ASLEFJOURNAL FEBRUARY 2021 The magazine of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers & Firemen Free to members The future of our railways Cathedrals of steam – how stations transformed the capital; The train drivers ’ Kevin George sheds light on handlamps; and the fiancée of union since 1880 John Weddle remembers the driver killed in the Selby crash railway enginemen’ s tax fr ee saver plans tax fr ee savings plans for anyone who works on the railways... we don’ t mean just train drivers..! tax fr ee policies fr om 70p per day , £5 per week and £20 per month for further information call us on freephone 0800 328 9140 visit our website at www.enginemens.co.uk or write to us at Railway Enginemen's Assurance Society Limited, 727 Washwood Heath Road, Birmingham, B8 2LE @RailwayEnginemens Authorised by the Prudential Regulation Authorit y. Regulated by the Financial Conduct Authority and the Prudential Regulation Authorit y. Incorporated under the Friendly Societies Act 1992 ASLEF GS Mick Whelan JOURNAL Coronavirus crisis – The magazine of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers & Firemen there is light at the ‘Ridership of trains will take years to end of the tunnel return to normal’ ORGIVE me! I try not to use too many railway analogies but, with the rollout of the vaccine, there is light at the end of F the tunnel. We are months away from everyone being vaccinated and, even then, life will not immediately return to normal. There will still be a need for caution, social distancing, and a gradual societal shift to engaging and being with each other. It is right that those most at risk, or vulnerable, should be vaccinated Julie and John (and Josh) before the Selby crash in 2001 first, and then key workers on the front line. We are, of course, News involved in those talks and, at this time, there is a need for NHS l Williams report on the future of Britain’s railways 4 care workers and one or two other groups to be treated first. The country, the world, and our industry may never be the same l Albert Camus, author of The Plague , had a 5 simple way of separating friend from foe; plus after such a worldwide catastrophe and there will be many Off the Rails: Dishy Rishi; a grieving swan; challenges ahead. Many businesses will not survive and there is a £1.8m kickback for Khalid; Rufus Jones and real debate on the future nature of work and the traditional office. the Boss; and Rafael Behr nails the cabinet What is for sure is that footfall, and ridership of trains, will take l Downing Street Gilligan goes for driverless trains 6 many years to return and we will be facing revised timetables l Letter from Diane Stuchbury to ASLEF members 7 going forward. Some of this, hopefully, will be based on lessons l Oh, no! Vintage Trains preserve three Pacers 8 learned about performance and pinch points on the network and some will be down to demand. Features We have seen from the politicising of the necessary bailout of l Joanne Weddle-Wheatley, fiancée of the driver 10 TfL that the government wants its pound of flesh ; some Treasury- of the InterCity 225 killed in the Selby train crash, based, much political in the year of a mayoral election in London, reflects on the man and her memories 20 years on from a party that has been in power for ten years and made the l Kevin George reveals how his passion for 19th 11 capital over-reliant on passenger revenues. and 20th century railway handlamps grew and This will also play out across rail with the companies in hock to grew until he wrote two books on the subject the government, and at the beck and call of the Treasury, with the l Christian Wolmar’s Cathedrals of Steam , Jim 12-13 uncertainty of Williams and how his report will be applied to Ring’s Interregnum , and Around the World in 80 Trains to help you through lockdown 3.0 come. In our 141 year history, we have risen to many challenges and, l Tony Wood prokrastiskates; Hannah Dadds, 14 Karen Harrison and Ladies Can’t Climb Ladders together, we will deal with this one . It would be easier if we had a Prime Minister who ever operated in good faith – so much for Advice and guidance on covid-19 restrictions 15 l those Brexit promises on workers’ rights! The closing of borders is ten months too late, and how many untested, and possibly Regulars infected, travellers arrived by plane or, by other means, entered l Branch Lines 16-17 the transport system and put our communities at risk? There are so many people we know who have been impacted by l Obituaries 18-19 this pandemic and thousands who have lost loved ones . That’s l Letters and Classified Advertisements 20-22 why I believe it is everyone’s duty to be vaccinated when their turn l Boris Johnson, Brexit and promises of sunlit 23 comes – for the sake of us all. I understand those who are uplands; Prize Crossword; Legal Services; uncertain, and who might want to see if there are any side effects, and members’ Change of Address form but the lessons of history tell us about the power and the benefit EditoR Mick Whelan, general secretary l dESigNER Michael Cronin PRiNtER College Hill Press, London, SW19 4HE l AdvERtiSiNg ASLEF of vaccination in eradicating disease. Therefore, when we do it, it Journal, 77 St John Street, London, EC1M 4NN. Contact Keith Richmond is not just for ourselves but for everyone. Please be safe. on 020 7324 2407 or [email protected] l ClASSiFiEd AdS [email protected] or call 020 7324 2400. The acceptance of a display or classified advertisement does not necessarily imply endorsement of that product or service by ASLEF ChANgE oF AddRESS Please post Yours fraternally, your details to ASLEF, 77 St John Street, Clerkenwell, London, EC1M 4NN The ASLEF Journal is published every month by: ASLEF, 77 St John Street, London, EC1M 4NN Tel: 020 7324 2400 l email: [email protected] website: www.aslef.org.uk l twitter: @ASLEFUnion Mick Whelan, general secretary, ASLEF February 2021 l The ASLEF Journal 3 News to run ‘a different type of railway’ and the report will give him the cover he needs to The future of change the structure of our industry. Williams recommends ending the ‘failed franchise model’ and replacing it with a system our industry of management contracts. Instead of bidding for a franchise, and taking the fare box, HE long-awaited Williams review into operators will receive a fixed fee for running a the future of the UK’s rail industry is – service while the Treasury collects the cash. T at last – on the brink of being The new structure will be overseen by a published. board of control, chaired by the Transport The report was finished 15 months ago – Secretary, giving the DfT greater control of when Keith Williams briefed ASLEF in timetables and fares. Williams also Keith Williams is giving grant Shapps the November 2019 he told GS Mick Whelan that recommends a ‘guiding mind’ for the network cover he needs to reshape Britain’s railway the structure he proposed would work – Andrew Haines of Network Rail has been whether the railway was in public ownership, review stayed at the bottom of the in-tray on lined up for the job – and roundly condemns under a Labour government, or in private Grant Shapps’ desk. the ‘fragmented nature of our privatised hands, under the Tories – but the general But Williams, who spent 18 years at British railways’. election in December that year, followed by a Airways and is now the boss of Royal Mail, told Shapps says he wants to ‘bring the railway three-way dog fight between Williams, the DfT, the Mail on Sunday his report will see the light back together’ – lifting a phrase from our GS, as and Downing Street over its conclusions, and of day in ‘January or February’. Shapps has told Mick has often called on the government to then the crisis of covid-19, meant that his MPs that the pandemic creates an opportunity ‘bring the wheels and the steel back together’. TWEETS OF THE MONTH PM welches on QUOTE… ‘The rhetoric is very much Battle of Britain but the reality, I’m afraid, is I’m delighted after years of fighting for northern pledge more like Dad’s Army ’ – Simon Uttley , it we have axed the hated headmaster, the Blessed Hugh #TamponTax ASLEF has condemned the government for Faringdon Catholic School, Reading Steve Baker, Conservative MP for High ‘levelling down’ after it slashed funding to …UNQUOTE Wycombe, @SteveBakerHW the body that oversees transport in the north of England. ‘Boris Johnson pledged, at The only thing the Tories are good at is the general election, to level up the rewriting history. @SteveBakerHW economies of the north and south,’ said GS voted against removing the tax in 2015. Mick Whelan. ‘Now he has started to level Nicola needs you #ToryLies down. Transport for the North will lose 40% @jilliebinfrance Dr Nicola Cogan, a of its core funding and one-fifth of its annual lecturer in the School support in the next financial year. The Help please. @British Gas are planning of Psychological biggest let-down, for passengers, is the way to ‘fire and rehire’ their key workers Science and Health at he has welched on his promise of £105 and slash their pay the University of million for London-style smart ticketing.