Tag Archives: Railways

Rolling blog. Coastal capers…

20 Tuesday Dec 2022

Posted by in Photography, Rolling blogs, Southport, Travel

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09.05.

We’ve another warm, foggy and wet morning here in the Calder valley, but I’m hoping to avoid a soaking as I was down to Sowerby Bridge station to head off to Southport for the day. I’m looking forward to having a day away from the valley and enjoy some coastal air. Let’s see how the trip goes…

Having strolled down to Sowerby Bridge under clearing skies I’ve discovered my train to Manchester is 7 mins late. It’s no big deal as I won’t miss my connection, it’s just frustrating!

Eventually, a vintage Class 158 working the Leeds – Brighouse – Walkden – Wigan Wallgate route arrived. I’m not complaining. It’s warm and cosy with USB sockets to keep my phone charged up.

The day begins…

This 3-car service isn’t particularly busy but we’re an all stations stopper as far as Rochdale so it’ll soon fill up.

En-route I couldn’t help but play a couple of songs by Terry Hall of the Specials and Fun Boy Three. He’s died at the age of 63 (my age). I’ve always been a lover of his music as he was another who helped provide the soundtrack to my life. Two songs especially stick in my mind, ‘Our lips are sealed’ is one but the tune that really resonates is ‘Ghost town‘, written by Jerry Dammers back in 1981. It summed up the turmoil and troubles of the Thatcher years with recession and racism rife. Troubles that (until recently) we thought we’d seen the back of – but now both are making a return. Now I can see the reflections of those years in the shuttered shops I pass in towns and cities up and down the country – and that I’m sure I’ll be seeing later.

09:40.

Right now we’ve crossed over the border into Lancashire to call at Smithy Bridge. As expected, the train’s very busy now. Dozens boarded at Littleborough and I’m expecting us to be almost full and standing after our next stop – Rochdale.

09:44.

We’ve departed from Rochdale. I gave up my table seat to stand and observe and – as I expected – we’re now full and standing.

10:20.

I’m now on my way to Southport aboard one of Northern’s bi-mode (25kv and diesel) Class 769s after a game of ‘guess the platform’ at Manchester Victoria where two of the four through platforms were blocked by cold and dead TPE class 185s. It seems TPE are having another torrid day. I’ll find out details when I can. As that TOC puts a lot of trains through the station nowadays they bugger-up Northern services when things go wrong – which is frequently!

TPE using half of Victoria’s through platforms as stabling!

Of course, this wouldn’t have been an issue before BR vastly reduced the size of the station in the 1990s and destroyed its capacity, a decision that’s come back to haunt us in the 21st century.

11:00.

I’m West of Wigan now, about to cross the West Lancashire plain to get to Southport. My 319 successfully changed from electric to diesel power at Bolton. Now it’s spending the rest of the trip trying to shake itself to bits! I’m in toilet car 71805 where there’s a reaonance effect that’s rattling the hell out of the luggage rack above me. The hopper windows aren’t liking it either. A couple of them have popped open of their own accord! Part of the problem is the rack on my side of the train isn’t braced – unlike the adjacent one.

The poles make all the difference…

At Southport the Merseyrail side of the station boasted trains old and new. The BR built Class 507-508 fleets are still in charge of all passenger services but the future is stabled in the sidings…

Wi

16:00.

My flying visit to Southport’s come to an end earlier than expected due to my Sister being unwell. I still managed to have lunch with my Niece (Charlotte) and her husband (Ade) – even though he could only join us for his lunch-break from work! Charlotte and I both share the same ‘itchy feet’ travel gene and the three of us will next be meeting up in SE-Asia in January. Co-ordinating the trip was one of the reasons for my visit as it’s part of the world I know really well, along with the logistics of travel. The rendezvous is being made all the more challenging as they fly into Bangkok a few days before I fly into Singapore but that’s only 887 miles difference compared to 7,000 – and you can do it overland! Another thing that Charlotte and I share is a love of Asian food so I’m looking forward to introducing her to some of the Malaysian cuisines – including Nonya food.

