Tag Archives: Railways

Rolling blog. Improving my circulation…

02 Thursday Apr 2026

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, West Yorkshire

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11:12.

I’m back on the rails again as we’ve lovely weather here in West Yorkshire, albeit with a frosty start. Now the sun’s warming the world and the blue skies are untroubled by more than just a few clouds. Having spent the morning pottering around at home I prepped to head out for the day to make the most of things before the start of the Easter break,

Having explored the Harrogate loop line the other week I’ve decided to retrace my steps in the hope of getting pictures of some of the things I discovered – but missed out capturing on camera. Right now I’m on the 10:58 from Sowerby Bridge, heading for Leeds. There’s plenty of room on this train as it consists of two 2-car Class 195s, making it easy to bag a table bay and set up the mobile office. Let’s see how the day goes…

12:45.

As always, Leeds was busy. Whilst I wasn’t there long LNER came up with a trio of Class 91s in 15 mins. Here’s 91127, a local celebrity as it’s named after the city’s main rail depot – Nevill Hill.

I wasn’t entirely sure which clockface way around the loop I was going to go today, but the first available train was the 12:06, so I’m going clockwise as far as Knaresborough.

Comfy..

One day I’d love to explore the section from Leed to Harrogate more as it has some amazing tunnels and viaducts set in gorgeous rolling scenery but that would be more on foot/road than rail.

16:45.

Ever had one of those days. I have. Everything was going swimmingly until we approached Knaresborough, when I broke one of my golden rules*. In this case it was the one that says never pack up at the last moment before you leave a train. Not having paid attention to my location I was blindsided and decided to repack the camera bag to change lenses. Bad move…

It was only when I’d got off the train to watch it depart that I realised I didn’t have my phone. The Goon shows character Moriarty was channeled as I uttered the word ‘sarpisti’ – along with several other invectives. So, plan B. Hang around until the unit I’d been on cycled through its diagram and returned with the hope that it was the same Conductor who may have found my phone or having had it handed it to them.

90 minutes later neither turned out to be the case, so the only thing was plan C. Head to York and hope my phone had been handed in there. Success! The Information office had it! It was easy to prove it was mine as I could unlock it, but thank you so much to Northern and LNER staff for being so efficient.

But, that’s buggered up my plans entirely. I’m now back at Knaresborough having a conciliatory pint in the Track and Sleeper before heading back towards Leeds…get pictures of an old railway survivor.

19:30.

I’m now on my way from Leeds back to Halifax after a frustrating day that wasn’t entirely a bust. On my way back from Knaresborough I stopped off at Starbeck to get pictures of the old railway survivor I mentioned earlier There’s a level crossing to the East of the station which is still guarded by a staffed signal box – which is tiny! It took a while to walk there but it was worth recording as these things are rare in this day and age – pix later.

After that and with the day cracking on I decided to head back home. There’s other pictures that I would have liked to have got, but they’d be easier by car than train – unless I want to spend hours walking.

*My other golden rule which has been learned from near-death experiences is never use teenage rickshaw/taxi/tuk-tuk drivers. It’s like the story about pilots. There’s old pilots, and there’s bold pilots, but there’s no old, bold pilots.

More soon…

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/

Cheers,

Paul

31st March picture of the day…

31 Tuesday Mar 2026

Posted by in Halifax, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, West Yorkshire

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Where the hell’s March gone? We’re a quarter of the way through the year which seem to have flown by. Well, more like blown by up here in West Yorkshire as we seem to have had nothing but high winds for weeks! I’m afraid it’s a short blog from me today as the evening is already late. I’ve been busy catching up with picture editing after a long local stroll yesterday and preparations for the week ahead – with Easter on the horizon.

At least the days are getting longer, even if they’re not getting much drier or warmer, but I hope to be getting out and about – and further afield in April. Well, if the madman in the White House hasn’t crippled or blown up the planet before then!

In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which was taken on my perambulations around Halifax yesterday.

