Today’s very much been a mixture here at Bigland Towers. Yesterday evening I was sat outside in the garden, enjoying a beer and soaking up the rays of the sun for the first time this year. This morning? We were back to rain, miserable temperatures and low cloud, so a lie-in seemed like the only sensible course of action. This afternoon was different. The weather was still diva-like, but we decided to ignore its strops and have a day out, heading over to Huddersfield for lunch. Whilst the town doesn’t have the attractions that it once did there’s still an oasis and reflection of how things used to be. We ate at Arcade, in the Byram arcade on Westgate. It’s a lovely little cafe that has a Bohemian feel and clientele in an arcade which has its own vibe due to the arts and craft shops the cafe rubs shoulders with. We both plumped for the same dish, Turkish eggs – with added Chorizo.
It was delicious! Whilst Dawn had a coffee I indulged in a Vocation brewery Hazy Pale beer.
Afterwards, whilst Dee checked out the nearby woolshop I wandered up to observe the Trans-Pennine Route upgrade at the station. There’s another blockade on the line this weekend as major work’s started on the station roof.
Bidding adieu to Huddersfield we headed back from Colne to Calder valley for an expensive side-trip to Garden centres, DIY stores and supermarkets – all in the midst of another downpour. Well, that’s the gardening taking a rain-check then!
Back at home Dawn decided to get stuck into baking whilst I nipped out to get my steps in and have a ‘swifty’ in the Big 6 where this range of beers was on offer.
Now the pair of us are enjoying a quiet night in with the hope of better weather tomorrow…
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/
After another night of heavy rain today’s threatening to brighten up. So much so I’ve decided to risk venturing out to the Wigan area to document progress on electrifying the line between there and Lostock Jn near Bolton. However, I’m taking no chances. I’ve a golfing umbrella strapped to the side of my camera bag – just in case! Right now I’m more likely to need it as a parasol, but the weather’s so unpredictable nowadays I doubt that will last…
I’m currently on Northern’s 10:03 from Sowerby Bridge which will take me directly through to Hindley. It’s running 7 minutes late. Apparently, there’s overhead line problems in Leeds, where the service started from. The railways are having a torrid time of it at the moment with many delays down to equipment failure or the weather. Our Victorian era network wasn’t designed to cope with the climactic conditions we’re seeing due to Climate Change – especially the amount of rain and associated flooding. Still, the Tories have cancelled a large part of our new rail spine (HS2) that IS designed to cope, so that’s alright then…
I’ll try and blog throughout the day but this isn’t going to be a long trip. I’m on shopping/cooking duty tonight so I want to be home at a sensible time!
11:20.
Having traversed the Pennines and made it to Manchester I noticed another change kn the approach to Victoria station. Across yo the right is the site of the famous ‘Red Bank’ sidings. These were once the stabling point for rakes of parcels and newspaper vans which fanned out across the country overnight, carrying papers like the ‘Manchester Guardian’ and others that were printed in the city. That traffic disappeared in the 1980s and the sidings wete closed and lifted long ago. Having lain derelict since the site is now a black earh scar as it’s terra-formed whilst being prepared for a housing development. I can see a picture trip in the offing…
Right now I’m on the direct route to Wigan via Walkden, which was once the Lancashire and Yorkshire railways four-track main line. Sadly, the weather’s closing in again. I may need that brolley for its proper purpose after all…
14:30.
S’cuse the interlude but it’s been hectic at Hindley! Thanks to the powers of the internet and the everyday access we have to maps via our mobile devices I found some backstreets and footpaths that took me out to Crow Nest Junction which is to the East. Here I had an interesting hour playing bingo with the sun/rain and railway timetable. I’ll add proper pictures later. For now, here’s one off the phone.
16:45.
Homeward bound. After moving location to replicate some of yesterday’s shots I move on up to Westhoughton, a station I’ve never visited before but always promised myself I would. Like Hindley, it has an active station friends group who’ve worked wonders with the steep cutting sides the station nestles in. There’s a couple of footbridges to the West which make for decent photographic perches but not for long as piles have appeared in the cess for future overhead wires. I fell foul of a rainstorm whilst I was here but luckily there was a refuge. Google had alerted me to the presence of this place. The beer school.
