Category Archives: Rolling blogs

Rolling blog. Valley escape…

13 Wednesday Jul 2022

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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07:45.

After a week where I’ve never left the Calder Valley I’ve broken free again to have an awayday taking pictures. A client has requested a bunch of pictures. Most (but not all) I can supply from my archives, but there’s one gap and another section where the pictures are too dated – so here I am – off to get what’s required and hopefully get a few other shots for another client in the can. Thankfully, Dawn’s made enough of a recovery from Covid that I don’t feel guilty for leaving her for the day. Thankfully, I remain free of that capricious little bug this time.

Right now I’m on the first leg of my journey aboard Northern’s 07:19 from Halifax to Leeds which is worked by a 3-car Class 195 – which is just as well as it’s a very busy train.

Today’s adventure begins…

We lost many passengers at Bradford Interchange as they headed into work but we gained even more for the next leg into Leeds.

I must admit I’m looking forward to my awayday. It’s been lovely having the time at home with the weather having been so glorious. I’m glad I wasn’t stuck trackside somewhere in full PPE but after a few days I do get itchy feet and a camera trigger-finger!

My first stop on this trip will be Derby in a few hours time. Feel free to pop back later to see what I get up to and how the day progresses…

08:35.

So far so good. At Leeds I had 10 minute connection time to catch Cross-Country’s 08:11 service down to Derby. This train’s worked by a pair of 4-car Class 220s and it’s also busy. There’s lots of laptops open in my coach – including mine. On the opposite table to me are three Geordie women bashing away on their keyboards or making business calls. I’m guessing they’re on their way to a business event or training course.

The 220s were busy when they arrived in Leeds and they filled up even more at Westgate despite some seats being vacated by Leeds -Wakefield travellers (an unlikely commuter flow I must admit).

17:00

Umm, where was I? Right now I’m heading back to Derby from Nottinghan to reprise my shots now the sun’s moved around. Arriving at Derby and making a recce of the site I realised that – whilst the archive shots I have are out of date they’re great to have as you can’t replicate them in 2022. Oh, and someone took years to build a walking great bridge on London Rd which is the reason my archive pictures are now precious.

18:45.

Where was I part 2! After stopping off at Derby to get the pictures I needed now the sun’s moved round I’m heading home. Right now I’m on an EMR service as far as Sheffield. I’ve really enjoyed the opportunity to get out and about again, but what a contrast to last week in Germany. I’ll not ‘go-there’ right now as I’ll upset some people. Anyway. Today’s been a good day. I’ve fulfilled my missions and even had chance for a quick visit to a pub that has a gate straight onto the platform. 5 points if you know where this is?

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Germany, the main event…

05 Tuesday Jul 2022

Posted by in Air Travel, Germany, Railways, Rolling blogs, Siemens, Travel

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07:00.

In starting what’s going to be a busy day here in Germany. Right now I’m preparing to head down for breakfast and a caffeine booste before we all meet up for a trip to the Siemens signalling factory here in Braunschweig. The company have got a full programme planned for our visit, but I should still have time to blog about what we’ll be seeing and learning. The world of railway signalling is constantly developing in the digital world. As one colleague described it – signals were all about keeping trains apart. Now they’re about getting them to run as close to each other as is possible. Here’s today’s agenda.

Then later this afternoon we head back to Hannover for our return flight to the UK. I won’t be back in England until late so I won’t be home until tomorrow, but hey ho…

Keep popping back to see what we get up to. But right now – it’s coffee time…

08:41.

The day begins…

10:30.

We’re just about to come back after having a coffee break. It’s been a really interesting morning so far which kicked off with a wide-ranging presentation on the company’s plans and aspirations from Siemens Mobility CEO, Michael Peter.

There’s far too much to describe here but some of the points touched on included how intelligent software and monitoring systems can lead to 100% fleet reliability and save time and money on traditional cyclic maintenance – both on trains and assets themselves. Cloud based interlocking was also discussed with some fascinating examples given about Norway, where the entire rail system is controlled from Oslo – including diagnostics.

Next up was a presentation on Digital solutions from Johannes Emmelheinz, CEO of Customer Services. One point raised was how trains and infrastructure need to work hand in hand and how digitalisation can enable this.

