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Not just about faster trains, but to provide greater capacity to the transport network which is sorely needed, especially when personal transport options are being seriously curtailed and punitively charged.

If it was about improving the rail infrastructure they would have built a new goods-only line from Harwich to the Midlands initially, with extensions to Liverpool, Southampton, and even that corruption centre of the NE, Teesport. The line would be similar to the one built between Rotterdam and the Ruhr, so high speed for freight, but nothing like HS standards, and thus much cheaper. The initial phase would cut across an area of low population, through fairly level ground, and relieve the congestion at Harwich, particularly noticeable during Covid. It would prove of benefit to the whole country, with the existing passenger network continuing to serve smaller towns which will be bypassed by HS2. HS2 is for the suits who want to rush around appearing to do something useful, while the general population will not be able to afford tickets if they are priced to pay for the infrastructure.

Nope. No nerve. But facts are facts, and you were planting the blame in the wrong court. Now you have changed your points. Are you on about strikes, or whether they get paid too much? Anyway, as I've pointed out the innacuracies of your strike rant, I shall do the same for this latest one. 1- looks like you are picking up the highest pay. Please don't listen to the government. They are good at this. The average is less. Also, the skills are a lot lot lot more than you suggest. "Sit down and don't touch a steering wheel"? Honestly. You clearly have absolutely no idea, so you try and make it sound simple with stupid comments. I assume being a brain surgeon is simple as they don't need to touch a steering wheel either? I certainly couldn't say for sure if I'd be able to succeed at driving trains. A lot to it. 2- pension isn't completely rock solid from what I can gather. It is still open to the government trying to play silly billies. 3- free travel isn't quite that simple. You have to have started before privatisation to get free travel everywhere, and to keep these benefits. Otherwise it is free travel with your company only, and you lose it when you leave. Oh, and those that started before privatisation did so when the money was dire. They joined for the pure love of it. So don't go on about money and keeping free travel benefits. I know one who started a long time before privatisation. But then soon after privatisation he left the rail industry as the company in question was awful. Well, he lost all benefits. He eventually rejoined the industry elsewhere, but he was seen as a new joiner, so it was free travel with his company only, plus unlimited reduced rate travel. Well, as time went on he got a bit fed up with the way the passenger side was going, so moved over to freight. Having been seen as a post privatisation joiner, he has lost all free and reduced rate travel. So, it really isn't as you'd like to make out. As for uniform. Oh come on. Loads of places supply uniform. In fact, I'd guess most places do. You really are grasping at straws with that one. If you want to knock industries you know nothing about, I suggest you get some info from those that do before banging on. Just a suggestion.

Codswallop. It is caused by government who insist on scuppering agreements at the last second. Staff do not want to strike. They do not want to do less work. Instead the government is trying to introduce plans that are unworkable and make the railways less safe. They also want to scrap long held perks that would mean basically no increase in remuneration. Companies which the government cannot control are not involved. Does that tell you something?

But who is going to be travelling on it? I'm a regular rail passenger (don't have a car) but unless the fares are ridiculously cheap I can't envisage any occasions I'll travel on it. Why would anyone want to go from not the centre of Birmingham to not the centre of London on a line that is mostly in tunnels anyway. I'd sooner take 20 minutes longer and have a more interesting trip. Yes, we need improved infrastructure but this isn't it.

My complaint is about the waste of money and destruction of natural England that this has caused especially now it is such a short sighted and limited project. Buying up all land 500 m either side of the intended line and removing all vegetation across beautiful areas, many more instances of incorrect concrete construction sizes on top of the viaduct cockup. Just the loss of the Bree Louise pub near Euston needed heads chopping off.

I vaguely remember HS2 originally being promoted along the lines of being able to step onto a train in Birmingham or Manchester and stepping off it in Paris. Even if it gets to London, not linking with HS1 is just daft. Stopping some way short of London will negate any time saving, but not to worry because apparently the main reason for HS2 is capacity. If that's really true, why not raise all the rail bridges on the West Coast Mainline and give us double decker trains - hey presto: capacity doubled. Right now I'd just settle for having a rail system which provided me with any confidence that my train won't be cancelled for no apparent reason. The last couple of years rail travel has become such a lottery than I'm considering abandoning it altogether in favour of the Megabus.

