It’s an early picture of the day today as we’re off to a wedding this afternoon which makes blogging this evening look very unlikely – for obvious reasons! It’s been an interesting and varied week that’s highlighted the fact the world is slowly returning to normal after the chaos caused by Covid. Sadly for our friends who’re getting married today, the one thing they’ve absolutely no control over (the weather) hasn’t played ball. Here in the Calder Valley the hilltops are submerged underneath thunderous looking low cloud and misted by rain. The wedding’s in Denby Dale/Huddersfield but I doubt the conditions will be any different. Even so, we hope Hazel and Paul have a fabulous day and their spirits aren’t dampened. We’ll certainly be doing our best to make it enjoyable for them.
The wedding will be the climax of a very sociable week – another indicator we’re recovering from the pandemic. We’ve felt a bit like hermits over the past 18 months. Now the vaccination programme’s reached such a level and Covid cases appear to be manageable the idea of socialising with friends (and strangers) seems a lot less intimidating. That doesn’t mean Dawn and I have thrown caution to the wind – far from it. We both still wear masks when out shopping, on public transport or when we feel the situation merits them but we’re allowing ourselves some optimism and certainly more freedom. Judging by the number of people I’ve experienced returning to the railways we’re not alone in those feelings. What we both want now is to be able to have a holiday, preferably somewhere sunny, but right now, we’re still being cautious on international travel.
Sadly, that means I’m not likely to be seeing sights like today’s picture until 2022. This is one of the latest batch of old slides that I’ve been scanning and it comes from the 18 month long round the world trip Lynn and I took in 1997-99. I took this picture in Hampi, Karnataka, India in December 1997…
Ever seen an elephant stables before? No, neither had I until we visited the ruins of Hampi, which is a UNESCO world heritage site and former capital of the Vijayanagara Empire. It’s a remarkable and rather surreal place which has laid abandoned since it was destroyed by sultanate armies in 1565. Don’t expect to explore it all in a day, the ruins cover over 16 sq miles!
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Today’s been a day for slaving away at home editing the pictures that I took yesterday, catching up on some paperwork and researching stuff for future blogs. Not exactly what you’d call exciting but just the job after yesterday’s little stroll. At least my shoulders get a break from the weight of the camera bag!
As it’s Friday Dawn and I did something unusual (well, for us anyway) by going out for a drink with friends in Halifax. We rarely visit the town centre as we tend to gravitate to Sowerby Bridge or more local hostelries. Today we’re trying somewhere different. Over the past few years there’s been an explosion of micropubs and new bars which have taken over some of the empty shops in town. Today we visited one of the older ones – The Victorian craft beer cafe in Powell St, behind the Victoria Theatre. It’s a cracking, multi-roomed place that has all the right elements you’d hope for. Spread over several levels and with a real variety of nooks and crannies and a bar that has an excellent variety of beers (no, it’s not all ‘craft’, nor expensive due to the name) the place is well worth a visit. The five of us had a great night and I’m sure we’ll be back. Much as we’d liked to have stayed Dawn and I had to leave early as Dee has a wedding cake to finish making. Yep, we’re off to a wedding tomorrow, so a blog may (or may) not appear.
In the meantime I’ll leave you with the picture of the day which is from the latest batch of old slides I’ve been scanning. Right now I’m on an album that contains a real mish-mash of slides that either were never properly filed and just ended up crammed in albums – or ones that got mis-filed. This one’s a case in point. I took this picture in Arambol, Goa, India in December 1997. Friends of Lynn and I had a bakery/cafe there called ‘Double Dutch (Axel and Lucie are both Dutch – and there’s a looongg story about them cycling from the Netherlands to India for another time). This is a chap who was known as ‘Forest’ performing a fire dance routine in their garden whilst I played around with the camera…
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I’m not used to doing this anymore! I was up at 05:00 preparing to head off for this morning’s job over in Wakefield. Getting up whilst it’s still dark is a novelty nowadays, although the with days getting shorter it’s going to become all too familiar soon. Right now I’m sipping coffee whilst I finish getting my kit together whilst trying not to disturb Dawn and Jet, who’re still curled up in and on a warm bed it was hard to leave! Still, let’s see what the day brings, eh?…
07:10.
