Rolling blog: 2 more days of ACoRP judging…

24 Wednesday Jul 2019

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06:13.

After baking on the hottest night of the year that was accompanied by a heck of the thunderstorm overnight I’m getting ready to head off for two more days of judging for the ACoRP awards. I’d have loved to have got out of bed, watched the lightning and tried to get pictures but I needed to sleep as it’s a long day today. It’s also a good job it’s today, not yesterday as the East Coast Main Line (ECML) suffered yet another de-wirement that left services in chaos. I’ve been checking services this morning and luckily, none of the trains I need have been cancelled. Let’s see how the day goes as the pair of us will end up in Exeter tonight…

07:34.

After last night’s storms and rainfall the weather was fresh and crisp this morning. Much of the valley was obscured by low cloud and most, so the walk to Halifax station was very pleasant. I’d given myself plenty of time so may oacd was quite relaxed too.I’m now on Northern’s 07:17 to Leeds which started in Huddersfield. It’s made up of a 142/144 Pacer combo. Northern have finally bitten the bullet and publically admitted that some Pacers will stay in service until 2020 due to delays in introducing the new trains, which are 6 months late. The 144 fleet is the one granted a reprieve, so the 142 I’m travelling on should be gone by year end.As we squeal around the curve and up the bank out of Bradford the weather’s looking very gloomy with uniformly dull skies, even so, it’s warm and humid. I wonder if there’s more thunderstorms in the offing?08:03.I’m in-between trains here in Leeds, which has given me time to grab a couple of shots like this. One of Northern’s Class 331 EMU’s arrived carrying passengers. It’s seen here before scurrying off to Neville Hill depot as empty stock.I’m catching LNER’s 08:15 to Kings Cross as far as Stevenage. It’s still worked by one of their old HSTs as it originates in Harrogate. No doubt it’ll go over to Azuma’s soon, but now I’ve an increasingly rare chance to travel ‘old style’

09:11.

We’re currently bowling along the ECML near Retford at 123mph, a few minutes down due to weather damage to the signalling around Wakefield. After our Doncaster stop I wandered right down the train from my seat in Coach B to the buffet. There’s no trolley service today but I didn’t mind as it gave me chance to stretch my legs and also see how busy the train is. I’d estimate it’s about 75% full, with an impressive amount of people busy on laptops, trying to get work done. Just by the clothes alone I can tell there’s a lot of business travellers aboard.10:02.We’re running 6 late, which means I now have a -1m connection at Stevenage with a late running Thameslink service. This could be close.

10:45

– too close! I missed it by a minute. I’m now on Great Northern’s 10:40 to Kings Cross which is running 5 down. Luckily, Mark is already at Welwyn Garden City as he came down the WCML and arrived ahead of me.

12:39.

Having done the first visit and met up with Mark we’ve made our way from Welwyn Garden City across London via Thameslink to East Croydon where we changed onto the Southern network. We’re currently enjoying the air-conditioned comfort of a Bombardier built Class 377 which is carrying us to Angmering. The weather in the South-East is hot, hot, hot! A few wispy clouds filter the sun occasionally, but do nothing to cool the temperature which is showing as 29 degrees in these parts!

16:09.

After Angmering we headed West to Fratton, travelling past many little stations that had cafes and kiosks open all day, which tells you something about the size of the footfall in Southern stations. Sadly the only one we got to sample was at Fratton which is my least favourite station in this neck of the woods as it’s dirty, rundown and unkempt. Although there’s a cafe, Mark reckoned it served the worst cup of coffee he’d had since we started judging. From Fratton we’ve caught a GWR Class 158/9 heading for Salisbury. The air-conditioning is struggling in the heat and none of the power sockets work, but it’ll get us there.

17:05.

At Salisbury we had a quick change and swapped our GWR 158/9 for a SWR 159 which has no air-conditioning working at all. Instead the Conductor’s opened all the (normally locked) windows and been through doling out bottles of water to everyone.As I was curious to establish the units identity I wandered through the train and soon realised there wasn’t a single vehicle that displayed a coach number – unlike Northern or Scotrail. They have prominent stickers telling to people to tweet them in if they find a fault. There’s no chance of that here!

