Category Archives: Rolling blogs

Rolling blog: Stretching my wings…

30 Tuesday Mar 2021

Posted by in Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, Yorkshire

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08:00.

I’m up, packed and raring to go! My PPE’s been checked along with the camera kit, so I’m all prepared for whatever the day brings. So far, it’s brought brilliant weather! This is predicted to be the hottest day of the year so far with wall to wall sunshine. Dawn’s very kindly dropping me off at the station to save the long hike carrying all my stuff which means I don’t start the day a hot, sweaty mess (always a bonus). So, stay with me and see how the day unfolds. My opening part of the trip involves getting the train from Halifax to Leeds – for the very first time this year…

09:00.

The absence of road traffic despite the easing of lockdown and return of schools meant I was at the station in time to catch an earlier (late running) train to Leeds. I’m now one of only three people in the rear of a pair of Class 195s.

That said, there are significantly more people around compared to my travels last year and the amount of vehicles in the car park tells a tale.

Whilst the crew changed ends during our reversal at Bradford Interchange I had time to grab a couple of shots before swapping sets. I was pleasently surprised to find far more folk travelling in the rear unit. Nothing like pre-pandemic levels but even so it was a good portent for the way numbers should recover as restrictions are eased. We stopped once en-route to Leeds at New Pudsey, which was deserted, hardly surprising as it’s a park and ride/shopping centre station. I can’t see traffic returning whilst retail outlets remain closed.

11:45.

At Leeds I had time to explore and get some pictures before meeting my RAIL colleague Paul Stephen ready to catch the 10:49 to Carlisle. As you can see, life’s slowly returning…

We’re now enjoying the scenery and cloudless skies in the Aire valley as our three car Class 158 trundles North.

11:58.

Uh, Oh…

It’s all gone a bit ‘Pete Tong’. We’d just passed Settle Junction and joined the Settle and Carlisle line when we came to an abrupt halt. The Conductor rushing through the train to the cab wasn’t instilling confidence. We’ve now incurred a 12 minute delay to an ‘incident’ on the line. I’m betting said incident was a sheep!*

*Afterwards, a conversation with the Conductor revealed that a signal had returned to danger just at the moment our train passed it, so the TPWS kicked in and brought us to a stand. So for once, the sheep were innocent.

18:30.

Well, that was an interesting day! Our late train didn’t delay us much and we met the other two members of our party without problem. The weather at Ribblehead was superb and ideal for exploring the structure which we did thanks to Network Rail’s engineering team who escorted us around the piers and explained the work that was almost complete. Normally, the only way you’d get to see it from this angle would be if you’re a drone!

You’ll be able to read about our explorations of the viaduct in a forthcoming print or digital edition of RAIL, so I’m not going to spoil the article by revealing any more here.

Heading back we got a lift back to Settle with one of our party who’d driven, which gave us chance to have a bite to eat and soak up the sun at the station before Mark Rand very kindly gave us a tour of his home – which is in the old railway water tower! I suppose I’m a bit of a fan of water towers (after all – Dawn works in another one!) but this is the first that I’ve seen converted into an exceptional home. You can see the water tower in the background of this picture of Settle station taken earlier. There’s a lot worse places to sit and eat a sandwich…

Taking our leave, Paul Stephen and I caught the 16:35 back to Leeds where we parted company. He returned to Nottingham whilst I hung around long enough to grab a few pictures in the wonderful evening sunlight. There’s no doubt passenger numbers are starting to pick up again but getting back to pre-Covid levels could be a slog. Even so, it’s lovely to be out and about again now that the rules are relaxing. Yes, of course I’m still working from home as often as I can, but no-one is going to bring one of the most famous railway viaducts in the UK to me – are they? Here’s one of my shots showing the lovely light at Leeds.

19:12

I’m currently on the 18:42 Leeds – Manchester Victoria which is about 30-40% full. Looking up at the information screen by the vestibule I’m informed the temperature’s hit 21 degrees C today – glorious! During our reversal at Bradford we lost a lot of commuters but picked up some younger leisure travellers as a replacement, the same happened at Low Moor and again when I left the train at Halifax where my ‘chauffeur’ was waiting to whisk me home.

I’ve had a long day but a thoroughly enjoyable one after so many ‘Groundhog days’. Here’s to many more of them as the world returns to normal – bit by bit…

I’ve a favour to ask…
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 that 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 freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Rolling blog: Earning ‘Lockdown’ lucre…

24 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by in New trains, Northern Rail, Photography, Rolling blogs

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07:00

Ugh! I’d almost forget what it’s like to have the alarm set for before sparrowfart. Those nights where you know it’s going to go off at 05:30 and you have fitful sleep because you keep waking up in anticipation. I don’t miss mornings like that – especially this time of year, although today’s started off mild – and dry. The walk down the hill to Sowerby Bridge station was rather pleasent until I got into the town itself. Compared to ‘Lockdown 1’ there’s far more people out and about (me included) so the roads were busy.

I’m currently waiting for the 07:00 to Wigan Wallgate via Manchester. Having left Leeds on time its dropped several minutes already and isn’t expected to arrive until 07:12. Thankfully, I have plenty of time to make my connection in Manchester, so as long as it doesn’t lose any more time…

A York service has just departed with the 3-car carrying just a handful of passengers and there’s only half a dozen of us waiting for the 07:00.

07:20.

I’m on my way, 11 mins late – and no idea why! One of Northern’s 3-car Class 158s (displaced from top-link duties by the new Class 195s) crept into the station to take us to Manchester. After leaving Hebden Bridge there’s now a grand total of 6 of us in the leading car…

07:50.

We’re now speeding towards Manchester after calling at Rochdale. I’ve counted two dozen in our car now, hardly pre-Covid levels but an improvement on the last lockdown.

09:00.

I’m now on the 08:47 Manchester Oxford Rd – Liverpool Line St after walking across a pretty much deserted city centre from Victoria. It’s eerie seeing what’s normally such a thriving place so quiet. This time of morning you expect to see people streaming into work but the only things open that I could see were food outlets – all vieing for what little trade there is. Walking up the ramp to an equally deserted Oxford Rd station was a first! Normally I’d be ducking and diving though the commuters flooding off the station!

The train I’m on is equally quite, although a few dozen did alight when it arrived. Its made up of a 150/156 combo, so there’s no guessing which I chose. It’s refurbished set so we even have the luxury of USB sockets at our tables. I count 3 of us in the whole car…

09:21.

We’re just passing the quiet bulk of Fidlers Ferry power station and it’s almost time for me to get to work. I’ll see If I can post a picture or two from what I’m up to later…

Back when I’m free…

15:00.

