After the fun of photographing orangemen’s day on Saturday I relocated to a different district of Southport. A place called Marshside, which is on the coast North of the town centre. There’s a clue in the name! I’m presently cat-sitting for my sister’s partner Steve, whilst he and Anne enjoy a week in Croatia. I’m now looking after Hubble, Toil and Blackjack, three cats with very different characters. My time here will allow me to crack on with some work as there’s really not a lot to do around here other than enjoy the walks, views across the marshes to the sea and watch the abundant birdlife as the area’s an RSPB reserve. It takes over an hour from here to walk the three miles into town along the coast road, but it’s a lovely walk – and flat so very different to home in West Yorkshire. Here you can see for miles with nothing to obstruct your view. In a clear day Blackpool Tower and the ‘big dipper’ at the fairground are easily visible across the Ribble estuary. A simple out and back walk gets me more than my daily quota of steps. Add in a bit of shopping and you’re talking 25-30k steps (12-15 miles). The weather here is still hot and sunny, but being by the sea we have a cool breeze which takes the edge off things. Here’s a few pictures from the past couple of days. to give you a flavour.
Whilst I’ve been here I’ve been catching up with picture editing, adding dozens of new images to my Zenfolio picture website. You can find out which galleries they’ve been added to by following this link.
The coastal road looking towards Southport with a pier a speck in the distance. In the 1960s we helped build this road. In those days it was done piecemeal. people were allowed to dump whatever hardcore they had they wanted to get rid of on the site and a council bulldozer levelled it and gradually extended the embankment along the route, getting the road built on the cheap!Looking across the Ribble estuary with Blackpool Tower prominent. But don’t be fooled. The town you can see is actually Lytham St Annes. The coast curves which means you can’t actually see Blackpool itself. The sleeping Southport pier, the 2nd longest in the UK. Work has started to reopen it to the public once again. See link. There’s still a lot of old chimney pots in Southport, which give an interesting clue as to a building’s history and age. These are on the North end of Lord St. Odin’s teeth! when the hell was Valhalla built by the Mogul Emperors?
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Today my time here has taken a slightly different turn as my Sister and her partner have booked a week away in Croatia, which means cat-sitting is required. Not at my sisters (there’s cover here) but at Steve’s as he has three moggies which he brought back with him from Saudi Arabia. So, I’m moving into Marshside for a week.
It’s a very different part of Southport to where my sister lives. This part of town was a late Victorian/early Edwardian extension. Marshside and it’s neighbour Churchtown are much much older, going back to before Southport itself was established. They’re old fishing villages that go back hundreds of years. A tell-tale is the original tiny cottages (some still thatched) that nestle in between much later buildings. Marshsiders are still seen as a different type of people to ordinary Sandgrounders (the nickname for people from Southport).
Having a place to myself (well, if you don’t count the cats) will allow me to finish a load of work I need to do, including a couple of articles for RAIL magazine. As Marshside is pretty isolated, I’ll still have the opportunity to get plenty of steps in too.
Here’s a few pictures that illustrate the area. I walked there from the centre of town, which was interesting as I discovered things I never knew, like the fact Southport once boasted an aerodrome!
The Southport aerodrome existed from 1910-1966, closing when I was a child, but I’d never heard of it. It was only when I was walking to Steve’s that I passed this history board that I discovered its existence. Here’s more about the history of the site. The Marshside fog bell. In 1869 seven men out shrimping got lost in fog and drowned. The community raised fund to build this fog bell so that the tragedy would never repeat itself. You can read more about it here. An old fishermen’s cottage in Churchtown. Tiny, aren’t they?
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So, Nigel Farage, the thinin-skinned and tetchy leader of Reform (don’t you mean owner of Reform PLC? Ed) has thrown his toys out of the pram again after being subject to scrutiny from the normally supine media over his million pound bungs and association with criminals.
His ‘big idea’ to divert attention? Resign from Parliament and call a by-election. Citing ‘harassment’ of your family by visiting your daughter’s ‘home”.’ (which is owned by him). The same home Farage was happy to pose outside for PR pictures and put into the public domain several times – and one he was registered to vote at in the last election. Plus, there’s the fact that Farage posed with his daughter, Isabelle on I’m a Celebrity… Get Me Out of Here! in 2023.Oops!
