Yep, today’s the start of a new month, not that there’s been much of a change, as we’ve had yet another storm warning! The only discernible difference is that the days are starting to get longer. I’ve spent much of the weekend scanning yet more old railway slides from 1990, which you can find in this gallery on my Zenfolio website. The latest batch of 60 are from Bristol and also the Tinsley loco depot open day, held on a dismal Saturday in September. Here’s a sample, featuring Bath Rd depot in Bristol – another place that’s long-gone.
BR Class 47 locomotives dominate this view of Bristol Bath Rd depot as the shed provided motive power for cross-country services from the South-West up to Birmingham and beyond, as well as passenger locomotives for the main line to London Paddington as well as servicing freight engines and local diesel multiple units.
As I mentioned in my last blog. I’m back in Bristol tomorrow for an ACoRP (Association of Community Rail Partnerships) conference. The programme shows that it’s going to be a busy event spread over two days but no doubt I’ll have some time to blog/tweet about what’s going on, as well as catch up with some old friends from the world of community railways.
To get to Bristol in time means the pair of us are up at sparrow-fart in the morning, so this isn’t going to be a long blog. I’d hoped to have time to compose one about the collapse of the StopHs2 campaign, but that can wait for another day! It’s not as if there’s anything going on with them anyway. They’ve been very quiet on social media since the Government announced the fact HS2’s been given the green light. Mind you, they’ve also been inactive in the real world too. Their ‘direct action’ campaign at Harvil Rd and Cubbington wood has been completely ineffective at stopping HS2. The penny finally seems to be dropping that they’ll never have the numbers of people on the ground they need. There’s only a couple of dozen regulars and a few ‘weekend warriors’ – who’re especially useless and HS2 Ltd don’t normally work at weekends so there’s nothing to stop! The fact that having a bunch of voyeurs’ watching you make fools of yourself on Facebook isn’t going to stop Hs2 seems to be slowly sinking in too – hence this rather revealing post of one of their Facebook pages.
I’ll blog about this in detail when I have the time. Right now it’s time to pack a suitcase…
Well, not just the rain, but it has been another wet and frustrating day. My cunning plan was to head over to the Wigan – Southport railway to get some shots of the new bi-mode Class 769 trains that are on test there to fill a gap in the library and also for a client.
I dutifully headed off in that direction this morning. The weather here in Yorkshire was less than ideal but I don’t have much time to spare at the moment as the diary for March is looking rather full.
The trip across the Pennines from Sowerby Bridge was uneventful. I was on a direct service from Leeds to Wigan Wallgate which was worked by one of Northern’s cascaded Class 158s. Once the staple of more express services, they’ve been displaced onto secondary duties that would once have been worked by Pacers. It was comfortable and not particularly busy until it called at Rochdale so I used my time wisely and got some work done. The lack of wifi and power sockets wasn’t an issue now I have my new ‘super duper’ Dell laptop so I managed to plough through and edit quite a backlog of pictures whilst keeping a wary eye on the weather which was worsening the further West I got.
Sod’s law being what it is, by the time I got to Wigan and checked the Class 769 workings on Real Time Trains it was obvious today’s runs had been cancelled. It’s always the luck of the draw with these things and the fact it was raining cats and dogs in Wigan (or ‘Wiggin’ as the local pronounce it) meant I wasn’t too disappointed. Instead, I admitted defeat to head back East and attempted to salvage the day by getting a couple of shots around Manchester Victoria, like this one which rather shows how much the railways around the city have changed in the past few years.
A pair of Hitachi Class 802s operated by Trans Pennine Express pass at Manchester Victoria. On the left 802215 works 9S12, the 1224 Liverpool Lime Street to Edinburgh. Yes, Manchester now has direct services to the Scottish capital – and from Victoria too! On the right 802209 was working the unfortunate 1P22, the 1047 Newcastle to Manchester Airport which was terminated at Victoria due to signal failure. It’s great to see the way Victoria has regained the intercity services that it lost decades ago – and with brand new state of the art trains providing them too!
Heading on East I managed to get home without getting drenched thanks to my trusty Siemens supplied umbrella and a new pair of walking boots that kept my feet above the many puddles I encountered on the way. This evening has been spent on different activities. Both Dawn and I love to cook and tonight the muse was upon me. Whilst Dee slaved away working from home I tried an Indian recipe I’ve never cooked before, Chettinad Chicken curry. It’s fiery due to the Kashmiri chilli powder and ground black peppercorns and aromatic due to the cumin, cinnamon and coriander seeds. Served with rice and a few pickles and chutneys it certainly brought some colour into an otherwise dreary day.
