We’ve had another thoroughly miserable day (weather wise) here in’t Pennines. The rain beating on the window and the high winds battering the house in the early hours made me decide that discretion was the better part of valour, so I canned my plans to get out with the camera and worked at home instead which gve me chance to edit some of the pictures I’d taken yesterday on a little trip up the West Coast Main Line as far as Carnforth. I should have written a rolling blog but I was too busy trying to keep up with other stuff – hence today’s reprise of events.

My first stop was Preston. An obvious choice as I had to change trains there, but also because the December 15th timetable change has seen Northern’s Class 323 trains working in pairs through the town on Blackpool North – Manchester Airport services. Some of these nippy units have been cascaded from services around Birmingham – hence combinations like this.

On the way North I stopped at Lancaster where the station’s having a bit of a revamp. Story rail are refurbishing the station canopies on behalf of Network Rail at a cost of £9.5m. You can learn more here.

Next stop was Carnforth. Home of the famous tea rooms which featured in the classic 1945 film ‘Brief Encounter’. Whilst the tea rooms are remaining open the adjacent museum closed its doors for the final time in October. The tea rooms remain bus and looked rather festive yesterday.

On my return via Lancaster I popped into a rather more modern refreshment room, the Tite and Locke on Lancaster station. It’s a wonderful addition to station bars which can be found on the Northbound platform. Roof restoration means that the outdoor area on the platform’s rather cut off, but the multi-room bar is still as welcoming as ever.

Much as I’d liked to have stayed I had to head home after a ‘swifty’. Hopefully I’ll have more time to explore next year.

Now I’m prepping for the next few days and decamping to Surrey for Christmas, but first I have a couple of days in London. Tomorrow I’m at the annual railway carols service at St Mary’s Somer’s Town, Eversholt Street, London NW1. The lessons will be read by: Ruth Cadbury MP, Chair of the Transport Select Committee; Rob Morris, Managing Director of Siemens Mobility; Elaine Clark, CEO of the Rail Forum; Mark Phillips, CEO of RSSB; and Maggie Simpson, Executive Director of the Rail Freight Group. If you’re in the area, why not join us? There’s mince pies and sherry to be had in the refectory afterwards.

I’ll add a rolling blog tomorrow. But right now it’s time to call it a day…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
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