David Shirres article on Electrification July Modern Railways

[yorksrob]

Yes, the Hastings CEPs in their Jaffa Cake livery looked pretty good for units built in 1066

Jaffa Cake was an attractive livery. The CEP's were old but not that old I can remember my mum being genuinely surprised when I mentioned how old they were.

 

[Polarbear]

Agreed and perhaps that is what Shirres and CEBR et al are hoping for - hey look we have these surplus EMUs - we could electrify and there will be little extra cost - similarly wasn't the Northwest scheme predicated on use of Class 319s?

Yes, the North West electrification was predicated on using cascaded 319's. Given that there are a number of EMU's that will be available in the not too distant future, it would seem logical to electrify at least some lines to make use of any non life-expired units. The 379's spring to mind as one example - i'm sure there are others.

 

[WAO]

Adrian Shooter's letter, also in July's MR is equally worth reading.

WAO

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Adrian Shooter's letter, also in July's MR is equally worth reading.

Just read it. Brilliant read but absolutely horrifying.

 

[S&CLER]

Jaffa Cake was an attractive livery. The CEP's were old but not that old I can remember my mum being genuinely surprised when I mentioned how old they were.

I was living in Hither Green and travelling from Charing Cross at the time they came in. I can still recall hearing someone exclaim "I don't believe it, they've got new trains", when he first saw one.

 

[yorksrob]

I was living in Hither Green and travelling from Charing Cross at the time they came in. I can still recall hearing someone exclaim "I don't believe it, they've got new trains", when he first saw one.

I can imagine some BR top brass would have been very chuffed to overhear such a comment !

 

[60019]

But there isn't any significant freight on [the S&C and G&SW] now that coal has gone, and no passenger business case.
The predicted growth in WCML freight, which might at some point need a separate route north of Preston, has so far failed to materialise.
High-speed passenger bypasses on the WCML are more likely, linked to HS2.

Unless he's just rehashed his thinking from 2009, it might be that he's anticipating a desire to get freight off the WCML to create more paths for passenger services or allow speed enhancements.

Supposedly earlier schemes had accidentally on purpose ordered too many masts and then BR said that they could do it at a very low price because look at all these spare masts.
Probably apocryphal though.

IIRC Graham H mentioned that story on London Reconnections, and he should know (I'm sure he mentioned the 40-mile electrified headshunt). The eastern region was particularly good at those sorts of stunts, aided by a sympathetic board member who commuted from York to Marylebone.

 

[GRALISTAIR]

Looks like it is moving beyond speculation possibly.

 

[tetudo boy]

Late reply, but is there anywhere where I can read the electrification part?

 

[ainsworth74]

Probably time to draw a line under this now that the actual Network Rail proposal has been published (see here).