Rolling blog: Sun, snow and Sheffield

11 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by Paul Bigland in Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, Yorkshire

08:00

This was the view from our bedroom window this morning as the snow had returned late last night and this time it had crept down further from the valley tops.

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Thankfully, the roads below us remain clear so we shouldn’t have any problem driving over to Huddersfield to meet up with other members of the ACORP team before catching the train to Sheffield. Watch this space…

09:12

Away we go! After a quick visit to ACORP towers we’re now bouncing our way to Sheffield via the scenic Penistone line aboard a Pacer.

09:47.

It’s a beautifully sunny day here on the Penistone line as we bounce and rock towards Sheffield, where the weather’s not looking as inviting. We’ve been in and out of the snowline several times already. Initially the train was quite empty but we’ve picked up passengers at every stop, especially at Penistone and Barnsley, the main population centres along the line. Now this 3 car train’s earning its keep.

11:15

Despite my earlier concerns about the weather the sun’s beating down on Sheffield, making it ideal for a spot of photography before the conference starts after lunch. Here’s one the the unique tram-trains. Hopefully this trial will be a success and we’ll see vehicles like this become a common sight. Ironically, I came to Sheffield for an Acorp conference on tram-trains way back in 2009. After years of plans changing and procrastination, the trams finally started running in 2018!

15:03.

The conference is in full swing right now. The event was opened by the Mayor of Sheffield, Dan Byles MP, who welcomed everyone to the city and spoke about the importance of community rail.

DG319850CROP

Rolling blog: London beckons…

07 Thursday Mar 2019

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07:50

I’m heading back to London today as I’m picking up a load of old slides that were with a picture library. They were digitised years ago and now the library is moving premises so wants to give them back. Rather than entrust them to the post I’ve arranged to collect them and do some work whilst I’m down there.

Unfortunately, the weather here in the Calder valley’s dismal, I just hope the forecast for the South-East’s accurate. I’ll keep you updated on my travels and any travails.

09:07.

Having just missed a train I was left kicking my heels at Sowerby Bridge station for 25 minutes in the cold, rain and sleet! Sadly, there’s no warm waiting room to seek refuge in. The station’s facilities were severely pruned in BR days, especially on the Leeds bound platform which I was on. There have been improvements. At least now there are ticket machines on both platforms and simple platform shelters, but they’re not much use in a Pennine winter other than to keep the rain or snow off you.

At least my train was on time, a refurbished three car Class 158 rolled in at 09:04 and now I’m seated in the warmth, heading to Leeds.

09:25

Me and my big mouth! We left Halifax packed to the gunwhales but on time. Then it all went a bit Pete Tong. We’re currently crawling from signal to signal for reasons unknown as neither driver nor conductor have made an announcement. Still, this has given me plenty of time to observe all the shiny scarlet painted Pandrol clips which attach the rails to the sleepers. Their colour betrays the fact a lot of the rails on the route have been renewed recently.

09:47

We’re now on our way from Bradford Interchange 12 minutes late. The crew have remained mute. There’s not been a single announcement explaining why, far less an apology for the delay. It’s a classic example of poor customer service. It’s not as if the PA isn’t working as the Conductor’s just announced the next station stop!

10:13

To add insult to injury, when we approached Leeds the Conductor treated us to the usual long-winded announcement about tickets, security and luggage yet she completely neglected to mention the we were late, never mind even offer an apology! This is simple, basic customer service and it’s where the railway is so inconsistent.

In complete contrast, I’m now on LNER’s 09:15 to Kings Cross. Before we left the Train Manager announced this Mk4 set was short formed (it’s had coach C knocked out for unscheduled maintenance) and offered repeated apologies to passengers with reservations, telling them which coaches had spare seats.

Talking of maintenance, due to the current shortage of Class 91s, I have this on my train! 90036 ‘Driver Jack Mills’

14:45

I’ve been too busy to blog these past few hours as I’ve been constantly on the move. I changed trains at Stevenage in order to catch a Siemens ‘people-lover’s in the shape of a 12 car Class 700 to Finsbury Park, then backtracked to my old stamping ground of Harringay on a decript Great Northern Class 313.