There was no reason for me to hang around afterwards, so I’ve caught another bi-mode Class 319 Eastwards. I sat in exactly the same place as the last unit, just to see if the vibration problem happened again. It did, but nowhere near as bad.

769456 works the 15:05 from Southport to Manchester Oxford Rd. Seen at Wigan Wallgate where I bailed out.

Now I’ve stopped off in Wigan for a quick pint in Wigan Central to let the light change so I can do some night-time photography. Well, that’s my excuse – and I’m sticking to it!

17:00.

Oh, bugger…

19:45.

Despite the cancellations I made it back to Manchester’s Deansgate station then wandered across the city centre, getting a few pictures en-route before stopping off for a pint and a spot of people-watching. It’s the Xmas party season but even so – the city seems far more subdued than previous years. This impression was reinforced by the number of almost empty restaurants I passed. Clearly, the amount of money in circulation isn’t what it was which is hardly surprising considering what’s going on in the country right now. If you’re striking for more pay (and many are) you’re hardly going to be blowing what money you have left.

I’m now ln the 19:23 from Victoria to Leeds. It’s yet another busy train but there’s little revelry on the train. Most folk seem to be returning from work or coming home for Christmas ahead of the next round of rail strikes.

21:30.

Home again (naturally). Time for some good food and chance to relax before another busy day 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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

12th December picture of the day…

12 Monday Dec 2022

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

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We’ve had a wintery start to the week here at Bigland Towers. Snow arrived in the Calder Valley at the weekend and, whilst it’s hardly deep and crisp and even the dusting we’ve had is certainly sticking around. To make matters worse the temperature plummeted today with the mercury never getting above -2 but hitting -5 this morning whilst the valley itself disappeared behind a mask of freezing fog. So, I’ve spent the entire day indoors, not even making it out for my daily stroll. Instead, I’ve beavered away in the office sorting out pictures and filing in order to create some space in the calendar for the future (more about that later).

I doubt I’ll be venturing far for the rest of the week. Whilst the temperature’s due to creep above zero towards the end of the week there’s another problem. Tomorrow sees the start of the next round of rail strikes, only our local operator (Northern) has essentially thrown in the towel. They’re not bothering to run any service at all through Halifax and the Calder Valley until Sunday! That’s’ 5 days without any services across most of their network, which covers the whole of the North, taking in Cumbria, Yorkshire, the North-West and Cheshire, including major cities like Manchester. and Leeds (which sees a skeleton service based on the Aire valley electric trains, see below).

Sadly, there’s no sign of this dispute coming to an end. It looks like it will drag on well into next year. There’s conflicting reports coming out about who’s to blame for the breakdown in negotiations, as my RAIL magazine colleague, Phil Haigh, pointed out on Twitter earlier.

Whilst I can appreciate both sides of this dispute the people I feel for are those caught in the crossfire. I don’t just mean passengers, although having no trains here for the rest of the week when we have snow and ice on the ground is hardly desirable. I feel for the many small businesses who rely on the railways for their trade. The shop and cafe owners who’ve been suffering and struggling for years as Northern and the unions have been in regular disputes for years. The toll this has taken on many businesses goes unrecognised. Just as they were getting back on their feet Covid struck. Then, as they were slowly recovering from that we had the Russian invasion of Ukraine and the subsequent energy crises. Oh, and that’s without mentioning the impact Brexit has had, making goods ever more expensive. It’s been a perfect storm for rail-based businesses so I’m not in the least surprised to have seen how many had closed down when I was doing my recent round Britain trip for RAIL. Station cafes and shops the length and breadth of the network have gone forever, and my fear is that more will follow in the new year because there’s no sign of a light at the end of the tunnel. They’re the ‘collateral damage’ from these strikes.