Well, that was an interesting few hours work with a film crew PR company and the staff of a major train building firm at their plant in Widnes. There’s a clue in the picture.

I’m beginning to build up a range of masks that’s rivalling my collection of high-vis vests..

Alstom’s Widnes plant is a busy place at the moment. Yesterday, an off-lease Class 321 arrived for experimental conversion to a ‘Breeze’, Hydrogen powered train. 321437 has lost its trailer car (which has gone for scrap) but the remaining 3 cars will be used as a test bed for a potential fleet conversion.

Another part of the plant is busy with the internal and external refurbishment of Transport for Wales Class 175 DMUs (Alstom Coradias, built in the first batch of new trains after privatisation). Two sets were receiving attention whilst I was there. Meanwhile, the plant continues to grow, with new facilities in place ready for the start of the internal refurbishment of the Avanti West Coast which will start in 2021.

21:00.

I’m home and it’s time to bring today’s events to a close. Getting back to work in the thick of an industry that’s kept going throughout the pandemic as it has such a vital role to play’s been really enjoyable. Hopefully, normality will continue to resume now that we’re looking to coming out of the latest restrictions and several vaccines are on the horizon.

Travelling back through Manchester and a city centre where so much is inactive due to Covid makes me realise that normality can’t return soon enough – although I don’t think everything will return to the way it was before. If nothing else, 2020 has given many people pause for thought.

I did grab a few more pictures on my journey home as I stopped off on the way a couple of times, but most of those shots will be saved for other times and other blogs. As it was dark by the time I was walking across from Oxford Rd to Victoria I thought I’d have a play, so there is this shot…

In contrast to many other trains I’d been on today, the 16:58 I caught from Manchester Victoria back across the Pennines was straining at the edges of overcrowding as protocols stand right now. Life is returning and once vaccines are rolled out I’ve little doubt passenger numbers will ramp up rapidly. Will they ever return to pre-Covid norms. I have a view on that, but that’s shared (along with the reasons for it) in Part 3 of my round Britain Trip for RAIL magazine which will hit the newsagents on December 2nd, so I’ll refrain from saying more until then!

Tomorrow I’m back to working from home as I’ve a shedload of new pictures to edit and other work to catch up on. But I hope it won’t be too long before I’m out and about again…

I’ve a favour to ask…
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 that 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 freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Rolling blog: Trusting the weather forecast…

19 Thursday Nov 2020

Posted by in Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, Yorkshire

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07:40

Well, it’s a long time since I’ve done a rolling blog! Today, despite the fact it’s cold and raining here in the Calder Valley I’m trusting in the reliability of the weather forecast and venturing out to document more modernisation of the rail network.

Over the next few weeks Network Rail is working on the section of the Harrogate loop East of Knaresborough which contains several manually operated level crossings and single track sections that are controlled by semaphore signalling and tokens. It’s a system that dates back to the early days of the railways. My mission is to record it before it disappears. So, shortly I’ll be heading off to get the train from Halifax to Leeds. Stay with me to see what happens…

08:40.

Well, that was predictable! The large lineside fire in Bradford that occurred a couple of days ago is still causing chaos with many trains either cancelled or ‘bustituted’. My 08:30 to Leeds is now a bus so I’ve opted for plan B, which will save me a couple of bob anway.

I’m now waiting for the 08:50 Bradford Interchange to Huddersfield which is starting from Halifax. A Class 150 is sat here now, burbling away merrily, although the two of us who’re waiting to catch it are out on the cold platform as the Conductor’s not here to open the doors!

This diversion will lose me an hour but it can’t be helped. I suspected I wouldn’t get all the pictures I wanted today so another trip was on the cards anyway.

08:57.

By the time we departed there was a grand total of seven passengers on the train which is now bumbling its way to Brighouse. The Conductor has already been round to check tickets, which was good to see.

09:05.

Brighouse station had just three passengers waiting. Only one boarded my train, swapping places with a chap from Halifax. Now we’re trundling along to join the Trans-Pennine main line. On (literally) the bright side, my trust in the weather forecast seems to be paying off as the earlier rain’s disappeared and blue sky’s in the ascendency!

09:55.

Funny how things work isn’t it? In one of those serendipitous moments my arrival in Huddersfield coincided with an email request for an article about a group based there! This gave me time todo a quick recce and get some useful pictures, so the delay to my day worked to my advantage. It also made up for the fact my 09:46 TPE train to Leeds was running late as the Redcar service it forms wasn’t due until 10:07. Never mind, I thought, I’ll catch the 09:49 Huddersfield – Leeds ‘stopper’. I’m sat on it now. It’s still here – as the Driver who’s due to take it forward is on a late-running Manchester – Huddersfield stopper ans won’t be here before 10:00. Fair play to our Conductor for telling us this on the PA in a world-weary but entertaining fashion! So, which goes first? Us or the Redcar Express? Watch this space…

10:05.

In the end our driver arrived in time to take us out a 09:59, ahead of the Express. As we left, our Conductor made an apologetic announcement and updated the safety message by saying “and if you see anything suspicious – like a train running on time – please contact the relevent authorities”!

11:10.

Finally, I’m on the right track – as it were – as I’m currently on the 10.59 from Leeds to Knaresborough having left Yorkshire’s premier city 90 minutes later than I’d planned. My train from Huddersfield was a lot busier than I’d expected, but still only 30-35% full. In contrast Leeds station was deserted as it’s the cities that are hardest hit by business closures and travel restrictions, as this photo shows.

Even so, work on the railway continues and the new platform 0 is really beginning to take shape. The temporary structure I used on my RAIL rover has been swept away and the line closed once more as the passenger platform is integrated as one side of a pier serving 0-1. The new steelwork for the canopy’s in place and most of the resurfacing is complete. The main focus of work now is around the bufferstop.

Right now I’m going to kick-back and enjoy the scenery from my seat on a comfortable but quiet Class 170…

12:10.

I’m enjoying a brief interlude at Knaresborough in-between trains to soak up some sunshine whilst I can. There’s a much more intensive service as far as the pretty little town, but Eastwards too York it becomes hourly. The station is still controlled by this tiny North Eastern Railway signalbox, which is starting to show its age as it’s developed a distinct lean compared to the row of houses it was built up against!

15:10.

That was an interesting few hours! I managed to get as far as my target, Hammerton and spent a very interesting hour looking at the historic railway kit and chatting to the young signaller who was on duty. A friendly chap who’d only been in post for 6 weeks, he filled me in on some of the work that’s happening between now and the new year. In Hammerton’s case little is changing other than the replacement of the life-expired crossing gates with new ones and the replacement of the electic token system and physical tokens with electronic ones. This old 10 lever Westinghouse Brake and Signal Company frame in its own little shed on the platform will remain controlling the station.

