Rail 200 - The Record Breaker

Technically - Yes : Usefully - Probably Not

There has been much excitement in the railway enthusiast world about the 200th Anniversary of the passenger railway in the UK. Actually it is very difficult indeed to define what "200 Years of Train Travel"  actually means and fbb will tackle this ...

... in two special weekend variety blogs all about celebrating the variety of our railway heritage. For today, a double 200 celebration is worthy of note, and some explanation.

Much has been written about First Great Western's 200 mile journey on a classo 230 battery train. As usual the press has had a field day of inaccuracy and misinformation.

Some articles have suggested that the train ran for 200 miles on one battery.

fbb had a friend whose dad had a huge torch powered by one of these. Said friend was convinced that the beam was so bright and so long that you would be able to see it from the moon. Whilst the science of optics might agree in theory, the intensity of the beam might be less than impressive at that distance!

In fact the trains completed its journey on one charge filling up SIX huge battery stacks. fbb suspects that the charging will not have taken place via the little ramp at Greenford station. Here, after every round trip, a shoe drops down ...

... makes contact with a charging ramp between the tracks ...

... and dribbles a bit of the electric into the batteries during the 3.5 minute turn round. 

Again, fbb guesses that "the lads" at the depot will have been squeezing every last possible amp into the cells to make sure the 200 mile trip will work.

Then some on-line articles are less than au fait with UK Geography. Several tell their readers that the train ran from Reading to Paddington, then Paddington to Oxford and then back to Reading.

In fact it ran:-

40 miles Reading to Paddingon

60 miles Paddington to Oxford

60 miles Oxford to Paddington

40 miles Paddington to Reading

fbb is fairly confident that the figures add up to 200 miles; after all he did get "O" level maths!

The whole project took 20 hours from start to finish, so on line "mockers" were quick to point out that the average speed was 10 mph. Mathematically, that is correct; but the project was not a speed trial! It was about beating the previous record for distance for a battery train on one charge with no top up..

There was jubilation when the previous record distance of 139 miles (?) was passed.

The gang peering at computer screens were very jubilant.

Geoff Marshall has produced a superb video about the record run, but he says nothing about the speeds at which he travelled. One of his shots shows a screen showing the work of the the train timing and recording team ...

... but fbb is lacking in expertise as to what this is actually showing.

But there was certainly no rush!

Oxford marked 100 miles and thus half way to the total.

Geoff Marshall was accompanied journalistically by Tim Dunn ...

... but sadly, no Siddy Holloway and no tiles for her to adulate!

As it was pitch black outside, there wasn't much to see and you could sense that the "civvies" were beginning to flag. Arrival at Paddington was per Platform 14 ...

... where the train was correctly indicated by the platform electronics!

The Hi-vis Heroes were again able to enjoy a replica milepost ...

... and Tim and an absent Siddy could enjoy a passing underground train.

Rosy fingered dawn was apparent ...

... as the mileage ticked through the 200.

Actually it was a very grey dawn as the unit slid quietly to a stop in its siding, clocking in at 201 miles.

There was 22.7% of battery power spare on completion of the run ...

... with one of the six batteries completely unused (dial far right). Again, if fbb's O Level Maths holds out, that works out at ...

... pi divided by the reciprocal of e multiplied by the square root of i and deducting the number you first thought of ...

... about another 70 miles before the train grinds to a power deprived halt and needs rescuing by a diesel!

Maybe Tim and Geoff could get out and push! Or pull?

Hmmm. Maybe not?

fbb does not think that First GWR seriously believes that the 200 miles was a practical achievement; but it does give a hint as to the usefulness of battery power for short runs; tacked on to third rail or overhead power for cheap extensions of electric running or used on short branch lines with "opportunity charging" at each end.

But it was a splendid stunt!

ALSO COMING UP - The apparently duplicate tank wagons have arrived at fbb mansions. Now, how exciting is that?

Not very!

 Next Variety blog : Saturday 30 Aug 

Battery Flattery? (mini blog)

First GWR Is Keen - Or Is It?

fbb spent at least an hour last evening trying to extricate the above video from his new Linux based system. Even after successfully finding it and downloading it, the old man is not at all sure how he did it.

What he is sure of is that the current craze for "saving the planet" with electricity is far from an exact science.

The various technicalities of generating the stuff are almost all partial creators of pollutants, greenhouse gases and stuff that we now don't like. The main advantage of electric vehicles is that they do not pollute the people standing, walking, cycling or living near them.

But the pollution is still there, but maybe somewhat reduced from the days of a steam train. 

Diesels are, of course, worse; as we have been told repeatedly over recent years and after we have all ditched our petrol cars in favour of diesels.

The above is something of an exemption; but it does make the case.

The problem with battery electric trains is the batteries - it always has been. Wikipedia has a huge article on the problems of battery recycling. It includes a whole heap of "challenging" thoughts. fbb's favourite is as follows:-

The cost of recycling  lithium-ion batteries is more expensive than mining for new lithium!

So it simply isn't going to work commercially. Lithium-ion batteries are the mainstay of all electric vehicles at the moment.

The main type of power source used of old - and still used in most road vehicles - is the good old lead acid battery. This is a really evil device treated with extreme caution by your local waste and recycling depot (if it accepts them at all!!).

But battery trains are nothing new. The ever reliable Wikipedia tells us that the first battery train ran in 1864! 

This one ...

... was designed by a certain Mr Edison!

This is a replica of a battery train that ran in Australia.