Another casualty of these strikes is my annual visit to the Railway Carol service in London, which is being held in Euston on Thursday. There’s no way I can get there in time, and even getting back would be risky. Instead, I’ll be spending another day at home, planning another adventure that’s been deferred by Covid.

On Saturday I had confirmation of my flight to Singapore in January. I’ll be spending two months away from the Septic Isle, exploring old haunts in Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia – and also taking in some new sights too (hopefully). So, the enforced ‘downtime’ I have this week will allow me to start planning the trip. I’d originally hoped to have left the UK before Christmas, but the cost of flights was ridiculous. This many have been a blessing in disguise as the Christmas period is looking like a lousy time to travel due to the rail dispute and disruption at airports due to the Border Force taking strike action. I’m keeping my fingers crossed that the date I’ve chosen to fly out (January 10th) is in that ‘sweet spot’ between strikes. Time will tell.

So, don’t expect much in the way of new rail pictures from me this week, which is very frustrating as I have a market for railway snow scenes but no way of capturing them! Instead, here’s an archive shot taken in the Calder Valley several years ago.

On the 21st January 2013 ‘Pacer’ 144009 approaches Sowerby Bridge from the East with a service for Manchester Victoria.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

New train fun-day…

02 Friday Dec 2022

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Transport for Wales (TfW), Travel, Wales

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I’m on my way home after a very busy day testing new trains for RAIL magazine along with an old friend and colleague – Pip Dunn. I can’t go into any detail about what we experienced (obviously) as you’ll be able to read about our findings in future editions of the magazine. We’ve checked out two different versions of the same type of train today. Firstly, the CAF built Class 196s for West Midlands Trains (hence us staying in Shrewsbury last night). We tried out their 4-car trains that have been introduced on the route from Shrewsbury to Birmingham New St. We tried two different class 196s between Shrewsbury and Wolverhampton. That job done we moved location. Pip had come by car as travelling to our next destination would have been time-consuming by rail. Instead, we drove through foggy Shropshire to join the A5 to head to Wales. Amazingly, the weather changed en-route. Once we were West of Llangollen the fog cleared, and we were treated to clear blue skies and sunshine all the way to Llandudno. There we swapped the car for a trip on a Transport for Wales 2 -car Class 197 to Bleanau Ffestiniog and back. Despite sharing the same bodyshell, traction package and underfloor equipment the two units were very different internally – as you’ll find out if you read the articles. What I will show you now is a couple of external shots.

The four-car commuter version for West Midlands Railway, seen at Shrewsbury after a run from Birmingham.
The two-car, longer-distance version for Transport for Wales, seen at Llandudno. The interior is very different to the unit pictured above. These units are wasted on the Ffestiniog branch as they’re configured for mainline running.

On our return from Ffestiniog I bade adieu to Pip at Llandudno Junction as I was heading home by rail whilst Pip had another little job to do for his other passion – HGVs. I ended up on a packed 2-car TfW (Transport for Wales) Class 158 all the way to Chester. The North Wales Coast line’s very scenic as it hugs the coast. Except when it’s a winter’s evening like today when you can’t see a bloody thing!

At Chester I had time for a swift pint in the pub across the road from the station – which was packed as it’s a Friday evening – before catching my train home. I’m now sat in the lead car of yet another CAF built unit, this time a Northern Class 195/0. Only this one seems to have square wheels! There’s a noticeable wheel flat on the front bogie (which I’m sat over) which is painful at slow speed but bearable at line speed.

Despite the wheel flat I’ve had a productive journey as far as Manchester as I had a table to myself, so managed to get loads of pictures edited. Tat changed at Manchester Victoria where the commuter and Christmas shopper hordes were waiting for my train to take ’em home. Now we’re rammed, so it’s time to sign off for now, but I will leave you with one last shot of rather older traction. The ‘leafbuster’ trains are still very much in evidence due to a late autumn and I caught this over-powered example at Chester yesterday.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Another Shropshire sojourn..

