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Category Archives: Community rail

The evening after the night before…

04 Friday Oct 2019

Posted by in ACoRP, Community rail, Railways, Uncategorized

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This isn’t going to be a long blog. The pair of us are starting to flag after getting to bed at 03:30 this morning before getting up again just a few hours later at 07:30, but it was well worth it. The ACoRP awards was a fabulous night that went without a hitch due to the great team that delivered the event. The full list of winners can be found here on the ACoRP website.

The days when Community Rail was seen as a sideshow and something eccentric or even irrelevant are long gone. Now the awards are seen as a ‘must attend’ event and have the support of the Department of Transport, Network Rail and the Train Operating Companies themselves, hence the regular attendance of the DfT’s Peter Wilkinson and Network Rail’s Chief executive Andrew Haines to name but two. But the evening belongs to the groups, most of whom are volunteers – who put in the thousands of hours that make such a difference to their stations, and their communities. As one of the awards Judges I feel very privileged to get to meet so many inspiring people who’re doing such fantastic work up and down the country. The community rail awards is our way of ensuring they get the recognition and appreciation they deserve for all the brilliant work that they do.

Here’s a few pictures to give a flavour of the event.

The stage is set and we’re all ready for the guests to arrive…
The coveted trophies and certificates waiting to be awarded.
The drinks reception outside the main room as people gather for the awards.
LNER’s Richard Salkeld is an old friend of ACoRP and helps out every year to organise ‘Heads and Tails’ a fun game that raises thousands of pounds for charity each year.
Two of the guests demonstrate how you play ‘heads or tails’. You win or lose on the flip of a coin. The last one left standing wins a bottle of champagne.
The winners gather together onstage at the end of the awards.

Right, it’s time for bed. Normal service will be resumed tomorrow when I’ve lots of pictures to add to my Zenfolio website. Watch this space…

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Mytholmroyd station building. A look inside…

06 Friday Sep 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Community rail, History, Mytholmroyd, Railways, West Yorkshire

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I’ve been meaning to blog about this for ages but never had the time. Today’s miserable weather’s put a damper on other photographic activities as it’s chucking it down here in the Calder Valley so I’ve finally found the opportunity.

Some of you may have noticed the old station building at Mytholmroyd as you passed by on the train. It’s on West end of the Leeds bound platform. What you may not have appreciated from the train is just how big a building it is! Here’s how it looked from the platforms in April 2015.

Here’s a recent view showing what it looks like from ground level. In effect it’s two buildings. The back part of the building (to the left of the drainpipe) was the stationmasters residence. The public part of the building is to the right of the drainpipe.

It’s spread over three-floors and there’s a warren of rooms inside. Built in 1874 by the Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway, it was given a grade 2 listing back in 1984 when it was closed by British Rail. It’s been derelict for over 30 years but the friends of Mytholmroyd station have been trying to get it reopened as a community space and waiting rooms ever since 2007. It was a long process as the building is owned by Network Rail. In 2015 the station building was specifically included in the successful Arriva North Franchise Agreement, which stated that (no later than 2025) the franchise shall ” redevelop for social use redundant or under- utilised buildings at stations including Mytholmroyd and Cottingham”.

With that commitment agreed, negotiations continued with various interested parties, including the Railway Heritage Trust. The original group of station volunteers was joined by representatives from the local community and a Northern Rail director; and an application for Charitable Incorporated Organisation (CIO)  was granted in September 2017.

The negotiations culminated in work commencing in March 2018 by Network Rail contractors CPMS who removed asbestos and made the building safe in preparation to repoint and plaster parts of the interior. Local interior designers JSB Ltd assisted with the restoration of the original woodwork, fireplaces and windows.

Northern Rail is planning to include the building within their (operational) station lease from Network Rail. The Station Partnership and CIO would have a licence from Northern – with no responsibility for building maintenance etc.

Northern are planning a public Waiting Room and toilet on the second floor with access from the station platform. They would welcome suggestions for a small trading outlet within the building that would be relevant for rail passengers and be suitable for the general community/social use concept.

Northern envisage that the operation of the building will be through a Management Board consisting of themselves, the Station Partnership together with the CIO and users / tenant(s).

Proposals include –

Second Floor – step-free access from the station platform. Welfare accommodation for Northern Rail staff. A General Waiting Room – which may include an Art Gallery and station history display. Toilet. Rooms for Railway Education project.

First floor – steps only access. Studios for local artists and office/meeting room for Station Partnership, the CIO and the building Management Board.

Ground floor – step-free access. Flexible use which could include a small trading unit, a Reading Café incorporation of a library, meeting/conference facilities including a small catering area. Secure storage area for the Station Partnership equipment including an accessible water supply.

