4th November picture of the day…

04 Wednesday Nov 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Musings, Nepal, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

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India, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Travel

Not that was I was really tempted, but I’m glad I didn’t stay up to watch the result of the American presidential elections come in – as they didn’t and I’d have had to listen to that odious frog Nigel Farage being interviewed by the BBC – as if the man’s got any genuine insight on anything. Instead I had a decent nights sleep and missed the ‘fun’. It’s taken all day for 2 more states to declare and the good news is that with just seven states left to declare Biden is a head of Trump by 29 electoral college votes. As much as I would dearly love for America to reject the values of Trump and his ilk I won’t believe it until I see it.

Still, It’s not been a bad day apart from being cooped up when the weather’s been gloriously sunny – albeit cold. I’ve been keeping my nose to the grindstone and wading through more writing as well as scanning a few more old slides to give me some variety. Looking back at pictures of the railway scene from 20 years ago I realised that it’s not just the network that’s changed. Some familiar lineside landmarks have disappeared too- which has given me the idea for a picture blog. Expect to see that appear shortly.

Stuck indoors self-isolating has been made a lot easier by the assistance of friends and neighbours who’ve offered to pick up shopping or even keep us supplied with wonderful home-baked bread like this. Susan dropped these two beauties off earlier on, so I made a Spanish white bean stew for our supper tonight to go with some slices. It’s good, winter-warming food.

A few slices made a great meal with the bean stew.

Tempting as it is – the picture of the day isn’t going to be a food offering, instead I’ve gone for one that links several of my interests, including travel. This amazing piece of architectural confectionary is the inner building of the Rama temple in Janakpur in lowland Nepal (an area known as the Terai). According to Hindu legend it’s where the goddess Sita married Lord Rama.

I took this picture in April 1998. In those days the place was a bugger to get to because of the lack of border crossings between India and Nepal. Lynn and I arrived after a day-long bus journey across the Terai from the Eastern border where we’d come down from Darjeeling. We stayed a couple of days before getting an overnight bus up to Kathmandu. The whole journey’s worthy of a blog in itself. One day, when I’ve scanned all the old slides I might write it…

I’ve a favour to ask…
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Thank you!

3rd November picture of the day…

03 Tuesday Nov 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Down memory lane, Musings, Railways

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Down memory lane, Musings., Railways

What with everything that’s been going on a events of the past couple of days last night wasn’t a vintage one for sleep. In fact, I ended up getting out of bed at 4am and retreating to the office – wide-awake – so as to make the most of the day and not disturb Dawn, or ‘Jet’, our moggie, who was curled up on the bed with us.

I crept around to make some coffee then settled down to a long bout of slide-scanning. I’ve neglected that project of late but I’m determined to get the railway pictures finished before our bout of ‘splendid’ isolation’ as at least then I can venture out during the plain vanilla lockdown that follows.

With a couple more bouts of insomnia I reckon I can have the job done within a couple of weeks tops – which will feel like an achievement after all this time! Of course that doesn’t mean the project’s finished – just what facet. I’ve still got thousands of travel pictures to scan. Mind you, looking at the Governments handling of the pandemic that may be done bad thing. At least it’ll give me something to do during any lockdown Mk3!

Right now it’s after eight o’ clock and they day’s started catching up with me. I’m not going to stay up and watch the US Presidential elections. I’d rather go to bed fearing the worst whilst hoping for the best with the possibility of waking up in the morning and finding that the populist political bubble’s finally burst. One can but hope…

Sadly, I can imagine things getting ugly and rancorous if it looks like Trump could lose, so I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if the result’s contested if it’s close. Trump’s supported have already been framing that narrative and some of us will remember when the word ‘chad’ (either hanging or swinging) entered the political lexicon. I dearly hope I’m wrong and that Americans have had enough of the Tango’d Tw*t, but with the weapons-grade levels of social and other media manipulation I really don’t know.

