Category Archives: Railways

5th July picture of the day…

05 Sunday Jul 2020

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OK, this one combines railways and travel.

Back in 2011 Dawn and I visited Vietnam as a side trip from time in Thailand. It’s a country I’d always wanted to visit so we made it happen. Sadly, I took my eye off the ball somewhat as I’d got a lot going on at the time, which meant I didn’t do the research I should have. We flew into Bangkok and had a great time in balmy temperatures. Knowing we’d be coming back, we left a lot of our clothes in a hotel storage room. Big mistake..

We flew out of Bangkok and arrived in Hanoi to a real shock. The weather was bloody freezing. Hanoi was more like the UK in January than Thailand and we’d not brought the right clothing and I’d only brought sandals! We were so cold we ended up sleeping in our clothes for several days. It was so bad I had to go out and buy some enclosed shoes. As I didn’t want to waste any money (I’d only need them for a couple of weeks) I bought the cheapest pair of trainers I could find. They were shiny white plastic of the sort you’d expect to see a pimp wear – but who cares? Well, at least they gave Dawn a laugh!

Whilst we were in Hanoi I took this picture. Talk about ‘the railroad runs through the middle of the house…

DG72015. D19 E-921. Hanoi. Vietnam. 8.1.11.crop

I have to chortle when I remember stuff like this, then think about the Nimbys in the UK who’re objecting to the fact our new rail line (HS2) will ‘ruin their lives’ by passing 100s of metres away! If you want to see the rest of the pictures from our trip. You can find them in this gallery.

 

 

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High Speed 2 (HS2), the project’s picking up the pace…

05 Sunday Jul 2020

Posted by in Hs2, Rail Investment, Railways

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I thought it was about time that I wrote another blog about HS2 as, finally, after years of arguments. delays and uncertainty, the project is very much underway.  After 11 years of planning and preparation, HS2 finally received ‘Notice to Proceed’ in April. Now, even seasoned observers like myself find it hard to keep track of progress as the speed and scale of events means it feels like there’s a new announcement on progress every week – despite the Covid hiccup. It’s easy to miss things, after all, this is a massive project that’s around 124 miles long and that contains dozens and dozens of worksites (large and small) covering a whole range of activities. There’s archeological surveys, utilities to divert, vegetation clearance, mitigation works, the establishment of site compounds as well as some major civil engineering ready for the launch of tunnel boring machines of the construction of viaducts and bridges.

What I’m going to do in this blog is give an overview of what’s happening where, as well as some of the major announcements that have taken place in the past few months. If you want to find details of work being carried on in specific areas, HS2 Ltd have an excellent website called ‘HS2 – in your area’ which keeps people along the route up to date. You can find it here. This blog is not an exhaustive list. I’m sure there will be some things I’ve missed because of the sheer size of the project.

Firstly, let’s look at some of the major announcements.

2nd July. The contract for the overhead power lines on phase 1 and 2 a to Crewe is announced.

Worth around £300 million the system will cover 589 single track kilometres, including 62 viaducts, 293 bridges and 15 tunnels

24th June. Birmingham Curzon St station construction shortlist announced. 

The following companies were shortlisted for the contract to build the £570m contract to build the station.

BAM Ferrovial (a joint venture consisting of BAM Nuttall Ltd and Ferrovial Construction (UK) Limited)

Laing O’Rourke Construction Limited

Mace Dragados (a joint venture consisting of Mace Limited and Dragados S.A. UK Branch)

The station recently became the first HS2 station to gain planning approval. It’ll be net zero carbon in operation and adopt the latest eco-friendly design and sustainable technologies, including capturing rainwater and utilising sustainable power generation, with over 2,800m2 of solar panels located on platform canopies.

22nd June. Telecoms supply contract announced. 

The winner of the contract – worth around £300m – will be responsible for the design, manufacture, supply, installation, safety authorisation, testing, commissioning and initial maintenance of the operational telecommunication systems and the route wide security systems on Phase One and 2a, between London and Crewe.
The scope of the work includes 2,760 km of fibre optic cabling, 140 trackside cabinets, dozens of equipment cabins and radio coverage across 230km.

11th June. Pictures of the massive site where the Chiltern Tunnel boring machines will be launched from were released. 

Anyone thinking that work so far has been small beer about grubbing up a few hedgerows or diverting a few water mains were in for a shock when these pictures were released. The site at South Heath in Buckinghamshire is massive (136 acres) – but it’s escaped attention because protesters have ignored it so haven’t drawn attention to it. Hardly surprising at it shows just how ineffective they’ve been.

South Portal

The two TBM’s that will be launched from the site in 2021 are currently under construction in Germany.

28th May. Cleveland Bridge Co supply girders for the first major HS2 bridges at the M42.

Another solid good news story as a British company supply pre-assembled steel bridge sections.

26th May. Details of the Chiltern Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) under construction in Germany are released. 

Two of these state of the art machines are being built by Herrenknecht in Germany. 170m in length and weighing around 2000 tonnes apiece, the machines will run virtually non-stop for three and a half years.

20200506_074237

19th May. Old Oak Common station gains planning approval. 

Set to be the largest new railways station ever built in the UK, The station will have 14 platforms with a mix of six high speed and eight conventional service platforms. Expected to be used by around 250,000 passengers each day it’s set to become one of the busiest railway stations in the country when it opens.

d50a001c-aaa5-4352-ba18-0931ddd8cb08

15th May. The signalling contract is announced. 

