Today’s the day of the awards in Manchester so Dawn and I have been up early to head off to the event to help in the preparation, not that there should be too much to do as it’s always a well-organised event with a good team behind it. Even so, we’ll be on-hand if needed and to go through the rehearsal later in the day. There’ll be a fair bit of time-killing too, so expect a few pictures of Manchester to appear at some point. The beauty of the event being in Manchester this year is that it’s on our doorstep. The awards visits different towns and cities every year. For example, last year we were in Southampton and we’ve been everywhere from Plymouth to Glasgow and all points in-between.
Right now, the pair of us are on the 08:05 train from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester Victoria, having driven down to the station ‘cos we’ve got so much kit. This brings me to my first picture. Sowerby Bridge has a fairly big station var-park. It was almost full by the time we arrived. Cars were already lining the street outside. But, hang on. I though those opposed to us building new railways like High Speed 2 swore blind it wasn’t needed because everyone’s working from home nowadays. Clearly, a lot of citizens of the Calder Valley didn’t get the memo!
Getting through the ticket barriers at Manchester Victoria was a bit of a scrum too…
10:50.
We’re here at Manchester Central where the awards will be held tonight. In another few hours this auditorium will be full of people…
I’m on my way to Manchester as expected, but under very different circumstances due to a sudden family tragedy that’s happened to a friend and colleague from Community Rail Network. Dawn and I were planning to go into Huddersfield where I’d catch the train and Dee would spend a day at the office. Now we’re both going into Manchester from home because Dawn’s providing cover as she was involved in running the awards for many years. I’ve gone on ahead to do some bits first, with Dawn following on behind.
It’s a beautiful day for travelling anyway. There’s clear blue skies across the valley and the mercury’s rising. I’m on the 09:44 from Halifax which is busy but with seats available which has allowed me to set up the laptop and begin blogging. Feel free to pop back and see what I get up to as the day goes…
Manchester bound…
10:30.
Rather than hang around in the Stygian gloom of Victoria I decided to change trains at Rochdale to grab pictures in the sun. My time was brief and services piled up on me, but I managed a couple before joining a pair of class 150s sat in the ‘new’ bay waiting to leave with a service to Clitheroe. It’s an all-stations stopper which has filled up rapidly.
On arrival at Victoria I noticed this bell symbol which I’ve never seen on a Northern unit before.
13:45.
We’re at Manchester Central, food-tasting. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it…
18:10.
Our meetings over the awards ended up taking most of the day, but that was no bad thing as we were really thorough and went through all the event with the ‘tech’ team and I got to see the awards hall and plan the photography.
My plans for getting some pictures went out of the window but that was fine. Instead we headed to Victoria to get a train home. That’s when the farce began. The 17:22 was running late due to a fault on the train but was due to arrive on the same platform (6) as the 17:37 so we joined the crowds packing the area.
At the last minute it was announced the 17:22 would leave from platform 5, so we took the chance and trotted over the footbridge to wait. The pair of 2-car 195s arrived and we joined the rear unit. Bad move No2. As we sat we saw the 17:37 pull in next to us. The conductor then announced we’d be running fast to Hebden Bridge due to our lateness. Result! We thought…A minute later he annouced the rear set was being split off so we’d have to join the front train. Deep joy! Whilst this farce played out the 17:37 left ahead of us, meaning we’d be stuck running at reduced speed behind it despite running ‘fast’. So, now we’re stood on a packed 2-car with many people who’re missing their stations as they were unaware of the change.
21:30.
Well, we made it home, albeit later than anticipated. To be honest it’s been a good day, despite the unfortunate circumstances. We’re all really happy the the awards venue, the logistics of the event and the food. Oh, and the wine – which we forced ourselves to sample – purely to ensure we wouldn’t expect guests to drink something that wasn’t up to scratch! Roll on the awards on the 4th October….
