Episodes

Season 2018 / 2019 – Talk 8 b The Austro Hungarian Empire (b) continues Jo’s talk. Jo picks up the story in the 1880s, and tells us about the period to the Empire’s dissolution in 1918. We hear about the lack of democratic government and the stress caused by the differences between Austria and Hungary. Franz Joseph was the Emperor from 1867 to 1916. He governed for much of the time with just a few ministers and a small Civil Service. Jo also talks about the institutional antisemitism, particul...

Your Big Project – Series 1 Episode 4 Welcome to The Team, episode four in the series ‘Your Big Project‘. Hopefully this series of podcasts will improve the chances of success for your project. In this series we always consider the good, the bad and the extremely ugly! In The Team I talk about the need for ensuring that you have the best team that you can find. This means that you will need your most valuable business and IT members on the project as well as a carefully selected external consu...

Episode 12 Welcome to Walk the Line where members of the public raise money for the Watercress Line. It is an opportunity to see the railway from ground level and at walking pace! 950 walkers, with many assorted dogs, took up the challenge to Walk the Line on a Sunday last November. It was a beautiful autumnal morning when the walkers set off but torrential rain arrived during the walk. Many of the walkers ‘signed on’ in Alresford and took the vintage ‘rail replacement buses’ to Alton so that ...

Series 1 Episode 14 In episode fourteen I travel on the California Zephyr from The Middle of Nowhere in Wyoming to Reno. We continue along the diversion to Salt Lake City and then, having rejoined the usual route, on to Reno . The route takes us through some pretty desolate desert. I certainly wouldn’t like to get stranded out there! The train passes through the desert communities of Elko, Winnemucca and Lovelock on our journey through Nevada. All the time going westward, much faster than the ...

Your Big Project – Series 1 Episode 3 Welcome to Process Mapping the third episode in the series ‘Your Big Project‘. Hopefully this series of podcasts will improve the chances of success for your project. In this series we always consider the good, the bad and the extremely ugly! In Process Mapping I talk about the need for accurate, detailed process maps before starting your project. These are an essential foundation before you start your systems project. Even the simplest process has complic...

Welcome to part 3 of the Driving and Firing Experience offered by the Watercress Line. The afternoon was my opportunity to drive a steam engine – something that I’d wanted to do since I was a child! Three of us were trainees that afternoon, guided by an excellent Watercress Line driver and fireman. This podcast starts as leave Alresford, for the second time, for the uphill climb to Ropley. After reaching Ropley we went on a tour of the engineering sheds. The sheds enable the line to carry out ...

In episode thirteen I travel on the California Zephyr from north of Denver, Colorado, then along our diversion across Wyoming to Rawlins, an oil town in Carbon County. The diversion is to allow engineering work on the California Zephyr’s normal route. We are travelling along the historic Overland route last regularly used by a passenger train over 20 years ago. The Amtrak Pioneer. The Pioneer ran for nearly 20 years from June 1977 until May 1997. Although we stopped many times on our journey n...

Welcome to Your Best Practice Programme. The second episode in the series ‘Your Big Project‘. Hopefully this series of podcasts will improve the chances of success for your project. In this series we always consider the good, the bad and the extremely ugly! In Your Best Practice Programme, the essential foundation before you start your systems project, we look at key building blocks for the programme. The talk is based on the experience I have gained through my involvement in a number of Best ...

Welcome to part 2 of the Driving and Firing Experience offered by the Watercress Line. My opportunity to do something that I’d wanted to do since I was a child! Drive a steam engine!! There were three trainees that afternoon, guided by an excellent Watercress Line driver and fireman. The podcast starts as we reach Ropley after an uphill climb from Alresford. This episode takes you from our arrival into Ropley, on to Medstead and then all the way back down the hill, through Ropley and on to Al...

In episode twelve I travel on the California Zephyr from Mount Pleasant, Iowa, through Denver and then northwards to our diversion through Wyoming. The diversion is because there is engineering work on the normal route between Denver and Salt Lake City. The diversion takes us along the historic Overland route. The last regular passenger service to use this route was the Amtrak Pioneer. The Pioneer ran for nearly 20 years from June 1977 until May 1997. We travelled from Burlington through the la...

In Kitchener, Alan Bridgeman focuses on the campaign to avenge the death of General Gordon. His main source is the book With Kitchener to Khartoum, written by the Daily Mail journalist G W Steevens who covered the campaign. The book is written in the style of the time and might not be considered to be ‘politically correct’ today. A number of journalists covered the campaign against the army of Abdullah al-Taashi, the Khalifa. He was the successor to the Mahdi. The talk is full of observations ...

Welcome to Your Big Project. This series of podcasts is about improving your chances of success. In this series we will consider the good, the bad and the extremely ugly! In episode 1 we look at the A to Z of things to ask yourself before you start your project. I have attached a set of slides to accompany the talk below. The talk includes Best Practice, the Customer’s role, scope Elasticity, the dreaded JFDI, Kerfuffle, Vanity and Zzzzzzz amongst many other things. A different look at the alp...