The third presentation was from Bart van Munster, CEO of Squills, a company that’s become part of Siemens. Squills provide ticketing services across the UK and Europe.

13:20.

After another really interesting series of presentations (I’ll tell you the story about passenger journey tracking and the Berlin Depech Mode concert later) we broke for lunch with some fabulous food prepared by the staff of the Siemens canteen.

18:00.

The afternoon was a very enjoyable as we enjoyed a rare tour of thee world’s biggest signalling factory. The site is involved in some cutting edge projects which I’ll be talking about in another blog. Here’s one, the complete resignalling of the Norwegian rail network which will be controlled from Oslo.

Our day came to an end after the tour and a final presentation on cloud based interlocking. Then it was back to the real world. Our small UK contingent (all three of us) decided to catch the 16:54 back to Hannover, only it was cancelled due to an incident on the line. The station was packed and we were looking at all sorts of possible plan B’s when the stock for the 17:20 rolled in, so we jumped on that. It was soon packed as other trains had been cancelled or were running late.

It got us as far as a place called Peine, where we’ve been sitting for the past 15 mins with no information on what’s happening. Ho hum…

18:15.

We’ve now sat at Peine for 30 mins – with absolutely zero information about what’s going on. Not a single announcement has been made.

19:00.

We were on the move shortly after after my last update – some 40 plus mins late. The service to the airport is hardly clockface and it’s only hourly so we abandoned plans to eat at Hannover Hbf and caught the next service to the airport – the 18:57, where we’re enjoying a mostly empty train with good a/c. Upstairs on a packed double- deck coach (our last train) is not the place to be on a sunny day like this.

21:40.

My final German update. A few of us are now relaxing at Hannover airport before our flight arrives. I can’t say it’s my favourite airport. Much of it is closed or deserted and what isn’t closes early! There’s one food outlet in our terminal and the sole duty free shut at 21:30. Still, the glider’s a nice touch…

23:17. (UK time).

I’m back in the Sceptic Isle having bid goodbye to my colleagues on the plane. The flight was quick and passing through Heathrow terminal 5 was quite painless. Everything worked perfectly.

Shame I can’t say the same for the rest of the UK as it seems I’ve returned to a political shit-show. The Chancellor and Health Minister have both resigned, along with a bunch of lesser political functionaries. It wouldn’t surprise me if more go as despite this, Johnson will do everything he can to cling to power. New lackeys will be appointed in their place and the whole rotten edifice will continue in the same lying, delusional vein whilst the country’s economy continues to fall apart. I see the FTSE 100 lost 2.86% today, continuing its awful spiral, having lost 6.74% in the past month, leaving a lot of people poorer and pension funds looking rocky. If only I could have stayed in Germany…

Is this country ever going to wake up and shake off the delusion that the Tories can be trusted with the economy? They’ve done little but wreck it ever since the Brexit referendum.

After such a positive couple of days It’s deeply frustrating (and embarasding) to return to the kakistocracy that the UK has become under Johnson and his Cabinet of the incompetents. It’s painfully obvious that the only reason Sunak and Javid have resigned is political survival and a crack at Johnson’s job as PM. They’ve no more commitment to the country or public service than the man they hope to replace. But how many Tory voters will fall for it I wonder?

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Outward bound…

04 Monday Jul 2022

Posted by in Air Travel, Germany, Rolling blogs, Travel

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05:30.

It’s an ungodly hour here at Heathrow but I have coffee, so things aren’t too bad. I arrived late last night and bedded down at the airport for a few hours. As I’m flying from the modern Terminal 5 that wasn’t too bad. There’s plenty of space, I had a bottle of beer which helped make the floor softer and I’d also packed a small cushion in my suitcase to use as a pillow which made all the difference as I got a decent night’s sleep – saving myself silly money on booking an airport hotel room which I’d only have occupied for a few hours anyway.

06:30.

I’m now airside. Checking in and the baggage drop was pretty painless, as was security which was busy but the staff were both polite and efficient. One thing I did notice was the number of people who’re wearing masks again. Not only has Covid not gone away but cases are rising – something our Government and the media seen strangely quiet about. Despite this, it’s good to see how busy Heathrow is now that life is returning to some sort of normality – although with everything that’s going on in the world right now I’m not entirely sure what ‘normal’ is anymore.