In March 2019 the first phase of the restoration of the building was complete. In May I was lucky enough to be invited along to have a look inside. Here’s what we saw.

The tour group gather in the booking hall on the ground floor as Geoff Mitchell from the station friends group gives us a run-down on what’s been happening with the building.
Looking behind me from the last picture. The wooden structure to the right is the old ticket office. Note the original stone steps leading to the second floor. The restoration work has been done to a very high standard.
Here’s the original ticket office desk which was still in-situ. It’s been cleaned and restored.
Climbing the stairs from the ground floor.
One of the top-floor rooms that have a doorway out onto the platform. This one is on the street side of the building. You can see the way it’s changed uses over the years.
Looking to the right of the previous pictures you can see through to the other top-floor room that opens out onto the platform. Some of the original plasterwork and paint colours remain.
One of the top-floor stone fireplaces that have been lovingly restored.
Another of the fireplaces. None of us could work out what the wooden framework above had been used for.
One of the rooms in the old Stationmaster’s residence.
One of the winding staircases in the old stationmaster’s residence. This side of the building had been abandoned since the last stationmaster had departed.
Shadows and light on exposed brickwork.
The ground floor of the old stationmasters side of the building had been altered over the years with one of the walls having been taken out to give access to the exterior hoist up to the Leeds bound platform. Thousands of chickens were shipped through here in the days of the railways being a general carrier. A goods train would pull up at the platform and boxes of chickens would be loaded straight onto it. Now the lift has gone and the doorway’s been bricked up as part of the restoration.
A view taken from the yard outside where the lift used to be. The quality of the restoration work is evident.
Another relic that remained on the premises. The station safe!

Rolling blog: The last judgement!

06 Tuesday Aug 2019

Posted by in ACoRP, Community rail, I love my job, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs

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06:25.

I’m beginning the day here in Norwich on the last one for judging this years ACoRP awards. I’ll be visiting two East Anglian stations before beginning the trek back North, although I’ve one or two other things to see first as the East Anglian railway scene is changing fast, what with resignalling schemes and brand new fleets of trains sweeping away the old and familiar. The weather forecast is looking mixed, so let’s see how the day goes…The weather isn’t playing ball with the forecast, instead, it’s another beautiful day, so things are looking up. Which is just as well as I had neither wifi or hot water working in my hotel this morning. I had to boil a kettle to have a wash!Right now I’m getting a few pictures at the station before catching a train to Lowestoft in order to get to Cantley at a sensible time. We won’t be seeing scenes like this for much longer.

In the sidings at Crown Point depot are rows of new Stadler units, just waiting to enter service.

08:22.

My train’s well on it’s way to Lowestoft now and it’s been fascinating to see the changes to the railway, which is still a mix of old semaphore signalling with patches of new, like Reedham, where the old signalbox still stands, albeit boarded up. The former sidings are used as a dump for detritus like old signal posts, rails and sleepers which have been rendered redundant.I’be been interested to see that significant chunks of the new signalling cable are kept in raised metal troughs which presumably keep it safe from flooding, a sensible precaution in this neck of the woods.

08:46.

I’m in Lowestoft but only for 10 mins. Long enough to grab a couple of shots in the sun, then catch the same train back to my destination: Cantley.

11:39.

My visit done, I moved on from Cantley, but not without getting pictures of the hand-operated level crossing gates and signalbox that will be swept away in February 2020. Since my 2018 visit the station’s been fitted with a ticket machine, CCTV and information screens. Throughout the work the local friends group have kept the gardens looking pretty.

I also managed to bag this beastie at Cantley!

DG330289COPY

Now I’m at Haddiscoe, where things haven’t quite gone to plan as the clouds are closing in. I’d intended to use the nearby A143 overbridge which crosses the railway and river as a vantage point to get some trains in the landscape shots but when clouds and their shadows are scudding across the landscape at a rate of knots and the trains are only hourly, the odds against train and sun coinciding are high. And so it was for me, two trains and two cloudy interludes! The luck of the draw…I’m not going to try my luck again, instead I’m moving back up the line towards Norwich.

14:35.

I ended up in Brundall, the junction for the lines to Great Yarmouth and Lowestoft. It’s another link to the past as it also has semaphore signals, a working signalbox and also a hand-operated level crossing. By fluke I bumped into an old friend. Rob Pritchard of Today’s Railways UK magazine was there changing trains. We’d both pitched up for the same reason – we needed pictures of the new Stadler trains in service. Unfortunately, today wasn’t the day as the one I’d shot at Cantley earlier had been taken out of service, so we had to make do with 60yr old Class 37s instead! Here’s the pair of us ready to get some shots.

As the weather’s deteriorated and the 755s aren’t out I’ve begun my journey North using Abellio’s 14:40 to Ely for connections onwards to Peterborough, then off up the East Coast Main line.