Walking down to Green Lanes evoked lots of memories. Far too many to share here. It’s still as vibrant an area as ever with some fantastic Turkish cafe’s and brilliant greengrocers. My destination was the station which bisects the lane high up on an embankment. The ‘Goblin’ as the Gospel Oak to Barking line is known was electrified last year. The electrification was completed late. Even so, the new Bombardier built Class 710 electric trains that were being built for it were even later and still haven’t entered service. The problem is, the old diesels were due elsewhere. Some have already left and the last three will depart on March 18th. As a stopgap, London Overground have converted three Class 378s from five cars to four and are using them instead. Here’s one at Green Lanes earlier.

It’s really rather odd seeing these units on the Goblin as they make you feel you’re on the wrong route and are really on the North London Line!

15:31

I’m now hopping across London from Finsbury Park to Brixton via the new Thameslink tunnel, Blackfriars and Herne Hill.

18:11

I’m heading Northwards again now after a busy day. It was lovely being back in Brixton again. Living in the Pennines is lovely because of the scenery, but I do miss the hustle and bustle of London and the sheer diversity of the place. After picking up two big bags of slides I had time for a mooch around the Brixton arcade which was very quiet as it was the end of the day. It’s gone upmarket. Now there’s lots of great looking little bars and cafes as we as all the butchers and fishmongers.

On my way back across town I cracked open the slide packets to see what there was and some wonderful memories came flooding back. The pictures date from 1990 to 2003. They’re a mix of social issues and travel photography from across the UK, along with some rail images. I’ve found memories of old friends and places, my days working as a Housing Officer in East London and a whole host of demonstrations and protests. There the Iraq war, ‘Fair’ fuel protest, anti Afgahan war and more. There’s even my nephews and neices! One day, I’ll find time to get the most valuable ones scanned…

20:49.

Well, my journey back all went a bit Pete Tong too due to late trains and dodgy connections. The East Coast Main Line has had another difficult day due to obstructions on the line and train failures. I won’t go in to much detail as I’d be typing a few thousand words. I did end up ‘doing a Jeremy Corbyn’ on my train out of London but in the peak that’s to be expected!

I’m now on a Cross-country service from York to Leeds! The bright side was that I managed to get a shot of an LNER liveried ‘Azuma’ under York station roof.

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21:47

It’s definitely been ‘one of those days’! My 125mph capable Voyager got stuck behind a late local service and staggered to Leeds where it arrived 10 mins late, so that was another connection missed. I’m now on the 21:39 Leeds-Manchester Victoria instead.

23:55

It’s time to bring this rolling blog to an end. It’s been a chilly walk home but, judging by the amount of salt scattered on the roads around Halifax, worse is to come. Let’s see what tomorrow brings. Goodnight folks!

Rolling blog: The morning after the night before…

27 Wednesday Feb 2019

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It’s a beautiful morning in London and the sun’s already cracking the flags. I’m sipping coffee in my hotel room in preparation for the day ahead whilst recovering from last night.

Yesterday’s Bradshaw address was a very interesting event, not so much because we learned a huge amount about what will be in the forthcoming Williams report (we didn’t) more because the event was packed with the great and the good from the railway industry and everyone talks. Afterwards, the Rail Delivery Group held an informal get-together for the media and other colleagues, which was just as informative as the main event, but Chatham House rules and all that. All I will say is that the night ended in the company of a long-time friend called Rupert (whom most in the rail industry will know) so it it was great fun, but I’m paying for it this morning!

I’m going to make my way home by meandering up the East Coast Main Line and have a look at some of the huge changes that are taking place as I go, so expect lots of words an pictures later…

11:15.

After leaving my hotel near Kings Cross I walked over to Euston to check out progress on building Hs2, the new high-speed railway. Every time I visit something’s changed. There’s a huge amount of work going on as old buildings are torn down to make way for the expanded station, which is spreading to the West. I couldn’t help but crack a grin at seeing all the work going on then thinking of the few remaining Hs2 antis on Twitter who insist that none of this work means Hs2 is actually being built! Talk about kidding yourself!

Afterwards I headed back to King Cross to begin my meander North by catching a Great Northern service as far at Potters Bar, a place I have mixed memories of, and this is why.

