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Category Archives: I love my job

Best laid plans…

19 Tuesday Jun 2018

Posted by in ACoRP, I love my job, Railways, Travel

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So much for my quiet week at home! I’m currently sat on Grand Central’s 10:35 Halifax-Kings cross service en-route to the capital thanks to a very short-notice press call (all will be revealed tomorrow). I’ll get back home Wednesday but it’s certainly altered my workload.

It doesn’t look like I’ll be at home much in July either. Yesterday was the final day for entries to the 2018 ACoRP awards. I’m a judge of the ‘It’s your station’ category (along with Paul Cook of the Royal Horticultural Society) and l’ve just seen how many entries there are this year. 29! These are dotted around the country, from Scotland to Devon and East Anglia to Merseyside. ‘All’ I have to do now is work out how we get to visit them all!

At least I’ve got a few hours on the train to get some picture editing done. Watch out for some appearing later…

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Another mad week begins!

11 Monday Jun 2018

Posted by in Calder Valley, Germany, Hs2, I love my job, Never a dull life, Northern Rail, Photography, Photojournalism, Rail Investment, Travel

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The old expression “feast or famine” springs to mind this week as I find myself with one of those weeks where there’s just too much happening at the same time, leaving me with an interesting exercise in logistics and juggling.

Right now I’m off to Manchester to check on rail improvement work and the effects of the timetable ‘difficulties’. I’ll report back on what I find. At least my train from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester’s only a minute late. It’s 158905, which is one of the DMUs West Yorkshire PTE funded ‘back in the day’. It’s still providing sterling service, even if it’s carrying a lighter load than usual today.

Funnily enough, I’ve just passed one of its sister units at Hebden Bridge which is still carrying Scotrail livery (158871). It’s the delayed cascade of units like 871 that’s contributed to Northern’s present difficulties

Tomorrow, the fun starts in earnest. I’m attending the High Speed Rail Industry Leaders conference in Leeds then heading straight down to London in readiness for an early morning flight to Germany. I’m part of a Siemens press trip which will preview some of their new products ahead of the massive Innotrans trade fair in Berlin in September. It’s going to be a busy couple of days in Germany but as soon as I land I have to dash again – this time to Crewe as I’ve volunteered to take the pictures on the Railway Children charities annual ‘3 peaks by rail’ fundraiser. This is only being made possible by my long-suffereing wife, Dawn – who will be meeting me (fleetingly) in London for a rapid kit change! Hopefully (Heathrow customs permitting) I’ll make it to Crewe in time to catch the train. If not, I’ll be catching up with them in Bangor at some God-awful hour!

The ‘3 Peaks by rail’ event lasts from Thursday evening until Saturday evening, when I should land back in Preston in time to get home. Last year that didn’t happen. One of the pair of Class 37s had to be changed at Carlisle so we were late and I had to stay over in Manchester. I’m hoping for better luck this time. Dawn’s on standby with the car, just in case…

As you can see, there’s going to be plenty to shoot and write about, so watch this space…

15.37.

Right now I’m returning from a look at electrification of and expansion to Bolton station. The delays to this project are another reason for Northern’s problems…

Surreality

19 Saturday May 2018

Posted by in I love my job, Railways, Travel

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One of the reasons I love my job is the variety of stuff I get to do – even if it is exhausting sometimes.

I was up at 05:30 this morning in order to be at Waterloo station in time to photograph crowds on their way to the royal wedding in Windsor for a client.

It’s been a fun day. The atmosphere at Waterloo was relaxed but all hands were on deck, including SWR MD Andy Mellors who was there to support his staff. As it was the crowds were steady and the plans that had been but in place coped easily.

After a couple of hours I travelled with revellers to Windsor to get pictures at journeys end.

Now the jobs over, the photo’s have been emailed to the client and I have the slightly surreal experience of watching the wedding which is taking place only a few hundred yards away on a TV in a local pub.

Right, time for a little wander before heading home for the night to exchange clothes and pick up my PPE. Tomorrow I head for Brighton in readiness for a job on Monday – the day the biggest change in rail timetables begins. After which I head back to Yorkshire, only to travel to Gatwick the next day in order to fly to New York for a week. Meanwhile, here’s another couple of pictures from today.

DG296304. Royal wedding crowds. Windsor and Eton central. 19.5.18

Royal wedding crowds flood off Windsor and Eton riverside station to head to the royal wedding procession route.

DG296170. SWR staff member gets into the wedding spirit. Waterloo. 19.5.18

A member of SWR staff at Waterloo had entered into the spirit of the day

I must admit, I found the whole day fascinating, mainly because of the wide spectrum of people I encountered going to watch the wedding. It wasn’t quite what I was expecting. I hope to find time to talk about this in another blog.

