09:30.

I know yesterday’s blog fizzled out. That was mainly due to being out in the wind and rain on the Cumbrian coast with an old friend which left me no time to finish it. But I will wind it up later today when I have more time.

Right now I’m on my way from Carlisle to Hexham after spending a pleasant night in the city with Hassard. The two of us having chance to catch up with a beer and a meal. I’m heading for Hexham in order to find a quiet space for an hour or two to take part in a dreaded ‘Zoom call’. This one’s part of the judging process for the 2021 Community Rail Awards, so I suppose it’s rather appropriate that I join in from a station that’s won awards in the past! Once that’s done – and if the weather plays ball – I’ll be visiting some lovely photographic locations along the Tyne Valley line. Pop back later to see what I get up to…

13:30.

Judging done! I must admit, a waiting room on a railway station’s the most unusual place I’ve joined the from team so far. Technical difficulties meant I had to use my phone, not the laptop but as I had all my notes with me it wasn’t an issue. It was the constant PA interruptions by ‘Digital Doris’ making station announcements that was the worst bit. Still, the team of myself, CRN’s Hazel Bonner and Nik Schofield plus ex-Today’s Railways UK magazine Paul Abell whittled down an excellent selection of pictures showing the past year in the life of community rail volunteers down to just 10. These will be displayed on CRN’s website next week to sllow a vote on the winner.

Job done, I couldn’t resist the station bar on platform 2 to celebrate. The bar hadn’t been opened the last time I was here back in 2018 but it’s a welcome addition. Serving teas coffees, sandwiches and cakes, it also sells 3 very local draught real ales.

21:00.

Really? Is that the time? I’m on the final leg home from Preston to Halifax now. I’d hoped to blog from the Tyne valley but I kept finding myself in reception blackspots which I found surprising as I’m on the O2 network which is normally very good.

Needless to say, I’ve had a busy day. I’ve managed to visit stations I’d never been to before as well as a few familiar locations. I didn’t get all the pictures I wanted but that’s hardly surprising as the route is rich in photo opportunities. I’m not complaining as the weather was far better than predicted. I’ll edit the pictures tomorrow and add a few to the blog. I was hoping to do that earlier but I succumbed to window gazing as I don’t get chance to appreciate this neck of the woods as often as I should. The line (and its train service) is very much in two parts. The nexus is Hexham. The service East from the town along the Tyne valley’s more intensive with a mix of hourly stoppers and semi-fasts. West of Hexham its hourly with a reduced stopping pattern leaving some locations of trains every two hours. Hardly ideal, but how much traffic do they generate outside the peaks? We’ll never know unless the service improves…

That aside, the line West of Hexham’s much more rugged. It doesn’t stick to the river so it wends and winds its way across the country – and Hadrian’s wall. I’ve not been to the Wall since I was on a school trip when I’d just turned into a teenager. I keep promising to come back. Last year Dawn and I had booked accomodation in Hexham that woukd have allowed exactly that but the lockdown 2 put the mockers on that

11:30.

We have another lovely day here in West Yorkshire so I’m repeating my photographic travels in the next-door Colne Valley, hopefully hunting down some of the diverted freight services that are gracing their rails for the next 10 days, plus adding some library shots of a line that will be changing dramatically over the next few years as part of the multi-billion pound TRU (Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade).

Right now I’m making my way from Sowerby Bridge to Huddersfield via Dewsbury aboard one of Northern’s refurbished Class 158s. I much prefer them to the old as there’s actually some leg-room at the table seats, plus they’re fitted with USB charging points. The 11:23’s a quiet train with just a handful aboard. I’ll be curious to see what others look like later. Stay with me to find out…

12:45.

Beat laid plans and all that, eh? I stopped off at Mirfield to get photographs of the extended garden looked after by the station friends. They’ve done an excellent job (as you’ll see later). Whilst there I checked to see how the freight services I was hunting were running only to find they’d been cancelled! Now I have to come up with a plan B. There’s no point sticking the the Colne valley so I’m going to venture West across the Pennines to (hopefully) look at some of the TRU work around Manchester. Watch this space…

Right now I’m on a stopper heading for Stalybridge form Huddersfield which is busy with folks on days out. I’m please to report the vast majority are still wearing masks.

After calling at Greenfield and Mossley we got even busier with folks heading into the city.

16:00.

Sorry for the break but I’ve been busy travelling. I abandoned my TPE chariot at Stalybridge in order to sample what are one of the most hated phrases in the English language. The ‘rail replacement’ bus service! Trains to Manchester Victoria via Ashton-under-Lyme are being substituted by buses to Ashton, thence Guide Bridge where you can rejoin the railway. I gave it a go and I have to say it worked without a hitch. Double-deck buses run every half hour. They’re clean -and empty as most people have already found alternative routes. I actually qute enjoyed it as it took me places in East Manchester I’d never been before although it was a mixed bag of derelict mills and churches leavened with a lot of closed shops with the occaisional hint of what a prosperous area it must once have been. That said, as someone who enjoys architecture, I loved some of the buildings. The lovely red Accrington brick dominates here.

