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Misty Monday…

04 Monday Nov 2019

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It’s the beginning of another week and it’s certainly got off to a soggy start! When I opened the bedroom blind this morning I couldn’t see more than a couple of hundred metres, never mind to the opposite side of the valley! The fog’s persisted throughout the day whilst the rain’s been intermittent and annoying, so it’s been a good day to stay at home and scan more old slides, which is what’s kept me occupied for most of the morning.

In between showers I did manage to venture out for my afternoon constitutional and drop off some old railway books at the Jubilee Refreshment rooms on Sowerby Bridge station. On December 5th they’re having a sale of books donated by the estate of the late Theo J Gray, and I’ve added a few of mine to help. All the proceeds will go to the station friends group, so if you’re in the area, pop along! Details are in the link.

Right now I’m back at home, catching up on admin and preparing for a busy week ahead. In the meantime, here’s a few samples of the pictures I’ve been scanning.

In 2003 I went on a Virgin Trains press trip which was a two day event on the UK’s longest train journey. This was aboard the 08.55 from Aberdeen to Penzance, which took fifteen and a half hours and crossed three of the UK’s most famous rail bridges (the Tay, Forth and Royal Albert) on one train. I wrote about the experience for RAIL magazine at the time. The weather was mixed, but by the time we got down to Cornwall we were treated to a classic summer evening. Here’s a shot taken from the HST as we sped through Cornwall to Penzance. The picture was used in both RAIL and Virgin Trains own magazine.
Here’s the view from the cab of HST power car 43154 earlier in the day as we crossed the Forth rail bridge with a coal train hauled by a Class 66 approaching from the South.

You can find the rest of the pictures by following this link to my Zenfolio website. I’ve added nearly 300 old slides from 2000 and 2003 in the past few weeks, meaning there’s plenty to look at! I’ve still a couple of hundred pictures from 2003 to scan which I’m hoping to have done in the next couple of weeks. After that I’ll see which album next to be dug out of storage and added to the queue. There’s still plenty of slides from the 1990s to be done yet, therefore I may step further back in time for the next one…

In the meantime, expect plenty of new pictures to be added in the next few days. I’m working in both London and Birmingham on Wednesday, then returning to the capital at the weekend for quality time with old friends.

Another week begins…

07 Monday Oct 2019

Posted by in Down memory lane, Photography, Railways

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It’s been another damp start to the week here in the Calder Valley with little sign of autumn sunshine, just murky low cloud and mist. It’s a great excuse to stay indooers and catch up on paperwork, picture-editing and chores in the hope I can get out and about for the reat of the week to catch-up with the changes on the Northern rail network and also farther afield as I’ve a long list of shots that I need to get for a commission…

The weekend was a chance to have a lie-in and catch up on my sleep deficit, even if Jet (our cat) had other plans by waking me up at 06:20 on Saturday morning! The little bugger wanted feeding and made a real hue and cry until I did.

The weekend wasn’t all down time. I had to finish editing the pictures from the ACoRP awards ready for Monday morning, so the moggie did me a favour in some ways as I’d got them done by Saturday breakfast-time. On Sunday I started tackling another long-standing job – scanning the 1000s of old rail slides that I have to get them onto my Zenfolio website and available for sale. The album that’s in the queue now is pictures from 2000 when the railways looked very different. I scanned a small selection of pictures from the Manchester area, a few samples of which appear below. In those days Virgin trains were all still loco-hauled as the introduction of the Pendolinos and Voyagers were still a couple of years away. First group ran the North-Western franchise and used an assortment of old BR built trains, including first generation Class 101 DMUs built by Metropolitan-Cammell back in the late 1950s – early 1960s, along with old electric units cascaded from London and the South-East in the shape of ex-Eastern region slam-door Class 305s and 309s. Apart from the liveries, very little seemed to have changed then despite several years of privatisation, but change was certainly in the offing…

On the 14th April 2000 a pair of Metro-Cammell Class 101 DMUs pass at Guide Bridge whilst working services out to New Mills. On the left is 51230 and 45056 whilst the other pair is 51201 and 54347. All four cars were built in 1958. The last handful of 101s were withdrawn in 2003.
Former ‘Clacton’ unit 309623 stands in Manchester Piccadilly on the same day. Seven of the units were brought out of storage for use in the North-West in 1994 and remained in service until later in 2000. The 309s were BRs first 1000mph capable electric units.
Also on the 14th April 2000, Fragonset Railways 47712 crosses the Stockport viaduct whilst on hire to Virgin trains. It was working the 15:36 from Manchester Piccadilly to Birmingham New St. Fragonset went bust in 2006 and the loco was sold to Direct Rail Services (DRS) who still operate the engine to this day.

