I’m just about to come to the end of scanning my old albums full of UK rail slides as I’ve less than 60 pictures left to go. By chance, the final album is from the years 2000-2001 (I went digital in 2004 but the other albums jumped the queue) and it’s been quite an eye-opener because whilst many of the pictures remained fresh in my mind, a couple were real surprises. The picture they paint is of a railway industry that was still in the early stages of privatisation, with many old train fleets still in service, but also new routes that were attempted but that never survived, either because they were developed purely as ORCATS* raids to poach fare revenue from other operators, or because the trains and the routes they were used on made little commercial sense in their own right. Here’s a couple of examples which I scanned earlier today.
Until I scanned this picture earlier I’d forgotten this service even existed! This is a West Yorkshire PTE liveried Class 158 at Glasgow Central on the 27th March 2001, prior to working the 14.10 to Leeds via the West Coast Main Line to Carlisle, then down the Settle and Carlisle. That’s a long way to go in a 2-car, 90mph diesel unit that wasn’t fitted out to Intercity standards! The service was introduced by the Arriva Trains North Franchise in September 1999 but only lasted a few years before the franchise was broken up. The long-distance routes were hived off into the Trans-Pennine Express franchise, but this one didn’t survive.
Here’s another one from the same year that didn’t last long either.
Thames Trains 165134 stands at Bristol Temple Meads before working the 12.30 to Oxford, which used the Didcot West Curve. Introduced in 1998 but withdrawn in 2003 at the request of the Strategic Rail Authority (90mph units on a 125mph main line weren’t a good use of capacity) these were the only time ‘Thames Turbo’s’ were seen in Bristol until recently. Thames Trains were merged with the Great Western franchise in 2004. Now these units are a common sight around Bristol as they were cascaded to the area following the electrification of the Great Western Main line between Paddington – Reading – Newbury.
Back in 2001 there was a lot of old stock eking out their twilight years a long way from the routes they’d been built for. Here’s another one from Scotland.
305519 stands at Edinburgh Waverley ready to work a service to North Berwick on the 26th March 2001. Built in 1959 at Doncaster works for the former Eastern region these units worked services out of London Liverpool St before many of them were displaced by the Class 315 units built in 1980 onwards. Several ended up being reduced to 3 -car sets working in the North-West operating service out of Manchester Piccadilly to Dinting whilst 5 4 -car sets were sent to Scotland to operate the line to North Berwick which was electrified in 1991. They survived in service until January 2002 when they were replaced with Class 322 ‘Stansted Express’ units which were also cascaded from services out of Liverpool St!
It wasn’t just regional services that were changing either. The Cross-Country network was about to see see a major shake-up as loco-hauled trains were going to be replaced by ‘Voyagers’…
Virgin Cross-Country’s 47844 hauls a service bound for the West Country past the site of Malago Vale carriage sidings in Bristol on the 1st April 2001. With the decline in loco-hauled Intercity fleets and demise of parcels trains many sidings like Malago Vale were redundant. Today the site is covered in houses.
Many old BR built locomotive fleets were in decline with hundreds stored around the country before being stripped for spares and sent for scrap. Sights like this one at London’s Old Oak Common depot were common.
On the 14th April 2001 the former ‘Coronation’ and Van sidings adjacent to Old Oak Common diesel depot are full of stored locomotives, electrification maintenance coaches and Freightliner container flats. From nearest the camera locomotives include. 47535. 33205. 47492. 73132. 73138. 73119. 73141. 73110. 73107. 73114 and several Class 31s. This area is now the site of a mass of electrified stabling sidings for Crossrail trains as well as empty land where the new High Speed 2 railway station is being built.
As you can see from just this small selection, scanning these slides has been an interesting look back nearly 20 years, showing how much has changed in that time. Of course this isn’t the end of the story, I’ve still got albums of foreign railways to scan, including a large collection of Indian steam pictures. Then there’s all the travel shots going back decades – so expect plenty more trips down memory lane!
