Author Archives: Paul Bigland

The UK’s largest new railway station gets planning permission.

19 Tuesday May 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Old Oak Common

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

,

Today, (19th May) the planning application for HS2’s west-London super hub, Old Oak Common, was approved by the Old Oak Common and Park Royal Development Corporation. This gives the go-ahead for what will be the largest brand-new railway station ever built in the UK with a total of 14 platforms comprising a mix of six high speed and eight conventional service platforms. The high speed platforms will be constructed inside a 850m long station box, which has the a volume to contain 6,300 Routemaster buses.

18_Aerial_A_13 cropped

The new station will incorporate some striking design features, such as an impressive sequence of interlocking curved roof forms, designed to enhance the open environment of the station and provide natural ventilation, minimising energy consumption. The arch forms also reduce the need for columns to support the roof, providing open sight lines, allowing clearer views compared to older, more traditional stations.

HS2 OOC Station Ground Floor Concourse View

The station design development has been led by engineering professional services consultancy WSP with architectural support from WilkinsonEyre.

When operational the station will be used by up to an estimated 250,000 passengers each day, making it set to become one of the busiest railway stations in the country and (potentially) second only to London Waterloo. It’s eight conventional platforms will provide seamless connectivity with the Elizabeth Line (Crossrail), Heathrow Express and trains to Wales and the West of England. This will also relieve pressure on Paddington station and the London Underground network such as the Circle and Hammersmith and City Lines as well as allowing faster Cross-London journeys.

HS2 OOC Conventional Rail Platforms View

The station design has been future-proofed with a sufficiently sized concourse and platform space to accommodate passenger growth to 2041 and beyond. Interchange with other modes of transport will be accommodated by provision of a dedicated bus and taxi facility, dedicated drop-off and pickup areas, pedestrian and cycle links, and upgraded highway infrastructure.

New public spaces are also being created as part of the design including a new public square directly outside the station that will include seating and cycle parking and may also be used as a setting for public artwork.

The station is designed to meet a ‘BREEAM excellent’ standard which is an industry recognised standard for buildings that reduce energy usage and materials waste, and minimise impact on the natural environment.

The station is being built by a joint venture of Balfour Beatty, Vinci and Systra (BBVS) who were awarded the contract to build the new HS2 station in September 2019 and are set to begin work on site next month.

The Old Oak Common area has historically been an important railway site as it was the location of the Great Western Railway’s locomotive and carriage stabling depot and workshops. Now, with the arrival of HS2 it’s set to leap into the future as a crucial transport interchange.

Lockdown. Day 54 (Saturday)

17 Sunday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Lockdown, Musings, Uncategorized

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

*Warning, blog under construction*

After Friday’s shopping expedition our normal weekend routine was altered by another trip out of the valley as we’d arranged to drop shopping off at Dawn’s folks in Huddersfield. There was no rush, and it was the weekend, so I left Dee to have a lie in and crept into the office to set up more old slides to scan. I’m beginning to wonder if I’ll manage to get all of the railway ones done before lockdown ends and my attention has to swing back to commissions. I’m still unsure of how the might work in practice as there’s obvious challenges. Hopefully things will become clearer soon as the public transport gets to grips with the challenges of mass transit and social distancing. In the meantime, I’m ploughing on with scanning and looking forward to seeing the light at the end of the tunnel!

After lunch I ended up in a group call with friends from the rail industry which was a fun-filled hour of laughter as gossip was swapped and stories told – none of which are repeatable in a blog like this! For a brief time the physical distance between us disappeared and it was like old times…

As I’d joined the call on my mobile we continued our group chat whilst Dawn drove over to her parents. As we didn’t need to go into the town centre we drove direct across country. It’s a lovely drives that takes in some great scenery and although the roads were busier than they have been they’re still far from normal.

(to be continued)…

 

Lockdown. Day 53 (Friday).