Heathrow terminal 5 at 06:30 is not what you’d call quiet…

I’ve an hour to kill before my flight to Hannover boards so I’ll spend the time people-watching, catching up on some work – and blogging. I’m not a great fan of airports. I’d rather have caught the train to Germany but as I’m someone’s guest I have to go with the flow. Even so it’s interesting as I love travelling and the Pandemic years severely clipped my wings. This is only the second time I’ve left the septic isle since 2019 – and both trips have been to Germany. I’d love to get back on the road again but with everything that’s going on I can’t see that happening for a while yet. Still, I can’t complain. I’ve a busy schedule these next few months with lots of interesting things to keep me occupied – like this trip. Funnily enough, whilst writing this I wondered when it was that I was last in Hannover. A quick look at my Zenfolio website brought the memories flooding back. I was there 10 years ago for the recreation of the British Military train. This was the service that ran to Berlin during the cold war and an old friend – the late Major John Poyntz – was OC at one time. You can find the pictures from that event here.

17:00. (German time).

And relax! The flight wasn’t bad – only 90 mins and I managed to get some shut-eye which was useful. As I disembarked I bumped into another colleague. Chris Jackson from the Railway Gazette was on the same flight. The two of us hooked up for the onward journey to Hannover by rail, then on to Braunsweig. Siemens had sent me a rail ticket confirmation which no-one (including a couple of very helpful locals) could get to work in the ticket machines! Instead, I bought one of the month-long 9 euro rail passes that Germany is offering people to encourage people to get back on trains. It makes the UK’s ‘great rail sale’ look positively limp in comparison.

Having checked into our (very nice) hotel I had to do a quick bit of writing for a living, then headed out to explore the town which has a great little tram system and still has the odd vintage vehicle out in service. Here’s one passing the Rathaus earlier.

Right now I’m relaxing in the square outside the Rathaus and enjoying Konig Ludwig weissbier whilst I watch the world go by. We all meet up for a meal at 20:00 but I’ll probably try and get an hours kip in beforehand.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Another adventure…

03 Sunday Jul 2022

Posted by in Germany, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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Well, what can I say? I wasn’t blogging yesterday as we were having too fab a time. *Caveat* I don’t always blog just because I’m not – honest! Our happy trio went to see Paloma Faith perform at the Piece Hall in Halifax last night and all agreed she was absolutely brilliant. Her two hour set flew by. Admittedly, the three of us had made a day of it and enjoyed a decent Italian meal and a few drinks beforehand, which added to the sense of occasion. Oh, and the stories I could write about the people watching!

Today’s a different ballgame – ish. After a late night Dee and I had a lazy morning before heading off into Halifax once again for a couple of drinks as I’m on my travels again. The town centre was buzzing with people as tonight it’s Paul Weller’s turn to entertain. The Piece Hall concert season is really putting Halifax on the map – and it’s lovely to see. Here’s a pic from last night – taken on a mobile phone as I couldn’t take my kit inside for obvious reasons!

But for me now, it’s a change of tempo – and country. Right now I’m heading down to London as I’m a guest of Siemens in Germany for the next couple of days. I’m part of a press trip – more of which will be revealed later. First, I’ve got to get to Heathrow…

20:00.

Having bid goodbye to Dee I caught a busy Northern service to Leeds via Bradford. Passengers were flocking off the train to come and join the fun in Halifax at yet another sell-out gig which meant I’d no problem getting a seat to set up the laptop, log on and start blogging. Right now I’m on LNER’s 21:45 service to Kings Cross. It’s another busy train but coach C is unreserved and I’ve managed to blag a table. The evening’s following a familiar weather pattern that’s been with us for a while now. The days may be crap but later the skies clear, leaving us with some stunning evenings.

21:30.

What a pleasant trip this has been. A quiet carriage and a lovely evening outside. What more could you ask for? The one interesting aspect is how many more people are wearing masks again. Despite the Government pretending, Covid has never gone away. The opposite in fact. Clearly, some people trust the medical profession and not our shambolic Government. My camera bag has a stash of masks as we’re expected to wear them in Germany – and sensibly so.

