13:30.
Sorry for the lack of blogging these past few days folks but I’ve been taking time off for various reasons, but now I’m back in a new week and cycle which will provide plenty of time to blog and lots to blog about.
We returned from our Surrey sojourn on Sunday. Dawn drive all the way in good time and with only one stop. The fantastic weather we’d had in Tilford when we spent the day watching Dee’s nephew playing cricket followed us home. Thunderstorms have been predicted but have failed to materialise despite the looming cloud formations being equal to the task. The lack of rain’s kept me active in the garden, lugging cans of water up and down the steps and terraces, so I’ve had quite a workout.
Yesterday was busy sorting out all the pictures I’d been taking which have gone out to various clients. I was also kept busy arranging a potential job which would have taken me up to Scotland next week. The work came in on Thursday but by the time we came to arrange it yesterday the remit had already changed! Such is freelance life. I’m not complaining as the work (and more) is still in the pipeline. Besides, I’m meant to be on holiday in Norfolk next week, which will be a welcome chance to relax as this Thursday I start the Railway Children’s annual ‘3 Peaks by Rail’ odyssey. It’s the 20th anniversary this year so it’s going to be a special event but my lips are sealed about details – for now.
Having finished with pictures and emails earlier and with the weather still cracking the flags and reaching records for the time of year here in the Calder valley I’ve ventured out for a few hours to head West and another valley. Right now I’m on Northern’s 13.02 from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester Victoria. It consists of a single 2-car Class 158 with all available windows open – which suggests the air-conditioning is kaput. It’s certainly warm in here – and noisy. On the table opposite me I have two young people knocking back the Pimms and G&Ts. I wouldn’t mind, apart from the fact they both suffer from inarticulacy. Every 3rd word is ‘like’. In the case of the young girl it’s almost every second word, which is extremely repetitive when she’s talking 90 to the dozen. Even their ‘posh’ accents can’t disguise just how limited their vocabulary is. To deaden the sound I’ve resorted to headphones and the ability to drift away on a music cloud. In this case memories of an equally warm summer day in back in 1978 when I saw Genesis at the Knebworth festival. Oh, God – I’ve just realised that was 45 years ago!
13:55
I may have been critical of the young couple adjacent to me but I’ll give them credit for clearing up the half-ton of scrap drinks cans they had on their table and binning them when they left the train. It’s more than many do nowadays.
I made a swift cross-platform interchange to catch one of Metropolitan-Cammell’s finest modern products in the shape of a Northern Class 156 heading for Stalybridge. It’s running late but no matter as I’m in no particular hurry.
14:45.
I observed steady progress electrifying the line to Stalybridge. Since my last trip the contact wires have been installed all the way from Miles Platting as far as the West Junction at Stalybridge. There’s still steelwork to install in the station area plus the East throat and some of that is now lying in the 6 foot between platforms, ready to be installed during overnight or weekend possessions
17:15.
Next stop was Mossley but the summer sun had already moved on to leave heavy shadows which was a shame as it’s a great location. Victorian homes abut the railway with such closeness its amazing anyone got to sleep in the age of steam, when clanking unfitted freight trains thundered past their bedrooms. But then you didn’t have Nimbys in those days!
After that I detrained at Greenfield for the mile long climb up a back road to a vantage point over the Uppermill viaduct. Sadly, the view’s not what it was due to tree growth which has hidden a lot of the viaduct. Even so – on a day like this it’s still a photographic location.
18:20.
Time to head home. I’ll add some of the camera pics later. Right now I’m on a train from Greenfield back to Stalybridge in order to get back to ‘my’ bit of the Pennines. Thankfully, the walk back from the site overlooking the viaduct is almost all downhill and there’s a great real-ale pub opposite Greenfield station. Well – I felt like I deserved one!
19:15.
Well, that was ‘fun’. Checking on various timetables it seemed my best option for getting home was via Stalybridge and Manchester Victoria. So, I duly caught a train to ‘Stalyvegas’ where it all went a bit ‘Pete Tong’. Late running meant going via Victoria was up the spout. Still, there was always the option of getting the first train to Huddersfield and going via Halifax, right? Then the information screens and updates fell apart. I missed one train to Huddersfield as I was waiting for one to Hull that was only delayed by a couple of minutes but I was on the wrong platform. Then this really helpful screen came up.
19:12.
I’m now on the optimistically timed 18:41 which is currently crawling from signal to signal on its approach to Diggle, barely a mile from where I was taking pictures earlier. I suspect this is going to be a long journey home.
22:15.
Home again! Despite the crawl across the Pennines I arrived in Huddersfield with a few minutes to spare to catch my connection to Halifax. The 2-car Northern 158 supplying the service had working air-conditioning and was pretty empty, so the journey was easy. Admittedly, walking up the hill from Halifax to Spring Edge was more of a slog so required a pit-stop at the ‘Big 6’ for a swift half, but beyond that life’s been good. I’ll put the exercise down to limbering up for a bigger event later in the week.
Now it’s time to relax at home before another busy day tomorrow.
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Paul Bigland 