I’d fully intended to write a long blog about this fascinating trip but I’m currently holed up in my hotel in Kuala Lumpur after another busy day and I’ve realised I’m really not going to be able to do the trip justice is such a short time. I need a full morning to write about the trip, not just half an hour, so the trip report will come tomorrow.
After 6 days constantly on the move I’m having a day off tomorrow. I’m staying in a hotel with all the facilities I need like a desk, plenty of power sockets and wifi and if I get lonely there’s a big mirror over the desk so I can always talk to myself. I even have a TV with Netflix, so this is a cut above where I normally stay. I’s in the old Chinatown district where I’ve been staying for years – although it’s changed as Covid sounded the death-knell for many businesses. There’s a lot of vacant shops but life is slowly returning to the place. I’ll explore more tomorrow and explain as I’m having an admin and rest day, rather than gallivanting around the city’s public transport network. I’ve got plenty of time for that in the next few days. So, my apologies if you were expecting a magnum opus today. Still, here’s a couple of taster pictures for you.
My train heads North on the early part of the trip. As you can see, it’s not just a case of laying another track next to the old one. In many places there’s a completely new formation and all flat crossings have been replaced with overbridges. The lineside also has much improved drainage and many gradients have been flattened. An increasingly rare sight on Malaysian Railways, once there were a network of sleeper trains carrying you around the network. Now there’s just on on the ‘jungle’ line from Kuala Lipis. Here’s the Southbound working passing us at the huge new station and yards at Menkibol. The old Victorian colonial railway has well and truly vanished. A single track line with station that often just had a single platform and a loop or two have been swept away with four platform places like this which have level access to all areas.The old station at Gemas, the junction for the jungle railway with the new station in the background. This is currently the Southern limit of double tracking and electrification. The old stations’ been preserved but plans to turn it into a museum have fallen by the wayside. Even a few years ago it still maintained an excellent cafe/restaurant but this has fallen on hard times. Now it’s just teas, soft-drinks and boiled eggs. Still, it’s cool for cats (many occupy the station as someone feeds them). As for the rest of the place, Gemas isn’t exactly a thriving town, it’s not even one-horse…I made a friend…An all to common sight around KL’s Chinatown at the moment.
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It’s lunchtime here in Singapore and I’ve retreated to my room for a couple of hours to rest avoid the heat stickiness of midday and download the pictures I’ve taken this morning. I was up early as my body-clock is still all over the place. I had about 5 hours sleep then decided I might as well start rejigging my trip in light of what I learned about Chinese New Year. This meant cancelling a few hotels and rebooking some others as well as extending my time in Kuala Lumpur where I’ll be for New Year – which should be fun!
Afterwards I headed out on the metro to explore and have a look at some of the new extensions plus ongoing work. I ended up walking miles which is another reason for coming home – I need a shower as I’ve already got 14,000 steps and 6.5 miles under my belt!
Here’s a few pictures from this morning’s trip out to Expo station (Designed by Sir Norman Forster) and the construction of new flying junctions out at Bukit Timah where the existing line is going to be incorporated into the new Thompson line. This will leave some of the old viaducts redundant. There’s talk of turning them into Singapore’s version of New York’s ‘high line’ which could be quite a sight.
Bridging the gap. The massive Changi metro depot is out of shot to the left. Big boys Lego!I hope all the sections are numbered as there’s bits lying everywhere.
I’m off out again in a minute once I’ve had a shower, so I’ll update this blog later. I was lucky with the weather this morning as I managed to get some sunshine. Whilst I’ve been sitting in my room writing this we’ve had clouds roll in and claps of thunder. Time to dig out the umbrella methinks!
I’m now back from my afternoon amble out to Jurong East. Sadly, the weather did produce heavy rain and grim skies, so there wasn’t much wandering going on. Here’s the platforms at my ‘local’ station – Jalan Besar. As you can see, the quality of fitting out is rather good.
The trains were busy, but not rammed, and everyone was wearing a mask.
En-route I stopped off at Dover station, which is unusual. Most metro stations are island platforms, but not here. This was a later addition to the line with the station opening in 2001 whilst the line opened in 1988.