The contract covers the design and build of the signalling systems between London, Birmingham and Crewe and up to 25 years of technical support.

4th May. Track systems contract is announced. 

The search is on for specialist contractors to deliver around 280km of state-of-the-art high speed track between London, Birmingham and Crewe – although Contracts covering rail, switches and crossings and pre-cast slab track systems will be awarded separately – with the track systems suppliers coordinating the design and installation.

1st May. Curzon St is the first HS2 station to gain planning approval.

Three planning applications for the new station and the surrounding landscaping were approved by the Council’s planning committee on 23 April, with the Council’s report concluding the station design “is truly world class”.

On the same day, it’s announced that…

Birmingham Interchange becomes the first railway station globally to achieve the BREEAM ‘Outstanding’ certification – a measure of sustainability for new and refurbished buildings – putting it in the top 1% of buildings in the UK for eco-friendly credentials.

Of course, work continues at both the Curzon St station site in Birmingham and at London Euston and the surrounding streets where demolition of many old properties that have to be removed to make way for the new station has already been completed. Here’s a excellent time-lapse video from Network Rail showing the demolition of the old Western ramp up to the parcels deck atop the station.

Whilst the big announcements catch the eye there’s continual progress on the ground as the project gathers pace towards its biggest and busiest period which will be between  2024-25. That said, there’s plenty to look forward to in the next couple of years. The first tunnel boring machine is set to be launched later this year.

Contractor BBV plans to start creating the tunnel under Long Itchington Wood in Warwickshire at the end of 2020.  This includes the creation of a compound and upgrading Ridgeway Lane to support the future transportation of the Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM). In autumn, the TBM will be delivered to the Welsh Road main compound via the upgraded Ridgeway Lane. It will be transported in parts and assembled on site.
Following assembly of the TBM, tunnelling will start in December 2020. BBV will bore two tunnels under the wood, emerging near the A452 and Dallas Burston Polo Club. Once completed the TBM will be removed from site.

So, as you can see, there’s a huge amount going on, despite the temporary hiatus caused by Covid. It’s not all about Phase 1 and 2a either. On the 23rd June the DfT issued new safeguarding instructions for Phase 2b whilst on the 26th outline details were revealed of the HS2 route wide ground investigation’s programme for phase two – a contract estimated to be worth up £250 million and delivered in up to 8 years.

And what of the protests and opposition to the project? It’s generated a lot of hot air and some media attention but achieved nothing. Not a single HS2 worksite has suffered serious disruption or been closed down for more than a day – despite the claims to the contrary. The half dozen protest camps are tiny with many under the constant threat of eviction. One has to wonder how the handful of protesters think they can stop the largest construction project in Europe when they can’t even stop themselves being evicted! Extinction Rebellion did organise a walk along the route from Birmingham to London but this only attracted a few dozen people. The irony was that whilst they were wasting show-leather on this futile exercise they weren’t able to disrupt any work on the HS2 sites! Such disruption have reached farcical levels, such as their last stunt where a solitary protester glued his hands together through an unused gate on the Denham work site. The level of disruption he caused for the couple of hours before he was removed was zero! Some like to paint the protesters as ‘heros’. Anyone who’s watched their antics on social media knows the truth about their (often) abusive behavior, assaults on HS2 staff and destructive antics. You can read about the whole sorry saga around Harvil Rd in this statement which was attached as evidence to back up the latest High Court Injunction.

It’s the same with the Crackley ‘protection’ camp. Whilst they did cause disruption, they didn’t stop any work from being completed and the camp is now pretty much redundant as the last few trees that need to be removed to make way for HS2 will be cleared at the end of the nesting season.

Attempts to disrupt HS2 in the courts have also failed. Hero Grainger Taylor’s attempt at a judicial review about the Camden cutting was rejected by judges on the 5th June, with no realistic chance of an appeal. (link).

‘Environmentalist’ Chris Packham is in court again this next week when judges will hear his crowdfunded appeal on the 8th July. Expect this to end in another humiliation as nothing substantive has changed. Here’s what the judges said last time.

HC Packham

No doubt I’ll be blogging about this after the event!

Apart from Extinction Rebellion’s ineffective efforts there’s nothing going on. Campaign  group (and I use that term very loosely indeed) StopHs2 are moribund and irrelevant with nothing going on apart from ‘rent a quote’ Rukin giving the occasional pointless, blustering interview. With the Government desperate to get the economy back on track and inject some life into it HS2 is needed more than ever – a point those opposed to the project refuse to grasp.

As soon as restrictions on visits are relaxed I’m expecting to be able to bring you some updates from worksites along the route so watch this space as this exciting project  continues to gather momentum in scope and scale.

 

 

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Lockdown-ish. Day 80 (Thursday).

15 Monday Jun 2020

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What a great start to the day! I opened the bedroom blinds this morning to be greeted by wall to wall sunshine across the valley! Well, in my dreams anyway, the reality was rather different. It was the sort of start to the day that our Scottish cousins would describe as ‘dreich’. It was gloomy and I couldn’t even see the other side of the valley because of the mist and low cloud. Of the sun there was no sign. Maybe one day soon…

Thursday’s are one of our most varied days as we escape the confines of the Calder Valley and today was no different. After breakfast we drove over to Huddersfield to do some collective shopping for ourselves and Dawn’s parents. The roads were busier than ;ast week but that’s hardly surprising now as ‘lockdown’ is slowly unravelling. As usual, our first port of call was Sainsbury’s. Fortunately there was a tiny queue, which was just as well as for the first time since we started all this – it was raining. Standing in a queue with an umbrella was a novel experience but everyone was sanguine and the staff were there usual smiling selves and doing their best to keep everyone cheerful. As per normal, Dawn and I split up to do our respective shops. There wasn’t a huge amount of stuff on my list as we’re pretty well stocked up, it’s only really specialist stuff or fresh veg we tend to need.