Meanwhile, here’s the picture of the day, which is from the batch of slides I’ve spent the day scanning. This scene is unrecognisable today. I took this picture at Reading station on the 9th February 2001. All you see in the picture’s disappeared. In the past decade Reading station has had a £1bn rebuild and upgrade, whilst some (but not all) of the routes have been electrified. The old HST’s like this have disappeared although this particular power car has found a new lease of life working for Scotrail North of the border.

You can almost hear the power car scream as this old Valenta engined HST accelerates away from a stop at Reading on its way to London. The low sun backlight the trains ‘flying fag packet’ livery as this particular version of the company colours were known as.

Thank you!

2nd November (obituary) picture of the day…

02 Monday Nov 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Musings, Railways

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Musings., Railways

Ever had one of those days where you get to the stage of saying “right 2020, you can just f*****g do one now”? I’ve finally reached that stage.

I knew today was going to be a struggle but I did my best to remain positive. Looking at the the heavy rain battering the bedroom window and listening to the high winds whipping the leaves off the trees I tried to put a positive spin and brave face on the pair of us self-isolating by saying “well, with weather like this, who really minds being stuck indoors?” After all, I had plenty to do and the day’s not been unproductive. I’ve managed to declutter the office, get some writing done and restart scanning old slides – with the intention of having the final batch of UK rail pictures done in the next couple of weeks. There’s only one problem. I don’t have any options as my freedoms have been eroded by Covid. And I do mean Covid, I’m not blaming the shambolic response to it from our kakistocratic Government (easy as it would be) because other countries citizens are in the same boat. We just happen to have a bunch in power who’re adding insult to injury. It’s the pandemic that’s the root of so many problems.

So, there was me plodding along, thinking ‘ho hum’ when I received the news of the death of an old and valued friend. Not from Covid, but from cancer. Major John Poyntz, formerly of Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate has passed away. In the next few days I’ll write more about John, right now I’m too upset to go into details. I first met John around 15 years ago and he and I and a small group of valued friends had many an adventure in Germany and the UK. You often hear the expression ‘they don’t make ’em like that anymore’ but in John’s case this is absolutely true – because of the times John lived through and the things he experienced through his military service in Malaya (as it was then) and later in West Germany during the cold war. He was a wealth of stories, has a wicked sense of humour, was always very dapper and – God – could he drink!

So, today’s picture of the day is in memory of John. I took it on the Harz railway in Germany on the 10th February 2007 and for me, it encapsulates who John was and why we both loved and respected him. Here he is at the train window, balancing a class of Glühwein on his notebooks as we trundle through the winter snow.

Rest easy Major.

Circumstances may rob us of our chance to pay our last respects to you for now, but be assured that, when the time is right, we’ll get together to raise several glasses in your memory and tell a few tales…

Thank you!

1st November picture of the day…

01 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Coronavirus, Musings, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

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Coronavirus, Musings, Picture of the day, West Yorkshire

Apologies for my absence this past couple of days but things have not exactly been going to plan. Well, as much as there seems to be any sort of plan at the moment as none of us have a ‘Scooby Do’ what’s going on right now. Until today, when all matters of choice were abruptly taken out of our hands thanks to a text message

This morning Dawn received such message from the manicurist whom she’d visited on Thursday to say that they had just tested positive for Covid 19. Bugger, drat and f**k! Only it was a double bugger as Dawn’s mum had visited the very same manicurist on Friday…

So, this morning the pair of us had a chat. Whilst all the Covid safety protocols were followed and the chances of Dawn (or her mum) contracting Covid appear small, we feel that we’ve no option but to self-isolate. This means we’ve no chance to prepare for Thursday’s national event. On the bright side, we’re reasonably well stocked with most foods and we’ve both got plenty to keep ourselves occupied with, but the fact we’re stuck indoors for the next 11 days isn’t exactly a joy. Hopefully, we won’t end up killing each other as we slowly go stir-crazy! We’ve let close friends know and some have very kindly offered to do any shopping we need in the meantime. Even so, the next week is going to be an anxious time until we know that neither of us have contracted Covid – and neither have Dawn’s parents. It’s not as if any of us can get a test either as you can only get ones on the NHS if you’re displaying symptoms.

