Author Archives: Paul Bigland

Rolling blog. Ribblehead bound…

07 Wednesday Jan 2026

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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05:30.

Ugh! Up at sparrowfart for the first time this year…

Having perused the weather forecast, looked out of the window to see the roads are clear – and checked that all the trains are running, I’m preparing to head out into Halifax and catch a train to Ribblehead as planned. Let’s see how the day unfolds…

06:45.

Phew! After slipping and sliding much of the way I made it to the station upright abd in one piece. Black ice and frozen pavements meant it was the most treacherous walk I’ve done for years. First, I had to get up here…

A wet and icy cobbled hill. Nice…

Crossing Spring Edge I passed a determined (if foolhardy) jogger. Apart from him, a couple of dog walkers abd a gritter hardly anyone else was around. I was congratulating myself on making it to the station when I hit a final challenge. The approaches hadn’t been gritted, leaving me to slip and slide the last 200m across glass-like pavements and cobbles. Thankfully I’d given myself 50% more time than usual to walk in order to avoid rushing and breaking my neck.

07:00.

Now I’m on the 06:44 to Leeds which is running late, but I’m hopeful I’ll still make my connection as I gave myself wriggle room. We’ll see…

12:15.

I made it in plenty of time to catch the trains I wanted to get pictures of. Mainly because they were all running late! That’s given me plenty of time to wander and freeze in the Baltic conditions that prevail here at Ribblehead. Snow sits on the tops, leaving the moss free but freezing. Now I’m having a quick warm and coffee in the local pub before heading out to get a few more pictures like this – incoming clouds permitting…

Avanti West Coast 805003 working 1Z85, the 0924 Carlisle to Preston passes over the Ribblehead viaduct.

14:10.

I’m still at Ribblehead, having retreated back to the the nearby pub after waiting far too long in the biting wind for trains that never arrive. Phone reception up here is non-existent, so the only way of keeping track of things is logging onto the Station Inn pub wifi. Mind you, it’s a lovely place to take refuge in. I’m not the only one either. There’s been about a dozen other photographers nipping in and out in the hope of capturing pictures like this.

A pair of AWC ‘Evero’ trains are dwarfed by the viaduct and surrounding landscape. As you can see, we’re playing cat and mouse with the clouds this time of the day…

15:40.

A combination of cancelled or delayed Avanti services along with the non-appearance of certain freight trains meant that I gave up on being battered by the weather at Ribblehead. Just before I was planning to leave I bumped into an old friend and fellow railway photographer who was on the same mission as me. Bob Avery is another alumni of the Pheonix photographic circle. He was accompanied by a friend involved in preserving Armathwaite signalbox who’d escaped from her family for the day to chase trains. None of us could resist the pub’s real fire on a day like this!

As the light fades at Ribblehead, 158797 arrives to take me and many others South.

Having left early I opted to stop of in nearby Settle for a while. It’s an attractive little market town that’s very quiet off-season. Only hardened walkers and hikers and the occasional passer-by darken its doors this time of year. Still, it has an attractive old Midland Railway station and museum based around another old signalbox.

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

Cheers!

Paul

6th January picture of the day…

06 Tuesday Jan 2026

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Politics, Railways, Travel, West Yorkshire

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We’ve had another productive (but cold) day here at Bigland Towers. This morning’s brief flurry of fresh snow was washed away by the arrival of rain this afternoon which has now settled in for the evening to make the Yorkshire stone pavements and cobbled streets things to venture along at your peril. Slips and trips? Not half…

Because of the forecast both Dawn and I ventured out earlier in order to pick up some provisions and get in our daily constitutionals before settling in back at home, where it’s been a productive day. I’ve caught up with more picture editing and blogging (another reservoir walk) whilst keeping half an eye on the news.

The doom and gloom the right wing media and politicians were predicting at the end of 2025 has singularly failed to appear. If you’d believed them, high streets were deserted because Xmas shoppers were staying away in droves as no-one had any money to spend thanks to this dastardly Labour government. It was all bollocks of course. Market researcher Worldpanel said overall grocery sales were 13.8 billion pounds in the four weeks to December 28, up 3.8% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, the ‘Next’ chain raised profit forecast to £1.15bn after bumper Christmas sales. Wait – ‘bumper Xmas sales’? But I thought the media said the sales would be shit?

