I’ve time for a quick blog this morning. Not because I’ve loads of spare time, but because the breakfast service in the place I’m staying is so slow!

I’ve stayed at “Great Expectations” here in Reading several times and found it OK. It’s a Dickens themed pub downstairs and hotel upstairs in a lovely old building on the edge of the town centre.

The rooms are comfortable and well maintained, which is why I keep coming back.

Sadly, The breakfast service this morning is decidedly Dickensian! There’s one young English lad who seems to be trying to do everything. I was waiting 10 minutes for anyone to take my order so wandered up to the kitchen where I saw said lad cooking breakfast. He later appeared and served three breakfasts before he could take any orders. Now, 15 mins later I’m still waiting for my food but two more members of staff have put in an appearence. One of them’s even managed to clear a couple of tables!

So much for my planned early get-away…

As part of my round Britain trip I’m staying in a series of hotels in Cardiff, Carlisle and Perth in the next few days. I hope the service is better there!

Oh, someone’s appeared with food – and served breakfast to two people who ordered after me! I had to ‘have words’ with a (new) indifferent young man before this arrived 20 mins after I’d ordered it…

To be fair, it wasn’t a bad breakfast and it was certainly freshly cooked. A full English is something of a treat for me as I only ever eat them when I’m away (and not all the time even then).

As more staff emerged I got the distinct impression this group of young men take partying more seriously than their jobs!

I’d probably stay here again unless I get a better offer. I’ll just make sure I’m in no rush for breakfast…

There’s going to be a bit of a gap in my blogging activity for the next week, this is because I’ve embarked in my biennial round Britain commission for RAIL magazine.

Every two years RAIL sends me off around the country to experience a week in the life of the nation’s railways, then publishes my adventures in a three-part series totalling 12,000 words and my own pictures. Needless to say, this takes priority over my personal musings.

If I can – and I have time and get sufficiently incensed that I need to let off steam over the utter shambles that is Brexit (Which is most days, to be honest), I may pen a few words…

I’ll be back in the next week otherwise. Thanks for keeping dropping in…

Today’s a ‘catch up with friends’ day so I’m en-route to Warrington to meet up with a couple of other characters from the rail industry before September’s hectic schedule begins.

Walking down to Sowerby Bridge station this morning I could feel the distinctive chill in the air that heralds a change in the seasons. We’ve had such a fabulous summer this year that I’m loathe to see it go, but that’s life!

I was happy to see that work’s started on the station’s platform extensions, in readiness for the arrival of Northern’s new train fleet.

Right now I’m waiting for my connection st Manchester Oxford Rd. I’ve not been here since the Ordsall chord opened and it’s made me appreciate what a busy corridor the two track section between Piccadilly and Deansgate is nowadays. Trains are literally queuing to get through it! The diversity of operators (both freight and passenger) liveries and classes is entertaining – and sometimes surprising. I didn’t expect to see a Northern Class 323 working through to Liverpool Lime St on a local stopper!

Today’s original itinerary has had to be revised due to the change in the weather. The locations I’d hoped to visit are under cloud so I’m winging it a bit and falling back on my ‘to do’ list of shots I need. When you’ve got the whole of the country to cover that’s a bit of a challenge!

Right now I’m on my way to Birmingham via Crewe rather than the direct (but slow) Cross-country route via Stoke-on-Trent.

16:06

I’ve finally had time for a blog update. I’m on my way back from Brum, this time on the direct Cross-Country service. We’ve just stopped at Stafford where a young ‘family from hell’ who’d joined at New St have got off. You know the ones, disruptive and annoying kids whose parents just let them scream, a young father who seems intent on showing off in front of the entire coach with his incessent verbal diarrhoea but who doesn’t have the wit to see no-one in the coach is impressed, they’re just too British to tell him to shut up and stop talking shit – (and tell your whiny brats to behave too)!

Still, Birmingham was interesting. I popped in to have a look at the High Speed 2 (Hs2) railway construction site at Curzon St. The old church grounds that will be used as part of the site have been closed off by hoardings as archaeological excavations and exhumations are taking place between now and 2019. I wonder what they’ll reveal about Birmingham’s 19th century past?

Whilst I was there the increasingly murky skies began to spit with rain so I retreated back to New St. It was a wise move as a heavy shower arrived the same time as me! I’m hoping the weather in Manchester will be better, but looking from my train window I can see the clouds chasing us as we head North…

18:40

I abandoned my Cross-country service at Stockport. I decided to chance the weather and head off down the scenic Buxton branch to see if I could add some shots from the one or two of the pretty and well-maintained stations the line’s graced with. The sun did play ball (sort of) and I managed a couple of locations before I ran out of time and had to head back.

– mainly because of poor timekeeping on Northern. My first train of the day from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester was late due to crawling along once it hit Lancashire. Four minutes delay by Hebden Bridge became 36 minutes by the time we reached Victoria. I get the impression that we were stuck behind a stopping service as we crawled from signal to signal around Rochdale.

Needless to say, this meant I missed my connections, so I was 40 minutes late for my first visit. Heading back I had pretty much an old Merseyrail Pacer to myself.

I managed to claw back a bit of time, so I was only 25 mins late at the second. After that I was back on schedule until a late running Trans Pennine Express service from Piccadilly to Victoria buggered things up again!