* Operational Research Computerised Allocation of Tickets to Services
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For the first time in several days the fog in the Calder Valley lifted, letting us feel like part of the outside world again. Well, apart from the fact we can only look at it, not venture out into it as Dawn and I are still in isolation, so Friday will be the first day we can venture out – which is a bit of a bugger as tomorrow’s our wedding anniversary. Mind you – even if we could go out – where is there to go? We had booked a meal at the wonderful Moorcock Inn up at Norland Moor but they could see which way the wind was blowing before lockdown 2 was announced so decided to pre-empt things and close on their own terms. So, the expression ‘all dressed up and nowhere to go’ springs to mind!
All this has meant today was just another day with the same routine with the pair of us working from home, getting on with stuff whilst looking forward to whatever version of reality is resumed the first, which in our case will be the ability to leave the house.
The positive side of things is that I’m within spitting distance of scanning my last album of old rail slides, just a few more days and it’ll be job done. Sure, there’s a few dribs and drabs, but what was once a very long shelf in my office at home in North London has finally disappeared, leaving me free to concentrate on other things. To be honest, the week’s been a fairly positive and optimistic one due to events happening in the wider world. Events that I’m hoping will mean that early next year we’ll be able to do what’s featured in the picture of the day. I took this picture at Mirissa beach, Sri Lanka on the 27th January 2016 and what’s shocked me is I realise this is the last beach holiday the pair of us had. It’s not that we haven’t been to lots of places since – just not to a tropical beach – and I’m missing it!
If only…
Having had my wings so badly clipped in 2020 I can’t wait for this year to be over and look forward to making up for lost time. Sun, sea and fantastic food, what could be more perfect?
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Well, the year may be in its final phase but it’s finally taken a turn for the better. OK, apart from the weather which remains resolutely crap here up in the Pennines, but after the warm glow from last week knowing that the orange shit-gibbon has been ousted in the USA we’ve now had the good news that a vaccine for Covid could be ready before the end of the year. Needless to say, the financial markets reacted very positively as businesses have been given the hope that normality may be resumes sooner rather than later. How all this may come to pass is speculative at the moment, but after a constant battering from bad news, it’s good to hear some optimism for once.
My day’s been spent holed up at home, knuckling down in order to get the last album of old rail slides scanned before the end of the week, thus ending a process that’s taken decades. I’m trying to get them done before Friday as that’s the day we’ve completed our self-isolating and are free to venture out again – so we’re going to make the most of it – whatever the weather!
Today’s picture has been chosen from one of today’s scans as it’s a view that’s changed completely since it was taken. This is a view of Battersea power station with the approaches to London Victoria in the foreground. I took it on the 25th February 2001.
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I’m saying that because looking forward to the next week as by Friday Dawn and I come out of social-isolation and get to stare at and share more than four walls. Neither of us felt that it was likely we’d contracted Covid because of the contact Dawn had, but what we weren’t willing to do was put others at risk. It’s a sentiment that’s obviously been unfashionable in some circles, but all we can say is we’ve done our bit.
The feeling of isolation was doubled today by the fact the Calder Valley’s been covered in fog for the duration. Visibility’s been down to 2-3 hundred metres at best. So, the pair of us have been feeling like we’re living up in the clouds whilst keeping occupied pottering around in our gilded cage. Dee’s been busy being a domestic goddess whilst I’ve kept myself occupied blogging and eBaying…
Still, talking of ‘gilded cages’, has anyone seen any sense, contrition or humility (fat chance) coming from the Ex-President of the United States yet? No. Me neither. It looks like he’s going to spend his remaining days playing golf at taxpayers expense until he’s finally kicked out of the place. I mean, seriously – the man’s just lost the election and what’s he been doing since? Ignoring the result to spend the past two days on a golf course! Surely, even some of the people who voted for him might just be starting to think “well, this is a bit weird”, but maybe I’m being too charitable. Actually, after everything I’ve seem of Trump’s voters and staffers I’m sure I am.
