Sorry this is a bit late as the two days of the awards were hectic to say the least. Now I have all the pictures edited and the winners names are out – so I’ve added a link to the Community Rail Network website and details of who the winners were.
Here’s a selection of pictures from the evening which includes the range of presenters and guest speakers at the event.
The scene is set and the tables all laid at the Civic centre in Newcastle. With just a couple of minutes left before the awards start guests take their seats. There was a record attendance of over 500 people this year, the biggest awards in its 20 year history. More people wanted to attend than the venue could accommodate. This year the awards trophies have been redesigned. 19 of them await collection by deserving groups and individuals.Vicky Pipe (now Head of Audiences and Programmes at Bletchley Park) was one of the two main hosts for the evening. Our other main presenter was Martijn Gilbert, MD of Hull trains and LUMO. LUMO were the awards headline sponser. Peter Wilkinson (Department for Transport, Major Rail Projects Group) has been a long-time supporter of community rail. He gave an address celebrating the work of volunteers at this years awards which he’s attended for many years.The irrepressible rail broadcaster Tim Dunn presented two of our awards. The father of community rail, Prof Paul Salveson presented a special trophy to Hazel Lavery, who’s organised all 20 of the community rail awards. Headline winners for their outstanding contribution to community rail were Kent Community Rail Partnership. After the serious stuff was over the tables were cleared, the band appeared and the dancefloor filled up!
Now I can relax a little bit and concentrate on adding some of the other pictures that I managed to take during a few hours free time in Newcastle…
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Dawn and I are currently in Leeds, having travelled here from Halifax in order to jeet up with other members of the Community Rail Network team before continuing our onward journey to Newcastle.
After getting a raxi to Halifax station, the first leg with Northern was a breeze. A Hull bound service which starts from Halifax was sat – burbling away – at the platform when we arrived so there was no shortage of seats.
Our trusty chariot from Halifax to Leeds. Three-car 158757 has worked across the North since it was built.
We’ve chosen a good time to leave as the Metrological office has just issued a yellow warning for snow in our area! The weather’s certainly cold enough for it and hanging around Leeds station was certainly ‘Baltic’. Now we’ve met up with four colleagues aboard the 11:45 to Newcastle.
14:15.
We’ve arrived after a journey that seemed to take no time at all – mainly because we were all busy! En-route we passed under moody skies, ominous looking clouds and the occasional shower but (thankfully) no snow. Now the team’s checked into our hotel in central Newcastle. We’ve a few hours before we’re needed at this evening’s reception, so whilst the rest of the tean use the hotel as a workbase I’m off out with the camera…
A BR era class 156 sits under Newcastle station’s magnificent curved roof.
20:50.
Phew! A busy few hours. I headed out in almost sub-zero temperatures to get some pictures of trains crossing the Tyne. This meant standing another bridge just upriver where the wind chilled the bones. Typically, just as I arrived, the sun disappeared and didn’t reappear until the last few minutes before I left! Here’s a small selection. I’ll add captions tomorrow.
Heading home to thaw out and change a few of us met up afterwards in the magnificent tiled surrounding of the Centurion bar on the station for a quick drink
Before meeting up with other CRN staff and members at the nearby Lumo trains office where the company had very kindly laid on a drinks reception. It’s quite a building their office is in!
Celebrating the 20th anniversary of the Community Rail awards with cake at the Lumo office.
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After last night’s shindig the pair of us have had a low morning here in Manchester. Not that we were up late, more that we took our time before heading down to breakfast – and an excellent repast it was too. The Doubletree Hilton cater for all tastes, from traditional English (with added flair) to continental and Asian. Mind you, the clientele are so varied that the food has to be.
An English breakfast to set me up for the day. It’ll be walked off by this evening!
Manchester wakes up late on a Sunday. Most shops don’t open before 11:00 – 11:30 which makes rushing rather pointless.
In the end, we did visit some shops, but it was more window than real shopping, then I said goodbye to Dawn at Victoria station whilst I stayed behind to get a few library shots. Retracing my steps to a rather quiet Piccadilly (due to engineering works and cancellations), I took a packed Transport for Wales service out to Stockport in order to bag a few long lens shots along the viaduct (pics later).
15:14.
Now, I’m heading back to Piccadilly to try a few more locations around the city. Low cloud’s creeping in on the fringes and the intensity of the sun’s dropping, so I may not hang around too long.