I stayed long enough to dodge the rain and enjoy a quick pint of IPA. I’d have been tempted to linger longer as its a friendly place with good beer but I have other things to do. Plus, the weather’s not getting any better. Instead I joined the throng at the station for a train to Manchester. Looking at some of the skimpily dressed and implausibly tanned young women boarding the train for a night out you’d be forgiven for thinking it was midsumner!
20:45.
I’m now back in the bosom of West Yorkshire, putting my feet up at home whilst editing a last few pictures for your delectation. I didn’t hang around after leaving Westhoughton. I’d got the pictures I needed and besides – it’s Friday! Dee had rung me to say that I was off the hook when it came to cooking as she fancied doing one of her specialties (spicy prawns) so who was I to argue? Besides, we’re out and about again tomorrow. OK, here’s today’s selection.
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’ll get into trouble for this title. Some people still can’t face the fact the town I grew up in (Southport) was moved from Lancashire to Merseyside way back in 1974, but there you go..
I’d been working from home this morning to put the finishing touches and picture captions to my latest article for RAIL magazine after they’d sent me over the proofs. Then I logged onto the internet and noticed that the Merseyrail route into Southport was closed between Southport and the suburb of Hillside to allow the platforms at Chapel St to be extended into the station in order to fit 8-car trains. This caused me a wry smile. I remember the old Chapel St station. The very same platforms were shortened in the 1970s when the original station was demolished by BR so developers could build a God-awful shopping centre facing the main street in its place. How the world turns!
So, I decided to play a flying visit as the work is due to finish tomorrow. Here’s a few pictures of the work inside the station. As you can see, all three Merseyrail platforms are part of the possession, hence trains from Liverpool being turned back at Hillside.
Now I’m heading back with one more stop in mind. Well, if the weather holds…
19:00.
I stopped off but the weather got the better of me! The idea was to have a look at progress in electrifying the railway from Wigan to Bolton. I’d noticed real signs of progress on my way in so decided to make a stop at Hindley, where a diverse range of work’s going on. Despite threatening skies I made it as far as the famous bowstring footbridge a few minutes walk to the West of the station before the heavens opened – hence the lack of sky in this pic.
As you can see, the ‘march of the masts’ is getting closer to Wigan. It’s hard to believe now but until the 1960s there were at least 8 tracks here. The area was awash with colleries and ironworks. All are gone. A huge amount of lineside vegetation’s been cleared along the line which has opened up vistas not seen for 40 or more years. Once we have some better weather I’ll be popping back to visit a few more locations to show how work’s progressing.
Squelching back to Hindley along flooded footpaths and in the pouring rain I took refuge in the pub by the station until my train was due. Now I’m Manchester bound under dank depressing skies and downpours.
22:00.
I’m now home and drying out after a very wet evening. As I walked uphill torrents of water were flowing downhill after another downpour. Thankfully it’d just passed so I managed to avoid a complete soaking. As I was stripping off at home our ‘Alexa’ bleeped with a notification for a flood-warning for Halifax. Tomorrow could be an interesting day. Maybe I’ll stay at home…
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/
This article originally appeared in RAIL magazine back in October 2023.
Built as a single track line by the Wycombe Railway and opened in 1879, the line between Princes Risborough and Aylesbury has always been a bit of a Cinderella line. Its only claim to fame was the fact it was the last place in the UK to run BR built Class 121 ‘bubble cars’ which were finally retired in May 2017, having been introduced to the line by Chiltern railways in 2003. However, thanks to the arrival of Phase 1 of High Speed 2, this sleepy backwater’s currently having a makeover. HS2 will pass under the existing line to the West of Aylesbury. To do so the EKFB Alliance and Network rail have closed the line from August 19th until the 30th October. The closure has allowed a culvert close to Aylesbury to be rebuilt and a new 1.8km long embankment and bridge to be constructed to replace the 1879 formation. To future-proof the line the new bridge can carry two tracks and the linespeed has been raised from 40 to 90mph. Unlike other bridges on or over HS2, this bridge has been built by sinking four 2.4m diameter piled piers to a depth of 57 meters, making them the biggest piers on HS2. Each pier took between 36-48 hours to pour. Atop the piers sits a 100m long double-track width steel bridge which was built in 30m sections in the North-East before being transported South and assembled on site. To complete the work Network Rail has used 3000 sleepers and 14,000 tonnes of fresh ballast on the new alignment. A high-output track laying machine installed the rails over a single weekend.
