Today my time here has taken a slightly different turn as my Sister and her partner have booked a weeok away in Croatia, which means cat-sitting is required. Not at my sisters (there’s cover here) but at Steve’s as he has three moggies which he brought back with him from Saudi Arabia. So, I’m moving into Marshside for a week.
It’s a very differenoljt part of Southport to where my sister lives. This part of town was a late Victorian/early Edwardian extensiojn. Marshside ki are still seeniip as a o typejkimjm of people to ordinary Sandgrounders (the nickname for people from Southport).
Having a place to mkkjpkopopyself (well, if you don’t count the cats) will allow me to finish a load of work I need to do, including a couple of articles for RAIL magazine. As Marshside is pretty isolated, I’ll still have the opportunity to get plenty of steps inip too.
Here’s a few pictures that illustrate the area. I walked there from the centre of town, which was interesting as I discovered things I never knew, like thkje fact Southport once boasted an aerodrome!
The Southport aerodrome existed from 1910-1966, closing when I was a child, but I’d never heard of it. It was only when I was walking to Steve’s that I passed this history board that I discovered its existence. Here’s more about the history of the site. The Marshside fog bell. In 1869 seven men out shrimping got lost in fog and drowned. The community raised fund to build this fog bell so that the tragedy would never repeat itself. You can read more about it here. An old fishermen’s cottage in Churchtown. Tiny, aren’t they?
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So, Nigel Farage, the thinin-skinned and tetchy leader of Reform (don’t you mean owner of Reform PLC? Ed) has thrown his toys out of the pram again after being subject to scrutiny from the normally supine media over his million pound bungs and association with criminals.
His ‘big idea’ to divert attention? Resign from Parliament and call a by-election. Citing ‘harassment’ of your family by visiting your daughter’s ‘home”.’ (which is owned by him). The same home Farage was happy to pose outside for PR pictures and put into the public domain several times – and one he was registered to vote at in the last election. Plus, there’s the fact that Farage posed with his daughter, Isabelle on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2023.Oops!
Only it’s not that simple. That’s not going to stop the media looking into his affairs (financial or otherwise) and the Parliamentary Standard Committee looking into his financial declarations will only pause, not cancel, their investigations. If Farage is re-elected, the investigations will continue.
It’s classic Farage, using tactics he’s learned from the American MAGA movement and the likes of Steve Bannon. But they’re not as easy to get away with in the UK as they are in the US.
The other major parties have already called his bluff and said they won’t put up candidates. The only person who has said they’ll stand is parody candidate and comedian ‘Count Binface‘ Needless to say, a lot of people are making jokes about this at Farage’s expense.
It’s a typical Farage farce, and one that will run and run…
Oh, there’s one other thing. This tactic was tried before. People with an interest in politics may remember when David Davis, the Tory MP for Haltemprice and Howden staged a similar stunt in 2008. Then, as now – all the major parties refused to take part. One other party refused too. UKIP, who were led by…..Nigel Farage.
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Sunday’s not been as lazy as the old song by the New Faces remembers (although more of that in the next blog). Instead, I’ve had a busy day here in Southport, catching up on exercise routines now that I have access to the park equipment that I’ve found so useful whilst I’ve been here. Admittedly, my muscles have felt the strain after a week-long gap, but it’s all good.
Apart from the physical endeavours much of my day was taken up with editing pictures from the first of my HS2 visits earlier in the week, in order to get them out to the writer and editor who need them first thing Monday morning. Then there’s all the other stuff I took on my second visit, along with a horde of other general railway pictures I took the opportunity to take whilst in the capital. They’re going to be keeping me busy for a while. On top of that I have other work and stuff to sort out, which is going to keep me occupied for the rest of the week. Hang on, I’m meant to be semi-retired, although it certainly doesn’t feel that way right now!
