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N E W S Nantes, France - See P4 an Occasional Newsletter from Parry People APRIL 2019 ISSUE NO 76 Movers Ltd & Parry Building Products Ltd

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N E W S Nantes, France - See P4 an Occasional Newsletter from Parry People APRIL 2019 ISSUE NO 76 Movers Ltd & Parry Building Products Ltd High & Dry Classroom in Compressed air tram in Mozambique - See P3 n e w s Nantes, France - See P4 An Occasional Newsletter from Parry People APRIL 2019 ISSUE NO 76 Movers Ltd & Parry Building Products Ltdwww.parrypeoplemov www.parrybuildingproducts.com www.parrypeoplemovers.com BOOST FOR LIGHTWEIGHT RAIL AS GOVERNMENT ACKNOWLEDGES THE ULR OPTION AT LAST Current concerns about the scar- tramway installations in the hand- of British Airways, has been in pro- city of affordable housing coupled ful of locations where they have gress for 5 months and Mr Williams with the drive to improve the air been introduced, but alongside has revealed some of the prelimi- quality in urban centres and re- these mentions the Ultra Light Rail nary conclusions that had already lieve traffic congestion caused by operation at the Stourbridge been formed, including the unnec- excessive dependence on private Branch and its potential in essary expense of a one-size-fits-all cars for routine daily journeys stretched form to provide more policy and rules and regulations- has convinced the government modern tram systems for smaller based culture which seemed to dis- more strongly of the case for light towns and cities. The Minister courage otherwise talented and en- rail. A recent call for plans to visit Stourbridge in the thusiastic railway engineers from ‘Expressions of Interest’ by the coming weeks. A root-and-branch adopting innovative ideas. Minister of State, Jesse Norman study of the Railways under the Finance has been allocated for a major study MP, for the first time describes independent chairmanship of Keith of the ‘corridor’ between Bristol and Bath not only the new major Williams, a former Chief Executive where campaigners are calling for trams, pos- sibly an inter-urban system. THE SHAPE OF THINGS TO COME In This Issue - BBC Radio 4 takes a look at the Stourbridge Operation Adrian Goldberg reports P7 - A Nation of Shoppers? (if you overlook the SMEs) P2 & 3 - Technology development Agenda from Bristol to bogies P4 - Solutions are coming P5 - Diesel/flywheel hybrid Class Emerging out of 20 years experience building and supporting ultra light rail 139, an important vehicle P6 vehicles in demonstration and full passenger service, PPM’s design work - Gravity an intriguing means of has advanced to the stage of being able to propose a 90 passenger unit the capturing and storing energy me- size of a motorway coach which will be equally suited to operate on street on chanically and what about embedded track or on a reopened former branch railway line. compressed air? P8 Where will Britain’s first modern inter-urban tramway be trialled? 1 Parry People Movers Ltd, Overend Road, Cradley Heath, West Midlands, B64 7DD, UK FROM MACHINERY SUPPLIERS TO THE WORLD HAVE WE NOW BECOME JUST A NATION OF SHOPPERS? A comment on the contemporary scene of light rail with a hope for introduc- - and seeing more money spent ing many more systems into than ever on improving the rail- (Britain’s) cities and towns’. He ways also referred to Government’s in- These are good things but what dustrial strategy. Having in mind seems to have been neglected is the preponderance of foreign and the focus on the customer which John Parry foreign-owned businesses supply- Mr Williams, as a former Chief ing almost all of hardware for the Executive of British Airways, says At a recent Rail Industry show at newly established light rail systems is of prime importance. But re- the NEC, the empty table along- why, with all its talents can’t this quirements are not static, they side me became occupied by country make more rail equipment change. In the rail industry there three marketing types who I rec- for its own needs? is little or no incentive to innovate ognised were from three major in response to altering circum- European rail businesses in Ger- Question:- stances but over-concentration of many, France and Spain. They When we make most of our own short term thinking even trying to were speaking in English:- ‘Well, buses and even have increasing make one size fit all. As a result here we are on Treasure Island success in exporting them, can’t of that and other factors, again!’ I realised what the joke we do the same with trains and ‘passenger growth can no longer meant was that they were in a trams? The full government docu- be taken for granted’ and there is country where the procurement ment can be accessed from general frustration within the in- executives look over the heads of Gov.uk/government/consultations/ dustry that rules and regulations local suppliers and to buy in the light-rail-and-other-rapid-transit- are holding back innovation and smartly packaged and promoted solutions-in-cities-and-towns-call- problem solving’. products from European firms. for-evidence Kaiser Bill called Britain ‘a nation In response to a question from of shopkeepers’, but a nation of Concurrent with this initiative on the floor, ‘will the review concen- shoppers for a sales manager is light rail, Mr Keith Williams, the In- trate only on the railway that ex- Treasure Island. dependent Chair of the Rail Re- ists rather than looking also at view has now completed the first the ‘deserts’ in the country Britain could be as important to five months of his work which is where there used to be rail-based the EU as China was to the East centred on the main rail network. public transport, but now there is India Company in early Victorian Having been invited to give the none?’ Mr Williams said - ‘very Times. Malleable officialdom, George Bradshaw Address at the much so, because his team of easy money. Technical and regu- Institution of Civil Engineers in independent experts have seen latory alignment with European February, he felt the need to indi- clearly that most customers make practices has been the gunboats cate his team’s preliminary findings journeys from ‘A’ to ‘B’ to ‘C’ which kept the trade routes open. considering the remit ‘to bring in whereas the railways have only Nothing to be proud of then, or root and branch change’. This is really looked at the A to B leg of now. for an industry which seems to the journey without thought being ‘The Mountains are Moving’ have been losing public trust, all in given to providing rail-type bene- The Strengthening Profile of the spite of:- fits to ‘C’; reaching closer to end destinations’. Parry People Mover Brand is part - doubling passenger numbers of a much bigger picture. A job for the designers and engi- - running more trains than at any neers and for smaller firms to The new Minister of State, Jesse time in the railways history Norman has put out a ‘Call for take the lead. - whilst delivering improvements in Evidence on the Opportunities’ - safety 2 Parry People Movers Ltd, Overend Road, Cradley Heath, West Midlands, B64 7DD, UK INNOVATING FOR THE HOME MARKET AND FOR EXPORT The conventional wisdom that Britain does not design and manufacture anything any more, but factories assemble just the bits that others have created, is far from correct. Well known brands such as JCB and Salter are just two of thousands of examples where the original flair and skills still result in world competitive products. In rail vehicle manufacturing West Midlands-based firms are finding sales in unexpected places such as Arctic Russia, Canada and the Middle East as well as in the home market. Clayton Equipment Ltd A venerable locomotive-building firm, Clayton Equipment, founded in 1931 and at one time part of the Rolls Royce Northern Engineering Group, has since management buy-out and full independence demonstrated a capability to design and build ‘bespoke’, but carefully-engineered rail equipment for prestigious projects, such as Cross Rail where a fleet of 7 support locos has been moving materials from below London to surface workshops. The Company’s products are in daily use in countries throughout the world. Severn Lamb A specialist in mass transit used in major visitor at- tractions, including North America and the Middle East, Severn Lamb are responsible to emerging op- portunities such as currently having a works filled with double deck trams ordered by Middle East cus- tomers. Authoritative figures in the UK Tram industry have been heard to say ‘Double deck trams should be confined to the museums’, but this may turn out to have misjudged what changing tastes and attitudes might arise in the UK and elsewhere overseas. Parry Building Products Ltd Now separately owned, but sited alongside ULRPartners’/Parry People Movers Visitor Reception Unit at Stourbridge, Parry Building Products Ltd continue in the spirit of innovation to solve problems in low income countries. Applying the intermediate technology approach to ease the drudgery and risks to women and children using hammers to break rocks down into gravel, PBP’s engineers are just preparing to announce a new manually-operated jaw-crusher which greatly speeds up the stone-breaking task and make it much safer. Using a flywheel mechanism to create inertia (part of the innovative concept) rather than ship a heavy flywheel across the world, it is seen as possible to use a small tractor tyre, the tread of which makes hand grips with which to rotate the mechanism. Floods have again overwhelmed low lying areas of Mozambique, just as in year 2000. At that time MRDF, the development arm of the Methodist Church requested Parry to come up with a way of assisting communities, protect lives and precious possessions. The outcome was the design of a low cost structure built on stilts strong enough to withstand the flow of water while providing sufficient space for everyone in the village to take refuge.
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