15:31.

We’re currently dodging showers on the way from Brandon to Ely, which says something about how much the weather’s changed. The skies are big in the flat lands of the Fens, so you can see the rain approaching from miles away.

16:00.

I spent long enough at Ely to change trains, as the rain arrived at the same time I did there was no point in hanging around. Now I’m trying to outrace the weather. The problem is the clouds are coming up from the South, so the sun’s fighting a losing battle. I’m hoping I might get respite at our next stop, Peterborough although looking at the horizon now we’ve passed March I may be fleeing further! Peterborough looks like it’s getting a right soaking!

20:34.

Homeward bound! I ended up with a brief stop at P’boro and again at Doncaster before heading up to Leeds. The stormy weather dogged me all the way apart from a brief respite in Leeds. Now I’m heading for Halifax and a night sorting out stuff. I have the day at home to wind up what the ACoRP judging, paperwork and packing – then Dawn and I are off to Ireland -so expect blogging of a different nature for a week! Right now I’m signing off until tomorrow.

Rolling blog: on the rails again…

05 Monday Aug 2019

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07:35.

It’s a wet and windy morning in the Calder Valley and I’m getting ready to head South for the final two days of station judging for the ACoRP awards. Today I’m visiting a station in South London, but first I’ve got to get there. Let’s see how the day goes…

08:55.

I’m now on the first train of the day, Northern’s 08:52 from Sowerby Bridge which will take me to Leeds. The weather broke just before I walked down to the station, allowing me to bask in the sunshine for a while instead of receiving the soaking I was expecting. The forecast for the next few days is unsettled right across the country so I’m not expecting my luck to hold!

My train’s busy, but not overly so. The holiday periods in full swing, so there’s fewer travelling and more of them are casually dressed.

09:59.

Despite the holiday period my 3-car train was packed from Bradford into Leeds, where I switched to LNER’s 09:45 service to London which is being worked by a Class 91 and a Mk4 set. I suppose I should be enjoying the chance to travel on these whilst I can, but I must admit, I’m already preferring the Azuma’s as they give a much smoother ride. I’m sat in the quiet coach right behind the loco and the snatching and jerking of the loco is quite pronounced, especially now, as we’ve just stopped at Wakefield Westgate.

10:46.

We’re speeding through the countryside South of Newark at 112mph right now whilst being battered by regular rainstorms which are building up the further South we get. Earlier I took a walk to the buffet to buy breakfast and saw just how busy the rest of the train is. There’s a lot of families aboard who’re obviously heading for a day out in London, as well as the usual business travellers and tourists. Looking at the loadings, it’s a profitable train.

12:08.

I left the LNER service at Peterborough, where I stayed long enough to get a few shots in the sunshine before it departed, and so did I. This time I’m travelling aboard one of the Siemens ‘peoplemovers’ – otherwise known as the Class 700. These 12 car trains have a massive passenger capacity but even they get packed in the rush hour. However, right now there’s more than enough space to swing a cat, if you were so inclined…

I’ve time to spare for another stop before I get to where I need to, so I’m heading for Stevenage to have a look at the work that’s going on to add an extra platform at the station.

14:16.

Well, that was an interesting interlude. I stopped off twice, firstly at Hitchin to get a few shots, then at Stevenage, where I managed to grab some pictures of the work on the new platform.

Whilst I was there a Hull Trains 180 I’d seen signal checked earlier was terminated due to mechanical problems.

All the passengers were transferred to an 8 car Thameslink 700, which was quite cosy with all the extra punters! I caught it as far as Blackfriars where I transferred to a Sevenoaks service for my appointment at Crofton Park.

16:06.

Visit done (I’ll upload a pic later) I’m now heading my way back across London via Thameslink, bound for Norwich – eventually!

16:57.

I’ve now joined the commuter hordes heading out of the metropolis after a hard day at work. In my case I’m on Greater Anglia’s 17:00 to Norwich, which is pretty much full and standing. It’s a fast service, non-stop to Ipswich, which is where I might dally for a while.

This route holds lots of fabulous memories for me from my days residing in London as I lived, worked and socialised alongside it for so many years. I still get a warm feeling when we whizz past my old Housing Office and the estates I used to manage in Bow, and the virtually unrecognisable Stratford station and environs.

23:06.