As soon as we were done we nipped in to Dawn’s offices at the station to do the weekly check and pick up paperwork and the post. Today was a flying visit so there was no chance for me to go walkies, not that the miserable weather was any incentive either. Our next port of call was Johns and Norah’s to drop off the shopping. We didn’t hang around there either was the wind was biting and standing in their driveway exposed us to the tunnel effect between the houses. I’d briefly contemplated stopping to get a couple of shots on the way but even that idea was abandoned, so we drove straight back to the comfort of home and our respective offices – and I didn’t mind one bit!

The rest of the day passed in the blink of an eye. I kept busy with weeding out old pictures and paperwork as well as writing. Not the most exciting ‘escape day’ we’ve had but that’s the vagaries of the British climate for you! I did manage to find time to scan one or two more old pictures, so here’s the…

Picture of the day

I’m thankful I’ve not had to attend an event like this for a very long time now. This is a picture from the Potters Bar train crash, taken on the 14th May 2002 as a massive crane is preparing to remove the leading vehicle of the train which had been stuck under the station’s platform canopies, which is where it had come to rest (at a 90 degree angle to the tracks) after derailing on a set of points just outside the station. Tragically, seven people lost their lives. Six people on the train plus one woman who was hit by debris falling onto the main road just out of shot to the right.

10615. Ready to lift the derailed coach. Potters Bar. 14.05.2002crop

I spent five days at the site (along with much of the national media) covering the accident for RAIL magazine. This particular picture has a story, as it was taken from the ITN news cherry picker.

Whilst we were waiting for events to unfold, many of the press sought refuge in the pub next to this carpark – especially when the weather was wet. I got talking to the ITN crew, including their reporter Lawrence McGinty who was due to do a piece to camera from the cherry picker in awful weather. He wasn’t kitted out for it so I offered to lend him my waterproof walking jacket, which he gratefully accepted (my jacket did what I never – made it onto the national news!) when he came down he said ‘look – if you want to get some picture from our cherry-picker, just tell the crew I said it was OK and they’ll take you up’. Needless to say – I jumped at the chance and got a scoop that no other snappers could!

Sadly, a few years later, there was another tragic accident at Ufton Nervert which saw me once again covering these events for RAIL. Who should I bump into but Lawrence, who hadn’t forgotten – so I got another scoop with access to the ITN cherry-picker there too…

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Lockdown-ish. Day 77 (Monday).

10 Wednesday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, I love my job, Lockdown, Photography, Photojournalism, Railways

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Today was another of those days when, despite your best intentions to crack on with a list of things, you get side-tracked into doing something completely different. Not unproductive – and actually quite satisfying – but definitely not on this weeks list!

As befits the start of the working week we were up and at ’em early. Dawn had set the alarm for 06:00 so that she could do her training before work so I was up at the same time. Sadly, the weather was still cold and cloudy, otherwise I’d have been tempted by an early walk. Instead, I caught up with some of life’s more mundane activities – household chores – before settling down to work. My plan had been to catch up with some writing and research, but I wanted to tidy the office a bit first to give me some more space. That was my downfall! I made the mistake of rifling through some shelves to sort out stacks of slides I’d got in loose folders, so of course – I had to take a look, didn’t I? Within minutes I was being transported back 20 odd years and discovering all sorts of stuff – some of which hadn’t seen the light of day since it was taken! There was also folders full of returns from a couple of pictures libraries – a large chunk of which was no longer relevant or needed, so I ended up sorting through them. Did time fly…

Having learned to be rather ruthless nowadays I ditched hundreds of old slides then started sorting through old plastic wallets – only to discover sheets of unmounted slides that had barely been touched since they were taken in 2004. They were taken on a press trip as a commission for the Sunday Times magazine, who sent me off for a 4 day stint on the Royal Hungarian express luxury train. I’d swapped over from film to digital earlier that year but I still had a stock of unused slide film so I took my Nikon F5 and several rolls as a back-up, some of which I shot. I’d used a couple of images, but the rest lay unused and unseen – until now…

You can find the Royal Hungarian Express gallery on my website by following this link. It was a fabulous few days, being paid to enjoy a luxurious trip with other members of the press and some fare-paying passengers. It also led to a lasting friendship as it was on this trip that I first met the Journalist and Author Michael Williams, who was still Deputy Editor of the Independent on Sunday in those days and we’ve been friends ever since. The trips were run by Great Rail Journeys which in those days was still owned by the man who’d set the company up – Howard Trinder. When Howard found that Michael and I had a wider interest in railways he arranged a private side trip for the three of us to one of the narrow gauge lines that still hung on to life. Great fun and happy days!

I’d promised not to do any more scanning for a while but I couldn’t resist getting these few dozen done as it allowed me to throw more junk away and streamline the archive. I didn’t stay glued to my desk as I still took regular exercise breaks, even if it was just for repeated strolls through the woods and back. It made for pleasant interludes from staring at screens or peering through a loupe at slides. As a taster, here’s one of the pictures that’s newly scanned and added to the Hungary gallery.