A new survey of senior executives by Deloitte indicates that business confidence among leading companies in the UK improved to its highest level in about two years following the Government’s autumn budget announcement. The exact opposite of the picture some have tried to paint.

To cap it all, the stock markets have also ignored the dire predictions. Today the FTSE100 closed at a record 10,122.73 points, up 1.18% on yesterday, bringing year on year gains to 22.84%. It’s a figure meaningless to some but relevant to anyone who has a pension fund or other investments.

There’s an irony to this. One of the reasons the UK markets are performing so well are the erratic actions of the orange fool in the White House. Trump’s behavior is destroying the USAs credibility on the world stage, causing investors to look at putting their money in safer markets like the FTSE 100. Plus, the fact the US is no longer seen as a trustworthy ally in the face of Russian ambitions has galvanised pan-European investment in re-arming and expanding industry, which is benefitting UK firms like Rolls-Royce and BAe.

Oh, mentioning Trump I should welcome all the new people who’ve registered to read this blog. Today I’ve had a flood of sign-ups from the USA, all using @pinchamail.org addresses. I can only assume these women are fascinated to learn more about railways, rambles around reservoirs in West Yorkshire or some of my other thoughts! Howdy folks…

Tomorrow I’m hoping for a change of tempo – and scenery (weather and train services permitting). If the forecast delivers on its predictions I’m intending to have a day out on the Settle-Carlisle railway to head out to Ribblehead, home of the famous viaduct, with the intention of updating pictures to capture some of the diverted Avanti West Coast, freight and local trains in what’s a glorious setting. This brings me on to the picture of the day. Here’s how the historic viaduct looked in October 2010. I wonder how it’ll look tomorrow? I’ll be making sure I’ll be dressed for whatever the weather can throw at me as it can get a bit changeable in these parts!

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

Cheers!

Paul

5th January picture of the day…

05 Monday Jan 2026

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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With the Christmas and New Year holidays over it’s back to the grindstone for Dawn and I. To make the start of the week more interesting we’ve had an unexpected snowfall which began arriving yesterday evening. When we opened the bedroom blinds this morning we found a fresh deposit, leaving us covered in a couple of centimeters of the white stuff. It looked gorgeous, especially against the clear blue sky that’s kept us company all of the day.

However, the snow wasn’t sufficient to make me change my plans as I had work to do at home. First up was judging the Avanti West Coast photographic competition entries. I won’t let anything slip, other than to say that there were some cracking entries. Let’s see if my fellow judges agree which ones those are…

That job done it was time to sort out a few more bits to put up for sale on Ebay. I’ve added several new badges and railway-themed bits, which you can find by following this link. This particular sale finishes in five days time, so you have time to browse and get your bids in!

Next up was editing all the pictures that I’ve been taking from a series of walks the pair of us have enjoyed these last days of the holidays. I’ll be blogging about each day separately as I’m working from home again tomorrow. Well, that’s the plan anyway. We’re meant to be getting more snow tomorrow but unless there’s something significant I can’t see me venturing out with the camera, so I’ll have time to catch up with some blogging.

After that, the rest of the week’s flexible, depending on the weather. I would like to get some snow shots but if not, there’s some other interesting railway workings that I’d like to cover before the West Coast Main Line (WCML) reopens after a series of possessions along the route. Watch this space…

For now, I’ll leave you with today’s picture, which was taken in one of our local woodlands this afternoon when I managed to get out for a stroll. After what seemed like weeks of gray skies and rain it’s been lovely to see the sun again.

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

Cheers!

Paul

2nd January reservoir walk…

02 Friday Jan 2026

Posted by in Food and drink, Reservoir blogs, Travel, Walking, West Yorkshire

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With New Year behind us and the weather remaining cold but turning sunny we felt it was time to work off some of the festive food by heading out to explore a new walk. Looking at our options I plumped for another water walk, this time around the Digley reservoir near Holmbridge in the Holme valley, near the well-known town of Holmfirth (the setting for the long-running TV series ‘last of the summer wine’).

