Roger Ford thinks the competition to find the location of the new headquarters for Great British Railways is a distraction, but I think it is good politics. The contest has already achieved the objective of creating the illusion that various areas have a shout at winning this mysterious prize. I say mysterious because nobody knows how big the HQ will be, 50 people or 500 people? Actually, since it is Government it might be 5,000.
RULES OF THE GAME
I was going to review all the submissions, but I found more interesting things for you to read, so I have grouped them as shown in the table. In making the decision we must consider the criteria, where railway heritage will certainly be trumped by cost-effectiveness.
When Porterbrook was set up in Sheffield (beside the Porter Brook), it was said that it wanted to be seen to be separate from Derby. The truth was that the three nominated directors lived in Doncaster, York and Sheffield. New MD Sandy Anderson quickly realised most people were travelling from Derby and put that right, moving to the old BR accounts building. Importantly, it was a requirement to stay within BRowned property so the rent was ‘wooden dollars’. Angel Trains, based in London, soon foun…