With this news in mind, don’t be surprised if my blogging becomes ever more acerbic when it comes to describing the antics of the blond buffoon and his coterie of clowns who are meant to be in ‘control’ of the situation. The only ‘world beating’ that seems to be going on is in the levels of incompetence, which are stratospheric. It’ll be interesting to see if their ‘track and trace’ system picks up said manicurist and contacts us. If it doesn’t, you can see just how ‘world beating’ it really is…

What’s going to chafe over the next 10 days is not being able to venture outside. Even during lockdown we could go for a walk, but now we’re literally going to be confined to barracks, which is a bitch. I’ll miss my daily exercise and as we live in a small cottage where both of us are working from home there’s little chance to do much without one of us disturbing the other.

OK, having shared my joyful news I’m going straight on to the picture of the day, which is of the only view I’m going to be looking at for the foreseeable as this is the one from our bedroom window. Admittedly, as views go, it’s a damn sight better than many, so I really shouldn’t complain! I wouldn’t even mind seeing it like this right now either…

Thank you!

More Calder Valley rail investment.

01 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Calder Valley, Rail Investment, Railways, Uncategorized

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Calder Valley, Rail Investment, Railways

Since the 24th October through till the 1st November the railway through the Calder valley has been severed in both directions to allow for some very important work to take place at Todmorden. A £3.7m Great North Rail Project investment is seeing the 1840-built Grade II listed structure grit blasted to its bare metal to allow structural repairs to take place.

180-year-old bridge designed by railway pioneer George Stephenson is a skew bridge over the Rochdale canal. The single 31 m (102 ft) cast iron span, consists of a pair of bowed ribs with vertical hangars projected above the ribs in an ornamental Gothic arcade. The abutments are semi-octagonal castellated turrets. The whole structure looks very grand and must have been incredibly impressive in its day, projecting the power of the new railways.

Meanwhile, Taylors bridge, which carries the railway over Rose Bank Road just to the West of Todmorden station has been completely reconstructed with two disused sections permanently removed as part of the same investment.

Sadly, due to other commitments and the lousy weather we’ve been having, I didn’t have chance to visit and record the work until Friday 3oth, by which time Taylors bridge had been replaced, with all the old spans removed and the new ones dropped into place by a huge crane (which had already left the site. Network Rail and its contractors were busy replacing the track, ready for services to restart. Here’s a selection of images from my visit.

Trains from Leeds were terminated at Hebden Bridge where there’s a crossover that allows them to reverse and work back ‘right line’. Here’s 195128 which was preparing to do exactly that after depositing me. From Manchester, services were terminating at Rochdale, whilst a rail replacement bus service worked between the two points.

My rail replacement bus was this ex-Transport for London vehicle which I many well have used when it worked on the capital’s route 25!

With Todmorden station in the background, ‘team orange’ are replacing track over the new Taylors bridge. Concrete sleepers had been put into place earlier and the engineers are busy clipping new rails into place over them.

The days of moving rails using teams of men have largely disappeared. Nowadays the work has been mechanised. Here, a road rail vehicle (RRV) has been fitted with a special extendable arm to move lengths of rail.

A few hours later the rails have all been installed and the RRV has changed tools. Now, fitted with a bucket, it’s being used to spread ballast over the new sleepers before a tamping machine arrives to consolidate the stones and adjust the line and level of the new track to ensure its fit for passenger service on Monday morning.

Meanwhile, here’s George Stephenson’s 1840 bridge over the Rochdale canal at Gauxholme. Most of the bridge has been cocooned in sheeting to protect the workers from the elements but also to cut down on noise and dust from the grit-blasting. As you can see, people are living very close to the work.

A closer look at the Todmorden end of the bridge. Track has been removed to allow inspections to take place whilst the parts of the bridge facing the track have already been grit-blasted and treated whilst the line’s been closed as it would be impossible to carry out this work with trains still running.

Despite the awful weather we’ve been having whilst the work’s been going on (including this weekend, there high winds and heavy rain as I’m writing this on Sunday evening!) it’s expected that the railway will be open to traffic on Monday morning.