FDG1323s. 424 247. Keszthely. Hungary. 1.10. 2004copy

Hungarian Railway 4-8-0 No 424 247 on the front of out luxury train at Keszthely on day 1 of our trip. We had a variety of motive power during the days, including a vintage ‘Nohab’ diesel loco. 424 247 is one of only three of the 514 strong 424 Class that is still in working order. 

Needless to say, this trip down memory lane kept me busy all day, but what the hell – it was enjoyable looking back at some of the fun I’ve had in this job. There’s other slides that I’ll sort out over the next few days so that collection’s done. There was something else that I found at the beginning of the first roll of Hungarian shots. It was from a very different PR event, and one of them will form todays…

Picture of the Day

On the 20th September 2004 I’d been commissioned by Virgin trains as their official photographer to take pictures of the official launch of their new Pendolino services out of Euston branded the ‘Red Revolution. It was a big PR event that was attended by both Sir Richard Branson and the then Prime Minister, Tony Blair. As you can imagine, security was tight and it was quite nerve-wracking as I’d only turned professional 4 years before. The Virgin Press team were excellent and gave me a full brief on what to expect as there was a surprise planned that involved the TV News Presenter (Nicholas Owen) surprising Virgin Trains MD Chris Green with a spoof ‘This is your life’ whilst The Prime Minister and Richard Branson looked on. Nick and I knew each other through my late wife as he volunteered for one of the charities she worked for, so that made it less stressful. The only thing we both worried about was that Blair didn’t know what was going to happen! Nick joked ‘I just hope I don’t get shot when I do this!” As it was, everything went off without a hitch and Blair (and his security detail) took it in their stride. So, here’s the picture…

FVT02035. Green. Owen and Blair. Red revolution. Euston. 20.09.2004.crop

L-R Chris Green, Richard Branson, Nick Owen and Tony Blair.

Thinking about it, i’ve shot ever Prime Minister since Tony Blair (sometimes at private events too) bar one – Teresa May, whom I missed. Not a bad record. Oh, some of the stories I could tell…

 

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Lockdown-ish. Day 75 (Saturday)

07 Sunday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Down memory lane, Lockdown, Photography, Railways

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Our routine changed today as we we’d another Red Cross run booked for Dawn’s parents by picking up various items of food shopping for them. So, once we’d got our acts together, swigged some coffee and had breakfast, we drove over to Huddersfield. The roads were busy, but we couldn’t work out where folk must be going as pretty much everything is still shut! Our first port of call was the Marks and Spencer’s food hall at Waterloo, out to the East of the town centre. Huddersfield lost its town centre M&S store last year when the whole shebang closed down – including the popular food hall. Now it’s quite a schlep to drive out to the surviving one as it’s 2.5 miles from the centre.

Still, we found out where a lot of vehicles had gone – the car park of the shopping estate was rammed! There was no point in the both of us going in so Dawn did the shopping whilst I caught up with some emails via my phone whilst staying with the car. Dee was back surprisingly quickly. Last time we’d been here the queue was extensive, but now people seem to have spread their timings out.

Our next port of call was the railway station and the Water Tower offices of Community Rail Network – just so Dee could check it was OK. The station area was still eerily deserted. No football crowds, not Rail Ale Trailers – nothing. It takes some getting used to. This is not how Saturday in Huddersfield should be!

Moving on we headed up to the farm shop at Bolster Moor, which nestles in the hills above Slaithwaite (or ‘Slawit’, depending on your pronunciation peccadillos). The quality of their produce is excellent and their pork pies are legendary, so we couldn’t resist buying a couple. They’re succulent, subtly spiced and with a gorgeous pastry casing. Neither of us are big red meat eaters (we can go weeks without) so a Bolster Moor pork pie’s a rare treat.  Dawn shopped for her parents and I shopped for us, so between us we left laden with edible goodies. There’s so many things you can’t do at the moment because of Covid, so appreciating good food becomes more important.

After we’d dropped off John and Norah’s shopping we headed home. The weather was on the turn again with dark, gloomy skies threatening yet more rain, so there was no incentive to hand around or take any detours. Once back at Chez Bigland we both got busy. Dee took over the kitchen whilst I retreated to my office to finally finish scanning yet another album of old railway slides. This seems like it’s taking a lifetime, but I am seeing the end in sight soon. There’s only a couple of railway albums to go now and I’ve been busy editing down the travel albums so I can see the scale of the next task ahead – which makes it feel less daunting.

Work and cooking done, we did manage to get out for a stroll and get our steps in too – which felt like an achievement. With it being late in the day the weather had picked up. It was still a lot cooler than it has been but the skies cleared enough to allow for a lovely still evening with some late sunshine. So much so that when we got back I sat on the front wall for a while and just took in the peacefulness of it all, which was only interrupted by birdsong.

Ok, it’s picture time now. I’m going to be busy with writing projects for the next few days which means there won’t be the same flow of old pictures being scanned as there has been recently. So here’s one of the last batch of rail slides for your delectation – plus a new feature…

07451. 47709. Regency railtour Ex-Newcastle. ECS to Bounds Green London Kings Cross. 16.12.1999crop

On the 16th December 1999 a Regency Railtour from Newcastle to London stands at the buffer stops at Kings Cross station. The locomotive is Fragonset Railways Class 47709. Fragonset had a chequered history from their formation in 1997. In 2005 they merged with Merlin Rail to become FM rail but they went bust the following year. 47709 was bought by Direct Rail Services (DRS) in 2007 and lasted in service for several more years before finally being scrapped at Eastleigh in September 2012. Now for my new feature.