One of Northern’s 2-car Class 195s arrives at Halifax with service for Chester. Old woollen and flour mills dominate the landscape but the buildings just behind the train have a very different purpose nowadays. This is the Nestlé sweet factory that’s been producing ‘Quality Street’ chocolates since 1934.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling blog. Loop the loop…

26 Thursday Mar 2026

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel, Yorkshire

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10:15.

We were greeted by a bright but frosty morning here in the Calder valley and I’ve decided to make the most of the sunshine by heading out for the day. The plan in to traverse the Harrogate loop, a railway line that runs from Leeds through Harrogate and Knaresborough to York, stopping off a few times on the way.

Right now I’m on Northern’s 09:58 from Sowerby Bridge, heading for Leeds. The service is worked by a 2-car Class 195 so it’s pretty full with plenty of prams and their occupants clogging the vestibules, on their way to God knows where. Thankfully, the motion of the train seems to have sent the kids to sleep as it’s blissfully quiet! I’ve managed to find an airline seat, plug in and set up the mobile office to begin today’s rolling blog. I’ll keep you all updated on my progress as time goes by, so feel free to pop back later.

Time to go…

11:10.

My trip into Leeds was both quick and easy. I had under 20 mins to make my connection which was plenty of time to breeze through the crowds to platform 0 where an ex-Scotrail Class 170 sat burbling away. These units haven’t had a full refurbishment so I’m now esconsced in the  former 1st Class section with 2+1 seating – and only me in it!

And relax…

The service patrern on the loop has changed considerably since I was last here in November 2020. Now LNER run a 2 hourly service from Harrogate to London Kings Cross via Leeds rather than just a couple of trains a day. Northern used to turn back half their trains at Knaresborough, leaving the section from there to York with an hourly service. Now, nearly all trains run through to York. Gone are the old Class 143/153s too. The line’s now worked by 158s and 170s.

12:45.

I’ve stopped off at Harrogate to get a few pictures as the character of the line changes from here on. We’re back under the control of mechanical signalboxes abd semaphore signalling whose origins date back to the early days of the railways.

My train from Leeds departs from Harrogate.

15:30.

I’ve stopped off in Knaresborough and had just enough time to upload these pics from my travels. I’ll add captions and explain more about what I’ve been up to soon.

An LNER ‘Azuma’ leaves the carriage siding at Harrogate in readiness to form a service to London Kings Cross. It’s passing a fascinating array of modern modular colour light signals and possibly the last original LNER lattice gantry on the mainline network.
A Northern Class 170 crosses the river at Knaresborough. I’ll add more about this historic old town later.
Cattal station, East of Knaresborough is on the single track station with passing loops. It still possesses these hand-operated level crossing gates worked by the signaller based in the box behind.
Having deposited me at the attractive station at Poppleton my train heads off to York.
Poppleton is unique in that next door is the UKs only surviving plant nursery served by a narrow-gauge railway which is run by volunteers. Here’s a link to their website. Here’s some of the vehicles.
Back at Knaresborough, the old station buildings have been converted for several uses, including the wonderful Track and Sleeper pub.
Here’s the pubs cosy second room

17:10.

I’m about to close the loop by heading back from York via the direct line to Leeds, one that’s recently been modernised and electrified as part of the Trans-Pennine route upgrade. To be honest, it’s a section I’ve neglected visiting for a few years and something I need to put right. As much as I had planned, things have gone slightly awry due to a few commissions coming in via email which I’ve prioritised. On the bright side, I’ve now bookings until November!

York station and a classic view of its curved roof.

18:10.

I’m on the last leg from Leeds to Halifax aboard a peak-hour train. It may be going as far as Blackpool North but right now its primary function is to take Leeds commuters home.

The previous part of my trip ftom York was interesting as I’ve not used it for a while. The Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU) has really kicked in with electrification and associated works. I’ve realised I need to spend a day exploring just to document the changes.