No rest for the wicked, eh? I’m not complaining, I’d rather be active than bored. One thing I notice about Southport after being back in London for a while is how the town resembles ‘God’s waiting room’. There’s an awful lot of retired people who seem to have little purpose other than to aimlessly wander the town centre, drifting from one coffee or charity shop to the other, or taking refuge on the benches that bedeck Lord St, like they’re living sculptures. At my most cynical, it reminds me of the old Colin Crompton joke about Morecambe, where he said ‘they don’t bury the dead in Morecambe, they just stand ’em up in the bus shelters’. I shouldn’t mock, as I’m now part of that demographic – although my bus pass sees bugger-all use!
Anyway, tomorrow’s another week and I’ve a lot to do. I won’t be travelling much, but expect a flood of pictures to appear on my Zenfolio website as and when. In the meantime, here’s a taster from my visit to the HS2 construction site at Old Oak Common in London. Regular readers will know of my interest in architecture. It’s why this shot inside the new HS2 station appealed to me despite their not being a train in sight…
If only someone in orange PPE had been stood in the background…
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My time here in London’s come to an end. It’s been a lovely break. Staying with a dear friend whilst having the opportunity to visit HS2 construction sites and just enjoy being back in a city that I loved living in. The trip’s not entirely over yet. I’m booked on a train out of Euston later this afternoon so I’ve still some time to explore, but right now I’m helping out by waiting in for a parcel whilst Hassard’s off at an event. As soon as said parcel arrives I’ll be off on my travels again.
I did manage to nip out earlier to grab some shots at Clapham Junction. It feels very strange nowadays, the old Class 455s which dominated suburban services when I first moved here (they were new then!) have all disappeared. Now the South-West Railways ‘Arterio’ Class 701s have taken their place whilst Southern services have gained a variety of ‘Electrostar’ type units transferred in from GWR and GTR, which adds some livery variation at least.
A Waterloo bound Arterio wends its way through the maze of tracks outside Clapham Junction station.An Alstom built ‘Juniper’, Class 458/4 calls at Clapham Junction. The skyline is constantly changing here. You can see a crane building the lift tower of yet another high-rise block in the background.
14:00.
Hassard’s son Dante has arrived to take up parcel duties, so I’m off to meander across the city. In some ways the timing couldn’t have been better as a magazine’s contacted me about a cover picture – of London’s railways! Right, back to Clapham Junction is is then. The sun’s shining and conditions are ideal for what they want…
17:09.
For the second time in a week services out of Euston are stuffed! I made sure I arrived early, only to find the concourse crammed with people. Apparently, two seperate incidents have caused chaos. Avanti have cancelled several services and my 16:46 to Crewe didn’t leave until 17:09, which completely screws my connection to Liverpool Lime St. This might turn out to be a long day!
Euston how you don’t want to see it…
18:45.
We’ve just left Lichfield 30 mins late. To add to the fun the young lady Conductor has announced that the delay means we’ll be terminating at Stafford, not Crewe. Hopefully, I’ll be able to pick up a Liverpool bound service from there. It’s a shame, as the jourbey fom Euston’s been pretty good. I managed to secure one side of a table bay on this new Class 730. The train wasn’t too packed either. The only negative was that 2 out of the 3 toilets were out of order.
19:20.
The trip doesn’t get any better! Like far too many stations nowadays, lifts at Stafford were out of order. That wouldn’t normally inconvenience me but I’m dragging a suitcase today. Everyone scrambled over the footbridge from platform 1 to 5 only to find the next Liverpool bound service was actually an hour late and terminating at Crewe! Apparently, there’s another just a few minutes behind this 4-car Class 350, but I decided to catch it to Crewe – just in case!
I’m starting to look forward to a weekend without travel…
It’s a shame. The evening’s lovely and the countryside sublime as so many crops look to be on the cusp of being harvested. It’s just the journey that’s been fragmented and not as relaxing as I’d wanted. Plus, I’ve not been able to grab any pictures because of the melee.
19:55.
