Category Archives: Down memory lane

Happy Unbrexit day!

01 Friday Nov 2019

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Welcome to yet another month where – despite the utterances and assurances of our liar of a Prime Minister, we haven’t left the EU, and he hasn’t been found dead in a ditch. I’m very happy for one of those tho continue. I’ll let you guess which.

Here in the Calder valley the weather’s not exactly been in a celebratory mood. For most of the day it’s been impossible to see the other side of the valley due to low cloud and rain, so I’ve spent much of it slaving away at my computer in the warm, catching up on paperwork and wading my way through scanning yet more old railway slides. I’ve finally finished another album, which feels like a positive achievement – albeit a small one as there’s still lots more to go. This one’s been from the turn of the century and the summer of 2000. It’s left me feeling rather nostalgic for several reasons. In those days I’d only been back from travelling the world for 6 months and I was just starting to make my way was a freelance photographer. The world was a very different place to the one it is now in so many ways. Anyways, here’s a small selection of the images. I’ll add caption details later. Right now (as it’s Friday) I’m off to the pub for a couple of hours…

Down memory lane: The North Wales coast line in 2000.

14 Monday Oct 2019

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I’ve been busy these past few days scanning more old slides. It feels like a never-ending job as – despite how many I get done – the pile never seems to decline much! There’s still thousands to do, but here’s a look at the latest batch.

Back in May 2000 I left London for a few days to spend time on the North Wales Coast and Anglesey exploring the region taking travel pictures as that was my main focus in those days, the railway stuff was just incidental. Now, looking back I realise just how much has changed since 2000. The irony? The railways were on the cusp of a major change then, as some of the first new trains following privatisation were being introduced in the area. 27 Class 175 DMU’s were being built by Alstom for First North-Western whilst Class 170s were being supplied by Bombardier to Central Trains. Meanwhile, the ‘old guard’ in the form of Class 37s and Metro-Cammell Class 101 DMUs soldiered on operating services along the coast. Now, in 2019 even the trains introduced in 2000 are going to be replaced! The new Transport for Wales franchise will be saying goodbye to the Class 175s in the next couple of years, just over 20 years since they were introduced! Gone are the days when steam locomotives were still in service 100 years after introduction, although in another irony, the Class 37/4s have been reintroduced into Wales as a stopgap, this time into the Welsh valleys once more.

Here’s a small selection of the photographs I took on the trip.

DRS class 20s at Chester whilst working 7C40, the Valley-Kingmoor nuclear flasks.
A First North-Western Class 158 working a service to Holyhead passes Conwy Castle. This is one of the classic photographic locations on the North Wales Coast.
37415 approaches Conwy castle whilst working 1D60, the 08.17 Crewe – Holyhead.
37429 passes Conwy castle with 1D62, the 08.08 Birmingham New St – Holyhead.
A seagull uses a Class 101 DMU as a perch at Llandudno Junction. Unit 101678 was made up of vehicles 51210 and 53746. These Metro-Cammell units stayed in service until 2003.
New Class 175 number 175003 is seen sitting on the Down Main next to Abergele and Pensarn signalbox whilst on test runs along the coast.
37429 powers away from Abergele and Pensarn whilst working 1K67, the 12.51 Holyhead – Crewe.
Also seen at Abergele and Pensarn is this classic shot from a nearby footbridge showing the unusual semaphore arrangement on the Down line as 150133 passes on the 12.16 Manchester Piccadilly – Llandudno. These signals lasted until Easter 2018 when they were replaced as part of the £50m resignalling scheme that saw the traditional signalboxes between Colwyn Bay and Shotton abolished.

37415 runs round its train at Holyhead before heading back into England as 1D99, the 18.22 to Birmingham.
37415 rolls past Holyhead signalbox whilst working 1D99.
The North Wales featured a fine array of signalboxes. This is the one at Mold Junction which lasted until 2005.
Class 101s stabled at Chester station. From left to right is 53746, 51210 and 53256.
Virgin trains Class 47 number 47818 stands at Chester whilst working the 17.30 Euston to Holyhead.
Brand new Bombardier built Class 170 number 170635 is seen at Chester whilst on test.
Waterman Railways Class 47 number 47705 named ‘Guy Fawkes’ stabled at Chester. In 2003 the locomotive was rebuilt as part of the Virgin Trains ‘Thunderbird’ programme and become 57303.

