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Category Archives: I love my job

Desk-bound…

20 Monday Aug 2018

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

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It had to happen sooner or later, the the past few days have seen me pretty much stuck at my desk. Admittedly we did get to nip over to Southport for a gathering of the Bigland clan on Saturday, but the rest of the time’s seen me on household duties or trying to deal with a rather large backlog of paperwork. The good news is that I can now get into my  office without worrying about being crushed by unstable piles of magazines and bumpf which were reaching Himalayan heights.

It’s not before time as the next month or so are going to be rather busy. I’ll be embarking on my bi-annual round-Britain trip for RAIL magazine shortly so I need to clear the decks for that and the time to write it up before I head off to the National Rail Awards, which is going to be a little different this time. I’ve been at the awards every year since 2003 as the event photographer. Now Dawn and I will be VIP guests, instead of being on duty with a job to do I’ll be able to chat and enjoy the company of the many people from the rail industry I’ve got to know over the years, like this bunch!

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Thankfully, the NRA doesn’t clash with another important event in the railway calendar as it has in the past: Innotrans.

This massive bi-annual event is the largest rail trade show in the world. It’s held in Berlin and it’s an absolute must for anyone who wants to see what the railway industry’s up to.  I’ve arranged to be there for 4 of the 5 days. The show’s so massive you need that amount of time to get around the place! Outside at the Messe Hall there’s acres of trains on display, inside there’s even more as the event takes over dozens of buildings on several levels. Here’s a link to pictures from the last time I was there in 2014 which will give you an idea of what to expect.

The next few weeks are going to be rather interesting. Obviously, my work for RAIL will be restricted to being published in the magazine, but I’m sure I’ll be publishing a few teasers! In the meantime, there’s a few other trips to do…

 

 

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Pictures, not words, have been the priority today.

14 Tuesday Aug 2018

Posted by in I love my job, Photography, Railways

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Today’s been another of those rare days where I get to work from home and try to catch up on some of the back-office stuff I can’t normally get to do on the road. Part of that has involved editing hundreds of the pictures that I took on the last few days travels and getting them on my Zenfolio website. If you want to have a look, follow this link. It’ll take you straight to the various galleries I’ve updated. Here’s a few samples, just to show you the variety.

DG304506. Pax. Leeds. 1.8.18

Changing trains at Leeds after coming back from Beverley and Hull after another day judging stations for the ACoRP awards.

DG305282. Hs2 construction zone. New Canal St. Birmingham. 8.8.18

Under stormy skies a train from Birmingham New St passes the Eagle and Tun pub which is in the middle of the High Speed 2 (HS2) station site at Birmingham Curzon St. This area will be unrecognisable in a few years time.

DG305428. 156480. Parton. 9.8.18

Northern Rail No 156480, decorated in RAF 100 commemorative vinyl livery traverses the Cumbrian coast line at Parton, just North of Whitehaven. This stretch of line has fantastic coastal views. 

Don’t worry, I’ll be back on the rails again soon!

Rolling blog: Here we go again…

13 Monday Aug 2018

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

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It will come as absolutely no surprise when I tell you that I’m typing this on a train. This time I’m back on Grand Central’s 07:08 from Halifax to London. Us ACoRP judges are dedicated souls, I’m off to meet fellow Judge Paul Cook in Ashford, Kent to finalise the winners of this years awards. We’d hoped to have finished the job closer to home on Friday, but events got in the way!

At least I have wifi, a power socket and coffee to keep me going for the next few hours. En-route we’ve passed through one of the stations we judged, Brighouse, which is looking splendid right now as the plethora of planters and tubs are in full bloom. Nearby Mirfield is coming on too as the local ‘in bloom’ group have been busy tidying up the massive flower bed that occupies the site of the station buildings and adding more planters and ‘bug hotels’. As my train pulled away I noticed a commuter dead-heading some of the plants as she waited for her train. I love seeing the way ordinary passengers get involved like this.

