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.
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No, not the TV series that made David Hasselhoff famous. I’m off to somewhere far less conducive to prancing around in a pair of ‘budgie smugglers’ (especially this time of the year). I’m off to Morecambe bay and the towns on the Kent estuary!
The weather’s looking to be perfect, if a little crisp. The walk to the station this morning was lovely as the clouds were melting away to the East, leaving the valley bathed in sun as it ventured above the horizon. I’m currently on the 08:27 from Halifax to Preston which has retraced part of my journey only this time along the valley floor. High above me was our house, lit up in the sunshine, looking lovely.
The train’s quiet. Well, when I say quiet – there’s not that many passengers in the front car of this 3 -car train. Unfortunately, a few rows behind me I have a younger woman gabbing on her phone who’s doing her best to sound like a Victoria Wood character – if slightly better dressed. She’s spent the whole of the trip so far gossiping in the most incredibly rapid but banal fashion about the intricacies of a family’s relationships that I’ve been forced to reach for the headphones and block her out with music before my brain melts. I’m now heading along the scenic route over Copy Pit with cloudless blue skies listening to Meatloaf singing “Objects in the rear view mirror” rather than her bleating about the sizes of someone’s kids beds. Bliss!
Feel free to keep popping in to see what I get up to today…
09:15
We’ve just left Accrington after previously stopping at Burnley. The Victoria Wood tribute act has finally run out of words (or rather, the same few words) but I’m still enjoying my soundtrack to the journey. The railway skirts Burnley to give great views over this Lancashire cotton town. I keep meaning to spend a day here getting pictures across the town from some of the high ground as the Colne branch bisects the town on a viaduct. At Accrington the route from Todmorden to Preston does the same. I took a lot of pictures in the area when I first moved to Yorkshire in 2010 but it’s really time I updated them. Maybe a day out here on a bright winter day would be a good idea…
10:00.
A full 3-car 195 waits to leave Preston for Windermere.
I’m kicking my heels in Preston again. Connections here never seem to go my way. Coming down from Glasgow I had nearly an hour to wait. This time I’ve longer. My Blackpool bound service arrived at 09:39. The Barrow service doesn’t arrive until 10:45. At least it gives me time to get a few shots and slurp a coffee in the Upper Crust. I’ve not used these sandwich bars since Covid. Their offering has gone downhill. In many cases The baguettes that were their staple fayre have been replaced by hamburger style rolls. At the same time the prices have increased. Paying more for less serms to be a common theme in Brexit Britain nowadays. So many ways of ‘winning’. At least the coffee’s good…
New and ‘improved’? Someone’s taking the pee…
10:45.
My Barrow connection arrived bright and early (2 mins early in fact) but as it’s due to sit at Preston for 9 minutes to let the 10:42 Avanti service to Glasgow that’s sat in the adjacent platform to get ahead of it, that’s hardly a problem. On the two track section of the West Coast Main line there’s no way we were going to get let out early! The Pendolino leaves 3 minutes ahead of us here but that becomes 9 minutes at Lancaster.
My train’s made up of another Northern 3-car Class 195. It’s reasonably busy but nowhere near as crowded as the Windermere service I saw earlier. Having rediscovered the joy of listening to music whilst travelling I’ve stuck my ancient iPod (remember them) on ‘shuffle’. I’m currently enjoying a real bout of nostalgia, listening to the ‘Moody Blues’ and an album recorded in 1968 (‘In search of the lost Chord’). It takes me back to my early teens, listening to the strains of the album emanating from my elder brother Dave’s bedroom in the family home oh so many years ago…
14:15.
Here’s a quick update from a cafe’ whilst I wait for the next train at Arnside. I’ll flesh this out more after the next train. Right now I’m using their warm space to edit a few pictures off the camera! Having taken the shots I needed at Grange-Over-Sands I headed back across the River Kent to Arnside to recreate(ish) the shot I used for picture of the day yesterday. Only everything didn’t quite go to plan…
Oi! Northern – I was expecting one of your new 3-car 195’s – not this!
I’m now about to take 2 as the next train running is one of their new 3-cars. Thankfully, the weather’s beaten the forecast and stayed sunny. Just as well when there’s only one train an hour…
18:00.
Another busy day – if waiting for one train an hour can be called ‘busy’. Clapham Junction this ain’t! That said, I’ve kept myself occupied for the time I was in Arnside. In between trains I managed to catch up with emails, sit and have a coffee and edit the pictures I’d taken. On the way back I stopped off to explore some photo locations in Lancaster, only this time of the year I was there too late to catch the light. Even so, I had an interesting time exploring part of the town I’d never ventured into before, which included some of the old railways like the line to Lancaster Green Ayre and Morecambe part of which is now a footpath. This is another place I need to come back to at the right time of the day/year. Having explored I headed back to the station to catch a very busy Avanti service to Preston where I waited for a Northern connection to Manchester which was running 20 minutes late. I’m now aboard an electric version of the CAF fleet built for Northern over the past few years. These 3 car 331s are certainly a step up in comfort compared to the trains they replaced, but the ride over indifferent quality track can be hard, especially if you’re sat over a bogie.