Talking of Washington, here’s another picture of the day that I stumbled on whilst researching others. It rather fits the current theme of events. I took this at Chinatown station on the Washington metro on the 3rd April 2007.
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Finally, after the political shitshows and shambles of the past few years, we actually have something to celebrate. The orange cry-baby who’s inhabited the White House since 2016 has finally got his comeuppance thanks to the American voters. Oh, I know it’s not the end of the story, but it is (hopefully) the beginning of the end for populist politics and the poisonous ‘alt-right’ who have done so much to make this a less pleasant planet to live on (as if we’ve an option to go anywhere else).
Yes, I know the fat lady hasn’t sung yet, but the numbers show that we know exactly what she will when she does. Trump’s finished.
Watching his presidency unravel through the day has kept me going as the weather here in the Calder valley’s been miserable. We’ve had fog blocking us in all day, so much so I’ve forgotten what the other side of the valley looks like! Mind you, it’s not as if I can go anywhere at the moment anyway, so I’ve not been too concerned. Instead, I’ve concentrated on those mundane little chores that can actually be quite therapeutic, like chopping back the front garden ready for winter. I’ve always enjoyed gardening and would love to have the size of garden that I had in London, but that’s not on the cards right now, so I content myself with what we have. On the bright side – it doesn’t take all day to chop back! Whilst I’ve been busy pottering Dawn’s been busy in the kitchen as we’ve had a delivery from Sainsbury’s. This is the first time we’ve ever indulged in getting groceries delivered so I can imagine some folks will be thinking ‘what’s the fuss’? But for us it’s a novel experience. Now we’ve stocked up with edible goodies Dee’s busy making her brilliant Bakewell Tart whilst I’m finishing off research for a blog – and toasting the fact Trump’s toast – which brings me on to the picture of the day. This seemed rather appropriate. I took it in Washington DC on the 3rd April 2007 in the midst of the cherry blossom season. Washington looks stunning at that time of year. Let this be a metaphor for the (re)blossoming of democracy in the USA now that Trump and his cohorts have been defeated at the ballot box.
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With Covid clipping my wings I’ve been spending a lot of the year scanning old railway slides going back 30 years. This process made me realise how something that was a landmark in the background at several locations (some quite famous) has gradually disappeared over the decades. Gasometers.
I grew up in Southport on the West Lancashire plain. With it being flat there were very few landmarks but one was a huge gasometer near my Grandmothers house where I spent much of my pre-school years in the early 1960s. She lived just down the road from something that used to be commonplace, the local town gasworks. Younger readers probably don’t know this but before natural gas was discovered in the North Sea towns and cities used to manufacture their own gas from coal. Many of these gasworks were near to railways which brought in their supplies of coal. Southport was a good example. It had a branch line that ran down the side of the street. Here’s an aerial picture of Southport gasworks taken in 1938 which is on the excellent ‘Britain from above’ website.
The railway to the gasworks runs along the street (Crowland St) on the right of the picture. My Grandmother’s house is just off the picture to the bottom left. Town gasworks were strange places to live near because of the smells that used to permeate the area as coal was cooked to release the gas. A by- product of the process was coke. I remember going with my dad to buy coke from the gasworks as it fuelled a boiler in our cellar which powered the central heating system he’d installed himself. I remember the sound of the gasworks whistle which signalled the lunch break and start/finish of work. The gasworks closed in 1964 but the gasometers remained and were joined by a much larger one which was built in 1969. 277 feet tall it dominated the skyline and could be seen for miles around (as you’ll see in later pictures). It was decommissioned in 2008 and it and its smaller neighbours were demolished soon after. Having lived so near to one of these monsters it’s probably no wonder that I’ve always noticed them in my pictures. So, here’s a selection of pictures where they feature, and the first one’s from – Southport!
