Monthly Archives: November 2020

2nd November (obituary) picture of the day…

02 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by in Musings, Railways

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Ever had one of those days where you get to the stage of saying “right 2020, you can just f*****g do one now”? I’ve finally reached that stage.

I knew today was going to be a struggle but I did my best to remain positive. Looking at the the heavy rain battering the bedroom window and listening to the high winds whipping the leaves off the trees I tried to put a positive spin and brave face on the pair of us self-isolating by saying “well, with weather like this, who really minds being stuck indoors?” After all, I had plenty to do and the day’s not been unproductive. I’ve managed to declutter the office, get some writing done and restart scanning old slides – with the intention of having the final batch of UK rail pictures done in the next couple of weeks. There’s only one problem. I don’t have any options as my freedoms have been eroded by Covid. And I do mean Covid, I’m not blaming the shambolic response to it from our kakistocratic Government (easy as it would be) because other countries citizens are in the same boat. We just happen to have a bunch in power who’re adding insult to injury. It’s the pandemic that’s the root of so many problems.

So, there was me plodding along, thinking ‘ho hum’ when I received the news of the death of an old and valued friend. Not from Covid, but from cancer. Major John Poyntz, formerly of Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate has passed away. In the next few days I’ll write more about John, right now I’m too upset to go into details. I first met John around 15 years ago and he and I and a small group of valued friends had many an adventure in Germany and the UK. You often hear the expression ‘they don’t make ’em like that anymore’ but in John’s case this is absolutely true – because of the times John lived through and the things he experienced through his military service in Malaya (as it was then) and later in West Germany during the cold war. He was a wealth of stories, has a wicked sense of humour, was always very dapper and – God – could he drink!

So, today’s picture of the day is in memory of John. I took it on the Harz railway in Germany on the 10th February 2007 and for me, it encapsulates who John was and why we both loved and respected him. Here he is at the train window, balancing a class of Glühwein on his notebooks as we trundle through the winter snow.

Rest easy Major.

Circumstances may rob us of our chance to pay our last respects to you for now, but be assured that, when the time is right, we’ll get together to raise several glasses in your memory and tell a few tales…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

1st November picture of the day…

01 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Musings, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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Apologies for my absence this past couple of days but things have not exactly been going to plan. Well, as much as there seems to be any sort of plan at the moment as none of us have a ‘Scooby Do’ what’s going on right now. Until today, when all matters of choice were abruptly taken out of our hands thanks to a text message

This morning Dawn received such message from the manicurist whom she’d visited on Thursday to say that they had just tested positive for Covid 19. Bugger, drat and f**k! Only it was a double bugger as Dawn’s mum had visited the very same manicurist on Friday…

So, this morning the pair of us had a chat. Whilst all the Covid safety protocols were followed and the chances of Dawn (or her mum) contracting Covid appear small, we feel that we’ve no option but to self-isolate. This means we’ve no chance to prepare for Thursday’s national event. On the bright side, we’re reasonably well stocked with most foods and we’ve both got plenty to keep ourselves occupied with, but the fact we’re stuck indoors for the next 11 days isn’t exactly a joy. Hopefully, we won’t end up killing each other as we slowly go stir-crazy! We’ve let close friends know and some have very kindly offered to do any shopping we need in the meantime. Even so, the next week is going to be an anxious time until we know that neither of us have contracted Covid – and neither have Dawn’s parents. It’s not as if any of us can get a test either as you can only get ones on the NHS if you’re displaying symptoms.

With this news in mind, don’t be surprised if my blogging becomes ever more acerbic when it comes to describing the antics of the blond buffoon and his coterie of clowns who are meant to be in ‘control’ of the situation. The only ‘world beating’ that seems to be going on is in the levels of incompetence, which are stratospheric. It’ll be interesting to see if their ‘track and trace’ system picks up said manicurist and contacts us. If it doesn’t, you can see just how ‘world beating’ it really is…

What’s going to chafe over the next 10 days is not being able to venture outside. Even during lockdown we could go for a walk, but now we’re literally going to be confined to barracks, which is a bitch. I’ll miss my daily exercise and as we live in a small cottage where both of us are working from home there’s little chance to do much without one of us disturbing the other.

OK, having shared my joyful news I’m going straight on to the picture of the day, which is of the only view I’m going to be looking at for the foreseeable as this is the one from our bedroom window. Admittedly, as views go, it’s a damn sight better than many, so I really shouldn’t complain! I wouldn’t even mind seeing it like this right now either…

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

More Calder Valley rail investment.

