Category Archives: Musings

A slow Saturday – thanks to the cat…

11 Saturday May 2019

Posted by in Musings, Railways, West Yorkshire

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After all the gallivanting and early starts I’ve had this week I’d planned to have a lie-in this morning. Jet (our cat) had other ideas. I was woken up at 07:30 by him loudly meowing at my side of the bed, as he often does when he wants feeding. On autopilot, I got up, went downstairs & topped up his dish, only to find the little bugger had stayed upstairs as he really wasn’t that bothered about food. It was just a test. I’m convinced he’s playing games with me now in some strange feline twist on Pavlov’s dogs! I crawled back into bed but couldn’t get back to sleep for a while, so it’s been a late start to the day. Thanks Jet – next time, pick on your ‘mother’ for the experiment…

Mind you, the weather’s been something to stay inside and watch rather than venture out in. We had several heavy hailstorms this morning interspersed with bouts of sunshine. It’s been a good excuse to stay in, drink coffee and catch up with some pictures editing. Here’s one from earlier in the week. These are the CAF built Class 195s which are some of the replacements for the old BR built Pacers. 25 of these two-car units will come into service with Northern over the next year.

DG322240. 195002. Preston. 9.5.19.crop

Right now we’re getting to venture out and head over to Mytholmroyd to join Sue and Geoff Mitchell, two stalwarts of the station friends group to celebrate their wedding anniversary along with some of their other friends. I’ll post a few pictures later.

Back to the keyboard…

07 Tuesday May 2019

Posted by in London, Musings, Railways, Richard Wellings, Travel

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To be honest, I never left it. It was just my energies have been directed at other things than blogging over the long weekend. I’ve got plenty of things to write about, just not the time to do it as I’ve been concentrating on picture editing and also time with my wife. Well, it was a bank holiday!

Anyone who visits my Zenfolio picture website will notice that rather a lot of recent pictures have been uploaded. There’s lots more to come as I’m going to be out and about quite a bit over the next few weeks. I’m back in London tomorrow for a meeting with a client, so expect both a rolling blog and pictures. Meanwhile, I’ve still got a blog about the rebirth of the station building at Mytholmroyd to complete. Expect that shortly. There’s one or two interesting jobs coming up soon too which should add more fun and I’ve not even touched on the continuing political farce that’s the Brexit shambles. No doubt I’ll have the chance to vent my spleen soon! I’d have loved to have done so after the local elections and the way ‘Magic Grandad’ (aka Jeremy Corbyn) managed to spin his party’s appalling showing as an endorsement of him wanting Brexit.

Right, it’s time to go, but I will leave you with one last picture. One of today’s chores was sorting out my picture database and filing all the backups to ensure nothing can get lost and also free up space on my laptop. Yesterday Richard Wellings, a self-styled transport ‘expert’ from the shadowy lobby group the ‘Institute for Economic Affairs’ tried to make hay out of an article claiming 500 Crossrail train drivers are getting paid for doing nothing because the central core has been delayed. Wellings knows sod all about railways, he just spouts whatever line his anonymous paymasters tell him to, so of course, he didn’t realise that Crossrail are already running trains under the TfL Rail banner either side of the core. Funnily enough I’d pictured several a few days before. Here’s one at Paddington on May day. Pop over to Liverpool St and you’ll see plenty more!

DG321914. 345003. Paddington. 1.5.19crop

Genuine rail expert William Barter put Wellings in his place on Twitter.

barter

Yet another mixed bag of thoughts and pictures.

25 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Photography, Railways, West Yorkshire

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I’ve been keeping myself occupied working at home all this week, although that will change soon. Today’s been busy with scanning old pictures and digging other bits out of the archive for a client as well as nipping out for a couple of hours to stretch my legs and meet up with a friend from Twitter who’s travelling round this neck of the woods during a trip over from Ireland.

After all the sunshine we had over the weekend, we’ve had a very mixed week, it’s almost like the traditional bank holiday weather arrived a couple of days too late!There’s been some incredibly moody skies, heavy showers and even one huge clap of thunder this afternoon. I try and take a daily walk through our local woods up to Albert Promenade, which offers superb views across and along the Calder valley. Here’s what it looked like a couple of days ago.

I love the views from here because of the way the light’s always changing depending on the clouds and also because we’re looking Southwards, so the sun backlights them, adding to the effect.

