83-675: The Spa Valley Railway (SVR) is a standard gauge heritage railway in the United Kingdom that runs from Tunbridge Wells West railway station in Royal Tunbridge Wells to High Rocks , Groombridge , and Eridge , where it links with the Oxted Line . It crosses the Kent and East Sussex border, covering a distance of 5 miles (8 km), along the former Wealden Line between Tunbridge Wells Central and Lewes . The railway headquarters
166-490: A car park for extra convenience. The first self-service branch opened in Croydon in 1950. Sainsbury's was a pioneer in the development of own-brand goods; the aim was to offer products that matched the quality of nationally branded goods but at a lower price. It expanded more cautiously than Tesco , shunning acquisitions, and it never offered trading stamps . Until the company went public on 12 July 1973, as J Sainsbury plc,
249-536: A charitable society formed on 13 September 1985, to purchase and reopen the Tunbridge Wells West to Eridge line. Named the Tunbridge Wells and Eridge Railway Preservation Society (TWERPS), it began a long struggle to reopen the line. The campaign received a setback in the late 1980s when Tunbridge Wells Borough Council gave planning permission for the construction of a large Sainsbury's supermarket complex on
332-628: A country (for example, 1,440 mm or 4 ft 8 + 11 ⁄ 16 in to 1,445 mm or 4 ft 8 + 7 ⁄ 8 in in France). The first tracks in Austria and in the Netherlands had other gauges ( 1,000 mm or 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in in Austria for the Donau Moldau line and 1,945 mm or 6 ft 4 + 9 ⁄ 16 in in
415-549: A few through trains to Uckfield. However, there was a depot at Tunbridge Wells West which housed rolling stock for services on the Uckfield– and East Grinstead–London (via East Croydon ) lines, and there were several empty stock moves early and late in the day. By the early 1980s, the track and signalling needed to be replaced and British Rail were planning an upgrade of the Tonbridge to Hastings Line. British Rail therefore, announced
498-486: A formal bid yet to be tabled, the Takeover Panel issued a bid deadline of 13 April. On 4 April, KKR left the consortium to focus on its bid for Alliance Boots . On 5 April, the consortium submitted an "indicative offer" of 562p a share to the company's board. After discussions between Sir Philip Hampton and the two largest Sainsbury family shareholders Lord Sainsbury of Turville and Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover
581-581: A minority stake in another supermarket group, Giant Food, based in Washington, DC , although this shareholding was subsequently sold when Ahold of the Netherlands made a full bid for the company. An arrangement in late 1995 with Supermarket Direct made Sainsbury's the first major grocery retailer in the UK to offer a home delivery service. In May 1996, the company reported its first fall in profits for 22 years. David Sainsbury announced management changes, involving
664-573: A result of increased sales. Sainsbury's sold its subsidiary in America, Shaw's, to Albertsons in March 2004. Also in 2004 Sainsbury's expanded its share of the convenience shop market through acquisitions. After the launch of King's recovery programme, the company reported nineteen consecutive quarters of sales growth, most recently in October 2009. Early sales increases were credited to solving problems with
747-488: A retailer of fresh foods and later expanded into packaged groceries such as tea and sugar. His trading philosophy, as stated on a sign outside his first shop was: "Quality perfect, prices lower". Shops started to look similar, so a high cast-iron 'J. SAINSBURY' sign featured on every London shop so that it could be recognised from a distance, and round-the-back deliveries started to add extra convenience and not upset rivals due to Sainsbury's popularity. In 1922, J Sainsbury
830-505: A standard gauge of 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ), and those in Ireland to a new standard gauge of 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ). In Great Britain, Stephenson's gauge was chosen on the grounds that existing lines of this gauge were eight times longer than those of the rival 7 ft or 2,134 mm (later 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in or 2,140 mm ) gauge adopted principally by
913-760: Is a railway with a track gauge of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ). The standard gauge is also called Stephenson gauge (after George Stephenson ), international gauge , UIC gauge , uniform gauge , normal gauge in Europe, and SGR in East Africa. It is the most widely used track gauge around the world, with about 55% of the lines in the world using it. All high-speed rail lines use standard gauge except those in Russia , Finland , Uzbekistan , and some line sections in Spain . The distance between
