I’m on my way to Manchester as expected, but under very different circumstances due to a sudden family tragedy that’s happened to a friend and colleague from Community Rail Network. Dawn and I were planning to go into Huddersfield where I’d catch the train and Dee would spend a day at the office. Now we’re both going into Manchester from home because Dawn’s providing cover as she was involved in running the awards for many years. I’ve gone on ahead to do some bits first, with Dawn following on behind.
It’s a beautiful day for travelling anyway. There’s clear blue skies across the valley and the mercury’s rising. I’m on the 09:44 from Halifax which is busy but with seats available which has allowed me to set up the laptop and begin blogging. Feel free to pop back and see what I get up to as the day goes…
Manchester bound…
10:30.
Rather than hang around in the Stygian gloom of Victoria I decided to change trains at Rochdale to grab pictures in the sun. My time was brief and services piled up on me, but I managed a couple before joining a pair of class 150s sat in the ‘new’ bay waiting to leave with a service to Clitheroe. It’s an all-stations stopper which has filled up rapidly.
On arrival at Victoria I noticed this bell symbol which I’ve never seen on a Northern unit before.
13:45.
We’re at Manchester Central, food-tasting. It’s a tough job but someone’s got to do it…
18:10.
Our meetings over the awards ended up taking most of the day, but that was no bad thing as we were really thorough and went through all the event with the ‘tech’ team and I got to see the awards hall and plan the photography.
My plans for getting some pictures went out of the window but that was fine. Instead we headed to Victoria to get a train home. That’s when the farce began. The 17:22 was running late due to a fault on the train but was due to arrive on the same platform (6) as the 17:37 so we joined the crowds packing the area.
At the last minute it was announced the 17:22 would leave from platform 5, so we took the chance and trotted over the footbridge to wait. The pair of 2-car 195s arrived and we joined the rear unit. Bad move No2. As we sat we saw the 17:37 pull in next to us. The conductor then announced we’d be running fast to Hebden Bridge due to our lateness. Result! We thought…A minute later he annouced the rear set was being split off so we’d have to join the front train. Deep joy! Whilst this farce played out the 17:37 left ahead of us, meaning we’d be stuck running at reduced speed behind it despite running ‘fast’. So, now we’re stood on a packed 2-car with many people who’re missing their stations as they were unaware of the change.
21:30.
Well, we made it home, albeit later than anticipated. To be honest it’s been a good day, despite the unfortunate circumstances. We’re all really happy the the awards venue, the logistics of the event and the food. Oh, and the wine – which we forced ourselves to sample – purely to ensure we wouldn’t expect guests to drink something that wasn’t up to scratch! Roll on the awards on the 4th October….
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/
It’s been another busy day here at Bigland Towers, although most of it’s been spent chained to my desk. I’d pictures to get out to a couple of magazines, paperwork to sort out – and then start planning my round Britain trip for RAIL magazine. Looking through the diary I realised that there’s only one window to fit a 7-day trip in, so the 22nd-28th August it is then, which just misses the bank holiday Monday – although (depending on my finalised plans), I may still be travelling back from somewhere that day. Right now I’ve the first four days mapped out. They’ll see me travel anti-clockwise from Halifax, across Lancashire, Cumbria and Yorkshire in a loop before returning home. After that I head West again to take in Merseyside, Cheshire and onto Shropshire and the Welsh borders before ending up in Pembrokeshire. Day three sees me traversing South Wales before hitting Bristol and heading down to Cornwall for a flying visit, then ending up in Exeter for an overnight. Day four will see me heading from Exeter to Salisbury before hugging the South Coast all the way to Brighton and on to Ashford before ending up on the Kent coast and on to London. Right now, I’m still planning days 5, 6 and 7 as I’ve a lot more ground to cover – including Scotland! You’ll be able to read all about my travels which will be spread over three editions of RAIL this coming October/November.
