Review of the Year - 2010

It's hard for me to believe that this is the fifth 'Review of the Year' I've produced since starting this blog. It's even harder to believe I've really had all these wonderful experiences. Yes, I think I've been exceptionally fortunate. Forgive me if I draw attention only to the highlights. The year has had its bad bits and boring bits but I'm sure we don't want to dwell on those.

I've grouped the activities into 'TRAVEL', 'RAILWAYS' and a little bit on 'BREWOOD'.

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My Mother was always an intrepid traveller, although her opportunities were rather limited. I've only developed the taste for it in the last few years, but I've tried to make up for lost time.

Java, Bali, Sarawak, Sabah, Kuala Lumpur

The 'Pandaw' fleet are all based on the design of the original 'Irrawaddy Flotilla' flat-bottomed river craft used in Burma

When I discovered that the 'Pandaw' company had started river cruises in Borneo, the idea immediately appealed and, through the Travel Club Wexas, arrangements were made. To make best use of the cost of flying to the Far East, we "topped and tailed" the river trip with other visits. For some time, I'd wanted to visit Borobudur - the largest Buddhist monument in South East Asia. This is situated on the island of Java, which is part of Indonesia. After Borobudur, I would see a little of Yogjakarta before flying to the Indonesian island of Bali. Then on to Sarawak in Borneo, to look at the city of Kuching before joining the river cruise at Sibu. After exploring the Rajang River, I would fly on to Sabah for a couple of nights before flying to Kuala Lumpur. After a couple of days exploring the city, I would return to England.

If that sounds exhausting, it was, but it was also one of the most stimulating trips I've undertaken. Click for detailed reports on the trip

The Arctic

'Prince Albert II' anchored off Storstappen Island, Norway.

I'd enjoyed my earlier trip to the Antarctic Peninsula, so I decided to visit the 'Other End' of our world on the luxurious exploration ship 'Prince Albert II', operated by Silversea. I flew via Oslo to Tromso where I joined the ship which headed north. We made one stop on mainland Norway at Nordkapp, then headed further north to the group of islands known as Svalbard. We virtually circumnavigated the main island, Spitsbergen, getting as far as 81 degrees north before ending our cruise at the town of Longyearbyen.

This trip provided a host of unforgettable memories. Click for detailed reports on the trip

Burma

The Swezigon, a revered massive stupa in the Bagan area.

On this visit, I took the 'Road to Mandalay' cruise ship north from Mandalay to Bhamo. It was good to see my friends on the ship again and we had some marvellous experiences on our various trips ashore. We visited a number of schools where 'Road to Mandalay' distributed stationery and we also cruised past a number of other schools where the pupils were lined up on the river bank to say 'Thank You' for stationery delivered by smaller boats. The trip ended at magical Bagan. During a road trip to Mount Popa, I was invited to participate in the official opening ceremony of a new school building at Htee Pu - this was a very moving experience for me.

Click for detailed reports on the trip

RAILWAYS

During 2010, I added some more technical pieces to the blog on railway signalling describing the arrangements at Spring Vale Sidings and Princes End. Both these boxes are long gone but many of the principles described are still in use. All the articles on railway signalling are here.

At the request of my friend Phil, I started the lengthy process of transcribing traffic notes I made at Sedgeley Junction in 1962/3. Phil also organised a splendid slideshow attended by some invited fans of the South Stafford Line.

During my visit to Indonesia, I snatched a little time to look at the railway system in Java - see Part 1 and Part 2. Returning via Kuala Lumpur, I also made a few journeys on the Mass Transit system and the KTM suburban railways. There's a brief report here.

Jan, on Thomas, collects the Single Line Staff leaving Shackerstone (photo: Sam Brandist)

'Thomas' celebrated his 65th birthday in 2010. I was involved at Shackerstone on a number of dates, but I missed the 'official' birthday celebrations on 1st May 2010 due to a prior engagement. See reports (part 1) and (part 2).

The 'prior engagement' was driving the '8F' at Peak Rail on the day the turntable was inaugurated by Pete Waterman.

Jan Ford and Pete Waterman on the '8F' after turning (Photo: Sheila Rayson)

On 15th May 2010, I travelled to Liverpool by rail for the OLCO Annual General Meeting. There's a brief report (with pictures) here.

