AN OUTSIDE VIEW

Reports are that a further build of Bombardier Electrostars could be ordered by Southern, for use on the Brighton main line. This would be good news for Derby. It is possible to have a comfortable ride on the Southern Electrostars, but really they are an inner suburban design and the best implementation of the type is the class 378 for London Overground. For longer-distance services, they would be better with modifications to the original design, which has its origin in the British Rail Networker, an inner suburban design developed in the 1980s. The most beneficial change would be to move the doorways to the ends. This would have four advantages. The gap between platform and train would be constant, regardless of the curvature of the track. This would avoid the large gaps that passengers have to negotiate at stations with sharply curved concave platform faces and consequently reduce station dwell times. With a single saloon 14.4 metres long, there would be more flexibility in arrangin...

I just arrived in Brighton after a journey from Oxford that took four hours. The outward journey took 2 hours 25 minutes due to catching an earlier train than the advertised connection at Reading. In both directions the journey was uncomfortable, with the trains very overcrowed on the return. These are the kind of journeys where most people's would automatically opt to go by car, and no wonder.

The proposed East-West Rail Link connecting Oxford and Aylesbury with Milton Keynes and Bedford could generate more than £38 million a year for the UK economy, says a leading economic forecaster. Oxford Economics, which has just published a report on the economic case for investment , says there is a strong business case for reinstating track and upgrading the line to enable an East-West rail service to carry passengers from Reading to Bedford via Oxford and Milton Keynes and from Milton Keynes into London Marylebone via Aylesbury and High Wycombe. The report – East West Rail: The Economic Case for Investment – comes at a time when there are concerns about the low economic growth outlook for the UK, and has been welcomed by a Consortium of councils and Local Enterprise Partnerships supporting an east-west rail link. The case for this is so blatantly obvious that it is astonishing that the government is not driving it forward with the utmost urgency. In any other country in Europe with ...

This blog assembles a mass of evidence as concisely as it is possible (article is in Swedish but the pictures are bad enough)

A magnificent piece of German craftsmanship dating from the late 1950s, I have had this camera since 1977 but hardly used it as the project I bought it for never happened. The camera has a ground glass back and a roll film carrier to take 10 exposures on 120 roll film ie 6 x 7 cm. It has a coupled rangefinder and three matching Schneider lenses, a 65 mm f/8 Super Angulon, a 105 mm f/3.5 Xenar and a 150 mm f/5.6 Apo Symmar. All the lenses are Linhof selected. The original owner seems hardly to have used it either so it is in excellent condition, including the bellows. It will be available for purchase on Ebay in about two weeks time.

Three critical pieces on high speed rail from the Economist The Great Train Robbery Railroad to nowhere Time to slow down Meanwhile, Rail magazine continues to enthuse about the HS2 project, even though the latest issue contains a piece extolling the benefits of the East-West route, a modestly priced scheme which is still far from being given the go-ahead.

SNCB/NMBS I11 carriage interior , originally uploaded by EE507 . Interior of Belgian I11stock.

A firm order for the Hitachi Inter City Express (IEP) has still not been placed. The trains will, if ordered, run initially on Great Western routes out of Paddington, which on current plans will be electrified to Bristol, probably to Swansea, and to Oxford and Newbury. This will still leave a substantial mileage without electrification, including most of the main route from London to Cornwall, the line to Worcester and Hereford, and the West Wales area. In theory, a train like the IEP, which can run under electric power on electrified routes but is equipped with diesel engines to enable it to run on non-electrified lines as well, could be just the ticket. Pictures released by Hitachi , however, show the usual cavalier disregard for alignment of seats and windows, so unless the actual trains are very different from the illustration, these are unlikely to be pleasant to travel in. Part of the trouble is the sheer cost of the trains, which means that seats will have to be crammed in to ma...

The new translation of the English language mass starts today. The old one deserves an elegy. E Strobes of Private Eye would have been up to this one, but being no poet, I cannot step into his shoes and can only manage this couple of lines. So Good Riddance and Goodbye, Old New Order.

Bank regulation is in the news. Why not let the banks buy up betting shop chains? They could have counters in their branches for their customers to back dogs and horses. It would be so convenient to be able to pay for bets directly out of one's account. They could also extend their business that way with internet betting. They could also make a lot of money by putting one-armed bandits on their premises, including those all-night places with cash machines in them - they would be much more profitable if they were run as amusement arcades. Why not? It's a logical development from their present activities.