Forshaw Heath & Earlswood BoD in Warwickshire

Well I was on holiday when the shiny new trains were launched. As the other half and I arrived back off holiday and made our way into Birmingham from the airport I was really looking forward to a shiny new train to take us home. Suffice to say I got one of the old faithfuls and was slightly disappointed. Anyway a few days later I got a ride on a Shiny new train. I am going to be frank and honest. I like the space between the seats and leg room. I like the visual digital displays I like that the look of them I like the verbal updates about what station is next I like the air conditioning I like the tinted glass. My two dislikes The seats are so uncomfortable it is untrue  How an earth are the carpets going to be kept clean. and just an observation there are no rail routes in pictures which would be helpful for tourists or visitors going to Stratford Upon Avon from Birmingham or the other way around. Just Thoughts and observations

Once again this week I had reason to travel to London and once again I still for the life of me can't see the reason for HS2.  On both journey's from Birmingham return I had time to find a seat buy a bottle of water on the train and read a few pages of my book.  If the idea of HS2 is to carry more people to and from Birmingham perhaps we should first tackle the amount of 1st class carriages that have very few people in them.  In fact I would go as far as to say out of the several I think it was 4 or 5 1st class carriages I walked through yesterday the quantity of people did not warrant that amount of carriages. If I guessed I suspect they could have all fitted into one carriage.  Why is there this urge to supply so many 1st class carriages on a journey that left London at 16:49 and arrived at Bham international at 15:56 it took 1 hour 7 mins it just doesn't make sense. Anybody got any thoughts on this

I was thinking about the HS2 rail project. I happen to be one of those people that travel to London on business and to be honest except for the Snail Rail London Midland journey I experienced the other day, Virgin Rail and Chiltern provide me with what I require. Which is quite simply get me to London and back again. I don’t know how HS2 will add any benefit to me; I will still have to find my way to New Street or Birmingham International. Rail is a strange thing somewhere on this blog are a few photos of how Earlswood station looked in 1908 with it’s beautiful buildings and waiting rooms, that would have has an impact on those living locally. As I looked at the photos I couldn’t help but notice the lack of plants and trees.  As a child I remember the station and the signal box I also remember how awful it looked when it was demolished! and I am not that old. As an adult I look at it and it’s bushes, trees and wild life and can’t for the life of me imagine it any different....

I am sort of mixed up about HS2. I really do think our current rail system is sadly lacking in something.  Do I think it needs a complete rebuild on new land my answer is NO. I really do not know what the problem is. I go from New Street to London in an hour and a half unless of course if I catch a London Midland Train that stops here there and every where and that takes 2.5 hours. I just don't understand why a few minutes will make any difference.  We may all arrive in London at super fast times but you can guarentee we will not be struggling to get where we are going once we arrive in London on the out dated underground. May be the quality of our trains and the load capacity is something to do with the widths of carriages for example in Spain it is 5ft something they are wider they are air conditioned and they carry people comfortably. I have a 2nd thought! why is it so important to transport people from Birmingham to London in quick time? I personally think no matter ...

OMG I am so slow off the mark which is more than can be said about my next topic of conversation. I was only to pleased to hear that Warwickshire Police had delivered a crushing blow to the Street Racers in the Hams Hall area. I picked it up on Twitter and then went and read the report provided and look at the video provided. It scared me just watching the video then I got even more scared when I looked at the list and how far some of these videos dated back and to be honest I was horrified. Some of these videos go back as far as 2000/2001! I have a question? Why has it taken 10/11 years for authorities to deliver a crushing blow to such anti social driving behaviour in this area? I would hardly call it a crushing blow after so many years. http://onlinenews.warwickshire.police.uk/wpnews_pressrelease/warwickshire-police-deliver-a-crushing-blow-to-hams-hall-car-cruisers/13478

http://www.warwickshirerailways.com/gwr/earlswoodlakes.htm The above site has a load of old pictures and history about Earlswood Lakes Station interesting!                                                                             Earlswood Lakes station was situated at the highest point of the line between Birmingham and Stratford Upon Avon. The long bank from the south required heavily loaded trains to be piloted from Stratford Upon Avon. Watering facilities were provided for trains that might have otherwise have been hard pressed to continue on to Snow Hill. The station was opened with the line in 1908 and was deemed significant enough to be provided with brick platform structures and a goods yard which remained open until 6th July 1964. Access to the station was via a path to the up platform ...

Some of those people that were reading yesterday may of read me moan about the exit of Snow Hill station and how dangerous it is when two commuter trains arrive together and passengers try to leave the station at the same time. Yesterday I found myself stuck at the top of a moving escalator with no way forward and no way backward because the electronic gates weren't letting the flow of passengers out quickly enough. It is not the first time it has happened to me. I decided to put my new found piece of technology to use and Twitter London Midland with my concerns. I was actually pleasantly surprised to get a Tweet back at all asking me what I thought the solution was! Solution 1 Instead of keeping the gates closed for the early morning commuters putting them in danger leave them open and then try closing them after 10am until 15:30hrs. I notice when I get to work late or leave early there is no one around and the gates are open. Solution 2 Move the gates to the Glass door exi...

