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Tag Archives: Northern Rail

Rolling blog: making pictures whilst the sun shines…

03 Monday Jun 2019

Posted by in Northern Rail, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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11:37.

It’s been a long day already as I was working at 06:30, editing pictures from the weekend to get on my Zenfolio picture website. The beauty of having an office at home is the commute to work takes no time at all, even if I detour via the kitchen to make coffee!

That and a few chores done I’ve nipped out for a few hours to get some library shots in the sunshine before nipping back through Manchester to take advantage of the city’s excellent range of shops.

Right now I’m Preston bound on Northern’s York-Blackpool North service in order to bag a few more shots of the new CAF Class 195s on training runs and (hopefully) a new TPE set.

15:24.

Well, that was a frustrating afternoon the nearly went awry! It started well enough. I’m not a fan of the Blackpool trains as there’s often too many screaming kids and drunks on ’em, but I was joined at my table by a polite young man who eventually struck up a conversation. He admitted that he wouldn’t normally, but a friend on social media had mentioned that people do talk on trains now as they’re too busy staring at their phones, iPads etc, so he thought he would. My camera sitting on the table provided the talking point. We spent an enjoyable half hour chatting about travelling as he’d just finished college for the summer and was off to work in Cyprus for the summer.

It was only when we got to Preston things went pear-shaped. It was obvious none of the new CAF trains were sticking to the STP (Special Train Plan) timings so I decided to head over to Blackpool in the hope of catching some there. The plan worked although I was surprised to see a couple of the electric versions (the Class 331) stacked in the sidings too. I managed a few decent shots and bag a couple of the units in and out of the station in the sunshine.

DG324624crop

One is electric, the other diesel powered. Can you spot the difference? 

Now I’m on my way to Manchester to do the less exciting bit and shop.

18:44.

I’m finally homeward bound after spending a couple of hours tramping the streets of Manchester in search of a new suitcase as our last one bit the dust after a month in Mew Zealand & proved impossible to get repaired. I also had to visit the city’s new Uniqlo clothes store on a shopping mission for Dawn. Not trusting me to get the right ones she sent me a PDF if pictures and sizes which I’d printed off so I couldn’t get it wrong!

On the way to the station I saw an anti Trump demonstration by the National Football museum and couldn’t resist popping in. Organised by the Labour party, it was supported by just a few hundred people.

Now I’m rammed in the vestibule of the 18:37 Manchester Victoria-Leeds which has worked by a 2-car Class 150. As usual, it’s packed as far as Rochdale then eases off, giving everybody left aboard a chance to get a seat, which begs the question – is 2 cars plenty?

23:09.

It’s almost time for bed, but I’ve been sorting out a few of today’s pictures first, so here’s one of the new CAF units seen at Blackpool North earlier today.

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Rolling blog: Picking up where I left off…

01 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by in Northern Rail, Railways, Rolling blogs, Transport, Travel, West Yorkshire

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11:15.

It’s time to shrug off the jet-lag and hit the ground running now that I’m back in the UK. First off is meeting up with friends and colleagues in Manchester to find out what I’ve missed over the past month and to sort out some projects for the coming months. Of course, there’s a social side to it too!

I’m currently on my first Northern Rail service of the year, the 11:06 off Sowerby Bridge to my old home town, Southport. It’s a good start as it’s on time and it’s made up of two refurbished units, a 150/156 combo. I’m travelling on the 156 as I much prefer them to the 150s, it’s good to see them becoming regular on the Calder Valley line again nowadays.

The walk down to Sowerby station wasn’t too bad, despite the fact there’s fresh snow on the ground. The weather’s turned milder so I don’t feel like a fish out of water after being used to New Zealand’s summer temperatures!

The dusting of snow we’ve got on the hills around us is thicker and lower as I’ve journeyed West, so this is also a valuable reduce trip as I need some snow pictures for a client. Hopefully the snow will hang around for a day or two.

11:44.

We’re now on the Eastern outskirts of Manchester, where the snow’s thinner but still present and the weather brighter. After being used to an Island with less than 5 million inhabitants it feels rather odd being back in the far more populous UK.

14:10

People familiar with Manchester pubs might know where we are now…

16:52.

After a very convivial afternoon I’m on a train back across the Pennines. To be honest – it’s bleeding freezing! Clear skies have seen the temperature plummet. Even this trains HVAC system’s struggling to cope…

17:37.