Yet another mixed bag of thoughts and pictures.

25 Thursday Apr 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Musings, Photography, Railways, West Yorkshire

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I’ve been keeping myself occupied working at home all this week, although that will change soon. Today’s been busy with scanning old pictures and digging other bits out of the archive for a client as well as nipping out for a couple of hours to stretch my legs and meet up with a friend from Twitter who’s travelling round this neck of the woods during a trip over from Ireland.

After all the sunshine we had over the weekend, we’ve had a very mixed week, it’s almost like the traditional bank holiday weather arrived a couple of days too late!There’s been some incredibly moody skies, heavy showers and even one huge clap of thunder this afternoon. I try and take a daily walk through our local woods up to Albert Promenade, which offers superb views across and along the Calder valley. Here’s what it looked like a couple of days ago.

I love the views from here because of the way the light’s always changing depending on the clouds and also because we’re looking Southwards, so the sun backlights them, adding to the effect.

Back at home I’ve cracked on with more post-scanning picture editing before sticking them onto my Zenfolio picture website. Here’s a taster of what you can find.

5316. 47361. Very tatty. Didcot. 21.8.95crop

People sometimes forget how tatty trains could look in the BR era. He’s a Class 47 looking rather sorry for itself whilst stabled at Didcot on the 21st August 1995. The old blue paintwork can be seen through the peeling and faded Railfreight livery. 

I’ve now finished scanning the album from 1995 and leapt forward to April 2000, which is when this next shot was taken. The rest are in the queue for scanning…

7610. 90009. 14.35 to Glasgow Central. Euston. 10.4.2000crop

On the 14th April 2000, 90009 ‘The Economist’ still in BR ‘Intercity’ livery waits to leave London Euston with Virgin West Coast’s 14.35 to Glasgow Central service. Loco-hauled would last for another 4 years before the new Pendolino’s arrived. Afterwards, 90009 found a new home working trains from Liverpool St to Norwich. A service they’ll soon be displaced from by the arrival of new trains from Stadler. Meanwhile, Euston is in the throes of redevelopment due to the construction of HS2, so in a few years this scene will look very different indeed. 

Tomorrow, weather permitting, I should be out and about, so expect a rolling blog from my travels.

 

Better late than never.

16 Tuesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Railways

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Today’s not been a vintage one – unless you count scanning lots of old pictures from the 1990s..

This morning Dawn and I attended the funeral of a lovely chap we knew both as a neighbour and as a regular in our local pub. Sadly, a few weeks ago, he suffered a massive heart attack whilst playing tennis and passed away at the age of 66. To say that Gary was popular and respected was evidenced by the number of folk who turned out to his cremation which was standing room only. I’ve no doubt that his family will be comforted by the send-off he received and the magnitude of people from all walks of life who turned up to pay their last respects.

These events are often unsettling for a number of reasons, not least because those attending are forced to face their own mortality and remember past times. Here’s some of my past in the form of photos I took long ago in 1995. I was never one for organised rail tours, but back in the mid 1990s, as the railways were changing due to privatisation, I did a few. Here’s a couple of shots of Hertfordshire Rail tours ‘Honey Monster’ which ran from London Paddington to the MOD storage facility at Long Marston in Oxfordshire. The site was packed with stored rail vehicles of all sorts and ages.

5141. 33019. 33057. The 'Honey Monster' railtour. Paddington. 29.7.95crop

Class 33s no’s 33019 and 33057 prepare to head the ‘Honey Monster’ railtour out of Paddington on the 29th July 1995.

The weather at Long Marston was excellent. Here’s some of the stock that was stored, which included brand-new (well, a year old) Class 92 electric locos.

5160. 92003. 92007. MOD Kineton. 29.7.95crop

As Joni Mitchell sang in ‘Big Yellow Taxi’, “you don’t know what you’ve got ’till it’s gone”…

If you want to have a look at more of today’s scanned pictures, you can find which galleries they’ve been added to on my Zenfolio website by following this link.

Rolling blog: making the most of the weather…

10 Wednesday Apr 2019

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs

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08:39.I was up at 06:00 this morning to make Dawn’s coffee as she’s on a course in Liverpool today. This gave me time to scan another batch of old slides from 1995 which I should have on my website tonight. Here’s a taster from Warrington Bank Quay.

