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Rolling blog: Out to Anglia.
19 Thursday Jul 2018
Posted in ACoRP, I love my job, London, Railways, Travel
Category Archives: I love my job
Rolling blog: Going East
12 Thursday Jul 2018
Posted in I love my job, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel
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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 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.
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…
Have a good weekend everybody! now I’m off for one of these…
Rolling blog: Wednesday wanderings
04 Wednesday Jul 2018
Posted in I love my job, Railways, Transport, Travel
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After a rare day at home I’m on the move again. This time I’m off to explore (in detail) the railway from Bidston to Wrexham. I’ve traversed it several times but never stopped off anywhere on the route. Today I’ll be putting that right, so expect some notes and pictures.
Right now I’m crossing the Pennines on the beautiful Calder Valley route. The skies are picture perfect again, clear blue with just a wisp of cloud here and there. I honestly can’t remember when we’ve had so many days of unbroken sunshine. They bring back memories of childhood, when your mind remembers every day like that!
Stopping to change trains at Manchester Victoria I was stuck by how many ex-GWR diesel units were working services. Here’s 153305 (in a neutral white livery) with much-travelled 150129 (ex-Centro, ex-Silverlink, ex-GWR).
My onward train to Liverpool was another recent addition to the Northern fleet as it was an ex-Thameslink Class 319 electric. These 4 car 100 mph have made a huge difference to services as they’ve replaced 2-car Class 156 diesels. Despite the doubling in capacity, my train is 85% full! By the time we reached Rainhill even the vestibules were rammed.
On arrival at Lime St we pulled into one of only two working platforms as the station’s in the middle of an extensive rebuilding programme which will see platforms extended, extra ones added and the track layout modernised and resignalled.
I always laugh when I see work like this and remember Hs2 antis perennial refrain “invest in the existing network instead”. If they could be bothered to get out of their armchairs to take a look around the UK network they’d know we’re doing exactly that. The problem is, it soaks up what little capacity we have left on our existing main lines, leaving nothing for the future. Here’s how Lime St is looking right now.
Moving on by Merseyrail I crossed under the river and emerged into the daylight at Birkenhead before arriving at Bidston, a small Island platform station which is the junction for the Borderlands line to Wrexham. I’m old enough to remember when this service ran as far as Birkenhead, before it was cut back to Bidston. In those days the area was busy with freight. Iron ore was imported through the docks and moved to Shotton steelworks by rail. The infrastructure’s all long gone now. Instead, an hourly passenger service run by Arriva Trains Wales is the sole survivor.
For many years the line was worked by single car Class 153s. Nowadays 2 car Class 150s are the norm.
My first stop on the service was Shotton, where I came to photograph what’s become the symbol of the line – the triple span bridge over the River Dee.
The bridge is only a short walk from the stations. Yep, Shotton’s graced with both high level and low level! The low level station’s fairly recent. Built on the former Chester to Holyhead railway, the platforms are on what was the slow lines when this was a four-track railway.
Shotton is an odd little place. It owes its existance to the nearby steelworks established by John Summers (and now owned by Tata). At its height it employed 13,200 people. Now it’s around a 1000. The towns fortunes reflect that of the steelworks. My first memories of the place are from the early 1970s when I’d encourage my dad to take this route on the way to family holidays with relatives on Anglesey as it followed the railway, allowing me to try and see the trains. Sometimes my parents and sisters would humour me – other times not.
Now this bastion of heavy industry is a shadow of it’s former self (like many UK locations). I’m always truck by this when I travel across Germany, a country which still possess these places. Shooton seems to rely on the pensioned-off (hence the size of the towns Wetherspoons) and also the nearby Airbus aircraft plant at Broughton – which is under threat from Brexit. It’s deeply ironic to think tbat nostalgia for the past and heavy industries is putting the future of towns like Shotton at risk.
20:30
I’m now back in the bosom of West Yorkshire, heading home on the Calder Valley line again. I managed to get the scenic shots on the Borderlands that I needed but the further South I went towards Wrexham, the more the clouds started to creep in. Here’s an example, taken just outside Cefyn-y-Bedd station which can be seen in the background.
Having the shots in the can I made my way back to Shotton low level to catch a train to Chester which is only 15 minutes away. This gave me time to get a few shots at yet another boyhood haunt before catching a direct train to Manchester. I’m not sure if these are the regular units on the service but I have to say a two car Class 150 is less than ideal – even if they have been refurbished to a high standard.
Tomorrow I’m off again, so I’ll draw this blog to a close.
Judgement day.
