I have actually signalled the "special train". However it would entail instant death to spill details.
It used to visit places like Llandod on the Heart of Wales which BR was ever threatening to close so thumbs up there.
Back O?T - apparently Farce Group have been poleaxed from the bidding for the Cross Country Franchise. So there is a huge sigh of relief all round. Virgin/Stagecoach favourites then?
Still on the Royal Train -
Back when Peter Parker was Chairman of British Rail, and trumpeting the "crumbling edge of quality" phrase to try to get the Govt of the day to stump up a bit more for track renewal, I must admit that it was always heartening to read that Charles was regularly using the Royal Train to reach destinations on lines that the general public had been led to believe were served by clapped out and potentially dangerous routes.
Good for him, I say.
Hwyl,
Martin
Still on Royal Trains,
I have MSTS and on a programme 'Scottish Central' there is an activity 'Royal Train'. I drive EWS 37410 with members of the Belgian RF from Rosyth to Edinburgh Waverley, where they continue on a tour of Scotland. In this activity the 37 is pulled off a Fort William service that has just terminated.
Most MSTS activities are based on actual routes and journies, and as far as I can find the above took place in the real world.
John Baker
In the Netherlands we are down to one carriage, a century ago it was 5. The current one does not see much service, mostly it is seen on testruns. It was build in the mid eighties and is based on a first class carriage of the ICR type.
These days our queen goes by car or for longer distances in our country she uses a Royal Netherlands Airforce helicopter and then her special and luxurious VIP bus. Many heads of state and other visiting foreign dignitaries were surprised the first time they were asked to take the bus but now they are used to it (I wonder if this is the reason we do not see the British queen?). The first bus is now in a museum as is at least one of the two carriages of the previous royal train.
Members of the royal family are sometimes travelling by special train because of some event or other. I think our crown prince, Willem Alexeander, travelled with the athletes from the Turin winter olympics back home by special train.
For pictures of the Dutch royal train, royal waiting rooms and some pictures of other royal trains see this link: http://www.nicospilt.com/hoogheid.htm.
Unfortunately, the text is only in dutch. Contact me or better yet, Nico Spilt himslef for a translation if necessary.
greetings,
Marc Immeker
cogloadreturns wrote: The Royal Train is kept at Wolverton and is not solely for the use of the Royal Family, in fact only the Monarch and the heir apparent use the facility. The Glorious Leader has also used it,. visiting heads of state use it and the Glorious Leader's wife also borrowed it on one occasion. ........................................................... look at what the "Regal" President of France has at his/her disposal. And believe me, everything stops when [they] run!
The Royal Train is kept at Wolverton and is not solely for the use of the Royal Family, in fact only the Monarch and the heir apparent use the facility. The Glorious Leader has also used it,. visiting heads of state use it and the Glorious Leader's wife also borrowed it on one occasion.
........................................................... look at what the "Regal" President of France has at his/her disposal. And believe me, everything stops when [they] run!
It appears to me, that the new French President could hop on a train, and come visit the new British Prime Minister. That would make for an interesting news event.
Thanks to Chris / CopCarSS for my avatar.
I thought that Wolverton had been sold and flattened.
Perhaps Our Glorious Leader can use it on his farewell tour. I'm not going to speculate upon it's future use by Glorious Leaders because I can remember how much we were all expecting Prime Minister Heseltine in 1990.
If our privatised rail system is - as alledged - the envy of the world why can't the visiting top brass travel on that....
I am not sure how the train is paid for, but I think it comes out of the general fund which is paid by the Treasury to keep the "royal infrastructure" up each year. Ir is acknowledged as being one of the safeest and most secure ways of keeping the Head of State moving and is first on the timing graph when running. Remember, whether you like the current system or not, most countries have their own planes, ships, trains and the like for their Heads of State to travel in. Very handy when discussing high diplomacy. If you do not believe me, look at what the "Regal" President of France has at his/her disposal. And believe me, everything stops when [they] run!