5022. 56132. 56033. Warrington Bank Quay. 20.6.95crop

Class 56s no’s 56132 and 56033 side by side at the station on the 20th June 1995.

Right now I’m off out to make the most of the sunny weather and try and catch up with some pictures for clients that I got side-tracked from on Friday. More soon…09:39.Despite the sunny interludes it’s a bit of a nippy day so I was glad the walk down to Sowerby Bridge warmed me up a bit! I arrived a couple of minutes late to catch the train I was aiming for, so now I’m hopping to Hebden Bridge to pick up a Fast train to Manchester from there. My steed is 158845, one of Northern’s refurbished Class I58s that’s had the full make-over. It has new seats, tables and also USB power sockets as well as an improved Passenger Information System.

11:05.I’m back on track as I decided to stay on the Blackpool train and take a detour via Burnley. This was for several reasons including the fact I hadn’t got pictures of the new station building and that I’d always meant to see if I could get a shot across the town showing a train traversing the viaduct on the Colne branch. I managed to achieve both aims with the added bonus that my return trip was on a stretch of track I’d not previously travelled on: the Todmorden curve.Whilst I was at Burnley I spotted this unique planter on Manchester Rd station which celebrates the town’s links with an earlier form of transport, the canals.

17:10.Ok, it’s a long story what I’ve been up to since I crossed Manchester. I visited a location I’ve wanted to check-out for years – and I wasn’t disappointed. After getting the train to Goostrey station on the line from Manchester to Crewe I walked to the Twemlow viaduct. I’ve passed over it hundreds of times, but you only appreciate its magnificence when you see it from the ground

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22:15

I’m happy with the pictures I managed to get today. Hopefully, the client will be too! So much has happened between now and then to blog about at length as I’m now taking it easy at home. Well, when I say “easy”, I’m actually on tenterhooks, trying to follow what’s happening at the EU summit in Brussels. Will the unanimity of the EU 27 finally break? The UK’s pushed its luck and it wouldn’t be any surprise if one or two countries finally ran out of patience with us. Brexit is an utter shambles, even some of it’s cheerleaders are admitting that now as they don’t want to be left carrying the can when the inevitable happens. God, what a mess this country’s got itself in…

Juggling…

09 Tuesday Apr 2019

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After yesterday’s travels today’s been spent at home to catch up on the huge volume of pictures that I’ve taken or scanned over the past week. That’s the only downside to pictures – they have to be edited and labelled and grouped before being transferred to my website. It’s a surprisingly time-consuming process that’s not helped by me trying to be more active this week as scanning all these old slides means I’m sitting around on my backside for much of the day, developing corns on my bum rather then getting some exercise.

There’s also the temptation to pay too much attention to social media and the latest news of the country completely losing the plot over Brexit. OK, I take that back. The country lost the plot ages ago. Now we’re completely through the looking glass! Having jst about exhausted their list of people to blame for the failure of Brexit (other than themselves), Brexiters have come up with an absolute stunner. The Queen’s to blame! No, that wasn’t a typo – They. Are. Calling. The. Queen. A. Traitor! Why? Because yesterday she signed the bill delaying Brexit beyond April 11th that was passed by err, Parliament…

Now remember, these are the people who’re always bleating about ‘democracy’ and ‘Sovereignty’, two concepts that most of them clearly know zip about! If it wasn’t so tragic (and dangerous) it would be a superb comic moment. As it is, the satirical website ‘The Poke’ has poked fun at them – and very effectively too (link) – aided and abetted by furious readers of the Daily Mail! Some of the comments on the Mail’s website make me seriously question the sanity of their readers, never mind their intelligence…

So, another month and another date we should have left the EU passes. Anyone with half a brain can see what an utter shambles this is. The UK’s a laughing stock around the world. Now the EU’s having to save us from ourselves and (hopefully) set a much extended date for article 50 whilst we try and sort ourselves out – which is going to be no easy task because the lunatics (of all political shades) are still in charge of the asylum and haven’t got a clue what to do. Even some of the hardline Brexit supporters (well, those one’s who haven’t been lobotomised) are starting to think – hence Peter Oborne’s volte face here.

The wrangling and the humiliation continues in Brussels, where Teresa May is, yet again, making a fool of herself and the country with EU leaders. Luckily for us, they seem to care more about the UK than she does, and seem poised to insist on a year long extension of article 50 in the hope it’ll give us chance to sort out our own mess. We shall see…

Right, it’s time for me to return to scanning a few more old slides. Here’s one from the latest batch, taken at Warrington Bank Quay station on the 20th June 1995.

