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Paul Bigland

Category Archives: Nottingham

Rolling blog. Conference call…

08 Tuesday Mar 2022

Posted by Paul Bigland in Community rail, Community Rail Network, Nottingham, Photography, Railways, Travel

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Community rail, Community Rail Network, Nottingham, Photography, Railways, Travel

09:00.

It’s a sunny but chilly day here in Nottingham and we’re all getting ready for day 2 of the Community Rail Network annual conference. I’ll be photographing/blogging through the day before heading home after the conference finishes later this afternoon….

09:15.

We’ve kicked off with a briefing on the new Great Britain Railways structure and plans from Sarah Williams, Community Rail Lead, GBR Transition team.

09:35.

Now we have CRNs Deputy Chief Executive Brian Barnsley talking about the growth of CRN and the challenges for the future.

10:00 following the first talks there was a busy and active Q&A session. Here’s Maisie Axon from Siemens Mobility posing one.

It’s 11:45 and the conference has broken up into three workshops to discuss ‘planning in uncertain times’. There’s been some really interesting discussions but it’s not all been doom and gloom by any means as can be seen by this light-hearted suggestion board and picture of CRN’s Denise Havard at one of the workshops.

15:30.

The conference is now over for another year. It’s been a great event and I’ll add a few more pictures later. Right now I’m beginning the trek back to Yorkshire after bidding adieu to some old community rail friends who decided to wait for their train at the Micropub on the station which is located in the old wooden taxi office on the South side of the building. I’m taking the ‘scenic’ route via the Robin Hood line to Worksop in order to do some photographic reconnaissance. I’ve not taken pictures along the central and Northern sections for many a year so this was a good opportunity to have a look. My chariot is another ex-Scotrail 3-car Class 170 and it’s well loaded.

The first section of the line proper parallels the NET tram system which provides an interesting contrast in transport modes.

15:51.

After a delay caused by the fact the line’s single-track towards Hucknall so we had to wait for a Southbound service to clear the section we finally reached Hucknall where the tram tracks end. Now we’re on our own over old railway infrastructure that’s a shadow of its former self due to de-industrialisation and the mass closure of colleries. That said, the line hits a bit of a rural oasis after escaping Hucknall’s clutches. Well, until we hit Newstead – formerly called Newstead Colliery Village where the proliferation of Silver Birch trees (the first coloniser of old industrial sites) tells a tale.

16:03.

There’s not much to see at Kirby-In-Ashfield where a line trails on from the left and we’re back on double track, because the station’s situated in a cutting. At Sutton Parkway, the station’s sat in the middle of an modern industrial estate but at least it provides more passengers.

The shift between new housing. industrial dereliction and pockets of green continued as far as Mansfield where the the original station stone built building survives on the Worksop platform. Nothing original survives on the opposite side – and I’m not just talking about the station! The town’s undergone various phases of redevelopment and not all look successful or aesthetic!

16:15.

We’ve arrived at Mansfield Woodhouse which used to see Robin Hood services terminate. The old goods shed was converted to provide shelter for trains which used a spur off the main line. Now only a few peak hour services from Nottingham end their journeys here.

At Shirebrook an original building survives as a ‘business centre’ but the fans of sidings and old locomotive depot that serviced coal trains are long gone. Only the old Midland Railway signalbox that guards Shirebrook Jn lives to tell the (much quieter) tale…

Now the line becomes rural once again until it hits Cresswell where we encounter semaphore signals a very derelict and abandoned old station building and a new(ish) basic station just to the North of the original. There’s even an ancient wooden-post semaphore signal here, a rare survivor nowadays.

I’m beginning to regret not having brought my rail atlas. This section of line’s unfamiliar so trying to piece together the railway’s geography is difficult. Where did some of these severed sidings and abandoned lines go to or serve? I’ve no idea…

19:10.