Picture of the Day

From now on I’m going to add a random shot from my archive to each day’s blog. The picture could be from any category on my Zenfolio website but each one will be newly scanned from my slide archive. It could be of railways, travel (from anywhere in the world), social issues, personal or flora and fauna – there’s still 1000s to chose from. Each one will have a little story attached. Here’s No 1.

T9210. The Windmill. Cley next the Sea. Norfolk. England. 29.08.1999. crop

This is the old windmill at Cley next the sea in Norfolk, taken on the 29th August 1999. Lynn and I often used to go cycle touring and the North Norfolk coast was in easy reach of London by train to places like Kings Lynn, where we’d then hop on our bikes and explore. Norfolk may have a reputation for being flat, but I can assure you North Norfolk is anything but. We also joked that this place should have been named ‘Cley nowhere near the bloody sea!’. I’ve some very fond memories of this part of the world and you’ll see more pictures in the future.

A grade 2 listed building, built in the 18th century, the windmill is now a hotel – although its closed because of Covid right now. Here’s their website for future reference. At one time the mill was owned by Colonel Charles Blount. You probably haven’t heard of him, but you will have heard of (and from) his son. He’s the singer, James Blount.

 

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If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us locked-down freelances need all the help that we can get…
Thank you!

Lockdown-ish. Day 74 (Friday)

06 Saturday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Down memory lane, Lockdown, Railways, Southport

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The end of another working week, although that doesn’t really mean much nowadays, especially in my line of work. It’s a very long time since my week was Monday – Friday, 9 to 5. September 1997 to be precise…

The weather here in the Calder Valley has turned stormy. The temperature has really dropped but the wind has gained in strength, gusting across the valley, leaving me in fear for my garden where the Lupins are looking lovely but exposed. It’s quite entertaining in one way – watching the wind battering the trees and bushes I can see from my back office. The Blue and Coal tits are still managing to land on the bird feeder outside the window, but some of the bigger birds are starting to struggle as the gusts catch them.

Today’s not been the best of days. Emotions and feelings can be a bit of a roller-coaster during lockdown (or what approximates it now) and that’s how I felt today. Sometimes it’s hard to remain optimistic in the face of everything that’s happening and the feeling that – politically – we are going through extraordinary times. America is in flames due to riots over the latest death of a black American at the hands of the police and the ‘President’ is both utterly useless  – and fanning the flames.  Meanwhile, we have our own Clown in charge. How on earth did it come to this? Still, Johnson’s ‘proud’ of the fact we’ve the highest Covid-19 death toll in Europe so who are we to question his judgement (when he actually turns up for work).

I suppose I’m feeling a little put out as today a group of us should have been flying to Berlin. After we had such a great time in Belgium the ‘6 from the 6’ had booked a few days in the German capital. It’s a city I really enjoy (especially the old East) so I was really looking forward to it. In fact, I would have been back again a few months later for the bi-annual ‘Innotrans’ rail fair but that’s been postponed until 2021. As things stand at the moment I’m not sure I’m going to make it out of the ‘septic isle’ before the end of the year – or whilst we still remain part of the EU. Oh, yes – remember Brexit? That’s still unresolved…

So, instead of enjoying Berlin with friends, I’m kicking my heels at home, staying safe and wading through more old slide scans. Ho hum…On the bright side. I’m nearing the end of phase 1 of that project, which feels like it’s taken forever. This weekend I’ll have the 1999-2000 rail album done, which only leaves me with (I think) two to do. Away from all this we did have a pleasant interlude as Friday night is quiz night when a group of us from the ‘Big 6’ have an hour together pretending we’re back in the pub! With the weather being rather less than favourable everyone was Zooming in from indoors this week. Even so, it was a lovely interlude that stretched the little grey cells (as an Agatha Christie character was wont to say) and gave us all a bit of welcome social interaction.

OK, forget all the other stuff, it’s picture time. Here’s one of the latest scans and another trip down memory lane – although it won’t mean a lot to many people. This is the old steam locomotive depot at Southport shortly before demolition back in 2000 after the museum had closed. Back in the very early 1970s I was one of the founder members of ‘Steamport’, the society which got together to save the 6-road depot and turn it into a museum. Many of us put a lot of time and effort into trying to make it a success but it never took off. On the bright side, we did buy the land which was sold years later for a tidy sum when the museum moved lock, stock and barrel to Preston, so our efforts weren’t all in vain. Here’s a potted history of the depot and the project care of Wikipedia.

07520. Steamport closed and awaiting demolition. Southport. 09.01.2000 crop

See those red doors on the front of the shed? They’re not original. The old shed never had doors. The ones you see came from the old Meols Cop car sheds – a railway works a few miles away. A few of us towed some of those through the streets of Southport on old metal wheeled railway parcels trollies after we’d gas-axed them off the derelict shed! Funny what you remember, isn’t it? I vividly recollect pulling/pushing one of those doors on the trolley with a few other stalwarts, partly because I remember coming down with a really sore throat!

