Jason's attempt to get to Miniatur Wunderland. Via Fort William.

[The Stationmaster]

I was interested to read that none of the 180 unit fell off when you touched it.  Obviously all the falling-offy bits have long since fallen off but when new the train was not exactly a recommendation for the 're-skilled' redundant butchers, book-makers, what-have-yous who had replaced the original highly  skilled Met-Camm staff who long since picked up their redundancy letters.  Thus the 'fixers' of interior trim etc components were new to such tools as screwdrivers and lacked understanding of how to use them.  They did manage to put togethor the Eurostar 373s quite nicely but when it came to the sleeper stock they were back to their earlier habits ogf not joining useful things, like the plumbing, to the right places

 

Staff apart the Aussie inspired version of the West Highland sleeper sounds like a good advert fr travelling by day.  The MkIIIs were not too bad and the bar car latterly had an excellent selection of single malts with a distinct leaning towards Islay.  And at one time when arriving in Glasgow Central an excellent breakfast could be had without needing to venture outside the station although it wasn't quite up to the standard of the breakfast served in the dining car that was added at Queen St in the older times of the West Highland sleeper.

[TheSignalEngineer]

On 01/06/2024 at 10:59, melmerby said:

The problem with replacing 1 long train once an hour, with a short train half hourly.

Ridership went up but no room for expansion. Blame Beardy

I used to travel between Stockport and Birmingham about 3 times a week during Operation Princess (the introduction of Voyagers}. I did a table of trains and seats available under the old and new timetables. Total seats per day was similar, just spread out evenly regardless of demand. Peak time services were worse than before but I had later last trains.

[34theletterbetweenB&D]

18 hours ago, rapidotrains said:

some fighter jets were kind enough to come in its place. Is there an RAF base nearby?

Effectively 'everywhere' (and not solely in use by UK forces) given the speed of contemporary flight. A term coined long past for this small island: 'the unsinkable aircraft carrier' applies. 

[woodenhead]

11 minutes ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Effectively 'everywhere' (and not solely in use by UK forces) given the speed of contemporary flight. A term coined long past for this small island: 'the unsinkable aircraft carrier' applies. 

But starboard is a bit crumbly in places.😁

[Erixtar1992]

4 hours ago, Wickham Green too said:

By my calculation, Wembley's somewhat more than thirty minutes from the Fort ! 🙄

If you read Matts comment, youd have seen he said on their return.. so from London..

what do i know though, i just drive the thing

[TheSignalEngineer]

16 hours ago, Erixtar1992 said:

When the west coast is closed we depart Euston, go into Wembley Yard and reverse, via Camden onto the east coast 🙂 

 

A never built project that I did some preliminary work on about 40 years ago was to build a line from the canal bridge at the top of Camden Bank across the site of Camden Goods Depot to Hampstead Road Junction on the North London Line. This was to give access to the ECML from Euston. Other possible connections via the NLL discussed were Euston to the MML and St Pancras or King's Cross to the WCML. Good old days when Bustitution was a last resort and we had trains and crews that could use diversion routes.

[TheSignalEngineer]

2 hours ago, 34theletterbetweenB&D said:

Which wasn't even a place, when a man from York strode off to become emperor of Rome.

I'm sure Jason will have heard of the Roman settlement just up the road from where I was born. They had a military base at Metchley, part of which is now buried under University station.

[woodenhead]

24 minutes ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

A never built project that I did some preliminary work on about 40 years ago was to build a line from the canal bridge at the top of Camden Bank across the site of Camden Goods Depot to Hampstead Road Junction on the North London Line. This was to give access to the ECML from Euston. Other possible connections via the NLL discussed were Euston to the MML and St Pancras or King's Cross to the WCML. Good old days when Bustitution was a last resort and we had trains and crews that could use diversion routes.

Sounds like preliminary work to close St Pancras, Kings Cross or both - the old super London station idea that used to crop up from time to time.  Certainly BR wanted to close St Pancras so a connection to the North London would have enabled that decision which of course we would now be regretting bitterly had it happend.

[D9020 Nimbus]

On 01/06/2024 at 10:59, melmerby said:

The problem with replacing 1 long train once an hour, with a short train half hourly.

Ridership went up but no room for expansion. Blame Beardy

I thought it was Chris Green who was running Virgin Trains at the time. It was called "Operation Princess" — they always give a fancy name to the worst plans.