22:00.

The pair of us have had a long day & we’ve now retired to our hotel in Exeter. There’s so much that I could blog about but I’ve simply run out of time. Tomorrow we’ll be off again, so watch out for the next rolling blog…

 

 

 

Forget the USA, the UK now has its own ‘clown prince’…

23 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in Boris Johnson MP, Brexit, Politics

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Today, it happened. The Tory party faithful elected serial liar Boris Johnson as their new Leader and next Prime Minister. Teresa May stands down tomorrow and Johnson takes over. Britain’s 3 year journey into farce continues. Yet again, we’ve proved to the rest of the world just how insular and inward we’re becoming, as well as how irrelevant. Having humiliated the UK in front of the world as a feckless Foreign Secretary, Johnson’s been handed a bigger stage for his incompetence and room for his ego. It will not go well.

His acceptance speech was classic Johnson. It was a lesson in banality and vacuous soundbites. One where we were told Britain will thrive under him and Brexit if we just “believe”. He’s like a backwoods preacher selling the afterlife to the credulous. But then Brexit is akin to a religion to some. Logic and facts are nothing when you have faith.

It’ll all unravel of course. The EU’s already pissed on his chips by immediately announcing that there will be no renegotiation of the deal stuck between them and Teresa May. So whose head is he going to hold a gun to, other than his own? It’s like that surreal moment from Mel Brooks classic film ‘Blazing Saddles’

Meanwhile, various Tories are giving up their portfolios and making it very clear they won’t serve in a Johnson Government. Other Tories are fawning on Twitter, praising Johnson for his ‘achievements’ and ability to “get things done” in the hope of a junior job. On Thursday we’ll start to see what appointments he makes. It’s unlikely to be a pretty sight. No doubt swivel-eyed loons will feature highly as nobody else will be dumb enough to take the poisoned chalice. His cabinet will be more MFI than Chippendale. I doubt it’ll take long before it starts to fall apart…

I wonder how long it’ll take for the Brexit fanatics to twig that Johnson is no more capable of delivering Brexit than anyone else? Parliament is likely to be a pretty rancorous and raucous place over the next few months as different groups of MPs try to block any no deal Brexit. Johnson will be thrust into the national spotlight in a way he’s never been before and his bombast and bluster won’t save him now.

Let’s remember something. Johnson didn’t get into politics through ANY notion of public service. Throughout his life and career he’s proved he only cares about one thing. His overwhelming sense of entitlement and ambition. Then look at what his employers & co-workers say about him. Lazy, disorganised, no attention to detail and no loyalty to anyone other than himself. This character is now our Prime Minister.

I predict that this is going to get messy…

The political chaos gathers momentum…

22 Monday Jul 2019

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In a move that will surprise few, Alan Duncan MP has resigned from the Foreign Office. Having suffered the incompetence of Boris Johnson as Foreign Minister it’s clear he’s no intention of serving under him as Prime Minister!

To say this comes at an awkward time is an understatement. The FO still hasn’t recovered from the damage Johnson caused and already has one Minister suspended. Just what we need with the Iranian’s saber-rattling in the Gulf!

Of course Duncan is merely the first one out of the traps and at least he’s stayed in the party. Who’ll be next? Chancellor Philip Hammond has already announced he’ll resign on Wednesday if Johnson wins tomorrow. Plus, there’s newspaper reports that up to six Tory MPs are in discussions with the Liberal Democrats about joining the party.

This really could prove interesting as it would leave Johnson without any majority in Parliament and facing some politically savvy opposition from his own back-benches. Johnson’s not a clever politician. Devious and blustering, yes, but not clever. The cracks are already starting to show and he’s not even taken office yet! The chances of a serious split in the Tory party are becoming more likely, especially if Johnson surrounds himself with ideological Brexit headbangers in his Cabinet. You wouldn’t trust most of them to run a whelk stall, never mind a country.

If only we had an opposition party and Leader worth the name. At this rate, it looks like the Lib-Dems will assume that role. Since I wrote this it’s been announced that Jo Swinson MP has been voted in as the new Lib-Dem leader, making the Labour party the only one of the triumvirate (Labour, Tory & Lib-Dem) to never have elected a woman.

