HPMRS Raildate 23 Jan 04

News

RAILDATE: the weekly newsletter of the Hursley Park Model Railway Society: http://steam.to/hpmrs

TPO RIP PS

Following the cessation of the Royal Mail TPO services, Richard Buckby spotted the following in the Birmingham Evening Mail:

Birmingham's postal deliveries have been thrown into chaos as Royal Mail struggles to cope with the scrapping of its overnight rail service, it was revealed today.

Royal Mail's national distribution centre near Daventry found itself deluged with trucks bringing the mail by road on Monday - the first operational day since the "travelling post offices"were taken off the tracks. A driver who took a consignment from Birmingham was said to have waited up to five hours at the centre before being ordered to return empty.

Royal Mail chiefs admitted that the problems, which led to lorries trying to get into the complex backing up more than half-a-mile to the motorway, will have a knock-on effect on deliveries in Birmingham over the next couple of days. One worker, who declined to be identified, said: "It is yet another capital blunder by the Royal Mail management. There will be nowhere near the normal volumes going through the processing centres. The national distribution centre could not cope with what was being thrown at it on Monday - they were swamped."

Terry Dean, chairman of Birmingham Communications Workers' Union branch, said: "One of our drivers said he waited five hours to pick up stuff for Birmingham but was told to leave with nothing in the end. A lot of it is mail sent second class and they have had to send special trucks down so there will be a knock-on effect."

A Royal Mail spokesman confirmed queues of lorries had built up as far as the adjoining M1 but the problems had arisen because of a doubling in volumes and "teething troubles" at the new distribution centre. He said: "The increased mail volume are as a result of operation changes which included the ceasing of the travelling post offices and six other bulk rail services. It will have a detrimental impact on mail processing there overnight. We are working extremely hard to catch that mail up and get it to the customers as soon as possible."

Finally on this subject, A parody on W H Auden's 'Night Mail' printed in the Daily Express 'Beachcomber' column, 7th May 2003:

This is the e-mail crossing the nations, Speeding our lines of communications. Every hour of the day and night, Sending out files at the speed of light. Files of joy, files of grief, Full of misspellings that beggar belief. Files that bore, files that astound, Files corrupted and files not found. Twenty-first century instant papyrus, Sending out picture or message... or virus.

This is the e-mail direct to your house, Messages sent at the click of a mouse. Some for the rich, some for the poor, One for the girl on the seventh floor. E-mails erotic, e-mails kinky, Sent from an unknown address in Helsinki. Files transmitted which no one can trace, Microsoft Outlook has lost them in space. Message from Windows designed to confute, Terminal Error: shut down and re-boot.

This is the e-mail crossing the ocean, Bringing impatience, dismay, and commotion. Messages tetchy, messages terse, Messages threatening mayhem or worse. Messages often transmitted in rage, Venom-laced messages, fresh on the page. E-mails impertinent, e-mails noble, E-mails transmitted in error to "global". Messages large, messages small, Messages sent (what a blunder) to all. Everyone now knows you're planning to pounce, On that delectable girl from Accounts. One fatal click; it's too late to call back, Can't retrieve e-mails from out of a sack. Microsoft programs will never relent, Once they've informed you the message is sent.

Badly typed e-mails flooding the nation, Capital letters and punctuation Sacrificed now to the Gods of Velocity, Written by those with less sense than precocity. Under-aged and over-sexed, Brought up on msgs snt by txt. Words without poetry, words without glamour, Sentences lacking a vestige of grammar. Brilliant device for transmission of data, Nothing to say except "CU L8R". Reading such messages makes my heart bleed, Why is our mother tongue murdered for speed? This is the e-mail crossing the coast, Send it back by first-class post.

AUSTRALASIA RAILWAY

As you might have been aware, RAILDATE has been following the progress of the building of the new railway line across Australia from Alice Springs to Darwin. Sincere thanks then to Niall Ferguson, who has provided RAILDATE with an "exclusive" photograph of the first train to arrive at Tennant Creek in the goldfields of Australia's Northern Territory. Niall writes:

"My daughter, who is on her student elective at Tennant Creek Hospital, sent me the attached photo of the first train (a freight, passenger trains don't start for another two weeks when she will have left) on the Ghan extension from Alice Springs to Darwin. I don't have website but you might like to post it somewhere for RaAILDATE fans"

Richard Walker has kindly put the photograph here:

http://tinyurl.com/22auc

More information on the first train is available here:

http://www.aarc.com.au/aarc/news/first_train.htm

NICK WHEAT'S NETWATCH

Some excellent videos of the ELR Diesel event:

http://www.rail-net.co.uk/photo-archive/elr-ee-2004/index.htm (broadband recommended)

The lastest Barry Jones Catalogue is now available at:

http://www.tobaz.co.uk/barry

The Cumbrian Railways Association is pleased to announce the publication of its latest title: "The Furness Railway in and around Barrow". Written by Barrow native and Furness Railway authority, Michael Andrews, the book tells how a small farming community in an isolated part of the country turned within a few decades into a major sea port and industrial town. Michael brings this history up to the present day with a review of the current railway scene in Barrow. This book will appeal equally to the railway enthusiast, industrial historian and those interested in the local history of this part of Cumbria as well as to the curious visitor to the area.

Ordering details here: http://www.cumbrian-rail.org/

The Edmondson Railway Collection:

http://rylibweb.man.ac.uk/data2/spcoll/brown/edmondlist.html

Underground History:

http://www.starfury.demon.co.uk/uground/index.html

The Royston Ghost Train:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/southyorkshire/sense_of_place/ghost_stories/royston.shtml

Loads of bus stuff...

http://www.trevorcope.com

IN THE NEWS

Rail industry faces huge overhaul: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3408323.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3412081.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk_politics/3413595.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/3412617.stm http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/3411539.stm

Signalman sorry for routing error: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/manchester/3415565.stm

Services cancelled while drivers train: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/berkshire/3411099.stm

Fault found on new trains: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/essex/3409977.stm

Rail user to charter train: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/3417857.stm

Residents fight rail depot plans: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/kent/3412385.stm

Strike hits French rail commuters: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/3416541.stm

TV and Radio

Events

See Mainline Steam Tours page for up-to-date info on many of these tours, and others, often with timings.