Old Steamers alerts us to the existence of a railway on Alderney:The Alderney Railway was constructed in the 1840s by the British Government to haul Stone from the Eastern end of the Island to build a Breakwater and Victorian Forts.It opened in 1847 and is one of the oldest railways running in the British Isles.The first ever official passengers were Queen Victoria and Prince Albert on the 8th of August 1854, their train was Horse drawn.It carried on hauling quarry trains until the out break of World War 2.After World War 2 the Line was re-laid, but did not open to the public until the mid 1970s.For more see the Alderney Railway...

East Midlands Trains were back to normal this evening, right down to the unexplained last minute platform change.From Saturday afternoon until this morning there were no trains through Market Harborough. Trains were diverted through Corby (giving that town an unexpected through service to Derby and Sheffield) and we had to use a replacement bus service to get to Leicester or Kettering.And what caused all this trouble? The Leicester Mercury explains:More than 1,200 railway sleepers were damaged when two wheels on an East Midlands Train travelling near East Langton buckled, puncturing the fuel tank.Drivers on the nearby B6047 reported stones and rocks being thrown from the track on to the road as the damaged train passed on Saturday afternoon.It is thought the axle underneath a central...

After all the pr0blems that snow has caused to the transport system in this country in recent months, I was amused by the following story: The harsh snowy weather continues to cause widespread disruption to train and public transport services on Monday. A Government Minister has called the situation a “catastrophe” arguing that National Rail has not been taking its full maintenance responsibility for a long period of time. The minister was also scathing of the way passengers have been treated over a weekend of delays and cancellations. “Information is decisive in such a chaotic situation and it has not been adequate. People are not receiving information when they are sitting on the platform,” she complained. The capital area is hardest hit with the local transport...

The comments of Nicholas Winterton this week certainly wound a few people up for various reasons.  For once I find myself in total agreement with the official Tory party line that this represents “the out-of-touch views of a soon-to-retire backbench MP”, although I do wonder it it also represents the out-of-touch views of some MPs who are not retiring. One thing in particular irked me, it was when he said: They want to stop members of parliament travelling first class. That puts us below local councillors and officers of local government. They all travel first class. Do they really?  When I was a local councillor I travelled standard class every time and mostly at my own expense, although I did claim one fare to Wales I think.  I would be surprised if any of my colleagues...

I arrived at Kettering station on the way back from Finedon. After a cup of tea in the buffet I went out to catch my train.A platform change was announced. Sure enough, the Nottingham service was being diverted and would not call at Market Harborough.It was still light, I had all the necessary tickets, so I decided to catch it even so. Who could resist a trip over the Welland Viaduct.The view as far as Corby is not exciting (as Go Litel Blog, Go... once pointed out), though there was a snowy field full of black sheep to enjoy.Then we reached the viaduct itself. The hills were white, what Lord Bonkers always calls "the broad valley of the Welland" was green and the river itself, in spate from the melting snow, was silver in the low winter sun. The view was well worth the longer journey.We...

Listening to Tory transport spokesperson Theresa Villiers trying to explain on the Today programme why she couldn't take up Andrew Adonis's generous offer to give her early sight of his transport white paper and why she couldn't back a high-speed link to Birmingham - apparently it would undermine her commitment to yah-boo politics - I was struck by one extraordinary paradox in the Tories' approach to planning. After years of frustration, Labour sensibly established a fast-track planning mechanism to support large projects. Now Ms Villiers plans to undermine any chance of a UK high speed rail network a mere 20 years after our major competitors by handing the decision back to interminable planning inquiries. However, her saner colleague Michael Gove who has seen how such Nimbyism can impede...

If Sir Nicholas Winterton wants to travel up to Macclesfield in a first class carriage he is more than entitled to do so. This is after all a free country and we protect people's liberties. Of course the fact that "They are a totally different type of people" would not entirely endear him to the masses of potential voters who inhabit standard seats, or the future voters running up and down...