The weekend weather isn’t looking much better. In fact, it appears we’ve yet another storm on the way, so I doubt I’ll be getting out with the camera over the next few days although I might get a few more old slides from 1990 scanned – just to keep the momentum going. As chance would have it, the next ones to be done are from Bristol – a city that I’ll be back in on Monday as I’m at an ACoRP seminar on Monday – Tuesday. Hopefully I’ll have chance to get a couple of up to date shots as a comparison…
The snow returned overnight but thankfully only on the high ground above us, although we’re still seeing the occasional flurry. Here’s the view across the Calder Valley to Sowerby this morning.
I’m back in the saddle and preparing to head down to London for the next couple of days. From what I can see there’s no disruption on the railways that’ll affect me getting to the capital, so let’s see how things go…
12:00.
I left home later than expected due to having to sort out a few things, including recovering my Netflix account as some barsteward had hacked the account and changed the email address! The joys of cyber-security (or not)…
Right now I’m on the slightly late running 11:44 from Halifax to Manchester Victoria which is worked by the first of the 2-car CAF class 195s, number 001.
There seem to be a few teething problems still, it’s not exactly baking hot in here, in fact I’ve had to put my coat back on. The wifi isn’t working and the reservation screens are showing the code ‘DILAX’ (whatever that means). On the plus side, this is a reasonably fast journey now that several stops have been cut. We only call at Hebden Bridge, Todmorden and Rochdale. Of course it could be faster if some of the generous ‘pathing allowances’ were removed, which mean we amble through Lancashire! We even have a five minute layover at Rochdale, which the conductor announces.
As is often the case, the Pennines form a border between weather fronts. It’s actually been a sunny morning for much of the time in Yorkshire, despite the odd snow flurry. My walk to the station was really pleasant. Here in Lancashire the clouds are far more built up and threatening more than a flurry!
13:46.
I’ve now set up office on a nice warm Pendolino, which is such a contrast to the chilly CAF unit from earlier. This time of day/week the train’s reasonably quiet so I’ve got a table of four all to myself. My fellow passengers in coach U seems to be business travellers, mostly. A pair of them are holding a meeting on another table nearby. A quick look around the coach confirms my suspicions, 90% of folk in this coach are staring at a screen of one form or another, whether it’s a laptop, ipad or smartphone. Just two women (who look like leisure travellers) are actually sat chatting!
Outside my hermetically sealed and tilting bubble the world’s flashing by. Rural Cheshire doesn’t seem as badly flooded as many of the places I’ve visited recently although there’s still plenty of standing water on flat roofs, pavements and fields. Right, it’s time to knuckle down to work and clear some emails…
15:10.
I’m now within the orbit of the M25 and my email inbox has been considerably slimmed-down, although it’ll be a while yet before it’s a single page! Disappointingly, the sunshine the forecast predicted has failed to materialise. In truth, it’s far duller ‘dahn Sarf’ than it was up North, which is a bit of a bummer. Still, I’m sure I can find something to occupy myself with for the next few hours…
The pair of us have had a relaxing day after last night’s partying but as the weather picked up we took the opportunity to explore. Thanks to Dawn I got to go to places old and new. Places that (as someone who doesn’t drive) I’d never normally get to.
We started off on territory that was very familiar to me because of family connections and childhood memories: Beaumaris. It’s a tiny but tidy little place that’s blessed with a rather impressive Georgian apartment block fronting the Menai Straits that rather sets the scene. Mind you, the old castle which dates from 1295 but was never completed also sets the place apart as a small town that punches well above its weight when it comes to buildings and architecture.
This property is a grade 1 listed building and a property here can set you back around £600,000! That said, for that price you will get 6 bedrooms and a Butler’s pantry!
We discovered something a little more to our tastes and price bracket in the narrow streets behind where we found the Little Chilli shop. It’s an Aladdin’s cave for those who love chilli’s and the myriad culinary uses they can be put to. It’s well worth a visit and we came away with a variety of chutney’s and jams.
After popping in to say hello to the party crew from last night we headed off to Red Wharf Bay which has a stunning beach that’s well worth visiting. Whilst we were there I encountered this avian critter which was a bird I’d never seen before. After posting the picture on Twitter I found out why. Apparently, it’s a Snow Bunting. You don’t get ’em in my neck of the woods as they’re coastal birds that nest way up North and the UK population isn’t exactly massive.