When I called in on Cattal, it was obvious there’s a much bigger job in hand. The loop at the station’s being extended to the West and the present set of points which have a 20 mph speed restriction on them are being replaced with a higher speed version the will raise linespeed to 40 mph. Here’s the sight that will disappear from this weekend as the new electronic system replaces the physical tokens that the signaller handed to the driver.

Here’s the view from Cattal level crossing showing where the loop will be extended.

16:55.

I’ve resisted the temptation to hang around and be a laggard on the way home so Leeds was my last stop. Seeing the station so deserted during the evening rush is quite something, but I’ve got the pictures I wanted and services on my line are still disrupted so I’ve caught the 16:42 from Leeds to Manchester Victoria which is being diverted via Brighouse, so it reverses at My home station of Halifax before resuming its route through the Calder Valley. It’s actually quite busy but I’m assuming that’s because some of my fellow passengers didn’t want to be stuck on a bus!

21:10.

Time to draw this rolling blog to a close now I’m safely tucked up at home and adding some of the pictures I took earlier. I hope you’ve enjoyed this little trip out as much as I have!

I’ve a favour to ask…
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 that 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 freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

Rolling blog: West Midlands Wanderings…

14 Monday Sep 2020

Posted by in Birmingham, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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08:28.

My, It’s a long time since I last did a rolling blog, but as I’m wandering around the West Midlands today before beginning the trek North I thought I’d give one a shot. I’m going to have a look at a few of the rail developments in the area and also try and track down one of the new Class 196 trains which are currently being delivered and are being tested – although that’s always difficult to guarantee I’ll bump into one. What’s easier is some of the station improvements as they’re not on the move!

I’m about to leave the hotel now, it’s a beautiful sunny morning here in Birmingham, so let’s see what happens…

09:34.

As many station food outlets are closed because of Covid it was lovely to find the one of my favourites was open. I always try and pop into the Centenary Lounge at Birmingham Moor St station when I’m in town.

A slice of normality and nostalgia…

Having been given the heads-up by a friend it doesn’t look like any 196s are out on test this morning, so I’m heading off to get a few shots in the can at Leamington before heading to Coventry to have a look at work on the new station entrance. Here’s my first train of the day…

I have to say, I’m amazed at how many seats Chiltern block off for social distancing compared to other TOCs. In contrast, Scotrail don’t block off any. Instead they rely on passengers to use their own judgement. So do many other TOCs. I’m guessing it’s an Arriva thing.

11:00.

Typical! Just as I arrive at Leamington Spa two people tip me off that the Class 196 test runs are on! So, after grabbing a couple of library shots before my train arrived I’m now heading for Tyseley to rendezvous with the test workings. Let’s hope I’m lucky..

14:45.

Ever had one of those days? I arrived at Tyseley in plenty of time to catch some shots around the station before heading down to Shirley and catch the 196 that was out on test. Then W Mids trains started cancelling all the Whitlock End services due to driver shortages, so there was no way I’d make it down the line in time. Too late I had a brainwave. How far was it to walk to the first station on the Stratford route? Google maps said it’d be 20 mins. That meant I’d miss the inbound 196 but I’d be 10 mins ahead of the next run. It was a hot and sweaty walk carrying all my kit in the blazing sun but what the hell – nothing ventured nothing gained! I arrived at Spring Hill station with a few minutes to spare.

As the train pulled in I spotted someone with a similar face mask waving at me. It was Toby, who’d tipped me off earlier and who’d set off on the same mission! We travelled together and got ourselves ready at Whitlock End, where the test run was due to terminate before running back to Tyseley – only the bloody thing never turned up as the run was cancelled!

Crossing our fingers and hoping it was a one-off the pair of us moved up to Shirley ready for the next scheduled test run. That was cancelled too!

At that point we gave up and headed back into Birmingham where we parted. As we passed the depot at Tyseley we could see a 196 being prepped…

Oh, well – another time…

Right now I’m on my way to Wolverhampton to have a look at the new station. At least that can’t fail to run!

19:00.

I’m on the penultimate leg of my trip home after stopping off to look at Wolverhampton station, which is really coming along. Part of the new building is open now and the old one’s a pile of rubble (as you’ll see later, when I had the pictures I took on my camera). Demolition of the original building clears the way for the next phase of rebuilding which includes extending the tram tracks to the station.

Moving in I headed up to Crewe for a while as you never quite know what might put in an appearance there. As I passed the Arriva maintenance depot I saw a very sad sight. the newly repainted locomotives and coaches that open access operator Grand Central were intending to use on their new Blackpool North – London Euston service. Covid has put paid to that as the company are having to concentrate on the survival of their two existing services (West Riding and Sunderland). I wish them all the best in that as they’ve been a fantastic operation over the past 13 years.

Right now I’m on a late running Transport for Wales service bound for Manchester. Our platform at Crewe was occupied by a Network Rail survey train operated by Colas and a last-minute platform switch added to delays, leaving us 12 minutes late. Luckily, I built in plenty of time to walk between Piccadilly and Victoria so I won’t miss my connection. After 8 days away I’m really looking forward to getting home to see my family – Dawn and our ‘boy’ Jet. Well, if you can still get away with calling a nineteen year old cat a boy! Another thing I’m looking forward to is not having to spend all bloody day wearing a mask – especially when the weather’s been as hot and sticky as today.

20:21.

Yay! Last train of the trip. I’m on the 20:16 from Manchester Victoria to Sowerby Bridge. My car’s comfortably empty so it’s not a problem – unlike the scenes I saw as I walked across the city centre. Piccadilly Gardens was awash with bored young people just hanging around in the hot weather. As usual, there was no social distancing (and few masks). It seems many young people just can’t be bothered anymore.

Needless to say, I didn’t hang around. At Victoria I was presented with another problem. None of the ticket machines were working so I couldn’t collect my super-cheap advance fare ticket. Fortunately there were no queues at the ticket window and the chap on duty printed it off for me.

The station was quiet, any rush-hour was long past and the day was cooling down, so waiting was rather pleasant and a chance to indulge in a spot of people watching. One elderly be chained bloke with head tattoos rather than hair (and no mask) accompanied by his mate who resembled a living weeble was trying to impress a young cleaner. His invasion of her personal space would have been unacceptable pre-covid. For some bizarre reason (fear? Embarrassment?) she put up with it. I made sure I got in a different carriage to the pair of them…

22:36.

I’m bringing this rolling blog to a close. I’m home, all my clothes are in the wash as a precaution, I’m showered – and now it’s time to relax. I’ll add one final picture. This was the old Wolverhampton main station building.

Right, goodnight folks!

