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To be honest, I never left it. It was just my energies have been directed at other things than blogging over the long weekend. I’ve got plenty of things to write about, just not the time to do it as I’ve been concentrating on picture editing and also time with my wife. Well, it was a bank holiday!
Anyone who visits my Zenfolio picture website will notice that rather a lot of recent pictures have been uploaded. There’s lots more to come as I’m going to be out and about quite a bit over the next few weeks. I’m back in London tomorrow for a meeting with a client, so expect both a rolling blog and pictures. Meanwhile, I’ve still got a blog about the rebirth of the station building at Mytholmroyd to complete. Expect that shortly. There’s one or two interesting jobs coming up soon too which should add more fun and I’ve not even touched on the continuing political farce that’s the Brexit shambles. No doubt I’ll have the chance to vent my spleen soon! I’d have loved to have done so after the local elections and the way ‘Magic Grandad’ (aka Jeremy Corbyn) managed to spin his party’s appalling showing as an endorsement of him wanting Brexit.
Right, it’s time to go, but I will leave you with one last picture. One of today’s chores was sorting out my picture database and filing all the backups to ensure nothing can get lost and also free up space on my laptop. Yesterday Richard Wellings, a self-styled transport ‘expert’ from the shadowy lobby group the ‘Institute for Economic Affairs’ tried to make hay out of an article claiming 500 Crossrail train drivers are getting paid for doing nothing because the central core has been delayed. Wellings knows sod all about railways, he just spouts whatever line his anonymous paymasters tell him to, so of course, he didn’t realise that Crossrail are already running trains under the TfL Rail banner either side of the core. Funnily enough I’d pictured several a few days before. Here’s one at Paddington on May day. Pop over to Liverpool St and you’ll see plenty more!
Genuine rail expert William Barter put Wellings in his place on Twitter.
Old buildings like this are a pleasure to photograph because of the shadows and light.
Two more (331102 and 331105) are stabled in the nearby sidings.
I’m looking forward to these trains entering service as they’re a real step-change to the ones they’re replacing.16:11.I’m back at Leeds on my way home after getting various shots at Doncaster. It’s a shame the weather was so overcast, but I shouldn’t complain as the forecast was worse. It’s been a good end to the working week as in-between taking pictures I’ve spent a fair bit of time lining up several jobs that will keep me occupied for the next few weeks. I’ll blog about them in good time. In the meantime, here’s a shot of the decluttered concourse at Leeds station which was built by the LMS railway.
There’s some heritage trains in heritage deliveries knocking around too. This is a former Scotrail Class 156 in the old First group livery that reminds me of when they ran the North-western franchise post privatisation
Right, time for home…
12:09.
12:57.
Here’s the token system.
15:10.
This has been our lunch stop and I couldn’t resist ordering a traditional Lancashire delicacy: rag pudding with mushy peas and chips!
We’ve now stepped through a door into a 5th dimension where it feels like we’re in London, or Paris, not Rochdale – and Otto’s found the piano..
18:10.
08:05We’re now bowling along towards Grantham through the gloom and murk as the haze is sticking with us, which isn’t exactly condusive to good photography!I was surprised to see how many folk on my train were commuting from Leeds to Doncaster. No doubt some were rail staff, but I wonder about the others as you don’t exactly see ‘Donny’ as a thriving centre of commerce.09:05The closer I get to London the worse the murk gets! We’ve just passed Hitchin and visibility is down to 200 metres. If it’s no better in London I may need to rethink my plans for the rest of the day as it’s grim down South. One of my community rail friends has just sent me a picture of sunny Accrington to cheer me up!10:38My luck’s changing at last. The wet weather I was greeted with has changed an the skies are starting to clear. Meanwhile, a friend at Hornsey depot is keeping me abreast of preparations to tow away the first Class 313 (026) to South Wales and the scrap yard. Here it is passing through Finsbury Park on its final journey, hauled by 57312.
Tomorrow night, sister unit 313055 is due to head in the opposite direction, from Hornsey to Yorkshire, where the unit will be scrapped.Here’s the new order that will replace them, seen at Hornsey earlier. The Siemens built Class 717s are a step-change in quality compared to the 1970s designed 313s.
13:00.Due to the weather I didn’t hang around in London. I began heading North, looking for sunshine. I found it at Bedford, on the Midland Main Line, where these units working the Bedford-Bletchley line are due to be replaced by Vivarail Class 230s very soon.
Of course, the times have changed here earlier now that Thameslink are running an entirely new fleet to Bedford.15:36.Northward, ever Northward! My next stop was at Wellingborough to check out progress on both MML electrification and also the massive housing development that’s being built to the North and East of the station. Here’s the view looking North, with the old Midland Railway steam loco shed to the right.
17:22.I’d hopped my way up the Midland Main Line as far as Sheffield where I couldn’t resist stopping for a swift beer in the magnificent Sheffield Tap, which gave me time to upload a few more pictures to the blog. Now I’m heading for Leeds on one of Cross-country’s HST’s which are rather a contrast to the one I started the day on! All the way North the weather’s been a patchwork quilt that’s alternated between sunshine and low clouds or haze. Still, it’s mission accomplished – despite the weather and the all-invasive Buddleia! As someone who spent many years travelling on the old Class 313s I wanted to record the beginning of their end. I only hope GN give the last one’s a proper send-off as they’ve moved millions of people in years they’ve served the railways.17:55I made the cardinal error of using one of the toilets on this train only to find coach C has run out of water, so the sight greeting you in the toilet bowl can be imagined. I’m at Leeds. This trains going all the way to Glasgow and there’s no chance of replenishing the water supply…
18:22.The last train of the day is a refurbished Northern Class 158 that’s taking me and dozens of other weary commuters home. Like every commuter service, no-one’s window-gazing, they see this view 10 times a week at least! Instead, the vast majority are staring at screens of varying sizes and I’ve only heard the rustle of a single newspaper. One or two are taking the chance to doze. All this means it’s a very quiet train…
Paul Bigland 