17 Sunday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Halifax, Lockdown

≈ Leave a comment

*warning, blog under construction*

The end to another working week. Well, in theory as weekends don’t mean as much nowadays, especially for freelances like me as it’s nearly 25 years since I last worked in a 9 to 5 job! Add in the effects of lockdown and it’s very easy to lose track of the days or what you’ve been doing, which is one of the reasons that I’ve been trying to write a daily blog.

Today’s routine did vary as after breakfast I left Dawn busy at work in the living room whilst I took a stroll into Halifax to pick up some shopping from Marks and Spencer’s food hall for her parents. It was my first trip into Halifax since the easing of lockdown restrictions, so I was curious as to what I’d find. With the weather being cloudy but warm it was a pleasant stroll. The main roads that I crossed on the way were much busier than has been the new normal but everywhere else remained quiet. It was the same situation in the town centre, albeit there did seem to be a few more people around – although no new shops appeared to have reopened. The pedestrian precinct that M&S is located in was dead. There was no queue to get in the shop but there was inside. We zig-zagged through ladies underwear to get through to the small food hall where staff enforced a strict one in, one out policy and insisted that everyone used trollies (no baskets). I managed to get most of the stuff on the shopping list although it took me a while as I never shop here so I had no idea where to find things!

Glad to be out I headed over to the local health food store to pick up some of the veggie cheeses that we use at home as Dawn is allergic to cheese. They’re coconut based and more expensive than ordinary cheese but they’re tasty and work really well in salads. We use them sparingly and regard them as a bit of a treat which is probably just as well as I spent over £20 just on cheese!

On my way home I stopped to get a couple of shots, just to show how quiet the place was.

DG342129crop

The Woolshops shopping centre with M&S behind me. On a normal Friday this place would be teeming. Thankfully, most people are still staying safe.

DG342130crop

Corn Market in the centre of Halifax with the Market Hall to the right. a Handful of shops (mostly butchers) remain open in the market, the rest of the place is deserted.

DG342131crop

The Westgate Arcade which leads on down to the Piece Hall, is deserted.

It’s reassuring to see that, despite the Government’s muddled advice, most people have made their own decision to stick with lockdown and stay at home. Sure, there’s always a few idiots who don’t and there’s some fringe political elements on the far-right and left who’re playing on people’s prejudices or paranoia to exploit the situation, but most folks aren’t taken in.

Walking back home with my goodies I traversed equally quiet streets and spent the rest of the day at home scanning yet more old pictures from the 1990s. I was tempting to head outside into the garden to soak up a little bit of sun, but (to be honest) the weather’s nowhere near as warm as it has been and a persistent wind’s taken the edge off it.

This change was obvious when it came to six o’ clock, when it was time for us refugees from the ‘Big 6’ pub to meet via Zoom and recreate the traditional Friday Quiz. Last week many folk were joining from their gardens. This week everybody was inside. The quiz was no less fun and it was lovely to be able to catch up with folks and share a few jokes – even if it was online. I wonder when we’ll be able to do this properly?

Quiz over, the rest of the evening was quite anti-social. Dawn did her thing and I did mine as the pair of us were focussed on other things. On the bright side, I did manage to finish scanning and editing another tranche of slides like this.

03306. 37676. Stratford. 07.06.1993crop

If I stood on this platform and took the same shot today, nothing would be recognisable. This is Stratford (East London) on the 7th June 1993. The railway line still exists, but everything that surrounds it has been swept away as the area’s undergone a massive transformation. The first part was due to London’s growing economy, the second part was due to Stratford becoming a major transport interchange. But the biggest transformation was because of the 2012 Olympics. 

 

Lockdown. Day 52 (Thursday).

16 Saturday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Huddersfield, Lockdown, Railways

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Thursday’s the highlight of our week in some ways as it’s the day we escape the Calder Valley routine and sally forth. Well, as far as the next valley anyway! It’s the day we venture over to Huddersfield to do John and Norah (Dawns parents) shopping. Both of us were curious as to what we might find as this was our first trip since the lifting of some of the lockdown restrictions.