Piling work adjacent to the existing station at Jurong East. Covers have been placed over the tracks to the West of the station due to the closeness of heavy plant to the running lines.
Rather than doubling back I continued on along the North-South line to the interchange with the Thomson East coast line at Woodlands. Last time I was here this was nothing more than a very large hole in the ground. The line opened in stages between 2020 and 2022. This was my first trip on it and I’m impressed. The trains were very busy and the stations are excellent.
New escalators from the existing Woodlands station take you down to ground level before more sets take to down to the Thomson line. The system is confusing for ex-Londoners like myself because here you stand on the left of the escalators, not the right. I’ve just learned that lesson, and now it’s time to move on!Woodlands station on the Thomson lineInterior of one of the new Thomson line trains, which are automated.
I leave Singapore tomorrow but I’m not going far – merely nipping over the Causeway to Johor Baru in Malaysia, where I’ll be staying the night before catching a morning train Northwards to Kuala Lumpur. Watch this space…
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/
Despite the jet-lag and not getting to bed until after midnight local time I was up at 7am this morning in order to catch up with the world back home and get some work done. Duties done I went for a wander around ‘little India’, as the area where I’m staying is known as. No prizes for guessing that it’s the old centre of Singapore’s Indian community! It’s a fascinating place to wander around although it’s quiet in the mornings as the place doesn’t really spring to life until later. Singaporeans are night owls!
Despite not being here since 2017 I immediately felt at home. Everything was so familiar. The sights, sounds and smells reminded me of so many parts of Asia that I’ve seen. I spent some time browsing local shops just to get an idea of how much prices have changed. The answer is some – but seemingly not as much as the UK. The one thing that has increased is the price of alcohol but then Singapore is a bit of a ‘nanny state’, which is what amuses me about the Tories ambitions to turn the UK into ‘Singapore on Thames’ – they don’t actually know much about the place. Year ago you used to be able to buy T-shirts that said ‘Singapore is a fine place – there’s a fine for everything’! It’s true to an extent. You name it, from fishing to rubbish dumping, chewing gum or smoking – there’s so many things that are not allowed. On the positive side, it means the country’s actually very safe and there’s certainly not the obesity epidemic that we see in the UK. I’ve been out all day and I haven’t seen a single person who would be classed as morbidly obese. In the UK I’d see several. It was one of the things that really struck me. The other was the fact that so many people are still wearing masks, not just on public transport, but in the streets – and that applies to all the Singaporean communities.
After wandering around little India I caught the metro to do some exploring. Mask-wearing was almost 100% on public transport, which was such a contrast to the UK – even at the height of Covid. But then, society is much more cohesive here. There’s far less the cult of the individual. It’s not that you can’t express your own individuality though fashion or style but you still show consideration for others when it comes to stuff that really matters.
I could blog for ages about my day, but it’s getting late and I’ll have to be up early as a Singaporean friend has just reminded me of something I’d forgotten about that’s going to affect my travel plans. I’d been intending to be on the move during Chinese New Year – and that’s a really big deal where I’d be travelling, so I’m going to be spending a few hours in the morning rebooking a few things and adjusting the amount of time I’m spending in Kuala Lumpur where I’ll be for New Year.
In the meantime, here’s a few pictures from today.
On the metro. One car has a central area devoid of seats for the disabled and people with lots of luggage. Strap-hanging is alive and well in Singapore!Masks are mandatory on the metro, but smart phones are de rigueur! The modern metro lines are built underground, but the North-South line onwards from Bishan was one of the earlier extensions to the original 3 lines. it opened in 1996. Here’s a train heading South from Khatib station. The next picture was taken a bit further down the road. It shows a North-South line train skirting the edge of the lower Selator reservoir. Unlike the more modern lines, these trains (built by either Kawasaki or Rotem) still have drivers. Here’s another later extension to the original network. This is Tuas Link. Its the new Western terminus of the East-West line. This 7.5 kilometre extension from Gul Circle opened in June 2017. Inside Tuas link station looking along the island platform to the exits.
