*Sits on hands*

Mark

Will Northumberland Line success help more open?


The final station to be completed on the Northumberland line will open on 29 March

On 29 March the final station, Bedlington, opens on the Northumberland Line marking the completion of the project to reopen the route from Newcastle to Ashington.

With passenger numbers exceeding predictions, could its success give new impetus to other projects to reopen former railways across northern England?

Dennis Fancett, chair of the rail users group Senrug, which campaigned for the Northumberland line for 20 years, hopes so. He believes the obvious next step is to extend it along the existing freight tracks to a new station at Woodhorn and from there to Newbiggin-by-the-Sea.

The county council has confirmed it is looking at it as a possibility.

But Senrug's ambitions do not end there. "There is also a case to extend the Newcastle to Morpeth local service, along the existing freight tracks to Bedlington with a new station at Choppington," Fancett says.

Among its other aims, the group would like to see a link between Ashington and Alnmouth and a new station at Seghill.

Ian Walker, Chair of Railfuture North East, an independent organisation which campaigns for better rail services, believes the Northumberland Line strengthens the case for reopening other former railway lines or the creation of new ones. "I think an extension of the metro, what they call the Washington loop, will definitely happen," he says.

Among his other hopes for the future are the Leamside Line which runs from Pelaw in Gateshead to Tursdale in County Durham which he says "would really open up East Durham".

An agreement to do so has been signed by the transport secretary, subject to the assurance that it delivers good value for money.

Then there is the Stillington route, a 10 mile (16km) stretch, currently used as a freight route, from Norton South junction north of Stockton station to Ferryhill South junction on the East Coast Main Line.

He says it could "could really help reduce journey times between Newcastle and Middlesbrough if used for passengers". He also says some of these schemes are "closer than they have ever been" but accepts funding is an issue.

(BBC article continues)

'Fabulous' market town named best place to live in Wales


The Sunday Times judges picked Usk as best place to live in Wales

A thriving Welsh market town known for its award-winning floral displays and praised for its sense of community has been named the best place to live in Wales in a new guide.

Usk in Monmouthshire was chosen because of its attractive setting and convenient location, according to the Sunday Times.

Six other locations in Wales were included in the guide, which named Norwich in Norfolk the overall best place to live in the UK.

Among them were Anglesey, described by judges as "breathtakingly beautiful", Cowbridge in the Vale of Glamorgan, which boasts the best secondary school in Wales, and the Cardiff neighbourhood of Pontcanna. Aberystwyth in Ceredigion, Crickhowell in Powys and Llandeilo in Carmarthenshire also made the list.


Crickhowell, located in the Brecon Beacons in Powys, was also among the Sunday Times' Best Places to Live in Wales

Located on the river Usk, which gives the town its name, judges said volunteers were "involved in everything in the 'Town of Flowers', from planting the 2,500 plants to secure its latest Britain in Bloom gold award to running the annual Usk Show."

"It's a place where nesting boxes are provided for swifts, where wild swimmers campaigned for a £10 million wastewater upgrade to combat river pollution and where more than 60 community groups - covering subjects such as astronomy and philosophy - keep the calendar full to bursting," it added.

Once a Roman encampment site, the town also boasts a castle dating back to the Norman invasion of Wales. Many of its buildings date back to the early 19th Century period when it developed into a market town.

(BBC article continues)

'Becoming a train driver in my 40s was the best thing I ever did'


Sharon Paton, 49, started driving West Midlands Railway trains just over a year ago

"I absolutely love it, I wish I'd done it years ago," Sharon Paton says, of her decision to change careers to become a train driver in her 40s.

"I don't have any deadlines, I don't have to answer emails, I've got the best office window you can have, driving around the countryside."

While just over one in 10 train drivers are women, the Birmingham resident said she had not come up against any negativity about being in the minority. Paton said: "The first day I walked in, there was a cohort of eight drivers and I was the only woman and I thought, 'oh God, am I going to be accepted?' But it's been fine. You've earned your place."

Having previously worked in print and marketing for decades, Paton said she had got to a point where she fancied a change. "I'd always wanted to do a practical job, and my brother-in-law had just gone through the training for a train driver and said, 'why don't you try it?'."

She jumped at the idea, and now drives West Midlands Railway services between Birmingham, Redditch, Lichfield, Wolverhampton and Rugeley.


Paton is one of a growing number of female train drivers working for West Midlands Railway

Despite her enthusiasm, the rigorous 12-month training process caught Paton by surprise. "There's about 12 different rounds of testing, psychometric, cognitive, safety-critical stuff, problem solving and a couple of quite meaty interviews," she said.

Trainees also sit exams about railway rules, train maintenance and have 270 hours of supervised driving practice.

Though she began classroom training in November 2023, it was at least four months before she got near a train. At one point, she said she had found herself at a depot in the middle of the night looking at the underside of an engine, thinking, "what on earth have I done, how did I get here?".

"It's quite a shock to the system, that's for sure, after being in a marketing office," she laughed. "But also exciting and interesting too."

