Well, I messed that up

If you don't understand this, then that is good...

If you saw it I messed up. If you didn't, sorry what are you talking about?

All is good in this corner of rural Buckinghamshire. Sorry to have caused angst. Really sorry. My excuse is old age and memory loss.

On a more positive note, I've managed to wangle a free ticket to this afternoon's Wasps -v- Leicester match. I'd best remember to not wear my Saracens top.

Lap Lap Lap

There was a fair it of rain on Monday night.

Yesterday morning Chiltern Railways services appeared to start well, until it became obvious from the Marylebone Arrivals Board that something was amiss.

The problem turned out to be water, lots of water, near Northolt Park & Sudbury Hill Harrow stations. I think there was also further flooding out at Haddenham in Oxfordshire.

For a time no trains ran yesterday (10th February 2009) between West Ruislip and London Marylebone. By nine o'clock (am) trains were able to run through North West London albeit very slowly, with flood water lapping away at the top of the rails.

It's all rather strange - this particular railway company was hardly affected by last week's snow, but surplus water brings altogether different problems.

It's here at last

After a woeful attempt at winter on Monday, this corner of rural Buckinghamshire actually had some proper white stuff overnight.

This picture was taken earlier, within sight of my house, and is actually a colour photograph! I am quite pleased with it - click for a larger version.

My urge to rant about Chiltern Railways has diminished somewhat. They made a boo-boo this morning and voluntarily (ie I did not ask) put a Stop Order on a train to drop me off at the right station.

I am quite enjoying a week of pottering about. No London for me this week.

Sorry to disappoint

I am really sorry, but you are probably in the wrong place.

I have been writing this blog now for three years and it does have a general focus on public transport in London and the South East of England.

Consequently on a day when public transport seems to have gone into meltdown, it is almost inevitable that a large number of travel related queries will have the various search engines send people in this general direction.

I was never going to be going to London today. If I had done, I wouldn't have been able to travel by bus ('cos there weren't any) and much of the London Underground seemed to fall apart, but walking would have been fine by me. Chiltern Railways had a few cancellations during the day (particularly on the route via Amersham shared with the Metropolitan Line), but generally they had a better day than most of the railway companies in the South East.

Because I didn't go to London, you will have to make do with this picture of a station in my part of rural Buckinghamshire, showing that we've had a pitifully small amount of snow so far - hence why Chiltern Railways have done so well today.

There are some published timetable alterations on Chiltern Railways tomorrow, Tuesday 3rd February 2009, and I think they've done pretty well by also suggesting (and inserting) alternative train stops.

It's not all good though - I am building up to a rant!

I hope you got home OK and that you have a better day of it tomorrow than you probably had today. The weather forecast is not brilliant.

By the way, can anyone explain why the Waterloo & City Line was out of service for much of the day due to the weather, when it is totally underground?

Winter Weather

Thankfully I did indeed make it back from France in one piece.

Why is it though that I feel colder here at home than I did in an Alpine ski resort? It's sort of a rhetorical question but, even so, the outside temperature only just nipped above Zero today.

For some reason this cloud caught my attention when I looked out of the window just now. The peculiar thing is that I can still see it moving away, yet other clouds that I can see (much higher) are moving in a totally different direction. Weird.

It may of course be a sign of impending doom as at 1549 this afternoon, the Met Office issued a Flash Weather Warning. The warning itself is a little strange, because Milton Keynes is mentioned, as is Greater London, but no mention is made of the in-between counties of Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire.

Maybe I do not need to prepare my snow shovel? Only time will tell....

I have a confession to make

For the last week this blog has been running on auto-pilot.

If you have been commenting on my carefully crafted words, I apologise for the lack of response.

While I have been away, all my pre-written posts have been released to the world automatically, as I have had absolutely no access to a computer or the inter-web thingy.

Should all is going to plan, I ought now to be through the Arrivals Hall at Gatwick Airport and will be home shortly.

Hopefully, I have come back from a few days of skiing in France, sans injury, and normal business will be resumed shortly.

If the next posting you see here suggests something has gone horribly wrong, then it probably has. If all goes to plan you will never see it!

Fingers crossed- see you tomorrow!

Bus route changes near Tottenham Court Road Station

The redevelopment of Tottenham Court Road Underground Station will probably become a recurring theme over the coming months. Possibly years (groans to self). Blame Crossrail, not me.

Therer are a number of reasons for this:

1) The planned size and impact of the works are huge.
2) TCR is the closest tube station to where I currently work.

The recent permanent closure of Andrew Borde Street has had the effect of diverting a number of bus routes in the area, closing some bus stops and (I think) adding an additional stop or two on Shaftesbury Avenue.

I tend to use the Central or Northern Lines when in the area, or I walk. I rarely use the buses around Tottenham Court Road, so do not feel suitably qualified to offer a blow by blow account on the changes to the various bus routes in the area.

Details of current and future changes to London bus routes are available here. A spider map is also available here, though personally I find that this style of map is less useful when focused on the target spot.

As some of the changes will either be permanent, or will last seven years, you'll have plenty of time to get used to them!

The end of the line

We all like a tidy tube train.

The advent of two competing free evening newspapers in London has not helped the cause.

Where the Central Line terminates at West Ruislip, there are people employed to clear the trains of rubbish before they reverse and wend their way back into central London. During the evening peak they fight a losing battle as the trains are only sat in the platforms for a few mintes before they set off again on their return journey.

This pile of neatly stacked rubbish sacks is the result of the cleaners' work only part way through the evening peak. Mostly the contents were the aforementioned free newspapers.

I saw one train where the 'rear' cleaner only managed to get 1 1/2 carriages cleared before jumping out of the closing doors.

Helpful hint: If you are wanting to travel on a litter free train in the early evening, into London on the West Ruislip branch of the Central Line, travel in the back carriage.

Oompa Loompas and all that...

Great Missenden is a village in Buckinghamshire. It has a train station served by Chiltern Railways that is one stop after Amersham. Amersham is the end of the Metropolitan Line and is also the highest point above sea level on the tube network (147m / 490ft).

Fortunately the A413 now bypasses Great Missenden, because the High Street is very narrow. It is a bit strange - it is sort of picturesque, but somehow not really. Difficult to describe.