I’ve a favour to ask…
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 freelances need all the help that we can get…

Thank you!

Rolling blog: Funeral bound…

20 Thursday Aug 2020

Posted by in Musings, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

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08:05

Well, it’s a bloody long time since I did a rolling blog, but today’s the day…

I’m currently sat in the 07:00 from Sowerby Bridge to Wigan Wallgate which is making its way through Salford. The train’s never been more than 25% full – even between Rochdale and Manchester, which used to be rammed. Manchester Victoria station was eerily quiet too. Here’s my 3-car Class 158 when I boarded.

On the plus side, it’s a beautiful sunny day, although the fact I’m on my way to a funeral does take some of the shine off it.

Most of my fellow passengers have been conscientious mask wearers – although the couple who weren’t may well be exempt. The train’s clean and well presented, so it feels safe.

It feels slightly odd to be heading back to Southport. Even though I grew up there and have family still residing it’s a town I feel little connection with nowadays. I suppose it’s a combination of factors. English seaside towns haven’t fared well in the past 50 years with the advent of cheap holidays abroad. Add in the rise of out of town shopping and poor planning decisions and it’s not hard to see why.

08:31.

A bright spot is that I’ve just passed through the wonderful Hindley station. It’s one of the jewels in the crown of the community rail movement. The group who look after it have transformed it from semi-dereliction into a garden oasis.

08:52.

I had to change trains at Wigan Wallgate where I’ve swapped my nice comfy 158 for my least favourite train – a Northern 150 with 3 + 2 seating and bugger all legroom! There’s a mix of people aboard including a young mother with a baby, a retired chap with a walking stick and camera, a couple of workman plus two teenage girls and their younger brother. It’s obvious leisure travellers are returning to the railways, but not in the numbers they once did. Yet…

12.51.

Well, that was a trip down memory lane, and (considering it was a funeral) not a sad event at all. On arrival I walked to my sister’s house as Anne wanted to come to the funeral too. She remembered Mike from when he lodged at my mothers house for several years back in the 1980s. The addition of Anne meant there were 13 at the Crematorium. The service was conducted by the chaplain of the Hospital Mike died in. He did an excellent job. He kept God out of it and the short ceremony was all about Mike himself. He read out part of my blog, which Pat had passed on to him. Another more recent friend of Mike’s who shared the same love of books read from Some of Mike’s favorites, such as Terry Prachett’s ‘Mort’, Oscar Wilde and also Shakespeare. Mike’s love of books was such that Broadhursts (Southport’s oldest and finest bookshop) had sent a representative. Apparently, his bungalow was literally crammed with books, some of which were rare and valuable. Martin taught me things about Mike’s later life I didn’t know. How Mike would teach his kids about literature and send them wacky Xmas presents. From the Chaplain I learned that Mike had actually arranged to have his body left to science and had even completed the papers with a major medical school, but Covid brought an end to that plan as the school wasn’t accepting bodies – so the funeral we were attending wasn’t the plan at all!

After the ceremony half a dozen of us adjourned to Pat and Jake’s house. As the weather was so good we could sit and social distance in the garden whilst reminiscing about Mike and the old days and play games of “whatever happened to?” Sadly, there were two murders amongst the stories. On the bright side – I seem to be faring better than some of my contemporaries…

When we left I bid goodbye to my sister and walked into the town centre through streets that left me playing Detective as I spotted the odd cluster of new homes and tried to remember the name of the pub that stood there before. Wasn’t that the site of the old London and its bowling green that backed onto the railway? Yep. Oh, and that’s where the Shakespeare stood – another vast multi-roomed building that had no chance of commercial success in this era.

Strolling through town I took a look at the Old Ship and paid my respects before moving on and walking on to Lord St, which still has plenty of life, even if the big department stores are all closed and boarded up. Ironically, the broad pavement and canopies have come into their own during Covid as there’s plenty of outside seating to be had at the bars and cafes, so even if the weather’s not as good as today you can sit outside in safety.

Sunk. The Old Ship…

15:10.

Having had a wander around the town centre I’m struck by how busy the place is. In the era of Covid and ‘staycations’ it seems people are rediscovering seaside towns like Southport. The trains from Liverpool are certainly busy. Of course that adds another hazard, as well as mobility scooters you’re now having to dodge a plethora of prams and the associated flotilla of kids, like destroyers protecting an aircraft carrier.

15:54.

Funny the things a wander reminds you of isn’t it? I’ve just passed through the Cambridge Arcade (Arcades were very popular in Southport) and spotted a shop that’s now a barbers. I remember it as something very different. In 1976 I’d just left school and I landed a job as an apprentice locksmith in a town centre shop owned by a father and son company. They were real duckers and divers who made the fictional Trotters look like amateurs. They also owned a lingerie shop (what’s now the barbers). One day the son came into our hardware shop and said he needed a man to stand in the shop for an hour or so whilst his wife cashed up and did some stock-taking – and I was that man! In reality I was a shy 16yr old and standing around in a lingerie shop with nowhere to hide was excruciating! I can laugh now but the memory has stayed with me, which gives you an indication of how powerful the feeling must have been at the time. One day I’ll relate how they invented these handwriting analysis kiosks and we built one on a Blackpool pier..

16:50.

I’m now on the train Eastwards, heading home. It’s a Class 156/150 lash-up with the 156 leading, so there’s no guessing where I am and wo-hoo – it’s set 460, so it has USB chargers! I was surprised how many people were awaiting its arrival but the overwhelming majority are being good and the front car’s certainly not crowded.

18:33.

I abandoned the lash-up at Salford Central, where I was left with 40 mins to kick my heels. I’d forgotten the building was one of the BR modular designs of the type a few of us had been discussing on Twitter a couple of weeks ago. I should’ve – Network Rail had me there as their official photographer!

I’m now on another 158 back to Sowerby Bridge. There’s definitely a build up of passengers and Manchester Victoria is starting to look busy again, but numbers aren’t going to return overnight.

21:16.

The last entry. It’s been a really interesting day and far more positive than I first thought it might be. The fact Mikes funeral was all about Mike and (despite the small numbers) it was obvious he’ll be remembered was reassuring – and the stories were fond. Who can ask for more?

One other thought from today is – this is the most people I’ve seen since lockdown started. No, not the funeral – Southport! I actually felt uncomfortable at times because of the crowds. Me, who lived in London for 25 years and used public transport most days! How things change…

I’ve a favour to ask…
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!