01 Thursday Dec 2022

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Shrewsbury, Shropshire, Travel

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11:10.

I’m working in Shropshire and North Wales tomorrow but it’s going to be a long day with an early start, so I’m making my way from West Yorkshire to Shrewsbury as I’ll be staying this evening in readiness for the first trip of the day. I’ll be meeting up with an old friend and colleague as it’s a two-person job. Right now I’m on my way to Chester aboard the direct train from Sowerby Bridge. Northern introduced hourly direct Leeds – Chester via Halifax trains in October 2019. It’s a very useful service as it provides a direct connection with the West Coast Main Line (WCML) at Warrington Bank Quay, as well as making it easier to get to North Wales. My service is worked by a pair of 2-car CAF built Class 195s, which are staple traction on the route. Modern trains like this add to its attraction. I’ve a table so set up the mobile office. Sadly, this particular unit isn’t in the best of health. There’s no working power sockets and the passenger information system’s lost! It’s half a dozen stations behind where it really is, so it’s announcing we’re about to arrive in Sowerby Bridge whilst our next stop’s actually Manchester Victoria! I’m travelling in the front car of the leading unit. Loadings are good, between 65-70% from what I can see, although I expect that figure to drop after Manchester.

The weather’s still grey and gloomy this side of the Pennines. Hardly ideal for photography as skies will be completely washed-out in pictures. Even so, I’ll be stopping off a couple of times en-route on my roundabout way to Shrewsbury in order to get some pictures, so expect a few shots to appear later.

11:30.

We’ve just left Newton-le-Willows and my train’s busy again thanks to a goodly number of people joining us at this rebuilt station. The facilities have really improved since the new building and lifts replaced the long staircases that used to be the only way to reach the platforms, but it’s sad to see the original building boarded up and unused.

12:00.

During our stop at Warrington Bank Quay I grabbed the chance to move tables and found working power sockets. Hurrah! The Only downside is I’m now sat over the leading bogie. The 195s are known for rough-riding and this unit (007) is no different. I’ve already had a couple of spine-jarring thumps as we’ve passed over rough track joints. Passing the freight yards at Warrington was rather a sad sight as they’re nowhere near as busy as they once were as the coal traffic that provided a lot of their business has disappeared – as have the rakes of hopper wagons that moved the stuff. Now many of the sidings are disused, the deep patina of rust on the railhead giving away the fact they’ve not been used for a long time.

14:00.

Well, that’s been a busy couple of hours. I’m still at Chester and will write more about my experiences later when I’m on the move again. In the meantime, here’s a few photos showing the variety I’ve observed. Right now I’m having a few minutes in the warm as it’s bleedin’ Baltic out on the station!

A pair of Transport for Wales Class 153s, aka ‘Dogboxes’ sit in one of the bays underneaththe truncated station roof before working a service to Liverpool Lime St.
An old friend. This class 150 used to work Silverlink services on my local line in London before moving on. First to GWR, and now Northern. In the background is a Merseyrail electric class 507.
The venerable Class 507s were introduced by British Rail back in 1978 but like many old BR fleets they’re living on borrowed time. Covid delayed their demise, but you won’t see sights like this for much longer.
New CAF built 3-car 197101 in between test runs, having worked in from Llandudno Junction.
Freight along the North Wales coast has been a rarity for many years now, so seeing stone trains from Penmaenmawr return is a welcome sight. Here’s Colas 60076 working a loaded train to Tuebrook in Liverpool.
The obligatory ‘but no-one’s travelling by train, they’re all working from home’ shot. A TfW Class 158 swops hordes of passengers en-route to Holyhead.

15:30.

I left Chester aboard another train which is reaching the end of its current career. In fact, unless DfT start making some sensible decisions it may even be the end of its career. Here’s Avanti West Coast ‘Voyager’ 221107 at Crewe, where it carried me to from Chester. These trains are only 20 years old but they’re soon to be rendered surplus by new-build bi-mode trains from Hitachi.

