Rolling blog. More Piccadilly pictures…

24 Tuesday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in Manchester, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs

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Manchester, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

10:45.

The past few days have been quiet here in the Calder valley, although Saturday did see us spending time over in Mytholmroyd, visiting old friends to help them out with a little project for the future. Beyond that we’ve been very much home-based. The weather’s beginning to turn drier, swapping with high winds that have turned our bird feeders into something of a challenge for our feathered friends. It’s akin to trying to land a plane on an aircraft carrier in high seas! Now we’re into a new week where I’ve decided to make the most of the brightening skies to return to Manchester and check out how the approaches to Piccadilly look from a photographic perspective now that the station’s reopened after the engineering blockade.

Right now I’m on a Northern service from Sowerby Bridge to head across the Pennines. It’s a quiet train, so there’s plenty of available table bays in which to set up the mobile office to type this.

I’ll be blogging (intermittently) throughout the day, so feel free to pop back and have a look at what I get up to (and where)…

13:30.

Phew! Time for a break and chance to upload a few images. Piccadilly station’s back to its normal buzzy self with both concourse and trainshed full of activity. What isn’t easy to see is the fruit of the past 9 days labours as the track that’s been renewed is some way away from the station itself. Hoping to get a better look I walked the backstreets to Manchester’s least used railway station – Ardwick. Just two trains a day call here, with a 2024/25 footfall of a mere 262 souls. The state of the entrance probably helps explain that.

The walk through some of the city’s less salubrious areas is fascinating from a photographic and social perspective, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be wandering around there after dark! When you catch a train from Piccadilly you don’t appreciate how much life there is in the arches below you. Despite the outward signs of decrepitude and decay there’s a myriad of small businesses. Many involve catering. Others supply hairdressing products or repair e-bikes used by Deliveroo drivers. Some are really rather posh behind the anonymous shutters. Here’s a few pictures.

The view from Ardwick. Fresh ballast (stone) and cleaner rails give away which tracks have been renewed during the blockade – as do the clean speed restriction signs!

Shopping by numbers. Each of these arches are a small business – or available to be one.

Looking back to Piccadilly along Temperance St. The bridge in the foreground carried tracks into the former Mayfield station, latterly used for mail trains until it closed completely in 1986.

A train calls at platform 14 at Piccadilly whilst a mural of Ian Curtis from the band ‘Joy Division’ on the side of the Star and Garter looks on.

18:20.

Due to the spring-like conditions I decided to hang around in the city centre in order to enjoy the weather, explore and get some architectural shots (which I’ll upload later). This also gave me time to pop into my favourite store in Chinatown to pick up some more goodies. This time it was different types of rice…

Now I’m heading back across the Pennines, which hasn’t been easy due to very busy (and short-formed) trains. I made it as far as Rochdale where I thought numbers would tail off. Bad move, as there were crowds of young men (well provisioned with bottles and cans) heading East on their way to some sporting event. Ah,well. At least I’ve managed to find a seat…

21:15.

Home!

It turned out that the sporting event was in Halifax, at the Shea stadium. I’ve no idea what as I’m not tribal and don’t follow these things. Half a dozen police officers kept an eye on the crowds flooding off the station, whilst more hung around pubs in town where supporters congregate. I was amused to see dozens of teenage lads – all dressed the same – in trainers, black jogging pants, black hoodies and baseball caps. So much for individuality it seems!

Finally, after 15 miles and 33,000 steps I made it home. Now it’s time to curl up with Dawn, enjoy a film and relax. There’s now a lot of new pictures to edit tomorrow. Here’s a couple of samples…

The glazed brickwork of the Midland hotel really caught the sun this afternoon…

A slightly different perspective on Metrolink trams.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling blog. Oh, go on then…

20 Friday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in Manchester, Photography, Rolling blogs, Travel

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Manchester, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

12:00.

I hadn’t intended to be on a train to Manchester right now. My day had been set as I was expecting to be at home waiting for a plumber to check out our boiler. Only he came early. Dawn’s out for the day as it’s her mum’s birthday, so I was sat twiddling my thumbs after completing my chores, and thought ‘bugger it, i’ll nip out for a few hours’.