Tomorrow I take a break from planning as I’ve got to go to Manchester with Community Rail Network colleagues to scope out the venue for this year’s community rail awards. I may as well make a day of it, so expect a rolling blog as I’ll be looking at some rail enhancement projects en-route – and possibly on the way back too…
So, without further ado – here’s today’s picture. Unlike the South of the country we’ve had a lot of rain up here in the Pennines recently. One morning when I opened the living room curtains I noticed these raindrops on the lilies outside and couldn’t resist digging out the camera fitted with my micro-lens.
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/
The first week of August is already over? Really? I know it’s said that time seems to pass more quickly as you get older but it feels like someone is seriously taking the pee here! I’ve so many things to plan or fit in my diary or on the calendar but some bugger keeps nicking the days!
The consequence of this time foreshortening (and other things) has meant that this Sunday’s been anything other than a day of rest – despite my best hopes and aspirations. I wouldn’t mind, but next week is going to be jam-packed with events and suchlike. It’ll provide me with material for several blogs – if I can find the time. Oh, and then there’s sorting out dates and planning for my bi-annual round the UK trip for RAIL magazine, which I really need to get on top of – especially with the next round of rail strikes in the pipeline which could really put the mockers on things. I suspect my Monday is going to be spent poring over timetables and calendars whilst I map out the rest of my year. Especially as I’m determined to get back to Asia in December-January. Whilst I’ve got some great holidays planned with Dawn and family, I miss flying solo and really travelling. I’m hoping the things I can put in place over the next week will fix that.
But, right now it’s time to relax and leave you with the picture of the day which is another one from a previous life where travel was so much part and parcel of my everyday life – even more so than now. Many of us have a ‘happy place’ and for a whole host of reasons Georgetown on Penang Island, Malaysia is one of mine. I first discovered the place on my solo travels in 1991-92 and I’ve been drawn back on a regular basis ever since. After a long journey overland there’s something about getting on the ferry across from the mainland, seeing Georgetown hove into sight and thinking ‘I can relax now’. Here’s one of the reasons I love it so much. Streetlife -and streetfood.
Hawkers stalls take over Lebuh Chulia in Georgetown of an evening, serving a fantastic variety of Asian foods. They’re a great place for tasty cheap eats and chance to watch the world go by…
If you want to see more of my pictures of Georgetown taken over the years, click on this link.
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/
After such a long day yesterday I must admit I slept like a log, falling asleep as soon as I lay down. Now, refreshed, I’m ready for another busy day – and a warm on to boot. It’s not a heatwave, but 22 degrees is plenty warm enough when you’re wandering around a construction site in full PPE! Right now it’s time for a coffee before heading out to meet an old friend who’s staying nearby before we head of to the HS2 green tunnel construction site near Chipping Warden. I’ll update the blog as and when…
13:30.
Sorry for tge delay with updates but it’s been a busy few hours. We were given an access all areas tour of the Chipping Warden green tunnel site, including access to the Birminham bound bore. Here’s a few phone pictures (for now) until I can add proper ones and details of tunnel construction.
Looking at the tunnel from the Birmingham side. This section of the tunnel is being built first as the nearby road will be diverted over the top (at the far end). As a consequence, those segments are the slightly bigger type 2 ones.
The twin bores seen from the London end. Both are having steelwork and concrete fitted that will form the tunnel floor and guide barriers either side of the rails.
Me with the route of HS2 to Birminghsm behind me. The green tunnel will finish by those portakabins just to the Right of my head.
17:40.
Sorry, another long interlude! Our visit finished by 13:00 – bang on the expected time which gave us the opportunities for some informal chats before we departed the site. Whilst my colleagues headed off to catch their trains I was met by a friend who took me Northwards to Leamington, stopping to examine several HS2 construction sites on the way (pics later). Right now I’m back on the rails, heading for Birmingham. Leamington was teeming with people who are here for the Commonwealth Games in Birmingham. whilst folk were flooding off the staion after a day out at the games, many more were heading into the city.
