I decided against writing a rolling blog of today’s travels as it would detract from the other things I needed to do today – but also my enjoyment of the here and now. So, where am I? Folks who follow me on twitter @PaulMBigland will know already, for everyone else – I’m in Ryde, on the Isle of Wight. I’ve ducked the latest lockdown bullets (just) to spend a day on the oldest trains on the national rail network before they retire.
These trains were built by Metropolitan-Cammell, Birmingham for the London Underground in 1938. They’ve operated on the Isle of Wight since 1989, but now their days are numbered.
I made my way over here on another old technology – only one far less successful. As far as I’m aware, I arrived on the only remaining commercial hovercraft service.
I’ll blog more tomorrow, right now it’s been a long day since leaving West Yorkshire…
But, hang on – what’s the actual picture of the day you ask. Well, it’s this one, which combines the other two.
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/
The fact our internet connection collapsed this morning was the impetus I needed to take a break from staring at screens and get out in the autumn sunshine for a few hours. Well, when I say sunshine, I mean those few brief but glorious moments in-between the clouds and rain. But it made for some glorious skies and sights, at today’s picture shows.
I escaped to the hills above Walsden, just outside Todmorden to a photographic location I’ve known for years. It’s a beautiful spot which sums up this part of the world.
The rainbow was a bonus that was worth getting a brief soaking for! I won’t be back in the office now until Sunday, as tomorrow I’m off on my travels. No doubt a blog or two will appear..
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/
Talk about trying to keep too many plates spinning! At the moment I’m constantly swapping between jobs. Trying to keep my (financial) head above water and get articles written, pictures on my website or stuff on eBay and at the same time maintain a home-life whilst trying to keep fit! I’m not the only one of course – and I admire all those people who can do this whilst also looking after a young family (a cat’s enough for me), so excuse me whilst I have a 1st world whinge! That’s when perspective kicks in, isn’t it? You see your own little problems then look around at others and think – wow! I thought I was keeping plates spinning…
As I’ve not been occupied writing today and the weather’s been crap I’ve had time for a spot of decluttering. I’d forgotten how much stuff I’ve had packed away in boxes that hasn’t seen the light of day for decades. It’s those 1st world problems again – we hoard so much crap nowadays – because we can. We have that luxury, which is why when you’re travelling nowadays you pass so many old shipping container farms set up purely to store people’s surplus crap that they’ve run out of space for but refuse to let go of. At this stage of my life I’m trying to take a much more Buddhist approach to these things and letting stuff go. After all – I can’t take it with me…
The memories and experiences I want to want to keep I’m gradually digitizing – for two simple reasons. They’re portable and they don’t take up any space and one day I hope to be able to use much of what I keep in my writing. There’s certainly a few stories to tell when I have time but the ‘chunky’ stuff can go. Mind you, sifting through the ephemera from the best part of 50 years of one’s life can really take you back. Here’s one thing I found today…
Don’t try and draw too many conclusions from the ticket. The next year I was at the (in)famous Stranglers open air gig in Battersea Park!
Meanwhile, here’s the picture of the day, which is about the future, not the past and about how much the world’s changed in my lifetime. I took this picture of North Greenwich and Canary Wharf in London from the Emirates cable car traversing the Thames on the 20th November 2019.
I remember this area before any of this was built. I moved to East London in 1986 and lived just up the road in Bromley-by-Bow. I watched what was formerly derelict docks transformed into everything you see here – and the city of London beyond, which you can see to the right. The capital’s skyline’s still changing. I left a decade ago and there’s parts I struggle to recognise now! Will that rate of change start to slow now that we’ve cut ourselves off politically and economically from Europe – time will tell…
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/
As the old Meatloaf song goes – ‘two out of three ain’t bad’ – and today part two of my round Britain trilogy was submitted, ready to go to be sub-edited. As I’ve got a bit of breathing space before the first part’s published I’m going to have a short break to catch up on other things and even have chance to get away for a couple of days. Thankfully, the latest Covid restrictions won’t cause me any problems as I’ll be heading South, away from the worst affected areas. All I need now is for the weather Gods to play ball, and right now the forecast is looking promising. I’m looking forward to having new travel adventures to blog about as I’m really starting to feel the ‘Covid blues’ again – especially as the nights are drawing in and I’ll be restricted in what I can do. It may be cosy in my office but the walls start to close in on you after a while…
Talking of walls gives me a useful link into the picture of the day…
I took this picture in October 1993 at the Umaid Bhawan palace in Jodhpur, Rajasthan, India. Lynn and I were staying here for a night after a 5-day camel trekking safari in the Thar desert. On the horizon you can see the clifftop walls of Jodhpur fort which dominates the city below. What magical places these were!