If you believe in having a Head of State then there is an image to project. We always whinge about the "value to the taxpayer" - well on occasions the adage of knowing the price of everything but the value of nothing springs to mind.
I'm also not sure where the Royal Train is kept these days but yes, as John says, perhaps I should be told because I'm paying for it out of my taxes!
The Royal Train is just that - a five or six car train for the exclusive use of the royal family. It uses the bodyshells and trucks of standard BR built Mk. 3 passengers cars but other than that every fitting is custom-made.
I think even the most ardent Royalist would have to question it's continued existance. It seems to be used very little these days (possibly because of security concerns - I don't know) and must cost a fortune to operate.
I wonder what would happen if EWS/Network Rail were asked to provide a path for it over a capacity route at peak time?
Murphy,
We do have a dedicated royal train, I'm not sure where it is stored/maintained but when it is out on the line power is usually hired from one of the private operating companies; EWS class 37s usually in pairs.
The RAF until recently had a Royal Flight, but this was disbanded on the grounds of economy. They either hire an aircraft or take space on a sceduled service as needed.
The royal Yacht 'Britannia' was retired some years ago and is now a floating museum. The Navy or a wealthy friend provide seagoing accommodation when required.
Guess who pays????????-Muggins, the pleb.
Going to Edinburgh in the next few weeks, hope to find out more about light rail etc.
Did about 500 miles around Derbyshire, Cheshire and the West Riding over the weekend used just over 9 gallons, just goes to show how technology has advanced, I think we did nearly 80 on the M1. It may only be a Honda, but at least it was made in Swindon. Had a Daimler Sovereign for a time in the 70s, damn near bankrupted me, 8mpg or thereabouts. Talk about a rocket ship, never found out how quick it was, the fuel gauge went down faster than the speedo went up! Swopped it for a Cortina that did a whopping 30mpg.
Talking of loco' works, an acquaintance from over the pond says he has heard that another long established UK builder/restorer of steam locomotives is to close after completing the current project. Can anyone enlighten me/us.
Sometimes I feel like that too...
I'm wondering how strong the SNP resolve might be. We really could do with a Scottish subscriber on here.
As I've previously suggested the Edinburgh Airport scheme seems to me an unneccessary expenditure - but it's not my money - whilst I understand the Edinburgh light rail system to be pretty much a Fait Accomplis already. (Pardon my French.)
The good citizens of Edinburgh seem to be pretty much behind the light rail scheme from what I understand. The SNP may yet be diluted by the Lib Dems which would suggest a pro-light-rail stance.
The Jensen Interceptor - well it's a 1968 Mk I., and you can read more about them here:-
http://www.british-steel.org/
It actually handles better than the Alfa Romeo GTV that we traded in for it, and it's scarily fast but it gets through fuel at a horrendous rate - went to Whitby this weekend which is a 200 mile round trip and it's drunk about 18 gallons.
Mind you hitting 131 on the A1 did'nt help....felt like 60 in the Suzuki.
Will half a dozen do?
All rather confusing really!
John Bakeer wrote:The Scottish election has finished up a right mess. With four differing electoral processes, how do they expect stability, The Americans have it right with a federal government and a reasonable amount of autonomy for the states. If the UK had that plus PR, we might have a proper democracy? Our politics are as bad as our transport system, Servants of the public in name only.
The Scottish election has finished up a right mess. With four differing electoral processes, how do they expect stability, The Americans have it right with a federal government and a reasonable amount of autonomy for the states. If the UK had that plus PR, we might have a proper democracy? Our politics are as bad as our transport system, Servants of the public in name only.
cogloadreturns wrote:Well the outcome of the Scottish elections may see the Edinburgh Tram and Airport Rail Link projects in some doubt. However as the SNP have no working majority they may yet be saved. Interesting to see what happens in England now.
