We’ve had glorious weather down on the Merseyside coast today so I’ve been making the most of it before heading back to the Pennines tomorrow. I realised that, whilst I’ve been here off and on for a couple of weeks, the one thing I hadn’t seen is the sea! OK, cue all the jokes about Southport never seeing the sea anyway – but today my wanderings took me down to the beach before I headed back into town to meet up with an old friend for a catch-up. Here’s a selection of pictures from my perambulations.
Meols Cop is one of many that’s looked after by a local station friends group. The buildings may have been demolished many years ago but now they’ve been replaced by well kept gardens which include this display of Lupins.Down by the marine lake is the Lakeside Miniature railway. Opened in 1911, it seems to still be operating but rather slimmed down from when I knew it as a child. Sadly, it wasn’t open today. The Marine lake. Getting all your swans in a row…No jokes about ‘you never sea the sea at Southport’ please! Here’s the pier which is about to be rebuilt (again) after being closed for many years as the last ”value engineering” project was less than a success.Here’s a new success. This is an old Victorian building that was rebuilt with a gorgeous Art Deco frontage. Having fallen into disrepair for decades, it’s now been restored.In my youth, behind ‘Funland’ was a place called the Dixieland Showbar. It was famous for its rock nights featuring local and other bands, with the music provided by Darrell Jay. The light show was always enhanced by the fug of tobacco and other illicit smoke. It was a very special place that holds lots of memories for me and many others. The old Promenade hospital. I was a short-term stayer here back in the late 60s. Nowadays folk stay longer as it’s been converted into apartments.
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Shit! We’re already halfway through April, or in other words – almost a third of the way through 2026! Where the hell’s the time going? My day seems to have flown by as much of it has been spent decorating the living room whilst I put the final (and 4th) coat of paint on the woodwork. Admittedly, I prefer modern paints to the stuff I used when I worked as a painter and decorator back in the early 1980s. Then you seemed to get more paint on everything other than the surface you were meant to be applying it to!
Whilst I was busily engaged with paintbrushes Dawn had a less pleasant task as she was at the dentists to have a molar removed. Having a tooth out is never the most enjoyable of experiences but dentistry has moved on a long way from when I was a kid in the 1960s. Then NHS dentists seemed like they were paid piece-work, the more they took out or filled, the more money they made. Fortunately, we have a fantastic dentists over in Huddersfield, the wonder of wellness. They’re so good people travel from all over the UK to visit them, so Dee was in good hands.
Even so, when she got home Dawn was still a bit woozy so has taken the rest of the day to recuperate, whilst I’ve shopped for someone who’s not allowed solid food or hot drinks for 48 hours. In the meantime – and as the living room is still topsy-turvey from the decorating I’ve reclaimed my old office in order to edit pictures and blog.
You can find all the pictures I took on Monday by following this link which will take you to the ‘recents’ section on my Zenfolio website. In the meantime. here’s a sample.
A pair of Trans-Pennine Express Class 185s round the curve into Dewsbury station under moody skies. This scene is slowly changing as station platforms are being extended (see left) and the first bases (right) have been sunk for overhead electrification masts and wires which will render pictures like this a thing of the past.
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Where the hell’s March gone? We’re a quarter of the way through the year which seem to have flown by. Well, more like blown by up here in West Yorkshire as we seem to have had nothing but high winds for weeks! I’m afraid it’s a short blog from me today as the evening is already late. I’ve been busy catching up with picture editing after a long local stroll yesterday and preparations for the week ahead – with Easter on the horizon.
At least the days are getting longer, even if they’re not getting much drier or warmer, but I hope to be getting out and about – and further afield in April. Well, if the madman in the White House hasn’t crippled or blown up the planet before then!
In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which was taken on my perambulations around Halifax yesterday.
One of Northern’s 2-car Class 195s arrives at Halifax with service for Chester. Old woollen and flour mills dominate the landscape but the buildings just behind the train have a very different purpose nowadays. This is the Nestlé sweet factory that’s been producing ‘Quality Street’ chocolates since 1934.