As usual, the weather’s dank and dismal but that doesn’t matter in a city, where rainy reflections and opportunties abound.

Let’s see what I get up to…

13:00.

For once, it wasn’t actually raining in Manchester when I arrived. This gave me time to amble over to Piccadilly whilst observing life (and photographing trams) en-route without getting soaked.

Piccadilly was even more deserted than on my last visit. Even the engineers trains had decamped. All that lingered inside the trainshed was the smell of fresh paint.

15:30.

Talk about changeable weather! I made my way from Piccadilly to Oxford Rd by train, just to see what the loadings were like – and to avoid a soaking as the heavens had opened. I spent the next hour ducking between downpours as I tried to photograph a series of freight and passenger trains trying to find paths through this constricted corridor (pix soon).

Despite the appearence of the odd flash of blue sky I’ve decided to abandon the city before rush-hour. Partly because I can see the colour of the skies to the East (doom-laden) and partly because I hope to stop off en-route…

17:00.

As suspected, the weather changed my plans. I was intending to change trains at Rochdale in order to pop into the delightful ‘Old Post Office’ micro pub in Castleton. Then the heavens opened – again!

I’ll pass, thanks – even though it’s my favourite tyoe of old train…

Abandoning such a visit I caught the next train East across the Pennines where the weather was considerably more clement, allowing me to stop off in Todmorden for a swift pint at the Alehouse (blogs passim).

Now I’m heading to Halifax on a hot and steamy Northern service to Leeds which is doing a passable impression of a Chinese laundry thanks to the number of damp passengers.

On the bright side. I’ll be back in Halifax in time to join friends in our local pub for the Friday quiz – and free pork pie…

21:55.

I’m home after a day I didn’t expect. The wind and rain’s beating on the cottage windows, not that it matters for me as I’m warm and dry and able to present these pics…

A bus rather than a train all the way From Manchester to Chesterfield is less than desirable, especially if you have to stand outside in the p*ssing rain.

A ‘top and tailed’ Freightliner service threads its way through the Castlefield corridor towards Trafford Park with 66589 on the rear as insurance.

Cheers,

Paul

18th February picture of the day…

18 Wednesday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in Climate Change, Environment, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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Climate Change, Environment, life, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel, Weather, winter

After the past couple of days travels I’ve been have a home-based one, which is not bad thing as the weather’s resorted to type apart from one important difference. It hasn’t rained at all today. Oh, the weather forecast has threatened us with a ‘yellow’ warning of snow, but that’s failed to materialise – again. What has happened is temperatures have dropped and the wind’s sprung up, which has made walking ‘fun’. I hadn’t planned to go out today but whilst I was away a parcel arrived. I’d ordered a new charger for my laptop only to find what was delivered was very different to what was promised. It looked great in the pictures. A USB-c charger with decent cables. What I got was a less than A1 product with a series of interchangeable head – and not one was USB-c! Bugger! So, I had to wander down to the Post Office in Sowerby Bridge to send the damned thing back. Still, it meant I hit my daily step count.

The rest of the day’s been spent in the warm, editing yet more pictures from the ever-expanding repertoire. I’d still not got on top of all the London shots. Now I have Derby, walking in the snow and a trip to Southport in the queue. Thankfully, I’ve managed to clear the bulk of them and should have the rest dealt with before the weekend.

The pictures are in far too many different galleries to post links to, but if you follow this link to the recent section on my Zenfolio site you’ll be able to see where they’ve been placed. Once they’re all done I’ll be able to update yesterday’s blog with some more of the history of Burscough and something I only noticed yesterday – although I must have walked past it dozens of times.

The forecast for tomorrow is for more rain and snow so I’ll probably end up having another day at home if that’s the case. I have to be here on Friday as Dawn’s out for the day but we’ve a chap coming round to fix a leak on our boiler. The ‘rock and roll lifestyle’ eh? That said, I’ve plenty to keep occupied with even if I can’t get out – including planning a few new adventures…

In the meantime, here’s today picture. I feel for farmers right now. My recent travels up and down the country have shown just how much land is flooded. Trying to get crops into such sodden ground must be nigh on impossible. Then there’s crops already planted which are drowning – and there’s no end in sight. Here’s how some fields looked like around Burscough yesterday.