This photograph, borrowed from The Transport Archive, shows the filming of the 1968 BBC television production of The Railway Children. Like the more celebrated Lionel Jefferies film made two years later, it starred Jenny Agutter as Bobby and was shot at Oakworth Station on the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway.Of particular interest, to this blog at least, is the locomotive in the photograph. The Transport Archive explains that it is the former Logan & Hemingway contractors' locomotive Sir Berkeley.And the Logan in Logan & Hemingway, as we recently saw, was none other than J.W. "Paddy" Logan, for many years the Liberal MP for Harborough.Better than that if you go to the Vintage Carriages Trust website you will find a page devoted to Sir Berkeley. And there you will learn that:In...

Some terrible news: unconfirmed reports say that at least 20 people have been killed in a head-on collision of two commuter trains near Brussels. Here’s my First Post piece on why this was an accident waiting to happen. A visit to the wonderfully retro Brussels Central station is a must for admirers of the work of the great architect Victor Hortha. And as the hub for the densest railway network in the European Union - Belgium has a staggering 3,454km of track - it's also a paradise for train spotters. Researching a magazine article, I once spent 20 minutes there noting the arrival of trains on several different platforms. Out of a total of more than 30 trains, some of them international, all except one were on time, and that one was just 90 seconds late. Eat your heart out, Richard...

We are told that we live in a society dominated by concern for health and safety. Well, just consider these extracts from the coverage in today's Guardian of the report by Christopher Garnett and Claude Gressier on the break down of five trains in the Channel tunnel just before Christmas:On the Disneyland train, the air conditioning, ventilation and lights failed, leaving passengers in hot, dark conditions."We are concerned that in those conditions nobody walked through the train to see how people were and explain what was happening," Garnett said.And:The report described the dreadful conditions on the Shuttle, with overflowing toilets, and pregnant women and small children forced to sit on "greasy floors or to lean against the sides of the carriage".At one point passengers had to...

The Rotherham website provides an unexpected glimpse of my hero J.W. Logan.Logan was a partner in the railway contractors Logan & Hemingway and is remembered by one Alderman Geo. Gummer, J.P.: The construction of the Manchester, Sheffield, and Lincolnshire line from Attercliffe to Mexbro’ was carried out by Messrs. Logan and Hemingway.Mr. Logan, known more familiarly as "Paddy" Logan, had methods of his own when dealing with recalcitrant labour. His physique and determination were the dominant factors in many an awkward situation. Without hesitation, lurkers and shifty workers were told to get a move on or quit. Often a rough answer had to be met by calling the men from the trenches, and a fight would ensue to prove who was bossing the show.After beating his man, Paddy has been...

My House Points column from today's Liberal Democrat News. Some of the same arguments have appeared in recent posts on this blog.Bare cheekThe introduction of full-body scanners to British airports was announced in a Commons written answer last month by Paul Clark. More than that, he announced that no alternative search methods will be offered. Travellers who refuse to submit to a scan, which produces an image of the naked body, will not be allowed to fly.Paul Clark? Me neither, but extensive research reveals him to be the Labour MP for Gingham and Rainham and a junior minister at the Department for Transport.It’s a sure sign a government has outstayed its welcome when someone you have never heard of announces an outrageous imposition without any pretence of democratic debate.And it’s...

Railway Stations UK offers a growing catalogue of photographs.The picture above shows one of my favourite stations: Cromford in Derbyshire. You may recognise it from the cover of "Some Might Say" by Oasis, who are a band who were popular with the young people for a...

Some first class rail passengers yesterday If you enjoy the luxury of first class train travel but would like a cast-iron guarantee that you won’t be joined by a bunch of marauding oiks who speak words and knock over your cheese board, you could be in luck. New hard-hitting government proposals for dealing with rail fare dodgers could be implemented in the near future after a consultation period closes today. Among the proposals are plans to increase fines from £20 to either £50 or double the cost of a single ticket, whichever is greater. Removing the option to pay the difference between the ticket a passenger is carrying and the full standard fare is also on the menu of rail fare hate. But consumer watchdogs London TravelWatch are scathing about the proposals and claim that train...

