notes.husk.org. scribblings by Paul Mison.

2011-01-12

post/2715196725

quote 17:45:00
“ With no information in [Customer Information Services], the boards were empty. The electronic displays at almost every location were either empty or out of date. Nearly all information online was also either incorrect or out of date and Southeastern found themselves having to ask National Rail Enquiries to turn off any information relating to their operations. The Operator may well have made the correct decision in moving to a contingency timetable but that mattered little to passengers standing on freezing platforms bereft of any information. ”

John Bull in How Do You Solve A Problem Like Southeastern? at London Reconnections (via iamdanw).

The post explains why the train operator had so many problems both with snow, and with getting their updated timetable to their customers. It’s well worth reading.

2010-12-10

post/2168632447

photo 21:37:06
Eyewitness: Frosty awakening:
The sun rises over a spectacular display of hoar frost yesterday morning as a train makes its way towards Wolverhampton station
Photograph by Tim Thursfield for newsteam.

Eyewitness: Frosty awakening:

The sun rises over a spectacular display of hoar frost yesterday morning as a train makes its way towards Wolverhampton station

Photograph by Tim Thursfield for newsteam.

2009-10-01

post/201972111

video 20:59:00

Snow, directed by Geoffrey Jones, 1963. From the BFI’s archives.

“Comprising train and track footage quickly shot just before a heavy winter’s snowfall was melting, the award-winning classic that emerged from the cutting-room compresses British Rail’s dedication to blizzard-battling into a thrilling eight-minute montage cut to music.”

Said music is by Daphne Oram, an early British electronic music pioneer, instrumental in founding the Radiophonic Workshop. From the notes to the album Oramics: “The 1963 ‘Snow’ is ingenious, but somehow uncharacteristic. For this, a tape of a Sandy Nelson jazz drumming piece is slowly speeded up according to an accelerando structure.”

Amazing stuff.

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