(BBC article continues)

And.....the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley on Sunday features a club from.......yup, Manchester!

No London train until lunchtime will mean substantial overcrowding on the few trains to get to Euston in time for kick-off.

You couldn't make it up really. 50 other weeks without a Cup Final at Wembley to choose from

Dog finds Canadian message in a bottle on Aberdeenshire beach


This photo of Maggie the dog was taken after the bottle was opened

A message in a bottle dropped from a boat off Canada has been found washed up in the north-east of Scotland.

The short letter, written in French and dated in 2024, was found inside the bottle at St Cyrus in Aberdeenshire. Having travelled across the Atlantic, it was found by one of Mike Scott's dogs during a beach walk. The 60-year-old said he was "amazed" by the bottle's journey of about 2,700 miles (4,300km).


The bottle floated across the Atlantic

The professional photographer from Johnshaven takes his dogs to St Cyrus most days for a walk. He described the weather as "wild" at the time they discovered the bottle. "As I was walking, Maggie my dog was sniffing a bottle that was just washing up. It was a really dark glass bottle with a lid and something in it."


The blue letter was inside a brown bottle

He explained: "I had found a message in a bottle before, but it was just from Dundee, so I was not expecting much. There was a zip bag in it, and a letter in French. I put it in my rucksack and put it on translate when I got home."

The note - which appeared to be signed 'Annie Chiasson' - said the bottle had been put to sea from a ferry travelling between Prince Edward Island and Iles-de-la-Madeleine in August 2024.

Scott said: "So the small glass bottle has survived two winters at sea, traveling from the east coast of Canada, across the north Atlantic, over the top of Scotland and down into the North Sea for us to find at St Cyrus."

"The sender was asking to let them know if found," he said. "We found the woman on Facebook, my wife sent a message, but we have heard nothing back."

BBC Scotland News has also tried to contact the sender.

Scott said: "It was such a weird thing to find, it's not just our own rubbish that washes up. It's amazing it was not smashed. I do not imagine she thought it would end up in Scotland across the Atlantic."

Home working, long leases and rise of parking apps - what went wrong for NCP

One of the UK's biggest car park companies collapsed into administration this week, leaving almost 700 jobs at risk.

For many, their first reaction to the news was bafflement. How could a company that charged as much as £65 for a day's parking fail to turn a profit?

So where did it all go wrong for National Car Parks, and what could its future look like?

NCP has a varied estate, with 340 car parks across the country, including in airports, train stations, hospitals and town centres.

With working from home affecting commuter demand, and shopping increasingly involving mouse clicks rather than footsteps, its city-centre and commuter car parks have had reduced occupancy.

The firm's collapse shows the "combined impact of flexible working, cost-of-living challenges and fuel prices, as well as the general fall in high street shopping and increase in delivery services", says Nick Stockley, partner at Mayo Wynne Baxter.

There has "undoubtedly been a big shift" away from commuters needing parking space five days a week, says the British Parking Association (BPA). Chief engagement and policy officer Alison Tooze says habits are now far more sporadic and more people are trying to avoid paying for tickets. "The difficulty has been knowing what normal looks like, where are we going to land post-pandemic, is this it in terms of people's travel, habits and demand for parking, and it's been a very uncertain picture."

NCP's parent company, Park24, which is Japanese, said higher energy prices as a result of the outbreak of war in Ukraine in 2022 increased its operating costs. It said this had been compounded by "persistently high" UK inflation, with NCP experiencing inflation-linked rent rises.

The costs of maintaining car park infrastructure are "huge", says the BPA's Tooze, including equipment, lighting and staffing. They're often in prime locations so face high business rates, she says, and they require maintenance to ensure they are structurally sound as cars, including electric vehicles, get bigger and heavier.

But motoring group the AA says a failure to expand parking spaces as vehicles grew over the decades had led to issues such as scratched doors. It added rising costs were also felt by customers, as "councils and private operators copied each other's ever-rising ticket prices", says AA president Edmund King.

In some places, it is cheaper to pay a fine than use an NCP car park, with some people opting deliberately to risk a fine rather than fork out for the "extortionate" charge.

Since the noughties a slew of parking apps have risen to prominence, offering drivers plenty of options beyond the traditional multi-storey car park. People get some extra income by renting out their empty driveways, or unused spaces in residential car parks, while drivers get more choice, flexibility and value.

Punters have "voted with their wheels", says the AA's King. "NCP didn't keep up with the changing world of more flexible and app-based local parking."

(BBC article continues)

'All hands on deck' for SS Great Britain fundraiser


About 100 people are competing to 'win' the SS Great Britain for a night

Competitors are preparing to battle over who can keep their hands on the deck of a historic steamship the longest to "win" the vessel in an "urgent" fundraising challenge.

The competition is part of the SS Great Britain Trust's 'All Hands on Deck' appeal to raise £180,000 in six weeks for completion of the ship's Dockyard Museum.

The last person with their hand touching the deck by 15:30 GMT on Saturday will get the Bristol-based ship and museum all to themselves and 40 other people for a night.