When I visited on September 25th 2023 Colas Rail had begun tamping the new track ready for the lines reopening. Once tamping is complete 200 tonnes of check-rails will be installed on the bridge to mitigate against the chance of any possible derailment on the bridge affecting HS2 services. Meanwhile EKFB had begun excavating the clay underneath the bridge to form the HS2 cutting which is exposing the top 8 meters of the piers. This bridge is unique amongst HS2 bridges in that it was constructed at ground level and then the ground’s being dug out from underneath it.
The excavation work’s being done in stages from the North to the South due to the proximity of the old railway formation which still carries fibre-optic signalling cables and has the disconnected track still in situ which will be recovered at a later date. On the South of the old formation EKFB are building the piers and deck of a road bridge over HS2 as passive provision for the South-East Aylesbury Link Road (SEALR) whilst another road bridge over HS2’s being built further to the North-West as part of another link road scheme.
Future work to the line will see the half-barrier level crossing at Marsh Lane near Little Kimble upgraded and replaced with full-width barriers (which will allow linespeed improvements) and resignalling.
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/
There’s a short blog from me I’ve been up to my neck in archive pictures for most of the day. Not because I’d planned it that way but because I had a rather unusual request which involved digging through various hard-drives to find pictures of a particular event going back 20 years, which took a fair bit of digging. I haven’t looked at one of the hard drives for several years so I was relieved to find what I was looking for – and more! I rediscovered some pictures I’d filed away and thought were lost which would have been frustrating as they’re of historic interest now. To be honest, it was a good day for being stuck in the office as we had another morning of torrential rain. I had to walk into Sowerby Bridge for an appointment and ended up wearing my full set of waterproofs to do so – not something I expected to be doing at the end of August!
I’ll be spending much of tomorrow to complete the exercise and also to add some more of the pictures I’ve discovered to my Zenfolio website, starting with images from what’s now the new East-West rail link. I visited the line in 2011 when the idea was still being considered and long before construction actually started. Here’s one such shot taken at a location that’s unrecognisable today – and not just because of E-W rail, but also HS2.
Here’s the same view almost exactly a decade later on the 23rd June 2021
Here’s a more recent picture. I can’t do an exact comparison as Addison Rd is still closed. But here’s how the area looked on the 1st August this year.
How things change in 12 years! You can find more E-W rail construction pictures here. It’s the place you’ll be able to find the 2011 pictures too when I’ve had chance to add them tomorrow.
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/
Ugh, another silly o’ clock start as I’m heading back North to Morpeth to explore the Blyth and Tyne railway for a future magazine article. I was up there the other week but the weather was appalling and we were trapped on a train where we could only see the work to rebuild the line for passengers from inside. This time I’ll be lineside and have a local guide for part of the trip. But first I’ve got to get to Morpeth. Feel free to keep popping back to see how the day unfolds…
06:30.
After what was a lovely early morning stroll under cloudless skies and rising temperatures through deserted streets I’m now on Northern’s 06:17 from Halifax to Hull. This morning it’s operated by a long-standing member of the Northern fleet in the shape of 3-car 158753. This unit’s been allocated to the area for donkey’s years.
Whilst it’s been lightly loaded from Halifax it’s filled up at Bradford Interchange.
07:35.
On arrival at Leeds I noticed TPE was up to its usual tricks of cancelling services. Thankfully, my next train was LNER’s 07:08 to Aberdeen, worked by a 9-car bi-mode ‘Azuma’ which had arrived empty from Doncaster Carr depot.
07:50.
We’re currently speeding along at 123mph through the Vale of York en-route to Darlington. Sadly, the blue skies that stayed with me all the way to York are being invaded by low, dappled cloud from the East which are meant to cover the whole of Northumberland by the time I arrive. In some ways that’s not too bad as I don’t have to worry about heavy shadows and backlit shots. Even so, a bit of contrast would be nice. At least conditions will be better than on my last visit when the rain p*ssed down all day!