London Euston and Birmingham Curzon St. As good as centre to centre. The mostly in tunnels bit has been caused by the likes of Matty40S complaining about how it looks. Which coincidentally adds to the cost, something these people then moan about. Forgetting they caused it in the first place. I probably won't travel on it, as I've no wish to travel under so many tunnels. But let's make sure we are fairly accurate in apportionment of blame.

It’s nothing to do with maintenance since cuttings aren’t really maintainable. CRT have many miles of cuttings and they could if they so wished undertake lots of risk reduction work that is akin to a rebuild using vast amounts of money that they don’t have, never have had, and the public almost certainly wouldn’t want them to have. It would be capital funded work quite different from maintenance and it would consist of work such as devegetation, installation of toe walls, regrading, rock fill, slope drainage and crest drainage. But because of the relatively random nature of where and when slopes fail it’s far more cost effective to treat the places that do fail post event. It’s not like CRT have to pay damages for closing the canal. The parallel failure of the railway cutting that occurred the same week will have cost six figure sums in penalty payments yet there is a limit on what preventive work rail authorities can undertake and it often comes down to containment rather than prevention. The railway cutting concerned has a series of remediation works undertaken over many, many years but like Easenhall it’s a big cutting and it’s simply not practical to treat it all in a preventive manner. Climate change of course simply increases the likelihood of a failure, it doesn’t cause it.

The option of "such a security ... " was removed in 2019 by The Motor Vehicles (Compulsory Insurance) (Miscellaneous Amendments) Regulations 2019.

Funny, that's not what the facts say... https://www.timeout.com/uk/news/everything-you-need-to-know-about-rail-strikes-092022 "RMT staff at the Overground are striking over a below-inflation pay rise. ASLEF workers on Northern and LNER are walking out over claims that the operators have persistently failed to comply with agreements concerning bullying and intimidation. Drivers at ASLEF have also been walking out after what it called a ‘risible’ pay offer of four percent a year for two years, as well as changes to working conditions."

But that would mean a direct connection for through traffic between HS2 and HS1, and of course there isn't one -- in fact the chances of HS2 even getting to Euston are looking slim, what's the private sector going to get in return in they invest billions in this? On top of that, you can't put slower freight trains on the high-speed lines without killing the HS speeds and schedules. If only we had a joined-up transport infrastructure policy, with a government that realised that investment in this pays off in the long term, and that providing basic services and building/maintaining national infrastructure is the job of government not the profit-driven private sector... 😞

I have obtained from C&RT, some yard drawings for Progress so that I can commence producing my own drawings for a 1:24 scale model but noted that the Overall Length ws defined as 75 feet although the maximum length on the GU South where she operated is 72 feet. Also the drawing give two different cabins i.e. one longer than the other, so I have opted for teh longer version as it will make (to me) a more pleasing model. I have decided to use the BW colour scheme of blue and yellow from when she operated out of Bulls Bridge. I have a couple of question which possibly Tam and Di murrell can answer: Did BW continue to use the wheel steering or did the convert her to tiller steering, also was the winch originally fitted to the bow still in place during her BW days? Finally, attached is my latest model as my previous image of Troy went down well. This one is a freelance gravel pit tug in 1:12 scale. Regards David Marks

A good analysis of the situation, I think.

Not true. I've unicycled over it. Worth every billion. See profile picture.

Everyone currently travelling on the existing line. Once they are got rid of, stacks more freight can be carried by rail on the old slow line. More capacity, see? I think that's the idea anyway.

Sorry its late, I have a lot of posts to catch up with. here is a sketch I posted some time ago.

