Category Archives: Travel

Interesting times: Part 4.

20 Friday Mar 2020

Posted by in Coronavirus, Manchester, Railways, Travel

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I spent the early part of today scanning old slides, responding to emails and helping Dawn set up her home office by converting part of the living room into a workspace. That way I work upstairs and the pair of us don’t disturb each others concentration. We’re now set up for the future which is good as I’ve had the last outside job in the diary cancelled today. Thankfully, I have several writing jobs and I can’t thank my colleagues at RAIL enough for understanding the strain that the present situation places of Freelances like myself and standing by us.

With the weather being cold but sunny the pair of us ventured out for an hour in order to try and pick up some fresh produce and a some tinned goods for the weekend. Oh, and some of Tesco’s finest alcohol free Prosecco, which is one of the best of its type. Sadly, we were unsuccessful on most fronts as both the supermarket in Halifax and the one in Sowerby Bridge has already been pretty much stripped clean. There’s tentative signs that some things are easing as people’s deep-freezes and store cupboards must be packed by now. You could still buy some eggs – and bread but in the immortal words of Magician Paul Daniels “not a lot”. A novelty was that the checkouts now have yellow tape on the floor marking out the minimum distance people are being asked to keep from each other (2 metres) – and this applies to customers and cashiers too!

Back home my plans changed when I found that my bank had settled a PPI claim. It was certainly a case of serendipity as the money couldn’t have arrived at a better time. The irony? They sent me a cheque. My bank, whom have all my bank details – sent me a cheque through the post! FFS!…

As their mobile app allowing you to scan and pay them online isn’t yet up and running I had to walk into central Halifax and pay it into a bank branch. It’s so long since I last visited that I was surprised to see they’d closed all their counters and replaced them with machines and a few roving staff. Gone are they days when you stood in a line to see a bank teller behind a bullet-proof screen. I can’t help wondering how long the NatWest will hold on to such an enormous building that was built for a very different banking age, when such institutions used architectural pomp to present power and stability. It must cost a pretty penny to operate yet the footfall will be tiny compared to just a decade ago, never mind its heyday.

As I was in town I decided I might as well be hung for a sheep as a lamb so I caught the train into Manchester. I was fully equipped with hand-sanitiser and on my Jack Jones so there was no problems with social isolation! My plans changed when I realised just how many services Northern were cancelling due to staff shortages. I’d an inkling this was happening as both my Facebook and Twitter feeds were busy with rail industry friends saying they were starting to self-isolate due to having diabetes. I’d never picked up that this was such an issue before, nor the fact that the problem is so common. Instead of Manchester, I found myself checking out a deserted Leeds station and an unheard of situation, especially on a Friday – the Wetherspoons was deserted!

The front of Leeds station at 14:51. Not how you expect to see it on a Friday…

As a plan B I caught a pretty empty Trans-Pennine Express service across to Manchester in order to be able to relate a tale of two cities. It was very instructive as it’s clear more and more people are starting to self isolate as the magnitude of the problem finally sinks in. The train was quiet with around a 8-10 people in the carriage after we left Huddersfield. In Manchester there were still people around but nothing like the numbers I saw earlier in the week. The demographic seemed to have changed too. It was much younger, with far less older people about. Most station retail outlets were deserted and many on the mezzanine floor of Piccadilly had already closed down for the duration, with areas taped off to the public. Others had become refuges for railstaff taking breaks who wanted to self-isolate. That message is really getting through. Here’s how Manchester’s two main stations looked in the Friday ‘rush’…

Manchester Piccadilly, 16:38.
Manchester Victoria. 17:11

I headed back across the Pennines on the 17:20 from Manchester Victoria which would normally be packed but it was eerily quiet with around a dozen people in my car. On arrival at Halifax I walked back and decided that – as I was passing – I’d pop into my local supermarket on the way home. The news that the Government was telling all cafes, pubs and clubs to close from this evening had obviously already got through as the drinks isle was almost bare of wines and beers had disappeared completely! It looks like we’re in for turbulent few weeks…I’m now back at home and settling in for the duration. Dawn and I will still get out and about of course, we’re not going to become hermits but we are going to be practising social isolation. I’ll tell you what though, it’s going to be one heck of a day when the pubs re-open! Well, most of them anyway.