Ivwasn’t in Crewe long, less than 20 mins as I caught TfWs 15:09 to Milford Haven which will take me to Shrewsbury. Sadly, the weather remains grim. The sun did threaten to break through at Chester, but not here. This service is a 3-car Class 175, yet another fleet soon to be displaced. It’s packed, so yet again i’m exiled to a vestibule. What I found interesting was my fellow travellers. I’m sharing the vestibule with a young lady who’s just flown in from Malaysia. Meanwhile, the saloon luggage racks are rammed with suitcases carried by an extended family who’ve also just arrived via Heathrow. Why they’ve chosen this train’s a mystery…

16:00.

Journey’s end for me for the moment. Now it’s time to check into my hotel. Relax for a while and meet up with Pip…

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

28th November picture of the day…

28 Monday Nov 2022

Posted by in Flora and Fauna, London, Musings, Photography, Picture of the day, Railways, Travel, West Yorkshire

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It’s been a frustrating day here in Bigland Towers as I’ve been chained to a desk and hot computer all day. I’ve got lots of work done – including having edited all the pictures from the past few days but I’d been hoping to get out for my usual stroll to keep the exercise levels up. Dawn had to take the day off to go and help a friend. That wouldn’t have been a problem apart from the fact two parcels were due to be delivered, so I agreed to wait in until they arrived. Only neither of them did. One company claimed to have called but no-one was in (‘oh yes – I bloody well was’!) and the other never showed up or even left a message, so what little exercise I got consisted of pacing back and forth from the office to the front window, watching out for delivery vans. Ho hum, maybe tomorrow…

As a consequence, it’s a short blog from me today. Still, here’s a few links to the various galleries containing the lates batches of photographs.

The GWR franchise

TfL/Elizabeth line

The GTR franchise

Infrastructure and engineering

Railway stations

Railway people

And last, but not least, a new gallery dedicated to Saturday’s Class 315 commemorative event.

There’s plenty to look at and not all is about trains themselves but also the people, infrastructure and stations that make up our rail network.

I’ll be working from home again tomorrow planning some other sorties, both UK and abroad, but I’m determined to get out at some point, even if it is just a stroll around the valley. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture, which illustrates the sometimes-uneasy relationship we have with our feathered friends, especially in cities.

These tree pigeons are roosting on the handrail of the main staircase in the ‘Lawn’ at Paddington station where they’re surrounded by cafes and restaurants. There’s a constant stream of people passing by but they’ve come to a wary truce with them, even if the truce isn’t reciprocated due to the mass they make with their droppings. But as far as the pigeons are concerned, it’s warm and sheltered with plenty of scraps on offer…

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Home again…

27 Sunday Nov 2022

Posted by in London, Photography, Railways, Travel

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I’ve had an ‘interesting’ journey back from Reading today, mainly because the railways were so busy! It’s bizarre that we still run a Sunday timetable (less frequent and often shorter trains) in this day and age as Sunday is anything but quiet. After leaving my hotel I went for a wander around Reading in order to buy some breakfast and also explore. We’d had heavy rain overnight so the streets were a mass of puddles. Even so, it was remarkably mild. The detritus of Saturday night’s bacchanalia could be found in shop doorways and at bus-stops. As you can see here!

I’m not surprised she ditched ’em. The heels must have been nearly 6 inches!

