We’ve had a lazy Sunday here at Bigland Towers. That wasn’t actually the plan but the weather forecast forgot to tell the weather what it was meant to be doing. So, the pair of us spent most of the morning catching up with various stuff at home in the expectation sunshine would arrive in the early afternoon and we could get out for a decent Sunday stroll. I spent much of the morning editing and captioning some of the several hundred pictures I’d got in the queue after this weeks outings, whilst Dawn was equally busy sorting out Platt family duties. I’d even done a load of washing and pegged it out to dry before retreating to the office to continue picture editing when I noticed the skies had gone dark. Very dark – like aliens had parked a bloody great spaceship overhead dark. Then the rain arrived…
I couldn’t help but laugh as I brought the washing in again. That’ll teach me to listen to forecasts rather than watch the conditions from the bedroom window. Our bedroom looks out across the Calder valley in the direction most of the prevailing weather arrives. Normally we get a good 15 minutes warning of a deluge as we see the Ryburn valley disappear, then the South side of the Calder. The change of plan meant all the outdoor jobs I’d intended to carry out got rained off. Instead, I finished off the picture editing I’d intended to complete tomorrow morning then managed to get many of them on my Zenfolio website. If you follow this link you’ll see which galleries have been updated. There’s more to come tomorrow. Finally the rain abated and we did get out for a short stroll around the local area to get our steps in, so not all was lost although I have to say I’m starting to get fed up of these wet and windy conditions. Where’s the summer? I don’t mind over the next couple of days as I’ve an article for RAIL to write but I need to get out and about after that to catch up with more photography at far-flung locations. Emulating a drowned rat is hardly conducive to the job…
Anyway. We shall see. In the meantime I’ll leave you with today’s picture which is one from this week’s outing to Northumberland and the Blyth and Tyne railway. It’s a mundane scene now but it will look very, very different by this time next year.
This is Newsham. It doesn’t look much, does it? But in a year this location will change dramatically. The first clue is the extension of double track you can see creeping in to the right of the existing line. This is to provide capacity for a 30 minute passenger service. You’re looking at the site of a new two platform station which will have car-parking on either side of the tracks that will accommodate 287 cars. Not only that but in between the two semaphore signals that you can see there’s going to be a new road flyover crossing the railway as the existing level crossing (which is behind the camera) is being abolished. This sleepy railway which currently sees just one freight train a day is being transformed. You’ll be able to read all about it in a future edition of RAIL magazine.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Regular readers will know that I’ve become very cynical about the quality of journalism in the mainstream media over the past few years. Chiefly because so much of it is lazy and uninformed. It’s also incredibly incestuous, with people copying each others articles and amplifying erroneous comments and conclusions rather then (heaven forbid) doing their own research or fact-checking. We’ve seen this recently with the media falling over each other to rehash the same story that HS2 was described as ‘unachievable’ in the Infrastructure and Projects Authority annual report which I described in this blog.
It’s no wonder the British public is so ill-informed on so many subjects when the members of the 4th Estate either can’t be bothered to give them the facts or analysis, or (worse) put their own slant on things which ends up (accidentally, or deliberately) misinforming people. Nowadays, journalists are held in low-esteem but in many cases they’ve only themselves to blame. Today it’s often difficult to tell politician from Journalist and vice-versa – just look at ‘GBNews’ to see where this leads.
Sadly, it’s not just the ‘red tops’ that do this. Supposedly reputable newspapers (what used to be called the broadsheets) are doing exactly the same, as are the likes of the BBC. It’s not just the right-wing press either. That bastion of the liberal middle classes, the Guardian has a history of allowing people like Simon Jenkins to come out with absolute garbage on subjects like HS2. I examined one of his latest fact-free rants here.
Yesterday it was the turn of the Guardian’s Economics Editor, one Larry Elliott, who came out up with this awful opinion piece titled “HS2 is the white elephant in the room. If the Tories won’t scrap it, Labour must”
The headline rather sets the tone. HS2 is a ‘white elephant’? Gosh, how original. The sub-headline is even worse!
“The vanity project is scandalously over budget. Finally cancelling it would show the party is serious about public finances”
“Vanity” project? My BS Bingo card is filling up fast – and we’ve not even got into the article yet! Let’s just deal with that tired and trite old canard first shall we?
Perhaps the intellectually lazy people who insist on trotting out the line that HS2 is a ‘vanity project’ can answer this. Since HS2 was first begun by a Labour government in 2009 we’ve had a coalition Government and a Tory majority one. We’ve had six Prime Minsters (Brown, Cameron, May, Johnson, Truss, Sunak – and no doubt soon a 7th). We’ve also had six Transport Ministers (Adonis, Greening, McLoughlin, Shapps,Trevelyan, Harper – and no doubt soon a 7th). The phase 1 bill passed with the biggest majority of any Coalition Govt bill. The phase 2a bill also flew through Parliament with no real opposition – as did the Phase 2b (Crewe – Manchester) Hybrid Bill in 2022, by 205 votes to 6.
All the above politicians backed or back HS2. So do Labour (who’ve said they’ll build all of HS2 when they inevitably get into power) the Lib-Dems, the SNP and the Tories. As do the regional elected Mayors of all parties and a vast array of local politicians, business groups and business. The list is huge.