Allow me a certain amount of schadenfreude at the discomfort of Tim Martin, boss of Wetherspoons, who earlier today complained closing pubs was ‘over the top’ and the equivalent to ‘shutting down Parliament’. Suddenly, the man who was treated as an economic expert by the media over Brexit and who helped foist that shambles upon us is now being treated as an expert on contagious diseases. Of course, the irony is that by closing his establishments they Government has probably saved his business as many of his pubs have a reputation for being ‘care in the community’ day-centres, just with alcohol. Many of his punters are in the demographic that the Coronavirus would decimate!

The country may well look a little different by the time we come out of all this…

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 fashion…

02 Monday Mar 2020

Posted by in ACoRP, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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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!

Rain stopped play…

28 Friday Feb 2020

Posted by in Calder Valley, Food and drink, Musings, Railways, Travel

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Well, not just the rain, but it has been another wet and frustrating day. My cunning plan was to head over to the Wigan – Southport railway to get some shots of the new bi-mode Class 769 trains that are on test there to fill a gap in the library and also for a client.

I dutifully headed off in that direction this morning. The weather here in Yorkshire was less than ideal but I don’t have much time to spare at the moment as the diary for March is looking rather full.

The trip across the Pennines from Sowerby Bridge was uneventful. I was on a direct service from Leeds to Wigan Wallgate which was worked by one of Northern’s cascaded Class 158s. Once the staple of more express services, they’ve been displaced onto secondary duties that would once have been worked by Pacers. It was comfortable and not particularly busy until it called at Rochdale so I used my time wisely and got some work done. The lack of wifi and power sockets wasn’t an issue now I have my new ‘super duper’ Dell laptop so I managed to plough through and edit quite a backlog of pictures whilst keeping a wary eye on the weather which was worsening the further West I got.

Sod’s law being what it is, by the time I got to Wigan and checked the Class 769 workings on Real Time Trains it was obvious today’s runs had been cancelled. It’s always the luck of the draw with these things and the fact it was raining cats and dogs in Wigan (or ‘Wiggin’ as the local pronounce it) meant I wasn’t too disappointed. Instead, I admitted defeat to head back East and attempted to salvage the day by getting a couple of shots around Manchester Victoria, like this one which rather shows how much the railways around the city have changed in the past few years.

A pair of Hitachi Class 802s operated by Trans Pennine Express pass at Manchester Victoria. On the left 802215 works 9S12, the 1224 Liverpool Lime Street to Edinburgh. Yes, Manchester now has direct services to the Scottish capital – and from Victoria too! On the right 802209 was working the unfortunate 1P22, the 1047 Newcastle to Manchester Airport which was terminated at Victoria due to signal failure. It’s great to see the way Victoria has regained the intercity services that it lost decades ago – and with brand new state of the art trains providing them too!

Heading on East I managed to get home without getting drenched thanks to my trusty Siemens supplied umbrella and a new pair of walking boots that kept my feet above the many puddles I encountered on the way. This evening has been spent on different activities. Both Dawn and I love to cook and tonight the muse was upon me. Whilst Dee slaved away working from home I tried an Indian recipe I’ve never cooked before, Chettinad Chicken curry. It’s fiery due to the Kashmiri chilli powder and ground black peppercorns and aromatic due to the cumin, cinnamon and coriander seeds. Served with rice and a few pickles and chutneys it certainly brought some colour into an otherwise dreary day.

The weekend weather isn’t looking much better. In fact, it appears we’ve yet another storm on the way, so I doubt I’ll be getting out with the camera over the next few days although I might get a few more old slides from 1990 scanned – just to keep the momentum going. As chance would have it, the next ones to be done are from Bristol – a city that I’ll be back in on Monday as I’m at an ACoRP seminar on Monday – Tuesday. Hopefully I’ll have chance to get a couple of up to date shots as a comparison…

Exploring old haunts.