09:42

We’re currently flying along the East Coast Main Line near Huntingdon, running 6 minutes late due to trespassers on the line around Doncaster earlier. It’s the school holidays and trespass incidents always increase when they’ve broken up. It’s a serious problem for the railways as vandalism also increases. Despite every effort by the railway companies and British Transport police to educate youngsters, we see this problem every year.

10:33

I’m now in London and I’ve swapped the East Coast Main Line for High Speed 1 to get me to Ashford.

It’s always a delight to use this line. Nowadays it’s so quick and easy to get into Kent. It’s a far cry from the days when you had to get across London by tube to Victoria or Charing Cross to catch an old slam-door electric train that would then take hours to rattle and shake its way through suburban South London before arriving in Kent. Now it takes just 38 minutes! Hs1 provides a taster of what Hs2 will be like (only more luxurious, the Hitachi Javelins in Hs1 are designed for moving commuters in/out of London).

The weather here in Kent’s rather mixed, to put it mildly! We’ve just passed through a veryheavy shower that lasted a couple of minutes before we burst out of the other side. I think my trusty fold-up umbrellas going to be very useful today.

20:20

I’m now on the return trip after a successful conclusion to the ACoRP judging and a chance to mooch around Kent, rediscovering old haunts and grabbing a few photos en-route. I dodged all but one shower and even managed to get pictures in the sunshine. I can’t say I’d rush back to Ashford however. There are one or two attractive old buildings but the town centre was a bit of a disappointment. It was all rather bland and uninspiring. As I had plenty of time I took a circular tour back to London via Folkestone, Dover, Ramsgate and Canterbury along one of the very few lines in the SouthEast I’d never traversed, the route from Dover to Ramsgate via Deal and Sandwich. It’s actually a pretty little line that is still controlled by manual signalboxes and even semaphore signals – a rare beast in this part of the world nowadays. Passing through Deal it’s hard to credit that this area was once the location of the Kent coalfield. The last mine at nearby Betteshanger closed in 1989, just short of the centenary of coal mining in Kent. Coal had been discovered during test bores for an earlier attempt to build a tunnel under the channel. The area has a fascinating history as the railway cuts across the bottom of the Roman fort at Richborough, just outside Sandwich. It was from here the Roman successfully conquered Britain during the reign of the Emperor Claudius. I remember cycling around this area back In the 1990s and I’d love to have the time to scan the slides I took. One day…

After a brief stop at Ramsgate to grab some pictures I headed back into London through Canterbury, another old haunt. When I lived in the East End of London our merry band would often come to attend the beer festival which was held on a farm on the outskirts of town. Fond memories!

The weather deteriorated as I returned to the capital and I fully expected to get soaked but they were confined to Kent and London escaped their attention – as did I.

It’s now 21:07 and I’ve glanced up from my screen to realise that it’s pitch black outside! The night’s are starting to draw in again…

 

 

Rolling blog: Cumbria bound

09 Thursday Aug 2018

Posted by in Calder Valley, GNRP, I love my job, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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I’m on the move again today with three different assignments to fulfil. Hopefully, the weather will play ball. The dull, heavy cloud that blighted me yesterday as given way to a variety of shapes, styles and heights, broken up by long periods of blue sky.

Right now I’m making my way from Sowerby Bridge to Preston. I changed trains at Hebden Bridge as that gave me time to check-out progress on the platform extensions and also admire the collection of old Calder Valley railway prints and photographs on display in the waiting rooms. Here’s two examples from the artist AF Tait.

The first is the rail/canal bridge known as the Whiteley Arch which is West of Todmorden

The next shows the original Brighouse station (built in the Chinese style) from the days when the town was the railhead for Bradford, seven miles away.

If you’ve never been to Hebden Bridge station it’s well worth a look. It’s probably the best preserved former Lancashire & Yorkshire station left on the network. I’ll add some pictures of it later.

