Never stand under a bridge (and take photgraphs)

Although I've had my trusty Fuji for a few years, I have never quite managed to try all the functions out.  Perhaps its timidity, or perhaps its lack of suitable subjects on which to experiment.  But today, I decided to be different.  Boldly selecting the multi-frame continuous option, which is different from the mult-frame top, or multi-frame bottom options, I hoped to capture a David Bailey-esque sequence of classic shots as Clan Line drifted towards me.   However, it was not to be .....

Resting on an ancient but servicable camera-pole, and with iso set, programme mode set, multi-frame selected, chrome off, focus to spot, and fast focus..... I pressed the shutter release.....  click, pause, click, pause, click, pause ... ah? oh ... Its gone passed me ....  And the result is as you see.  near, nearer, in the dark (under the bridge), and gone.   Now, if I hadn't been standing at the bridge.....

HS2 is coming, I hope the granchildren like it in 2026

So, we're getting another High Speed Rail Link.  One which will extend the existing high speed route linking the Channel Tunnel to London, onwards up to somewhere north of Birmingham; HS2 is its abbreviation, HS1 being the existing CTML, or Channel Tunnel Main Line across Kent to St Pancras.  HS2 sounds nice and 'technical' (I suppose BML would sound like an obsolete nationalised industry), and it'll run, at least in part, upon the alignment of the old Great Central/LNER main line into London's Marylebone terminus, a line with the unhappy distinction of being the last main line to reach London, and the first to be closed (it was abandoned and lifted north of Quainton, Bucks., in 1966-69).

And people are quite naturally asking do we need it? and do we want it ?  Its suggested that the cost will be in excess of 30 billion pounds, which is a lot of money by most standards - sufficient to add at least five Queen Elizabeth class Aircraft Carriers (without their aircraft) to the Royal Navy, build a quite few hospitals, or maybe catch up with the backlog of road repairs.  But those things already have their own budgets which already dwarf the cost of HS2, spread as it will be across a dozen or more years of construction work.  So would it be money spent on something worthwhile ?

There seem to be several factors that the debates around HS2 are ignoring, or perhaps under estimating.  The first is the growth in rail travel itself (on whatever speed route is used).  The statistics for passenger numbers continue to break all the records set in the 20th century, with rail travel in recent years exceeding anything achieved in the 1980s or 90s, and far exceeding the passenger levels of the nostalgic golden days of the steam railway.  These record numbers have been delivered on a reduced network, shorn in the 60's of much of its feeders of secondary routes and branch lines, and with most track and infrastructure pared down to the minimum.  Infrastructure and track miles equal maintenance costs, maintenance costs are overheads, overheads are watched by accountants etc.  But reducing the costs has meant less double track miles, less relief lines, fewer points, longer signalling block sections, and fewer lay-bys and sidings, all of which contribute to a less flexible and lower capacity network overall.  To achieve the passenger mileage, the network and rolling stock is now 'tuned' to faster trains, fewer stops outside of the big conurbations, and actually works only by many routes running at their maximum capacity, at least during the normal working day.

The second overlooked factor is freight.  Rail freight is one of the remarkable secret success stories of the modern era.  In the 1970s, freight abandoned the rails for the roads in almost every market, and Dr Beeching often prophesied a network of passenger only rail with vestigial freight services linking a few major centres and with highly specialised cargoes.  The coal strikes of the early 80s seemed to kill off that traffic as well as both pits closed and the dash-to-gas accellerated at UK power stations.  But today the situation has completely reversed.  2010 saw a 13% decline in road freight, while on rail, the last six years (2006-2011) have seen a steady growth of freight, running at 2% per annum each year, and with projections putting the growth nearer to 7% across this current decade.  The additional traffic is partly driven by the Channel Tunnel, but more by the rise in intermodal traffic and the expanding or planned expansion of deep-sea ports such as Haven, Thames, Medway and Solent, along with Mersey and Salford opening up in the near future.  But the freight traffic is starting to exceed our rail capacity.  Freight cannot, and indeed has no real need to move at the speeds of passenger traffic, 60 or 75mph is more than adequate, yet even at those speeds on the trunk routes freight is too slow and blocks other (faster) traffic.

Without HS2 factored in, freight traffic is starting to demand more paths on the WCML than there is capacity to run the trains.  And the same pressure will soon be felt on the GWML, the GW route north through Oxford and on the cross-Anglian route linking Felixstowe to the midlands.  The solution is ether to rebuild most of the principal trunk routes south of Manchester, giving them something approaching four track capacity, or taking a significant section of the long distance passenger traffic off of those same routes, the largest of which by a long way is the WCML.

So, to me at least, that seems to make a very strong case for another route from the SE to the Midlands.  HS2 may or may not be the correct or best choice, but another route of some significance does seem like a sensible idea.

And if you think its easy for me to not be a NIMBY because HS2 isn't running along my garden fence, let me herby state that I will gladly swap my property (from which the trains are frustratingly hidden by buildings and trees) for one of similar value overlooking or adjoining HS2 and commanding a proper view of the passing spectacle.  Offers anyone ?

