The Railway Magazine – July 2019

EDITORS NOTE

Publication of a letter does not imply that

the editor or staff ofThe Railway Magazine

necessarily agree with its contents.

STAR LETTER

page 7, where two photographers

seemed happy to have their picture

taken thinking they were perfectly at

liberty to be on the trackside.

I agree that some highly publicised

prosecutions need to be made to try

and address this situation. I also think

that some need educating in the

dangers of the railway.

I know myself through standing on

Northallerton station behind the yellow

line with HSTs passing in excess of

100mph the backdraft is substantial.

Standing on uneven ballast as a train

passes you at that speed is unthinkable.

People travel some distance to see

their favourite locos, and it would be a

shame if the idiotic few are allowed to

spoil the joy of thousands.

I recently travelled in Germany, Austria

and Switzerland and marvelled at open

railway lines in towns and cities and

even footpaths alongside unfenced

lines.

Speaking to more than one local,

I asked if they were not worried about

people crossing the line and being

killed. Their reactions were all the same:

“Do you think we are stupid”?

Education in schools teaches of

the dangers of the railway and most

Europeans respect their railways. That

way everyone lives side-by-side, and the

railway can operate in the knowledge

people use a little common sense –

something that seems to be lacking

here.

Maybe common sense should be on

the curriculum of all schools!

Richard Bradley

By email

See comment on p3 – Ed.

guard told me other operators’

smartcards are not accepted on

their services outside of the London

boundary (even though they are all ITSO

cards). What exactly is‘smart’about

them, then?

It seems to be a farce how split

ticketing and routing tables appear

too complicated, and now we have

a ticketing system where your travel

options will be limited depending

on the method of delivery (paper,

electronic, smart etc). Passengers are

not being properly informed.

Another fine mess of the ticketing

system in the UK!

David Tarrant

Southampton

We don’t teach common

sense anymore

I READ your comment last month with

dismay at yet more trespass problems

on our railways, before turning to

Final HST working was emotional

HAVINGbeen given your June edition by a friend who

recognised me in the Paddington hosts HST farewell

feature, I was the driver of 1L7, the 14.29 Swansea-

Paddington.

The coverage was excellent, but very emotional, and

I was told Sir Kenneth Grange was aboard for some of

the journey. I was even more proud to have the names

Brian Cooper and Stan Martin on the rear power car as

I worked with and knew both men when at Old Oak

Common, and was a depot colleague of Brian.

Learning from your coverage family members of

both men were also aboard my train also hit home.

That complete set from No. 43002, the first built,

to No. 43198, the final power car, was so historic it

makes me proud to be the last driver of that set in that

format.

I am sure all this HST history was not lost on Meurig

Lloyd when he asked me to sign a window label on

arriving at Paddington.

My footplate career started in 1973 at Bath Road,

and having done few‘secondman’turns on the

prototype HST in 1976, I will continue my career and

drive the Hitachi 800s.

Hopefully, I’ll find time to renew acquaintances with

No. 43002, the last HST I worked on.

Glenn Webber

GWR driver

Our grateful thanks to Mr Webber for his insight on

that last Up train, and GWR must again be congratulated

for a superbly planned event which brought the curtain

down on the end of an era which has touched the lives of

many RM readers – Ed.

What a way to run a railway!
HAVING just finished reading Phil Marsh’s
highly informative article on Delay
Attribution (RMJune), including the‘great
peacock debate’, I had to pinch
myself and check that the date on the
front cover of the magazine was not April!
Can anyone tell me how our current
fragmented railway, where at least 14
highly paid experts are seen sat at their
round table discussing at length the vital
statistics of various wildfowl, is more
efficient than that of the unified system
we had pre-Privatisation?
In BR days, it would not have mattered
a jot if the unfortunate feathered beast
which brought the train to a grinding
halt had varied in size from a wren to
an ostrich, not to mention all the other
disputes which the article covered, with
all the lengthy and expensive appeals
and so on.
What a way to run a Railway!
Paul Smith
Southport

I OFTEN travel from St Leonards-on-Sea

to Charing Cross, and looking out of the

windows, I see on the trackside a mass

of surplus railway hardware – mainly

rails, bags of ballast and sleepers, which

have been left there after alterations

and maintenance work.

These materials create a rather

untidy mess, and remain for years

stacked in a haphazard fashion.

Surely there must be a reasonable

financial scrap value?

While large resources would be

needed to remove these materials,

let’s not forget resources were used

to bring them to site. It seems such a

waste.

Surely a better idea would be to

collect these materials, take them to

a central depot or regional depots

and set up a re-distribution system –

even if some could be passed to the

heritage sector for free

David Nattress

Bexhill-on-Sea, East Sussex

Mr Nattress raises a valid point. In

my recent travels, it occurred to me how

untidy the lineside was after contractors

had finished. They are supposed to

clear up, but don’t. It is untidy and

unprofessional. In February, I snapped

the attached picture of rubbish at

Caersws, which had been dumped

several years previously; the white bags

now have saplings growing in them.

We’ve asked Network Rail for a response

–Ed.

Tracksides are littered with debris

Smartcards: Not so smart?

FOR A number of years now the

Government has been pushing

paperless tickets.

Recently, rail companies have also

been pushing hard on smart cards,

advertising benefits such as automatic

delay repay. However, in my experience,

this is making even more of a mess of

the integrated ticketing situation.

I travel from Southampton into

London on a season ticket loaded onto

an SWR Smartcard. According to the

routing maps, an‘any permitted route’

ticket from Southampton to London is

valid via Woking into Waterloo, Reading

into Paddington, and via Brighton/

Horsham into the various London

terminals on this route.

However, loading this same ticket

onto a Smartcard seems to change this.

On the receipt (by which time you have

bought the ticket), it says it is not valid

into Paddington!

Furthermore, a Southern Railway

54 •The Railway Magazine• July 2019

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Best InterCity trains ever built

I have just read your news story of HST farewell and

it’s very sad to see these icons being replaced. In

my opinion they were the best InterCity trains BR

ever built.

I found a photo which may be of interest which

was taken on a visit to Crewe works on July 18, 1982

and shows the last HST power car No. 43198 under

construction, with Class 89 No. 89001 also under

construction.

Chris Vale

By email