The pair of us were up early in order to get everything done as Dee needed to be home for yet another Zoom meeting (love ’em or loathe ’em) so we were heading over to Huddersfield in what would normally be considered the ‘rush-hour’. Only it wasn’t. Yes, there’s certainly more cars on the road than there have been in recent weeks, but the days of being stuck in a queue of traffic up the by-pass to Ainly Top are unlikely to return for a while. It was the same with the run from the M62 junction into Huddersfield. Busier, but not busy.

In fact, we were really surprised when we arrived at our first port of call, which was Sainsbury’s supermarket. The past few weeks on a Thursday the queue’s been massive. Today it was tiny and the car-park much emptier than usual. It only took a few minutes before we were ushered inside. As usual, we’d split up to do different shops. Dawn to do her parents whilst I did ours. To be honest, apart from coffee and alcohol (my bad) there wasn’t much we needed, although I did pick up some of their veggie specialities in the form of Tempeh and Tofu to be used in a stir-fry.

Shopping done in double-quick time we headed over to the station so that Dawn could pop into work for a while to check on the place and access stuff she can’t at home. The weather was gorgeous so I took the time to grab a couple of rail shots such as this one.

DG342127crop

One of Trans-Pennine Express new Class 802 units (802208) arrives at Huddersfield whilst working 1F58, the 0834 Scarborough to Liverpool Lime Street arrives at platform 4 which is unusual in itself as Westbound TPE service always used to use platform 1 as 4 was used by terminating trains from both East and West.

I didn’t have time to venture far from the station. Even so, I saw a couple of things that caught my eye nearby. The sign of the new normal. One pavement is closed off by roadworks in order to allow appropriate social distancing so that workers can stay safe.

Whilst I was taking this shot I noticed a ‘to do’ the other end of the roadworks so went to investigate – and found this…

With the fact our roads have been so blissfully quiet accidents have been rare, and half this road is closed because of the roadworks in the previous sign, so you do have to wonder…That said, it’s quite possible that some drivers have become lazy and inattentive for the very reason that there’s less traffic out there.

As soon as Dawn had finished we headed over to her parents to drop their shopping off and have a chat. Considering the fact they’re both pretty much confined to barracks because of their age (apart from getting out for a walk) they’re bearing up well. The pair of them are both pragmatic and phlegmatic – and incredibly appreciative of the fact we do their shopping for them. I really feel for the members of their generation who we see in the shops who obviously don’t have anyone to do this stuff on their behalf. OK, one or two whom you see are just sheer bloody-minded and don’t understand the risks, but others are obviously fearful but have no other choice. This is not the ‘blitz’ – this is a far more insidious killer, which makes the government’s advice all the more stupid. How can you be ‘alert’ to some thing you can neither see, smell, touch, hear or taste?

Having done our duty we drove back home in time for Dawn to join in her online meetings whilst I disappeared upstairs to scan yet more old slides. At the moment the process is even more of a pain in the butt than normal as I’ve hot a vein of old Kodak slides that were sent back from their lab in cardboard mounts. They’re a sod to break out and still keep the slides dust-free for remounting so there’s lots of muttering under the breath going on whilst I did it.

I won’t miss this job!

Come late afternoon we did manage to get out for our usual stroll and keep the exercise going, although this won’t be a vintage week for me as I’m already behind all last weeks targets. Trying to juggle work and exercise sometimes means a ball’s dropped. I’ll just have to pick it up and run with it next week…

HS2 want people to choose the names of their first Tunnel Boring Machines.