01 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Rail Investment, Railways, Uncategorized

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Since the 24th October through till the 1st November the railway through the Calder valley has been severed in both directions to allow for some very important work to take place at Todmorden. A £3.7m Great North Rail Project investment is seeing the 1840-built Grade II listed structure grit blasted to its bare metal to allow structural repairs to take place.

180-year-old bridge designed by railway pioneer George Stephenson is a skew bridge over the Rochdale canal. The single 31 m (102 ft) cast iron span, consists of a pair of bowed ribs with vertical hangars projected above the ribs in an ornamental Gothic arcade. The abutments are semi-octagonal castellated turrets. The whole structure looks very grand and must have been incredibly impressive in its day, projecting the power of the new railways.

Meanwhile, Taylors bridge, which carries the railway over Rose Bank Road just to the West of Todmorden station has been completely reconstructed with two disused sections permanently removed as part of the same investment.

Sadly, due to other commitments and the lousy weather we’ve been having, I didn’t have chance to visit and record the work until Friday 3oth, by which time Taylors bridge had been replaced, with all the old spans removed and the new ones dropped into place by a huge crane (which had already left the site. Network Rail and its contractors were busy replacing the track, ready for services to restart. Here’s a selection of images from my visit.

Trains from Leeds were terminated at Hebden Bridge where there’s a crossover that allows them to reverse and work back ‘right line’. Here’s 195128 which was preparing to do exactly that after depositing me. From Manchester, services were terminating at Rochdale, whilst a rail replacement bus service worked between the two points.
My rail replacement bus was this ex-Transport for London vehicle which I many well have used when it worked on the capital’s route 25!
With Todmorden station in the background, ‘team orange’ are replacing track over the new Taylors bridge. Concrete sleepers had been put into place earlier and the engineers are busy clipping new rails into place over them.
The days of moving rails using teams of men have largely disappeared. Nowadays the work has been mechanised. Here, a road rail vehicle (RRV) has been fitted with a special extendable arm to move lengths of rail.
A few hours later the rails have all been installed and the RRV has changed tools. Now, fitted with a bucket, it’s being used to spread ballast over the new sleepers before a tamping machine arrives to consolidate the stones and adjust the line and level of the new track to ensure its fit for passenger service on Monday morning.
Meanwhile, here’s George Stephenson’s 1840 bridge over the Rochdale canal at Gauxholme. Most of the bridge has been cocooned in sheeting to protect the workers from the elements but also to cut down on noise and dust from the grit-blasting. As you can see, people are living very close to the work.
A closer look at the Todmorden end of the bridge. Track has been removed to allow inspections to take place whilst the parts of the bridge facing the track have already been grit-blasted and treated whilst the line’s been closed as it would be impossible to carry out this work with trains still running.

Despite the awful weather we’ve been having whilst the work’s been going on (including this weekend, there high winds and heavy rain as I’m writing this on Sunday evening!) it’s expected that the railway will be open to traffic on Monday morning.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

31st October picture of the day – and a spleen venting…

01 Sunday Nov 2020

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Hi ho, Hi Ho – it’s off to ‘lockdown’ we go..

The operative word that seems to define this Government is shambles – be it Brexit or Covid. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs on this – most of which would be cathartic and splenetic – but ultimately futile, because we have a dysfunctional Government led by a complete chancer who’s never had any interest in anything other than his own ego.

So, now, with a Government that’s completely lost the plot (because it never had it in the first place) we are where we are. Welcome to phase 2 of the shit-show – only now we’re on the cusp of winter so forget sitting outside in the way we could in shit-show phase 1. Do you feel these people have a grasp of all this? No. Me neither.

How all this will pan out now is anyone’s guess as I suspect many people have lost any faith in the Government to manage this. Personally? Dawn and I will do what’s expected of us. Not because we trust these jokers, but because we care about other people. I need some new glasses, but I’ll be buggered if you’ll find me taking a trip to Barnard Castle…

I’ll spare you more spleen venting as enough is enough (for now), here’s the picture of the day instead. I was walking through a paddy field in Bali, Indonesia on the 2nd January 2012 when I spotted this critter. I’ve carried a Nikon Micro lens in my camera bag for years (I bought it brand new for a bargain price in Kathmandu, Nepal, back in 1998, but that’s another story) so I whipped it out to get this shot and for once the little beauty played ball and stayed still.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!