On the 27th June, 2010 I reluctantly had to declare 68013 a failure at Peak Rail after the link in the dome between the regulator handle and the regulator valve became detached. I finished the day as supernumary on 'Penyghent'. There's a report here.

The 'Anything Goes' weekend at Peak Rail featured two-train working with the passenger train and a demonstration freight train. This time, 68013 behaved but there were one or two problems with the diesel locomotives as the report describes.

Intense activity around the Steaming Bays at the Kinver track

'Lionsmeet' was held at Kinver on 31st July. My report is here.

5542 waiting to depart from Shenton

My first 'turn' on a 'Light Prairie' came on 22nd August at Shackerstone. There's a short report here.

My trip to Burma included a train ride from Katha to Naba and back. I travelled in the locomotive cab both ways. See reports 'Cab Ride from Katha' and 'Cab Ride back to Katha'.

On the left D6586, on the right 33021 in the North Yard at Shackerstone.

During the year, I had a number of turns on the DMU at Shackerstone but the booked turn on 25-Sep-2010 was changed into conductor driver on a visiting 'Class 33'. I got to drive two visiting 'Class 33' during the day so I was quite happy. There's a report here.

'Planet' on a passenger train passes 'Rocket' during the 180th anniversary workings.

The 'Planet' replica was in service at the Museum of Science and Industry in Manchester throughout the year and I had a number of driving turns. To celebrate the 180th anniversary of the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway, 'Planet' was joined by the 'Rocket' replica and train. I was rostered as driver on the 19th September and there's a report here.

5786 at Shenton

On the 2nd October at Shackerstone, I had a very pleasant day on the visiting Pannier Tank 5786. These are capable, versatile engines and, as my friend John likes to remind me (after I used the phrase on a railway video) "You can do anything with a Pannier'". More pictures.

In December, I did a couple of 'Santa Special' days at Peak Rail (see report).

BREWOOD

During the year, I've spent a fair bit of time in the Small Barn used by Ford Electronics where I work.

Brewood Hall is bit like the Forth Bridge in that maintenance or improvement work never ceases. In 2010, the new oak door to the Ice House and the new oak double gates to the yard adjacent to the Big Barn were installed. Then I discovered that the wooden main gates at the front of the house were decaying quite badly so I'm trying to arrange repair of these. The small brick shelter for the Buddha image in the garden has been completed, replacing the tent-like structure perviously in use. Inside the house, the list of things to do keeps extending.

On 21st July 2010, the ladies of Inner Wheel visited for a 'Faith Supper' and a short tour of the principal rooms (see report).

In 2010, Barnfield Sandbeds in Brewood became a public open space. High-quality sand was extracted from the 14-acre site until around 1970, after which nature reclaimed it. South Staffordshire Council, in conjunction with Friends of Barnfield Sandbeds have done a marvellous job. My pictures are here.

Earlier reviews:

2009
2008
2007
2006

Peak Rail 'Santa Specials' 2010

This view shows the rear of a down train, hauled by 'Penyghent', standing in the down platform at Darley Dale. The single lamp on the right of the buffer beam (looking from the cab - that's left looking at the photograph) is the essential tail lamp.

I had a couple of driving turns at Peak Rail on the 2010 'Santa Specials', both on the 'Austerity' tank, which is currently posing as 68013. As usual, we ran four 7-coach round trips in the day. Every train was fully pre-booked.

A year ago, we were able to top-and-tail using the 'Austerity' and the 'Class 8' but, sadly, the tender engine has moved away from Peak Rail so this year the 'Austerity' worked the service with the main-line diesel 'Penyghent'.

Derbyshire had had quite heavy snowfalls but I was fortunate in that the two days I was there the weather wasn't bad at all, although the wind rather whistled through the locomotive cab!

It was already getting dark by the last round trip so we needed the two lamps lit - one white lamp over each front buffer (Express) on the way to Matlock where we brought one white lamp into the cab and arranged the red 'shade' on the other lamp to give a red tail lamp as we were dragged back to Rowsley.