The bay’s a huge expanse of beach that’s very popular as it’s ideal for a long stroll, beach-combing, bird-watching, walking the dogs or simply enjoying the sea air and the great outdoors.
Moving on we decided to explore the coast further North and drove as far as Amlwch, a place I’d never visited before. The landscape here features the remains of an industry I’d never even knew had existed on the island – copper mining. Amlwch was an old industrial centre that boasted a small harbour and a freight only railway line that carried freight to/from the Associated Octel works until 1993 when the traffic transferred to road. Despite being unused since, the line remains mostly intact. There’s been talk of it reopening as a tourist line for many years but nothing’s ever come of it. Here’s some pictures of what’s left.
Here’s where the railway crosses the A5025 in central Amlwch. There’s several flat crossings in the town. ‘Eliseg’ an old 40hp Fowler built Diesel shunter from 1939 and an LMS Brake van sit rusting at Llanerchymedd, where the old railway station’s been converted into a community café. The locomotive was acquired from the Llangollen Railway in 2008 but it was in an unserviceable condition due to frost damage to its engine. Moss covers the rusting rails at the old station in Llangefni which has been converted into a private dwelling. All the stations on the line were single platforms like this.
We’ve had a hugely enjoyable time here on Anglesey but tomorrow it’s time to leave and head home, so I’ll end this blog for now and update it with some more information as soon as I can and links to the rest of the pictures I’ve taken during our visit. Weather permitting, we’ll take our time getting home tomorrow, so there should be more pictures to add…
The pair of us have had a busy morning at home getting ready for our weekend wanderings to Wales as we’ve both needed to finish up some stuff before we left. I’ve been slaving away over a hot computer, invoicing, setting up commissions and adding yet more vintage pictures to my Zenfolio website. Here’s another sample that shows just how much has changed in 30 years.
This is Bristol Bath Rd locomotive depot which was right next door to Temple Meads railway station. In fact, this shot’s taken from the platform end. The depot was home to a varied collection of freight and passenger locomotives plus diesel multiple units and shunting engines. There was a constant stream of movements on and off shed. Sadly, the depot closed in 1995 and the site was razed. The advent of privatisation and the separation of railfreight and passenger services has rendered such depots redundant.
You can find the rest of the series of pictures in this gallery.
Now it’s time to turn to finishing the packing and head off West. The weather looks like its going to be ‘interesting’ to say the least, so let’s see how the day goes…
13:26.
Oh, the joys of the M62 ln a Friday afternoon when you’re queuing to get past a broken down vehicle…
Not how you want to see any motorway – especially when you’re on it…
17:45. Anglesey
There wasn’t much time for blogging on that journey as both of us were too busy concentrating on the road as the journey over here from West Yorkshire was pretty challenging. It got off to a bad start when (unusually) we joined the M62 at Ainley Top by Huddersfield rather than our usual route via Ripponden. We ran slap bang into a queue of traffic which had built up to due to a broken down lorry in the slow lane. Imagine our chagrin when we passed it, just before the Ripponden junction! The snarl-up added nearly an hour to our journey and the weather conditions we encountered didn’t make it any less stressful. A combination of high whind and heavy rain kept the pair of us on alert.
Swinging off the M62 onto the M6 wasn’t any better, apart from the fact the queues were going in the opposite direction. When we joined the M56 traffic eased, although the clouds of spray thrown UP by HGVs wasn’t much fun. It was only when we crossed the border into Wales that the weather began to pick up somewhat. Speed restrictions on the A55 for imaginary roadworks added more time to our trip but we briefly saw some sunshine around Conwy. It didn’t last. The weather got progressively worse the further West we headed. Looking across the Menai Strait to get our first glimpse of Anglesey we had to struggle to make the island out through the murk! At first, Puffin Island was the only discernable feature, then as the channel narrowed the outline of the island became visible. Dawn didn’t have much time to look, all her concentration had to go in keeping the car steering in a straight line due to the fierce wind that was gusting along that part of the A55.
Once we crossed the iconic original Menai Bridge we took a break and picked up supplies at the nearby Waitrose. Yes folks, they’ve got posh in Anglesey and Waitrose have been canny enough to build their supermarket right next to the old bridge in order to attract as many tourists arriving on the island as possible. It was only 16:00 when we got there but the skies were so heavy and dark it felt like dusk. It wasn’t what we were hoping for but if there’s one thing no-one has any say over it’s the weather.
