Chapelcross B, eh? Looks like this TL has had more nuclear power stations built and from the description it sounds like a Sizewell B style PWR single reactor station. Should mean extra flask traffic.
Indeed a couple of friends of mine are Conservative councillors on Aberdeen City council and Aberdeenshire council respectively.
Nice to see that Port Road line stub. I was up there on holiday last week, and encountered some genuine anti-Beeching venom in the museum at Dalbeattie: clearly, fifty years on, the wound is still fresh for some!
Chapelcross B, hum looks like there are far more reactors TTL than OTL. Has electricity been privatised TTL? I'll nitpick though and say that Chapelcross is not a great side for an extra reactor in Scotland. This is because access to cooling water will be a problem. To the extent that you'll need cooling towers, unless you build a huge tunnel from the sea to provide seawater to the condenser).
Far likelier candidates are:
-Hunterston C
-Torness B
-Stake Ness (north coast near Inverness)
-Dunreay
-Girvan (selected in the 1970s)
In the North East there's Druridge Bay as a potential site too
It's kind of weird that the WCML only has a gap between Preston and Carlisle for electrification. Are Glasgow and Edinburgh airports served by train TTL to account for their higher traffic? At least that's a way to capture part of the travellers destined to London, even if just for a short part of the journey.
Humhum. More nuclear power. More domestic flying. More Tories in Scotland (likely no nationalism). Perhaps TTL is not that bad after all
just caught up with this ian are places like the churnet valley still open and the potteries loop line one of the more insane closures. I recall the Churnet Valley route was the shortest mileage route to Manchester from kings Cross. Nice TL all those little lines like Oakhampton Wadebridge
Sent to Doncaster for its general.
I don't suppose there was any chance Savile was caught ITTL? Also BR has taken to preserving its own Steam Loco's, marvelous. I suppose the strategic reserve might be a real thing this time round?I had, well still have a chest infection. I have just about been managing to get to work and that's been pretty much it for two weeks. I'm now on the mend and hope to update on Sunday.
Glad to hear that you are feeling better. Looking forward to the update.
Sunday 14th June 2015
The problem with Inverness is that there a limited number of places to go onto, originally I had thought of taking the train to Kyle, then doing the Skye bus run or more likely the taxi run and thence to Mallaig and onto Glasgow and stopping there. However, in a way, that defeated the purpose of the trip, neither the Kyle or the Mallaig line were in any danger and I had travelled on them both before, there's also a limit to the number of ScotCountry units I want to bash.
So it was to be a trip back south, I spent some time looking at getting some Fife Circle action in, but Sunday services are not brilliant and I wanted to avoid another late night. However, there is the 09:40 up Highland Chieftain to Kings Cross, that uses the Glenfarg line which certainly counts as unusual trackage as this is the only loco-hauled passenger service that uses the route.
So I get a lie-in compared to the previous day, a full Scottish breakfast and then off to see what lies in wait for the Highland Chieftain. It is, of course a Duff and 5 Mk III coaches. The days of double headed class 26's are long gone, as are the class 26's. There is a first class coach, but as I've breakfasted, I don't want to pay the supplement anyway the restaurant car doesn't run on Sundays - there's a buffer from Edinburgh.
So it is a double-back to Aviemore to start with, the Chieftain doesn't do all the stops left on the Highland Main Line only the important ones, this shaves a few minutes off the journey, which is quite important when I look at the connections at Waverley. The scenery is lovely, although not as nice as the Skye line and I barely touch the computer all the way to Perth. At Perth, we take the Glenfarg line which is a double track line mainly used by freight these days, it is quite undulating with a couple of long tunnels but lacks the curves of the Waverley route. Alongside it for some distance is the M90 motorway, there were calls for the line to close for the motorway to be built more cheaply but they were resisted. In fact there are places where the two run alongside each other and given the 60mph line speed, the motorway is somewhat faster. There are stations at Kinross and Kelty, but they have no Sunday services, our only calls between Perth and Haymarket are Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline.
Edinburgh is undergoing a bit of a railway revival, the vast majority of the lines were mothballed or reduced to freight only in the early years of British Railways, but between the Lothian PTE and the Scottish Assembly things have improved considerably, well after the tram fiasco of the early 2000's. Whilst many lines like the lines to Leith will never be built, especially as the only tram service runs down there, others have been reopened, spruced up or given a decent frequency. There are even rumours of electrification other than the line to Glasgow via Falkirk which has been under the knitting for a decade now.
So Haymarket is a lot busier than it used to be and the five platforms are well used even on a Sunday. In the week, some services have stopped using Haymarket because of the congestion, but not many, it is too important and the terminus of the Leith tram. I haven't got long enough to wander further than the nearby Starbucks before getting my next train.