Because of the very cold weather, we shunted the tank wagon which had provided our water supply into the shed at the end of the day. Although we'd only used power in the up direction, we supplied the very essential steam heating to the train throughout the day so we'd boiled a fair drop of water!

Running the 'Santa Specials' requires a great deal of volunteer assistance in all departments, to ensure that all visitors have a good experience.

After the arrival of a down train at Darley Dale, the signalman and trainee open the gates to road traffic.

A few more photographs are here.

An English Winter 2010

Brewood Hall in the snow. Tai is rolling in the snow just outside the garden wall

It's still December as I write this but we're having one of the hardest winters I can remember.

In early November it became cold and windy with very hard frost and then we had snow. It snowed a number of times, although we only had about 3 or 4 inches in Brewood. The snow was still on the ground on Christmas Day but this morning, it's virtually all gone. Today it's wet, foggy and very overcast. At least it's warmer.

As usual, our transport services crumbled on the arrival of adverse weather. Road, rail and air were very adversely affected. But most British architecture performs badly in cold weather. Apart from thermal losses through windows, walls and roofs which modern Building Regulations seek to minimise through increasing restrictions, we have the curious tradition of putting a lot of our plumbing on the outside of buildings.

Since Brewood Hall is a Grade 2 Listed Building, it's difficult to make performance improvements so we experienced intermittent loss of water supply and a couple of leaks (so far). The building has partial central heating which is very expensive to run so most of the time the problem is trying to keep warm indoors.

My dog, Tai, is completely unfazed by these weather conditions and still loves to go out for long walks, delighting in rolling in the snow when he finds an attractive spot.

Cyclone Giri

'Road to Mandalay' volunteers packing clothing for the first relief trip (Photo: Dr. Hla Tun)

At the end of October 2010, Cyclone Giri made landfall in Rakhine State, Myanmar and also in Bangladesh. For over 12 hours, there were winds over 100 m.p.h. and a tidal surge of 3 to 4 metres.

Some two and a half years earlier, when Cyclone Nargis hit the Delta area of Myanmar, the loss of life was very high because the area is low-lying and people were unable to escape the tidal surge. In Rakhine State which is hilly, more people were able were able to flee the tidal surge but none-the-less it's estimated that the destruction of buildings has made another 70,000 people homeless in Myanmar.

Once again, the 'Road to Mandalay' team have organised relief for the affected areas.

The work started by collecting surplus 'Road to Mandalay' and 'The Governor's Residence' staff uniforms (about 330 items) and clothing, sandals and shoes left by guests which were packed into sacks. Staff also donated money to assist cyclone victims.

Rakhine State is in the remoter North West of Myanmar with poor roads.

There is still need for continuing medical relief work in the Delta Region and so the trips to Rakhine State form a "second front".

First Trip

The first trip was commenced on 8th December 2010, involving a journey of some 24 hours using bus and boat. Doctor Hla Tun opened a free mobile clinic and distributed the available clothing at the townships of Myay Pon and Min Pya which lay in the worst-affected areas. On the first trip to Rakhine State, 1,467 patients were treated.

First trip: Victims waiting for treatment.

Second Trip

The second trip to Rakhine State extended from 19th January 2011 to 24th January 2011. Clinics were opened on three different islands at the villages of Kyoon Thar Yar, Nga Pa Thon and Kokko. Larger boats were used to cross the sea and then bullock carts transferred the medical supplies and old uniforms to the clinic sites. If the tide was low, small boats were needed to ferry the supplies ashore. The RTM Team were assisted by the local midwife and other health personnel. Translators were required because the RTM Team did not speak the local Rakhine Tribe language. Being winter, it was very cold and the old uniforms distributed to the victims were very welcome since most of them lacked adequate shelter. This trip treated a further 1,552 patients, bringing the total to 3,019.

Transfer of supplies from bullock cart to boat for transfer to another island.

Third Trip

The third trip commenced on 6th April 2011 and lasted for six days (whilst the 'Road to Mandalay' had stopped operation for two weeks during the Myanmar Water Festival). On this trip, 642 patients were treated, bringing the total for Rakhine State to 3,661.

There are more pictures of the relief work in Rakhine State here.

See the Wikipedia report here.

[Statistics added 15-May-2012: Further additions 30-May-2012].