Said melee continued at Crewe when a trainload of people headed off in different directions in order to find out where to go next. Myself and several others ended up on a late-running Avanti Class 807 heading for Liverpool. Dispatch staff had checked that ticket acceptance was in place – so pile on! As this one only stops at Runcorn and Liverpool South Parkway I’m making up a little bit of time.
Despite the problems I’ve really enjoyed my trip over the West Coast Main Line. It’s part of my blood. I’ve travelled on it since I was a teenager. I’ve worked on it and it’s kept me linked with family and friends through good times and bad. I’ve never had the same relationship with its East Coast rival.
21:10.
Having arrived in Liverpool courtesy of Avanti instead of West Midlands trains I took a quick break (time for a pint) before catching a train to Southport. The contrast between London and the North is quite stark in my mind. London’s so much younger than the North, and I mean the people, not the history. It’s horrendously expensive compared to when I lived there but there’s still a real buzz and youthful feeling – a million miles away from Halifax – or Southport.
One thing that amused me is the way the political right-wing try to paint London as a hellhole led by a Muslim Mayor. It’s world’s apart from the truth, as is some Northerner’s ideas that Londoners are stand-offish. Both are so far from the truth they’re laughable to anyone who’s ever lived or spent much time in London.
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I’d hoped my first blog of a new week would have been about something more positive, but I’ve just watched Sir Keir Starmer announce his resignation as PM and leader of the Labour party. A decent man has been hounded out of office by the media and betrayed by the disloyalty and the personal political ambitions of those in his own party.
Some things never change. It seems the Labour party has steadfastly refused to learn the lessons of the Tory years of endless political psychodramas. The political stability many have been yearning for following those times has been ripped apart again. Now we’ll have a Labour leadership race – with Andy Burnham looking the almost certain winner.
I’ve no real love for Burnham. Having watched his career over the years I’ve come to the conclusion he’s a political Janus. Now personal ambitions have unseated a serving Labour Prime Minister. Now, I’d be happy to be wrong about Burnham. I hope he makes a good Labour PM, but those in his party who think ditching Starmer will stop the onslaught of negativity from the right-wing media are naive fools. The media has gained another scalp and will be even more emboldened. Far too many of them want to see Farage in No10 so aren’t going to stop. Now will the Elon Musks of this world. They all have far too much power nowadays. Gone are the times when the rich spent their money on improving the welfare of their fellow citizens. Now they buy newspapers, set up TV ‘news’ channels which are little more than propaganda outlets, or rig social media to highlight and pump out far-right views – and or politicians seem unable and/or unwilling to do a damned thing about it.
Now, all we can do is sit back and watched the media circus as they salivate over the leadership contest, something they’ve been so keen to make happen.
This is not a good era for democracy.
Ironically, I passed this reminder of better times yesterday. Southport infirmary was built with money donated by the wealthy owner of Hartley’s jam. Then, the wealthy campaigned for and helped build a better future for the fellow citizens. Now the obscene wealth held by just a handful of people is used to undermine not only their own citizens, but everyone.
Yep, after time in rolling Devon and a brief sojourn in the hills of West Yorkshire I’m back in the coastal flatlands of Southport for the next few days. Only this trip is tinged with sadness. Whilst I was away in Devon I received the tragic news that Bev, my sister in law had lost her brief fight with cancer. There’s so many thoughts and memories about the time we all had together before I moved down to London in 1986, but a blog is hardly the best place to express them. So many of the people we knew then have passed away – but there is one memory I’ll mention. A birthday party at the flat they occupied in the early days. Lots of friends were there and various people provided food – including my mother, who’d made a trifle. As the evening wore on (and the more senior members of the family had taken their leave) things got out of hand. If I remember rightly, Angie threw the first bit of trifle. After that all hell broke loose and we ended up in a full on food fight of the sort that you’d have seen in a 1960s comedy! The next morning those of us who’d stayed overnight ended up trying to clear up the mess, scraping trifle and other sticky foodstuffs off walls, pictures and carpets. Not to mention what was stuck to us! So, Bev, I’m so sorry to hear of your passing, but I will never, ever forget you – or the fun that we had in those distant days.
