There was no blog from me yesterday as we were too busy recovering from Monday’s Community Rail Awards and travelling back home from Swansea. Ourselves, the rest of the CRN team and the 440 people attending the event enjoyed a great night with some richly deserved awards presented, followed by fun in the main hall where a band kept people entertained (and dancing) until late in the evening, followed by a mixture of staff and attendees adjourning to our hotel bar until the small hours.
However, my job wasn’t over as I spent most of the train trip back slaving over a hot laptop, editing the pictures in order to get them ready for circulation and out to the winners themselves. Today’s been spent catching up with other work and clearing the decks as tomorrow Dawn and I are taking a break for a few days. We’re heading off to the Whitby area of North Yorkshire to recharge our batteries and enjoy coastal walks, good food and the odd real ale. There may even be time for the occasional bit of blogging…
In the meantime, here’s today’s picture, which is from Swansea.
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The wet and dismal day that greeted us when we woke up this morning has morphed into something far more pleasant as blue skies and sunshine have appeared to brighten the day. We’ve been up early and breakfasted as the CRN team will be off to the venue shortly, preparing for tonight’s event. It promises to be a brilliant evening. The Community Rail Awards don’t have the pomp or stuffiness of some ceremonies, they’re much more relaxed. I’ve been roped in to help with some of the prep so I’ll be heading over to the arena for a couple of hours too. Obviously I’m not going to be blogging and spilling the beans about what people can expect, but later on I’ll have chance to have a wander around Swansea to get a few pictures and check out the Maritime museum and marina. Expect some thoughts and pictures later, and then some of this evening’s highlights…
16:30.
Today’s not exactly gone to plan blogging wise as I’ve been roped into several different things and haven’t had time to blog. However, I did get time off to visit the Maritime museum – which is about much more than just the sea.
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We’ve been up since 07:00, not a time we’d normally expect to be supping coffee on a Sunday, but today we’re heading to Swansea for tomorrow’s Community Rail Awards. This could be an interesting trip. First we head to Manchester to meet up with other members of the CRA team, then we catch a Transport for Wales service all the way to Cardiff, which takes 5 hours. That could be the first ‘fun’ bit as (having checked) I can see that it’s worked by a two-car class 197, so it could get cosy! It being Sunday, the line from Cardiff to Swansea is closed for engineering work to take place, so it’s the dreaded ‘bustitution’ for the rest of the way. Just what you need when you’re carrying all the kit you need for an awards ceremony and a couple of nights away!
Feel free to pop back later and see how the journey unfolds….
10:00.
We’re on our way on our first train of the day – Northern’s 09:50 from Halifax to Manchester Victoria. As it’s early on a Sunday and it’s a four-car there’s no problem in finding a seat.
10:30.
We’ve left the wet weather behind by crossing the Pennines into Gtr Manchester. Whilst our train filled up after calling at Rochdale the journey’s still relaxed. Next stop is Victoria…
10:45.
Ha! I should’ve known better. We’re in Manchester, so of course it’s raining! Not that it natters as we’ve just joined a packed TPE service bound for the airport which will deliver us to Piccadilly.
11:40.
Half A dozen of the team have met at Piccadilly and joined TfW’s 11:29 to Cardiff. Thankfully, it’s one of the new CAF built Class 197s and we’ve managed to secure a couple of tables behind the cab despite the usual scramble for seats. Now the tables are awash with laptops and mobile phones as folk make final preparations for the awards and a few days away.
13:40.
We’ve had a surprisingly good journey so far. At one point we were losing time to Shrewsbury but now we’ve mad that up on the approach to Hereford. The biggest surprise has been the amount of flooded fields around Moreton-On-Lugg. It’s horrendous. Fields have become vast lakes and some roads look like they’re impassible unless you have a 4X4. I really feel for the farmers as the rivers draining the area clearly can’t cope, so planting anything is impossible.
17:00
Made it! All in all, that’s been a very good journey. We were into Cardiff on time and the dreaded ‘bustitution’ worked like a dream. We were off the train and after a toilet stop we were straight onto a coach for the rest of the trip to Swansea. The group’s now checked in at our hotel on the Tawe Basin, right by the Swansea seafront. A short walk away is the National Waterfront Museum (which I’m hoping to have time to check out in the morning) and the venue for tomorrow’s awards (Swansea Arenea) is 5 minutes walk away.
19:01.
Time for the team to dine – at…
22:30.
