Category Archives: National Rail Awards

Rolling blog. National Rail Awards 2023…

14 Thursday Sep 2023

Posted by in London, National Rail Awards, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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12:15.

The pair of us are currently bouncing along from Bradford to Leeds on a Northern Class 195 in order to head down to London for tonight’s National Rail Awards, an event I’ve only missed once since (gulp!) 2003. Jeez. Were’s the last 20 years gone?

Tonight will be rather special as the awards host and Editor of RAIL magazine, Nigel Harris, leaves Bauer after 28 years tomorrow so it’s very much the end of an era. Nigel’s an old friend. The pair of us first met as volunteers on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway back in the mid 1970s. Then, in 2001 I started working for RAIL as a freelance photographer which brought me to the attention of the wider railway industry. The rest (as they say) is history…

12:45.

We’ve swapped our Northern 195 for some ‘classic’ traction to Kings Cross in the shape of 91111 ‘For the Fallen’

16th September update.

Sorry, I was overtaken by events that evening (literally) so never finished this blog. Despite the awards opening at 17:45 and going on until the early hours of the morning there’s never enough time. There’s so many people to see and say hello to, never mind get into conversation with – and Dawn and I have been privileged enough to have the run of the place and access to the VIP area which is the bar above the Great Hall.

Seeing so many old faces was lovely and (as usual) there was lost of stimulating and informative conversations. The Rail awards really are the railway ‘Oscars’ so pretty much everybody in the rail industry who can be there is. Only this time there was a twist due to Nigel retiring after so many years. Nigel’s co-presenter this year was the always entertaining TV journalist Steph McGovern, a person who has a host of stories and not afraid to call a spade a spade – or someone a tw*t! You should hear her anecdotes about meeting Donald Trump!

Here’s a few pictures from the night.

The VIP balcony. Folk in the rail industry may be able to spot a few familiar faces.
The view from our table as Steph McGovern gets into her story-telling stride…
Sir Peter Hendy was one of the people who bid farewell to Nigel (seen on the right).

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Off to to the awards…

16 Thursday Sep 2021

Posted by in London, Musings, National Rail Awards, Railways

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One of the welcome signs of a gradual return to normal has been the return of various events that were absent in 2020, which became the year when nothing happened. Last week we had the return of the Railtex/Infrarail trade show, this week we have the return of a different and more prestigious event – the National Rail Awards. OK, I may be slightly biased here as I’ve attended every NRA since 2003 which is when I first became the event photographer. That was quite a daunting task then as I’d only just turned professional and I was shooting on film, which was a lot more challenging. I worked at every awards until (I think) 2017 when I retired from the role and became a VIP guest instead – which is much less stressful and a lot more fun!

Now Dawn and I are on our way to London to attend the resurrected awards I’m really looking forward to the chance to catch up with so many old friends and colleagues whom I’ve not had chance to see (in person) for a while. We’re currently on the train from Leeds and LNER provided this vintage bit of traction to take us there…

I won’t be blogging throughout the day, but I will add a few pictures and an overview later. I’m sure it will be a great event. It sees the return of Nigel Harris’ co-host, the BBC TV News anchor Huw Edwards. We used to have guest presenters every year and the list is a stellar one that includes John Humphreys, Steph McGovern, Nick Owen and many more, but for the past several years Huw’s been such a success he’s become a feature.

Here he is at last night’s awards….

I have to say, it was a great event and so good to see that many familiar faces together again. As usual with the awards the biggest difficulty was getting to talk to everyone you knew. When there’s over 900 people there it’s a challenge! Even so, we really enjoyed ourselves as we had a fantastic table right at the front so had a grandstand view of everything. Personally, I’d always had that as the event photographer but now I didn’t have to keep bobbing up from my seat, camera in hand, every time people came up to collect their awards! Instead I could sit back with a glass of wine and applaud.

This year we had a surprise guest, who I’ll tell you more about later…

Rolling blog: all dressed up with somewhere to go…

19 Thursday Sep 2019

Posted by in London, National Rail Awards, Railways, Travel

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07:30.

I’m packed and ready to head down to London for tonight’s National Rail Awards. It’s going to be a long day but it’s always a great event and chance to catch up with friends from the industry as well as watch others get well-deserved awards for their hard work and service to the industry. Dawn is already ‘down South’ so we’re arranging to meet before going to the hotel to prepare. The cufflinks and bow-tie are all packed and the shoes polished, so let’s see how the day goes…

08:20.

Walking to the station with the Calder Valley hidden beneath a thick layer of cloud.

09:05.

After walking to Halifax station I’m now on stage 2 of the journey aboard Northern’s 09:00 to Leeds. It’s a York service made up of a 2-car class 158 instead of the more normal 3-car, so it’s already busy. This is one of the unrefurbished sets, which is clean, but tired.

09:20.