Another week begins…

07 Monday Oct 2019

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It’s been another damp start to the week here in the Calder Valley with little sign of autumn sunshine, just murky low cloud and mist. It’s a great excuse to stay indooers and catch up on paperwork, picture-editing and chores in the hope I can get out and about for the reat of the week to catch-up with the changes on the Northern rail network and also farther afield as I’ve a long list of shots that I need to get for a commission…

The weekend was a chance to have a lie-in and catch up on my sleep deficit, even if Jet (our cat) had other plans by waking me up at 06:20 on Saturday morning! The little bugger wanted feeding and made a real hue and cry until I did.

The weekend wasn’t all down time. I had to finish editing the pictures from the ACoRP awards ready for Monday morning, so the moggie did me a favour in some ways as I’d got them done by Saturday breakfast-time. On Sunday I started tackling another long-standing job – scanning the 1000s of old rail slides that I have to get them onto my Zenfolio website and available for sale. The album that’s in the queue now is pictures from 2000 when the railways looked very different. I scanned a small selection of pictures from the Manchester area, a few samples of which appear below. In those days Virgin trains were all still loco-hauled as the introduction of the Pendolinos and Voyagers were still a couple of years away. First group ran the North-Western franchise and used an assortment of old BR built trains, including first generation Class 101 DMUs built by Metropolitan-Cammell back in the late 1950s – early 1960s, along with old electric units cascaded from London and the South-East in the shape of ex-Eastern region slam-door Class 305s and 309s. Apart from the liveries, very little seemed to have changed then despite several years of privatisation, but change was certainly in the offing…

On the 14th April 2000 a pair of Metro-Cammell Class 101 DMUs pass at Guide Bridge whilst working services out to New Mills. On the left is 51230 and 45056 whilst the other pair is 51201 and 54347. All four cars were built in 1958. The last handful of 101s were withdrawn in 2003.
Former ‘Clacton’ unit 309623 stands in Manchester Piccadilly on the same day. Seven of the units were brought out of storage for use in the North-West in 1994 and remained in service until later in 2000. The 309s were BRs first 1000mph capable electric units.
Also on the 14th April 2000, Fragonset Railways 47712 crosses the Stockport viaduct whilst on hire to Virgin trains. It was working the 15:36 from Manchester Piccadilly to Birmingham New St. Fragonset went bust in 2006 and the loco was sold to Direct Rail Services (DRS) who still operate the engine to this day.

Those whom the Gods love die young.

24 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Down memory lane, Gwyll Jones, Musings, Obituaries, Railways

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It could be that I’m getting older and these things become more frequent as you do, or it could just be a spate of bad luck, or divine intervention or – well, just about anything really, depending on your beliefs. But there’s been a run of people whom I know dying recently. I received news of two yesterday. Both were sad for different reasons, but one was completely out of left-field.

Gwilym Jones was a train driver. An ex-West coast man he’d moved to be a depot driver at Wimbledon Park in London, which is where I first met him. A fellow Merseysider (although I used to rib him about the fact he wasn’t a proper Scouser as he was actually from across the water in Birkenhead!) we shared the same sense of humour and love of the railways. Oh, and beer – and stories. Gwyll had a treasure-trove of stories from his days as a train driver.

We’d usually meet in the company of his colleagues Steve Upton (who introduced us to each other) and Chris Buckland, amongst others. One memorable year (2007) our little group were down at the Swanage railway gala with the 4-VEP which was being used in passenger service. For those who wonder what I’m talking about, a 4-VEP is an old electric train of 4 coaches built in the 1960s. In the evenings we’d bed down in several of the 1st Class compartments. This produced some memorable moments and the jokes about flatulence and bars of soap which are still told today!