My brief visit to Leamington delighted me for a different reason. The wonderful old buffet on the Birmingham bound platform closed down during Covid. To be honest, it had become a shadow of its former self so wasn’t that much of a loss. Now it’s been reopened under the aegis of the people who run the excellent ‘Centenary Lounge’ on Birmingham’s Moor St station. I popped in for a chat. They’ve been busy restoring the woodwork and other fittings but that’s just the start. Soon they’ll replace the furniture with something far more sympathetic and introduce the excellent choice of food and drink they offer in Birmingham. I’ll report back when they do!
19:30.
I’ve just left Sheffield on the penultimate leg of my journey home. We were late into Birmingham as earlier delays were exacerbated by being held outside the station to wait for a platform. Thankfully, my connection was also running behind time so the dash between platforms still gave me the chance to grab a few pictures en-route.
The Edinburgh service I was catching was being cut back to Newcastle due to staff shortages but that’s not going to affect me. It’s still a busy train as (like most Cross-Country trains) it serves different markets en-route. Looking around my coach now I’m one of only a handful who were on at Brum.
20:20.
The last leg! I managed to get some work done on the train and get all today’s pictures downloaded before we arrived at Leeds where I had a twelve minute turnaround. Now I’m heading home on one of Northern’s 3-car class 195s which is busy but not enough that I couldn’t find a free table where I could set up the laptop to start key bashing! It’s a glorious summer evening in Leeds although I really noticed the difference in temperature as soon as I stepped off the train. Yorkshire’s several degrees cooler than Warwickshire. Still, it’s going to be lovely to be home after such a hectic few days – although the pace won’t slacken I won’t be walking miles with a heavy camera bag on my back or sweating away in PPE!
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/
I’m back in the road (or rather, rails) again for the next few days as I’m heading South to check out work on building our new high-speed railway, HS2. It’s been an unconscionably early start as I’ve a lot of ground to cover before I end up in Banbury this evening where I’ve a hotel booked for the night before taking part in a morning media visit to a nearby HS2 site, but more of that tomorrow. Feel free to keep popping back to see where and what I get up to today…
Right now I’m on the 06:00 train from Halifax to Leeds to begin my journey South to London. This morning’s walk to the station was one of the quietest I’ve known for some time, despite it being a lovely morning – although the amount of broken branches lying on the roads suggests we had anything but a calm night. Even the dog walkers seemed to have taken the day off as the only people I passed were a handful of people cocooned in their metal boxes as they drove to/from work.
The 06:00’s not normally a busy train but this mornings loadings are looking good, especially now that it’s left Bradford Interchange. It’s between 25-30% full, mostly with early shift workers.
07:30.
My journey to Leeds was quick and easy as was my transfer to LNER’s 07:00 to London. The service originates at Bradford Forster Square and reverses at Leeds before calling at Wakefield Westgate, then running non-stop to London Kings Cross. It consists of two 5-car Class 801/1 ‘Azuma’ units which are normally busy with a mix of business travellers and families who’ve secured cheap tickets for a day out in London. Today’s no exception. The beauty of this service is that it’s times to arrive at Kings Cross at 08:59, which is ideal if you’ve an early meeting in London. Despite all the fuss made in some quarters about ‘Zoom’ meetings it’s obvious that a lot of business people still want face-to-face meetings.
08:40.
My trip South has been (so far) hassle-free. The change in the seasons is made obvious by the amount of hay bales in the fields we’ve flashed past as farmers are busy bringing in the harvest. Something else that’s noticeable is how dry the land looks the further I get towards London. We’ve had many days of rain up in the Pennines which has left the landscape lookin very lush, which is a marked contrast to the scorched landscape of Cambridgeshire and Hertfordshire. The weather’s clouded up ‘darn sarf’ but there’s no sign of rain…
As we’re within spitting distance of London I’m making sure all by gadgets and gizmos are charged up using the multitude of available sockets on the train. One gadget I don’t have to worry about anymore is my Fitbit. I’ve talked about how the new Charge 5 has an excerable battery life. It it went for 48 hours without needing recharging it was a miracle. Well, recently Fitbit did a software update which appears to have cured the problem. I’ve not charged the thing since (3-4 days ago) and I’ve still got 48% left. I’m going to see how long it lasts before I need to plug it in again.