[woodenhead]

Well Cross Country is about to get most of the rest of it's Voyagers back - hurrah, almost back to the capacity it had in 2008 🙄

Edited June 4 by woodenhead

[Wickham Green too]

2 hours ago, Erixtar1992 said:

If you read Matts comment, youd have seen he said on their return.. so from London.. ...

Apologies - I was thinking that reversal was Jason's !

1 hour ago, woodenhead said:

... the old super London station idea that used to crop up from time to time.  ...

It's called Old Oak Common isn't it ?

[Erixtar1992]

2 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

A never built project that I did some preliminary work on about 40 years ago was to build a line from the canal bridge at the top of Camden Bank across the site of Camden Goods Depot to Hampstead Road Junction on the North London Line. This was to give access to the ECML from Euston. Other possible connections via the NLL discussed were Euston to the MML and St Pancras or King's Cross to the WCML. Good old days when Bustitution was a last resort and we had trains and crews that could use diversion routes.

Would have been a fantastic useful link that, far too much of a good idea to implement! Haha

[melmerby]

2 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

I'm sure Jason will have heard of the Roman settlement just up the road from where I was born. They had a military base at Metchley, part of which is now buried under University station.

And the rest is alongside the footpath from the station to the QE:

 

When the grass is short you can make out some of outline.

A Roman road also ran right through Birmingham,.

Icknield Street ran from the Cotswolds (at Fosse Way) via Letocetum (Lichfield) and on to Yorkshire and a road from from Salinae (Droitwich) joined near Metchley.

[The Stationmaster]

3 hours ago, TheSignalEngineer said:

A never built project that I did some preliminary work on about 40 years ago was to build a line from the canal bridge at the top of Camden Bank across the site of Camden Goods Depot to Hampstead Road Junction on the North London Line. This was to give access to the ECML from Euston. Other possible connections via the NLL discussed were Euston to the MML and St Pancras or King's Cross to the WCML. Good old days when Bustitution was a last resort and we had trains and crews that could use diversion routes.

And one 30 years ago to build the necessary connecting links to allow a stopping train service to Heathrow to run from St Pancras. (instead of Paddington) complete with a grade separated flying junction at Acton

[rapidotrains]

Greetings from an ICE train sitting in a field en route to Ulm.

 

You know, I really wish that railways could predict their delays - especially sleeper services - so we could set our alarms for later in the morning.

 

The Caledonian coming south on Monday night arrived 90 minutes late due to some kind of power problem in Wembley. I could really have used that extra 90 minutes of sleep... We stayed in a normal room and just treated my massive suitcase as an extra countertop. At least it fit in the room! I came down from the top bunk by bracing my backside against the toilet door... and you can guess what happened next! I did manage to catchmyself before breaking my neck on the toilet... just.

 

Despite knowing it was coming, I entirely failed to take a good picture of the nice rocky river just out of Fort William.

 

 

We arrived in London 90 minutes late, which neatly solved our problem of "what to do for 90 minutes between our arrival on the sleeper and our departure on the Eurostar?" The late arrival made the lack of day seating in our room all the more noticeable. 

 

A last goodbye to the streets of London:

 

 

Gosh there were a lot of people in the Eurostar lounge. There was a guy sitting across from us who was from St. Louis. He was making grandiose political statements about life, the universe and everything to the unfortunate Englishman sitting next to him, who clearly wanted to be anywhere in the world apart from beside Mr. Knowitall but was too polite to leave. Mr. Knowitall knows how to solve all of America's problems. He should be president. Or at least he clearly thinks he should be. I know and love literally hundreds of Americans. I have never in my life met someone who fits all the British cinematic stereotype of Americans like this guy did. 

 

 

We went Standard Premium on Eurostar. I didn't even see First as an option when booking, but from what I understand it is not worth the extra money. This was our train:

 

 

I finally figured out why The Man in Seat 61 is called that. Except on the new trains the better seat is 65. Boaz and I considered moving to 61/65 after Lille but 65's previous occupant was sniffling, coughing, sneezing and even blowing his nose with his fingers all the way from St. Pancras. We decided to stay in our seats, and later took a shower in bleach.

 

Seats 65 and 61. Don't look too closely or you might catch the plague.

 

 

The seats had these tiny little holders, which I think are meant for glasses. We couldn't figure out what else to put there:

 

 

Boaz and I were particularly impressed with the cable suspension bridges holding up the catenary in Europe. I guarantee this was a billions of pounds cheaper than the honking great girders used in the Great Western Electrification Programme. But I also guess that Health & Safety have decided that they are far too dangerous (just like a few new miles of third rail would be) and we should instead invest in hydrogen/antimatter hybrid trains rather than a rolling system of electrification in the UK. 

