The pair of us are currently bouncing along from Bradford to Leeds on a Northern Class 195 in order to head down to London for tonight’s National Rail Awards, an event I’ve only missed once since (gulp!) 2003. Jeez. Were’s the last 20 years gone?
Tonight will be rather special as the awards host and Editor of RAIL magazine, Nigel Harris, leaves Bauer after 28 years tomorrow so it’s very much the end of an era. Nigel’s an old friend. The pair of us first met as volunteers on the Lakeside and Haverthwaite railway back in the mid 1970s. Then, in 2001 I started working for RAIL as a freelance photographer which brought me to the attention of the wider railway industry. The rest (as they say) is history…
12:45.
We’ve swapped our Northern 195 for some ‘classic’ traction to Kings Cross in the shape of 91111 ‘For the Fallen’
16th September update.
Sorry, I was overtaken by events that evening (literally) so never finished this blog. Despite the awards opening at 17:45 and going on until the early hours of the morning there’s never enough time. There’s so many people to see and say hello to, never mind get into conversation with – and Dawn and I have been privileged enough to have the run of the place and access to the VIP area which is the bar above the Great Hall.
Seeing so many old faces was lovely and (as usual) there was lost of stimulating and informative conversations. The Rail awards really are the railway ‘Oscars’ so pretty much everybody in the rail industry who can be there is. Only this time there was a twist due to Nigel retiring after so many years. Nigel’s co-presenter this year was the always entertaining TV journalist Steph McGovern, a person who has a host of stories and not afraid to call a spade a spade – or someone a tw*t! You should hear her anecdotes about meeting Donald Trump!
Here’s a few pictures from the night.
The VIP balcony. Folk in the rail industry may be able to spot a few familiar faces.The view from our table as Steph McGovern gets into her story-telling stride…Sir Peter Hendy was one of the people who bid farewell to Nigel (seen on the right).
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The surprise is I wasn’t meant to be going to Southport today at all! I was meant to be working at home. However…
This morning I went to my wardrobe to dig out my Tuxedo ready for tomorrow’s National Rail Awards. I knew it’d still fit so I’d left it to the last munute as usual. My lastminute.com behavior is the bane of my wife’s life but that’s another story. So, you can imagine the scene as I’m ruffling through my collection of clothes but can’t find it. I’d lent it to my brother in law in Southport last year and could have sworn I’d collected it earlier this year. Surely, I hadn’t left it on a train? Five minutes of frantic ruffling (it must’ve looked like a Tom and Jerry cartoon scene) established that it was nowhere to be found. One worried phone call to my sister established that it was actually still with her in Southport. So, here I am, on the 12:02 from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester, sheepishly heading to Southport to collect it!
Still, it’s a nice day for it and I can do some work on the way/way back…
13:15.
Rather than changing trains at Victoria I opted to travel to Salford Central and have a look at the refettled platforms. The station was closed for several weeks for an upgrade which has seen the platforms resurfaced along with other cosmetic changes that reflect its growing importance due to the massive changes to the area it serves. Forty years ago the station was surrounded by abandoned goods yards which had become temporary car parks. It was a depressing place. Now it’s full of high-rise residential blocks, multi-storey car parks and new offices. It’s quite a transformation.
The 13:12 to Southport calls at Salford Central, worked by a former ‘Thameslink’ Class 319 converted to a bi-mode Class 769.
13:45.
Having bolted to Bolton under electric power we’re now burbling to Wigan on diesel. The problems with changing over power that used to bug these units seem to have been ironed out.
17:30.
Well, that was a mixed day. I’m now on an ex-East Midland Railway Class 156 from Southport heading back to Manchester. I had time to kill in my old hometown as my sister didn’t get home from work until after 16:00 so I mooched around the town centre near the station. It’s a sad place nowadays. The impressive old Victorian Chapel St station was a real gateway to the town. It was demolished in the late 60s early 70s, to be replaced by an unattractive shopping centre with the truncated station hidden behind it. Even the shopping centre’s looking sad. It lost it’s flagship M&S store a few years ago. Now it’s losing one of its other staples – Wilko, which shuts in 5 days time. I had a quick look around and whilst there were some bargains there was nothing I could carry and it’s not what I was in town for.
Not many bargains left…
Moving on I had a look at the old Cambridge arcade which led from Chapel St to Lord street past another old flagship department store which closed. Talk about an air of dereliction!