Thank you!

31st October picture of the day – and a spleen venting…

01 Sunday Nov 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Uncategorized

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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.

Thank you!

29th October picture of the day…

29 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in India, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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India, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

Apologies for the absence of a picture or my usual ramblings yesterday but I was otherwise engaged and simply ran out of time! I’ve been pretty much desk-bound this week as the weather’s so bloody awful. We’ve had lots of torrential rain and gusty winds, so my exercise regime’s gone to pot too. Apart from my birthday it’s been a funny old week. Maybe it’s the ‘Covid blues’ but I’ve really struggled to build up much enthusiasm for anything over the past few days. Perhaps that’s due to the uncertainties and the feeling that life’s on hold at the moment as we all stare a new lockdown (in whatever form it takes) in the face. I’m trying to keep on top of work and be productive but there are occasions when my motivation needs jump-starting. If only hibernation was an option for us humans. Or perhaps I could take a leaf out of Hitchikers Guide to the Galaxy’s Hotblack Desiato and spend a year dead for tax reasons…

Hopefully my mood and motivation will recover in the next few days when it finally stops bloody raining and I can escape these four walls!

To be fair, the pair of us did last night in order to spend some time with friends. Being law-abiding souls, the ‘6 from the 6’ as we call ourselves met up in a friends garden, where he’d been busy having an enclosure built that could protect us from the elements whilst allowing social distancing. It worked a treat although it was sorely tested by the awful weather. Even so, it was lovely to be able to spend a few hours together laughing and joking. Who knows when we’ll be able to do it again?

Ironically, as I’ve been typing this, I’ve just heard the news that West Yorkshire moves into Tier 3 from Midnight on Sunday, so that answers that question. Oh, deep, deep joy. It’s going to be a long winter…

Right, on that happy news it’s time for a picture of the day. Today’s choice is something different. Back in 2000-2001 I was travelling in India. Lynn and I had visited friends in Goa for Xmas and New Year, after which Lynn flew back to the UK and I stayed on to visit the Gujarat in Northen India to get travel pictures. I also hoped to find the last Indian steam locomotives operating on the national network. Broad Gauge steam had already disappeared, but there was a last outpost of metre gauge steam operating out of the evocatively named Wankaner Junction! I arrived there at the beginning of February 2000 but I was weeks late. The last locomotives has run at the end of January. However, Wankaner locomotive depot was still littered with engines. Their fires had been dropped and the place left deserted with the last locomotives and the remains of others that had been cannibalised over the years to keep them running. Here’s a picture I took inside the shed early on the morning of February 13th 2000.

YG Class 2-8-2’s No’s 3318 (left) 3437 & 3360 (nearest the camera) illuminated by the sunrise inside Wankaner Junction shed.

You can find more shots from the series, along with many other Indian rail pictures in this gallery. I was sad to have missed them but thankful that I’d seen Indian steam in action several years before in 1985-86 and 1991-92. What a different world it seems now!

Thank you!

Another sorry tale from those opposed to HS2…

29 Thursday Oct 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Hs2, StopHs2

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Hs2, StopHs2

Those people opposed to HS2 are having a sorry time of it right now. With their numbers depleted by evictions, arrests, bail conditions and injunctions, along with their collapse on the political front, they don’t have much to crow about. That that they let that stop them of course! HS2Rebellion still pump out the sort of ridiculous propaganda about ‘winning’ that would make ‘Comical Ali’ blush.

Of course, the reality is rather different. Whilst HS2 Ltd have noted in the board minutes that the protests escalated over the summer and have cost many millions of pounds of public money (enough to fund a new school) the delays they’ve caused are not significant. And now – the summer’s over…

How farcical the protests are was highlighted today. Remember that phase 1 of the HS2 railway that’s being built at the moment stretches over 140 miles from London to Birmingham – and a bit beyond. That’s a huge number of worksites and construction compounds, as well as areas of utility diversions, vegetation clearances, road widening schemes and the odd new motorway bridge! Arrayed against this are five ‘protection’ camps and a rag-bag of a few dozen protesters who come and go.