I’m here in Norwich and bringing the blog to a close. I had intended to upload some more pictures from today’s travels but the hotel wifi is flaky and had other ideas. Hopefully tomorrow. After arriving and checking in I went for a wander up the strip from the station to the town. It’s always been a street full of clubs, bars and fast-food joints, so it was interesting to see just how many are vacant or undergoing a revamp. I remember it from the 1990s. On a Friday-Saturday night you knew that this would be where you’d be likely to find every village idiot across the county. Maybe it’s changed now, but a Monday night isn’t the time to find out! That said, I do like Norwich, it has some cracking pubs and beautiful buildings. I doubt I’ll have time to look around on this trip, but I’m sorely tempted to return to base myself here for a few days whilst I explore. It was always so much easier to get here when I lived in London and I’ve great memories of a cycling holiday from Ipswich all the way up to the Noth Norfolk coast. One day I’ll get around to scanning all the old slides…

Right, until tomorrow, goodnight.

Rolling blog: A tale of two stations…

01 Thursday Aug 2019

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06:25.

I’m preparing for another day on the ACoRP judging trail, but today’s a little different. Due to my fellow judge having other commitments I’m flying solo today, plus, there’s only two stations to visit, one in Derbyshire and one in Greater Manchester, so (in theory) I should be finished by early afternoon. The weather forecast isn’t looking as bleak either, so it should be an enjoyable day. I know both the stations, I’m visiting, but only one has put themselves forward for judging before. Let’s see how the day goes and if punctuality improves as I’m intending setting off on exactly the same train as before, the 08:23 from Sowerby Bridge…

08:13.

I’m already on the move. The weather’s dry with a mix of blue skies and cloud, even if it’s not particularly warm. I left home slightly earlier this morning which meant I arrived at Sowerby Bridge in time to catch a slightly earlier train, the 08:06 to Southport. It’s being worked by a part-refurbished Class 156. You can tell it’s the holiday season by just how empty it is – and this is when we’re waiting to leave Todmorden!

I’ve bagged a table bay of four in order to sit back and enjoy a relaxing trip across the Pennines, knowing that I’ve banked some time.09:18.After strolling across Manchester city centre from Victoria to Piccadilly I’ve decided to spend some of the time I banked by breaking my journey to Grindleford along the way, so I’m now on an earlier train along the route, the 09:20 to New Mills, which is worked by one of the soon to be withdrawn Class 142 Pacers. Sights like this will be a thing of the past by the end of the year.

The ride out of Piccadilly is like a bucking bronco as the Pacer heaves its way across the complex network of switches and crossings that make up the station throat.If you start seeing more than the usual amount of typos from here in, blame trying to blog on a phone touchscreen when bouncing along on a Pacer!

10:02.

I’ve stopped off to look around and admire Marple station. It’s claim to fame is that Marple was the inspiration for naming one of Agatha Christie’s famous detectives, Miss Marple. The local station friends group have provided information boards on the platforms to inform passengers of how the sleuth came to be named after the town. There’s other attractive posters and a selection of planters too.

11:37.

Grindleford visited, I’m now heading back West along the Hope Valley line which is celebrating it’s 125th anniversary this year. Things are on the up. Since the new timetable was introduced in May, services have doubled to hourly from two hourly, making the area much more accessible to people who want to leave their cars at home and use public transport. It’s a huge boost, as is the next step – doubling the size of the trains from two car to four. This entails extending the platforms at stations like Grindleford by reinstating what was once there, or by building new. Of course, this flies in the face of the moaners who always whinge about how the North never sees any investment in its public transport as all the money goes ‘down South’…

Talking of investment, on my way back I changed trains at Romily to catch the train behind which was working off the New Mills branch. About a year ago I wrote about how the local services centred on Romily were a great place to catch pairs of Pacers. Things have already changed with more Class 150s creeping in. The working following behind us was a 142/150 lash-up, so if you’re a fan of Pacers (and some folk are) you’d better get a move on as in a few months there’s going to be a mass extinction event around Manchester and the North-West.

13:25.

It was all going soooo well. Then I hit the congested Oxford Rd corridor, which is even more congested now Virgin Pendolino’s are diverted this was due to Acton Grange Jn on the West Coast being shut for rebuilding! My train from Oxford Rd to Irlam’s been trapped in a bay by late running services and didn’t escape until it was 9 mins late. I’m now plodding along on another Northern Class 150 to my final appointment for today: Irlam.

17:25.

S’cuse the gap in blogging. I’ve been busy with the camera and sorting stuff out on email. After leaving the Irlam station adopters I headed back into Manchester just in time to get caught in a torrential downpour. I mean, I know Manchester has a reputation for being wet, but this was impressive due to the intensity and the size of the drops.

My plan had been to spend an hour getting some pictures of Virgin Trains Pendolinos being diverted through the Oxford Rd corridor I mentioned earlier. Here’s one. My frustration was the Pendolinos that passed were in the old livery rather than the new, which would’ve updated the pictures.

DG330048crop

Of course, there were other attractions too, such as this DRS Class 88 working an intermodal service.