I couldn’t help grimacing when we passed through Church Fenton. This was where HS2 phase 2 was meant to end, providing a by-pass of Leeds and Doncaster on the (even then) congested East Coast Main Line (ECML). Then – as usual – politicians with their penny-pinching and ever changing minds got in the way to waste billions without providing any workable alternatives. Now they’re all gone but the problems they left remain.

21:30.

I’m back at home catching up with bits and downloading more pictures. I’ll be working from home all day so I’ll flesh this blog out with more pictures and links over the weekend.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

24th March picture(s) of the day…

24 Tuesday Mar 2026

Posted by in Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel

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Apologies for absence but I’ve had little time to blog these past few days. After the CRN awards on Thursday night there was little rest for the wicked (despite the late finish) as we were off early the next morning, joining a special train laid on by East Midlands railway as part of the celebrations. Our destination was the Barrow Hill roundhouse near Chesterfield, traversing a line that normally only sees freight trains. About forty hardy souls took the trip to enjoy a guided tour around the site which is now a commercial and operational railway depot with a museum (the roundhouse) attached. We were lucky enough to be shown around by the museum’s founder Mervyn Allcock and get a sneak preview of Barrow Hill’s brand-new £6m research centre building.

Catching the special train back to Chesterfield Dawn and I headed home whilst the rest of the group were treated to a George Stephenson tour (he’s buried in Chesterfield). I needed to get back as my work wasn’t finished. I’d still a huge number of pictures from the awards to edit and prepare. In the digital age post editing is almost as big a job as actually taking the pictures. Gone are the days when you just handed over some rolls of film that you’d had developed!

Saturday saw us take a little time off and nip out to enjoy the sunshine and a meal at the Olive Branch near Marsden in the Colne valley, which made a nice break. Then it was back to the grindstone until today when I had the decks cleared of pictures and (just as importantly) invoices!

Now I’m sitting at home listening to the wind roaring around the cottage as the weather’s taken another turn for the worse with heavy rain and gales, which meant my daily constitutional was rather cut short this afternoon. I don’t mind walking in the wind, but when it’s whipping horizontal rain at you that’s a different matter! But, tomorrow’s another day, so lets see what it brings. Chaos, probably as that seems to be the prevailing mood thanks to the madman in the White House….

In the meantime, here’s a few images from the past few days.

The view from a train ordinary passengers don’t get to see – only Drivers and Conductors. We were given access to the rear cab in order to catch views like this of the Victorian Clay Cross tunnel entrance with its imposing towers and crenellations.
Inside the new 2-road research shed at Barrow Hill. Behind the camera is the new offices areas that can be used for a variety of training and research.
Seen on Saturday near Marsden. A Trans-Pennine Express service makes its way East through the Colne valley.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling blog. Tonight’s the night…

19 Thursday Mar 2026

Posted by in Community rail, Community Rail Network, Derbyshire, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs

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12:00.

Myself and the rest of the Community Rail Network team and our hosts from East Midlands Railway are currently working like Trojans, getting the stage (and bar, and lounge, and everything else) set for tonight’s annual Community Rail Awards. We’ve a record attendance this year – over 600 people, so this is the biggest venue we’ve used in the 21 years of the event. We change location every year, so each time we’re faced with different logistical and technical challenges which makes for an ‘interesting’ time! I’m not going to give any spoilers other than to say there’s going to be a fantastic event some very worthy winners. Here’s the brochure.

I’ll update this blog off and on during the day…

You’ll be able to see more of what’s going on by following Community Rail Network here on Facebook, Bluesky, Twitter (aka X) and their own website.

15:30.

Bliss! I’ve 5 mins to relax back at the hotel after popping down to the station for a few pics of the rail awards bunting – and a couple of EMR’s new Class 810 ‘Aurora’ trains.

I’ve got to be back at the Arena at 16:00 for the staff briefing and final checks before the guests start arriving at 17:00. I’ve already bumped into a few old friends at the station so I’m expecting another busy night.