15 Friday May 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Railways

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

,

Today HS2 has launched a national vote to pick the names of the first of 10 giant tunnel boring machines that will excavate more than 35 miles of tunnel on the first phase of the UK’s new high speed railway between London and the West Midlands. Three names have been selected by local school children, they are Cecilia, Florence and Marie. The names with the most votes will be given to the first of two tunnel boring machines (TBMs) set to launch early next year. Much like ships, it’s traditional to name TBMs before they are launched and it is a long-held tunnelling tradition to give them female names.

tbm 3d model (1)

The TBMs will be operated by HS2’s main works contractor, Align JV – a joint venture formed of three companies: Bouygues Travaux Publics, Sir Robert McAlpine, and VolkerFitzpatrick. The machines will spend around three years digging the longest and deepest HS2 tunnels south of the M25, to South Heath in Buckinghamshire.

To vote, visit this link and vote for your favourite name. All three have been inspired by female scientific and medical pioneers.

Cecilia – named after Cecilia Payne-Gaposchkin, the Astronomer and Astrophysicist born in Buckinghamshire who became Chair of Astronomy at Harvard University in the United States. Suggested by students at Chalfont Community College in Buckinghamshire.
Florence – named after Florence Nightingale, the founder of modern nursing, who spent many years in Claydon, Buckinghamshire where she wrote numerous books on nursing. Suggested by students at Meadow High School in Hillingdon.
Marie – named after Marie Curie, the first woman to win a Nobel Prize, and the first person and the only woman to win the Nobel Prize twice. Suggested by students at Maple Cross JMI and Nursery in Hertfordshire.

The name with the most votes will be given to the first TBM, due to be launched from a site close to the M25 early next year. The enormous, 2,000 tonne, 170m long machine will be one of two that will dig the 10 mile long Chiltern tunnels. The second machine, due to be launched a month later, will be given the second most popular name chosen.

The machines are being built by Herrenknecht in Germany. Their names are being chosen now so they can be fixed to machines during their manufacture, ready for when they emerge out of the factory.

After completion the first two machines will be disassembled before beginning their long journey to England. Once they have arrived on site, each TBM will be reassembled, ready to begin their life underground.

Launching the competition, HS2 Ltd Chief Executive Mark Thurston said:

“The launch of our first TBM will be a defining moment in the history of HS2 – and our work to deliver high capacity, low carbon high speed rail travel for millions of people across the UK.

“I’d like to thank all the schools that took part in the first stage of the competition and the pupils who suggested the three shortlisted names – Cecilia, Florence and Marie. Now it’s over to the British public to decide which will grace the side of our first TBMs.”

Daniel Altier, Align Project Director said:

“I would like to thank the pupils and teachers at the three local schools who suggested these three pioneering and inspirational women. Align would be very proud for our TBMs, that will incorporate the very latest technology and innovation, to bear their names.”

Voting closes on 5th June 2020.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course, but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

Thank you!

Lockdown. Day 51 (Wednesday).

14 Thursday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Lockdown, Musings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

The weather’s started to pick up again here in the Calder valley, although it hasn’t reached the balmy heights of a week ago. I’ve swapped my singlet for a fleece and waterproof as the winds are really knocking the temperatures down.

Today was meant to be the ‘great escape’ when more of the lockdown rules were relaxed, but to be honest, we noticed very little difference here. Yes, there was a small increase in traffic on the road outside the house as a few more folk returned to work, but it was negligible. There was certainly no mad rush – for whatever reason. I’m savouring the quietness whilst it lasts…

Much of our day fell into the routine of us both working from our respective offices. It may be predictable but it makes us no less busy – anything but as there’s no breaks or distractions. I spent much of my day scanning yet another batch of old railway slides in a process that I could pretty much do in my sleep now. It’s production line stuff until you get the scans in Photoshop which is when you have chance weigh up the best editing options. Old slide film can be very dark or very contrasty and no matter how much you try to keep dust and blemishes off the pictures whilst you’re scanning there’s often something that sneaks through and needs correcting, which adds time to the process.

