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10:15.

We were greeted by a bright but frosty morning here in the Calder valley and I’ve decided to make the most of the sunshine by heading out for the day. The plan in to traverse the Harrogate loop, a railway line that runs from Leeds through Harrogate and Knaresborough to York, stopping off a few times on the way.

Right now I’m on Northern’s 09:58 from Sowerby Bridge, heading for Leeds. The service is worked by a 2-car Class 195 so it’s pretty full with plenty of prams and their occupants clogging the vestibules, on their way to God knows where. Thankfully, the motion of the train seems to have sent the kids to sleep as it’s blissfully quiet! I’ve managed to find an airline seat, plug in and set up the mobile office to begin today’s rolling blog. I’ll keep you all updated on my progress as time goes by, so feel free to pop back later.

Time to go…

11:10.

My trip into Leeds was both quick and easy. I had under 20 mins to make my connection which was plenty of time to breeze through the crowds to platform 0 where an ex-Scotrail Class 170 sat burbling away. These units haven’t had a full refurbishment so I’m now esconsced in the  former 1st Class section with 2+1 seating – and only me in it!

And relax…

The service patrern on the loop has changed considerably since I was last here in November 2020. Now LNER run a 2 hourly service from Harrogate to London Kings Cross via Leeds rather than just a couple of trains a day. Northern used to turn back half their trains at Knaresborough, leaving the section from there to York with an hourly service. Now, nearly all trains run through to York. Gone are the old Class 143/153s too. The line’s now worked by 158s and 170s.

12:45.

I’ve stopped off at Harrogate to get a few pictures as the character of the line changes from here on. We’re back under the control of mechanical signalboxes abd semaphore signalling whose origins date back to the early days of the railways.

My train from Leeds departs from Harrogate.

15:30.

I’ve stopped off in Knaresborough and had just enough time to upload these pics from my travels. I’ll add captions and explain more about what I’ve been up to soon.

An LNER ‘Azuma’ leaves the carriage siding at Harrogate in readiness to form a service to London Kings Cross. It’s passing a fascinating array of modern modular colour light signals and possibly the last original LNER lattice gantry on the mainline network.
A Northern Class 170 crosses the river at Knaresborough. I’ll add more about this historic old town later.
Cattal station, East of Knaresborough is on the single track station with passing loops. It still possesses these hand-operated level crossing gates worked by the signaller based in the box behind.
Having deposited me at the attractive station at Poppleton my train heads off to York.
Poppleton is unique in that next door is the UKs only surviving plant nursery served by a narrow-gauge railway which is run by volunteers. Here’s a link to their website. Here’s some of the vehicles.
Back at Knaresborough, the old station buildings have been converted for several uses, including the wonderful Track and Sleeper pub.
Here’s the pubs cosy second room

17:10.

I’m about to close the loop by heading back from York via the direct line to Leeds, one that’s recently been modernised and electrified as part of the Trans-Pennine route upgrade. To be honest, it’s a section I’ve neglected visiting for a few years and something I need to put right. As much as I had planned, things have gone slightly awry due to a few commissions coming in via email which I’ve prioritised. On the bright side, I’ve now bookings until November!

York station and a classic view of its curved roof.

18:10.

I’m on the last leg from Leeds to Halifax aboard a peak-hour train. It may be going as far as Blackpool North but right now its primary function is to take Leeds commuters home.

The previous part of my trip ftom York was interesting as I’ve not used it for a while. The Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU) has really kicked in with electrification and associated works. I’ve realised I need to spend a day exploring just to document the changes.

I couldn’t help grimacing when we passed through Church Fenton. This was where HS2 phase 2 was meant to end, providing a by-pass of Leeds and Doncaster on the (even then) congested East Coast Main Line (ECML). Then – as usual – politicians with their penny-pinching and ever changing minds got in the way to waste billions without providing any workable alternatives. Now they’re all gone but the problems they left remain.

21:30.

I’m back at home catching up with bits and downloading more pictures. I’ll be working from home all day so I’ll flesh this blog out with more pictures and links over the weekend.

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