So, exactly whose bloody ‘vanity project’ is HS2 meant to be?
Having already set the bar low, Elliott rolls up his sleeves and lowers it even more….
His opening gambit is to mention the IPA’s ‘red’ rating for HS2. What he fails to do is put it in any context, like mention that the report doesn’t actually talk about HS2 at all. The only mention is in an Appendix as 3 lines on a chart that lists all the projects that fall within the IPAs remit. Instead, Elliott tries to pretend the explanation of the red rating is specifically talking about HS2 rather than describing that category. Now, for context, he could’ve mentioned that Crossrail once had a red rating, as did the two Queen Elizabeth class aircraft carriers, or the new Intercity IEP train fleets from Hitachi. All those ‘unachievable’ projects have been delivered, but that doesn’t fit the narrative and requires some research, not just copying what others have said.
Elliott then claims that “in a sense the IPA report told us nothing that wasn’t known already” Well, actually, if he’d ever bothered reading the report he’d know this is untrue as Hs2’s ‘red’ rating is just for phase 1 and 2a. Last year the phase 1 rating was amber/red and the year before that amber. Phase 2a has gone from Green to Red whilst Phase 2b has gone from Red in 20/21 to Amber for the past two years.
The only conclusion to be drawn from Elliott’s simplistic (and wrong) claim is that he’s never actually read the report.
Anyone with any knowledge of HS2 could have told Elliott why Phase 1 is now Red – it’s because the Tories have dithered and delayed and changed the plans for Euston station yet again, bumping up costs, adding delays and leaving a trail of uncertainty over what the station and oversite development will look like. Apart from the Euston fiasco the rest of Phase 1 is progressing well with around 40% of construction complete.
Elliott then asserts that HS2 is “a vanity project that has caused immense environmental damage”.
I’ve already dealt with the first idiotic claim. The second is just as easily dealt with. Elliott offers not a shred of evidence for his assertion but we can see from actual statistics and research (the stuff Elliott doesn’t do) that this is nonsense. For example, the amount of woodland affected by HS2 has decreased from the original estimates (see this report). Oh, and that’s without taking into account the amount of new planting/habitat creation.
Still, who needs facts and research eh?
Right, what’s next? Oh, yes…
“There are still those who insist that HS2 is needed to boost capacity on the rail network, which even if true misses the point: that every pound spent on HS2 is a pound that can’t be spent on other rail projects”.
Nope, there’s no point to miss there – because this simply isn’t true, it’s just another allegation that fails to understand how HS2 is funded, which is not from the existing railway budget but by borrowing specifically to fund HS2. That an Economic Editor doesn’t understand this is bizarre. There is no pot of money sat in the Treasury labelled ‘for HS2’ that’s waiting to be rebadged and spent elsewhere. Of course, there’s another irony here. The OECD recommends that baseline infrastructure investment is 5.5% of GDP annually for an economy with aspirations to growth. We’ve only spent this amount twice since WW2. HS2 is not only investment in infra, it’s investment in green infrastructure, exactly the sort of thing we need to be investing in – not more roads. You’d think the Economics Editor of a national newspaper would understand that, wouldn’t you?
Let’s plough on…
“The pandemic and its inflationary aftermath have massively increased pressures on public spending while at the same time encouraging more people to work remotely”.
Eh? Just a few minutes of research would have shown Elliott that WFH is a strawman argument on several fronts. Firstly, rail passenger numbers have already recovered to near pre-Covid levels and in some cases (especially leisure) have surpassed 2019 figures – as DfT figures show. Remember this is at a time when the industry’s plagued with strikes and cancellations too – so there’s suppressed demand. My RAIL colleague Phil Haigh quoted the figures yesterday.
There’s another thing the graph highlights, road traffic has bounced back too. Quite how people can drive whilst they’re all supposedly working from home is a mystery, but there you go. We need to cut road travel to tackle climate change. There’s also the fact road congestion costs the economy billions (£10bn a year according to the Economist magazine). To do that we need HS2’s rail capacity as the existing network can’t cope and compared to the annual cost of congestion the annual (and finite) cost of building HS2 is peanuts. You’d think those facts might have occurred to an Economics Editor, wouldn’t you?
The second flaw in the WFH argument is that long-distance rail travel has sod all to do with working (from home or anywhere else) as it’s not about commuting or business travel and never has been.
The third flaw is the fact HS2 is also about freight – even though it’ll never carry it. HS2 frees up capacity on the existing network for more freight services (which ties in with green investment, getting lorries off roads – see my point later).
Now, you’d think an Economics Editor might have bothered checking these things, wouldn’t you? But no…
Next up Elliott quotes Tony Berkeley, a man who’s damaged his reputation with his obsessive opposition to HS2 and use of dubious figures and frankly daft statements and assertions such as these “There is no safe and buildable station design for it at Euston, no forecasts for demand post-pandemic and no easy connection to other rail lines“. This is complete cobblers of course. HS2 was taken to the High Court by a local Euston resident claiming the HS2 tunnel design was unsafe and the case was thrown out. The court judgement is here.
