Category Archives: I love my job

Not the day I expected…

17 Sunday Nov 2019

Posted by in Down memory lane, I love my job, Musings, Photography, Railways

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

The pair of us have had a quiet weekend at home for a change, mainly because Dawn’s been recovering from a bout of the lurgi and migraines, another two of which struck last night leaving her feeling drained today. Even so, we’ve managed to get some things done – if not everything we intended.

I’ve found myself concentrating on scanning old slides which is good in one way as I’m finally getting the pictures onto my website. I’ve almost finished an album of images from 2003 and it’s been a nostalgic experience as I was a rookie pro photographer who’d suddenly found themselves doing all sorts of unusual stuff with famous people like Richard Branson, Stirling Moss and Prime Minister Tony Blair to name but a few. It was the year before I made the leap from film to digital and looking back, I wish I’d done it sooner, but isn’t hindsight a wonderful thing? 2003 was packed full of really interesting events. Here’s just a small selection from the ones I’ve been scanning over the past few days

On the 27th September 2003 the first section of High Speed 1 from Fawkham Junction to the channel tunnel was officially opened by a press trip from London to Paris on a Eurostar. When passengers arrived we were greeted at Waterloo International by acrobats performing on the concourse.

We were then whisked across to Paris on a Eurostar set specially branded the ‘press express’ and fitted with TV screens which relayed the view from a camera placed in the cab. Here we are passing through Kent on HS1.

Then, in October…

Virgin Trains were maximising the publicity they could get from rolling out their new Pendolino train fleet. On the 20th October their PR people commissioned me to accompany Richard Branson and the Virgin team up to Liverpool where 390031 was to be named “City of Liverpool”. Amongst the VIPs joining in on the event at Liverpool Lime St station was the Lord Mayor of Liverpool, Louise Ellman MP (2nd left) and Miss Merseyside (right).

It’s funny looking back at these pictures now and seeing just how the railways companies starting to regain their confidence after the turbulent Railtrack days and the spate of fatal accidents that helped see the organisations demise. It was still a rocky road as tragedies were still to happen but it was clear that things were improving. How different things look now, when the main problem the railway face is the lack of capacity!

I’ve added over 60 slides to my Zenfolio website this weekend. You can find out which galleries the rest of them are in by following this link. There’s still another 40 slides from this album to add which should be done this next week. After that, it’s time to delve into the storage box and see what comes to hand next…

Rolling blog: another day, another dollar (another train)…

16 Wednesday Oct 2019

Posted by in Hs2, I love my job, Manchester, New trains, Northern Powerhouse, Northern Rail, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

10:47.

I’m out and about slightly later today as I was up and in the office at 06:30 this morning, sipping coffee whilst I edited yesterdays pictures and got them to the client before start of play so that they could make their selection today.

Whilst doing so I caught up on the days news. Apart from the usual Brexitshambles, HS2’s in the public eye as the Oakervee review is allegedly going to be published ln the 19th. What’s interesting is to see how much public support there is for the project. The North’s politicians and business leaders like the CBI and BCC are queuing up to say that any downgrading of the project would be very damaging. In contrast, the dwindling opposition to HS2 is very muted. The remaining campaign group, StopHs2, have neither the money or the recourses to do much. Their ‘Campaign Director’, Joe Rukin spends most of his time playing “Swampy” with the tiny bunch of protestors in woodland camps on the phase 1 route. The penny slowly serms to be dropping that Phase 1 isn’t going to be cancelled and the carrying over of the phase 2a Hybrid Bill onto this Parliaments agenda is sending signals that no-one expects that to be shelved either. The only questions are over phase 2b – hence all the lobbying from the North’s powerful lobby.

There are a few dissenting voices in the North. What’s mildly depressing is the way some here still play regional and party-political politics with a chip on their shoulder about London. They simply won’t accept that HS2 isn’t all about the capital. The positive thing is they’re very much in a minority and have no credible alternatives to offer, just obfuscation and yet more delays.

