Monthly Archives: November 2021

30th November picture of the day…

30 Tuesday Nov 2021

Posted by in Bali, Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, Travel, West Yorkshire

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The snow that blanketed the Pennines these past few days vanished in the same way it arrived – overnight. I opened the bedroom blinds to a very different world this morning. One that was darker – and soggier! A combination of rising temperatures, wind and rain did for the snow overnight, which was great. The only problem was the rain decided to outstay its welcome and hung around pretty much all day, which led me to having another long day indoors. To be fair, I’d no shortage of things to do and it wasn’t like I needed to dash to the shops to find food. We’ve a well-stocked freezer as we batch cook and there’s enough tinned stuff in the cupboards to make an American survivalist jealous, although the lack of tinned meat may cause them issues…

Instead, I resolutely waded my way through enough paperwork, emails and old slides to have another fruitful day and feel that I was getting somewhere. Well, other than out of the house obviously! In the end, that’s exactly what I did do although my timing was crap. Dawn is out with a friend this evening so I decided to stretch my legs by wandering down into Sowerby Bridge when she left as by then I’d had had more than enough ‘screen time’. The only problem was this coincided with the rain stepping up several notches, so it was a ‘moist’ trip to be sure.

It’s not often I’m in Sowerby Bridge on a Tuesday evening (unless I’m returning home) so it felt quite odd. As I’d a couple of supermarkets to visit I was curious to see how the latest regulations on wearing masks would go down as here in West Yorkshire it seems most folk seem to think they’re immune to Covid in the same way they wear shorts in December. I was pleasantly surprised to see there was a marked uptake with mask wearing in both Tesco and Lidl. The only irony was that those who were still eschewing masks were – how shall I put this – not exactly the ones who looked like they were fit enough to put up a good fight if they contracted it. Even if they were, I’d read this piece in the Guardian newspaper earlier which showed how relying on fitness wouldn’t help you anyway. It’s a tragic story of someone who fell for the anti-vaxx myths and it struck a chord with me as (like me) this person grew up in Southport but moved to London.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/aug/04/fit-and-healthy-man-42-from-southport-who-rejected-vaccine-dies-of-covid

The moral of the story? No matter how physically fit you are, you don’t know what your genetic marker weaknesses are – and they can be deadly – it’s not a nice way to go. If Covid can do this to a a sports enthusiast, what can it do to you? In short? Wear a f*cking mask! It’s no big deal you babies!

OK, rant over. I’m now back at home drying out and editing some of the slides I’ve scanned earlier whilst I wait for the missus to to get in so here’s another antidote to the autumn weather. I took this picture shortly before Christmas 1994 from the ferry returning us to the Island of Bali from Lombok as we passed another ferry heading the opposite way. The weather was stunning, the sea flat and you could see right across the Island to Mount Agung, the most sacred mountain on the island and a volcano that can be capricious – to say the least – as extinct it ain’t…

If you want to see many more pictures from Bali and Indonesia, you can find them on my Zenfolio website by following THIS link.

Oh, on another completely different note…

The 2021 Community Rail Awards will be held in Southampton on Thursday 9th December. This year (because of Covid) the event is being broadcast on the internet. It’s free to join us, so if you’d like to come along (virtually) you can sign up here.

Cheers!

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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

29th November picture of the day…

29 Monday Nov 2021

Posted by in Art, Bali, Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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‘Tis been a cold start to a new week here in the Pennines. The snow’s stayed around all day as temperatures have never really got above freezing. I’ve not been too concerned as today was always going to be one where I was chained to the office because I had an article to finish writing for a magazine – and supply all the pictures, which kept me occupied until after early afternoon checking quotes and captions. I didn’t even manage to get out for my usual daily tour of the town in order to get some exercise. I figured I’d make up for that later in the week when conditions underfoot aren’t so treacherous. Besides, I’ve got a jaunt to London in the pipeline and needed to clear the decks of paperwork first. So, I can’t complain, I’ve had a productive, if claustrophobic day – and stayed warm, which has been a bonus!

Having finished my programme of work and with the world outside looking decidedly monotone I decided to add a splash of colour to my day by scanning a small batch of old slides from a place that’s anything but black and white: The island of Bali, which has supplied the picture of the day. This was taken in Ubud, the town widely regarded as the cultural capital of the island in December 1994.