29 Friday Jun 2018
Posted in ACoRP, Community rail, I love my job, Photography
Today’s been another busy day but one where I’ve remained mostly static! I’ve been at the ACoRP office in Huddersfield judging tbe shortlist for the annual ACoRP awards photographic competition along with fellow judges Paul Abell (ex Editor of Today’s Railways) and Nik Slocombe of ACoRP. It’s been a tough morning as we whittled down some excellent entries to a shortlist of just 10. The standard’s been very high this year, which means we’ve got a fantastic shortlist, but some pictures that would normally be a shoo-in had to be rejected. The shortlisted pictures will be put on SurveyMonkey on Monday for people to vote on. I’ll add a link when I have it.
Afterwards I put my other judges hat on and sifted the entries for the ‘It’s your station’ category of the awards. Now the hard work begins as Paul Cook and I have 25 stations up and down the land to visit and interview the groups involved. What’s lovely to see is we’ve a mix of long-standing groups, some returnees – and some who’ve never entered before. Groups who’ve been shortlisted will start hearing from me over the weekend as I arrange the schedule of visits.
Now it’s time to take a break and enjoy the sunshine outside ACoRP towers!
Rolling blog: Here we go again…
28 Thursday Jun 2018
Posted in I love my job, Railways, Travel
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Another day, another train! This morning I’m off to Shrewsbury to do a job for RAIL magazine. We’re visiting the largest mechanical signalbox on the UK, which I’m rather looking forward to!
Right now I’m heading across the Pennines via the Colne valley from Huddersfield rather than my usual route. I’ve not been this way since the timetable change, so it seems odd being on a TPE 185 that’s stopping at Marsden and Greenfield! One thing I did notice was how Network Rail have been busy clearing trees and bushes from the lineside. The work’s opened up new vistas on this scenic line.
As is often the case the Standedge tunnel doesn’t just seperate Yorkshire from Lancashire, it was the border between weather patterns too. High cloud and haze that was a feature in white rose territory gave way to clear blue sky in red rose land!
Shrewsbury. 10:57.
My time in Manchester was brief. I was there long enough to swap trains and head off again, this time with Arriva Trains Wales on one of their Alstom built Class 175s. For passenger comfort they’re hard to beat. The service was busy at first but only as far as Wilmslow, which was a bit of a surprise. I’d bagged a bay of 4 seats with a table so that I could catch up on editing some of the pictures I’ve taken over the past few days (expect a load to appear on my website over the weekend). In fact I was so engrossed Shrewsbury arrived in a blur! Now I’m swilling coffee in the station’s Starbucks, waiting for Paul Stephen from RAIL to arrive.
Shrewsbury’s a stunning station…
Now, if you’ve never been to Shrewsbury and you’re unfamiliar with Severn Bridge Junction signalbox, here it is in the background.
18:47. Recrossing the Pennines.
I’ve had a fasinating day thanks to Network Rail staff who gave Paul and I a brilliant tour of the largest mechanical signalbox left in the UK. You’ll be able to read all about it in a future edition of RAIL. Today was an ideal time to visit as the weather was perfect. It’s a heck of a vantage point being that high above the station triangle.
Was was less than ideal was the weather’s impact on my journey home. Speed restrictions were placed on several lines to to the danger of excessive heat buckling rails, so I had several nail-bitingly tight connections which left me missing my final one by a couple of minutes. Luckily, there’s more services in the new timetable so I’ll only be 17 mins adrift by the time I get home. I’m heading back on an old friend, 150120. This unit used to be one of the Silverlink fleet which worked my local line in London – the Gospel Oak to Barking. When the Class 172s arrived it transferred to First Great Western. Now it’s been cascaded to Northern!
Home. 22.14
It’s been a long day and I’ve got to start wearing another hat as an ACoRP awards judge tomorrow, so I thought I’d leave you with this picture. Ever wondered what the view might be like from Severn Bridge Junction signalbox? Here it is! Thanks to Paul Stephen for taking the picture.
Rolling blog: Oh, I do like to be beside the seaside!
26 Tuesday Jun 2018
Posted in I love my job, Photography, Railways, Travel
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– That’s probably because I grew up in a seaside town. Today I’m heading to the opposite coast and a rail line that’s one of only a handful I’ve never travelled on, the section of the ‘Poacher Line’ from Sleaford to Skegness. The weather’s ideal for scenic pictures so I’m hoping to have a productive day.
Right now I’m on a busy 2-car Northern service from Halifax to Leeds. Most of my fellow travellers are commuters, but a handful are dressed for leisure, not work and look far too happy to be heading to the office! I’m assuming they’re like me and taking full advantage of the brilliant weather…
My little train seems to be suffering. At every stop the Driver’s revving the engines making the whole carriage vibrate under the load. I can’t help wondering if it’s because he’s having problems maintaining air pressure. I’m hoping we’ll make it to Leeds without problems as I’ve suffered enough delays recently and I’ve a fair way to travel…
09:15
Well, we did make it to Leeds and a quick word with the driver confirmed falling air pressure was the cause of the engine revving. We still arrived in just enough time for me to catch LNER’s 09:16 to London which will carry me as far as Grantham. Outwardly there was nothing to herald the change from VTEC to LNER. The loco still carries Virgin branding and the sets in VTEC livery, but on the inside the route maps, cctv warnings and other signs have changed.