Only it’s not that simple. That’s not going to stop the media looking into his affairs (financial or otherwise) and the Parliamentary Standard Committee looking into his financial declarations will only pause, not cancel, their investigations. If Farage is re-elected, the investigations will continue.
It’s classic Farage, using tactics he’s learned from the American MAGA movement and the likes of Steve Bannon. But they’re not as easy to get away with in the UK as they are in the US.
The other major parties have already called his bluff and said they won’t put up candidates. The only person who has said they’ll stand is parody candidate and comedian ‘Count Binface‘ Needless to say, a lot of people are making jokes about this at Farage’s expense.
It’s a typical Farage farce, and one that will run and run…
Oh, there’s one other thing. This tactic was tried before. People with an interest in politics may remember when David Davis, the Tory MP for Haltemprice and Howden staged a similar stunt in 2008. Then, as now – all the major parties refused to take part. One other party refused too. UKIP, who were led by…..Nigel Farage.
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Sunday’s not been as lazy as the old song by the New Faces remembers (although more of that in the next blog). Instead, I’ve had a busy day here in Southport, catching up on exercise routines now that I have access to the park equipment that I’ve found so useful whilst I’ve been here. Admittedly, my muscles have felt the strain after a week-long gap, but it’s all good.
Apart from the physical endeavours much of my day was taken up with editing pictures from the first of my HS2 visits earlier in the week, in order to get them out to the writer and editor who need them first thing Monday morning. Then there’s all the other stuff I took on my second visit, along with a horde of other general railway pictures I took the opportunity to take whilst in the capital. They’re going to be keeping me busy for a while. On top of that I have other work and stuff to sort out, which is going to keep me occupied for the rest of the week. Hang on, I’m meant to be semi-retired, although it certainly doesn’t feel that way right now!
No rest for the wicked, eh? I’m not complaining, I’d rather be active than bored. One thing I notice about Southport after being back in London for a while is how the town resembles ‘God’s waiting room’. There’s an awful lot of retired people who seem to have little purpose other than to aimlessly wander the town centre, drifting from one coffee or charity shop to the other, or taking refuge on the benches that bedeck Lord St, like they’re living sculptures. At my most cynical, it reminds me of the old Colin Crompton joke about Morecambe, where he said ‘they don’t bury the dead in Morecambe, they just stand ’em up in the bus shelters’. I shouldn’t mock, as I’m now part of that demographic – although my bus pass sees bugger-all use!
Anyway, tomorrow’s another week and I’ve a lot to do. I won’t be travelling much, but expect a flood of pictures to appear on my Zenfolio website as and when. In the meantime, here’s a taster from my visit to the HS2 construction site at Old Oak Common in London. Regular readers will know of my interest in architecture. It’s why this shot inside the new HS2 station appealed to me despite their not being a train in sight…
If only someone in orange PPE had been stood in the background…
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My time here in London’s come to an end. It’s been a lovely break. Staying with a dear friend whilst having the opportunity to visit HS2 construction sites and just enjoy being back in a city that I loved living in. The trip’s not entirely over yet. I’m booked on a train out of Euston later this afternoon so I’ve still some time to explore, but right now I’m helping out by waiting in for a parcel whilst Hassard’s off at an event. As soon as said parcel arrives I’ll be off on my travels again.
I did manage to nip out earlier to grab some shots at Clapham Junction. It feels very strange nowadays, the old Class 455s which dominated suburban services when I first moved here (they were new then!) have all disappeared. Now the South-West Railways ‘Arterio’ Class 701s have taken their place whilst Southern services have gained a variety of ‘Electrostar’ type units transferred in from GWR and GTR, which adds some livery variation at least.
A Waterloo bound Arterio wends its way through the maze of tracks outside Clapham Junction station.An Alstom built ‘Juniper’, Class 458/4 calls at Clapham Junction. The skyline is constantly changing here. You can see a crane building the lift tower of yet another high-rise block in the background.
14:00.
Hassard’s son Dante has arrived to take up parcel duties, so I’m off to meander across the city. In some ways the timing couldn’t have been better as a magazine’s contacted me about a cover picture – of London’s railways! Right, back to Clapham Junction is is then. The sun’s shining and conditions are ideal for what they want…
17:09.
