Category Archives: Rolling blogs

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 year 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

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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!

Rolling blog: back in the saddle…

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

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10:30.

The snow returned overnight but thankfully only on the high ground above us, although we’re still seeing the occasional flurry. Here’s the view across the Calder Valley to Sowerby this morning.

I’m back in the saddle and preparing to head down to London for the next couple of days. From what I can see there’s no disruption on the railways that’ll affect me getting to the capital, so let’s see how things go…

12:00.

I left home later than expected due to having to sort out a few things, including recovering my Netflix account as some barsteward had hacked the account and changed the email address! The joys of cyber-security (or not)…

Right now I’m on the slightly late running 11:44 from Halifax to Manchester Victoria which is worked by the first of the 2-car CAF class 195s, number 001.

There seem to be a few teething problems still, it’s not exactly baking hot in here, in fact I’ve had to put my coat back on. The wifi isn’t working and the reservation screens are showing the code ‘DILAX’ (whatever that means). On the plus side, this is a reasonably fast journey now that several stops have been cut. We only call at Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Rochdale. Of course it could be faster if some of the generous ‘pathing allowances’ were removed, which mean we amble through Lancashire! We even have a five minute layover at Rochdale, which the conductor announces.

As is often the case, the Pennines form a border between weather fronts. It’s actually been a sunny morning for much of the time in Yorkshire, despite the odd snow flurry. My walk to the station was really pleasant. Here in Lancashire the clouds are far more built up and threatening more than a flurry!

13:46.

I’ve now set up office on a nice warm Pendolino, which is such a contrast to the chilly CAF unit from earlier. This time of day/week the train’s reasonably quiet so I’ve got a table of four all to myself. My fellow passengers in coach U seems to be business travellers, mostly. A pair of them are holding a meeting on another table nearby. A quick look around the coach confirms my suspicions, 90% of folk in this coach are staring at a screen of one form or another, whether it’s a laptop, ipad or smartphone. Just two women (who look like leisure travellers) are actually sat chatting!

Outside my hermetically sealed and tilting bubble the world’s flashing by. Rural Cheshire doesn’t seem as badly flooded as many of the places I’ve visited recently although there’s still plenty of standing water on flat roofs, pavements and fields. Right, it’s time to knuckle down to work and clear some emails…

15:10.

I’m now within the orbit of the M25 and my email inbox has been considerably slimmed-down, although it’ll be a while yet before it’s a single page! Disappointingly, the sunshine the forecast predicted has failed to materialise. In truth, it’s far duller ‘dahn Sarf’ than it was up North, which is a bit of a bummer. Still, I’m sure I can find something to occupy myself with for the next few hours…

Rolling blog: when stormy weather becomes the norm…

24 Monday Feb 2020

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07:30.

This morning the wind woke us up before the alarm clock got its chance! Our little refuge is getting a battering from the elements and as I made coffee the rain arrived, drenching the windows, making it difficult to see more than a few metres. A bush on the edge of the property provided a useful wind gauge as I could watch it shivering as each gust hit. I pity any birds planning on nesting right now! Stormy weather no longer seems unusual nowadays, it’s become the norm – a worrying thought.

We’re driving back to Yorkshire today, which might be ‘fun’. The weather forecast has just appeared on the TV news and heavy snow is predicted for the North – and not just limited to high ground. Our plans for doing some sightseeing before we head home may have to be binned…

09:45.

Packing the car in a howling gale was fun but at least the rain has abated and nothing got blown away. We’re now ready to sally forth from the warmth of our little retreat and brave the elements to indulge in a spot of weather-watching. Our first stop was just outside Beaumaris, where we spent some time observing a pair of vessels fishing close to shore in the Menai Strait, which was at high tide. This isn’t a sight you can normally get so close to. Watching them zig-zag up and down over a small area of the strait as they deployed and collected their dredging nets was really quite interesting. We worked out that they were probably after shellfish, but we’d no idea what. It was only when I looked up this trawler on the internet that the answer was revealed. Mussels.

According to internet records, the Belfast registered Mare Gratia is a 43 metre long, 315 gross tonnes mussel dredger built in Holland in 2003. The boat’s been a regular visitor to Wales for many years.

I’d hoped to have got some more shots of life around the Strait and the suspension bridge but the combination of high tide and low cloud didn’t lend itself to the sort of shots that I had in mind. Ah, well – we’re just going to have to come back another time! Mind you, as we’re planning to have a crack at that Penrhyn Quarry zip-wire in the summer…

12:20.