A quick pit-stop at the Hogshead before I tackle the hill home. One thing I did miss in New Zealand was the one thing the UK is unique at – pubs. Nowhere else in the world comes close. It was one of the things UK expat (in New Zealand & elsewhere) always mention with a wistful expression.

Rolling blog: Birmingham return…

13 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by in ACoRP, Birmingham, Northern Rail, Rolling blogs, Travel

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09:30

Dawn and I are on our way to Birmingham for the ACORP Association Of community rail lartnerships) AGM. It’s not the quickest of journeys to Britain’s second city due to our Victorian rail network. Right now we’re on one of Northern’s no-frills Class 150s heading to Manchester Victoria. In my opinion these are the worst trains Northern have – even the Pacers beat them. They’re very much in as-built form, which means there’s no tables, the seating’s 3×2, it’s difficult to find a rubbish bin and the views are poor because of the window and doorway arrangements.

Admittedly, there’s not a lot that you can do with the major design defects, but Arriva Trains Wales refurbished their 150/2s and brought them up to a much higher standard. I’ll see if I can dig out a picture to compare later.

10:39

After a brisk stroll across central Manchester we’re now sitting on Cross-Country’s 11:05 to Bristol Temple Leads which is being worked by a 5-car Voyager. I can’t wait to be doing this trip on Hs2, although I’ll have to as it’s not going to open until 2033!

11:49.

We’re well on our way to Birmingham now. The train’s pretty empty for a change, I’ve managed to get a table seat and crack on with some picture editing. Dawn and her colleague Hazel have the table opposite me, so I’m leaving them to it!

The weather’s picking up the further South we get, so I’m hoping to get one or two rail shots before the ACORP AGM starts…

12:52.

The ladies have headed off to AGM venue and I’ve nipped off for an hour to get some new library shots of the cross-city line which is operated by these old Hunslet built Class 323s.

26 of these trains (which date from 1992) work around Birmingham with another 17 based in Manchester. They’re nippy units that are comfortable to travel on as well as being popular with drivers. Despite this, they’re due to be displaced by brand new trains from 2020. However, there are plans to transfer these trains to Northern allowing them to replace the 4-car Class 319s there and work in multiple to run 6-car trains (2×319=8, which wouldn’t fit in most platforms).

16:06.

The AGM’s over and there’s six new board members elected from nine candidates.

18:00

Dawn and Hazel with the outgoing Chair of the ACORP board, Peter Roberts, who’s been keeping order for the last 18 years.

Rolling blog: Sunny days and Mondays…

25 Monday Jun 2018

Posted by in Community rail, Northern Rail, Pacers, Rail electrification, Rail Investment, Railways, Travel

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I’m taking advantage of the glorious sunshine to get some rail pictures for a client today – I had planned to visit a line I’ve not been on for some time – the South Fylde line to Blackpool South. It’s a shadow of its former self compared to the glory days of the Edwardian era when tens of thousands would travel to the seaside town by train. Then mills across the North would shut down for the annual Wakes week with people travelling en-masse on excusion trains dispatched from stations across Lancashire and Yorkshire. Now it’s a glorified siding that branches off the main line to Blackpool North at Kirkham and Wesham, but it’s still a useful line used by a Pacer train shuttle service from Colne (another much truncated line). Sadly, due to problems with delayed electrification and a shortage of rolling stock, the service isn’t operated by trains today – only buses. So I’ve opted for plan B. I’m heading for the Windermere branch!

Right now I’m on a Northern service from Halifax to Preston. The Blackpool lines only recently reopened after being electrified. My train would normally run through to Blackpool but a combination of factors mean many services are replaced by buses from Preston, including this one.

Plan B meant changing to a Virgin Trains Pendolino to Lancaster. Then picking up a Trans-Pennine service to Oxenholme. Icould have caught the TPE srvice at Preston but those 4 car trains are always rammed, whilst the VT service was a 9 car Pendolino, giving me a bit more space. Here it is pulling in. A repainted 390047…

True enough, when I caught the TPE at Lancaster,I ended up sitting on the vestibule floor!

20:19.

I’m retracing my steps towards Halifax after an enjoyable day exploring a railway I’ve rarely visited. It’s been a trip made even more fun by fab weather and old-fashioned loco-hauled trains.

My first surprise was when the TPE guard annouced “change at Oxenholme for the West Coast Railways service to Windermere”. I wadn’t expecting that, but good on them for recognising it was something unusual. As we were late I had to sprint across the platform to make the train, which was made up of 3 old Mk2 coaches in WCR livery topped and tailed by a pair of ex-Virgin Trains “Thunderbirds” (57314 and 57316 for the number crunchers). The train was packed so I ended up stood in a vestibule -right next to someone I knew from the rail industry who was having a ‘jolly’!