15:30.
Apologies for the long break but I’ve just been on a whirlwind tour of the Blyth and Tyne in the company of Paul Young of Ontrackimages, who’s a former B&T signaller. Paul graciously acted as local guide and chauffer, taking me to places I haven’t visited since 1989. I’ll add more pictures (and comparison shots) later but here’s a couple to be going on with.
See what I mean?
17:30.
I’m making my way home in very different weather. The sun’s dialled up the mercury so conditions are now hot and sticky. I couldn’t resist stopping of on my way home, so here’s a shot from Darlington.
18:10.
Time to change trains at York and take a little pitstop. Here’s what I’m seeing.
20:05.
Suitably refreshed I caught a TPE service that was actually running. The Scarborough-Leeds service was diverted via Milford Jn and Castleford so entered leads from the ‘wrong’direction, but at least it got me there and wasn’t cancelled like many of its bretheren. Despite being ‘renationalised’ TPE is still a complete mess as a train service, which rather proves ownership isn’t the root of the problem. Now I’m sat on a Northern service to Chester which should have left at 19:42.
20:12.
Oh joy! The Chester train’s been cancelled as there’s no Guard for it so I joined the happy throng heading from platforms 4 to 1 to catch the 20:12 to Manchester Victoria. Needless to say – it’s busy. Not just with passengers but also displaced Northern crews who’re trying to join their trains elsewhere.
22:00.
Home again. Dee was happy to pick me up for the station so I wasn’t home at too daft a time, which has given me chance to download and edit a last few pictures from today’s trip.
UPDATE:
Yesterday I promised you a comparison shot. Here it is. This is Blyth staithes yard seen on the 27th December 1989 and a picture from the same spot yesterday.
Almost nothing remains, apart from the old railway bridge that we were stood on.
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’m currently in Huddersfield waiting for the first train of a strike day across the Pennines to Manchester, TPE’s 09:32. Dawn’s been a star and driven me over from home as there are no services through the Calder valley today (or tomorrow) which is making this job more challenging than usual.
Fortunately, the Northern service to Liverpool Lime Street that I’m due to connect with is also shown as running. The only question now is how busy they’ll be. Most people seem to have given up on the idea of travelling by rail today. Huddersfield station is unnaturally quiet. There’s a handful of RMT pickets outside and a few dozen people inside.
09:35.
It’s a strike day and bugger-all is running, but TPE are still struggling to run anything to time! We’re being told the 09:32 is currently running 9 minutes late. Looking at ‘Realtime trains’ it’s shown as losing time at every station it’s stopped at. I count around 40-45 people here waiting to catch it, including several prams and one guy with a humongous e-bike.
09:50.
Rolling! We all managed to squeeze on with a few seats still spare. I can’t see us picking up vast numbers en-route and some folk will be getting off on the way. In fact, as I type this we’ve stopped at Slaithwaite where several from the front car have left, including the guy with the e-bike.
We’re running 10 late now but it’s not going to affect my connection at Piccadilly so there’s no stress there. Instead I can relax and enjoy the trip across the Pennines in glorious sunshine.
10:40.
I arrived in Manchester late but unruffled, unlike the crowds waiting to board our train for the return trip to York! The platform was packed, with a few anxious faces wondering if they’d secure a seat. Piccadilly has several services running. Avanti, TfW, Cross-Country are operating as well as Northern and TPE. Over on pkatform 14 I saw TfW were operating a 2-car Class 197 to Llandudno, which is going to be ‘cosy’ judging by the amount of folk waiting to catch it. At least my Northern service to Liverpool’s diagrammed for a 6-car!
11:30.
Success! I’ve set up the ‘mobile office’ aboard the 10:52 to Liverpool Lime St, having bagged a table in the front car. I’ll now be on time to meet old friend and colleague Pip Dunn so we can carry out a train test of the new Stadler built Class 777s which are slowly taking over Merseyrail services to displace the oldest electric trains on the national network, the BR built Class 507/508’s. I’ve a previous pictorial blog documenting their lives on Merseyside which you can find here.