After our reversal at Bradford Bradford Interchange where a sizeable chunk of folk deoarted I extricated myself from the luggage shelf and found a seat before the next horde boarded. We’re already full and standing but we’ve still got two more calls before Leeds including New Pudsey, which is always busy. This coukd get cosy!

The murk that covered the Calder Valley is totally absent here. Instead, we have clear, crisp blue skies without a hint of cloud.

10:40.

I’m now flying down the East Coast Main Line (ECML) aboard one of LNER’s old Mark 4 sets pushed by a Class 91 locomotive named “Skyfall” after the James Bond film. We’ve just rushed through Retford at 119 mph and show little sign of slacking. I’m in the quiet coach at the back of what’s a very busy train, but here I’ve managed to find an unreserved table to set up my laptop on and crack on with some work. The weather outside remains stunning – I actually wish I was out with the camera, making the most of it!

11:05.

We’ve just been brought to a stand at Helpston, North of Peterborough, which I assume is because of congestion at the station. We’re on the move again now but crawling along to the next signal at a sedate 17mph. I’ve just taken the time to have a wander through the train to use the loo and noticed how tatty these Mk4 sets are getting now that they’re in their final months of service. The loo door wouldn’t shut properly and the lock was decidedly dodgy. Belay the congestion bit, the Train Manager’s just been on the PA to explain our speed is due to a trespasser on the line. At least our slow speed is giving me time to admire the construction work on the new Werrington dive-under. I must get down here to photograph is properly soon.

11:30.

We called at Peterborough and now we’re accelerating across the Cambridgeshire Fenlands running 10 minutes late due to the trespass incident. The trip recorder on my phone is showing us hitting 123 mph right now as we flash through Huntingdon, leaving the station a blur…

12:53.

Despite the dekay I had plenty of time to stroll from Kings Cross to Euston in the glorious sunshine before catching the tube to Waterloo. Now I’m wating for Dawn’s train from Farnham to arrive…

16:05.

After meeting up with Dawn in Waterloo we nipped down to Roupell St for a ‘swifty’ in a time-warp area of London hidden in the shadows of Waterloo East’s elevated platforms. It’s an area I knew well from my days living in London as a friends mother lived here and I helped redecorate her house.

The interior of the Kings Arms in Roupell St.

Moving on we decided it was far too nice a day to be stuck on the tube a minute longer than we had to be so we walked back to Embankment tube via the South Bank and the footbridge at Charing Cross. The view was stunning.

Now we’re in our hotel in Bayswater, getting changed for tonight’s black-tie event.

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

 

Time to change clothes..

14 Friday Sep 2018

Posted by in I love my job, National Rail Awards, Railways

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Dawn and I are back at home after attending last night’s National Rail Awards in London. It was a brilliant event made all the more interesting by the fact that, for the first time in 15 years I was a VIP guest at the awards rather than being there to take the photos, which allowed me to spend more time to talk to the many friends I’ve made in the industry throughout the years

You might think “well, what’s the industry got to celebrate with all these strikes, failed franchises and timetable fiascos?”, but as the host of the event, RAIL magazine’s Editor Nigel Harris pointed out – The awards are about celebrating people. Those people who go above and beyond the call of duty to deliver exemplary service – even under incredibly difficult circumstances.

The pair of us arrived shortly after opening. As it’s a black tie event you’ve got to get a selfie, haven’t you?

This year, as I wasn’t ‘on duty’ I’ve had the opportunity to record the event for myself.

The awards are held in the ballroom of the Grosvenor Park Hotel in Park Lane. Around 1100 people attend. This is what the floor looks like from the VIP bar.

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The place soon gets packed with people once everyone is called to dinner after the chance to chat, meet old friends or simply network with colleagues.

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Some of the 114 tables at last night’s National Rail awards

We’ve had some excellent co-hosts over the years but one who always makes a great impression is the BBC’s Steph McGovern. It’s her second time at the awards. Steph is a witty, down to earth Tees-sider who posses a self-deprecating sense of humour and a wealth of anecdotes. Her story of meeting Donald Trump is especially funny – and pithy!

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Last years awards was probably the most memorable of all as it paid tribute to the members of the British Transport Police and station staff who suffered two horrendous events, The suicide bomb at the MEN arena above Manchester Victoria station and also the terror attack at London Bridge when BTP Officer Wayne Marques was seriously injured whilst heroically tackling the knife-wielding terrorists single-handedly when his only weapon was a baton.

Wayne is finally on the road to recovery and returned to the awards this year and received another standing ovation and the heartfelt thanks of the crowd.

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I won’t detail every winner here, but you can find them on the RAIL website if you follow this link.

Now it’s time to ditch my black tie for something a little more suitable for a photojournalist as on Sunday I fly to Germany for the massive Innotrans rail show. Expect pictures and a few reports soon…