In the best ‘Blue Peter’ tradition, here’s on I prepared earlier! This is a shot of Thomas Telford’s Menai Bridge that I took back in 2000 that was used in the original Lonely Planet guidebook to Wales. In the background you can see Snowdonia. As is often the case, it’s generating it’s own microclimate where you can have T-shirt weather by the coast but need your thermals on just a few miles down the road.
The rest of the drive along the narrow Beaumaris Rd (which hasn’t changed since I was a kid back in the 1960s) wasn’t too bad as we were in the lee of the wind dues to the roads steep sides, but once through the town and out into the countryside we caught its force again. We’re now tucked up in our lovely Airbnb which has a fabulous (if exposed) location. I’m sure the views will we wonderful once the weather permits. Right now, we’re just glad to be off the roads and in a warm, dry cosy cottage, listening to the wind and rain attacking the place from outside!
We have the ground floor of this custom built property, Tanrallt Bach 1, outside Llangoed near Beaumaris.And relax! The cosy kitchen/living room area. A great space to rise out the storm outside. Our thoughtful hosts have even left a bottle of red wine on the kitchen table for us…
Tomorrow, whatever the weather throws at us we’re going to get out and explore before heading off to a friends 50th birthday party in evening. I’m not promising a rolling blog, but I’m sure something will appear.
The past couple of days have seen me busy working from home which has been no bad thing as the weather’s been miserable and hardly conducive to wandering the world with the camera. OK, maybe the world would have been fun – but this corner of West Yorkshire hasn’t been!
Instead, I’ve been tucked up in the warm, editing the pictures I took around Manchester on Monday whilst mixing them with yet another batch of old slide scans from 1990. This little spree has added over 130 new pictures to my Zenfolio website. The contrast are quite fascinating as the UK’s railways have changed massively in the past 30 years and that rate of change is accelerating. Here’s a couple of examples to illustrate what I mean. This is how Sheffield and Cross-Country services looked like in 1990.
Here’s 47849 calling at Sheffield whilst working a Cross-Country service to Poole which is made up of 8 coaches, a far cry from the 4 or 5 coach Voyager DMUs that would replace such trains 13 years later. But then Virgin (who ran Cross-Country) ran far more frequent services than BR ever did.
Meanwhile, in 2020…
Here’s one of Trans-Pennine Express’ new Hitachi built Class 802 units at Manchester Victoria on a service from Newcastle to Liverpool Lime St. These bi-mode units have only entered service over the past few months, adding much needed capacity.
The new selection of 1990s pictures includes shots from London, Ely, Newcastle, Scotland and Tonbridge. You can find them here. So far this year I’ve added nearly 1000 new or historical pictures, which means there’s plenty to look at or buy!
Tomorrow I’ll be more focussed on family matters rather than photography. After that Dawn and I are off to North Wales for a few days as it’s a friends 50th birthday. We’re going to be staying on Anglesey but I’m sure there’ll be time for a bit of blogging in between all the partying and photography. Let’s just hope that the weather picks up as Anglesey is a very photogenic part of the world and where we’ve booked to stay for a few days is an ideal location from which to explore.
After yesterday’s abortive attempt to get to Manchester I’m having another crack at it this morning. I’m currently getting ready to head down to the station, hoping services are running more smoothly today, despite the gloominess and wetness of the weather. Let’s see what happens…
09:02.
I’ve walked down into soggy Sowerby Bridge to catch the train. The weather’s less than inviting and the “sunny periods” mentioned on the forecast have failed to put in an appearence, but at least the rain’s stopped for now. As I crossed the Calder I noticed the river levels shrunk. It’s still looking angry, but not livid!
My first train of the day is the 09:06 to Wigan Wallgate. My least favourite type of train’s turned up on it. The Class 150. This one’s an ex-GWR set that’s been refurbished to make it reasonably presentable, although it still has 3+2 seating.
09:30.
We’ve just crossed the Pennines into Lancashire where the weather’s just as grim as it is in Yorkshire! As we passed the site of the culvert I featured in yesterday’s blog I saw that it’s still blocked and flooding the track, with little sign the torrent has lessened any.
After calling at Littleborough our train’s rammed which is no bad thing as the extra bodies might generate some heat as it’s freezing on here!