Rolling blog: more interesting times…

17 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by in Manchester, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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To say that it feels like we’re living on the set of a disaster movie is somewhat of an understatement at the moment. Yesterday, reality bit when our part-time Prime Minister, flanked by two of his senior advisors laid out the Governments latest plan to deal with the Coronavirus pandemic. Schools will remain open but people have been asked to ‘avoid’ non-essential journeys. Also pubs, clubs and restaurants, although they’ll remain open. People are being asked to self isolate or work from home. This change of policy has been brought about because of the modelling of the projected death toll from doing nothing, over half a million (mostly elderly or infirm) dead. No doubt this thought will upset some people, but I can’t help thinking that if the pandemic had happened in 2015 that would have been Brexit sorted!

Now the rest of us have got to muddle through the next few weeks/months, without any real clue how this is going to pan out, or how long it’s going to last. During that time we’ll no doubt be bombarded with all sorts of mixed messages and policy changes from Government, scare-stories and speculation in sections of the mainstream media and total tinfoil hat paranoia and fuckwittery on Facebook and Twitter. What a time to be alive!

Meanwhile, some of us have still got to try and earn a living. So, my thoughts go out to all the self-employed and those on contracts that make the future look decidedly uncertain. Part of the fuckwittery I’ve been talking about is the idea most people can work from home. Really? How does that pan out for tradespeople? Is a plumber going to fix your pipes over the internet? Or the driver of the bus or train that’s taking nurses and other health professionals to work? Or the people who staff the power stations and national grid that supply the electricity to power the gadgets that will keep you amused whilst you self isolate? Because it seems that we’ve had two outbreaks right now. One’s the Coronavirus, the other is rank stupidity.

Right now I’m out and about to get pictures for a magazine showing the effects of the pandemic on public transport, so I’m heading into Manchester to see how numbers are panning out there. I’m currently on a train from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester Victoria and whilst passenger numbers are down it’s busier than I expected at about 60-65% loaded after calling at Rochdale.

Once in Manchester I walked across an eerily quiet city centre from Victoria to Piccadilly past the usual groups of homeless people. I can’t help wondering how these poor souls are meant to self-isolate, unless you count living on the street as ‘isolation’? A Coronavirus outbreak here could spread those these vulnerable people like wildfire.

When I arrived at Piccadilly the lack of passengers was very noticeable, as was the lack of custom at the bars and eateries up on the mezzanine floor. They were deserted. What there was an increase in was the number of people wearing face masks. This has always been a familiar sight amongst the Asian (mostly Chinese) community over the years, so what was striking was to see how it’s spread to Europeans. I went to check out the trains to/from Manchester Airport. They’re well below their usual capacity and I think this will only get worse as what I was seeing was people returning home before the airlines cancel more flights. I reckon if I came back in a week they’d be almost deserted. The other thing I noticed was how more and more electronic billboards are displaying notices about the Coronavirus.

16:10.

Well, that was a depressing few hours. Rather than hang around in Manchester I headed over to the Wigan – Southport line in the hope of getting pictures of Porterbrook’s bi-mode Class 769s which are on test on the route. As always, these things are hit and miss. They were shown in Real Time Trains as running, the timings had been entered into the Special Train Plan today, but it never turned up. I first stopped off in Burscough, but as the weather was on the turn I ventured out to my old home town (Southport) to get the shot. When it was obvious the train wasn’t going to turn up I had half an hour to kick my heels wandering the town centre, ‘admiring’ the closed down shops and pubs on empty streets whilst remembering what a vibrant place it was when I was growing up there in the 60s-70s. and trying to recollect what it looked like then. It wasn’t just the buildings I didn’t recognise, there were no familiar faces either, but then I left in 1986. It certainly didn’t feel like home.

Now I’m heading back into Manchester in time to see how busy the rush-hour may be and get a last few pictures before heading home to my own self-exile. From what I’ve seen today it’s clear that some people either didn’t get the memo about avoiding pubs or are just choosing to ignore the advice. I was amazed to see a group of elderly people who’re obviously in the most vulnerable group heading into a pub in Burscough. I wonder what it’ll take for the seriousness of the situation to register with some of them? When some of their number croak?

18:30.

Manchester was quiet. Very quiet, Piccadilly especially so – as these pictures taken after 17:00 show.

The city centre wasn’t much better as it was pretty obvious that a lot of people who can avoid travelling are doing so. Even so, it’s surprising how many who’re clearly retired and don’t need to be travelling are still doing so. Right now it feels like we’re in the ‘phoney war’ period of the pandemic as some people aren’t taking it seriously because they’ve fallen for this ‘blitz spirit’ nonsense, pretending if they ignore it, it’ll all go away. I wonder how long it’ll be before they’re disabused of these notions?

I’m on the train back to Halifax now and there’s a bay of four people in front of me. It looks like parent and son or daughter in law who’ve been out on a jolly and who’re all clearly pissed. There’s a lot of bravado about the situation, but I notice granny has a bottle of anti-bacterial hand cream on the table in front of her!

I suspect that’s the end of my travels for the rest of the week. I’m back to self-isolating and working from home for the next few days, so expect today’s pictures to appear on my Zenfolio website tomorrow, along with yet more vintage shots from 1991 whilst I wait for the next chapter in these chaotic times to be written.

Rolling blog: Birmingham discoveries…

12 Thursday Mar 2020

Posted by in Architecture, Birmingham, History, Hs2, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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05:18.

Ugh! Up at sparrowfart again getting ready to go to Birmingham. This morning I’m getting a lift to the station because I don’t want another soaking! The weather here is still what’s best described as ‘changeable’. I’m heading for the 06:44 from Halifax, so let’s see how today goes…

07:00.

I’m now on my way to Manchester aboard the 06:44 which is worked by a fully-functioning CAF built Class 195. We have heating, PIS and even the wifi which I’m using to type this. They’re lovely trains when they’re like this and a real step-change from what we’re used to.

It’s a beautiful sunny morning in the Calder Valley although it’s a chilly 4 degrees according to the trains info screens. It’s a bit of a contrast to London yesterday when I basked in 14 degree sunshine!

07:14.

Having crossed the Pennines and called at Littleborough we’re trundling towards Rochdale at reduced speed. Looking up from my laptop for a moment I was just in time to catch sight of a trio of deer feeding in a meadow, their white tails attracted my attention, otherwise I’d have missed them as they were standing stock-still whilst the train passed.

07:18.

We’ve arrived at Rochdale where around a dozen early-bird commuters are waiting for our arrival. I was surprised to see so few, but there’s another Manchester bound service in the bay platform which seems to have a good crowd on it. No doubt it’ll be following behind shortly.

07:58.

After my usual 20 minute sprint across central Manchester from Victoria to Piccadilly I’m back in the warmth aboard Cross-Country’s 08:05 to Paignton. We’ve luxury this morning as this is an 8-car formation. Even the Conductor is boasting that there’s “lots of room this morning, so make the most of it”. I assume that this must be an aberration!