Within an hour of the crash happening I got a phone call to my North London home from RAIL magazine, commissioning me to cover the accident. I ended up spending several days at the scene, documenting the tragedy and the subsequent recovery operation. Journalists from all over the place had been scrambled to cover what was a major news story. The best vantage point was stop a wooden fence in the beer garden adjacent car park, which is where many of us ended up. I remember helping a rather posh middle-aged woman to climb the fence and we got chatting. She explains that she was a photographer who normally worked for ‘Horse and Hound’ magazine but had got a call because she lived in the area!

After the first couple of days the weather turned an rain set in, which bade life difficult for everybody. A huge crane had been set up to remove the car of the crashed train that was wedged under the station canopy and we were all keen to get a shot of the lift, this meant hanging around for hours and many of us took shelter in the pub! ITN had set up a huge cherry picker in the pub car park which they used for filming. Whilst they were waiting to go on air the ITN crew joined us in the pub and I got talking to Nicholas McGinty, their reporter. Nick wasn’t exactly dressed for the weather so I lent him my waterproof jacket whilst he did his piece to camera. In return, he arranged for me to go up in the cherry picker to get pictures! We met again a few years later at another rail tragedy, Ufton Herbert, Nick remembered me and I got another go in that cherry picker too. Thankfully, those times have changed and there hasn’t been a fatal rail crash since 2007.

12:35.

I stopped off at a famous bottleneck on the East Coast Main Line, the two track section at Welwyn North. There’s been talk of quadrupling this section for decades but it’s no easy (or cheap) task at it contains a lengthy viaduct and two tunnels.

15:00.

I’ve slowly been making my way up the East Coast Main Line, making the most of the stunning weather to top up my photo library with shots at some locations I’ve not visited in years.

It’s been an interesting experience that’s brought back many happy memories but also shown me how rapidly this stretch of railway’s changing. All the Great Northern services to Peterborough are now worked by the Siemens built, 12-car Class 700s. Now they go via St Pancras Thameslink and across London to Horsham instead of terminating at Kings Cross. The intercity fleets are changing too. Hitachi built Class 800s are up and down on test on a regular basis and are due to start displacing the BR built HSTs and Class 91s in a matter of months. They’ll also replace Hull Trains Class 180s. It’s not just the trains either. Network Rail is busy renewing the overhead lines and replacing cable headspans with portals.

16:48

I’m gradually getting North now after stops at Peterborough and Grantham. It’s such a gorgeous day that I want to make the most of the weather and get a few more shots in the can. Sadly, after all the rebuilding that’s gone on, Peterborough isn’t the photo opportunity it once was. That said, it’s interesting to observe operations there. The amount of intermodal freight trains that have to cut across the Northern approaches to the station to get to the Ely route and on to Felixstowe must be a train planner’s nightmare! No wonder Network Rail are building the dive-under from the GN/GE joint line.

18:20

I’m on the last leg after a final change of trains at Doncaster. Yet another LNER ‘Azuma’ flew past, luckily in full branding. That done, I couldn’t resist a visit to the Draughtsman, the tiny real ale bar on the station which opened in 2017.

Now I’m on Grand Central’s 18:04 service to Bradford Interchange, which takes me straight to Halifax and home. Tomorrow’s weather forecast isn’t great. The run of fantastic weather’s coming to an end, so it’ll give me chance to have a day at home catching up on paperwork and plans – as well as editing all the pictures that I’ve taken over the past couple of days!

20:45

Right, time for a ‘swifty’ in my local before heading home. It’s goodnight from me…

Rolling blog: Tuesday travels…

26 Tuesday Feb 2019

Posted by Paul Bigland in Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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11:12

After having such an early start yesterday I’ve had a slower one today, getting some financial stuff sorted out and preparing for the next couple of day’s travels. Now I’m ready for the off and to make my way down to London for tonight’s George Bradshaw address. So, let’s see what happens today, shall we?

I’m heading to Halifax today and (unlike yesterday) there’s not a trace of mist. In fact, it’s a stunning day and I’m beginning to think I should have packed the suntan lotion!

