New Trains For ... Where?
Two billion Euros is big money; 111 new trains is a whole lotta new stock. So where are they going to operate. An over enlargement reveals a red logo and ...
... the word "Niedersachsen" - Lower Saxony. This is a fairly hefty chunk of Germany. ...
... which has its very own train operating company.
It's complicated!
NiedersachsenBahn GmbH is a railway company which acts as an operating company for metronom Eisenbahngesellschaft. It is a joint venture of the private Osthannoversche Eisenbahnen AG (60%) from Celle, Germany and the state-owned Eisenbahnen und Verkehrsbetriebe Elbe-Weser GmbH (40%) from Zeven, Germany. The company is also based in Celle.
Lower Saxony is a "Land" (State) and as such has a significant degree of independence and autonomy within the German system. A map of the rail network in the 'Land' reveals four different 'colours of rail transport.
It is the BLUE routes that are operated by Niedersachsen Bahn, although many of the GREEN suburban services will also be worked by that company.
Like we said, it's complicated. PURPLE is used for bus services that pretend they are trains! Here is route 4000 connecting with a train ...
... soon to be a Siemens electric units
RED lines are Deutsche Bahn 'regiional' services..
Trainspotting At Salisbury?
The fbbs have often sat on the platform at Salisbury, usually when the oft-unreliable GWR train from Portsmouth/Southampton has missed the connection with SWR to Axminster.
Usually there is nothing special to see except diesel multiple units. But on Thursday last two real trains passed by.
One was the Notwork Rail "New Measurement Train".
... later with a modernised font.
Later the name was simplified.
All gone now, of course.
The New Measurement Train (NMT), nicknamed the Flying Banana, is a specialised train which operates in the United Kingdom to assess the condition of track so that engineers can determine where to work. It is a specially converted InterCity 125, consisting of two Class 43 power cars and five or six Mark 3 carriages. It can check the condition of most main lines and some secondary routes operating on a four weekly cycle. This cycle replaced its original 13-week cycle after the introduction of the Plain Line Pattern Recognition (PLPR) Design Patrolling Program.
Here is the whole train in full flight.
fbb wonders whether it was doing its "measurement" on the wobbly track which has caused the dramatic reduction in the fbbs' service at Axminster.
No sooner had the Flying Banana growled off eastbound, than these arrived ...
... hauling a train of empty open wagons in a westerly direction.
The locos are in a recent Freightliner livery.
But the Salisbury twins had lost their Freightliner ' logo.
The bit of Freightliner that lugs trains of open wagons filled with stone etc., has now become a new company called Heavy Haul Rail.
Maybe the locos that trundled through Salisbury were awaiting a repaint and yet another logo.
It is a far cry from the original Freightliner container business,
It's All On Line?
The Routemaster has no destination blind, not even a blind-shaped opening covered over. fbb, very much "around" in 1967, cannot remember ever seeing a man in a white coat and headgear selling anything!
It's All On Line?
But the biggest blunder is with Woollies shop.
Back then it was NEVER called "WoolworthS". Shops were labelled thus ...
Madras Metro : Chennai Changes?
Chennai, also known as Madras ...
Is that where the curry comes from?
Back to the blog!
... is the capital and largest city of Tamil Nadu, the southernmost state of India. It is located on the Coromandel Coast of the Bay of Bengal. As per the 2011 Indian census, Chennai is the sixth-most-populous city in India and forms the fourth-most-populous urban agglomeration. It is administered by the Greater Chennai Corporation, which was incorporated in 1688, and is the second oldest municipal corporation in the world after the City of London.
The coastal City is an eclectic mix of the ancient ...
... and the modern.
Until recently it had a two route (GREEN and BLUE) Metro ...
... jointly "branded" with other suburban routes, shown in grey above. Recently, the network has been joined by the YELLOW line.
As is clear (?) on the diagram below ...
... the GREEN line is coloured BLUE, the BLUE line is coloured PINK and the YELLOW line is coloured YELLOW.
And you thought UK publicity was a mess.
The new line was launched recently in a very traditional Indian way ...
... by Prime Minister Modi and lots of flowers!
Castle Halt Construction Hazards
Remember that diddy Hornby station building.
Apart from the roof, which is coloured grey, the whole building is made of cream plastic. Clearly it needs some painting, but there is another potential problem. It is a problem common with all plastic buildings.
If you add lighting, the whole building glows like a weird Christmas Tree decoration.
Something has to be done!
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More bits and pieces tomorrow including a "tramstitution".
Next Variety blog : Sunday 18 October
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