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After the past couple of days travels I’ve been have a home-based one, which is not bad thing as the weather’s resorted to type apart from one important difference. It hasn’t rained at all today. Oh, the weather forecast has threatened us with a ‘yellow’ warning of snow, but that’s failed to materialise – again. What has happened is temperatures have dropped and the wind’s sprung up, which has made walking ‘fun’. I hadn’t planned to go out today but whilst I was away a parcel arrived. I’d ordered a new charger for my laptop only to find what was delivered was very different to what was promised. It looked great in the pictures. A USB-c charger with decent cables. What I got was a less than A1 product with a series of interchangeable head – and not one was USB-c! Bugger! So, I had to wander down to the Post Office in Sowerby Bridge to send the damned thing back. Still, it meant I hit my daily step count.
The rest of the day’s been spent in the warm, editing yet more pictures from the ever-expanding repertoire. I’d still not got on top of all the London shots. Now I have Derby, walking in the snow and a trip to Southport in the queue. Thankfully, I’ve managed to clear the bulk of them and should have the rest dealt with before the weekend.
The pictures are in far too many different galleries to post links to, but if you follow this link to the recent section on my Zenfolio site you’ll be able to see where they’ve been placed. Once they’re all done I’ll be able to update yesterday’s blog with some more of the history of Burscough and something I only noticed yesterday – although I must have walked past it dozens of times.
The forecast for tomorrow is for more rain and snow so I’ll probably end up having another day at home if that’s the case. I have to be here on Friday as Dawn’s out for the day but we’ve a chap coming round to fix a leak on our boiler. The ‘rock and roll lifestyle’ eh? That said, I’ve plenty to keep occupied with even if I can’t get out – including planning a few new adventures…
In the meantime, here’s today picture. I feel for farmers right now. My recent travels up and down the country have shown just how much land is flooded. Trying to get crops into such sodden ground must be nigh on impossible. Then there’s crops already planted which are drowning – and there’s no end in sight. Here’s how some fields looked like around Burscough yesterday.
A former ‘Thameslink’ Class 319 converted to bi-more 769424 passes waterlogged fields at Hoscar, just outside Burscough yesterday. This is a scene repeated up and down the country right now and is bound to have an effect on food prices later in the year. Not to mention farmer’s livelihoods.
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Sorry folks, I’m still having technical issues with my laptop and computer kit, hence the lack of updates since Friday. Hopefully, things will be resolved on Monday – at least so that I can get all my London pictures edited and add a blog or two.
In the meantime, here’s a couple of pictures from Saturday. The weather in London was just as crap as it’s been up North which was a shame as my trip along the Greenford branch aboard GWR’s battery train was a really interesting experience for a whole host of reasons. The area’s changed a bit since I first got to know it in the 1990s – as the modern skyline in this picture shows.
The battery train is dwarfed by its surrounding and the new skyline of Greenford as it makes its way to West Ealing. If only the weather had been better! As you can see, the embankments on the route suffer from subsidence, leaving the track all over the place. 230001 arrives at Greenford. Dozens of railway enthusiasts turned out to sample the trip on Saturday, outnumbering ordinary passengers by several degrees.
See you soon…
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The weather’s really cramped my style here in Todmorden as it’s been bloody awful these past couple of days. My plans to get in some walking up on the valley tops have been frustrated by rain and low cloud that’s made it pointless. I’d have spent my time slipping around in the mist for nothing.
Instead, much of yesterday was spent working from home, editing the pictures I’d taken so far whilst sorting out others for future magazine articles and blogs. The weather’s been no better today as the rain’s been almost a constant companion. Even so, I decided to get out for the day, explore more of Todmorden and get a few pictures. Here’s the results.