Scans done I ended the afternoon with a pleasant hour or so in the garden, soaking up the sunshine and planting out the trailing lobelia that I’d acquired from a supermarket as I’d no idea when I bought it that Garden centres would be allowed to reopen so soon. Our garden may be small, but it’s an oasis that I love sitting out in and tending the plants is a therapeutic break from the cares and constraints of the modern world. Plants grow regardless of human concerns.

Once Dawn had knocked off for the day the pair of us took our daily constitutional on the usual circuit through Scarr Woods which are looking gloriously green and vibrant now. They also play host to a variety of birdlife although often they can be heard but not seen – apart from the Robins and Magpies as neither are exactly what you’d call shy birds. I must admit to being surprised at how quiet Savile Park was. I’d expected to see more people out enjoying the new freedoms. Perhaps it was the lateness of the hour (it was after 7pm when we were strolling around) and the chill wind, or maybe folks are thinking the same as us – this is all a bit premature?

Back at home in the warm home I spent another hour in the office catching up on blogging. I’ve been falling further and further behind recently so I was determined to make an effort to catch up. Hopefully my readers will think it was worth the effort! It’s not that I have nothing to write about, exactly the opposite – even if I’m concentrating on the lockdown right now. It’s the fact time seems to be all askew. We’re meant to have more time on our hands right now, but I’ll be damned if I know where it’s going…

 

 

Lockdown. Day 50 (Tuesday)

13 Wednesday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Harvil Rd Hs2 protest, Hs2, Lockdown, Musings

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

Today the pair of us were back at work in our various offices and neither of us minded being at home in the least. The weather had taken on a distinctly chilly feel with cloudy skies and a biting wind so being cooped up indoors was the least of our concerns. We were warm, safe and busy. One lighter moment was recording a short video to add to a collection of lockdown birthday wishes for our friend Mervyn Allcock (of Barrow Hill roundhouse fame). Merv and his partner Alexa are in lockdown in Truro, so it was an inspired idea for a group of his friends to send him greetings.

Job done, the two of us cracked on. I’ve been remiss in scanning slides over the past few days, so I wanted to have a good solid day scanning, which I did. By the end of the day I’d managed to get nearly 60 either scanned and/or edited and onto my Zenfolio website, which I felt pretty chuffed about as it meant the end’s in sight with yet another album.

Whilst I was busy scanning I kept an ear to the ground listening to the antics of the Extinction Rebellion anti Hs2 protesters at Harvil Rd. HS2’s bailiffs had started evicting three of the protesters camps earlier this morning and it really wasn’t going well for the protesters. Despite the fact they’d had ages to prepare for this moment it was pretty much a walkover. Two of their encampments were very quickly cleared, whilst the third (an old garage) was also rolled up after a forced entry which only took an hour or so, leaving a handful of protesters inside who’d secured themselves to the building in a futile attempt to drag things out. It was pitiful to listen to as there was lots of screaming and shouting from the protesters and wild accusations of brutality – all to no avail. Quite how this rag-bag group is meant to stop Hs2 when they can’t even stop themselves being arrested is a mystery! Their only armament is weapons-grade hypocrisy and fake news –  as this tweet and picture demonstrates.

whistle

By the time this claim appeared the three camps were firmly in the possession of the bailiffs, not the protesters! Oh, and there was no High Court injunction either – that never happened. What did happen is the protesters scored a classic own-goal with this picture. The young protester isn’t wearing a mask, but she is blowing a whistle. If she was a Covid carrier she would be spreading it far and wide in the air with droplets from her whistle – yet these people constantly whine about HS2 workers not social distancing (ignoring the fact different guidelines apply to construction workers, bailiffs and the police). As for the person strumming a guitar in the background, well – that’ll really stop Hs2! What a pantomime…

I kept scanning until 16:00 when I finally had the opportunity to nip out for a long walk to the Supermarket to pick up some supplies for later, as our group had arranged to have a conference video call with Merv and toast his birthday. Our celebration was pretty far flung as it included people from Halifax, Warrington, Lichfield, Grantham, Norwich and London – as well as Truro of course. A few beers were sunk and stories swapped, along with some pithy comments about the new Covid strategy – as you might expect from a group of people who work on the railways or in the rail media. Even so, it was a fun hour – although all of us can’t wait for it to be safe (and possible) to celebrate properly, face to face in a Pub!