Sorry – another break in the narrative as I was too busy in the real world! Approaching Worksop was fun as the still-extant sidings that once used to be full of coal wagons now have a very different purpose. Rail businessman Harry Needle has leased them from Network Rail and invested millions in re-fettling them and making the sites secure. They’re an ideal vehicle storage centre and there’s plenty of stuff needing his services for a variety of reasons. My train passed off-lease LNER Mk3 loco-hauled coaches, a variety of off-lease Class 321 EMUs, plus brand new Alstom (formerly Bombardier) Class 701 and 720 trains waiting to go to the TOCs that ordered them. There’s also a few heritage locos and coaches, plus a brace of Class 92 electric locos up on jacks as they’re sans bogies. It’s a very surreal sight.

I had chance to mull this over whilst I had a pint in ‘The Mallard’ the friendly, cosy little pub on the station where I spent a pleasant time chatting to people before getting my train North-Westwards…

I’m now heading for Leeds on a Northern Class 158 from Lincoln. The train’s been busy throughout the trip, firstly to Sheffield, but now on the way to Leeds. We had a crew-change at Sheffield and the young woman who took over as conductor is excellent. She’s not afraid of the intercom or public speaking. Her explanation of why we’re late (tresspassers) was spot on and struck just the right note.

21:59.

I’m now back at home and lounging with a beer before hitting the sack. Today’s been a fascinating and diverse one that’s left me with lots of pictures to edit and words to process – starting first thing tomorrow morning. But, I’ll leave you with one last picture from yesterday’s trip on Crossrail now that the embargo’s expired. Here’s a driver’s eye view of the new railway seen from the cab of a Bombardier built Class 345 as the train’s sat at the platform at Paddington. I don’t know about you, but having spent a lot of time in modern train cabs there’s one thing that really catches my eye. It’s the Screwfix style 3-pin plug socket above the driver’s head!

UK light rail conference 2015.

17 Wednesday Jun 2015

Posted by Paul Bigland in Hs2, LRT, Nottingham, Trams

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Hs2, LRT, Nottingham, Trams, UKLRT15

It’s lunch break so I’ve a little time to start a blog from the event, which, so far, has proved to be very interesting. My difficulty has been in deciding which of the many different sessions to attend.

The day started with a presentation from Nottingham Cllr Jean Urquhart (who has lead responsibility for NET) who spoke about some of the successes of a system which will carry 20m passengers a year. I’ll talk about these in detail when I’ve time to flesh this out.

After her introduction we headed off to two other lecture rooms where we could choose from a variety of presentations. I plumped for the session on ‘low impact light rail’ which contained briefings from Paul Griffiths of Centro & Ian Jordan of Trelleborg. The brief centered on the opportunity to reduce the costs of building tramways by the use of modular track panels. These reduce the depth of excavations to lay tram tracks & prevent underground services needing to be disturbed or moved. (more later).

The second session was a panel debate on driving down costs, although there were no easy solutions presented & the panel were quite pessimistic about the way decentralisation (& the new LEPs) are adding costs, not removing them.

In between sessions we had chance to browse the dozens of stands & chat to the companies represented. Take a look;

Colas rail are at UKLRT15

Colas rail are at UKLRT15

Just some of the stands at UKLRT15

Just some of the stands at UKLRT15

The event’s certainly well run & there’s a lot to look forward to. I’ll update you all later, now it’s time for the next sessions. I’m looking forward to the off wire operations seminar…

Update. 18:38.

Well, I wasn’t disappointed. There were some excellent afternoon sessions!

Mariana Kajen, MD (Middle East) of North Star gave a fact filled presentation on the rail market in the Gulf Co-operation Council (GCC) countries & the prospects for UK firms to do business there. One fact that really stuck in my mind was that Saudi Arabia are currently spending a whopping $44.8bn on light & heavy rail systems! I’ll include a couple of shots of her presentation later.

Later, Hervé Mazzoni, SYSTRA’s Director of Systems Integration & RAMS gave a fascinating presentation on off-wire operation & energy recovery systems that manged to be both incredibly informative – and funny. When his presentation cut out he demonstrated that the old engineers trick of giving something a kick still works in the computer age. I had a chat with him afterwards & I was very impressed with his incisive knowledge. Here he is just before kicking off (literally) his presentation!

