It's Not Gnats It's NATS (1)

NATS is the National Air Traffic Service, a Limited Company with three directors, which looks after every passenger flight in England and Wales. There is another NATS control centre at Prestwick which covers Scotland and Northern Ireland.

But it us nowhere near as simple as that.

Let us first go to the contact address given for the three current NATS directors, one if whom is the boss, Martin Rolfe.

He can be contracted at ...

4000 Parkway, Whitley, Fareham; here in fact.

This is NOT where Air Traffic Control happens. On the same site, we find two other companies ...

... Aquila and Frequentis.

Here is what Aquika does,

Aquila Air Traffic Management (ATM) Services transforms military and air surveillance requirements into fully integrated air traffic management and air defence solutions. We know our customers do extraordinary things; they have extraordinary requirements. To support our customer activity in the UK and beyond, they need the latest technology to watch, communicate with, navigate, land and manoeuvre aircraft. We deliver, integrate and support end-to-end ATM services and associated surveillance, communication and navigation equipment for both military and civil partners. 

With expertise in the next generation of radar and radio technology, our 24-hour services enable our customers to operate air stations 24/7 . Our services ensure that aircraft can manoeuvre safely on land, sea and air. Using the latest commercial off the shelf (COTS) equipment, we deliver the whole package to our customers - from ATM system design and technology integration with existing systems, to training system users on the latest equipment and to supporting our customer 24/7. 

So, at a guess, Aquila has the sonic screwdrivers to keep all the clever stuff working.

Only last week it didn't.

Then we have Frequentis.

The Austrian company Frequentis, headquartered in Vienna, is a global supplier of communication and information systems for control centres with safety-critical tasks. Such 'control centre solutions' are developed and marketed by Frequentis in the business sectors Air Traffic Management (civil and military air traffic control, air defence) and Public Safety & Transport (police, fire brigade, ambulance services, coast guards, port authorities, railways).

Frequentis develops and optimises systems for customers in safety-critical areas of the global mega-markets for transport and safety infrastructure – wherever efficient and flexible high-performance solutions are required. Increasing mobility, digitalisation, and rising safety and security requirements are driving long-term growth. Modern technologies are used to optimise control centres for traffic and public safety.

So Frequentis gubbins is about telling people what is happening and where; some sort of extensive telephone system but using lots of "communication and information systems".

Both Aquila and Frequentis have offices and staff on the Whiteley site, so they can spring into action and sort things out very quickly.

Only last week they couldn't.

But it all really happens just off the M27, down the road a bit, at Swanwick.

There is the NATS control centre, lower left, and the office block is at Whiteley, on the right.

So what happens at Swanwick? In essence there is a very big shed ...

... now with solar panels on the roof ...

... and loads more offices and technical stuff. 

In the shed are lots of people beavering away at huge numbers of computer terminals. The picture below shows just a smidgen of the vast amount of technology and huge number if people to prod a frightening number of keyboards,

The statistics are, frankly, scary.

So if something goes wrong, it will go very wrong, as we saw last week.

But it isn't as simple as that!

In that big shed, there are THREE control centres all working together. In theory!

London Area Control Centre (LACC), which provides air traffic control services to aircraft operating in upper airspace over England and Wales within the London FIR.

fbb struggled with "FIR", but the interwebnet came up with a plausible answer. It is a Flight Information Region. So the London FIR encompasses England and wales.

London Terminal Control Centre (LTCC), which controls aircraft flying below 24,500ft flying to and from London's airports.

There are lots of "London" airports. Can you name them? We will identify them in due course.

No. 78 Squadron of the RAF, which provides military air traffic control services and distress and diversion services to civilian aircraft.

It was part of Bomber Command ...

... but is now based at Swanwick; but with no planes, air crew or airfield. It does have a new badge.

Its motto, Nemo Non Paratus, translates roughly as " Nobody is Unprepared". 

The squadron is based at the Swanwick control centre and, last week, was most definitely unprepared for what happened - or rather what didn't happen to 2000 scheduled flights.

78 Squadron, Swanwick forms one part of the Air Command and Control Force, within Global Enablement, No.2 Group. It is embedded within the London Area Control Centre run by NATS. The Squadron is made up of many critical Air Traffic, Airspace Management and Air Defence sections.

The area control team support military and civilian flights throughout the UK Flight Information Region (FIR), with Northolt Radar supporting the terminal Air Traffic Control (ATC) task of RAF Northolt.

Distress and Diversion Cell is an emergency centre ready to assist aircraft in distress around the whole of the UK FIR, while also providing vital other supporting functions.