Back at home I’ve cracked on with more post-scanning picture editing before sticking them onto my Zenfolio picture website. Here’s a taster of what you can find.

5316. 47361. Very tatty. Didcot. 21.8.95crop

People sometimes forget how tatty trains could look in the BR era. He’s a Class 47 looking rather sorry for itself whilst stabled at Didcot on the 21st August 1995. The old blue paintwork can be seen through the peeling and faded Railfreight livery. 

I’ve now finished scanning the album from 1995 and leapt forward to April 2000, which is when this next shot was taken. The rest are in the queue for scanning…

7610. 90009. 14.35 to Glasgow Central. Euston. 10.4.2000crop

On the 14th April 2000, 90009 ‘The Economist’ still in BR ‘Intercity’ livery waits to leave London Euston with Virgin West Coast’s 14.35 to Glasgow Central service. Loco-hauled would last for another 4 years before the new Pendolino’s arrived. Afterwards, 90009 found a new home working trains from Liverpool St to Norwich. A service they’ll soon be displaced from by the arrival of new trains from Stadler. Meanwhile, Euston is in the throes of redevelopment due to the construction of HS2, so in a few years this scene will look very different indeed. 

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I should be out and about, so expect a rolling blog from my travels.

 

Those whom the Gods love die young.

24 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Down memory lane, Gwyll Jones, Musings, Obituaries, Railways

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It could be that I’m getting older and these things become more frequent as you do, or it could just be a spate of bad luck, or divine intervention or – well, just about anything really, depending on your beliefs. But there’s been a run of people whom I know dying recently. I received news of two yesterday. Both were sad for different reasons, but one was completely out of left-field.

Gwilym Jones was a train driver. An ex-West coast man he’d moved to be a depot driver at Wimbledon Park in London, which is where I first met him. A fellow Merseysider (although I used to rib him about the fact he wasn’t a proper Scouser as he was actually from across the water in Birkenhead!) we shared the same sense of humour and love of the railways. Oh, and beer – and stories. Gwyll had a treasure-trove of stories from his days as a train driver.

We’d usually meet in the company of his colleagues Steve Upton (who introduced us to each other) and Chris Buckland, amongst others. One memorable year (2007) our little group were down at the Swanage railway gala with the 4-VEP which was being used in passenger service. For those who wonder what I’m talking about, a 4-VEP is an old electric train of 4 coaches built in the 1960s. In the evenings we’d bed down in several of the 1st Class compartments. This produced some memorable moments and the jokes about flatulence and bars of soap which are still told today!

When I moved from London to Yorkshire we didn’t see as much of each other but our friendship was maintained through Facebook. The old humour and interests were still there of course, as was the banter, we just shared it in a different way. Gwll never mentioned his illness on Facebook, or to many people, but he’d developed Hodgkin lymphoma last year.

Yesterday, Steve Upton broke the news that Gwll had died on Monday, aged just 53, so this is my little tribute to him. RIP mate, safe journey.

DG10560. Gwyll. Steve. Buckie. Swanage. 11.5.07.crop

From L-R. Gwyll, Steve and Buckie with the VEP at Swanage in May 2007. Fond memories.

Better late than never.

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Railways

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Today’s not been a vintage one – unless you count scanning lots of old pictures from the 1990s..

This morning Dawn and I attended the funeral of a lovely chap we knew both as a neighbour and as a regular in our local pub. Sadly, a few weeks ago, he suffered a massive heart attack whilst playing tennis and passed away at the age of 66. To say that Gary was popular and respected was evidenced by the number of folk who turned out to his cremation which was standing room only. I’ve no doubt that his family will be comforted by the send-off he received and the magnitude of people from all walks of life who turned up to pay their last respects.

These events are often unsettling for a number of reasons, not least because those attending are forced to face their own mortality and remember past times. Here’s some of my past in the form of photos I took long ago in 1995. I was never one for organised rail tours, but back in the mid 1990s, as the railways were changing due to privatisation, I did a few. Here’s a couple of shots of Hertfordshire Rail tours ‘Honey Monster’ which ran from London Paddington to the MOD storage facility at Long Marston in Oxfordshire. The site was packed with stored rail vehicles of all sorts and ages.

5141. 33019. 33057. The 'Honey Monster' railtour. Paddington. 29.7.95crop

Class 33s no’s 33019 and 33057 prepare to head the ‘Honey Monster’ railtour out of Paddington on the 29th July 1995.