Walking along the street I came across two petrol pumps from a bye gone era. Apparently the 'Red Pump Garage' was the inspiration for parts of "Danny, the Champion of the World" a 1975 book by Roald Dahl.

Dahl spent a large part of his life living in Great Missenden. He is also buried there.

Just down the street from Red Pump Garage is The Roald Dahl Museum and Story Centre. This museum concentrates on the life of Mr Dahl and how he developed stories. It also provides a super environment for children to develop their story telling skills with some super interactive displays.

My favourite display was one where you could make a 15 frame time-lapse film using toy animals. It's great (a) because it really works and (b) because it is so simple to do.

A lot of the items on display in the Museum are changed every three months, so regular visitors will often have different things to see.

Roald Dahl wrote many iconic books, both for children and for adults. What I cannot say where he got the inspiration for the Oopma Loompas, but certainly I didn't see any while walking up the high street.

After my visit to the museum, it was a five minute walk back to the train station for my journey home.

Ticket Machines... Again

I mentioned back in August last year that Chiltern Railways had a major problem with their Fast Ticket machines being robbed and, in the process, being damaged beyond serviceable use.

There is no such thing as a ticket machine fairy and so it has consequently taken till now for the repaired machines to be reinstated at some of the quieter stations. Some stations are still bereft of ticket issuing facilities.

I understand that a couple of weeks ago, three stations in Buckinghamshire were once again targeted and their ticket machines broken into and robbed. One of them was on the day that the repaired ticket machine had been placed back into service, though that was probably a coincidence.

Personally the lack of a ticket machine would not affect me (I am in the fortunate position of buying just the one ticket a year). Nevertheless the problem must be annoying to those passengers affected, a major pain in the neck for the railway company and, of course, it must also be having an adverse affect on revenue.

I hope they catch whoever is doing it.

Radio Silence

CU has been a poorly bunny this week. I don't do sick (I have managed to increase my total days off in 25 years from 8 to 10). I don't do doctors - today I have been to see my GP about an illness for the first time in 15 years.

Writing about planes, trains and automobiles has not been high up my 'To Do' list. Sorry.

If things are no better by the morning I have to start a short course of antibiotics. Potential side affects include ruptured Achilles tendons. Joy.

Artificial Slippery Stuff

I don't particularly enjoy ice skating, but a lot of people do.

This evening someone at work organised a trip to the ice skating rink at Somerset House, which is is in the heart of London. I think a good time was had by most!

Afterwards I wandered over Waterloo Bridge to catch the Bakerloo Line from Waterloo to Marylebone and then onwards home. This must surely be one of the most photographed night shots in London. It shall remain nameless.

A bit windy

Last night the wind here was gusting up to 55 mph (88 km/h). Strong enough to blow the end ridge tile off my roof.

I am not quite sure how, but somehow it managed to land on the grass in one piece. I moved the car overnight, because a tile on the car would not have been pretty.

Amazingly a number of people who know me have asked "Oh, have you been up to repair it?" You have got to be flipping joking! Tomorrow, I'll have to find a man who can.

Big Weekend of Engineering Work - 17/18 January 2009

There is a huge amount of engineering work taking place this weekend across the London Underground Network.

The only lines that are NOT affected in some way, manner, or form are the Bakerloo, Northern, Piccadilly and Waterloo & City lines.

Out West, the Central Line is totally closed today (17th January 2009) and tomorrow (18th January 2009) between West Ruislip and North Acton, with two rail replacement bus services in place.

Live updates on the status of the various lines is available here.

Packed to the gunnels

I walked up to Marylebone last night. Just after I had arrived I got a text message from tfl to say that there were severe delays on the Central Line due to a fire alert at Mile End.

There followed a sigh of relief that I had walked, and then I thought no more of it.

That was until my big train passed a Central Line train on the approach to South Ruislip. The tube train had large numbers of people standing and it looked very full.

Bearing in mind that South Ruislip is in Zone 5 and half an hour from central London on a good day, it must have been an unpleasant journey home last night for many thousands of people.

Wow - What a lucky escape!

News tonight on the main BBC News of an incredible escape for 150 passengers on a US Airways that has crashed into the Hudson River in New York.

Incredible.

It's the little things that count

I mentioned last week that Chiltern Railways had started to read my blog. I am currently being visited every weekday and have had 52 specific page views in all.

Some blogs get masses of readers - I don't, and am grateful for each and every hit....

Now, I mentioned in my previous post that the Chiltern timetables on display at West Ruislip Central Line Station (it provides an interchange with the Chiltern Line) were out of date.

It may of course be a coincidence, but when I visited West Ruislip yesterday, the up-to-date timetables were on display. I shall of course take all the credit!

West Ruislip today yesterday, tomorrow The World.

Andrew Borde Street

What? Where?


View Larger Map

Andrew Borde Street is a funny little street that runs south of (and east under) Centre Point. It seems to be part bus station and also takes the traffic heading from the Holborn area up Tottenham Court Road.

At least it did.

As part of the Crossrail redevelopment of Tottenham Court Road tube station, Andrew Borde Street is now blocked at it's junction with Charing Cross Road and will remain closed for the foreseeable future. I have seen mentioned elsewhere that the closure of the road is permanent.

The junction from Sutton Row (leaving Soho Square) is also closed to traffic.

Tottenham Court Road tube station is served by the Central and Northern Lines, and according to Diamond Geezer's number crunching is the 6th busiest underground station that is not also a National Rail station.

One of the four station exits from the ticket barrier area at TCR leads to a long subway (underneath some fountains), which itself has three exits. Two of those exits lead onto Andrew Borde Street.

Those two specific subway exits, and the long subway leading to them will be closed later this month. Given the nature of the development work taking place, I suspect that no member of the public will ever see the subway again in anything like it's current form.

Penalty fares go up

Starting on 11th January 2008, the penalty fare for non payment on London's Bus, Tube, DLR and London Overground services increased to £50 from the previous level of £20. Apparently the penalty is reduced to £25 if paid within three weeks. Conceptually this is similar to what happens to many parking tickets.

