FREE BRITAIN FROM THE RAILS: INCLUDING THE NATIONS BEST-KEPT-SECRET RAILWAYS PDF

Benedict Le Vay | 336 pages | 07 Feb 2015 | BRADT TRAVEL GUIDES | 9781841629193 | English | Buckinghamshire, United Kingdom Britain from the Rails

Are you still looking for that unique, even offbeat present? What about a book? In all my travels and in what I read, I always seek out the truly distinctive and out of the ordinary, and the following 4 books are in that category. Like so many of the unforgettable routes and locomotives lovingly described in this book, many tracks on which they traveled and mesmerized thousands, are now nothing more than bicycle routes or hiking trails. Railroad buffs will love — as I did — the many stunning photos, Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways in color, of those one-of-a-kind steam engines from around the world. As a kid growing up in LondonAmerica was personified for me by, among other things, the blue and white colors of the US airline Pan American. Every time in the s when I saw one of their propeller driven Douglas DC 4 and DC 7 airplanes, and of course the majestic Boeing Stratocruiser aircraft, it made me long, even more, to live and work in the USA. Although quite a few books have been written about this iconic US airline, none have — in my view — captured the magic, elegance and an only one of its kind sentiment and yes, the atmosphere of Pan-Am, that this book does. Your email address will not be published. Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment. Although the majority of John's life has been dedicated to the travel industry as a PR executive in both the airline and cruise industry, he says "the most intriguing part was my 15 years on Los Angeles area radio stations, from early to the summer of Based on journeys to 51 countries, John's written and broadcast over five thousand travel features for his radio show "John Clayton's Travel With A Difference. His journey across the Atlantic originally took him to Canada, where he had his first radio show. We invite you to experience the magic, mystery and difference of traveling with John Clayton. To contact John, email him at jdcradio gmail. Load More Related Articles. One this month and, in May, a truly rema…. Norway in a Nutshell: Spectacular Scenery and an Engineering Marvel Breathtaking fjords, cascading waterfalls, towering snow-capped mountains, pristine farmho…. Leave a Reply Cancel reply Your email address will not be published. Subscribe to Free News Letter Get the best viral stories into your inbox! John Clayton: Travel with a Difference Although the majority of John's life has been dedicated to Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways travel industry as a PR executive in Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways the airline and cruise industry, he says "the most intriguing part was my 15 years on Los Angeles area radio stations, from early to the summer of Always travel with a difference! Visit Our Sponsors. The best train journeys in Europe for

The impact of the privatisation of British Rail has been the subject of much debate, with the stated benefits including improved customer service, and more investment; and stated drawbacks including higher fares, lower punctuality and increased rail subsidies. The privatisation of British Rail began in the s. According to a Eurobarometer poll, satisfaction with rail of UK respondents was the second-highest in the EU, behind Finland. Critics of privatisation such as the RMT union have pointed out that passenger numbers started rising 18 months before the privatisation process began, as the economy started recovering from the recession of the early s. In an attempt to protect passengers' interests, certain fares mostly commuter season fares and basic elements of the timetable were regulated. However, the Train Operating Companies TOCs still had quite a bit Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways latitude in changing unregulated fares and could change the number of trains run within certain regulatory and practical limitations. Overall, fare increases have been at a significantly slower rate than under British Rail BR. The average annual real-terms increase since is 1. The promoters of privatisation expected that the rolling stock companies ROSCOs would compete against each other to provide the TOCs with the rolling stock they required. In practice, in most cases the individual TOCs required specific classes of trains to run their services, and often only one of the ROSCOs would have that class of train, resulting in their having to pay whatever the ROSCO concerned cared to charge for leasing the trains. Old rolling stock was extremely profitable to the ROSCOs, as they were able to charge substantial amounts for their hire even though British Rail had already written off their construction costs. As trains grow older, the cost of their lease does not decrease. This was due to the adoption of ' indifference pricing ' as the method of determining lease costs by the government, which was intended to make purchasing new trains more attractive when compared to running life-expired trains. The rolling stock manufacturers themselves suffered under privatisation; with the hiatus in new orders for new trains caused by the reorganisation and restructuring process, the former Holgate Road carriage worksYork works acquired by ABB had been severely downsized and eventually closed. The key index used to assess passenger train performance is the Public Performance Measurewhich combines figures for punctuality and reliability. The railway can point to continued improvements in safety under privatisation; in fact the rate of improvement increased compared to that experienced in the last years of BR, according to research by Imperial College London. The researcher said their findings showed that people had probably lived who might have been expected Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways die in crashes had pre-privatisation trends continued. Inaccording to a European Railway Agency 's report, Britain has the safest railways in Europe based on the number of train