I spotted these buildings at the back of some large Victorian houses a few days ago but couldn’t get pictures due to cars parked in the way. I took me a while to realise that they’re ornate sheds that combined a coal store (hence the wooden hatch) and an outside toilet. They were probably still in use as both up until the 1950s. It was only after the war that the new Labour government started funding home improvements that allowed people to install indoor bathrooms. Central heating to replace coal fires wouldn’t have been common until the 1970s.Unlike most West Yorkshire mill towns sho’s economy was wool based, Todmorden was a cotton town. It’s hard to imagine how it looked in Victorian times when there were 110 mills here! Today the daily empty ‘binliner’ from Teeside to Knowsley (Liverpool) was hauled by a smart looking 66011. I didn’t hang around after getting this shot as the weather was too miserable! Thursday is ‘tat’ day on Todmorden market with stalls selling bric-a-brac, old tools, clothing plus books and CDs. It was business as usual in the indoor market. This is our favourite butchers (one of several in the market). Nick Fielden is this butchers name. They have an excellent range of home-made sausages which we’ve been busy sampling. Their lamb Koftas aren’t bad either. We’ll be stocking up on supplies to take home with us before we leave. There’s also a cracking cheese shop nearby. Exchange coffee Co is a very popular stall with an great range of coffees from around the world. Drink in or take out – or buy in bulk…Dawson’s in a classic old hardware shop and stall of the sort men especially love to mooch around or admire. For a town of its size, Todmorden has more than its fair share of antique or arts and crafts shops, along with bookshops, making it an enjoyable place to wander around.
Sadly, tomorrow’s weather forecast is no better so I can’t see me getting into the hills at all. Instead I’ll try and get pictures of some of the more interesting buildings here. Then, once Dawn’s finished work we’ll be heading out for a couple of drinks and another excellent Thai meal. It’s a hard life!
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With the Christmas and New Year holidays over it’s back to the grindstone for Dawn and I. To make the start of the week more interesting we’ve had an unexpected snowfall which began arriving yesterday evening. When we opened the bedroom blinds this morning we found a fresh deposit, leaving us covered in a couple of centimeters of the white stuff. It looked gorgeous, especially against the clear blue sky that’s kept us company all of the day.
However, the snow wasn’t sufficient to make me change my plans as I had work to do at home. First up was judging the Avanti West Coast photographic competition entries. I won’t let anything slip, other than to say that there were some cracking entries. Let’s see if my fellow judges agree which ones those are…
That job done it was time to sort out a few more bits to put up for sale on Ebay. I’ve added several new badges and railway-themed bits, which you can find by following this link. This particular sale finishes in five days time, so you have time to browse and get your bids in!
Next up was editing all the pictures that I’ve been taking from a series of walks the pair of us have enjoyed these last days of the holidays. I’ll be blogging about each day separately as I’m working from home again tomorrow. Well, that’s the plan anyway. We’re meant to be getting more snow tomorrow but unless there’s something significant I can’t see me venturing out with the camera, so I’ll have time to catch up with some blogging.
After that, the rest of the week’s flexible, depending on the weather. I would like to get some snow shots but if not, there’s some other interesting railway workings that I’d like to cover before the West Coast Main Line (WCML) reopens after a series of possessions along the route. Watch this space…
For now, I’ll leave you with today’s picture, which was taken in one of our local woodlands this afternoon when I managed to get out for a stroll. After what seemed like weeks of gray skies and rain it’s been lovely to see the sun again.
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/
Another (wet) week begins here in Bigland Towers as the Calder valley remains sodden and often shrouded in mist and cloud. We may be getting closer to Christmas but there’s little likelihood of us having a white one. Daily temperatures have been hovering around double figures and well above what they should be by a minimum of 2-3 degrees. We even hit a ridiculous 14 degrees last Tuesday. With such unseasonably warm weather it’s hardly surprising we’re getting so much rain, which isn’t encouraging me to get out and about with the camera very much.
That said, on Saturday the sun Gods smiled, which was just as well as it was the official opening of the restored and repurposed Mytholmroyd station building. Dawn and I have been involved on the periphery of the project so it was lovely to be invited to see the finished building. I’ll write up the day in a separate blog once I’ve dug out some of the old photo’s which show what the interior used to look like. It was a lovely event and chance to catch up with old friends and colleagues from the world of community rail and the wider rail industry. Then on Sunday, it was back to normal with rain, rain, rain!
I’ve another couple of days working from home before heading down to London for a couple of days starting on Thursday. Looking at the forecast this crappy weather’s due to follow me South, but I don’t mind too much as Thursday is the Railway Carols service so most of my time will be spent indoors anyway. I was hoping to maybe catch up with the few remaining Class 455s working for SouthWest Railways but I may have to take a rain-check on that – literally!