So my Zeus arrived a few days ago via a distributor, and whilst it'll be a while until I can hook it up to the alternator, here's a first look. I powered it up on 12v first to make sure it all fires up! As a background, this is now one of three external alternator regulators with system integration on the market, but it's squarely aimed at competing with the Wakespeed especially as the marketing makes a big deal about it coming with the wiring looms! The user interface also promises to be much better as it's purely Bluetooth and an app, rather than Putty or uploading text files like with the Wakespeed. Forum uploader seems to be rotating all the pictures at random no matter what I do to them and their metadata so please try and ignore that... Opening the box, it's packaged very nicely in a large single wall cardboard box - regulator on top in high density foam, looms under it in their own boxes. There's no paper manual in there but there's a QR code which takes you to the manual and the app. The case is a nicely finished extruded aluminium affair, with all connectors on one end cap and the large Bluetooth antenna on the other. The antenna is a standard plastic folding thing with an SMA connector. The Zeus has an IP67 rating, but this SMA connector is only IP67 when mated so you'll need to leave it attached, just in case you're concerned about it getting in the way after configuring it. The antenna is an IP67 version with a silicone ring inside. Connectors on the bottom are mostly good news - the battery harness is a TE Connectivity Ampseal which is internally sealed, and the alternator harness is also a TE Connectivity product. Both are sealed well and are of very high quality. However...the CANbus RJ45 is a Kinsun which, like most connectors of this type, is only IP68 when mated with the appropriate connector. If you plug a standard RJ45 into this, it's prone to let in moisture and corrode itself eventually, I work on LED display modules outdoors and this is common with RJ45s! You need the matching mating part of the connector which is not provided in the box; Kinsun part number 3351L and I could not find a UK stockist for it. Additionally, this type of connector needs to be put on the cable before the RJ45 end is crimped on. Seems like an oversight, making an IP67 rated device but making it difficult to maintain the rating when connected up! It would have been nice to see something like a Neutrik Ethercon here, which is available all around the world, or to simply put in the box the other half of the Kinsun. Internally, all of the connectors are properly sealed including the screwholes, and the RJ45 is internally potted to ensure no water can get through. Both end caps have substantial rubber seals, and the screws go into pre-tapped threads rather than being self tappers. There's also a dab of silicone on the back of the antenna's SMA connector to seal that. Before getting into the electronics side of it and staying with the mechanical/waterproofing theme - the PCB is a heavily made multi layer board with a full groundplane, which is used for a heatsink. Everything is populated on the top, the bottom is bare. However, it does not have a conformal coating which is odd for a product aimed at the marine market. The five electrolytics are good Japanese quality, rated at 105 degrees C and have tall 15mm cans. I would have liked to see a splooge of epoxy under them though, as they're vulnerable to vibration damage, especially as it'll be mounted close to the engine. The only mechanical attachment is via the through-hole solder joints; fine for something like a computer motherboard but not great for this application. Getting onto the electronics, I could not find an FPGA or system-on-chip microcontroller on here at all, which is very very odd! I can only think that it's fully encapsulated under the Bluetooth module, but there are only few traces going to it on the back of the board. It may be a 3 or more layer board though. Going from left to right we have: MCP2510 CANbus controller. This has an SPI interface, so whatever microcontroller is used will likely have SPI natively MCP2551 CAN transceiver. This will sit between the 2510 and the connector to form a complete solution. There is NMEA2k as well as CANBUS but only one transceiver, so there's some duplexing happening here. Fanstel BT840e 2.4ghz Bluetooth module. The antenna is also a Fanstel product designed to work with this module, an ANT060. It's a complete integrated RF solution with SPI and I2C; I expect the microcontroller will use SPI as the I2C pins don't appear to be connected Under the blue/white cable is 4 generic ICs which don't appear to have datasheets, I expect they are analog to digital converters. SUM70040E MOSFET, rated at 120A drain current. Very over-spec'd. Nice! Unsure what the single one is for, the two at the top right will be for controlling the alternator field in positive and negative configuration. MP9486A 1A DC-DC buck converter controller. 4.5v-100v input range and 170uA quiescent current, the Zeus should have a very low standby draw. This is probably used to derive 3.3v or 5v for the internal ICs from the 12v-48v input from the battery. LTC7001 MOSFET driver and two more SUM70040E MOSFETs, purpose mentioned earlier. Overall, I think this is a very well made product with good attention paid to waterproofing, the only exception being the RJ45 port. As of now, it's impossible to get the mating part of the connector in the UK easily, so it will be a weak point. However, due to the well-designed connector, it will not allow moisture into the unit. A conformal coating would have been nice, and I wonder why it was not done. There's a lot of test points on the board so it may be to speed up quality control, as the coating makes it impossible to use the test points unless they're masked. If it's going in the engine bay, I'd treat it as IP62 when mounted with the ports facing down as water will collect in both the RJ45 socket and plug if there's a cable in it. Best to get it high up away from spray, or perhaps make a little shield for the RJ45. Mechanically it's generally good with all the ports fixed to the case rather than just the PCB, but some epoxy goo under the inductor and electrolytics wouldn't go amiss. RJ45 aside, the connectors are very high spec and unlikely to ever cause any trouble, and all the looms are made extremely well. In the box, a laminated paper wiring diagram showing what colour wires go where would have been a good idea as it's difficult to keep on referring to your phone/laptop in the engine bay, but the PDF manual is excellent and has the wiring colours on two pages which is easy to print out as a reference.