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/
Hmm, what to choose as a picture of the day? Something to match my present mood? Thunderous or gloomy skies would fit the bill there. Maybe something to match my opinion of the current Government? I’m not sure I have any circus pictures…
Nah, I’ll pluck one at random as I nearly always do.
Today was another of those days where it lived down to expectations, for a variety of reasons. When the bright spots are you actually hit your step target and managed to get loads more stuff listed on eBay you realise this isn’t exactly the jet-setting, rock and roll lifestyle.
Not that there’s much chance of either at the moment as the Government are expected to list more Covid restrictions. Sadly, I’m trapped in a neck of the woods where cases continue to rise, so I’m not being optimistic. A visit to a local supermarket today made me realise just how many people think masks are actually hammocks to support their double-chins! So, right now I feel a bit like a prisoner of events – only there’s not much chance of me building a glider in the roof – Colditz style! Hopefully, once whatever’s announced is announced I can start planning some things with a little more certainty. In the meantime – there’s writing to be done, pictures to be edited and decades of collected ephemera to be sifted and either junked, recycled or stored.
Oh, a picture of the day – I’ve plumped for this as it’s reminded me of a better times. In March 2018 I joined a group of other people – mostly from the rail industry – for a cycle ride to raise money for the charity the Railway Children . We covered 270 miles across Rajasthan in India in a few days in March – not exactly the coolest time of the year. It was a brilliant event with some excellent people. It was also tough, but boy, was it a positive experience. Needless to say, as well as cycling and raising money from sponsorship I offered my services as a photographer and donated the pictures. Here’s one. We visited one of the railways stations that the RC have a presence on and met a group of the homeless children they work with. Sometimes pictures happen because all the circumstances come together to make is so – and you spot the moment. This was one such picture.
I’ve been donating my services to the Railway Children ever since 2017. Sadly, this year we couldn’t run another big UK event – ‘3 Peaks by Rail’ due to Covid. But, hopefully, next year we’ll be back – and do it twice to make up!
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/
Funny old world, isn’t it, eh? You just think things are settling down and all of a sudden it all goes topsy-turvey again – for no adequately explained reason – and certainly not one that you have any control over.
The changeable weather meant that plans for a day out were cancelled. Instead we’ve both been busy at home sorting out this, that – and the other. I’ve managed to have more of a declutter, so lots more railway ephemera and old pictures will appear on eBay this weekend. Right now I’ve added lots more old slides, including one that relates to the last picture of the day – just from a different angle and 20 years earlier!
So, here’s today’s picture, which was taken in Bangkok, Thailand on the 30th November 2013. This a a huge reclining Buddha at Wat Po. Now, normally, the Thai’s see exposing the soles of your feet to people as disrespectful – unless you’re the Buddha, obviously!
Joking aside, the statue is stunning and Wat Po’s well worth a visit. I love Asian temples as they’re very much community hubs in a way English churches can only aspire to. Religion’s so much more part of people’s everyday lives (for better or worse). It can still lead to sectarian conflicts but it adds a glue that perhaps we’ve lost in the West.