The first LNER ‘Racehorse’ heads for retirement.

22 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in Class 91, ECML, LNER, Modern Railways, Railways, Travel

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LNER’s twitter feed has announced the final trains that locomotive 91108 will work today before being taken off-lease, the locomotive is due for a ‘G’ Exam, the cost of which can’t be justified, so it will be retired at Bounds Green depot in North London tonight. This is the first of the 125 mph Class 91s to be withdrawn. Introduced between 1988-91, the 32 strong fleet have been the backbone of East Coast services ever since. Now they’re being displaced by the new Hitachi built ‘Azuma’ trains which already operate the London – Leeds route before entering services on Anglo-Scottish services from the 1st August. Here’s 91108 in Virgin Livery at Kings Cross in November 2015.

DG234345. 91108. Kings Cross. 15.11.15.crop

This is LNER’s tweet with details of the 3 services 91108 will work today.

LNER tweet

The first train (1E01) is due into Kings Cross at 0938. Here’s timings for the other two services, starting with 1S23, the 11:00 to Edinburgh which stops at York, Darlington, Newcastle and Berwick on Tweed. The final train is 1E23, the 16:30 from Edinburgh, which stops at Berwick, Newcastle, Darlington, York and Stevenage, before arriving at Kings Cross at 20:51. So, if you want to have one final run behind this loco, these are the places to go to. I’m hoping to be out to record the event myself later today.

The gradual withdrawal of the Class 91s is yet another sign of how much UK railways are changing over the next few years. Thousands of new vehicles have been introduced, with thousands more to come. The East Coast will look very different as LNERs fleet is being completely replaced and strengthened, whilst their HSTs and Class 91s will disappear. It’s not just LNER. Trans-Pennine express are introducing two new fleets and Hull Trains is also replacing all their Class 180s with Hitachi Class 802s. Meanwhile, Northern’s new Class 195s and 331s will be gracing sections of the ECML too. Over the years the Class 91s have carried several different liveries as the TOCs running them have changed. Today, 91119 has been repainted in the original BR ‘Intercity swallow’ colours the locos carried when new.

00648. 91011. Pboro. 12.3.90.crop

Here’s brand new 91011 on test at Peterborough on the 11th March 1990.

Some Class 91s may yet re-appear. Whilst the future of the HSTs is uncertain, some Mk4 coaches will transfer to Transport for Wales and open-access operator is still expected to take some Class 91s and short Mk4 sets to operate its new Blackpool-Euston service from 2020.

Update.

Due to an incident in the Huntingdon area, 1S23 is running 23 minutes late and isn’t due into York until 13:17.

13:57.

I’m now racing up the ECML behind 91108 for a last run behind the old girl – unless she appears in another incarnation in the future. At the moment that’s uncertain as her next appointment after today is at Wabtec, Doncaster, where she’ll be used as a “Christmas tree”, being stripped of spares to allow other Class 91s (several are out of use) to be returned to service. We hit the maximum 125 mph between York and Northallerton.

Here’s a couple of pictures of 91108 arriving at York and sitting at Darlington earlier.

DG329205crop.jpg

DG329211crop

As much as nostalgia kicks in at this point, I’m not sad to see these trains go. They’ve done their job but the world’s changing. On the way back I bumped into fellow RAIL magazine contributor Gareth Dennis on a Southbound HST. We swapped stories about the old and new trains when Gareth made a very good point when we were discussing the “sh*t off a shovel” acceleration of the new Azumas.

On a post Hs2 railway the new trains will allow greater connectivity on the ECML through extra stops without a huge sacrifice in end to end journey times. That said, end to end will be less important to most passengers because if you’re going to do Leeds -London you’d do it on HS2, not the ECML but in-between it’s a different matter. The connectivity HS2 will allow on the existing network is a major selling point.