The Old Iron Lady

The Iron Lady, released last weekend, is a film about Margaret Thatcher, the former British Prime Minister once dubbed 'The iron Lady' by the Soviets. But it is also, or perhaps principally, a study in old age, the onset of dementia, and grief.  The camera frequently lingers on the elderly face of Margaret Thatcher (played outstandingly by Mery Streep), and we watch as incomprehension, confusion, or sudden moments of clarity, are played out in the movements of her eyes, the suck of a lip, or the tilt of the head.  Streep captures very poignantly the decline of old age, as we see her try to buy a pint of milk in a busy newsagent, or try to work a DVD player, everything is there - the shuffling gait of the elderly, the gripping of a chair back here, a door frame there, the slight swaying when she pauses.

It is a film crafted from, and relying wholly upon the fundamental elements of movie making.  The camera is mostly still, yet the scenes are composed and lit with great precision.  There are no (obvious) lapses in to CGI, only one explosion requiring of the use of special effects, no sweeping vistas, no grand melodies played to move the audience where the scene is weak.   Most of the time there are only one or two actors in camera, and most of the locations are intimate and tightly bounded - a sitting room, around a dinner table, or in a polling station.  Yet with these simple uncomplicated elements a tale is told of an elderly lady finally coming to terms with death, loss and her own old age.  The lady just happened to be a former Prime Minister.

In tone and simplicity, Iron Lady compares well with 'The Queen', where Helen Mirren plays Elizabeth II, or with 'The King's Speech', where Colin Firth plays the man who became King George VI.  All three rely heavily and successfully on the ability of the principal character to animate his or her face before the camera.  But also like them, Iron Lady is not a film to watch to learn much about 20th century political history, or about the rise and fall of a Prime Minister.  For such learning and insight one would turn elsewhere.  But having said that, there is one particularly amusing moment, where, at the heart of the Falklands Crisis, Mrs Thatcher is explaining to Al Haig, the US negotiator and intermediary, that Britian will not be negotiating with the Argentinian Junta (characteristically pronounced with a hard 'J').  He counters with the observation that the Falklands are small, remote, and have few inhabitants, to which Mrs Thatcher asks him whether the US would negotiate if someone invaded Hawaii ? - the expression on Haig's face is priceless.

So, a film worth watching I'd say.

Carols by Candle-Light

Christmas always provides some great opportunities to use the camera indoors. The inside of a church fully decorated for the festival I find particularly photogenic, and this year, as has been my practice, I spent some time attempting to capture the scene it presented. Indoor photography is always interesting, not least due to the lower lighting conditions, the range of artificial light sources, and the presence of colourations that are absent with sunlight.

For 2011, the Christmas tree itself was the tallest that we've ever erected, and its tip, along with the mandatory plastic (ex- Woolworths?) star was hidden from direct view by the rafters. So a closer and more upward looking approach was called for.

Having captureded a selection of shots on my trusty old Fuji, it then occurred to me that the green, red and gold-cream colours lent themselves to creating a mock Victorian post-card feel. So, back at base, a few minutes experimentation with irfanview to blur and pixelate produced the effect you see at left (OK, I did have to 'photo-shop' out a bit of pipe on the back wall, but it doesn't show too much). The result was sufficiently impressive to make the cover of our 2011 Carols by Candle-light Order of Service !

Being in the right place at the right time

Some things catch you by surprise. Take passing trains for example. In my time I have stood for upwards of three hours to watch a particular locomotive pass by, only to see nothing pass at all. On other occasions I have arrived too late, or just as what I sought was disappearing into the distance. But on this occasion I sought nothing, was expecting nothing, but saw something rare (for a BR Southern Region person at least).

This was Carnforth Station in October 2011. I was walking towards the northern end of the platform for the double-track line which runs around the Cumbrian Coast, when I heard a relaxed grumbling behind me. Turning around, I was greeted by the sight of a pair of class 66s conveying a nuclear fuel flask wagon along the goods avoiding line towards Sellafield (I assume). Now, to see a flask train is fairly uncommon anywhere in the UK, but to have the combination drift past me at gentle pace and just a few feet away was quite an unexpected chance occurrence.

As I said, its all about being in the right place at the right time.

Another Martello Ticked Off

On a bitterly cold December day in 2011, I ventured East to Felixstowe's Landguard Common and its namesake Palmerston era Landguard Fort. Nearby is Martello Tower 'P', one of the four remaining Martellos that guarded the once important anchorage and harbour of Harwich.

It is an interesting, tightly bounded area, hemmed in by the sea on three sides, the modern port of Felixstowe on the fourth, and capped by an oddly located caravan site. Part of the common is a seasonal nature reserve, but it mostly owes its existence in its current form to the presence of the defensive works sited there for almost 400 years.

The main section of Landguard Fort consists of casemates for 7 guns facing into the estuary, backed by brick and earth walls, magazines and covered accommodation, and surrounded by ditches with caponiers. Many of the latter have either simply been filled in, or have been built over by the large Edwardian battery which faces out sea. In addition to the 1900 extension, WWII added anti-invasion defenses and a range of protected harbour control installations.