High Speed Trains

Having been so beastly about our rail service in 'Brave New Railway', it's only fair that I comment again when I have a good journey. The only problem is that the good journey was on an 'Inter City Express' (ICE) service in Germany.

I'd flown to Frankfurt with two people from my client to attend a meeting in Mannheim. Terminal 1 at Frankfurt Airport is linked to stations serving both main and suburban rail lines. The ICE service offered the fastest connection to Mannheim and we'd time to buy a ticket for three at the multi-lingual ticket machine before descending to the platform. Clear displays on the platform showed train details and the layout of the train (including catering facilities). Announcements in English and German apologised for the 5 minute late arrival (most of which had been recovered by the time we got to Mannheim).

The Siemens-built ICE train was warm, the decor both inviting and relaxing and we readily found suitable seats. There's a pleasant air of spaciousness - the design benefits from the Berne Loading Gauge which is more generous than the British Loading Gauge. In addition, our 'Pendolinos' and 'Super Voyagers' are designed to tilt, resulting in a cabin narrower at the ceiling than the floor to ensure a tilted body remains within the loading gauge. The ticket inspector was friendly and chatted in English to us. Toilets were clean and everything worked. The ICE isn't cheap, but you have the option of travelling on a regional train at about half the price. We arrived in Mannheim suitably impressed.

The next day, when our meetings were finished, we travelled from Mannheim to Frankfurt itself. A pleasant, right-time experience. We were a little puzzled when the train first stopped at Frankfurt Airport and then, after a pause of a few minutes, reversed to travel on to Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. Later that day, we returned to the airport, this time using the suburban 'S-Bahn' service - a far more basic service for which we paid far less. All-in-all, a satisfying experience.

It must be about 25 years since I was last in Frankfurt (visiting the German consultants employed on the Taiwan Trunk Line Electrification Project) and the railway scene is considerably changed. Then, 'DB' stood for Deutsche Bundesbahn which was a self-regulatory body. This has been turned into a public limited company, Deutsche Bahn AG, regulated by the Federal Railway Office Eisenbahnbundesamt (EBA).

The heading photo shows our ICE train on arrival at Frankfurt Hauptbahnhof. More pictures.

An Apology

My friend Chris pointed out a number of mis-spelled place names in my post 'Halfex to Blackpool'. I've corrected these errors (with a tinge of sadness - what I'd described as "wonderfully named Bashalls Sidings" becomes the prosaic Balshaws Sidings but see the Post Script below). If only those were the only errors!

As I say in '9:17 a.m. to Birmingham' "Would that I had been more diligent in recording the passing scene - my only defence is that I was young and just could not imagine that it would all be swept away". Many of the notes which I did make at the time are mislaid (it is some time ago!) but I decided to carry on and write down what I can remember and hope that more of the original notes eventually come to light. Not very likely until I give up work, I'm afraid. The more you try to remember details from that long ago, the less sure you become. For instance, I'm not certain now whether that train mentioned above was timed to leave at 9.17 or 9.18. I've mused about how difficult it is to get things right in 'Work in Progress'.

As far as recording the railway scene goes, I was usually just passing through on a train, frantically trying to make track and signalling diagrams as that was my principal interest at the time. Most of my exploits were on former L.M.S. lines, so the problem of identifying signal box names when passing at speed was easier than on many lines. The Great Western, for instance, produced a cast nameplate of often astonishing length which was fixed to the front of the box, facing the track. This could make it very difficult for a passenger to correctly identify the location. The L&NWR used individual cast letters, six inches tall, screwed to a board, again on the front of the box.

Initially, the L.M.S. used a similar arrangement but A. F. Bound, the Signal & Telegraph Engineer, had been impressed by the Great Central practice of fixing a nameboard at each end of the box - much easier to sight from a train. After some experimentation, the standard L.M.S. signal box nameboard appeared in 1935, using six inch cast letters fixed to a 9-inch high wooden board with a three-quarter inch rounded bead. For more details, refer to the excellent book 'A Pictorial Record of L.M.S.Signals' by L. G. Warburton, published by Oxford Publishing Company in 1972 (available, for a price, on the second-hand market).

L.M.S. pattern signal box nameboard photographed at Brereton Sidings in 2007

Railways could also be quite obstinate in the spelling they adopted. I've written about the signalbox at Sedgeley Junction. The nearby Sedgley Road West leading to the town of Sedgley both get by with only two 'e' in the name, but the railway invariably used three.

I shall continue to strive for accuracy and, no doubt, will continue to fail but I hope that something will be left to entertain or inform. To quote the Duke of Wellington (during an attempted blackmail attempt regarding letters he had written to a courtesan - I had to look it up, I knew the saying but not its origin): "Publish and be damned!"

Post Script

After I'd published this apology, my friend Chris confessed that, when he'd checked further, he'd discovered that the name 'Bashalls Sidings' was, in fact, correct.