Here’s a young woman performing the Legong dance. The dance is considered one of the island’s most revered classical pieces, known for its physically demanding postures and fast-paced movements which require a significant level of flexibility among its generally young female performers. As you can see, the costumes are incredibly rich in style and colour- an ideal subject for photography, even if it was a technical challenge with the slow-speed slide film I was using in those days!

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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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

28th November picture(s) of the day…

28 Sunday Nov 2021

Posted by in Calder Valley, Halifax, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Sowerby Bridge, Weather, West Yorkshire

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Winter’s arrived with a vengeance here in the Pennines although we’ve been very lucky where we live as our little patch of the valley side’s normally sheltered from the brunt of the weather – and this time was no exception. Storm Arwen hit on Friday evening but we’d no idea just how bad it was as we were protected from the height of the winds. Oh, we knew it was gusty but it was only when we woke up on Saturday morning and saw that the high ground around the valley was covered in a blanket of snow we started to realise what had really occurred. Then we started seeing comments from friends on social media and the news wires that made us appreciate just how fortunate we’d been. But, it was a close run thing. Norland, on the opposite side of the valley had the electricity knocked out with places not seeing it restored until this afternoon (Sunday). There but for the grace of God…

This morning the snow returned and stayed with us nearly all of the day, giving us several fresh dustings of varying severities, all of which clung as temperatures were so low and there was hardly a breath of wind. The trees looked magical and the valley below eerie as tendrils of cloud toyed with with the town, grasping at sections whilst leaving other areas unmolested. It was so attractive that the pair of us wrapped up warm and went for a walk through our local woods, along the promenade where we could admire the vista, then circumnavigated an almost deserted Savile Park before returning home to the warm, feeling like we’d earned our evening in together where we relaxed in front of the TV, but not until I’d rustled up a Chicken Vindail curry which added some spice to keep out the cold on a day when you really did need it.

Here’s a few shots from our perambulations…

The view from our bedroom window – looking down over Sowerby Bridge with Sowerby beyond partially hidden by low clouds which slowly drifted through the valley.
Looking across to Norland, which was still suffering from a power cut caused by the storm. It looks beautiful – as long as you don’t rely on electricity for heating! The top of the valley kept disappearing as low cloud kept overwhelming it. This is one of our regular walks because there’s the wonderful Moorcock Inn as a refuge at the end of the trek.
The edge of Norland and Sowerby Bridge just at the edge of the picture on the right hand side. The row of trees in the valley bottom disguise the railway between Halifax and Manchester.
Just a few minutes walk from the house our road has this avenue of trees which look superb in this weather.
Scarr Woods looked stunning after the latest snowfall without a breath of wind to blow the dust off the branches.

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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

HS2. Work continues…

28 Sunday Nov 2021

Posted by in Hs2, HS2Rebellion, Protest, Railways

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Whilst all the recent news about HS2 has been about the Eastern leg to Leeds being mothballed it would be easy to forget that the rest of the new railway is still being built – especially Phase 1 from London to Birmingham and beyond (which contains the most impressive structures on the line) – and Phase 2a to Crewe, although that’s still in the early stages of utilities diversions and site clearances as part of the preparatory works, before full construction begins next year.

It’s often difficult to get a sense of the progress being made on the project as much of the route is in the countryside and not always visible, unless you happen to stumble across it. It’s why drone footage such as this latest one by Michael Warner is so useful.

You can really see the enormous progress being made building the route of HS2 in open country, as well as some of the ecological mitigation that’s being put in place in many locations. It’s all the stuff the opponents of HS2 deliberately ignore. Of course, much of the route looks like an open scar at the moment due to the sheer amount of landscaping work that’s being done as part of the project. HS1 looked very similar, but you’d be hard put to identify any of the sites that were used in its construction. HS2 is very much a work in the early stages of progress with the earthworks, which is why it looks this way. Once those earthworks are complete and bridges and tunnels are in place and the land’s been landscaped, this scene will look very different. It’s another reason why drone footage like this is valuable, we’ll be able to look back at in future years and see the changes as the route’s developed from a few trail bores and test pits to a completed railway.