Right now I’m passing through a succession of old Cotton Mill towns (Burnley, Accrington and Blackburn) along a line that once used to be full of freight trains carrying coal, the raw materials for the mills – and the finished products to market. The decline since those heady days is evident, both in the towns and the railway that serves them. Yet the railway rationalisation of the 1960s-80s is now in reverse. The decline in the towns is harder to put right, especially after a decade of Government imposed austerity. Things are set to get worse thanks to the Brexit shambles as these towns were persuaded to vote Leave (against their own interests) and many folk are living in blissful ignorance of the gathering economic storm that’s coming their way and that will hit these shores in 2019.

I’ve arrived in Blackburn the same time as a passing shower! Fortunately, we’re heading in opposite directions.

Northern Rail seem to be having a few fleet issues today. Many Calder Valley services are short-formed. I’m jammed in the vestibule of a 2-car Class 158. This service is a normally a 3 car. The Class 153s that are used to strengthen many other trains seem noticeably absent today.

Preston. 10:44.

On arrival at Preston I’ve connected seamlessly with Northern’s 10:44 to Barrow in Furness. A 2 car 158 is a bit of a let-down after the TPE 185s that used to ply the route. There’s no power sockets or wifi so it’s not much of a mobile office. However, the Conductor has done his bit to make the trip more interesting. Look what’s on the PIS!

12:18

After another seamless connection at Barrow I’m now heading up the Cunbrian coast to Whitehaven and the weather’s ideal. Heres the view as we approached Ulverston.

16:52.

I’m heading home now, but things didn’t quite go to plan! When I arrived in Whitehaven the rain Gods had arranged to co-incide and a band of rain cloud sat over the town. Luckily, it didn’t hang around so my walk along the old mineral tramway Northwards towards Parton was blessed with sunshine. I do like this area as a photo location (you’ll see why later) but Parton itself is a sad place nowadays.

Unless you knew the Cumbrian coast 40 or so years ago you can be forgiven for not knowing about its industrial heritage. Coal mining, steel-making and chemicals were the backbone of the economy. Now they’ve all gone – along with the fishing industry. Today, the area’s biggest employer is the Sellafield Nuclear plant, followed by the tourist trade.

Add to the mix a decade of austerity since 2008 and towns like Parton are suffering. They never made the transition from industry to tourism as they have little to offer.

19:09.

I’m on the move again, this time from Barrow in Furness to Preston. The journey was gorgeous. The weather’s been perfect and the views across the beaches sublime. Here’s a sample

I stopped in Barrow in Furness for an hour to explore a little as I’ve not been here for 12-13 years. Now I can see why. Barrow was (and is) a shipbuilding town but there’s a problem. Britain is no longer an Imperial power or Empire and we certainly don’t rule the waves anymore. Our Navy’s shrinking in line with our reduced place in the world, yet towns like Barrow cling to a past that’s not coming back. Now Barrow is reliant on building the ultimate baroque arsenal – Nuclear submarines. They’re great for getting a seat at international tables – even more so after Brexit as it’s all we have left – but can our enfeebled economy still afford them? I suspect Barrow’s obvious love of the past may be the harbinger of its doom. Like many old industrial towns, the walk in from the station is past numerous derelict shops and reminders of a better past, like this:

Rolling blog: The final countdown…

06 Monday Aug 2018

Posted by in ACoRP, I love my job, Musings, Northern Rail, Pacers, Rail Investment, Rolling blogs, Transport, Travel

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Paul Cook and I are back on the ACoRP judging trail today, visiting the last 3 of the 25 stations on the shortlist for 2018. There’s two in the Manchester area then one much closer to home back in West Yorkshire. 2018 brought some fantastic entries which means the pair of us are going to have a tough time choosing an overall winner.

Right now I’m heading over to Manchester from Sowerby Bridge on a Northern Rail Class 156. These units were rare visitors to West Yorkshire until recently as they worked services out of Liverpool and Manchester until they were displaced by electrification and an influx of former Thameslink Class 319s.