As Calder Valley services are more frequent the deficit could have been just 15 mins but then we were treated to a game of ‘change the platform at the last minute’! (from 6 to 5, which means traipsing over a footbridge). This seems a popular game at Victoria, although I’m not sure passengers see it that way…

The bizarre thing was that our train had been sitting in the platform (empty) for the past 20 minutes! The delay grew when the Conductor couldn’t get the doors to open so had to check the controls in each of the four cabs!

Now I’m finally on my way, hoping I beat the stormclouds to my final destination…

I’ve had little time for blogging today as it’s been a hectic one that’s coveted a lot of ground. So, no change there then! We started off in London, ended up in Angmering (then Brighton) before Paul Cook and I went our seperate ways. I hung around to get a few pictures, before sampling the new Gatwick Express stock to get back to London. Back in the capital I headed up the West Coast main line on a poorly Pendolino where the tilt had failed, which meant that I missed my connection in Manchester. Plan B meant I rushed across town by foot (having just avoided a downpour) to get a train from Victoria to Halifax. I’m now on a rather scruffy ex-Scotrail Class 158.

Correction: I was when was writing the last few paragraphs. Right now I’m at Halifax station, trying to remember what this wet stuff is on the road outside. Wait a minute, I remember – it’s rain!

Now that I’m home for the weekend I’m not sure if I’ll be blogging much. I’ve a huge backlog of pictures to deal with and I suspect the missus might have some other plans in mind for me too…

I’m wearing my ACoRP judges hat again today and heading down to Devon before pitching up in London later.

The day started early and my walk down to Sowerby Bridge station was noticeably colder as the weather’s really cooled compared to temperatures of late. That said, the rain that’s finally arrived has been a Godsend for gardeners and farmers, who’ve really been struggling because of the lack of rainfall.

My first leg of the journey was to Manchester Victoria, then a brisk hike across town to Piccadilly. The city was just beginning to wake up. Commuters were flooding in and the dozens of homeless people who ‘live’ in shop doorways around the centre were also stirring. It’s so sad to see how many of them there are now. A decade of austerity and an increasingly callous Government has increased their numbers dramatically. Now with the depressing fiascos in Parliament and the increasing likelihood of us crashing out of the EU without a deal in a ‘hard Brexit’ scenario I fear we’re going to see even more people begging on the streets. The country’s heading for the political and economic abyss and no-one seems bothered. I’m beginning to understand how educated German’s must have felt in the 1930s…

As I’d left earlier than planned I just managed to catch the 08:27 Cross-country service from Picadilly. It’s a peak train, so whilst it was busy it wasn’t overly so. As soon as we pulled away the TM did a ticket check and caught a group of lads trying to wing it to Totnes on off-peak tickets. They were given the option of paying the £150 difference or get off at Stockport and wait. They (reluctantly) chose to get off!

I used to do this trip fairly regularly. Manchester to Birmingham takes 91 minutes. When you consider this is two of our major cities we’re talking about, that’s pretty slow and that’s reflected in rails tiny market share. Once Hs2 phase 2b opens in 2033, 91 minutes will be reduced to 40 and the trains will be far superior to Cross-country Voyagers! Mind you, Leeds to Brum will see a masdive improvement too, meaning I’m more likely to use that route and save the schlep across the Pennines. Times wil reduce from 1 hour 58 minutes to just 49! It’s slashex journey times like these Hs2 anti’s always ignore in favour of their old canard that only 20 mins is knocked off Euston – Birmingham (that was always a lie as it will be 35).

As I write this we’re trundling through the Wolves-Brum corridor, so I’m going to break off and pack up my kit. I’ll blog again after Birmingham.

10:23

I’ve just left Birmingham on Cross-country’s 10:17 to Plymouth. There wasn’t much chance to mooch around as I only had 20 minutes between trains. I have to admit, the city’s grown on me over the years. Like Manchester, the centre’s a refuge for far too many homeless people (a disgraceful state of affairs in such a developed nation) but there’s been a new confidence in the city in recent years and a lot of investement. It’s heartbreaking to see all that being jeapordised on the altar of blind political dogma.

My train westward’s a packed 4-car Voyager (220020 for the number crunchers) with hardly a spare seat already. After decades of passenger growth, 4 car trains on long-distance services like these really aren’t fit for purpose. When the cross-country franchise comes up for reletting I’ll be very interested to see what the successful bidder intends to do to replace them…

13:08.

After a break at Bristol I’ve met up with Paul my fellow judge and swapped my Voyager for a Cross-country HST to Exeter. I’d not been to Bristol since GWR cascaded the ‘Thames Turbo’ Class 166s to the area, so my stopover allowed me to get some new library shots.

Now we’re bowling across the Somerset levels in style.

20:00

The day’s moved on. We’re now on Brunel’s ‘billiard table’ East of Swindon. The judging visit went well and we met a group who’d never entered the awards before. Afterwards, we had time for chips and mushy peas by the seaside. Well, it would have been rude not to!

Oddly, our direct train to London from Exeter eschewed the Berks and Hants route via Newbury. Instead it passed through (non-stop) both Bristol Temple Meads and Parkway as the first stop was Swindon. I’m obviously out of touch with developments here nowadays, but then my excuse is that I can’t be everywhere all the time!