 

 

Best laid plans…

18 Sunday Feb 2018

Posted by in Charities, I love my job, The Railway Children

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Well, I had planned to spend a few hours catching up on blogging today but in the finest tradition of Harold Macmillan, events got in the way. That said, there’s going to be plenty to blog about in the next few days. I head back to London tomorrow for a day’s photography in the capital. Apparently, there’s a StopHs2 demonstration outside the High Court as the DfT’s taking out an injunction out against the Harvil Rd protesters. I might just swing by to see how few Hs2 antis turn out to protest.  After that I have a job to do for one of the railway industry magazines.

Tuesday is a day I’m really looking forward to as I’ll be on the Eurostar press trip launching their new service from London to Amsterdam. Expect a few tweets from @paulbigland1 during the day!

After that I’m heading back to Yorkshire, ramping up my cycle training as I’m off to India at the beginning of March to take part in the ‘Ride India’ charity cycle ride to raise money for the Railway Children charity. Indian phone reception and internet permitting – expect regular updates about that too…

Home again…

01 Thursday Feb 2018

Posted by in Charities, Hs2, I love my job, Travel, West Yorkshire

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After a really enjoyable few days working in London I’m back in West Yorkshire and looking forward to resuming with my cycle training as well as catching up with a whole range of work related projects. I can’t believe we’re already in February as January seemed to pass in a flash. I’ve heard it said that this is part of getting older, as a child the six weeks school summer holidays seemed to last forever. Now, six weeks feels like the blink of an eye!

I’m determined to keep up the momentum on blogging as well as my other projects, so expect a variety of topics to crop up – including regular training updates and appeals for sponsorship (like this one!). In all seriousness, please donate, the money really will help those less fortunate than ourselves…

One thing I won’t be blogging about as much is the anti Hs2 campaign. Mainly because it’s pretty much ceased to exist. There’s no organisation anymore and the disparate groups left have no political clout – as the vote in Parliament on Tuesday demonstrated in spades. Instead I’m looking forward to blogging about the construction of Hs2.

Right now I’ve got a huge amount of pictures to edit, so it’s time to swap pen for Photoshop. Se you later…

 

 

London calling…

30 Tuesday Jan 2018

Posted by in I love my job, London, Rail Investment, Transport, Travel

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Despite having plenty to blog about the one thing I haven’t had is time. I’m 2/3 through my commission in private residential old people’s homes in North London and it’s absorbed nearly all my time, but here’s a quick update.

As expected, it’s been a fascinating couple of days. The staff at the two homes I’ve visited have been inspiring. The level of care and attention they give to residents (who all have different needs and levels of support) is bloody hard work. It’s not a job for the casual or the faint-hearted. I’ve also met some lovely residents and heard their stories. The whole experience has been uplifting  – if sometimes sad when you see the ravages of dementia on people who obviously shone before the onset of such a cruel disease.

I’ve also reacquainted myself with commuting across London by public transport. It’s not something have had to do for a long time. When I lived in North London but worked in the East my daily commute was by bicycle. It was the same when I did relief shifts on newspapers based at Canary Wharf. Once I turned to photography my commute was never normally to the same place more than two days in a row.

Since those days London’s population’s grown – as has the number of people commuting in. Today I was using Thameslink services from Herne Hill to Kentish Town & expecting that the new 8-car Siemens Class 700s might have provided a bit of breathing space compared to the Class 319s they’d replaced. Not a bit of it. The trains were rammed – despite all the extra space they provide. It was like being on the tube! It was the same with 12 car trains I saw passing through. Now, these trains are people movers. The 8 cars can carry 1146 and the 12’s take 1754 souls. If they’re already full it’s clear the full 24tph timetable through the Thameslink core can’t come soon enough…

20180130_083008_001

Despite the fact this thing’s a real people-mover and there’s several an hour, I had to flag the first two as I just couldn’t squeeze on. This was 3rd time lucky.

 

Going back to my roots…

28 Sunday Jan 2018

Posted by in I love my job, London, Photojournalism

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I’m working in London for the next few days and for a change – it’s nothing to do with railways. Instead, I’m going back to old haunts and shades of a former career.

