The name of Sir William McAlpine will forever be linked with "Flying Scotsman"
Now his name is to be linked to another ambitious new build project...a 4-6-2- Clan Class locomotive..named "Hengist". Sir William has agreed to be the Patron of the Clan Project....in his words.."I urge all enthusiasts of main line steam to become involved in this exciting project".
Amen to that!
Headlines...
Steam Tube - "Hengist" News....
The Hon. Sir William McAlpine, Bt. has agreed to become Patron of THE ‘CLAN’ PROJECT. Very appropriately, Sir William is Patron of the ‘Clan McAlpine’ Society. By giving his support for the Project by becoming its Patron, Sir William said "I am most happy to be associated with this very worthy project, which is well advanced, and I urge all enthusiasts of main line steam to become involved in this exciting project".
He continued ‘I’ve always been fascinated by railways. My earliest memories are of being taken to watch the trains and when Nanny wanted to take me back for lunch, I said, ‘Hold on, there’ll be another one along in a minute.’ There was a railway near the family home in Surrey and young William was regularly taken to see the trains. His interest deepened with his first model railway.
He was born in London at the family owned Dorchester Hotel and was raised at the family home in Surrey and, after being educated at Charterhouse School, he went on to join the family building firm. Post World War Two was a busy time for construction, with Sir William starting his career at Hayes Depot, Middlesex, a 30-acre site which housed the McAlpine’s railway locomotive and wagon fleet.
An acknowledged steam enthusiast, he returned to Hayes depot during the Beeching Axe era, to find that the company’s Hudswell Clarke 0-6-0ST Nº 31, was for sale as scrap for £100. So, Sir William said “...send it over to Fawley”. This marked the start, in 1965, of the Fawley Hill Railway, a private railway which now runs to over a mile long.
Entrance to the Fawley Hill Railway is by invitation only and on selected days which are usually during the summer months. This year THE ‘CLAN’ PROJECT has been invited to attend.
Sir William inherited the baronetcy in 1990 on the death of Sir Robert McAlpine, 5th Baronet. He served as High Sheriff of Buckinghamshire for 1999.
He is a governor of the educational charity Shiplake Court Limited. Shiplake College is an independent school in Shiplake, by the River Thames just outside Henley-on-Thames, England. The school, with just over 350 pupils, admits day boys from 11-18 and boarding boys from 13-18. Day and boarding girls join the College in the Sixth Form.
Sir William is the President of the Railway Benevolent Institution, known as the Railway Benefit Fund, a charity helping current and retired railway industry workers and presently chairs the Railway Heritage Trust.
Sir William is the great-grandson of Sir Robert McAlpine, who founded the contracting company that bears his name to this day. Sir William spent his working career, apart from National Service, in the company, starting as an apprentice fitter, and spending many years as a Director.
The company is famous for the construction of many famous landmark structures including: the Glasgow Subway, Mallaig Extension Railway, Emirates Stadium, Glenfinnan Viaduct - completed in 1901 - the original Wembley Stadium in 1923, the Dorchester Hotel, the Millennium Dome, the Millennium Bridge, London, the Bull Ring in Birmingham, the London Olympics Stadium and the Eden Project in St. Austell in Cornwall.
Sir William McAlpines name, however, will be forever synonymous with the rescue of the ‘FLYING SCOTSMAN’ in 1973 and the establishment of the Railway Heritage Trust and he is warmly welcomed to THE ‘CLAN’ PROJECT, where his wealth of knowledge and experience in the world of heritage railways and business will be put to very good use.
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Railway safety: Commission refers Austria to the Court of Justice.(europa.eu)
The European Commission has decided to refer Austria to the European Court of Justice for failing to bring national rules into line with a European directive on rail safety. Directive 2004/49/EC aims to improve safety for the European Union's railways and to improve access to the market for rail transport services. The directive requires Member States to establish a safety authority, to establish accident and incident investigation bodies, and to define common principles for the management, regulation and supervision of railway safety. In failing to transpose and implement the directive, Austria is denying the safety authority the right to revise safety certificates or authorisations following changes to the regulatory framework. Austria is also failing to ensure proper investigation of accidents and incidents – specifically those which under slightly different conditions might have led to serious accidents – by the independent investigation body. This potentially puts rail passengers at risk and hinders the creation of fair competition in the market.
Commission Vice-President Siim Kallas, responsible for transport, said: "One of the EU's key roles is to ensure equal safety standards for the well-being of rail passengers in all Member States. These standards also ensure fair competition within the internal market among all railway undertakings."
The EU legislation on railway safety aims at establishing requirements for the rail system – including safe management of infrastructure and traffic operations – the respective roles and responsibilities of railway undertakings and infrastructure managers, and the investigation of accidents.
The deadline for implementing the directive was 30 April 2006. The Commission had already requested Austria to take action to ensure compliance in June 2013. Today's action is in line with the Commission's objective to ensure Member States' full compliance with rail safety rules.
For more information
On the March infringement package decisions, see MEMO/14/241
On the general infringement procedure, see MEMO/12/12
More information on infringement procedures
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The new Whitechapel Crossrail station will use the existing Whitechapel Road entrance to the Whitechapel London Underground and London Overground station.
The Crossrail platforms will be in deep tunnels to the north of the existing station but they will all share a concourse, ticket hall, gateline and station operations room, leading to a fully integrated station that provides an easy step-free interchange between the Crossrail, Hammersmith and City, District and Overground lines.At peak times there will be 24 Crossrail trains per hour in each direction – in addition to the existing London Underground and London Overground services. This will not only ease overcrowding on the existing services but also support the economic growth in the surrounding area, as Whitechapel will become an important interchange due to its position at the eastern extremity of the central section of the Crossrail route. Journey times to Heathrow Airport will be only 39 minutes, whilst Whitechapel to Canary Wharf will be reduced to just 3 minutes.
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