As a Lancastrian who lived in London for 25 years before moving to Yorkshire I find this envy and resentment of the South both frustrating and (ultimately) self-destructive. It’s daft, not least because many of us “Southerners” were former Northerners who made the most of the opportunities London and the South-East had to offer, rather than sticking with Northern parochialism and the feeling that the North’s “hard done by”.

A case in point was a discussion I had with someone complaining about the fact HS2 tracks wouldn’t reach Newcastle or Teeside. I asked him to make a positive case why they should. All I got back was resentments and political conspiracy theories. Now there’s no doubt the North has been ignored sometimes, but when all it does is moan and say “it’s not fair” it’s easy to dismiss. Concrete evidence of WHY investment in the North should be made and the benefits it’ll bring are harder to ignore, which is why it’s great to see the North’s political leaders embracing the opportunities “Northern Powerhouse” can bring rather than dismissing it as a political stunt. If only others did…

The frustrating thing is there are many inspirational people in the North and some fantastic things happening. If only we could ditch this Southern envy!

11.17.

I scribbled the above whilst changing trains at Hebden Bridge. I’m now aboard a 2-car Class 150 heading to Victoria to see some of the Northern Rail investment all too often ignored by some Northern politicians because the ‘wrong’ political party wrote the cheques for it! I’ll also be popping back to Piccadilly for a couple of hours to (hooefully) add a few more assistence pictures to the collection. Watch this space…

12:05.

Passing through Manchester Victoria I couldn’t help noticing how railway enthusiasts have returned to it’s platforms nowadays. A small group of them huddled at the East end of platform 5. For many years few bothered due to the steady diet of DMUs with an occaisional freight. Now, with a resurgence of freight and loco-hauled passenger services, plus new Nova 2 units snd Class 195s, it’s become a place to visit again!

14:30.

As the weather changes, so do plans. The miserabke weather we’ve been having over the past few days has given way to sunshine and the opportunity to catch some outdoor shots, so Piccadilly’s been postponed. Instead I’ve been getting shots around Manchesters rapidly changing city skyline (pix will be added later). Right now i’m bouncing my way to Wigan aboard an ostensibly ‘stored’ Northern Pacer (142046 for the number crunchers) which has presumably been resurrected to make uo a stock shortage. No doubt the picture will soon change again. Next week the new Class 195s are due to take over Leeds-Chester services, which (in theory) allows more Pacers to bite the dust before the December deadline.

14:37.

As we approached Bolton I noticed that the huge red brick “Beehive Mill” that’s adjacent to the line and been wmpty for years is in the process of being flattened. Cotton mills were an important part of Lancashire’s past, but they’ve no part in its future. Hopefully in 2019 the site can be put to better use.

15:34.

I’m taking a short break in Wigan to get some sonshine shots before heading back across the Pennines. Here’s my chariot, which is looking well for a ‘stored’ train!

17:50.

What a difference a few hours can nake to the weather! As I headed home through Manchester the sun was beating through cloudless skies and turning rail tracks into golden ribbons. I couldn’t resist stopping off at Victoria for an hour to capture some scenes and the opportunity presented by a flag-waving lookout stationed at just the right place on a platform end. I’ll ad some pictures later. Right now i’m on a busy Class 156 heading to Leeds via Brighouse as the 17:37 off Victoria.

Rolling blog: North-Western wandering…

15 Tuesday Oct 2019

Posted by in I love my job, Manchester, Modern Railways, Railways, Rolling blogs

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

09:30.

I’m on my way to Manchester from Huddersfield as I’m going to be spending much of the day working at Manchester Piccadilly doing people pictures for a client – although I’m sure a few train shots my find their way onto my memory card whilst I’m at it!

Like almost every day this month the weather’s dull and wet with low cloud at a height of just a few hundred metres, hiding the tops of the Pennine hills and giving the Colne valley quite a claustrophobic feel. Apparently, this October is on track to be the wettest since records began, which is no surprise. I can’t remember another one where the rain’s been so persistant or the showers so heavy. The climate’s changing and all but the most dogmatic and blinkered climate change denier can see that.