Another useful ‘go-to’ for information on ecological work is a farmer, Penny McGregor (@Penmcgregor on Twitter). Penny used to be anti HS2 and joined the protests against it but has come to realise that campaign was based on falsehoods. Now Penny (who’s become a critical and unbiased supporter of HS2) often tweets pictures showing how the ecological planting is becoming established, and indeed even thriving. This is the antithesis of HS2 antis who always ignore these inconvenient facts and try to pretend this stuff’s been a disaster. Here’s two of Penny’s most recent tweets.

I’m hoping to spend more time looking at the work on the ecological mitigation (as well as the construction sites) myself shortly, but as you can imagine, there’s a heck of a lot of ground to cover. In the meantime, why not follow Penny on Twitter as she’s much closer to the work than I am.

One thing conspicuous by it’s absence in this drone footage (or anything else) is evidence of any protesters or genuine attempts to stop HS2. That’s because the anti HS2 campaign’s dead in the water. The eviction of the last protest camp on Phase 1 at Wendover (and the lack of publicity that received) has effectively killed it off. Add in the advent of winter and the fact there was only ever a few dozen hardcore protesters pretending they could close down over 300 active worksites spread over a huge geographical area and you can see why their claims always were laughable.

Now, the only place left where there’s any regular protests are at Swynnerton in Staffordshire on the Phase 2a route to Crewe close to the ‘Bluebell’ camp as the protesters call it. It’s the only refuge the protesters have left (not that it’ll last long). Here a continually revolving door of (normally) less than a dozen people are pretending they can stop Hs2 by trying (and failing) to block a single site access gate!

You have to laugh! ‘New’ camps? There aren’t any. Not a one, ‘bluebell’ is all that’s left and that was established ages ago. “Grows ever stronger”? Oh, my aching sides! In this picture you have a rag-bag of people who’ve been evicted from elsewhere, or are Phase 1 Nimbys, like the woman on the far left of the lower picture, the hilarious self-publicist Caroline Thompson-Smith of…Calvert, In Buckinghamshire, who pitched up in Staffs for a few hours one day. Caroline is (in)famous for this nonsense about ‘Black Alder’ trees, one of a long series of things she just can’t help making up. Interestingly, several of the old faces have never put in an appearance at Swynnerton as it’s too far from London for them to get to. Mind you, I expect many of the old bangers they drive would never make it there and back anyway!

Quite how failing to block even a single gate on a single site is going to stop Hs2 is a mystery. This seems more like a desperate effort to appear relevant in order to get more gullible people to donate (hence the ‘gofundme’ link included in the post). Sadly for the protesters, the mugs money is running out and they’re increasingly reliant on mysterious large (three figure) donations from an anonymous source. Still, you know what they say about fools and their money. No amount of cash is going to bring the anti HS2 campaign back from the dead!

Now the weather’s turning wintery I don’t expect to see many more of these pointless stunts, and in the New Year this camp will be living on borrowed time as an eviction is inevitable – and unstoppable. 2022 is going to be a huge year for HS2 as construction will be in full swing with several Tunnel-Boring Machines (TBMs) working on different sites, the Colne Valley viaduct taking shape and also major works at Euston, Birmingham Curzon St and Old Oak Common. I’m looking forward to having lots to write about!

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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

26th November picture of the day…

26 Friday Nov 2021

Posted by in Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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There’s no magnum opus when it comes to blogs from me today. After the past few days travels and the fact the weather’s very much in winter mode I’ve been happy to stay at home! There’s been plenty for me to do anyway what with getting pictures off to clients, wading through paperwork and scanning/editing old slides. Besides, I’m going to be doing a lot of travelling soon enough so days like this should be savored.

That said, it’s been an odd one. The world seems spooked by the idea of a new Covid variant from Southern Africa. So much so that the world’s financial markets have had an attack of the vapours and wiped billions off their values. Just what you want before Xmas! Meanwhile, the UK weather’s preparing to take a very definite turn for the worse, which (if it happens) could make my forthcoming travels ‘interesting’ to say the least. Never mind, as the old saying goes “shit happens” – and we’ve had plenty of that over the past 2 years…

So, this weekend is very much going to be home-based. But that’s no bad thing as I’ve more than enough to keep me occupied – and I’ve an article to compose for a magazine by Monday, so let the weather do its worst..