DG330067crop

I took my leave of Manchester shortly afterwards, conscious of more threatening skies. En-route I became aware that the threat was no-shit serious when I saw TV news showing a Derbyshire dam in danger of collapse in an area I’d travelled through earlier. Wake up folks, man-made global-warming is real…

Rolling blog: Another judgement day…

25 Thursday Jul 2019

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08:06.Mark and I are getting ready to set off from Exeter for another day’s judging. We’ve only two stations to visit but they’re spread out and we’ve also got to get home afterwards. Plus, the weather forecast suggests that today will be the hottest day of the year so far and several rail companies have already announced service cancellations and speed restrictions. Stay with me and see how we fare…08:47.We’re on our first train of the day, GWR’s 08:31 from Exeter to Barnstaple as far as Copplestone on the Tarka line which is made up of a pair of Class 150s. They were busy earlier as they worked Exeter to Exemouth beforehand, now it’s a bit overkill, but will probably be very busy on the way back.

11:26.We’re now enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of a Hitachi class 800 en-route to Reading after visiting the single platform station at Copplestone and talking to the small band of women who’ve made it such an attractive station.

DG329463crop

To say the weather’s hotting up is an understatement. We’re keeping one eye on Real-Time Trains, making sure the speed restrictions due to hot weather aren’t going to get in our way. At the moment a broken-down train outside Paddington’s actually done us a favour as it’s giving us a few more minutes to make a tight connection at Reading. That said, we’re now running late too!12:08.We made it! Our train was 5 late into Reading, but the one we were hoping to catch was 10 down. They arrived almost simultaneously at platforms 11 and 9 which meant a mad dash up the stairs to cross the tracks. We made it with seconds to spare. The pair of us are now sat in coach A of a 5-car 800.Now, I know it’s the hottest day of the year and all that, but even so – I’m surprised at how steamy it’s been on both the 800s we’ve travelled on today. I walked through both sets just to check and some of them were like saunas. The car we’re in at the moment is the only one at levels I’d say are actually cool. It’s disappointing for brand-new trains.That said, it’s not a bad environment. Most folk bailed out at Oxford which allowed the pair of us to purloin a table and stretch out in comfort to enjoy the trip to our next destination: Evesham, where we’ll now arrive an hour earlier than planned – no mean feat on a day like today!16:02.It’s been an eventful few hours! After being on a cool train for a couple of hours the heat really hit us at Evesham. Having done what we came to there was just enough time for a celebratory pint before we started to make our way home via Worcester. This is when things started to go a bit “Pete Tong”! Our West Midlands trains service to Birmingham was stuck behind another DMU in platform 2 which had overheated. A shunt move and reversal got it out of trouble and into platform 1 where it picked us up before leaving 20 mins late. All was fine until we hit the outskirts of Birmingham where we got caught up in signal failures and more overheating trains. Mark decided to change at Smethwick Galton Bridge and try for a train to Cheshire. I opted to head into Birmingham, get a few pictures then weigh up my options. If the West Coast was up the spout I can always head back via Derby…Ironically, the train that carried us from Worcester was an old friend. It was one of the ex- London Overground Class 172s used on my old stamping ground – the Gospel Oak – Barking line, although they look a little different nowadays!

16:58.

Talk about serendipity! Here I am, sitting in central Birmingham, considering my options when I get a phone call about a commission from someone who’s having to get driven back to London from Derby ‘cos the Midland Main Line’s in chaos! Well, that’s me going via Derby ruled out then!

The weather’s starting to cool a bit here so I might just wait for the rush to subside for the next hour before I look at getting home. I’m used to packed trains but packed into a hot and sweaty Voyager for 90 mins isn’t my idea of fun if it can be avoided…

19:06.

After getting a few photos at Birmingham and having let some of the rush crush subside I decided to begin heading North and the first opportunity was a Class 350 working an all stopper shuttle to Wolverhampton. Needless to say, it was packed, but the air-conditioning worked and it wasn’t that far to stand. The Conductor was excellent as he stayed away from the script and came across as human and just trying to do his best in trying circumstances.

A few minutes down the line and out of the blue I got a tap on the shoulder from a chap in Virgin trains uniform who was ‘on the cushions’, well as much as you can be stood in a vestibule – who said “I follow you on Twitter, we have a mutual (rail) friend”.

We ended up having a really good natter about the railways and today’s events.

19:57.

“Penny the Pendolino” (for it was she) arrived at Crewe 90 mins late. Also late was a Transport for Wales service to Manchester Piccadilly, which I managed to jump on a couple of minutes before it left. Like most trains I’ve been on today, it’s packed – but it’s getting me closer to home…

21:16.