Elliott then goes on to say “a future Labour government should (cancel HS2) …Although the opposition has given no hint that it intends to take such a radical step”
Err, Labour’s given no such ‘hint’ because it’s categorically and continually stated the opposite and has been doing for years! At last years Labour Conference Shadow Transport Minister Louise Haigh said in her speech that:
“We will build an Elizabeth Line for the North and deliver Northern Powerhouse Rail and HS2 in full“.
This brings me on to another of Elliott’s ignorant claims, that cancelling HS2 would “give an incoming Labour government money to spend on other – more worthwhile – projects. These would inevitably include improvements to rail infrastructure in the north”
I’ve already pointed out the pot of money fallacy but there’s another thing Elliott fails to understand and has never researched. 50% of the new Northern Powerhouse Rail tracks would be tracks laid for HS2 that NPR would run over! It’s a point not lost on all the Northern leaders – which is why they to a man (and woman) support building HS2. Still, what do they know compared to a journalist based within the M25?
What message would cancelling Hs2 in 2025 after an election when the majority of phase 1 civil engineering will be completed with stations well on their way send to the markets? It wouldn’t be one of economic competence, it would be one of failure and a stifling lack of nerve and vision. Cancelling the largest civil engineering project in Europe would be pure madness. It would leave a massive monument to failure, and the UK a laughing stock on the world stage. Brexit has already diminished our credibility, this would be another nail in that coffin. I cannot believe any credible economist would suggest such a thing, although a blinkered political dogmatist might.
This next one’s an absolute stunner and I couldn’t help laughing when I read it.
“When I asked an old friend who lives on Merseyside what he thought of HS2, he said: “It is mainly about cutting journey times between Birmingham and London. We aren’t bothered at all about it. However, the rail connections between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds are an absolute disgrace and that is much more important to all of us up here”.
Oh, God. Where to start? Research is now reduced to asking someone who lives outside the M25 (for the sake of some sort of credibility) and asking their uninformed opinion to bolster your own weak arguments. This is like saying “well, a bloke in the pub told me” it’s cringeworthy.
1. HS2 has never been “mainly” about reducing journey times (ever) it’s always been about capacity as a few minutes fact-finding by reading actual reports rather than cribbing from other journos copy or asking some random bloke would have told Elliott. 2. We’re already spending £bns rebuilding the railway lines between Liverpool, Manchester and Leeds (and beyond) as part of the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade. You’d have thought an Economics Editor might have heard of such a major investment in the rail network, but apparently not…
The final argument in Elliott’s piece is just as ignorant and uninformed. According to him, scrapping HS2 “should make it cheaper for Labour to borrow the money it needs to fund the decarbonisation of the economy”
Wait? What? This is meant to be a particular interest of Elliott’s so how can he possibly not know that the biggest source of the UKs carbon emissions is transport? Or that without HS2 we won’t have the rail capacity we need to get modal shift from road/air to rail to cut those emissions to tackle climate change?
HS2 will have the same or lower carbon emissions as Eurostar as it will be powered by green electricity and the actual trains will be more energy efficient as they’re the latest design.
Instead, Elliott is proposing to scrap the one real thing we are doing (that has cross-party support) to invest in green technology and clean up our biggest source of Co2 emissions! Madness.
Having researched Elliott I find he’s also a Brexit supporter. Having observed his lack of research and belief in the man in the pub arguments instead that doesn’t surprise me.
What does surprise (and depress me) is that these people become Economics Editors on national newspapers. This country and its people deserve better from its media than this. If I can do this research, why can’t highly paid national journalists do it – or is it because it doesn’t fit the narrative?
PS, Guardian – I’m open to offers!
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket as I’m not paid vast sums to write rubbish for national newspapers. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Ugh, another silly o’ clock start as I’m heading back North to Morpeth to explore the Blyth and Tyne railway for a future magazine article. I was up there the other week but the weather was appalling and we were trapped on a train where we could only see the work to rebuild the line for passengers from inside. This time I’ll be lineside and have a local guide for part of the trip. But first I’ve got to get to Morpeth. Feel free to keep popping back to see how the day unfolds…
06:30.
After what was a lovely early morning stroll under cloudless skies and rising temperatures through deserted streets I’m now on Northern’s 06:17 from Halifax to Hull. This morning it’s operated by a long-standing member of the Northern fleet in the shape of 3-car 158753. This unit’s been allocated to the area for donkey’s years.
Whilst it’s been lightly loaded from Halifax it’s filled up at Bradford Interchange.
07:35.
On arrival at Leeds I noticed TPE was up to its usual tricks of cancelling services. Thankfully, my next train was LNER’s 07:08 to Aberdeen, worked by a 9-car bi-mode ‘Azuma’ which had arrived empty from Doncaster Carr depot.
800101 begins its day…
07:50.
We’re currently speeding along at 123mph through the Vale of York en-route to Darlington. Sadly, the blue skies that stayed with me all the way to York are being invaded by low, dappled cloud from the East which are meant to cover the whole of Northumberland by the time I arrive. In some ways that’s not too bad as I don’t have to worry about heavy shadows and backlit shots. Even so, a bit of contrast would be nice. At least conditions will be better than on my last visit when the rain p*ssed down all day!
15:30.