Rolling blog. Rail strike – the aftermath….

22 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by in London, Photography, Rail Live 2022, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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08:15.

I had a lovely evening yesterday as I was invited along to supper along with my old friend to meet some of the people whom he’d been to school with in Ireland. This impromptu alfresco meal was unexpected by very enjoyable and took me back to the days when Lynn and I would host such events in the garden of our home in Crouch End.

A late night wasn’t much of a problem as there was no need to be up at silly o’ clock because of the aftermath of the rail strikes. The tube didn’t start running until 08:00 and trains until after 07:30. The best way for me to start my trek to ‘Rail Live’ was to catch the 07:49 to Reading, avoiding central London entirely. Seeing Clapham Junction so quiet at 07:00 during the week was really strange. There would have been more services running during the pandemic! Still, I’m now on my way West, looking forward to todays events on what promises to be a scorcher weather-wise…

08:45.

The further West I head the more the railway wakes up. We’ve just left Bracknell where the station’s teeming with passengers heading for London. In contrast, my train, which was packed when it left Clapham, gets emptier and emptier! But then when this pair of 5-car Class 458s turn around at Reading it’ll be scooping up folk heading for the capital. I wonder how busy Reading station will be?

10:00.

My visit to Reading station was brief but I’m always impressed by the scale of the transformation. It’s unrecognisable as the place I first got to know in the 1970s. It’s grown in both stature and services and the facilities are a vast improvement on what they used to be. It shows what can be achieved with the right levels of investment.

Now I’m on one of GWRs Class 800s. Having sped across Brunel’s ‘billiard table’ along the Thames valley and called at Oxford we’re heading into the Cotswolds and my next stop – Honeybourne…

17:45.

Apologies for the gap in the blog but it’s been a very busy and a very sociable day. As soon as I stepped off the train at Honeybourne I started bumping into people I knew. This continued after getting off the shuttle train and entering the ‘Rail Live’ site. Often I couldn’t get more than 100 metres before meeting someone I knew – which was lovely after all that time in lockdown. Oh, add in the fact the on-site phone signal wasn’t the best and that were so many stands to visit, things to photograph and folk to chat to I gave up.

I’ll post some pictures later as right now I’m making my way back North, which is proving to be ‘intersting’. I left ‘Rail Live in plenty of time as I’d no idea how train services might pan out in practice. GWR from Honeybourne to Worcestershire Parkway was fine and on time. However, my connection was an Arriva Cross Country service from Cardiff to Nottingham as far as Birminham where I’d have 15 mins to Interchange. Great in theory until you see your trains left Cardiff I mins late and it’s dropping not gaining time.

It arrived 10 down which wasn’t too stressful as my interchange was cross-platform. Well, in the timetable anyway. But right now we’re wheezing our way in fits and starts up the Lickey incline.

1750.

We passed Barnt Green at the top of the Lickey 17 mins late, so it looks like I’ll be waving goodbye to my connection. I wouldn’t normally be too bothered if it wasn’t for the fact tomorrow’s a strike day…

19:45.

Ever been happy that a trains late? I was. Not because my internal service was as it knackered any hope of a cross-platform Interchange. But the fact my following train was 5 down allowed me to make my connection despite an escalator scramble! I’m currently sat on a Cross-Country service heading for Edinburgh, which means I can get home to Yorkshire at least! The journey’s been lovely, despite the train being busy. I managed to blag a table seat after Derby which has given me a panoramic view of a gorgeous evening.

23:00.

OK, I’m home and it’s time to end today’s blog. I’ve a busy few days ahead of me and lots of pictures to edit. I’ll leave you with a taster from ‘Rail Live’. Here’s a selection of the new CAF built ‘civity’ trains for the West Midlands in store before before they enter service sometime in 2022.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Rail strikes – day 1…

21 Tuesday Jun 2022

Posted by in Photojournalism, Politics, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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09.20

I’m at Huddersfield en-route to London on the first day of the biggest rail strike the country has seen for 30 years. This normally busy station’s pretty deserted. There’s two Trans-Pennine express trains an hour running. One to Manchester and one to York. The 09:07 all stations Eastbound service had lots of people waiting for at although when the 6 car train arrived it was pretty empty.