17:15.
Time to head back across the Pennines. I’ve had an interesting afternoon in the city, enjoying the weather, people-watching, and a few trains – although they’ve been in short supply. I ended up walking back through the city from Oxford Rd to Victoria. This allowed me to get a few architecture shots where the sun was just in the right place. As is usual, when I’m wandering around with a top-flight camera with a long lens attached, I ended up in a couple of conversations with other street photographers. It’s part of the fun! In one case, I even let a guy have a play with the Z9 with a 100-400 lens attached. I’m not trying to show off – I just knew they’d appreciate being able to handle and try out the camera. Just like I used to be.
Now I’m stood on a busy 2-car train heading East…
22:00.
I’m now back at Bigland Towers, giving me the opportunity to add a few camera shots from today.
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After a lovely sunny day in West Yorkshire where temperatures hit 17 degrees, leaving us feeling that Spring had arrived, we’ve travelled across the Pennines to Manchester for a night on the town and an evening at the Confederation of Passenger Transport annual dinner. I’ll add some pictures and details later. Right now it’s time to get dressed up at our hotel…
We’ve moved Hilton hotels to the iconic one in Deansgate where the event is being held. Nice room.
We’re on a great table where we’ve already met a couple of old friends and colleagues..
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Today’s my last one where I’m stuck behind a desk all day – at least for a while. The weather’s deteriorated and we’ve had a few showers here in the Pennines but the temperature has still be way into double figures, which has been nice. Not that it’s made much difference to me but it’s always good to crack open the office window, get some fresh air and hear the birdsong outside.
I’ve finally caught up with all my picture editing. All the various SE Asia shots are now on my Zenfolio site, along with all the recent pictures from the UK and 90% of the Norway images. Here’s a link to the ‘recent’ section of my website where you can browse what’s been updated. I’ve just a few more Norway shots to caption before I can write a blog about what Siemens and Norwegian railways are up to when it comes to resignalling the entire country over the next few decades. It’s a fascinating project.
Tomorrow we’re off to Manchester for the awards I talked about yesterday, then home again later on Sunday. Right now I’ve no idea what I’ll be doing for the first part of next week as the weather forecast is predicting rain and snow! On Wednesday the pair of us will be heading to Newcastle (on Tyne) to prepare for Thursday’s Community Rail Awards. The city’s predicted to be slightly warmer, but just as wet! Ho hum…
Of course, whilst I’ve been trapped at home I’ve kept one eye on the political madness that’s enveloping the world – and the latest chapter. Trump is still as mad as a box of frogs, but it’s what’s happening in the UK today that’s made me reach for the popcorn! Reform, the PLC (majority shareholder N Farage) that masquerades as a political party is having a bit of a ‘mare.
Splits have been appearing for sometime as Elon Musk has suggested that the ‘Fagash Fuhrer’ isn’t fit to lead the party he formed (don’t you mean the company he owns? Ed) and endorsed the millionaire and racist Rupert Lowe instead. Lowe is one of the 5 MPs have and makes £1000s a week from Twitter by shit-posting inflammatory stuff about the colour of people’s skin – and Islamophobia. As a consequence, he has a hardcore following of Reform ‘members’ (as they like to pretend). Unsurprisingly – and predictably, as he has past form for this at UKIP, the ‘Fagash Fuhrer’ doesn’t take kindly to his gravy-train being threatened, so has shot back by getting the party chair and ‘whip’ – 30p Lee Anderson to release this little missive.
OK, I have to admit I had to laugh out loud at the hypocrisy of the last paragraph! Apparently, lying, race-baiting and Islamophobia area perfectly acceptable activities in Reform, but bullying female staff isn’t. Oh, hang on, wasn’t one of their MPs jailed for assaulting his girlfriend in the past? Apparently, that’s OK too, so James McMurdock remains a Reform MP. It seems the only thing that gets you into trouble in Reform is challenging the ‘Fagash Fuhrer’. Lowe denies all the accusations, so this saga is set to run and run. Fuel to the fire is already being added by Lowe’s supporters. I wonder if ‘Space Karen’ Musk will get involved again?