04994. 87017. Working to Preston. Warrington Bank Quay. 20.6.95crop

Class 87 No 87017 ‘Iron Duke’ calls at Warrington Bank Quay whilst working a Euston to Preston service in BR days – long before Pendolino’s were even though about.

You can find the rest of the old slide scans as well as all the new pictures by following this link to my Zenfolio website. It’ll take you to the ‘recents’ section and show you which galleries have been updated.

Tuesday tribulations

02 Tuesday Apr 2019

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After working until late last night scanning slides I’ve restricted myself to working from home. Mind you, the weather’s not exactly been conducive to wandering the country. It’s been cold despite the sun and with moody skies that have threatened rain, sleet or even snow.

I’m now on the final few slides of the latest album to be disposed of, and it’s only taken 20 years to get them all done! In the past I’d only scanned a selection of images from each album. Now I’m scanning the whole of the album that I’ve decided to keep (some no longer make the grade) and I’m freeing up a lot of space in the process.

Here’s a couple of samples from the latest batch which show just how much has changed in the past 20 years.

06893. L702 51356. 51398. 15.38 Barking to Gospel Oak. Harringay Park Junction. 1.6.99crop

On the 8th June 1999, unit L702, made up of Class 1777 DMU cars 51356. 51398 work the 15.38 Barking to Gospel Oak past Harringay Park Junction on the ‘Goblin’, as the Gospel Oak – Barking line is known. At the time this was one of my local railways as I only lived a quarter of a mile away. It was one of London’s ‘cinderella’ railways, and a real backwater. A pocket of diesel operation that was surrounded by electrified lines that was still controlled in places by semaphore signals. The Class 117s themselves were old and unreliable and the service was often appalling. If you visit this same location today you wouldn’t recognise it. Everything has changed. The DMUs are gone, as is the signalbox and semaphore signals. The junction has all been relaid and even the roadbridge beyond has been rebuilt. The line’s also been electrified and this view has disappeared behind overhead wires. 

06936. 150130. 16.08. Barking - Gospel Oak. South Tottenham. 18.6.99crop

Here’s South Tottenham station just 17 days after the last picture was taken. The first Class 150s have been cascaded to the ‘Goblin’ to take over from the elderly Class 117s. A slightly care-worn 150130, still bearing Central Trains livery, calls at the station whilst working the 16.08 Barking to Gospel Oak service. In 2010 the 150s were displaced by the Class 172s which have lasted until now due to delays in electrifying the route and the new Class 710 trains being over a year late into service. Ironically, 150130 has followed me North. After being transferred to First Great Western after it left North London it’s now part of the Northern Rail fleet! 

Another 70 plus old slides have been added to my Zenfolio website. If you follow this link, you can find which galleries they’ve been added to. There’s everything from trains to stations.

 

Another day in Brexit Britain…

26 Tuesday Mar 2019

Posted by in Brexit, Food, Musings, Photography, Politics, West Yorkshire

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The farce that is British politics shows no sign of allowing reality to intrude at the moment, despite it knocking at the door – and shouting through the letterbox. The band of Brexiters are tying themselves in knots to justify both Brexit, and themselves. One of the maddest statements came from a supposed Labour MP, Kate Hoey, who said in a Parliamentary debate that “I don’t call it a no deal, it’s not a no deal, It’s a different type of deal”. Presumably in the same way that being dead is a different type of living…

This is the level of batshit crazy we’ve come to expect from the rabid Brexiters, for whom no mental gymnastics are out of bounds in their efforts excuse the complete and utter shambles they’ve helped visit upon us.

Away from the craziness, I’ve been busy editing pictures at home. First up were some more old slides, such as this, taken at Clapham Junction in June 1997. Nothing in the picture remains today. The old Kensington sidings that 33026 is using to run round an engineers train have vanished under a new platform for London Overground services. 33026 survived until 2003 when it was cut up at Eastleigh, having been withdrawn in August 1998, just over a year after this picture was taken.

06707. 33026. Clapham Junction.15.6.97crop

As well as scanning more old rail slides I’ve started on pictures from the anti Brexit rally in London on Saturday. You can find those pictures in this gallery.

This evening has had more of a domestic focus. Dawn’s accelerating her training for the Huddersfield half-marathon, so I’ve been stepping up to the plate on the cooking front and trying some different recipes from a new ‘Hairy Bikers’ cook book. The prawns I cooked tonight have seemed to go down well anyway. Here’s the basic ingredients all ready for cooking.