26 Wednesday Feb 2020

Posted by in Greater Anglia franchise, Musings, New trains, Railways, Travel

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I’ve been moving around too much today to write a coherent rolling blog, so here’s a look back over the day.

After attending the Bradshaw address last night I stayed with an old friend who lives in Clapham. His flat overlooks the station and offers some excellent views of the changing city skyline beyond. It was great to catch up with him as it’s not easy nowadays because we all lead such busy lives.

When I left, rather than go into central London I caught the London overground via Wandsworth and Canada Water through to Shoreditch, which was an old stomping ground from the 1980s-90s. I’m always amazed how much that neck of the woods has changed in the past 35 years. When I lived in the East End London was still a city in decline, with a shrinking population. The Housing Co-op I lived in was set up by the local council (Tower Hamlets) because the block was on an estate where properties were considered ‘hard to let’. Can you imagine that now? So much of what was once considered ‘rough’ areas of London no-one wanted to live in are now chokka with new high-rise housing developments – and new transport links to serve them, like the Docklands Light Railway, or indeed – the London Overground! I still love coming back to London even if the memories are sometimes bitter-sweet.

One thing I realised on my tour was how many photographic locations have been lost because of all the new housing developments, especially on the part of the LO that runs on the reinstated line from Shoreditch through to Dalston. Later, when I can, I’ll post a couple of pictures as contrasts to show you what I mean.

Leaving London from Liverpool St I passed through more of East London. Areas I lived and worked in for nearly 15 years that still hold powerful and happy memories for me. Leaving the orbit of the capital I ended up in Essex, where the railways are changing fast. Trains that have plied these routes before I moved to London are being phased out completely. The Anglia franchise has gone for total fleet replacement, although that’s not entirely gone to plan as the new fleets are late! Hardly a unique story on UK railways…

My first port of call was Colchester, where the station approaches are rather photogenic, especially with a long lens. I didn’t linger long as the weather was less than inviting and I was dressed for a lecture, not the great outdoors! The station’s quite exposed and the wind was perishing! Even so, I managed a couple of useful shots of trains that will soon be a memory in that neck of the woods.

Moving on I headed for Ipswich, where I started to encounter the new Stadler built bi-mode trains that Anglia have bought in great numbers. To say these units are a leap in quality is rather like comparing a Boeing 737 with a DC3! When the full fleet’s in service (along with the Bombardier built Class 720s) there’ll be a rail revolution in Anglia, a regions that’s always made do with cast-offs for decades.

Three car unit 755329 stabled at Ipswich. Unlike any other new train, these Stadler sets are articulated and have a power pack containing the engines as a separate compartment which has a gangway through it. As you can see from the picture, it’s also slightly wider than the passenger vehicles.

My first trip on one of the Stadler units was from Ipswich to Bury St Edmonds and I had to say I was impressed. The build quality’s very good, the seats are very comfortable and there’s a good mix of bay seating with tables and airline type rows. Plus sockets are fitted at every seat although it took me a few minutes fiddling with one to realise they’ve been fitted upside down (which is no bad thing). Acceleration on electric power’s excellent and they’re no slouch on diesel power either. The PA system makes a human voice audible for once and the PIS screens – whilst not as good or as informative as the ones in the new Siemens Class 700 family – give you details of stops en-route. Ride quality felt superior to the new CAF units i’m used to on Northern, whilst noise inside the saloon was minimal. I’d certainly rate them as one of the best new trains we’ve got. I’m looking forward to trying out one of the intercity variants to see the difference, as well as doing a full train test on them with Pip Dunn for a future edition of RAIL magazine.

The saloon of the front car in set 755409.

At Bury St Edmonds I couldn’t get the pictures I wanted so I backtracked to the pretty little station of Thurston, which is a rarity nowadays in that passengers gain access to the Up platform by walking over a foot crossing at track level that’s only protected by lights and sirens.

