, liveries, rolling stock and scenery, it was a good thing that Gordon had arranged it all as a coherent journey around the states and over time with just the right level of technical detail. The penultimate photograph was a night-time moonlit shot out over the Pacific Ocean while the final picture? – what else but a photograph of Gordon looking out of the cab of the locomotive heading the Californian Zephyr – the very train that had got him out there in the first place!
A brief question and answer session followed including queries on block and signalling systems, radio control of the unmanned locomotives on the very long freight trains and how this operates – distributed power etc, commuter trains and more. The formal vote of thanks was given by branch member David Stonor.
Facts, photographs, anecdotes and humour well presented throughout, made for an excellent evening’s entertainment and, with his knowledge and enthusiasm, Gordon is an excellent ambassador to encourage others to explore and enjoy the USA – especially by rail.
Tuesday 22nd February 2011
The Reading Station Area Redevelopment Programme
Gabriela Weigertova - Project Management Assistant (Network Rail)
Gabriela’s background is in finance and she works in the area of sponsorship providing an essential link between the Department for Transport (DfT) and Network Rail - ensuring that funding is in place and that there is proper accountability throughout. After introducing herself and her colleague Shaun Winfield – senior project engineer, and explaining briefly their respective roles within the project, Gabriela started by outlining the original problem and why the redevelopment was needed. Using a diagram showing the track layouts and the existing station platform and access layouts as illustration, she explained that the Reading station area is a ‘bottleneck’ for services.
Although the routes outside of the station area have the capacity for more services, capacity through the station and its immediate surroundings is very limited. Freight services crossing over the main running lines and Cross Country services both contribute to the severe limitations on the number of services that can pass through, while others are delayed either waiting for a platform or a clear line. There is also overcrowding for passengers in the station itself with numbers expected to double by 2030 from the current 50,000 per day. The numbers for commuters both into and out of Reading are approximately equal but the overcrowding problem is not just confined to the morning and evening rush-hours.
After outlining the problems with the current layout, Gabriela showed a diagram of the new more efficient track layout, the remodelling of the station with some new platforms and the realignment of others, as well as the relocation of the depot. This is clearly a complex redevelopment that has taken a lot of careful advance planning as existing services need to continue with as little disruption as possible and, although this is a major project for Network Rail, the Local Authority (LA) and the DfT also have a vested interest in a successful outcome. A further slide provided an overview and showed how the whole project has been divided up into five key outputs complete with the projected timescales:
Key output 0 enabling works – completed December 2010
Key output 1 Station improvement – projected completion 2013
Key output 2 Depot – projected completion 2014
Key output 3 Separate main lines – projected completion 2015
Key output 4 West Country grade separation – projected completion 2016.
At present the project is working very well according to plan with the possibility that it may be possible to accelerate the works and finish them early.
Taking each output in turn, Gabriela showed how they all fit neatly together one after the other with the first part being the signalling enabling works which have meant the transfer of all the signalling functions to the new Thames Valley Signalling Centre at Didcot. This also has capacity for further changes in the future. A speeded up video of the Caversham Road bridge replacement was both interesting and entertaining and with the description of the very tight clearances – eg only 25 cm even with the outer cladding of the adjacent office building removed – showed how carefully this was orchestrated. The work was carried out successfully over the Christmas and New Year period between 25 December 2010 and 3 January 2011 involving over 250 engineers. The new bridge was 30 m long and 80 m wide weighing over 100 tonnes and the self-propelled vehicle used to move it had 72 independently moving axles. The work was completed with time to spare and with an audience throughout – quite an impressive feat. Unlike most railway bridges where track has to run parallel to the bridge beams, the new Caversham Road bridge is designed so that track can be laid out in any direction allowing flexibility as the project progresses and should any further track re-alignment be required in the future. There will be other important bridge works in the project but not on quite the same scale at the east end of the station and also the enlargement of the Cow Lane bridge. As well as being an improvement for the railway, this will also benefit road users.
Improving station capacity is not without problems partly due to the listed building which is currently known as ‘The Three Guineas’ being right in the centre of the South side of the new station area. Details of the planned improvements on both sides of the railway lines were given including new ticket offices to both North and South, completely new gate lines, the new wide transfer bridge, step free access to all platforms and improvements to the existing subway link to provide access from one side to the other for non-passengers. The whole area will be much more accessible and user-friendly. An architectural artist’s impression showed what this is likely to look like once completed. In tandem with the Network Rail improvements are plans for redevelopment of the area on both sides of the station involving the LA and Royal Mail and questions were raised at this point about the bus station area. There will be major changes but funding has been secured by the LA to improve the road area in front of the station that will enhance the improvements to the station by improving access and opening up the public area. The LA are very supportive of the whole project and are working on a lot of local improvements themselves. This highlighted the benefits of consultation, working together and careful planning. As part of this section there was a video clip to show how the new station will look and how it will function much better. Questions on electrification raised the issue of the how this will be incorporated into the redesign and Gabriela confirmed that there is provision for posts and masts to allow for the possibility of electrification in the future.
There was a lot of detailed questioning about the changes to platforms and track layouts and Shaun was able to answer these from the engineering point of view giving a lot of the technical details. The project also has a certain amount of future proofing built in so the improvements should be sufficient to cope with any changes for some years to come. This will allow for new trains that will come into service in the future that will need longer platforms for example. The new depot has also had to be designed to be flexible enough to cope with whatever rolling stock will be in use for the foreseeable future so this too has required careful planning.
Although further into the future, key outputs 3 and 4 were outlined with additional details regarding the gradients envisaged, and the consultation with the freight companies using the track (eg DB Schenker). Shaun was well placed to give details of the civil engineering aspects particularly with regards to the new viaduct which will carry the fast lines over the trains coming from Reading West, such as construction methods and materials including the several different components required. It is clear that this is a very long and unusual structure and will be challenging to build. The problems that have to be addressed and the proposed solutions were outlined.
The main question and answer session – in addition to questions that were raised during the presentation included further details on increased capacity, contractual arrangements, computer modelling techniques, design and implementation amongst others.
The vote of thanks was given by branch treasurer Bob Ellison.
The excellent attendance showed that this was clearly a subject of great local relevance and this was an informative and nicely balanced presentation on the why and how of the Reading Station Area Redevelopment. We watch for further progress with interest.
last updated: 15/01/12