Today, the only protest involved 2 young women climbing aboard a wood-chipper that was being delivered on a low-loader to the HS2 site at Grims Ditch near Wendover. They boarded it on a public highway just before it entered a compound which is securely fenced so no no work on the site was stopped. In fact, two other protesters had been arrested earlier in the week for trying to prevent the fencing being built. They failed.

The dozen or so people ‘supporting’ the young girls by filming the escapade and livestreaming it to social media were very soon heavily outnumbered by the local constabulary and HS2 security. By 2.30pm today the police had safely removed the women, arrested them and taken them away to be charged – probably under Section 241 of the Trade Union and Labour Relations (Consolidation) Act 1992 – and the wood chipper was delivered to the site unharmed.

So, what did the women achieve? Nothing, apart from getting arrested! The chipper might as well have been delayed in traffic! No work was stopped. Now the women will have bail conditions imposed which will prevent them from being involved again. They may even be banned from the country, depending on where they come from. It’s a kamikaze tactic and a complete waste of time, but that’s the anti HS2 campaign on the ground for you. It seems to be focused on phyrric victories that can be filmed for social media, but no-ones watching!

Here’s a screen-grab of the video filmed by serially failed Green Party candidate Mark Keir (who’s injuncted, banned from the protest at Harvil Rd/Denham and now facing a £3000 fine for ignoring the injunction!)

This was 90 minutes of tedium and daft polemics on the voice-over, although it did show what was happening. But wait – how big an audience did it draw? The eye symbol at the top gives it away. Just 38 people watched. That’s less than the combined total of police and Hs2 security staff attending!

This sort of stunt will stop Hs2? To quote a famous tennis player. ‘You cannot be serious’!

Thank you!

27th October picture of the day…

27 Tuesday Oct 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in Air Travel, Airports, Musings, Picture of the day, Travel, West Yorkshire

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Air Travel, Airports, Picture of the day, Travel, West Yorkshire

Work hasn’t been at the forefront of my mind today, mainly because it’s my Birthday and Dawn was determined to make it a good one for me – despite the awful weather we’ve had today which has rendered any idea of a long walk in the country out of the question, unless you fancy pneumonia for a birthday present!

Instead, after a lazy (ish) morning the pair of us went out for lunch to La Luna in Halifax as a rare treat. Due to the madness off this year we can count on the fingers of one hand the number of times we’ve eaten out recently, especially as the increased restrictions have meant we’ve had to cancel plans several times.

Despite it being a Tuesday lunchtime La Luna was very busy which was good to see. They’ve stripped out a lot of tables inside but they have another seating area undercover in the arcade outside so they still have enough seats to make the place viable economically. We shared dishes off the small plate menu and mixed a Greek Meze plate with Singapore Crab Springroll (fresh white crab seasoned with chilli, ginger, coriander and served with sweet chilli jam and avocado mayonnaise) and Gambas Pil Pil (pan-fried extra-large king prawns with paprika, chilli, garlic, lemon, parsley & olive oil served with ciabatta). I washed it down with a rather nice glass of Merlot (well, it is winter!) whilst Dawn had a Peppermint tea. The portion sizes meant three dishes was plenty for us and the quality of the food and the presentation was very good indeed. It was such a lovely break from what’s become normal life.

Afterwards we drove over to Wakefield as Dawn wanted to buy me a new waterproof walking jacket, sadly the selection on offer at Go-Outdoors wasn’t what I was looking for but hey ho – we’re not going to buy something just for the sake of it. On the way back the appalling weather caught up with us. Wind and driving rain made the trip back fun to say the least as the cars windscreen wipers went into warp factor 7. The views from the hills above Huddersfield can often be very attractive – but not when rain reduces visibility to a few hundred metres and drops light levels to the equivalent of dusk. Even the giant Emley Moor TV transmitter was lost in the low clouds.