18:30.

Drinks reception over, we’re in the main hall having food before the main event.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

Off for a butchers…

15 Sunday Mar 2026

Posted by in Railways, Politics, Musings, Food and drink, West Yorkshire, Photography

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Another week flies by! After my day out on Wednesday, Thursday was very different. The weather turned wet, windy and cold, making walking through the local woodland ‘interesting’ to say the least. The amount of broken branches and twig detritus would have kept a wood-burner going for weeks. Stupidly, I timed my daily stroll to coincide with the arrival of a rainstorm so it turned into a very soggy experience. After that, I decided discretion was the better part of valour and hunkered down for the evening at home.

Friday’s been a little different. Sunshine appeared and as Dawn was out for the day I decided to head over to Todmorden to restock our freezer from the excellent butchers in the delightful covered market – and to get a few pictures. It sounded like a great idea but the weather decided not to play ball. We may have had sunshine, but we also had Baltic winds, showers and the threat of snow which cut my trip short.

There were a couple of freight services scheduled to pass through whilst I was there so I braved the conditions just long enough to grab some shots.

66712 thunders through Todmorden station with another load of biomass for Drax power station which has been imported from North America via Liverpool docks.
Meanwhile, in the opposite direction, DB’s 66078 hauls the empty ‘binliner’ service from Wilton (Teeside) to Knowsley just outside Liverpool.

Having decided frostbite was over-rated I gave up photography and headed for the warmth of the market to enjoy a pint in the refurbished pub, the Todmorden Market Tavern before catching a train back to Halifax. You can’t grumble when you can get an excellent pint of real ale for just £3.40!

A quiet pint for now but this place can get very busy indeed…

Back home I called in my local for a ‘swifty’ and to give my apologies for the quiz that evening, then headed home to cook some of what I’d bought – spicy lamb koftas. I’ve found a gorgeous recipe which I tried for the first time the other week. (spicy lamb kofta with spiced chickpeas and bulgar wheat). We’ve found that you don’t really need the bulgar wheat as the rest is filling enough, and the ready made kofta from the butchers fit the dish perfectly. Next time I must remember to take a picture of it before we tuck in!

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/

Cheers,

Paul

Going up the ‘pool*. (with apologies to Jethro Tull)…

05 Thursday Mar 2026

Posted by in Blackpool, Photography, Politics, Travel

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Well, that was grim…

Having been confined to the Calder valley all week and waking up to a day where all you could see was fog I decided to take a break. But where to? Halfway through the night and in a semi-dream state my mind had hit on the idea of a trip to Blackpool, where the weather was predicted to be sunny. I’d not been for several years, so the idea appealed. Little did I know…

The trip there was easy. Direct trains from Sowerby Bridge are in short supply nowadays but it’s easy to make a connection a couple of stops down the line at Hebden Bridge. This time of year it’s not too much of a challenge to get a seat (or table) which I managed to do all the way to the coast.

En-route, the fog cleared, leaving us to travel under clear blue skies through the old ‘cotton country’ of Burnley, Accrington and Blackburn. We weren’t so lucky by Preston and the last few miles into Blackpool were bedeviled by high, hazy cloud. Even so, it was better than where I’d left.

A new tram terminus has opened since I was last in Blackpool. Now the system (which only used to run along the seafront) has a spur which ends just outside the railway station in an area that’s seen a lot of redevelopment. Much of Blackpool’s centre has seen a large injection of money over the past decade. There’s only one drawback. Whilst you can invest in infrastructure, how do you rebuild people?

Tram 001 at the new terminus. The railways station can be reached through the subway behind.
Tram 001 leaves the new terminus and heads for Starr Gate.
Tram 002 swings off the Promenade to head for the new terminus.

Having grabbed a few pictures of the changes I took a stroll along the seafront. In many ways there’s few things more depressing than a British seaside town out of season, when most things are closed. Trust me – I know. I grew up in one. (Southport, just the other side of the Ribble estuary).