DG216122. Herve Mazzoni presentation. UKLRC15. Nottingham. 17.6.15

The afternoon ended with NET laying on a special tram to take delegates on a trip along the phase 2 route as far as Beeston, where we had chance for a few photo’s. Again, I’ll write more about this later.

Our special tram sits at the single platform stop at Beeston.

Our special tram sits at the single platform stop at Beeston.

DAY 2 UPDATE.

Phew! I’ve had to leave the conference early as I’m on an assignment in London later today. So, here’s an update on this mornings proceedings sent from the comfort of mt East Midlands Train to London…

The first session I attended was a presentation from David Keay – HM Deputy Chief Inspector of Railways at the ORR. He gave a fascinating talk about the history of the railways inspectorate (which dates back to 1840).  The ORR archives have a wonderful collection of old documents, one of which is a letter written by railway engineer George Stephenson to the Board of Trade, strongly supporting the establishment of a railways inspectorate. David related the fact that whilst Stephenson was a great supporter of the need for an inspectorate, fellow engineer I.K Brunel was vehemently opposed to the idea!

David went on to tell the tale of some of the early Inspectors (all of whom came from the Army) and how the principle that the railway companies are ultimately responsible for safety was first established in 1879 following the terrible Tay bridge disaster.

History dispensed with, David went on to describe how the current inspectorate operates & the establishment of ROGS, aka, Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 which established Safety Management Systems (SMS).

Next up for me was a panel debate on ‘High speed rail and multi-modal integration’ which primarily focused on how to maximise the benefits from Hs2. Paul Buchanan from Volterra set the financial scene  whilst former Transport Minister Norman Baker dealt with political aspects. David Ralph, Chief Exec of D2N2 talked abot the Midlands perspective & the opportunities of Hs2 at Toton. Martha Grekos, a Partner at Irwin Mitchell left people in no doubt Hs2 was happening. She also talked about the momentum behind the project and the importance of planning ahead.

The final session before we broke for lunch & I had to leave was a plenary debate on tram-train with Colin Walton, Metrolink MD Peter Cushing, Simon Coulthard, Network Rail’s project head, Tim Kendall (formerly of the DfT) and Dave Haskins, project Director from Metro (Yorks).

This was the most frustrating session of the event. Whilst Simon gave us an update on progress (the first Vossloh vehicle will arrive in November) and some of the factors that have dragged to project out, we were left with no clear insight into why this project has been bogged down for so many years. It was clear the operators want to see results & are keen to adapt the technology, but I was left with a feeling what was unsaid was far more important. For example, why is the project costing 4 times more than the Karlsruhe system in Germany & why are we insisting on vehicle standards that aren’t mandatory?

Despite those frustrations the conference has, to my eyes, been an excellent event that’s been well run, informative and entertaining. I hope I’ll be able to attend next year.

 

 

 

 

The ‘office’ is moving again…

16 Tuesday Jun 2015

Posted by Paul Bigland in LRT, Nottingham

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LRT, Nottingham

This time I’m off to Nottingham where the 10th annual UK Light Rail conference is to be held. It promises to be an interesting couple of days. There’s a wide range of speakers and a lot of exhibitors, so expect a bit of blogging and tweeting…

Needless to say I’m heading there by train, so you can expect a fair few pictures from the journey to appear on my Zenfolio website. I’m keen to have a look the Nottingham tramway extensions so I expect to be able to include shots showing what NET has been up to.

Update. 12:24

Oh, the joys of freelance life. So far, my quiet time to get some new shots has gone out of the windows due to repeated phone requests for archive pictures and a short notice commission that means this is going to be a very hectic week. Still, who’s complaining? It’s all money in the bank & the commission sounds rather interesting…

Update. 19:47

And relax! I’m checked into my hotel & now I’m taking a little time off to enjoy a pint in Nottingham town centre before sorting out some of today’s pictures. From watching the trams go by it’s obvious somethings going on as I’ve already spotted one or two familiar faces from the world of transport enjoying a ride on the new Alstom Citadis trams.

DG216030. Tram 217. South Parade. Nottingham. 16.6.15

Catch you later.

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