Which rather neatly brings me on to the picture of the day which is from somewhere where the weather was doing very much the opposite! Here’s another old slide from the island of Gili Trawangan in Indonesia which was taken in December 1994. This was the view from the verandah of our balcony at dawn as the sun rose over the island of Lombok. It was certainly worth getting up for!

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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Have sunshine, will travel…

25 Thursday Nov 2021

Posted by in Hs2, Photography, Politics, Railways, Yorkshire

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I hadn’t intended going anywhere today, exactly the opposite. I’d a shedload of pictures to sort out after my trip to the North-East the other day plus paperwork and all manner of gubbins. But I was up bright and early so managed to crack on with a lot of stuff, then realised that – actually – we’d been gifted a stunning day weather-wise. I didn’t want to venture too far, but the North’s railways are very much in the news at the moment due to the weapons-grade dishonesty from the Prime Minister and Grant Shapps (the Transport Minister, but don’t feel embarrassed if you’ve never heard of him before, he’s a classic Johnson appointee in that respect). So, I decided to head out to the railway between Leeds and York which is being electrified. Well, sort of – ish.

At the moment the wires are extending West from Colton Junction on the East Coast Main Line (ECML) along the route to Leeds but they peter out just before they get to the junctions East of Church Fenton. For those in the know, Church Fenton was *meant* to be where HS2’s Eastern leg joined the existing network. Well, before Johnson mothballed it anyway. Here’s the view from the footbridge at the station looking East. No, that’s not a railway bridge in the distance. That’s where the overhead masts end…

Although the day was sunny it was also bloody cold – and the existing train service isn’t exactly what you’s call ‘metro style’ either. Having arrived at Church Fenton I hung around long enough to get some useful shots and the early signs of hypothermia, then decided to move on to Ulleskelf, slightly further East. The only thing was – it was quicker to walk the two miles between them than it was to wait for the next train! OK, maybe I’m a glutton for punishment (and exercise) but the walk seemed like a good idea. Besides, this part of Yorkshire’s flat – which is why it’s so cold! Little old me was one of the few things in the way of the wind.

To be fair, there’s not a lot of reasons to hang around in this part of the world anyway. The old station building at Church Fenton’s been converted into an Indian restaurant but it’s not open until later. Neither’s the pub, but there is a very good community run shop only a few minutes walk away. It’s a friendly little place that stocks an amazing range of stuff – including some bottled real ales from local brewers.

The walk to Ulleskelf was mostly on farm tracks apart from the last mile, so it wasn’t taxing. Sadly, my timing wasn’t particularly good as I still had far more time to hang around than I’d needed to get the shots I’d planned – and the nearby pub only opened 3 minutes after my train was due to depart, so I spent a fair bit of time wondering what the hell I was doing this for. Talk about suffering for one’s art! Still, I did get the pictures I wanted – and more – as the light played ball for once.

Here’s a sample.

Remember, this line was meant to have been electrified years ago, but it was cancelled by a Tory Transport Minister. Now it’s being done piecemeal with no real plan, but this is the line Boris Johnson’s spinning as a ‘quicker’ upgrade than HS2. The fact HS2 would have acted as a bypass here and would have meant places like Ulleskelf (where this picture’s taken) could have had a far better service than the piss-poor one it has now is the last thing he’s bothered about.

I’m of the opinion George Osborne, the Tory Chancellor who championed the ‘Northern Powerhouse’ actually meant it. With Boris Johnson, what we’re left with is a (Peppa) Pig’s arse…

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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Tyneside trundle…

24 Wednesday Nov 2021

Posted by in I love my job, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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05:00.

It’s an unconscionably early time to be up nowadays as I’m out of practice as this – especially in the winter months, but I’m now up and preparing to head to Newcastle for a job. I’m actually rather looking forward to it as I’ll be visiting a rail system I really don’t get chance to very often – the Tyne and Wear Metro, which is about to undergo a vast change as the trainfleet is being replaced for the first time since the system opened in 1980.