 

 

Our Eurostar was 90 minutes late. That's two for two. Thankfully, we had three hours in Amsterdam. By the time we got out of the station we had enough time for Boaz to run and get us falafel while I stood with all the bags.

 

Amsterdam Station is a very important stop as they filmed Doctor Who here in 1982! 

 

 

The phone booth is missing and the trams are a bit newer. Dang it.

 

 

This scene hasn't changed much:

 

 

I find it immensely satisfying to visit random locations where they filmed Doctor who in the 1960s to 1980s. That was how I got to see the UK when I lived here and on subsequent visits. Tibet (The Abominable Snowman) is a lovely bit of Wales up the A5, and Devesham is the lovely Oxfordshire village of East Hagbourne (The Android Invasion), to name just two.

 

Dutch trains are the most beautiful trains in the world, only because they look like The Turbo, which was the most beautiful train in the world but is now in the Great Shed in the Sky:

 

 

 

Doesn't this photo just warm the cockles of your heart? It does mine!

 

The train has arrived in Ulm (90 minutes late) so I'll have to pick up from Amsterdam in my next post. No time to proofread this post, so sorry for any typos!

 

More to come,

 

Jason

[Oldddudders]

ISTR Seats 61/65 are a Club 2, which is fine if travelling as a couple/pair, obviously. I have Seat 75 on the 12.12 from Paris tomorrow, and that is a Club 2, too. I really prefer a solo, as I have on the 13.31 return on 11th July, but it is in coach 1, which means walking the entire length of the train on arrival at Gare du Nord. 

 

Those cup-holder things are really useful for inverting the free bottle of water issued in Standard Premier. 

 

BTW, your US cousins will assure you the most beautiful trains in the world were the SP Daylights. Fine if red and orange together look good to you....

Edited June 5 by Oldddudders

[caradoc]

The cable suspension bridges holding up the catenary are headspans, and while they are used in the UK they have the disadvantage that a failure can affect multiple tracks, rather than just one with independent (or more robust as per the GWML) overhead line supports.

 

BTW thanks for your interesting and amusing travelogue!

 

[The Stationmaster]

19 minutes ago, caradoc said:

The cable suspension bridges holding up the catenary are headspans, and while they are used in the UK they have the disadvantage that a failure can affect multiple tracks, rather than just one with independent (or more robust as per the GWML) overhead line supports.

 

BTW thanks for your interesting and amusing travelogue!

 

And all of the remaining headspan ohle installed between Paddington and Hayes for the  Heathrow electrification is now being replaced as fast as NR has the time, money, and inclination, to get rid of it (because it is so unreliable and causes major problems following a dewirement).

 

Incidentally UK headspan is considerably less stiff' than the Germain variant which doesn't help when trains are travelling at speeds in excess of 100mph. 

Edited June 5 by The Stationmaster

[rapidotrains]

I just love how the European stations have these mid-century analogue clocks in them! I feel like I am in a Lego or Playmobil station, or one of those old Vollmer or Heljan kits I would build as a kid.

 

 

Next train was the Nightjet to Munich. 

 

 

The car we were in was about 20 years old. But - look at this! The ladder to the upper berths is on an angle, is wide enough for your feet and is even carpeted! What an astonishing idea!

 

 

And what is this? There's a little bag to hold your stuff above your bed! And a place for your water! What incredible concepts! And this sleeping car was built ONLY 20 years ago! What will they think of next?

 

 

While OBB got the little details right (and the room was enormous, including a shower with shower curtain!), they lost the plot on the big details. Well, two.

 

The temperature in the compartment was a cozy 32. So we opened the window, as it was about 20 outside. There were a couple of problems with that. Firstly, when the window is open but the shade is down, you don't get any air. So hello world, hope you enjoyed your view of a 49-year-old man in his boxer shorts! Here's how Adobe AI depicted me. I wish I had that much hair!

 

 

Secondly, when the sleeper went through a tunnel on a curve, the echoing flange squeal could wake the dead, and it certainly woke every single person on the train who wasn't completely drunk or on drugs. I was neither.

 

The other big detail OBB got wrong was that the showers kept tripping the circuit breaker in the car and the attendant just gave up on resetting it. So we had... no water at all. When we got on the train and noticed the water wasn't working, the nice American lady two doors down told me she had lots of baby wipes. By the time I was ready for bed, I came knocking. Sure enough, she gave us a pack of baby wipes. 