There’s some lovely old buildings in Reading, but despite the fact that it’s ostensibly a wealthy town, there’s a lot of dereliction and decrepitude. Having filled my stomach thanks to Greggs I headed for the station to catch a GWR service to London. The station was quiet, but the train wasn’t. I was surprised when a 5 car IET arrived from Oxford as the thing was absolutely rammed! I ended up jammed in a vestibule, standing all the way to London which wouldn’t have been too bad but engineering work had closed the Fast lines East of Slough which added another 10 minutes to the journey. Hardly a good start to my trip. I was in no rush so I hung around at Paddington for an hour in order to get some pictures and update the archives before heading for the Elizabeth line. It’s now possible to get from Paddington to Kings Cross without once using the tube by catching a ‘Lizzy line’ train to Farringdon, then picking up a Thameslink service to St Pancras, which is what I did.

At the Cross I headed for the 14:00 to Leeds. At least this was a 9-car ‘Azuma’ – and it needed to be! Sadly, the reservation system was kaput so I hedged my bets by securing space in the lead vestibule behind the drivers cab. It was a wise move. By the time all were aboard there wasn’t a spare seat to be had anywhere, but at least I had the vestibule to myself! I rather enjoyed the trip, despite being relegated to the floor because engineering work had closed the main line North of Peterborough, so we were routed through the Werrington ‘dive under’ (a new route for me) then along the GN/GE joint line via Lincoln to reach Doncaster the long way round.

It’s cosy in coach A…

Finally, on reaching Leeds there was on last surprise in store for me. The 17:19 Leeds – Manchester Victoria was another packed train but I was amazed to find it was a 5-car, which is unheard of! We were treated to a pair of CAF Class 195s in 3 and 2 car formations which meant I managed to secure a seat in the front car as most people hadn’t realised we’d got the extra set attached. Even I had to double-check with the Dispatcher!

So, now I’m home and looking forward to a few days away from the rails, catching up with editing all the pictures from the past few days. Expect to see them appear on my website over the next day or two. In the meantime, here’s a taster from Paddington.

800023 and 800013 arrive at Paddington with a service from the West Country earlier today.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Rolling blog. The Class 315 farewell…

26 Saturday Nov 2022

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

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06:30.

I’m up showered and in dire need of coffee (no such luxuries in an ‘Easyhotel’ room) here in Reading, ready to head off to London to take part in the farewell tour of the Class 315 trains which have plied their trade in and out of London Liverpool St station since 1981. It makes me feel old. I moved to London in 1986 when these trains were just 5 years old. I used to watch them pass from the balcony outside our flat. Now they’re nearly all gone. Just last few sets remain and two of those will be working the tour to Shenfield today.

Right, time to go…

07:55.

I’m on my way! It’s another rail strike day so Reading station was deathly quiet this morning. On the bright side, Costa coffee was open so I’ve been able to get my caffeine fix.

The Elizabeth line isn’t affected by the strikes, so they’re running a normal service. Here’s my train.

What’s also running normally is revenue protection! Two officers are on my train and immediatelycaught two arrogant young men who thought buying tickets was for other people. An expensive mistake!

08:10.

My trip along the Great Western main line’s been an interesting one. So much has changed since I left London. And it’s still changing. I’ve just passed Old Oak Common and the site of the new HS2 station. I was here on a press trip the other day but it looks completely different when you pass it on a train as you get to see the start of work on the new main line station.

10:30.

Despite the strike a lot of people have turned up for today’s commemorative trips. Here’s the train before the first run.

21:45.

I’d intended to blog about the trip today but in the end I was just too busy taking pictures, so I’ll do a separate report on what turned out to be a very good day out. I don’t often do railtours nowadays, but I found this one really interesting because of the demographic it appealed to. Oh, and full credit to all those involved in making it happen. MTR, the Branch Line Society and Network Rail especially – not to mention many others. For now, I’ll leave you with a picture of the team at the end of the trips. My special thanks go to an old friend (Jon Bradley, bottom right) who was instrumental in making the event happen.

Right now I’m relaxing in my hotel in Reading after an ‘interesting’ journey on the ‘Lizzie Line’ thanks to an earlier incident outside Paddington on a day when (because of the strikes) plan B’s were hard to come by. Tomorrow I head back up North, so expect a more relaxed rolling blog as I’m under no pressure.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Rolling blog. Reading reprise…

25 Friday Nov 2022

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08:50.