Luckily, I’ll be working under a station roof, albeit a rather leaky one! Still, let’s be grateful for small mercies. I always enjoy working at Piccadilly as the staff are a great bunch of people who take a photographer in their midst in their stride. So, let’s see how the day goes…

Whilst I was passing through Manchester Victoria one of TPE’s new Hitachi built Nova sets arrived on a Liverpool Lime St – Newcastle service. Sadly, both sets in service today were unbranded, which is a shame as the new livery suits them far more than the existing fleet of Class 185s

  • 802207 stands at Victoria whilst working 9E09, the 0925 Liverpool Lime St to Newcastle.

14:00.

Today’s office – and it’s been a busy one, photographing Network Rail staff offering all manner of assistance to passengers. From carrying their heavy suitcases, pushing wheelchairs or helping VIP’s (Visually Impaired People).

As usual, the staff have bern brilliant, but so have the passengers. No-one’s said no to having their picture taken and some have been really chatty. Every one of them has praised the staff at Piccadilly and the assist system in general. What I found interesting today was how the Network Rail staff I was working with were overwhelmingly young people compared to when I did the same series of shots (for ATOC as RDG was in those days) back in 2005.

15:04.

I’ve knocked off for the day and begun to wend my way homewards, pausing here and there to get shots of some of the stream of new trains coming into service on a weekly basis. Here’s one of Northern’s new CAF built class 195s at Oxford Rd.

17:11.

I had a ‘pit-stop’ at the Stalybridge station buffet on my way back to Huddersfield in order to have a ‘swifty’ and use their wifi to upload some pictures to my website. The buffet was its usual convivial self but what I hadn’t expected was to bump into one of the young men who works for Network Rail whom I’d been photographing earlier. He’d finished his shift and (like me) had stopped off on his way home. As we were both out of work we had an interesting chat. He was in stark contrast to my experience on the platform whilst waiting for my train, which was like being in a Victoria Wood sketch. The area was dominated by a young, overweight woman dressed in her best ‘Primani’ shouting into her phone at a female friend whom she had on speakerphone. Most of it was verbal diarrhoea, apart from the memorable line “I’ve just spent four and a half years in prison and he didn’t writ me once”…

20:15.

I’ve escaped the delights of ‘Stalyvegas’ and returned home to put my feet up, so there’s no more blogging from tonight, just a couple more pictures from the day.

The CAF built Class 195s are becoming a common sight around Manchester – especially on the Oxford Rd corridor. Here’s two of the units passing outside the station earlier today.
The second of the Hitachi built Class 802s that was in service today was 802218 which is also unbranded. It’s seen here at Manchester Victoria whilst working 9M08, the 10:02 from Newcastle to Liverpool Lime St. I’m hoping to have a trip on one of these sets tomorrow…

Rolling blog: The last judgement!

06 Tuesday Aug 2019

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

≈ 1 Comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

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: westward we go…

12 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, I love my job, Merseyside, New trains, Northern Rail, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs, Transport, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

07:29.It’s a beautiful morning in the Calder Valley today, full of sunshine and feeling like summer, but I’m already Westward bound on the 07:21 to Chester as far as Manchester. Unlike earlier in the week when this was a rammed 2 car Pacer, today it’s a 3 car Class 150+153 lash-up so there was no problem getting a seat and no-one’s been left behind anywhere.Whilst I was waiting at Sowerby Bridge a unique service passed in the opposite direction. Grand Central work an early morning service from Hebden Bridge to Leeds on behalf of Northern Rail. This calls at Sowerby at 07:17.

I’ve always wanted to get a shot of this but didn’t fancy wandering down to Sowerby Bridge at 7am unless I really had to!

07:40.

We’ve just left Todmorden and summer’s drawing to a close in front of me. There’s some humongous grey clouds towering on the horizon and it’s looking like once we pass through Summit tunnel into Lancashire the weather’s going to be a bit wet! Fortunately I’ve a folding umbrella on the camera bag but the conditions might make today’s shoot ‘interesting’ to say the least. PR shots and rain are uneasy bedfellows…I’m off to the Alstom factory in Widnes to shoot pictures of one of Transport for Wales repainted and refurbished Class 175s. I’m not sure if I’ll be allowed to share any pictures just yet, so watch this space…

08:16.

