This week we are joined by Juliet Phillips from E3G to talk about how hydrogen has been disrupting the home heating market... and not for the better. It's a sorry tale that we in transportation should pay close attention to. Join LIVE at 7pm on Wednesday! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch . Join in the discussion at https://garethden...
Jun 28, 2023•46 min•Ep. 173
It's a fun one, and some engineering history for you all... 120 years ago, give or take a few days, the patent was placed for what would become the modern windscreen wiper, a vital safety device that we all take for granted. But how many of them can I find in the @NatRailwayMuseum ? Why do we know of so few women inventors? Why do I always end up in the Warehouse? All questions I'll attempt to tackle LIVE(ish) at 7pm on Wednesday - and there'll be challenges for you, the viewer! Enjoyed this? Pl...
Jun 21, 2023•32 min•Ep. 172
In sad news, a vital facility for plugging the UK rail skills gap has been abandoned to rot... But why? We'll talk about how the college came about, its poor management from the off, the non-existent strategic planning that led to its demise, and will remind ourselves of what we've lost. Join LIVE at 7pm on Wednesday! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis. Merch at https://garethd...
Jun 14, 2023•59 min•Ep. 171
This week we are talking all things mobility and mining, and we've the absolute pleasure of being joined by Thea Riofrancos, Associate Professor of Political Science at Providence College. With her research being focused on resource extraction, renewable energy, climate change, green technology and social movements, she's the perfect person to explain why building our transport future around resource-intensive technologies such as lithium batteries is a non-starter, and indeed that we should be ...
Jun 07, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 170
Okay, so we won't just be talking about Elon Musk fumbling the bag... It's a news episode and there's plenty to catch up on! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch . Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord ....
May 31, 2023•48 min•Ep. 169
Our very special pilgrimage site of Colton Junction suffered a catastrophic (but all too common) failure this week, and so it seems like a good chance to talk about crossing noses, what they are, why they fail and how we can stop them failing. May or may not include gratuitous imagery of Colton Junction's fabulous equal splits. Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Merch at http...
May 24, 2023•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 168
This week we are looking at two rail crashes, one at Pitlochry in Scotland and another at Pershore in Worcestershire, that took place in the 1980s. Thankfully, neither involved serious injuries, but both incidents can teach us a few things, despite having been mostly forgotten... Including the unforeseen side-effects of introducing new bits into dynamic engineering systems like railways. Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose ch...
May 17, 2023•1 hr 8 min•Ep. 167
This week's #RailNatter is a return to Gerrards Cross and all the shenanigans that led a tunnel with a Tesco on it to collapse onto a live railway... Why did the HSE not publish their original report? Well, thanks to an intrepid fan of the show, we've finally got hold of it! We'll be lawyering up as we flick through the pages of the draft report and stare in horror and the engineering negligence that nearly led to a multi-fatality rail disaster. Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailN...
May 10, 2023•1 hr 29 min•Ep. 166
It's an age-old question... A rail bridge is out, only the rails are left, so do you take the train fast or slow over the bridge? There's a lot to think about: gravity, dynamics, waves, stiffness, materials, energy, vibrations... All combine to give us the answer. But what is it? It's slow - you obviously drive slowly over the dang bridge! Anyway, hopefully this will explain why! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at ...
May 03, 2023•1 hr 4 min•Ep. 165
Last week, the TUC published their report "Public transport fit for the climate emergency" and, in classic #RailNatter style, we are going to sift through it page by page! Having only really flicked through it up to this point, this report appears to dig deeper into my "rail capacity needs to double by 2050" figure and comes out showing this looks to actually be an underestimate. Union researchers are pretty rigorous, and so I'm keen to see what they've found... Enjoyed this? Please do consider ...
Apr 26, 2023•1 hr 7 min•Ep. 164
It's another #NotAMetro episode! This time, though, we are diving into the strangest transport systems to see if we can break the #NotAMetro sorter... Intensive bus services, monorails, airport doodads, all welcome! Throw your most bonkers urban transit solution at me, LIVE! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Merch at https://garethdennis.co.uk/merch . Join in the discussion ...