Here we are on the 2nd day of Spring and I feel like I have been blasted back into the depths of winter. Last Wednesday it was warm enough (just) to wear a T Shirt comfortably this evening I was scratching around for some gloves. Anyway today I started to get annoyed with London Midland again. For those of you that aren't aware at Snow Hill station they have introduced electronic gates where you pop your ticket in and the machine spits it out and opens the gate at the same time.  The trouble is there don't appear to be enough gates for people to flow through easily and the space between the gates and the escalators is questionable especially when two trains arrive together.  This is what happens people can't get through the gates quick enough and we all get packed together like sardines with people trying to get off the moving escalators.  I happened to be at the top of the escalators this morning and had nowhere to go.  How the hell this isn'...

INFORMATION and witnesses are being sought following a non-stop collision on the A435 near Junction 3 of the M42, in Wythall. It happened at about 2pm on Thursday, January 20, and involved a red VW Golf and a yellow Honda motorcycle. The driver of the Golf and the motorcycle rider, both men, had a brief exchange at the Total garage and left the forecourt at the same time, heading up the A435 northbound. After about 200 metres there was a collision which resulted in the motorcyclist falling from his machine. The Golf did not stop at the scene. The motorcyclist was not seriously injured and did not require any medical treatment. Detective Constable Rachel Wheeler said: “We would like to hear from anyone who saw the two men at the garage or saw the collision, as they may be able to help us piece together what happened. A man was arrested in connection with the incident and been released on police bail until March 13. Anyone with information about the incident is asked to call DC Whe...

  This made me smile although I doubt the residents of this road are very happy looking at the state of the grass verges, obviously the driver of the car is not in the wrong and has nowhere else to go and I suspect the driver of the lorry made a genuine mistake. They often say forewarned is forearmed so I now have to question the reading abilities of the driver of the lorry.If he lorry had of continued down the road it would have probably come unstuck or should I say stuck. This lorry driver decided to reverse out of this road onto quite a fast (60MPH) B road on a very nasty bend he would have been presented with the worst of two evils. I blame the sat navs!

A main road in Warwickshire was closed after a light aircraft made an emergency landing on it. Pilot Chris Hall walked away uninjured from the damaged Piper PA-28 which landed on the A429 at Wellesbourne earlier. Mr Hall, of Earlswood, Warwickshire, said remembered his "instructor's words" during the incident. The ambulance service said it was "more of a heavy landing" than a crash. Senior paramedic officer Martyn Scott added: "The pilot got up and walked away. There was not a mark on him. He was totally uninjured." Mr Hall said: "On climb out the engine decided that it wasn't going to play any more, so I remembered my instructor's words, which were 'find a field', so I did." The pilot added he had just taken off. He said: "I'd just been doing circuits actually, so I'd done six or seven take offs and landings in the previous hour. "So I was very familiar with what the plane was doing and what the conditions w...

I have to say I am pleasantly surprised at the over all performance of the trains on the North Warwickshire -  Stratford to Stourbridge line over  a period of very cold weather. for once I am not complaining about the train service its self and will give credit where credit is due. 8/10 for the train turning up.

A BRAND new bus service taking in Earlswood, Cheswick Green, Monkspath and Solihull town centre got off to a roaring start last week. The S14 service, run by Grosvenor Coaches, is offering residents of Earlswood their first proper bus route for many a year, enabling them to get to all the amenities they need in Cheswick Green and Solihull. In addition, the new route will pass by Solihull Sixth Form College and Alderbrook and Tudor Grange School making it ideal for term time students. “We have put this service in place after feedback from parents, schoolchildren and students who felt that the new S4 service wasn’t meeting their needs,” said Grosvenor director Dave Sterland. “In addition it means that residents in Earlswood now have direct access to Solihull.” However he added that to survive, the service would have to be used. “It’s a commercial route, there is no subsidy and we are doing all this off our own backs - we are trying to meet the needs of residents and different servi...

Well the time comes to us all I am now nearer 50 than 40 and crossing the road has become a night mare. There are times when a girl says if you can't beat them join them. For sheer self preservation reasons I have recently become a car owner & driver

Visitors travelling to Earlswood by rail should be aware there are two stations that are often mixed up. Earlswood The Lakes Both stations access Earlswood however if you disembark at Earlswood you will have to walk through the woods to get to the lakes or through the lanes it's a half hour 3/4 of an hour walk and not recommended for a wet day. Although if your a walker this is exactly what you might want to do. You should be warned that The Lakes is a request stop you have to ask the guard to ensure that the train stops at The Lakes also it is a short platform and you have to be situated at the front of the train to disembark. This is the station that most people use when wanting to get to the lakes quickly. Both stations have a very high step from the train to the platform please be careful. Regards Bod