There’s fun and games at Manchester Victoria (where we arrived 5 mins late due to congestion) as a points failure at Earlstown’s having a knock-on effect. I’m now on TPE’s 08:10 to Manchester Airport which I’m taking as far as Oxford Rd. I’d normally walk but those grey clouds I mentioned earlier a currently dumping their load on the city! A sign of how much Victoria has changed in recent years was the fact that as my TPE service pulled in, all four through platforms were then in use by the TOC. It’s a far cry from just a few years ago when Northern had the monopoly on services through Manchester’s second station.

08:47.

I’m on my 3rd train company of the day as I’m now on an East Midlands Trains service from Nottingham to Liverpool Lime St as far as Widnes.

The rain’s stopped for now but the threatening, low clouds hold the promise of more at any moment. There’s just the occaissional tantalising glimpse of blue sky and sudden shaft of sunlight to tease me.

12:51.

I’m still at Alstom in Widnes. After completing a whole series of internal and external shots we’ve taken a coffee break in the hope the weather might change just enough to get a sunny external shot. After that I’ll be calling it a day. The guys need to finish working on the train at it needs to head back to Chester tonight. The bodywork looks really good as thus is a proper paint job, not just a vinyl wrap.

14:05.

Job done! Patience paid off, we waited patiently for a break in the cloud and finally a break in the cloud passed over us in the perfect place for the sun to shine upon us long enough for me to get the shot I wanted.

Now I’m heading into Liverpool to grab a late lunch (and a few more pictures) before heading back across the Pennines.

On the way in we’ve just passed Allerton depot. Talk about changing fortunes! For many years the depot was derelict. Then Northern took it over as a base for the Ex-Thameslink Class 319 electric fleet which were displacing diesels. Now the depot is full of Northern’s next generation of trains, the CAF built 195 and 331s. The picture was the same at Edge Hill carriage sidings. There’s literally dozens of new Northern trains ready to enter service over the next few months as mileage accumulation and driver training is complete.

15:39.

My, Liverpool Lime St’s changed in just a few short weeks! Not only are Class 195s much in evidence, so are some other interlopers in the shape of Transport for Wales who’re operating a new service to Chester. Here’s a couple of images.

Understandably, there are still teething problems with the new Northern sets. Two were being coupled together when something ‘fell off’. After a bit of head scratching and investigation staff on the scene told me it turned out to be nothing more serious than a spanner someone had left where they shouldn’t have! It caused a minor delay.

18:31.

After heading back into and across Manchester the same way I came I’m now on Northern’s 18:21 from Manchester Victoria to Sowerby Bridge. As it’s a 3-car and today is ‘POETS day’ (Piss-Off Early, Tomorrow’s Saturday) my trains neither crowded nor the passengers stressed. That said, I feel sympathy for train crew working this evening as many stations are awash with folk on their way out and expecting to have a good time, as the amount of empty bottles & cans they’ve left behind attest to!

Plotting and planning…

08 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, I love my job, Musings, West Yorkshire

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , ,

Today’s been one of those days stuck in the office where I’ve seen little else other than a computer screen. Most of the morning was spent editing hundreds of pictures from last week’s Network Rail jobs, but at least now they’re done and dusted so I can move on to other work, and there’s one very big job that’s going to be taking up much of this month – judging the 2019 ACoRP awards. The past few days has seem me busy going through the permutations and times of how to get myself and my fellow judge around all the stations we need to visit without us having massively long days. Luckily, Mark, the new Judge who’s joining me this year has a lot of rail experience and has been able to make suggestions I would’ve otherwise missed, so we’re gradually getting there. Tomorrow we start visiting the first stations closer to home before ending up with the more far-flung ones towards the end of the month. No doubt I’ll be rolling out some blogs about our travels. In between the ACoRP work I’ve a few interesting commissions coming up, so expect a bit of variety over the next few weeks. I’m going to be travelling pretty much the length & breadth of England, so there’s going to be plenty to see and photograph.