Meanwhile, outside, the RMT union’s maintaining a large presence on its picket line.

Members of the RMT backed by other trade unionists including members of UNITE.

10:05.

Whilst Eastbound services were busy, far fewer were using trains in the Manchester direction. I’m currently in the front car of the 09:32 Huddersfield- Manchester Piccadilly. It’s clear most folk have heeded the stay away message.

10:55.

Manchester Piccadilly was a quiet as you’d expect with so few services running. The only new faces were a couple of camera crews who were filming reports on the strike. Arrive Cross-Country services were still running, along with Avanti West Coast. I’m currently aboard their 10:45 departure to London Euston with the first stop being Crewe. There’s plenty of room.

Pick a seat…

I’m in coach U along with four other people. The reduced service isn’t just the number of trains. The Train Manager’s announced there’s no food service in 1st Class and the shop is closed too – good job I decided to pack some sandwiches! I’ll have a walk-through later to see how full the train gets but right now it’s time to set up the mobile office and get some writing done.

11:15.

We’ve crawled our way to Crewe at reduced speed (for whatever reason) where I counted a grand total of eight people waiting for this 11 car Pendolino. Just before we arrived a member of Avanti staff cam through the train dishing out free bottles of water, which was a nice gesture. From what I can see, Crewe station’s deserted – apart from the bay platforms which are full of trains going nowhere.

11:30.

We’re well South of Crewe now and hitting line-speed as the Pendolino gets into its stride. I have to admit, it’s been a trouble-free journey so far. The rail staff who are on duty (and there’s lots of them) are unfailingly cheerful and helpful. The pickets I met at Huddersfield were hardly the frothing mouthed ‘Marxists’ trying to bring down the Government as some sections of the media seem to be trying to make out. They were ordinary rail workers concerned about their pay and conditions during a period when we have a Government that that has neither a plan nor a clue what to do about anything other than keep Johnson in power.

12:55.

Despite stopping at Stafford and Milton Keynes we only picked up a few dozen more people. There’s four young lads in my coach who got on at Stafford, but those are the only extra punters in my car. It feels strange to pass so few trains on the West Coast Main Line but now we’re South of Watford at least we have the London Overground (which is running a near normal service) for company.

13:20.

We arrived into Euston 20 minutes early which was hardly surprising considering the amount of slack in the emergency timetable. I held back to count my fellow passengers as they disembarked. 6 from 1st Class and approximately 80 from Standard. From a train that can hold what? 550?

Euston station wasn’t as quiet as I imagined it might be. TV crews were on station on the mezzanine floor but spart from that everything seemed normal, just subdued.

Once you wander outside you realise another reason the place is so quiet. The London Underground’s also on strike, so many people couldn’t get to/from Euston even if they wanted to!

16:00.

After walking along to St Pancras and Kings Cross to bag a few more pictures – including some colourful RMT flagbearers outside St Pancras – I decided to walk across central London to Waterloo and explore some old haunts on the way. After all, it’s perfect weather for exploring and the city’s quiet. This city was my home for nearly 25 years and I have to admit I miss it – especially on days like this.

18:25.

And relax! I’m now relaxing in Clapham after an interesting day. The journey from Waterloo was painless as the 8-car train I caught had lots of seats available. In fact, the concourse at Waterloo reminded me of how it looked during the pandemic.

My travels are over for today but tomorrow I leave London to head to ‘Rail Live’ and onwards back to Yorkshire. Let’s see how quickly the railways bounce back from the strike…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. West Yorkshire yomp…

16 Thursday Jun 2022

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, West Yorkshire

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09:30.

After days away doing other things it’s time for my regular visit to Milnesbridge over in the Calder valley which involves my usual mixture of public transport and long walks. The weather’s glorious today so I’m really looking forward to it. Hopefully there’ll be no train delays today so that I won’t have to keep up the daft pace that I did last time. Let’s see…

11:00.

