Transport Personalities (Batch The Second)
11 Barbara Castle : Feisty and fiery Rochdale MP, she was responsible for a number of significant legislative changes aimed at the motorist, and the motorist was less than enthusiastic about many of them. To add to the breathalyser and fixed speed limits, she also introduced compulsory seat belts all of which were seen by many drivers as an intrusion into their freedom to kill themselves and pedestrians! She was a bosom pal of Harold Wilson and a sworn enemy of Jim Callaghan, his successor. Who's be a politician, eh?
12 Peter Parker : Dad of actor Nathaniel Parker (you can see the resemblance). He was regarded by many (and, unusually, many railway people) as one of the best Chairmen that the British Railways Board ever had.
Parker was the first former chairman of British Rail to have an engine named in his honour. At a ceremony at Old Oak Common TMD on 17 September 2003, Class 43 power car number 43127 was named "Sir Peter Parker 1924–2002 Cotswold Line 150" by Lady Parker. The naming had been arranged between the Cotswold Line Promotion Group, which provided the nameplates, and First Great Western, to jointly celebrate Parker's life and work and the 150th anniversary of the opening of the Cotswold line between Oxford and Worcester in 1853. Parker was a regular user of Charlbury station on that line.
That says a lot!
14 Roger French : Highly successful MD of the Brighton and Hove Bus company and made a Freeman of the city - a rare accolade for a bus boss. He was given life ridership[ of the Big Lemon's (bus company) route 42 between central Brighton and the University - a service which competes, in part, with some of Roger's former services. He remains a great supporter of the local community and his "Bus and Train User" blog has a wide readership.
Originally a mechanical engineer, he left school (West Cornforth Secondary Modern) at 15 to become apprentice mechanic in a bus garage in Darlington, before working for a short period as a management trainee with Tarmac. In 1979, he was appointed Chief Engineer of Glasgow City Transport. He joined Grampian Regional Transport in 1985 as General Manager, and went on to lead the successful employee buy-out as GRT Group and the merger with Badgerline.
He now breeds highland cattle, a task somewhat less stressful than running buses.
16 Michael Matheson : He was appointed Scotland's Cabinet Secretary for Transport in 2018 responsible for:-
transport strategy, analysis and planning
public transport and active travel
bus policy and national concessionary travel
rail and rail infrastructure - ScotRail
maritime Policy including ports and canals
aviation including HIAL
freight
low carbon transport and infrastructure
roads and road safety
major infrastructure projects
infrastructure investment policy
Infrastructure Investment Plan
Infrastructure Commission
City and Regional Growth Deals
Busy chap! He doesn't seem to get much press space, doubtless eclipsed by the Sturgeon.
17 Ken Skates : Minister for Economy, Transport and North Wales in the welsh Senedd. His responsibilities are:-
Minister for North Wales
Support for Inward Investment
Entrepreneurship, enterprise and business information
Development Bank of Wales
Community Bank
Economic Advisory Panels
Council for Economic Development
Promotion of Wales for Business and Investment
Cardiff, North Wales and Swansea Bay City Deals
Simplification and integration of business skills
to promote prosperity and tackle poverty
Management of Welsh Government owned property
Transport for Wales
Transport policy
Roads, including construction, improvement and maintenance
Rail services through the Wales and Borders franchise
Ports policy
sponsorship of Careers Choices
Apprenticeship policy and delivery
Youth and adult employability policy
Skills for Working Adults and the Skills Gateway
Work-based learning providers
Sector skills, and Wales Employment and Skills Board
Workforce skills development
European programmes relating to employment
Regional Skills Partnership
National Occupational Standards
responsible business practices, growth and competitiveness.
Foundational economy
Better Jobs Closer to Home
Living Wage
Social Enterprise and the social economy
Co-operative economy
Cross-Government Digital Policy and Strategy
Digital connectivity infrastructure
Business Exploitation of Digital Infrastructure and AI
Active travel
Road safety
The Valleys Taskforce and Programme
The Tech Valleys Project
Strategic Communications
Even busier man!!!
18 Harry Beck : Originator of the first diagrammatic map of a rail network in the world (probably). An electrical engineer by trade his Underground diagram owes something of its style to wiring diagrams oft used by electrical designers. He considered that traveller in a darkened tube did not need anything other than a "maps" of the stops and lines linking them - geography was irrelevant. Modern Underground maps have become cluttered with stuff that shouldn't be there (The Emirates Air Line, The Croydon tram network) and, until recently, have suffered from the omission of stuff that should be there, namely Thameslink. Mr beck would not like todays Underground diagram.
fbb's hero.
19 Nigel Gresley : Correctly Herbert Nigel Gresley become Chief Mechanical Engineer (CME) of the London and North Eastern Railway (LNER).
He was the designer of some of the most famous steam locomotives in Britain, including the LNER Class A1 and LNER Class A4 4-6-2 Pacific engines. An A1 Pacific, Flying Scotsman, was the first steam locomotive officially recorded over 100 mph in passenger service, and an A4, number 4468 Mallard, still holds the record for being the fastest steam locomotive in the world (126 mph).
Nuff said!
20 Janette Bell : An unknown in the bus industry, having worked on Cross Channel and other ferries before joining First as successor to Giles Fearnley. The industry awaits her contribution with eager anticipation!
Logo and Livery answers will follow tomorrow.
Steam Hauled What???
Talgo is a brand of train. The acronym stands for Tren Articulado Ligero Gouicoechea Oriol - fbb (and Google Translate) can cope with the first three words ... but ...Talgo has its origins way back in 1946 and has been in continuous developments ever since. It is based on independent wheels on stub axles. No axle runs across the track. This means that the articulated carriages can be low slung and very light. Developed in Spain, Talgo trains run in many countries including the USA.
Recently a Spanish Talgo has been shipped to India for trial there.
The trial run substantially reduced the 15 hour end to end time of the service train.
But what provoked fbb to dip into the long-running Talgo story was a film clip posted on Twitter, but posted with minimal comment. Here comes a powerful steamer ...
... but what is it hauling?
Surely it cannot be?
But it is ...
... a steam-hauled Talgo train.
How about a steam-hauled Pendolino or zapping up the East Coast main line on a zoomer, an Azuma hauled by, hey, Mallard?
The Problem With Lights
Look closely and you can see a yellow glow amongst the tiles. fbb has taken another picture and allowed the camera to exaggerate the problem.
Despite being lit by very tiny LEDs, the light bleeds through the structure of the booking haul which is made of off-white cast Resin, translucent apart front one coat of paint on the outside.
Bodge Number 1 - put in various baffles in thick plastic to prevent the light from shining directly on the interior surfaces.
Just a slight improvement. But the bleed remains.
Bodge Number 2 - paint the inside of the building with matt black paint.
Result?
Looks as if that sorts it!
But how will this problem affect the building at the other end of the canopy?
fbb will need to do much the same again.
Next Variety blog plus Livery/Logo Answers : Saturday 8th May
12. Arguably Sir Brian Robertson was the first Chairman (of the BTC admittedly) to have a loco named after him - Warship class D800.
ReplyDelete13. James Freeman came to prominence with organising the Employee Share Ownership Plan method of purchasing Provincial from NBC. The Avon adventures were later.