Reform are already feeling the pressure due to their support for the Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. This is just adding more pressure on them, along with their poor showing in local elections. 9 seats were up for grabs on Thursday and Reform failed to win a single one. In fact, out of the 218 seats that have become vacant since the last general election Reform have only won 12. Hardly the ‘Tsunami’ that ’30p Lee’ Anderson keeps boasting of.
Who will win? There’s only one possible outcome. The majority shareholder will win. Reform are a PLC, not a genuine political party. The mugs persuaded to cough up £25 for ‘membership’ are about to find out the reality of what that buys them. Nothing. The money is trousered by Farage. It’s impossible for Farage to be deposed. As the majority shareholder he owns Reform!
Still, I’ll invest in some popcorn, as this saga is going to run and run. There’s nothing like a bit of right-wing political infighting. It rivals blood sports! Meanwhile, not all is well in the White House either….
Now it’s time to knock off and leave you with a picture to brighten your day, which comes from…Bali. I posted a picture of an unknown bird the other week. Thanks to readers it was identified as a female olive-backed Sunbird. That allowed me to ID this one as the male olive-backed sunbird.
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Another short blog from me tonight as I’ve been out all day and only got home late. The pair of us were up early as we had a dentist’s appointment at 08:30 over in Huddersfield – one of our regular 6 month check-ups and visit to the hygienist for a wash and brush up. I’m not someone who’s afraid of dentists and rather enjoy coming away afterwards feeling the new definition in my teeth after having the hygienist gave ’em the once over – not that there was much to remove.
As we were in that neck of the woods and the weather was ideal for photography I decided to have a day out exploring Trans-Pennine Route Upgrade (TRU) territory. I’ll explain more at greater length tomorrow, but for now here’s a couple of pictures.
A TRU engineers train passes Bradley Junction with the single line spur towards Brighouse heading off to the left. This section will be four-tracked with the new fast lines being laid on the old trackbed to the right. A TPE service takes the Huddersfield route at Heaton Lodge Junction. The line to Brighouse is in the background. The new 100mph fast lines will be laid to the right of the train. The new bridge pier is for the road down to the waterworks between the two railways which will replace the one I’m standing on..
I’ll be back working from home tomorrow, so expect more pictures and a vastly expanded blog then.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
There’s not much of a blog from me today as nearly the whole day’s been spent glued to a computer screen as I try and complete a photo editing marathon. I’ve broken the back of it now, having edited and filed 80% of the pictures I’ve taken so far this year, which cover five countries (if you include the UK). I did get diverted into an archive search too, which took up some time, but I’m pleased with what I’ve got done as one more day should leave me free to get on with other projects.
There’s far too many galleries that have been updated to add individual links on my Zenfolio website, but if you click on this link it’ll take you to the ‘recent’ section, which shows you (by date) all the galleries that have had pictures added to them.
The weather’s not been up to much here in the Pennines so it’s hardly been an ideal day to be going out with the camera. It’s made looking at pictures of sultry climates and the streetlife they enable rather frustrating! Still, there’s no doubt that spring’s is in the air here in the UK. The days are noticeably longer compared to when I left for Asia and our garden is on the cusp of breaking into life – which is a bit of a bugger as I’ve not had chance to move things around beforehand. Ah well, there’s still time…
Whilst I’ve been editing and captioning a lot of pictures there’s one thing I’ve struggled with. Ships? Easy. Planes? No problem. Trains? Simple. But, our feathered friends? I haven’t got a clue! So, today’s picture is of one of the critters I’m struggling to identify. Can anyone help? I saw this beautiful creature feeding off the plants around our swimming pool in Bali.
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/
Today has been another where I’ve hardly moved from Bigland towers as I’ve been determined to crack on with editing the hundreds of pictures I have in the queue from all my travels. Mind you, whilst the weather’s slowly picking up as spring approaches, it’s still chilly enough to keep me indoors. I’ve managed to get all sorts of images done today. The straight travel shots are the easiest. The ones that take time are the shipping and aircraft shots as I need to look up the technical details of each one. Here’s the galleries that have had pictures added today;
Whilst doing this I’ve been keeping one eye on the news and the unfolding story of the European summit on Ukraine which has been held in the UK today. After the American debacle (which shows every sign of backfiring on Trump and Vance) it’s been refreshing to see the levels of international support for Ukraine – even from some right-wing governments like Italy and Turkey. What was also great to see was the UK centre-stage with the adults back in charge again. I don’t agree with everything Sir Keir Starmer and his government is doing, but – by God! – what a difference to the past few clowns we’ve had as PM! Contrast Starmer in the thick of it with other European leaders who are engaging with him and respect him with the past scenes of Boris Johnson at summits where he was ignored and wandered around (hands in pockets) like ‘Billy no-mates’. The UK is finally starting to shake off the disgrace of Brexit and the Tory shit-show to regain some credibility in the world.