safety incidents. Several major rail crashes occurred in the early years of privatisation including the Southall rail crashLadbroke Grove rail crashHatfield rail crash and the Potters Bar rail crash The Stonehaven derailment killed several people. Due to the Hatfield accident inRailtrack undertook large-scale track relaying without sufficient planning, and much of the work was substandard and subsequently had to be re-done. After initially decreasing by over half, rail subsidies spiralled after the Hatfield rail crash in One of the Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways expectations from privatisation was that the railway service could be delivered more efficiently in the private sector because of the profit motive. According to Dr David Turner, the expectation that there were considerable costs that could be slashed from the system was not fulfilled; new operators found that BR had already done much of what could be done to improve efficiency. One of the benefits promoted for privatisation is that it would remove railways from short-term political control which damaged an industry like the railways, which had long-term investment requirements. This has not happened and, with the latest changes that have been made to the railway structure, some say that the industry is more under government control than ever before. In theory, privatisation was meant to open up railway operations to the free market and encourage competition between multiple private companies. Critics have pointed to the fact that many of the franchises have ended up in the Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways ownership of the few dominant transport groups: AbellioArrivaFirstGroupGo-Ahead GroupNational Express and Stagecoach Groupeither as wholly owned subsidiaries, or as part owners of franchisees or other holding groups. Since these groups all had their origins in the earlier deregulation and consolidation of bus services, it also meant that in some cases there was now a common private owner of both the bus and train operator on some routes. Criticism has also arisen due to the fact many of the private companies are themselves owned by the state-owned transport concerns of other nations, including the largest freight operator. In Julythe Competition and Markets Authority CMA introduced plans to increase competition for inter-city routes, laying out four possible options for reform: [40]. A necessary side-effect of splitting the railway network into various parts owned by different private companies, with their relations between each other and the government dictated by contracts, is the requirement for a system of dispute resolution, Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways to and including settling disputes in the courts. Critics of privatisation have argued that these systems are costly and time-consuming, and ultimately serve no real purpose when compared to dispute resolution in Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways where there is genuine competition. A major dispute arose after the Hatfield rail crash inwhen Railtrack imposed over 1, emergency speed restrictions on the network as a precautionary measure against further track failures. With political intervention stalled, eventually the passenger and freight train operators—who were losing very large sums of money as a result of the severe operational disruption which was taking place—applied to the Rail Regulator for enforcement action against Railtrack. That action was taken almost immediately and normal network performance was established a few months later. A study by the European Commission which looked at how the railways in Europe have progressed and improved since the s found that the UK network was most improved out of all the 27 EU nations from — The report examined a range of 14 different factors and the UK came Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways in four of the factors, second and third in another two and fourth in three, coming top overall. The Adam Smith Institute has written that while it would prefer more competition within the system, privatisation has introduced competition into the system which has meant an explosion in passenger numbers. In The Guardian wrote that "on balance, rail privatisation has been a huge success" in terms of passenger numbers, fares and public subsidy, as well as Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways having both the safest railways in Europe and "most frequent services among eight European nations tested by a consumer group". The editorial said that although privatisation 20 years ago was an ideological move, to renationalise the railways at a time when they are quickly growing would also be motivated by ideology. InThe Daily Telegraph wrote that "a state-owned railway would be a costly mistake" for three reasons. Firstly, it would be prohibitively expensive, secondly the trains are not owned by the operators but by third-party leasing companies and thirdly that EU law enshrines the right of open access operators such as Grand Central to operate free from government control. The Independent explained that the reason for high fares was to fund the programme of investment and upgrades which are currently going on and while private companies do make large profits, they are small compared to the total cost and the private expertise means the companies are run more efficiently than if they were state-run. It also said that the reason fares are higher than in other European countries is that there is less public subsidy and that lowering fares would mean increasing taxes. In a article for The IndependentSimon Calder argued that the rail industry was a victim of its own success in increasing passenger numbers. This has led to overcrowding on trains and some train companies were having to run trains 2 minutes apart during the whole morning rush hour from 6am to 10am, reducing reliability until Network Rail can perform "heavy-duty reworking of Victorian infrastructure" in order to relieve the pressure. Calder's article quoted Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways Smith, a