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/
We’ve had a busy day here at Bigland Towers due to two events. Dawn had to go into the Community Rail Network offices in Huddersfield bright and early whilst I was engaged in my last Zoom judging panel for the Community Rail Awards. The law of Sod being what it is, my internet started playing up shortly before I was due to join the meeting. Luckily, there was a plan B. I have a large data allowance on my mobile phone contract so I tethered it to my laptop and used it as a surrogate internet connection for a few hours whilst myself and my esteemed colleagues (all with a wealth of experience) judged our final three categories totaling over 50 entries . What was reassuring was the the fact that during our individual initial sifting and marking we’d all come to an independent (and unwitting) consensus on who the winners were. 2nd and 3rd place took some more discussions but an agreement wasn’t too difficult – despite the fact there were some excellent entries and the overall standards were so high. I’ll say no more other than that there are some very worthy winners and the awards ceremony in Manchester later in October will be a brilliant and inspiring event and celebration of the best the world of community railways has to offer.
Now my judging duties are over for another year I can concentrate on other things. I’m looking forward to be able to get out and about again as there’s so many things to see and do – although today wasn’t going to be one of those days due to the latest rail strike which meant there were no trains at all running through the Calder Valley, which would have rather cramped my style! Anyway, there’s another week and another month coming up on Monday which will see me stretching my legs on a number of different projects. But not tomorrow – as the weather’s meant to be crap again! I’ve been sending pictures from the heatwave to several different magazines today. They seem like an age ago due to the fact we’ve had constant rain since – it’s almost like it was a dream. Hopefully the summer will return soon.
On that note I’ll leave you with today’s picture which is an archive ‘trains and the landscape’ picture taken at Arnside on the edge of the Lake District in November 2021.
CAF built Class 195 number 195132 crosses the viaduct at Arnside whilst working 1C54, the 1228 Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness on the 4th November 2021.
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/
It’s been a very different day here at Bigland Towers. I’ve spent the vast majority of it glued to my office as the past couple of days have been taken up with judging my last categories in the Community Rail awards and having a Zoom call with fellow judges to settle the shortlist for the picture competition. We’ve had a huge number of entries this year (and some excellent ones too) which has meant its been a long process. I’ve gone through 50 plus entries this week alone. It’s hard work but it’s also inspiring. Getting to learn about the amazing work some of the station friends, other groups and individuals are doing is a real privilege. The awards are in Manchester in October and looking through the shortlists I’m sure it going to be an amazing event.
To be honest, it’s been a good day to be stuck indoors. The weather has changed here in the Calder Valley. We’ve had low cloud with sporadic outbreaks of light but persistent rain all day. This has brought welcome relief to the valley’s plant life which was really beginning to suffer after such a long dry spell compounded by record temperatures over the last few days. Hopefully now we’ll see some of the lushness reappear as the place was really starting to looked singed around the edges.
Talking of being singed, have any of you been following the twists and turns of the Tory leadership contest? They’re absolutely bonkers! The MPs have plumped for Rishi Sunak and Liz Truss – a suicide ticket if ever there was one! I can only hope Truss wins as she’s so unutterably vacuous it won’t take her long to destroy what’s left of the party’s credibility – and apparently she’s the favourite amongst party members – which says a lot about how disconnected from reality the members are! Watching the two of them trying to out Thatcher Thatcher and place themselves as her heir might appeal to the batshit membership, but it ain’t going to go down well in the swathes of the country where Thatcher’s name is still spat out as an expletive. Areas that have never forgiven her for the decimation of traditional industries – like the old mining areas which formed the ‘red wall’ that switched to the Tories in 2019 and voted for Johnson. Frankly, the Tory party has lost its mind. But that’s what happens when it becomes infiltrated by UKIP and the far-right and picks candidates not for their brains but for their adherence to the new dogma of Brexit – and nothing else. Britain is about to be governed by either a millionaire (married to someone even richer than he is) who has no allegiance to the UK and who famously admitted in an interview he knows no working class people and turned up on a building site wearing £500 Prada loafers – or someone who can’t even be trusted to find her way out of the room she launched her election campaign in – despite only having entered the room 10 minutes before!