There is an irony in me travelling to Birmingham to see HS2 archeological work in this fashion. This journey between two of our premier regional cities will take 1 hour 28 minutes. Voyagers – be they four or five car – are less than an ideal offering. HS2 (when it’s completed) will cut the journey time by more than half to just 40 minutes. Plus, it’ll be on a 400 metre long, modern intercity train that will make a Voyager look primitive in comparison.

08:29.

We’ve just left Macclesfield. I don’t know about the rear Voyager, but this front set is filling up nicely! There’s lots of business travellers aboard. In the airline seats opposite me two young professionals have their papers spread out on the meagre backseat tables and are preparing themselves for the meeting they’re heading for. Others are using their time to catch up on the budget news in copies of the ‘Metro’ but on one table ahead I can spy an unopened bottle of Prosecco with four plastic cups atop it – so there’s business mixed with pleasure on this coach as I assume these people are race-goers!

08:47.

Bugger, we’re just leaving Stoke-on-Trent and the weather’s changed dramatically. We’re now blessed with thunderously grey skies and it’s chucking it down! Please let this clear before Birmingham…

09:20.

We’ve just left Wolverhampton and the penny’s finally dropped as to why this train is a double set! There were queues of well-dressed people waiting for us to arrive and I suddenly realised that we call at Cheltenham – where the races are on! Now the fact the catering crew were heavily advertising what deals they have on Prosecco or gin and tonic at this hour of the day makes sense!

16:13.

Apologies for the delay in updates but it’s been a very hectic few hours. Our little group got to the HS2 site at Curzon St for 10:00, donned our PPE, had a site induction, then went to visit the site of the London & Birmingham’s locomotive roundhouse, which was built in 1837. You’ll be able to read about my full visit in the future edition of RAIL magazine, but here’s a taster of how the site looks, with the remains of the turntable pit in the middle and 15 pit roads radiating from it. Everyone was surprised just how extensive the remains are, not just of the roundhouse, but other structures as well. Thankfully, the rain we’d had earlier held off and we had sunshine interspersed with cloud – which was just as well because there was a bitter wind blowing across the exposed site that made you thankful for the layers of PPE you had to wear!

The visit took several hours as we were given an extensive tour of the site of the roundhouse and the remains of the goods shed with its wagon turntables still in situ. Afterwards we were shown round the last building standing. The grade 1 listed station building and former boardroom of the London and Birmingham railway.

A selfie with Tim Dunn and Gareth Dennis taken by Gareth (which is why I’m in the middle!)

Afterwards I went to have a look at a modern transport innovation. The extension to the Midlands Metro tram network, the first to use dual-powered trams that don’t have to use overhead lines in the heart of the city so as to preserve the architectural heritage of the area.

Look – no wires (or pantographs)! A pair of trams pass outside the new Town Hall stop.

17:18.

Homeward bound! I left Birmingham on the 16:57 Cross-Country Voyager bound for Manchester. Unsurprisingly, it’s packed even though this is a 5-car. This time of day it acts as a fast commuter train between Birmingham and Wolverhampton, after which the vestibules empty out and some seats become free. With the advent of HS2 I’d like to see these trains withdrawn and the twice-hourly paths used for more commuter services for local passengers whilst long-distance passengers can transfer to a faster, more comfortable service from Curzon St so that we have an inter-city service worth its name.

19:05.

I’m now on the final leg home. After abandoning the Voyager at Piccadilly I retraced my steps to Victoria to catch a train back across the Pennines. I’m now on a 2-car Class 195 heading for Halifax. It’s not as busy as I’d have expected but I honestly can’t tell if that’s due to people not travelling through fear of the Coronavirus or the fact some folks may have left work earlier.

There’s certainly plenty of panic about. I had chance to scan the media earlier and saw the news about the Tango’d Buffoon in the White House banning all travel (except via the UK) to the USA for a month. An already very weak stock market which has suffered many days of losses went into complete meltdown and shed over 10% of it’s remaining value, propelling it into its worst decline since 1987. The spectre of another global financial crash is starting to rear its ugly head…

21:25.

I’m finally home in the warm and dry, having taken the sensible precaution of bringing a brolly with me today, although they’re often of little use up here in the Pennines due to the fact the wind rips ’em to shreds within a few minutes. Right now I’ve begun the task of loading some of the past two days worth of pictures to my Zenfolio website. If you follow this link, you’ll be able to see which galleries they’ve been added to.

Tomorrow I have a day working from home, trying to catch up on picture editing, paperwork and communications, although there might still be time for some blogging, it certainly won’t be rolling…

Goodnight folks!

Rolling blog: Going viral…

11 Wednesday Mar 2020

Posted by in London, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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09.55.

I’m currently on my way to London from Huddersfield after getting a lift in with Dawn as I fancied a change of route and the opportunity to see what preparatory work is being done on four-tracking the line East to Dewsbury. Right now, the work appears limited to tree and vegetation clearance and surveys.

I’m on a packed 3-car TPE service. The coronavirus seems to have had little impact on the number of people travelling around here at this time of day.

10:25.

I didn’t hang around in Leeds as I was straight on to LNER’s 10:15 to Kings Cross which is made up of 2 5-car Class 802s. Curious to see how busy it was, I walked past the first unit to get into the front set. Loadings seem pretty good at 2/3 to 3/4 full, but there’s no seat reservations working so I can’t see if many people haven’t turned up. I’d certainly expect this train to be busier, but it’s not deserted in the way some sections of the media tend to make out.

On the was out of Leeds I observed the progress being made on building the new platform 0. The switch from the main line’s now in place and a lot of the new overhead masts have been installed with the old ones either decommissioned or removed entirely. The structure of the new platform’s yet to take shape as work is focussing on demolishing part of the original platform 1 to allow it to dovetail. If I’d hade time I’d have grabbed some pictures as it’s a bright sunny day but my focus has to be set a few hundred miles away today. Another day…

11:17.

As an experiment I changed trains at Doncaster as there was another London service drawing in at the same time as mine from Leeds. I’m now speeding South on an LNER service from Glasgow Central and this IS noticeably quieter. I’m in coach J of a 9-car Azuma and there’s only 10 of us in here now after the 8 members of a girls hockey team from Edinburgh got off at Newark Northgate.

11:35.

We’re currently bowling along the East Coast Main Line near Tallington Jn at 124 mph. The wall to wall sunshine I had in Yorkshire’s been replaced by low, fluffy clouds with occasional sunny spells which is a bit of a bummer as I was hoping my luck might have held.

12:16.

We’ve just flown through Stevenage where the new bay platform for Hertford loop services is really taking shape. It’s no longer just a ‘civils’ site it’s now a railway one as track and overhead wires have appeared.