Old and new Northern electrics at a busy Preston station this evening.
I’m slowly getting used to the idea of electric trains via Chorley. They’re such a step-change in acceleration compared to the diesel units they’ve replaced, although the quality of some of the the clientele hasn’t really improved, but that’s ex-Blackpool services for you.
19:50.
I’m on the final leg home after stopping off in Manchester’s Chinatown to pick up some goodies. Whilst we have some excellent local North Indian supermarkets in Halifax I can’t get some of the ingredients I need for some of our favourite SE-Asian dishes. Today I remedied that and bought fresh Pandan leaves and Lemon grass, Kecap Manis and a light Soy sauce.
My train home from Victoria was rather nostalgic as it consists of a class 158/153 lash-up. I haven’t travelled on one of Northern’s dwindling fleet of single-car Class 153s since Covid hit! Unsurprisingly, most passengers made a dash for the air-conditioned comfort of the 158!
Mind you, it wasn’t just a/c this car didn’t have. The tiny toilet (which isn’t DDA disabled passenger compliant) is permanently locked out of use with a sign redirecting people to the Class 158. What Northern will do with these trains in the long-term’s a good question. They’re obviously past their sell-by date, but unless funds are forthcoming for new stock to replace them…
22:00.
It’s been a long day and I’m now back at home in the warm, editing the pictures I’ve taken during the day, so here’s the recreation(ish) of yesterday’s picture of the day with one of Northern’s new Class 195s replacing the Trans-Pennine 185. As you can see, the livery’s far less colourful or interesting, but such is life and progress on the railways sometimes.
195103 works 1U97, the 13:52 Barrow-in-Furness to Manchester Airport across the Arnside viaduct.
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 (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
After more travels over the last week I’ve had a rare day at home where I’ve not had to pick up the camera bag once, which has been rather nice as the weather feels a lot chillier here in the Pennines than it did in Scotland – odd when you think of the difference in latitudes. Admittedly, where I live we’re 450 feet more above sea level than Glasgow which could help explain some of the difference! Another thing I noticed was how many leaves have vanished off the trees since I was away. Apparently, there were high winds earlier in the week which made a huge difference. The little Acer bush in my front garden is looking positively naked!
Most of my day has been spent edited the thousands of pictures I took whilst I was away in order to clear the decks ready for the next trip and ensure that all the main pictures have been sent to the client (who seem extremely happy with what was shot). So, most of my day’s been spent staring at a computer screen or being distracted by the constant to-ing and fro-ing of the various Coal and Blue-Tits to the bird-feeder outside my office window. I topped it up with Sunflower seeds this morning so the birds have gone mad, even getting involved in ariel dog-fights as they jockey for position. It’s impossible for the local Squirrel population to reach the feeder, so they hang around in the cobbled entry underneath like a swarm of sharks, waiting to snatch whatever the birds manage to flick off onto the floor.
I did manage to escape for a lunchtime walk with Dawn as the pair of us wanted to ensure the day wasn’t entirely sedentary. A stroll through the local woods was just the ticket. They’re looking beautiful at the moment and I hope to have time to capture some of their colours on camera over the weekend.
Tomorrow I’m off on my travels again. This time it’s a trip to Grange-over-Sands to get pictures for an article I’m writing for a client. I’d hoped to have visited before I went to Scotland, but the weather around Morecambe Bay can be temperamental to say the least. However, tomorrow’s forecast is for sunshine for at least part of the day, so it would be a no-brainer not to go. No doubt there’ll be a rolling blog in the offing as tomorrow’s a solo trip that isn’t rushed, giving me time to watch the world go by and write.
The picture of the day comes from the archives and was taken in the area I’m heading to. This shot of a train crossing the Arnside Viaduct over the wide river Kent was taken on the 14th February 2008.
The River Kent is tidal and depending on the time of day you might see little more than sandbanks here, but when the tide’s in or on its way on a clam day, you can capture reflections like this. Sadly, this train livery is a thing of the past – as is the class of train on this route as Trans-Pennine Express no longer run service to Barrow-in-Furness. I always though this was one of the more attractive liveries to catch out in the countryside as it was so vibrant. Who knows, maybe I’ll have chance to update this shot tomorrow with new trains and new liveries – even if it won’t be as colourful…
Oh, some of you might recognise this shot and wonder where from. It’s on my business card!
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 (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances appreciate all the help that we can get to aid us in bouncing back from lockdowns. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 