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/
Cor! You can really start feeling the seasons change right now, especially up here in the Pennines. The autumnal nip in the air was very pronounced today and the the leaves are turning into some beautiful colours in our local woodlands. It’ll soon be time to dig my camera out…
Apart from an an afternoon constitutional I’ve spent the day trapped at home writing and catching up on various chores – including packing a large selection of old slides that I’ve sold on eBay which needed dispatching to customers around the country. With us freelances having suffered so badly during Covid the income from sales like this has helped keep the wolf from the door. I’m certainly grateful for having the supplemental source of income – and it clears out a cupboard! Hopefully, with a busy day at home tomorrow the decks will be cleared for some free time as Dawn and I have planned to escape the Calder valley and head to the coast this weekend – if only for a day trip. Whilst I’ve been lucky enough to have travelled around the UK for work recently, poor Dawn has been stuck (landlocked) since before lockdown, so I know the sight of the sea will be a welcome break.
OK, let’s move on to the picture of the day, which isn’t from any exotic beach of far-flung corner of the globe. It’s from London, and for anyone who knows the city well it encapsulates the changing skyline of the capital and just how much it’s changing. I took this picture before lockdown, on the 25th February in fact.
The four iconic chimneys give this building away as being the old Battersea power station on the South bank of the Thames. Having been derelict and gutted for decades it’s now disappearing behind a spiders-web of cranes and new apartment blocks as the abandoned railway yards that surrounded it are converted into a a luxury housing complex that will mostly be bought by foreign investors. Well, that was the plan. Will it still come to fruition? Time will tell…
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 (including this one) can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Today’s been another one where I’ve spent most of it getting corns on my bum as I’ve been glued to a computer screen, scribbling words and editing pictures. My stop-count has gone to pot these past couple of weeks but I’m looking forward to putting that right next week once I’ve got the work I need to do out of the way. The weather’s not exactly been conducive to venturing far anyway so earning the ‘ackers to pay bills has been more important than swanning around the country.
Although the swanning will hopefully produce some interesting blogs soon…
Meanwhile, here’s today’s picture of the day, which is rather appropriate for the weather conditions. I took it at Seathwaite in the Lake District in June 2002. I was there on a short break with friends that was rather handy as I had a ‘shot list’ of locations for a forthcoming Lonely Planet guidebook to England. The first they’d ever done if I remember correctly. This picture was featured in the guidebook as Seathwaite is officially the wettest place in England – and this picture illustrates that fact perfectly.
Those of you who’re regular readers of this blog will recognise the picture as I use it as my header on the front page. I suppose it’s time to change it now I’ve given it away, isn’t it?
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/
Blimey! I’d hoped to write monthly updates but pressure of other work means my last one was in July, so there’s a lot to report! Construction of HS2 has continued to pick up speed as work on the ground continues and a whole host of contracts have been signed that have created jobs around the country. This isn’t an exhaustive list as I’m bound to have missed things, but I hope it’s a useful round-up of major events.
On the 27th July a major milestone was reached on the OLd Oak Common site. After 2 years of demolition and clearance work, the site was handed over to main contractors, the Balfour Beatty VINCI SYSTRA Joint Venture, who will be building the massive 14 platform station.
At the end of July HS2 Ltd highlighted the fact Lydney based Mabey Bridge Ltd had won a contract to supply 10 modular bridge to the project. Mabey employs 130 people at its head office and factory in Lydney, with many local people working on the HS2 contracts. Extensive preparatory works are now underway to allow for piling activities and the construction of the diaphragm wall for the main HS2 station, which will be built 20 metres below ground.
All pictures used in this blog are courtesy of HS2 Ltd.
On the 9th of August the M42 motorway reopened 24 hours early after a 2,750-tonne bridge structure was carried along the motorway on a self-propelled modular transporter and fixed into place. The 448-wheel transporter took just one hour and 45 minutes to move the bridge span 150 metres. This was the first major new structure that’s been installed as part of the HS2 project. Later this year a similar bridge will be installed over the A446, ahead of two more bridge structures being installed which will span the new high-speed railway line.
The next day (8th August) the race began to find contractors to install the railways high-voltage power supply systems. The winner will be responsible for the design as well as manufacture, supply, installation, testing, commissioning and maintenance of the HV power supply systems.