I really don’t know whether laugh or cry. God knows what our European neighbours make of this farce. The idea that we’re going to be governed by this clown-show for the next few years is unbelievable – but it’s real. Can you imagine the nonentities Truss will fill her Cabinet with, because the last thing she’ll want is to appoint anyone who can outshine her, which rules out anyone competent and capable of a coherent thought.
Anyway, this theater of the absurd will play out until September (God help us all) so I suspect I’ll be spleen-venting on a regular basis for the foreseeable as it’s the only way I’ll be able to cope…
Meanwhile here’s the picture of the day – which has nothing at all to do with politics – I promise! Here’s a picture from Bradford in September 2019, when we were enjoying the last days of the summer. I suspect we’ll be seeing many more scenes like this in the future.
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/
I wasn’t expecting to be staying in Sheffield last night. But, there’s one last photographic opportunity for Community Rail week that seemed daft not to fit in – especially as it’s at such a scenic location Edale in the Hope valley. A group of Network Rail staff are joining the station friends to give the station a heavier spruce-up. Many hands make light work and all that.
So now I find myself sat on a 2-car Northern Class 156 ready to depart Sheffield and trundle up the valley.
Raring to go…
Job done, I’ll be heading home to Halifax for the weekend and a time to edit the plethora of pictures that I’ve taken over the past few days.
08:45.
It’s a lovely morning to be heading for Hope, there’s high cloud around and a fair bit of wind too, but plenty of sunshine. The train’s already busy with a mixture of students, walkers and cyclists heading to college or for a day out.
08:45.
Heading West I’ve noted a substantial amount of work being done around Bamford station by Network Rail contractors. They appear to be putting in a haul road on the North side of the line, although I’ve no idea why. I’m assuming its to do with the capacity improvements planned for the route.
12:45.
That was in interesting interlude. Edale station’s a lovely little place that’s seen a lot of inhancement work recently. All the station fencing has been renewed (paid for from car-parking charges) whilst the station friends have added new planters, artwork, running-in boards and old pictures of the station. This has been added to with Ukrainian flags and bunting.
On time, the volunteers from Network Rail, Transport for Gtr Manchester and the local station friends arrived and set about tackling various jobs such as litter-picking and tree-trimming in the old goods yard whilst others had a big clear-up of the tree-lined station footpaths which were in need of a good clear-up.
The group getting a safety brief before beginning work.13
13:45.
Having photographed what the groups were getting up to I took my leave after a couple of hours and headed back to Sheffield to finally head home. The 2-car Northern service had room but the 8-car Arriva Cross-Country train I caught back to Leeds was full and standing. I shared a vestibule with a group of off-duty S Yorks police officers off to York for a stag do. Leeds station was just as busy as the train. There’s a lot of people dragging around big suitcases right now!…
Well, for a day anyway! I’ve woken up to be greeting by a fabulously sunny day here in Folkstone, a town I’ve been pleasantly surprised by. I’ve stayed in the Ship Inn overlooking the harbour. It’s a quiet little pub and my room is lovely. Here’s the view.
I’m preparing to head out for the day and explore a little before I’m due to begin work in Ashford later this morning at another Community Rail Network event celebrating Rail Week. I’ll blog about what I get up to…
10:30.
It’s not often that I’m pleasantly surprised by a town in the UK nowadays but I have to admit Folkestone is the place. It’s reinvented itself in recent years and a damned fine job they’ve done of it too. The Ferry port is long gone but the harbour and the harbour railway and pier have been transformed into an excellent tourist spot. I’ll add a load of pictures later and blog about it in detail but the town (unlike its cousin Dover, which is a shithole) is really attractive with a bohemian vibe due to artworks and quirky shops and bars.
Looking back on the tiwn from the harbour breakwater.
14:30.
Well, that was a stressful few hours. Firstly problems on the rails meant I thought I was going to be late getting to Ashford. As it was I made my train with just 3 minutes to spare rather than the relaxed 25 mins I was expecting. Then I got a text from a nag saying “could you get those Crossrail pics to us – only we’re on press today”? So, with no notice I managed to pull a rabbit out of a hat (after some wifi false starts) and get them over. As if that wasn’t enough I gad to go straight to work photographing students from Ashford college getting lessons in all aspects of the railways (safety, ticketing etc) on a round trip on the train to Maidstone East. That was actually good fun. The students were lovely and watching their delight in being let loose on making announcements over the station PA at Maidstone was priceless.