The weather at Long Marston was excellent. Here’s some of the stock that was stored, which included brand-new (well, a year old) Class 92 electric locos.

5160. 92003. 92007. MOD Kineton. 29.7.95crop

As Joni Mitchell sang in ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, “you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone”…

If you want to have a look at more of today’s scanned pictures, you can find which galleries they’ve been added to on my Zenfolio website by following this link.

What to say?

15 Monday Apr 2019

Posted by in Brexit, Musings, Politics, Railways

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It’s been another of those days. Parliament is in recess over Easter whilst the country burns through Brexit and I don’t know whether to laugh or cry. Yes, they’re humans who need time with their families and they’re entitled to a break like anyone else, but there happens to be a clock ticking that they chose to set in motion. The only reason it’s not struck midnight is because the European Union has agreed to reset it. But it won’t be to British summer-time…

Meanwhile, there’s no end to the Brexit shambles in sight. Oh, there’s plenty of fatigue and short attention spans. But this isn’t TV. You can’t change the channel ‘cos you don’t like the programme. We’re stuck with this and to paraphrase glam rocker band ‘The Sweet’ and their 1970s hit Blockbuster’s lyrics “we just haven’t got a clue what to do”…

Away from all this I’ve been ploughing on with work, editing pictures for various clients and also sorting out historical pictures in a drive to get the damned things on my website after all these years. Here’s one of them.

5106. 304032. 12.54 to Coventry. Wolverhampton. 28.7.95crop

Here’s a old slam-door Class 304 electric unit ready to work the return 12.54 from Wolverhampton to Coventry on the 28th July 1995. They were as old as I was as we both came into the world at the same time. Thankfully, I’ve outlived them. Their end came in 1996. Mine’s yet to be written!

Calder valley interlude

13 Saturday Apr 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Sowerby Bridge, West Yorkshire

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After spending much of the week travelling the country I’m having a weekend at home in the Calder Valley. We’ve had a pretty relaxing Saturday morning, although I have done some work and set up the next batch of old slides from 1995 ready for scanning. It’s a boring process. Each pictures has to be broken out of its original plastic frame and remounted in a new Gepe glass covered mount ready to be scanned. The glass mounts ensure that the film is perfectly flat so there’s no danger of parts of it being bowed and out of focus after it’s been through my Nikon Coolscan. The Gepe mounts have to be kept dust free, which adds to the length of time the process takes. Here they are on the lightbox, all ready for scanning. The sharp-eyed might spot that the last few are of the old Dover train ferry used before the channel tunnel opened.

Right now we’re off for a walk across the valley and up to Norland Moor, no doubt we’ll pop into the Moorcock Inn whilst we’re there as it’s a chilly day here and their log fire will be a welcome sight, so expect this blog to be added to whilst we’re out. See you later!

16:16.

Not bad weather for a stroll. That’s the Calder Valley looking towards Halifax behind us.

Another mixed bag…

11 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Railways, West Yorkshire

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It’s a gorgeous day here in the Calder Valley but I’ve had no time to get out with the camera as I’ve been too busy sorting out yesterdays pictures and also stuff at home as I’m off again tomorrow. I’ll flesh this blog out shortly, but first I wanted to add a couple of pictures taken in Burnley yesterday. The first shows the view across the town seen from just above Manchester Rd station with a Northern Rail ‘Pacer’ working from Colne to Blackpool South crossing the viaduct. The second shows the power of a zoom lens as it was taken from exactly the same spot!

DG320951crop

DG320950. Northern 142 crosses the viaduct. Burnley. 10.4.19.crop

You can find the full selection by following this link to my Zenfolio website.

After sorting out yesterday’s pictures, plus the latest batch of old slides from 1995 I went for a lunchtime constitutional by walking up through Scarr Woods to a local viewpoint.

See, I told you it was a beautiful day!

Right now I’m sat in our local pub, the ‘Big 6’ as a group of us regulars are off whisky tasting this evening with the Wright wine company over in Skipton. Here’s tonight’s entertainment;

Juggling…

09 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Brexit, Musings, Photography, Politics, Railways

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After yesterday’s travels today’s been spent at home to catch up on the huge volume of pictures that I’ve taken or scanned over the past week. That’s the only downside to pictures – they have to be edited and labelled and grouped before being transferred to my website. It’s a surprisingly time-consuming process that’s not helped by me trying to be more active this week as scanning all these old slides means I’m sitting around on my backside for much of the day, developing corns on my bum rather then getting some exercise.