A former ‘Thameslink’ Class 319 converted to bi-more 769424 passes waterlogged fields at Hoscar, just outside Burscough yesterday. This is a scene repeated up and down the country right now and is bound to have an effect on food prices later in the year. Not to mention farmer’s livelihoods.

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling (ish)blog. Every cloud has a silver lining…

17 Tuesday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

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Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

It’s nealy 14:00 and I’m gradually making my way back from an unexpected night in Southport, which turned out to be rather enjoyable. I didn’t get to meet up with the friends I’d expected to – but after getting marooneed I called in for a beer at a backstreet pub by the light show. I’ve not been in the Masons Arns for years and it was the last place I expected to see anyone. But by pure chance I stood at the bar next to a chap I’ve not seen for what must be 30 and more years! Alan (or ‘Bod’ as he was nicknamed in those days) was instantly recogniseable and was completely taken aback by seeing me. I ended up staying for a couple as we caught ip after so many years.

This morning I got to meet one of my neices (who’s growing up fast) as my sister was looking after her today. So my stay turned out to be very sociable.

Now I’m on my way back to Nanchester after a bruef stop in Burscough to make the most of the weather. Here’s some pictures.

One of the new Stadler built Class 777s bought by Merseyrail. These units are proving to be troublesome for a whole host of reasons.

A pair of the oldest diesel units left on the national network, the Class 150, make their way from Southport across the West Lancashire plain at Burscough

It’s a far cry from their Thameslink days! A class 319 converted to a bi-mode (diesel and electric) crosses the Leeds and Liverpool canal at Burscough.

Is there something about the residents of Burscough that we’re not being told?

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling blog. The light fantastic?…

16 Monday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in Liverpool, Manchester, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

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Liverpool, Manchester, Photography, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

10:25.

The beginning of another week sees me combine business with pleasure for a varied day that promises to be fun – despite the poor weather. Yep, we’re back to heavy grey clouds, rain and possibly snow here in the Calder valley, so I’m having a day out.

Right now I’m on Northern’s 10:00 from Sowerby Bridge, heading for Manchester. Piccadilly, the city’s main railway station is closed for the next 9 days to allow the old trackwork on the approach to the station to be replaced. Only the two through platforms remain open to allow for freight to run to Trafford Park container terminal, and a handful of passenger services to Blackpool North and Liverpool Lime St with a shuttle service working to Oxford Rd to allow connections to elsewhere. Want to go South? Then you’ll be bussed to Stockport where all other trains are terminating.

After checking out how things are going my plan’s to head over to Liverpool, then to Southport, where something rather special is happening. This evening’s the last performance of ‘Lightport’. Billed as “free immersive light and sound experience produced by leading international artists Lucid Creates, that will turn Lord Street into a walk-through rainbow of colour and creativity”. Apparently it will light up a 400m stretch of the famous street, including the Monument, so I though it would be worth checking out.

Watch this space…

12:30.

My arrival in Manchester coincided with what Manchester’s famous for. Rain. Lots of it, which made walking from Victoria to Piccadilly a very soggy experience. Have you ever seen the film ‘Bladerunner’, where it’s always raining? That’s how Manchester felt. Sadly, there wasn’t much to see at Piccadilly. Whilst the concourse is open, the normally bustling trainshed was devoid of activity. A solitary class 66 sat burbling away, whilst a couple of Kirow rail-mounted cranes occupied another platform, having deposited their load of new pointwork.

At present much of the engineering work is taking place out of camera shot so I didn’t hang around and caught a train to Oxford Rd instead, which was rather more interesting (and photogenic). As well as passenger services there was a continuous stream of container trains, all of which were ‘top and tailed’ with a locomotive at each end as insurance in case of a failure (which would really bugger things up).

I’m tempted to come back to get pictures when the weather’s better. As it was, I departed the city under apocalyptic skies to head to Liverpool and my next port of call – which wasn’t a bad choice as the weather’s drier. We’ve even been teased by a few snatches of blue skies!