Spending in excess of £3,000 per year on my season ticket, I certainly have no problem with this increase in the penalty charge amount. What the tfl press release does not say, is how many people are actually fined, how many people are prosecuted and how much revenue is raised through the penalty fare system.

Hours of endless fun

Ever since I was at school developing and printing my own black & white photographs, I've been keen on photography.

Over time I have been fortunate enough to visit some fabulous places that have been so photogenic that even I have been pleased with the results.

Here are a couple of my favourites:

I am sure that, with practice, my new camera will enable me to take the occasional half-decent picture.

In my experience one has to try, try and try again. I doubt if I will ever be as consistently good as Uphilldowndale, but that is the standard to which I aspire.

Anyhow, with practice in mind, I nipped out to a local station last night last night to once again try the panoramic functionality of my new kit. Clearly I need to take a tripod next time, but nevertheless I am impressed with the ability of the software to stitch the images together.

As you can see, it was a bit quiet out in rural Buckinghamshire last night. And windy.

More problems for the West Coast Main Line

There are no trains between Oxenholme Lake District and Carlisle until further notice. This is due to flooding.

Quite a lot of people will be affected by this temporary closure - it effectively blocks the West Coast Main Line for people going to Glasgow and also affects passengers of Transpennine Express.

For up to date information, please visit Network Rail's website (this blog should not be used for up-to-date travel information). This clickable image above was updated at 6.36 this morning, but it is an image and not a live link.

I suspect that the management at Virgin Trains will be particularly frustrated with this latest problem. However the truth is that if you want to drive trains through one of the wettest places in the country, you will occasionally encounter water.

Later: I've got home to note that train services between Oxenholme Lake District and Carlisle resumed at lunchtime. On this occasion UFN was precisely that, and not for too long.

AVP - Part 2

On a Sunday, some of the Chiltern Railways' train connections in Aylesbury are so bad, that I didn't lose any time today by visiting the building site again. I ended up on the same train that I would have done if I hadn't made the effort.

I bought myself a new camera yesterday - the picture above shows the TTTs, the waiting room, ticket office, shop and (surprise surprise) the car park. I'm quite pleased because it's actually four pictures that some software that came with the camera has automatically stitched together into a panorama shot. Granted, a mountain top panorama would have been nicer, but I was in Aylesbury. Anyhow, at least I know the system works.

It was considerably warmer today, but the toilets were still dis-functional. I suspect that it may be a day or two before this sign can be taken down.

The next picture shows the location of the two thrones in relation to the rest of the thriving metropolis, with the new station building growing in the background. Even once the arctic tundra has given way to spring and the facilities become available to use, I suspect all around will know precisely where you have gone. No secret ablutions here. That's enough toilet talk....

Naturally, AVP wouldn't be a train station unless it had trains. It can only ever have one at a time.

Two things to note:

1. As has been noted elsewhere the dot matrix at the front of the train simply said 'AVP', and
2. It was another Ghost Train.

One final observation. It can be deduced from the number of regimented lamp-posts beyond the emerging station building, as seen in this last picture, that the car park will eventually be much larger than is currently the case.

AVP

AVP is the Three Letter Abbreviation given to the new Aylesbury Vale Parkway station. The station is three miles North West of the centre of Aylesbury and opened on 14th December 2008. The station is served by Chiltern Railways.

I went to AVP today and can report that:

• It is called Parkway because there is a car park there. Other than that it is a building site with some portacabins and two temporary toilets.
• Eight people got off the train (it is the end of the line). Three had gone past Aylesbury by mistake and got back on the train. I wandered around a bit and then got back on the train as well. That leaves a man and his three toddlers- he clearly did want to be there because he got in his car and drove away.
• There was a security man wandering around. He looked pretty bored, but did manage to find a discarded newspaper on the train, so presumably he would then have been less bored.
• It was very cold - there was still freezing fog hanging around. The Portaloos were closed because the pipes were frozen. Even the sheep in a nearby field were running around to keep warm.
• The ticket office was closed, the shop/ snack bar was closed, the buses don't currently run there on a Saturday and there are no ticket issuing facilities when the office is closed.

The station will probably be quite useful if you live within it's catchment area (parking is free while the station buildings are being constructed), but don't go there expecting wild excitement.

I'll link to some pictures and more information shortly.

Gilligan and the Railways

Andrew Gilligan is a columnist with the London Evening Standard. He used to work for the BBC until he resigned over the 'Weapons of Mass Destruction' / David Kelly affair.

Mr Gilligan is certainly opinionated- he is often like a dog with a bone. I don't think that Ken Livingstone likes him very much. I don't much care for many of his views.

Yesterday's Standard saw a piece on the railways. As I was reading it my blood pressure went up and my blood started to boil. The article appeared to be a rant against the entire public transport infrastructure in this country. I was getting cross and was about to spit feathers.

Then I came across this sentence:

"To avoid Virgin, take the excellent (and cheaper) Chiltern trains from Marylebone to Birmingham, or the even better Wrexham and Shropshire service from the same terminus."

Goodness me. At last I have found something on which I agree with Mr Gilligan.

Falling down around our ears

Anyone with a modicum of interest in public transport in the UK cannot have failed to have noticed the string of problems that have affected the West Coast Main Line over the last few days.

Problems have included:

• A fatal plane crash on 2nd January, near Stafford, which destroyed overhead power lines and caused service cancellations for a few days
• The power cables coming down near Watford Junction on 4th January, again causing a total suspension of services
• Another set of power cables coming down on 6th January, somewhere near Wembley, causing a total line closure, and
• Further power cable problems (this time in Warwickshire) today, 8th January.

Now, the first of these incidents was obviously a tragic accident, but the rest do seem to call into question the nature of engineering work and/ or maintenance of the West Coast Main Line infrastructure.

According to reports, Network Rail have set up a major enquiry into the events of this week. That is good to note - in my line of work a Post Incident Review would be instigated for events that would have a far smaller operational or financial cost.

I do not know what staff turnover is like within either Network Rail or its subcontractors, but I do wonder whether the person who has trained people how to tie up the power cables actually knows how to do it?

Maybe someone will sit up and take notice?

Cor blimey - I've been wittering on here for three years. I've got a small number of loyal readers, an even smaller number of regular commentators and the usual surprised visitors who've arrived by means of weird search engine terms.