Stay with me through the day to see how my travels unravel, and what I get to see…

06:20.

My stroll to the station was rather enjoyable today. I love this time of day before the town wakes up. The weather was ideal too. Cold but not freezing, still but not damp. My breath was hardly noticeable and the pavements remained dry which is just as well. Yorkshire stone may look decorative but it can become an ice rink in winter! The station was starting to spring to life with a steady flow of foot passengers and taxis arriving to drop people off.

Cobbles may be a pain in the arse underfoot, but they do make for good reflections at night…

I’m now ensconced on Northern’s 06:17 from Halifax to Hull which is a 4-car Class 150/158 lash-up. Needless to say, I’ve plumped for the rear 158 so that I can grab a table and set up the mobile office. OK, there’s no power-points, but set 849 does have USB sockets so at least my phone’s getting a boost.

06:45.

Despite the earliness of the hour and after leaving New Pudsey, this train’s filling up nicely as early morning commuters begin their journey into the city. Several more joined us at Bramley (the last stop before Leeds) so by the time we arrived in the city we’d quite respectable loadings.

07:25.

I’m now heading North on another service entirely. LNER’s 07:08 from Leeds to Aberdeen. To be honest, before I’d booked this I didn’t even know LNER ran such a train. I normally associate Aberdeen services with my old home town – London.

The 07:08 runs light from Doncaster Carr depot to Leeds before starting in passenger service. Today it’s a 9-car Azuma (106 for the number-crunchers). There’s no shortage of space at this point of the journey although there’s plenty of reservations in the system for further North. I’ve found a vacant table bay and set up for the journey to Newcastle.

07:35.

We’ve just left York after a less than stellar performance en-route. Working on diesel power as the line’s yet to see electrification completed we arrived in Yorkshire’s capital three minutes late, not that there were many passengers around to be upset. This train’s still quiet. We’re now ‘under the wires’ and working on electric so I’ll be interested to see if we make up any of that time. Either way, I’ve got a comfortable seat from which to watch the sunrise!

08:05.

Having called at Darlington where dozens of people were awaiting our arrival we’re now heading North once more. The morning’s beautiful. The sunrise over a misty Vale of York was more than enough to tear me away from the laptop to take time and stare. Unsurprisingly, the performance of the Azuma’s (plus a less than tightly-timed diagram) meant my train soon made up the deficit it accrued from Leeds.

12:30.

Pardon the gap but I’ve been busy working. Today’s job was to visit the Nexus depot at Gosforth to see a mock-up of the cab of the bew trains and enjoy a guided tour of the depot site. The depot was built by the LNER in 1920 but is about to be demolished as the site’s being rebuilt to cope with the new trains from Stadler, the first of which will be arriving this time next year.

15:30.

As is often the way in this game, the weather’s been playing silly buggers! Whilst we were at the depot we had blue skies and low sunshine – exactly the conditions I didn’t want! As soon as I left the clouds rolled in and we lost at least four stops of light. I’d decided to explore the metro’s Airport branch to scout out some photographic locations. I managed a few shots but the dark clouds that had taken over made conditions challenging. In the end, having got a few new pictures I gave up and headed tack into toon – sorry, town! Conditions weren’t any better so I cut my losses and called it a day. I’m now making my way home whilst the weather closes in more. As I approached Durham there was a series of impressive rain showers sweeping across from the coast. I was half-expecting snow now the mercury’s dropped as much as it has but the further South I go the more rain I hit.

I’m currently aboard a TPE service from Newcastle to Liverpool which is almost pre-Covid busy but at least it’s warm and cosy. I didn’t realise how cold conditions had got until I took my laptop out of my camera bag once aboard and found it was like a block of ice!

16:20.

I’ve swapped services once more as I wanted to take a short break in York to pick up a couple of books from WH Smiths on the station. As the station’s such a popular place with the railway enthusiast fraternity they stock the very useful ‘Trackmaps’, allowing me to update a couple that are well past their useful life as there’ve been so many changes in the past few years. Their ‘buy one, get the other half price’ offer was a welcome bonus! The station feels very festive right now as an enormous Xmas tree has appeared outside the stationers – and well away from the overheads! I didn’t hang around as I picked up a Northern service to Leeds to continue my journey. Worked by a 3-car 195 the 16:08’s a semi-fast service and busy, but that’s nothing unusual now that passenger numbers are really bouncing back. Earlier today Nexus informed us that their Tyne and Wear trains are already back to 80% of pre-Covid levels.