How things will pan out in the long run is open to question, but there’s no doubt that the majority of the UK supports Ukraine – despite what bots, trolls and Russia apologists on social media are trying to project.
One of the interesting things about the situation is how it’s almost impossible to fit a fag paper between the hard-left and the far-right on so many policies (like Starmer and Ukraine). The poor ‘tankies’ of the hard-left still can’t get over the fall of the Soviet Union, or the fact Jeremy Corbyn turned out to be a failure. They still hanker after both which leaves them irrelevant to politics in the modern age. Mind you, Farage and ‘Reform’ are also struggling. Having nailed their flag to the Trump (and Putin) mast their populist politics are looking increasingly hollow. It’s too early to say with certainty, but this does show every sign of being a seismic shift in world politics and alliances. I’ll blog more about this another time, but for now it’s time to go.
I did see one comment on social media that made me laugh today. Someone posted (in reference to the apocryphal Chinese curse) ‘I think I’ve had enough of living in interesting times’. I can’t but agree…
I’ll leave you with a picture, which is from my Jakarta sojourn. Streetlife in the Indonesian capital’s never boring as there’s always something to see – and traffic to negotiate. Here’s an example.
Food outlets line Jalan Lontar Raya whilst an endless procession of scooters and other forms of transport add to the noise and chaos.
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/
Today’s been a quiet one here at Bigland towers. After all my travels and adventures it’s time to kick back a little and catch up with myself. My sleep patterns have just about returned to normal now, helped by not being on the ‘go’ all the time. Instead, I’ve been concentrating on catching up with some household chores, enjoying the opportunity to cook once more – and continue editing pictures from my travels.
You can find the latest additions to my Zenfolio picture website here;
I’ve still got hundreds of pictures to edit. They’ll gradually get filed over the next few days as I’m not expecting to be travelling anywhere much over the next week as I’ve too much to do at home. It’s a shame as the weather’s beginning to pick up here in West Yorkshire. We’ve had some stunning sunsets with fabulous colours these past couple of days. I was fortunate to capture this one from the bedroom window this evening.
The setting sun over Sowerby has produced some amazing colours these past few days.
I’m expecting tomorrow to be a little more active today, but productive when it comes to producing pictures. Plus, there’s a political blog brewing. Yesterday’s disgraceful ambush at the White House is certainly causing waves of outrage. Plus President Zelenskyy arrived in the UK today – a country that backs him to the hilt – despite what the hard-left and far-right would like you to think.
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/
After getting home at 07:30 this morning much of my day has been spent catching up on some sleep! A shame in some ways as the weather’s been glorious for a change. Ah well…
The rest of my time has been spent glued to a computer in order to continue the marathon task of editing pictures. I’ve still got a queue of images from my Asia trip to sort out, but today I decided to focus on the pictures from Norway in order to establish a new gallery on my Zenfolio website. You can find that new gallery here. There’s many more pictures to add to it yet. Hopefully they’ll appear over the next few days as I’m going to be home-based for a while yet.
Here’s a couple of shots as a teaser.
A type SL95 tram by Central station. These bidirectional, eight-axle articulated vehicles built by Italian company Ansaldo are unique to Oslo. 32 were supplied between 1998-2004. They’re being replaced by newer vehicles built by CAF. A Stadler built Class 75 EMU at Jaren, on the first line in Norway to be controlled by ERTMS. One of the CAF built ‘Oaris’ EMUs. These units have had a troubled history. Eight of these 245kph trains were ordered in March 2015 at a cost of 115 million Euros. Expected to enter service in 2018 they were delayed until 2021. 19 days after entering service cracks were found in the bogie bolster leading to the units withdrawal. They were due to return to service in January 2023 but are still experiencing problems. Only two were in traffic during my visit, including this one, 78003 which is missing its nose cone doors at one end. As an aside, it was the Oaris platform that CAF offered in its (unsuccessful) tender for HS2!
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 