Wanderer Vagabond

February 24

1 hour ago, Ronaldo47 said:

One of the other attendees at a course I was on at the Civil Service College in the 1980's, was from the Department of Transport. He told me that, what usually happened was that they would be asked to design a road, which they would do, taking into account the expected growth in traffic and service life. The government would then tell them it was too expensive and ask them to change the design to something cheaper. This might result in fewer lanes or road surfaces with a shorter life. The subject had arisen in conversation, as stories about premature deterioration of a motorway in the Midlands were featuring in the news at that time, something that the guy said was entirely predictable.

The Humber Bridge construction project was a topic on that course in the context of how government decisions are made. The need for votes in a crucial by-election was indeed identified as the key factor!

Your anecdote doesn't surprise me in the slightest, it seems to be the way of Government to try to get the cheapest option for everything regardless of quality. I think someone on another thread quoted the maxim that you can have a project cheap, on time and efficient but you will only ever get two of the three options. Cheap and on time will mean that it wont be efficient, cheap and efficient means that it wont be on time and efficient and on time means that it wont be cheap :unsure: .

The current degradation of UK roads is almost certainly down to getting the cheapest possible job along with total lack of maintenance. As another anecdote, we have the South Devon Link Road down here in my area and I cycled along part of it the other day, it was only finished in 2016 (8 years ago) and the surface is already breaking up. It is a well used piece of road, but 8 years? really!!

The Humber Bridge construction was an interesting one, as was pointed out by my relatives in Goole, it went from nowhere to nowhere at that time (how much demand was there for the good people of Barton on Humber to get to Hessle?). After the initial novelty of it wore off, it was barely used particularly as it was a toll road (this is Yorkshire you are talking about). I don't doubt that the key factor driving it's construction was the need for votes in a by-election.

February 24

On 23/02/2024 at 11:09, JungleJames said:

Well if Euston is pulled, then ok. But as yet it isn't. If it is, well, bang goes any speed benefit.

But, Birmingham is still in the centre of BirmIngham.

As for who will travel on it. Don't just assume that as you won't, nobody else will.

How well do you know Birmingham? The fact is that Curzon Street is over a kilometre (by road, not as the crow flies) from New Street Station so let us say a 15 minute walk, and all that you've saved in time from London on the new line is supposedly 20 minutes, which you are going to pretty much lose walking to New Street to catch your connection to go further north. The 'gains' are entirely illusory.

February 23

1 hour ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I have worked since I was 14, all sorts of jobs, some good, some bad. Some easy and clean, others highly difficult and filthy.

But I have never withdrawn my labour.

If you don't like the work or its not what you want for the pay, change your job.

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

56 minutes ago, MtB said:

It has always puzzled me ever since I was a kid, why everyone striking did not do this instead.

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.

February 23

3 minutes ago, MtB said:

Not only that but I remember a similar level of fuss and resistance to building the M25, a road which everyone loves to denigrate, yet is curiously well patronised all day and all night, every day of the year.

I'm pretty sure there was uproar against the building of most major roads back in the day, the M1 and the M4 especially, although I was very young at the time. Both these roads seem to have 'bedded in' to the landscape pretty well since and are very handy for travelling long distances quickly.

Once HS2 is built I shall love seeing the trains running on it from my boat. If I haven't keeled over in the interim.

Funnily enough I remember the building of the M25 as one of our customers houses was right alongside it as they were building. At the time we said that a proposal to link all of the motorways going into London (M1, M2, M3,M4 etc) all with a motorway also only containing 3 lanes (as it was originally built) was insanity and would rapidly be overloaded, and what happened?........they had to build more lanes, quelle surprise! Whoever 'planned' it obviously didn't see that coming :huh:

2 minutes ago, MtB said:

In your opinion.

And the freight? Do you see no value in freeing up freight timetables on the old route, once there are fewer passenger services?

Nope, I'd say the HS2 line would be better used as a freight line alone since no-one else is going to be using it. An expensive freight line, I'll grant you.

February 23

22 minutes ago, MtB said:

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.

The difference is that at the time of building the canals were going to be widely used, the rump of HS2 that we are going to be left with simply isn't. We have a line with a station at each end that has cost billions to serve what purpose (now). The completed system as originally proposed had some value, what we now have left if simply a vanity project that only marginally satisfies London and the South East once again. The area that needed the improved rail infrastructure (the North) has been crapped on once again.

February 23

9 minutes ago, matty40s said:

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.

That would also be one of my criticisms of it, they have destroyed ancient woodland on the 'promise' that it will be replaced with saplings that will probably die within 5 years anyway.

February 23

Just now, JungleJames said:

You do realise ROSCOs have important engineers doing work as well?

