Yearly Archives: 2023

Very Handy Andy : Fine And Dandy (2)

Disintegrated Integration Manchester Mega-Mayor Andy Burnham has made much of his desire to have an integrated transport system like that in London. But, as we shall see, London’s “system” is very far from integrated. Yesterday, we saw that National Rail was offering a fare of £6.70 for one stop on the Elizabeth Line line between Paddington and Bond Street (it…

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Monday’s Friday Reads – 2 October 2023

• The war on motorists: The secret history of a myth as old as cars themselves (Guardian) • RMT tube strike to cause severe disruption to the London Underground next week (IanVisits) • The history, vast expansion, & future of London Stratford station (OnLondon) • City Talks – British Rail with Christian Wolmar: Podcast (CentreForCities) • North America’s sleeper train…

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Very Handy Andy : Fine And Dandy (1)

Or Is It? Seems quite a big in-box? Leaving aide the rather odd phrase “overland train services”, we are encouraged that Mr Burnham wants to have a fully integrated transport system for Manchester. We may be slightly less encouraged that he wants to be as integrated as transport in London.   Maybe he has never used public transport in London? So…

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Sunday Variety

Let The Train Take The Grain! Look very closely at this post WW2 picture of the Ben Nevis Distillery at Fort William. It was a visit taken on the fbb’s recent holiday.. Now look even more closely to the right of the old car! You might spot a railway track emenating from a wagon turntable. Here is the track where…

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Saturday Variety

 On The Bright Side fbb can remember several articles in the Railway Press that painted a sorrowful picture of train travel in the USA. The thrust of these articles was that everybody flies everywhere or drives a huge gas-guzzling car!  Over the past ew years, fbb has been following the development of Brightline, which lays claim to being the first…

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Logistics Businesses Urge Welsh Government to Plan for the Future

Logistics businesses have this week urged the Welsh government to provide a clear future plan for logistics at a roundtable hosted by Logistics UK, attended by Welsh Deputy Minister for Climate Change, Lee Waters MS.    At the event, hosted at Owens Group’s facility in Cardiff Bay, members and industry leaders discussed the key priorities for the Wales National Freight and Logistics…

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The university run – Sort My Sign

This week, many families will be taking to the roads to help move their children into university accommodation around the country. A time packing up the car with numerous essential (or maybe not!) items to ensure that home from home comforts and essential study equipment is transported to start their higher education journey. Many of these journeys will be on…

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Friday Reads – 29 September 2023

• Secret MI6 spy tunnels being turned into London tourist attraction (SecretLondon) • ÖBB & DB to double sleeper train traffic by 2030 (RailTech) • Can the Messina Bridge project cross the divide to Sicily? (Railway Technology) • 5 transit lessons from an American blogger’s Eurotrip (SYLee) • Lufthansa’s Austrian unit loses greenwashing lawsuit over jet fuel use (Bloomberg) •…

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The West Lothian Quiestion

Political Posturing? The phrase was coined by Enoch Powell way back in the 1970s. Fiery Scotsman and MP Tam Dalyell … … repeatedly brought up “The Question” as the Devolution debate began to feature in Parliamentary business. Should, for example, Scottish MPs (e.g. from West Lothian), sitting in the House of Commons, be forbidden from voting on purely English business. …

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Euphoria : Manchster’s “New” Bus System

Bee Network Starts (Sort Of) A chum emailed fbb earlier this week asking (Excitedly?) about “all these new bus services in Manchester”. GoAhead in particular has gone for this big time. The company have drafted in extra drivers from all points of their operating compass to ensure their bit of the franchise works without a hitch. And they have dressed…

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