This is the last blog from Bigland Towers for a while as tomorrow I head off to Crewe to join the Railway Children’s annual ‘3 peaks by rail’ charity fundraiser. I’d hoped to have been able to enjoy some of the gorgeous summer weather that’s arrived but instead I ended up stuck indoors for the vast majority of the day in order to clear the decks of various work before I decamp. Plus, I’ve had to pack for the family holiday which I’ll be joining once the 3 peaks is over. Dawn and her folks will be heading to Dorset on Saturday and I’ll follow on behind.
The logistics of these trips means packing for all eventualities and climates as it looks like we’ll be having changeable conditions depending on whether we’re in England, Scotland or Wales. Then there’s the Scottish midges to contend with, which means packing different protective equipment to keep the little buggers at bay! Right now I’m almost done. All the batteries are fully charged, spares packed, cables secured and the laptop cleared of pictures which have all been archived – just in case…
I’ll be blogging throughout the next few days as and when wifi and phone reception allows – which isn’t always. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture, which comes from a previous 3 peaks. One of the many delights of the event is the opportunity to take a trip on the Ravenglass and Eskdale narrow-gauge railway, which is used to move the teams from the coast inland, where they then walk from Dalegarth to the start of the climb up Scafell. Here’s ‘Whillan Beck’, the locomotive that was used in June 2018.
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Another week that’s begun with a day working from home, not that I’m complaining as it’s a nice way to ease oneself into a new week that’s the potential for being rather busy. Besides, I’ve most of the material I need for a new RAIL article now, so I can crack on with the first draft. Besides, having eaten out a lot (and drunk a fair bit too) I’ve decided to have a crack at losing a few pounds with the 5:2 diet, which means restricting your calorie intake to 600 a day for two days of the week. That’s much easier at home than when I’m on my travels – and I can combine it with a lot more regular exercise. It’s not that I’m overweight, I’m just nearer to top of the range I ensure I stay within. Today’s day 1 and it’s not been too bad, even though I’ve burned off a lot more calories walking over 18,000 steps as I had to stroll into Halifax to collect timber and screws for DIY chores at home. Still, it’s always nice to try something different, all I have to do now it take more care planning meals and making sure I don’t stuff myself on the other five days – especially as Dawn’s made another batch of her fabulous Bakewell tart and gorgeous lemon drizzle cake!
Today’s been made more pleasant by the fact we’ve only had the briefest of showers this morning whilst the afternoon and evening’s been graced with glorious sunshine. Temperatures are still low but after the conditions we’ve had recently – I’ll take it. Sadly, it seems this is a ‘for one day only’ sort of offer with the rain resuming tomorrow afternoon. Never mind, maybe I’ll get most of that article written…
Later this week I’ll be attending the RAIL Live event at Porterbrook’s Long Marston Rail Innovation Centre in Warwickshire. I just hope this massive outdoor event is graced with decent weather. At the moment the forecast’s looking promising so expect a rolling blog and pictures on Thursday. RAIL live’s a brilliant showcase of the latest kit (big and small) used by rail engineering companies. The site’s also used as a test facility and storage site for trains either recently withdrawn or waiting to go into service. So, today’s picture(s) are from the 2022 event, just to give you a flavour…
Brand new West Midland Railway Class 197s No’s 196010. 196106. 196011. 196109 and 196008 in store before entering service. Engineering company Furrer and Frey demonstrating their retractable 25kv overhead power supply. This can be used in depots or yards. Van Elle showing of some of their range of Road-Rail Vehicles.
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Here we are, halfway through June and on the cusp of summer and all the weather’s done here is rain! Only now, this evening have the clouds (sort of) cleared and the sun found some space to put in an appearance. There’s a pattern developing here, crap weather throughout the day that gives way to a nice evening – just to tease you!
