On a train that could do with a visit to the carriage wash?

 
Well, it's definitely not Melksham. 

 
I'll try to remember that - thanks

 
That's the western end of Rotterdam Centraal, as seen by somebody still half asleep, or from a camera with a hazy memory.

 
An E* ticket to a Belgium station includes any local services for free doesn't it? So a Brussels ticket can be used for free to get to Antwerp? Or has that been stopped?

 

Glasd they provided an answer to the meaning of "delayed" - train not moving yet towards destination & until it does, we are unable to work out an estimate of the amount of delay....just still getting later basically.

 
The article and recent testing seems to indicate that at least some MCM services are to be operated by 175s. Good move if so.

 
Where am I this morning?  Plenty of clues around - follow ups will get harder.

 

Maybe ... but the GWR website [new] journey planner didn't offer any alternatives at any price.  I suspect that with a less frequent service at both ends of the journey, it skewed it towards the later trains in "the middle".   Some of our regulars from Melksham are aware that if they want to get to London earlier than the 10:02 but not pay £££ for the 08:02, they should split at Chippenham,  and use part of their saving for a coffee at the Hungry Hare.

 

Could the advance ticket quotas have sold out at the good price on the earlier trains?

 
The 16:39 from Melksham ran on time ... then an hour to wait in Swindon for the 18:04 to Paddington. Good job I am "robust" as at around 17:30 that flagged up as "delayed".  No indication why, no indication by how much ... and so a quick trip to the staffed counter where they told me it hadn't yet left Gloucester and to just jump on the next Paddington train - 17:41.  Duly done; that was on time but thank goodness I had the knowledge of systems and journey. 

As I went downstairs at Paddington, first train in a few seconds was a Shenfield and excellent time made to Stratford ... the outbound Greater Anglia platform bleak / too few seats and just a couple of bus shelters; so many trains that the Harwich train wasn't even on the board.  No coffee stand on the platform; staff backed by RPI checking all tickets.    Busy train joined for Harwich; lots of calls for a boat train and by the time we got to HPQ just a handful of us left across 10 carriages.

Noting the train was 3+2 seating with a corridor / pathway so narrow that I couldn't get through wearing my pack - first time for that problem ...

 

 

It was an outage, rather than an outrage. I and member ChrisB alerted grahame to the issue - which he was already working on solving.  

 

Downtime was 15:15 to 19:45.  Reason for failure - our worker server's file systems had been set to "read only" which meant that the web server software couldn't do its bookkeeping and fell over.  It would appear that the company who hosts the server had been unable to collect their monthly fee ... don't know why, perhaps a glitch somewhere; when I went on and manually paid, it went through and I then had to nudge them to remove the block and when they has doe than restart the server and finally let the recpetionist know!

All done from Swindon Station, train to Paddington, on the platform at Stratford and now finishing up on a Greater Anglia service!

 

I haven't done the maths, but I suspect that the energy density of a modern battery system (notwithstanding future improvement), is still greater than that of a comparable hydrogen power system.

And my current job encompasses looking for natural hydrogen resources ...

 
The Coffee Shop was offline for a period this afternoon.  Problem identified, and up and running again.  Excuses explanation to follow once I have completed by analyse.

No data has been lost

 
No complaints about the one I'm currently on.

 
Latest update - I see Gareth Dennis has been interviewed - evidently Hendy didn't have quite enough muscle to throw him under the bus completely (or train!) 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1l7eyg67v3t

 
From the BBC:

 

Freight locomotives will I suspect move to hydrogen in place of diesel.  Also it should not be underestimated the use that batteries could be used to maintain even the heaviest of trains once on the move

 

The new buzz words (no pun intended) is skip electrification and or gap electrification.   Basically a small area of a few miles is electrified to charge and power trains, on the third rail system talk is of removing conductor rails in some stations where there are know trespass problems especially drunken Friday and Saturday nights trespassing.

Certainly the talk is for Southern third rail train care depots to be de-electrified with the trains moving on batteries, this is to improve staff safety, with only stabling sidings remaining electrified.

It is almost certain that all future passenger rolling stock procurement will have some form of battery powered traction system, if they have a fossil fuel prime mover this is likely to be the secondary system.

 

Wot?  The BBC got it wrong??  Whatever next??? 

 

A lot depends on age of structures:
original broad gauge was 15 feet high in centre, and 13'0.5" at 9 foot wide (which is relevant for arches). 
Later was 13'3" at centre and 11' at 9feet wide. 
Around 120 years ago height went up to 13'6" at centre.
As long ago as 1928 the then Board of Trade decided on 15' for new structures (so most of the cut off lines should be this, and steel or concrete beams were normal for new construction rather than brick or stone arches by 98 years ago.

Seems that 1950s and 1960s modernisation plan didn't envision electrification in GWR territory and number of signal gantries didn't provide clearance for electrification.  Although many of these have gone in more recent times.

Potentially there are less structures that need modifying for overhead wires (and to allow W10 or W12 container or multimode freight) on some lines than some think.

Ideally do not want unpowered sections in the wires, or worse still gaps where pantograph has to be dropped.  And of course there is now slim fixed bar which has been developed, as a realistic alternative to deeper suspended wires for use in tunnels or under tight bridges. 

Although battery electric units can work with wiring gaps, and it is realistic option on branches and lighter use passenger only lines.  It is not helpful on freight routes if ever intend to work heavy freight with electric locos (and plenty of routes in Somerset and Wiltshire see heavy aggregate trains) where continuous power (and of course regeneration on downhill or slowing) is important

 
Probably one of the NR telecom network switching centres on GSM-R (Global System for Mobile Communications – Railway) which is a 2G mobile digital cellular standard specifically for railway use; it is quite old tech now including the backbone system. 

I believe work is being done to upgrade to FRMCS (Future Railway Mobile Communication System) which is a 4G based system and an improved backbone system, as the GSM-R becomes end of life in 2030.

 
Combe Down Tunnel - on its approach from the south, there's a bit of a cutting, and the Two Tunnels route there has a bit of a puddle and wet bed as the tunnel drain has managed to block itself. (Preparations for jetting the drain are in progress.)

Sometime in the late seventies/early eighties, I've a  recollection of visiting and across the cutting, there were works under way, and a big ramp of soil blocked the cutting about half way to the tunnel - the work for some reason I'm thinking was connected with a pipeline construction. I recall gazing at it and thinking 'Well that puts a stop to doing anything useful with the route'. Visiting again some time later, the earthwork had gone, the cutting returned to its previous state. I'm now wondering if I imagined this though. There *is* what looks like an 11Kv electricity supply crossing at the appropriate place, but that's on poles and installing it wouldn't have needed earthworks there. Perhaps I've simply imagined seeing this temporary earthwork - or perhaps someone else also recalls this event.

Mark

 
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c1l7eyg67v3t

"National Rail says the fault is now resolved, but warns passengers to expect "major disruption" until the end of the day"