Apologies for the long break but I’ve just been on a whirlwind tour of the Blyth and Tyne in the company of Paul Young of Ontrackimages, who’s a former B&T signaller. Paul graciously acted as local guide and chauffer, taking me to places I haven’t visited since 1989. I’ll add more pictures (and comparison shots) later but here’s a couple to be going on with.
The old box at Marcheys House. I have a similar view from December 1989 which I’ll add later. The level crossing and signalbox at Newsham South will both be redundent. In the background’s one of the cranes working building the new road flyover. The signalbox is in poor condition.You may notice the way the wooden structure’s leaning towards the track. What you can’t see is that the inside of the box is shored up with scaffolding!
See what I mean?
17:30.
I’m making my way home in very different weather. The sun’s dialled up the mercury so conditions are now hot and sticky. I couldn’t resist stopping of on my way home, so here’s a shot from Darlington.
18:10.
Time to change trains at York and take a little pitstop. Here’s what I’m seeing.
Double trouble. A pair of CAF built driving trailers.And relax! The York Tap.
20:05.
Suitably refreshed I caught a TPE service that was actually running. The Scarborough-Leeds service was diverted via Milford Jn and Castleford so entered leads from the ‘wrong’direction, but at least it got me there and wasn’t cancelled like many of its bretheren. Despite being ‘renationalised’ TPE is still a complete mess as a train service, which rather proves ownership isn’t the root of the problem. Now I’m sat on a Northern service to Chester which should have left at 19:42.
20:12.
Oh joy! The Chester train’s been cancelled as there’s no Guard for it so I joined the happy throng heading from platforms 4 to 1 to catch the 20:12 to Manchester Victoria. Needless to say – it’s busy. Not just with passengers but also displaced Northern crews who’re trying to join their trains elsewhere.
22:00.
Home again. Dee was happy to pick me up for the station so I wasn’t home at too daft a time, which has given me chance to download and edit a last few pictures from today’s trip.
Bedlington North Junction with the remains of the old station on the left. This will be rebuilt for the new passenger service to Ashington which will use the lines to the left. The tracks to the right lead to Morpeth. Bedlington North Junction signalbox. The Morpeth line runs behind the box whilst the line to Ashington and Blyth is in the foreground. Marchey’s House Junction looking back towards Bedlington with the line to North Blyth diverging to the left. The crossover in the foreground will be removed and the track plain-lined in a blockade which started at 22:00 today.
UPDATE:
Yesterday I promised you a comparison shot. Here it is. This is Blyth staithes yard seen on the 27th December 1989 and a picture from the same spot yesterday.
Almost nothing remains, apart from the old railway bridge that we were stood on.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Off again! Today’s a bright sunny day here in West Yorkshire although I was dismayed to see we’d had an early morning shower the forecast had failed to predict as I’d left some washing out overnight! Ho hum..
Now, after walking into Halifax whilst enjoying the rising temperatures I’m aboard Northern’s 08:54 to York which is taking me East towards my ultimate destination – the East Yorkshire coast and the rail line from Hull to Scarborough via Bridlington. I last traversed the line in 2019. Since then there’s been several changes which require a picture library update. I’m playing catch-up in this respect due to Covid clipping my travel wings, leading to a 2-year hiatus in documenting many lines. Sometimes I think we should add PC (pre-Covid) to the lexicon in the same way be have BC and AD.
I’m back to using Halifax after favouring Sowerby Bridge for a while. My steed awaits…
Looking at the live running schedules I suspect I’m in for another ‘interesting’ day on the railways due to late-running and cancellations. My onward connection at Church Fenton’s been cancelled so I’m going to change at Leeds. There is a direct Halifax-Hull service at 09:17 but I note the next one after that’s cancelled already. I’ll see what happens when I get to Leeds…
I’ll be blogging throught the day so feel free to pop back to see how the day unfolds!
10:15.
Sometimes, trains running late works to your advantage. I’m currently relaxing aboard a TPE service to Hull which was 25 mins late at Leeds. Catching this rather than my Northern ‘stopper’ made sense. Besides, it has tables AND plug sockets, something the dear old Northern 158 can only dream of. Plus, the tables are at a sensible height and don’t cut off the circulation in your legs.
Whilst I was at Leeds this unusual visitor rolled in on service from Sheffield. One of the very first Class 150s. Built as three cars, these units spent most of their working life in the Birmingham area until they were transferred to Northern.
12:00.
I knew it was going to be one of those days! On arrival at Hull I found my 11:21 train to Brid was cancelled. This was curious as it was shown on many systems as still running. Then the penny dropped. It ‘was’ running from Sheffield to Hull – where there was a crew change for the onward journey to Bridlington. Hull (like Bradford Interchange) is one of those locations where crews change ends, so it has a traincrew depot where the staff have different route knowledge and work different diagrams, so no-one was available to take the service forward from Hull. This meant I was kicking my heels until the next departure at 11:59, which turned out to be a 2-car Class 158 to take three trainloads of people. Nice!
It’s events like this that put so many ordinary people off travelling by train. The combination of stubborn unions who can’t see the collateral damage their dispute is causing, plus and an equally obdurate government unwilling to negotiate as its playing politics is causing the rail industry untold harm.
17:30.