Right, lots more tomorrow! But for now – goodnight…
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/
Time to enjoy a coffee as I pack the final items I’ll be needing these next few months, enjoy a last breakfast and quality time with Dawn, then head off. Fingers crosses that there’s no problems on the trains. The good news is that I’ve looked up real-time information on my train and the empty stock to form Grand Central’s 10:40 from Halifax to London has left the depot which is always a good start! I’ll be posting throughout the day so feel free to pop back and see how my journey goes…
10:50.
I’m on my way! The weather here in West Yorkshire’s bloody awful – it’s been raining all morning leaving many roads flooded or resembling waterfalls. Dawn drove me to the station for a tearful farewell on the platform as she waved me bon voyage. It’s a shame Dee couldn’t have come with me – even if it was for part of the trip – but there’s where freelance life has its advantages. I’ll miss her wide-eyed enthusiasm and exclamations ‘oh, wow’ when it comes to seeing new sights.
Right now I’m on Grand Central’s 10:40 to London Kings Cross. It’s bizarre, but this is the first train I’ve been on in 2023! The only time that normally happens is if I’m already abroad for New Year, this time it’s been down to the strikes and preparations for this trip. My train’s busy, but I have a seat in 1st Class and (for now) a table bay to myself which has allowed me to set up the mobile office and get some work done.
On my way…
12:00.
After the usual stagger around the West Yorkshire backwaters and exotic places like ‘Pontycarlo’ (aka Pontefract) we’ve finally reached the East Coast Main Line and Doncaster, where dozens of people are joining what’s already a busy train. Standard class is rammed and First Class loadings are now healthy too.
12:30.
We suffered a minor delay at Doncaster but now we’re speeding South at line speed with the expectation of making up time. The weather’s a little better now as the rain’s stopped and the sun is making a valiant effort to break through the clouds but the amount of standing water in the fields, overflowing streams and swollen rivers betray the fact it’s been a very wet year so far. Cloud level remains very low but there’s now a multitude of shades and shapes of grey as differing formations have taken over from the thick ceiling of dullness we had earlier.
13:00.
We’re now the right side of Peterborough and cruising rather than speeding South, just 5 minutes behind time. I’m assuming we’re stuck behind slower services like Thameslink. I’m not too bothered as I’ve time in the bank – my flight doesn’t leave Heathrow’s terminal 4 until 18:15 which gives me plenty of time to get there on the tube rather than the much more expensive Heathrow Express. Plus, I’ve credit on Oystercards, so that leg of the trip won’t cost me anything. You can tell I’ve been living in Yorkshire for a while, can’t you!
14:10.
Part 1 of the trip’s complete and it was the one I was most edgy about as rail reliability hasn’t exactly been at its best recently. I was lucky with my GC service. The unit sprung a leak through one of its windscreens. Fortunately, it was in the trailling cab, not the leading cab, otherwiseit might have been a much more stressful story!
Made it to Kings Cross…
I didn’t hang around at Kings Cross. Instead I made a beeline for the Piccadilly line and stepped straight onto a train heading for Heathrow Terminal 4. Now I can start to relax a bit! The tube is quiet so there’s no problem with getting a seat.
Next stop – Heathrow…
16:10.
And – relax! The trip to Heathrow was hassle-free. Terminal 4 is pretty quiet so checking-in was a doddle with no queues. Even security was a breeze and for once my camera bag didn’t attract any attention at all. Now I’m airside. Having wandered up and down the terminal I’ve managed to notch up a few steps and explore. There’s not really much here at all apart from the usual posh but empty shops selling designer gear which are staffed by bored looking young women, the obligatory WH Smiths (closed, of course) and a trio of expensive cafe/bars. The plus side is there’s plenty of seating available and even a viewing gallery, although that’s of limited use as it’s dusk – and it’s raining. I’m sat outside the best of the three cafes, nursing an expensive pint and catching up on some emails whilst I’m still in the same time zone.
Heathrow T4. Not exactly buzzing…
17:00.