Welcome to this podcast about the Driving and Firing Experience offered by the Watercress Line. This was my opportunity to do something that I’d wanted to do since I was a child! Drive a steam engine!! There were three trainees that afternoon, guided by an excellent Watercress Line driver and fireman. I drew the short straw and had to ‘fire’ the loco in preparation for our uphill journey to Ropley and Medstead/Four Marks. The others seemed to have a much easier job! This episode takes you fro...

In the eleventh episode I travel from Chicago to Burlington on the California Zephyr. The episode starts at the historic Drake Hotel in Chicago where I stayed for a night. After a restful night I took a taxi to Union Station for the start of my journey on the California Zephyr. Our journey takes us from Chicago, across Big Muddy and on to Burlington. This is the first part of the journey on the California Zephyr travelling from Chicago to the Bay Area. Our first stop after leaving Chicago is a...

Welcome to this podcast about the Open Weekend on the Watercress Line. The weekend enables you to go behind the scenes at this heritage railway and see what makes it steam. The weekend coincides with the Heritage Open Days programme and MHRPS members can come along for free. There is an enhanced train service for the weekend with steam trains, the Hampshire diesel set and also freight train operations. Becky Peacock, the project manager for the Canadian Pacific project, gave guided tours of th...

The White Rajahs of Sarawak tells the story of the Brooke family’s rule of Sarawak. They ruled for 100 years from 1841 until the Japanese Invasion in December 1941. The talk starts with some of the history of the area in the centuries preceding the arrival of James Brooke. James used an inheritance to purchase a schooner in which he sailed to Singapore. He then sailed to Sarawak and by quelling a rebellion he managed to gain control of Sarawak. James, whose hero was Sir Stamford Raffles, ran S...

The White Rajahs of Sarawak tells the story of the Brooke family’s rule of Sarawak. The rule lasted for 100 years from 1841 until the Japanese Invasion in December 1941. Jenny picks up the story of the Brooke family following the departure of James in the second part of the White Rajahs of Sarawak. She starts with his nephew Charles, who lacked his uncle’s charm, had a great empathy with the Dayaks. Charles returned to England after the death of his Uncle to find a wife. His wife, Margaret, fo...

We travel from Milwaukee to Chicago in the tenth episode of US Rail Journeys. This is the last part of our journey on the Empire Builder as the train travels along the Milwaukee Road. Originally a plank road for horses and carts Milwaukee Road became the name given to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The first stop after leaving Milwaukee is at Glenview station which opened in 1995. The Empire Builder, Amtrak’s Hiawatha Service and Metra commuter services use the station....

Welcome to 2019! Welcome to this review of the year 1869 where Michael A’Bear delves back 150 years. In his talk he gives us a flavour of the people and events of that year. It’s an average year, he suggests, but includes the birth of Rasputin, the death of Hector Berlioz and the opening of the first Sainsbury store. The Cutty Sark, the last tea clipper, was launched (now preserved at Greenwich), Ghandi was born and ex. US President, the unpopular, Franklin Pierce died. Listen to the podcast a...

In the ninth episode of US Rail Journeys we journey on the Empire Builder from Red Wing to Milwaukee. For much of our journey we are on the Milwaukee Road. The Milwaukee Road was the name often given to the Chicago, Milwaukee, St. Paul and Pacific Railroad. The first stop in this episode is at Winona where 17,500 passengers used the station in 2017. This is followed by La Crosse where a Frenchman first noticed Native Americans playing a game where they caught a ball in a net attached to a stick...

Welcome to this podcast of Santa’s Christmas Message. Today I’ve braved the snowstorms of the North Pole to get a few words with Santa. He is just about to set out. In just 24 hours Santa travels the world giving out the presents made the Elves. Remember to leave a mince pie out for Santa and a carrot for the reindeer. Don’t forget that Santa only delivers your presents once you’re deeply asleep ……. My thanks to Santa, his team of on train ‘helpers’, the Elves that he left at the North Pole an...

In the Strange Death of Liberal England – Part A Robert Sykes follows the book by George Dangerfield published in 1935. The book follows the difficulties faced by the Liberal Government in dealing with the House of Lords, the ‘Irish Question’, the women’s suffrage and the trade unions. This was the period when the Liberal Party was still seen as the party of the working man. At this time both the Labour and Irish Nationalist MPs supported the Liberal Government. The book was first published in...

In the second part of his talk on the Strange Death of Liberal England Robert talks about the discord that existed in Britain in 1914 immediately prior to the start of the First World War. From a situation of strife where the Government was suffering problems with the Suffragettes, in Ireland over Home Rule and a ‘triple alliance’ of the Trade Unions, the declaration of war resulted in all sides uniting against a common enemy. This talk has been split into two sections to make it more convenie...

Welcome to this podcast featuring the Santa Specials that run on the Watercress Line. Santa comes all the way from his home at the North Pole each time a train is running. During his visit his sleigh is looked after by the maintenance team at Ropley and, if you look carefully out of the train windows, you may see his reindeer in one of the fields by the track. There is so much magic surrounding Santa and lots of this rubs off on the passengers. You can hear everybody having a wonderful time. I’...