The drive over to Digley takes about 45 minutes cross-country, which isn’t bad, although the closer we got the more ‘interesting’ the country roads became due to a mixture of shallow snow and black ice which was cunningly hidden in the shadows. Digley is actually two reservoirs, with the smaller Bilberry up above it.

Bilberry has an interesting history. It was the original of the two, and in 1852 it burst, spilling 86 million gallons of water down the River Holme, causing 81 deaths and a large amount of property damage. The disaster caused a change in the way dams were built from then on.

In contrast, Digley wasn’t opened until 1954, despite being planned in the 1930s. The waters now cover the site of two mills and a pub, amongst other buildings. Here’s how the area looked in 1915.

There plenty of car parking at either end of the dam. The walk’s very pleasant as it passes through woodland and also dips and climbs as the well-maintained paths don’t follow the reservoir edge too closely so you get a variety of views. Here’s a few pictures from our trip.

Looking down on Digley with the dam in the distance.
Looking down on the Digley reservoir from Greaves Head. The edge of the Bilberry dam can be seen at the very right hand edge of the picture. As you can see, there’s some gorgeous views across the Holme valley from here.
Looking back the opposite way from the dam itself, with the large and ornate dam drain in the foreground (which isn’t open to the public, for obvious reasons).

There’s nowhere to buy food or drink near the dam, so bring your own. However, the Fleece Inn in nearby Holme does food and a range of real ales and other drinks.

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

Cheers!

Paul

Welcome, 2026!

01 Thursday Jan 2026

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Politics, Rail Investment, Railways, Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade, Travel, TRU, West Yorkshire

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The new year has started slowly here at Bigland Towers. After the excitement and fireworks that saw the end of 2025 we’ve taken the day off to potter around and enjoy the warm coziness of home before starting 2026 in earnest. January’s brought cold weather and threats of snow, so a day off seemed sensible.

New years eve was more productive. Despite the chill we ventured out by car to do some exploring. The railways annual Christmas shutdown has seen a lot of engineering work take place up and down the country. Some of that work will run well into January, but there was one local Trans-Pennine Route upgrade (TRU) project I wanted to have a look at. Mirfield station.

Over Christmas the rebuild of the island platform was completed and track through platform one was reinstated. Hording blocking it off were removed with passenger trains reintroduced from December 27th. There’s still a lot of work to complete as the new footbridge and lifts have yet to be commissioned, but the place looks very different to how it did just a few weeks ago.

Here’s how the station looked on November 25th. The lift towers were still swathed in scaffolding and the majority of the island platform was hidden behind hoardings. Here’s how it looks now.
The hoardings have vanished, along with the scaffolding. They’ve been replaced by new lighting and platform shelters, which whilst rather basic at least offer some shelter from the elements. The rebuilt island has been lengthened to be able to accommodate 6-car trains. The other major change is that the direction of the tracks has been reversed. Platform 1 now caters for Eastbound services as platform 2 has reverted to serving Westbound trains – although none are scheduled to use it at the moment until platform 3 is abolished.
Looking East from platform 3 you can see that the former Fast line has been disconnected and slewed to run through platform 2. The track running through the station’s been left in situ ready from when this becomes four-tracks again.
158782 and 158789 call at the reinstated platform whilst working 2L13, the 11:49 Wigan Wallgate to Leeds.
Almost ready. The new footbridge and lifts are seeing the finishing touches being completed and lifts commissioned. The lift in the right-hand tower will descend below the platform to the new entrance to provide level access from the street.

Having frozen to death in the wind to get these pictures we headed back to Halifax and home, but not before stopping off to photograph moody skies providing a backdrop to Castle Hill near Huddersfield.

Back home, Dawn busied herself in the kitchen to experiment with making her own thin-crust pizza bases. I’m biased (obviously) but I think they were a great success and tasted delicious when topped with seafood or chorizo, vegan cheese and chilli. I suspect these will become a regular feature in the Bigland household this year!