Approximately 50 traction sub-stations will be built alongside the line between London and Crewe in order to deliver power from the National Grid to the trains. The contractor will also deliver a dedicated HV non-traction power network that will provide power to stations, shafts, portals, depots and railway systems along the route. The contract is worth an estimated £523m.
On the 11th August HS2 released the winners of the competition to name the first two Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs).
The names – Florence and Cecilia – were suggested by students at Meadow High School in Hillingdon and The Chalfonts Community College, Buckinghamshire, inspired by female scientific and medical pioneers.
Around 4,500 people from across the UK took part in the poll to select the final names, with Florence taking 40% of the vote and Cecilia a close second with 32%. The schools that suggested the names are close to HS2’s South Portal site, from where the first tunnel boring machines will launch early next year.
The pace didn’t slacken and the next day HS2 highlighted the success of Port Talbot based Wernick Buildings in manufacturing, transporting and installing office and welfare accommodation to the M25 site where the TBMs boring the Chiltern tunnels will be launched from.
On the 20th August the striking design for the new Amersham vent shaft headhouse was released.
HS2 say “The circular single-storey building will be surrounded by a spiral shaped weathered steel wall designed to echo the shape of the site and the natural tones of the surrounding landscape. Robust and durable, weathered steel fades naturally over time to a dark brown colour. In order to let light through, the upper parts of the wall will be lightly perforated with a pattern inspired by woodland foliage”.
Below ground level, a 18 metre deep ventilation shaft will reach down to the twin tunnels below, with fans and other equipment designed to regulate air quality and temperature, remove smoke in the event of a fire and provide access for the emergency services.
On the 25th August the 1st of an estimated 15,000 freight trains that will carry spoil and construction materials ran. Operated by GBRf, the train delivered aggregates to the HS2 site at Washwood Heath. Over the next four months, more than 150 trains will bring up to 235,000 tonnes of stone from quarries in the Peak District, equating to keeping an estimated 13,000 lorry movements off the road.
A peak of around 17 trains per day will serve the Phase One programme beyond 2022. Other sites include HS2’s Rail Logistics Hub at Willesden which will welcome up to eight freight trains a day between 2020 and 2024. These will haul a total volume of around six million tonnes from the Euston approaches, including excavated material from tunnel boring machines – saving the equivalent of up to 300,000 lorry movements.
The next day Solihull Borough Council approved planning permission for the new landmark HS2 Interchange eco-station.
Next month, on the 4th September, the (largely symbolic) formal start of construction was announced, which generated a lot of media interest and certainly rained on the parade of the dwindling number of protesters who were still pretending they could stop HS2!
Throughout September several announcements were made about educational and technical tie-ups with groups and universities, all contributing to the growth in skills and employment that HS2 is helping generate across the UK.
On the 15th September a more tangible milestone was marked with the completion of structural work on the temporary pre-cast factory which will produce wall sections for the 10 mile long Chiltern tunnels. The 1000s of tonnes of steelwork for this and other buildings is being supplied by specialist steel fabricators, Caunton Engineering, from their base near Moorgreen, Nottinghamshire.
As well as the precast plant, family owned Caunton Engineering are also delivering structural steelwork for the general warehouse, workshops, soil treatment plant and the viaduct pre-cast plant. In total, around 2,400 tonnes of steelwork will be delivered from their factory in Moorgreen, Nottinghamshire, on the site of the former colliery. You can read more here.
On a more spiritual note, the next day HS2 announced that the company, working with the Archbishops’ Council of the Church of England, had agreed with Brookwood Cemetery in Surrey for reburials as a result of excavations at St James’s Gardens to take place there. Some of you may have seen the BBC2 TV programme that documented the archeological work at both Euston and Curzon St. If you haven’t, it’s a fascinating delve into the past and the history of the industrial revolution in Birmingham and well worth viewing.