Back in the 1980s-90s before I became a photographer I used to work and live in social housing. In fact, it was the focus of my life. I was a Housing Officer for the London Borough of Tower Hamlets as well as being very much involved in running the tenant management Housing Co-op in which I lived – which went by the name of ‘Wilfrid’ (after one of Beano comic strip Bash St kids). It’s over 20 years ago now as I moved out of the co-op in 1996 and left housing in 1997 but I always maintained an interest in the sector – helped by the fact my ex-wife worked for various charities at the time, including Homeless Network and the Big Issue. I look back on those days with fondness and treasure a lot of the memories. The stories that I could tell…

For the next three days I’m looking forward to combining my love of photography and interest in housing as I have a commission to take pictures in a trio of private homes for the elderly in North London. I suspect I’m going to meet some fascinating people and hear some interesting stories in the process.

Another day, another dollar…

27 Friday Oct 2017

Posted by in I love my job, Railways, Travel, Uncategorized

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Days at home are all too rare right now, although I shouldn’t really complain. Monday – Tuesday saw me commuting to London for various jobs, Wednesday had me working out of the ACoRP office in Huddersfield, Thursday was a chance to catch up on some paperwork and picture editing at home. Today I’m back on the rails again, heading to York for another job for RAIL magazine. This afternoon I return to London as Dawn and I are spending a couple of nights in the capital to celebrate my birthday, then have a day with friends to celebrate our forthcoming wedding. I’ve eschewed the traditional stag night. Instead I’ve opened the day up to both sexes and invited friends to meet the pair of us on Saturday as we visit one or two of London’s finest hostelries!
As much as I love travelling, I’m looking forward to having more time at home. The Pennines are beautiful this time of year. Autumn brings crisp mornings, gorgeous light and a fantastic array of colours as the trees shed their leaves. I’m looking forward to being able to enjoy these sights on some weekend walks – if we can fit them in before the wedding!

Derby bound…

11 Monday Sep 2017

Posted by in I love my job, Railways, Travel

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After a weekend of DIY at home I’m on my travels again, heading for a job in Derby. An advantage of having a fiancé who works by Huddersfield railway station is that it’s easy for me to get a lift to a station that has a far greater selection and frequency of services than my local one. I’d a number of routes to choose from but today the best option was a Northern service to Wakefield Westgate for a connecting Cross-Country train to Derby. It nearly didn’t happen. As is often the case, Trans-Pennine Express services were running late. Today, they were very late*. My 09:31 was held to let a York through that was 50 minutes down. Despite this, quick work by the crew of our Pacer turned a 7 late departure into an on-time arrival. It wouldn’t have mattered – my onward connection was late too! A pair of Voyagers rolled in 6 down. I’m sitting in one now, scribbling this before posting it via the wifi. We’re gradually making up minutes en-route so I’m expecting a right-time arrival at Derby. The beauty of Voyagers is they’ve plenty of horsepower when needed!

To say the weather is changeable at the moment would be an understatement. It really has been a case of four seasons in one day,  I need to be carrying a brolly and waterproof sun cream in weather like this! At least today’s job is undercover. I’m heading for the Bombardier plant to shoot a mock-up of one of the new Aventra trains that’ve been ordered by Anglia, so expect a few pictures to be added this afternoon.

See you later!

* In fairness to TPE, this wasn’t their fault. Torrential rain caused the line to be flooded at Greenfield. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Time to get into the festive spirit.

23 Wednesday Dec 2015

Posted by in I love my job, Railfreight, Railways, Uncategorized

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I’m writing this in Costa Coffee on Liverpool Lime St, having just finished the last overnight job of 2015. I hadn’t planned to be here. The commission was one of those last minute requests that found me available & able to make my way across to the Seaforth container terminal in Liverpool to document the arrival, loading, unloading and departure of the first intermodal train to use the site since Freightliner pulled out in 2007. Despite the gloomy forecast the rain (mostly) held off, whilst the water on the ground added extra light & contrast to my pictures. Even the notorious River Mersey wind, (which can cut through you like a knife) was pretty relaxed.

Needless to say, it’s a flying visit. I was on the last Trans-Pennine service in and I’m on the first one out – which is a shame as I’d loved to have had spare time to explore the city of my birth. Then again, trudging round in a full set of PPE with camera bag and tripod in tow is hardly conducive to sight-seeing or shopping. There’s also the fact that I’ve been up all night – hence the coffee stop! For the first time in several years I’m not actually working over the festive season. Normally I’d be spending Xmas and Boxing day documenting the hard work of Network Rail and their contractors as they rebuild or renew the railway. Instead I’m spending Xmas with Dawn’s family at a holiday cottage in the Yorkshire countryside. I’m sure my body clock won’t know what the hell is going on! No long shifts, no overnights – just the chance to experience what most ordinary folk do this time of year. Of course, I’ll still be thinking about the members of the ‘orange army’ who don’t have that luxury. Stay safe folks…