Whilst we weren’t bothered about spending midnight in the pub, we did pop out for a sociable few drinks in our local, the Big 6, before returning home to see in the new year sat in front of the fire, watching the fabulous London fireworks display. That brought back a lot of memories as I was there on the Embankment on the opposite side of the river to the wheel for the millennium display in 1999. There’s been a lot of water down the Thames since then…

Now it’s 2026. A year I’m looking forward to with cautious optimism. The world’s still a very uncertain place but there are grounds for hope. Russia’s war in Ukraine is going badly for them, and there’s signs that one of their key allies (Iran) is beginning to fall apart due to civil unrest. Of course Trump is still a major disaster, but the narcissistic old fool and his MAGA morons are in trouble in the polls and likely to have bad mid-term elections this year. In the UK, the wheels are starting to come off Nigel Farage’s latest bandwagon (Reform). His Russia connections are coming back to haunt him and the councils Reform run show every sign of being a fiasco waiting to unfold. Plus, despite all the Reform and media frenzy and speculation over Keir Starmer, the idea that there’s going to be a general election before 2029 is for the birds. And if a week’s a long time in politics, 3.5 years is an age.

The Labour government have proved to be a disappointment due to a lack of bravery, squandering a huge majority that they could have used to make important changes without fear of opposition. But, they’re nowhere near as bad as the media love to make out. They’re doing good things but the media resolutely refuse to highlight anything positive and concentrate on a stream of negativity. I’m hopeful Labour can get their act together on messaging, stop being timid and cut through to highlight the positive changes they are making.

If only the media spent as much time looking at how Nigel Farage’s girlfriend managed to pay nearly a million quid in cash for ‘his’ house in Clacton as they did obsessing about Angela Rayner and Rachel Reeves tax affairs we’d be far better informed as an electorate.

On a personal front, I’m looking to spend January concentrating on some projects that have taken a backseat over the past year or so, which includes finishing scanning a lot of old slides which have never seen the light of day for decades. Then there’s travelling. I may not be heading outside of the UK for the next month, but plans are certainly afoot for later in the year.

I’m also intending to up the ante on blogging. Things slipped a bit in 2025, but now I’m back with a lot to say – and things to do…

In the meantime, let me with all my like-minded readers the very best for 2026. I hope you all have a fabulous year.

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

Cheers!

Paul

Back before the year ends…

30 Tuesday Dec 2025

Posted by in Food and drink, Musings, Photography, West Yorkshire

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Apologies for absence over the past week and festive reason but blogging has taken a backseat to Christmas and life here at Bigland towers. We’ve had a very relaxed and stress-free break with just the two of us – a real change from the past few years. In fact, things have been so relaxed I’ve hardly used my camera at all, even when I’ve taken it out with me.

Christmas day was easy as most of the food for our veggie feat was already cooked. I only had one dish to complete, whilst Dawn sorted out desserts. We’d made plenty, which lasted us for a few days in different permutations. No thinking about what the hell we do to use up leftover turkey!

Sadly, we didn’t get snow, or sunshine. Most of the time we’ve laboured under leaden skies but as there’s been no rain and the temperature’s been mild we can count our blessings. We did escape the confines of the valley on Sunday as we drove over to Southport to see my sister and her partner to spend a very convivial afternoon in Churchtown, a village to the North of the centre. The village has moved upmarket since I was a lad, but it’s still a very pleasant place to while away a day.

Neither of us have returned to work this week, instead our time’s been spent pottering around at home, watching the year draw to a close from a distance, which is more than some folks have been able to do. I’ll write up my thoughts on how 2025 has been tomorrow. Much as I don’t want to wish my life away I can’t say I’ll be sorry to see the year go and it morph into 2026.

I doubt there’ll be much carousing in New Years eve. We’ll probably pop up to our local pub for a couple of drinks before returning home before things get too mad. New year isn’t the same here in West Yorkshire as it was when I lived in London, but that’s life.

In the meantime, here’s a few pictures from the festive period.