I've made it now though - someone at Chiltern Railways has been having a jolly good read of this blog in the last few days. Now generally I am pretty good about Chiltern because, by and large, it is acknowledged that they are one of the best railway companies in the UK.

Hopefully this will mean that if I make constructive suggestions, my reader in Aylesbury will prod someone to take action. I don't rant too much.

Chiltern Railways found me by doing a 'blog search' for Chiltern Railways. I've always thought that this is good corporate practice for any Media or PR department. Also, it seems that they might have bookmarked me, so hopefully they'll be back.

Whoever you are - Welcome!

Optional test: The timetables on display outside the main tube station entrance at West Ruislip are out of date. Could you possibly arrange to have the new ones put up? Thank you.

So you got a new bag for Christmas...

I can see you got a new bag for Christmas. It looks as though it might have a laptop in it. It may only contain a few manky sandwiches, but I can't tell. Your bag is well attached to your shoulders. Up in the real world it is quite cold, so it may be helping to keep your back warm.

However, the Jubilee Line at Baker Street in the morning rush hour is not the place to be impersonating a camel. Take the bloody thing off your back and let some more people on the train.

Thank you.

It's slippery out there

At present it's a chilly -3.7 C out in my part of the Chiltern Hills. I can vouch for the fact that local un-gritted roads, where the snow has been compacted by vehicles, are quite literally sheets of ice.

If you are driving or walking in the area (or indeed anywhere else experiencing similar conditions), please be very very careful as it is treacherous out there.

Edit: Tuesday morning, 06:30. It is now -7.8 C and has dropped 0.9 of a degree in the last half hour. Brrrrrrr.

What do they teach in schools nowadays?

Last night, while in Princes Risborough, I spent the un-princely sum of £1.20 and paid with a £20 note.

After handing over the note, I then realised that I had a 20p coin, so handed that over as well. In my world that is called 'making it easier' for the assistant.

The cash register told the girl serving me to hand me back £18.80. Giving her the extra 20p totally blew her mind and she could then not work out how much change to give me. Duh!

Shopping Trip

As it is nearly Twelfth Night, I thought I ought to get the Christmas present my parents had promised (and which I had asked for).

I am much more M&S than Prada, but no joy yesterday at the M&S store in High Wycombe.

This afternoon I decided to venture a little further to the new Westfield shopping centre in West London. I did pay a brief visit before Christmas, but it was then too busy for my liking.

It appears to have settled down a little now, in terms of the crowds, and I managed to purchase the coat I was looking for in the unsurprisingly modern M&S. I also latched onto a ridiculously expensive ski suit in Ellis Brigham that I first saw at the London Ski Show a couple of months ago, but fortunately managed to keep my plastic firmly in my pocket for that.

Getting to Westfield was quite straight forward. A Chiltern Railways stopping service saw me change to the Central Line at West Ruislip and it was then plain sailing to White City. I arrived at White City only two minutes after my first train would have arrived at Marylebone, so it was definitely the best way to go. Returning home was the same trip in reverse.

Edit:Westfield transport links are shown here (click image):

**Eden photo by kingpin1055**

Balanced, Secure and Realisitic

Apparently that's me - based upon the following. It may be about as accurate as a horoscope, but I'm happy with the answer!

Your result for What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test...

Balanced, Secure, and Realistic.

11 Impressionist, 11 Islamic, -6 Ukiyo-e, -7 Cubist, -11 Abstract and -11 Renaissance!

Impressionism is a movement in French painting, sometimes called optical realism because of its almost scientific interest in the actual visual experience and effect of light and movement on appearance of objects. Impressionist paintings are balanced, use colored shadows, use pure color, broken brushstrokes, thick paint, and scenes from everyday life or nature.

People that like Impressionist paintings may not always be what is deemed socially acceptable. They tend to move on their own path without always worrying that it may be offensive to others. They value friendships but because they also value honesty tend to have a few really good friends. They do not, however, like people that are rude and do not appreciate the ideas of others. They are secure enough in themselves that they can listen to the ideas of other people without it affecting their own final decisions. The world for them is not black and white but more in shades of grey and muted colors. They like things to be aesthetically pleasing, not stark and sharp. There are many ways to view things, and the impressionist personality views the world from many different aspects. They enjoy life and try to keep a realistic viewpoint of things, but are not very open to new experiences. If they are content in their live they will be more than likely pleased to keep things just the way they are.

Take What Your Taste in Art Says About You Test at HelloQuizzy

Ghost Train

A first for me just now.

Traveled one stop on a train out in rural Buckinghamshire. I was the only passenger to get on, I was the only one to get off. Other than me the train was empty.

Spooky!

As the train continued on its merry way, I did wonder whether the driver was aware that he was there for his own pleasure...

Meanwhile, Chiltern Railways were featured extensively on this evening's main 10 o'clock news on the BBC. All the Chiltern trains and platforms shown were just as quiet as I have experienced all week (well- not quite as quiet as just now).

I guess it will be back to normal on Monday when everyone goes back to work and the usual drudge of commuting resumes.

Another one bites the dust

Bumped into a fellow blogger on the way home tonight - he was working, so hope it's not too busy.

The big trains this week have been marvelously quiet. This morning my four carriages had a total of 14 people got off upon arrival at Marylebone. Not many more on the way home just now. The underground was pretty quiet as well.

I'm off to Abbots Langley now for a quiet, hopefully sedate dinner party, with bed thrown in as well. Result!

As another year bites the dust, this post marks the end of my third year of infrequent blogging - it also means that 2008 does not have the lowest number of posts. Yay!

Thank you for coming to read my meanderings, especially to those of you who take the trouble to comment.

May I wish you a very Happy New Year. I hope that 2009 brings you everything that you hope for.

CU

And the wind down begins....

Well, the Underground was particularly quiet this morning.

My 'big train' to rural Buckinghamshire (en-route to Birmingham), mid-afternoon, was packed to the gunnels.

A very Happy Christmas to my reader.

Chiltern Railways are running to a special timetable over Christmas and New Year, with no trains whatsoever on Christmas Day and Boxing Day. A copy is available to download here (walk to your manned Chiltern station if on dial-up).