Today’s plans went out of the window for a couple of reasons, the weather being just one of them. A couple of days ago Dawn had ordered a variety of fish portions from the excellent ‘Sailbrand’ in Huddersfield, with the delivery date of today. Dee had to go out, which left me holding the fort until the delivery arrived. Sadly, this wasn’t until 15:30, Coupled with the pouring rain it meant our plan to escape and go for lunch somewhere was thwarted. Ho hum…
Instead, my day’s been one spent kicking my heels at home, although it’s not been entirely wasted as I’ve been busy researching my next RAIL magazine article as well as fulfilling some household chores. I even managed to get out for a walk and a swift couple of pints in our local, the Big 6 whilst Dawn kept herself busy in the kitchen, cooking up some delicious delights for Father’s day tomorrow as well as a great meal for tonight.
Now we’re kicking back, looking enviously at the evening sunshine and thinking ‘why weren’t you here this afternoon’? Ah, well. Tomorrow’s another day. Now it’s time for me to knock off and leave you with today’s picture. Whatever the weather, Yorkshire does produce some amazing skies…
Something wicked this way comes…
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/
OK, I’m fed up of this weather now. It’s starting to try my patience. Although I’d planned to work from home today I was hoping to get out with the camera tomorrow. Looking at the forecast I think there’s fat chance of that! Truly, this has been an awful June so far. Despite the pair of us being wrapped up like a pair of Eskimos we cracked and put the central heating on for a while just to take the chill off the place. Then, this afternoon the rain started…
So many folk we’ve talked to are feeling the same frustration. By now all the winter clothing should have been packed away and the drawers packed with T-shirts and shorts. Instead, I’m back wearing woolly jumpers whilst Dee’s in a ‘hoodie’! Instead of tucking into salads we’re on winter food. Dee made a gorgeous meat and potato pie tonight – something we really wouldn’t expect to be scoffing in June.
Please God, let the weather change soon, so that I can plan more than 24 hours ahead. There’s a lot of scenic rail pictures I’d love to be taking, but when you can’t rely on more than one day of sunshine it makes arranging trips (in the UK, anyway) very difficult and expensive if I come back with nothing that I can use. Costs have risen massively as it it without the added uncertainty of the weather.
OK, weather gripe over. Now I’ll talk about politics…
No, not really, I’ll spare you that at least. When it comes to the Tory campaign, the expression ‘same shit, different day’ springs to mind. Now all the main parties have released their manifestos and people can see what’s on offer. So, i’ll quickly observe that none of it is moving the polls in any significant way and move on…
One of the jobs I finished today was completing stocking the new Trans-pennine Route Upgrade gallery on my Zenfolio website. You can find it by following this link. As well as migrating all the old pictures from other galleries I’ve added yesterday’s selection. I’ll be keeping a regular eye on the project, so expect many more picture to appear through the course of the year.
Now I’ll leave you with the picture of the day. Bugger the British weather, I fancy something exotic and beachy. How’s this then? The stunning Cachorro and Conceicao beaches on the beautiful and amazing Brazilian Island of Fernando de Noronha, seen on the 16th August 2002.
You can find many more pictures of the island and the Brazilian mainland in this gallery.
See you tomorrow – come rain or shine!
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/
As expected, there was little point in heading out with the camera today. Not only was the weather cold and miserable but some early morning work emails changed my plans. Plus, I had a husbandly task to do this morning. Dawn had a routine hospital appointment but who likes going to these things on their own? Instead, we walked to the Calderdale Royal hospital together where I kept her company in the waiting room – which was just as well, because the unit was running late so we waited for around 45 minutes which is hardly something to complain about when you hear of some of the horror stories about hospital A&E units. Waiting times regardless, the staff Dee dealt with were all lovely and did their best to keep her informed and relaxed.