Memories…

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Lockdown-ish. Day 73 (Thursday)

05 Friday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Down memory lane, Huddersfield, Lockdown, Railways

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Our most diverse day of the week began slightly later than planned as neither of us got a great night’s sleep due to the moggie being on the bed –  as is usual nowadays. He’s slowly recovering from his illness but knows how to play his cards right. We don’t have the heart to kick him off the bed now and he knows it!

Getting up later meant that we took our time getting ready for our weekly mercy-mission and caretaking call over to Huddersfield but then we weren’t in any real rush. It’s not like we’ve got tickets to the Theatre or anything…

The trip out of the Calder valley was easy, although the roads do seem to get busier each time. Even so – it’s still anything but normal. I get the distinct impression that if people can stay at home – they will – with the obvious exception of a few Covidiots, of course. As usual, our first port of call was Sainsbury’s where the pair of us split to do different shops. There was hardly any queue and the place seemed pretty quiet. I’m assuming the weather had kept some folks at home. Afterwards we called in at Dawn’s work, the watertower at Huddersfield station. Whilst Dee sorted out some stuff I went for a mooch around town, just to see how things were developing as see if there were any photos to be had. Things seemed little changed since last week. No more shops were open, the queues were still outside the banks and the local street drunks were still doing what drunks do – shouting and arguing with each other.

I did grab a couple of record shots by the station but nothing remarkable. The skies were leaden with heavy clouds that threatened rain but never actually delivered. The one difference I dis note was that now Northern have ditched all their Pacer trains the Huddersfield – Sheffield service was worked by a former top-link 90mph, air-conditioned Class 158. Oh, the luxury!

DG342285crop

Heading up to Dawn’s folks we dropped off their shopping and hung around just long enough for Dee to sort out their Netflix access which they’d not been able to use since my account was hacked some weeks ago. This meant Dawn had to go into the house, whilst I stayed in the car. Funny old world, isn’t it? Some people have aspirations and hack bank accounts or global companies, others Netflix accounts!

Our drive home was across country on roads that still weren’t very busy – which was great. Bak at the ranch the pair of us settled into our usual work routine and just ploughed on with stuff. I was keen to get as many old slides done as possible as earlier in the day I’d been in discussions with RAIL magazine about some articles. I’ve now been commssioned to write two very different pieces which will appearing the next couple of months – which is going to keep me busy as both require the same levels of research as the East London line article published last month. Not that I’m complaining. It keeps me occupied, I learn something – and it pays a few bills.

This means that scanning old slides will be taking a bit of a backseat once the current album from 1999’s done (hopefully by the end of the week). Here’s a sample from the latest batch as I’m about to turn the millennium from 1999 to 2000…

07385. 142037. 14.35.Liverpool Lime St - Wigan North Western. Prescot. 08.12.1999crop

It’s the 8th December 1999 and 142037 is arriving at Prescot on Merseyside whilst working the . 14.35 Liverpool Lime St – Wigan North Western. The low winter sunlight (coupled with Fuji Velvia slide film) adds some warmth to the picture and makes the place look quite attractive – which is no mean feat as the area was notorious for vandal attacks on the railways! Times have changed and this stretch of railway was electrified in 2014-15.

In the evening I indulged in a spot of cooking as therapy as I’d finally managed to buy some Risotto rice today. It’s been as rare as rocking-horse shit during lockdown and we’d used up the last of our supplies the other week, but I managed to grab three boxes today and celebrated by using one to make a seafood risotto which contained a lovely mix of home-grown herbs that included Tarragon. It’s a new recipe on me but I have to say it was delicious!

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Lockdown-ish. Day 70 (Monday).

02 Tuesday Jun 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Lockdown, Our cat, Jet, Photography, Railways

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In light of recent events I debated whether to change the title of these daily blogs but decided against it as Dawn and I are following the original advice for the foreseeable future. Certainly for the next couple of weeks minimum until we see what unfolds now that the English Government’s kicked the arse out of its own advice!

The pair of us have plenty to get on with for the forseeable future. We were both up early this morning so whilst Dawn did her training before work I headed into the office to set up the next batch of slides from 1999 ready for scanning. I’ve only a dozen pages to do, so I’m hopful I can have them finished by next week.

Whilst the scanner worked its (slow) magic I managed to catch up on some blogging too, so the day certainly started productively. I even managed to fit in a meditation. The weather was as stunning as ever, which made me want reticent to stay cooped up in the office but there was no other option. Slide scanning’s not exactly a mobile process! My compromise was not to go for a long walk but break the day into two sections. I’d spend a couple of house scanning, then go far a fast, 15 minute power walk up through the woods along our road before holing up in the office for another couple of hours. This, combined with getting up early, meant that I ploughed through the pictures I’d planned in good time. So much so that I had time to grab some cheeky time in the garden catching up on emails and blogging via my smartphone. I’ve been so grateful that we’ve had so much sunshine this year. I don’t know how I’d have coped otherwise as I miss not being able to get away for my annual Asia fix. Of course, sitting in the garden means I’m surrounded by all the wonderful birdsong and activity as well as being able to enjoy watching the garden break out into its summer finery. The Lupins are especially rampant this year and have survived the recent high winds unscathed. 