I gave myself plenty of time to walk to the station so that I could enjoy the trip without breaking into a sweat. Hardly anyone was about except for a few dog-walkers and the odd early-bird like me, which made made for a pleasent trip where I could enjoy the birdsong rather than the noise of traffic.
Halifax station was rather different. It’s much busier than I’ve seen it at this time of day for quite some time. Many folk are waiting for the Grand Central service to London which is good to see. As an open access operator GC had a terrible time during the pandemic. Unlike the franchises, they receive no government support, leaving them totally reliant on ticket sales. This left them no option but to suspend operations for several months. Now they’re bouncing back. This service was a lifeline for me when I moved from London to West Yorkshire and I’ve got to know many of the staff so I’m really happy to see them recovering.
07:25.
When we pulled in to Brighouse it was great to see a few dozen people waiting for our train. This really is starting to feel like the ‘old days’! The station platforms are looking very attractive right now as the planters maintained by the local station friends are looking resplendent. The local history boards on each platform added earlier this year add another nice touch.
07:31.
We’ve picked up well over a dozen people at our next stop (Mirfield). Most look like holiday makers – the people who’ve been returning to the railway in droves..
08:45.
Wakefield Kirkgate also held droves of passengers waiting for us. As I degraindd I bumped into Alan, an old friend from Grand Central. We had time for a quick chat (he confirmed my suspicions about passenger growth) before I wandered off to my job. I’m there now, soI’ll be offline for a few hours. Catch you later…
11:45.
I’m back! I’ve spent a couple of hours taking staff portraits for a rail industry magazine and now I’m back on the rails at Wakefield Kirkgate, a station I once christened Britain’s worst. But look at it now!
Even the area outside the station’s been brightened up as the derelict pub has been rebuilt for residential use. Sadly, the excellent little station cafe remains closed, but Alan informs me it’s due to reopen next month.
14:00.
I’m currently taking a break in Sheffield as the warm and sunny weather I enjoyed in Wakefield is being disturbed by a band of rain crossing the country. I’d headed down this way to visit a station that I’ve not been to for several years but was on my list due to the excellent work the local station friends group has done on keeping it attractive whilst also explaining the area’s industrial heritage with history boards. There’s an lovely old tub wagon in the garden outside with celebrates the history of mining and steelmaking. What I never knew is that the pretty village was once *the* centre for making rails for the railways. The Wilson Cammell works opened in 1873 and became the foremost rail making plant in Britain, exporting worldwide. Then, in 1882 the decision was taken to move the plant wholesale to Workington in Cumbria (where I was last week) which led to the industrial decline of the village.
Having had time to explore the village in-between trains I can safely say it now earns its money from three less than industrial sources. Cafes, boutiques and hairdressers!
18:00.
That was an interesting few hours – although most of it was governed by the weather. I headed back to Sheffield with half a mind to traverse the Penistone line as there’s pictures I need, but the weather defeated me. Instead I made a sideways move to Doncaster where conditions were more condusive. As always, there was a large contingent of railway enthusiasts adorning the platform ends or camped out under the canopies using camping chairs. Such a number of people used to be common at major junctions a few decades back but Doncaster is now one of the last bastions.
Ironically, I bumped into two people I knew purely by accident, although one was rail-staff rather than a platform-ender.
Moving on again I headed home via Leeds in order to see how the rush-hour’s shaping up. The answer? Well. It’s the busiest I’ve seen the station since before lockdown. There was a real mix. Commuters on their way home mingled with people having a night out or returning from shopping. The feeling of vibrancy that’s been missing for so long was back. The only thing giving away thd changed times was the amount of folk still wearing masks (including me)
21:30.
Time to draw this rolling blog to a close. I’ve finally made it home after walking just over 15 miles today – including a minor detour via our local pub. Well, after covering that distance with a camera bag on my back I thought I deserved it! Especially when you consider that this part of the world isn’t exactly level. The caps might be flat, but bugger all else is – as my Fitbit stats demonstrate.