To be fair, part of the arcade roof is being restored, but many of the the shops sheltering beneath it have closed.
I elected to walk up to my sisters as I could shadow the railway to get a few pictures en-route whilst viewing places I grew up in. It was all rather sad. I passed a former shoe-shop where my parents took me to buy my school shoes. The father and son who ran it until recently have both gone now and the shop with its iron and glass canopy has been turned into this.
That’s progress I suppose. The world has moved on from local shops to the internet and small businesses are struggling. That area used to be a thriving shopping village but all that’s left now is a few fast-food and booze shops, although one business has at least tried make the place look attractive and welcoming rather than just being a car-park.
Cars have had a huge impact on the character of the town. So many houses have what were attractive front gardens when I was a kid turned into hard-standing for cars. It’s both ugly and unsustainable but the council seems all too happy to let it happen.
Having picked up my Tux from my sisters there was one last and very unexpected surprise in store for me. As I entered Meols Cop station to catch the train I heard a voice shout ‘Paul’ from the shelter. It’s once in a blue moon that I bump into anyone in Southport from the ‘old days’ but I recognised the face immediately even though I hadn’t seen him for over 30 years. It was the eyes – and the hair (lucky barsteward!) This was a lad called Wayne whom I knew in the 1980s. Only he’s not a lad anymore! He was there with his teenage son who must have been about the age Wayne was when I first met him! Talk about a blast from the past!
22:30.
I’m home and relaxing after my impromptu trip to the seaside. My last surprise of the day was catching the train from Manchester and sitting next to an old acquaintance who now works as a Driver for Grand Central. Kieran had been in Manchester with a Northern colleague so the three of us ended up chatting about the state of the rail industry all the way to Hebden Bridge. What an unexpectedly sociable day.
Now it’s time to wind down, so I’ll leave you with a couple more pictures from today.
Due to a shortage of working units and with so many already gone for scrap the old 507/508 fleet often works as single sets nowadays. Here’s 508131 at Southport.The changing face of Merseyrail as the sidings at Southport hold a mix of old and new trains. But not for much longer…Bi-mode 769456 passes under Windsor Rd footbridge on its way into Southport. This is a scene of decrepitude and decay nowadays. A far cry from how I remember it in its heyday.
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Having been tied up at home recently (not literally you understand) and having had an appointment down in Sowerby Bridge this morning I thought ‘bugger it’ and escaped the valley for a few hours – even tho’ the weather was less than clement. I caught a train from Sowerby Bridge to Leeds via Dewsbury which allowed me a window-seat to observe progress on the Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TTU) – not that were huge changes. The most obvious sign that something’s afoot is the amount of new cable troughing that’s sat on pallets by the lineside, waiting to be installed. Well, that and the new stations of course. Morley’s coming along. The old platforms are being demolished and the new station’s slowly gaining a new footbridge with lifts. Farther up the line (or should that be Down the line?) ‘White Rose’ station’s taking shape. I’ll venture out next month to get pictures of progress.
Arriving at Leeds I swapped from Northern to a late-running TPE (surprise, surprise) service to York. There’s TPU work happening on this section too but I’m not familiar with the specifics other than the overhead wires having spread West from Colton Junction to end in the middle of nowhere – for now.
When I arrived at York I found it strangely quiet, although the fact it’s a September Tuesday may have had an impact as there’s bugger-all going on. That said, there’s always something of railway interest, as these pictures prove.
Former East Midlands Trains ‘dogbox’ 153311 is now used as a test train. I managed to catch it in the sidings during its brief layover. Former Calder Valley class 155 set 155345 rattles the station roof as it rumbles its way to Bridlington. Nowadays, this small class of 7 units are all based at Hull’s Botanic Gardens depot.Mind the gap. Level boarding is a dream on lots of the railway network, as this shot of passengers detraining from a Blackpool North – York service illustrates.Grand Central have been having an awful time with reliability of their Angel trains class 180 fleet recently. So much so units have been hired in. Here’s former East Midlands Railway 180110 working 1N95, the 1427 London Kings Cross to Sunderland.