The lull before the (political) storm…

21 Sunday Jul 2019

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It’s been a quiet Sunday for the pair of us, although we did pop out for lunch with Dawn’s parents and Jo Cullinane, the mother of Dawn’s late sister-in-law, Joanne. We ate at 315 restaurant, just outside Huddersfield where we had an enjoyable Sunday lunch and a catch-up as we hadn’t seen Jo since the wedding.

I even indulged in something I only eat once in a blue moon, Cheese! I don’t have it at home as Dawn’s allergic to it.

In contrast, this evening’s been spent pottering around at home, whilst I’ve been pondering the coming political storm that will break next week.

Barring a miracle, it looks like serial liar Boris Johnson will be anointed the next Tory leader and Prime Minister. Before he takes office on Thursday there will be a series of Ministerial resignations, including the Chancellor, Philip Hammond. How many others is open to question. There’ll also be a series of high profile members announcing that they’re leaving the Tory Party.

Expect the pound to take a beating on the currency markets and don’t be in the least surprised if the stock market takes a hit too. This is just the start of a long decline in the country’s future, as well as the Tory party. Of course, some Brexiters will be cock-a-hoop at the idea one of theirs is now Prime Minister. But that’s where their problems start. Brexiters have long used the excuse that Brexit has never happened because there’s been a Remainer in charge. It was always a feeble excuse as May appointed Arch Brexiters David Davis and Liam Fox to her Cabinet – as well as Boris Johnson (amongst others). But with May replaced by Johnson, their excuse will have evaporated. So who are they going to blame now? Because it doesn’t matter who’s PM, they can’t make Unicorns real. The lies will remain lies. There is no Brexit alchemist who can turn lies into truth, especially that blond buffoon Johnson, who’s about to discover that you might be able to bullshit and bluster as a part-time Mayor of London but this is the big time now. To my mind, the only question is how long he can hang on to office before even the most die-hard Brexiter realises it’s not going to the (non-existent) plan, everything turns to ratshit and we end up with a general election.

Sadly for the country, there’s no dynamic Labour party waiting in the wings to stride in and right the mess the Tories are about to inflict on us as their civil war is re-ignited and taken to new levels. ‘Magic Grandad’ Jeremy Corbyn is too weak, too embroiled in anti-Semitism and too tied up in his own dogmatic refusal to oppose Brexit. We’re about to enter a shit-storm of potentially epic proportions. The journalist Jonathan Lis has summed up the situation in this excellent article.

The country is being failed by its two main political parties, neither of whom is fit to govern. meanwhile, the fascists are on the rise with their simplistic populism and list people to blame for the mess were in. Not on that list are the real culprits, themselves and the billionaires, media moguls and spivs who fund and back them. We are living in very dangerous times and next week will start to show just how dangerous it could get. meanwhile, the rest of us will suffer the consequences of a country whose economy is being ruined by dogma and whose friends abroad are looking on with growing incredulity, incomprehension and concern.

I’m afraid the old Chinese curse ‘may you live in interesting times’ has been invoked.

Sowerby sojourn.

20 Saturday Jul 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Food and drink, Musings, Sowerby Bridge, Travel, West Yorkshire

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Well, the apocalyptic weather forecasts of heavy rain were rather wide of the mark. Apart from a morning of drizzle, we’ve had a dry day. The skies are still threatening and from our bedroom window I’ve seen the odd shower across the valley but the wind’s so strong that nothing hangs around for very long. Because of this I’ve been able to take breaks from editing pictures and staring at screens to enjoy a couple of long walks through our local woods to get some exercise, burning off some calories before we go out for a meal with friends tonight.

Right now I’m taking a break on the promenade high above the valley to enjoy the views and watch the clouds roll by. I do enjoy coming up here because you can see for miles, as you can see from this picture looking down over Sowerby Bridge.

I can understand why the painter Ashley Jackson likes Yorkshire so much, the weather and the light’s constantly changing. Here’s the view nearby yesterday.

As I sit here now I can see sunlight and shadows constantly scudding across the fields, creating a myriad of patterns, most of which are gone in an instant.

It’s a glorious escape from the political insanity that’s engulfed us. But, like all escapes, it’s only temporary…

16:15.

I can’t believe it’s the same day! Right now I’m sunning myself in the front garden and getting a tan! The weather’s changed completely – as it so often does in this part of the world.