station manager for Charing CrossLondon Bridge Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways Cannon Street in the early s who later started the seat We are revitalising our Caledonian and Cornish sleeper services whilst the Germans prepare to surrender all of theirs at the end of this year. Even our on-time performance stacks up surprisingly well against the French, Germans or Italians these days, with my own local operator Chiltern Railways even giving the Swiss a run for their money. Lew Adams General Secretary of the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen ASLEF who vigorously opposed the privatisation of British Rail [53] declared in "I was vehement that we wanted to stay in the public sector, and of course there were all the usual concerns trade unionists have regarding privatization, safety issues, job losses, protecting the conditions of service, and pensions. But accepting the will of Parliament, it Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways time to look at the arguments. We are Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways 1, more trains per day since it was privatized. The entrepreneurs built traffic to the extent that we are having to build more infrastructure. What is true is true: 4. All the time it was in the public sector, all we got were cuts, cuts, cuts. And today there are more members in the trade union, more train drivers, and more trains running. And the more secure they are and the more productive they are in delivering train services, well, that means more jobs. I was there when the public railways had somepeople and it came down toin the time I worked in the rail industry. Now we are expanding on jobs. The rail franchising system has in the past been a subject of criticism from companies, passengers, union leaders and some MPs. It has been said that the system is too complex and involves too many companies, some of which were merely sub-contractors. This has led to confusion about responsibilities, led to several safety-critical incidents and incurred high costs for companies and passengers. Some observers—such as the rail journalist and author Christian Wolmar —argue that the whole idea of separating track from train operations in this way is fundamentally misconceived [57] being based on the model of air transport, where the infrastructure, engineering and operational considerations are entirely different. Two British academics, Shaw and Docherty, wrote in that, "of all the European countries that came to investigate Britain's great railway privatisation experiment, not a single one has chosen to adopt the same approach. Shaw and Docherty further wrote that "the domestic railway network has, compared to mainland Europe, been "starved Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways investment for decades, has been considerably reduced in scope, is significantly overcrowded and in many cases is not a particularly comfortable way to travel. Academics have Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways the privatisation arguing that BR was not actually privatised in the conventional sense, but operates under governmental control with private companies subcontracted to manage franchises, resulting in high costs to the taxpayer. The Independent ran an article: "Foreign governments are making hundreds of million pounds a year running British public services, according to an Independent investigation highlighting how privatisation is benefiting overseas — rather than UK — taxpayers. Since privatisation, both the subsequent parties of government in Britain, as well as the official opposition and other political parties, have all offered various levels of support for the post-privatisation system, as well as proposals for reform, up to and including renationalisation in various forms. The Conservative government of John Major lost the general electionreplaced by Labour. The Labour government did not fulfil its earlier commitment to keep the railways in the public sector. Instead, it left the new structure in place, even completing the privatisation process with the last remaining sales. After 13 years in power, Labour lost the general electionwhich resulted in a coalition government formed by the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats. The coalition government commissioned the independent McNulty report into the 'value for money' of the rail system. In20 years after rail privatisation, Secretary of State for Transport Patrick McLoughlin celebrated "20 years of rising investment" and "of extraordinary growth on our railway" and declared that the only plans of the Opposition are "opposing competition, letting union bosses call the shots and cutting off private investment". According to him: "that would mean higher fares, fewer services, more crowding, an industry once again in decline. It would be a tragedy for passengers. In the Conservative Party's shadow transport spokesman, Chris Graylingsaid that the split of the rail industry into track and train components was a mistake which had increased costs: "We Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways, with hindsight, that the complete separation of track and train into separate businesses at the time of privatisation was not right for our railways. We think that the separation has helped push up the cost of running the railways—and hence fares—and is now slowing decisions about capacity improvements. Too many people and organisations are now involved in getting things done—so nothing happens. As a result, the industry lacks clarity about who is in charge and accountable for decisions. In the Conservative Party were consulting upon options for the future. Several changes were proposed including a shift to regional operators owning the track and trains for their regions. In their view the separation of track ownership from the service providers had proved a failure, and "the separation has helped push up the cost of running the railways". However, critics say that were such a model to be applied to basic rail infrastructure, it would risk replicating the original mistake of the Railways