"This really is all hands on deck," said Louisa Pharoah from the trust, adding: "The new museum will be incredibly special as it's been created by the people of Bristol."

With 100 competitors expected to take part, there will be a series of distractions, including "Mr Brunel himself doing everything he can to deter even the most determined competitors", a spokesperson said.

Pharoah, the trust's director of people and development, said it was an "exciting chance to potentially win the ship for the night".

"And a brilliant way to rally together as a community to support one of Bristol's most important cultural icons," she added.

The SS Great Britain was designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, and launched from Bristol in 1843. It was the world's first iron-hulled screw-driven ocean liner and sailed around the world 32 times, covering more than one million miles (1.6m km) at sea, before being brought back home to Bristol in 1970 and eventually opened to the public.


If the fundraising target is reached, the new museum will open in July

The on-board museum closed to the public on 23 February to begin major redevelopment work. Although a £1.3m investment has been secured, local businesses, community groups and the public are being asked to support the fundraising.

Pharoah said the museum would "showcase the untold stories of those who travelled on the ship, from more than 50 different nationalities", with many of the stories uncovered by researchers from local Bristol communities.

The Trust aims to raise the funds by mid-April, with plans to open the new museum in July.

And.....the Carabao Cup Final at Wembley on Sunday features a club from.......yup, Manchester!

Work from home and drive more slowly to save energy, global body urges

The International Energy Agency (IEA) has suggested ten measures to reduce the amount of energy being consumed across the world, covering travel, homes and work habits.

The IEA's executive director, Fatih Birol, told the BBC the world was facing "the greatest global energy security threat in history" and it was time for governments to become "more vocal" around how energy was being used.

Such advice can be politically difficult, he admitted, but energy prices meant people had a "big incentive" to adopt new strategies.

Thirty-two countries are members of the IEA, including the US, the UK, Australia, Canada, Japan and 24 other European nations. Its role is to act as a global watchdog, providing analysis and recommendations on global energy problems, such as energy security and the transition to clean energy.

The IEA's other suggestions for governments, businesses and individuals include:
* Promoting use of public transport
* Giving private cars access to city centres on alternate days
* Encouraging car sharing and efficient driving habits
* Avoiding air travel where possible, especially business flights
* Switching to electric cooking

As an aside, while I commend their wearing of apparently 'fresh out of the packet' orange high visibility gear, I will point out that there are some woefully badly adjusted hard hats there.

Glasgow Central exit to reopen as demolition work nears end


Demolition work at the site is due to finish on Friday

A section of Glasgow's Central Station is set to open on Sunday as demolition work nears completion on the adjoining fire-ravaged building.

An exit on to Hope Street will reopen, operating as a route out of the station only.

It comes days after low-level entrances and the Hope Street carriage driveway reopened, though the station's main entrances on Gordon Street and Union Street remain shut.

Demolition of the remaining facade of the corner building wrecked by the fire is due to be completed on Friday, Glasgow City Council has confirmed.

The huge blaze engulfed the B-listed Victorian building next to Glasgow Central Station on Sunday 8 March after starting in a vape shop on Union Street.

Only the facade of the building on Gordon Street was left standing, as well as a floating chimney stack which was gradually taken apart last week.

The high-level station partially reopened on Wednesday after a 10-day closure, with one of the main exits set to be accessible from Sunday.


The fire started in a vape shop on Sunday 8 March

Network Rail route director Ross Moran said the station is operating differently and staff are on site to direct passengers. "Our retailers have also shown real patience throughout this disruption, and we're working closely with them to help manage their stores as access improves," he said. "Reopening the Hope Street exit is a positive step forward, but there's still vital work underway."

Council leader Susan Aitken said public safety remained the priority but "we are all acutely aware of how many people, in Glasgow and right across the country, depend on Central Station day-to-day and everyone involved is working towards that goal."

Teams have been operating around the clock to carry out the demolition of the remaining structure as quickly and safely as possible.

The council said crews will be on site from 07:00 to 19:00 from Saturday onwards to remove rubble. The cordon around the site will remain in place.

Demolition of the facade started on Wednesday morning.

During the blaze, flames reached the dome on the corner of the 19th Century building and the front wall collapsed to the ground.

Workers used hand tools to dismantle the remaining facade as use of powered equipment would likely cause an an uncontrolled collapse.


Most of the main concourse will not be accessible and screened off using solid metal sheeting

The partial reopening of the station allowed the return of some Scotrail and cross-border train services.

Platforms seven to 15 on the west side of the station are back in use.

Network Rail said commuters can access the station via the low-level entrances on Argyle Street and the Hope Street carriage driveway, which is normally used during special events.

The upper exit on Hope Street is set to reopen from Sunday as an exit only for passengers arriving on platforms seven to 10. But the main entrance on Gordon Street and Union Street remains closed.

Most of the main concourse will not be accessible and screened off using solid metal sheeting. Facilities and shops in the station, including the main toilets, are closed.