Another fun day on the railway! After a pleasent downhill stroll all the way to Sowerby Bridge I had plenty of time to catch some sun before catching the 10:22 to Leeds which was taking me to Mirfield for my connection to Huddersfield. Then things started going Pete Tong. A quick check of Realtime Trains showed me that my connection was cancelled. As it’s an hourly service and Mirfield’s hardly the most exciting place to kick your heels in I syayed on the train as far as Dewsbury which has more trains. Sure enough, I was rescued by the fact a TPE to Liverpool was running 30 mins late! To add to the fun it was made of of a single 3-car Class 185 which was absolutely rammed!

11:35.

I’m now waiting for my onward connection at a very quiet Huddersfield station. There’s sudden burst of activity as trains arrive and depart but in-between it’s deserted. You could be forgiven for thinking the rail strikes have already begun!

3 TPE 185s at Huddersfield, including mine. A few minutes later the station was deserted, even the stabling sidings are empty.

Still, there’s worse places to kill time in than a grade 1 listed building! Plus, the sun is beating down and doing its best to chew through my suntan lotion whilst it tops up my vitamin D levels…

12:08.

Everything’s going to plan – time for an amble along the Huddersfield narrow canal from Slaithwaite to Milnsbridge…

12:15.

I hope no-one’s trying to go East from Slaithwaite?

12:55.

That wasn’t bad. It took me 50 mins without breaking into a sweat and gaving time to observe the life in the canal. Flotillas of Tadpoles and Squadrons of fish, both managing to avoid eath other and no-one becoming lunch. A pair of Herons preening in a field. Lovely! Now it’s time to go off-grid for a while…

17:00.

Ever had one of those days? After my appointment in Milnsbridge and because it was such a beautiful day I decided to retrace my steps along the canal but at a pace where I could take pictures. It was a lovely walk (pics later) and I arrived with plenty of time to catch my train back to Huddersfield – and my onward connection. Thanks to the Dept of Transport inspired timetable cuts Huddersfield – Halifax has been reduced to 2-hourly. To say this is a pain in the arse is an understatement but it did give me the excuse to visit the excellent Kings Head pub on the station so I could kill 50 mins whilst waiting for the 16:35.

The best pub on the station (yes, there’s two!). The Kings Head.

Then the curse of Pete Tong struck again. Just a few mins before the train was due to leave the Conductor announced it was cancelled due to a door fault. Bugger! Plan B? Get a local TPE service to Mirfield to connect with a Grand Central service from London. But wait – the GC is shown as running 35 late already, meaning I wouldn’t arrive in Halifax until 18:16 at the earliest.

So we’re now on plan C and my least favourite from an environmental perspective. Dawn’s driving over to collect me and we’ll go via the supermarket on the way home. This is what’s so frustrating about the Trasury inspired timetable cuts. They’re forcing people onto roads by making rail unusable! Despite the Government’s weasel words over climate change and net-zero – this is the reality. And all for what? How much money’s actually saved by slashing the service by half? Madness. Contrast this with what they’ve spent on dodgy PPE contracts to their mates, “track and trace”, or flights to Rwanda – but no Tory MPs election prospects have been harmed by these cuts…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. And so it begins – 3 Peaks by Rail…

09 Thursday Jun 2022

Posted by in 3 peaks by rail, London, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Siemens, The Railway Children, Travel

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09:30.

After a stressful morning I’m now sat on the train from Leeds to London for the first event of the day – the annual Siemens press lunch. I’m looking forward to meeting friends and colleagues plus the new personnel who’ve taken over roles at Siemens since the start of the pandemic. It’s a lovely day for travelling as the sun’s shining, the trains are running well and I can start to unwind. The day’s not going to be completely relaxed of course. After the lunch I’ve got to hot-foot it up to Crewe to join the other volunteers and staff of the Railway Children charity who’ll be preparing the train that we’ll be living on for the next few days – plus all the fundraising teams who’ll be arriving to take part and climb all 3 Peaks. I’ve also a rather large bag full of kit to tow around as you never know what weather you’ll encounter on this adventure so if you’re sensible you come prepared.

I’ll blog throughout the day as I can, so feel free to keep popping back to see what I get up to…

09:55.