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#1732848800005996-586: Is also at Tunbridge Wells West railway station. The railway was engineered by the London, Brighton and South Coast Railway (LB&SCR) Chief Engineer Frederick Banister , as part of the East Grinstead, Groombridge and Tunbridge Wells Railway (EGGTWR). This being an extension to the Three Bridges–Tunbridge Wells line which had been completed in 1855. The EGGTWR was part of a regional race between
1079-745: Is currently operated by the Ghana Railway Company Limited . Kojokrom-Sekondi Railway Line (The Kojokrom-Sekondi line is a branch line that joins the Western Railway Line at Kojokrom ) Indian nationwide rail system ( Indian Railways ) uses 1,676 mm ( 5 ft 6 in ) broad gauge. 96% of the broad gauge network is electrified. The railway tracks of Java and Sumatra use 1,067 mm ( 3 ft 6 in ). Planned and under construction high-speed railways to use 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in ) to maintain interoperability with
1162-704: The Cuckoo Line in 1965, the Three Bridges to Groombridge in 1967, and finally the Wealden Line south of Uckfield in 1969. The line between Tunbridge Wells and Eridge was itself listed for closure in 1966, only to be subsequently reprieved. The line remained open, although in its latter years passenger services were mainly confined to a shuttle service between Tonbridge (via the single line connection to Tunbridge Wells Central – now plain Tunbridge Wells) and Eridge with
1245-598: The Liverpool and Manchester Railway , authorised in 1826 and opened 30 September 1830. The extra half inch was not regarded at first as very significant, and some early trains ran on both gauges daily without compromising safety. The success of this project led to Stephenson and his son Robert being employed to engineer several other larger railway projects. Thus the 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ) gauge became widespread and dominant in Britain. Robert
1328-972: The Meadowhall Shopping Centre , Sheffield (originally as a SavaCentre) in 1990, and the Merry Hill Shopping Centre at Brierley Hill in the West Midlands , which opened in September 1989. Sainsbury's expanded into Scotland in 1992 with a shop in Darnley (the SavaCentre at Cameron Toll in Edinburgh had opened in 1984). In June 1995, Sainsbury's announced its intention to move into the Northern Ireland market, until that point dominated by local companies. Between December 1996 and December 1998,
1411-447: The hypermarket sector, Sainsbury's formed a joint venture, known as SavaCentre , with British Home Stores . The first SavaCentre shop was opened in Washington, Tyne and Wear , in 1977; nearly half the space, amounting to some 35,000 sq ft (3,300 m ), was devoted to textiles, electrical goods and hardware. As the hypermarket format became more mainstream, with rivals such as Asda and Tesco launching ever larger shops, it
1494-538: The 10th anniversary of the opening of the line by transforming Groombridge into a busy interchange station, with trains arriving or departing every 15 minutes. The funds raised from this event went towards the "Return to Eridge" appeal to raise £500,000 for the extension to the Uckfield main line at Eridge. On 25 March 2011 the SVR extended passenger services to Eridge, where there is a footbridge interchange with Southern services on
1577-889: The Great Western Railway. It allowed the broad-gauge companies in Great Britain to continue with their tracks and expand their networks within the "Limits of Deviation" and the exceptions defined in the Act. After an intervening period of mixed-gauge operation (tracks were laid with three rails), the Great Western Railway finally completed the conversion of its network to standard gauge in 1892. In North East England, some early lines in colliery ( coal mining ) areas were 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ), while in Scotland some early lines were 4 ft 6 in ( 1,372 mm ). The British gauges converged starting from 1846 as
1660-644: The Homebase chain in December 2000, in a twofold deal worth £ 969 million. Sales of the stores to Schroder Ventures generated £750 million and sale of 28 development sites, which had been earmarked for future Homebase shops, were sold for £219 million to rival B&Q 's parent company, Kingfisher plc . During the 1980s, the company invested in new technology: the proportion of sales passing through EPOS scanning checkouts rose from 1% to 90%. In November 1983, Sainsbury's purchased 21% of Shaw's Supermarkets ,