Plus they will always want their percentage profit. That is the way of the world.

So do train drivers, that is also the way of the world, but when cutbacks have to be made it doesn't seem to be the ROSCO's that are made to pay. The criticisms and cutbacks are directed at those further down the food chain, I wonder why that is? :huh:

February 23

5 minutes ago, JungleJames said:

Nope.

Whilst it does seem like it on the face of it, and at one stage the government thought they could do a better job (odd, because it was the government that invented ROSCOs in the first place), the roll of the ROSCOs was investigated, and it was decided no they aren't the parasites you claim.

There is some risk involved (and on a few occasions they have been burnt), and they do provide engineering assistance.

In fact, if you look at the newer and cheaper ROSCOs, you can see the difference. The newer ones see it purely as a money spinner. The original 3 actually provide assistance.

Look what happened when the government thought they could do better. We ended up with inferior rolling stock that costs a fortune.

So, considering the whole of Europe now has ROSCOs and the airline industry predominantly leases its planes, what are your suggestions?

Remember, passenger operating companies can't afford to bu trains outright, and the government doesn't want to.

In fact the government's plan to do away with ROSCOs was basically a complicated expensive ROSCO that left the rail industry pulling its hair out.

So, what do we do?

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

February 23

2 hours ago, Tracy D'arth said:

I would like a rail system staffed by responsible workers who didn't go out on strike whenever they felt that they could blackmail the country into paying them even more money for less work.

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!

February 23

1 hour ago, MtB said:

I met her on the towpath the other day!

Just to let you know she is fit and well.

I thought she'd gone down onto the River Nene, did she come back?

February 23

2 hours ago, Onewheeler said:

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

Oh, you were the one who used it then. Granted that now, 40 years later there is a bit more use of it probably because the motorways have been built a bit closer to it (M180). At the time it was a bridge from nowhere to nowhere. I had relatives living in Goole when it was built and they couldn't see the point behind it.

56 minutes ago, David Mack said:

It is and it isn't. Work between Old Oak Common and Euston is paused.

The latest ministerial update to Parliament (https://www.gov.uk/government/speeches/hs2-6-monthly-report-to-parliament-november-2023) says:

"We are going to scale back the project at Euston and adopt a new development led approach to the Euston Quarter which will deliver a station that works, is affordable and can be open and running trains as soon as possible."

and

"At Euston, we will appoint a development company, separate from HS2 Ltd, to manage the delivery of this project. We will also take on the lessons of success stories such as Battersea Power Station and Nine Elms, which secured £9 billion of private sector investment and thousands of homes. So, we will harness the future growth that the station will unleash to support its development, to ensure we get the best possible value for the British taxpayer"

No timescales are given for the new approach at Euston. All that is said is "Delivery remains on track for the initial high-speed services between Old Oak Common in west London and Birmingham Curzon Street by 2029 to 2033." So Euston is some time after that.

I'd be interested to see what the plan for connecting from Old Oak Common to Euston involves (rather than all of the flannel about the new station). If it is an overland line, have they purchased all of the very expensive, London priced properties in between? If it is in a tunnel, the Crossrail link (Elizabeth Line) cost nearly £19 billion, so inflation is going to add a salty sum sum to that sort of figure. Perhaps they are hoping to use existing lines :wacko: . I would imagine that it has been 'paused' because they realised just how much it is going to cost, although pausing it will simply add to the figure if it ever gets restarted (I suspect it wont).

February 23

6 minutes ago, Pluto said:

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.

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.

February 23

2 minutes ago, JungleJames said:

London Euston and Birmingham Curzon St. As good as centre to centre.

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.

February 22

1 hour ago, Ex Brummie said:

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.

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.

February 22

Haven't come across this thread before ('tis a bit old, isn't it?) but just for anecdotal interest and looking at the references to 'Blow up bridge' on the Regents Canal, it turns out that one of my wife's ancestors was unlucky enough to have been on the boat that blew up. He was one Charles Becksom and was buried in East Finchley cemetery (I don't know if he got blown that far! :unsure: ). Fascinating what turns up in genealogical research isn't it.

February 5

13 hours ago, Sir Percy said:

This Sunday's job: unblocking the kitchen sink. It had been put off for far too long, in the dread anticipation of the slimy grey mess that lay in wait. I couldn't have left it any longer; drainage had slowed down to the point where the water level was rising up towards the overflow after washing up just a few items.

I cleared out all of the stuff that I'd crammed in undersink, laid down newspaper and a big old ready meal foil tray, and started by unscrewing the trap. Boak. Raked out all the smelly, slimey, gunk from the trap and the hose. Gave it a tickle with a drain snake, and reassembled. Tried running some water - minimal effect.

