petes blog

It’s a funny old world!  Take last weekend for instance when  I just nipped up to Crewe to see one of my engines and suddenly found myself involved in conversations regarding money!  Oh no, to be more accurate, it was the lack of it!

Why, all of a sudden?  Well no,  that’s a silly question, I know why and you’d have to be unconscious not to be aware of the state of the economy, but for that to be the dominant topic right here, right now well, that was disturbing!  I can remember the days when everyone involved in Steam Railways had far more important things to talk about – like trains!  Hey, believe me if I weren’t such a buoyant character I’d have been really depressed by the end of Friday afternoon!  However, just to confirm that my bright and breezy outlook wasn’t misplaced, come Saturday I decided to do my own investigation into the economic woes of the Steam Railways of Great Britain – small or large.

Putting aside my natural concerns regarding my carbon footprint I judged that the gravity of the whole issue justified my using the car since I needed to cover some distances so I put a tiger in me tank and went off to Keighley where,  yes, it was very cold in them northern parts and maybe this accounted for the fact that there wasn’t lots of people around (or maybe it was all down to the economic downturn!).  Common sense prevailed however and I have to conclude that in the depths of January it’s not surprising that there were only a few diehards out – and what cheery souls they were!  I decided all looked well here – well not exactly bustling, you might say, but still chugging along.

With the ‘Fat-Nav’ reset I ventured forth from Yorkshire to Lancashire and to the East Lancs Steam Gala.  And no wonder there was nobody at Keighley and Worth Valley!  They were all at East Lancs drinking copious amounts of real ale and not one of them was staggering about – quite amazing!  Your ever vigilant sleuth, donned his President’s hat and decided to question the staff as to what they thought was going on in the business – and in tune with the economic mood, I had a note of concern in my voice.   Well, fear not and surprise, surprise, although there was a little bit of a sombre mood in evidence, the view was that Santa Specials had been a record!  The Diesel Gala had been well received and well attended and the Saturday was on par for a good day!

I say to you all on the railway, put your steam hats back on and don’t worry about the economy.  Let Messrs Brown and Darling do that while we play trains.

Onwards and upwards!  Oh and by the way I had me camera so here’s some pictures of some really interesting stuff like trains, engines, tracks –  and not one of the economy!!

Here are a few photos of my locos for you to enjoy! If you have any questions or feedback please feel free to leave a comment!

For 2 years I have been championing the need for apprenticeships in the rail industry in the form of a Railway Skills Academy. I even lobbied the main political Party Conferences in 2008 and genuinely thought that the message was getting through. However, what to most people who work in any industry is meat and potatoes; to outsiders it appears to be rocket science! I have noticed more and more people now use the buzz word ‘apprenticeships’ and although I welcome everyone in championing the cause, for this to be effective, it is essential to understand what the word ‘apprenticeship’ actually means – to learn some trade or craft which the employer agrees to teach!

With the financial crisis all around us, we hear the words ‘new deal’ dripping off politicians’ lips – but words without actions are just words. Billions of pounds are being offered to re-start the economy which is all very commendable (and probably more than is necessary) but a ‘new deal’ must mean new thinking. We have seen that the old ways do not work and randomly chucking money at a problem, with no thought of process is about as good as a chocolate wrist watch!

One of the problems I have encountered with most ministers and I would quickly add not all, is that they confuse ‘training’ and ‘education’. They are not the same thing. In fact they’re pretty diametrically opposed. Yesterday I saw in the media that the Government wants to see less unskilled people in the workforce. A statement which speaks volumes and one which instantly shows ignorance of what is really required, What is ‘unskilled’? British industry, because of the pay structures, has always been reluctant to label people who are crucial to their business as ’skilled’. Try doing a plumber’s job if you’ve never been trained to do it. What our current ministers and would-be ministers seem to forget is that this country was built by (using their definition), ‘unskilled workers’. There seems to be some problems with acknowledging that some of our greatest railway engineers as well as pioneers in other industries, were self taught and could barely read or write yet history remembers them with pride for what they achieved and not for any academic piece of paper. We have to return to this format. Somebody once said, “Those who can, do – Those who can’t, teach and those who can’t teach, manage”. In this recession what we need are Those Who Do!

Talk is cheap, but skills, real skills, cost money. The idea of a golden envelope to employees is cynical and to take a trainee on for 1 year is neither feasible nor productive. Do you realise that the current handout is less than the employers’ contribution to P.A.Y.E? Come on chaps, let’s have some real serious thinking. Let’s stop pushing our young people into colleges and universities that only suit a minority of them. Too many graduates leave these places of learning with degrees that will never get them a job let alone a longterm career. It’s time to rebuild our manufacturing core. We are an island and in most areas now we can build for the UK as cheaply as importing it from China. We have to think positively and see the labour force in this country as people who want to work and not people who just want handouts. Pride is important but pride in one’s work is more important and by putting money into jobs we can regain this ethic for millions of people. Let’s not burden employers so that they can no longer make investments to build their companies and let us work with people who are funded by the Government to enable them to learn properly.

Now I hear you say, “Isn’t that what they are doing” but, oh no, it isn’t! We give out handouts all over the place but very little of it is repaid in real jobs. We spend over £3 billion on training in this country, but to what avail? Our industry is in trouble so what are we training people for? A new deal must go hand in hand with new thinking. The Government is already spending the money and it needs to rethink the process and direct the expenditure to the right places. The current thinking of bailing the banks out to help industry is flawed because banks are now more entrenched that they ever were. Speak to anyone in the Manufacturing Industry and they’ll tell you that in the last 10 years banks have never been interested in granting loans to this sector. They’ll lend money for new cars, fancy holidays, house extensions etc but new machinery to make British industry the envy of the world? – No chance – because Banks do not understand Manufacturing. I do not dispute this Government’s wish to relieve the current downturn, but I do argue that trying to solve the problem by throwing money at university education at the expense of creating a fully trained skilled workforce is not the answer.

Arguably, we are where we are because of a basic lack of appreciation for, and an understanding of, the term “Skilled Workforce” – yes, it’s time to re-educate, but there is more than one way to skin the cat!

For years i believed that only by sharing information between like minded people that our interest can be taken more seriously. This space will be used by me to bring you, not only the real railway, but also my passion for model railways including updates from my own layout Leamington Spa. I hope by exchanging photographs and information we can push our interests into the 21st Century. January and February are busy months in the model industry and you’ll see me at various shows with my book  – Leamington, Stafford, and Glasgow.

So here are a few photographs to start us all off. This is how I do it – how do you do it?