The Central pier looks attractive in backlit light.

What added to the depression was the people. The hordes of pensioners and obese people on mobility scooters raised a wry smile as they reminded me of a ‘Monty Python’ sketch about ‘Hell’s Grannies’. It was the political undertow that I struggled with. Overhearing a young person holding forth in their criticism of Keir Starmer, who, in their opinion was the ‘leader of the liberal party’ (eh?). Shortly afterwards I watched the antics of a drunken young man draped in a Union flag being filmed by a couple of people who’d obviously set and staged an interview with him using Blackpool Tower as a backdrop. One of the pair was trying and failing to film with a drone which he clearly couldn’t control. I assume that this excrescence (if it ever makes it) will appear on TikTok or suchlike. I spotted said idiot wandering around later, carrying a speaker blasting out ‘Keir Starmer’s a w*nker’ on repeat. Such is the level of political discourse in Blackpool it seems.

Nothing sums up the state of English patriotism more than wandering around the streets draped in a tattered union flag whilst playing abusive songs.

Having justified being there by getting a couple of useful pictures I beat a hasty retreat, catching a train to Preston just as the rain arrived, reinforcing my reasons for getting the hell out of the place. I can’t think of any reason to return for a while…

*for those wondering, the title of this blog comes from a song by one of the bands that defined my teenage years, ‘Jethro Tull’ who were formed in Blackpool back in 1967. ‘Up the pool’ is a track off their classic 1972 album ‘Living in the Past’, which rather summed today up!

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/

Cheers,

Paul

Political news and views from the Gorton and Denton by-election.

27 Friday Feb 2026

Posted by in Manchester, Politics, Railways

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Today, Reform were soundly beaten in the Gorton and Denton by-election by the Greens (by more than 4400 votes). As a consequence – and almost within minutes of the result being declared, the right-wing and their friends across the media have rolled out the Trump playbook to claim the election was ‘stolen’, the latest excuse being due to ‘family voting’. Here’s the full results.

Allegedly, Muslim families were persuaded by the head of the household NOT to vote for the racist from St Albans (Matt Goodwin) and instead vote for *checks notes* a woman from a party led by a gay Jew!

How stupid do you have to be to fall for this?

That hasn’t stopped the media going full-tilt on this angle this morning, but the flaws in the argument are obvious. This was not a close election. The Greens majority is 4402. Pus, there’s the rather inconvenient fact that the Muslim population aren’t even close to being a majority in the constituency.

No matter how you try and spin it, the idea the election was ‘stolen’ from Reform by the Asian community simply doesn’t stack up. But hey, what do facts matter when you can just blame Muslims?

Oh, to add to the fun. The latest far-right party led by a millionaire (aren’t they all) – ‘Restore’ was beaten by the Monster Raving Loony Party by 159 votes to 154 despite fielding a local candidate, Nick Buckley. There’s several things to be learned from this. One is that most people haven’t got a clue who ‘Restore’ or its leader (Rupert Lowe) are, either nationally or in Manchester. Lowe, who was too racist for Farage and got kicked out of ‘Reform’ formed his own party this year. Lowe has an army of bots on social media who constantly ‘big him up’ but bots can’t vote, so when it comes to the real world he fails to make any impression. A handful of Reform Councillors have defected to his new party which has been amusing to watch but the chances of them holding onto their seats isn’t great. The idea that ‘Restore’ will ever be anything other than a syphon for a few far-right votes is the stuff of fantasy.

There was also bad news for the Conservatives, who had a terrible result. Just 706 votes, which led to them losing their deposit. Oddly, a lot of the media have glossed over this fact. I wonder why?