Northern’s DMU train fleet is a real mixture of cascaded units in a variety of liveries right now. 150s and 153s from GWR and 158s and 170s from Scotrail have been added to the fleet recently (with more to come). Meanwhile, the first of the new DMUs from builders CAF has arrived and sits in the depot at Edge Hill, Liverpool. Clearly, the writing’s on the wall for the old BR ‘Pacer’ fleet…

The run of sunny weather appears to have ground to a halt. We had a superb day at home yesterday. Today the skies wall to wall with grey clouds of a variety of hues and densities. I’m hoping it will recover as I’ve more scenic rail pictures to try and get in the can this week.

12:09.

First visit done! Now we’re moving on from suburban South Manchester out to rural Derbyshire, this time aboard a refurbished Northern Class 150/2. These are my least favorite DMUs. Noisy, slow and with high window cills and poor visibility, they’re less than ideal on scenic lines. The 2+3 seating doesn’t help make them feel any less cramped.

14:24

We’re heading back to Manchester now ready for the final visit. Here’s a clue to where we were visiting.

DG305004

The weather’s warming up and the skies are clearing, so I might see the last station at its most colourful…

16:16

Having made the dash over the Pennines to Huddersfield I’m now aboard yet another of Northern Rail’s Class 150 fleet. Oh, for a Pacer with their big windows! Luckily, I’m not on here for long…

18:04.

Dun judging! That’s it for another year. Now I’m bouncing my way back to Sowerby Bridge on a Pacer.

As predicted, the sun had got his hat on and the afternoon’s turned into a lovely evening. I popped into one of my locals, the Jubilee refreshment rooms on Sowerby Bridge station for a celebration beer. The Jubilee is unique in that it tells you when the beer barrel was put on.

As well as being blessed with the Refreshment Rooms the local station friends group has built a very attractive garden by the car park (as well as maintaining tubs and planters on the platforms).

Rolling blog: To Hull – and back…

01 Wednesday Aug 2018

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

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Day 3 on the rails but today I’m off somewhere in a different quadrant of the country. I have a station to judge on the line between Hull and Scarborough so I’m currently on a Northern Rail service from Sowerby Bridge to Leeds on the first leg of the trip.

As I’m travelling post-peak i’ve managed to bag a table. I need to get some work done on the way as (surprise, surprise) there’s a lot of pictures from the past few days travel to edit and get onto my Zenfolio website.

Admittedly, the world outside the carriage window can be a bit of a distraction, especially on a lovely day like today but this leg of the trip is more like a commute rather than an adventure.

10:38.

Having caught a late-running train to Leeds I had nearly an hour to wait for my connection and explore. Leeds is yet another station that’s changed out of all recognition since my childhood days. It’s undergone a series of redevelopments over tge years and is set for more with the arrival of the new High Speed 2 (HS2) railway in 2033. Here’s a couple of images, the first shows a great bit of artwork on the side of the old BR offices many passengers never even notice.

Here’s the old concourse that was added by the LMS railway.

Despite the torrid time Northern Rail passengers have been having with delays and cancellations, the picture does seem to be improving, as this indicator board shows

Unfortunately, one of the few late trains is mine! The 10:48 to Hull run by Trans-Pennine Express keeps slipping, and slipping and slipping. It’s gone from 3, to 5 to 10 minutes late – which screws up my next connection, leaving me an hour late!

This is the most frustrating thing about the passenger information screens, the information is less than accurate. Logging on to the ‘realtime trains’ website I can see my train has lost time at every station stop and is now showing as over 15m late!

19:21

A very frustrating day. I’ve updated this blog several times during the day and added a load of pictures (via laptop and mobile), but nothing’s ‘stuck’. Will this?

20:00

I’m now on the final leg from Leeds to Halifax aboard yet another ex GWR Class 150. The cascade of trains from other TOCs to Northern is very noticeable right now because most are still in their former liveries. From a photographer’s perspective it’s great. Passengers see it differently. They care about the fact their conmuter train’s doubled in size. They’d be even more impressed if all the extra services promised arrived too and punctuality wasn’t so dire.

Home. 21:57

I’m hoping having my home broadband connection will allow me to update this blog as I’ve had a really interesting day. A problem with traveling by Trans-Pennine Express is that their internet connection has the heebie-jeebies when it comes to logging into WordPress, so I have to use my phone to blog from, which is frustrating.