Now I’m taking a minute to get my brath back before getting some library pictures before beginning the trek back North…
17:10.
This visit to Kent is coming to an end. Whilst I was here I decided to nip over to Dover to get a few pictures as my records show I’ve not been there since 2011. Not a lot’s changed around the station to be fair and what little of the place I’ve seen hasn’t changed my opinion of the town. Whilst I was there I did have time for a quick pint and enjoyed the last rays of the sunshine outside The Priory, the pub opposite the station which is where I stayed all those years ago. It’s one of those rare beasts – a pub which still hosts live music.
Now I’m on one of SET’s high-speed services back to London to head back to Yorkshire. I’ve a fast mobile office back to the capital with plug-sockets and wifi – what more do I need? (A bar and restaurant car? Ed)…
17:33.
My mobile office is now speeding along High-Speed 1 to London. A railway that exposes all the anti High-Speed 2 environmental scaremongering as just that. It’s 15 years since this line opened to passengers and the scars from building it have long healed. I really must come back and spend a couple of days taking pictures along the route as the last ones I took were for a client and I’m not allowed to use them.
17:45.
I’m curious. On both my trips on SET ‘Javelins’ the Train Manager has announced which toilets are working, so by implication – this is a problem. This set (like all class 395s) has two toilets, a fully accessible one and a cubicle. The access one seems to have conked out. Is this a common issue?
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/
I’m preparing to head off to the opening of Community Rail week which is kicking off with events in Bradford and Bingley. This year the message will be centred on increasing confidence and encouraging people to travel by train with the simple call to action, ‘Give the Train a Try’. You can find out what’s happening where and when by following this link.
Afterwards I’ll be heading down South as I’m staying in the London area tonight ready for the opening of Crossrail tomorrow where I have another assignment.
Feel free to keep popping back to see how my day goes…
09:08.
The journey begins. I’m off to Bradford for our first event of the day. Taking me there is a Northern 2-car Class 195. Unsurprisingly, it’s busy!
09:45.
I’ve strolled across from Bradford Interchange to Forster Sq to await the arrival of the rest of the Community Rail Network team. It’s a walk I always enjoy as ‘Bratfud’ (as the locals pronounce it) has some fantastic buildings. I keep promising myself that I’ll have a day out in the city taking the camera for a wander to photograph some of the delights the city holds. I passed this small slice of history on the way.
Sadly, the modern versions of the city’s stations are hardly architectural gems and are vastly reduced in area and stature.
15:30.
I’m back! It’s been a very hectic few hours so I’ve not had time to blog at all as the day job’s taken precedence. We all rendezvoused at Forster Square where CRN staff were joined by colleagues from Northern Rail and other organisations as well as the women from East meets West. The idea behind this group is to bring women together from different communities by using the train. The women selected have very little or no rail confidence so travelling by train with Community Rail Partnership officers and community group leads inspires them to take further trips – alone, with friends and with their own families. The group enables the women to have different experiences which they can access locally by train. Some of the women are single mums and are from isolated backgrounds so the project has really helped raise their self-esteem and provide them with a sense of community. They were all very excited to be taking part in the the event. Before we left we were joined by Rail Minister Wendy Morton, who is the MP for Aldridge-Brownhills. Needless to say, I was kept fully occupied taking pictures on the train and at Bigley station where the Minister met other Community Rail Officers and the local station friends. It was all extremely informal. To her credit the Minister was open and approachable to all, not surrounded by SPADs or ‘minders’.
Afterwards we we took part in a walk from the station to the top of the famous Bingley five-flight locks on the Leeds-Liverpool canal, guided by staff from the Canal and River Trust. Walking backwards along a canal bank whilst taking pictures of dignitaries isn’t my favourite job as there’s always the worry that you’ll end up either going arse over tit or in the cabal, but I managed it without accident!