18:45.

An intresting and varied day. On arrival at Guide Bridge I caught a train to Manchester Piccadilly. The weather was excellent and the city centre full of life so I decided to visit the top floor of a car park I knew near Oxford Rd that provides a great vantage point over the rail connection known as the Castlefield corridor – although bottleneck is more apt. This two-track section of line is horribly overcrowded with both passenger and freight services.

Having had my fill of rail photographs I nipped into bearby Chinatown to pick up some culinary supplies as we’ve run out of fish sauce and the evil red birdseye chillies. I found fish sauce without a problem but – despite trying several Chinese supermarkets – I couldn’t get the chillies for love nor money. I believe they’re imported from Thailand. As that country’s struggling to get its population Covid vaccinated this nay have something to do with it.

I was tempted to risk coming back via the rail replacement service via Rochdale but decided I’d had enough ‘bus fun’ for the day so returned via train to Huddersfield instead.

The trip was quite sad because I sahed the front portion of the train with an elderly, wheelchair-bound woman and her middke-aged son who was acting as her carer. The dynamic was awful. The pair of them obviously had ‘issues’ which made me feel so incredibly grateful for my life and circumstances. Never forget – there but for the grace of God (even if you don’t believe in Gods)..

Public transport has a myriad of functions. One of which is to showcase how the other half lives – and I’ll always be appreciative of those lessons.

22:30.

I’m pausing this blog now as I’ve more thoughts and pictures to add – but that’s not going to happen until tomorrow as I’m back at home and it’s time to relax. I’m working from home all day tomorrow which will give me time to finalise this blog, edit the past two days pictures – and finish filleting Simon Jenkins Guardian nonsense – which has turned into an epic as there’s so much rubbish to refute with evidence. Until then – goodnight!

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

There’s a short blog from me today as the pair of us have had a very convivial afternoon with friends in another friends garden. It’s been a lovely chance to catch up with people whom we haven’t seen in three dimensions for a long time! Lots of alcohol was drunk and many stories swapped. The opportunity to catch up with people in the flesh after all this time is something to be savoured, as is the spontinaity it provokes when it comes to telling tales and swapping stories. I won’t embarass anyone with photographs from our carousing. Instead, my picture of the day is one from my slide archive.

I took this shot in Hunstanton, Norfolk on the 24th August 2003. Bikes within bikes…

I’ve a week at home now as I try and catch up with my travels and scribble a couple of stories on the back of it for some magazines whilst suppling tranches of pictures to other clients – so expect plenty of blogging, but of the static kind!

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!

*blog in preperation as its not a rolling one..*

For a whole host of reasons I’ve escaped from home today. I’ve not ventured far but I have made it Westwards to Todmorden. The weather’s gloriously sunny and the temperature’s made it into double-figures so with everything else going on I thought “bugger it”. Now that lockdown has eased there’s lots more people about as shops and some pubs have reopened. Seeing groups of people out together enjoying themselves takes a little getting used to but it’s a positive sign for the future. We’re all tired of the social isolation so it’s hardly surprising.

I walked down into Sowerby Bridge with the intention of getting a few shots at the station but as the weather’s so good and I’m currently writing an article on the Calder Valley line for a magazine I thought “here’s a good excuse for some new pictures” so I caught a train to Todmorden which is where I am now. Of all the locations on the line this offers the best photographic locations. That saying, I came out with the D5 and only the 50mm lens, so my options are limited!

Still, here’s the very first of the BR built Class 150s that’s called here as I’m typing this…

After decades of service around the West Midlands these units have pitched up here to help replace the Pacers.

Hi ho, Hi Ho – it’s off to ‘lockdown’ we go..

The operative word that seems to define this Government is shambles – be it Brexit or Covid. I could write paragraphs and paragraphs on this – most of which would be cathartic and splenetic – but ultimately futile, because we have a dysfunctional Government led by a complete chancer who’s never had any interest in anything other than his own ego.

So, now, with a Government that’s completely lost the plot (because it never had it in the first place) we are where we are. Welcome to phase 2 of the shit-show – only now we’re on the cusp of winter so forget sitting outside in the way we could in shit-show phase 1. Do you feel these people have a grasp of all this? No. Me neither.

How all this will pan out now is anyone’s guess as I suspect many people have lost any faith in the Government to manage this. Personally? Dawn and I will do what’s expected of us. Not because we trust these jokers, but because we care about other people. I need some new glasses, but I’ll be buggered if you’ll find me taking a trip to Barnard Castle…

I’ll spare you more spleen venting as enough is enough (for now), here’s the picture of the day instead. I was walking through a paddy field in Bali, Indonesia on the 2nd January 2012 when I spotted this critter. I’ve carried a Nikon Micro lens in my camera bag for years (I bought it brand new for a bargain price in Kathmandu, Nepal, back in 1998, but that’s another story) so I whipped it out to get this shot and for once the little beauty played ball and stayed still.

I’ve a favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this blog, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course (although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab!), but the revenue from them helps to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Thank you!