By the time we got home there was no point in me thinking of going anywhere. Instead I spent the afternoon researching my next RAIL article. I was surprised how few nuggets of information I could glean off the internet. Sometimes we think the world wide web holds the sum total of human knowledge, but that’s not always the case, especially if it’s something more esoteric such as railway history. I spent several hours searching for what I wanted and still found gaps in the timeline of the place I was researching. Now I’ve resorted to ordering a couple of specialist books that I hope will help plug the gaps.
Job done, I did manage to get out for a wander and boost my step count. This time of year I’d be expecting to be in short-sleeves and shorts. Instead, I was wrapped up as if it was March! Now it’s time to kick back at home and prepare for another day. Tomorrow both Dawn and I will be working from her company offices in Huddersfield. I’ll be staying for the morning as I have a couple of ‘Teams’ calls to do initial interviews of people for the article. After that, I hope to nip out and get some more Trans-Pennine route upgrade (TRU) pictures. I mentioned that I’ve established a new TRU gallery on my Zenfolio website. Well, one of the things I did first thing to day was start stocking it with archive pictures, so here’s a link.
OK, it’s time to go but first I’ll leave you with today’s picture. Because of the TRU work, Trans-Pennine Express services are diverted via the Calder valley route most weekends. Here’s Hitachi built 802206 working 9M32, the 1244 Newcastle to Liverpool Lime St passing the site of Luddenden Foot station (closed 1962) on the 1st June this year.
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 may have to bite a proverbial tongue but I promise not to mention the election and the latest Tory shitshows today. It would take too long and I expect most people are as bored of them as I am. This torture can’t end soon enough – for the good of the country and our sanity – if nothing else.
Today’s been the first day back at work for Dawn after her long weekend which I kind of mirrored by taking some time off myself. Today we’ve both been back our respective desks here at Bigland Towers. This has been a good day to be stuck indoors to be honest. Whilst we’ve had a fair bit of sunshine the temperatures are anything but what you’d hope to expect in June. The past few days have been so chilly that our central heating has switched itself back on as the thermostat has reached it’s critical low. Not what I’d expect this time of year at all. But then the climate is seriously out of kilter. I can’t remember a year as wet as this. We’re in ‘four seasons in one day’ territory at the moment, which could be fun as in a couple of weeks I’ll be involved in the annual ‘3 peaks by rail’ event, raising money for the Railway Children charity. Conditions on Ben Nevis could be rather challenging. Right now the weather forecast is telling me it’s 8 degrees here, so this is hardly ‘flaming June’ – except in the pejorative sense. Don’t get me wrong, I’m anything but a climate change sceptic, I know the weather’s changing and warming up (on averages) but the amount of rain we’re getting as a consequence is unreal.
Tomorrow I’ve another day which will be spent working from home as it’s almost certainly going to be a waste of time getting out with the camera as there’s yet more rain being predicted in this neck of the woods. Shame, as I’ve just started a new Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade on my Zenfolio website. This mirrors the High Speed 2 construction gallery as both projects will be under construction for many years and placing all the pictures in their own galleries makes sense. You can find the link here. Tomorrow could be a good day to migrate a lot of existing pictures to the new gallery.
Right, it’s time to go. All that remains is to leave you with today’s picture. But what to choose? I’m leaving you with a food shot – tonight’s supper. This is hardly salad weather so Dawn decided to cook the pair of us something a little more substantial…
Salmon, new potato’s, carrots, broccoli, green beans and a butter, lemon and honey sauce. Yum!
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 another quiet day here at Bigland Towers due to the fact we’ve both had plenty of office work to keep us occupied, plus the weather’s been crap! Consistent it ain’t! There’s been no ‘flaming June’ here today. Instead we’ve had wind, rain and temperatures that make you want to wear several layers. It’s only this evening that the skies have cleared and the sunshine’s returned, but the temperature’s remained in single figures.