At the top of the lock we took over the small cafe for a lunch of tea and sandwiches before retracing our steps to the station and disappearing off in different directions. I headed into Leeds and found a quiet corner of the Leeds Tap to download and edit some pictures before sending a batch out to the various PR and Media people on my lists. Now I’m sat on LNER’s 15:15 service to London which has become a mobile editing suite as I sort out a bigger picture selection. Meanwhile, here’s a few for your delectation.
Rail Minister Wendy Morton (seated, left) talks to some of the women from East meets West on the train to Bingley from Bradford. Standing is Karen Bennett. Karen iscommunity rail education officer atCommunity Rail Lancashire, and a CRN Board member.
Everyone poses for a group photograph at Bingley station with some of the excellent work of the station friends on display behind.
The Bingley station friends having a laugh and a giggle with the Minister.
Gerald Townson Chairman atLeeds-Lancaster-Morecambe Community Rail Partnership gave a presentation to the Rail Minister on the work CRP’s are doing to encourage rail travel, supported by Community Rail Officers Brian Howarth and Catherine Huddleston.
17:25.
We’re now approaching London after an easy (albeit slightly late) run from Leeds. The weather’s picked up too. It looks like there’s a nice sunny evening in the offing. I’m not going to be staying long in the centre but there is one place Im going to stop at on my way through Euston…
23:00
It’s time to call it a day folks. As I was staying in the Watford area I hooked up with a local friend whom I met when I was spending a lot of time down here working for Network Rail on the 2014-15 Watford blockades. Alan Harte is a fellow railway person, cat lover and beer aficionado – so it would have been rude not to meet up for a couple of jars.
Right now I’m back at my accommodation, repowering all my devices and editing pictures ready for another busy day tomorrow as Crossrail finally opens. Watch this space…
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/
Today sees me travelling around the shire from West to South as I’ve a variety of things to do. First off this morning is one that’s familiar – and local. The friends of Mytholmroyd station are having a big volunteer event where Northern Rail staff volunteers are descending for the day to add extra bodies and muscle-power to help tackle some of the bigger and more complex jobs around the station that could do with a hand (and younger sinews). As an old friend of the group I’m dropping in to capture shots of the day, documenting what these partnerships can achieve and also showcase what the community rail sector gets up to.
After Mytholmroyd I’ll be travelling across to South Yorkshire to visit Sheffield where I’ll be catching up with at least one old friend (and maybe more). Feel free to keep popping back to see how things pan out as I document the day.
10:25.
Not the greatest start. Having walked down to Sowerby Bridge station for the short hop to Mytholmroyd I find my train is losing time by the minute. Due in at 10:24 it’s now scheduled to arrive at 10:29, having slipped as each minute’s passed. It’s a minor inconvenience in the scheme of things but it makes me late for the briefing and being late is one of my personal bugbears.
10:30.
Hmm, a 2-car 195 working all the way to Chester. That’s going to be cosy!
12:15.
I arrived just in time to miss the group briefing in the local church hall, but as I’m very familiar with the station and the group it wasn’t a big deal. Seventeen volunteers from Northern rail had turned up to offer a hand and they were allocated a variety of tasks such as digging up old Daffodils, repotting the planters on the platforms, general weeding or moving larger plants that had outgrown their spaces. The place was a hive of activity as people dressed in high-vis buzzed around like a swarm of angry bees! Here’s some examples of the activities.
Northern Rail volunteers clearing out old plants from the recycled plastic planters on the platforms before replanting them with a fresh display.The platform approaches at Mytholmroyd have steep banks on either side. Here, volunteers clear the entrance to the car park of old Daffodils and weed the area before replanting. Doing the hard work (digging out and moving plants) under the watchful eye of one of the station friends. The latest art installation is these terracotta impressions of the various station friends!
Sadly, I couldn’t stay for lunch so I bid adieu and caught the 11:53 to Leeds via Bradford Interchange, which gave me enough time to download, edit and post the pictures as a Class 195 makes a decent mobile office – unlike the train I changed onto in Leeds where a Class 150/2 was waiting to take me to Sheffield. These things have neither tables nor power sockets and I dislike balancing my laptop on my knee. So, it’s back to typing via my smartphone.