I’ll be back working from home tomorrow as I’ve a shedload of pictures to process. I’m sure there’ll be a blog involved too as I’ve plenty of new ammunition for ‘picture of the day’. In the meantime, enjoy your day/night/morning!
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
A very short blog from me tonight. Life has a habit of getting in the way sometimes and all the things I had planned never happened. It’s the start of a new week tomorrow, so hopefully things will improve. I’ve certainly got enough things on the go to keep me occupied! One of the little projects I’m trying to get finished is editing all of last weeks pictures and uploading them to my Zenfolio website. The picture of the day is one in the queue.
When Hassard and I were in Cumbria earlier in the week the weather was hardly vintage photographic conditions. However, the weather has a remarkable knack of changing! Here’s the view from Parton when it did exactly that. We went from visibility of just a few hundred meters to this in an hour. Here’s the coast of Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland which magically appeared out of the gloom as we were stood on the station waiting for our train back to Carlisle.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
My day’s travels are having a later start than normal as I’m currently waiting for a check-up at the Royal Calderdale hospital’s Dematology department. After forty-odd years of backpacking and beach-bumming around the world in exotic, sunny places you’ll find more moles on me than on the average golf course! So far, all have proved to be benign but recently a new one’s appeared on my cheek below my left eye. My GP reckons is OK but has sent me to get it checked out by experts – just in case. Once this is done I’ll be on my way, heading North. Of course, the problem with hospitals (especially ‘cos of Covid) is that you’ve no idea how long things will take. I’m not a great fan of hanging around hospitals (after all, they’re full of sick people!) but I really can’t complain about the Royal Calderdale. Whenever I’ve been here in the past the staff have been excellent.
It’s my first visit since the pandemic broke and it’s odd to see the place quieter than usual and waiting areas stripped to the bare minimum to enable social distancing. This is a big hospital with a large catchment area so it’s normally buzzing.
11:40.
Everything’s A-OK. The Dermatology nurse who examined me was a chippy and cheerful Yorkshire lass. After quizzing whsre I was going with such a large bag she waxed lyrical about a trip she’d taken along the Settle-Carlisle railway with her husband! In examining me she told me what I had under my eye was a seborrhoeic keratoses (a name that doesn’t exactly trip off the tongue!) and the good news? They’re harmless!
As my visit was mercifully short I managed to catch an earlier train. I’m now on a busy 3-car Class 195 working the 11:32 Halifax – Blackpool North. Leisure travel’s returned with a vengance. I was nearly mown down by a fleet of women with prams who were leaving the train to head the ths towns ‘Eureka’ childrens museum. Even with them disembarking the train remains busy.
12:30.
We’ve just left Blackburn and the train’s packed. We’ve lots of families aboard who’re on their way to Blackpool for a holiday. I feel rather sorry for them as the weather’s not looking very promising over the next few days, but then that’s why budget holidays to Spain became so popular!
14:30.
I’m now on the final leg to Carlisle after changing trains at Preston and Lancaster. All the services I’ve used today have been busy. It’s true that Preston station was quieter than I’d usually expect this time of year, but then there’s rather a dearth of foreign tourists – for obvious reasons! From Preston I caught a TPE Class 397 working a Manchester Airport – Edinburgh service, which was well loaded. If it had been on one of the old 3-car Class 185s used on the route it would have been rammed. I’ve not travelled on a 397 on the WCML before so I was pleasantly surprised at the quality of the ride at linespeed – especially as I was stood over a bogie on the trailing vehicle!
I had half an hour at Lancaster, long enough to grab a couple of pictures, notice that all the station’s catering outlets had reopened (bar the WH Smiths by the ticket office) and have a quick word with an old friend who was on dispatch duty before catching Avanti West Coast’s 13:55 Northwards. Station announcements warned that it would be busy and advised those on flexible tickets to get a later train. 390104 rolled in to do the honours and it was indeed busy. I was lucky, a family of four were detraining so I managed to blag their table which is where I’m sat typing this. Having flown through a gloomy Lune Gorge we’ve hit mist and rain at Shap summit, so I’ve no idea what to expect in Carlisle…
15:15.