21:00.

I’m back home in the warn and slowly processing today’s pictures. You’ll be able to read about my visit to Gosforth depot and the work that’s going on there in a future edition of RAIL magazine. Meanwhile, here’s a couple of T&W metro pictures to whet your appetite.

With the depot rebuilding work going on in the background, a pair of units perform a shunt maneuvere to move between stabling roads.
Inside the 1920s depot building that was built to servixe the original Tyneside electric fleet that was withdrawn in the 1960s and replaced by diesel multiple units until the lines were converted to the Tyne and Wear metro in the late 1970s. This 13 road building will disappear as it’s no longer needed for the forthcoming Stadler trains. Instead, the site will be occupied by new stabling sidings and a much smaller, 4 road shed. The wheel lathe (seen on the right) will be replaced by a brand new Hegenscheidt machine in its own single road building.
A pair of the original units climb the bank between Bank Foot and Callerton Parkway stations heading for the Airport. Whilst the incline is exaggerated by my telephoto lens, it doesn’t actually look that different to the naked eye!

So (for now) it’s goodnight from me. Expect more pictures to appear on my Zenfolio website tomorrow. I’m off for a good sleep!

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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

23rd November picture of the day…

23 Tuesday Nov 2021

Posted by in Indonesia, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Politics, Travel

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Apologies for the lack of blogging yesterday but I decided to have a rare day off and enjoy the start of the week in a different fashion. The weather was glorious here in the Calder valley, leaving me sorely tempted to head out with the camera, but DPD put paid to that by informing me they’d be delivering a parcel around lunchtime. Resigned to the fact I was tied to the house I managed an early perambulation around the woods and canal before retreating to the office. The day wasn’t all bad – I managed to get a lot done which included beginning to scan a new album of slides from 1994-95. In fact, I got far more done than I expected as the damned parcel didn’t turn up until the early evening! Ho hum.

In between work I kept one eye on the news and the latest antics of our Prime Minister who – hot on the heels of his tremendous ‘success’ with pissing off most of Yorkshire and the other Northern regions with the disaster that’s his rail plans – managed to go one step beyond with an utterly surreal speech extolling the virtues of ‘Peppa Pig world’ to (of all people) the Confederation of British Industry! Here you have hard-nosed businessmen and Captains of industry who want to know exactly what the PM’s Government’s doing about the economy, and all they get is a rambling, incoherent speech that was more Benny Hill than Churchill – the man Johnson likes to consider himself as equal to. Jesus, doesn’t it make you proud to be English? Truly, British politics is beyond parody nowadays…

Apart from not having to hang around for parcels, today’s been in similar vein. I’ve had a productive time and British politics remains utterly mad. I can’t even be bothered to write about what a shit-show it is as I’d run out of expletives within a few paragraphs. Besides, I’ve more worthwhile things to do.

So, here’s the picture of the day, which comes from my latest batch of old slide scans. The weather may be turning cold here, but when I look at these pictures I’m taken back in time (and distance) to somewhere where it never gets cold. Today’s picture was taken in Mid December 1994 on Gili Trawangan, the largest of the three Gili islands which lie just off the West coast of the Island of Lombok, Indonesia. Here’s the view across Gili Meno, looking at Lombok and Mount Rinjani in the distance. In those days the islands were barely developed and a haven for backpackers. I’ve not been back to the Gili’s since, but I do know they’ve changed out of all recognition. I think I’d rather remember them as they were, before mass tourism took over. Lombok, however, is another matter – as is nearby Bali…

That’s all from me for tonight. I’ve another silly o’ clock start tomorrow as I’m off to Newcastle-Upon-Tyne as part of a commission. The job itself doesn’t last long but I’ll be making the most of the trip there and back, so expect a rolling blog through the day as I’m going to be spending some time on the Tyneside metro, a system I rarely visit…

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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Down memory lane: Peterborough station then and now…

21 Sunday Nov 2021

Posted by in Down memory lane, Nostalgia, Peterborough, Photography, Railways

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*This is another blog that will be fleshed out with more and more pictures as I have the time. When it’s completed, this message will disappear*

When I was passing through Peterborough station last month I realised I’d been visiting and taking picture’s around the station for over 30 years, making it ideal for a memory lane blog. In that time the stations changed tremendously, both in terms of trains seen passing through as well as physically, with the expansion and rebuilding of the station itself

So, here’s the start of my memories, with images taken back in BR days, in 1990.