Apologies for the gap in updating but I’ve been busy exploring and checking out a place I’ve never really visited before and that’s never been on my ‘bucket list’ – Bridlington. Well, that was an eye-opener. I’m no stranger to UK seaside towns, I grew up in one after all – and I’ve visited them all. From Southend to Skegness, Bournemouth to Bangor. But Brid? Hmmm…
I have to be careful what I say here as some readers get upset when I talk about what some call ‘sizeism’. But we really (really) do need to talk about it. I spent half an hour around the prom and environs at Bridlington.
Gridlock, Bridlington-style!The picturesque bit of the harbour…
What I would say is that if you’re in any doubt that the UK is facing an obesity timebomb that’s going to explode on the NHS – then just spend some time here during the school holidays. Let’s just call it ‘onset diabetes on sea’ and move on – as I did – to Beverley. But before I did I garnered enough library shots that mean I shouldn’t need to darken the town’s doors for a long time – if ever.
To be fair, the town’s trying. There was some really interesting ecological landscaping around the station on the site of the old carriage sidings which was better than I’ve seen in many places – and the station staff have maintained their reputation for fantastic floral displays. It’s just a shame the famous old station pub has shut its doors for the last time.
Beverley’s a different world – and more mine. It’s an old market town with a cathedral that has a completely different atmosphere. The town was festooned with flags supporting ‘Pride’ week. Many restaurants had spilled out into the street with outside tables and people eating a variety of foods, not just fish or burgers and chips. In contrast to Brid – even the fries were skinny!
The town also boast a station with an impressive and original overall roof – although the NER footbridge is downsizing and losing its wooden roof.
Beverley – a classic NER station.
19:00.
Much as I enjoyed a break in Beverley and the chance to reacquaint myself with the town I had one more place to try and tick off the list. Driffield. This is another station that used to have an overall roof but that was lost many years ago. Even so, some lovely buildings remain and the local station friends group have worked wonders with restoring derelict land at the back of some of the buildings – as well as by the extended car park.
A few years ago this was nothing but rubble…
As it’s a lovely evening I feel like I could stay out and make more of it, but I need to begin my journey West as I’ve a few more busy days ahead. Besides, the day’s not over yet…
20:00.
I was optimistic in hoping that the earlier spate of cancellations may have passed, but no such luck. Still, they’re a minor convenience and only a slight delay as the 20:15 Hull to Halifax is running. All I have to do is hang around for that. I’ve been in no hurry to get home as I’ve tried to make the most of the day even if there’s been frustrating moments when the best of the light for photography was lineside and not being on the actual train. Never mind, I’ll be making up for that on Thursday! Now I can relax a bit and enjoy the journey back to West Yorkshire.
21:45.
We’re on our way from Leeds to Bradford and my wars ar startint to stop ringing. From Hull I was surrounded by a couple of dozen young guys (and a couple of girls) who were on their way to Leeds for a festival. Considering the fact they were drinking expensive piss in the form of small bottles of lager I can only assume either they’d been drinking all day or that they were lightweights!
23:30.
Home – after walking 14.5 miles and 31,200 steps according to my Fitbit. Now it’s time to curl up in bed ready for another busy day tomorrow when I’ll add a last few pictures to this blog. Until then – goodnight!
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
We’re at the start of a new week so it’s back to blogging for me after taking the weekend off as it was rather a sociable one, which left me neither the time nor the inclination to type-swipe but now my nose is firmly back to the grindstone as I plan another busy week. A chunk of today’s been spent doing exactly that, working out the logistics of another foray to Northumberland on Thursday. Thankfully, the weather’s beginning to improve. We didn’t have any rain here in the Calder valley today, which feels like a minor miracle. Instead we had this strange bright orb hanging around in the sky. In a few days time we’re even meant to have temperatures in the 20s – a figure we’ve not seen for ages, so I’d better make the most of it.
Another of today’s consuming jobs was to wade through the archives to collate a collection of community rail pictures for a magazine. I sometimes forget just how large the archive is nowadays. There’s over 84,000 pictures on my Zenfolio website alone, and that doesn’t include all the other folders of filed-away images and there’s only little-old me to remember where the damn things are! With that in mind I’ve also edited, sifted and filed away a lot of the images I took last week before they start overwhelming my hard-drive and so that they’re duplicated. Even though a selection’s on my website I’m still cautious about having everything backed-up, just in case. Still, that’s all done now. I’ve even managed to parcel up some of the latest eBay sales tonight so they’ll be in the post tomorrow. All in all – a productive day.
The only question now is what the picture of the day is going to be. Oh, I know, here’s one from the archives of how Northumberland’s industrial landscape used to look like. Here’s the old west coal staithes at Blyth, seen on the 27th December 1989, when I was staying in the area with friends that Christmas.
The staithes were used as a location for the iconic 1971 film ‘Get Carter’ starring Michael Caine. Now little remains of this scene. Blyth power station closed in 2001 and has been demolished whilst the upper decks of the staithes were torn down in 1994. The railway sidings that stabled the wagons of coal are also long gone. Here’s a link to another picture I took of them at that time.