The destressing continues. The mobile office is up and running, there’s HS2 pictures to edit, I’ve a fresh coffee from the buffet and I’m listening to The Waterboys through my earphones…

16:30.

Apologies for the interlude but it’s been a busy few hours. The Siemens press lunch was an enjoyable and informative event. We had chance to chat over drinks at the start, then sat down for lunch. Members of the media were allocated specific seats but Siemens staff rotated after each course which meant we had the opportunity to talk to a wide range of people, including CEO William Wilson and Sambit Banerjee, Director of Rolling stock.

Siemens CEO Will Wilson briefs the media on what the company’s been doing over the last year and plans for the future.
It beats sandwiches!

Sadly,I had to leave early to ensure I was on time for my next event. I’m now speeding North on an Avanti Voyager in order to meet up with the Railway Children staff at Crewe ready for the big adventure – 3 Peaks by rail 2022.

23:35.

Well, that’s been a change of scenery! I arrived at Crewe in plenty of time to slip into my role as official photographer for the Railway Children’s 3 Peaks by Rail. This is my 5th year in a row and to be honest It’s just like meeting up with family. It’s not just the staff and volunteers either, there’s always familiar railway faces amongst the teams too. Here’s everyone all together just before we set off from Crewe. We were joined by the Railway Children’s founder, David Maidment who can be seem bottom left.

First things first. As soon as the teams are settled in on the train they’re fed. The food is all donated by various suppliers who help support the charity and prepared on board.
On arrival at Bangor teams are provided with snacks by the on-board team to ensure their energy levels are maintained. It’s a slick operation. We only have 6 minutes to unload everyone and get the train dispatched.
After dropping the teams off at Bangor the train heads for Holyhead where the locomotives can run-round, the train can be cleaned and the on-board staff have the chance to eat and get some rest before we head back to Bangor to pick up the teams at 04:00. Here’s 47501 and 47593 being passed by the Welsh Assembly train (aka ‘Gerald’) which is made up of ex-LNER Mk4 coaches and a Class 67 loocomotive. It’ll set back into the stabling point behind the signalbox to be serviced overnight.

Right, I’m going to call it a day as we’re now sat in the carriage sidings for the night. I’ll resume blogging in a few hours time – but that’ll be another day. Day 2 in fact…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. High Speed 2 and ecology…

08 Wednesday Jun 2022

Posted by in Environment, Hs2, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, Warwickshire

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06:45.

I’m back on the rails for the rest of the week, travelling across a large chunk of the UK (as you’ll see). Today I’m off to have a look at some of the High Speed 2 construction and mitigation work around Cubbington in Warwickshire.

Thankfully, the weather’s better where I’m going than where I’m coming from. The Calder valley’s a wet and gloomy place this morning as the area’s trapped beneath a low layer of heavy grey cloud that’s shrouding the valley tops. My first train of the day’s Northern’s 06:23 from Sowerby Bridge which is worked by a pair of 2-car Class 195s. I’m taking it as far as Manchester. This should be a Chester service but it’s been chopped back to Victoria for some unknown reason.

08:00.

On arrival at Manchester I made the customary ‘mad dash’ across the city centre from Victoria to Piccadilly on foot. It took me 15 minutes which meant I was in plenty of time to get an earlier train than originally planned. I’m now ensconced on Cross-Country’s 07:27 to Bournemouth. Today the train’s made up of consecutively numbered, 4-car Class 220s (020 and 021 for the number-crunchers amongst you). Despite the earliness of the hour the front unit is very busy with few spare seats after we’d departed Stockport. Thankfully, the cloud levels are lifting and getting thinner the further South I go.

220020 ready to head the 07:27 from Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth.

09:20.

My train was packed all the way to Birmingham New St where the vast majority of travellers decamped only to be replaced by a smaller cohort for the continuation of the journey. Some were only travelling as far as Birmingham International and a few more for Coventry. My stop’s in another 20 mins so I’ll be interested to see how busy we are then.

11:40.

Out exploring the route of HS2…

Looking North to Cubbington wood…

19:00.