15:00.
Sorry for my absence for the past few hours. I’ve been too busy taking pictures to blog! The weather’s been pretty mixed here in Manchester but at least it stayed dry. Now the day’s moving on we’ve even seen some of the sunshine we were promised. Most of my attention has been focussed on trying to fulfil a brief I’ve been given by RAIL magazine. Sadly, it’s not as easy as it once was due to the ever-changing nature of the railways, but I’ve given it my best shot(s) as it were. Time will tell if the pictures do what they’re imagining.
Whilst I was at Piccadilly I noticed the new East Midland Railway franchise seems to be rather short of serviceable regional trains. Whilst I was there a ‘double Dogbox’ and Class 158 passed through on a Liverpool Lime St – Norwich working, then this turned up – ‘double dogbox’ and a Class 156! This is only for the hardy, 75mph max and no air conditioning…
This was the 07:46 from Nottingham to Liverpool Lime St which was terminated at Manchester as it had no chance of keeping to time. It left Sheffield 44 mins late and was 63 minutes late by the time it got to Piccadilly.
Having got the pictures off to RAIL I’m now having a break in the warm and catching up with blogging before heading out again. I’ve lots of pictures to add to my Zenfolio website later and a bit of travelling to do yet today. Let’s see what happens next…
23:00.
Apologies for the way this blog got lost. It’s now late and I’ve been back at home for several hours, sorting out pictures from the day and also scanning yet another batch of old slides.
After sending pictures off to rail I hung around in Manchester for a couple of hours to capture another series of library shots along the Castlefield rail corridor. Here’s an example of just how congested it is.
On the left a Northern Class 195 is held at signals on the approach to Manchester Oxford Rd. In the background a TPE service is sat at Manchester Piccadilly, waiting for the Northern service to clear the section so that it can follow. Meanwhile, a Freightliner service from Trafford Park heads in the opposite direction.
My time in Manchester was interesting as it made me realise just how much the railways have changed in the past year because of the introduction of new trains. Both Northern and Trans-Pennine Express services have altered tremendously with new trains and new routes. The only Pacers I saw were operating services to New Mills in tandem with Class 150s, a situation that’s a far cry from how it was just a couple of years ago. Once all the new trains have entered service the railways around Manchester and Leeds are going to look very different. Not that the changes stop there. Next up is electrification and expansion of the railway from Huddersfield to York, which (hopefully) will make a big difference to the reliability of trans-pennine services.
Tomorrow I’m going to enjoy a day working from home as I’ve got a lot of pictures to edit, so expect to see some appear in a blog and the rest on my Zenfolio website. After today’s perambulations (my Fitbit tells me I’ve walked just over 14 miles today) I’m looking forward to a more relaxing day. For now, I’m going to bid you goodnight!
Today’s been a weird day for several different reasons. It started badly when I logged on to Twitter this morning and found a message from a mutal FBPE (Follow Back Pro Europe) follower where they announced their intention to commit suicide on Valentine’s day. Alarm bells ringing I did a bit of checking and found that it’s almost certain that they went through with it. I’m still trying to process the awful news, especially in light of the information that they left behind. I’m not going to blog about it now as I need time to think about it – because I think their utterly tragic story is worth telling, but I don’t want to cause more harm than good by relating it. My only hope is that this poor tortured soul is finally at peace.
Meanwhile, we seem to have found ourselves menaced by the latest storm. This one, named ‘Dennis’ – arrives just a week after the floods in the Calder Valley that affected Hebden Bridge, Mytholmroyd and Sowerby Bridge. We seem to be back here again in a chain of events that used to be described as ‘once in a lifetime’.
The latest warning is that the River Calder will reach its height at 4am Sunday morning. People have been advised to get their flood defenses ready today, and hope…
The weather’s been pretty crap all day with a combination of high winds and torrential rain that’s running straight off already sodden ground. The pair of us had planned to get out for an hour despite the conditions but in the end circumstances and the climate beat us. I finally ventured as far as the local supermarket a couple of hours ago and got battered by the winds and near horizontal rain. At least on the way back the shopping provided a bit of ballast! Mind you, I also popped in to our ‘local’ for a swift pint and a change of scenery, which also helped. Now I’m back at home, determined to salvage something positive from a pretty negative day.