When I moved from London to Yorkshire we didn’t see as much of each other but our friendship was maintained through Facebook. The old humour and interests were still there of course, as was the banter, we just shared it in a different way. Gwll never mentioned his illness on Facebook, or to many people, but he’d developed Hodgkin lymphoma last year.

Yesterday, Steve Upton broke the news that Gwll had died on Monday, aged just 53, so this is my little tribute to him. RIP mate, safe journey.

DG10560. Gwyll. Steve. Buckie. Swanage. 11.5.07.crop

From L-R. Gwyll, Steve and Buckie with the VEP at Swanage in May 2007. Fond memories.

Tuesday tribulations

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

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After working until late last night scanning slides I’ve restricted myself to working from home. Mind you, the weather’s not exactly been conducive to wandering the country. It’s been cold despite the sun and with moody skies that have threatened rain, sleet or even snow.

I’m now on the final few slides of the latest album to be disposed of, and it’s only taken 20 years to get them all done! In the past I’d only scanned a selection of images from each album. Now I’m scanning the whole of the album that I’ve decided to keep (some no longer make the grade) and I’m freeing up a lot of space in the process.

Here’s a couple of samples from the latest batch which show just how much has changed in the past 20 years.

06893. L702 51356. 51398. 15.38 Barking to Gospel Oak. Harringay Park Junction. 1.6.99crop

On the 8th June 1999, unit L702, made up of Class 1777 DMU cars 51356. 51398 work the 15.38 Barking to Gospel Oak past Harringay Park Junction on the ‘Goblin’, as the Gospel Oak – Barking line is known. At the time this was one of my local railways as I only lived a quarter of a mile away. It was one of London’s ‘cinderella’ railways, and a real backwater. A pocket of diesel operation that was surrounded by electrified lines that was still controlled in places by semaphore signals. The Class 117s themselves were old and unreliable and the service was often appalling. If you visit this same location today you wouldn’t recognise it. Everything has changed. The DMUs are gone, as is the signalbox and semaphore signals. The junction has all been relaid and even the roadbridge beyond has been rebuilt. The line’s also been electrified and this view has disappeared behind overhead wires. 

06936. 150130. 16.08. Barking - Gospel Oak. South Tottenham. 18.6.99crop

Here’s South Tottenham station just 17 days after the last picture was taken. The first Class 150s have been cascaded to the ‘Goblin’ to take over from the elderly Class 117s. A slightly care-worn 150130, still bearing Central Trains livery, calls at the station whilst working the 16.08 Barking to Gospel Oak service. In 2010 the 150s were displaced by the Class 172s which have lasted until now due to delays in electrifying the route and the new Class 710 trains being over a year late into service. Ironically, 150130 has followed me North. After being transferred to First Great Western after it left North London it’s now part of the Northern Rail fleet! 

Another 70 plus old slides have been added to my Zenfolio website. If you follow this link, you can find which galleries they’ve been added to. There’s everything from trains to stations.

 

Home again.

30 Saturday Mar 2019

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After yesterday’s little adventure I’m having a quiet weekend at home, catching up on chores and picture editing. Slowly but surely I’m making progress in scanning my old rail slides, with the present batch straddling the period from 1996 to 1999 – albeit with a gap because I was out of the country and travelling around the globe from November 1997 until April 1999. Here’s the last one I took before I left. It’s from Stratford, in East London on the 29th October 1997. Now, these BR built class 315s are heading to the scrapyard as they’re being replaced by the Crossrail Class 345s.

06854. 315826. Stratford. 29.10.97crop

Here’s the first shot I took on our return, at somewhere very different to East London. This is Burscough Bridge on the Southport – Wigan line on the 9th April 1999 . The  signalbox here once controlled a junction with lines going off to the right and left to join the Ormskirk-Preson line which crosses over the bridge in the distance.

06855. 156452. Burscough Bridge. 9.4.99crop

You can find the full selection by clicking on this link to my Zenfolio website.

