Category Archives: I love my job

Stormy weather…

14 Tuesday Jan 2020

Posted by in I love my job, Musings, Photography, Photojournalism, Railways

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We’ve had a fun 24 hours here in the Calder Valley due to storm Brendan which has brought with it lashes of rain and high winds as well as dismal skies that have reduced us to half-light. The camera has stayed firmly in its bag and apart from forays on foot to go shopping and get some exercise I’ve been pretty much glued to the office.

This morning I was up at 6am as Dawn had an early start. This gave me the opportunity to try and integrate back into the library some of the old slides I had back from picture agencies a couple of years back. They’ve gone back into the albums they were taken from in an effort to give me some continuity. In order to save space (and time) I’m weeding out duplicate images. The problem with slides was that I used to back up pictures by taking 2-3 shots that were exactly the same. This served a dual purpose. If the original got damaged or lost I had a back-up. I could also send one to a picture library whilst keeping another version for myself. Of course, in the digital age such redundancy is, well, redundant! Now I can duplicate an image with a click of a mouse!

The stuff I’ve had returned covers many different subjects. Apart from all the travel shots and rail images one of the libraries I contributed to was a social issues picture agency based in Brixton called Photofusion. The stuff I placed with them covered a rainbow of subjects, from Housing (which I still worked in at the time) to UK travel, politics, demonstrations like the miners strikes or Iraq War and festivals like Gay Pride. Looking back at the pictures makes me realise that – if nothing else – I’ve certainly had an interesting life and covered an awful lot of things in my time! I’m looking forward to getting most of them scanned, although a few are destined for the bin as the things they covered have little relevance today. It’s a sad waste and another advantage of digital. When I consider how much each of those mounted slides cost me to take and the mountain of plastic waste they’re reduced to I wish I’d switched to digital long before I did.

Here’s a few of today’s scans spanning the years from the early 1990s to the 2000s, just to give you an idea of what I have in the archive. First up is a May day protest in central London back in 2001. These events could get out of control quite quickly so the police always turned up dressed up in full riot gear to make a point. As a photographer it could get quite hairy as you were in the thick of it, with police on one side and demonstrators on the other. This photo shows a stand-off between protestors and riot police outside the John Lewis store in Oxford St. As you can see, the copper to the left wasn’t too pleased to see me!

Here’s an earlier shot taken in 1992 – although it looks like it could have been the early 1980s. This is a miners demonstration in London, protesting about the mass closure of some of the remaining UK pits – strange as that might seem now when climate-change is the most important issue that faces us and the days of ‘King Coal’ are long gone. In the photo is Tony Benn MP, NUM President Arthur Scargill and Dennis Skinner MP. Like the May day demonstration I’ve a large archive of pictures of this event to scan (one day). The miners were very well organised and also media savvy. A group of them worked with photographers to ensure you got the shots you both needed. They’d escort you out in front of the procession leaders and guide you so that you could face backwards getting the shots you wanted before moving you on so the next photographer could get their shots.

Of course I should mention that in the days when these photographs were taken I’d no idea that I was eventually going to change career and become a professional photographer. Then I was a rep for my trade union (NALGO, the local Government Officers Union, or ‘Not A Lot Going On’ as it was sometimes referred to!) and involved in producing the newsletter. I took these pictures because I was interested in photography and social issues, not for a moment thinking that one day this would become my career.

– and now for something completely different, and a lot more camp! Lynn and I would often attend the annual Gay Pride parade in London with friends. When I first met Lynn she worked for the AIDs charity the Terrence Higgins Trust. Needless to say, we made a lot of friends through her work and ‘Pride’ was always a good day out and chance to catch up with people. In 1995 the parade used Victoria Park in East London not far from where we were living, so naturally, we dropped in! This particular couple were spectacular, and this was before Elton John got married in similar style 9 years later…

Time to go back to trains for my final picture which shows how much the railways have changed. Here’s an old Class 508 electric train used by Connex arriving at Maidstone West on the 7th March 2002. Built by British Railways for suburban services out of Waterloo they were transferred to Merseyside. Some surplus units made the trek South once more and ended up working South-Eastern services, first for Connex and later South-Eastern Trains. The SET units remained in service until 2008.

I hope you enjoy this trip down memory lane and through elements of social history. If you want to see the full selection of pictures you can find them on my Zenfolio website. Hopefully it won’t be too long before I get around to scanning the rest but as I’ve 1000s to get through we may all need to be patient. I’ve spent a few hours tonight weeding out duplicates from another travel album which includes shots from New Zealand, the UK, India and Denmark. They might not get scanned for a while, but at least they’re taking up a lot less room…

Rolling blog. The camera bag's packed…

10 Friday Jan 2020

Posted by in I love my job, Photojournalism, Railways, Rolling blogs, Transport, Travel, Yorkshire

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09:00.