My 6-car train to Liverpool isn’t too busy. I’ve managed to set up the mobile office in a table bay and download some of the Manchester pictures which I’ll add shortly. Right now, it’s time to enjoy the journey…

22:30.

Sorry for the gap but today’s turned into a very different one to the one I’d expected – for a whole host of reasons. Right now I’m updating this blog from my sister’s sofa in Southport – where I’ll be staying the night due to Northern cancelling enough trains towards Manchester that I haven’t got a hope in hell of getting home. Not a good look when you consider today was the last night of the light show.

I’ve so much to blog about but the rest is going to have to wait until tomorrow when I have more time. Right now I’ll leave you with this…

Cheers,

Paul

Take a walk on the wild side…

15 Sunday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in Photography, Travel, Walking, West Yorkshire

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hiking, Photography, snow, Travel, Walking, West Yorkshire, winter

Yesterday, Valentine’s day – and for one day only, the weather decided to give us a break from continuous and monotonous rain. Mind you. it had dumped several inches of snow on the high ground, just to make things more interesting! That said, where we live in the Calder valley was just too low to be in the snow line. We could see the stuff on the high ground on the opposite side of the valley, but we had barely a sniff. That worked to our advantage…

Saturday began with clear blue skies and the sort of weather that – after weeks of rain- made you itch to get out. But where to go? Having perused maps and looked at where the snow lay we decided to drive out South, through Ripponden and across the M62 motorway in search of higher ground. We found what we were looking for at Moss Moor, off the A672 to Oldham where you’re over 450m above seal-level and there’s nothing stopping the wind anywhere. Even on a hazy day you can see the city of Manchester miles below. On a good day you can pick out the Lancashire coast.

Leaving the car we headed off South along the Pennine way. Here’s how the world looked…

Looking out over Moss Moor, which is the origin of the river Tame apparently.

Wind conditions in such an exposed location led to some great photo opportunities, where the grass had literally frozen, then was backlit by the low sun.

Dawn strolling through the snow towards the White Hill Trig pint (466m). Believe it or not, the M62 motorway’s just out of shot to the right. Conditions underfoot where ‘interesting’. The fresh snow and drifts were easy to walk in but every so often you hit an area that had been stripped bare by the wind so that you were walking on sheet ice.

Looking across to Close Moss and Marsden (beyond). There’s a very long railway tunnel under here – somewhere…

Having had our fill of the high moors we decided to head back via Baitings reservoir, which was a regular entry in last year’s ‘reservoir blogs’. Here’s how it looked in August last year.

See the modern bridge beyond the old bridge?

It’s here, in the distance. This is how full and overflowing the reservoir is today, with snow on the surrounding hills that will add even more water.

Sadly, the weather’s reverted to type. Today we’ve had grey skies and intermittent rain, a pattern that we seem to be stuck with. Never mind. Bugger the weather, tomorrow I’m having another day out to head over to Manchester and Southport in order to look at two very different events…

Cheers,

Paul

13th February picture of the day…

13 Friday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in London, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways

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London, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways

Today’s been a quiet one here at Bigland Towers for several reasons. I’m still trying to wade my way through editing the hundreds of pictures taken on my recent travels. Plus, the weather’s been crap – but no change there then. Mind you, I say that, but tomorrow we’re forecast to have a whole day of sunshine. Just the one of course, after that we’re back to the rainy conditions that – if you were biblically minded – might have made you consider building an Ark. Well, if you had the space…

For once the constant rain’s been alternating with snow flurries. They’ve achieved sweet FA around here as we’re not high enough up, but when I gaze out across the valley I can see a decent dusting at the higher tops and beyond towards the moors around Marsden. As tomorrow’s Saturday (not to mention Valentine’s day) we’re hoping to make the best of the conditions and get out for a walk somewhere and the idea of fresh snow and blue skies is rather appealing, so watch this space.

In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which was taken in London last Saturday in similar conditions. Rain can be a real aid to photography because of the lighting conditions. Here’s a shot I took of the trackwork at London’s Victoria station where images are almost monochrome well, if it wasn’t for the train in the background, but I think that adds to the effect.