My steed awaits…
18:45.
Well, that’s been an interesting day…
Due to timings Richard Clinnick and I ended up catching the same train to Sheffield. I joined it at Leeds whilst Richard picked it up at Wakefield where he’d been to meet the staff at the Rail Business Daily offices where he was inducted into his new role as Editor of Inside Track magazine. On arrival at Sheffield we met up with another rail industry partner in crime – Lucy Prior. The three of us spent over an hour swapping intel and gossip before I headed off to explore parts of the region I wasn’t familiar with. In this case, Rotherham. Having taken a short break between towns I now know why I’d never had it on my radar. It’s a depressing place. Ignoring the fact the station is famous for turning into a place where you’re more likely to use a canoe than a train in heavy rain, the town itself isn’t exactly what I’d call buzzing. Here’s my introduction to the town centre after leaving the railway station.
Nice…
Frankly, if you wanted to make a ‘zombie apocalypse’ film, Rotherham’s your place. Not only does it have the right levels of decay and dereliction it’s also pretty much deserted. Plus, many of the few souls still shambling around the town centre could easily be signed up as extras – and it wouldn’t cost you much money in make-up either…
I didn’t hang around. One lap of the centre was enough. After that I was on the train back to Sheffield!
– but not on one of these tram-trains, seen here approaching Rotherham Central central station earlier. I caught the Northern rail service following behind. At least the fact I managed this shot was worth the trip…
21:15.
I’m now back at Bigland Towers after uneventful journey’s home. Neither of my Northern trains back to Halifax was particularly busy but then neither was Leeds station. Mind you, Halifax was even quieter – almost everything seemed to have closed down for the night despite it being before 8 ‘o clock. Even the pubs had given up and decided to shut up shop.
Now I’m having an easy evening editing pictures from the day. I might as well make the most of my time – Dawn’s gone round to a friend’s for supper, so there’s only me in! Ah well, it’s another day tomorrow…
I’ve a 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/
It’s a sunny but chilly day here in Nottingham and we’re all getting ready for day 2 of the Community Rail Network annual conference. I’ll be photographing/blogging through the day before heading home after the conference finishes later this afternoon….
09:15.
We’ve kicked off with a briefing on the new Great Britain Railways structure and plans from Sarah Williams, Community Rail Lead, GBR Transition team.
09:35.
Now we have CRNs Deputy Chief Executive Brian Barnsley talking about the growth of CRN and the challenges for the future.
10:00 following the first talks there was a busy and active Q&A session. Here’s Maisie Axon from Siemens Mobility posing one.
It’s 11:45 and the conference has broken up into three workshops to discuss ‘planning in uncertain times’. There’s been some really interesting discussions but it’s not all been doom and gloom by any means as can be seen by this light-hearted suggestion board and picture of CRN’s Denise Havard at one of the workshops.
15:30.
The conference is now over for another year. It’s been a great event and I’ll add a few more pictures later. Right now I’m beginning the trek back to Yorkshire after bidding adieu to some old community rail friends who decided to wait for their train at the Micropub on the station which is located in the old wooden taxi office on the South side of the building. I’m taking the ‘scenic’ route via the Robin Hood line to Worksop in order to do some photographic reconnaissance. I’ve not taken pictures along the central and Northern sections for many a year so this was a good opportunity to have a look. My chariot is another ex-Scotrail 3-car Class 170 and it’s well loaded.
The first section of the line proper parallels the NET tram system which provides an interesting contrast in transport modes.
15:51.
After a delay caused by the fact the line’s single-track towards Hucknall so we had to wait for a Southbound service to clear the section we finally reached Hucknall where the tram tracks end. Now we’re on our own over old railway infrastructure that’s a shadow of its former self due to de-industrialisation and the mass closure of colleries. That said, the line hits a bit of a rural oasis after escaping Hucknall’s clutches. Well, until we hit Newstead – formerly called Newstead Colliery Village where the proliferation of Silver Birch trees (the first coloniser of old industrial sites) tells a tale.