I’m on the final leg now. The TfW train to Manchester was fine. What wasn’t was looking at some of the utter crap people have been posting on social media about railways and the hot weather. Anyone would think the #RailwayFamily were deliberately trying to ruin peoples day just for the shots and giggles rather than trying to keep them safe and get them home, whilst suffering stress themselves. My opinions of my fellow country-folk continue to decline. At what point did we become so stupid that we almost revel in the fact – and also so intolerant?

Having arrived in Manchester I made my way on foot between Picc and Vic. The wind got up and we actually had a few blessed drops of rain that teased but little else. Now I’m on the (slightly) late running 20:58 to Leeds, a Class 156/153 lash-up using a former GWR “dogbox” (railway slang for a single car Class 153) which I’m relaxing in as the train’s pretty empty. Hot, but empty!

Rolling blog: 2 more days of ACoRP judging…

24 Wednesday Jul 2019

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06:13.

After baking on the hottest night of the year that was accompanied by a heck of the thunderstorm overnight I’m getting ready to head off for two more days of judging for the ACoRP awards. I’d have loved to have got out of bed, watched the lightning and tried to get pictures but I needed to sleep as it’s a long day today. It’s also a good job it’s today, not yesterday as the East Coast Main Line (ECML) suffered yet another de-wirement that left services in chaos. I’ve been checking services this morning and luckily, none of the trains I need have been cancelled. Let’s see how the day goes as the pair of us will end up in Exeter tonight…

07:34.

After last night’s storms and rainfall the weather was fresh and crisp this morning. Much of the valley was obscured by low cloud and most, so the walk to Halifax station was very pleasant. I’d given myself plenty of time so may oacd was quite relaxed too.I’m now on Northern’s 07:17 to Leeds which started in Huddersfield. It’s made up of a 142/144 Pacer combo. Northern have finally bitten the bullet and publically admitted that some Pacers will stay in service until 2020 due to delays in introducing the new trains, which are 6 months late. The 144 fleet is the one granted a reprieve, so the 142 I’m travelling on should be gone by year end.As we squeal around the curve and up the bank out of Bradford the weather’s looking very gloomy with uniformly dull skies, even so, it’s warm and humid. I wonder if there’s more thunderstorms in the offing?08:03.I’m in-between trains here in Leeds, which has given me time to grab a couple of shots like this. One of Northern’s Class 331 EMU’s arrived carrying passengers. It’s seen here before scurrying off to Neville Hill depot as empty stock.I’m catching LNER’s 08:15 to Kings Cross as far as Stevenage. It’s still worked by one of their old HSTs as it originates in Harrogate. No doubt it’ll go over to Azuma’s soon, but now I’ve an increasingly rare chance to travel ‘old style’

09:11.

We’re currently bowling along the ECML near Retford at 123mph, a few minutes down due to weather damage to the signalling around Wakefield. After our Doncaster stop I wandered right down the train from my seat in Coach B to the buffet. There’s no trolley service today but I didn’t mind as it gave me chance to stretch my legs and also see how busy the train is. I’d estimate it’s about 75% full, with an impressive amount of people busy on laptops, trying to get work done. Just by the clothes alone I can tell there’s a lot of business travellers aboard.10:02.We’re running 6 late, which means I now have a -1m connection at Stevenage with a late running Thameslink service. This could be close.

10:45

– too close! I missed it by a minute. I’m now on Great Northern’s 10:40 to Kings Cross which is running 5 down. Luckily, Mark is already at Welwyn Garden City as he came down the WCML and arrived ahead of me.

12:39.

Having done the first visit and met up with Mark we’ve made our way from Welwyn Garden City across London via Thameslink to East Croydon where we changed onto the Southern network. We’re currently enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of a Bombardier built Class 377 which is carrying us to Angmering. The weather in the South-East is hot, hot, hot! A few wispy clouds filter the sun occasionally, but do nothing to cool the temperature which is showing as 29 degrees in these parts!

16:09.

After Angmering we headed West to Fratton, travelling past many little stations that had cafes and kiosks open all day, which tells you something about the size of the footfall in Southern stations. Sadly the only one we got to sample was at Fratton which is my least favourite station in this neck of the woods as it’s dirty, rundown and unkempt. Although there’s a cafe, Mark reckoned it served the worst cup of coffee he’d had since we started judging. From Fratton we’ve caught a GWR Class 158/9 heading for Salisbury. The air-conditioning is struggling in the heat and none of the power sockets work, but it’ll get us there.

17:05.

At Salisbury we had a quick change and swapped our GWR 158/9 for a SWR 159 which has no air-conditioning working at all. Instead the Conductor’s opened all the (normally locked) windows and been through doling out bottles of water to everyone.As I was curious to establish the units identity I wandered through the train and soon realised there wasn’t a single vehicle that displayed a coach number – unlike Northern or Scotrail. They have prominent stickers telling to people to tweet them in if they find a fault. There’s no chance of that here!