I’ve still lots of pictures to add to my Zenfolio picture website and there’s far too many galleries that have been updated to post individual links, but if you want to browse this ‘recent’ section link you can find what’s been added – and where.

Cheers,

Paul

Derby builds new trains for the Elizabeth line.

12 Thursday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in Alstom, Class 345, Derbyshire, London, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways

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Alstom, Class 345, Derbyshire, London, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways

10 new 9 car Class 345 ‘Aventra’ trains for London’s Elizabeth line are currently under construction at Derby by Alstom. Ordered in June 2024 for delivery in 2026 the order saved the Derby site from closure due to a gap in orders before the start of building trains for the delayed and truncated HS2 project.

On Tuesday a selected group of journalists were given a tour of the production line. Here’s a gallery of pictures showing progress on the fleet and the first train.

Building trains at Derby is like assembling a kit of parts. Here’s the welding shop where aluminum sections brought in from off site are joined together to form frames, roofs, bodysides and other sections.

Once individual sections are completed they’re moved around the site between different shops on fleets of bespoke trollies. Here’s a pair of bodysides waiting their turn to enter U shop, where final assembly takes place.

Body ends in U shop waiting their turn to be fitted. ‘A bit like fitting a cap to a tube of Pringles’ was how it was described during our tour!

The cab of a 345 having the drivers control desk and associated electronics installed before being fitted to a bodyshell.

Painted bodysides complete with windows, internal insulation and some cabling waiting to be put on a jig where they’ll be joined to roof and floor sections.

A bodyshell nears completion. Now it gets most internal components and panels installed.

A look inside the bodyshell showing progress on fitting it out internally.

Here’s the next stage as a driving car for 345071 nears completion internally and externally but before the traction equipment is fitted.

The next stage in the line. Completed internally, the bodyshell is supported from below to allow the traction equipment to be slung underneath.

Next, the bodies will be moved to have their bogies fitted, then they’ll be formed into complete units. Despite the fact they’re a follow-on order of a type of train already running on the network they’ll undergo rigorous type testing before being accepted as part of the existing Elizabeth line fleet.

Cheers,

Paul

Alstom, Beacon Rail and CrossCountry reveal the first refurbished ‘Voyager’ train.

11 Wednesday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in Alstom, Derbyshire, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Travel

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Alstom, Derbyshire, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Travel

Yesterday the first refurbished four-car Voyager (220033) was unveiled to the media and invited guests at Alstom’s Derby works, where the work is taking place. Expected back in traffic before the end of the month after undergoing an exam at the Central Rivers depot, 220033 is beginning of a programme which, over the next two years, Alstom will refurbish a total of 136 Voyager (Class 220) and 176 Super Voyager (Class 221) cars at Derby, including an additional 12 trains added to the CrossCountry fleet following their release from Avanti West Coast.

Alstom’s £60 million contract is part of long-distance train operator CrossCountry’s £75 million project to refurbish all of its Voyager fleet and has been funded by rolling stock company Beacon.

The work doesn’t involve altering the internal layout of the trains (except for the ex-AWC sets) but does include new seats, tables, wall panelling, carpets and LED lighting, together with internal and forward-facing CCTV and a passenger-counting system. Double the number of power and USB sockets are being provided, allowing for one for each seat.

Here’s a selection of images from the event.

From left to right; Steve Harvey, Alstom’s Services Director UK and Ireland. Shiona Rolfe, Managing Director at CrossCountry and Adam Cunliffe, Chief Executive Officer at Beacon Rail.

A pair of 1st Class airline seats. The extra seat width allows for the power and USB sockets to be fitted between the seats, underneath the armrests.

One of the refurbished disabled toilets.

A Standard Class table bay, where the power and USB sockets are table-mounted due to the seats being narrower. .

Looking through one of the Standard Class vehicles, showing that the internal layout remains unchanged. What are very noticeable are the new different coloured grab-handles which are designed to be gauge cleared for catering trollies.

The new seats have a longer table compared to the old version, although I’ve not tried using one with a laptop yet. In the longer term there are plans to remove the redundant heating grilles and radiators which take up space at the bottom of the bodyside to create more legroom. The radiators were heated by circulating engine coolant but if the system leaked this could cause engines to shut down due to a loss of pressure, which was less than desirable! Now all heating’s provided by the roof mounted HVAC systems.