I’ve still several sheets left in the album to scan. With a bit of luck I might be able to get them all done next week. After that, the next album in the queue takes a step back in time to 1995 and the last year of BR before privatisation started. Unlike the last couple of albums, it far less Londoncentric, so watch this space…

The Brexit shambles goes on, and on and…

27 Wednesday Mar 2019

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I’m losing the will to live…

Right now I’m sat at home in front of the laptop, scanning more old slides and listening to the live debate on Brexit in Parliament, where MPs are playing a political game of ‘It’s a Knockout’, gradually showing support (or not) for various propositions which included crashing out of the EU and a second referendum. The result was that disaster wasn’t averted, it was merely delayed. No resolution had a majority to pass so all failed. Instead, they can be graded by the number of votes.

The problem is that we can see that, despite everything that’s happened over the past few years, there’s still a significant number of MPs who are away with the fairies – or should that be Unicorns? A subtext of all these machinations has been that some of the main Brexit players on the Tory side are ditching all their (claimed) principles for two reasons. Either they see Brexit slipping away from them (and their hope of financial enrichment) or they’re manoeuvring to bid for the role of Prime Minister now that it’s painfully obvious that Teresa May is a ‘dead man walking’. Yes, I mean you Jacob Rees Mogg and Boris Johnson!

The only thing to come out of today is that the Brexit can has officially been kicked down the road – for what it’s worth. Now we have to wait until Monday to find out what Parliament mat decide to do. The one ray of hope is that the motion for a second referendum received the highest number of votes and may yet pass – although my personal preference is for Parliament just to revoke article 50 and save us all from the bloody hassle and uncertainty!

After seeing how useless some MPs of all parties are at sticking up for the best interests of the country and their constituents there’s a task of Augean stables proportions needed here. Voters need to stop voting for pigs just because of the colour of the rosettes pinned to them. Instead they need to ditch the old tribal allegiances and vote for candidates who genuinely want to serve their country instead of themselves or their narrow political dogma.

Finally, the house adjourned for the day and I could concentrate on other matters. I’ve managed to scan another 40 old rail slides today, which include the early days of privatisation. I particularly like these two. This is London Kings Cross on the 29th July 1997 when GNER had stamped its image on the East Coast Main Line. Well, it’s early image, because if you notice, their logo’s in white, which gave way to gold lettering after just a few months. In the foreground is the unique 89001 which was brought back from store to add extra capacity to the fleet. GNER really sweated the fleet compared to BR. If I remember rightly, they ran double the number of services with the same fleet. Now, 22 years later, the scene is set to change even more as the existing Intercity fleet (now run by LNER) is being replaced by the new Hitachi built ‘Azuma’ trains, the first of which will enter service in May.

06767. 89001. Kings Cross. 29.7.97crop

A couple of days later I was over at Clapham Junction, where engineers were renewing track through platform 10. In those days safety standards were a lot more relaxed. The worksite was separated from the operational railway by a bit of plastic tape and the PPE (Protective Personal Equipment) that rail staff wore – whilst better than it was 15 years earlier – was nothing compared to today’s standards! Another thing to notice is how tatty and run-down the overbridge was compared to today.

06776. Relaying track in platform 10. Clapham Junction. 31.7.97crop

Right, that’s enough from me. Now it’s time to call it a day…

 

 

 

 

The madness continues whilst I try and work…

21 Thursday Mar 2019

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It’s been another one of those days when trying to knuckle down to work has proved to be hard due to the constant distractions provided by the political la la land the UK’s inhabiting right now. I’m still trying to get my head around Teresa May’s ridiculous TV speech last night in which she absolved herself of all blame for this shit-shower (even though her idiotic red lines formed the base of it) and instead tried to set the public against Parliament and the MPs elected to it. To say her language was both reckless and inflammatory is an understatement. To say that many MPs of all parties are outraged would be an understatement.