The Military Airspace Management Cell manage the UK Low Flying System and the segregation of large areas of airspace for military training.

The boss of 78 Squadron is Wing Commander Alexa Smith ...

... who is very real, very alive and has no connection whatsoever with one of these.

So the centre at Swanwick does three jobs, one of them mainly military; it consists of three commercial companies and lots of clever technology. But, last week, it wasn't clever enough!

NATS has a natty web site which enables the user to see what NATS is doing in real time.

You can see activity all over the UK. 

But can you identify these SIX "London" Airports?

1

2

3

4

5

6

Nos 1 (the biggest) and No 2 (lots of water) should be easy. No 6 appeirs the least active?

Answers tomorrow, when fbb asks "What Went Wrong?"

Making Light Less Bright

The trouble with LEDs is that they are very bright and, usually, they are too dim to dim! You can paint them with dilute enamel but it can cast blotchy shadows.

It turns out the modern drinking straws are not straw (they never were) and nowadays they are not paper. fbb's purchase was a white plastic tube with a thin brown covering, possibly paper.

So what happens if you poke a small LED down a bit of drinking 'straw'?

It is a bit rough round the cut edger, but from the usual viewing distance ...

... always the cry of the Bodge and Fudge brigade!

 Next NATS blog : Tuesday 15th Sept 

Sunday Variety

Berlin Double Decker Underground

Yes it is utterly fake! One comment writer explains why.

Immerhin oben keine Türen für die Hochbahnsteige :-) , aber Scheinwerfer für den Luftraum.

So now we know!

Although this one is ludicrously obvious, the internet is full of fake photos and manipulated infirmation. Not all are easy to spot as fakes.

How about this, purporting to be operating in China?

We are not told how the cars, currently being overtaken (literally!) by the (?) train, manage to jump over the tracks. The train track does not exist behind the "unit". Perhaps it lays its own tracks, then picks up the rails after it has run over them?

Just plain silly!

Some News Snippets

Faster on Southern?

Sadly for commuters, but happily for those intermediate stations which will lose a train, it is only one peak journey in each direction, Monday to Friday.

Big Deal!

New Rubber Bands Fitted!

How long has it been?

Longer than you think!

Production of the trains began in December 2020, and the first train arrived at the Beckton depot in January 2023. In February 2023, the name of the trains was revealed to be B23 Stock. 

Live testing commenced in March 2023, with trains running during normal operating hours but without passengers. In June 2024, TfL announced that the introduction of the new trains was delayed, after experiencing "challenges" during testing. 

In February 2025, the majority of the new trains were being stored in Spain – as there was no available space to accommodate them at the Beckton depot, after expansion works were delayed when the Buckingham Group collapsed into administration in 2023.

In March 2025, testing of trains resumed, with TfL noting that 40 of the new trains had been completed. In August 2025, new trains began daytime testing, with a planned entry into service later in 2025.

But they ddn't!

There are a lot of fingers crossed at DLR HQ, at Transport for London HQ, at the Department of Transport, in Heidi Alexanders office and entourage of advisers; AND at ...

... Bessain in Basque Country.

That's a whole lot of mess, a huge amount of non-productive money and a vast number of dislocated fingers!

Why can't the UK buy trains that work? Why can't the UK companies make trains that work and are delivered on time!

Oh, they can, but the Spanish chappies offered to do a cheaper job.

QED!

Some Good News

Station Openings and Timeline

December 15, 2024: Initial launch of the line with services starting at Ashington and Seaton Delaval.

March 17, 2025: Newsham station opened.

October 19, 2025: Blyth Bebside station opened.

February 22, 2026: Northumberland Park station opened, providing a direct interchange with the Tyne and Wear Metro.

March 29, 2026: Bedlington station opened, completing the six-station route. 

fbb cannot quite match the news headline to the facts listed above, but however you look at it this reopening has been a huge success.

All stations are now open so the passenger numbers will continue to grow,

Here are the detailed statistics,

Passenger Growth Milestones

First 3 Months: Crossed 250,000 journeys.

8 Months (August 2025): Reached 500,000 journeys.

1 Year (December 2025): Surpassed 920,000 journeys.

January 2026: Officially topped 1 milliion.

Original Estimate: The initial business case from Northumberland Council projected about 600,000 passengers by the end of 2025.

Flix Flexes Its Muscles

Flix Train has ordered more trains with a view to expanding its open access services in Europe. More expansion is planned for Germany.

Eurostar is Frit

Tricky Dicky's reputation is well known!

