River Waveney (Warning May contain Trains)

[JennyMorgan]

Aldeby/Beccles swingbridge being updated from single to double track in 1926.

The old pier for the single track is on the left.

[Baitrunner]

Jeez I thought that was another darn bridge to go wrong!!!

[dnks34]

Am I right in thinking if this swing bridge had been retained then Oulton Broad North Station along with the nuisance of the level crossing may not have been necessary as the Norwich trains could have routed via Beccles and Oulton Broad South into Lowestoft that way and the swing bridge at Somerleyton would not have been needed either.

Ive been reading this evening if this information is still correct that there are 6 trains an hour to/from Norwich at peak times.......theres no wonder traffic is usually at a standstill!!

[BrundallNavy]

3 hours ago, dnks34 said:

Ive been reading this evening if this information is still correct that there are 6 trains an hour to/from Norwich at peak times.......theres no wonder traffic is usually at a standstill!!

Do you mean from Oulton Broad ?  I'm not sure it runs every hour throughout the day, This service is normally done by the class 68's which does a round trip boosted by a 156 in the peak. I'm not sure we have 6 trains available at the moment.

[NorfolkNog]

4 hours ago, dnks34 said:

Am I right in thinking if this swing bridge had been retained then Oulton Broad North Station along with the nuisance of the level crossing may not have been necessary as the Norwich trains could have routed via Beccles and Oulton Broad South into Lowestoft that way and the swing bridge at Somerleyton would not have been needed either.

Quite possibly.

Without checking the timetable I don't think there are quite as many as 6 per hour. The traffic on that road always seems very heavy. 

[grendel]

is it just me that wonders what the barrel had in it in the picture?

[Regulo]

Probably grease?

[grendel]

see there, now thats where they go wrong with the swing bridges today - no barrel of grease to keep them working, (either that or you just cant get the quality of grease you had in the good old days)

[marshman]

Like the landscape - no trees!!!!

[JennyMorgan]

7 hours ago, dnks34 said:

Am I right in thinking if this swing bridge had been retained then Oulton Broad North Station along with the nuisance of the level crossing may not have been necessary as the Norwich trains could have routed via Beccles and Oulton Broad South into Lowestoft that way and the swing bridge at Somerleyton would not have been needed either.

Ive been reading this evening if this information is still correct that there are 6 trains an hour to/from Norwich at peak times.......theres no wonder traffic is usually at a standstill!!

The Beccles/Aldeby bridge, along with the bridges at Haddiscoe and Geldeston, were all part of the Beccles to Tivetshall line. I have never researched this one but I believe it connected with Bungay & Halesworth and Gt Yarmouth, a rather tenuous route for folk wanting to get to Lowestoft!

[JennyMorgan]

3 hours ago, brundallNavy said:

Do you mean from Oulton Broad ?  I'm not sure it runs every hour throughout the day, This service is normally done by the class 68's which does a round trip boosted by a 156 in the peak. I'm not sure we have 6 trains available at the moment.

Problem with Oulton Broad is that it is unfortunately close to Lowestoft. The hourly train from Norwich passes through Oulton Broad North on its way to Lowestoft, twenty minutes or so later it goes back to Norwich thus Oulton Broad has two trains per hour. Very often the train is a pair of exceedingly noisy 'goods trains' hauling a couple of old carriages. 

[JennyMorgan]

This picture shows the old railway bridge at Beccles being demolished. The central piers have long gone but the two on the banks are still there, one with a house on it.

[JennyMorgan]

1 hour ago, grendel said:

is it just me that wonders what the barrel had in it in the picture?

Whiskey for the Navvies who built the bridge? 

[Vaughan]

Nice picture of one of Wards later cruisers, as well. Sea Roamer, if I remember right?

[LondonRascal]

Quote

Very often the train is a pair of exceedingly noisy 'goods trains' hauling a couple of old carriages. 

Peter, annoying for the locals it may be but these are a damn sight more interesting to see in regular service than the old DMU's that run usually with a carriage or two.

One of these fine days I need to get on one of these loco hauled services before they are gone. All very well going electric and the like, but just no real sense of noise and power to it all.

[BrundallNavy]

1 hour ago, LondonRascal said:

Peter, annoying for the locals it may be but these are a damn sight more interesting to see in regular service than the old DMU's that run usually with a carriage or two.

One of these fine days I need to get on one of these loco hauled services before they are gone. All very well going electric and the like, but just no real sense of noise and power to it all.

You better hurry up the new bi mode trains start arriving next August. 

[NorfolkNog]

Is this the one? Runs on the GY and Lowestoft lines. 

 

[dnks34]

This is the article I found on the Network Rail website which indicates number of trains per hour through Oulton Broad North at peak times:

https://www.networkrailmediacentre.co.uk/news/waiting-times-at-oulton-broad-north-level-crossing-to-be-improved

The article is from 2015 and there are further pieces reporting the signalling changes took place in 2016, what if any difference the changes actually made to traffic flow.  I cant say ive noticed any.