09:45.
I’ve been in London less than an hour. My inbound service from Leeds was 3 minutes early – as it often is. Say what you like about the Azumas but they can’t half shift! At King’s Cross an earlier East Coast racehorse was waiting for me. 91127 in its revised BR livery with an LNER twist…
Oh, I say…
Staying long enough to grab a picture I scuttled off to Marylebone via a quiet Metropolitan line. It may be one of the capital’s smallest mainline termini but it’s buzzing nowadays. A far cry from BR days when it was dead outside of rush-hours. Now there’s trains departing every few minutes and a constant stream of passe gers using its expanded services to the likes of Oxford and Bicester shopping village (a favourite of foreign tourists).
I caught the 09:44 to Gerrards Cross worked by this old ‘Thames Turbo’.
12:00.
Phew! The weather may be cloudy but it’s certainly warm down here. I’m currently in Denham having a look at sites associated with what will be one of the most visible and iconic structures on HS2, the Colne Valley viaduct which will stretch for 3.5km. The viaduct will cross a series of lakes (former quarries) which makes construction interesting as haul roads have to be built across the lakes to the site of each pier to enable construction vehicles to get to from the sites. I’ll add pictures later. I did visit one contentious site. According to local anti HS2 activist Sarah Green the Hs2 haul road is blocking the grand Union canal as the engineers are “incompetent” and build the road too low. There’s only one problem with her claim. It’s a complete fabrication. Here’s where HS2 viaduct will cross the Grand Union canal. The canal isn’t blocked by any haul road – because there isn’t one. Green knows the truth because she only lives a few minutes away along the canal. She lied.
14:45.
Double phew! Having spent time exploring the route of the Colne Valley viaduct I wandered up to the Northern end which is where construction has been launched from. The massive South Hyde site contains two temporary factories. One names the tunnel segments for the Chiltern tunnels pushing North whilst the other makes the viaduct sections heading South. So meet ‘Dominique’, an expat from Hong Kong who’s now at work building the Colne Valley viaduct.
Here’s more up close and personal…
16:30.
Oops! I stopped off to get some pictures and a spot of lunch but soon regretted it as my next Banbury bound train turned out to be an absolutely rammed 2 car set working to Birmingham. 2 cars all the way to Brum, seriously? Yes, sadly so…
The vestibule I’m stood in at the front of the train contains me, a pram, a woman with a suitcase and a chap looking after 2 bikes as his partner’s found a seat. No-one’s complaining, even though the bikes are blocking off the front compartment and have to be juggled every time we stop.
21:30.
Time to bring today’s rolling blog to a close. I’ve had a long day and walking 15 miles with a fully laden camera bag has certainly given me a bit of a workout. When I arrived in Banbury the first thing I did was make a beeline for my hotel which was on the opposite side of town and and enjoy a nice warm shower! Suitably refreshed I went for a wander around the town which I’ve not visited for over 20 years. I was quite a depressing experience. Banbury should be a thriving market town in an affluent part of the country but the reality is rather different. I was amazed at the numbers of street homeless and vagrants panhandling around the town centre. There’s some lovely buildings here, but many of the shops are derelict. When you see that even ‘Burger King’ has closed its doors you can start to appreciate the problem. On the plus side, there’s some excellent Eastern European supermarkets – and quite upmarket ones at that. I’d be interested to know what the demographic is around here as they’re obviously catering for someone, and the Slavic languages are often heard in the street. In contrast, the vagrants are nearly all white English. Maybe I need to do some digging as it’s not what I expected. Still, I have a great room in a family run B&B and tomorrow I’ll be meeting up with various friends and colleagues to be given a tour of the HS2 cut and cover green tunnel at Chipping Warden, so expect another rolling blog tomorrow as I’ll be checking out a few other HS2 construction sites as I make my way back up North. But, for now – goodnight…
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/
Another month has flown by and now we’re already into the eighth month of the year, where the hell’s the time going? After yesterday’s little excursion I’ve been been busy at home editing the pictures to get out to the client whilst sticking the rest on my Zenfolio picture website. You can find which galleries they’re in by following this link. To be honest, I was glad of the home time as I’d so many things to catch up on or prepare for the week ahead. Plus, whilst the weather still feels warm the day gradually deteriorated, leaving us with yet another wet evening with worse to come tomorrow. Hardly great photographic conditions, so if the rain Gods want to do their stuff now and leave me in peace from Wednesday whilst I’m working on HS2 sites I’ll be more than happy!
