Darren Hendley
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Recruitment firms attack plans to allow agency workers to replace strikers
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Recruitment firms have stepped up their opposition to controversial Government plans to allow agency staff to replace striking workers, warning they would “inflame” industrial disputes. Leaders of a number of the biggest recruitment companies in the country wrote to Business Secretary Kwasi Kwarteng expressing concern at the proposals, which were announced in response to the…
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Grant Shapps slams rail unions as he unveils £1bn east coast digital investment
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Transport Secretary Grant Shapps hit out at striking rail unions as he announced a £1 billion investment in digital signalling. He said that giving the go-ahead for the replacement of Victorian signalling infrastructure on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) proves the Government is modernising the railways “despite the best efforts of unions”. But the…
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New TV series to feature York’s National Railway Museum
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The National Railway Museum is set to feature in a new TV series produced by Whitworth Media appearing on More4 this summer. Called “Cleaning Britain’s Greatest Treasures”, the programme will follow the museum’s conservation team as they clean and maintain the NER / LNER Dynamometer Car and Queen Victoria’s famous LNWR saloon carriage. Narrated by…
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Passenger trains could be blocked to prioritise freight during strikes
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Passenger trains could be blocked from station platforms by parked freight services during strikes, an industry leader has warned. John Smith, chief executive of firm GB Railfreight, told the PA news agency the measure may be required if a skeleton timetable is implemented during industrial action. Fears have been raised that staff walkouts could lead…
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British Transport Police to arm volunteer officers with Tasers
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The British Transport Police have become the first force in the UK to arm volunteer officers with Tasers. It comes after the Home Secretary last week unveiled plans to give special constables powers to use the weapons, which temporarily incapacitate a person by delivering an electric current through two small-barbed darts. From Friday, some British…
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Pathfinder cancels Mazey Day special
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PATHFINDER Tours’ annual ‘Mazey Day Cornishman’ special from Solihull to Penzance via Oxford on June 25 has been cancelled. The tour operator made the decision today (May 27) to pull the train from its schedules due to the uncertainty around possible national rail strike during June. Only a few days before the decision, 40,000 RMT union members voted overwhelmingly…
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All change at the LTM
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Christopher Westcott talks to Wendy Neville, the former head of communications at the London Transport Museum, about how things changed during her 13 years there. Although unintended, Wendy Neville’s time as head of communications at the London Transport Museum has been framed by closure. When recruited in 2007, the Covent Garden-based museum was closed to…
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The World of Railwayana
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The term ‘railwayana’ can cover all manner of rail-related memorabilia, from Victorian carriage prints, right up to nameplates recently removed from recently withdrawn HST power cars. Collecting such material has become a way for many thousands of enthusiasts to own their own piece of the railways and, contrary to what some may think, doesn’t have…
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Rare chance to go behind the scenes at the Severn Valley Railway
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The Severn Valley Railway is set to throw open its workshop doors to passengers as the 2022 season begins. The railway’s season opener Open House Weekend on 2nd and 3rd April will give visitors an opportunity to delve behind the scenes into areas that are rarely accessible to the public. A variety of unique experiences will put…
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From the archive (1982): Westbury Signalbox “topped out”
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A NEW signalbox at Westbury, Wiltshire, which will control 144 miles of track and replace 12 lever-frame boxes was topped-out on December 9 by William Kent, Deputy General Manager of British Railways, Western Region. The ceremony, when Mr. Kent poured the last shovelful of concrete, was organised by contractors, A. Roberts (Civil Engineering) Limited, of…