London Transport Christmas and New Year travel arrangements are still available here.

Yuck...

I have a pet hate - people who file their nails on the train. I don't know why, but I find it revolting.

Today it went one worse - someone clipping their nails. Click.. ping.. click.. ping..

Aaarrgh!

Is the competition hotting up?

Over a large number of weekends this year, mainly due to engineering works in the Rugby area, Virgin Trains have been running hourly trains from London Euston to Coventry and Birmingham International, diverted up the Chiltern Railways route through rural Buckinghamshire.

According to a Network Rail press release put out today, the engineering work is now complete. Starting from next weekend the number of trains using the West Coast Main Line will increase dramatically, with journey times seeing significant reductions.

This is of course good news for travelers who will see a significant increase in seat capacity between London, Birmingham and stations north.

Hitherto, Chiltern Railways have offered the best value (ie cheapest) easily available fare between London and Birmingham at £5 each way (obviously, subject to restrictions).

In tonight's evening papers were Virgin Trains adverts offering tickets from the same price between London Euston and Birmingham, supposedly from next Sunday which is when the new timetable starts.

What a fantastic way for Virgin to thank Chiltern for their co-operation during the weekends of the Rugby blockade (see press release of 12 June 2008).

I do admire Chiltern Railways, but I've just checked with Virgin and it is possible to get a weekday mid-morning booking next month, from Euston for the promised £5 and the journey is scheduled to be as quick as 1hr 22 min.

Chiltern would appear to have some stiff competition!

Christmas & New Year Travel Guide for London

Transport for London (aka tfl) have today published a Travel Guide to getting around London over Christmas and New year.

It weighs in at a hefty 2Mb and is in pdf format. For now the guide is available here, but if they move or change the file name, please let me know.

A summary is:

• Christmas Eve 2008: Most stuff finishes early
• Christmas Day 2008: London stops
• Boxing Day 2008: London starts to get going again, except for the Jubilee Line (no service Friday, Saturday or Sunday), the Metropolitan Line (no service) and the Waterloo & City Line. There are also other station closures on the Bakerloo, Central, Circle, District, Hammersmith & City and Northern Lines.

• There are also pages and pages of guidance should you be in London on New Year's Eve.

It isn't possible to summarise here all the travel changes detailed in a 25 page guide, so I recommend you obtain a copy if you intend to travel in London over the holiday period.

I note that there is no mention of a corporate sponsor for the free late night travel arrangements on 31st December. The economy really must be in a bad way.

Edit: 2 January 2009. Tfl have removed the guide from their website. At present I do not have any suitably anonymous webspace to host the document. If you can host, please let me know - if you want a copy emailed to you, please let me know. Thank you.

Scoop...

I went to Banbury today, by train, using the ever efficient services of Chiltern Railways. One of the trains was too short (no room to swing a cat), but it was a bit parky outside- huddling together helps one to keep warm

Where was I? Oh yes - Banbury.

Woolworths, to be precise. The sadly soon to be gone, in Administration, up to 50% off sale shop that holds a strangely nostalgic piece of most peoples' hearts.

I spent a grand total of £15.56 and did pick up several bargains. The best of which was a ice cream scoop, for which I paid the princely sum of 40 pence.

The item comes with a 5 year guarantee which states;

"This item is guaranteed for 5 years from the date of purchase. It will be replaced with the same or similar item, if there is a defect due to faulty materials or workmanship, during that period. The guarantee does not cover defect occurring due to abuse. This does not affect your statutory rights. In the unlikely event that a fault should occur, to claim under this guarantee return this item to your nearest Woolworths store, together with the purchase receipt."

May I be so bold as to state that this particular guarantee is probably not worth the paper it is printed on?

Oh, and they didn't have any carrier bags, so my haul of goodies was transported home in a marvelous black bin bag.

A new world record

What? Two hours and thirty eight minutes - that's what....

The length of time it took this morning from walking out of my front door to arriving at my desk.

That is a long long time for a commute. Indeed a world record for me. To say I was a little jaded upon arrival would be an understatement.

There was a fatality at about 5.10am this morning, on the railway near High Wycombe station. The police took some time to release the line back to the railways, so the line was closed until about 7.40 am. Understandably, it then took Chiltern Railways some time to get trains running in any sort of order.

I managed to grab a lift to Great Missenden and traveled to Marylebone on the Aylesbury via Amersham line.

It would seem that a lot of people gave up, because the trains home this evening were very quiet.

Compare and Contrast

After the shambles of Saturday evening, a decent video of Tangmere passing through my local Buckinghamshire station has now been sourced.

Note the still red signal on the Northbound platform, showing how close the photographers came to having their views blocked by a Chiltern Railways service, along with the carefully positioned yappy dog - aimed at preventing any commercial sales of video footage.



It was a very strange experience (but somehow rather pleasant) to be shrouded in the swirling mass of steam lingering after the passage of the locomotive.

My camera skills are getting worse

Actually, not only are my camera skills going downhill, but things have got so bad that tonight I couldn't even remember how to use my Digital SLR.

So, I proudly present an incredibly lousy video of a steam train traveling down the Chiltern Line a few minutes ago:



Why is it truncated? Because the memory card on the spare camera was full and I didn't know!

The funny thing was when a northbound Chiltern Railways Clubman stopped at a red signal on the Northbound platform just before the steam train was due. You had to smile at the sight of all the real enthusiasts really panicking as their carefully framed photographic angles were suddenly blocked. Cruel.

Autumn Pruning

I've had a really good sort out of my Blogroll.

Should you really want to, the entry called 'My Bloglines List' may give you a wider view of my interests.

Two to specifically note:

• Flight Level 390 - As soon as I know there's an update, this is the first one I read.
• Uphilldowndale - Consistently outstanding photography.

All dead or deleted blogs have been culled.

Work, sleep or blog?

To put it mildly, work is interesting at present. Very early starts, later than usual finishes and projects that have nothing to do with my usual job. All in some way connected to the unprecedented happenings in the financial services industry over the last few months.

My use of public transport has not diminished - the only problem is that I am generally dashing from A to B to C and using the down time to think, and plan how to move forward with the various projects. Usually such in-depth use of brain power isn't required. It's great fun, but something has to give.