The wind’s still playing havoc with the plants, so I’ve had to repot a couple of the sunflowers to stop them blowing over, but it’s glorious to bask like a lizard for a little while before getting dressed up for dinner.

StopHs2 and ‘don’t mention the war’…

20 Saturday Jul 2019

Posted by in Anti Hs2 mob, Hs2, Politics

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You have to laugh! StopHs2, the only ‘group’ left opposing Hs2 have come up with a cunning wheeze to explain the fact that the Hs2 Phase 2a hybrid bill sailed through Parliament with a majority of 246 last week. Their plan? Don’t even mention that it ever took place – just ignore the fact! So, there’s no mention of it on their website, or their Facebook, or in tweets. It’s as if it never happened!

war

You can understand why it’s an embarrassment to them as it underlines their complete irrelevance nowadays and the fact that what little political support they had has collapsed. I blogged about the result here.

How long Stophs2 are going to maintain this pretence is a good question. It’s certainly made a mockery of their claim that they’re ‘the’ place to go to, to learn about Hs2! But it is very funny! I’s yet more signs of the irrelevance of Stophs2 nowadays. Unlike the Phase 1 petitions, they weren’t even involved in the Phase 2a process at any level. No-one invited them along, so they rarely mentioned it. But then they’ve always been a campaign (and I use that term in its loosest sense) that’s been firmly based on Phase 1 of Hs2. Mind you, as their Chair, Penny Gaines actually lives in Bournemouth nowadays (no, really!) they’re even more isolated. Of course, quite what Penny chairs is open to question, as Stophs2 is little more than her and Kenilworth based Joe Rukin!

Meanwhile, some lone soul has decided to arrange another anti Hs2 demonstration in London via Facebook and Twitter! If it ever happens (which is extremely doubtful) It’s meant to take place on the 7th September.

woolf

Unsurprisingly, Hemel Hempstead based Woolf is also a Brexit fanatic. Oh, I wouldn’t bother with his Facebook page either as there’s little of interest, unless you like looking at someone posting lots of ‘selfies’ all about bodybuilding! His attitude to people on Twitter (where he uses the appellation @drophs2) doesn’t exactly inspire much confidence in his rhetorical or intellectual capacities either…

Drop hs2

You have to wonder. There’s 6.5 million people living on the route of Hs2, yet there’s never been a credible anti Hs2 campaign. The best they came up with was the Hs2 Action Alliance – which at least had some educated people involved, even if they were only Chiltern Nimbys! Now it’s reduced to the likes of Rukin and Gaines, a couple of dozen ‘Walter Mitty’ types who still think ranting on Twitter will stop Hs2, few self publicists like young Woolf plus a handful of misguided Greens who can’t see further than the ends of their noses. Hardly what you’d call a ‘winning team’ is it? I popped in to have a look at the progress of StopHs2’s latest petition on the Government website this morning. It’s taken them 10 days to get another hundred signatures!

petition. 20 jul

The petition doesn’t stand a hope in hell as to be on target they should have had 58,000 by now. It now needs over 800 every single day until October! I see no-one in Camden has signed it for almost 6 weeks now, leaving it stuck on a miserable 247.

I suspect StopHs2 are in for even more disappointment when (as is looking increasingly likely) the blond buffoon Boris Johnson becomes Prime Minister. The chances of Johnson cancelling HS2 are minimal (see link). They’ve previously been sold a pup by another Brexiter, Jacob Rees Mogg, who’s another one who says one thing and then does another. Having been quoted saying he’d cancel Hs2 he then goes and votes for it – several times in fact! You can read about that here. Their poster boys do have a habit of letting them down! I await Boris Johnson’s premiership with interest!

 

 

A wet Friday in West Yorkshire.

19 Friday Jul 2019

Posted by in Musings, Politics, Railways

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It’s been a good day to be stuck at home in the office, catching up on photo editing and paperwork as the weather’s been wet, wet, wet! On the bright side, it means I’ve not needed to water the garden, although the sunflowers have taken a bit of a battering and obviously need some bigger (heavier) pots.