After the glorious weather we had for our narrowboat trips yesterday we’ve had a disappointing start to the week, the day’s early promise came to naught, gradually the day darkened as the clouds built up, culminating in a wet and dreary Monday evening, leaving me quite happy to be spending an evening keyboard bashing whilst Dawn’s busy downstairs cooking curries. The smells wafting up from the kitchen smell delicious!

Rolling (ish) blog: Manchester travels…

05 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in I love my job, Lancashire, Manchester, National Rail Awards, Network Rail, Northern Rail, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Transport, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , , ,

08:10.

It’s day two of working for Network Rail’s ASPRO (Asset Protection) team and this time the focus is on the Manchester area, so I’m on my way to meet them at NR’s Square 1 offices next to Piccadilly station. This is a ‘local’ job so I’m not encumbered with my overnight kit, which makes my bags a bit lighter!

I’ve caught Northern’s 08:06 service from Sowerby Bridge to get to across the Pennines. Made up of a Class 150/156 pairing it’s a surprisingly quiet train. I can only assume the holiday season’s in full swing. Needless to say, I’ve plumped for the 156 where I’m almost the only passenger in the rear car.

Unlike London where it’s meant to be even hotter than yesterday, it’s relatively cool here in the Pennines at 19 degrees with a blanket of high level cloud. At least I won’t have to cope with any harsh shadows today.

We’ve got a very busy schedule and plenty of sites to visit today so I’ll blog as and when I can. Hopefully there’ll be a few interesting pictures to add, although I don’t think I’ll be able to compete with the dramatic skyline pictures I took in London that are displayed in yesterday’s blog!

08:34.

We’ve now passed under the Pennines into Lancashire and our trains beginning to fill up with passengers from stations on the way like Littleborough and Smithy Bridge. Rochdale always provides a good crop of commuters so I expect we’ll be pretty full by then. This service is bound for Southport so it’ll probably be picking up the ‘bucket and spade brigade’ from Manchester.

22:28.

That went well then! Very sorry for the complete absence of blog updates. That’s partly because we were really busy and partly because not everything went to plan. Anyways, here’s a couple of pictures that give you a flavour of the assets we were looking at today.

DG327863crop

Brick arches at Salford. Below them is a compound for building new residential housing right next to the railway. 

DG327944crop

A new rail bridge over the A6

 

Rolling (ish) blog: London travels…

04 Thursday Jul 2019

Posted by in Engineering, I love my job, London, Network Rail, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

≈ 3 Comments

Tags

, , , ,

10:40.

I’m at Twickenham station after completing the first assignment with Network Rail’s ASPRO (Asset Protection) team where we visit the project you can see in the background to this picture.

This is the new station building that also contains flats and shops. It’s a complex project built astride the operational railway that’s due for completion next year. We’re now off to have a look at a similar project in Kew.

13:09.

Wow! That was interesting. You get to go to all sorts of places in this job. This triangular site is bounded by three railway lines. On one of them sits Kew Bridge station (just off the the left of this picture). Around the triangle’s a vast housing development that also includes Brentford Town’s new 17,000 seat stadium. It was originally planned to be 20,000 but this would have overhung the operational railway and proved to be difficult to maintain, so was scaled back.

15:52.

Next up was Vauxhall. Wait till you see some of the other pictures I took from the roof of this new 27 storey development!

DG327625crop

Like this, looking at Vauxhall station in a way you never normally get to see it – unless you’re in a plane!

DG327638CROP

16:20.

Now I’m in Stratford, an area I knew well as I lived and worked near here for 11 years. I have to say, where we are now I wouldn’t recognise at all. The only thing that still remains is the railway from Stratford heading up to Lea Bridge. Everywhere you look new housing has sprung up.

18:49.

After a long, hot and sweaty day I’m heading back North on LNER’s 18:33 to Bradford Forster Sq. This is still worked by a Class 91 and Mk4 set, but they’re showing their age. This set is missing coach D, which is causing a few problems. Plus, both ovens in the buffet are kaput and the PA’s on the blink!. That said, the Train Manager’s doing an excellent job keeping passengers informed. He’s pointed out that the first stop is Stevenage, where (normally) at least 100 people will leave the train, so there should be plenty of seats available (he was right by the way).