The white elephant continues its monstrous construction to save 2 minutes on a journey from stations not in the centre of either city at each end. Here is the palaver in the Colne Valley over the last few days.

So leaving a job isn't 'withdrawing your labour' then? I have also had a number of jobs and when the job has been crap I've got another one and then handed in my notice and told the boss I was leaving because his pay was shit. Doesn't do anything to improve the working conditions for the job I was leaving though does it? Next person is going to get the same crap conditions, or perhaps you would support mass immigration to get the cheap labour to keep such businesses going I have done several times and, except for a certain 'Federation', haven't belonged to a union either, but I did appreciate their efforts at making crap working conditions better.

Skin fittings: When I fitted out Innisfree (2003 to 2005) I cut something like 12 or 13 holes in 6mm steel, 2 size of bi-metal hole saw, no lubrication and loads of pressure, very rapid, hole saws still sharp and now sitting in my w'shop, though mains drill never quite recovered. ETA: It took a very strenuous effort so after the first few holes I made up a spring loaded nut & bolt device to apply the pressure while drill did the turning. It took 2 drills actually, first one, 240v 700 odd watts 2 speed 'box soon burnt out, 2nd one was a 240v Dewalt single variable speed, though it smoked a few times it carried on giving good service for a few years before departing to Dewalt heaven, amazing tool RIP.

And of some of the these arguments being levelled against HS2 could have (and probably were) used to oppose the building of most canals. Blot on the lansdcape I bet most of them were, during and for a while after building.

I installed 2x 455w panels about 18 months ago, along with a 60 amp MPPT controller. It's one of the best installations I've done on the boat. Like everything else it took me much longer than a professional as I'm a plodder. I take advice and make sure I know what I'm doing and then bit by bit I do the installation. The main benefit is I get exactly what I want and I know how it all works. Anyway, I'm amazed at just how good it is. In summer I'm completely off grid (liveaboard), and that includes running a washing machine a couple of times/week. In winter I think it's about 50% off grid, although I've only done one full winter so I need to see what it really is over several winters. I think I spent about a grand all in so it won't take long to recoup the outlay in saved electricity payments.

How about paying them slightly less so that we can pay those actually doing the work slightly more?

If you want the people who are really screwing the system, take a look at the parasites that are the Rolling Stock Leasing Companies (ROSCO's), they are absolutely coining it for very little risk. The way it works is that they have wheedled themselves between the Train Operating Companies and the Train Manufacturers, so there is no real reason to have them at all, but we are where we are (https://www.theguardian.com/business/2024/feb/18/profits-of-uks-private-train-leasing-firms-treble-in-a-year). When the train staff see these parasites being gifted millions of pounds are you really surprised that, since they (the rail staff) are the one's actually doing the work, they'd like some of that particular pie as well. It's also very generous of us that the three principal ROSCO's (Evershot, Porterbrook and Angel Trains) are all foreign owned by by China, Luxembourg and Canada, shame we can't have some of those profits here in the UK don't you think? Like to train staff!

I have a vague memory of doing the same, probably for the same reason - been 3rd party with Basic Boat since the requirement came in. They still do wreck removal cover.

Yes well done Fazeley No 3 Aqueduct is not easily seen from the canal as it passes across the Tame Valley. Canal Plan has the following image. The brick arches are three in total. It is not unusual to find other arches at locations where there is a flood plain and with Fazeley it crosses a channel that eventually links up with the Tame

You could say the same for an awful lot of businesses... 😉 Insurance is only really needed to cover the risk of occasional catastrophically expensive incidents which would bankrupt the customer/company, for smaller sums it's not worth it. I know some big companies like BT self-insured cars/vans rather than paying out premiums, on the principle it was cheaper for them to pay directly than allow insurers to cream off a profit. I seem to remember the most expensive car insurance claim ever was many years ago in France, a car came off the road and landed on a railway track, which derailed and destroyed a train, which broke through a canal/river embankment and flooded a large area of the countryside including many houses and factories. I'm not sure even BT would have wanted to pick up the tab for that one... 😉

I was musing about that too, thenlike Tracey, decided it must have been the prow of an old Harborough or similar window smasher. When hitting a glancing blow the boat will heel over a bit, perhaps leading to the scrape changing height. Also the victim boat will heel a bit too. More puzzling though is that the striking boat must have approached at quite an angle to get the prow to hit the cabin side at all.