We had a real catch-up about mutual friends and what they were all up to nowadays as we made our way to Staveley where I decamped to look for a suitable lineside location to get pictures. Sadly, like many lines, vegetation has encroached to choke off many opportunities. This is the problem when you don’t know a line well and haven’t had time to do much research!

In the end I decided to spend more time exploring than photographing and headed back as far as Burneside where I found the remains of a freight branch that used to serve 3 local paper mills. Only a short section of track is intact but it’s a suprising survivor in this day and age. I never even knew it existed, but a few minutes on the internet threw up this Wikipedia page.

The track is still in situ at this point but it’s gradually disappearing beneath the gravel. The old BRB sign’s a bit of a giveaway! The old goods yard is in front of the camera. Behind me the line crosses a yard then ends in a stone wall.

Looking towards the old goods yard. The road here leads to Burnside railway station on the left.

After an amble around the area & noting locations for a future visit I had a run down to Windermere before heading back to Kendal to get a few more pictures like this one.

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57316 (with 57314 on the rear) pulls away from Kendal station as it heads towards Windermere. I took this picture from a lattice footbridge which crosses the line at this point. The land to the right was once a large goods yard which is long gone.

 

 

Good news for the Calder valley & other Northern railways

06 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Northern Rail, Rail electrification, Railways, Transport

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Yesterday was a good day for railways in the North. As well as the start of the Northern electric service a report from the Northern Electrification Task Force, set up by the Transport Secretary to advise the government on which areas it should focus its investment was published.

You can find it here.

http://www.railnorth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/EFT_Final_Report_FINAL_web.pdf

Schemes were prioritised into three tiers. Tier 1 (the highest priority) are as follows:

  • Calder Valley (Leeds to Manchester and Preston via Bradford and Brighouse)
  • Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington Central
  • Southport/Kirkby to Salford Crescent
  • Chester to Stockport
  • Northallerton to Middlesbrough
  • Leeds to York via Harrogate
  • Selby to Hull
  • Sheffield (Meadowhall) to Leeds via Barnsley / Castleford & connections
  • Bolton to Clitheroe
  • Sheffield to Doncaster/Wakefield Westgate (Dearne Valley)
  • Hazel Grove to Buxton
  • Warrington to Chester

This is great news for the Calder Valley as the importance of the line as a mixed traffic, Trans Pennine route has been recognised. The line is also a crucial diversionary route for Trans-Pennine Express trains when the Colne Valley is closed for engineering route. As the Colne Valley will be electrified in the near future, the Calder would have been useless to TPE’s future electric services.

The report goes on to say “the routes detailed in Tier One should now be taken forward through the production of more detailed business cases with a view to including them in the work programme for the next rail industry ‘Control Period’ (2019 to 2024). Rail North and Network Rail should jointly progress this work and we therefore ask Government to prioritise resources, identified specifically for this purpose, so that work can progress with the required degree of urgency”.

Another good feature of the report is it recommends a rolling programme of electrification beginning with tier 1 but carrying on until all 3 tiers are complete. The other tiers are these. Tier 2 contains eight routes;

  • Manchester to Sheffield and south-east Manchester local services
  • York to Scarborough
  • Bishop Auckland/Darlington to Saltburn and Sunderland
  • Barnsley to Huddersfield
  • Sheffield to Lincoln via Retford
  • Chester to Crewe
  • Burnley to Colne & Kirkham to Blackpool South
  • Knottingley to Goole

Whilst tier 3 contains a further 12 routes;

  • Barrow to Carnforth
  • Pontefract to Church Fenton
  • Hull to Scarborough
  • Ormskirk to Preston
  • Carlisle to Newcastle
  • Skipton to Carlisle
  • Barton on Humber
  • Cumbrian Coast
  • Doncaster to Gilberdyke
  • Cleethorpes to Thorne (Doncaster)
  • Middlesbrough to Whitby
  • Skipton to Heysham

I would love to think we’ll see such a rolling programme and that (one day) branch lines such as Whitby & Barton on Humber, but I won’t hold my breath! In the meantime, I’ll be happy to see the tier 1 routes included in CP6.