For the second time in a week services out of Euston are stuffed! I made sure I arrived early, only to find the concourse crammed with people. Apparently, two seperate incidents have caused chaos. Avanti have cancelled several services and my 16:46 to Crewe didn’t leave until 17:09, which completely screws my connection to Liverpool Lime St. This might turn out to be a long day!
Euston how you don’t want to see it…
18:45.
We’ve just left Lichfield 30 mins late. To add to the fun the young lady Conductor has announced that the delay means we’ll be terminating at Stafford, not Crewe. Hopefully, I’ll be able to pick up a Liverpool bound service from there. It’s a shame, as the jourbey fom Euston’s been pretty good. I managed to secure one side of a table bay on this new Class 730. The train wasn’t too packed either. The only negative was that 2 out of the 3 toilets were out of order.
19:20.
The trip doesn’t get any better! Like far too many stations nowadays, lifts at Stafford were out of order. That wouldn’t normally inconvenience me but I’m dragging a suitcase today. Everyone scrambled over the footbridge from platform 1 to 5 only to find the next Liverpool bound service was actually an hour late and terminating at Crewe! Apparently, there’s another just a few minutes behind this 4-car Class 350, but I decided to catch it to Crewe – just in case!
I’m starting to look forward to a weekend without travel…
It’s a shame. The evening’s lovely and the countryside sublime as so many crops look to be on the cusp of being harvested. It’s just the journey that’s been fragmented and not as relaxing as I’d wanted. Plus, I’ve not been able to grab any pictures because of the melee.
19:55.
Said melee continued at Crewe when a trainload of people headed off in different directions in order to find out where to go next. Myself and several others ended up on a late-running Avanti Class 807 heading for Liverpool. Dispatch staff had checked that ticket acceptance was in place – so pile on! As this one only stops at Runcorn and Liverpool South Parkway I’m making up a little bit of time.
Despite the problems I’ve really enjoyed my trip over the West Coast Main Line. It’s part of my blood. I’ve travelled on it since I was a teenager. I’ve worked on it and it’s kept me linked with family and friends through good times and bad. I’ve never had the same relationship with its East Coast rival.
21:10.
Having arrived in Liverpool courtesy of Avanti instead of West Midlands trains I took a quick break (time for a pint) before catching a train to Southport. The contrast between London and the North is quite stark in my mind. London’s so much younger than the North, and I mean the people, not the history. It’s horrendously expensive compared to when I lived there but there’s still a real buzz and youthful feeling – a million miles away from Halifax – or Southport.
One thing that amused me is the way the political right-wing try to paint London as a hellhole led by a Muslim Mayor. It’s world’s apart from the truth, as is some Northerner’s ideas that Londoners are stand-offish. Both are so far from the truth they’re laughable to anyone who’s ever lived or spent much time in London.
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It’s the end of a baking hot day here in the Calder valley with another one in prospect tomorrow – although I won’t be around to see too much of it.
These past couple of days have seen me transition from Southport to Halifax once more, although this time by car, not train as on Monday night Dawn joined me at the coast so that we could both attend my sister in law Bev’s funeral on Tuesday morning. Funerals are never exactly joyful events, but Bev’s last wishes were for something short, sweet and colourful. So, no dark suits or dresses, instead, we were invited to dress for the summer – which was just as well as the weather was scorching! Bev got the funeral she wanted (with one minor deviation as her daughter Hayley read one of the poems that made up the service) and people left feeling uplifted rather than sad.
After a short family gathering for tea and cake Dawn and I drove back. Sadly the journey dragged out due to the weather, traffic jams and idiots on the roads, so we arrived too late to get a train back into Manchester to attend a leaving do. Just as well perhaps, as some other friends struggled to get back due to trains being cancelled.
Now, after a day at home where there was no let-up from the hot weather, I’m preparing to head off again, this time to volunteer on one of the hardest and maddest events in the rail calendar, the annual ‘3 Peaks by rail‘ charity event which raises money for the Railway Children. I’ve been volunteering since 2017, although I was forced to miss the event last year. Now I’m back, so expect a series of blogs from the event as we traverse the rail network to get teams to Snowdon, Scafell and Ben Nevis and back. As if the mountains themselves aren’t enough of a challenge for the teams, this year the rail logistics team and volunteers have to cope with problems with closed rail routes and extreme heat. There’s never a dull moment and each year presents different problems to be overcome.