I may be going off grid for a while whilst we’re working, but I’ll be back later…
18:00.
Job done, I’m back! I’m now heading to Southport where I’ll be stayiing at my sister’s this evening. Today’s been spent shuttling up and down between Liverpool, Ormskirk and Kirkby. My biggest challenge was to get Pip to realise the second K in Kirkby was silent so my fellow Scousers wouldn’t keep looking at him sideways whilst muttering “woolyback” under their breaths!
We journeyed on several of the new trains in order to get a decent sample, plus we talked to the crews. You’ll be able to read our views of the new trains in a forthcoming edition of RAIL magazine.
When Pip headed off I hung around to make the most of the glorious weather to get a few external shots of trains old and new. Here’s a couple of samples.
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’ve been looking at progress on the trans-pennine railway route upgrade for some time now, both the record locations before the work started and now as it progresses. Last month I visited Stalybridge to see the result of the long blockade. You can find that blog here.
Yesterday I ventured out to an area I’d not visited since the upgrade began, the line between Batley and Cottingley. Some major work’s happening here in preparation for electrification. On this section it includes the physical relocation of two stations The first is Morley, the second is Cottingley where the new station will be renamed White Rose. Although happening during the TRU work, this replacement station had been planned for some time. Other works include the closure of Lady Anne crossing just outside Batley which involves removing the old Great Northern Railway bridge abutment to create the space to install a large footbridge. This will replace the road/foot crossing. It will also entail the closure of the last remaining manual signalbox on the route.
Here’s a selection of pictures from my trip.
Meanwhile, further up the line at Morley…
I’ll be making regular visits to TRU locations over the next few months, showing the before/after as the route’s transformed.
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/
Yesterday HS2 Ltd announced that they’d launched yet another Tunnel Boring Machine (TBM) but this one had a couple of important differences to the five that are already in service.
Launched from the Atlas Rd construction site in North London by the Skanska Costain STRABAG joint venture (SCS JV), ‘Lydia’ is an upcycled TBM formerly known as ‘Ellie’. The TBM dug two sections of the Crossrail tunnels in the Capital – from Limmo Peninsula in Canning Town to Royal Victoria Dock, and between Pudding Mill Lane and Stepney Green completing a total of 2.23 miles.
Made redundant from that task the Shield head and cutting wheel along with other components were refurbished by the builder Herrenknecht. The 847m long TBM will now spend the next six months driving an 853 metre long tunnel to the Old Oak Common construction site. The TBM has an 6.2 metre internal diameter. Starting drilling at a depth of 5 metres below ground it will reach a maximum depth of 20 metres. 4,264 concrete segments will be used, forming 533 tunnel rings. The segments, each weighing over 3 tonnes, have been produced by Pacadar in Kent.
The new service tunnel will have two uses. The first is to be fitted with a conveyor belt that will connect with an existing conveyor at the Atlas Rd site to transport spoil to the HS2 London Logistics Hub at Willesden Euro Terminal where the spoil will be moved onwards to sites in Kent, Cambridgeshire (Foxton) and Rugby by rail. The second use will be to transport 8,010 tunnel segment rings to construct the HS2 tunnels from Old Oak Common to Euston. These segment rings are being manufactured by STRABAG in Hartlepool. Both sets of segments will be moved to sites by rail. HS2 Ltd estimate that the new service tunnel will save 70,000 lorry journeys being added to London’s roads. It’s an impressive commitment to making HS2 construction as green as possible, using rail and on-site services as much as possible to minimise disruption elsewhere.
The significance of this is that construction of the HS2 tunnels from Old Oak Common to Euston is still proceeding as planned – despite the delay to building Euston station itself. Let’s face it, if you’re not going to build Euston, you’re not going to need to build the expensive Euston tunnels!
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/
On Friday I paid a visit to Stalybridge station to see the result of the engineering blockade that had transformed the stations Western junction. This is been totally remodelled and resignalled. The resignalling has extended to the Eastern side of the station although the track layout here remains unchanged. As well as track and signals a large number of overhead electrification masts and portals have appeared, although there’s still many more to be installed at further weekend engineering possessions before the wires can be extended.
Here’s a selection of pictures showing how the place looks now.
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/