16:03.
There’s not much to see at Kirby-In-Ashfield where a line trails on from the left and we’re back on double track, because the station’s situated in a cutting. At Sutton Parkway, the station’s sat in the middle of an modern industrial estate but at least it provides more passengers.
The shift between new housing. industrial dereliction and pockets of green continued as far as Mansfield where the the original station stone built building survives on the Worksop platform. Nothing original survives on the opposite side – and I’m not just talking about the station! The town’s undergone various phases of redevelopment and not all look successful or aesthetic!
16:15.
We’ve arrived at Mansfield Woodhouse which used to see Robin Hood services terminate. The old goods shed was converted to provide shelter for trains which used a spur off the main line. Now only a few peak hour services from Nottingham end their journeys here.
At Shirebrook an original building survives as a ‘business centre’ but the fans of sidings and old locomotive depot that serviced coal trains are long gone. Only the old Midland Railway signalbox that guards Shirebrook Jn lives to tell the (much quieter) tale…
Now the line becomes rural once again until it hits Cresswell where we encounter semaphore signals a very derelict and abandoned old station building and a new(ish) basic station just to the North of the original. There’s even an ancient wooden-post semaphore signal here, a rare survivor nowadays.
I’m beginning to regret not having brought my rail atlas. This section of line’s unfamiliar so trying to piece together the railway’s geography is difficult. Where did some of these severed sidings and abandoned lines go to or serve? I’ve no idea…
19:10.
Sorry – another break in the narrative as I was too busy in the real world! Approaching Worksop was fun as the still-extant sidings that once used to be full of coal wagons now have a very different purpose. Rail businessman Harry Needle has leased them from Network Rail and invested millions in re-fettling them and making the sites secure. They’re an ideal vehicle storage centre and there’s plenty of stuff needing his services for a variety of reasons. My train passed off-lease LNER Mk3 loco-hauled coaches, a variety of off-lease Class 321 EMUs, plus brand new Alstom (formerly Bombardier) Class 701 and 720 trains waiting to go to the TOCs that ordered them. There’s also a few heritage locos and coaches, plus a brace of Class 92 electric locos up on jacks as they’re sans bogies. It’s a very surreal sight.
I had chance to mull this over whilst I had a pint in ‘The Mallard’ the friendly, cosy little pub on the station where I spent a pleasant time chatting to people before getting my train North-Westwards…
I’m now heading for Leeds on a Northern Class 158 from Lincoln. The train’s been busy throughout the trip, firstly to Sheffield, but now on the way to Leeds. We had a crew-change at Sheffield and the young woman who took over as conductor is excellent. She’s not afraid of the intercom or public speaking. Her explanation of why we’re late (tresspassers) was spot on and struck just the right note.
21:59.
I’m now back at home and lounging with a beer before hitting the sack. Today’s been a fascinating and diverse one that’s left me with lots of pictures to edit and words to process – starting first thing tomorrow morning. But, I’ll leave you with one last picture from yesterday’s trip on Crossrail now that the embargo’s expired. Here’s a driver’s eye view of the new railway seen from the cab of a Bombardier built Class 345 as the train’s sat at the platform at Paddington. I don’t know about you, but having spent a lot of time in modern train cabs there’s one thing that really catches my eye. It’s the Screwfix style 3-pin plug socket above the driver’s head!
I’ve been too busy to blog today as we’ve been preparing for tonight’s Community Rail awards at the Guildhall in Southampton. We should have been here last year but Covid put the mockers on the event so we postponed it for a year. Tonight’s event will be hosted by Jools Townsend, Chief Executive of Community Rail Network plus Mark Hopwood, MD of GWR and Claire Mann, MD of Southwestern Railway. As I’ll be busy throughout the event I’ll add pictures when I can to give you a flavour of the evenin – so stay tuned. We’re kicking off in 10 minutes (at 17:00) when the drinks reception begins – so stay tuned…
Paul Bigland 