Friday’s a more social event, after which I’ll be heading North ready for the last weekend before Christmas, although that won’t be a frenetic as previous years. We don’t have to tour farm shops as it’s going to be (mostly) a meat-free Xmas – which is easy on the wallet as well as the stomach! We’re intending to get out walking too as the weather’s looking more promising, so it may prove to be one of the healthiest festive seasons we’ve had for a while.
In the meantime, I’ve a few projects to fill the next few days with, which will keep me occupied whatever the weather. In the meantime, I’ll leave you with today’s pictures which was taken with a long-lens from our bedroom window this afternoon. Here’s how the Calder valley’s looked for much of the day.
Now you see it, now you don’t…
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There’s been another quiet day here at Bigland Towers. Whilst Dawn has ventured out to see an old friend and work colleague I’ve stayed close to base in order to get some blogging done whilst the weather’s miserable, although not as cold as it has been, which is a small mercy as scraping ice off the car wasn’t needed.
In between type-swiping and resizing pictures for the blog I’ve been keeping and eye on the political arena, although it more resembles a bear-pit nowadays. The right-wing media worked themselves into a frenzy in the run-up to the budget as they convinced themselves and their listeners/readers that it would be an economic disaster. The reality was very different. Reeves is no Liz Truss! By the end of the day the bond markets were intact, the FTSE100 had risen by 0.85% and people’s mortgage rates remained unchanged. It wasn’t what the right had been hoping for. I’m always amazed how these ‘patriots’ seem to want the worst for the UK and its citizens. They spend all their time trying to pretend we live in an economic disaster area with a capital city so overrun with crime and foreigners it makes 1970s New York look like paradise. Here’s a good example, from the Brexiter and bankrupt Allison Pearson who writes for the Telegraph.
Actually, no – we don’t pray for such a thing as we remember what happened last time with ‘Lettuce Liz’ Truss…
The far-right and their cheerleaders in the media are an odd bunch. One minute they’re saying we should ‘look after our own’, then when Reeves lifts the two-child benefit cap, increases the minimum wage, freezes rail fares and taxes the rich more they hyperventilate that now we’re ‘rewarding the feckless’! But then hypocrisy runs through these people like the letters through a stick of seaside rock.
It would be tempting to go on to talk about the ‘fagash Fuhrer’ Nigel Farage and the latest revelations about his fascist past and his halfhearted denials, but I have other things to do. All I will say is – I’d be fascinated to know how you sing ‘gas ’em all’ so it’s not in a “hurtful or insulting way”? Then there’s the small matter of his buddy and fellow UKIP MEP Nathan Gill being imprisoned for 10.5 years for being a traitor…
Funny old thing, this ‘patriotism’ malarkey…
Anyway, I’ll leave you with today’s picture, which has nothing to do with politics or economics. In fact it’s a world away from matters temporal. Some of you may have wondered where the header picture for my blog front page comes from. I took it in Kathmandu in Nepal way back in 1992. It’s a cropped version of this picture of the Buddhist stupa at Bodnath.
This amazing place is both a temple and a world heritage site. I’ve not been back to Nepal since 1998 but for some reason it keeps cropping up in my imagination. Maybe it’s time to revisit…
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/
Another week begins here at Bigland Towers, and it’s turning rather nippy. The balmy weather we’ve enjoyed for so long has deserted us, leaving us with a pronounced chilly spell and even (allegedly) the threat of snow – although I’ll believe that when I see it.
I’m not too perturbed as I’m back on my travels for the next couple of days. Tomorrow I head down to London in readiness for a press visit on Wednesday, but more of that nearer the time. I’m looking forward to getting out and about, making my way to the capital and having time to catch up with the dwindling suburban train fleets built in the 1980s-90s by British Railways. As an ex-Londoner, they’re very familiar to me and I’ll miss the 455s and 465s when they’re gone. Mind you, I’ll be heading to London via the West Coast Main Line where another, later fleet is also being retired. Owned by Porterbrook leasing, the 37 Siemens Class 350/2s were built between 2008-09, the majority have already gone into store with no firm future, which seems a criminal waste of such a good train. I’m hoping to catch one or two on my trip. Today’s picture is of the first of the fleet and one that’s still left in service for now.
350241, still wearing London Midland Livery but carrying London and Northwestern branding is pictured at Wolverhampton on the 18th August 2018.
Expect a rolling blog from tomorrow’s travels…
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 