1743-654: The LB&;SCR and the SER, and a specific race to access the town of Royal Tunbridge Wells: The LB&SCR opened Tunbridge Wells West in 1866 as the eastern terminus of the EGGTW; there was also an extension to Tunbridge Wells Central. From Tunbridge Wells West railway station. There were direct services to the South Coast at Brighton and Eastbourne and to London Victoria . The Victoria services ran via Groombridge and Ashurst . A sign outside
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#17328488000051826-670: The London Bridge to Uckfield line. In August 2017, a special event ( 20th Birthday Bash ) was held to celebrate 20 years since the reopening of the line to Groombridge, starring a variety of home and visiting locomotives, including BR Standard 4 Tank 80078. Expected to return to steam by 2025. DMU s are diesel multiple units . EMUs are electric multiple units but these are only being used as static or hauled stock on this line. 51°07′26″N 0°14′13″E / 51.12384°N 0.23706°E / 51.12384; 0.23706 Standard-gauge railway A standard-gauge railway
1909-579: The Midlands-based Thoroughgood chain in 1936. The founder's grandsons Alan Sainsbury (later Lord Sainsbury) and Sir Robert Sainsbury became joint managing directors in 1938, after their father, John Benjamin Sainsbury, had a minor heart attack. In the Second World War , many of the men who worked for Sainsbury's were called to perform National Service and were replaced by women. The war
1992-634: The Nectar app. The Nectar scheme replaced the Sainsbury's Reward Card; accrued points were transferred over. In January 2003, Wm Morrison Supermarkets (trading as Morrisons) made an offer for the Safeway group, prompting a bidding war between the major supermarkets. The Trade and Industry Secretary, Patricia Hewitt , referred the various bids to the Competition Commission , which reported its findings on 26 September. The Commission found that all bids, with
2075-631: The Netherlands for the Hollandsche IJzeren Spoorweg-Maatschappij ), but for interoperability reasons (the first rail service between Paris and Berlin began in 1849, first Chaix timetable) Germany adopted standard gauges, as did most other European countries. The modern method of measuring rail gauge was agreed in the first Berne rail convention of 1886. Several lines were initially built as standard gauge but were later converted to another gauge for cost or for compatibility reasons. 2,295 km (1,426 mi) Victoria built
2158-443: The Sainsbury's board would even consider opening its books for due diligence for anything less than 600p per share. Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover, with just under 3%, was more extreme than his cousin, and refused to sell at any price. He believed any offer at that stage of Sainsbury's recovery was likely to undervalue the business, and with private equity seeking high returns on their investments, saw no reason to sell, given that
2241-439: The Sainsbury's group boasted a twelve-year record of dividend increases, of 20% or more and earnings per share had risen by as much for nearly as long. Also in 1991, the company raised £489 million, in new equity to fund the expansion of supershops. With the advent of out of town shopping complexes during the 1980s, Sainsbury's was one of the many big retail names to open new shops in such complexes – notably with its shop at
2324-575: The United Kingdom, instead assuming responsibility for the rest of the group. David Bremner became head of the supermarkets in the United Kingdom. This was "derided" by the city and described as a "fudge". On 14 January 2000 Sainsbury's reversed this decision by announcing the replacement of Adriano by Sir Peter Davis effective from March. Davis was CEO between 2000 and 2004, with his appointment well received by investors and analysts. In his first two years, he exceeded profit targets, although by 2004
2407-584: The advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. By the 1890s, the entire network was converted to standard gauge. The Royal Commission made no comment about small lines narrower than standard gauge (to be called "narrow gauge"), such as the Ffestiniog Railway . Thus it permitted a future multiplicity of narrow gauges in the UK. It also made no comments about future gauges in British colonies, which allowed various gauges to be adopted across
2490-455: The appointment of two chief executives, one in charge of supermarkets within the United Kingdom (Dino Adriano) and the other responsible for Homebase, and the United States (David Bremner). Finally, in 1998, David Sainsbury himself resigned from the company to pursue a career in politics. He was succeeded as non executive chairman by George Bull, who had been chairman of Diageo , and Adriano