There’s also the temptation to pay too much attention to social media and the latest news of the country completely losing the plot over Brexit. OK, I take that back. The country lost the plot ages ago. Now we’re completely through the looking glass! Having jst about exhausted their list of people to blame for the failure of Brexit (other than themselves), Brexiters have come up with an absolute stunner. The Queen’s to blame! No, that wasn’t a typo – They. Are. Calling. The. Queen. A. Traitor! Why? Because yesterday she signed the bill delaying Brexit beyond April 11th that was passed by err, Parliament…

Now remember, these are the people who’re always bleating about ‘democracy’ and ‘Sovereignty’, two concepts that most of them clearly know zip about! If it wasn’t so tragic (and dangerous) it would be a superb comic moment. As it is, the satirical website ‘The Poke’ has poked fun at them – and very effectively too (link) – aided and abetted by furious readers of the Daily Mail! Some of the comments on the Mail’s website make me seriously question the sanity of their readers, never mind their intelligence…

So, another month and another date we should have left the EU passes. Anyone with half a brain can see what an utter shambles this is. The UK’s a laughing stock around the world. Now the EU’s having to save us from ourselves and (hopefully) set a much extended date for article 50 whilst we try and sort ourselves out – which is going to be no easy task because the lunatics (of all political shades) are still in charge of the asylum and haven’t got a clue what to do. Even some of the hardline Brexit supporters (well, those one’s who haven’t been lobotomised) are starting to think – hence Peter Oborne’s volte face here.

The wrangling and the humiliation continues in Brussels, where Teresa May is, yet again, making a fool of herself and the country with EU leaders. Luckily for us, they seem to care more about the UK than she does, and seem poised to insist on a year long extension of article 50 in the hope it’ll give us chance to sort out our own mess. We shall see…

Right, it’s time for me to return to scanning a few more old slides. Here’s one from the latest batch, taken at Warrington Bank Quay station on the 20th June 1995.

04994. 87017. Working to Preston. Warrington Bank Quay. 20.6.95crop

Class 87 No 87017 ‘Iron Duke’ calls at Warrington Bank Quay whilst working a Euston to Preston service in BR days – long before Pendolino’s were even though about.

You can find the rest of the old slide scans as well as all the new pictures by following this link to my Zenfolio website. It’ll take you to the ‘recents’ section and show you which galleries have been updated.

The weekend off…

07 Sunday Apr 2019

Posted by in Food and drink, Musings, West Yorkshire

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Well, almost! I’ve not been blogging these past few days as Dawn and I have had a very sociable time with friends this weekend and there simply hasn’t been the time. Yesterday we were busy with household chores and shopping before popping around to visit friends and watch the Grand National together. Neither Dawn nor I are into betting and we’ve never even watched the race together before, but as Froso and Richard had invited us round we got into the spirit of things and even placed a couple of bets. I backed a rank outsider as well as the favorite so we’re now a whole £17 better off, but I promise that it won’t change our lifestyles! Afterwards we had a few drinks in Sowerby Bridge before an evening drinking far too much wine with Fro & Richard back at their home, which meant today had very much a subdued start!Originally, the weather wasn’t up to much, but then neither were we. Instead of going walking we spent time shopping for some ingredients that would allow us to do some batch cooking this evening. Admittedly, we did end up having a ‘hair of the dog’ in our local before coming home, but now we’ve got back into the swing of things. I’ve just made an old favourite – cucumber curry. No, really! It’s made with creamed coconut, cucumber, red pepper and peanuts and tastes divine.

Now Dawn’s taken over the kitchen to cook a wonderful Afghan aubergine dish whilst I’ve retreated to the office to try and catch up with scanning a few more old rail slides like this on from 1995.

04961. 309618. 305513. 305509. 55009. Stored in the carriage sidings. Blackpool North.19.6.95crop

This view is of Blackpool North carriage sidings when they were being used to store a variety of redundant trains, both diesel and electric.

Talking of redundant trains. Next week sees the first of the old BR built Class 313s go for scrap. They’re currently the oldest electric multiple units on the mainland, having been introduced way back in 1976 to work services from Moorgate and London Kings Cross to Hertfordshire. Hopefully, I’ll be there tomorrow to see the first one leave Hornsey on its final journey to the scrap yard. So, watch out for tomorrow’s rolling blog…