Still, I’ve had the latest general election fiascos and maneuverings to raise a smile. Honestly, what an absolute shambles for the Tories! I cannot think of another time when – instead of narrowing the polling gap, the party of Government widens it! Sunak’s an absolute disaster at hustings and his PR team want shooting (that’s metaphorical, OK – just before some people start to get wound-up). His campaign’s one disaster after another. Who in their right mind thought using an empty whiteboard in a Tik-Tok video was a good idea? Labour’s PR people were like greased lightning with their response, which got far more views than the original. Then the Lib-Dems (who seem to be having the most fun) photobombed Sunak from a boat.
Now, to add to the Tories sense of doom, Nigel Falange – sorry – Farage, has announced he’s standing for Parliament in Clacton! Admittedly, this is the ultimate in cynical opportunism by Farage. Originally, the UK wasn’t important enough for him. He claimed he was going to be a major player in getting grifter-in-Chief, Donald Trump back in the White House. Then Trump became a felon with 35 convictions, so the grifters gravy-train looked like it was going to hit the buffers. Suddenly, Farage did a reverse-ferret and decided that the UK election was worth his time. Well, grifters gonna grift.
Could he finally get elected on his eighth attempt? Possibly, Clacton’s very Brexity and if they’ve learned nothing since the referendum, voters may just be stupid enough to choose him. But it’s not guaranteed. Part of me hopes they will as it will finally expose the charlatan to UK public scrutiny in the way his previous role as an MEP never did. He’d make an absolute arse of himself in the House of Commons, if he could ever bother to turn up. He’d be a party of one. Can you imagine, just him and the other party of one (Jeremy Corbyn) having to share the end of a bench? His only hope would be that what’s going to be left of the Tories after the election will welcome him back – driving the Tory rump even further to the right and away from the political mainstream. Thinking about it, that might actually help put the final nail in the Tory party’s coffin…
Still, the whole circus will keep the media occupied for a while, just as the milk-shake throwing incident has today. Was it a set-up as some people claim? I’ve no idea, but I wouldn’t put it past Farage. He has form for these things. Either way, none of it is going to affect Labour’s standing in the polls, just as the hard-left shenanigans haven’t. Labour had a wobble over Diane Abbott standing, but it’s been a minor one that’s soon been eclipsed by other events. Meanwhile, there’s a debate twixt Starmer and Sunak in Manchester this evening, not that I’ll be watching as I’ve better things to do.
Tomorrow I’ll be back in London for a press lunch, so expect another rolling blog and pictures. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture. Yesterday Dawn and I had to pop over to Huddersfield to visit the dentists, afterwards we had a lovely lunch at Arcade coffee in the gorgeous Byram arcade before Dee had to call into her company office at the station water tower. That’s when I spotted today’s picture…
Wait? What?
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We’ve had another mixed day here at Bigland Towers. This morning Dawn was off to Manchester for a meeting with various Community Rail friends and colleagues regarding the history of the movement and an ambition to establish an archive relating to it. I’d had half a mind to pop over to Manchester too, but a glance at the weather forecast told me I’d be wasting my time. So, whilst Dawn was off on her travels I played the homebird! Talk about role-reversal…
My day flew by. After spending much of the morning researching stuff for my next RAIL article I closed down the computer to change roles and indulge in some DIY. I’ve been boarding out the cottage’s loft to add some (much-needed) storage space, but it’s a dirty, cramped job due to the condition of the loft and lack of space and the ‘interesting’ items you find. Dawn bought the cottage off a policeman many years ago, her view of the guardians of law and order has been ‘colourful’ ever since. In essence, said boy in blue had bodged just about everything in the property before putting it on the market. The place is a bloody minefield! Over the years I’ve managed to sort out many of his short-cuts and fakery but the loft space was always ‘out of sight, so out of mind’. Not any more. I’ve almost finished it, I just require a few more boards to cover the last couple of meters but the amount of crap, soot, rubble and other detritus I’ve removed that was hidden under rockwool has been amazing.
