Edmonson tickets a lost "cause" for ever?

My local 455s and 165s ride atrociously, and even the 377s and 444s/450s can bang around a bit in compressions. Seats are universally dreadful. Comfort is nigh non-existent.

Yes, steam (if fired badly) can equal a rich-running diesel for particulates. Well-fired on good-quality fuel, it doesn't pollute NEARLY as much.

 

And how did a Quad Art ride in comparison to a 313? Or the 100 seaters compared to a 465? And the leg room in each?

The past is a different country, but not necessarily a better one.

 

I'm just as much a fan of diseasels as you are, but it's nonsense to suggest that they have no heritage value. Is the only measure of whether something is worth preserving or not your opinion? Why is someone else's opinion worth less than yours? And there's no doubt it is purely opinion, you and I may both think there is no soul in a big engine in a box, but plenty of people think there is. Yes, less than steam, but where should the cutoff point be? Perhaps if enough people are interested to raise enough money to preserve it? In which case, check box ticked.

 

My opinion is merely that of most members of the public, in my experience. Show them Clan Line at the head of the Pullmans at Victoria and normals get it - show them a 47 at the head of a rake of mucky Mk2s (cough MNR cough!) and they will tend to show utter disdain. Steam is MUCH easier to sell to the general public than diesel.

 

that's simply not true. The state London's buildings got into in steam days is the evidence of that. Cleaning black buildings to reveal honey coloured Bath Stone which has stayed honey coloured shows that getting rid of steam locos which were absolutely filthy in terms of pollution and of course coal fires at home cleaned things up a lot. Not filthy? well, there is plenty of evidence to show how dirty the insides of coaches got in steam days. Hour for hour there may be nothing to choose twixt steam and diesel but one diesel replaced 2 or 3 diesels and it didn't need to be lit up hours before it's duty. Don't forget Smog either which disappeared with the steam loco

 

Individual opinion is very very important in deciding what is worth preserving since, arguably, the most important factor in that decision is whether somebody is prepared to buy it and maintain it. If we’d left it up to the museum committees we would have the National Collection, and almost nothing else.

 

A shop front has just been taken off a Georgian mid-terrace house on Clapham Road, where I live in Stockwell. I'm no expert in dating shop fronts but would put it at 1940s to 60s, Remarkably the original house frontage seems to have just been plasterboarded over and not knocked about at all. It has now been revealed and it is very black compared to the rest of the row. I've spent years thinking how much neater the row would look if that one shop reverted back to a house but i have to say I feel a bit sad that this piece of history is so easily and irrevocably erased with barely a sign it was there

 

I found that the seats on the refurbished 458s to be more comfortable and have better padding than the 377s/444s/455s & 450s and on the matter of 450s, I found the seats in standard class more comfortable those in 1st class.

 

all of the above are luxury compared to the thameslink class 700 and dare I say it the IEP (which is a scandal for an intercity train). As an osteopath, who has suffered from a bad back any excuses that the seats are ergonomically designed are cobblers. They may fit an average sized person with no back problems but a very upright seat with little padding does not allow anyone with any deviation from the average, a comfortable position and must be cripplingly uncomfortable for an elderly person with the kypohotic (bent forward) upper back associated with osteoporosis or anyone with a scoliosis (sideways curve, which usually also includes a degree of twist)

 

Apologies for the thread drift.

Care for the elderly is a nightmare. So I am very sorry about your experience. This I can say having been both sides of the fence (working in elderly care and then having friends and relatives using it). Vulnerable stressed, unwell clients and overworked, badly paid staff. Sadly, one of the issues is that because the pay is so bad you get some real knuckle-draggers. My job back in the day was split between working in the kitchen and ‘anything else that needed doing’. I won’t bore you with tales of elderly care, but two incidents have stuck in my memory. One day one of the guys asked for just custard. I said sure, no problem, one bowl of custard. One particular carer (and I use the term loosely) objected on the grounds that ‘they will all want just custard’, to which I said I didn’t see that as a problem. But for this person, it was about control. She had a crappy life and the only bit of control she had was over the clients. And yes, there was closing of ranks when there was dissent.

I don’t know which is worse, a person who has been doing the job badly for 35 years, or people on contracted out zero hours contracts.

I will say that I have never seen or heard as much racism as I did when working in elderly care.