2573-548: The availability problems, Justin King said "Lawrence hadn't seen anything that he hadn't seen before. He just hadn't seen them all in the same place at the same time". In 2006, Christensen commented on the four automated depots introduced by Davis, saying "not a single day went by without one, if not all of them, breaking down... The systems were flawed. They have to stop for four hours every day for maintenance. But because they were constantly breaking down you would be playing catch up. It
Spa Valley Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
2656-476: The coal mines of County Durham . He favoured 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) for wagonways in Northumberland and Durham , and used it on his Killingworth line. The Hetton and Springwell wagonways also used this gauge. Stephenson's Stockton and Darlington railway (S&DR) was built primarily to transport coal from mines near Shildon to the port at Stockton-on-Tees . Opening in 1825,
2739-525: The colonies. Parts of the United States, mainly in the Northeast, adopted the same gauge, because some early trains were purchased from Britain. The American gauges converged, as the advantages of equipment interchange became increasingly apparent. Notably, all the 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) broad gauge track in the South was converted to "almost standard" gauge 4 ft 9 in ( 1,448 mm ) over
2822-471: The company and where the company could improve. This reaffirmed the commentary of retail analysts: the group was not ensuring that shelves were fully stocked, due to the failure of the IT systems introduced by Peter Davis . On 19 October 2004, King unveiled the results of the business review and his plans to revive the company's fortunes, in a three-year recovery plan entitled 'Making Sainsbury's Great Again'. This
2905-588: The company introduced another informal font in 2005, which is used in a wide range of advertising and literature. In 1999, Sainsbury's acquired an 80.1% share of Egyptian Distribution Group SAE, a retailer in Egypt with one hundred shops and 2,000 employees. However, poor profitability led to the sale of this share in April 2001. On 8 October 1999, the CEO Dino Adriano lost control of the core supermarket business within
2988-429: The company opened seven shops. Two others at Sprucefield , Lisburn, and Holywood Exchange , Belfast would not open until 2003, due to protracted legal challenges. While Sainsbury's outlets in Northern Ireland were all new developments, Tesco (apart from one Tesco Metro) instead purchased existing chains from Associated British Foods (see Tesco Ireland ). In 1992, the long time CEO John Davan Sainsbury retired, and
3071-440: The company was soon forced to backtrack, introducing its own Reward Card eighteen months later. For much of the 20th century, Sainsbury's had been the market leader in the supermarket sector in the United Kingdom, but in 1995, it lost this position to Tesco. Some new ventures were successful, notably the launch of a retail bank, Sainsbury's Bank , in partnership with Bank of Scotland . In addition to Shaw's, Sainsbury's bought
3154-564: The company was wholly owned by the Sainsbury family. It was at the time the largest ever flotation on the London Stock Exchange ; the company rewarded the smaller bids for shares in order to create as many shareholders as possible. A million shares were set aside for staff, which led to many staff members buying shares that shot up in value. Within one minute the list of applications was closed: £495 million had been offered for £14.5 million available shares. The Sainsbury family at
3237-454: The company's distribution system. Later sales improvements were put down to price cuts and the company's focus on fresh and healthy food. On 2 February 2007, after months of speculation about a private equity bid, CVC Capital Partners , Kohlberg Kravis Roberts (KKR) and Blackstone Group announced that they were considering a bid for Sainsbury's. The consortium grew to include Goldman Sachs and Texas Pacific Group . On 6 March 2007, with
3320-454: The construction of four fully automated depots, which at £100 million each cost four times more than standard depots. In 2001, Sainsbury's moved into its current headquarters at Holborn, London. Sainsbury's previously occupied Stamford House and twelve other buildings around Southwark . The accounting department remained separate at Streatham . The building was designed by architectural firm Foster and Partners , and had been developed on
3403-459: The course of two days beginning on 31 May 1886. See Track gauge in the United States . In continental Europe, France and Belgium adopted a 1,500 mm ( 4 ft 11 + 1 ⁄ 16 in ) gauge (measured between the midpoints of each rail's profile ) for their early railways. The gauge between the interior edges of the rails (the measurement adopted from 1844) differed slightly between countries, and even between networks within
Spa Valley Railway - Misplaced Pages Continue