There’s a feeling amongst quite a few people, both within the rail industry, local government and the political arena – that the present Calder Valley service is suppressing demand. Reliability isn’t what it could be, nor is there an express service between Leeds, Bradford & Manchester that could tempt people out of their cars. Electrification could allow this to happen by increasing capacity, speeds & reliability – as well as improving the passenger environment. Now the ball is in the Minister’s court, but this close to an election, don’t expect any announcements until the dust has settled…

Needless to say, there’s a lot in the document and – as always – the devil is in the detail. I’d urge you to read through at your leisure to see the full depth of what’s been considered.

 

 

Northern’s new electrics hit the rails in the North West

05 Thursday Mar 2015

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Today was a bit of a red letter day for Northern Rail as their new electric train service between Liverpool Lime St & Manchester Airport started carrying fare paying passengers, 53 years after the overhead wires first reached the city when the West Coast Main Line was electrified. I took a trip across the Pennines to Merseyside to check out how it all went & I have to admit I was impressed. The ex-Thameslink Class 319s have received an internal refresh which has greatly improved their tired interior but what really stands out is their performance. These 4-car, 100mph EMUs are replacing 2-car 75mph DMUs on a route that has line speeds of 90mph. Leaving Liverpool Lime St you can be forgiven for not really noticing much difference – except for the absence of the vibration & noise of an underfloor engine. As the service stops at Wavertree Technology Park it doesn’t really get to stretch its legs but that soon changes. From just before Roby until our next stop at Helens Junction, we flew! The acceleration of the 319s is impressive & the trip was a rather exhilarating experience after ‘enjoying’ decades of fairly pedestrian diesel units that wheezed & rattled along the same route the electrics now glide over with ease. The performance was just as ‘electric’ as far as Newton-le-Willows where I swapped riding them for photographing them. Considering the trains have doubled in size I was surprised by how full they were already. Whether this was the first day effect or not I don’t know but two other electric services I saw were just as busy. I’ll pop back in a couple of weeks to find out. On my return I couldn’t resist stopping off at Rainhill station to grab a shot of a 319 passing the site of one of the most famous events in railway history – the Rainhill trials. Here, in 1829, Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ reached the heady speed of 30mph. Now, Northern’s new electric service will be speeding past at 90mph. How times (eventually) change!

Here’s that picture at Rainhill; http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p755024368/h22d6177#h22d6177

The Pacer change hits Northern

27 Friday Feb 2015

Posted by in Hs2, Northern Rail, Railways, Transport

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Today the department of Transport issued the ITT (Invitation To Tender) for the new Northern Rail franchise which is due to start on April 1 2016. The ITT sets out the minimum requirements which must be included by bidders in their proposals. Not entirely unexpected was the ITT committing the franchise winner to withdraw all the 4 wheel ‘Pacer’ DMUs (class 142 & 144). Originally the DfT had resisted this idea due to the extra cost to the franchise (over £200m*) but Ministers have decided to override the DfT.

You can find the full ITT here:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/northern-franchise-2015-invitation-to-tende

This means the BR built Pacers will be phased out of Northern service by 31st December 2019. However, it’s not the end of the road for them as they might just possibly be cascaded elsewhere – unless other ITTs (such as the future one for Wales) also prohibit their use. As it is, Pacers will remain in use with Arriva Trains Wales & First Great Western – for now.

Interestingly, the ITT also contains this:

‘5.4.2.2 The Department requires a Franchisee who will procure and bring into service, no later than 1 January 2020, a minimum of 120 new carriages that are capable of being used to operate Passenger Services on non-electrified routes. They must be designed with future demand and users’ needs in mind, with a clear focus on passenger comfort and with a thoroughly modern passenger environment and exterior look. These must be newly-built (not re-using components from existing rolling stock) and, unless the Bidder intends for them to be hauled by a locomotive, must be capable of operating under their own power for significant distances on non-electrified routes’.

Does this preclude Serco-Abellio from signing up to use Vivarail’s ‘new’ DMUs which would be converted from former London Underground D78 stock? Earlier this week I was chatting to Northern’s MD Alex Hynes who certainly can’t be described as a fan of the converted trains. He wouldn’t be offering them in any future ITT. The question now, is – would anyone else?

The announcement also pulls another rug from under anti Hs2 campaigners. They’ve always tried to suggest that Hs2 will suck investment money from the existing network. The Northern ITT has proved how hollow their claims were.

* A letter from Permanent Secretary to the DfT Philip Rutnam to Transport Minister Patrick McLaughlin asks for formal guidance on the issue of Pacer replacement. In his letter, Rutnam states the cost of Pacer replacement will be ‘just under £250m over the life of the franchise’. The letter can be found here; https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/407753/dft-permanent-secretary-to-sos.pdf