Celebration over, I joined Dawn for her evening perambulation around the woods and parks where we live so that we had some quality time together whilst getting our daily exercise. At least that’s going to be easier from tomorrow as we’re no longer officially limited to one stroll per day.

On our return and despite the coolness of the weather we both tucked into a home made fresh Tuna steak and tinned Octopus salad, which brought back fond memories of a trip to Portugal a decade ago now. Oh, to be sat at a table in a lovely little taverna there right now!

A favour…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course, but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

 

Lockdown. Day 49 (Monday).

11 Monday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Lockdown, Musings

≈ 2 Comments

Tags

, ,

*I know this blog’s a few days, late as it’s not appeared until Wednesday – I’m trying frantically to catch up, honest! *

The pair of us threw the rule book out of the window this morning and decided to indulge in the nearest thing to a ‘duvet day’ we’ve had through the entire lockdown! Both of us slept through until 08:30. Even when we woke up and made a drink we went straight back to bed to browse social media and gauge the reaction to the PM’s awful interview last night. Did it seem as bad to others as it did to us? The answer came through as a pretty clear yes. Cabinet Ministers and Tory backbenchers were getting savaged on national TV with both Dominic Raab and Andrew Bridgen having car-crash interviews. Let’s face it, if they didn’t understand what the new advice was – what chance did anyone else stand? Other commentators were just as unkind. Both of us felt uneasy about the Governments new strategy. Having been around the political block a few times I was even more scathing of it than Dawn as I saw it as an attempt by the Government to absolve themselves of responsibility by passing the buck to ordinary people. Now, if you contracted Covid it would be your fault for not being ‘alert’ enough. Needless to say, social media soon went into overdrive to parody the new slogan and design. This one pretty much sums up my take on the new advice.

govt

Dawn and I had a long discussion about what we thought we should be doing and the pair of us agreed that we’d be sticking to the old advice for now – along with the Scots and the Welsh! We’ve a responsibility not just to ourselves but also Dawn’s parents, who we shop for. Relaxing lockdown now when the Governments so unprepared is only going to lead to another spike in the infection rate, and we don’t want to be part of that. I hope we’re wrong, but we’ll find out the truth in the next couple of weeks…

We finally got our arses in gear not long after midday when we moved down into the living room where Dawn had her massage bed set up in order to give me a Reiki session. Dee’s recently trained in Reiki, which she’s really taken to. My treatment lasted for an hour, which really surprised me as it seemed like no time at all, but then it’s a lovely experience.

Suitably refreshed, relaxed and appreciative I scooted into my office for a short spell of slide scanning in order to make some progress before the two of us took our daily constitutional, although it wasn’t far enough for me to get my normal level of exercise as we had to be home in time for the Platt family Zoom call.  Needless to say, Johnson’s (recorded) speech to the nation was discussed and critiqued before we moved on to lighter matters. The internet’s (and Zoom) has proved its worth in keeping us all together, but it will never be a substitute for the real thing – human contact.

A favour…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course, but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

 

 

Lockdown. Day 47 (Saturday).

10 Sunday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Halifax, Lockdown

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, ,

*Warning, blog under construction*

There wasn’t much chance of a lie-in today as Dawn was up with the larks as part of her ‘virtual retreat’ course. She was up before 06:00 in order to get ready for a yoga and meditation session that started at 06:30 so I seized the day and started working in the office, preparing the next batch of slides for editing and scanning and also catching up on some blogging. But my main focus of the day was going to be other than work. I’ve been trying to up my fitness levels by increasing the distance I’ve been walking and today provided me with the ideal opportunity as it was a mix of DIY, shopping and photography.