3486-495: The current management, led by Justin King, could deliver the extra profit generated for the benefit of existing investors. He claimed the bid 'brought nothing to the business', and that high levels of debt would significantly weaken the company and its competitive position in the long term, which would have an adverse effect on Sainsbury's stakeholders. On 11 April, the CVC-led consortium abandoned its offer, stating that "it became clear
3569-405: The death of his father, John Benjamin Sainsbury . During the 1950s and 1960s, Sainsbury's was a keen early adopter of self-service supermarkets in the United Kingdom. On a trip to the United States, Alan Sainsbury realised the benefits of self-service shops and believed the future of Sainsbury's was self-service supermarkets of 10,000 sq ft (930 m ), with eventually the added bonus of
3652-518: The exception of Morrison's, would "operate against the public interest". As part of the approval Morrison's was to dispose of 53 of the combined group's shops. In May 2004, Sainsbury's announced that it would acquire fourteen of these shops, thirteen Safeway shops and one Morrison's outlet, located primarily in the Midlands and the North of England. At the end of March 2004, Davis was promoted to chairman and
3735-735: The first railways to the 5 ft 3 in ( 1,600 mm ) Irish broad gauge. New South Wales then built to the standard gauge, so trains had to stop on the border and passengers transferred, which was only rectified in the 1960s. Queensland still runs on a narrow gauge but there is a standard gauge line from NSW to Brisbane. NMBS/SNCB 3,619 km (2,249 mi) Brussels Metro 40 km (25 mi) Trams in Brussels 140 km (87 mi) 1,032 km (641 mi) The Toronto Transit Commission uses 4 ft 10 + 7 ⁄ 8 in ( 1,495 mm ) gauge on its streetcar and subway lines. Takoradi to Sekondi Route,
3818-544: The former Mirror Group site for Andersen Consulting (now Accenture ); Sainsbury's acquired the 25-year lease when Accenture pulled out. Sainsbury's was a founding member of the Nectar loyalty card scheme, which was launched in September 2002, in conjunction with Debenhams , Barclaycard and BP ; Debenhams, Barclaycard and BP have all subsequently left the scheme, although until the chain's demise Nectar points continued to be awarded for online purchases at Debenhams made through
3901-452: The group had suffered a decline in performance relative to its competitors and was demoted to third in the groceries market within the United Kingdom. Davis also oversaw an almost £3 billion upgrade of shops, distribution and IT equipment, entitled 'Business Transformation Programme', but his successor would later reveal that much of this investment was wasted and he failed in his key goal – improving availability. Part of this investment saw
3984-429: The initial gauge of 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) was set to accommodate the existing gauge of hundreds of horse-drawn chaldron wagons that were already in use on the wagonways in the mines. The railway used this gauge for 15 years before a change was made, debuting around 1850, to the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge. The historic Mount Washington Cog Railway ,
4067-534: The inner sides of the rails) to be used. Different railways used different gauges, and where rails of different gauge met – a " gauge break " – loads had to be unloaded from one set of rail cars and reloaded onto another, a time-consuming and expensive process. The result was the adoption throughout a large part of the world of a "standard gauge" of 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ), allowing interconnectivity and interoperability. A popular legend that has circulated since at least 1937 traces
4150-400: The inside edges of the rails is defined to be 1,435 mm except in the United States, Canada, and on some heritage British lines, where it is defined in U.S. customary / Imperial units as exactly "four feet eight and one half inches", which is equivalent to 1,435.1 mm. As railways developed and expanded, one of the key issues was the track gauge (the distance, or width, between
4233-596: The largest overall shareholder is the sovereign wealth fund of Qatar , the Qatar Investment Authority , which holds around 15% of the company. It is listed on the London Stock Exchange and is a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index . Sainsbury's was established as a partnership in 1869, when John James Sainsbury and his wife Mary Ann opened a shop at 173 Drury Lane in Covent Garden, London. Sainsbury started as