Here’s a selection of pictures and behind the scenes look at the 2017 adventure.
I’ll see you tomorrow with the first of the rolling blogs…
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’d hoped my first blog of a new week would have been about something more positive, but I’ve just watched Sir Keir Starmer announce his resignation as PM and leader of the Labour party. A decent man has been hounded out of office by the media and betrayed by the disloyalty and the personal political ambitions of those in his own party.
Some things never change. It seems the Labour party has steadfastly refused to learn the lessons of the Tory years of endless political psychodramas. The political stability many have been yearning for following those times has been ripped apart again. Now we’ll have a Labour leadership race – with Andy Burnham looking the almost certain winner.
I’ve no real love for Burnham. Having watched his career over the years I’ve come to the conclusion he’s a political Janus. Now personal ambitions have unseated a serving Labour Prime Minister. Now, I’d be happy to be wrong about Burnham. I hope he makes a good Labour PM, but those in his party who think ditching Starmer will stop the onslaught of negativity from the right-wing media are naive fools. The media has gained another scalp and will be even more emboldened. Far too many of them want to see Farage in No10 so aren’t going to stop. Now will the Elon Musks of this world. They all have far too much power nowadays. Gone are the times when the rich spent their money on improving the welfare of their fellow citizens. Now they buy newspapers, set up TV ‘news’ channels which are little more than propaganda outlets, or rig social media to highlight and pump out far-right views – and or politicians seem unable and/or unwilling to do a damned thing about it.
Now, all we can do is sit back and watched the media circus as they salivate over the leadership contest, something they’ve been so keen to make happen.
This is not a good era for democracy.
Ironically, I passed this reminder of better times yesterday. Southport infirmary was built with money donated by the wealthy owner of Hartley’s jam. Then, the wealthy campaigned for and helped build a better future for the fellow citizens. Now the obscene wealth held by just a handful of people is used to undermine not only their own citizens, but everyone.
Yep, after time in rolling Devon and a brief sojourn in the hills of West Yorkshire I’m back in the coastal flatlands of Southport for the next few days. Only this trip is tinged with sadness. Whilst I was away in Devon I received the tragic news that Bev, my sister in law had lost her brief fight with cancer. There’s so many thoughts and memories about the time we all had together before I moved down to London in 1986, but a blog is hardly the best place to express them. So many of the people we knew then have passed away – but there is one memory I’ll mention. A birthday party at the flat they occupied in the early days. Lots of friends were there and various people provided food – including my mother, who’d made a trifle. As the evening wore on (and the more senior members of the family had taken their leave) things got out of hand. If I remember rightly, Angie threw the first bit of trifle. After that all hell broke loose and we ended up in a full on food fight of the sort that you’d have seen in a 1960s comedy! The next morning those of us who’d stayed overnight ended up trying to clear up the mess, scraping trifle and other sticky foodstuffs off walls, pictures and carpets. Not to mention what was stuck to us! So, Bev, I’m so sorry to hear of your passing, but I will never, ever forget you – or the fun that we had in those distant days.
Right now I’m passing time by getting fit (no really!). Staying with my sister Anne has enabled me to do a lot of walking as well as taking advantage of the exercise equipment in a local park. What I’m finding helpful with this is what was my old Fitbit. Now, Fitbit was great for keeping track of your movements and giving you feedback on some of your health metrics, but it was passive. Now it’s been absorbed into Google and they’ve added an AI coach. I’ve always been cynical about AI – for lots of reasons – but I find this AI coach really helpful. It’s both motivational and informative, it’s not passive at all. It doesn’t always get things right (but all you have to do is correct it) but it gives me lots of useful information unprovoked that inspire me to improve my exercise.
Mind you, that’s not all. Our friends in Devon (along with Dawn) have inspired me to go on a low-carb diet. I’ll be interested to see how that pans out over the next couple of months, but as I’ve just cleared 3 million steps in 2026 I’m feeling positive!
Meanwhile, I’ll be enjoying splitting my time between walking, exercising and working as the weather here in Southport’s been pretty good – although we’ve had some threatening skies
Thankfully, the rain stayed out to sea.
Tomorrow I hope to be doing some more exploring, so watch this space….
Friday saw me travel back from Southport to West Yorkshire, swapping the coast for the hills and sunshine for cloudy weather – along with a significant drop in temperature!