Anyways, back to the narrative. Yes, I missed my connection in Hull. The bright side? The group I was visiting were very understanding and I got to explore. Even though I was only in Hull last year the station’s undergone another change. This time many of the old buildings at the back of the buffer-stops have been swept away and replaced with new. Here’s an example. The newish waiting room’s been replaced by a Starbuck’s. The adjoining buildings are yet to be let.

DG304374

I first visited Hull in 2004 when I started writing my bi-annual round Britain trips for RAIL magazine. In those days the front of the station was disfigured by a monstrous 1960s office block built by BR. That’s gone now and the grade 2 listed station hotel it hid has undergone a bit of a renaissance. It’s now owned by Britannia hotels and the downstairs lobby and bar is really rather classy. Here’s the entrance from the station concourse.

DG304377

Here’s what it looks like on the inside. Style is returning to railway station hotels…

DG304387

Moving on from Hull I did my visit, then pitched up in Bridlington to check out an old institution, the station bar. Sadly, it’s not what it was. The extravagant floral displays have disappeared and the quality of the beer was disappointing. After a number of years the present owners have decided to call it a day and sell up. I wish them both well and hope that whoever buys it keeps the special feel of the place.

Heading back South I stopped off at Beverley, a place that I’d never explored beyond the environs of the wonderful overall roofed station. Today I put that right and I was pleasantly surprised. It’s a lovely little market town with a very impressive cathedral

DG304469

Meanwhile, in the Market Square..

DG304464

Of course, the railway station which opened in 1846 is rather nice too. It’s a grade 2 listed building and one of only a handful which retain overall roofs.

DG304480

 

Footloose…

25 Wednesday Jul 2018

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

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Sorry for the lack of a blog yesterday. It’s not that I wasn’t doing anything. Far from it – I ended up following the sunshine to Blackpool (of all places) to try and get pictures for two different clients. You’ll see some of the fruits of my labours on my website just as soon as I can upload them. Today I’ve been in Sconny Botland again, with the same sort of mission. The weather was far better than the forecast predicted. I ended up walking miles to research some locations so I’ve had a pretty good physical workout as well as getting pictures. Right now i’m coming full circle. I went from Halifax to Preston to Glasgow via the WCML before checking out locations on EGIP (Edinburgh- Glasgow Electrification Programne). Now I’m returning via the East Coast and York (plus Leeds).

Here’s what the view at Berwick looked like.

It’s funny the places you (unintentionally) end up in this game. After getting some lineside shots I was walking back to the road and spotted this. I’d never even heard of the event before now.

There’s an irony to this today as earlier a UKIP MEP and Brexit zealot called for the treason laws to be revised so that wanting to remain in the EU would be classed as treasonable!

bannerman

This is how far some folk in the UK have completely lost the plot.

Right, bedtime for me now. It’s been a long and sweaty day where my Fitbit stats don’t really reflect what I’ve been up to as they don’t account for the weight of my camera bag!

fitbit

Tomorrow I’m off judging stations tomorrow, but expect a big photo update by the end of the day, Meanwhile, here’s a teaser. The new Hitachi Class 385s have finally gone into service this week.

DG303661

Rolling blog: Going East

12 Thursday Jul 2018

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I’m up at sparrow-fart again for the fourth day of judging the ACoRP awards. Today it’s the turn of three stations in the East Midlands Trains empire. As they’re difficult to all visit by rail we’ve conscripted the help of Donna Adams, their Community Rail Officer who’s hoping to arrange alternative transport. Right now I’m on my way to Nottingham to meet up with her.

After weeks of continuous sunshine this morning’s walk to the station was actually in the rain! Well, when I say rain it was more of a drizzly shower that did little else but wet the pavements before it trailed off, but it’s a start!

My first train of the day is Northern’s 06:03 from Halifax to Leeds. I caught the same train yesterday wben it was a 3-car. Today that’s been reduced to 2, so I expect it to be rammed when it leaves Pudsey later. Right now, after stopping at the new station at Low Moor it’s on the comfortable scale.