The day flew and before we both knew it we were due back at the vets with Jet, who was due a check-up. The poor boy’s still struggling a bit, so we were pleased when the evrt gave him a thorough examination and told us that, apart from a couple of minor things to do with his recent ailments (like the stitches where he’d had teeth out) he was doing well. His medication was changed and he was given an injection to ease his bowels as we’ve gone from a shitty cat to a constipated one! Jet seemed quite happy on the way home. He sits on my knee in his cage and I normally open the lid as he’s a curious cat and like to watch the world go by. Today we opened the window for him and he leaned out like a dog! 

Back home I managed to grab the last rays of the sun as I watered the garden before retreating back to the office to upload the pictures I edited to my Zenfolio website. There’s a real mixture, so they’re in several different galleries. You can find them all by following this link, but I’ll add a couple here as a taster. Here’s the first, which has a bit of a story…

07122. 33103. 3TC No 417. 15.38 Barking - Gospel Oak. South Tottenham. 18.08.1999crop

Back in 1999 I was living in Crouch End in North London and this was one of my local railways. It’s the Gospel Oak to Barking line, known affectionately as the ‘GOBLIN’. It was always a Cinderella line and I’m going to do a separate blog about the line as it was then because it finally got to go to the ball in the past few years.

Back in 1999 the train service was appalling. It was operated by ‘Silverlink’ who only had some clapped out ex-BR old diesel units to work it and they were permenantly breaking down. ‘New’ trains were due to be cascaded from the Birmingham area but things got so bad that for a few days this combination was hired in to provide a stop-gap. Here we have a former Southern Region Class 33/1 number 33103 and an unpowered former Southern trailer set (known as TC sets) No 417 calling at South Tottenham with the 15.38 Barking to Gospel Oak service on the 18th August 1999. As you can see from the colour of the skies, it was a stormy August!

The Silverlink network also encompassed regional and suburban services out of Euston and also covered the Bedford to Bletchley line, which shared the same fleet of clapped-out diesel units as the GOBLIN. A different solution was found for that line by hiring in a couple of locomotives and a pair of coaches from a company called Fragonset. 

07231. 31601. 31452. Working to Bedford. Bletchley. 22.09.1999crop

On the 22nd September 1999 Class 31 No 31452 brings up the rear of a service to Bedford as it leaves Bletchley. Eventually, they too were replaced by Class 150 DMU’s cascaded from the Midlands. 

Tomorrow the weather here is finally meant to turn and bring some much needed rain, so I expect to be kept busy indoors editing and catching up with more blogging. Watch this space…

 

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Lockdown. Day 68 (Saturday).

31 Sunday May 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Coronavirus, Lockdown, Musings, Railways

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In the words of the Lou Reed song “what a perfect day”…The pair of us had a relaxed start to the weekend by lying in until 08:00 despite the presence of the moggie on the bed in between us for most of the night. He obviously considers this his sickbed and us his 24 hour nursing care!

On flinging open the bedroom blinds it was obvious it was going to be another cracking day weather-wise. When you’re cooped up and restricted weather like this will always be tempting. The pair of us are missing beaches and the sound of the sea but there’s no way in a million years we’d be foolhardy enough to join the lemmings flocking to the seaside as if everything’s normal.

Instead, we stayed locked-down and local – for everyone’s sake. Besides, it’s not like we don’t have some gorgeous places to walk to from home. OK, the River Calder isn’t renowned for its sandy banks and the area’s industrial heritage has left its marks on the river and its surrounds, but this is hardly the inner city.

So, after a leisurely brunch took a stroll and retraced our steps from the other week when we explored the footpaths and fields around Hollas Lane. Being on the opposite side of the valley to where we live gives us a very different perspective. Surprisingly, we encountered far fewer walkers than we did the other week. The two of us speculated upon why. Were they all sunning themselves in their gardens, or stuck in their cars driving to more far-flung destinations now that lockdown is starting to fall apart (by both accident and design)?

Not that it mattered to us. We found a meadow to plonk ourselves down in and soaked up the sun and the quiet for an hour whilst admiring the vibrant woodland around where we live. The fact where we stopped had this view is (of course) entirely co-incidental!

DG342272crop

Not a bad place to sit and while away an hour, is it?

Strolling on we followed the rest of the route down into Copley village where we were surprised to see the car park of the rugby club absolutely rammed with cars. But only a handful of people were in evidence outdoors. Surely, they weren’t all inside the Rugby club, were they? I’ve no idea of the answer to that but the sight certainly made me feel uncomfortable…

Moving on we crossed under the railway, over the canal and across the main road (then another railway) before cutting back into the woods on ‘our’ side of the valley. They were blissfully empty which did surprise me as they’re normally a popular spot for walkers.

Back at home we once again retreated to the front garden which was bathed in evening sunshine. It’s become our little oasis where we can sit and watch the world go by, chat to the neighbours and say hello to passers-by whilst listening to the glorious birdsong from the copse of trees opposite. Whilst Dawn was busy washing the car I pottered around, weeding or dead-heading before the sun set enough that I could start watering. There’s no water supply so I’m kept busy carrying watering cans through from the kitchen but I don’t mind as it’s good exercise. I don’t think either of us have been as appreciative of this space as we are now, especially as the lack of traffic makes it even more pleasant. We’re going to miss the quiet when things return to ‘normal’ – if they ever do. 

