18:25.

There was no blog from me yesterday as the day was taken up with my in-laws, family and friends celebrating John and Norah’s diamond wedding anniversay. Needless to say, celebrations went on until late as several of us were staying at 315, the venue of their celebratory meal. Needless to say, I was on duty as event photographer, which I was honoured to do. After all, it’s not everyday someone celebrates 60 years of marriage!

Today things wound down but John insisted taking the four of us out for a late Sunday lunch at the Fleece in ….to say thank you for all the hard work Dawn had put into arranging their special day. Now, full of a roast pork dinner it’s time for me to head down to London ready for a job tomorrow which will see me ending up in Edinburgh. Dee’s dropped me off at Huddersfield station so I can begin my trek South via Manchester and the West Coast Main Line – just for a change!

Right now I’m on a packed pair of (late running – surprise, suprise) TPE Class 185s heading West across the Pennines. I’ve managed to find a seat in the middle car of the rear set but it’s freezing in here. It seems to have an engine out so there’s no heating or power to the sockets. Thank God the weather’s milder today than it was yesterday when it was bleeding Baltic!

I’ll blog about this trip until the end of the day, let’s see how things turn out…

19:30.

Hmm, I think I’ll stick to the East Coast next time. Having made it to Piccadilly I had just enough time to grab a shot of the Christmas decorations on the station concourse before joining throng of folks waiting for the late running 19:15 Avanti West Coast To Euston.

To make things more imteresting a very tired 9-car 390001 (numerically the first of the fleet) turned up ex-Euston. To the crews credit they turned the set around very quickly, but the lack of cleaning as a result added to the care-worn feel.

Now, I know the Pendolino fleet’s undergoing a refurbishment programme (that’s why I’m out tomorrow) but it’s sad to see the state of the trains still in service. I was a regular on this route for decades, travelling back and forth from my parents in Southport to my home in London. Then I started working as a photographer for RAIL magazine, then Virgin trains – just as the Pendolinos came into service. Those were fun and exciting times. Now that excitement and Virgin pizazz is long gone. To add insult to injury that idiot Rishi Sunak has placed the whole future of the Waest Coast line into jeopardy due to his ‘cancelling’ phase 2 of HS2 and leaving everything in a complete mess as no-one has a clue what’s going on.

23:15.

Add another minus to Avantis Pendolinos. The wifi is crap. I spent nearly half an hour typing an update and attempting to post it but ‘wifi says no’.

That’s a shame as I’d a lot of memories to express. Now I’m killing time between trains at Euston and indulging in some people-watching as I charge up the laptop.