The Shropshire Star has a famous guest writer today. Former Monty Python funster Michael Palin writes about the Wrexham & Shropshire railway company, which runs a sightly and very popular service between those town and London Marylebone:Perhaps it lacks the hurtling speed of a Pendolino or a TGV, but Wrexham & Shropshire makes up for this in every other way. Nothing is sacrificed for speed, and yet passenger satisfaction figures are at the top end of the scale.Which surely shows us that people rate a railway on how they’re treated on the train. Wrexham & Shropshire may seem like a throw-back to old-style comforts but I see it as a pioneer setting an example of high service standards which other lines would do well to follow.See also Euan Feguson's comments on the company's...

Phill Davison has some amazing photographs from his exploration of the old mine at Grinkle, a mile inland from Staithes on the Yorkshire coast.Thanks to...

Another DVD from LoveFilm I watched recently is Terence Davies' Of Time and the City.It is a compilation of archive footage of Liverpool accompanied by music and narration from the director himself, modelled on Humphrey Jennings' Listen to Britain (which is included on the disc as a bonus).However, it lacks the wonderful economy of the earlier film and more than one reviewer likened Davies' rather fruity contributions to Uncle Money from Withnail and I.Still, I could watch this sort of footage for ever, and amongst it are shots of the Liverpool Overhead Railway. This unique line can also be seen in The Magnet and (according to Wikipedia) The Clouded Yellow.Of Time and the City has its own...

A couple of years ago, writing about the long-vanish Broad Street station in London, I said: I played chess for Richmond & Twickenham in the London League, and the matches took place at the Bishopsgate Institute. I used to get the last train back around the North London line to Kew. Somehow I trusted the published timetable more than the Tube, even though the train took a circuitous route via Brondesbury and Willesden Junction.English Buildings has a photograph of the Institute's remarkable façade, which it was hard to appreciate to the full on those dark winter evenings.Philip Wilkinson, who writes the blog, also has some sensible things to say about the current attitude towards those of us who like to photograph buildings from time to...

Today's strangest story is the news that Swindon is to be twinned with Walt Disney World. The Wiltshire town has an interesting history, but it is hard to see that it has much in common with a Florida theme park. When I visited Swindon this summer its centre consisted largely of vacant plots. It seemed that the regeneration company had gone bust after completing phase 1 of its ambitious plans.On a happier note, there is a miniature railway at Coate Water near the Richard Jefferies Museum. The blog Old Steamers has some news about...

On Saturday I reported that East Midlands Trains is to introduce a penalty fares scheme on some of its stations so that someone found travelling without a ticket will be charged a penalty fare of £20 or twice the full single fare – whichever is the greater amount – to the next station at which the train stops.The same day's Daily Telegraph carried the alarming news that these rates are soon to rise to £50 or twice the single fare.Except it didn't.Because the paper's story, written by Rebecca Lefort, began:Foreigners let off train penalty faresMinisters plan to more than double the fines for most people who travel without a valid ticket. But under current regulations there is a clause allowing ticket inspectors to waive the rules for passengers who do not fully understand the...

Today's Leicester Mercury reports:Fare-dodgers will be hit by new penalties if they board a train without a valid ticket.East Midlands Trains is introducing a new penalty fares system on Monday.Individuals travelling without a valid ticket for their journey face a penalty fare of £20 or twice the full single fare – whichever is the greater amount – to the next station at which the train stops.We are all against fare dodgers, but there is a little more to this story than that.Because the train operating companies have had to agree to pay the government huge premiums to run the service. This has led to cuts in staffing levels, but it has also led to an enforced recasting of the way the public uses the railways.In particular, it is becoming increasingly difficult to do what generations...