22:00.

The pair of us have had a long day & we’ve now retired to our hotel in Exeter. There’s so much that I could blog about but I’ve simply run out of time. Tomorrow we’ll be off again, so watch out for the next rolling blog…

 

 

 

Rolling blog: let the judging begin…

09 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in ACoRP, Community rail, Railways, Travel, Uncategorized

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05:30.I wasn’t planning to be up this early but the cat had run out of food, spotted me moving so decided to sit at my side of the bedroom and mew me out of bed! The little sod know I’ll get up and feed him just to prevent him waking up Dawn. Pavlov’s dogs eat your heart out! So, I’m now sipping coffee in the office, checking the weather forecast (it’s worsened overnight), catching up on the news and waiting for Dawn’s alarm to go off. I might as well have an earlier start than planned…Today we have three stations around the Greater Manchester area to judge and all have confirmed that they’re ready for us, so it’s not too onerous a day. I’ll update the blog as and when throughout the day.

07:53.

I’m currently stood on an absolutely jam-packed Pacer working 1D71, the 07:24 from Sowerby Bridge to Chester which was already full and standing after leaving Halifax. It’s short formed as there should be a single car Class 153 attached. I’m lucky, I managed to get on, many others at Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Rochdale weren’t so lucky!

All through the trip our Conductor has maintained her smile. She’s abandoned her ticket machine in the back cab to stand in the rear door well so she can get to operate them.To add to the fun, we’re now 9 minutes late leaving Rochdale.

11:30.

We’re now on our way to our second visit. After arriving at Victoria I hotfooted it over to Piccadilly for the train out to the first station (Glossop). We were so busy I didn’t have time to take any phone pictures. Now we’re chugging along through South Manchester to our second.

14:15.

We’re now on our way to the third station of the day. This was taken at our second one. Any guesses where we were? This is ‘Joe’, who was being given a spruce-up by the local station friends group as we visited

16:08.

With our last visit of the day done Mark and I are heading off to our respective abodes. It’s been a delight to meet the volunteers at the three (very different) stations and see and hear about the work they’re doing. Here’s a clue about which station was the last one on today’s list. Can anyone tell me where this is?

Rolling blog: different strokes…

01 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Community rail, I love my job, New trains, Northern Rail, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs, Transport, Travel, West Yorkshire

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08:05.

Today’s an important one for Northern Rail as 9 of their new CAF built trains are used in passenger service for the very first time. So I’m off to do two things, get pictures of them and also visit a community rail project that involves them.They day’s not started well. The hot and sticky weather we had on Saturday has given way to wind and unexpected drizzle, which make the walk to the station fun. Northern aren’t having much luck with Calder Vally services this morning either. I’m on the late-running 07:45 which didn’t leave Halifax until 08:01. Despite the fact it’s a 3-car Class 158 it’s rammed!

08:17.

We’ve just left Bradford Interchange and it’s sardine conditions aboard now! 11 of us are crammed into the cab end vestibule and we’ve not even got to New Pudsey yet!

08:26.

We’ve just left New Pudsey and there’s now 14 of us crammed into the vestibule! There’s hardly an inch of floor left free as we’ve taken as many onboard as we can but still left some behind. The atmosphere’s stoic – and humid! I’ll be glad to get to Leeds…

09:21.

Due to the crush the train doors seemed to open with a louder pop than normal when we reached Leeds. Grateful to be in the cool I’m now on something very different – a Class 331 in public service. It’s 331106 on the 09:21 to Doncaster.

13:11.

Having visited Fitzwilliam station to see the unveiling of the new artwork on the adjacent footbridge. Here’s a sample. I’ll add the pictures I took on my camera later but it’s a great bit of work that’s full of interest as many of the windows contain pictures of the area.

Update, here’s a couple of camera pictures.

DG326932crop

DG326948crop

Afterwards I headed back to Leeds to grab a few more Class 331 pictures before heading across the Pennines to Manchester to catch the Class 195s in action. We’re just approaching Manchester Victoria now. The weather’s a bit better over here in the the clouds are interspersed with blue sky and sunshine. Most of my time on the train was spent editing the pictures from this morning, so I had little time to enjoy the views.

14:07.

I’m now in position on the corridor linking Piccadilly and Oxford Rd stations as it’s an interesting backdrop to the railway and all the Class 195 diagrams are filtered through it. So far I’ve managed to capture two Northbound units, one Barrow bound, the other off to Liverpool.

16:12.

Time to go home! I’ve had a successful day in Manchester as even the sun played ball in some if the pictures. I’ll upload a few later. Now I’m at Piccadilly, making my way home via the Colne valley rather than the Calder.

22:25.