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#17328488000054316-545: The market leader when it overtook Sainsbury's, which has since been ranked second or third: it was overtaken by Asda from 2003 to 2014, and again for one month in 2019. In 2018, a planned merger with Asda was blocked by the Competition and Markets Authority over concerns of increased prices for consumers. The holding company, J Sainsbury plc, is split into three divisions: Sainsbury's Supermarkets Ltd ( including convenience shops ), Sainsbury's Bank , and Argos . As of 2021,
4399-400: The offer was rejected. On 9 April, the indicative offer was raised to 582p a share, however this too was rejected. This meant the consortium could not satisfy its own preconditions for a bid, most importantly 75% shareholder support; the combined Sainsbury family holding at the time was 18%. Lord Sainsbury of Turville, who then held 7.75% of Sainsbury's, stated that he could see no reason why
4482-499: The origin of the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge even further back than the coalfields of northern England, pointing to the evidence of rutted roads marked by chariot wheels dating from the Roman Empire . Snopes categorised this legend as "false", but commented that it "is perhaps more fairly labeled as 'Partly true, but for trivial and unremarkable reasons. ' " The historical tendency to place
4565-405: The outermost portions of the wheel rims, it became apparent that for vehicles travelling on rails, having main wheel flanges that fit inside the rails is better, thus the minimum distance between the wheels (and, by extension, the inside faces of the rail heads ) was the important one. A standard gauge for horse railways never existed, but rough groupings were used; in the north of England none
4648-412: The outlay. The passenger service was withdrawn from 8 July 1985 although the section between Tunbridge Wells West and Birchden Jn remained open for rolling stock movements until 10 August, when the depot at Tunbridge Wells West station was shut. At the time of closure, Tunbridge Wells West station had gas lighting, which was in operation in the ticket office and under the canopy. The SVR has its origins in
4731-603: The pace of new supershops construction would slow down, and that it would write down the value of some of its properties. In 1994, Sainsbury's announced a new town centre format, Sainsbury's Central, again a response to Tesco's Metro, which was already established in five locations. Also in 1994, Sainsbury's lost the takeover battle for William Low (like Tesco, Sainsbury's had long been under-represented in Scotland). Also that year, David Sainsbury dismissed Tesco's clubcard initiative as 'an electronic version of Green Shield Stamps ';
4814-517: The proposed closure of the line (including Groombridge and Tunbridge Wells West stations) from 16 May 1983 which was later deferred after public objections. It was announced in February 1985 that the Secretary of State for Transport agreed to the withdrawal of passenger services deciding that the cost of keeping the line open from Birchden Jn to Grove Jn and undertaking renewing Grove Junction did not justify
4897-541: The reluctance to move into non-food retailing, the indecision between whether to go for quality or for value, "the sometimes brutal treatment of suppliers" which led to suppliers favouring Tesco over Sainsbury's, and an unsuccessful advertising campaign fronted by John Cleese . At the end of 1993, it announced price cuts on three hundred of its most popular own label lines. Significantly, this came three months after Tesco had launched its line Tesco Value . A few months later, Sainsbury's announced that margins had fallen, that
4980-411: The rest of the network. All other railways use 1,668 mm ( 5 ft 5 + 21 ⁄ 32 in ) ( broad gauge ) and/or 1,000 mm ( 3 ft 3 + 3 ⁄ 8 in ) metre gauge . BLS , Rigi Railways (rack railway) 449 km Several states in the United States had laws requiring road vehicles to have a consistent gauge to allow them to follow ruts in
5063-472: The road. Those gauges were similar to railway standard gauge. Sainsbury%27s J Sainsbury plc , trading as Sainsbury's , is a British supermarket and the second-largest chain of supermarkets in the United Kingdom. Founded in 1869 by John James Sainsbury with a shop in Drury Lane , London, the company was the largest UK retailer of groceries for most of the 20th century. In 1995, Tesco became
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#17328488000055146-459: The second largest retailer of groceries in the northeastern United States (primarily in New England). In June 1987, Sainsbury's acquired the rest of the company. In 1985, the chairman reported that over the preceding 10 years profits had grown from £15 million to over £168 million, a compound annual rise of 30.4% – after allowing for inflation a real annual growth rate of 17.6%. In 1991,