Instead, I spent several hours getting a variety of pictures edited and uploaded to my Zenfolio website. If you follow this link you can find which galleries they’ve been added to. After that It was time to try and get on top of paperwork – a never ending task.

In between the showers I did manage prevent getting corns on my arse by venturing out for an afternoon constitutional, walking up through Scarr Woods and along the promenade in order to stretch my legs and get the blood pumping. That’s not hard around here as it doesn’t matter which direction you leave the house in – it ain’t flat!

Having got a load of work done I ended up spending a few hours working on our much overdue bathroom refurbishment. Talk about trying to keep lots of balls in the air. Finally, I nipped out to join some friends in our local pub to have a crack at the Friday quiz and – in the words of Hercule Poirot, exercise the ‘little grey cells’ suitably lubricated by a pint or two before returning home at a sensible time – hence me now penning this! Having a bit of time to spare I’ve updated yesterdays rolling blog with a few pictures of the stations we visited. As well as getting record shots to use in the judging I did have chance to grab a few more creative pictures, such as this one taken at Stoke-On-Trent station on Wednesday. I love playing around with shadows and light and this was an ideal opportunity as it’s such a big (and mostly blank), canvas

DG328841. Shadows and light. Stoke-On-Trent. 17.7.19.crop

Hopefully, over the next few weeks – and if the weather plays ball – I’ll be in a position to add a few more like this. I’ve certainly got a few in mind but the ACoRP judging schedule’s quite intense, and that’s without my other commissions to consider.

Tomorrow’s going to be another day where the weather forecast says “stay at home”, which we will be doing for most of it, although some of the gang from our local pub (the big 6) are on tour locally. We’re off to enjoy Thai tapas at an excellent restaurant in nearby West Vale called Café Thai.

No doubt I’ll be writing about the day as it unfolds, along with a blogging staple – food pictures! Oh, and at some point there’s going to be some serious spleen-venting as it’s looking increasingly likely we’re going to be electing a British version of Donald Trump. Well, when I say ‘we’, I meant that faction of Tory party members who’ve become part of a death cult. I can’t imagine that it will be long before Boris Johnson makes a complete balls-up of Brexit and Government and possibly (or probably) precipitates a general election. Not every member of the Tory party is a Brextremist, so expect a slew of resignations if Johnson does manage to become Prime Minister.

If only the Labour party would ditch ‘Magic Grandad’ and co…

 

 

 

Rolling blog: ACoRP judging, day 2…

18 Thursday Jul 2019

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07:00.

So much for a quiet night. The problem with Derby is that it’s a railway town, so you’re never far from someone you know. After finishing our judging and being dropped off by Donna, Mark and I went for a much deserved pint and something to eat. Afterwards, my plan was to come home and work in the hotel to catch up on pictures and a few bits. Hah! As I’m on the phone outside the station I bump into an old train driving friend, Rob Buchanan Scott. For once, I take a ‘selfie’ with him – something I rarely do because as a photographer, we make other people the stories, not ourselves. Next thing I know I get a message from another old friend (Jon Lusher) who happens to be staying in the very same hotel, so we end up meeting up for a catch-up for the first time in several years!So, work delayed.Right now I’, off for breakfast as we’re on the road again at 08:00. We’ve four more stations to see today, starting with Donna driving us to Market Rasen, let’s see how the day goes…

14:21.

It’s been a busy day so far as we’ve covered a lot of miles but only seen two stations! It took our host, Donna Adams from E Mids Trains two hours to drive to the pretty town of Market Rasen, after which it took another hour to get to our second station, Heckington, where we met the local station group and Poacher Line rail Officer Kaye Robinson. After a lunch stop we’re now heading to one of the smallest stations (in terms of footfall and services), Ancaster.17:37.I’m now on my first train of the day! After visiting Ancaster we ended the day at Radcliffe before Donna drove us back to Derby. We couldn’t have got round all nine stations without Donna’s invaluable help and her local knowledge. Now Mark have gone our separate ways and I’m heading up to Sheffield on a busy East Mids Trains Meridian.

20:43.