In February Colin Rosenstiel, Lib Dem councillor from Cambridge and general doyen of the party, was in the news because of an unfortunate contretemps involving his bicycle and an ambulance.So today's Cambridge Evening News has a familiar ring:Colin Rosenstiel, a councillor for Cambridge City Council for more than 30 years, was forcibly ejected from the 15.45 King's Cross to Cambridge train on Tuesday after he disputed a request from a ticket inspector to take his bike to a different carriage to avoid overcrowding.Colin says in his defence:"My bike was in an optimal position in relation to other passengers. I was trying to explain that staying at the back of the train avoids the crowds at Cambridge station but staff would not listen to me ... One thing that annoys me is the abuse of...

Statue of Enzo Piano at Versailles Got back from another quick trip to France tonight.  There were a couple of meetings today, but the first was at 10:00 so I went out yesterday. Back in the old days I could have done it all in a day – when you could still fly from Gatwick to Orly and could turn up at the airport 15 minutes before take-off and still get on a plane.Now you can’t get to Paris at all from Gatwick so, despite living next door to an airport, it is a six-hour train journey.  The time difference makes it effectively seven hours.   On the plus side, being forced to go the day before means a chance for a little sight-seeing. My heart wasn’t really in it this time though.  I didn’t even bother to take my big camera.  That was a pity because there are...

I don't like this, being carried sidewaysThrough the night. I feel wrong and helpless - likeA timber broadside in a fast stream.I remember David Steel choosing the Norman MacCaig poem "Sleeping Compartment" when he took part in Radio 4's With Great Pleasure some years ago. And it conveys well the oddness of travelling by sleeper train.There is the magic of going to bed in London and waking up somewhere near Edinburgh. There is the personal service of being asked if you would like tea or coffee the next morning. And there is the old-fashioned strictness of being woken so that you are up and dressed and off the train as soon as it arrives.But it is a very odd experience too. Being carried sideways through the night means that you feel every ounce of braking and acceleration in a way that...

I am posting this from the first class lounge at Euston. I shall fulfill a long-held ambition and catch a sleeper train later this evening, waking up in Edinburgh for the first Lib Dem Bloggers Unconference.Meanwhile, here is this week's House Points column from Liberal Democrat News.The Queen's SpeechThey’ve gone again. Only four weeks after the end of the summer recess, the Commons had a break before this week’s State Opening. Some observers seethed about MPs’ long holidays; cynical old hands reasoned that at least it limits the damage they could do.But the real problem is that, however long they spend at Westminster, there is little MPs can do to hold the government to account. And few with only a few months left until the election, there is little the government can do...

I was down at St Pancras today for a business lunch - there is a phrase you would not have written a few years ago - and noticed that Paul Day has now added a frieze to the base of his giant statue The Meeting.It does not make me warm to the statue, but it the frieze itself is a striking piece of work. I did not have my camera with me today, but Londonist has posted a video of it.The photograph above, which I took on an earlier visit, shows Martin Jennings' charming statue of John...

It’s that time of the year again when the newspapers call foul at the increase in train fares in January. This year’s ‘increases’ in regulated fares are for the first time not that at all, as the formula that works them out means that they have to go down by 0.4% instead. Good news for people like me who have a season ticket, although that 8p a month that I will save is not exactly going to let me go out and celebrate. What has got the press worked up though is the one rise of 15% on First Great Western. But this really needs to be brought in to some sort of perspective. It’s an increase from £20 to £23 on a ticket that can only be used off-peak and which is unlikely to be bought by many regular travellers. When a ticket is relatively cheap to...

Ever since I started using Twitter to update my Facebook status, friends have joked about how all I ever do is complain about late trains. I suppose it’s the way with everyone who commutes to work by train. You know that most trains run on time, but on the days they don’t you just get frustrated. After all, even a 90% punctuality record means that two of my trains each week will be late, with the knock-on effect on my connecting journey. This post though is not another whinge about late trains. Instead it’s a whinge about apologies. It’s now standard practice for automated station announcements to also include an automated apology if the train is late. This is the same computer generated apology for everyone, simply with a different company name inserted. If I...

St Michael’s church in Shap, Cumbria, was built in 1140 AD, predating Shap Abbey and the site is known to have had a church since 750 AD. Complete restoration of the church took place in 1898... [[ This is a content summary. Please visit heritageandhistory.com for the full article]]...