We also had some very challenging clients to deal with, I dealt with a lot of poo. Sometimes we we put in difficult positions - an extreme example I remember. We had one client who according to the gossip had been a child molester. It was never confirmed but it was said. This caused issues because some carers felt it their duty to punish him and give him a rough time, whereas others (and this was my view) said that if he had done his time in prison then it was none our business, nor was it our job to take revenge. That said, he was a challenging client even without the gossip. The time he started pleasuring himself when he was being bathed was rather

Final comment - working with the elderly is f-ing heartbreaking because everyone you get to know and like and bond with will die sooner rather than later. The first time someone I had got to know died it really upset me. When people go downhill, it happens often bewilderingly fast. You develop a very thick skin and a very black sense of humour as a way to survive.

None of this excuses what happened to your father, and I can well imagine the closing of ranks and I’m sorry it happened because it shouldn’t have done.

 

The thing is, modern train designs can be ok. These days I use the GE main line a bit and it has quite a variety of EMU types, most are middling at best but the 360s are surprisingly well laid out inside, they even have a view out of the windows. (They’re also the best looking ‘modern’ EMU by a long stretch.) It shows what can still be achieved and, unfortunately, just how bad the rest of them are.

Sadly most of my mileage is on class 700s (and increasingly, most of my non-work time wasted waiting for the things, which rarely turn up).

Anyway, sorry to continue the off-topic digression.


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Interestingly enough, I had a great chat with the signalman at Sheffield Park today - he mentioned that he’s one of the volunteers responsible for manufacturing the proper tickets.

A couple of things:

- he’d just ordered 25,000 ticket blanks for £250, working out at £0.01 per ticket. He said apart from electricity there’s no other cost as it’s completely volunteer run. (I’d assume ink factors in somewhere too...)
- On a good day they can make 10,000 tickets
- the line bought a second ticket machine from Sir Bob McAlpine (RIP) so there’s a backup
- the new technology in the booking office (card machine) broke down last week and meant cash only for ticket sales. The racks of card tickets has yet to let anybody down!

I’d be really interested to see the price per ticket for thermal printing, but couldn’t see much on google...




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I've read some rubbish in my time, but that...

 

Thanks for your comments. The "control" aspect hadn't occurred to me, but it fits in very well with the attitude some of the carers had towards both my father, mother and myself.

Sorry for the serious thread drift, back the Edmondson tickets.

 

As someone who remembers the stench from steaming commuters in the smoking carriage of 4EPB's on a cold, wet winters day .... I second that sentiment.

Back then, the unique odour of the Paris Metro (Gaulloises and garlic on top of congenital B.O) was something else again .... and before anyone starts, the tube in London was just as bad .... but we were used to that!

 

they might be smelly gits, but they are OUR smelly gits?

 

I remember more the smell of sewage in one location (though I've forgotten exactly where) presumably from an adjacent sewer.

Edit: but this is by now extreme thread drift.

 

From the latest edition of the WSR "Journal" in the Watchet station notes:- "In the booking office we are now using an original A J. B. Edmondson railway ticket date stamping machine to date stamp tickets. The machine has been repaired and repainted by a volunteer and is another addition that many visitors notice, praise and talk about. It is the little things that matter and catch the eye of the public. We are seeing an increasing number of visitors who present their online tickets to booking office staff, be it paper copy or on screen. They expect to receive a "proper ticket" and are often disappointed to be told that their online booking is their ticket. Maybe an "Online Souvenir Edmondson Ticket" could be the answer".

Apologies for introducing some practical experience relevant to the thread.

 

Just wondering, how do WSR online tickets work?
On the SVR, they are valid for up to a year after purchase and thus the tickets have the valid from and to dates and a box for travel date. This is to me is why Edmonson tickets can't be directly sent out to people as there's not enough space on the tickets. Exchange at the booking office removes the advantage of not having to go to the booking office on the day.

 

To me the SVR have it right, an online booking, paid for in advance should have a degree of flexibility , an expiry date, so you can choose the day of your visit I do not see any issue with having to exchange an receipt form at the booking office for tickets that are valid for travel on the date of your visit. and for accountancy reasons, the tickets issued can be put on the daily book as the pre booking number as the clerk will have the issue number as record. so the two can be tied up .