12:00

I’m not joking about the suntan lotion! Today’s temperature’s ridiculous for February. It’s lovely and deeply worrying at the same time as climate change is real. I wonder how many records will be broken this year?

On my walk to the station I detoured through Halifax’s magnificent Piece Hall. The piazza was busy with people basking in the sun or snacking at one of the cafe’s. When you see the place it’s hard to accept you’re in West Yorkshire and not Italy.

Right now I’m on my first train if the day, the 11:59 to Leeds via Bradford. It’s being worked by a cascaded 2-car class 158 from Scotrail, so we have the luxury of capers and more tables than normal!

12:58

I didn’t hang around in Leeds, instead I caught LNER’s 12:45 to Kings Cross, which is being worked by one of their venerable HST sets. It’s a lightly loaded service, as you can see from this picture.

I’ve bagged a vacant table and set up the laptop to take advantage of the fact LNER have now made wifi access free to both 1st and Standard Class passengers, which is great!

14:02

I abandoned the HST at Doncaster as a couple of photo opportunities were presenting themselves. Firstly, one of the LNER ‘Azuma test runs was due through. These Hitachi built trains are due to enter passenger service in the next few months (although no-one, even DfT can say when exactly). At the same time, a pair of refurbished HST (High Speed Train) power cars were making their way from Brush, Loughborough to Scotland. Here’s a shot of the power cars.

With the sun out, the railway enthusiasts were out in force, cameras and notebooks in hand. This station’s almost certainly the busiest when it comes to the number of enthusiasts. They’re attracted by the variety of passenger and freight trains that pass through and because the adjacent railway works can produce all sorts of strange and exotic vehicles for refurbishment or repair.

Trainspotting (which is the focus of many of the rail enthusiasts at Doncaster, although other flavours are available) reached its peak in the 1950s. After that it went into a gradual decline which was hastened by the end of steam trains on the national network in 1968. Of course, nowadays there’s such a variety of hobbies or sports available compared to the post-war years it’s no wonder few young people are attracted to the hobby. Add to this the fact ‘trainspotter’ has become an insult and you can understand the decline. That doesn’t mean some young people (make and female) don’t take up the hobby, but the throng at Doncaster displayed a common trait. They were all elderly (mostly retired) men. I reckon that if I went back in 10 years time the number would have thinned considerably simply due to the passage of time.

14:36

I’m now on another LNER HST heading South. This one’s rather different as the fact it still uses the original style seats betrays the set as one acquired from East Midlands Trains. I’ve never been a fan of the IC70 seats as their fixed armrests make it awkward to get in and out.

15:40

After a brief pause at the much enlarged Peterborough station I’m on the move again getting ever closer to London, this time aboard one of LNER’s MK4 coach sets being propelled by a class 91. I know many people thought GNER were the epitome of post privatisation operators but I have to say LNER have beaten them on many levels. There’s a far better passenger information system now with screens that give you realtime information. No more paper reservation labels either and the free wifi’s a boon.

Rolling blog: Monday meanderings

25 Monday Feb 2019

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05:07

I’ve been up since 04:45 as I’m starting the day with an early appointment in Birmingham, so I’m heading down to Sowerby Bridge station to catch the 05:57 to Manchester. Expect a varied blog with lots of pictures throughout the day as I’ll be doing a fair bit of travelling.

06:00

The walk down into Sowerby Bridge was rather surreal this morning as I could see the valley floor was shrouded in mist which was lit by a bright half-moon shining through otherwise clear skies. I only had the hooting of owls in the surrounding woods for company until I arrived in the town which was deep in fog.

Now I’m on the first train of the day, which is running on time and (at this stage) pretty empty although I’ve no doubt it won’t be by the time we reach Manchester.

The service is made up of a pair of single-car Class 153s so it’ll be interesting to see if this proves adequate this time on a Monday morning.