So, whatever way you cut the result, the by-election’s been a poor one for the far-right. All their bluster on social media and their army of bots has failed to swing this, but that’s not for the first time. Reform have failed to win the last THREE by-elections. They lost to Plaid Cymru in Caerphilly (Wales) and Labour in Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse (Scotland). So, that’s failures in England, Scotland and Wales! It’s worth mentioning that the only by-election ‘Reform’ have won was Runcorn, where their odious candidate Sarah Pochin scraped in by a mere 6 votes.

Meanwhile, the former British home secretary and Buddhist daughter of a Kenyan descendant of Goan Catholics, and a Mauritian Hindu descendent of Indian Tamils, born in Harrow, studied in New York, married to a Jewish South African who lived In Israel says multiculturalism has failed, which suggests multiculturalism is thriving but irony is certainly dead…

Of course, the election’s a disappointment for the Government and some of the media are back to their usual trick of painting this as throwing Keir Starmer’s leadership into question – so no change there then! The truth is less dramatic. I predict that Starmer is safe for several reasons, not least because he has a massive majority of over 160 MPs, that there’s no real appetite in the party for changing horses midstream as well as the fact there’s no obvious candidate to replace him. Plus, there’s 3 years to go until the next general election, which gives Labour time to turn things around, and for Reform to continue to stumble as their local councils expose just how incompetent they are.

In the meantime, congratulations to Hannah Spencer, the new MP. Now, is their any chance that you might be able to get a daily train service restored to Denton, which only sees one train each way on a Saturday?

156426 calls at Denton whilst working 2J45, the return 09:04 Stockport to Stalybridge on the 21st September 2024.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling blog. More Piccadilly pictures…

24 Tuesday Feb 2026

Posted by in Manchester, Photography, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs

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10:45.

The past few days have been quiet here in the Calder valley, although Saturday did see us spending time over in Mytholmroyd, visiting old friends to help them out with a little project for the future. Beyond that we’ve been very much home-based. The weather’s beginning to turn drier, swapping with high winds that have turned our bird feeders into something of a challenge for our feathered friends. It’s akin to trying to land a plane on an aircraft carrier in high seas! Now we’re into a new week where I’ve decided to make the most of the brightening skies to return to Manchester and check out how the approaches to Piccadilly look from a photographic perspective now that the station’s reopened after the engineering blockade.

Right now I’m on a Northern service from Sowerby Bridge to head across the Pennines. It’s a quiet train, so there’s plenty of available table bays in which to set up the mobile office to type this.

I’ll be blogging (intermittently) throughout the day, so feel free to pop back and have a look at what I get up to (and where)…

Here we go…

13:30.

Phew! Time for a break and chance to upload a few images. Piccadilly station’s back to its normal buzzy self with both concourse and trainshed full of activity. What isn’t easy to see is the fruit of the past 9 days labours as the track that’s been renewed is some way away from the station itself. Hoping to get a better look I walked the backstreets to Manchester’s least used railway station – Ardwick. Just two trains a day call here, with a 2024/25 footfall of a mere 262 souls. The state of the entrance probably helps explain that.

The walk through some of the city’s less salubrious areas is fascinating from a photographic and social perspective, but I certainly wouldn’t want to be wandering around there after dark! When you catch a train from Piccadilly you don’t appreciate how much life there is in the arches below you. Despite the outward signs of decrepitude and decay there’s a myriad of small businesses. Many involve catering. Others supply hairdressing products or repair e-bikes used by Deliveroo drivers. Some are really rather posh behind the anonymous shutters. Here’s a few pictures.

Welcome to Ardwick station!
The view from Ardwick. Fresh ballast (stone) and cleaner rails give away which tracks have been renewed during the blockade – as do the clean speed restriction signs!
Shopping by numbers. Each of these arches are a small business – or available to be one.
Looking back to Piccadilly along Temperance St. The bridge in the foreground carried tracks into the former Mayfield station, latterly used for mail trains until it closed completely in 1986.
A train calls at platform 14 at Piccadilly whilst a mural of Ian Curtis from the band ‘Joy Division’ on the side of the Star and Garter looks on.

18:20.