I’m currently keeping myself occupied by scanning an album of old rail pictures from the summer of 1990. Looking back through them it seems like a different age in so many ways. Not just because how much has changed on the railways, but also because of what I was doing that that stage in my life. In those days I was young, free and single – and in the process of saving up to travel the world. Just over a year later I would pack in my job, pay the rent on my shared flat in London for 12 months and book a single ticket to India. The railways, the UK and my life would look very different when I got back…
Here’s a couple of samples of the pictures I’ve been scanning today, just to show you how much things have changed in 30 years.
Where do I start on this picture? This was taken on the 20th July 1990, from the rear of a train heading South from Stirling in Scotland. You wouldn’t recognise this scene now. For a start, the days of being able to stick your head out of a train window to take a picture like this are gone. So are the old semaphore signals. The goods yard to the right of the picture’s been a car part for years and the view of the station is now dominated by a massive footbridge which crosses the picture from left to right. Oh, and the place has now disappeared under electrified wires as the Scottish Government has rolled out railway electrification North as far as Dunblane.
Here’s another Scottish shot that you wouldn’t recognise now…
On the same day in 1990 a ‘push-pull’ fitted Class 47 backs on to its train at Glasgow Queen Street before working a service to the North of Scotland. Nowadays the skyline beyond is dominated by a massive shopping centre, the Buchanan galleries, and the car-park which was built across the top of the railway to close in a lot of the approaches to the station. This engine (47706) soldiered on for several more years. In November 1990 it was transferred South of the border to Crewe where it became a parcels train locomotive. It lasted in that role until May 1995 when it was stored. A few months later, in August, it was cut up for scrap at Crewe works.
Whilst I’ve been scribbling this the rain has stopped and the wind’s abated. A sign of a positive change – or literally just a lull in the storm? Tomorrow could be interesting…
Today’s been one of those mixed days where you never know quite how things are going to turn out!
When I woke up and gazed out of the bedroom window this morning I looked out on beautifully clear skies and idea weather for heading out with the camera. I’d a list of shots that I needed to get for a client so as soon as I had breakfast and sent some emails I headed out.
Typically, by the time I got down to Sowerby Bridge the weather had changed as the clouds had rolled in rendering it impossible to get the shots I needed. Instead (on a whim) I decided to head over to Manchester and reconnoiter some different images. Unfortunately I’d just missed a Manchester bound train. Northern’s new timetable has cut a lot of trains that used to at Sowerby so I had the best part of 45 mins to wait for the next one. Eventually, a Class 158 arrived. To my shock, it was the 11:06 running 5 minutes early! I’m not used to such early running. Needless to say, it waited time and I had an uneventful journey Westwards across the Pennines on an uncrowded train. Whilst I was travelling I heard that an interesting job I’d had pencilled in for next week was cancelled, which was a disappointment, but that’s the nature of freelance work.
Once in Manchester I grabbed a few shots but the weather was still damp and miserable. On another whim I plumped to head over to Liverpool in an effort to find some sunshine and check out a couple of locations. Here’s the beastie that’s taken me back to my birthplace.
68021 blows some dust off the roof as it arrives at Manchester Victoria on its way to Liverpool Lime St.
My timing was less than perfect. Plugging in my new laptop on its maiden voyage away on the rails I checked my emails and found one from a magazine asking for a potential cover picture of – Manchester! It looks like my Liverpool visit is destined to be brief…
14:10.
– as indeed it was! I’m now racing Eastwards again, this time aboard on of TPE’s Class 185s. They may be the oldest trains in their fleet, but they still over the best ride qualities. I seem to be heading back towards sunshine too – so maybe this particular change of plan’s paid off…
16:26.
Well, my gamble almost worked! The weather played ball in Manchester. Sadly, the trains didn’t and the juxtaposition I was hoping for never quite came off. The photo I hoped to recreate with the current liveries is next to impossible now. Even so, I did manage a few useful library shots before heading off to Stalybridge to do a quick bit of shopping and see if I could get a hair cut (natch). Interestingly, whilst I was there I came across the pubs that’s in the Guinness book of records for having the shortest name in the UK whilst just a couple of doors down is the Inn that could quite possibly have the longest!