Act Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways which fragmented the operation of train services among two dozen different operators. Many of these share infrastructure, and run competing services. Such a plan would be unworkable without the prior consolidation of existing franchises into just a small handful of regional operators. In the Labour leader Ed Miliband hesitantly suggested the Party may put a promise to renationalise the railways in their general election manifesto. Inthe Labour Party elected Jeremy Corbyn as its leader, who favoured bringing the railways back into public ownership. The Green Party of England and Wales committed to renationalisation in their Manifesto, [87] reconfirming this at their Autumn conference in Birmingham in September Caroline Lucas ' Private Member's Bill calls for the end of franchising altogether. From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. See also: Financing of the rail industry in Great Britain. Archived from the original PDF on 6 July Retrieved 20 November Department for Transport. Retrieved 2 January Retrieved 4 November Stagecoach Group. Opposition to Victorian Railways

Victorian Britain and the Birth of Steam. Change is one of the defining characteristics of the Victorian age. Population growth profoundly changed the nature of British society, and the mechanization of industry Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways a demand for larger labor force. Factories and railways absorbed the bulk of this labor force, while many skilled workers, and particularly handloom weavers, were out of a job. The very standards of time and size were called into question. British society hurdled headlong through the corridors of industrial change: people were astounded by the pervasive nature of that change, which seemed without precedence in history. Even Tennyson penned a paean to change:. Not in vain the distance beacons. Let the great world spin forever down the ringing grooves of change. Through the shadow of the globe we sweep into. Better fifty years of Europe than a cycle of Cathay. Tennyson, p. Figure 2: The first train into Grimsby — a Romantic view of the coming of the railway. The very language of the poem recalls the grooved tracks that were spreading across Victorian Britain, reminding people that the times were changing. Railways were a symbol of change and progress. They also seemed to epitomize popular resentments toward a changing world picture: the depersonalization of workers and passengers, the altering of an established social pattern, and of course, their tendency to mow down anything that what happened to get in their way, be it public opposition, family land, natural beauties, national history, or even unwary pedestrians on its tracks. But public outcry did have a direct impact on railway development, and the popular conception of the railway in Victorian society. Progress of the railways c. Leading up toBritain had experimented with a few rails. These lines were built with the exclusive purpose of conveying commodities. Like the coal-road, the Stockton and Darlington, they ran primarily between industrial centers and areas of natural resources. Rails of this era were powered by stationary engines, horse labor, and sometimes by locomotives. The Railway Fever of proved the utility of railroads both for conveying passengers and goods. This period brought rails out of the experimental field and into the application of common enterprise. The railway fever was fueled by the anticipated success of rails as a dominant form of transportation for the future. George Stephenson, one Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways the foremost engineers developing steam engines. Schwartz 2. Figure 3: The Railway Office, Liverpool, c. The above sketch is a view of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway drawn by T. The Liverpool and Manchester line was a direct result of the Railway Fever. It was the first exclusively steam rail built for the dual purpose of carrying passengers and freight The success of this line and the financial success of men like George Hudson encouraged businessmen to speculate on new lines. Rail schemes were developed for individual profit with little attention paid to the final outcome of construction. This excitement and Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways investment in railways between has been dubbed the first Railway Mania. Due to the surplus of bills, plans for potential railways, that were put before parliament many were never heard. The Railway Mania absorbed soo much of the domestic capital that between and very few lines were sanctioned Jackman There was a second Railway Mania between and that was characterized by another rush of speculation on projected lines. Proponents of the railways, arguments and ideas. Proponents of the Victorian railways came in many different voices; there were investors, engineers and architects. Most of them recognized the opportunities that the new rails had to offer. Shareholders like George Hudson who recognized opportunity, new enterprises and big money to be made. Engineers George Stephenson saw new machines to be built and old records to conquer. There was also a faction, begun by Thomas Grey, that believed that the railways would benefit Victorian society as a whole and raise the basic standard of living in the nation. In his Appeal to the Public inGeorge Godwin, an associate of the institute of British Architects, does an excellent job identifying and expounding upon the advantages of rails. Many common people were frightened by the sight and implications of railroads Simmons How much longer shall knowledge be allowed to go on increasing? Godwin directly addresses the ignorance of the Victorian people and urges them to be open minded towards positive change. This particular manipulation may have been most useful in attacking members of the upper class who did not yet! They were more likely to have a background in history or science and would be inflicted with the weight of this statement more than the uneducated working class. Later in his appeal, Godwin manipulates the growing nationalism