Train spotters

A snap taken between trolley 72 and trolley 73.

On the top we have a long black strap, maybe five metres of it, picked up from the road outside the Kiln Lane Halfords. I realised afterwards that it was a trolley herder's strap, but decided not to return it. Partly because the average herder would have his own and drop this one in the nearest bin, if not back on the road, as soon as I turned away, partly because it seemed a fair return for all the trolleys that I have returned. Now hung up as a trophy in the study, waiting for an occasion to put it to use.

Under the strap we have a far more important trophy, Jane's World Railways, 2001-2002 edition. The global train spotter's bible. Sourced by me from the Tadworth Childrens' Trust shop in Epsom for a consideration of £3. See reference 2.

Browsing later, the thing that struck me most was the dominance of the electric locomotive powered by overhead cables, with diesels only surviving in big places like the USA. Then there were the important facts that here in the UK, our once proud railway engineering industry seems to have been taken over by a French company called Alstom (see reference 1). Just like our electricity supply industry. And while a good chunk of our rolling stock is owned by Porterbrook, in turn owned by Abbey National, another chunk is owned by HSBC. Checking, it seems that Abbey National sold Porterbrook on to a consortium involving Deutsche Bank who in turn sold it on to a consortium involving the same EDF who have got their French fingers into our electricity pie. The maze of ownership of our national assets continues to amaze. And lastly, that no-one else seems to go in for our third rail system of electrification, dominant south of London.

The next thought was that collecting up all this information on a world-wide basis would be expensive and that the book must have cost a fair bit to buy. It was also quite solidly produced, made up of around 30 signatures of 32 pages each. A style of binding which should stand a fair bit of rough handling - which a book this heavy would get if used for its intended purpose. But how is the Jane's business model standing up to the winds of the internet?

Reference 1: http://www.alstom.com/.

Reference 2: https://www.thechildrenstrust.org.uk/.