I’ll add these and other pictures to my Zenfolio website shortly. Right now I’m back at home and taking the night off. See you soon…
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Today’s been the last full day of our break here in Cambridgeshire and it’s co-incided with the hottest day of the year. I’d planned for a day out exploring some of the local rail network to keep up with recent changes and also amass some shots for a client so my day began early and I was so happy it did. Unlike previous mornings where I walked out to a blanket of fog, I was greeted by this sunrise when I walked out onto the verandah at 06:30.
Dawn was up early too in order to give me a lift through to Cambridge North, the nearest railhead to where we’re staying. So, within short order I was out at Ely to capture a series of shots like this.
East Midland Railway’s 170513 is seen with the backdrop of Ely cathedral whilst working 1L04, the 06:42 Sheffield to Norwich.
Having exhausted the photographic possibilities at Ely I headed back to Cambridge and on to Foxton where I’d been hoping to catch one of the spoilt trains moving High Speed 2 tunnel boring waste to the nearby Barrington tip – only the bloody thing was cancelled. I hadn’t visited the station for donkey’s years so it gave me chance to update library shots like this – and get shots of the signalbox.
387107 and 387301 arrive at Foxton whilst working 2C16, the 0927 London Kings Cross to Cambridge.
Fortunately, the signaller was fast at unlocking the wicket gates at the station so I managed to hot-foot it across the tracks to catch this service after taking its picture. Back in Cambdridge well ahead of schedule and with the sun literally cracking the flags I caught a bus out to the site of the new Cambridge South station to get pictures of the work progressing.
Thameslink’s 700029 passes the site of the new Cambridge South station whilst working 9S16, the 0914 Brighton to Cambridge.Looking the opposite way towards the bridge the previous picture was taken from, here’s how work’s progressing on the new Cambridge South station.
By now it was early afternoon with the temperature hitting the low 30s, so I decided to call it a day, head back into Cambridge and enjoy a cold beer with an old friend from 45 years ago. The Old Waiting Room at the station was an ideal rendezvous before I caught a bus out to St Ives to catch up with the Platt’s and get a lift back to the chalet where relaxing and basking in the sun for an hour was preferable to a hot and sweaty trot around the rail network. Normally, I wouldn’t have let that bother me but as it was our last night we’d booked to go out for a meal at a local pub, so having the chance of a shower and change of clothes beforehand was very much the order of the day. Besides, I’ll be back…
Now the day’s almost over and we’re all chilin’ at the cabin after enjoying a lovely meal at the George and Dragon pub in nearby Elseworth.
Belly pork with sweet potato chips and salad. Delicious, but it doesn’t leave any room for pudding!
Tomorrow we begin the journey back to West Yorkshire, although we’ll be making a couple of stops on the way…
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/
It may be tardy but summer’s finally arrived. We’ve had great weather all day here in Cambridgeshire, although looking at the stressed state of some of the local trees I suspect there’s been a lot less rain here over the summer than we’ve had up in God’s own country.
After a leisurely morning we headed over to Ely, a town I’m very familiar with but one the Platt family had never visited before. On the way in I gave the folks a bit of a run-down on local history, including that of why there’s now a Southern bypass due to the number of HGVs that used to get stuck on the level crossing or jammed under the adjacent low bridge. I’d no idea how useful a lesson it would be until we parked at the station and prepared to walk down to the river. All of a sudden there was a hell of a bang and crunching noise from behind the trees masking the road. I knew what had happened straight away. This…
And the moral of the story is – always know the height of your vehicle…
To add to the drivers distress and embarrassment, there was a weeding party a few meters away who were about to board this vehicle. Needless to say, the wedding guests phone cameras were out capturing pictures of the added entertainment. Nice bus tho’…
Walking into town the Platt’s first stop was Costa coffee, which gave me chance to dash to the tourist office for leaflets, check out a few of the sightseeing opportunities and grab a swift pint before we moved on to the Cathedral. You don’t have to be religious or an architectural buff to appreciate the magnificence of Ely cathedral (although they’d help) as it’s truly a stunning building with a fascinating history.
Looking up into the cathedral tower…
The family were all impressed and moved by the building and the atmosphere within it. If you ever get chance to visit – do. I doubt you’ll be disappointed.
Having done our spiritual duties we moved onto more temporal concerns by stopping for a drink by the river Great Ouse at the Cutter Inn which has a great selection of food and drink – as well as great views along the river. We managed to bag a table outside which allowed views like this.
Two excellent forms of transport meet at Ely.