One job I’ve been meaning to finish for quite some time (no, not the bathroom – another job!) has been repainting the back of the cottage. As we’ve had such fantastic weather (and today was the hottest so far) it made sense to concentrate on that, so I was out quite early but not so early that my activities might piss-off the neighbours! A few hours of vigorous sanding, cleaning and undercoating later and the pipework and guttering looked pretty good. The glossing would have to wait for a day but as I needed to buy some white spirit to clean the brushes that wasn’t a problem.

My next task was to wander down into Sowerby Bridge in search of said liquid, plus some food supplies. It was a gorgeous day for a stroll so I took the camera with me in order to be able to get a couple of  shots that would help tell the story of the impact Covid-19 is having on the railways. Walking down the hill into town I was struck by just how busy it was traffic-wise. There were far more cars on the road than I’ve seen since lockdown started and I’ve no idea what they were doing that caused them to be there. ‘Essential’ journey’s? I don’t think so – not for many of them anyway. Still, I’m not going to preach. If someone’s self-isolating in a motor vehicle and breaking the monotony of being stuck at home by going for a drive without putting anyone else at risk…

As Sowerby’s only DIY shop is shut for the durations my first port of call was a shop I never use – B&M bargains. The queue to get in was tiny and it only took 5 minutes to get in but my time was wasted as they’d sold out of white spirit. What are people doing with the stuff, or is it folks like me who’re using lockdown to catch-up on some DIY? My next port of call was going to be Tescos but time was tight as there was a train due that I really wanted to try and get shot of so I ended up at a deserted railway station and realised there were other topical shots to get too. Here’s one.

DG342099crop

A pair of Northern Class 195s pull out of Sowerby Bridge station on their way from Manchester to Leeds. There were less than half a dozen people aboard. The station car park is deserted. Before the Covid Pandemic empty car parking spaces here were as rare as rocking horse shit. Now?…

Meanwhile, this is what I was after. The Calder valley’s gained a regular Trans-Pennine express service – although it’s non-stop! Here’s 185130 powering through Sowerby bridge whilst working 1P73, the 11:10 Manchester Airport to Redcar Central. There are now two trips each way on this route.

DG342103. 185130. Sowerby Bridge. 9.5.20crop

Having got the pictures in the can I nipped over to Tescos to pick up the shopping I needed. The queue was only a couple of dozen long so it didn’t impinge on my day. Suitably stocked up on non-alcoholic fizz for Dawn I wended my way home up the hill, which certainly gave me a bit of exercise. In fact, it made me keen to stretch myself further. As I hadn’t been able to get any white spirit I decided to throw caution to the wind and head into Halifax for the first time since lockdown started. Having seen just how busy Sowerby Bridge was I was concerned about what I might find in the town centre. I needn’t have worried. In fact, it was far quieter!

 

 

 

 

 

Lockdown. Day 46 (Friday)

08 Friday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Down memory lane, Lockdown, Photography, Politics, Railways

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

Christ, if this is what life’s like when we’re meant to have loads of time on our hands due to lockdown, can I have my old one back, please?

My best intentions of getting up early went out of the window this morning and for the first time in ages I didn’t get out of bed before 08:00 which was a bit of a surprise as I distincly remember being awake at 06:00 and thinking ‘I’ll just have another half an hour’. Damn those snooze buttons! I wouldn’t mind but it’s not even mine as Dawn has control of the alarm clock/radio.

Once the day started it was a busy,- if slightly different one. Dawn’s on her ‘virtual retreat’ for the next few days, so I’m doing everything I can so facilitate and support her doing it but it does mean we’re living rather separate lives for the next few days. Dee printed out her schedule activities and stuck it on the fridge in the kitchen so that I know what she’s up to and when so that I don’t disturb her at a crucial moment, like meditation. This means that the living room is very much ‘her space’ and I’m relegated to using the back door to come in and out, not that it’s a problem.