If you’ll excuse the pun, there was more concrete news (literally!) on the 22nd September, when details were released of the new low-carbon Vertua Classic Zero concrete that was being trialled at the HS2 site at Euston. This provides a reduction of 42% in CO2 in comparison to a standard concrete. HS2 has set a carbon reduction target of 50% target for its contractors on construction baselines for Phase One civil assets (such as tunnels, viaducts and cuttings), stations and railway systems. You can read more here.
Continuing with the theme of carbon-cutting, on the 25th September HS2 announced it HS2 had trialled solar and hydrogen powered welfare cabins across its work locations run by enabling and main works civils joint ventures CSjv (Costain, Skanska) and SCSjv (Skanska Costain STRABAG) including Camden, West Ruislip and Uxbridge. HS2 say that data gathered from 16 Ecosmart ZERO cabins over a 21 week period on HS2 sites in Camden, Ruislip and Uxbridge showed that 112 tonnes of carbon were saved – the equivalent of what would be absorbed by over 3,367 trees over a whole year. In comparison, a standard diesel generator running would have used 40,000 litres of diesel fuel. You can read more here.
On September 29th details of a £36m contract awarded to Booth Industries of Bolton, which will supply high-pressure safety doors for the internal passages linking the high speed rail project’s tunnels. more than 300 units manufactured at a new purpose-built facility in the town, and create up to fifty jobs over the next ten years.
OCtober got off to a bang when on the 5th HS2 revealed that the contract for the modular slab track system for Phase One and 2a had been awarded to a partnership which includes PORR UK Ltd and Aggregate Industries UK. The deal will see the slab track segments manufactured at a new factory near Shepton Mallet in Somerset helping to create up to 500 jobs over the life of the contract. The deal – worth £260m – will see the PORR consortium manufacture all of the track (excluding tunnels and some specialist structures) between London and Crewe, where HS2 joins the existing west coast mainline. More here.
OK, that’s the round -up for now. You can find more announcements at the HS2 website, but this will give you an overview of just what’s been going on and the progress being made building HS2. In the next few weeks expect to see more announcements, including a real landmark – the arrival of the first Tunnel Boring Machines (TBMs) from Germany.
If you want to read more about HS2’s progress I can recommend two links. This one to HS2’s media centre, and also this one, to the company’s ‘HS2 in your area’ webpage. The page has a wealth of detailed information on programmes, events, consultations and schedules of work covering all the HS2 routes.
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/
Today’s been another day spent working from home and grappling with the capricious nature of technologies such as the internet. I’d a Community Rail Awards Zoom meeting arranged for 10am, so that my fellow judge (Mark Barker) and I could talk to a station friends group. So, of course, my internet connection decides to play hard to get: Literally! I spent a good half hour rebooting stuff or tinkering with settings before the damn thing decided to behave again. Meanwhile I was trying to transfer hundreds of pictures from my round Britain trip to RAIL magazine, which had to be paused whilst I was having the meeting – just in case both got screwed up.
On the bright side (?) we’ve had a miserable day weather-wise, so being stuck at home was hardly a hardship and everything worked out in the end. Although it does feel slightly surreal to be talking to old friends who only live down the road on Zoom rather then just popping in to see them – such is the mad world we all currently inhabit, and one that doesn’t look like sanity will return to for quite some time – and I’ve not even touched on politics…
I’m taking a break from that form of madness and keeping my spleen unvented until the pressure becomes too much. I’m too busy trying to keep on top of my writing jobs and decluttering the house – hence more and more railway items ending up on my eBay account. Hopefully, once I’ve got this series of RAIL articles in the bag I’ll have the time to add some of the larger items of railway memorabilia as I’ve mostly been focusing on pictures as they’re easy and the P&P is simple.
OK, It’s time to cut the rambling and move on to the picture of the day, which is more about the harder side of life than the scenic side of travel. I took this picture in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia on the 23rd February 2012. A homeless man is using water from a storm drain on the side of the Gombak River (which is enclosed in concrete at this point) to wash the only clothes he has, surrounded by the buildings of the cities banking and business district…
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/
Paul Bigland 