Whilst we were relaxing we were rudely interrupted by this critter above us – which we hadn’t even noticed until it started cooing like it was auditioning for a part in a Cuckoo clock!
Good to see those anti pigeon spikes work. Having seen the way this Dove’s defeated static defenses I can only assume it must be Ukrainian…
Now we’re back at home, relaxing and digesting the excellent coq au vin that Dawn had set up in the slow cooker before we left. Tomorrow we head to Cambridge – another first for the Platts…
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Well, almost! I’m sat at Dawn’s parents. Having repacked the car with all our stuff we’re just waiting for Madame, who’s gone off to have her nails done whilst we sorted out the jigsaw of suitcases, shoes and jackets plus the bags of condiments and spices we always take with us. The weather’s done its best to delay us by throwing the odd shower our way but the job’s done. Now we’re waiting on our driver…
13:20.
We’re now en-route…
13:55.
The joy of the M1 motorway – but only for 11 miles before we cut across country to the A1.
14:45.
Having left the M1 we cut across country on the A57 which passes South of Worksop.It’s not the most scenic of routes, it’s also very busy. But anyone who remembers the miners strike of 1984-85 will recognise some of the names – like Manton, and Thoresby.
A lot of housing in the area looks like it was built by the council or National Coal Board. Unlovely houses for the most, many haven’t improved as now it’s like living in a car-park as what once were gardens have been concreted over.
Right now we’re heading South on the A1, fortunate that we’re not going in the opposite direction as an accident by the junction where we joined the road has caused a tailback several miles long.
17:00.
We’ve made a slight detour to a very pleasant place to stop for coffee where you can admire the scenery. Rutland Water.
19:00.
We’ve arrived, unloaded the car and started to settle in. We’re all really impressed with the accommodation, which is one of a new group of five chalets just outside the village of Elsworth.
There’s certainly plenty of space…Both bedrooms are doubles. This one’s en-suite. The other has a bathroom opposite. The chalets are constructed from ‘timber’ made from recycled plastic so both hard wearing and eco-friendly. The view from the deck which overlooks a pair of well-stocked fishing lakes. There’s a tackle shop on site. The woods in the background are a SSSI so protected and off limits.
It seems that even here I can’t get away from railways! In 1946 the local church recruited a new Rector. His name? The Reverend Wilbert Awdry, who wrote the ‘Thomas the tank engine’ children’s books! Apparently, there’s a blue plaque in his honor on the vicarage, which I’ll have to seek out.
22:15.
Time to bring this blog to a close. The trip down here was pretty good and what we’ve seem on our foray to the Waitrose supermarket in St Ives makes us want to spend tomorrow reconnoitering the area so we can decide where we’d like to spend more time. The weather’s certainly a lot better than where we’ve come from and the forecast is looking good. I might even be able to break out the shorts and sandals!
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.
This is Calvert in Buckinghamshire. Looking West towards L&NE junction and the single line to Bicester beyond. A spur runs off to the left towards Calvert and the old Great Central line. Only one thing in this shot remains intact (but not for long) which is the road overbridge in the distance. This picture was taken on the 11th August 2011 from the Addison Rd overbridge, which has also disappeared although it’s replacement has yet to open.
Here’s the same view almost exactly a decade later on the 23rd June 2021
The tall piling rig is standing where High Speed 2 will pass from Left to Right, underneath the reopened E-W rail link, the trackbed of which is being raised to almost the level of the old overbridge beyond. Meanwhile, the land to the right of the picture is being transformed as it’s the site of the HS2 Infrastructure Maintenance Depot (IMD) and sidings.
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.
Taken from further East, this is the new Addison Rd bridge under construction. The E-W trackbed has been widened on the Northern side to accomodate the tracks which will lead into the IMD.
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/
Excuse me? This is the August bank holiday, the only one actually in that season we in the UK regard as summer. So where’s the summer weather? In fact, where was the summer? OK, I shouldn’t complain too much as we’ve hardly had any rain at all here in the Calder valley today which goes against bank holiday traditions, but honestly – what a low key event. Admittedly, Dawn and I hadn’t got anything planned as we’ve got a busy September ahead. Even so, the idea of sitting out in the garden with a G&T whilst soaking up the sun wouldn’t have gone amiss.