My gate’s been announced so now it’s time to hunker down, top up my phone at the handy free charging station and wait. My plane’s a Boeing 777-300 and I’ve a window seat for the 7 hour flight to Doha so I might get some rest. My fellow passengers are a rainbow of ethnic groups and nationalities with (thankfully) few young children in sight!
17:40.
All aboard! Well, not all – that may take a while yet but I’m ensconced in seat 37K and settling in out of the way of the chaos. See you 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/
Another quiet day here in Bigland Towers – made all the quieter by the fact our four-legged lodger has now gone back to her owners after they arrived back in the UK this morning. It’s been fun, but the two of us agreed that whilst we’re happy to dog-sit on occasion we wouldn’t want the task of having a mutt of our own. An independent creature like a cat is our limit but now our old boy ‘Jet’ has passed on we rather like the freedom of not having the responsibility – or the vets bills!
Once ‘Bernie’ was collected the two of us knuckled down to another day working from home. I’ve been occupied weeding out a lot more old paperwork as well as cleaning up digital files and booking parts of my trip to Asia. Much of what I’ll be doing I’ll make up as I go along, but the first couple of weeks need planning, including my transition from Singapore into Malaysia and train from Johor Baru up to Kuala Lumpur. I’d be amazed if I couldn’t get a ticket on the day to get me from JB to Gemas (junction for the ‘Jungle’ railway and limit of electrification South from KL) – but I’m taking no chances. Instead I’ve taken the recommendation of Mark, the ‘Man in seat 61‘ and booked through one of his recommended agents. The first site claimed there was nothing available but as they said that for the next 2 months I’m assuming it’s a glitch. Instead, I’ve booked with ‘baolau’ which was easy as their website’s user friendly. All I’m waiting for now is my ticket confirmation. Let’s see how that goes.
The rest of my ticketing I can book when I’m in Malaysia. Their trains are good but I’ve never known long-distance ETS services to be full, although they do get very busy at holiday times. I’ll be stopping in Kuala Lumpur for several days so I can easily book onward travel there when my plans are firmed up for the first month’s travel.
I’m starting to get that frisson now that I’ve only a few days left in the UK. However, there’s still lots to do before I go which means the last few days will seem like a blur so I suspect it’s only when I’m on the plane on the runway that I’ll relax. What I’m really looking forward to is seeing how much things have changed in the countries I’m visiting. All have been busy investing in their rail networks so I’m expecting lots of interesting sights. Today’s picture is from my last visit to Singapore in February 2017.
This is a view of the North-South metro line with a train leaving Woodlands station. It’s a fine example of integrated transport. I took the shot from the roof of a nearby multi-storey car park whilst underneath the elevated tracks is a bus/coach station. Looking at all those construction cranes on the horizon makes me wonder what the skyline will look like now…
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Welcome to my first (but very definitely not the last) blog of 2023. New Years day was a quiet one here at Bigland Towers, although we popped out for drinks with friends ‘early doors’ on New Years eve we were back at home well before the year rolled on and had a quiet night counting down to midnight. Just the two of us, plus ‘Bernie’, a miniature cockapoo dog that we’re looking after for friends whilst they’re away on holiday.
New year’s day was in very much the same vein although Dawn couldn’t keep herself out of the kitchen despite having spent much of Christmas down in Surrey cooking for her family. I can’t complain as Dee prepared a fantastic Flemish beef stew and roast vegetables which made a fantastically tasty start to the year. In the meantime, I’ve begun to plan my Far-Eastern adventure in earnest which has involved a lot of research into seeing what’s changed since I was last out there in 2017. Well, Covid’s had a huge impact obviously and some places still have restrictions that we (perhaps foolishly) gave up on in 2021, but it’s the logistics of travel that have changed too as (for example) Malaysia’s redeveloped a lot of its rail network and Thailand is following suit. A few days before I arrive in Bangkok their massive new multi-level station at Bang Sue (now renamed Krung Thep Aphiwat Central Terminal) will start receiving long-distance rail services instead of the old Hualamphong station. The full changeover isn’t expected to happen for several years but first services will run on the 19th February after a delay of several years.