Whilst I’m sitting on the train I’m scanning the news and trying to get my head around the criminal stupidity of our Prime Minister, who has postponed any vote on Brexit until March 12th. UK businesses must be in utter despair. That leaves them in limbo yet again with absolutely no idea what’s happening. The point of no return has already passed for any that are reliant on imports from places like China. The last ship has already sailed that could guarantee getting goods here under our existing trade deals. Now no-one has a clue what terms will apply. For a Government to put its citizens and the economy in this position for no other reason than it’s own stupidity is breathtaking. The tragic farce of Brexit has already caused huge damage to the country and our politicians are piling on the agony. May continues this deception that her flitting back and forth twixt Brussels and London means anything other than increasing incredulity in Europe and a hardening of attitudes towards us, she holds a gun to her head and threatens the EU that she’ll pull the trigger. It’s madness, utter madness. Whatever happens in the next few weeks one thing is certain: it will only end in pain and humiliation for the UK – and all for what? Blue passports? How could we as a nation have been so stupid?

06:31.

After calling at Rochdale my train is half to two-thirds full of commuters heading to work. Dawn’s just breaking through a clear sky and Manchester looks like it’s in for another lovely day. Passing the brightly lit Northern Rail depot at Newton Heath the work to pay extra sidings for the company’s new trains is very much in evidence.

07:29

I’d no time to waste in Manchester as I decided to see if I could make an earlier train. A sprint across the city centre in record time allowed me to catch Cross-Country’s 07:05 to Bristol via Brum. Thankfully, it’s a five, not a four-car Voyager. Despite it being a peak train it’s well loaded – even in the unreserved coach B. Now I can relax with a Starbucks coffee off the trolley and admire the Cheshire countryside as it flies by me in bright sunshine.

08:01.

After calling at Stoke, my coach was almost full.

Now, after a stop at Stafford, it’s standing room only, with several people wedging themselves into the small luggage racks at either end of the car.

10:15.

Well, that was a busy little interlude! The High Speed Rail Industry Leaders (HSRIL) group was holding a PR event outside Birmingham City hall this morning. A giant jigsaw was used to show how HS2 will join up many of our major cities. The event was supported by the Mayor of the West Midlands, Andy Street, local business leaders and Transport Minister Nusrat Ghani amongst others. This presented some interesting photographic challenges for me and the other snappers in attendance due to the strong sun and heavy shadows, combined with the sheer number of people! Here’s a few pictures.

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DG319129CROP

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After the event I nipped off to enjoy the beautiful sunshine and visit some of the recent rail investment in the West Midlands. My first port of call was the extension of the electrification on the Cross-City line as far as Bromsgrove, where a brand-new station’s been built to replace what used to be there.

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Next stop? Redditch…

15:15.

After a trip to Redditch in glorious sunshine and the chance to get some library shots I headed back into the city to meet up with an old friend (and best man at my wedding) who works for Network Rail. He’d come up for a meeting, so we grabbed a coffee together before he headed back to London and I resumed my travels. I’m currently on the 15:05 from Birmingham to Shrewsbury which is standing room only. Mind you it is worked by a two car Class 170, which isn’t exactly helping!

16:17.

I’m on the move again after taking time to look at construction of Wolverhampton’s new transport interchange which is bringing together rail, tram and bus in one location. Here’s a view of the work going on to rebuild the station. The tram tracks will run in the foreground.

Tracks for the tram extension have been laid right up to the station approach. I’m assuming that once more work’s been done on the new station building space will have been created for them.

Sadly, all these signs of looking forward to the future were put into stark perspective when I saw this Government poster on the station.

This is what we’ve become. Our fellow EU citizens (like us) have had the right to freedom of movement for nearly half a century. Now we’re treating them like illegal aliens. They’re our friends, neighbours and work colleagues, even a husband, or a wife. How long I wonder before the posters appear asking to to inform on any EU national you think doesn’t have the right to remain? Maybe Teresa May will resurrect those vans that toured round with hoardings on them? What a nasty divisive country we’ve become.

17:49.

Whilst on a XC Voyager to Manchester I got into a chance conversation with one of the crew who happened to mention that one of their HSTs was working a Manchester Piccadilly-Bristol Temple Leads diagram, which is highly unusual. This prompted me to jump off at Stoke-on-Trent in the hope of recording event. Sadly, as we pulled in, it pulled out – which didn’t exactly make for a great picture!

I ended up drowning my sorrows in the new Titanic Brewery station bar which occupies the site of the old Virgin Trains 1st Class lounge. Now I’m back on another XC service en-route to Manchester.