Due to the spring-like conditions I decided to hang around in the city centre in order to enjoy the weather, explore and get some  architectural shots (which I’ll upload later). This also gave me time to pop into my favourite store in Chinatown to pick up some more goodies. This time it was different types of rice…

Now I’m heading back across the Pennines, which hasn’t been easy due to very busy (and short-formed) trains. I made it as far as Rochdale where I thought numbers would tail off. Bad move, as there were crowds of young men (well provisioned with bottles and cans) heading East on their way to some sporting event. Ah,well. At least I’ve managed to find a seat…

21:15.

Home!

It turned out that the sporting event was in Halifax, at the Shea stadium. I’ve no idea what as I’m not tribal and don’t follow these things. Half a dozen police officers kept an eye on the crowds flooding off the station, whilst more hung around pubs in town where supporters congregate. I was amused to see dozens of teenage lads – all dressed the same – in trainers, black jogging pants, black hoodies and baseball caps. So much for individuality it seems!

Finally, after 15 miles and 33,000 steps I made it home. Now it’s time to curl up with Dawn, enjoy a film and relax. There’s now a lot of new pictures to edit tomorrow. Here’s a couple of samples…

The glazed brickwork of the Midland hotel really caught the sun this afternoon…
A slightly different perspective on Metrolink trams.

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/

Cheers,

Paul

Rolling blog. Oh, go on then…

20 Friday Feb 2026

Posted by in Manchester, Photography, Rolling blogs, Travel

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12:00.

I hadn’t intended to be on a train to Manchester right now. My day had been set as I was expecting to be at home waiting for a plumber to check out our boiler. Only he came early. Dawn’s out for the day as it’s her mum’s birthday, so I was sat twiddling my thumbs after completing my chores, and thought ‘bugger it, i’ll nip out for a few hours’.

As usual, the weather’s dank and dismal but that doesn’t matter in a city, where rainy reflections and opportunties abound.

Let’s see what I get up to…

13:00.

For once, it wasn’t actually raining in Manchester when I arrived. This gave me time to amble over to Piccadilly whilst observing life (and photographing trams) en-route without getting soaked.

Piccadilly was even more deserted than on my last visit. Even the engineers trains had decamped. All that lingered inside the trainshed was the smell of fresh paint.

Echo, echo, echo…

15:30.

Talk about changeable weather! I made my way from Piccadilly to Oxford Rd by train, just to see what the loadings were like – and to avoid a soaking as the heavens had opened. I spent the next hour ducking between downpours as I tried to photograph a series of freight and passenger trains trying to find paths through this constricted corridor (pix soon).

Despite the appearence of the odd flash of blue sky I’ve decided to abandon the city before rush-hour. Partly because I can see the colour of the skies to the East (doom-laden) and partly because I hope to stop off en-route…

17:00.

As suspected, the weather changed my plans. I was intending to change trains at Rochdale in order to pop into the delightful ‘Old Post Office’ micro pub in Castleton. Then the heavens opened – again!

I’ll pass, thanks – even though it’s my favourite tyoe of old train…

Abandoning such a visit I caught the next train East across the Pennines where the weather was considerably more clement, allowing me to stop off in Todmorden for a  swift pint at the Alehouse (blogs passim).

Now I’m heading to Halifax on a hot and steamy Northern service to Leeds which is doing a passable impression of a Chinese laundry thanks to the number of damp passengers.

On the bright side. I’ll be back in Halifax in time to join friends in our local pub for the Friday quiz – and free pork pie…

21:55.

I’m home after a day I didn’t expect. The wind and rain’s beating on the cottage windows, not that it matters for me as I’m warm and dry and able to present these pics…

A bus rather than a train all the way From Manchester to Chesterfield is less than desirable, especially if you have to stand outside in the p*ssing rain.
A ‘top and tailed’ Freightliner service threads its way through the Castlefield corridor towards Trafford Park with 66589 on the rear as insurance.

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/

Cheers,

Paul