Smoke & Mirrors

At the end of January the Department for Transport produced its Rolling Stock Plan for 2009-2014, an incredible work of obfuscation and confusion. It appears to promise that by 2014 TOC's in England & Wales will receive an additional 1,300 vehicles. However, it is not at all clear that this will be the case as rather confusingly the notes to the table produced on the DfT web site appears to indicate that some of these vehicles will be cascaded from other operators. In fact it is just about impossible to unpick what are new vehicles and those that are cascaded.

It would appear from the press coverage that I have read that the 1,300 vehicles, while indicative, is a net gain figure. In other words, it does not include vehicles that would be cascaded between operators. However, if this is true, why are the notes attaching to the Rolling Stock Plan at pains to point out that some of the vehicles shown will come from cascades between operators? It seems a deliberate attempt at generating a confused picture and it is hard not to feel cynical towards a government department, which seems to have such a ill-formed attitude and understanding of rail.

Another source of confusion I found contained in the DfT's press release about government funding for the Birmingham New Street development. In the notes it mentions that Arriva-operated Cross Country Trains will receive an additional 40 vehicles in the next year, however according to the Rolling Stock Plan, Cross Country will receive just 6 extra DMU vehicles.

Other anomalies abound in the Rolling Stock Plan. For example, it is suggested that East Midlands Trains will receive just 3 vehicles in the period to 2009-2014! The table does not show existing franchise agreements for new vehicles and does not include vehicles for the Intercity Express Programme, Crossrail or Thameslink. In addition it shows 106 new vehicles for Intercity West Coast, which indicates that the additional 2 cars per Pendolino set will not be delivered until after the end of the current Virgin franchise. In fact the requirement should be 104 vehicles as the Pendo involved in the Lambrigg crash has subsequently been written off.

It all adds up to a rather muddled and confused picture so typical of the DfT's pronouncements on rail, where its policy seems to be an exercise in confusion. Maybe by 2014 we'll actually have a clear idea of exactly how many 'new' vehicles there will be.

No raving about rovers and rangers

A couple of weeks ago I decided to take advantage of a First Great Western Oxfordshire Day Ranger ticket to explore the line between Reading and Banbury and stop off at a few places in between. I'd only heard about this ticket from an article in The Railway Herald and there were no details, when I checked, on the National Rail web site. To give First Great Western their due, this ranger along with a selection of other rovers and rangers was detailed on their web site with a nicely coloured and simple to read map, which could be downloaded, showing the areas of validity. Two important pieces of information were missing though. No mention of whether this of the other rangers/rovers could be purchased with a Network Railcard and perhaps more importantly whether they are valid on other operators' services. I sent off an e-mail to First Great Western via their web site in the week before I was due to use the Oxfordshire Day Ranger and still, some two weeks later, I am waiting for a reply.

Similarly, I sent an e-mail to London Midland earlier in the year about whether they still offered Rover/Ranger tickets as Central Trains/Silverlink had done. In contrast to FGW, there is no information about this type of ticket on the LM web site. An e-mail query, which had to be chased produced a rather terse response. Yes, they are still offering Rovers/Rangers and they will be producing publicity in due course. Why not now?

It seems from my experience that most rail companies don't want people to know about their Rovers/Rangers and try their best to keep them secret. I did have an enjoyable week a couple of years ago using a 'West Midlands Rover' but that caused problems as not all the staff I encountered on my travels were aware of its validity.

Personally I think the range of rover and ranger tickets is excellent and if taking a day out where you want to visit several different places or just want to enjoy a number of trips, they represent great value. They should be publicised more and at least every TOC's web site should have details of the rovers and rangers they issue and/or accept on their services. If FGW can do it, albeit with some misgivings on the information provided, why can't everybody else?

Worst Great Western?

I read on BBC News this morning that disgruntled commuters in the Bristol area are staging another 'fares strike' against First Great Western (FGW). The company has been dubbed 'Worst' Great Western or another one I've seen is 'Forever Getting Worse.' Even in the railway media the coverage of FGW seems to be almost universally scathing. I use FGW from time to time and I have never had cause to be outraged or complain about its service, although admittedly I am not a commuter. Part of the problem seems to be the lack of reliable rolling stock available to the company, whether that is due to FGW's penny-pinching or Department for Transport (DFT) interference it is difficult to say. Certainly those pics of off-lease DMU's at Eastleigh last year which FGW had returned to the lessor despite suffering from severe overcrowding on its South West of England services, did the company no favours.

FGW is a company though that seems to lurch from one public relations disaster to another and it has only recently avoided a strike called by the RMT. I am sure that the constant bad news is having a drip-drip effect and even for those who don't use FGW regularly, it must put them off considering using the train or their services. Interestingly the BBC News article attributes one comment to FGW in defence of itself despite giving the More Train Less Strain group and RMT ample opportunity to voice their opinions attacking FGW. It hardly presents a balanced picture and sadly it is indicative of the slanted and unfair reporting often to be found in the mainstream media.

Oxfordshire Day Ranger

Yesterday I enjoyed a day out using First Great Western's recently introduced Oxfordshire Day Ranger ticket. At £15 it represents excellent value, allowing unlimited travel between Oxford and Reading, Oxford and Moreton-in Marsh (on the Cotswold Line), Oxford and Banbury and Oxford and Bicester Town. I choose to keep to the main artery between Banbury and Reading, with stops at Oxford (where I started my journey), Banbury, Didcot Parkway and Reading.

The ticket can be bought from most staffed National Rail stations although I found the knowledge of this Ranger at Milton Keynes Central to be rather lacking. Unfortunately with the revisions to the X5 bus service, which no longer services Oxford Rail Station, it is not possible to purchase a through ticket including the bus journey.

Although it may have been a bright, sunny day, it was not one without its problems. Firstly, the wind was bitingly cold, so I spent little more than an hour at any of my destinations. Any longer and I am sure I would have been frozen to the spot! Also, with the sun low in the sky I had problems with reflections and shadows in unwanted places. Getting a decent shot of anything was near impossible and a couple of times I felt like giving up. However, I hope that some of the results I got are worth it, which can be seen on my Fotopic site.

Fictitious Liveries

An interesting Fotopic web site I found last night was Fictitious Liveries, which is run by the AC Locomotive Group. The Fictitious Liveries site considers 'what if' matching locos with liveries that were never carried by that class. It is a clever idea and the standard of the photos is excellent, clearly the person who does this site has a lot of technical knowledge and time! Some of the liveries work well, others less so. I particularly liked the idea of an HST set in GWR Chocolate & Cream livery and the alternative Large Logo Blue that was applied to many locos during the 1980s. One of the odder conceptions is that of Virgin opting for a loco and stock rather than EMU for its Pendolino's. I am not entirely convinced by the end result but it is an interesting idea. A well worthwhile site though and one that I will definitely keep an eye on.

Also, I should mention Carl Watson's Fotopic site, which is far and above what mine is. The latest collection is from Cosham, where I was a few weeks ago although it seems that Carl was considerably more fortunate with the weather than I was.