This is what the prawn curry looks like when it’s ready. No, those aren’t green chillies you see, they’re sugar snap peas, which give the curry a delightful crunchiness.

Back to the grindstone…

25 Monday Mar 2019

Posted by in Brexit, London, Photography, Politics

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After a fabulous weekend back in London I’m home and getting back into the routine (well, as routine as my life ever gets) of paperwork, picture editing, and preparing for the future.

I’m currently editing the hundreds of pictures that I took at the anti Brexit march on Saturday, followed by shots at a friends 50th birthday celebrations in Clapham later that evening. Here’s a couple of some of the brilliant banners and placards people carried on the day.

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Hopefully, by Wednesday I’ll have the full selection sorted. There’s also one or two new rail shots to add. Beyond all this work a chunk of the day was spent with a financial advisor to try and ensure my investments are as ‘Brexit proof’ as possible. I can’t believe we’re in this position, but there you go.

Whilst I’m doing what I can to protect dawn and I from the effects of the Brexitshambles, a lot of people are still signing the Revoke article 50 petition, which has almost reached 5.7 million this evening. Please, add your name by following this link.

petition

The petition’s already having an effect as some Leave supporting MPs with small majorities are looking at the number of their constituents who’ve signed it and started thinking ‘oh, shit’…

Whilst I’ve been busy typing Parliament’s been embroiled in more drama. MP’s have ignored the Government, voting to allow themselves more votes on a way forward – which May has said she’ll ignore as they’re only ‘indicative’. Three more of May’s Ministers have resigned too. Meanwhile, the Brexit clock’s still ticking and no-one has done anything to reset it. So, by simple operation of law, we crash out of the EU on the 29th of March, in 4 days time…

The madness continues whilst I try and work…

21 Thursday Mar 2019

Posted by in Brexit, Down memory lane, Food and drink, Politics, Railways

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It’s been another one of those days when trying to knuckle down to work has proved to be hard due to the constant distractions provided by the political la la land the UK’s inhabiting right now. I’m still trying to get my head around Teresa May’s ridiculous TV speech last night in which she absolved herself of all blame for this shit-shower (even though her idiotic red lines formed the base of it) and instead tried to set the public against Parliament and the MPs elected to it. To say her language was both reckless and inflammatory is an understatement. To say that many MPs of all parties are outraged would be an understatement.

Now she’s gone cap in hand to the EU, who must be sick of the sight of her. Predictably, they’ve now taken control and are currently deciding what terms they’ll offer on an extension to article 50. Take back control? Don’t make me laugh! A lot of my fellow Britons seem equally unimpressed. A petition calling for the revocation of article 50 has kept crashing the Govt’s website most of the day. Started only yesterday, it now stands at 1.5 million signatures and is rising by the hour.

petition

If you’d like to sign it, here’s the link.

Away from the madness I’ve been busy catching up on picture editing and paperwork, whilst also lining up some jobs. I’ve also been continuing to scan old slides in an effort to really start to make inroads to the collection and get unseen pictures online. Today’s small batch are from an open day at Crewe Electric depot back in May 1997. As it was an event I’ve created a new gallery for it on my website, which you can find here. These are a couple of sample pictures.

06653. 33108. 92031. Crewe Electric Depot Open Day. 3.5.97crop

A mixture of preserved and mainline locomotives were on display at Crewe. Here’s 33108, 92031 and 47375.

06651. E5001. Crewe Electric Depot Open Day. 3.5.97crop

The sole surviving Class 71, E5001 was also on display. 24 of these electric locomotives were build for the Southern region 3rd rail network at Doncaster in 1958. They were used on a variety of passenger and freight turns, including the famous ‘Golden Arrow’ and ‘Night Ferry’ boat-train services. As well as shoe-gear, they had a pantograph to 650 V DC which was used in some South London freight yards like Hither Green and at Snowdon colliery near Dover. The last 14 members of the class were withdrawn en-masse in 1977 but E5001 was saved for the national collection and preserved by the National Railway Museum.

This evening I’ve turned my hand to some kitchen therapy and cooked an old favourite – Lal Batata, which is new potatoes in a hot chilli and tamarind sauce.

I’ve even found a railway themed beer to go with it! This rather quaffable delight cam from somewhere I’d never expect to find it, B&M bargains, the cut-price chain!

The back of the bottle has an interesting label as it tells the story of a heroic railwayman of Victorian times.

Dawn’s been busy too and oven cooked some salmon to accompany the Lal Batata. Yum!