It’s the 12th March 1990 and the pride and joy of Stratford depot in East London 47007 is heading South from New England sidings with empty 4-wheel tank wagons used on the Fletton flyash trains. The loco was named after the depot (at the depot) in November 15th 1986. It remained in service until October 1991 when it was finally withdrawn. It was scrapped at Booth Roe in Rotherham in February 1994.
On the 8th June 1990 Class 08 number 08528 shunts Civil Engineers wagons outside Crescent Rd wagon repair shops which can be seen to the right of the loco. Peterborough was home to several of these shunting engines for use in the yards around the station. The wagon works closed many years ago but it’s grade 2 listed as it’s believed to be the only surviving timber wagon workshop in Britain – albeit the wooden frame is hidden behind asbestos cladding!

There used to be extensive freight sidings at Peterborough, including an old hump shunting yard called New England which was to the North-East of the station. The sidings still survive to this day but they’re mostly disused and overgrown as the days of hump-shunting and wagon-load traffic are long gone. At the far end of the sidings used to stand a lone signal box. It was already dilapidated and abandoned when I took this picture of it on the 12th March 1990. Its full name was “New England East Shunting Cabin A”. It disappeared a few years later. I always thought this would have made a good cabin for a preserved railway somewhere.

Now let’s move forward to 1996…

It’s the 19th September 1996 and a row of Class 31s sit in the loco sidings at the North End of the station. These locos would be stabled here most of the week until they were required for engineers trains at the weekend. As a consequence, they suffered from appalling reliability!
This shot was taken on the same day in 1996 as the previous shot. Peterborough has a small, one-road locomotive depot which was used for fuelling and inspections, the shed provided at least some protection from the elements but little in the way of facilities. The locomotive in the foreground was already withdrawn and dumped at the depot to provide a source of spares to keep other Class 31s running. Such engines were known as ‘Christmas Trees’.
A slightly different angle to the last pictures shows 37885. 37057. 37054. 37220 and 08529 stabled by the shed. 37885 was running in grey undercoat prior to having the new privatised EWS red and gold livery applied that’s carried by two of its sisters.

Also taken on the 19th September 1996 was this image of one of the single-car Class 153 units that used to work along the GN/GE joint line from Peterborough to Doncaster via Sleaford and Lincoln. If I remember correctly this ran every two hours. It was certainly a Cinderella service. Nowadays the route’s benefitted from a massive £270m investment (see this blog) plus the recent opening of the Werrington dive-under to turn it into a vital freight artery. Even the passenger service has been extended with the 153s being replaced by 2-car trains.

Let’s take another leap. This time to 2002.

Here’s power car 3311 leading a ‘North of London’ Eurostar set that was on hire to GNER to operate their ‘White Rose’ service between London Kings Cross and York. These sets had originally been built to operate through services from Europe to the North of England, but the services were cancelled and never ran. GNER was suffering from a stock shortage so in 2000 they hired in 2 of the sixteen car sets, some of which then had GNER livery applied. In 2002 They added a third train which ran from Kings Cross to Leeds. The leases expired in December 2005 when the sets were handed back to Eurostar and the trains disappeared from the East Coast Main Line.

Here’s 325012 calling at Peterborough with 1S04, the 16.01 London – Edinburgh mail on the 23rd May 2002. The city had always been an important hub for Royal Mail trains, hence the bridge just above the train which was used to take mail across to the large RM depot out of shot to the left of the picture. Sadly (and bizarrely), Royal Mail opted out of using rail the following year, although a change of heart in 2004 saw these trains return, but only to the West Coast. It was only in June 2013 that one service a day ran on the East Coast again, but by that time the Royal Mail facilities at Peterborough had contracted and sights like this became history. Now the London – Newcastle mail and return working both fly through the station just after midnight without stopping.