The luggage storage area remains unchanged but it’s been repanelled. The ‘funky’ lighting was temporary and fitted to help illuminate the vehicle as it had no shore-supply attached.

Sockets in Standard Class airline seats, showing that the top one is mounted ‘upside down’ to avoid conflicts. Both the older and newer USB-C sockets are provided. Another feature is that the new seats offer more legroom as there’s no footrest bar.

Here’s a closer look at the new seat mocquette and padding. On first try the seats seem to be firm but with sufficient padding that makes them superior to the ‘ironing board’ types fitted to some other long-distance trains…

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling blog. ‘Turned out nice again’…

10 Tuesday Feb 2026

Posted by Paul Bigland in Derbyshire, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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Derbyshire, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

08:10.

George Formby’s catchphrase was running through my head as I made my soggy way to Halifax station. The Pennines are obscured by mist and rain yet again today – and the forecast is no better in Derby, my final destination.

It’s grim up North – and everywhere else apparently…

Right now I’m on a packed and humid Northern service to Leeds which is full of damp humanity heading to work. We’re running several minutes late but it shoukdn’t affect my connection. I’ll be transferring to Northern’s new ‘Yorkshire flyer’ service which is a fast service to Sheffield with just one stop at Wakefield Westgate. It’ll make a useful alternative to Cross-Country trains on the same route as they’re normally packed.

Hopefully, there’ll be enough room on that train to set up the mobile office. Right now I’m jammed in an airline seat with my camera bag balanced on my lap. We’re currently reversing at Bradford Interchange and there’s not a single seat left free in my coach. This train’s going to be extra ‘cosy’ by the time we reach Leeds!

08:55.

My 10 minute late arrival at Leeds proved to be no great disaster as my connection was leaving from the opposite end of the platform I arrived in on – 12. I’m now aboard the ‘Yorkshire Flyer’, a grand name of an ex-Scotrail 2-car class 158, although I suppose its top speed of 90mph does count as ‘flying’ by Northern standards! It’s reasonably busy too – between 50-60% capacity at a guess. That’s allowed me to grab a table bay (which I’m sharing) to set up the mobile office and type-swipe. The only thing I miss compared to Cross-Country is an at seat trolley service. A coffee would have gone down very well right now as I admire the dreary skies outside. Not that you can admire very far, visibility’s limited to about 700m!

12:07.

Oh, hello!

Whilst the internal layout of the Voyagers hasn’t changed the seats have. There’s more legroom because of it.

19:10

Well, that was an interesting day! Not only did we get to explore the first of Cross-Country’s refurbished Voyagers (a project costing £70m), we also got to see a few poor old Class 455 cars hauled off for scrap, walk through the production line of the new Class 345 trains for the Elizabeth line – and have a ride on a 5-car Class 701 on the test track.

The first of the new Elizabeth line Class 345 sets on the production line.

Of course, part of the fun was talking to old friends and colleagues from the industry and his Majesties railway press corps! I’ll go into greater detail about the refurbishment tomorrow and hope to add a few more pictures when I get home later. Right now I’m heading back to Leeds on a late running ‘Yorkshire Flyer’ from Sheffield after having stopped for a quick pint in Derby with an old friend, Robert Pritchard, Editor of Today’s Railways UK.

One of the cabs of 37290 is preserved outside the Alexandra pub. It’s recieved a repaint and had its lights recomissioned.

Cheers,

Paul

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Paul Bigland

~ Blogging on transport, travel & whatever takes my fancy.

Monthly Archives: February 2026

Rolling blog. More Piccadilly pictures…

Rolling blog. Oh, go on then…

18th February picture of the day…

Rolling (ish)blog. Every cloud has a silver lining…

Rolling blog. The light fantastic?…

Take a walk on the wild side…

13th February picture of the day…

Derby builds new trains for the Elizabeth line.

Alstom, Beacon Rail and CrossCountry reveal the first refurbished ‘Voyager’ train.

Rolling blog. ‘Turned out nice again’…