Went at it with some caustic soda. Not good for the canal, I guess. Possibly not good for my pipes, either - they got a bit warm, but seem unscathed. A bit of improvement to drainage, not fantastic, though. Thought I'd better give the pipes a good flushing, so dumped a bucket of water into the sink and had a cup of tea and a sit-down.

Came back to find...a sinkful of water. Absolutely no drainage at all now. I must have dislodged a load of sludge to a point further down where it had blocked the outlet completely.

Out with the plunger. Not the old-school rubber cup on the end of a wooden handle, but a big plastic version with a large concertina. Gave a good old plunge and a gritty, watery sneeze came out of the overflow. Had to cover that with one hand while I tried plunging again with the other.

Water running freely again. When the time comes to unblock the sink again, I think I'd probably go through the same steps again. Anyway, that's what's worked for me.

Just as a suggestion, we've had much the same problem with a bathroom sink at my postal address pretty much since we've lived here (from 1987). The angle of the drain pipe is very shallow and regularly blocked. In recent months we've started putting a spoonful of soda crystals (not caustic soda) into the u-bend on a regular basis, it seems to have cured the problem. I don't know how much harm a teaspoon of soda crystals is going to cause the canal, probably no more than emptying your washing-up water down the drain I would guess (but willing to be corrected).

January 29

Have to say that I rather looked with horror at how the guy has his centre line in the lock😱

Does he REALLY have that line around his mushroom?? If it is anything like my boat, they are not big screws holding those mushrooms on and they are very easy to rip off (DAMHIK!!)

January 28

21 minutes ago, MtB said:

Totally agree. I use a Dahon Zero G too, and a Dahon Jack which is the same thing but with rigid front forks (easily changed to bouncy forks). Fine pieces of engineering which are a dream to ride on the towpath. Best of all is once covered in mud, they hardly look worth the effort of nicking! Unlike the Motague Paratrooper recommended above by Crewcut. Probably an excellent bike too for the towpath but looks achingly easy to sell in the nearest pub once nicked.

Yes, I thought I remembered you once saying you had that bike.

Stored in a top box mine would be a bit of a challenge to nick (although I'd never say impossible). The pedals are inside the boat and the handlebars are disconnected, so if anyone can pinch it we are looking for a circus performer. I've left it in the top box in most locations throughout the country from Bristol to Birmingham to Burnley, and it is still there (last time I checked).

January 28

3 hours ago, nealeST said:

Thanks for all the input! Plenty of potential solutions…I absolutely love tug decks…but a large well deck is a good alternative. I’m imagining a bike under a cratch cover with coal and outerwear a bit of a struggle but if people manage it’s nothing I’ll rule out. I do like Brompton bikes…they are revolutionary. Amongst the suggestions I like foldable pedals and quick release wheels. I’m going to strip one of my bikes to basics and employ those ideas. Sans mudguards and chain case, flip the handle bars and invert them, lower the stem. With brake hubs I can easily go the quick release option on the front, try hinge pedals….great, just need to get the boat now. I’d been thinking tug deck but it looks so extravagant for the sake of a bike…in which case I’ll keep both bikes🤩

I’m certain hauling a steel frame bike off a roof is asking for back trouble.

Yes I was mulling over engine room. Engine room is a must have for me. I think with the bike partly knocked down with quick release bits and bobs and pushing the handle bars through parallel to the frame….so you can wangle them through a side hatch? Diagonally sort of?

I've had a Dahon Zero G folding mountain bike(https://products.mtbr.com/product/bikes/xc-hardtail/dahon/zero-g.html) on the boat since day 1 and use in on a regular basis (11 years on). Sadly Dahon don't make that model any more but they do now apparently have an alternative that might be worth considering(https://dahon.com/bikes/gb-2-2/). For towpaths the small wheel folding cycles are rubbish, but a folding mountain bike is ideal.

For mine I also use it in combination with a trailer when necessary (https://www.sjscycles.co.uk/trailers/carry-freedom-y-small-trailer/) on which I have carried Coal,a gas cylinder,full Thetford Cassettes......and a scrap washing machine!! The bike comfortably fits in a top box (I take the pedals off) and the trailer dismantles and fits under the table in the back cabin.

It all depends upon how keen you are on your cycling

December 27, 2023

Have to say that for me, the most amazing part of the OP's painting is the eyes. His daughter has captured the dog's eyes perfectly so that even on a computer screen they still look shiny👍

December 24, 2023

8 hours ago, agg221 said:

......I think the only place which might really be a problem is Savick Brook on the Ribble Link. Not sure we would clear that, although we do have very low air draught (Dudley Tunnel low) so I wonder if we could make it under the bridge while the water is still high enough. At 2'8" you should have no problems.