5229-477: The site of the derelict station site of Tunbridge Wells West. While the 1891 locomotive shed and station building were protected as listed buildings, the remaining area of the site was obliterated, including the goods shed and signal boxes. However, planning permission was subject to the condition that the developer pay for construction of a new station platform and restoration of the engine shed. The North Downs Steam Railway relocated from Dartford in 1996, where it
5312-444: The station proudly proclaimed, "New Route to London: Shortest, Quickest and Most Direct. Frequent Express Trains". As the popularity of the motor car increased, train services were severely cut back due to the lack of patronage, and the number of services passing through Tunbridge Wells West railway station declined as one line after another was closed from the 1950s onwards. First, the East Grinstead to Lewes line closed in 1958, then
5395-429: The term "narrow gauge" for gauges less than standard did not arise for many years, until the first such locomotive-hauled passenger railway, the Ffestiniog Railway , was built. In 1845, in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland , a Royal Commission on Railway Gauges reported in favour of a standard gauge. The subsequent Gauge Act ruled that new passenger-carrying railways in Great Britain should be built to
5478-653: The time retained 85% of the firm's shares. Most of the senior positions were held by family members. John Davan Sainsbury (later Lord Sainsbury of Preston Candover ), a member of the fourth generation of the founding family, took over the chairmanship from his uncle Sir Robert Sainsbury in 1969, who had been chairman for two years from 1967 following Alan Sainsbury's retirement. Sainsbury's started to replace its 10,000 sq ft (930 m ) High Street shops with self-service supermarkets above 20,000 sq ft (1,900 m ), which were either in out of town locations or in regenerated town centres. Sainsbury's policy
5561-434: The wheels of horse-drawn vehicles around 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) apart probably derives from the width needed to fit a carthorse in between the shafts. Research, however, has been undertaken to support the hypothesis that "the origin of the standard gauge of the railway might result from an interval of wheel ruts of prehistoric ancient carriages". In addition, while road-travelling vehicles are typically measured from
5644-426: The world's first mountain -climbing rack railway , is still in operation in the 21st century, and has used the earlier 4 ft 8 in ( 1,422 mm ) gauge since its inauguration in 1868. George Stephenson introduced the 1,435 mm ( 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ) gauge (including a belated extra 1 ⁄ 2 in (13 mm) of free movement to reduce binding on curves ) for
5727-483: Was a difficult time for Sainsbury's, as most of its shops were trading in the London area and were bombed or damaged. Turnover fell to half the prewar level. Food was rationed, and one particular shop in East Grinstead was so badly damaged on Friday 9 July 1943 that it had to move to the local church, temporarily, while a new one was built. This shop was not completed until 1951. In 1956, Alan Sainsbury became chairman after
5810-465: Was a vicious circle." Christensen said a fundamental mistake was to build four such depots at once, rather than building one which could be thoroughly tested before progressing with the others. In 2007, Sainsbury's announced a further £12 million investment in its depots to keep pace with sales growth and the removal of the failed automated systems from its depots. In addition, it did a deal with IBM to upgrade its Electronic Point of Sale systems as
5893-697: Was decided that a separate brand was no longer needed, and the shops were converted to the regular Sainsbury's supershop format in September 1999. Sainsbury's diversified further in 1979, forming a joint venture with the Belgian retailer, GB-Inno-BM, to set up a chain of do-it-yourself shops under the Homebase name. Sainsbury's also trebled the size of its Homebase do it yourself business during 1996, by merging its business with Texas Homecare , which it acquired in January 1995 from Ladbroke for £290 million. Sainsbury's sold
5976-557: Was experiencing vandalism problems, and merged with TWERPS. It transferred its assets and helped establish a base in the former LB&SCR locomotive shed. The group had also acquired the line as far as Birchden Junction during that year. Alongside the loco shed, a new platform was built, from where services began running to Cold Bath Bridge (about 0.8 miles (1.3 km) away) in December 1996. Services were extended to Groombridge in August 1997 and to Birchden Junction in 2005. In 2007, SVR marked