On the 26th January 1997 Merseyrail liveried Class 150201 threads its way out of Southport Chapel St station through the dereliction of what was once a large railway complex. So much in this scene has now disappeared. The old excursion platform to the left and the railway yards beyond (which included the ‘Steamport’ railway museum) are now an industrial estate and supermarket, whilst on the horizon are the unmistakable shapes of the gasometers of the old gasworks.
Here’s another view of Southport taken 10 years later on the 4th October 2007 when the smaller gasometers had already disappeared.
Class 150218 heads for Meols Cop and is about to pass the site of St Lukes station which closed in 1968. The vans to the right are parked on the formation of the direct line via Blowick which closed in June 1965.
Here’s another example from the North-West, this time at St Helens..
On the 12th March 2001 142010 arrives at St Helens Central on the Wigan North Western – Liverpool Lime St service. Nowadays the former Down sidings behind the signalbox are a forest of Silver Birch trees.
Another example from the North-West, this time it’s Wigan.
87001 arrives at Wigan North Western from Euston in typically dull Wigan weather on the 5th April 1991. The gasworks was just the other side of the line running into Wigan Wallgate station. Now, both the gasometers and the MFI outlet are history.
Meanwhile, down South..
This is a view of the Eastern approaches to Reading station taken on the 29th March 1991 with the skyline dominated by three different gasometers. Now, only the frame of the one on the right hand side of the picture remains, but that can no longer be seen as new office buildings block the view. Of course, now the Great Western Main Line has been electrified, so this view is a sea of masts, portals and overhead wires. I must get a comparison shot just to show the difference.
Further down the Great Western Main Line and a few years later..
Here’s Didcot station on the 19th February 2001, almost a decade on from the last picture and what’s on the skyline? Mind you, whichever direction you look in the skyline’s changed here! Behind me were the massive chimneys and cooling towers of the old power station which have also disappeared! Meanwhile electrification masts make this picture impossible now.
The Great Western main line seemed to be blessed with these monoliths as there was another at Southall in London.
Sadly, I never got a shot of the Southall monster in all its towering glory. but you can see it in the background of this 1995 shot of 60099 sat in Southall Down Yard.
Meanwhile, over in South London…
Here’s a real embarrassment of riches! On the 15th March 1996 456022 heads for London Victoria on a service from London Bridge. In the background is the massive gasometer at Battersea Park whilst on the right is the iconic Battersea power station.
The Battersea monster could be viewed from several stations. Here’s how it dominated Battersea Park station – as seen on the 24th June 2009…
Next to the beast of Battersea was one of the older gas holders which had the classic frame structure surrounding it. In this case it was decorated with the shield that forms the centerpiece of the City of London coat of arms.
On the 24th June 2009 a SET ‘Networker’ threads its way between the gasholders and Battersea Dogs home. Nowadays the site is covered in high-rise housing.
Od course, the classic example was over in North London, between St Pancras and Kings Cross stations.
On the 22nd October 2001 the gas holders at St Pancras were being dismantled to make way for the Eastern extension to St Pancras station which would eventually become the Kent high speed platforms.Here’s how they’d looked a few months earlier. I took this picture on the 24th July 2001. Fortunately, they’ve been preserved and one has become the framework for a novel form of new housing.
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Not a bad day (all in all) and certainly a productive one. I’ve managed to get a load of eBay items in the post, friends and neighbours have been brilliant delivering food – and I’ve got the third part of my RAIL rover off to be proof-read. OK, the weather’s not been brilliant but as I’m not going anywhere – who cares? Another bright spot has been dipping in and out of the American Presidential election and seeing things slipping away from Trump, who’s going into meltdown. My view on this?
Hopefully, the thin lead that Biden has in the remaining states will translate into electoral college votes and Trump’s toast. My only concern is the genie the alt-right have let out of the bottle when it comes to claims of vote-rigging and the polarisation of the country years of social media manipulation and misinformation have caused. Trump may be history but the bitterness and divisions he’s left behind will linger. Still, this could be the beginning of the rollback of populism. I only wish it could happen here but I think we’re going to have to go through the pain of the Brexitshambles before some UK voters start to see the light.