Researching the changes meant I spent a lot of time digging through archive photos on my Zenfolio website only to realise that some pictures are missing. This is due to the fact I’d originally used the free hosting site ‘Photopic’. Sadly, the people who bought photopic off its creator were financial and business incompetents who pulled the plug on it in 2010. These idiots had no idea what a rich historical resource that contained millions of pictures from 10s of 1000s of worldwide contributors they were trashing. Many people lost entire collections. I didn’t as I only used it as a shop window. I’d kept the originals on hard-drives, but it took me several years to migrate my old pictures to my new Zenfolio website. Unfortunately, when I first went digital in 2004 I made a cardinal error. Rather than keeping one archive I divided it up into different folders (railways, travel etc.) which made it much harder to keep track of individual pictures. Some folders got filed away and never saw the light of day for years. In 2010 I learned from my mistake and kept a yearly folder containing everything I’d taken that year – no matter what the subject.
I found one ‘lost’ folder today which contains some of those missing pictures. They’re from Malaysia in 2009 and one of them is today’s picture as it reflects the changes I’ll be seeing in that country’s rail transport. The only thing in this picture that I believe still exists today are the two coaches.
Here’s the ‘international train’ that ran between Butterworth in Malaysia and Bangkok in Thailand. This view was taken at Butterworth (the station for Penang Island) on the 9th February 2009. The two sleeper coaches belong to the State Railways of Thailand whilst the engine is Malaysian. Well – sort of! It was one of 39 ex-Indian Railways Class YDM4s that were leased to KTMB for many years to cover a motive power shortage. Surplus to requirements in their home country due to the conversion of the meter-gauge network to broad gauge some pitched up here.
The coaches would be hauled by the KTMB loco from Butterworth to the border station of Padang Besar where there would be a customs check)and a loco change. An SRT loco would then take the coaches and passengers forward to Hat Yai where they’d be attached to the rear of an overnight sleeper train to Bangkok which would arrive in the Thai Capital the next morning. It was a fantastic (and cheap) way to travel between the two countries as well as a superb way to enjoy the scenery.
Nowadays you get an electric train from Butterworth to Padange Besar. After a wait you catch an SRT day train to Hat Yai where you join a sleeper service to the capital. I’ll be doing this trip in February so I’ll key you know what it’s like now.
If you want to see more of my old pictures of Malaysian railways check out these galleries.
One thing I’ve promised myself is that whilst I’m away these next few months I’ll rationalise these galleries by country and separate out the railways, travel and other transport images. It’s one of those classic ‘when I get around to it’ jobs that never seem to happen! In the meantime, expect a lot of new pictures and blogs from that neck of the woods over the next couple of months – starting very 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/
I’m sitting here at the keyboard trying to work out how to make sense of such a tumultuous year without disappearing into repetitious rambling so I’m going to use a few headings to help – although there’s bound to be a few crossovers in the subjects. Let’s face it, it’s been one hell of a year, both in the UK and wider world, so it’s no surprise the the Collins dictionary word of the year 2022 is “permacrisis” – it sums up the situation perfectly. Having seen the back of Donald Trump and with Covid looking like it was burning itself out with no more nasty mutations the year started with some hope, but that was soon dashed.
Politics
On 24th February Russia invaded the Ukraine. ‘Special military operation’ (as the Russians called it) my arse, this was a full scale attempt to annex to country. It’s led to the largest refugee situation in Europe since world war two (both Ukrainian, and Russians who’ve fled their own country), along with the most destructive and devastating war since 1939. It’s also looking likely to lead to the collapse of Russia as it’s clear the war was a disastrous miscalculation of the part of Vladimir Putin. The pressures on the Russian economy due to sanctions plus the increasing lawlessness within the country as conscripts return from the war, disillusioned (and often with smuggled weapons) and the increasing isolation of the country are threads that are unwinding the fabric of the nation. It’s hardly surprising. Ordinary Russians are being kept tin the dark by their Government, but the scale of the Russian losses in men and equipment estimated by the Ukrainians (and others like the Oryx website) are staggering.