6059-436: Was forced to quit in the face of an impending shareholder revolt, over his salary and bonuses. Investors were angered by a bonus share award of over £2 million, despite poor company performance. On 19 July 2004, Davis' replacement Philip Hampton, was appointed as chairman. King ordered a direct mail campaign to one million Sainsbury's customers as part of his six-month business review, asking them what they wanted from
6142-415: Was generally well received by both the stock market and the media. Immediate plans included laying off over 750 headquarters staff, and the recruitment of around 3,000 shop floor staff, to improve the quality of service and address the firm's main problem: stock availability. The aim would be to increase sales revenue by £2.5 billion by the financial year ending March 2008. Another significant announcement
6225-428: Was important as there was no refrigeration. By the time John James Sainsbury died in 1928, there were over 128 shops. He was replaced by his eldest son, John Benjamin Sainsbury , who had gone into partnership with his father in 1915. During the 1930s and 1940s, the company continued to refine its product offerings and maintain its leadership in terms of shop design, convenience, and cleanliness. The company acquired
6308-452: Was incorporated as the private company 'J. Sainsbury Limited'. Groceries were introduced in 1903, when John James purchased a grocer's branch at 12 Kingsland High Street, Dalston . Every shop offered home delivery, as there were fewer cars in those days. Sites were carefully chosen, with a central position in a parade selected in preference to a corner shop. This allowed a larger display of products, which could be kept cooler in summer, which
6391-768: Was less than 4 ft ( 1,219 mm ). Wylam colliery's system, built before 1763, was 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ), as was John Blenkinsop 's Middleton Railway ; the old 4 ft ( 1,219 mm ) plateway was relaid to 5 ft ( 1,524 mm ) so that Blenkinsop's engine could be used. Others were 4 ft 4 in ( 1,321 mm ) (in Beamish ) or 4 ft 7 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,410 mm ) (in Bigges Main (in Wallsend ), Kenton , and Coxlodge ). English railway pioneer George Stephenson spent much of his early engineering career working for
6474-518: Was promoted to be group chief executive. In June 1999, Sainsbury's unveiled its new corporate identity . This was developed by 20/20 Design and Strategy, and included The strapline was dropped in May 2005, and replaced in September of that year by "Try something new today." This new brand statement was created by Abbott Mead Vickers BBDO . While the Interstate font was used almost exclusively for many years,
6557-564: Was replaced as CEO by Justin King . King joined Sainsbury's from Marks & Spencer where he was a director with responsibility for its food division and Kings Super Markets, Inc. subsidiary in the United States. Schooled in Solihull near Birmingham, and a graduate of the University of Bath, where he took a business administration degree, King was also previously a managing director at Asda with responsibility for hypermarkets. In June 2004, Davis
6640-589: Was reported to have said that if he had had a second chance to choose a gauge, he would have chosen one wider than 4 ft 8 + 1 ⁄ 2 in ( 1,435 mm ). "I would take a few inches more, but a very few". During the " gauge war " with the Great Western Railway , standard gauge was called " narrow gauge ", in contrast to the Great Western's 7 ft 1 ⁄ 4 in ( 2,140 mm ) broad gauge . The modern use of
6723-424: Was succeeded as chairman and chief executive by his cousin, David Sainsbury (later Lord Sainsbury of Turville ); this brought about a change in management style – David was more consensual and less hierarchical, but not in strategy or in corporate beliefs about the company's place in the market. Mistakes by David Sainsbury and his successors, Dino Adriano and Peter Davis , included the rejection of loyalty cards,
6806-420: Was the halving of the dividend to increase funds available for price cuts and quality. King hired Lawrence Christensen as supply chain director in 2004. Previously he was an expert in logistics at Safeway , but left following its takeover by Morrisons . Immediate supply chain improvements included the reactivation of two distribution centres. At the time of the business review on 19 October 2004, referring to
6889-611: Was to invest in uniform, well designed shops with a strong emphasis on quality; its slogan was "good food costs less at Sainsbury's". During the 1970s, the average size of Sainsbury's shops rose from 10,000 sq ft (930 m ) to around 18,000 sq ft (1,700 m ); the first edge of town shop, with 24,000 sq ft (2,200 m ) of selling space, was opened at Coldhams Lane in Cambridge in 1974. The last counter service branch closed in Peckham in 1982. To participate in
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