In fact, the weather in Carlisle is changeable, but OK. The sun put in an appearence for this beastie anyway. Rail Charter Services green HST working the 15:09 to Skipton via the Settle and Carlise line.
Epilogue!
After meeting up with Hassard at Carlisle the lair of us headed off to territory he’s never explored before – the Cumbrian Coast line as far as Whitehaven. We’d planned to walk along an old tramway from there to Parton but the rain lashed our train as it made its way to the coast, so we dicided to be flexible. The 2-car 156 we were on was really busy with a mix of locals on their way home from work and tourists. Two young couples opposite were heading to Whitehaven with their bikes to begin the popular coast to coast cycle route.
Fortunately for us (and the cyclists) the weather broke en-route. As we headed South the rain headed North so our plan came together after all. The old tramway runs parallel to and above the railway, giving excellent views of line, rocky beaches and out to sea. The route’s tarmac’d as it’s part of the national cycle network, so it’s an easy walk.
Not a bad day here in Bigland Towers even if I didn’t get through 3/4 of the things I’d hoped to – as is often the case as life just seems to keep getting in the way! At least the weather’s improved, which lifts the mood. I managed to tear Dawn away from her computer at lunchtime and the two of us had an amble through the local woods which was lovely. The recent rains have encouraged a real growth spurt in some plants so it looks like we’ll be having a bumper crop of Blackberries this year. The only downside is the brambles are throwing out so many tendrils they’re making some of the woodland walks awkward to navigate – especially if you’re wearing shorts! If the brambles don’t get you, the Nettles will!
Back at home I’ve been ploughing through various work projects and organising the diary which (thankfully) is looking a lot fuller than this time last year. Admittedly, there’s no plans for getting abroad right now, but I’ll be ‘on tour’ in the UK again for the next couple of days, so expect a rolling blog or two. Tomorrow I make my way to Carlisle to meet up with an old friend from London who’s on a business trip to the area. Having company on one of these jaunts will be fun as Covid’s meant I’ve normally been flying solo. We’ll be taking a photographic trip down the Cumbrian coast. I’m I’m hoping the weather Gods will smile upon us. I’ve not had the opportunity to visit the area for a couple of years so I’m looking forward to it. I’ll be making my way back to Yorkshire on Thursday and I’ve a couple of places I could do to visit to get shots for a client so I’ll be watching the weather forecast and hoping it performs to expectations. But hey, this is Britain after all, I could end up with floods or blizzards!
Whilst I’ve been slaving away back in the office I discovered a stash of old slides from my 1991-92 world trip that I’d never got around to cataloguing as the emulsion on some of them had been attacked by fungus before I could post them back to the UK. Now, with the wonders of modern technology – and a lot of patience in Photoshop, most of them can be restored, so here’s the picture of the day…
I took this shot in the old loco shed at the Amberawa Railway museum in Java, Indonesia on the 11th July 1992.
I was staying in nearby Yogyakarta in Central Java and was determined to fit in a visit, even though it meant catching a packed local bus to get there as the operational railway between the two towns had closed back in the 1970s. It was well worth the trip as the museum houses a fascinating collection of old Indonesian steam locomotives of all shapes and sizes, including a few British built examples. This one was (and is) still operational. B2503 was built by Esslingen of Germany (Works number 3244 of 1902). It’s a rack and adhesion type of engine, which means that on the steep gradients around Amberawa the locomotive gripped a rack rail between the two conventional rails, pulling itself and its train along on the rack via a powered cog-wheel rather than relying on simple adhesion. This 0-4-2 wheel arrangement tank locomotive looks small, but it weighs in at 31 tons! Sadly, on the day I visited, none of the engines were in steam. Nowadays the museum’s and its locomotives are a lot better kept so I’m determined to get back there again once the present pandemic has subsided. I really enjoyed travelling in Java, both then and during my last visit in 2017. It’s a beautiful island rich in history and with some great food too. Oh, and the odd railway gem like this!
