hogg1905

Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange: Daft to Decline?

A new £750m railfreight interchange near Leicester, potentially creating up to 8000 jobs has been declined by the UK Government, which seems at real odds with the ‘pro-growth’ mantra of that same Government. Presumably, the financing of this scheme was to be made by its developers Tritax Symmetry, so wouldn’t be on the Government’s balanceContinue reading “Hinckley National Rail Freight Interchange: Daft to Decline?”

Railway Bridge Disasters and Other Mishaps by Alan Hayward

In another case of ‘found by the YouTube algorithm’, an excellent video presentation titled ‘Alan Hayward on Railway Bridge Disasters and Other Mishaps‘, with a very large railway focus, but not exclusively so, watch it to find out more. The talk very much shows how structural engineering is a field that is of endless improvement;Continue reading “Railway Bridge Disasters and Other Mishaps by Alan Hayward”

Northumberland Line Future Enhancements: Cutting New Hartley Curve?

While listening to the latest Railnatter (Episode 248: What should the Scottish rail map look like? 2), a point mentioned during the episode was enhancing existing lines and doing some ‘corner cutting’; meaning taking out sharp bends in the track to achieve enhancements of the alignment for better speeds, capacity etc. Applying that to theContinue reading “Northumberland Line Future Enhancements: Cutting New Hartley Curve?”

Starmer Don’t Scrimp! Do The Tyne Bridge Properly.

News has recently broken that the final £6.2m to restore the iconic Tyne Bridge is under threat of spending cuts in PM Sir Keir Starmer’s forthcoming Spending Review. Sensible Savings by Scrapping A1 Dualling I think there will be very few people, when looking back to the 2024 General Election would say that virtually anythingContinue reading “Starmer Don’t Scrimp! Do The Tyne Bridge Properly.”

Blyth’s ‘Rubik’s Cube’ & Rat-Running in Felton: Congestion Charging for both and a Ferry for Blyth?

Northumberland is really starting to feel the pressures of a predominantly car-based transport system, with the gridlock in Blyth and Felton being used as a rat-run to avoid traffic on the A1. Congestion Charging in Northumberland? While it might be a controversial suggestion, perhaps is now the time to consider congestion charging on some ofContinue reading “Blyth’s ‘Rubik’s Cube’ & Rat-Running in Felton: Congestion Charging for both and a Ferry for Blyth?”

Bring Back Blyth’s Ferry?

There have recently been massive issues with traffic in the town of Blyth, Northumberland, with ‘traffic gridlock‘ being reported on the 6th November 2024 by BBC News. Blyth has long had traffic problems, with routes such as Cowpen Road notorious for traffic as long as I can remember, and has recently been acknowledged in aContinue reading “Bring Back Blyth’s Ferry?”

Should towns and villages have dedicated emergency helipads?

A recent short article about the air ambulance landing on Bamburgh Castle green raises the question that maybe towns and even villages should have a dedicated facility for emergency use? While the air ambulance could almost land anywhere, there could be issues in heavy rainfall with flooding of grassed areas, or them being too softContinue reading “Should towns and villages have dedicated emergency helipads?”

Thoughts on railways around Northallerton: Wensleydale Railway towards Whitby?

This blog post is entirely my own view, not those of any organisations mentioned, it is purely intended as a ‘thinking aloud’ piece. This was inspired by a recent Facebook post about the little used section of the Wensleydale Railway between Leeming Bar, Northallerton West and the interconnection with the East Coast Main Line (ECML)Continue reading “Thoughts on railways around Northallerton: Wensleydale Railway towards Whitby?”

Railway200 around Tyneside; Tanfield300 & Bedlington400+ too?

With the Railway200 countdown clock ticking, and just over 100 days to go until 2025, the year being lauded as the 200th anniversary year from the birth of the ‘modern railway’ in 1825 with the opening of the Stockton and Darlington (S&D), maybe we also should celebrate the more than 200 years of ‘railway’ beforeContinue reading “Railway200 around Tyneside; Tanfield300 & Bedlington400+ too?”

Using Social Media to Change Things

I was inspired to write this post following a short video by Richard J Murphy titled ‘I use social media to change things‘. His content as an expert in his field is well worth watching, and should be in everyones subscription list in my view! One phrase in the video really grabbed me; ‘I identifiedContinue reading “Using Social Media to Change Things”