Despite lockdown Part 2 and our own isolation it’s been a sociable evening as a group of us resurrected the ‘Big 6’ Friday quiz via ‘Zoom’ which turned into a right laugh! Maintaining that level of fun contact with friends (rather than the interminable meetings the internet is often used for) makes such a difference in these bizarre times.
The day’s been so busy I’ve not really had time to think of a picture of the day, or a clever segue into one, so tonight’s is chosen completely at random by putting the name of a place into the search facility on my Zenfolio website. The name was Edinburgh, and this is what I picked. I took this view across Edinburgh from Arthur’s Seat on the 21st March 2001. I was there getting pictures for a new Lonely Planet guidebook and the weather was perfect. Edinburgh is probably unique (but I stand to be corrected) in having extinct volcanoes in the city centre, in this case in Holyrood Park. At a height of 822ft you’re offered a commanding view across the city, Leith and across the Forth estuary to the coast of Fife. Brilliant!
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I feel very odd trapped stuck indoors on one of my favorite days of the year – Bonfire night. Unlike many old English traditions (like mischief night) it hasn’t been taken over and Americanised or turned into a marketing exercise. I’ve fond memories of childhood bonfire parties at home and also later in life in London when Lynn and I would attend one of the big organised displays. Our nearest, and the one we frequented most was just down the road at Alexandra Palace. We’d walk down there with friends and laden with mulled wine and snacks. Now, up here in Yorkshire Dawn and I have tended to have our own little displays and invite her parent over to join us. This year, all I can do is watch from the bedroom window, or listen to the bangs and whistles as I sit in the office typing this. It’s a bit of a damp squib, but then so’s the American Presidential election, which is moving forward at a glacial pace and looks certain to drag on for weeks as Trump and the right-wingers try and drag things out in the courts. Democracy is looking very fragile at the moment as the right-wing populists do everything they can to cling to power. One can only hope Biden spoils their plans.
I’ve not really paid attention to the stateside shenanigans as little’s happened and I’ve been too busy with writing and sorting out the latest tranche of eBay sales which has left me with no time for slide scanning. Hopefully, next week will be another matter after the final part of my round Britain trip for RAIL magazine goes off to the proof-readers and I get a break before I start the next article, which should give me time to scribble some words for pleasure and write-up a couple of blogs that I’ve been thinking about. After all, I’m not going anywhere for a while yet, and it’s not like I’ve got a plane to catch. I wish…!
With today being bonfire night the picture of the day rather chose itself – as you’ll see in a minute. A lot of play is made nowadays about how animals are terrified of fireworks and that they should be banned as a consequence. I’ve extremely mixed feelings about that. Yes, I’ve known some animals that are absolutely terrified. The family dog (Dori) was one, but then so was my mother in her later years. When it came to November 5th my mum would break out the Valium and give one half of a pill to herself and the other half to the dog!
Jet, our cat, is the opposite. In his younger days he’d go wandering off out to see what the noise was all about as he had that sort of nature. Now that he’s an old bugger he’s not the slightest bit interested, but that could be because he’s as deaf as post!
Ok, the picture of the day – you’ll see where I’ve been going now. I took this picture on New Years eve 2003 in Tangalle, Sri Lanka. The owner of the homestay we were lodging in had a party on the beach, which involved copious amounts of fireworks. Rather than running away and hiding one of the local mutts was fascinated by them and did its best to try and catch and eat them!
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Not that was I was really tempted, but I’m glad I didn’t stay up to watch the result of the American presidential elections come in – as they didn’t and I’d have had to listen to that odious frog Nigel Farage being interviewed by the BBC – as if the man’s got any genuine insight on anything. Instead I had a decent nights sleep and missed the ‘fun’. It’s taken all day for 2 more states to declare and the good news is that with just seven states left to declare Biden is a head of Trump by 29 electoral college votes. As much as I would dearly love for America to reject the values of Trump and his ilk I won’t believe it until I see it.