I was in no rush to get back as Dawn was busy working all day so I had plenty of time to soak up the sun, stretch my legs and get in some exercise before catching the train. I’ve really enjoyed staying at my sisters and reacquainting myself with the town I grew up in (but left so long ago). Splitting my time between between Southport and Halifax gives me the best of both worlds. I’ve lots of stories in the bank to blog about when I have time. But for now I’ve other things in mind.
Dragging my suitcase and camera kit to Meols Cop station I caught a type of train from another chapter of my life – my 25 years living in London, when the Thameslink Class 319s often carried me around the capital. Now, most have gone for scrap, but a few have been converted to bi-mode (diesel and electric) Class 769s which are a staple on Northern services from Southport to Stalybridge and Manchester Oxford Rd.
Once, these 100mph electric trains carried passengers from Bedford, though central London to Brighton. Now they’re seeing out their retirement as bi-mode units, but still working from city to coast – just a very different city and very different coast! Here’s 769434 arriving at Meols Cop, a station in Southport which is well looked after by local station friends.
They’re a definite improvement in quality compared to the old 1980s built Class 150s which are also regulars on the route. Especially as they still have the former 1st Class area with its roomy 2+1 seating, making them ideal to sit back and relax in as the rich farmland of the West Lancashire plain trundles past the window before we call at Parbold where the landscape becomes more hilly. By Wigan the landscape changes again, as the route onwards to Bolton was dominated by the mines and cotton mills of the industrial revolution. Nowadays all the pits have disappeared, as have many of the mills, and the scars on the landscape they left behind are gradually healing.
On arrival at Manchester Victoria I swapped the comfort of my 4-car Class 769 for a rammed 2-car Class 195 which was working a Chester-Leeds service. This was totally inadequate for the numbers travelling but Northern seem to have problems with short-formed services at the moment. I’m glad that I don’t have to do this part of the trip every day as I ended up standing all the way back to Sowerby Bridge. Fortunately, Dawn was available to pick me up as pulling a suitcase a mile uphill whilst wearing a 12kg camera bag is a bit of a minority sport!
Now I have a full day back at Bigland Towers before we’re on the move again – but not by train this time. The pair of us are driving down to Devon where we’ll be staying with friends for a week. Hopefully, I’ll find time to blog. They may not be wordy, but they’ll certainly contain some different pictures of a part of the UK I’ve not visited for many years.
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’ve had an excellent start to community rail week with a very well attended opening event at Oxford station this afternoon. The festivities culminated in a canal side walk followed by snacks and drinks at ‘Yellow Submarine’ in the city. The rain that was predicted held off, making the event even better.
Getting back has proved to be more stressful.
I hung around in Oxford to download and edit the first pictures from the event in order to get stuff ready for the press release, then spent some time taking a few pictures for myself as Oxford stations changed a bit since I was last there due to the construction of the new through platform and the rebuilding of the Botley Rd bridge which it’s necessitated. That meant I was leaving just before the evening peak, heading North on a rammed and late-running Cross-Country service. That was unfortunate, as I had a ten-minute connection time at Birmingham International. Our dwell times increased at each station due to the sheer volume of people squeezed into a five-car Voyager., which meant that at Coventry my connection was sat in the opposite platform. Thankfully, signallers put us out ahead of the Pendolino I was meant to catch and I made my connection at International with minutes to spare. I was hoping for a pleasant journey but ended up having to seat next to a surly young girl with attitude who stank of BO. Thankfully, she bailed out at Sandwell and Dudley, leaving her aroma around to linger!
But, at least I was heading home. As it sped North through deteriorating weather the Pendolino emptied out, making for quite a reasonable journey from Crewe to Wigan. I even managed to blag an empty table bay!
Swapping between stations at Wigan I caught my last train of the day – and one of my favourites. As much as I enjoy a tilting, 125mph Pendolino, there’s something to be said about the old Class 156s. They may not have the same catchet, but they’re a great train for rural lines.
The only problem was the vista. Remember I said the weather was getting worse the further North I got? By the time it came to cross the West Lancashire plain it was persisting it down – and had been most of the day, apparently.
Still, if this weather continues tomorrow it’s not too bad. I have a massive backlog of pictures to edit and things to do indoors for my sister. Let’s see what happens…
Paul Bigland 