Right now I’m passing time by getting fit (no really!). Staying with my sister Anne has enabled me to do a lot of walking as well as taking advantage of the exercise equipment in a local park. What I’m finding helpful with this is what was my old Fitbit. Now, Fitbit was great for keeping track of your movements and giving you feedback on some of your health metrics, but it was passive. Now it’s been absorbed into Google and they’ve added an AI coach. I’ve always been cynical about AI – for lots of reasons – but I find this AI coach really helpful. It’s both motivational and informative, it’s not passive at all. It doesn’t always get things right (but all you have to do is correct it) but it gives me lots of useful information unprovoked that inspire me to improve my exercise.
Mind you, that’s not all. Our friends in Devon (along with Dawn) have inspired me to go on a low-carb diet. I’ll be interested to see how that pans out over the next couple of months, but as I’ve just cleared 3 million steps in 2026 I’m feeling positive!
Meanwhile, I’ll be enjoying splitting my time between walking, exercising and working as the weather here in Southport’s been pretty good – although we’ve had some threatening skies
Thankfully, the rain stayed out to sea.
Tomorrow I hope to be doing some more exploring, so watch this space….
We’ve had an excellent start to community rail week with a very well attended opening event at Oxford station this afternoon. The festivities culminated in a canal side walk followed by snacks and drinks at ‘Yellow Submarine’ in the city. The rain that was predicted held off, making the event even better.
Getting back has proved to be more stressful.
I hung around in Oxford to download and edit the first pictures from the event in order to get stuff ready for the press release, then spent some time taking a few pictures for myself as Oxford stations changed a bit since I was last there due to the construction of the new through platform and the rebuilding of the Botley Rd bridge which it’s necessitated. That meant I was leaving just before the evening peak, heading North on a rammed and late-running Cross-Country service. That was unfortunate, as I had a ten-minute connection time at Birmingham International. Our dwell times increased at each station due to the sheer volume of people squeezed into a five-car Voyager., which meant that at Coventry my connection was sat in the opposite platform. Thankfully, signallers put us out ahead of the Pendolino I was meant to catch and I made my connection at International with minutes to spare. I was hoping for a pleasant journey but ended up having to seat next to a surly young girl with attitude who stank of BO. Thankfully, she bailed out at Sandwell and Dudley, leaving her aroma around to linger!
But, at least I was heading home. As it sped North through deteriorating weather the Pendolino emptied out, making for quite a reasonable journey from Crewe to Wigan. I even managed to blag an empty table bay!
Swapping between stations at Wigan I caught my last train of the day – and one of my favourites. As much as I enjoy a tilting, 125mph Pendolino, there’s something to be said about the old Class 156s. They may not have the same catchet, but they’re a great train for rural lines.
The only problem was the vista. Remember I said the weather was getting worse the further North I got? By the time it came to cross the West Lancashire plain it was persisting it down – and had been most of the day, apparently.
Still, if this weather continues tomorrow it’s not too bad. I have a massive backlog of pictures to edit and things to do indoors for my sister. Let’s see what happens…
After a long day exploring Southport yesterday I’m on the move again today, this time I’m bound for Banbury as a positioning move to be ready for the opening event of community rail week which starts tomorrow.
Walking to Southport station’s a lot easier than back at home as the town’s flat. The only hill I encounter is a railway bridge! Even so, I’ve already clocked up over 6000 steps.
Right now I’m on a Merseyrail Class 777 to Liverpool. From a passenger’s perspective they’re not bad trains. They’ve level boarding, a/c, power points and plenty of space. From an operators point of view they’re a bit of a nightmare due to ongoing technical issues with various bits of kit – including the passenger information system. Still, this one should get me to Liverpool OK.