The weather’s improving the closer we get to the capital. Those fluffy little clouds are still hanging around but they’ve thinned and retreated higher to give me a fighting chance with sun patches, although Sods law will dictate they’ll still block the sun and leave the subject matter in shadow just as I prepare to take the shot!

14:20.

I’ve had a hectic couple of hours getting the pictures I need for a magazine around Kings Cross station, which is changing yet again. The station’s gradually becoming hemmed in by skyscrapers as the West side of the station (the former loco sidings) is redeveloped. Oh, and the latest new trains have arrived in the shape of Hull Trains class 802/3’s. Here’s the first of the fleet 802301 keeping company with the type of train it’s replaced, Grand Centrals 180102.

Having done what I needed to I caught the London Underground’s Circle line over to Liverpool St. I was curious to see just what an effect the virus scare was having and I have to say, not a huge amount from what I can see. The train was quieter then usual, but not by much, and there wasn’t a mask to be seen! I did see one or two in passing, but to be honest, you’ll see more in the summer when the Asian tourist influx arrives as some people wear them as a matter or course when it has as much to do with London’s polluted air as anything! Here’s a shot taken on my train to Liverpool St.

19:45.Sorry folks! Rather a large gap in blogging there as I’ve been a busy bunny with the camera, aided and abetted by the fact there’s rather a lot to photograph in my old ‘Manor’ of East London! I decided to stay fairly local and didn’t venture beyond Hackney, which was perfect for my purposes as it allowed me to document the changing face of the railways in one of my old stomping grounds. London Overground have finally been able to introduce the much-delayed Bombardier built Class 710 trains on services to places like Chingford, so I was keen to get pictures of the transition between them and the old BR built classes like the 315s, which will soon disappear altogether. There’s so many new train fleets coming onstream at the moment that it’s difficult to keep up on the national perspective.I didn’t hang around too long as I needed to get back North ready for a change of kit for tomorrows job. To be honest, if I’d planned this without looking at the weather I’d have arranged to have stayed in London (or perhaps Birmingham) tonight rather than have another early start. On the bright side, I get another chilled night at home with my other half rather than yet another to myself in a hotel…

Right now I’m on the last leg home, a Northern train from Leeds to Halifax. Having left London early I missed the rush. Sadly, I also missed the weather, which deteriorated as we headed North. It felt positively spring-like in London earlier, leaving me feeling very over dressed. Not so now as I’m back in Yorkshire and glad of the layers! When I get home I’ll add a few pictures from today. At the moment I’m on an unrefurbished 3-car 158 on the Hull – Halifax service, so I’m accessing the web through tethering my phone to my laptop and loading pictures would make a tidy hole in my monthly data contract…

21:45.

I’m home and drying out after getting soaked walking back from the station as the heavens opened and the wind blew! It was all a bit of a shock after being in balmy 14 degree temperatures in London earlier. Now I’m busy drying stuff out as I’ve got a sill o’ clock start in the morning in order to be in Birmingham by 09:30. Meanwhile, here’s a couple of pictures that I promised you earlier…

The London Overground Class 710s built by Bombardier are over a year late due to software problems but they’re finally entering service. Here’s a pair of them at Hackney Downs whilst working into Liverpool St earlier this afternoon.

Back in the city I was keeping a watchful eye out for people wearing facemasks on public transport as the pictures would be useful library shots. Despite all the ho-ha there really weren’t that many, but I did see these two chaps on the underground at Liverpool St.

OK, that’s all for today folks. See you tomorrow…

Rolling blog: Bristol, day two…

03 Tuesday Mar 2020

Posted by in ACoRP, Railways, Rolling blogs

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09:31.

It’s the 2nd day of the ACoRP conference and It’s a more relaxed one for me as I blitzed the event from a photographic perspective yesterday, so today I get chance to listen to the speakers and blog about some of the event.

The first speaker this morning was Neil Priest, Station Enhancements Portfolio Manager, Network Rail.

He’s given a very interesting talk about the perils and success of making stations more accessible and the fun and game of installing lifts on our Victorian network. He also exploded the myth that lifts can’t be installed at unmanned stations. As he explained. “When a lift breaks down, a bloke doesn’t come out of the ticket office with a bag of spanners, we call in a lift engineer” Nowadays lifts are monitored by CCTV and remotely, so it’s not an issue. Many of these schemes take years to complete and Neil explained why that happens, which can be anything from finding there’s disused mineshafts below the station to the fact someone else comes along and builds a new ticket office where you were going to site a bridge!

Afterwards, ACoRP’s Chief Executive, Jools Townsend gave a rundown of the organisations activities and coming programmes – as well as talking about the rebranding of ACoRP as Community Rail Network (CRN) later this year.

12:10.

A lot of the conference this morning has been taken up with three workshop sessions on very different topics. Youth engagement: Talking about ways to involve young people on a range of issues around the railways (including safety) and passing on life skills to teenagers are younger children. The second workshop was on involvement with the wider community, including the disadvantaged to encourage them to be involved through their local community rail groups – and also encourage them to use the railways. The session I’m sat in on at the moment is about tackling loneliness. Apparently, the UK is the loneliest country in Europe (and no, that’s not a political metaphor!) so the session is talking about causes of loneliness in the present day and how loneliness can be identified and counteracted. The presentation wasn’t just about facts, figures and methodology, it also included the experiences of a station group, the Friends of Beeston station, presented by the Secretary of the group, Sarah Hampton. Sarah gave some great examples of how the group has combated loneliness in their own community.

14:15.

We’re back after lunch in the hotel for the first session of the afternoon which is a look at a new reporting system that ACoRP are launching. The Impact Assessment tool, and how it can help organisations and the people involved in them to track their achievements and use the data in a number of ways, such as reports, data assessment and even fundraising.

During lunch I nipped out with ACoRP’s Martin Yallop, who knows my interest in architecture. He wanted to show me a couple of features nearby, including this…

During WW2 this length of tram track bexame a missle thanks to a German bomb. It was blown clean over a row of Georgian town houses and embedded itself in the nearby churchyard

17:10.

Conference finished mid-afternoon but by then my bit was done so I headed over to Temple Meads station early in order to make the most of the sunshine and soend an hour getting pictures before we caught our train North.

It was an interesting interlude as services have changed a lot since I last spent any time here. Now GWR green rather than FGW blue is the dominant colour. With many of the old DMUs having been displaced by former ‘Thames Turbo’ class 165 – 166 units and the HST’s with Class 800 series units from Hitachi although the venerable Class 43s haven’t vanished altogether as ‘Castle’ Class short HST sets (2×4) are used on Bristol – Cardiff services.