I hope I have time to explore this area again later in the week. We’ll see…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Time to tear myself away from the comfort of home and head off to the final event of the week and a meeting in Derby with friends and colleagues before enjoying a relaxing weekend at home (although our definition of relaxing may not be everyone’s cup of tea!). Hopefully, the railways will play ball today – and I don’t have to have anything to do with TPE, which is always a good start!
Let’s see how I get on…
10:45.
So far so good! Despite an earlier cancellation my Northern service from Sowerby Bridge to Leeds arrived on time. This 3-car service via Bradford’s certainly busy – I’d reckon about 75% full but I’ve managed to find a window seat from which I can admire the rain.
11:55.
Things are looking up! I had a 20 minuter interlude at Leeds which gave me time to take a few pictures before joining Cross-Country’s 11:12 service heading for Plymouth which is made up of two 4-car Class 220s, both of which are busy. I know because I swapped between sets at Wakefield to distance myself from the hen-party who were already breaking open the Prosseco! I’ve managed to find an airline seat in the rear set which is much more civilised. We’ve just pulled out of Sheffield where the weather’s brightening up. There’s still masses of heavy cloud but there’s multicoloured layers and individual formations rather than the uniform dullness West Yorkshire was suffering from.
17:30.
After an excellent meeting and chance to reminisce with old friends it’s time to head home. The railways are still SNAFU which has meant the train I was hoping to catch to Leeds has been cancelled. Instead I’m on plan B which is an East Midlands Railway service to Sheffield where I’ll select plan B. The weather’s changed completely. There’s mow this weird blueish tinge to the sky in which a weird yellow orb hangs…
18:55.
I’m late, but I’m finally heading North from Sheffield to Leeds. The irony? I’m aboard the same Cross-Country train (220031) that carried me South. Whilst I was meeting with friends it’s traversed most of the country. Now it heading back from Plymouth to where it started its day. Scotland.
Trains aside, my meeting turned into a trip down memory lane as other friends turned up. As a group we go back 15-20 years although none of us can work out where the years hsve gone.
Our group of friends is from right and left on the political spectrum. Politics aside the ome thing we care about and agree upon is the railways – and the univeral view is that the current government are awful. Then, when you have a multi-millionaire PM who flies everywhere by helicopter and has no idea of the importance of public transport is it any wonder we’re cynical?
19:50.
My Cross-Country train’s managed to deposit me at Leeds – along with all those who thought they were going all the way to Edinburgh or points in-between. The train’s been terminated due to overhead line damage on the East Coast Main Line which is really going to bugger up some people’s weekend. Still, Rishi’s got a helicopter to gad about in whilst the rest of us bare the brunt of the amount of money his friends have sucked out of the public purse, so that’s alright then.
20:00.
I’m now on the last leg home aboard yet another Northern Class 195.I’m not complaining, I have a table seat, power points and air-conditioned, but more importantly – we’re on time.
22:00.
Home again – and I didn’t get rained on once – which is a bloody miracle this summer! I’ve had a great day catching up with friends and talking over old times, some of which I’d forgotten about. When we think back to some of the things we and other friends used to get up to in days that were more laissez-faire it makes for some great memories and stories that will be best told when some of the main participants are pushing up daisies!
Now it’s time for me to switch off and enjoy the weekend at home. That said, expect a few blogs and lots of pictures to appear here – and there.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
‘Tis a short blog from me tonight. I’ve had a long day staring at screens editing pictures from the past few days. That’s taken up most of my time, although I must admit to enjoying having a day based at home where I’ve not got one eye on a railway timetable, checking that all my connections are running to time! With that pressure off me, I could very much suit myself when I did what. Well, apart from when the weather governed some choices such as taking my daily constitutional. For once, it hasn’t rained all day. Exactly the opposite, we actually had decent temperatures and sunshine this afternoon until the rain decided to reappear this evening when it came back with a vengeance. Talk about raining stair rods! I was starting to worry that the garden would be battered to pieces. Thankfully, the cloudburst passed before we got to that stage but we’ve certainly had a sizeable chunk of August’s rainfall arrive in the past couple of days – with more to come.
Still, tomorrow’s another day, so let’s see what it brings. Other than more rain, obviously! Whilst I’ve been typing this the last batch of pictures (for now) has uploaded to my Zenfolio website. Shots have been added to many different galleries, including railway stations, railway people, Chiltern Railways, the GWR franchise, Northern, TPE as well as East-West rail and of course – HS2. You can find the full list of updated galleries by clicking on the recent link.
For now I’ll leave you with the picture of the day, which was taken at Paddington station the other evening. The station roof looks magnificent when it’s lit up at night, as this view shows.
The time’s 22:45 and ‘Thames turbo’ 165122 rests at the buffer stops on platform 4, its days duties done until tomorrow.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I should be using a U boat*, not a train! Following on from what must be the wettest July for years August’s maintaining the pace. It’s been heaving it down all morning here in West Yorkshire. I’m currently in Huddersfield waiting for a late-running (surprise, surprise) TPE service to Newcastle to take part in a press trip.
The Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade is now in full swing with work compounds springing up everywhere – including in the old goods yard/former car park at the station. Soon, work will be starting on the station itself. Whilst I was waiting for my service East ‘Felix’ put in an appearance. No, not Huddersfield’s famous station cat, but the Class 68 named after them!