Instead, the pair of us have spent much of the say slaving over keyboards. The other day I had a conversation via Twitter (Musk, you can do one – I refuse to call it X) about the state of some of the old BR built diesel trains and the amount of corrosion repairs many of them had undergone. Then I looked for the pictures I’d taken, realised they weren’t on my website so went hunting. It’s a long story that involves tales of why you should keep a central database and not lots of different folders – but I eventually found them.
The interior of one of the cars of 150257. Note the bottom of the steel skin of the car has been chopped off to deal with corrosion of the bodyshell ribs. The condition of the car frames due to water ingress condensation is also evident. You can find more pictures from here.
Whilst these shots were taken in November 2017 they’ve become rather topical as replacement of these train fleets is back on the agenda as Northern have expressed for expressions of interest in building new ones to replace them. And that’s part of a bigger story. These old diesel trains date from 1985-86. Due to government inertia and dither on electrifying more of the UKs rail network we’re sending far greener and more modern electric trains to the scrapyard – like the Government owned (it’s a long story) class 365s built a decade later in 1995. Meanwhile, we have even more modern electric trains – the class 379s built in 2010 which are stored with no prospects of working for the foreseeable future.
Now, you’d think that a Transport Minister who’s supposed to be thinking about such things may be exercising his mind to solve the problem? But no. Mark Harper is too busy fighting culture wars and proving just how unfit for the job he is – hence this utterly ridiculous tweet.
The Government doesn’t have the ‘legal power’ to stop it? Either this is a blatant lie (it is) or Harper hasn’t got a clue how UK democracy works (possible) or both (likely). Because the truth is the UK Parliament is sovereign and can make or change whatever laws it likes. And let’s not even get into the fact ULEZ was a Tory policy and one they’ve pinned on Sadiq Khan. Plus, there’s the fact most Londoners (who actually want to breather clean air) support ULEZ. So, you can see why the Dept of Transport is in a mess. It’s ‘led’ by a politician who’s a bit like a tortoise atop a fencepost.
OK, I’ve digressed from Bank holidays to a rant about useless politicians. Sorry (not sorry) about that. Anyway, I hope you’ve all enjoyed your day off – if you’ve had one…
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/
No late trains for me today. In fact no trains at all – unless you count pictures. Much of my day’s been spent editing yesterday’s images which you can find divided between the following galleries;
As well as the pictures I’ve relisted railway memorabilia and old slides on eBay which you can find here. I’ll add some new bits before the weekend but tomorrow I’ll be back out on the railways, ending up in Sheffield in the afternoon to discuss his forthcoming trip to India, a country I’ve spent rather a lot of time exploring in the past. There’s several places I want to have a look at tomorrow but my itinerary very much depends on the weather which isn’t looking great, especially out East so I may be visiting a few locations where sunny weather would actually be a handicap. Whatever I get up to I’ll be rolling blogging throughout the day.
In the meantime, here’s a picture from one of the locations I’ve been looking at. It’s 9 years since I was last taking pictures here and the railway scene’s changed quite a bit. This is a town where the railroad literally does run through the middle of the house. Well, town anyway. This is Belper, Derbyshire where the coming of the Midland Railway in 1840 split the town in two with this deep cutting.
On the 4th July 2014 a Northbound East Midlands Train to Sheffield passes a loaded coal train heading South. Once the lifeblood of freight on the old Midland Railway, you won’t see many coal trains thundering through Belper nowadays. In fact, looking at the timings for tomorrow (Thursday) I can’t find a single one. The Meridians are living on borrowed time too as they’re due to be replaced by new Hitachi built trains over the next couple of years.
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 had an eventful day so far. Having been up early to finish penning my Blyth and Tyne article for RAIL magazine I had to walk down to our Doctors for an appointment. Whilst sitting in the waiting room idly scrolling through websites I found that – not only were the new Merseyrail trains running in passenger service on the Wirral to West Kirby, but one of the Vivarail ex-London transport trains was definitely running on the Borders line from Bidston to Wrexham. It seemed like too good a chance to miss…
Within 5 mins of leaving the Docs I was at the station and soon heading Westwards to Manchester Victoria where I had scant minutes to wait for a Trans-Pennine service onwards to Liverpool Lime St, working on the trains all the way thanks to their wifi (are you listening DfT?). Tempting as it was to join Merseyrail at Lime St I walked to Central instead as it gave me chance to buy a cheap supermarket butty rather than pay station prices. Plus I got more steps in!