Well the outcome of the Scottish elections may see the Edinburgh Tram and Airport Rail Link projects in some doubt. However as the SNP have no working majority they may yet be saved.
Interesting to see what happens in England now.
UK-free Scotland. The ghost of Wallace rides again?
Tulyar15 wrote: Simon Reed wrote:As a nation we appear to have lost the ability to satisfactorily budget for cost and time on big projects, and their impact. The projected cost of the 2012 Olympic Games appears to be spiralling beyond control, for instance. I understand that the WCML quadrupling, which was once on time and budget, has taken a major lurch into the red recently. Not entirely! Channel Tunnel Rail Link (CTRL) Phase 1 was completed on time and in budget and Phase 2 looks like it will be completed on time in November - too bad it wont' be ready for the Rugby World Cup in France.As an aside I travelled to Bedford this weekend and so saw the state of play at London St. Pancras. It's looking good so keep your fingers crossed.
Simon Reed wrote:As a nation we appear to have lost the ability to satisfactorily budget for cost and time on big projects, and their impact. The projected cost of the 2012 Olympic Games appears to be spiralling beyond control, for instance. I understand that the WCML quadrupling, which was once on time and budget, has taken a major lurch into the red recently.
The UK's Rail Contractors seem able to continue to deliver on-time/on-budget in the case of green field projects, but Route Modernisation Works on active main lines has become too difficult through Health & Safety considerations (I often wonder whether we're all becoming just a bit too Risk Averse) and the "balkanisation" of the Railway family into a plethora of various businees units, many of whom have wildly differing objectives and goals.
Sorry to hark back to the Thatcher years (I'm no Tory supporter, I can assure you), but in those years we did get the East Coast Mainline, East and West Anglia, Edinburgh-Carstairs, and Glasgow-Ayr (if I've overlooked any, please feel free to chip in) Electrification schemes approved, installed, and commisioned with hardly a hiccup. All on-time and all on-budget. But the key difference was that everyone was on the same side in those days.
From the Welsh perspective, Network Rail's failure to complete the Ebbw Valley refurbishment beggars belief.
John Bakeer wrote: Murphy,A Jensen Interceptor is an iconic sports car from the 60s(?), its only outstanding feature I recall was the odd wrap round rear window and its use by a screen detective of the time who's name escapes me. Simon has a rare find.
A Jensen Interceptor is an iconic sports car from the 60s(?), its only outstanding feature I recall was the odd wrap round rear window and its use by a screen detective of the time who's name escapes me. Simon has a rare find.
I spent fifty years in the construction industry, I had a saying "there isn't a contract that can't be broken". opposed to breached.)
murphy....not really. The contracts are let on a long term basis to lock in various suppliers though I am sure that penalty clauses abound. I think Siemans are going to get a bashing for this as at Portsmouth they have reintroduced absolute block working from a signalbox which closed in 1964 complete with block instruments, bells and levers...
Basingstoke part 1 was handed back on time this morning though there will still be disruption for a few weeks to come. PT is an utter, utter mess and fiasco.
Don't they issue contracts with a reward/penalty for early/late completion?
______________________
What is a Jensen Interceptor?
Last month's Trains magazine carried an excellent article on the BNSF Transcon through New Mexico and the steps that are being taken to improve capacity.
I think we can be fairly sure that throughout the extensive works BNSF did not simply slap a blockade on the route and say "Well sorry, Fellas, but we can't run trains until we're done, which might be tomorrow or a week next Thursday."
The 2000/2001 remodelling of Leeds - admittedly a big job - went 14 weeks (over 50%) beyond it's estimated and allocated time.
As a nation we appear to have lost the ability to satisfactorily budget for cost and time on big projects, and their impact. The projected cost of the 2012 Olympic Games appears to be spiralling beyond control, for instance. I understand that the WCML quadrupling, which was once on time and budget, has taken a major lurch into the red recently.
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