Well, that was a great (if different) night, but one that had to end early as some of us have to be on duty tomorrow. After the meal where we were joined by old friends such as Richard Salkeld – ex LNER and now ‘Lumo’ – when the wit and laughter was flowing, a few of us met up with other community rail colleagues and ‘newbies’ such as train driver Bessie Matthews, who’s written the Arlo adventures books at a Gin bar called Hogarth’s. Now, you wouldn’t normally find me dead in a karaoke joint, but as I was with friends it turned into an interesting exercise in people watching and insight into Swansea on a Sunday. After all, the Welsh have a reputation for singing, don’t they? True enough. The place was mostly men, and some actually knew how to sing – as did one of our own group – Karen Bennett – who bashed out a great rendition of a Bonny Tyler number whilst getting support from the audience!
Now it’s time to call it a day. I’m looking to seeing more of Swansea in the morning…
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Today, the Department of Transport tweeted this ridiculous claim.
I actually feel sorry for the civil servants at the DfT. They know this is a con but their political masters are using them to push Government (read Tory) propaganda out in an election year. This is a naked abuse of what the civil service is there for, but there’s no low this Government won’t stoop to – including politicising the civil service.
Why tweet this? There’s no supporting press release or announcement of anything happening on the DfT website, or through the DfT’s normal press releases, there’s just this tweet. So why put this out now? Oh, wait. Rishi Sunak was in North Wales yesterday on his pre-election campaign ‘grand tour’. What a co-incidence!
So, what’s happening with North Wales electrification, announced as being funded by scrapping Hs2 phase 2 by Sunak last years and included in the risible ‘Network North’ not even the back of a fag packet plan?
Nothing. Zip. Bugger all. Last month RAIL magazine carried an excellent article detailing why nothing is likely to happen before 2030. You can read it here.
For a start, the £1bn is a con. There’s no HS2 money to ‘release’. It doesn’t exist. It wasn’t due to be borrowed for years yet. It sure as hell isn’t say in a pot in the Treasury labelled ‘for HS2’ that’s just waiting to be rebadged. It’s classic ‘jam tomorrow’ politics. Cancel something you *were* building that had a business case, planning permission and even spades in the ground and announce utter vapourware for sometime in the future instead.
Before a spade enters the ground in North Wales there needs to be a business case for the work. That doesn’t exist. There *was* one, but that dates from 2015 and is hopelessly out of date. That £1bn figure is assumed to be based on that now-defunct business case. Since then, construction costs have increased by roughly 7% per annum – meaning that there’d be no spare change from £1.5bn.
As you can see, the project exists on in the imagination. It’s not included in Network Rail’s future plans and budget which is known as CP7. Control Period 7 runs from April 2024 to March 2029.
The truth is, there’s not a cat in hell’s chance of ANY work planning/consultations being done before the next General Election, which could come as early as May this year. As for actual spades in the ground – don’t make me laugh…
This is nothing but a dishonest and deceitful election con by Sunak and the Tories. Don’t fall for it – or him.
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After the last two days travels today’s been a much quieter one here at Bigland Towers as I’ve barely moved from home, so it’s a short blog from me tonight. Most of the day’s been taken up with editing and captioning all the pictures I’ve been talking, plus catching up with shots I took in Turkey. You can find the pictures in various galleries. Here’s links to Avanti West Coast, Northern, Trans-Pennine Express and Transport for Wales. There’s also additions to the infrastructure and railway stations galleries plus the UK travel section. The new updates take my Zenfolio website over the 83,000 picture mark – and there’s still plenty of archive material to add, but next up will be a new gallery dedicated to Turkish rail operations.
Now all those are out of the way I can concentrate on other activities although I’m not sure if I’ll be travelling again this week as we’re heading into the next tranche of rail strikes, plus the weather’s looking decidedly mixed. We’ll see. I’ll certainly be out and about next week as I’ve commissions that will take me to Bingley and the Settle and Carlisle line as well as the Nottingham area.
In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which was actually taken yesterday during my visit to Llandudno Junction. This is one of Transport for Wales new CAF built trains, 197002 working 2D69, the 1414 Llandudno to Llandudno Junction. On arrival at the Junction and after a layover, it formed a service East to Manchester Airport.
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/
Heading East I caught a train as far as Abergele and Pensarn which is another favorite photo location from the 2000s when I spent a week or so staying in the area to get pictures for the first Lonely Planet guide to Wales. God, that seems such a long time ago as so much has changed since. The days when you could make money out of travel photography seem long gone, but at least the rail shots I took have historic value. I’ll add the shots I took at Abergele at a later stage.
08:45.