First stop on Merseyrail was Bidston where I was just in time to snap one of the Transport for Wales Class 230s arriving from Wrexham four minutes late. I’m told timekeeping is a real issue with these sets, especially towards the end of their diagram when they’ve banked delays on each circuit.
Plodding onward to the lovely Art Deco station at Hoylake and finding a 777 was on the service behind I realised this wasn’t the best place for photography due to sun, heavy shadows and the waiting room canopy. I wanted shots of passengers with the train so I ended up catching it to West Kirby.
Day 2 of Class 777 passenger services on the Wirral, with obvious teething problems. Not in service?
There’s clearly teething problems introducing the sets. Not only is the set in use running late on each run from Liverpool but the destination blinds show “not in service”, much to passengers confusion! I let the 777 return to Liverpool and took a break to photograph some of the older units before catching up with set 004 on a return run at Meols where the same late running and PIS screen problems persisted.
17:15.
I’ve had another run on the 777 but this time I’ve had channce to chat to the crew. Late running is due to two sets of doors being locked out of use because the level boarding steps are stuck. Apparently, this *may* (but don’t quote me, I’m only the messenger) be due to the floor panels in the vestibules above flexing under weight. So it’s taking longer for passengers to embark/disembark, hence the late running. Whatever, this doesn’t detract from the overall quality of the trains which Pip Dunn and I reviewed in a recent RAIL article. Let’s face it, the 507s weren’t without issue when they were introduced and the fleet underwent a series of modifications during its lifetime.
Now I’m making my way back towards home, although I do have a stop off in mind on the way…
20:00.
Ever had one of those days? Again? After typing my last update I left the train at Conway Park so I could get a last shot of the 777 before adjourning to a fabulous old nautical pub near Hamilton Sq. Just as the train pulled out I thought ‘hang on, my pockets feel light’…
I’m wearing a Barbour fleece which is great apart from one thing. The pockets are as deep as the sinks in a Chiltern Railways Mk 3 coach loo. I’d managed to lose my phone on the train. Cursing under my breath I caught the next train to Hamilton Square so I could drown my sorrows if nothing else. As I passed through I told the barrier staff what I’d done. Straightaway Peter, the guy on the gateline made some phonecalls and established that a phone matching mine had just been handed in to the ticket office at James St. So, I caught the next train there with fingers crossed. Sure enough, George in the ticket office at James St had my phone. Some good Samaritan had found it and handed it in.
My faith in humanity restored I decided I’d had enough adventure for the day, but I did have a quick pint in the Crown Hotel outside Lime St just to unwind and indulge in some people – watching before heading home.
The ceiling in the Crown’s a sight to behold.
20:20.
I’ve been kicking my heels in Manchester Victoria for nearly an hour as my Leeds connection was cancelled – just to put the icing on the cake! Now I’m praying the 20:21 just *might* be on time…
20:25.
Yay! Homeward bound. This train’s on time and not too crowded so I’ve the luxury of a seat in a saloon. I’ve had an interesting if rushed day – and I’m still in possession of my phone (which is a bonus). I’ll add a few more pictures to the blog this evening just to round things off. Tomorrow will be a day for working from home without the pressure of jumping on and off trains. Instead I’ll be able to edit today’s pictures and get some filing done – as well as adding a few more items to eBay..
21:00.
Ho hum. We’re 20 mins late leaving Rochdale due to being stuck behind another service. This is really not turning out to be my day, but it is an all too typical day on the railways at the moment.
22:00.
Home at last! Now I’ve time to edit a few of today’s pictures for your delectation. Here’s a small selection.
One of Transport for Wales ex-London transport tube trains rebuilt from electric to diesel-power by Vivarail is seen at Bidston before working a Borders line service to Wrexham.
The old order at West Kirby. 1978 built 507011 arrives at the town having worked a service around the Liverpool loop and return.Ignore the PIS, 777004 was very much in service, having deposited me at Manor Rd on the Wirral line to West Kirby, where this picture was taken. More old electric trains, this time in the shape of former Thameslink units 319383 and 319386. Built by BR in 1988 these 4- car sets are living on borrowed time as they’re due to be replaced by ex-West Midlands 3-car Class 323s just as soon as the units are released from their time around Birmingham.
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Paul Bigland 