Still, It’s not been a bad day apart from being cooped up when the weather’s been gloriously sunny – albeit cold. I’ve been keeping my nose to the grindstone and wading through more writing as well as scanning a few more old slides to give me some variety. Looking back at pictures of the railway scene from 20 years ago I realised that it’s not just the network that’s changed. Some familiar lineside landmarks have disappeared too- which has given me the idea for a picture blog. Expect to see that appear shortly.
Stuck indoors self-isolating has been made a lot easier by the assistance of friends and neighbours who’ve offered to pick up shopping or even keep us supplied with wonderful home-baked bread like this. Susan dropped these two beauties off earlier on, so I made a Spanish white bean stew for our supper tonight to go with some slices. It’s good, winter-warming food.
Yum…
A few slices made a great meal with the bean stew.
Tempting as it is – the picture of the day isn’t going to be a food offering, instead I’ve gone for one that links several of my interests, including travel. This amazing piece of architectural confectionary is the inner building of the Rama temple in Janakpur in lowland Nepal (an area known as the Terai). According to Hindu legend it’s where the goddess Sita married Lord Rama.
I took this picture in April 1998. In those days the place was a bugger to get to because of the lack of border crossings between India and Nepal. Lynn and I arrived after a day-long bus journey across the Terai from the Eastern border where we’d come down from Darjeeling. We stayed a couple of days before getting an overnight bus up to Kathmandu. The whole journey’s worthy of a blog in itself. One day, when I’ve scanned all the old slides I might write it…
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What with everything that’s been going on a events of the past couple of days last night wasn’t a vintage one for sleep. In fact, I ended up getting out of bed at 4am and retreating to the office – wide-awake – so as to make the most of the day and not disturb Dawn, or ‘Jet’, our moggie, who was curled up on the bed with us.
I crept around to make some coffee then settled down to a long bout of slide-scanning. I’ve neglected that project of late but I’m determined to get the railway pictures finished before our bout of ‘splendid’ isolation’ as at least then I can venture out during the plain vanilla lockdown that follows.
With a couple more bouts of insomnia I reckon I can have the job done within a couple of weeks tops – which will feel like an achievement after all this time! Of course that doesn’t mean the project’s finished – just what facet. I’ve still got thousands of travel pictures to scan. Mind you, looking at the Governments handling of the pandemic that may be done bad thing. At least it’ll give me something to do during any lockdown Mk3!
Right now it’s after eight o’ clock and they day’s started catching up with me. I’m not going to stay up and watch the US Presidential elections. I’d rather go to bed fearing the worst whilst hoping for the best with the possibility of waking up in the morning and finding that the populist political bubble’s finally burst. One can but hope…
Sadly, I can imagine things getting ugly and rancorous if it looks like Trump could lose, so I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the result’s contested if it’s close. Trump’s supported have already been framing that narrative and some of us will remember when the word ‘chad’ (either hanging or swinging) entered the political lexicon. I dearly hope I’m wrong and that Americans have had enough of the Tango’d Tw*t, but with the weapons-grade levels of social and other media manipulation I really don’t know.
Meanwhile, here’s the picture of the day, which is from the batch of slides I’ve spent the day scanning. This scene is unrecognisable today. I took this picture at Reading station on the 9th February 2001. All you see in the picture’s disappeared. In the past decade Reading station has had a £1bn rebuild and upgrade, whilst some (but not all) of the routes have been electrified. The old HST’s like this have disappeared although this particular power car has found a new lease of life working for Scotrail North of the border.
You can almost hear the power car scream as this old Valenta engined HST accelerates away from a stop at Reading on its way to London. The low sun backlight the trains ‘flying fag packet’ livery as this particular version of the company colours were known as.
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Paul Bigland 