 

Have you see the new commercials? NightJet: The Future of Train Travel Is Now (Bring Baby Wipes)

 

The couple next door were from Horwich! They took the ferry from 'Ull to Rotterdam. We all had lots to talk about, namely how do we keep clean on this hot and dry train?

 

So the Caledonian Sleeper was 90 minutes late arriving. The Eurostar was 90 minutes late arriving. And.... The Nightjet was 90 minutes late arriving. 

 

That's OK - we boarded an ICE for Ülm, just a later ICE than we had reserved. Unlike in the UK, a DB ticket gets you on any train that day. It's only your seat reservation that is for a specific train.

 

 

Due to flooding in southern Germany, the ICE was.... 90 minutes late. In fact, after I started writing the last blog entry we pulled up beside the train that we had missed earlier. So two ICEs were stuck in the middle of a field, waiting for the track to clear. It was a bit of a joke, actually. Remember when all the European trains were always on time? It's not just the UK and Canada that have terrible OTP these days.

 

 

Boaz and I have finally arrived in Ülm and are staying at what is, by all accounts, the most crooked hotel in the world. It's actually quite lovely. The guy I'm standing with is Jürgen Lindner, the owner of ESU.

 

 

Tomorrow we take an ICE to Hamburg. Scheduled arrival is 18:30, so we should be there at 20:00 at the earliest!

 

Almost there...

 

-Jason

 

[rapidotrains]

On 03/06/2024 at 21:58, acg5324 said:

You should have popped round to see us at Monkbar Modelshop when you were in York, only two mins away from the Minster….and I’m half Canadian!

 

Looking forward to the next instalment of your journey.

 

Next time! I've actually been there before and I was very impressed. 

[rapidotrains]

On 03/06/2024 at 22:00, Matt said:

edit - one other amusing aspect. On our return there were engineering works so we left earlier. About 30 mins into journey we stopped for a while before running slowly back in direction we had come from. After a few minutes there was an announcement to the effect of “this is a passenger announcement. The driver is aware we are travelling backwards as planned due to the engineering works. We would like to thank passengers for pointing this out”

 

Shortly after leaving Fort William there was an emergency brake application. I asked one of the crew "what happened?" Her response was "It was only an emergency brake application." Thank you, Captain Obvious. I know it's an emergency brake application. I was wondering WHY there was an emergency brake application.

 

No answer...

[melmerby]

7 hours ago, rapidotrains said:

Boaz and I were particularly impressed with the cable suspension bridges holding up the catenary in Europe. I guarantee this was a billions of pounds cheaper than the honking great girders used in the Great Western Electrification Programme. But I also guess that Health & Safety have decided that they are far too dangerous (just like a few new miles of third rail would be) and we should instead invest in hydrogen/antimatter hybrid trains rather than a rolling system of electrification in the UK. 

 

Just wait until a faulty pantograph snags that lot😁

[Wickham Green too]

2 hours ago, rapidotrains said:

... I was wondering WHY there was an emergency brake application. ...

Maybe there was an emergency !!?!

[rapidotrains]

21 hours ago, caradoc said:

The cable suspension bridges holding up the catenary are headspans, and while they are used in the UK they have the disadvantage that a failure can affect multiple tracks, rather than just one with independent (or more robust as per the GWML) overhead line supports.

 

BTW thanks for your interesting and amusing travelogue!

 

 

My pleasure!
 

My point is that had the GWEP been accomplished on time and on budget, there would have been the confidence/willpower to continue the electrification on other lines. But rather than just getting it done, they decided to get it done using unproven technology and with a whole new set of (overbuilt) standards.

 

Griping aside, the lads should be just about ready to make our D-Day announcement. More from me tomorrow or Sunday.

 

- Jason

[The Stationmaster]

2 hours ago, rapidotrains said:

 

My pleasure!
 

My point is that had the GWEP been accomplished on time and on budget, there would have been the confidence/willpower to continue the electrification on other lines. But rather than just getting it done, they decided to get it done using unproven technology and with a whole new set of (overbuilt) standards.

 

Griping aside, the lads should be just about ready to make our D-Day announcement. More from me tomorrow or Sunday.

 

- Jason

Project atrociously managed but one thing about the GW overhead is that it still works and doesn't fall apart in strong winds.  BTW it was designed in Switzerland and many of the components, including some of the girders, have a very Swiss look to them.