Sure enough, after stops at New Pudsey and Bramley it’s now standing room only. Or (in my case) sitting in a luggage rack!

Hopefully I’ll get a better perch for the next leg of the trip as it’s another two hours to Nottingham from Leeds.

06:58.

Well, there was no danger of having to stand on the 07:03 to Nottingham! The inward bound service was packed but this is very civilised.

I’ve a table bay of four to myself right now so it’s time for breakfast, which is a little more down-market compared to yesterday’s lunch!

After which I might treat myself to a powernap…

07:38

My train didn’t stay quiet for long. We’ve just called at Barnsley and picked up several dozen Sheffield bound commuters, so this train’s certainly earning its keep again.

08:08

At Sheffield we swapped our commuters for a slightly smaller and mode mixed batch of passengers which includes a rather Mr Bean like character sat opposite who’s travelling bare-foot!

Bare-foot man got off at Dronfield. Now, after a couple more stops, the train is full again, this time carrying commuters bound for Nottingham.

Update. 17:19.

Phew! Another busy day that’s seen me explore parts of Lincolnshire I’ve never visited before. Well, I’ve seen the stations but never visited the towns themselves. Again, I’m not going to go into too much detail but I’ve met some brilliant station groups and seen first-hand the excellent work they’ve been doing. Here’s just one example. Last time I passed through Market Rasen station it was a scene of dereliction. Just look at it now!

After we’d finished I bid au revoir to my EMT guides at Lincoln (another station that’s had a make-over since my last visit). Now I’m heading home via Northern’s 17:22 to Leeds – although I’ll probably stop off on the way…

20:35.

As my return was via Sheffield I couldn’t resist stopping off at the Tap. Judging’s thirsty work!

After a ‘swifty’ and chance to download the camera into thr laptop I headed on to Leeds on a Cross-Country Voyager. Then things started to go wrong. We were held outside the station due to congestion, so arrived 8 mins late. I still had 9 mins to make my connection so I wasn’t too concerned, especially as it was essentially a cross platform interchange from 7 to 6. Then the train that pulled in was a Class 322 EMU! I know it wasn’t going to Manchester (unless Network Rail electrified the line since this morning!) but it did confuse ordinary passengers! Then it was announced our grain was leaving from 5c. Off everyone dutifully trotted but the 158 was locked. Eventually the driver turned up, apologised for the delay ans explained he was waiting for the Guard to turn up. 10 mins after we should have left we were all told to go to platform 12c and catch the 20:39 instead! By this time passengers were getting hacked off at being mucked around (again). I can’t say I was too pleased either as it took the shine off what had been a really positive day.

And here we are…

At least we left on time! Tomorrow I get to do all this again as I’m on the 06:03 to Leeds, then on to Derby for another day’s judging. Watch this space…

My brain hurts!

06 Friday Jul 2018

Posted by in I love my job, Railways, Travel

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After a few days chasing up and down the country getting scenic rail shots my wings have been clipped today. I’ve spent it working from the ACoRP office in Huddersfield as the tempo changes next week and my fellow judge and I begin the ‘grand tour’ of the 24 UK railway stations which have been shortlisted for visits in this years ACoRP awards.

The logistics of it make my brain hurt. This year there’s a few wild-cards to add to the mix due to continued industrial action, temporary timetables and the fact we’re having the longest bout of sunny weather that I can remember donkey’s years! On the bright side, some of those station floral displays should look fabulous!

Expect a few ‘rolling blogs’ as Paul Cook and I tour the network over the next few weeks. In the meantime, here’s a shot that I took on the Windermere branch yesterday now Northern Rail have resumed services.

DG301642. 153304. 156440. Staveley. 5.7.18

After the excitement of West Cost Railways operating loco-hauled trains the service has become a little more mundane. Not that ordinary passengers care as a train with wide sliding doors is easier to negotiate with luggage than heavy slam doors on old coaches. Compare that with this…

DG300787. WCR service. Kendal. 25.6.18

Have a good weekend everybody! now I’m off for one of these…