I’ve escaped the Pennines once again today. After some thought and looking through the list of pictures I need to get for clients I’ve decided to make the most of the good weather and head to the Welsh border and onto the North Wales coast. So, to that end, I’m now on the handy 08:22 from Sowerby Bridge direct to the gateway to Wales – Chester.
Today the train’s formed of a 3-car CAF built class 195 – and it’s busy with people travelling to work in Manchester.
There’s few seats left and we haven’t reached Hebden Bridge or Todmorden yet. I’ve managed to bag an airline seat but I’m hoping to grab a table after Manchester Victoria so that I can set up the mobile office and do some work as we don’t arrive in Chester until 10:00.
As usual, I’ll be blogging on and off throughout the day so feel free to pop back and see what I get up to – and where…
08:55.
Having stopped at Rochdale where the platforms were surprisingly empty of custom (another service was 10 mins ahead of us) we’re now on the outskirts of Manchester where a depressing number of clouds are muscling in on the blue skies…
09:10.
As expected, the train emptied out at Victoria, allowing me to dive forward and secure a table just behind the driver’s cab. With the laptop plugged in and powered up and a connection to the wifi secured i’m all set up for the rest of the trip to Chester.
As I needed to use the loo – and out of interest – I’ve walked through the entire train to do a headcount. There’s 31 passengers aboard. Judging by the number of folks using laptops many are working. Others appear to be students, and a few leisure travellers (one woman’s carrying a bag full of plants). Interesting, the gender balance is over 80% female. Of the handful of males aboard there’s a retired gent who’s bus-spotter (I know that by the pictures he’s reviewing on his camera) a couple of Asian lads, a businessman – and me.
09:45.
We’ve now called at and left Warrington Bank Quay station where we threaded our way through Arpley yard and stabling point. This was once a thriving place where coal trains from Scotland and elsewhere reversed before heading along the low-level line to Fidlers Ferry power station. Now the power station’s closed and the coal traffic’s disappeared. There’s still some old coal wagons in store here and a few remain in service carrying other heavy loads, but the majority have gone for scrap, leaving the yard much quieter, although DB still had several locos on the stabling point or shunting. To the East of the yards where factories once stood a huge housing estate is rising. I often wonder where people who will inhabit these places actually work, having displaced industry.
10:07.
That was a turn-up for the books! I’d antiicipated having around 20 mins in Chester but after grabbing a couple of pictures I heard the sound of a locomotive arriving at the adjacent platform 4. To my surprise a TfW Class 67 hauling a rake of ex-Grand Central Mk4s (acquired for the abortive Blackpool service killed by Covid) which remain in black but with TfW branding.
The crew were changing ends and an enquiry with a Dispatcher established this was a late-running Cardiff- Holyhead service (AKA ‘Gerald’) calling at Llandudno Junction – happy days!
12:50.
Time to catch my breath back after a very quick visit to Holyhead. I hadn’t intended heading this far West but as the weather was so good and the train so comfortable I thought what the hell. Besides, it’s nice to visit Holyhead in the daylight and not preparing to bed down in a rake of coaches in the sidings, which is my usual modus operendi as part of ‘3 peaks by rail’. That will be next month! Besides, the relaid sidings at Holyhead are playing host to ranks of stored TfW class 175s, which is worth a picture.
By pure co-incidence and the power of social media I found an old friend was also in Holyhead. Jon Veitch and his wife Tina were in town, so Jon and I quickly met up between trains.
Now I’m on Avanti’s 12:46 heading for Llandudno Junction. This service is operated by an ex ‘Virgin Voyager’ (221117 to be exact). They’re not everyone’s cup of tea but they’re due to be replaced by new trains from Hitachi, which have just gone on test.
14:15.
I’m now at Llandudno Junction to get a few more pics and update on old magazine cover. I’ve ‘fond’ memories of this place as a kid from family holidays to Anglesey where my mum had family. We had plenty of time to admire the likes of Colwyn Bay, Llandudno Junction and Conwy in those days of the late 60s-early 70s – because we spent so much time in my Dad’s car stuck in miles-long traffic jams, going nowhere fast. Not a problem by rail…
17:20.
Now, where was I? I really enjoyed my break at Llandudno and wander towards Conwy as the weather’s superb. It’s a place I’ve more recent fond memories as Dawn and I came here a few years ago, aalking along the estuary from Llandudno to enjoy some superb Mussels served on Conwy Quay as part of a food festival. Here’s how things looked today.
17:37.
Right now I’m at Rhyl – another place from childhood memories but not a place I ever remember exploring by either road or rail. It has some family history from the days of ‘Mods and Rockers’ when one of my brothers was very much on the ‘rockers’ side and the place was infamous for pitched battles between the two.