The line to Liverpool’s changed enormously since the days of my youth. The freight lines that dominated the docks have almost all disappeared, along with the coal yards and sand traffic. Yet rail traffic from the docks still exists, with regular intermodal trains and biomass being moved to Drax power station
12:45.
The trip to Liverpool was painless even if the train was busy. I’d time to kill in Liverpool and spent it people-watching, sitting outside Lime St station as throngs of travellers made their way to and from trains whilst seagull sat shouting at each other on the station roof, or occasionally dive-bombing unsuspecting people as they scavenged for food.
I’m booked on London North-Western’s 12:33 to Birmingham New St, but we’re already late leaving do to a ‘spillage’ needing cleaning up. I can’t say I’m too surprised as this 8-car Class 350 service was bursting at the seams on arrival. It’s far more relaxed at the moment and I have a table bay to myself, which has allowed me to set up the mobile office.
12:55.
We left 12 minutes late. Annoying, but as I have a lengthy connection time at Smethwick Galton Bridge is makes little difference to my journey. As we headed through Edge Hill we passed rakes of wagons used for the biomass traffic I mentioned earlier as GB Railfreight who haul the trains have a depot there. Today there was an unusual visitor in the shape of one of the company’s new tri-mode Class 99 locomotives, presumably on test.
13:37.
We’ve made it as far as Crewe. I’ve enjoyed the trip so far as the line form Liverpool to Weaver junction is one I rarely travel along nowadays compared to when I lived in London. Then I was up and down almost every month and I can’t even remember the last time I was on a train that stopped at Herford or Winsford! Now I’m back on much more familiar territory as we head for Birmingham.
16:45.
The last leg…
Having swapped to a battered and rather dirty Class 172 for the trip across Birmingham via Moor St to Dorridge I’ve swapped to and equally battered and dirty Chiltern Class 165 which will carry me to Banbury. Both units are badly in need of new seat upholstery as they’re threadbare.
The weather’s not looking too good either as there’s a build-up of heavy grey clouds that could herald rain. As long as it doesn’t arrive before I get to my hotel I’m not too bothered!
22:30.
Time to bring today’s blog to a close. I joined the other members of the Community Rail Network for an early evening meal, then retired to our hotel on the redeveloped canal wharf in order to do some work.
Hotel to the right, bars and eateries to the left.
However, I did notice this interesting bit of local history…
In railway circles LTC Rolt is best known for his seminal work on railway accidents, ‘Red for danger’.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
After a baking hot bank-holiday weekend where we celebrated Dawn’s birthday (blog to follow) I’m abandoning the Pennines to head back across the West Lancashire plain to Southport and another birthday. This time it’s my ‘kid’ sister Anne.
Right now I’m on Northern’s 10:00 from Sowerby Bridge which is heading to Manchester. Fortunately, the air-conditioning on this 3-car Class 158 is fully functional, giving me chance to cool down after walking down to the station from Bigland Towers.
Today promises to be another hot one…
10:35.
Having slowly filled up en-route my train’s arrived at Rochdale where dozens of summer-dressed travellers were waiting for us. Now we’re almost full as we head for Manchester Victoria. The weather this side of the Pennines is just as good as in West Yorkshire, which makes a change! Most of my fellow passengers appear to be leisure travellers. Only the wonan sat across the car from me is working away on a laptop, almost everyone else is staring at a smartphone screen.
11:00.
Wonder of wonders! We pulled into Victoria 5 minutes early, which put us ahead of a GBRf hauled freight train, giving me enough time to leap out, grab a picture of it as it passed through the station and then rejoin my train. Talk about a lucky break. Now I’m arriving at Salford Crescent for a change of train in order to take the route via Bolton instead of the slower (all stations) route via Atherton.
Platform capacity at Salford Crescent is about the increased by 1/3 as the new platform 3 is complete and awaiting the first services to call when the new timetable comes into force.