17:45.After a quick ‘libation’ in the renowned Stalybridge station buffet bar I headed back to Manchester Victoria on a Class 153/158 lash-up that was shuttling between the two locations. Almost empty heading back into the city it had crowds waiting for its arrival.In the adjacent platform was a 2 – car Class 195 heading to Leeds but I was already rammed. Then, as I watched, the lights failed. That’s when I noticed the engines had already stopped running. I decided to abandon that odea and make a dash to get a sabdwhich fron the Co-op across the road vefore trying my luck with the 17:37 to Leeds. When I came back the 195 was still stuck in platform 1, but the 17:37 was in at 6 and it was worked by a 3-car Class 158. OK, it was rammed and I was stuck in a vestibule, but these things nornally disgorge 20-25% of folk at Rochdale anyway.
And so it came to pass…
21:55.
Right, it’s time to sign off for the day folks. After getting home and sorting out some of today’s pictures I made an effort to catch up with the past by getting through a few old slides I had set up before my ‘other half’ came home. Here’s a sample.
This is Ely, back in July 1990 before the world changed. These are some of the remnants of the old semaphore signals that had controlled the railways almost since their inception. Ely had a veritable forest of them, but they were all being chopped down to make way for the modern, electrified railway. I miss them, but I don’t mourn their passing as the railway had to modernise.
You might not get much of a blog tomorrow as it’s Valentine’s day…
Finally, after weeks of waiting and all sorts of political shenanigans’ and uncertainties the announcement has finally been made. HS2 is going ahead.
To be honest, it wasn’t much of a secret, or a surprise. The final decision’s been slowly leaked to the media over a number of weeks – as have dissenting views (not that they mattered).
Today, Prime Minister Boris Johnson announced the news. To be fair announced is hardly the right word. Those who thought the Government were ashamed of their decision were completely wrong-footed. This was no apologetic slipping out of unpopular news, this was a full-bore celebration with a fanfare and 21 gun salute. Johnson stood at the dispatch box and made a meal of it. This was bombastic, bellicose Boris in full flow. And, for once, he actually seemed to have some idea what he was talking about, because he wasn’t announcing vague plans for yet another bridge. This was the culmination of 10 years of planning, re-planning and co-operation between people on a huge scale. There was plenty of detail to be had – and Johnson made the most of it. Why wouldn’t he? He has an 80 seat majority and HS2 has huge cross-party support. It’s simply not a contentious issue and he desperately needs something like this to celebrate to take everyone’s mind off what comes next in the EU negotiations.
You could see that the penny was dropping with some of his back-benchers (old and new) as it became clear his Government were going full-tilt for HS2. Those ‘newbies’ who have ambitions but who represent constituencies on the route are starting to realise that opposition to HS2 could severely limit your career – especially when opposition is futile. Of course, for a few of the old hands like Chesham and Amersham MP Cheryl Gillan – whose career is already over – it’s not so much of a blow, but then she didn’t even bother turning up. The announcement also contained another gem. As I predicted in a blog back in August last year, Phase 2b of HS2 is to be re-aligned and merged with ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’ (always an unwieldy name) to be rebranded “High Speed North”.
This is clever on a number of levels.
For a start, HS2 is now the project that’s already got the go-ahead and it’s a railway between London and Crewe (because phase 1 and 2a have been merged). It isolates the StopHs2 ‘campaign’ from the North. Why? Because the anti HS2 campaign was always based on phase 1, the railway from London – Birmingham. It’s where their grassroots and groups (like Hs2aa and StopHs2) were.
What do they have on the rebadged “High Speed North”? Nothing.
They have a tiny bunch of MPs who’re opposed – most of whom are newly elected and easily neutered as they have ambitions – and little else. In contrast, the North has massive political and business support for what was HS2 but is now clearly a Northern project that will deliver far more than HS2 could do in isolation. Don’t forget that 50% of the new ‘Northern Powerhouse Rail’ tracks would have been HS2 tracks. So, how many Northern MPs are now going to be brave (or foolhardy) enough to say “I oppose HSN” And why would Southern Tory MPs who’ve been outflanked on HS2 phase 1 put their own government at risk at the next election by opposing HSN when they no longer have a dog in the fight?
I could write more as I’ve not even touched on the Oakervee review yet, but I’m going to save that for another day. All I’ll say is that the review has made fools of much of the mainstream media. Why? Because they fell for the spin and briefings from Lord Berkeley that the cost of HS2 had risen to £106bn and they ran with it. In fact, the only refence to that figure in the Oakervee report is to dismiss it, not to endorse it.
StopHs2 is dead. Is anyone going to be stupid enough to try and rebrand it as “Stop High-Speed North”?
Paul Bigland 