Yet again we’ve had another beautiful day, weather wise. I shadowed Dawn on her morning walk, which meant that I got a lot of steps in early which makes a change. Recently I’ve taken to getting in an evening stroll to boost my exercise. Whilst it’s technically breaking the guidelines it’s not a problem here as our road is deserted at that time of day. I can walk for half an hour and not bump into another soul or even see a car as everyone’s stuck indoors. Why wouldn’t they be – there’s nowhere else to go!

Back at home I disappeared into the office to spend several hours scanning more old slides, The job’s no less tedious but at least I’m slowly making progress, although it is rather frustrating being stuck inside when the weather’s so good! I’d love to be out and about with the camera, but discipline’s required right now and it means I’m getting something positive out of lockdown.

Once immersed in scanning the day soon flew by. I’ve both laptops on the go at the moment so that whilst I’m scanning with one I can be watching Netflix or the BBCiPlayer with half an eye on the other. Sometimes the distraction’s provided by birds visiting the feeder hung outside the office window as it sees a constant stream of Tits who come to plunder the sunflower seeds I keep it filled with. I avoided the VE celebrations on TV, preferring to remember those who fought and lost their lives in my own way rather then join in what was starting to feel like a jingoistic celebration rather than a reflection on events. No doubt many would disagree with my interpretation, but then there does seem to be a coercive element to these things nowadays, rather like the ritualistic clapping for the NHS on Thursdays. When people are shamed on social media for not taking part, you know that things have gone too far. This pressure is also being used to stifle criticism of the way the Government’s handling the Covid pandemic, with some claiming that it’s somehow unpatriotic to criticise as it’s a national emergency and we should all be ‘pulling together’ (whatever that’s meant to mean in this context). This authoritarianism and herd mentality worries me. It’s too close to the right-wing media and political parties tactics of labelling people ‘traitors’ for opposing Brexit. We seem to be sailing far too close to an Orwellian totalitarianism nowadays, and it’s disturbing how easily some people embrace it.

I knocked off slightly earlier than usual as it is Friday after all. I migrated to the bench in the front garden and sat with a beer, enjoying soaking up the glorious sunshine for a while until 6, when it was time to join the gang from the ‘Big 6’ for our weekly quiz session held on Zoom. Eight of us played this week, many of the gang joining from their respective gardens as they’d got the same idea as me. After weeks of lockdown and barely talking to a soul other than Dawn it’s great to have a semblance of normality restored by joining in the laughter and brain-teasers in the quiz, although I’m looking forward to the day we can restart this where we should be – in the pub!

The rest of the evening passed off quietly at home with the pair of us keeping occupied in different ways. I managed to upload more of my haul of edited pictures to my website, so felt the week ended well. Here’s a couple as an illustration. It’s a tale of two London stations…

3120. 47350. London Kings Cross. 02.02.1993crop

Here’s London Kings Cross on the 2nd February 1993. As it used to look before the recent refurbishment and when Mail trains still ran. It was far dirtier and more cluttered than nowadays, with lots of rubbish deposited on the oil-stained tracks. Railfreight distribution No 47350 stands at the head of a rake of vans carrying mail to the North. Class 47/3s didn’t normally operate these services as the locomotives had no train heating, so I’m assuming the booked engine had failed.

03137. 47853. 43072. Class 47 ex Nottingham. Class 43 is 16.00 to Sheffield. London St Pancras. 09.03.1993crop

Here’s London St Pancras on the 19th March 1993, with a Class 47 which had arrived on a service from Nottingham standing next to an HST set which is waiting to depart as the 16:00 to Sheffield. It’s safe to say that the station doesn’t look like this anymore! This area is now home to Eurostars!

If you want to have a look at any of the other pictures I’ve added to my Zenfolio picture website just follow this link.

A favour…

If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course, but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…

Thank you!