My next train is somewhat unloved, another Duff with five rather scratty looking Mk IId coaches, the Manchester-Glasgow/Edinburgh service is very much the tail end of the Inter City network. As the Solari boards at Haymarket say, "NO CATERING, STANDARD CLASS ONLY", I get a second overpriced burnt coffee-style drink to take out from the Starbucks. However, it is a non-stop journey to Carlisle Citadel, the stations out from Edinburgh are dealt with by the Shotts Line service and the few remaining on the former Caley mainline by an infrequent ScotCountry service. However, it rattles its way through the Edinburgh suburbs, past the views of the State Hospital at Carstairs although not going into the station with its wonky platforms. I always peer nervously out of the window at Lockerbie, you can't see it now, but I remember seeing the crash site out of the window of the Midland Scot the day after the crash.
Citadel is quieter than ever on a Sunday and I take the opportunity to nip out of the station to a pub for a quick pint, they aren't State Owned any more, they were privatised back in the Whitelaw years, I'm amazed it wasn't done before that but I suppose they just forgot. Willie didn't, he was too local. The Griffin is OK, I suppose, but I'm of an age where I prefer old men's pubs. Anyway, back to the station for the train to Barrow in Furness, because of a shortage of rolling stock, the Cumbrian Coast in the summer often goes back to being loco-hauled and it can be a right mixed bag.
Today it's a Class 37 with three coaches, well, two and a brake van for all the bikes, this train is quite special, there's only two on a Sunday go south of Whitehaven. The other special thing is that the coaches have locked droplight windows because of some of the clearances along the line, although the guard comes and unlocks them after Maryport. Most of the stations are request stops and the whole route is a competition between lovely scenery and lovely railway remains. There's also a shed load of manned level crossings and signal boxes, it really is back to the 1950's here. Of course, the branches are gone, there's nothing left of the Bolton Loop, the Workington, Cleator and Egremont, the Brigham Branch, most of the Cleator and Workington except for one freight spur and the Coniston branch. However, the Silloth line is still mothballed and the Cockermouth and Workington is still alive, but not on a Sunday.
That is, of course, another one of Mr Whitelaw's legacies. He managed to collude with Labour to keep the line open, although passenger services only went between Penrith and Keswick. Later on, the social railway restored services from Workington to Cockermouth, but the bit in the middle remained firmly open as a "freight diversion" which is pretty much how it stayed for two decades. Only recently have four services a day started running on the middle section for the tourist trade for a reopened station at Bassenthwaite Lake.
However, after Workington and Whitehaven, the line becomes more scenic and there is less trace of industry, the craggy beauty of St Bees, where we pass the northbound service which is an old class 108 DMU. Of course, there is another reason for the line to be open other than the scattered communities along it, Sellafield and all its works, which are impressive from the train and we pick up a few people at Ravenglass who have enjoyed the railway there. But then over the Duddon into Furness proper and finally into the town of Barrow. It's just after six, time for a proper meal, a decent night's sleep and then onwards to Nottingham.
The problem with Inverness is that there a limited number of places to go onto, originally I had thought of taking the train to Kyle, then doing the Skye bus run or more likely the taxi run and thence to Mallaig and onto Glasgow and stopping there. However, in a way, that defeated the purpose of the trip, neither the Kyle or the Mallaig line were in any danger and I had travelled on them both before, there's also a limit to the number of ScotCountry units I want to bash.
So it was to be a trip back south, I spent some time looking at getting some Fife Circle action in, but Sunday services are not brilliant and I wanted to avoid another late night. However, there is the 09:40 up Highland Chieftain to Kings Cross, that uses the Glenfarg line which certainly counts as unusual trackage as this is the only loco-hauled passenger service that uses the route.
So I get a lie-in compared to the previous day, a full Scottish breakfast and then off to see what lies in wait for the Highland Chieftain. It is, of course a Duff and 5 Mk III coaches. The days of double headed class 26's are long gone, as are the class 26's. There is a first class coach, but as I've breakfasted, I don't want to pay the supplement anyway the restaurant car doesn't run on Sundays - there's a buffer from Edinburgh.
So it is a double-back to Aviemore to start with, the Chieftain doesn't do all the stops left on the Highland Main Line only the important ones, this shaves a few minutes off the journey, which is quite important when I look at the connections at Waverley. The scenery is lovely, although not as nice as the Skye line and I barely touch the computer all the way to Perth. At Perth, we take the Glenfarg line which is a double track line mainly used by freight these days, it is quite undulating with a couple of long tunnels but lacks the curves of the Waverley route. Alongside it for some distance is the M90 motorway, there were calls for the line to close for the motorway to be built more cheaply but they were resisted. In fact there are places where the two run alongside each other and given the 60mph line speed, the motorway is somewhat faster. There are stations at Kinross and Kelty, but they have no Sunday services, our only calls between Perth and Haymarket are Cowdenbeath and Dunfermline.