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This feels like it should be a caption competition for an old Ken Dodd joke. “What a beautiful day for”… 

Neither of us were on cooking duty tonight as we decided to eat from the freezer. We had plenty of home cooked meals to choose from and plumped for a Vegetable Pulao I’d cooked, plus some of the Chicken Madras that Dawn had made. As it was late by the time we were eating we chose to be decadent and eat in bed whilst the cat kept us company and we settled down to a good bit of escapist TV. We’ve discovered a series on the BBC’s iPlayer called ‘The Honourable Woman and become rather hooked. It’s a political drama centered around the middle-East and starts Maggie Gyllenhaal as a woman called Nessa Stein who runs a charitable foundation. It appeals to me as parts of that world are familiar to me because of my past – although not the shootings, murders and spies!

And so another day ended…

 

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Lockdown. Day 67 (Friday).

29 Friday May 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Lockdown, Musings, Railways

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Phew, what a scorcher! – as the tabloid newspapers are prone to saying. It’s absolutely roasting here in the front garden where I’m sat typing this on my phone.

The forecast predicted this and the day didn’t disappoint. Dawn was up by 06:00 to hit the exercise trail and I rose at the same time. The view across the valley that time of morning was ckear and cloudless, so we knew what to expect. I was happy to be up early as I wanted to get a solid few hours work in before 09:00 as yesterday had felt like a wasted opportunity. Relishing a coffee whilst I edited pictures and waited for Dawn to finish her calisthenics I also kept one eye on the cat who’s still struggling with sneezing and mucus. That said, Dawn gave him a full hit of his medication this morning, so he wasn’t feeling any pain – literally or metaphorically!

After breakfast we meditated together to get us in the right frame of mind for the day, then it was back to the grindstone. The series of pictures I was scanning and editing today dated from the summer of 1999, only a few weeks after Lynn and I returned from our 18 month trip around the world. They show a very different side to the UKs railways compared to the batch I’ve just finished scanning, which were taken 6 years earlier. By 1999 rail privatisation was well-established. OK, ‘well’ is possibly not the right word here! It was the days of the late (unlamented) Railtrack as owner of the network, plus one or two train operating companies also best forgotten (Connex anyone?). My point is that BR was already becoming a memory. Ironically, looking back now, all the original franchises are memories too! All have changed hands. Some several times. Even the freight operators. I’ll add some pictures and continue this blog later. Right now its almost 18:00 and time for the ‘Big 6’ Zoom quiz…

20:41.

Right I’m back from the quiz and various chores so I can sit down, iron out the typo’s from writing this on a phone and try and put the rest of the day together. Whilst it’s lovely being able to sit in the garden and blog from the phone the spelling errors I’ve made when I read it back on a large screen are horrendous! I blame squinting in the sun and small keyboards – honest!

The quiz went really well but it flew by. All but two of the nine participants were joining in from their gardens. This time the majority included me as I didn’t want to waste the sunshine and set the laptop up atop the cats cage to save my neck. Mel did a great job reading out the brain teasers and the whole event is a lovely start to what would normally be a weekend without work. Only this is still a form of lockdown – I think – the mixed messages are still very confusing. If we’re starting to come out of it right now, why do we still have one of the highest number of new cases in Europe? To be honest, as Dawn and I have her parents to consider, we’re not going to be availing ourselves of our newly granted ‘freedoms’. Instead we’re going to see how the next couple of weeks pan out. There’s plenty for us both to do at home. Plus, from my perspective, it’s unlikely the rail industry is going to be rushing to organise many press events just yet, so all the work I had booked may take a while to rematerialize. So many events have been cancelled or moved to next year I’m going to have a lot of blank spaces in the diary this year whatever happens post-lockdown, so I’m playing a long game. As long as the markets continue to recover (albeit fitfully) I’m in a better place than many.

Let’s face it, none of us know what the future will bring. Despite the relaxation of some restrictions we’re not out of the woods yet and this chart from the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control makes sobering reading.

covid

Still, according to Johnson, we’ll have a ‘world beating’ track and trace system soon, one day (ish, possibly). So, that’s alright then, panic over. Quite how it’s meant to be ‘world beating’ is a mystery. Personally, I’d be happy with one that actually works, but that’s probably being defeatist in the government’s eyes. But then, haven’t they stopped providing comparisons like this?  

Meanwhile, back on a more nostalgic note here’s a look at some of the pictures that I’ve been scanning. As they’re post-privatisation of the railways they’re spread over several galleries, so you’ll need to click on this link to find where they all are. 

Here’s yet another view that’s changed out of all recognition.

07094. 319004. 18.23 to Gatwick Airport. Rugby. 09.08.1999crop

On the 9th August 1999, Connex South Central unit number 319004 sits under the skeletal roof of Rugby station whilst working the 18:23 service to Gatwick Airport. This platform still exits, but little else does! A few years later the station underwent a massive rebuilding programme whilst the tracks were realigned for 125mph non-stop running as part of the West Coast Route Modernisation. Little did I know when I took this shot that I’d be spending Xmas and Boxing day trackside here, documenting the rebuilding for Network Rail (but that’s another story). Nowadays the Gatwick service has been cut back to Milton Keynes. Connex was stripped of both franchises (South-Eastern and South-Central) by the Strategic Rail Authority due to the companies poor performance.

07110. 33103. 3TC No 417. 14.08 Barking - Gospel Oak. Harringay Green Lanes. 18.08.1999crop

OK, I’ll add caption details to this shot on Saturday morning. Can anyone guess where and what this working was? A clue. This was a stop-gap hire-in by a TOC as the old diesel units it were using on this line had sure dire reliability….