Network rail, or Railtrack before them, had already demonstrated that they could not upgrade the west coast main line without causing so much disruption that you might as well close it and do the work. There were also soaring costs, well beyond inflation so the project was abandoned part completed. Virgin had to be paid a lot of money because they had invested based on a performance promise which could no longer be met. HS2 is supposed to be an answer to this, but merely demonstrates that the DfT civil service knows stuff all about running a railway and ministers are readily seduced by a big shiny project. The original business case for HS2 included aTreasury subsidy of about £1billion a year, in then money. It assumed that people would travel to Euston from places like Gerrards Cross, Beaconsfield, High Wycombe and others to get a train to Brum, instead of getting on a Chiltern train or the M40. Even with such wildy optimistic assumptions and others of similar ilk, it did not stand up but no one had the brains, or balls, to kill it off. The original Great Central London Extension was a victim of similar issues. Once Watkin and the the Channel link had gone there were no profitable intermediate stations and trains to Manchester and Sheffield simply did not have the loadings to pay their way. A new modern but not High Speed railway to Brum might make sense, because it could have stations on the way so that it is quicker and easier to go from a West London or leafy Bucks home to Brum, but it is too late now. N

complete waste of money always was. for me the travel time to london by west coast mainline is 2hr 9mins. Its actually perfectly fine, cutting 30 or 40 mins off that would be a disadvantage as it wouldn't be worth me trying to get anything done on train. As for capacity there's plenty of capacity as most of the 1st class carriages are empty as no 'ordinary' folk can afford the nearly £500 return fare. the super rich who can afford it aren't going to travel by train anyway.... the billions would have been much better spent on improving the capacity of the existing, upgrading east-west links and making travel by train more attractive than car or flying (i.e reducing ticket prices)

Exactly this^^^^^^. The HS2 that we are now going to have is purely a vanity project, Spain have got a High Speed Rail, France have got a High Speed Rail so we must have one. Unless you need a mortgage to buy a ticket on it, for the numbers likely to use it, it will never be an economic proposition in it's current form. It sort of reminds me of the 'case' put for building the Humber Bridge back in the 1970's, all that was, was a vanity project so that we could have the longest suspension bridge in the world. When it was opened, after the original novelty wore off no one was using it.

No it isn't, at the moment the bit between Old Oak Common and Euston has been 'paused', for which you can read cancelled (or else delayed whilst inflation costs increases the cost of the project even further). Still doesn't answer the question of who will be travelling on it, because when travelling between Birmingham and London, unless the fares are half of what they are on the other lines, I certainly wont be. Once the decision had been made to start the project, then it should have been finished to benefit the cities in the North, what we are going to be left with now is utterly pointless.

It’s been delayed a bit https://www.building.co.uk/news/work-on-hs2-viaduct-paused-for-urgent-remediation/5127939.article#:~:text=Work on HS2's Colne Valley,the most recently completed span.

I used to be conceited but now i'm perfect.

Or neither of those two options, but a trip to Chester or along the Middlewich branch?

It's also possible that a factor is the original constructors' ignorance of the fact that previously-buried soils can progressively lose strength over decades due to aerial weathering causing chemical changes in their structure, something that only became known from experience. That has been identified as the cause of failure of numerous railway cuttings that were built in the Victorian era that have suffered this sort of slumping many decades after their construction. Increased rainfall making the ground wetter won't have helped, but I think we have had wet weather episodes well before climate change was on the agenda.

According to CRT's newsletter, the landslip was caused by climate change. Funny that, some of us thought it was due to lack of maintenance.

Do you have non-return valves fitted? Are both pumps running at the same time? If you run only one pump with no NRVs fitted the water will be running back down and through the pump that isn't running. The easiest option may be for each pump to have its own skin fitting outlet.

Quite often if a boats marine engine has not used and run for a long time oil seals tend to get a bit stiff a let oil past. By running and warming up the seal can rejuvanate them. I had this when I fitted a s/h Lister ST2 and LH150 box and reduction box. At first oil was transfering from the gearbox into the reduction box. After a while it stopped doing it and has never done it since. That was about 15 years ago.