Now she’s gone cap in hand to the EU, who must be sick of the sight of her. Predictably, they’ve now taken control and are currently deciding what terms they’ll offer on an extension to article 50. Take back control? Don’t make me laugh! A lot of my fellow Britons seem equally unimpressed. A petition calling for the revocation of article 50 has kept crashing the Govt’s website most of the day. Started only yesterday, it now stands at 1.5 million signatures and is rising by the hour.

petition

If you’d like to sign it, here’s the link.

Away from the madness I’ve been busy catching up on picture editing and paperwork, whilst also lining up some jobs. I’ve also been continuing to scan old slides in an effort to really start to make inroads to the collection and get unseen pictures online. Today’s small batch are from an open day at Crewe Electric depot back in May 1997. As it was an event I’ve created a new gallery for it on my website, which you can find here. These are a couple of sample pictures.

06653. 33108. 92031. Crewe Electric Depot Open Day. 3.5.97crop

A mixture of preserved and mainline locomotives were on display at Crewe. Here’s 33108, 92031 and 47375.

06651. E5001. Crewe Electric Depot Open Day. 3.5.97crop

The sole surviving Class 71, E5001 was also on display. 24 of these electric locomotives were build for the Southern region 3rd rail network at Doncaster in 1958. They were used on a variety of passenger and freight turns, including the famous ‘Golden Arrow’ and ‘Night Ferry’ boat-train services. As well as shoe-gear, they had a pantograph to 650 V DC which was used in some South London freight yards like Hither Green and at Snowdon colliery near Dover. The last 14 members of the class were withdrawn en-masse in 1977 but E5001 was saved for the national collection and preserved by the National Railway Museum.

This evening I’ve turned my hand to some kitchen therapy and cooked an old favourite – Lal Batata, which is new potatoes in a hot chilli and tamarind sauce.

I’ve even found a railway themed beer to go with it! This rather quaffable delight cam from somewhere I’d never expect to find it, B&M bargains, the cut-price chain!

The back of the bottle has an interesting label as it tells the story of a heroic railwayman of Victorian times.

Dawn’s been busy too and oven cooked some salmon to accompany the Lal Batata. Yum!

Down memory lane: Stratford (East London) lunchtimes in 1997

14 Thursday Mar 2019

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I’m currently continuing the marathon of scanning all my old rail and travel slides, which has led me up to memories of March 1997, 22 years ago…

Back then I was still living and working in London. Lynn and I had moved from Bromley-by-Bow in the East to a new home in Crouch End in North London but I still commuted daily to Bow as I remained working in social housing in those days. Rather than use public transport I’d cycle as it was quicker, cheaper and healthier. Having my bike at work meant that it was easy for me to pop down the road from Bow to Stratford at lunchtimes and get some pictures at the station. I was keen to do this as we were leaving the country for 18 months later that year and I knew so much would have changed when we got back (as it had when I left the UK between 1991 – 1992). Here’s a few pictures from those lunchtime sessions. One of the great beauties of Stratford (apart from the fact it was always busy) was that you never quite knew what would turn up!

06413. 86220. 13.30. Liverpool St - Norwich. Stratford. 12.3.97crop

Here’s class 86 no 86220 passing through Stratford with the 13.30 Liverpool St – Norwich on the 12th March 1997. 15 of these former West Coast workhorses had been transferred to the Anglia region when the line to Norwich was electrified in 1986. 86220 remained in service until 2002 when it was withdrawn due to a transformer failure. The rest remained in use hauling passenger trains on Anglia until 2005.

06407. 37046. Stratford. 12.3.97crop

On the same day EW&S operated ‘split box’ 37046 hauled a short civil engineers train through the station, heading for the North London line. These locomotives has a long association with the area, with many based at the old Stratford shed.  They still pop up today, 60 years after they first entered service. This particular loco was transferred to Europe for a few years to work on contracts building high speed lines in France. It returned to the UK in 2007 and was scrapped by CF Booth Rotherham in 2009.