I’m off to Reading on a fine and sunny autumn morning, which is a welcome change from all the wet weather we’ve been having recently. It certainly made walking to Halifax station far more pleasant! Despite being awake since the early hours (I often am when setting off on a trip) I left slightly later than planned so as not to disturb ‘the missus’ who’s not been sleeping too well recently.

The view across the Clader Valley as I slogged up the hill to Halifax this morning.

So, I’m now on a heroically late 07:52 Blackpool – York service. A signal fault en-route meant this 3-car Class 195 didn’t depart until 08:35, 42 minutes late! Still, it’s warm and not too crowded, so I’ve bagged a table to set up the mobile office and begin blogging. Let’s see how the rest of the journey goes…

‘Delay repay’ anyone?

09:30.

And relax! I’m now on an LNER ‘Azuma’ service to Kings Cross. This 10-car train originated in Bradford and it’s certainly busy. Most of the remaining empty seats are reserved for later in the journey so I expect it to be packed by the time it arrives in London. Still, I’ve blagged a table as far as Grantham so I can have a breakfast roll (or ‘teacake’ if you’re from Yorkshire, ‘barmcake’ if from Lancashire) and enjoy watching the world flash by the window whilst I do.

09:50.

We’re pulling out of Doncaster where dozens of people crammed into my coach, so I guess my guess this train will be full by London’s come true earlier than expected. Three bays are reserved from Grantham, which will come as a surprise to the people who’ve occupied the seats and not noticed! If the large group who’ve made the reservations turn up this could be fun! I’ll be gone by then as I’m moving to the other unit as soon as we arrive!

10:30.

My Grantham set-swop proved to be a wise choice. There was a big party of elderly people waiting to join us when we pulled in. Whilst it’s not unusual for individual reservations to be unused, such a big grouping is normally taken up. I can only imagine the chaos in the car when they descended on their reserved seats! I was long gone, having skipped into the rear set as soon as we arrived. There were far less reservations here and I managed to secure a table seat opposite a young lady busily bashing keys on her laptop. I’s say the rear set’s about 70% full, which makes for decent loadings when the front set’s jammed. And we haven’t stopped at Stevenage yet – where I’m going to bail out again, this time to catch a Thameslink service down to Farringdon. The cross-platform interchange here saves mucking around walking through two mainline stations and sets of ticket barriers at Kings Cross and St Pancras.

I’ve not traversed the ECML in daylight for a while, so I was surprised to see how many fields are flooded – a testament to all the heavy rain we’ve had in the North. Combined with the blue skies we’ve got today it would have made ideal conditions for lineside photography and reflection shots. Ho hum!

15:00.

Sorry for the gap but I’ve been busy. I’m now in the leafy Thames Valley (yep, even this time of year the trees are hanging on to their fiage). Getting here was fun. My Thameslink connection worked well so I was at Farringdon in no time. Then it was a fast walk down steps and escalators to get to the “Lizzie line” and a train Westwards to Paddington. Considering Crossrail has only been open a few months the passenger loadings are excellent.

Whilst I could’ve got a train straight through idecided to stop off at Paddington for a while – just for old times sake as I rarely visit nowadays. When I lived in London it was an old haunt as it was the gateway to the Thames valley, where we often went cycling, or further trips to the SouthWest.

Thames valley service have changed out of all recognition now. Not only is the route electrified but the GWR services are interspersed with Elizabeth line services that (as the old name implied) cross London, bypassing Paddington.

21:45.