The knock-on effects across Europe and the UK have been huge. The British economy, already reeling from Covid, Brexit and 12 years of increasingly chaotic mismanagement by the Tories was then hit by massive increases in energy costs. In short. It’s a shit-storm and sadly, there’s no sign of it getting better in 2023. The Tories have run out of ideas (other than feathering their own nests) but they seem to have an endless supply of hopeless and hapless Prime Ministers. You may have thought serial liar Boris Johnson and his ‘oven ready’ Brexit deal was bad but after a painfully long election process Liz Truss said ‘hold my beer’ and managed to crash the UK economy and make the UK an international laughing-stock in just 49 days – the shortest tenure any British Prime Minister. Then there was the death of the Queen, which paralyzed the UK at the same time. Cards on the table (to quote right-wing Twitter trolls) – I’m not a monarchist, although having met many (including the late Queen and her husband) of them I have no problem with the people, just the institution. Most Brits have no idea how that institution has an impact on their daily lives as all they see is the pomp and circumstance – or read about the bitching that goes on in the UK press about them as a useful diversion from the real world. The Romans had ‘bread and circuses’, we have the spectator sport of Harry and Meghan vs the Palace as part of the extension of the right-wingers ‘war on woke’. It fills the news media to keep you distracted and stops you looking at the bigger picture.
Unabashed after their ousting of Boris Johnson – then Liz Truss, the Tory party then turned to an also ran – Rishi Sunak, a multi-millionaire who’s so out of touch his PR stunt serving food to homeless people went so spectacularly wrong a team of comedy writers would have dismissed it as too far-fetched. ‘Do you work in business’? Oh, FFS! With this bunch unashamedly clinging onto power for as long as they possibly can (2024) the new year looks to hold little cheer. It’s clear Rishi Sunak is a weak leader, but then his party is ungovernable. It’s riven by factions and dominated by swivel-eyed loons inside and outside the cabinet. Privately (and not so privately) many of them realise that they next election is lost, the question now is how much damage they’ll do before they’re turfed out when the votes are cast. There’s a lot of nest-feathering going on at the expense of ordinary people and I doubt the extent of the corruption will be revealed until (and unless) the next government hold some enquiries. The current situation goes to prove the old adage that oppositions don’t win elections, Governments lose them. Labour under Keir Starmer have vanquished the ghost of Jeremy Corbyn, the man who gifted the Tories such a huge majority in 2019 (cue howls of outrage, bluster and selective statistics from Corbynistas) but that’s all they’ve done. People will vote for them out purely for the fact they’re the only way to oust the Tories – not because they feel inspired by them. Starmer’s strategy to pretend he can make Brexit work may be seen as clever politicking, but it doesn’t make him look honest – and we desperately need a return to honest politics after so many years of lies and deceit. In the meantime, Brexit will continue to unravel. It’s painfully obvious that it’s a turd that can’t be polished but Brexit is like a religion to some, it’s an article of faith and they’ll cling onto it. But faith can’t make fiction fact and the economic harm its doing to the UK will continue to manifest itself no matter how deep its adherent stick their heads in the sand. Now people can travel again it’s not hard to see the disparity when you cross the channel. The EU hasn’t collapsed as predicted, supermarket shelves are full and despite the energy crisis caused by the war, living standards (and wages) are higher. Not only that but other countries are still clamouring to join the EU. In fact on January 1st Croatia adopted the Euro as its currency and also joined Schengen (the free travel area). It’s easy to see just how isolationist and out of step the UK is. Europe’s going forward and we’re going backwards.
Railways
It’s been another torrid time on the UK rail network. Just as the system seemed to be recovering from Covid and passenger numbers growing far quicker than many pessimists predicted we’ve had a series of debilitating strikes with central government and the unions at loggerheads. Whilst regional governments in Scotland and Wales are willing to compromise and find a way forward through pay agreements, central government ain’t. They see it as a trial of strength and a way of shoring up their collapsing vote (have you seen the opinion polls recently?) by playing hardball to pander to their hardcore. We’ve had the worst Transport Minister for decades (Grant Shapps) followed by a revolving door. In the meantime, the Treasury (as always) are dictating terms via the DfT and there’s no sign of any political coherence – much less a strategic plan that will last longer than the next Ministerial appointment. It’s a depressing time when there’s so many real issues needing serious answers – and a long term plan (hello ‘climate change’ anybody? That you despair. On the bright side, Crossrail – sorry the Elizabeth line – opened on the 24th May and proved to be a massive success, as many of us knew it would be. The expression ‘build it and they will come’ is appropriate for so many UK rail projects – and sod the useless and BCR (Benefit Cost Ratio) calculations which so often prove to be that conservative they’re useless. A fag-packet would be embarrassed to have them scrawled on its back.