Apr 19, 2023•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 163
As one of the UK's most prominent pro-HS2 voices, you might be under the impression that I think the proposals (the pre-Integrated Rail Plan ones, anyway) are flawless and couldn't be improved upon... Well, that couldn't be further from the truth. But what are the five most significant design shortcomings of High Speed 2, as I see it? You'll have to join LIVE to find out! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via h...
Apr 12, 2023•1 hr 13 min•Ep. 162
Last week was the sixtieth anniversary of the release of The Reshaping of British Railways, and everyone was talking about it... I had to dig deeper into the legacy of this document, and of its author, for a piece in RAIL, and in doing so I had a chance to further re-evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of Dr Beeching's proposals... Yes, it's our third Beeching episode! Join LIVE to get involved in the fun. Read my full piece here: https://garethdennis.medium.com/the-r... Enjoyed this? Please d...
Apr 05, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 161
It's a news episode! We're headlining with talking about the Great British Railways HQ announcement - apparently, they will be basing 100 roles (?) in Derby, probably (and rightly) in the old Railway Technical Centre. They can plonk a flag in Derby, but while the industry is in the shape it currently is, the headquarters will never actually be in Derby... Join LIVE to hash this one out! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose cha...
Mar 29, 2023•1 hr 5 min•Ep. 160
We're back! This week we return to the studio to attempt to demystify the supposedly intractable "last mile problem" that is oft repeated by policymakers, technoprats and car people. What is it? Why doesn't it really exist? Why do people keep saying it does? Let's take a look! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord ....
Mar 22, 2023•55 min•Ep. 159
We talk about it a lot, but what is "integrated transport" when it isn't just a meaningless buzzword? Why is the UK so bad at doing it? Transport researcher Martha Lauren joins us to talk about this history of truly integrated transport, including how the UK was actually ahead of its time until bus deregulation ruined everything... Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Join in t...
Mar 15, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 158
The @NatRailwayMuseum in York is hallowed ground for me and is loved by nearly a million visitors a year, but it has always struggled with being more of a collection than a museum. Vision 2025 will be a great leap forwards in the ability of the museum to tell the story of the railways rather than just telling the story of its objects... And it is happening now! With the sound of saws and hammers ringing around us, I have a chat with the brilliant Charlotte Kingston (the NRM's head of design, exh...
Mar 08, 2023•36 min•Ep. 157
After nearly three years, Luke Agbaimoni returns to #RailNatter to talk about his second book, "London Underground Symmetry & Imperfections". Once again, he's given us a tease of some of the photographs we can find in the book, and we walk and talk our way through each, exploring the aesthetic sublime of London's public transport systems. Make sure to follow Luke on Instagram, and you can find links to buy Tube Mapper Book 2 here: https://tubemapper.com/tube-mapper-ph... Enjoyed this? Please do ...
Mar 01, 2023•1 hr 10 min•Ep. 156
This week, I'm delighted to be joined by Bob Gwynne, the National Railway Museum's associate curator, on an odyssey of historical curiosity, picking out questions from our past historical #RailNatter episodes (which you can find in the relevant playlist by the way)... Watch Bob and the team on camera at @NatRailwayMuseum . Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Join in the discus...
Feb 22, 2023•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 155
Precisely one year ago, a few folks and I had the delight of a tour inside one of HS2's tunnel boring machines as it scoured its way underneath Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire... And what a spectacular experience it was! Hopefully I'll capture some of that excitement and energy as I bring you along on the tour with me... And will I unlock the mystery of the pink helmet? Watch @geofftech2 's video here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2wM6v... Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #Rai...
Feb 15, 2023•42 min•Ep. 154
After WW2 and nationalisation, Britain's railway operations essentially assumed their 1923 structure and shape, and this may not have led to the best outcomes... When it came to infrastructure, each company may have had their main line, but were these the best routes when you took a view of Britain as a whole? This episode we'll have a look, courtesy of some serious map explorations! Download the Google Earth map file here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/pg1yvt2zy0dcmc3/%23RailNatter_Ep152.kmz?dl=1 E...