I’ll eventually get around to restoring all these old pictures when time permits. Maybe that’s a job for those long dark winter nights. Right now there’s too many contemporary shots on my list to keep me occupied.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Boy, did it rain last night! The noise of it hitting the roof woke me up in the early hours of this morning. Thankfully, with it being Sunday neither of us had anywhere we needed to be so having a lie-in seemed like the best idea. Eventually I rose but had no intention of venturing out at first. Coffee and picture editing felt like the best option, but eventually the wind and rain subsided enough that I thought ‘sod it’. Besides, I’ve a full set of waterproofs and actually I rather like these wild conditions. Besides, I wasn’t going to venture out with the full camera kit, so what the hell…
I ended up getting in a really good walk that took in the the heights above and then the valley floor below. Here’s a small selection of pictures to illustrate my perambulations…
Once the rain had cleared we had these rare patches of perfect weather. Here’s the Rochdale canal in central Sowerby Bridge, just before the wharf which is out of sight behind the trees to the left. A Squadron of the local peripatetic Geese are enjoying themselves here, in between a constant stream of narrowboats returning at the end of their hire period. Some have been gone for a fortnight, one group I talked to had hired a boat for the first time – just for the weekend and only gone as far as Hebden Bridge, but thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Here’s the river Calder about half a mile East from the last picture. The river’s high because of the torrential rain, but nothing like flood levels. I’ve added an arrow to the left to show you how high it got a couple of years ago. That was scary! The road behind the building was completely flooded and you worried about the strength of the bridge I’m stood on to take this picture. Continuing my walk along the Calder and Hebble Navigation (as the canal East of Sowerby Bridge is called). I passed this lovely little canalside garden and motorboat. I always chuckle when I pass here as the boat takes me back to my childhood and a kids programme called ‘Tales of the Riverbank’. It used models but real animals. The ‘star’ was ‘Hammy the Hamster’ who’d often go sailing off on a similar boat, or have ‘adventures’ in all sorts of strange things like Jeeps or hot air balloons. You’d never be allowed to make a programme like that nowadays because of the stress the poor animals must have been put through! God knows how many ‘Hammy’s’ they went through making it! Even so, I can still hear the theme tune and the dulcet tones of Johnny Morris in my head every time I walk past. After my stroll along the canal I headed back uphill and towards home. You know the tower you saw on the horizon in the first picture? That’s just to the right of me in this shot and almost on the same level. The arrow shows you where I’d walked from in the previous pictures of the valley floor. At this point the sun’s buggered-off again and the next set of rain’s rolling in over Sowerby Bridge. Still, it was a good day…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Saturday’s been another quiet day here in the Calder Valley, mainly because the weather’s not been up to much and Dawn’s been out with a friend, so I’ve been left to my own (electronic) devices for the day. I’d toyed with the idea of going for a long walk but the fact I’d have been soaked in the process put a damper on that idea. Instead I found myself passing time scanning yet more old slides, editing pictures and carrying out household chores, which kept me occupied until the rain decided to give us all a break, allowing me to venture out to enjoy a walk down into Sowerby Bridge, potter along the Rochdale canal, then climb the hill to home. Normally Sowerby Bridge would be busy with day-trippers and other tourists this time of year but the town was surprisingly quiet. Covid’s still having an impact as sensible people are being cautious at the moment. That said, I walked past our local narrowboat hire company (Shire Cruisers) only to find their basin completely empty as all their boats are out on hire. After the awful time they must have had in 2020 this was a sight for sore eyes. I must admit to a flash of jealousy. A group of friends and I hired one of their boats back in 2006 and had a fabulous time cruising from Sowerby Bridge up to the Leeds and Liverpool canal and across the Pennines towards Blackburn. I’ve always harbored an ambition to own a narrowboat and seriously considered buying one a few years ago, but plans got put on hold because of ‘events’ on the UK political scene. Maybe one day…
Having avoided the temptation to stop for a pint in Sowerby I dodged the rain on the way home and called in at a local hostelry just down the road called the Wainhouse Tavern. It was never my local pub, that was a place called The Big 6, but the 6 has been sold and legal bureaucracy over the transfer of ownership has meant it’s remained closed despite the lifting of lockdown, so the Wainhouse has become a sort of surrogate where I know I may be able to see a few familiar faces and have a chat and a joke. After months and months of lockdowns and as a freelance who can lead a fairly solitary and nomadic existence that’s lovely to be able to do now and again.
