Mind the gap

Cumbria (the "Lake District" in the North-West of England) has been having some pretty unpleasant weather, leading to destructive flooding.


This 1 minute video shows what happened to a delightful stone bridge that had managed to survive since 1847:



While I'm sure it's delightful, the Cumbrian town of Workington is not my cup of tea (even that name is a bit offputting), but here it is -- essentially a town split down the middle by a river:


In the floods, two of the road bridges were swept away while the third has been closeed because it's looking likely to go anytime soon. The only working connection between the two halves of the town is now the railway bridge.


But most of the jobs are on the northern side of the river, and most of the housing is on the southern; the road journey is now a 20 mile excursion which is currently taking about 3 hours due to the volumes of traffic. The railway has been swamped, although the next station after Workington is some miles north.


In a rather heartwarming story, in just a couple of days Network Rail built a temporary railway station on the northern side of the river, and Northern Rail is now operating a free railway shuttle between the two sides of the town.


With vintage British Rail locomotives -- a Brutish Class 47 and a delightful Class 37 -- top-and-tailing a rake of rather fine-looking Mk3 carriages, this service can transport around 300 people on each trip. The locomotives were supplied by Direct Rail Services, which is a wholly owned subsidiary of the nuclear power company (which is very active in that part of the world).


With around 5,000 horsepower (roughly the same as a High Speed Train), this is a rather over-the-top approach to hauling four coaches, but the advantage of having a cab at each end outweigh the vast power and heavy weight of the locos.


As you can tell from the shots, the vintage semaphore signalling equipment reveals that this is not ordinarily a heavily-used line: in fact, it's more used to single-carriage pacers than such a heavy-duty train.


But in a country which usually takes years to get planning permission for any capital investment, and then takes even more years to put together a funding package and a consortium of stakeholders, it's rather satisfying to see the railway is capable of doing what it used to be rather famous for -- improvising practical solutions to transportation problems which are then delivered quickly and safely.


It does rather beg the question as to why there is so much agonising over lengthening platforms at intensively-used railway stations in southern England -- figures of hundreds of thousands of pounds are routinely bandied about, when a platform is, essentially, a mound of earth with some tarmac on top. If you want to get fancy you can string a couple of street lights along it. And add a chicken wire fence. Bob's your uncle.


Workington North station has been built from scaffolding poles and planks, with a non-slip surface added. A footbridge has been installed, and a gravel car park laid-out. It will last at least two years. And it cost tuppence-ha'penny.