It was a diesel unit, stripped of its engines and fitted with electric motors. The power came from solar panels on the roof. It only ran in this form experimentally on a closed line. Of course there might well be a bit more sunshine in Oz than in Ceckhuddersfax Yorkshire.

In the past, it was the batteries wot dun it!

Lead acid batteries are heavy; there's a clue in the word "lead"! So an awful lot of the power is needed to carry the batteries around! Modem batteries are better but see above re recycling!

The most interesting experience in the UK was the two car ex-diesel unit of which this was part.

It operated from 1955 on the Aberdeen to Ballater branch (Scotland) ...

... and ceased when the branch closed in 1966.

fbb can find no on-line accounts of whether the experiment was successful either technically  or from a reliability point of view.  Presumably, as no other trains were created, it was not the rip-roaring wonder of the age.

In Japan (where else?) several of these units operate on quiet branch lines.

Merseytravel has one of these, with more expected ...

... but Mayor Rotheram's plan seems to be to run them from the third rail as normal and then trundle on battery at the extremities, as is currently the scheme at Kirkby. But Steve has more wide-ranging problems with his new trains than just a few Ever Readies.

He is going very grey!

But first Great Western have recently broken a record.

 Next Electric blog : Friday 29 Aug 

This week has been preparation and printing time for the fbbs' leaflet that accompanies, supports and publicises their monthly fellowship meetings. Suffice it to say that yesterday daytime was technically "challenging" ...

... but MOST of the challenges were resolved (until evening!!!!!) in a somewhat innovative way. Thankfully, no computers were damaged in the resolution thereof.

No axes were blunted either!

Normal blogging service should return tomorrow.

By Plane And Bus And Train ...

X30 Extra Thoughts

fbb is grateful to correspondent Peter for his memories of First Bus X30 via Southend Airport. His email also provoked a search for addition information which, in turn led fbb ...

... to his very own blog of 2016.

So here is correspondent Peter's pertinent paragraph.

Once upon a time, the Southend Airport bus stop was actually served by the X30 (Southend - Chelmsford - Stansted) back in the 2009-2012 era when I used it weekly to travel between home and University - not entirely sure when it stopped going into the Airport proper. Back then, it was in the hands of proper Volvo B9R / Plaxton Panther coaches and was an actual limited stop X route. 

Nowadays, it is glorified buses (Scania N250UD / E400MMC), much less express, and has two different routings in the Southend area with the same route number. 

Ah, progress.

Just for comparison purposes here is a 2016 timetable extract with all X30s running hourly via the actual airport. ...

... and today's X30 ...

... now with through journeys every 30 min, but with the hourly service via the airport no longer via the terminal; i.e. not via the airport!

As correspondent Peter says, such is progress.

But The Good News - Sort Of

Stephensons does not feature often in these blogs, but perhaps the company deserves a higher profile?

This new route is branded in the company house colours of green and white ...

... and provides for a useful link from the C2C line at Leigh-on-Sea.

The route travels via Eastwood ...

... and on to the airport.

The Monday to Saturday service is every 30 minutes with half the buses running to the burgeoning Airport business park ...

... which has burgeoned a bit more since Google (StreetView and Earth) were doing their snooping.

The other half will terminate at the currently unserved layby right next to the terminal building entrance.

The leaflet for the service is excellent ...

... with full timetables and the above route map.

The Saturday service is a generous every 30 minutes to the airport only ...

... with buses running every hour on Sundays.

The service provides some completely new links from Leigh and around Eastwood as well as serving the airport facilities.

Readers may be surprised that a small independent concern is taking a huge risk with a highly speculative service. 

Of course it isn't! 

Southend Council explains.

Southend-on-Sea City Council is pleased to announce that the new North South Bus Link (23A/23B) bus service will be operated by Stephensons of Essex, following a successful competitive tender process.

The service, funded by the Department for Transport's Bus Service Improvement Plan (BSIP) Bus Grant, will run for an initial two years with government support, with an option of a third year and the aim of becoming a self-sustaining route in the future. The new service will be subject to the Traffic Commissioners approval.

The new route will begin on Sunday 31 August 2025 and will run at up to 30 minute intervals, serving key areas including St Laurence, Eastwood Park, Belfairs, Blenheim Park, Leigh and West Leigh. On Mondays to Fridays the route will alternate between terminating at London Southend Airport (23A) and the Airport Business Park (23B) from Leigh-on-Sea Railway Station, offering new links to schools and workplaces such as Eastwood Academy, Progress Road, Aviation Way and Southend Airport Business Park. On Saturdays and Sundays the route will operate between Leigh-on-Sea Railway Station and London Southend Airport only (23A).

To support the launch of the new service, brand-new and relocated bus stops will be installed along Progress Road and Whitehouse Road. 

Dean Robbie, Managing Director of Stephensons, commented: "We are delighted to be chosen to work in partnership with Southend City Council to operate this much-needed new local service. We will be investing in three brand new low-emission single deck buses at a cost of around £600,000, which will be especially branded for the 23A/B, and this new venture will create around seven new jobs for local people. We hope that those who have campaigned long and hard for this new service will be amongst the first to hop on board and give it a try."

Stephensons and its partner operator NIBS were previously owned by veteran bus man Bill Hirons.

He sold the companies to an Employee Buyout Company in 2016.

Well done Steiphensons for excellent pre-launch publicity!

Tomorrow we become battery powered!

 Next Record Breaking blog : Thurs 28 Aug