Decent sleep is a necessity, I need to keep my job (and I enjoy it), so blogging has slipped down the to do list recently. Sorry.

The one thing I would say is that the Jubilee Line is beginning to seriously hack me off. The other day I was traveling from the West End to Canary Wharf when I had to get off the train somewhere South of The River to join a conference call, simply because the 'Good Service' Jubilee Line was actually crap. That is just one example.

Also it has been mentioned elsewhere that changing lines at Bank is not as bad or inconvenient as tfl would imply (though there are definite issues if you want to interchange at Bank Station with the District/ Circle Line platforms. On Thursday I was so hacked off with the silver line that I decided to use the DLR for the first time in months, it was mid afternoon. The interchange was so good (two upwards escalators from the DLR platforms towards the Central Line), that I shall certainly be traveling back to the West End that way for the foreseeable future.

If you have the willpower, please read Diamond Geezer's excellent 'transforming the truth' article.

Now some sleep...

So, how was the Crystal Ball?

OK, here are the results of yesterday's informal predictions:

A number of people DID turn up for this morning's first train, not realising that a replacement bus had gone a few minutes before.

1 - 0

There were issues with rolling stock, as I thought there would be. I know of at least one early train that was cancelled.

2 - 0

My 'Fast' train (a) turned up on time and (b) still had the extra carriage glued to the back. It also had plenty of seats spare. The train did stop at a couple of extra stations en-route, presumably because of the aforementioned cancellation. Fifteen minutes late into Marylebone, but that wasn't really a surprise.

2 - 1

Tonight's train(s) home had loads of spare seats and one was also longer than usual.

Now we just have to hope that the engineering work at Aylesury is completed on time tomorrow night.

Another day beckons...

Aylesbury Parkway Signalling Works

Should you be using Chiltern Railways over the next couple of days, please be aware that there are major engineering works in the Aylesbury area between now and end of traffic on Thursday. As their main depot is in Aylesbury there will no doubt be the odd issue or two with rolling stock and anyone travelling to or from Aylesbury will end up on a rail replacement coach to/ from Wendover or Princes Risborough.

One thing that I do know is that some regulars will get caught out tomorrow morning, as the very first train of the day on Wednesday 19th November will be replaced by a coach between Aylesbury and High Wycombe. Having discovered this earlier today I contacted two people who usually catch the first train, neither of whom were aware of the revised arrangements for tomorrow. Oh well, that's my good deed for the day.

Full details available (for now) here.

Like children in a sweetie shop

Just recently I have taken to catching an early Chiltern Railways train that is non-stop to London Marylebone.

It is the first train of the day that has come any great distance and usually has three carriages. On Monday you are indeed fortunate to get a seat, by the time it gets to Friday you are unlucky if you don't get one.

So, this morning our little commuter club was standing by the designated spot on the platform - you know, the one precisely where your door opens without having to move unnecessarily to board. We had been chatting about this and that and simply commented, as the first two carriages chugged past that there were a few seats free today.

Suddenly, to our consternation, we realised as the train stopped that we were not stood at the rear most door of the last carriage. An extra carriage had been tacked onto the back of the train (not literally, but you know what I mean). So en-masse our band of happy foot soldiers traipsed along the platform, boarded the extra carriage and marvelled at the incredible choice of seats available to use.

We were indeed like children in a sweetie shop... choices, choices, choices.

I have never known a train at that unearthly hour to be anything other than three carriages long. It will probably never happen again, but one can but hope.

Driving to the Cinema

I can go by train to the cinema or I can drive. I could walk (though it's nearly five miles), I could go by bike (if I owned one) or I could go by bus if I was willing to wait a couple of days.

So last night I decided to drive. It had been raining fairly heavily for quite a while but, nevertheless, I was still surprised to see water fountaining up into the air out of some drains along the main road. It was a sign of how much water was running down from the hills. It was certainly an interesting drive back home later, with some stretches of road having considerable amounts of water standing on them.

I was quite pleased I didn't go by train - when I go to the cinema I like to see the credits through to the end. If I had done that last night I would have missed a train and would not then have got home until the last train. Too late, even though it wasn't a school night.

Timing shouldn't have been a problem - in my head I allow 10 minutes to walk from the station to the cinema, 20 minutes for the adverts/ trailers, add on the full film length and then a further 10 minutes back to the station. Unfortunately last night's film had 30 minutes of adverts and trailers - that 10 minutes extra would have been the reason for a missed train.

I thought there was an advertising downturn at present?

By the way, the film was 'Quantum of Solace'. If you have been hiding under a rock, it's the new James Bond film. James Bond has been with me all my life and I couldn't not see one of the new films. Bond = Big Money = Adverts.

This is not a film review blog, so I shall keep my observations short. QoS is dark, action packed and humourless. I understand that it is also the shortest Bond film to date. I enjoyed it, though thinking back, I think I most enjoyed the adrenalin packed aspects of the film as some of the story lines were confusing enough to just wash over me.

I'd be better off keeping On Topic

Yesterday morning I suggested that the M40 may have reopended following an accident.

That information was incorrect - I've just heard on LBC that following two early accidents, the road didn't properly re-open until almost 9 o'clock last night. Sorry if I misled - the good news is that nobody reached my pearls of un-wisdom by searching directly for news on the incident(s).

There is still quite a bit of snow hanging around, but I've only seen it in the dark. Three train companies used yesterday (Chiltern, First Capital Connect and East Midlands Trains), hopefully, just the one today.

Mind you I got suckered into one of those wretched paper Travelcard surveys this week.... Joy.

Sleepy Head

I mentioned a few days ago that, at present, I am starting my days a bit earlier than usual.

Well, my chickens came home to roost last night.

Having got on the Jubilee Line at Canary Wharf, I had been completing a puzzle in my newspaper when... I woke up just as the train was pulling out of Baker Street.

This meant I had to get off at the next station, travel back south again, get to Marylebone (by which time my train had long gone) and then wait.

Those few seconds of extra relaxation meant that my journey home last night was extended to over two hours. Damn.

Crunchy Morning

I think a lot of people are going to have a testing commute today.