London’s East End never used to look like this! This is the new Crossrail interchange station at Whitechapel. Once the territory of ‘Jack the Ripper’. Murder it ain’t!
The dumb thing? The future of the railways should be a no-brainer due to the need to get modal shift from road/air to rail to tackle climate change. But then you have the problem of competing political ideologies and the fact the Tories are underpinned by so many crazies from the libertarian far-right who’re doing their best to pretend it’s not real. Thankfully, they’ve not managed to stop the majority of building High-Speed 2. Forget the Nimbys and protesters, they never had nay political clout, it was people close to Boris ‘two-faced’ Johnson who’ve done the most damage to the project by paring away at it without any credible replacement, timetable or plan. The bright side? The next Labour government (because that’s what we’ll have) have committed to building HS2 in full. What will drag on is the interminable and utterly pointless political arguments over privatisation vs nationalisation which is a distraction from actually making the railways work for everyone. ‘Great British Railways’ is now dead. The reorganisation’s stalled, but we have no idea what will replace it. Instead we have the classic British ‘buggers muddle’ with the railways caught between a rock (the Treasury) and a hard place (The Dept of Transport), made worse by a Government that has no idea what it’s doing, other than trying to cling on to power. Here in West Yorkshire we do have some things to look forward to as at least the Trans-Pennine route upgrade is going ahead, although that’s still a mixed picture. We know what it will look like East of Huddersfield as far as Dewsbury where work’s already started, but we’ve no real idea how it will look Westwards, or how this supposed new line from Liverpool that’s (somehow) going to end in the village of Marsden will happen – if it ever does as there’ll be another election before work even starts!
Travel
I’ve been fortunate to have several breaks from the Septic Isle in 2022, Most of which have involved working (and meeting friends) in Germany which gives a completely different perspective from this bizarre up it’s own arse island nation many people choose to be marooned on. Then the pair of us had a a fortnight in Greece, which showed us another side. Funny how Rhodes – despite it being an island – didn’t suffer the supermarket shortages and empty shelves that have become a matter of routine in the UK – and that includes from imported goods. Once could almost imagine being in a customs union and single-market had advantages! Now, in the new year I’m preparing to take a break from Britain for a couple of months and catch up with old friends and happenings in South-East Asia. No doubt the contrasts to the UK will be very interesting, expecially as I’ll be starting in Singapore, the island state that some Tories touted as their aspiration for the Brexit Britain, with London becoming Singapore on Thames. It was all bollocks of course.
2023. Things to look forward to…
I’d love to be able to say ‘a general election’ but that’s extremely unlikely! Instead I’m looking forward to a Russian defeat and Ukrainian victory this year. I’m hopeful that there might be some economic cheer too but with this lot in charge I’d suggest that will be more down to luck and the actions of others than the Government. I’m also looking forward to seeing High Speed 2 construction proceeding apace. The project passed some impressive milestones in 2022, the anti HS2 rebellion collapsed as their camps were swept away and the few remaining occupants scattered to the four winds. I’ll be visiting as many locations as I can in 2023 to report on progress.
In the meantime, let me wish you all a peaceful and optimistic New Year and all the best for 2023.
Thanks for popping by and reading some of the 264 blogs I published in 2022. This site had 72,006 views from 115 nations last year plus several donations towards helping me cover the (not inconsiderable) costs of running my blog. Thank you one and all! And finally, a big thank you (and love) to Dawn, my wife, for putting up with me disappearing many an evening to pen one of these blogs. Thanks Babe!
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/
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/
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.
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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/
Paul Bigland 