09:00.

Typical! Today – after a short shower – the weather’s turned sunny here in the Calder valley. So, where am I off to? London, for a Siemens Ltd press lunch. Today’s merely a day trip to attend the lunch. This is an opportunity to chat to Siemens Senior management team, learn about what’s going on with the company in the UK right now – and meet up with fellow industry Journos for a couple of hours. After which I’ll get a few library pictures and head home.

Right now I’m on Northern’s 08:43 from Halifax to Leeds. Today this is made up of a pair of 2 car Class 195s. It’s not as busy as usual so I’ve blagged a table seat and set up the mobile office to get some work done en-route. I’ll be blogging throughout the day, so feel free to pop back to see what I get up to…

09:45.

My stay in Leeds was brief. We pulled into the platform adjacent platform 9 where LNER’s 09:45 to Kings Cross was waiting. Within minutes I’d transferred to an empty 9-car Azuma where I set up the mobile office on a vacant table bay in Coach C.

Now it’s time to relax and enjoy the trip. That said, I feel sorry for anyone trying to head down the West Coast Main Line this morning. A fatality South of Watford Junction had closed all lines in and out of London Euston earlier. They’ve now reopened but it’s going to be a rough day out there…

11:00.

What a lovely day for heading South – although we seem to be heading into cloudier weather. For once, it’s grim down South! I’ve been busy clearing my email inbox and sorting out some picture editing, but I have had chance to check-out social media and the responses to last night’s ‘debate’ between Starmer and Sunak. It looks like Sunak walked into a trap.

The phrase ‘never interrupt your enemy when he’s making a mistake’ seems rather appropriate. Last night Sunak lied. More than once to be honest, but the one that’s coming back to haunt him is the claim Labour will cost everyone in the UK £2000 in raised taxes. Anyone who’s economically literate and follows these things already knows it’s a lie, but Sunak’s following in Boris Johnson’s (lying) footsteps and hoping to get away with it. This is Sunak’s £350m on the side of a bus moment.

There’s only one problem. The Chief Secretary to the Treasury has exposed Sunak’s lie in a letter that was sent a couple of days ago. So, Sunak was in no doubt he was lying. Starmer was in no doubt Sunak was lying, but Sunak did it anyway and then doubled-down on it today. But Labour have released the letter…

I’ve said for some time that this was going to be a dirty election with the Tories and the rest of the right-wing leaving no lie unturned in a desperate effort to win. The good news is that they’re not moving the dial (exactly the opposite). It seems so many people now see them as liars, they’re expecting it!

11:12.

We’ve just left Peterborough after our brief stop at the city. The bank of cloud on the horizon doesn’t seem to have got any closer so I’m optimistic that today’s going to be a good day. I’ve an hour to get from Kings Cross to today’s venue in Shoreditch in London’s East End so my plan is to take the scenic route. Well, as much as being underground is ‘scenic’!

18:15.

Sorry for the interlude but it’s been a busy day. As soon as I arrived at Kings Cross I spotted something other than trains at the platform ends – an old friend and colleague in the form of Rob Pritchard, Editor of Today’s Railways UK. The pair of us joined forces to travel over to my old ‘Manor’ in the East end via Thameslink, the ‘Lizzie’ line and London Overground which deposited us just a block away from where we needed to be in Shoreditch. Boy, has that area changed since I first got to know it in the mid-1980s!

Rob, myself and several other old faces from the rail press plus one or two from the national media then had a very pleasant and informative couple of hours chatting informally to Siemens Mobility’s senior management team for the UK. It’s rare that you get that level of access or the time to chat to people from a company. In truth, a couple of hours wasn’t enough, as much as people try and circulate between courses.

I’ll add a couple of pictures later.

Right now I’m heading back North (well, I did say it was only a day trip!). I’d have loved to have made more of the weather but I’ve things to do. Plus, Dawn’s away for several days from tomorrow. The journey home’s been made more ‘interesting’ by the fact the train I’d intended to catch – the 17:03 to Leeds has been cancelled due to a fatality – so that’s both East and West coast main lines afflicted by tragedies today. Instead, I’m on an Edinburgh bound service as far as York, where I can change and still get home earlier than if I’d hung around at Kings Cross.

20:25.

Changing at York turned out to be a good plan. I’m now at Bradford Interchange en-route to Halifax, having clawed back 15 mins. Not a huge amount in the scheme of things but at least I nanaged to add a few more libray pictures to the collection. The sun’s still shining in Yorkshire, but by heck – it’s cold!

22:30.

Time to call it a day. I’m back at home, spending an hour editing a few pictures before day’s end. So, as promised, here’s a small selection from the day…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, 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 me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312