I must live a good mile away from Oulton Broad North Station however the Ipswich track passes within a 1/4 of a mile of my house and even at this distance I can fully relate to the incredibly noisey locos sometimes used on the line and why they predominantly seem to use the noisey ones late on is beyond me. 

I dont think being interesting makes it acceptable either.  Certainly in this area the trains not only cause inconvenience in terms of traffic delays but in my opinion negatively affect the wider local economy.

What irks me more than anything is all this nonsense that journey times on trains must be reduced. What difference would the extra 5 to 10 minutes on a Lowestoft to Norwich journey actually make to the few people using the trains compared with the 100's if not 1000's of road users inconvenienced by it every day.  

Slowing the trains down may not only improve crossing safety across the country but could also reduce the time level crossings such as Oulton Broad North need to be closed. 

This frantic obsession with constantly shortening journey times be it train bus or air travel is unnecessary and has negative consequences in other areas that never seem considered!!

[grendel]

I can still remember visiting my grandparents when the trains used to chuff, and if you left the window open through a tunnel you were covered in soot smuts when you came out of the other end.

[smellyloo]

I think we are approaching an era when public transport will be increasingly asked to provide an affordab;e and attractive alternative to making a trip by car.

So I do believe trimming minutes from a journey may well help to make public transport more appealing but I think it is essential to reduce the cost of tickets to make it attractive for families to use public transport in favour of leaving the car behind along with the high cost of ever decreasing parking spaces.

[grendel]

plus reduce the cost of parking your car at the station.

[dnks34]

I agree parking charges at Stations are significant especially if its something your paying for regularly. 

I dont think local parking charges are overly excessive, certainly nowhere near high enough to tempt me from my car onto any form of public transport not even the Norwich park and ride! 

Constantly reducing journey times and increasing number of daily journeys negatively impacts the humans operating the services.

I know for a fact there are bus operators in this country who already expect more than is humanly possible from their Staff, I doubt if the rail industry is far different. 

[LondonRascal]

Well, in true NBN fashion this has moved off topic to modern day rail travel and costs :)

As a regular rail user, one thing that has struck me - universally regardless of rail company - is new trains are not as comfortable as older trains and also not as well looked after (internally) as of old.

I guess once upon a time it was a case of having to make do - keep things going, and where that still applies so you tend to find things a bit better.  More and more though why bother to invest because if you loose the Franchise (likely) the next operating company will bring in their own fleet livery, change everything again or even go buy new stock even if an existing order and delivery of updated stock by the previous operating company is not finished.

Prior to their minor refurbishment, the mainline stock from London to Norwich were always clean and the seats comfy. Compare that to Cross Country rail services - worn our seats, dirty coach roofs, windows and floors and there you may have to endure such for hundreds of miles on a journey from the likes of Stansted Airport to Birmingham on what once we would have called a 'rail car'.

I don't think there has really ever been a fully thought out, working model to get people integrated between transport services and truly out of their cars.  The fact is the rail network is really very popular - either through necessity or natural population growth I know not, but what is clear is while politicians have banged on about using the train for decades, now more and more people are but the trains and actual rail capacity is really under strain with so little in the system to give when things go wrong.

I don't really care about if I get to Norwich in 90 minutes of 140 minutes - but make it easy, clean and reasonably priced and I am happy. 

These days through modern phones and Apps you can buy your tickets on the go - no waiting at a ticket office or in line for machines to try and get their frustrating screens to work and fathom the options (all of which change depending on operating company).  Then you've got an App to see what platform the train you are due to get is going to depart from, so you need not stand getting a stiff neck looking at the screens but take the extra time to go grab a coffee.

Is that progress? I guess so. But the fact is once upon a time British Rail had to run trains - and somehow try and make money, but running trains was first and foremost what they had to do. Now rail operating companies (in my opinion) are required to run the trains but this seems really rather annoying and gets in the way of making money - and as for the customers oh they can complain and cause all types of problems for the process of making money.

So, I miss the old Intercity routes, the times when you could get a proper at table meal cooked in the Buffet on a train to Edinburgh and when there was joined up thinking - from typefaces on signs, to uniforms the staff wore to ticketing - no, I am not harking back to the golden age of steam, just the 1990's....

 

 

[ChrisB]

21 minutes ago, LondonRascal said:

Well, in true NBN fashion this has moved off topic to modern day rail travel and costs :)

As a regular rail user, one thing that has struck me - universally regardless of rail company - is new trains are not as comfortable as older trains and also not as well looked after (internally) as of old.

I don't really care about if I get to Norwich in 90 minutes of 140 minutes - but make it easy, clean and reasonably priced and I am happy. 

 

 

 

How very true, I wish you were on the Board of HS2, make what we have already work for heavens sake. When I had to travel for business I got up earlier.

[ranworthbreeze]

18 minutes ago, ChrisB said:

How very true, I wish you were on the Board of HS2, make what we have already work for heavens sake. When I had to travel for business I got up earlier.

Hi Chris, 

Do not get me started on the HS2. 

A waste of time, money and interfering with peoples lives. Lets hope it gets destined to the bin for everyone's benefit.

Regards 

Alan