Another gem from Hansard. Here is John Baldock, the Tory MP for Harborough, speaking on 10 December 1953:On Saturday I went to see a train leave Market Harborough Station. It was larger than the customary trains which have been leaving on that line for a considerable time, and it was headed by a very ancient Midland engine. On the platform were a very large number of people to see this train, the last ordinary passenger train on this line to leave Market Harborough for Melton Mowbray. I understand that there was a considerable crowd at Melton Mowbray also to see it on its last return journey.Many who witnessed the departure at either end were wearing mourning clothes with black ribands and armlets. They were "in at the death" of a service which had rendered considerable assistance to the...

Today I have been to Oakham, the capital of Rutland, today. More of that presently.I don't know if this cat is attached to the railway in an official capacity, but it crossed the line three times while I was waiting for the train home.And that despite signs warning of a £1000 fine for trespassing on the...

The BBC Leicestershire pages are reporting that demolition work on Leicester's Bowstring Bridge is to start on 5...

According to the London Evening Standard a nightclub and banqueting hall are to be built inside a reconstructed Victorian monument at Euston station under plans announced today. The Euston Arch stood in front of the station from 1838 until it was demolished by modernist town planners in 1962.Built at Euston Grove, the station was for many years the only north-bound railway exit from London. Designed in the classical style, the most notable feature was the massive Doric Arch entrance. Euston Station was one of the glories of British railway architecture it served as the terminus for travellers to London from Birmingham and the North West. Its architecture, based on Greek temples, was deemed a fitting gateway to the capital and an introduction to the engineering marvels of the railway...

What a stooshie there is over the Scottish budget and John Swinney’s plan to scrap the Glasgow Airport Rail Link. I have found the reaction from Labour very interesting. Their strategy appears to be to attempt to paint it as an anti-Glasgow policy from an Edinburgh-centric party. Jeff thought that Steven Purcell may have jumped the gun by describing the SNP’s budget proposals as “anti-Glasgow”. But if he did, Labour certainly weren’t embarrassed about it, and enthusiastically jumped on the bandwagon. Already during the budget debate Margaret Curran had asked a pointed question about just what was in the budget for Glasgow. Separate parts of Labour soon latched on to the idea. For instance, Tom Harris was very quick to tweet the following: “Gutted by the...

This is the front page story on today's Leicester Mercury:People campaigning to save a historic bridge in Leicester have vowed to take "direct action" when the bulldozers move in to demolish the landmark.The Bowstring Bridge protesters would not say exactly what form the action would take, but said the contractors who carry out the work should not expect an easy ride.Demolition of the landmark is due to begin on or about Monday, September 21.The video above shows Saturday's...

Seeing the work going on at the new Bathgate and Armadale stations and the rest of the work going on to restore the Bathgate to Airdrie rail link is a wonderful sight. The news that a campaign is afoot to connect people in Grangemouth back to the rail network is additional welcome news.Rail lines still exist from Falkirk to Grangemouth to carry freight so less replacing of infrastructure may...

Another shot of the swing bridge over the Nene at Sutton Bridge. As ever, click to expand...

I left King's Lynn yesterday morning on the bus for Sutton Bridge. I got a shock when I arrived as the town's main hotel, which was apparently still thriving according to numerous websites, was boarded up. I was later told that it had been like that for a year or so.This turned out not to be a problem as I was able to find accommodation just down the road. The cricket was on in the bar and I was pleased to see that we had already got both Australian openers out.I headed off to photograph the Crosskeys bridge. This structure, the third bridge on the site, was opened in 1897 and originally carried both road and rail traffic - the railway (the old Midland and Great Northern line, which took generations of holidaymakers to the Norfolk coast) on what is now the westbound carriageway and the...

You know those strange ads for Andrex Tissues? Well something similar has happened in real life, and you know what, I think this lad will go far with such confidence and enthusiasm.Bit more diplomacy with fellow staff members would be needed though...