A short while ago the M40 was closed in both directions between Junctions 4 & 6 following an accident. I think the motorway itself is now open, with some of the slip roads still closed. Visit the Traffic England website for more.

Meanwhile, the station car park and platforms are covered in a thin layer of snow that has frozen into a solid mass of ice. From what I can see of rural Buckinghamshire this morning (there's a faint glow in the sky), it will be picturesque this morning, but I'll be long gone before it is light enough to take a picture.

Golf Mike Tango

Should you be reading this in the UK, I take this opportunity to remind you that our clocks moved one hour back in the early hours of this morning. We are now back on Greenwich Mean Time until 1.00 am on Sunday 29 March 2009, when the clocks will go forward again.

When I was young different parts of Europe changed their clocks at different times but, according to BERR, an EU Directive now steers the various Member States towards harmonious timing (even though the UK and Ireland are an hour different anyway).

Two things:

1. "BERR"? I dread to think how much money this country could save by doing away with the government department that thinks up new names for government departments and
2. "Member States"? These two words just wind me up - we are a sovereign state, but why can't we just be a Country?

Thank you to London Stuff (currently in Thailand) for feedback on yesterday's picture.

My recollection is that the Greek origins of the word 'photography' may be paraphrased as "Drawing with light".

I've added a further picture below- today's is but a few minutes old. It is currently raining with some considerable persistence and the temperature is 15 degrees warmer than yesterday morning. It is a cruddy photograph that is published just to highlight the importance of the word light in the phrase "Drawing with Light".

BTW, technically yesterday's lunch was free though I did buy a round of drinks. It was enjoyable, though Watford lost 2 - 3. I hope the weather clears up for the rugby this afternoon.

Free Lunch

Have you ever heard of the phrase "There's no such thing as a free lunch"?

Well, time will tell, but I may have found me one today.

There is only one problem in that it involves me going to a footall match.

Now, as I don't do football, I am being a bit of a hypocrite in accepting the invitation, but the person who has invited me knows me well and is a good friend. And I like food.

I'll let you know whether it really is a free lunch.

The next conundrum is how do I get there? I usually drive, but if I am on a freebie in a paid-for box, I quite fancy a drink or two. That means doing battle with several Chiltern Railways trains and the Metropolitan Line. I've even found my empty Oystercard so that I don't have to pay silly cash fares for the last bit of the journey to Watford.

I think I'll drive tomorrow for the rugby and go by train today.

Get up... get out... it's a lovely Autumn day here in rural Buckinghamshire. I've just taken this picture shown at the top of this post from the bedroom, especially for you! Enjoy.

Stupid O'Clock

For the last couple of weeks I've been spending most days at Canary Wharf.

To retain any sense of sanity this means that I tend to travel in to London earlier than I normally would, which entails me setting my alarm for stupid o'clock.

Many years ago, before it got extended, I used to commute along the Jubilee Line from Stanmore to Green Park. It was then a pretty short line and Canary Wharf was but a twinkle in the property developer's eye. The journey was generally pretty good.

Moving forward a couple of decades, the Jubilee Line is twice as long, twice as stuffed and generally unpleasant during peak hours.

I try to be at Baker Street by 7.30 am (which means me being out of the door not long after 6.00 am). At the other end of the day I try to leave work a little early so that I am home around 6.00 pm.

Because I am doing a job and a half for a little while, I then usually spend part of the evening sorting out the accumulated electronic detritus otherwise known as my In-Box.

This all means that by the time it gets to Friday night I am knackered. So, last night I went to bed reasonably early, set my alarm for 8.00 am (no point wasting the day) and managed to get to sleep quite quickly.

What time did I wake up this morning? Grrrrr..... you guessed it..... Stupid O'bloody Clock.

This picture is only a week late...

Another new (or rather a replacement) station opened on 5th October 2008. I do think the new Shepherds Bush station on the Central Line is quite impressive.

Downstairs is fairly bright (on Sunday it smelt of damp plaster) and upstairs is so totally different to the old station, it really is quite incredible. It is amazing what can be done in quick order- retail money obviously talks.

My visit to the station was mid-morning on Sunday. All was quiet and there was a fantastic blue sky.

Just one negative comment - because the sun was shining directly in to the ticket barriers, it was impossible to see which ones were 'way out' and which were 'way in'.

I have a cunning plan to solve, but need to do some more digging before I launch it on you!

The biggest surprise is that while there is a small entrance onto the Shepherds Bush Green aspect, the whole look and feel of the upstairs has been rotated 90 degrees - it is an integral part of the new transport hub. Mind you, there is absolutely no encouragement for visitors to go anywhere but into the new Westfield Shopping Centre, which opens at the end of the month.

Wood Lane - I think I did it?

Goodness me. Purely by accident, I think I took a photograph of the new Wood Lane station on the Hammersmith & City Line, on the day it opened. I know it's a bad picture, but nevertheless I am happy that I accidentally got the picture on opening day.

Today's tfl press release simply confirms that the station is open - not that it actually opened on Sunday.

Another picture of somewhere else coming up soon... I bet you can't wait!

Running Trains to Time

Certain European countries have longstanding reputations for railway systems that always run to time. Switzerland is the obvious one, though Germany also springs to mind in the regard.

Talk to anyone who has traveled on German Trains regularly and they will tell you that they achieve their punctuality by way of the simple mechanism of building in lots of spare time to the timetable. This means that if a train has actually traveled between two major stations at its optimum speed, there will usually be wait of several minutes before the journey continues.

A similar system now operates on many of our lines in the UK - London bound South West Trains trains frequently wait at Basingstoke, off-peak, to enable the timetable to catch up. Similarly during a recent journey from Edinburgh to London on a Sunday, there was a fair bit of waiting at major stations.

Chiltern Railways, so far as I can tell, automatically build in an extra three minutes leeway to all their final destination arrival times. That is on top of the magic leaf-fall timetable currently in operation.

I've just spotted the most blatant attempt so far for trying to make sure that a train reaches its destination without being late:

Most long distance Chiltern Railways services from London Marylebone terminate in Birmingham at Birmingham Snow Hill station. It takes about three minutes to travel in a tunnel under Birmingham city centre from the preceding station, Birmingham Moor Street.