The lengthening of trains has also gone hand in hand with the four-tracking of the line North towards Bristol Parkway, enabling more services to run and allowing parallel arrivals or departures, which makes for some interesting photo opportunities like this, which isn’t the sort of sight you’d seen a couple of years ago…

166205 and 165119 arrive in parallel at Bristol Temple Meads.

17:45

Right now a group of us are speeding North towards Birmingham on yet another packed 4-car Cross-Country Voyager, all space has been taken and the vestibules are packed with bodies old and young.

18:50.

We’re now North of Derby on our way to our next stop at Chesterfield and I’ve lost count of the different passengers that have passed through this coach (D) on our trip from Bristol. I was glad to see the back of one at Birmingham, a young man who talked endlessly into his mobile phone and who reeked of BO…

20:27.

The numbers of folks on our Voyager thinned the further North we got. It was reasonably pleasent after leaving Sheffield but I wasn’t sorry to bail out at Leeds. We had 6 minutes to make our connection and hopped aboard the 20:12 to Manchester Victoria with a couple of minutes to spare. Only it’s now 20:26 and we’re still here! Lots of trains are on the move, just not us…

20:36.

Our Conductor has told us that our trains stuck because of a track-circuit failure, so we’ve all abandoned our nice warm, shiny Class 195 for a traditional Calder Valley classic in the shape of a Class 155 in the adjacent platform. We’re still not going anywhere mind…

20:42.

*Puts on best Victor Meldrew impression*…

I don’t believe it! We’d just settled in on our replacement train when it’s Conductor announced that – in fact – our original train was leaving first. Not only that but it had got the road and was leaving any minute now! There was a mad scramble as we all rushed back onto the 195, the only thing missing was the Benny Hill theme tune playing over the tannoy! We’ve even regained our original seats!

22:18.

That about wraps it up for today. We finally made it home around 21:30, considerably later than we expected due to the fun and games at Leeds. Now it’s time to relax and put the feet up ready for another busy day tomorrow. I’ll be working from home as I’ve a considerable amount of pictures from the conference to edit, as well as a new selection of rail shots. Then there’s paperwork to catch up on. At least there’ll be no track circuits to worry about! There might even be a bit of time for blogging on the latest funs and games with the anti Hs2 protests, which are generating a lot of hot air, but little else…

Rolling blog: Bristol fashion…

02 Monday Mar 2020

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Ugh! The alarm went off at 05:30 this morning as we’re off to Bristol. Right now the house is buzzing with activity as we get ready to head off to the station ready to get the first train. According to the internet the trains are running to time this morning, so let’s see how things pan out. We’ll be meeting up with various other ACoRP shipmates on the train from Leeds…

07:20.

So far, everything’s going to plan on this fine, frosty morning. We took a taxi to the station (a luxury for me as I normally walk) and the 07:07 to Leeds turned up on time. Worked by a 3-car CAF Class 195 it had started at Hebden Bridge and had a healthy load of passengers by the time it arrived at Halifax. Now, leaving Bradford Interchange, there’s hardly a spare seat to be had.

As we climbed out of Bradford the skies were fascinating. A complex mass of grey clouds of different hues was turned orange by the rising sun as they appeared to be dropping a curtain of rain (or snow) across a quarter of the city. It was gorgeous.

08:55.

Changing trains at Leeds went without a hitch. We’d given ourselves plenty of time just in case, but the first day working day of Northern under new management didn’t present any problems. Thankfully we weren’t travelling down the West Coast Main Line as a landslip at Dutton viaduct has caused lots of grief as the saturated ground has started shifting, taking the line with it!

Back with Northern, I see that the Dft are already making changes. Former TPE Managing Director Andy Donovan has been announced at the new Northern MD, which sounds like a good move. He had a good reputation at TPE and eh knows the Northern patch. It will be interesting to if the change at the helm improves Northern’s reputation and the visibility of senior management.

Right now we’re on the 08:11 Cross-Country service from Leeds to Plymouth. It’s classic Cross-Country. This 4-car train was rammed into Leeds carrying commuters from York into work. Then it was busy taking other commuters from Leeds to Wakefield. We’ve just called at Sheffield and it’s only now that it’s starting to fulfil its long-distance role. Now there’s a few spare seats and I’ll be interested to see how the composition of our carriage changes along the route.

10:02.

We’re approaching Birmingham at a crawl after we were diverted via Water Orton due to a points failure. The Train Manager, a jovial Geordie, has been very good in keeping us all informed. It’s not a huge delay (4 minutes) but I’ll be interested to see if it has a knock-on effect in Birmingham.

Our two table companions (who’ve changed composition twice since Leeds) are preparing to leave. There’s only a handful of the original passengers left now and I expect more of an exodus at New St. Having been on this Voyager for 2 hours now and spent much of that time inadvertently playing footsie with the person sat on the opposite side of the table I’m starting to feel the cramp. These trains simply aren’t up to the job nowadays but we’re going to be stuck with them for who knows long now that the Dept for Transport has cancelled letting the franchise.

10:16.

We’ve just left Birmingham with only around 20% of the original passengers on board. I remember many years ago the average length of a journey on Cross-Country was around 50 miles. I wonder if that’s changed? I can’t help wondering if there’s not an argument for splitting the Cross-County network nowadays in order to improve resilience. How many passengers will travel all the way from (say) Aberdeen to Plymouth or Leeds to Penzance?

10:30.

Our late arrival in Birmingham didn’t cause us any problems as we still left on time. A crew change has meant the Geordie lilt of or previous Train Manager has now been replaced by a West Country burr of the new incumbent! More of the ACoRP team joined us too. There’s now 5 of us in the carriage.

11:20.

We’re currently heading for Bristol Parkway and the sunny weather we’ve had nearly all the way from Leeds is getting increasingly obscured by cloud. Like the rest of the country, the fields around the railways are muddy and waterlogged. I suspect we’re going to need a considerable spell of dry and sunny weather before they drain. Despite the fact it’s full again, passengers in our coach are remarkably quiet, mainly because most of them are plugged in and staring at one of a variety of electronic devices! Diagonally opposite me there’s on traditionalists old chap who’s actually reading a newspaper but he’s very much in a minority.

12:15.

We’re now ensconced in the Doubletree Hilton in Bristol, preparing for a busy afternoon with some interesting sessions to look forward to…

14:00.

ACoRP’s Chief Executive, Jools Townsend kicks off today’ Community Rail Conference.

There’s a good turnout for the conference too…

There was far too much going on at the conference to blog and take pictures, so picture taking came first. Hopefully, tomorrow will be more relaxed. AT the end of the day a few of us were given a tour of some sights of architectural merit. One of them was a CAMRA national inventory pub – the Kings Head!