Christmas day Thali, with all the trimmings!
All that glitters isn’t gold, but a Halifax jeweller’s done their best to get into the festive spirit.
– as did our local pub who kept drinkers few with free mince pies…
– and relax. Feet up in front of the fire abd chance to enjoy duck in plum sauce with pancakes, spring onion and cucumber.

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

Cheers!

Paul

22nd December picture of the day…

22 Monday Dec 2025

Posted by in Calder Valley, Food and drink, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day

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Yipee! We’ve now passed the shortest day of the year. There’s no noticeable change for a little while but the days will soon be getting longer. Not that you’d notice anything in this neck of the woods we’ve existed in perpetual twilight these past couple of days. I’ve hardly been able to make out the opposite side of the valley due to fog and low cloud. No wonder some people suffer from SAD (seasonally adjusted disorder) when there’s so little sunlight around.

Still, I’ve had enough to occupy me here at Bigland Towers as we gradually wind down (or up, depending on your perspective) to Christmas. Whilst Dawn’s spent all day slaving away in the office, I’ve been busy in the kitchen to keep her supplied with lunch and also cook some of the dishes that will make up our Christmas feast. I’ve managed to get two off the list, none of which I’ve ever cooked before, so that’s been fun. Now the kitchen’s redolent with the smell of mustard seeds, garlic and coconut after preparing dishes from Kerala (S India) and Sri Lanka. First up was the one where the ingredients form today’s picture. Carrot and Beans Thoran.

Tomorrow I move on to dishes from Northern India whilst Dawn joins the party to bake and make desserts…

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

Cheers!

Paul

20th December picture(s) of the day…

20 Saturday Dec 2025

Posted by in Food and drink, London, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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I’m back from London. Contrary to the far-right whingers on social media, our capital was a joyous place full of festive cheer – as was I and the friends I’d arranged to meet over the two days. I’ll add a separate blog tomorrow detailing some of yesterday’s adventures.

In contrast, today’s been less about gallivanting and more about consolidating for Christmas. The pair of us have chosen the recipes we want to cook, so went hunting for ingredients at our local Asian supermarket as well as Tescos. Now the kitchen’s full of goodies as well as some amazing smells which have been added to as the cooking muse has descended on Dawn, who’s now perfected home-made focaccia to go with the spicy prawns that have become something of a Saturday night tradition.

Tomorrow I spring in to action to start cooking some of the dishes we’ll be having at Christmas. Nearly all are dishes I’ve never made before, like Sri Lankan beans with coconut and Himachali Khatta (black chickpea curry). I’m looking forward to it.

Of course, there’s still other work to do. I’ve now a massive file of pictures to edit from my London adventure. So today’s blog includes a couple of tasters.

The rail staff carols at St Mary’s, Somers Town featured the London’s Transport Choir and the BT London choir.
Meanwhile, on Waterloo station musicians were in festive mood to raise money for the Children’s Society. So much for Christmas being ‘cancelled’…

After the carols and having had a few drinks with other attendees Hassard and myself headed out to meet up with other old friends. By chance we managed to find on of the few Class 455s in service for a fast run to Surbiton.

Introduced from 1982, the Class 455s were the mainstay of suburban services on the Southern and Southwest Railway network. Now they’re almost all gone.
Cheers from Surbiton!

Time to relax at home with this stunning home-made Focaccia and spicy prawns…

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

Cheers!

Rolling blog. Christmas carolling…

18 Thursday Dec 2025

Posted by in Grand Central trains, London, Photography, Rolling blogs, Travel, West Yorkshire

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09:40.

Having abandoned Bigland Towers for a couple of days I’m on my way to London to join the annual railway carols service and meet up with friends and colleagues from across the industry.

Having walked to the station on a grey but dry day it became duller once I boarded Grand Central’s 09:10 service to Kings Cross, where I was greeted with an announcement that there’s no buffet service due to staff shortages. Oh, and the wifi’s kaput too! This leaves me unable to do the work I was hoping to – and blogging from my phone – so please excuse the more than normal amount of typos!

Here was hoping…

10:00.