Feb 08, 2023•1 hr 20 min•Ep. 153
I talk about it a lot, but what is modal shift, how does it work, and why is it both a critical tool and a critical outcome of enhancing and expanding public transport? We'll be page-turning Greengauge21's report on the subject, mostly covering HS2 but also considering high speed rail and its wider released capacity benefits. Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Join in the dis...
Feb 01, 2023•1 hr 17 min•Ep. 152
Returning champion Bonnie Price is joining us to go through The News, since quite a bit has been happening since the holidays. Government data obfuscation, strikes, European shenanigans... Bonnie and I will chew through it and see if there's some light at the end of the tunnel! It's not all bad, either... There'll be some fun stuff as well! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . ...
Jan 25, 2023•1 hr 21 min•Ep. 151
People are still talking about "light railways" as if those actually, meaningfully exist. In this episode, I'll explain why THEY DON'T! We'll look at why it is useful to avoid daft, meaningless names for types of transport, we'll talk about how unhelpful the Light Railways Act is, and in turn we'll shout at the Germanosphere for propagating the use of names such as "Stadtbahn" and so on... All via the still-working #NotAMetro sorter! As ever, think up and send in your edge cases to try and break...
Jan 18, 2023•1 hr 16 min•Ep. 150
It's the 30th anniversary year of the Railways Act 1993 - the legal instrument that formally privatised Britain's railway system. In the first of probably quite a few episodes on the subject, we'll be looking at the history of Britain's railways from 1990 to today... We'll pick out why privatisation happened the way it did, who was responsible for it, how that lined everything up to fail, and how pretty much all of today's problems can be attributed to the mess that was the Railways Act 1993. If...
Jan 11, 2023•1 hr 24 min•Ep. 149
Happy New Year! #RailNatter is kicking off 2023 with a visit from Jon Worth, online communications and policy specialist, who has been blogging and vlogging about the EU and its railways for a long while now... Together, we'll discuss his experiences through 2022, where his #CrossBorderRail project explored the mess that mainland Europe's railway connections are in... There are problems at both the micro and macro levels, and we'll try to tackle both. #CrossBorderRail website: https://crossborde...
Jan 04, 2023•1 hr 26 min•Ep. 148
Yuletide greetings all! This time, you lovely lot are getting a live show in the midst of the holidays, as we are joined by returning champion Emily Turner from @roundelroundwego for some more festive gluposti... This time we will be opening the doors of our #RailNatter Advent of Oddities to hear from past versions of ourselves as well as a few chums. Let's see if this works at all - join LIVE and bring your favourite tipple! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://pat...
Dec 28, 2022•1 hr 6 min•Ep. 147
This week, #RailNatter is diving back into the Deep Lore of Railways, with a proper techy session on the origin of concrete sleepers (starting international, ending British)... Want to know where they came from, and how they developed? Join us LIVE on Weds/7pm! Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose change at me via https://paypal.me/garethdennis . Join in the discussion at https://garethdennis.co.uk/discord ....
Dec 21, 2022•1 hr 39 min•Ep. 146
This week's #RailNatter is finally tackling the big question: should we abolish the Treasury? Luckily, Stian Westlake is joining us to attempt to give an answer! Why should we do it? What would take its place? Is this a daft suggestion, or is there a meaningful, constitutional benefit to obliterating the department that arguably has caused the UK the most damage throughout its history? Enjoyed this? Please do consider supporting #RailNatter at https://patreon.com/garethdennis or throw loose chan...
Dec 14, 2022•1 hr 11 min•Ep. 145
Well, he only went and did it. The USA's "most labor friendly president" has just used executive legislation to break a strike and ensure rail workers continue to be horrendously exploited until they just leave the industry. There's also a lot of other stuff going on, some good, some bad. We'll see what the new Secretary of State for Transport (Mark Harper) is all about. We'll also see how easily buses could be made free in the UK. Watch the @BadFaithPodcast episode I refer to here: https://www....
Dec 07, 2022•1 hr 3 min•Ep. 144