Alec

If you decide to do the Ribble Link, as I commented on another thread, a good option would be to go up to Preston Docks for the night and then come back on the ebbing tide the following day. It means you pass over the tidal gate at pretty much full tide (only takes about 30 minutes from Preston to Savick with the tide) so grounding is far less of a concern than if you've come from Tarleton.

December 23, 2023

2 hours ago, Mike Todd said:

Diverted into Preston Dock is not a bad thing - quite interesting on the one time it happened to us.

The draft limit relates to Ribble Link and not the Lanky, even if the comments are actually true. You will soon get used to overnight mooring out of sight of land (!) Having a K&A length plank is a help.

The comments about punching the tide are also true and you do need to be alert about timings even if the lockies are not always very accurate in advising. The tide will turn whilst on the Ribble and it is easy not to notice that you have almost come to a stand still with the engine set for a reasonable speed over the ground as you emerge from the Douglas. It is then you you will need some reserve power to avoid missing the time into Savick Brook.

I suspect the main measured draft limit is the half tide rotating lock. The usual procedure is to have to wait on the mooring just after that, before the A583 road bridge. When you arrive the level will be too high to get under (and over the lock cill) and so the wait is to let it drop - this does not seem to be explained in the guides. Same happens in reverse when coming back again, except that you will be waiting for the level to come up after the flotilla has come under the bridge. Watch out for an over-enthusiastic lockie when you are set off from the pontoon on the way out - ours last year opened up so fast it gave us quite an 'experience' (!)

For all that, it is a great trip and the Lanky is good so long as you adjust to a different speed of life! If the available Link slots mean that you have time to spare there are lots of great things to do off-canal, mostly available via public transport. Try Ribblehead Viaduct for example.

I'd even go as far as recommending being diverted to Preston Docks. When we did the Ribble Link, the light at Savick Brook went out when we were about a mile from it and they called us up to carry on to Preston Docks. The mooring there is fine and the trip back to Savick is a whole lot easier when you're travelling with the tide. They let you out from Preston Docks at high tide and you simply travel down on the slowly ebbing tide, distance of less than 2 miles, so you get to Savick about 30 minutes or so later and pass over the tidal lock at pretty much full tide so no worries about possibly grounding. The only downside is that you then have to sit and wait for those coming up from Tarleton to arrive since, until the tide has dropped enough you cannot go up Savick Brook, but on the other hand if you are in a rush, why would you be on a narrowboat?

December 15, 2023

25 minutes ago, PeterScott said:

sherborne Wharf website says "We run trips at weekends only throughout November, January, February and March" and has a booking form ...

Yes, I looked at the website to see if there was any information there but it seemed a bit hit and miss. The 'Search for Santa' excursion is dated 2019 and the daily boat trips references,"....PLEASE NOTE – Public trips will commence on the week ending the 19th Feb 2022....." and then states,"....

Boats will be running ............ till the end of Nov and will run weekends only through December 2022...." so it is a year out of date. It also seems a bit odd that the calendar you show above (and I've checked on the website) shows the boats as 'unavailable' this weekend, not 'booked' and 'available' next weekend which is the Christmas Weekend, I would guess that is someone hasn't already booked for next weekend they aren't going to.

As I said, last year when we were in Birmingham in December, the water taxi was coming past all the time and the party boats were coming past in the evening, perhaps it's because we are a week later than last year, I don't know.

December 15, 2023

Does anyone know if anything untoward has happened to Sherborne Wharf who run the 'water taxi' and trip boats in Birmingham? We went through in September and the water taxi was a regular sight and yet this week we've been in Birmingham from Monday until today (Friday) and not a sign of anything. We went into Birmingham about a week earlier last year and the water taxi and party boats were passing all the time, this year? nothing. There is a trip boat moored outside of the Sea Life Centre that hasn't moved all week and has a note in the window saying,"Due to unforeseen circumstances,etc." but doesn't say what the unforeseen circumstances are.

I'm kind of hoping that, being there a week later this year, perhaps all of the Christmas trips have been done, but if not it doesn't look good. Likewise most of the eating establishments around Brindley Place seemed pretty deserted most nights, perhaps if the cost of living that is now deterring people, which would sadly suggest that these businesses aren't going to last.

December 12, 2023

23 hours ago, magnetman said:

Qualifications for Boatmaster certificate were watered down fairly recently.

Was it ever that high? From my experience of trip boats on the Thames, they didn't display a lot of competence, but then they only have people on board. By contrast, the tug-boats pulling the barges full of London's waste were absolutely excellent

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