The train’s actually very busy leaving Leeds but I did manage to bag an airline seat in coach F. I suspect there’ll be none left at all by the time we’ve stopped at Wakefield and Doncaster.
Grantham. 10.57.
As predicted, the train did indeed fill up on its way South. Even so it was an enjoyable journey only slightly marred by the fact the power sockets were u/s. The countryside that flashed by looked its absolute best in this weather. England is truly a green and pleasant land when seen from a train window.
Now I’m at Grantham. A peculiar two hour gap in the timetable means I’ve more than an hour to wait although I’ve put it to good use by doing some shopping in the centre named after Isaac Newton (was he from here, really?). Back at the station I’m now doing my best ‘reptile basking in the sun’ impression whilst grabbing a few photos.
The station’s a fairly middle of the road, 4 platform affair. It’s not unattractive but it’s nothing special. At least most of the original buildings survived BR – which is more than can be said for many. There’s a ticket office and Starbucks in the main building (plus a Costa kiosk), a couple of commercial tenants too – but still plenty of unoccupied space, which is a shame – but I suspect the station’s just that little bit too far removed from the town centre to make it attractive. Still if you want the opportunity to add the station to the growing list of those with bars…
Non-stop services certainly thunder through here. The Up line is clear for 115 off the platform and it wouldn’t surprise me if the down lines not far behind.
11:45.
My 11:27’s running late. It’s now arrived in the shape of an East Mids 2 car Class 158 with all the hopper windows open (indicating the A/c has failed). Surprisingly, It’s not as rammed as I feared and I’ve managed to get a seat. We’re now on our way 20 mins late. The Conductor’s just announced it was late due to a set swap at Nottingham as the original unit failed!
Skegness. 21:01.
Well, I didn’t expect to still be here, but it’s been a really interesting day for a whole host of reasons. I’m going to round this blog off but I could write volumes…
The weather’s been so good and the opportunities to explore new track and territory so tempting that I’ve booked a B&B for the night. To be honest, at £32 it was a steal. The room is fine, the staff are good and I’ve finally found out what everybody does after 6.30pm when the town shuts down – they all bugger off back to their hotel and sit in the bar. Admittedly, mine is a bit more like God’s waiting room on tap, but there you go…
Earlier on I mentioned that I grew up in a seaside town on the opposite coast. What I wasn’t prepared for were the similarities. Both are flat, rich agricultural land. So much so that I felt totally at home traversing the tracks across Lincolnshire. The only major difference is the massive drainage ditches here compare to the West Lancashire plains. Oh, and the fact Skegness is a little bit different to Southport. In its day, the seaside town I grew up in was habituated by the middle classes who left their legacy in the facilities that that had been built to cater for them. The working classes went to nearby Blackpool. Skegness is the East coast Blackpool. I’ve not seen so many fish and chip shops per acre for ages. I’d be curious to see which of the two resorts would win on that count. Don’t get me wrong, there’s some lovely old hangovers from the past on the promenade, although I feel it’s fair game for me to look at what passes for a pier here and say ‘is that it’? The fact most of the town puts the shutters up early I find odd too. I wandered down to the promenade to take pictures of the offshore windfarm and bumped into a group of young Asian lads who were here on holiday. After they asked (and I explained) ‘yes, it does all seem to shut early’ we got into conversation & found we were all from Yorkshire (them Bradford, me Halifax). Small world eh?
Whilst I’ve been here I’ve indulged in a life-long hobby. People-watching. In some ways I feel rather like David Attenborough! What can I say, other than the UK’s obesity epidemic is alive and well in Skegness. It may be down to all the chip-shops but to be honest, if you opened a branch of Weightwatchers here, you’d need to be open 24/7 just to make an impression. Oh, and let’s not even get into the ‘Death Race 2000’ with mobility scooters…
OK, enough impressions. I’ve a busy day tomorrow as I’ve reconnoitred several photo locations – all of which I’ll be walking to. I’ve covered 14 miles today, so it’s time to relax a bit.
Watch out for pictures appearing soon…
Best laid plans…
19 Tuesday Jun 2018
Posted 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…
Another mad week begins!
11 Monday Jun 2018
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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 in I love my job, Railways, Travel
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.
Royal wedding crowds flood off Windsor and Eton riverside station to head to the royal wedding procession route.
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.
Paul Bigland 