At Other Places…

If you are thinking “I would quite like doing that job” then you would absolutely love it and you should apply for it without delay (take it from one who knows). Also your colleagues/manager etc will be very nice. And did I mention helping non-profits make people’s lives better?

In Hoy, #Orkney today, and treated to the sight of some spectacular precision flying in the hills and corries by this @HMCoastguard helicopter. Not sure if it was an exercise or they were looking for someone/something but it was very impressive stuff.

This is Kirkwall telephone exchange.

Here is Stromness telephone exchange, which occupies half a building shared with the Royal Mail delivery office (I assume because of their shared history in the GPO).

This is helpfully filtering the otherwise confusing number of operators I could choose for my next trip south on the ECML by removing two of them.

ICYMI last week, I’ve written a book about the British Rail symbol; there’s really something in it for everyone; students and practitioners of graphic design, art and design historians, lovers of twentieth century modernism, transport aficionados, and, of course, anoraks like me!

And, since ‘Arrows of desire’ is really all about transport and design, who better to set the scene at the start of the book than Daniel Wright, @BeautyOfTranspt, whose introductory essay is a masterpiece… https://t.co/r7BcYhHpVg

Delighted that @LordPeterHendy, Minister of State for Rail, has written the foreword for my new book ‘Arrows of desire’ https://t.co/LhBR9aWQ8b

The governing realities for Labour in power, & what it means for planning and transport:

#BikesAtPollingStations I’ve just voted at the polling station in beautiful Stromness, Orkney. This seems like a good time to share some personal news (as the expression has it) and say that as of a fortnight ago, this is where I now live.

This is definitely a #RailwayTwitter kind of thing. Can anyone shed any light on this or even know where there’s an original? Has a feel of Stocks Austin Sice’s work on Railtrack’s annual reports but beyond that I’m stumped…

Delighted to see this surviving large weighbridge and office in the old goods yard at Alnmouth. Maybe of interest to @RailwayHeritage? For background info if nothing else; I’m not sure if this railway land these days. (Not a good photo, sorry - taken from a passing train.)

Seen in Bexhill yesterday - are these some of Sunak’s infamous ‘levelling up’ outdoor chess boards? It’s just my feeling but it didn’t seem like they had completely addressed the local levelling up needs…

…there’s no railway here! The footbridge is in Hailsham which lost its railway in 1968 when the line from Polegate to Eridge closed. It is now the Cuckoo Trail, a long distance cycling/walking route. 2/2

Ordinarily I would say this is a great example of #CommunityRail - a smashing community art gallery on a footbridge over a railway cutting. Except… 1/2

I have written a thing.

Bonus Trains for Crossrail? It was reported last month that 10 new trains could be built for Crossrail. Today we look at the substance of the reports, catch up with what's been happening and speculate as to what improvements may be in the pipeline. https://t.co/vrIUAxi1AA

The latest part of The Fabric of Paris’s epic history of trams in Paris is out! Tramways in Île-de-France: a history – Part 9: railway requisitions | Fabric of Paris https://t.co/ubg7B7aSuO via @bchadwickfrance

Contrasts in off-road cycle networks. Left: Netherlands. Right: England.

At the formal opening of new @LandmarkTrust property in Manchester this morning - The Station Agent’s House - this is the gold standard for the restoration of a Grade 1 listed building. They have achieved something very special in their first #Manchester property.