68031 ‘Felix’ purrs through Huddersfield on its way to Manchester Piccadilly.
09:40.
We’re currently speeding up the rain-lashed ECML North of York. There’s little to see through the watery windows so I’m making productive use of my time by editing some of the hundreds of pictures I’ve taken in the past couple of days.
11:15.
There will now be an interlude…
14:00.
I’m back. I’ve just completed a fascinating run along the Blyth and Tyne from Newcastle to Morpeth via Bedlington on a special train organised by Northumberland Conty Council. The scale of work being done to repopen the line to Ashington to passenger trains is very impressive. A simple reopening it ain’t. You’ll be able to read all about it in a future edition of RAIL magazine.
The weather was atrocious and hasn’t improved, so I didn’t hang around in Newcastle. Instead, I’m off to have a look at another (much less ambitious) project – at Hartlepool…
15:20.
Another washout. The rain just won’t stop! My trip down the Durham coastline has been shrouded by low cloud and the sort of rain that has you soaked in minutes. It’s a shame as I’d have lacked to have seen more of Hartlepool than just the station – althogh to be fair, that has some interesting features and the work to reinstate the 2nd through platform is coming on well. Both the Station cafe and real ale pub were closed so I stayed long enough to take some pictures and enjoy the warmth of Grand Central’s well appointed lounge before retracing my steps.
A great use of an old building, with good facilities that are clean and well-kept.
17:50.
I give up! The weather’s been so universally awful there’s been nothing for it but to cut my losses and head home. To compound things Trans-Pennine Express are having a ‘senior moment’. They seem to have forgotten they’re meant to be running trains. The excuse offered is a classic ‘last-minute timetable changes’. That’ll be cancelling trains to you and me…
I managed to catch an LNER service down to York which I managed to find a free seat on. Changing TOCs I’ve ended up on a rammed 4-Car Cross-Country Voyager which will get me to Leeds. I’m currently ‘doing a Jeremy Corbyn’ and squatting the front vestibule, which isn’t ideal as there’s a howling gale blowing in through one of the external doors…
20:45.
I’m home, enjoying being in the warm and dry whilst spending some time editing a few more pictures before calling it a day. Dawn’s had a ‘fun’ day at work too due to the impact the TRU work is having on her office which is withing the curtilage of Huddersfield station so poor Dee’s playing ‘catch-up’ too. Thankfully, the freezer’s well stocked with food we’ve made ourselves so a chicken Korma’s defrosting as I type this. To bring this blog to a close I’ll add one last picture. TPE haven’t covered themselves in glory today, Here’s one of their trains doing what a lot have been doing – sitting around doing nothing, this one’s at Newcastle.
I’ll be working from home tomorrow so expect a lot of pictures to start appearing on my Zenfolio website tomorrow. Oh, and the latest eBay sale’s started. It’s the beginning of the month so I’ve relisted several hundred old railway slides and other memorabilia that’s for sale. Just follow this link.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I’ve been far too busy today to do a rolling blog and besides, many of the places I’ve been phone reception wasn’t of the best. So, here’s a rundown of events as I head home from Leamington for a night at home.
I stayed in London last night but my sleep quotient was less than a few hours as most of the time I was on the move, exploring and enjoying my old home town at night. I pitched up at Marylebone station before the first train left and caught it out to Denham to update some of my HS2 construction pictures as building the Colne Valley Viaduct is really cracking on. Now the viaduct’s bridging the second of the two roads it’s crossing and the weather conditions couldn’t have been better with low sun and blue skies – as you’ll see in the full set of pictures pictures later.
I had all the time in the world to chat to the people building the viaduct or wandering with the camera. After all, it’s not every day one sees a 120 tonne viaduct segment maneuvered into position like this.
A 120 tonne segment is craned into place on the Colne Valley Viaduct where it crosses Moorfield Rd. Denham. This section of road is closed for three weeks whilst the work takes place. The viaduct marches onwards to the South…One of the viaduct’s V shaped pillars next to Moorfield Rd.Meanwhile, at Calvert.. Track is being laid on the East-West rail line. Here’s the switches will will allow access to the HS2 Infrastructure Maintenance Depot (IMD).Here’s the bridge which will carry E-W rail over HS2.The site of Calvert station on the old Great Central line has become a very busy haul road. Eventually, It will be site of HS2 tracks.
I managed to get to Calvert thanks to my friend Chris Howe, who provided the transport. Chris has a Youtube channel which contains some excellent explainers on construction, railways and also HS2. You can find his Youtube channel here.
I’ve plenty more pictures to add but I haven’t got the time right now. I need to get some sleep! Tomorrow I’m up early again as I’m travelling to Newcastle to carry out a job for RAIL magazine. I’ll blog about some of what I get up to during the day…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
What a great start to the week! I’m (slowly) heading down to London today ready to be in place to meet up with a friend as the pair of us will be looking at some of the “unachievable” HS2 construction works.