21:05.

I’m on my last leg, if not my last legs! The journey up to Leeds was pretty good. I managed to get a bit of work done on the train but also had time to collect my thoughts for a bit and enjoy the scenery for a while, which is a rare treat.

Now I’m on Northern’s 21:08 from Leeds to Huddersfield via Halifax which is made up of a two-car 144 and 150 lash-up which were joined in the station as I arrived. I suspect they’re heading to Huddersfield for stabling overnight. For old times sake I’m travelling on 144009 as Pacer withdrawals start this month and soon, they’ll be all gone.

Rolling blog: Off again…

03 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by in I love my job, London, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , ,

12:12.After a busy morning catching up on paperwork and checking and packing my PPE ready for tomorrow and Friday I’m getting ready to head down to London. The weather forecast is looking promising, so I can travel a bit lighter for a change. Let’s see how the day goes…13:38.I’m on the move after walking down into Sowerby Bridge. It’s a gorgeous day for a stroll, or it would be if I wasn’t carrying both the camera bag and a rucksack full of PPE!I caught a Leeds train, the 13:23 via Brighouse which is running 7 minutes late. It’s made up of a pair of refurbished Class 150s which are mostly empty this time of day. If anyone’s any sense they’ll have taken the day off to enjoy the sunshine!It makes a change to be heading for Leeds without a reversal at Bradford. I’m also enjoying the different scenery. The line through Brighouse to Mirfield is a shadow of it’s former self. Once it was four tracks all the way from ‘brig’, with massive goods yards and a vast amount of freight traffic along with a large steam locomotive depot at Mirfield, one of the last to close in the UK. The site is now a housing estate that was built in the last decade.Some of the towns haven’t fared much better, such as nearby Dewsbury (although it still has a lovely station and great station bar) and Batley, once renowned for its variety club and all the famous names that played there. Now, it’s infamous for the awful murder of Batley & Spen MP Jo Cox by a far-right fanatic.What Batley does have is one of the last surviving signal boxes in this part of the world, which protects a small level crossing to the East of the town. I’ll add a picture later.14:43.I’ve enjoyed a short break in Leeds in the sunshine, now I’m heading South bit by bit. First off is LNER’s 14:45 to Kings Cross which is worked by one of the companies fleet of HSTs that will soon be replaced by Azuma’s. The HSTs replacement on Intercity services is sounding the death knell for something that dates back to the dawn of the railways. The slam door…The HSTs that will remain in service are being converted to power operated doors, meaning the remaining slam door stock will be operated by charter operators and a couple of the freight companies like DB who lease them out to one or two operators like Scotrail, Abellio and Transport for Wales but they’ll be history on intercity services17:12.Far later than I expected due to technical issues with dealing with last minute picture requests, I’m now speeding south from Doncaster on another LNER service from Leeds, only this one’s a crowded and toasty Mk4 set. The air conditioning is struggling in my coach (F) but it’s the only one I could find a free airline seat in. Despite that, the crew have been great.All I can say is I’m glad I’m not dressed in full PPE (other than boots, which are easier to wear than carry) and I can dress down and pretend this is a local train in Thailand. Well, apart from the sights, sounds and smells, obviously!18:21.I abandoned my LNER service at Stevenage which offers a very handy connection to cross-London Thameslink services. The days of having to fight your way from terminal to terminal via the London Underground have dropped dramatically and will do so even more when Thameslink finally opens.20:18.OK, I admit I dallied in old haunts in central London for half an hour as the weather was so perfect. I bailed out of my Thameslink service at Blackfriars after seeing the stunning weather. I couldn’t resist a short walk aking the south bank just see see how the ever changing skyline of the ‘square mile’ looks like now.

DG327203CROP

Mind you, it’s not just the city. After my stop-off I continued on to the rebuilt London Bridge station before heading back to Waterloo, where my train to Feltham was leaving from platform 24. Hang on a minute – 24? Yep, one of the old Eurostar platforms.

DG327250CROP

See you tomorrow!

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

, , , , ,

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.