Apologies for the break in blogging but I’ve spent most of the day exploring the HS2 route and mitigations sites in the company of local farmer Penny McGregor. Penny’s been kind enough to show me around before and having her local knowledge and passion for the environment (tempered with pragmatism) has been invaluable. We’ve pootled around several sites in her little electric car so that I can see and record the changes that have taken place since I was last here in February.Then the woods and ancient woodland translocation sites were dormant. Now they’ve burst into life and are even past their best as many plants (such as Campions) have gone to seed. Even so, it’s easy to see the opponents of HS2 who claim building the railway has created a barren wasteland are talking out of a fundamental orifice. Yes, of course the trace of HS2 looks like a building site – that’s because it is! The margins however, can be very different depending on the age of the planting. Plus, the ancient woodland soil translocation sites are throwing up surprises as seeds that have lain dormant for years under the tree canopy have now been stirred up and have access to light…

I’ll add a selection of pictures shortly. Right now I’m making my way back North. Having bid farewell to Penny after such an interesting day I caught Cross-Country’s 17:15 to Manchester Piccadilly as far as busy Birmingham New St where I swapped sets to catch the 18:03 to Edinburgh as far as Leeds. Both trains afforded me some great views of HS2 construction – especially around Birmingham. Forget the media froth and protesters howls – HS2 is happening! The amount of work to be seen around Curzon St and Washwood Heath is very, very impressive. I hope to return soon to cover some of it.

23:00.

Time to bring this blog to an end. I’ve been at home for the past few hours, preparing for the next 4 days of fun and travels. I’m in London tomorrow morning ready for a press lunch that’s been on hold for several years due to the pandemic. It’ll be a lovely opportunity to catch up with old and new faces from our hots – Siemens – as well as other colleagues from the rail press. As soon as the lunch finishes I have to hot-foot it up to Crewe to join the annual ‘3 peaks by rail’ charity fundraiser in aid of the Railway Children charity. I’ve been a volunteer on this event since 2017. It’s exhausting but bags of fun. So, expect a varied bunch of rolling blogs over the next few days.

But for now I’ll leave you with a picture of this little critter that Penny and I saw in a field next to HS2 earlier today. It’s a silver studded blue butterfly.

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

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

Thank you!

Rolling blog. One last thing…

27 Friday May 2022

Posted by in Community rail, Community Rail Network, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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08:30.

I wasn’t expecting to be staying in Sheffield last night. But, there’s one last photographic opportunity for Community Rail week that seemed daft not to fit in – especially as it’s at such a scenic location Edale in the Hope valley. A group of Network Rail staff are joining the station friends to give the station a heavier spruce-up. Many hands make light work and all that.

So now I find myself sat on a 2-car Northern Class 156 ready to depart Sheffield and trundle up the valley.

Raring to go…

Job done, I’ll be heading home to Halifax for the weekend and a time to edit the plethora of pictures that I’ve taken over the past few days.

08:45.

It’s a lovely morning to be heading for Hope, there’s high cloud around and a fair bit of wind too, but plenty of sunshine. The train’s already busy with a mixture of students, walkers and cyclists heading to college or for a day out.

08:45.

Heading West I’ve noted a substantial amount of work being done around Bamford station by Network Rail contractors. They appear to be putting in a haul road on the North side of the line, although I’ve no idea why. I’m assuming its to do with the capacity improvements planned for the route.

12:45.

That was in interesting interlude. Edale station’s a lovely little place that’s seen a lot of inhancement work recently. All the station fencing has been renewed (paid for from car-parking charges) whilst the station friends have added new planters, artwork, running-in boards and old pictures of the station. This has been added to with Ukrainian flags and bunting.

On time, the volunteers from Network Rail, Transport for Gtr Manchester and the local station friends arrived and set about tackling various jobs such as litter-picking and tree-trimming in the old goods yard whilst others had a big clear-up of the tree-lined station footpaths which were in need of a good clear-up.

The group getting a safety brief before beginning work.13

13:45.

Having photographed what the groups were getting up to I took my leave after a couple of hours and headed back to Sheffield to finally head home. The 2-car Northern service had room but the 8-car Arriva Cross-Country train I caught back to Leeds was full and standing. I shared a vestibule with a group of off-duty S Yorks police officers off to York for a stag do. Leeds station was just as busy as the train. There’s a lot of people dragging around big suitcases right now!…