Following my previous blog post on HS2 and its possible go ahead, I think its time to take a closer look at HS2 and protecting our ancient woodland.
The current route for HS2 today includes chopping down parts of ancient woodland. I have already said in a previous blog post that the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds (RSPB) are fully against that, but I did not mention that by chopping down trees our birds and nature will be affected. The government are promising to plant many new trees, but that will not solve the problem. We all know that trees take a long time to grow into full size mature trees, so this plan of the government's seems to be just something to keep those like the RSPB happy, while the government continues its destruction plan. Another organization that is supporting the protection of the ancient woodland is Woodland Trust. It says that 'HS2 is a serious threat to the UK's ancient woodlands with 108 at risk of loss or damage'. It then went on to say that 32 ancient woodlands will be directly affected and another 29 will suffer from secondary effects like noise and pollution. Is that a good idea? By planting new trees, the government won't be able to replace the woodland that has been there before, nor will the government (or anyone else for that matter) be able to call it ancient woodland. The woodland will have lost its title until, another hundred years have gone by at least. Trees are useful for a variety of things. They are the best in nature for providing us with fresh oxygen. They also purify air, contribute in the water cycle, give shade or shelter and protect wildlife. If the government has not considered this, and if they have, decided to completely ignore that fact, then these actions show that the government is destroying our country. If this is its plan, then the news of chopping down trees is very bad news. These actions of the government show us that they don't care for nature anymore, which is very sad. If it did care for nature, it would not be pushing our building force to get HS2 built, and all those trees chopped down. From what we can see, though, is that the government are eager to get the new railway built, however much it might cost - they do not care about anybody else. HS2 has been given the go ahead, and the last thing the government wants is for an outsider to raise up a justified business case to scrap the new railway, that crushes its plans. At this moment in time, HS2 is on the verge of walking into difficulties as it continues to chop down trees. It has stated that this is the largest environmental project, but its actions have contradicted its words. Work has already been undertaken at Crackley Woods near Kenilworth, and the chopping down of trees has taken place during the critical time of nesting. It is also the time when the woodlands should be bursting with natural life. The contractor, who has been appointed to do the work, has made the decision to move the ancient woodland soils to another site, which has been criticized. The RSPB has urged HS2 not to chop down trees in the April to September nesting season, but HS2's response was that work was continuing with an ecologist on site to spot nesting birds, and stop work as required. The reason being that destruction of active bird nests is illegal. The RSPB said: “HS2 isn’t earning our trust and sadly we’ve seen evidence that nest site exclusion zone concerns from local residents are going ignored.” One does wonder what the government is thinking about. It sounds like the government has no knowledge whatsoever about nature, and as it is only interested in its own agenda, everybody else is forced to be swept along with it. It is worth remembering here that one can not overcome nature. If one tries to go against nature, then one will bring destruction.
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George Stephenson' s work in the past has helped to shape the railway network as we know it today.
George Stephenson was born in Wylam just outside Newcastle in 1781. When he was eight years old George (being the second child) went to work for the first time. He earned two pence a day for looking after a widow's cows. Then George found a job at the mine. When the coal came up out of the pit George, like most of the local boys had to remove the stones. Next at the age of fourteen years old he helped his father who was a fireman of the pumping engine at the coal mine. Unfortunately the mine closed and George and his father had to find fresh work. So George and his parents moved away to a different area where he found a job looking after pumping engine with a fellow called Bill Coe which pleased him. Soon he became so interested in the engine they were looking after that on weekends he would take it apart, clean and oil the parts and have it working again by Monday. One day the colliery engineer told George's father" The lad's a born engineer." All because his engine was running smoothly. At the age of eighteen he went to night school for a penny a week and learnt how to write his name. Next he moved to another school to learn arithmetic. Soon he was reading out the news sheets to the other miners. The news sheets were about the war against Napoleon. George started taking on other jobs like mending shoes. While in this business he met a girl called Francis Henderson. George asked her to marry him and they married soon after. Their first born was Robert Stephenson who also is quite important in the history of British railways. Next they had a daughter who was called Fanny but she died within months of her birth. Then Francis Henderson died of cancer. So he married his second wife, Betty in 1820. As he got older it became clear that he was a competent, civil and mechanical engineer. One of his early inventions was a miners safety lamp which was widely used. Another of his inventions was his first steam engine Blucher which he built in 1820. He was made chief engineer of the Stockton and Darlington Railway which was opened in 1825 and it was the first public railway in the world using steam locomotives. He then went on to engineer several other railways including the Liverpool and Manchester Railway which was the world's first intercity railway which opened in 1830. He built the Grand Junction Railway and the Manchester and Leeds railway. Once while tunnelling in Derbyshire he came across rich seams of coal. He was tunnelling for the North Midland Company. He also went into business with George Hudson and Joseph Sanders. Together they opened ironworks, coal mines and limestone quarries. Meanwhile there was a constant demand for locomotives from all over the world including America. The early railroads of America got their first locomotives from George Stephenson's factory in Newcastle. George Stephenson spent his last years living in Tapton House where he ran a small farm. While he was there he experimented in breeding stock and tried to find out how to speed up fattening up chickens. In 1848 George Stephenson the Father of Railways passed away. George Stephenson was a kindly man with a great love of children and a strange knack of taming wild birds His virtues were perseverance and shrewdness and he had a gift of imagination. He was also a gifted man who's mind never stopped trying to work out how things worked. As a result he made a great contribution to engineering in particular and we all benefit from his inventions. Works Cited 1. Unstead, R. J., People in History. London; Morrison and Gibb Limited, 1957. 2. Holland, Julian, History of Britain's Railways. Glasgow; Harper Collins publishers, 2015.
High Weald Transport Publishing 2005 ISBN 0-9550918-0-2
128 pages, hardback, A4 format 244 b/w illustrations This book, consisting entirely of pictures from the author’s collection, is a commemoration of the final 25 years of these services. Some of the workings covered, such as Waterloo-Exeter and Victoria-Gatwick, will be familiar to many. However, some rarely-photographed trains are depicted as well, such as the short-lived Newhaven-Manchester train, withdrawn in 1987 after only a year, and the cross-country services to Portsmouth via Guildford. A few memories will also be stirred by pictures of long-forgotten trains such as the “Crompton”- hauled 17.20 London Bridge-Uckfield and the overnight newspaper trains, complete with solitary Mk I coach. Overall, in fact, the author has deliberately chosen not to concentrate excessively on the better-known workings, for these (especially the West of England Line) have been adequately covered elsewhere. Although the book primarily covers scheduled loco-hauled trains, a few specials are also illustrated, including the late-lamented “Merrymakers” and SAGA trains, along with a few pictures of the VSOE Pullmans and some enthusiasts’ specials. Although Black & White may seem a bit “Retro” these days, it is quite surprising how good even quite contemporary liveries, such as Virgin Red and Wessex Pink can look in monochrome. The book will certainly bring back a lot of fond memories for many Modern Traction fans in the South of England. |
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