We’re currently crawling our way from Wakefield to ‘Pontycarlo’ (aka Pontefract) having picked up an almost full complement of passengers already after stops at Brighouse, Mirfield and Wakefield.

I’ve not seen any great progress on TRU work en-route but then a lot is due to be delivered over the Christmas blockade. I did notice that the relaid fan of sidings at the sute of the old Healey Mills marshalling yard contains a rake of ballast wagons, which is the first traffic I’ve seen. In contrast, the relaid (at great expense) DB loco stabling sidings at Wakefield are housing nothing but rust. I’ve never seen them used once since they were put in.

10:15.

This GC service has been retimed and now cuts out a lot of the crawl to Doncaster as it joins the main line at Hare Park Junction, allowing our 221 to stetch its legs. Observing the flooded fields and streams the colour of builders tea we’ve passed en-route it’s obvious just how much rain we’ve had, although the weather remains dry, for now.

The amount of passengers waiting to board this service at Doncaster was rather impressive. I doubt there’s a spare seat left now. I’ll check later once the melee has subsided. Right now it’s a chaotic mess of suitcases and bewildered people.

The sidings between the station and old railway works are empty – apart from a massive pair of Ainscough hire cranes. I can only assume they’re here to remove the decaying footbridge that linked the works with the outside world by crossing above the station.

11:10.

We sped through my old stomping ground of Peterborough 6 minutes late. It’s changed a bit since I first got to know it at the end of the 1980s so I’m glad to see the railway expanding there again thanks to freight compaby GBRf, who’ve made it one of their main locomotive depots.

Sadly, that was the only bright spot as the weather’s turned very dull indeed – evidenced by the amount of industrial sites where the yard lights have come on! My hope that we’d make up some tine have been dashed too. We’re currently crawing our way towards Huntingdon, which suggests we’re stuck behind something. The new ECML timetable came into force at the weekend, leaving thus a very congested railway. Something that building HS2 to Leeds and Church Fenton would have solved, until short-sighted and short-term politicians screwed that up.

11:39.

Bugger. We’ve just passed Potters Bar at the time we should’ve been arriving at Kings Cross. Plus, the rain’s arrived.

12:40.

Here we are..

18:45.

Sorry for the gap but it’s been a busy day. Right now I’m on this old train on my way to meet up with other friends.

17th December picture(s) of the day…

17 Wednesday Dec 2025

Posted by in Calder Valley, Flora and Fauna, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, West Yorkshire

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There’s another day of mixed fortunes here at Bigland Towers, mostly due to the weather, which has done its best to keep us guessing of its intentions. Just when you think there’s going to be a sunny spell some dastardly clouds sneak up the Ryburn valley and bring with them a good soaking! It’s frustrating, but at least I have decent waterproofs – thanks to a birthday present from Dawn who treated me to a new Mountain Warehouse jacket to go with my ancient Mont trousers (bought in Oz in 1998).

Not that I’ve spent much time outdoors today, apart from a supermarket run and a late walk. Apart from keeping Dee fed and watered whilst she slaves away in the office upstairs a goodly proportion of my day’s been spent sorting out more old railwayana to go on eBay. I’ve added a selection of railway badges (old and new) to go with the hundreds of slides I have on offer. You can find the full list by following this link. Who knows? You might find a late Xmas prezzie for yourself or a loved one! Here’s one of the most recent additions, shown with a ruler for scale.

Tomorrow there’s a distinct change of tempo as I head down to London for a couple of days. Expect a mixture of blogs and pictures as I swan around the capital. Of course, if you read/watch the right-wing media you’d think I should be packing a stab-vest and letting Dawn know where my will is as London (in their hysterical imaginations) is dome kind of dystopian hellhole. It’s a load of bollocks of course, as I’ll show…

Whilst I’ve been complaining about the weather there’s one thing the mild days have provided as a bonus. I still have Chrysanthemums flowering in the garden! I have several plants in the front and back, all of which have flowered at different times, right through from October. This particular plant is opposite the kitchen window and only just coming into bloom…

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

Cheers!