11:25.
I’m now heading fast to Bolton aboard a packed Class 323 EMU heading for Blackpool North which is running just ahead of the Southport train. These 90mph EMUs only used to be seen South of Manchester but new electrification and an influx of cast-off 323s from the West Midlands has allowed them to extend their area of operations to include Blackpool, Wigan and Liverpool. The only problems with ’em is their lack of air-conditioning and 3+2 seating arrangement.
11:40.
This is more like it! I abandoned the 323 at Bolton, crossed the platform and caught the Southport train which is being worked by a bi-mode Class 769. Having seen it at Salford Cresent I was wise to the fact this former Thameslink unit had the old 1st Class seating at the front of the train – which is where I’m now relaxing in a comfy single seat. Whilst not as crowded as the Blackpool service there’s still plenty of the ‘bucket and spade brigade’ who’re obviously heading for a day out at the coast.
A commuter train heading to Blackpool is less than ideal due to the lack of luggage space but at least there’s plenty of seats.
It’s the weekend so I’m heading back to West Yorkshire for the bank holiday weekend and to celebrate a special event on Monday.
But first, I’ve nipped into town to pick ip some shopping. The sun’s shining and the town centre’s slowly coming to life with early shoppers and the first pensioners (batteries fully charged) starting to race their chariots up and down Lord St. Talking of Lord St, I couldn’t resist having a look at the wonderful Art Deco Garrick Theatre building. It’s been empty since Covid struck time but an exciting restoration is due to start anytime now with the building being converted into a spa hotel and theatre with the original architecture restored, although some traditionalist bodies remain unconvinced. Personally, I’d rather see it repurposed than see it left in the state it’s in now. The Garrick featured in a famous railway poster from the 1930s painted by Italian artist Fortunino Matania which celebrated a very different age!
No tracksuits or electric chariots in those days! Now it looks rather less grand…
Right, time to start travelling…
11:15.
Having picked up some bits I’m on my way East. En-route I found this street artist who’s picked up the Sandgrounder* vibe by making sculptures from sand.
Right now I’m heading for Wigan aboard a vintage BR built Class 156, my favourite multiple unit of the era. Big windows and table bays make it an ideal regional train.
*Sandgrounder is a nickname for someone who hails from Southport.
12:05.
Having crossed the West Lancashire plain I’ve made it as far as Wigan (or Wiggin, as the locals pronounce it) to arrive at Wallgate station. I’m not saying I feel old but I remember the old Lancashire and Yorkshire railway building and the station being illuminated by gas lighting!
I resisted the temptation of the areas excellent real ale pubs and merely stopped for lunch on the hoof – chips and curry sauce from the chipshop outside the station. Making my way to North Western station which was thronged by young girls who seemed to be wearing more make-up than clothing and lads with cans of lager glued to their hands, I’m now waiting for a train to Preston.
Burp! International cuisine has hit Wigan as you’re now offered a choice between English or Chinese curry sauce on your chips!
13:45.
Having made it to Preston aboard a very busy Northern service bound for Blackpool I’ve now swapped to a more sedate service – a local Preston to Colne stopper which will carry me as far as Blackburn.
It stops at all stations en-route, which includes some well-kept stations that are maintained by local adopters (Pleasington being a good example). I’ve been meaning to stop of at some of these stations for years but have never found the time. Maybe one day…
20:15
I was greeted at Halifax by both Dawn and fabulous weather, so the two of us decided to get out onto the moors for a walk and catch-up whilst we enjoyed the great outdoors. We drove up through Ripponden to the moors and reservoirs above Cragg Vale, where these views awaited us.
Light Hazzles and Warland reservoirs on the moors above Walsden.
Looking the opposite way across to Manchester with Hollingworth Lake Country Park in between.
Now we’re back at home for a quiet evening in. Time to relax before a busy day outdoors tomorrow as we’ll be making the most of the weather in order to prepare the garden for the summer…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 