I’ve many more pictures to add, which I’ll do as time permits…

Rolling blog. Mixed fayre…

20 Saturday Nov 2021

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, West Yorkshire

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12:00.

Today’s a bit of a mixture. After a slow morning I’m currently on the train to Leeds in order to fulfil a magazine commission. It’s only for a couple of hours as this evening the pair of us are out for a meal with my in-laws. Whilst I’m doing this Dawn’s busy with one of her favourite hobbies – baking (at which she’s exceedingly good), so I expect to return home to a house full of wonderful smells!

The weather’s still mild here in West Yorkshire so the walk to Halifax station was a pleasent spot of exercise. I must admit to being surprised how busy the town centre was. The roads and pavements were packed, but then I noticed the fairground in the courtyard of the Piece Hall, which is obviously proving to be a draw.

I arrived just in time to catch the 11:53 to York via Leeds which was very busy.

12:10.

We’ve left Bradford and the train remains packed with a mix of day-trippers, shoppers and a handful of long-distance travellers encumbered with suitcases. Sadly, mask-wearing is minimal. Only a handful of us are taking such precautions. Clearly, the news of how the pandemic is growing in Europe or the number of UK cases means little to many people, who seem think Covid has magically disappeared.

14:45.

That was an interesting couple of hours. Leeds station was absolutely heaving with people, with lots of younger ones dressed up to the nines for a night on the town – although how many of them will survive that long is a good question as several seemed ‘well oiled’ before they arrived!

No-one’s using trains anymore, allegedly…

People-watching aside, trying to get the shot I had in mind proved to be quite a challenge, not least because the sun appeared when I least wanted it to! Hopefully, what I have captured will work.

One unexpected pleasure was seeing a Pathfinder railtour arrive and bump into an old friend travelling with it. ‘Cookie’ used to drive coaches on some of our epic tours across the channel to join railtours in Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands organised by Mercia charters. Brexit has put an end to these events as the logistics (and cost) have made them unworkable. Still, it was a pleasure to swap stories of ‘the old days’ back in the mid 2000s when the world was a much freerer place.

Now I’m heading back to Halifax on a rammed 2-car Class 195/0 operating a Leeds-Chester service. Normally you’d expect these services to be 3-car 195/1s, so it’s ‘cosy’ on here to say the least. 3 into 2 really doesn’t go – especially on a Saturday.

16:30.

Bugger! The good weather we’d had early in the day turned to murk and drizzle by the time I arrived back in Halifax meaning the walk home was damp to say the least. Even so, I decided to takea quick detour through the Piece Hall just to see what was going on. This…

It wasn’t just the Piece Hall that was busy, the rest of town was packed too. The Westgate Arcade that is lined with bars and eateries was just as rammed. If I hadn’t already had something else booked I’d have been well tempted to hang around.

By the time I descended the hill to home trying to see the world through my ‘specs was like looking out of the ripple glass in a bathroom window! Still, I made it home in one (soggy) piece and now it’s time to dress up for the next act, so it’s off with the walking boots and on with the brogues as we’re off to this place. Devour in Holmfirth.

22:45.

We’re now home after a lovely evening. The four of us were joined by an old school-friend of Dawns (Viv), her new husband Gary and Viv’s step-mom, Marge. The atmosphere at Devour was really good. The place was extremely busy and the food we had was very enjoyable. Dawn and I shared a starter of King Scallops, braised sticky Pig cheek with budino nero puree and apple crisp.

For my main course I enjoyed the braised lamb shoulder, handmade wild mushroom tortellini, rec hard, confait shallot, sauteed wild mushroom and masala wine.

My only complaint about the place was the ambient noise and music, which made it difficult to hold and hear conversations. Maybe I’m just getting old, but then I wasn’t the only one who noticed…

Tomorrow is another, rather different day. I’ll be taking portraits of a Lawyer friend to be used in his new chambers, after which, our little band will probably adjourn to a pub in Halifax for a couple of drinks…

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 appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!