Having acquitted myself honorably on the DIY front I grabbed a shower then headed off for a walk and a pint, calling in at our local, the Big 6 for a ‘swifty’. I hardly recognised the place. A film company are taking over for the day tomorrow to shoot a new Alan Bennett screenplay called ‘The Choral’. It’s set in 1916, so the ‘Six’ was deemed ideal, well, once anything that didn’t fit the period was removed! That’s included everything off the walls and picture rail – and almost everything behind the bar – including optics, spirits and glasses! Meanwhile, the nearby road has been coned off for all the crew trailers and technical kit to arrive and the front and back of the pubs been swathed in scaffolding to install the blackout curtains which will turn day into night. And all this for one day’s filming! Here’s a few pictures as an illustration.
The stripped down bar sans optics, spirit bottles and modern beer classes. In their place is a few pewter tankards and fake beer bottles along with period beer glasses. The last vestiges of the 21st century will be stripped out after closing time. It’s a bit bare! Oh, and the gas fire has been hidden behind a screen.
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 day of mixed fortunes here at Bigland Towers. The pair of us have been busy in our respective home offices, only meeting up in the kitchen to swap news and gossip. Still, from my perspective it’s been a productive day. I’ve finished penning my next article for RAIL magazine and even begun the next with some forward research and commitments from various players within Northern trains that will make it possible. I won’t say what it’s about just yet but it will give a ‘behind the scenes’ insight into an important operational area.
If only the weather had been so good. Frankly, if you were spending much time outside you’d have no idea that we’re on the cusp of June and only a few weeks away from the official start of summer. It’s neither warm, dry nor sunny here in the Pennines. Instead, we have the sort of weather that makes you hanker for foreign holidays and sunnier climes.
As Dee’s off to a meeting in Manchester tomorrow I’d had half a mind to follow her but the forecast tells me it would be a wasted day. Instead, I’m going to stay at home, scribble some more and work on the cottage whilst I have the chance as I don’t want to waste some sunny days – if and when they arrive. Plus, I’ve a rather full diary over the next couple of months.
Talking of sunny days, we have plans for later in the year which will involve just that. Today’s picture’s a clue about our intended destination. This was one of the first pictures I ever had published – in a spread in the Sunday Telegraph way back in 1996. But can you guess where it was taken?
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/
Apologies for the lack of blogging recently but I’ve been rather busy both personally and professionally, so something had to give. Plus, I’d have been tempted to indulge in some spleen-venting o ver the utter shit-show that’s the Tories election campaign, but more on that later!
The bank holiday weekend was rather sociable, partly because it was Dawn’s birthday on Saturday and we’d arranged to have a day out with her parents before going for a meal. We visited somewhere they knew well but I’d never been to before, Wentworth Garden Centre near Barnsley. It’s not just a garden centre (although that’s huge, and the cafe equally massive) but also an ornamental garden. I was impressed with both – especially the garden centre as it possessed a far greater variety of plants than any near us – and the prices were very reasonable too, which caused both Norah and I to come away with various green goodies. In my case a couple of colourful and unusual ornamental plants as well as herbs to replace some I’d lost last winter. Come the evening we adjourned to a favorite food haunt, Punch Tapas in Honley, near Holmfirth. The food’s always good, the atmosphere never too frenetic and the staff ever friendly and attentive.
The rest of the bank holiday weekend was spent at home doing not very much at all due to the weather, which has resorted to being atrocious. We’ve had huge amounts of rain dropping from end of the world coloured skies – as well as regular claps of thunder. To be honest, Dee was glad of the rest as she’s been working at 110% recently. I was quite happy to be housebound too as it gave me the opportunity to clear the decks of all the pictures I’d taken over the past week and get them out to clients – and get paid! Now we’re in a new week and the end of yet another month. The weather’s showing no sign of improving – exactly the opposite. We’ve more yellow warnings of thunder and heavy rain so I’m thankful that I’ve another day at home, writing for a living.