I’ve a favour to ask.
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Rolling blog: out of office…

20 Wednesday Feb 2019

Posted by Paul Bigland in ACoRP, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, West Yorkshire

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10:19

Well, out of MY office! I’m currently at ACoRP Towers in Huddersfield as I have a meeting about judging this years ACoRP awards and changes to the ‘It’s Your Station’ category. We’re getting more and more entries each year and the judging criteria needs to be refined to cope with this.

12:02.

It’s been a productive meeting and the IYS category been refined to reflects the growth in stations being entered. I’m looking forward to spending some summer days touring the country to visit more excellent examples of the work community rail volunteers and rail staff get up to. I wonder where I’ll get to this time?

Whilst I was in the meeting news broke that one more Labour MP and three Tory MPs have joined the breakaway Independent Group. There’s a clear feeling that the old parties are too in thrall to their extremist wings to put the needs of the country first. Good luck to the splitters!

Now I’m back on the rails for a while…

13:15.

I’ve popped over to York, where new trains are very much in evidence.

DG318981. 800107. York. 20.2.19CROP

Meanwhile, over on platform 2 under the magnificent curved roof…
DG318994. 68022. York. 20.2.19crop

Both these trains will enter passenger service later in the year, working from London to Scotland and also on Trans-Pennine services. When I see sights like this I have to laugh at the likes of Liam Halligan and Hs2 antis who insist money should be diverted from the project to invest in the North! Another thing they completely miss is that York gains fivefold. Not only does it benefit from new and longer Trans-Pennine trains it also benefits from the modernisation, electrification and enhanced capacity of the Trans-Pennine route. Meanwhile, the intercity fleet operated by LNER is replaced by brand-new Azumas. York will also receive Hs2 services running to Newcastle via the dedicated high-speed line that’ll be built as far North as Church Fenton. Finally, the old Pacers operating Northern services via the Harrogate loop or to Hull will be replaced by more modern trains. So much for Hs2 ‘starving’ the North of investment – Hs2 is part of the investment!

15:11

The weather’s deteriorated and I’ve a few chores to do back in Halifax, so I’m en-route via a rather damp Bradford. The Calder Valley line I’m travelling on now is another sign of investment in the North a £100m renewal & resignalling scheme was commissioned last October. I’ve just passed a new station (Low Moor) which even boasts of daily direct trains to London! Meanwhile, Transport for the North have even more ambitious plans for the line. Funny how none of this got mentioned by Halligan in his Dispatches hatchet job…

16:00.

After a spot of shopping in Halifax town centre I’ve retired for a swift half in one of the town’s excellent micro-pubs, the Pump Room.

These have opened up in the past few years, bringing new life to a town centre that’s seeing an increasing number of shops close. Another place worth visiting is the Victorian covered market.

21:24.

The day’s ending at home, where I’ve been spending time editing the pictures I’ve taken today and uploading them to my Zenfolio website. Follow this link to see which galleries they’ve been added to. Whilst it’s been a steady day workwise it’s been another extraordinary day politically. Some of this stuff you just couldn’t make up! The Labour party continues to descend into an unpleasant farce with the latest instalment being that Derek Hatton, who was only allowed back in the party 48 hours ago, has already been suspended! Apparently, some dodgy tweets he sent a few years ago have come to light! I can’t imagine that it’ll be long before there are more desertions from Labour as the party seems to be descending into a vicious internal war. Mind you, the Tories don’t seem to be in any better state. It’s like a fight’s broken out on the bridge of the Titanic just as the iceberg’s been sighted. God help us all…

Rolling blog: Another day, another train, another job.

15 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by Paul Bigland in RAIL magazine, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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07:45

It’s a beautiful (if slightly chilly) morning here in Yorkshire and an early start for Dawn and I.

I’m currently on a Trans-Pennine Express service from Huddersfield heading for Manchester as I’m on my way to meet a colleague from RAIL magazine in Birmingham for a job in the West Midlands. As usual, it’s standing room only on the train. I’m looking forward to TPE introducing their new five-car “Nova 3” trains later this year as I might actually be able to get a seat and get some work done!