What a fascinating but rather surreal day. Most of it was spent exploring Thames valley rail services which made me appreciate just how much has changed. Nearly all of it’s been for the better, although I mourn the old overall roof at Maidenhead that used to cover the branch line to Marlow. So few of these Great Western features have survived. I ventured West of Reading to catch an electric train to Newbury, which was a first for me. It’s an instructive lesson in how previous Government Ministers and the Dept of Transport have made penny-pinching decisions that make absolutely no sense in the long-term. But long-term isn’t a concept in many politician’s minds. On arrival at Newbury I hung around as the next train back to Reading was 30 mins away. In the meantime passengers from London to Bedwyn (the limit of GWR regional services) had to change to a DMU for the rest of the journey, which takes all of 19 minutes. Madness.

A waste of resources, much?

Now I’m relaxing in my hotel in Reading, editing pictures from today and (half) watching some memory lane TV. Flicking through the channels I discovered the Kenny Everrett video show – a programme I loved which has taken me straight back to my youth which has helped make this trip very much the old football analogy of ‘ a game of two halves’.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

More HS2 progress at Old Oak Common.

22 Tuesday Nov 2022

Posted by in Hs2, London, Old Oak Common, Photography, Railways

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It’s a short blog from me tonight as it’s been a long old day and it’s time for bed! This morning I was at the HS2 construction site at Old Oak Common in London to see the Rail and HS2 Minister, Huw Merriman MP, start the new conveyor belt that will carry the London clay being excavated from the HS2 station box across to the former Willesden Eurotunel sidings where the spoil will be removed by rail. Eventually, the 1.7 mile long conveyor system will link three HS2 construction sites to Willesden.

Here’s Huw pressing the button to start the conveyor.

There a whole series of pictures showing construction progress in my dedicated HS2 gallery on my Zenfolio website. You can find them by following this link.

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/

Or – you can now buy me a coffee! https://ko-fi.com/paulbigland68312

Thank you!

Rolling blog. It’s going to be a long 24 hours…

21 Monday Nov 2022

Posted by in Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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22:30

Normally, my rolling blogs would be winding down at this time of day, but this one’s just begun. The reason for that is that my diary has too many back-to-back events in it this week, not helped by timings changing. This evening I had an appointment near Huddersfield which I didn’t want to miss. That was a bit of a bugger as I need to be in London early tomorrow morning for a press event I can’t disclose right now. I’d originally arranged to stay with an old friend in the metropolis, but the times of the press event were moved forward. This meant I wouldn’t have arrived at his gaffe until after midnight, only to leave before 6am! So, having perused various railway timetables, looked at the weather (wet) and considered various options I’m now taking the opportunity to get a few night shots as I make my way South via York.

My first train was a TPE service from Huddersfield, worked by a Class 802. It wasn’t busy. Passengers consisted of students, a few late-finish workers and the odd shoppers who’d been hitting Manchester for a spot of Xmas retail therapy. Our trip to Leeds was easy. I had time to set up the laptop at a spare table and catch up on some work before we arrived. That’s when it got interesting. Our Geordie Conductor came on the PA to announce we’d be taking longer than usual to get to York as we’d be taking ‘the long way’ round via Castleton and Milford Junction – a very unusual route for TPE services and one I’ve not traversed for years. What a shame it was in the dark!

802205 during its layover at Leeds. The fact what should be the front is displaying tail-lights suggests all is not normal.

23:55.

Here I am at York, taking time to relax, charge up my various devices in one of the super-duper waiting shelters whilst watching the trains go by and plan a few photos. I’ve been coming to York station since I was a boy – which feels like a bloody long time ago right now! With the town hosting the National Railway Museum I’ve been here lots of time for various work events too – something I’d never have dreamt of as a kid. Funny how life turns out, isn’t it?

Whilst I’ve been observing the place I noticed these new switch panels laying in the space where the old through tracks used to pass. On closer inspection I noticed something that’s very unusual for the UK but typical in Europe. Can you spot what it is?

08:00.

Sorry for the gap. I fell asleep on the train to London. Here’s my steed at York before we departed. – 91105.

We arrived in London at 07:00. After a brisk walk on a cold morning with clear skies I swapped lines to catch this.