One of the many projects I want to get done this month is stick many more old slides and items of railway memorabilia onto eBay. I’ve already got several hundred old transparencies listed and I re-advertised over 350 unsold pictures this evening. You can find what’s on sale (prices start from £1.99) by following this link. I’ll be adding new pictures by the weekend.
Right, it’s a short blog from me tonight as I’ve another early start as both Dawn and I have a long day ahead. I’ll leave you with today’s picture which is from yet another project that remains uncompleted – scanning all my old slides! Although this particular picture dates from August 1997 is topical for me as we’re in the process of arranging a week-long holiday on the North Norfolk coast in September. Dawn’s never visited the area and I’ve not been back for over 20 years, so we’re both looking forward to it. Here’s the old windmill at Cley next the Sea.
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/
We’ve had a busy day here at Bigland Towers due to two events. Dawn had to go into the Community Rail Network offices in Huddersfield bright and early whilst I was engaged in my last Zoom judging panel for the Community Rail Awards. The law of Sod being what it is, my internet started playing up shortly before I was due to join the meeting. Luckily, there was a plan B. I have a large data allowance on my mobile phone contract so I tethered it to my laptop and used it as a surrogate internet connection for a few hours whilst myself and my esteemed colleagues (all with a wealth of experience) judged our final three categories totaling over 50 entries . What was reassuring was the the fact that during our individual initial sifting and marking we’d all come to an independent (and unwitting) consensus on who the winners were. 2nd and 3rd place took some more discussions but an agreement wasn’t too difficult – despite the fact there were some excellent entries and the overall standards were so high. I’ll say no more other than that there are some very worthy winners and the awards ceremony in Manchester later in October will be a brilliant and inspiring event and celebration of the best the world of community railways has to offer.
Now my judging duties are over for another year I can concentrate on other things. I’m looking forward to be able to get out and about again as there’s so many things to see and do – although today wasn’t going to be one of those days due to the latest rail strike which meant there were no trains at all running through the Calder Valley, which would have rather cramped my style! Anyway, there’s another week and another month coming up on Monday which will see me stretching my legs on a number of different projects. But not tomorrow – as the weather’s meant to be crap again! I’ve been sending pictures from the heatwave to several different magazines today. They seem like an age ago due to the fact we’ve had constant rain since – it’s almost like it was a dream. Hopefully the summer will return soon.
On that note I’ll leave you with today’s picture which is an archive ‘trains and the landscape’ picture taken at Arnside on the edge of the Lake District in November 2021.
CAF built Class 195 number 195132 crosses the viaduct at Arnside whilst working 1C54, the 1228 Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness on the 4th November 2021.
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/
My usual apologies for the lack of blogging recently but Dawn and I have been busy with other more mundane domestic issues (like a boiler playing up) as well as juggling the work/life balance and some social activities too. Not that I’m complaining, I’ve actually enjoyed the break although I’ve now got a backlog of spleen-venting stuff I want to blog about as well as some railway subjects.