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 on my way home after a very busy day testing new trains for RAIL magazine along with an old friend and colleague – Pip Dunn. I can’t go into any detail about what we experienced (obviously) as you’ll be able to read about our findings in future editions of the magazine. We’ve checked out two different versions of the same type of train today. Firstly, the CAF built Class 196s for West Midlands Trains (hence us staying in Shrewsbury last night). We tried out their 4-car trains that have been introduced on the route from Shrewsbury to Birmingham New St. We tried two different class 196s between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. That job done we moved location. Pip had come by car as travelling to our next destination would have been time-consuming by rail. Instead, we drove through foggy Shropshire to join the A5 to head to Wales. Amazingly, the weather changed en-route. Once we were West of Llangollen the fog cleared, and we were treated to clear blue skies and sunshine all the way to Llandudno. There we swapped the car for a trip on a Transport for Wales 2 -car Class 197 to Bleanau Ffestiniog and back. Despite sharing the same bodyshell, traction package and underfloor equipment the two units were very different internally – as you’ll find out if you read the articles. What I will show you now is a couple of external shots.
On our return from Ffestiniog I bade adieu to Pip at Llandudno Junction as I was heading home by rail whilst Pip had another little job to do for his other passion – HGVs. I ended up on a packed 2-car TfW (Transport for Wales) Class 158 all the way to Chester. The North Wales Coast line’s very scenic as it hugs the coast. Except when it’s a winter’s evening like today when you can’t see a bloody thing!
At Chester I had time for a swift pint in the pub across the road from the station – which was packed as it’s a Friday evening – before catching my train home. I’m now sat in the lead car of yet another CAF built unit, this time a Northern Class 195/0. Only this one seems to have square wheels! There’s a noticeable wheel flat on the front bogie (which I’m sat over) which is painful at slow speed but bearable at line speed.
Despite the wheel flat I’ve had a productive journey as far as Manchester as I had a table to myself, so managed to get loads of pictures edited. Tat changed at Manchester Victoria where the commuter and Christmas shopper hordes were waiting for my train to take ’em home. Now we’re rammed, so it’s time to sign off for now, but I will leave you with one last shot of rather older traction. The ‘leafbuster’ trains are still very much in evidence due to a late autumn and I caught this over-powered example at Chester yesterday.
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 wet evening here in Fishguard and when I woke up and looked out of the window this morning little had improved. There’s heavy grey cloud closing us in and more rain forecast. Just as well that I’m going straight back to Cardiff on the first train! I’m staying down the road from Goodwick station so the plan is to catch the first train from there (the 07:38) into the Harbour station and begin my return journey from the port.
Right now It’s time to enjoy a coffee and pack. See you soon…
08:30.
I’m now traversing Pembrokeshire on the 07:51 from Fishguard Harbour – where I was the only passenger!
The port was deserted and so was the harbour apart from a solitary cruise ship that (judging by the lack of lights) that’s laid up. What was interesting was the absence of any HGVs. Is this a result of Brexit and the fact many ferry companies are now running services that bypass the UK and sail straight from one EU country to another? I watched last night’s ferry unload and there were plenty of cars coming off it, but again an absence of lorries.
My train’s slowly picking up passengers as we head West, a handful at each stop bar Whitland, where no-one joined.
10:33.
I’m on the last leg into Cardiff now and this train’s been rammed since Carmarthen. There’s a huge number of young backpackers around (has there been a festival?) as well as lots of families with several children. Add in the rucksacks and suitcases and there’s little room left – although there are some bikes aboard too! I’m looking forward to bailing at Cardiff and the chance to stretch my legs…
13:30.
My visit to Cardiff was all to brief. My train was late and held outside the starion waiting for a free platform so I missed my planned connection to take me up to Taffs Well, the site of the new TfW tram/train depot. As the weather was mizzly I acted on a whim. Sat in the next platform was ‘Castle’ class short HST bound for Penzance – stopping at every blade of grass on the way. But, it would get me to my next port of call (Bristol) sooner so I hopped aboard.
After 50 mins of picture taking around Bristol I caught the train I’m on now, the 12:45 Cross-Country service to Plymouth which is worked by one of their HST sets, so that’s two in a row – in 2022! The journey’s proving to be really interesting, but you’ll have to read my articles in RAIL to find out why…
21.45.