Of course, I’ve been keeping one eye on the election, and I have to say I’ve never known such an utter shit-show. It’s hard to believe the Tories once had a reputation as a fearsome electoral machine because all we’ve seen since Sunak dropped the news he was calling it has been one disaster after another. Over the weekend he came up with another ‘brainwave’ no-one in his party had been consulted on – bringing back national service. In fact, the whole idea had only been dismissed by his Government in Parliament the week before! But that’s ‘Head Boy’ Sunak for you. He only listens to a tiny bunch of ‘think-tanks’ he’s surrounded himself with. To say the idea was greeted by almost universal derision and condemnation would be an understatement. Of course, the right-wing press and client journalists tried to cheerlead for the idea, but it’s shot full of so many holes it’s had the opposite effect to the one he was mad enough to expect. As usual, the devil’s in the detail (not that there’s much of that) but the interesting admission was that the hopelessly underestimated cost (£2.5bn) would be paid for by scrapping grants to the regions that were meant to make up for losing EU regional funding after Brexit! Yep, the regions get shafted again!
This madcap idea was meant to appeal to the ‘hang ’em and flog ’em brigade, which is mostly the old. But not too old, as you’d have to be at least 84 to have done National Service (my FiL did, he’s 90 this year). To reinforce this appeal to an older generation, Sunak came up with a second ‘brainwave’, which is the ‘triple lock plus’. What’s that you ask? It’s a ruse to stop pensioners having to pay tax on their pensions as the Tories have frozen personal tax allowances until 2028. That ‘fiscal drag’ is why more people are now paying tax, but pensioners will become exempt. It’s just another mad ‘back of a fag-packet’ idea.
To say this appeal to the elderly is misjudged is becoming more obvious by the day. It’s widely accepted that the old make up the majority of the Tory membership and that it’s the over 65s who’re most likely to vote Tory, but the very latest polling research from Redfield and Wilton has put the cat amongst the pigeons. Here’s their breakdown of voting intention by age.
Labour are ahead in every age demographic – even the over 65s! In fact, only 26% of over 65s intend to vote Tory! The bribes aren’t working…
Polling across the board shows that the Tories are toast. If the polls are moving, the majority show Labour’s lead’s increasing. Nothing Sunak is doing is moving the dial in his favour. Mind you, you have to wonder what the next batshit idea his friends in the right-wing ‘think tanks’ will come up with. Bring back hanging? Send kids too young for national service up chimneys? Ban something – maybe Gay pride, or the Notting Hill carnival? I wouldn’t put anything past these people. God help us – we’ve 5 more weeks of this crap to go. Meanwhile, Labour are looking more and more like the adults in the room, just waiting to take over the reins of power.
There is one massive omission in all of this. Any talk of the biggest elephant in the room. Brexit. You can see why Labour are staying schtum. As the Napoleon quote goes – ‘never interrupt you enemy when he’s making a mistake’. What’s amazing is that the Tories aren’t talking about Brexit either. After all, they fought the 2019 election under the slogan ‘get Brexit done’. They did (supposedly) so why are they not crowing about the ‘success’ of Brexit, and how they’ve delivered on all it’s promises. Y’know – the ‘sunny uplands’ and all that, where we’re now richer and more important in the world, having ‘taken back control’? Anyone who’s not a fanatical Brexiter knows the answer to that one, but for some reason, the mainstream media give the Tories a free pass on that question…
OK, that’s enough politics for one night. Now I’ll leave you with today’s picture, which is from Friday’s visit to Newton Heath Traincare centre in Manchester, not a place many people get to visit.
A trio of the oldest diesel train fleet operating on the national network – all of which are now operated by Northern (bar 3 they’ve sent to work the Bedford to Bletchley line). As an aside, did you know one of the world’s most famous football clubs started out as the depot’s own team? Nowadays they’re better known as…Manchester United, which was formed in 1878 as Newton Heath LYR Football Club by the railway’s Carriage and Wagon department!
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 