I didn’t linger longer than a couple of pints and now I’m back home at Bigland Towers sorting out a few more bits whilst Dawn (who’s returned from Holmfirth) cooks her amazing Spanish Prawns dish, so there’s just enough time left for me to post the picture of the day, which ia another old slide from my latest batch of pictures from the USA.
I took this picture in San Francisco, California on the 26th October 1990 as one of the iconic cable cars was being rotated on a turntable at the end of the line. I must admit to loving the old San Fran cable cars, they’re such a great way to travel and the folks who staffed them were brilliant as they were such wise-crackers and naturals with people, locals and tourists alike.
I rather fell in love with the city when I was there, although, bizarrely I’ve never been back since – despite having visited the USA many times afterwards. I’ve always promised myself – ‘one day’. Mind you, with the way Covid’s clipped my wings I’d settle for travelling anywhere outside this Sceptic Isle right now! I can’t wait for the world to start opening up again…
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
I’ve had a rather unplanned break from the office today and taken the camera exploring instead. Dawn had to pop into the Community Rail Network offices in Huddersfield so suggested that I tag along so that I could help carry some boxes, meet her new Boss, then get out for a while whilst she worked. It seemed like too good an opportunity to miss for several reasons. One being that due to the major engineering blockade on the railway into Manchester Victoria at Miles Platting several freight services are being diverted from the Calder to the Colne valley. Due to capacity constraints and the intensive passenger services along the Colne valley freight is normally rare, so it was a good chance to capture something unusual before the day comes when the overhead wires that will inevitably arrive change the route completely.
My donkey work done I caught a train West along the valley to Marsden. The 3-car local stopping was busier than I’ve seen it for ages as folk return to the railways
13:45.
I’m now playing cat and mouse with the sun, clouds and odd freight train, leavened with a selection of Trans-Pennine and Northern services, including some unusual empty stock moves. I’ll add a selection of camera shots later, right now you’ll have to settle for some phone pix…
For those of you who don’t know Marsden it’s a lovely little village surrounded by high Pennine hills. The last railway village in West Yorkshire and location of the famous Standedge tunnels (two rail, one canal). Here’s a flavour..
15:00.
As well as the railway Marsden hosts the Huddersfield narrow canal a popular inland waterway that’s busy with boats in the summer. The village was also a popular (perhaps too popular) stop for people on the trans-Pennine ‘Rail Ale Trail’ although Covid has killed much of that and the popular Riverhead pub in Marsden remains closed. Despite that, there’s still plenty of pubs, cafes and resturants to tempt visitors.
21:30.
That was a busy day! I stayed in Marsden for several hours until the skies began to close in and I had many of the pictures that I wanted. Despite me visiting some new locations there’s only so many shots that you can take before they become repetitive. Heading back to Huddersfield I spent an hour wandering around the town centre trying to get a feel for the place as it comes out of lockdown. I have to day, it feels sad. There’s clearly a lot of shops that are never going to open and the claims of Brexiters that being in the EU was what was holding us back have foundered on the rocks of reality – as you notice when you visit the supermarkets and gaze upon the empty shelves. Brexit hasn’t swept the streets of rogues and vagabonds (as promised) either as the vast majority of them are (of course) indigenous.
Once Dawn finished work we headed home to enjoy a quick drink in the garden watching the sun set on a glorious evening as the clouds had melted away here in the Calder Valley, leaving us with a perfect sky. We couldn’t linger long as we both had food duties to perform. Dee wanted to have another practice run with wedding cakes so whilst she did that I prepared a massive chick pea, tuna and veggie cheese salad with lots of trimmings that’ll keep us going for the next couple of days. Now, whilst Dee’s perfecting her baking I’m editing pictures.