Blogging’s not the only thing I’ve been neglecting. My exercise regime has gone to pot this week too – but that’s mainly been down to the weather. The week began with record temperatures but ended with several days of persistent rain – today being a case in point. That said, we’ve been in desperate need of a downpour or two as the last few months have been terribly dry so I’m not going to object. Besides, being more housebound has allowed the pair of us to plan trips for the future and fill out the diaries. Today we booked a long overdue holiday. Unlike me, poor Dawn’s not left this septic isle since a group of us went to Bruge, Belgium in October 2019. Today, Dee researched and booked us a fortnight in Rhodes for the beginning of October which will be much needed after the end of a very hectic couple of months. In the meantime, I’ve a couple of trips to Germany planned plus a week travelling around Britain for my bi-annual tour for RAIL magazine – as well as several press visits to various locations (including HS2 sites). Oh, and then we’re into the awards ceremony season. We’ll be at both the National Rail Awards and then our very own Community Rail Awards. So you can see why I’m not too bothered about having had (for me) a quiet week!
Another amusement whilst I’ve been home-based has been watching Brexiters performing every mental gymnastic under the sun to pretend the shit-show at the port of Dover and the Eurotunnel terminal at Folkstone has absolutely *nothing* to do with Brexit – which is a fabulous success according to them. Well actually, they don’t even try and claim that anymore. All they’re doing now is blaming everyone else (the French, ‘remoaners’ for not ‘believing’ in Brexit – as if believing in Unicorns make them real – and anyone else they can pass the buck to) rather than accepting responsibility for the mess of their own creation.
Have you ever heard of ‘led by donkeys’? They’re a group who’ve done some stunning videos that excoriate the Tory Government, Boris Johnson and the Brexit fundamentalists. Their latest one is from the queues into Dover and it’s a stunner, You can view it here. Hung by their own words….
Tomorrow we start a new week and I’m determined to get back into my stride (and travels) although the week will began as it ended – at home. I expect to get back into my blogging stride too. In the meantime, here’s an end of week picture of the day. This is from a previous visit to Greece, a country I used to spend a lot of time in but where I’ve not been back to since 2009. Here’s the town of Hora on the island of Naxos, seen at sunset on the 28th September 2001.
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/
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/
I’ll bet that surprised a few of you! After today’s political events in the UK you’d expect me to be in full splenetic flow, eviscerating the shit-show that passes for Government and the lying bag of custard that’s meant to be our Prime Minister.
Don’t worry – it’s coming. I have the same view as many commentators about Johnson, the resignation and the Tories who’ve suddenly found a sense of morality and ethics (from God knows where) in order to turn on him in the hope they’ll save their seats or satisfy their own personal ambitions. But as the old saying goes – revenge is a dish best eaten cold. I’m saving that particular pleasure for tomorrow.
Instead, you’re going to be treated to another picture from my German trip. I really enjoyed having the opportunity to spend a few hours watching the world go by in Braunschweig and also to gather pictures of their rather unique tramway. Braunschweig trams use a unique 1,100mm gauge, whilst most networks use the standard 1,435mm (standard) gauge used on railways around the world. A few stations do have isolated pockets of dual-gauge track as at one time back in the late 2000s a tram-train network was proposed for Lower Saxony.
Braunschweig possesses some beautiful buildings that make a great backdrop in pictures – such as this one.
Here’s tram 1955 in front of the Residenzschloss which was the grand residence of local Dukes in the 18th – 20th centuries. Nowadays it’s a museum. Tram 1955 is one of the later Tramino vehicles ordered for the network which runs AEG/LHB GT6Strams from 1995, Alstom NGT8D’s from 2007, Solaris Tramino GT8S from 2014 and Stadler Tramino IIs from 2019. Braunschweiger Verkehrs-GmbH ordered seven Tramino II trams from a joint venture of Stadler Pankow and Solaris to complement the 18 Traminos they bought in 2014.
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/