I’m almost home after a long day. Having travelled up from Sheffield on Northern Rail’s ‘scenic’ route via Wakefield Kirkgate and Normanton I’ve added to it by catching a Leeds – Southport service via Dewsbury to get to Sowerby Bridge! I’m looking forward to having a day home tomorrow as there’s lots of plotting, planning and paperwork to do – not to mention picture editing. Here’s a look at the four stations we visited today.

DG329077crop

Market Rasen station as 153372 Calls whilst working 2T21, the  09:57 Newark North Gate to Grimsby Town service. Anyone who remembers how unwelcoming this station was in the 1980s-90s will be amazed to see it today. Sadly, the overall roof was demolished in 1941 to ‘aid’ the war effort. 

DG329136crop

Heckington station as a pair of EMT Class 158s approach whilst working 2S14, the  12:15 Skegness to Nottingham

DG329151crop

Rural Ancaster, looking West from the barrow crossing. Only eight trains per day call here.

DG329174. Radcliffe station. 18.7.19.

Here’s Radcliffe on the Skegness to Nottingham route. Its infrequent service hasn’t put off a dedicated band of station adopters who’ve made great strides in improving its environs. 

 

 

Rolling blog: More ACoRP judging…

17 Wednesday Jul 2019

Posted by in ACoRP, East Midlands Trains, Rolling blogs, Travel

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05:13.What a time to be alive! Well,out of bed anyway, I’m getting ready to head off to judge the ‘It’s your station’ category for the 2019 ACoRP awards. Over the next two days Mark and I will be visiting 9 different stations across the territory of train operator East Midlands Trains, starting at Longport at 08:39 this morning. Stick with me and see where we get to before ending up in Derby tonight…06:22.It’s a glorious summer morning but with just the right amount of post dawn chill to make the walk down to Sowerby Bridge a comfortable rather than a sweaty experience. I’ve caught the 06:21 Leeds to Chester to get me as far as Manchester Victoria. Today an unrefurbished 3-car Class 158’s been allocated to the service.Unsurprisingly, it’s fairly lightly loaded at this part of the journey but it certainly won’t stay that way.06:55.As expected, after stops at Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Rochdale my train’s half full in this carriage, not bad for the first service of the day! Now we’re trundling the last few miles into Manchester because we’re following another service. As we pass Northern’s Newton Heath depot I can see the civils work that’s happening to build the new shed which will be dedicated to maintaining the new CAF trains. The shed’s being built adjacent to the main line. Ironically, it’s kn a patch of land I remember being used as dump fir old DMU cars awaiting scrapping back in the 1970s. Now it has a more productive use!07:30.On arrival at Victoria I did my usual mad dash across the city centre to Piccadilly station. The city’s just beginning to wake up. Many of the poor souls who’re homeless are still asleep- and who can blame them? Sleep’s a steess-free release from the wretched situation they find themselves in.It breaks my heart to see scenes like this in so many UK towns and cities. After a decade of politically enforced ‘austerity’ (well, for some) the problem’s exploded and it’s only going to get worse whilst those billionaires, spivs and self-entitled toffs who’re trying to foist a no-deal Brexit upon us are in such positions of power and influence. Any Brexit will harm the economy, but they really don’t care as they pursue their own selfish political and financial interests.07:37.My sprint got me to the station in time to catch an earlier train. Cross-Country’s 07:27 to Bournemouth. It’s worked by a 4-car Class 220 (017 for the number crunchers) and it’s rammed, despite being a peak time train. This is what it looks like in coach C after leaving Stockport, and yes, I’m sitting in the luggage rack again!I’ve written many times before about how poor an offering this is when it’s the only intercity service between two of our biggest regional cities, Manchester and Birmingham. Roll on Hs2 when we’ll have decent sized trains on the route and times will be cut by 52%!11:48.We’ve now got two stations under our belts, having just left Belper. I won’t go into too much detail but we’re seeing some very different stations and groups.13:30.How’s this for a ‘bug hotel’? It’s on the 3rd station on our list…

15:22.

Station No 4’s been visited and we met Derek, a 93 yr old WW2 veteran who served in North Africa. Were now on the way from Syston to our last port of call for today. Spondon.