06425. 365534. 315803. Stratford. 17.3.97

I popped back to Stratford on the 17th March when I snapped this unlikely combination. 315803 leads 365534 through the station en-route to the depot at Ilford. The BR built 315s were used on the Liverpool St – Shenfield services and are only just being replaced by the new Bombardier built Class 345s now. The 100mph Class 365s were the last BR built EMUs, having been constructed in 1994-95. The first 16 of the 41 strong fleet were used on the Southern region whilst the remaining 25 were used on services out of Kings Cross to Peterborough, Cambridge and Kings Lynn.

06427. 90138. Stratford. 17.3.97crop

EW&S operated 90138 heads for the North London line with a train of cars and vans from the docks at Dagenham or Tilbury. Stratford was and still is an important freight route, funnelling traffic from the Eastern ports through to the North and West. 90138 was eventually given its old number of 90038 back. It’s been stored unserviceable at Crewe since July 2005 and faces an uncertain future. To the right of the picture is my trusty bike, which I still use today!

06430. 47702. Stratford. 21.3.97crop

I was back to Stratford on the 21st March. Engineers trains often produced oddities such as this. 47702 has fallen on hard times. This former passenger locomotive was built in 1966, originally for BR’s London Midland region before being transferred to the Western region. In 1979 it was converted to ‘push-pull’ operation and worked high-speed (well, for then) services between Edinburgh and Glasgow. In 1990 it moved back down to the Western, working Thames valley services before they went over to DMU operation in 1992. It then ended up working Network SouthEast trains out of Waterloo before being transferred to Stratford in 1993. After being downgraded to a freight pool it was part of the fleet purchased by EW&S. In the picture it still carries the cast depot plate depicting the Stratford shed symbol of the ‘cockney sparrow’ although it was allocated to Toton by now! Whilst in Scotland it was named “St Cuthbert” but in this picture it carries the “County of Suffolk” nameplates previously worn by 47584. After a long and varied career the loco was stored at Toton in 2000 and used a source of spare before finally being cut up in January 2005.

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Today’s mixed bag…

09 Saturday Mar 2019

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Today’s been exactly that. So far I’ve spent it at home, sitting in my office and avoiding the gales and rain that battered the house this morning. Instead of braving the elements I’ve been catching up on some paperwork, then scanning more old slides. The latest batch are all from my days living in London in the latter years of the 1990s. I’ve now moved on from 1996 to 1997. I was keen to document as much of the changing UK rail scene as I could as Lynn and I were only a few months away from packing in our jobs and leaving the UK for 18 months to travel around the world. I was still working in Tower Hamlets as a Housing officer, hence many of these pictures being taken at Stratford, just down the road from where I worked. Here’s a couple of samples.

06305. 56066. Bow-Heck Plasmor. Bow Midland goods yard. 26.2.97crop

On the 26th February 1997 EW&S Class 56 (56066 for the number crunchers) sits in the old Bow Midland goods yard with empty Plasmor concrete block wagons, ready to return them to Heck on the East Coast Mainline. This service is about the only thing left in the picture that hasn’t changed. It still runs today! The background and surrounds to the picture have changed completely. The shot was taken from the Docklands Light Railway station at Pudding Mill Lane. This has been swept away by the tunnel portal for Crossrail and a new station opened on a new alignment further South. The housing estate you see in the background is the Lefevre, run by Tower Hamlets Housing Action Trust (or HATs as they were known). This is where I worked. My job was to manage this estate, which was being demolished in phases and the tenants rehoused in new, modern, low rise properties.

06321. 86246. 11.25 Liverpool St-Harwich. Stratford. 26.2.97crop

Another place that’s unrecognisable today. This is Stratford in East London. Class 86247 pushes the 11.25 from Liverpool St to Harwich through the station on the same date in 1997 as the last shot. The whole area’s been transformed through investment. The station’s been rebuilt and expanded. The area to the left is now the massive Westfield shopping centre. And, if you’d have told us this station would one day be the key gateway to an Olympic games, we’d have looked at you like you were mad!

OK, that’s enough memories. Now the pair of us are off out for a meal with friends in Mytholmroyd, Sue and Geoff Mitchell, who are stalwarts of the local station friends group. See you later!

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