Hopefully, Cross-Country’s Manchester-Birmingam service might be a little less rammed. We shall see…

08:12

For once, the weather’s the same on both sides of the Pennines, it’s just as sunny here in Manchester as Huddersfield. My train’s an airport service via Manchester Victoria and the Ordsall curve. It’s been interesting to observe how many passengers embark/disembark at Victoria – more than I expected, suggesting this is a very useful service.

08:33

Sometimes trains running late can work to your advantage! When I arrived at Piccadilly I managed to catch a Cross-country service heading to Bournemouth which left 6 mins late as it was delayed on its inbound working. It’s a 4-car Class 220, so it’s quite busy but I’d no problem finding a perch as the seat reservation system’s not working. No doubt this could cause some fun and games en-route…

09:17.

It looks like the 30 minutes I banked by getting an earlier train is about to be spent. Our Train Manager (who’s very good at keeping passengers informed) has just explained that we’re likely to be delayed by at least 20 mins as engineering work to repair a bad bridge bash didn’t take place last night. This means there’s reduced line capacity between Norton Bridge and Stafford.

Whilst I’ve been on travelling I’ve taken time to catch up on the news – which is a depressing and dispiriting experience nowadays as the Brexit shambles continues. The more I see of the political circus in Parliament and the spinelessness and unwillingness of most of our MPs to face the reality of the disaster that’s heading our way is horrendous. We’re living in extremely perilous times – yet our politicians are playing political games with no sense of urgency or signs of real leadership. We have a double whammy. We have the worst government in living memory and also the worst opposition. If someone had written this as the outline of a book, publishers would have rejected it as being too far-fetched – yet here we are…

09:35.

We’re currently stationary and in a queue of trains waiting to get through Norton Bridge due to the bridge bash, which has reduced the West Coast Main Line from four to two tracks.

10:02.

We’ve just started moving again and we’re finally approaching Norton Bridge (North of Stafford) to get onto the main line. We should have arrived in Birmingham 4 minutes ago! Now we’re stopped in the old platform at the closed Norton Bridge station as an intermodal has been put out in front of us, so I can see the delay getting worse…

Marc, the Train Manager and the rest of the crew aboard are doing sterling work keeping passengers informed (and placated). The frustrating thing about this whole situation (which is going to cost the railway a LOT of money) is it’s down to a careless lorry driver who (So I’m told via social media) did a ‘runner’s despite hitting the bridge so badly they left a huge crack in the bridge parapet which has had to be removed. Here’s the view as we passed.

10:27

We’re finally pulling out of Stafford over an hour late. I’ll miss my appointment with Paul Stephen from RAIL and have to catch him up.

11:13

After a dash across central Birmingham from New St to Snow Hill I’ve caught the 11:13 to Stourbridge. Snow Hill’s a funny place. I’ve never understood why Brummies made it into yet another cheerless, subterranean station. You’d have thought they’d have had enough with New St, but no. They buried the reopened station under a multi-storey car park!

15:59.

Phew! Job done. I spent a very interesting few hours with Paul Stephen and the team running the unique Stourbridge shuttle service using Class 139 people movers.

Now I’m heading North on another packed 4-car Voyager bound for Manchester. Hopefully, this one will make it past the bridge bash without delay.

16:13

Hooray! All four WCML tracks are open and we’ve passed the bridge bash without delay.

17:07.

Another phew! I had a 6 minute connection at Manchester Piccadilly but my XC service crawled through South Manchester and arrived 5 late into platform 5. It was only the fact my train door was aligned with the stairs and the TPE service from platform 14 was a minute late that I managed to sprint across the footbridge and make my connection with 30 seconds to spare!

My journey was short, only as far as Manchester Victoria, where I had the luxury of yet another 5 minute connection but this time it was with our stress! I’m now on the 17:20 from Victoria to Leeds which is formed of a curious and creative coupling. A former Scotrail Class 158 (789 for those who care about these things) and a venerable Pacer, 142091! Masochist that I am, I chose the Pacer!

Rolling blog:Happy Valentine’s day!

14 Thursday Feb 2019

Posted by Paul Bigland in Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, West Yorkshire

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Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, West Yorkshire