There is, as a type, a train running towards Birmingham. It left London Paddington on time (diverted due to engineering works) and is currently running just over 20 minutes late. Trains that are 10 minutes or more late show in red on the National Rail Live Departures boards.

If you look at the current journey board for the train, you will note that rather than being timetabled to take 3 minutes (or six, or nine) between the last two stations on the journey, a total of fourteen minutes have been built into the timetable. It's magic - all of a sudden a 'Red' journey turns into a 'Blue' journey and the bean counters are kept happy.

What a con!

Back to Basics

Sometimes I think back to the inane ramblings that I used to post here - generally about the intricacies of my public transport travels around London. I still ramble inanely, but less frequently.

The reason for the reduced frequency of such posts is because I now tend to leave London pretty sharpish in the late afternoon and not return until the next weekday.

Anyhow here is a sample of tube journeys I've taken over the last week or so:

Northern Line: Warren Street to Tottenham Court Road (twice). No delays, no problems, probably only marginally quicker than walking. Also TCR to Waterloo, same again.

Metropolitan Line: Great Portland Street to Baker Street (twice-ish). Ditto.

Jubilee Line: Several trips out to Canary Wharf and back. Two from Baker Street and one from Waterloo (ex Northern). No delays, no problems, definitely not quicker than walking.

Central Line: South Ruislip to Northolt and back. Nothing startling there - over the years every bump in the track between those two stations has become imprinted on my mind.

As you can see, other than going out to Canary Wharf, no tube trip was for longer than two stops and everyone of them was walkable. Tube avoidance is obviously still doing OK and I think I've lost an inch or two from around my waist. Too boring to turn into a blog post really

Coming soon... buses along the Marylebone Road.

I can't see a publisher knocking on my door any time soon.

DLR services Monday 29 September

TFL have been pretty quick to put out a press release this morning to say that there are unlikely to be any Docklands Light Railway Services between Bank and Canary Wharf during today's morning rush hour. This is due to over-running engineering works in the Westferry area.

Fortunately my plans to travel from the West End today to Docklands were to go via Waterloo. (a) I prefer to and (b) that's what we are encouraged to do, because of ongoing escalator works at Bank station.

Well done TFL for the prompt advice. Less well done for the works over-running in the first place.

NB: Usual disclaimer - this is not a live site. Click here for current position.

Knife Arch in the Country

Friday evening, Princes Risborough station - What's this? A knife arch and lots of police (well, four) stood around.

Obviously not fitting the right profile, I just wandered into town to do some late night shopping, without having to be analysed, probed, questioned or otherwise delayed.

Once I got to Tesco, another surprise. In the side car park was a huge police lorry belonging to the Thames Valley Police 'Mounted Section'. What? Police horses and a knife arch. What was happening to this backyard of relative rural tranquility?

Well, it transpires that two things had caused are local boys and girls in blue to get a bit twitchy and to bolster the local police cloak of invisibility with a year's worth of resources:

• On the previous Saturday night, according to the Bucks Free Press, there was a mini-riot with a fight erupting at a private party on the north side of the town. Apparently there were worries that some of those involved might return to continue their misdemeanours on Friday. On the night in question I had been enjoying a meal in a local pub with a friend and we had noticed a number of police cars haring up the road from High Wycombe toward Princes Risborough. As we live in such a quiet relatively crime-free backwater, we had just assumed that there had been a road traffic accident somewhere.

• Trouble makers from the Thame Show were expected to come into town and cause a bit of bother. A quick bit of research into this theory would suggest that it can quickly be discounted as the Thame Show is a one day show that finished the day before.

When I returned to the station, the number of police had increased to 9 or 10. It transpired however that, as it was getting a bit late for them (it was nearly ten o'clock), they needed to work out how to remove the aforementioned knife arch and return the train station to its usual state of late night desolation. I can't say for how long the police horses stood in the Tesco car park, munching their hay.

As an interesting aside, a local commented to me yesterday that he hoped that Risborough 'wasn't going to go back to how it was in the 1970s'. Apparently Princes Risborough was a regular hot-spot for Mods & Rockers who would travel on trains to the town, half way between High Wycombe and Aylesbury, to fight. I am unable to confirm this by means of a link to some obscure corner of the internet, as I usually would.

How the world has moved on - Princes Risborough has, I think, changed little over the years whereas the population mix of the two larger neighboring towns has changed dramatically over the last three decades.

As if I hadn't already had enough excitement for one evening, a broken down train on the Risborough to Aylesbury single track line had caused some delays to Chiltern Ralways' services, so I was almost 30 minutes later than expected in getting home.

Anonymous Blogs - Is the writing on the wall?

Apparently the European Union is currently investigating whether to force all bloggers to register their real identities, with a photograph.

Now, I know of many bloggers who would simply stop blogging if they were no longer anonymous. I choose to be anonymous, simply because it suits the style of writing that I seek to achieve.

Personally I think it would be a shame to impose public profiles on people - it would certainly make the Blogosphere a less interesting place.

Thanks to Monday Books for pointing me in the direction of this.

Do please buy some books from them - it might be a bit cheaper to go via Amazon, but Monday Books always post via first class post, don't charge postage and are really nice people to deal with. When I look at the sort of books they publish, it makes me realise how valuable some of our small independent publishers really are.

DIY Sauna

Late Monday afternoon. Wandered down to Marble Arch to catch a train out to Stratford.

La la la... through the ticket barrier. La la la... down the escalator. La la la... along the passage way and down the stairs. La la la onto the platform.

BANG!

It was as though I had walked into a brick wall. It felt really hot. It wasn't particularly hot outside, or anywhere elso on the station, just on the platforms. I acclimatised fairly quickly, but the contrast in air temperatures over the space of a few feet was incredible.

I seem to recall that the Evening Standard ran some articles a few years ago about the differences in ambient air temperatures on different London Underground lines - my recollection is that the Central Line was the warmest because of the type of braking system that the trains use.

Anyhow, if my experience of this week is anything to go by... Need a sauna? Don't spend big bucks on a fitness club or gymn. Don't fly off to Scandinavia to experience the real deal. Just buy an Oystercard and check out the platforms at Marble Arch. Delightful.