Sorry for the huge gap. I was hoping to stop off on the way and use the wifi in the Stalybridge buffet bar but the weather was so nice I ended up enjoying a quiet pint outside. I’ve been back at home several hours and spent the past few editing pictures, so here they are.

DG326892. 331106. Leeds. 1.7.19.

331106 waves it’s way through the maze of tracks to the West of Leeds station with a service from Doncaster. On arrival it formed the 09:21 back to Doncaster.

DG327020. 195116. Manchester Oxford Rd. 1.7.19.crop

The honour of being the first Class 195 to carry fare-paying passengers fell to 195116, which left Barrow around 5am. It’s seen here between Piccadilly and Oxford Rd stations in Manchester whilst working 1C55, the 1329 Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness.

DG327188. 195121. Manchester Oxford Rd. 1.7.19.crop

Here’s 195121 working 1U97, the 1353 Barrow-in-Furness to Manchester Airport

Right, that’s all from me tonight folks. I’m working from home tomorrow, so expect to see a few more photos on my Zenfolio website.

 

Rolling blog: community rail in the city.

15 Wednesday May 2019

Posted by in ACoRP, Community rail, London, Rolling blogs, Uncategorized

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In a wonderful contrast to Railtex (which I’ll be back at tomorrow) I’m down in London to cover ‘community rail in the city’. This event showcases all the work various Community Rail Partnerships do around the country. There’s events on several main line stations in the capital, as well as Birmingham New St and Glasgow Central. I’ll update this blog with pictures throughout the day.

08:35. Kings Cross.

We’ve a huge stand on the concourse with several Scottish pipers giving out goody bags. They’re proving very popular with folks wanting pictures

09:28. Liverpool St.

There’s another impressive stand here where you’ll find an 18 foot replica of the ‘Mayflower’ along with goody bags and lots of useful information on the community rail lines in the Anglia region.

11:55.

There’s been plenty of hi-jinks at Kings Cross, where the Scots have been putting on a display of bagpipers and Scottish dancing.

DG322960crop

15:02.

Phew! It’s been a busy day. I managed to get round to all the London stations where events were held and even had time to see the very first (fare paying) passenger run of LNER’s new Azuma trains. 800113 made history working the 11:03 from London Kings Cross to Leeds.

At nearby St Pancras, members of Kent Community Rail partnerships and Sustrans had a stand on the Southeastern railway platforms. As well as giving out goodie bags and leaflets on places to visit on foot, train or bike they were also carrying out a survey into cyclists taking bikes on trains.

Meanwhile, over at Waterloo, staff and volunteers had turned a patch of the concourse into a rural oasis, complete with trees!

At Paddington, folk were advertising the South-West’s connection with the voyage of the Mayflower and the forthcoming 400th anniversary. To keep folk entertained, 25 members of the ‘Kingsmen’ choir sang on the hour.

Now, I’m on my way to Birmingham via Chiltern trains to see what volunteers from the Midlands are up to.

19:53.

Well, that was a whirlwind! I arrived in Birmingham just in time to catch the volunteers who’d been staffing a stall at Birmingham Moor St all day. They were very positive about the reactions they’d had from the public as they were promoting one of four new designated community rail lines (the Shakespeare line). Having caught them I hot-footed it over to New St where there were two very different stalls on the concourse. What was great was to see the way passengers took time out from rushing home to stop and engage, which isn’t always easy as many commuters are on a pre-programmed ‘mission’s & don’t want to be diverted from getting home or to work.

With the final pictures in the bag I decided to have a pint in an old haunt before checking into my hotel, only to find that the Shakespeare was full of old friends from the rail industry who’d had exactly the same idea as me after their day at Railtex! So, one pint turned into a bit more than that..

I was with five people ageing in range from early 50’s to mid 70’s All of them had worked for British Railways (BR) in the ‘good old days’. Some of them still have senior jobs in the rail industry now. So, no names, no pack- drill, but some of the stories they were swapping about that era were both hilarious and criminal in what went on in those days.

Bidding farewell I finally checked into my hotel and dumped several kilos of kit that I’d been lugging around all day. My ‘Fitbit’ tells me that I’ve walked over 10 miles today, so I feel I’d earned that beer!

Food was uppermost in my mind. Hot food at that, so I popped into one of the growing number of noodle bars that you can find in cities nowadays for a spicy fix of Udon noodles, chicken and veg leavened with a very respectable chilli sauce.

I’ve never been a burger fan. In fact I can’t think of the last time I ate one. This is the food for me, born of spending so much time in SE Asia.

22:02.

It’s time to draw this rolling blog to a close. I’m back at my hotel, looking through some if the hundreds of pictures I’ve taken today, but soon it’s going to be time to crash out. I’ve another busy day at Railtex ahead of me…