Back at Bigland Towers we’ve settled in for a quiet evening at home in front of the fire although we did decide to take a risk and book a long weekend away in Hexham, Northumberland next month. It’ll be the only time we’ll have this year to get away together and – as it’s an apartment – we’ll be self-contained and independent if any more restrictions kick in. I’ve always wanted to explore parts of Hadrian’s wall and more of the Tyne Valley, so this seemed like the ideal opportunity.

The rain’s battering the window as I write this so we’re both happy to relax and enjoy a chicken stew that’s been simmering in the slow-cooker whilst we’ve been out, which meant we returned home to some delicious smells! We might even stretch to something as adventurous as a play game of Scrabble, or even watch a film. The outside world can take a backseat for once. Anyway, we’re being sociable (at a social distance) tomorrow – so this is our time. After all, I’m only Sixty..X once!

And so to the picture of the day, which has been chosen totally at random by putting a name into the ‘search’ facility on my picture website, and it threw up this…

Here’s the main hall of the old Berlin Templehof airport, just a few weeks before it closed in 2008. Built by the Nazi regime between 1936-1941 it’s an impressive building that a few of us were determined to visit during one of our regular German forays.

The site and associated building have a fascinating history. You can read more about them here. Sadly, I never got to fly in or out of Tempelhof, but I’m glad I saw it before it closed.

Thank you!

26th October picture of the day…

26 Monday Oct 2020

Posted by Paul Bigland in India, Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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India, Musings, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

Sorry there was no picture yesterday, I was too busy with other stuff and having some quality time with my wife, so I thought you could go one day without one.

The pair of us had various things planned today but the weather forecast was less than accurate. What was meant to be a mostly sunny day turned into a mostly wet one – so plans changed. The fact the new washing machine was arriving today cramped our style too, leaving me stuck in the house all day. Said white goods is now safely installed but it wasn’t without problems as the young chaps who did it hadn’t connected the water pipe properly, which caused a bit of a drama until I sorted it out. I’m not going to criticise them. It’s an easy mistake to make and they’re working against the clock as they’re self-employed. As the old expression goes – all’s well that ends well…

So, whilst the wind howled and the rain blew, I stayed indoors and sorted out yet another tranche of old rail slides and assorted memoribila to add to eBay before writing more of Part 3 of my travels for RAIL magazine. The latest batch of old slides contains some historical items like this from Dover, when we still had a cross-channel train ferry as the tunnel was yet to open. Here’s a look at the picture without having to click on the link.

The day was a Brexiters fantasy. “Fog in the channel – Europe cut off”…

Whilst keeping busy in the office I’ve kept one eye on the car-crash that passes for the anti HS2 (High Speed 2 railway) campaign. They’re not having a good time. In fact, things go from worse to worse. They really should stay away from courts! The other day Joe Rukin made an expensive mess, today 14 protestors have by ignoring a High Court Injunction! I’ll publish the court ruling when it’s available, but here’s what Mark Keir (one of the 14) put on Facebook earlier today.

Poor Keir! An ‘undemocratic use of law’? Riiigghhtt. He never was that au fait with either institution – which you think you’ve above at your peril. When you ‘Clash’ with the law, there’s only going to be one winner…

OK, let’s move on to the picture of the day. Now, where shall we go today? Ah, I know – one of my favourite places. India. I took this picture in November 1997 at Enakulam Junction in Kerala.

Lynn and I were on our way South after spending a couple of months in Goa at the start of our 18 month trip around the world. Our train had pulled in opposite this long-distance express. In this neck of the woods some trains took 48 hours from point to point. I once did Trivandrum (as the capital of Kerala was called then) to Calcutta, which took that long. Now, when you’re on a train that long in India it gets dusty, and sweaty. These passengers took the opportunity to bail out of their train at the station where it had a layover and utilise the water pipes normally used for topping up the trains toilets and kitchen car for an impromptu shower – and why not? This is why I’ve always loved India – there’s always something to see and photograph. In fact, this picture was used in one of the UK newspapers when I used to do travel photography for a living. It was the Times I think. For me it encapsulates a different world and one I have fond memories of. My, did the pair of us have a ball for that 18 months!

Thank you!

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