First up is a shot from Marsden featuring an empty stock move from Newcastle’s Heaton depot to Manchester’s Newton Heath shed. Renumbered 150003 this is Northern’s newly converted 2-car Class 150116 which has been modified to run as a 3-car by the insertion of a 150/2 vehicle (57209). Three more of these units are to be converted, bringing the total to 6. This isn’t a new idea. Several trains ran in this formation when they worked for Central trains in the Birmingham area back in the 2000s.
Trans-Pennine Express unit 802202 speeds past Marsden whilst working 9M26, the 12:43 Newcastle to Manchester Piccadilly.802210 rounds the long curve from Marsden station (which is just out of shot around the corner) whilst working 1P29, the 1438 Manchester Piccadilly to Newcastle. The loop here is seldom used now that the former Northern stopping service from Huddersfield to Manchester is worked by TPE Class 185s. The fact this was once a four-track main line is evident from the width of the formation.
DB Cargo’s 66152 heads West with 6M16, the Monday’s only Tees Yard to Knowsley (Liverpool ) empty ‘binliner’. These waste trains were once a regular sight in the Colne Valley but changes in the locations served and the fact this trans-Pennine route no longer has the capacity to cope means the trains now normally run via the Calder Valley.
I’ll be adding these shots and many more to my Zenfolio website later in the week. But for now, it’s goodnight!
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of Covid), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
It’s been a lazy Sunday here at Bigland Towers. The pair of us (well, the three of us really, as Jet our cat was in no rush to do anything either) had a slow morning drinking coffee, catching up on the news and watching the world go by. The only thing missing was having a Sunday newspaper spread out on the bed, but those days are long gone. I can’t think of the last time I bought one. Partly because there’s no local newsagent for miles, but also because the world’s moved online and I can pick and choose from loads of different news sources now. The difficulty is finding a reliable one! Talking of which, I was planning to dissect Simon Jenkin’s latest fact-free rant about HS2 in Saturday’s Guardian, but that can wait until another day. It’ll have exactly the same effect as all his other rants going back a decade. In other words, Zilch. Instead, I spent a couple of hours researching, reading through the minutes of last months Transport Select Committee meeting which heard from Birmingham’s Mayor, Andy Street and also HS2’s CEO, Mark Thurston. When you read their words verbatim it becomes obvious just how lazy the media reporting of their words was. I’ll be including excerpts when I fillet Jenkins rant.
The afternoon was far less lazy. Dawn went into ‘Domestic Goddess mode and spent several hours in the kitchen, experimenting with cake-baking recipes in order to perfect a cake for a friend’s wedding whilst I retreated to the office to sort out more old pictures. I have to admit the smells coming from the kitchen were divine. Dee’s a brilliant cook and really enjoys baking. It’s not something I’ve ever got into personally, my forte is more Asian and starters and main course dishes rather than sweets and desserts.
The day wasn’t all about food, we did both manage to get out for a stroll, even if it wasn’t far, just through our local woods along the promenade overlooking the Calder valley and thence around Savile Park, but it was good to be able to feel virtuous by hitting our daily exercise marks.
Now we’re home for another quiet evening, but as it’s going to be a busy week that’s hardly a problem. So, I’m going to leave you with today’s picture which is taken from another of the batch of old slides taken in the USA back in 1990. No animals today, this is very much a man-made structure. I took this shot of Big Creek bridge on State Highway 1 on the California coast on the 25th October 1990.
Opened in 1938, this graceful bridge is a 589 feet long, 24 feet wide open spandrel, concrete deck arch structure designed by Christian Theophil Gutleben. Each span is 178 feet wide and 65 feet above ground level. It’s quite an impressive sight when you first glimpse it as you approach along the coast from the South, but then the California coast road is a lovely route with several similar structures. There parking places at either end so that you can stop, admire the bridge, sea or cliffs and take photographs.
I’ve a favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this blog, 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 to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site – and right now (because of the impact Covid has had), us freelances need all the help that we can get. Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
Paul Bigland 