Sorry for the gaps in my progress but it’s been another busy day where I’ve often been too busy picture and not-taking to blog. I’m now back in Exeter at my hotel for the night after visiting Plymouth before heading off to Cornwall for a trip on the Liskeard to Looe branch, a route I’ve not traversed for many years. Afterwards I made my way back West via a variety of trains and a stopover in Dawlish to have a look at how the new seawall has changed a famous site for railway photography. Sadly, the weather at Dawlish was lousy for getting anything more than record shots. I’ve had some really busy trains tonight as tourists flock to Cornwall and Devon, and I’ve had some quiet ones heading in the opposite direction. Still, it’s all grist to the mill.
Tomorrow I’ll be heading West and some very different railways. Stay with me to see what I get up to…
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I’ve spent my last night at home for several days. Now I’ve an extra bag to add to my kit as I prepare to head off this morning. As a consequence I’m getting a lift to the station off Dawn as starting off a long day as a hot, sweaty mess is never a good idea!
Besides, the weather’s not particularly good right now – even if it’s beautiful. Tendrils of cloud have infiltrated the valley below, enveloping Sowerby Bridge and threatening rain.
Now I’m at Halifax station, waiting for my forst train of the day which will carry me to nearby Huddersfield. This service was introduced over 20 years ago now, bringing back to life a disused freight line from Greetland Junction to Salterhebble Jn and providing a direct rail link between Bradford, Halifax and Huddersfield. It was hourly but the recent DfT cut-backs have reduced it to two-hourly. This and the fact the train is often cancelled have made it impossible to rely on, damaging passenger numbers and the railways reputation. It’s daft as it saves just a single 2-car train plus Driver and Conductor.
09:00.
Ah – the ‘good old days’ are back. I’m now on a hot, and late 3-car Trans-Pennine service heading for Manchester. We had an extra couple of pax from Marsden. The doors in the front car didn’t open (SDO I assume) but no-one announced the fact so one man and his dog couldn’t get off before we pulled out!
14:00. Apologies for the gap in blogging but I’ve been a busy bee! Since the last update I’ve passed through Manchester and Liverpool, crossed the Mersey to the Wirral and made my way South into Wales at Wrexham. Right now I’m South of Craven Arms on the Welsh borders heading down via Ludlow, Hereford and Abergavenny to Cardiff. I’ve had a variety of weather on the way but managed to stay dry. Fortunately, the problems Network Rail had yesterday when they were forced to shut this line due to a shortage of signallers have been rectified today. Even so, I’m not taking any chances by stopping off en-route! I’ve a long way to travel to get to my hotel for the night so discretion’s the better part of valour!
21:30.
More apologies for the gaps in the blog. I’m on my final trip of the day right now, the 21:03 service from Carmarthen to Fishguard Harbour and the end of the line until tomorrow.
I made it to Cardiff without incident and spent a couple of hours around the city’s railways, appreciating just how much has changed. The ‘Pacers’ are all gone now. In their place is a real mixture of hand-me-down units. There’s ex-Anglia 170s, Thames Valley Class 165s and even a Northern liveried Class 150/2 on loan. Then there’s the Class 769s, converted from former Thameslink Class 319s. It’s very strange seeing these former 100mph electric units with their pantographs removed and running on diesel power. I tried a trip on one up the bank from Central to Queen street which it made very heavy weather of. Having spent time photographing these beasties I headed for Swansea on a GWR Class 803, then swapped to a pair of Class 153s for the leg to Carmarthen. TfW are the only company operating these in regular passenger service nowadays and they certainly bring back memories. Here’s a couple of pictures from the day.
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/
Well, what can I say about today that doesn’t read like a teenagers diary (got up, had breakfast etc)? It’s been bloody cold, there’s still snow on the ground and I’ve performed many of the same actions that I’ve performed most days for the past few months. Yep, it’s just another lockdown ‘Groundhog Day’. The only difference being the other members of our bubble (Dawn’s parents) popped over as John wanted to replace an element in our cooker. Like many ‘simple’ jobs, it proved to be anything but – especially as John’s 86 and was doing the sort of job a lot of far younger (and less fit) guys would struggle with! Aided and abetted by his wife Norah they go the job done but we did feel guilty for letting them choosing this way to repay us for the help we’ve been happy to give them.
Meanwhile, Dee and I cracked on with day jobs. Part of mine has provided the picture of the day. I took this shot in Beaumaris, Anglesey on the 26th October 2000. I was touring parts of North Wales at the time ticking off pictures from a shot-list for a forthcoming Lonely Planet guide to Wales. Many of the shots I took were used although this one wasn’t but it still remains a favourite. Partially because I have family connections with the town, but also because I love the light.
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/