Everyone says that competition is a good thing for "The Industry", except when it is competition against them!

Steps Sits Back In Amazement

The biggest shock news has broken recently from the Railway Industry, the biggest for months and months.

Thameslink is going to replace its hard and uncomfortable "ironing board" seats on all its Class 700 trains.

Only it isn't!

That would be horrendously expensive.

After a whole year's experimentation and consultation with passengers protesting about potentially painful posteriors, Thameslink is keeping the seats exactly the same ...

... but making the cover on the ironing boards just a little bit thicker.

Big deal!

Let There Be Light Part 2

Might these be the answer to the castle lights too bright sight?

Or will it just be the last straw for fbb's Bodge and Fudge approach?

More in due course.

 Next Gnats (?) blog: Monday 14th Sept 

Saturday Variety

Trains : They've Got 'Em At Cottam

But not yet!

Cottam?

fbb is rapidly assuming the alter ego of Marvin, The Paranoid Android; but with a brain only slightly smaller than the size of a planet.

[For the utterly befuddled, Marvin is a key character in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy"; thoroughly depressed at every turn of the plot.]

fbb did not know where Cottam could be found.

It is a suburb of Preston, Lancashire, and will be getting a brand new railway station now that finance has been agreed. The artist's impression includes crude representations of two class 153 one-car diesel units that will not be serving the station.

Have a read of the promotional blurb available on-line.

Another artist's impression shows two four car units passing at the platforms.

So where is it?

The Preston to Blackpool line crosses east to west at the foot of the Google Earth extract above. Closer inspection shows a track joining two north south roads ...

... and a sketch map supports the aerial view.

The two roads that will provide access are Lea Road ...

... and Sidgreaves Lane.

The official name of the station will be Cottam Parkway.

There are those 153s again!

It is not yet clear which of the five trains that will pass through Cottam Parkway every hour will actually stop there.

fbb would guess TWO of the trains to Blackpool North each hour plus the one all stops service to Blackpool South.

Cottam lies between Preston and Salwick.

Trolley Without A Lid!

In his recent blogs, fbb mentioned the 'unique' Bournemouth open top trolley bus. Indeed, he discovered a picture of three of these beauties in their depot.

More information, please. Needless to say, the interwebnet obliges.

Fleet Details

Originall Built as conventiinal closed top: 1935

Conversion Year: 1958

Base Vehicle: Pre-war Sunbeam MS2 double-deck chassis with Park Royal bodies.

Fleet Numbers: Numbered 200, 201, and 202.

Operation: Used for summer circular tours (Route 39) and scenic coastal routes.

Withdrawal: All three were withdrawn by 1964. Bus No. 202 survives today as the world's only working open-top trolleybus, preserved at the East Anglia Transport Museum.

To be pedantic, they were not 100% open top. As well as essential framework to carry the trolley poles, there was a small lid to keep prying hands away from the high voltage tackle. 

No matter, it never rained in beautiful Bournemouth.

Well, hardly ever!

Tee Hee, See A TGV?

Readers may remember the orange livery of the early Trains a Grande Vitesse, a k a the ground breaking T G V units.

Later liveries followed the T G V Atlantique style ...

... rather dull in comparison.

And here we have the French equivalent of  a Ford Transit. It is, ooh la la, zut alors ...

... Le Renault Master. Odd, is it not, that when the French want to emphasise the trendiness of their products, they give them an English name!

So how come a Master can become a T G V!

Answer; stick a nose extension on your van ..

... and paint it appropriately.

Formidable! (said with an exagygersted and badly-done French accent, of course!)

Even better, add a similar nose, paint it orange and stick a pastiche if that black bit of electrical gubbins on the roof.

Hmmm?

Would that extra sticky-out bit be legal?

Astounding Warnings ...

... from expensive studies

Amazing perception!

And an even better conclusion.

Where would we be without the skill set of the many research projects that so motivate progress in the bus industry?

Who would have thought it: buses need to be reliable if they are to provide a viable service.

Such wisdom!

Let There Be Light

fbb has been adding lights to the new bit of Peterville Castle.

Pretty, innit?

But. in the gloaming the exposed LEDs are too bright - meaning the lighting inside the buildings is hardly visible.

They are strings of LEDs, so you cannot dim some - in fact dimming LEDs in any way is tricky, and quite beyond your less than punctilious modeller.

He needs the advice of his modelling mentors, Bill Bodge and Fred Fudge.

The promised gnats item will appear in Monday. Like so many things in our crazy transport industry, it got too involved for a "variety" snippet!

 Next Variety blog - Sunday 13th Sept