*blog in preperation as its not a rolling one..*
For a whole host of reasons I’ve escaped from home today. I’ve not ventured far but I have made it Westwards to Todmorden. The weather’s gloriously sunny and the temperature’s made it into double-figures so with everything else going on I thought “bugger it”. Now that lockdown has eased there’s lots more people about as shops and some pubs have reopened. Seeing groups of people out together enjoying themselves takes a little getting used to but it’s a positive sign for the future. We’re all tired of the social isolation so it’s hardly surprising.
I walked down into Sowerby Bridge with the intention of getting a few shots at the station but as the weather’s so good and I’m currently writing an article on the Calder Valley line for a magazine I thought “here’s a good excuse for some new pictures” so I caught a train to Todmorden which is where I am now. Of all the locations on the line this offers the best photographic locations. That saying, I came out with the D5 and only the 50mm lens, so my options are limited!
Still, here’s the very first of the BR built Class 150s that’s called here as I’m typing this…
After decades of service around the West Midlands these units have pitched up here to help replace the Pacers.
Paul Bigland 
Good grief. I spent ages on these as a commuter in and out of Birmingham New Street in the 1980s and 1990s. Of course, the thing about 150 001 is that it was built as a three-car set, together with the other prototype whose class number I forget. All the production units were built as 2-car sets, because some accountant most likely said “You can have half as many sets again for the same cost if you make them only 2 cars…” Of course, this led to dreadful overcrowding, and in the end Regional Railways had to break up a number of 2-car sets to strengthen a number up to three. (I think they vestibuled what became the ‘inner’ driving unit, but they retained their cabs.)
If you are writing an article on the CV line for a magazine don’t forget the present proposals supported by Rochdale and Calderdale councils for a community rail partnership. And the campaign for electrification: full CV route to both Manchester and Preston via both Bradford and Brighouse was top-ranked scheme in the march 2015 Northern Sparks task force report https://transportforthenorth.com/wp-content/uploads/EFT_Report_FINAL_web.pdf. See also http://www.electriccharter.wordpress.com