755416 is about to pass over the foot crossing at Thurston whilst working the 14.57 to Cambridge. The pretty grade 2 listed, three-story station building is intact but disused. It was built in the Jacobean style by Frederick Barnes for the Ipswich and Bury Railway in 1846.

Moving on to Cambridge I stayed long enough to photograph the variety of trains (old and new) that operate a far more intensive service than I remember from a few years ago. Afterwards I headed North to Ely to connect with trains to Peterborough which were worked by EMR Class 158s and GA 755s. I was in time to get another of the GA 755s which made for a very pleasant trip across the flooded flatlands of the fens whilst watching the hailstorms from my cosy perch.

At Peterborough I didn’t have long to wait for a pair of 5-car LNER Azuma’s to arrive on a Leeds service and whisk me back to Yorkshire. A quick change to a Hull to Halifax service meant I was home by 20:30, which has given me time to scribble this – although I’ve more detail and pictures to add in the morning. Right now, it’s time to call it a day…

Rolling blog: back in the saddle…

25 Tuesday Feb 2020

Posted by in London, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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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

Posted by in Flooding, Rolling blogs, Travel, Wales, Weather

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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…

Anglesey contrasts…

23 Sunday Feb 2020

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The pair of us have had a relaxing day after last night’s partying but as the weather picked up we took the opportunity to explore. Thanks to Dawn I got to go to places old and new. Places that (as someone who doesn’t drive) I’d never normally get to.

We started off on territory that was very familiar to me because of family connections and childhood memories: Beaumaris. It’s a tiny but tidy little place that’s blessed with a rather impressive Georgian apartment block fronting the Menai Straits that rather sets the scene. Mind you, the old castle which dates from 1295 but was never completed also sets the place apart as a small town that punches well above its weight when it comes to buildings and architecture.

This property is a grade 1 listed building and a property here can set you back around £600,000! That said, for that price you will get 6 bedrooms and a Butler’s pantry!

We discovered something a little more to our tastes and price bracket in the narrow streets behind where we found the Little Chilli shop. It’s an Aladdin’s cave for those who love chilli’s and the myriad culinary uses they can be put to. It’s well worth a visit and we came away with a variety of chutney’s and jams.

After popping in to say hello to the party crew from last night we headed off to Red Wharf Bay which has a stunning beach that’s well worth visiting. Whilst we were there I encountered this avian critter which was a bird I’d never seen before. After posting the picture on Twitter I found out why. Apparently, it’s a Snow Bunting. You don’t get ’em in my neck of the woods as they’re coastal birds that nest way up North and the UK population isn’t exactly massive.

The bay’s a huge expanse of beach that’s very popular as it’s ideal for a long stroll, beach-combing, bird-watching, walking the dogs or simply enjoying the sea air and the great outdoors.

Moving on we decided to explore the coast further North and drove as far as Amlwch, a place I’d never visited before. The landscape here features the remains of an industry I’d never even knew had existed on the island – copper mining. Amlwch was an old industrial centre that boasted a small harbour and a freight only railway line that carried freight to/from the Associated Octel works until 1993 when the traffic transferred to road. Despite being unused since, the line remains mostly intact. There’s been talk of it reopening as a tourist line for many years but nothing’s ever come of it. Here’s some pictures of what’s left.

Here’s where the railway crosses the A5025 in central Amlwch. There’s several flat crossings in the town.
‘Eliseg’ an old 40hp Fowler built Diesel shunter from 1939 and an LMS Brake van sit rusting at Llanerchymedd, where the old railway station’s been converted into a community café. The locomotive was acquired from the Llangollen Railway in 2008 but it was in an unserviceable condition due to frost damage to its engine.
Moss covers the rusting rails at the old station in Llangefni which has been converted into a private dwelling. All the stations on the line were single platforms like this.

We’ve had a hugely enjoyable time here on Anglesey but tomorrow it’s time to leave and head home, so I’ll end this blog for now and update it with some more information as soon as I can and links to the rest of the pictures I’ve taken during our visit. Weather permitting, we’ll take our time getting home tomorrow, so there should be more pictures to add…