I’m preparing to venture out on the rails for the first time this year – which is rather a long gap for me, but then 2020’s been a busy year so far. The sun looks like it’s going to play ball even if the trains possibly won’t. I’ve just looked up the real time performance of my two local operators and seen that Northern is currently running 84% of it’s services on time whilst TPE is propping up the bottom of the national league with just 63% on time and a whopping 25% either cancelled or more than 30 mins late. There’s a very useful website which uses Network Rail data to track the different companies performance throughout the day. You can find it here.

Let’s see how I get on today, and where I end up. I’ve a list of shots I need in mind, how many will I manage to get I wonder…

10:40.

The walk into Halifax this morning was gorgeous due to the crisp weather and glorious sunshine. Here’s how the station looked this morning, with one of Northern’s new Class 195s arriving on a service to Blackpool.

The new units were much in evidence today. I’m now on the 10:38 to Leeds which is made up of a pair of 2-car 195s. So far I’ve only seen one old BR unit – a 153 working the Bradford – Huddersfield shuttle.

Of course this step-change in the quality of trains goes unremarked in certain political arenas. If you listened to some of the elected Mayors you’d think the Pacers were still prevelent.

11:05.

I abandoned the CAF trains at Bradford Interchange and strolled across this much-maligned city to Forster Square, admiring the city’s magnificent Victorian buildings on the way. I love the quality of winter sunshine with its richness and warmth. It’s without the harshness or blue tones of summer sun and it was showing off Bradford’s buildings to their best. I paused en-route to grab a couple of pictures and I’ll add one later as an illustration.

Right now I’m sat on one of the venerable Class 321 electric units which will ship me to Shipley. Despite the arrival of the CAF 331s these remain in service.

11:49.

Sadly, by the time I got to Shipley tragedy had struck. A person had been struck by a train in the Skipton area, so many Aire valley Leeds services were being cancelled. The next two for Leeds were, so I’m now on a 322 that was turned back at Keighley.

I’m assuming (but don’t know) this was a suicide as January’s always a bad month for such incidents on the railways. My thoughts go out to the unfortunate train crew and the families involved.

13:00.

Having spent the best part of an hour getting pictures at Leeds I’m on the move again, this time to York aboard a Trans-Pennine Express Class 802. Unlike their trains I’m used to, this one has plenty of spare seats. I’ve even managed to bag a table to myself.

Leeds was interesting because of the sheer variety of traction you can see there. I suspect it has more variety than almost any other UK station, especially now Northern and TPE have diversified their fleets.

15:00.

York was enjoyable as the winter light made for some great photo opportunities, plus there was plenty of traction variety that allowed me to tick off a few library shots. Rather than keep repeating the same images I also nipped down to Church Fenton but didn’t stay as the shadows were lengthening, making the pictures I wanted difficult. Church Fenton’s an odd place as it seems like it’s little more than a dormitory town for York or Leeds. It still boasts a four platform station as it maintains its status as a railway junction. In fact, it’ll grow in importance in that regard as this is where the spur of the new HS2 line from Leeds will join existing tracks to take HS2 service on into York and up to Newcastle. Several years ago there was a small StopHs2 ‘action’ group here but like most such groups they’ve faded away. I’ve not seen anything from them for years now.

17:00.

I’m now heading back to Halifax on Northern’s 16:57 to Bkackpool North which is being worked by a totally inadequate 2-car Class 158/9. It’s absolutely rammed with 15 of us wedged in the leading vestibule gehind the driver’s cab.

I’d be interested to know where it stops but the onboard PIS tells me nothing useful apart from the fact we’re going to Blackpool North. The rest of its time is taken up with pointless stuff about security, reading safety information and telling you not to vape. The Conductor’s not made any announcements either. Thankfully, we stopped at New Pudsey, where the sardine-like conditions eased.

19:00

And relax! I’m back at home, plugging in the camera to the computer ready to download today’s pictures and add a few to the blog shortly. Despite the fun and games it’s been an instructive day. Despite the doom and gloom you hear about trains in the North there’s real signs of improvement. The hated Pacers are rapidly being displaced. I only saw a handful of sets today, a couple at Leeds and the same at York. There’s more and more of the new CAF units about, taking over routes like Blackpool North – York and many Leeds – Manchester services where they run as four cars. The 4-car electric version’s appearing more and more too. Its the same story on Trans-Pennine where the loco hauled 5-car sets are being rolled out, along with the Hitachi built Class 802 bi-modes working more Newcastle-Liverpool Lime St services. All these new trains are providing extra services and more seats, but the downside is the fall in reliability and punctuality. the problems due to staff training and unfamiliarity with new trains will soon pass (as they always do). The big problem is the infrastructure constraints and timetables that can’t be delivered because of that. What our politicians of any political hue won’t admit is that changing the name of the operator on the side of the train won’t fix the problems.

Here’s a selection of pictures I promised.

One of TPE’s loco hauled sets speeds through Church Fenton whilst working a Scarborough – Liverpool Lime St service.

Meanwhile, back at York…

155341 basks in the sun at platform 1 at York.
The old order clings on (just) at Leeds. LNER DVT 82215 and Northern Pacer 144001 side by side in the evening rush hour.

Not the day I expected…

17 Sunday Nov 2019

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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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.

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

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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

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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!

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

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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.