We’ve made our way back through the Ogwyn valley to Betws-y-Coed and boy is it wet! It was bad enough around the town itself, but then we headed North up the Conwy valley to get back to the coast and really hit the flooding. This is the B5106 across the valley to Llanrwst! The valley’s effectively been cut in half as this is one of only two few river crossings between Betwys and Conwy.

Here’s another view showing how badly the river Conwy has burst its banks. The actual bridge over the river is that hump in the road in the distance!
Here’s the fields to the left of the last picture. The fields are flooded to a depth of 1-1.2 metres. There’s a hell of a lot of water out there.

18:30.

We’ve made it home with little incident, despite the weather. Once we left the Conwy valley the weather actually brightened up and for a period we actually had some sunshine! Even so, the countryside on both sides of the border was absolutely sodden. I’ve never seen so many flooded fields.

Bowling along the M62 we were fine until we passed Manchester when the leaden skies opened once again. Leaving the motorway at Ripponden the roads resembled lakes as the water was running off the hills in torrents. The only consolation was that the torrential rain had washed away the dusting of snow the area had received first thing this morning. We didn’t see any, which was a relief.

The pair of us are now relaxing at home in the warm, unpacking our kit and grateful the journey back wasn’t as fraught as it could have been.

Tomorrow I abandon the roads (flooded or otherwise) to get back on the rails as I’m heading back to London for the George Bradshaw address tomorrow evening at the IMechE. It’s always a great excuse to catch-up and gossip with friends and colleagues from the rail industry and media and – more often than not – hear from an interesting speaker. I’m staying overnight at the home of a friend, so my trip will allow me to fill some picture requests from clients and catch up with the latest changes to the capitals rail network, which I’ve neglected recently as there’s been so much happening up in the North. At least the weather in my old home’s looking better than it has been here in the North recently so the camera should be kept busy. No doubt there’ll also be time for a rolling blog…

Rolling blog: the Anglesey angle…

22 Saturday Feb 2020

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09:00.

I’m not sure how far I’ll get with a rolling blog today but nothing ventured nothing gained. The stormy conditions we experienced yesterday abated overnight. When we pulled back the curtains this morning it was to a view of clearing skies and sunshine breaking out across the island. From the elevated height of our airBnB we can look out across the Menai Strait across to the mainland and Snowdonia. As usual, the mountains maintain thir own microclimate and remain shrouded in dark cloud, leaving them looking forbidding, rather like something out of Tolkien but even there the wather seems to be changing – which is just as well as we’re going to be heading out that way in an hour or two. Let’s see what happens…

Here’s a long-lens shot taken from where we’re staying. In the foreground are the roofs of Beaumaris whilst across the Menai Straits you can see Penrhyn Castle poking out of the woodland.

11:25.

We’ve had a lazy morning enjoying an unhurried breakfast whilst admiring the views from our accommodation and watching the weather change yet again. The early promise of sunshine has disappeared. Now the winds have returned along with the clouds, but we’re not going to let it get in our way or spoil the day, the sunshine was a bonus anyway as the forecast was always ‘iffy’. We’re about to venture out and enjoy exploring for a few hours before the party this evening…

14:40.

Back on the mainland we’ve popped in to ‘Zip world’ just outside Bethesda. Here in the old Penrhyn quarry is the UK’s longest zipwire and I have to say it looks both impressive – and fun. The pair of us want to have a go, but in much better weather than today.

Here’s the shorter zipwire with four people having the experience

We’d ventured back onto the mainland to head to Betwys-y-Coed and the many outdoor shops the village contains as competition’s cut-throat and there’s normally a bargain to be had. True enough, I managed to get a new pair of Brasher walking boots with over £40 knocked off the price. We’ve not been back to the place for several years, so we were both surprised to see that several of the outdoor shops had closed down. The place seemed tattier and far less busy than on our last visits, but then I suppose it is only February.

The journey there was gorgeous as the old A5 trunk road passes through the rugged and scenic Ogwyn valley, a place I’ve fond memories of going back to the late 1970s. In those days a farmer would let you stay inn his barn for 50p a night. It was minimal facilities but maximum privacy and the ideal place to take adventurous girlfriends – although the walk to the many pubs in Bethesda was a killer – especially because by the time you’d walked back you’d pretty much sobered up!

Here’s how the head of the valley looked today.

Right now we’re back in our refuge on Ynys Mon, preparing for the day’s second chapter – our friends birthday party.

Postscript.

It’s now the morning after the night before and a fab time was had by all.

Today we’re exploring Anglesey, so I’ll add a blog and pictures later.