of the times by stating that each man can help better Britain by supporting rail development. To retain our pre-eminent position, then as manufacturers for the world- a position which our improved machinery has principally enabled us to maintain so long…we would strongly and sincerely urge every individual of the society to lend his utmost aid in establishing and increasing their effectiveness; feeling assured that he would thereby assist, not merely to maintain the prosperity of the country, but greatly to increase it. Godwin lists the advantages of the railway in a systematic order. This suggestion indicates that he is speaking now to the middle classes. In all likelihood, even Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways some goods costs are lessened the working class is still not going to be able to afford them. It is, therefore, the middle class who Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways benefit from this particular change. During the Victorian era time became a commodity itself. Before railways there were not Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept- Secret Railways timepieces that counted minutes. With the introduction of the Railway destinations became increasingly closer and time more valuable, or at least recognized as a limited resource. Godwin states that travel in general would take less time. This would be advantageous to day-trippers, as they would have more time at the chosen location to enjoy the sights. This, again, appeals to the nationalistic appetite of the Victorian age. Many coaching establishments were concerned that rails would displace their usefulness and put them out of work. Godwin address this issue by claiming that not only would the coaches not be out of work, but that, demand for coaches may even increase. He said that their trips would be shorter and more frequent to and from the railway stations. Analogy, however, leads us to believe, that no reduction in the number of horses now maintained would take place: and, Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways, experience gives strength to the inference; for, between Manchester and Liverpool, although there is now no direct coach, the increased number of travelers has rendered so many more coaches necessary on the cross roads, and for short distances on the line, that more horses are employed there at this time than were so formerly. Opponents of the railway consistently said that rail lines break up and desecrate the countryside. On the same subject, Godwin sees the glass half full. To say nothing of the means of decoration afforded by the viaducts, bridges, approaches, and depots appertaining to railways themselves…as we should in many cases, be able to use stone- the cost of transport being lessened, places now remote being brought together- instead of brick. Godwin does not respond directly to the opposition. He states simply that, the buildings to Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept- Secret Railways built will be appealing in the quality of their material. As a primary source the Appeal to the Public is a gem. One would have expected that that support for the railway would have taken on a pompous voice. George Godwin sees himself as a guide to the people, something like a loving father, teaching his children right from wrong. He tries to explain their options and consequences and leaves the people to make a choice. Let then, the English public now think seriously on the matter, and resolve whether the advance of civilization shall be made Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways them. Despite frequent references there is little information available on the sort of person he was. He is known for his contributions to, and improving the steam engine. Figure: George Stephenson from Perkins. Inthe directors of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway held a contest for engineers to see who could build the best over all locomotive for their new line. George Stephenson was awarded the hefty, L prize. This achievement gave a decisive stamp to Mr. As a proponent of railways Stephenson must not have been very politically active or there would be more information on him available. He and other engineers, however, by improving upon the railway made it more and more enticing to potential travelers and investors. The faster the railway could go the less feasible it was to take any other form of transportation. In a trip from London to Shrewsbury would take almost 3 and a half days by coach as compared to 12 hours and 40 min by train in Simmons It also indicates that engineers may have had to endure a form of self- censorship much like artists today. Thomas Grey envisioned a national railway long before an amalgamation proved necessary. Grey envisioned a locomotive utopia in which rails were taken on as a national project and controlled by a national board rather than capitalists. He wrote letters to the Ministers of State trying to persuade them of the great national importance of his ideas. In retrospect, Thomas Grey was a visionary. The lines might possibly be more efficient earlier in their undertaking. Opponents of the railways, arguments and ideas. As early asthe Victorians realized that the railways were there to stay. Many recognized their advent as the most important development of the Britain from the Rails: Including the Nations Best-Kept-Secret Railways. Yet exactly how, and where, this great new power was to be harnessed was the topic of a continuing debate. The first phase of opposition, which we will treat as extending roughly from toduring which a large number of lines were sanctioned by Parliament, and the amalgamations ofwas marked by an almost universal aversion to the railways. To plead their case, railway proponents produced materials to argue their own point of view: one G. Almost all railway construction during this period was contested in one form or another, as each line had to be sanctioned by Parliament. A system of railway hearings was established in the House of Lords, requiring companies to weigh the potential benefit and harm of their proposed schemes.