Edinburgh is undergoing a bit of a railway revival, the vast majority of the lines were mothballed or reduced to freight only in the early years of British Railways, but between the Lothian PTE and the Scottish Assembly things have improved considerably, well after the tram fiasco of the early 2000's. Whilst many lines like the lines to Leith will never be built, especially as the only tram service runs down there, others have been reopened, spruced up or given a decent frequency. There are even rumours of electrification other than the line to Glasgow via Falkirk which has been under the knitting for a decade now.
So Haymarket is a lot busier than it used to be and the five platforms are well used even on a Sunday. In the week, some services have stopped using Haymarket because of the congestion, but not many, it is too important and the terminus of the Leith tram. I haven't got long enough to wander further than the nearby Starbucks before getting my next train.
My next train is somewhat unloved, another Duff with five rather scratty looking Mk IId coaches, the Manchester-Glasgow/Edinburgh service is very much the tail end of the Inter City network. As the Solari boards at Haymarket say, "NO CATERING, STANDARD CLASS ONLY", I get a second overpriced burnt coffee-style drink to take out from the Starbucks. However, it is a non-stop journey to Carlisle Citadel, the stations out from Edinburgh are dealt with by the Shotts Line service and the few remaining on the former Caley mainline by an infrequent ScotCountry service. However, it rattles its way through the Edinburgh suburbs, past the views of the State Hospital at Carstairs although not going into the station with its wonky platforms. I always peer nervously out of the window at Lockerbie, you can't see it now, but I remember seeing the crash site out of the window of the Midland Scot the day after the crash.
Citadel is quieter than ever on a Sunday and I take the opportunity to nip out of the station to a pub for a quick pint, they aren't State Owned any more, they were privatised back in the Whitelaw years, I'm amazed it wasn't done before that but I suppose they just forgot. Willie didn't, he was too local. The Griffin is OK, I suppose, but I'm of an age where I prefer old men's pubs. Anyway, back to the station for the train to Barrow in Furness, because of a shortage of rolling stock, the Cumbrian Coast in the summer often goes back to being loco-hauled and it can be a right mixed bag.
Today it's a Class 37 with three coaches, well, two and a brake van for all the bikes, this train is quite special, there's only two on a Sunday go south of Whitehaven. The other special thing is that the coaches have locked droplight windows because of some of the clearances along the line, although the guard comes and unlocks them after Maryport. Most of the stations are request stops and the whole route is a competition between lovely scenery and lovely railway remains. There's also a shed load of manned level crossings and signal boxes, it really is back to the 1950's here. Of course, the branches are gone, there's nothing left of the Bolton Loop, the Workington, Cleator and Egremont, the Brigham Branch, most of the Cleator and Workington except for one freight spur and the Coniston branch. However, the Silloth line is still mothballed and the Cockermouth and Workington is still alive, but not on a Sunday.
That is, of course, another one of Mr Whitelaw's legacies. He managed to collude with Labour to keep the line open, although passenger services only went between Penrith and Keswick. Later on, the social railway restored services from Workington to Cockermouth, but the bit in the middle remained firmly open as a "freight diversion" which is pretty much how it stayed for two decades. Only recently have four services a day started running on the middle section for the tourist trade for a reopened station at Bassenthwaite Lake.
However, after Workington and Whitehaven, the line becomes more scenic and there is less trace of industry, the craggy beauty of St Bees, where we pass the northbound service which is an old class 108 DMU. Of course, there is another reason for the line to be open other than the scattered communities along it, Sellafield and all its works, which are impressive from the train and we pick up a few people at Ravenglass who have enjoyed the railway there. But then over the Duddon into Furness proper and finally into the town of Barrow. It's just after six, time for a proper meal, a decent night's sleep and then onwards to Nottingham.
Woo hoo! Fife Circle action! My paternal grandfather was a signalman at the box which controlled the junction between the Fife Circle and the line to Perth. Odd that a service going via Dunfermline would pass through Inverkething though without stopping.
Having the line to Perth via Glenfarg still open is going to be a real boon for Edinburgh to Perth trains. In @ they have to go via Ladybank which adds a great deal of time to the journey.
Nice to see that Edinburgh is better served by tram and train, even if the former does not connect to the airport.
Good to see this back and presumably you are feeling better?
Having the line to Perth via Glenfarg still open is going to be a real boon for Edinburgh to Perth trains. In @ they have to go via Ladybank which adds a great deal of time to the journey.
Nice to see that Edinburgh is better served by tram and train, even if the former does not connect to the airport.
Good to see this back and presumably you are feeling better?
The irony, oh the irony, of 37s and rattly old mk2s on the Cumbrian coast...
I hope we won't be off to Nottingham too soon: I'd like to see what's what in the North West!
I hope we won't be off to Nottingham too soon: I'd like to see what's what in the North West!
Alex Richards
Donor
Sellafield sounds more developed as well- same everywhere or have some of them remained smaller?
Hopefully the MOX plant is working at full capacity as intended TTL. Nuclear reprocessing done on a commercial scale would be very nice
.