Not being in any rush I got some work done at home first, hoping the grim weather here in the Calder Valley would pick up and save me a soaking on the walk to the station. It didn’t. As I was engrossed in a phone call en-route I hadn’t checked how trains were running. The answer is – badly – which I only found out when I got to the station and checked the PIS. Apparently, there’s an obstruction on the line West of Todmorden that’s blocked both tracks. Most trains are cancelled with a few running to Hebden Bridge or Todmorden where buses will take us the rest of the way. The obstruction (whatever it is) is predicted to disrupt services until 17:30. Ho hum!
I’ll let you know how I get on and where I get to. This is going to be a long day…
13:00.
Hmm, plan B…
Having arrived at Hebden Bridge I had the option of waiting for the replacement bus service which wasn’t leaving for another 20 mins, or leaping onto a rammed York- Blackpool North service as far as Preston although I’d originally planned to get on the WCML at Warrington using the direct service to Chester. The train won.
I’m now wedged in a vestibule along with suitcases, prams and parents with offspring all heading for the seaside. I don’t envy them – the forecast for this week is crap!
Passing through Accrington. It’s grim up North…
14:40.
I’m finally heading in the right direction! I left my Northern service at Preston – as did many others which surprised me as I assumed the majority of folks were heading for Blackpool. Services on the West Coast seem to be in some disarray but I’ve no idea why at the moment. This time I’m unaffected and after getting a few shots in torrential rain joined the 14:18 Avanti Pendolino to Euston via Birmingham. It’s packed! So much for ‘no-one’s travelling by train anymore’. I’m perched on a tip-up seat by the toilets in coach D, although the friendly crew have told me the train’s due to empty after Crewe.
Approaching Wigan North Western.
15:50.
We’re just pulling out of Wolverhampton en-route to Birmingham. The weather’s will improved insomuch that it’s stopped raining and cloud level’s gained a few hundred feet, but that’s it. I’ll be changing trains and lines at New Street with the optimistic hope of getting some pictures. Let’s see.
18:50.
Apologies for the gap in blogging but I’ve been wandering around Birmingham getting pictures and soaking up the atmosphere. I’ve confessed this before but I really like the city. Its multiculturalism makes it a fascinating place to shop or just people-watch. Of course I was there for another reason too – which was to cast my eye over the ‘unachievable’ (according to much of the lazy UK media) HS2 work where progress looks anything other than unachievable! I’ll add a pic later. The weather was crap and I got a right soaking wating for the right moment but my patience was rewarded.
Now I’m chasing the storm that soaked me, heading South on a Chiltern Railways service as far as an old haunt – Leamington Spa. I can’t go all the way to Marylebone as the line’s closed due to engineering works. Instead I’ll be travelling via Oxford and Reading through to Paddington.
19:30.
The observant amongst you may have spotted the slight flaw in my plan. There are no trains running South of Leamington Spa at all – not just Chiltern ones. The line’s closed all week, which means I haven’t escaped the dreaded bustitution. Instead, I’m kicking my heels on a coach which will be leaving for Didcot in 15 mins. It’ll take just over an hour to get there. Ho ho hum…
To be fair, it’s an interesting experience. The staff (both rail and coach) have been excellent and everyone’s trying to make it as painless an experince as they can.
The Didcot coach is in pole position…
20:15.
So, here we are. Eight of us from Leamington rattling around on a coach to Didcot. Trying to put a gloss on it – at least I’m seeing parts of Leamington and the M40 I wouldn’t normally! To be honest it’s a relaxed journey. I’m in no hurry yo get anywhere. The rain’s cleared, leaving a lovely evening (although not great light for photography right now) so I’ll see how things turn out later.
21:15.
That was painless! Our driver’s estimate of 1hr 15m proved to be conservative, traffic was lighter than expected so we made it to Didcot in just over an hour. I didn’t hang around, much as I’d liked to have done as I have fond memories of the place – but it’s the wrong time of the day. Instead, I boarded GWR’s 21:04 stopping service to Paddington, just to enjoy the views and reminisce. I used to spend a lot of time on this route when I lived in London, but it’s not so easy when you live in West Yorkshire.
As you can see, this time of day my shuttle train isn’t exactly busy. The annoying thing? These electric trains should have been working to Oxford, not terminating at Didcot, but a certain Tory transport Minister (Chris Grayling) cancelled the project mid-stream.
21:45.
I’m now on one of GWRs express services to Paddington worked by another of those ‘unachievable’ schemes – the IEP project (see yesterday’s blog). I was tempted to jump on a slower Crossrail train (wasn’t that also ranked as ‘unachievable’? Ed) but getting there earlier allows me leeway to get some pictures at a station I don’t visit often enough nowadays. Paddington was always one of my favourites but then I’m old enough to remember it in the days of Wester region diesel-hydraulic locos like the ‘Hymek’ and ‘Western’ classes hauling old composite coach sets with buffet cars. It’s not quite the same anymore.
00:30.
Time to draw this blog to a close. There’s lots to talk about but it’s late and today’s another day. I’ll leave you with three ‘unachievable’ things. I’ve done today. Well. if you believe the mainstream media!
Here’s the ‘unachievable’ HS2 station at Birmingham Curzon Street earlier today.Oh, this is the ‘unachievable’ Hitachi Class 800 that carried me from Reading to Paddington earlier. I also took a trip on the ‘unachievable’ Crossrail (aka ‘Lizzy line) from Paddington to Farringdon earlier.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 