After yesterday’s travels I’ve not moved far today – not that the weather’s encouraged me to do so. As I type this I can head the sounds of thunder in the background, although it’s mere bluster at the moment as we’ve had little rain today. That said, it has been warm. The Mercury’s hit the low 20s today which has made for a sticky time thanks to the lack of wind. It’s a shame, I rather enjoy a good thunderstorm and they’re great to play around with the camera in. Well, as long as there’s waterproofing!
Today’s planned walk went out of the window for various reasons, so I’ve spent the day catching up on picture editing and preparing more stuff for sale on eBay. All yesterdays pictures are now on my Zenfolio website in various galleries. There’s too many to past links to, but if you follow this link to the ‘recent’ section you can see which ones have had pictures added to them. The next tranche of eBay sales ends on Monday, so if you want to put in bids on stuff like this, you’d better hurry.
The weather’s meant to improve tomorrow so maybe a walk will be had. If not, expect more stuff to be uploaded to eBay! In the meantime, here’s today’s picture which shows you how the weather looks in the Calder Valley right now…
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There’s only a short blog from me today as there’s not an awful lot to report as I’ve been chained to Bigland Towers for most of the day, only getting out for a short walk earlier this afternoon. The weather’s still below par for the time of year, with blustery winds and low temperatures – although we have had some dramatic cloud formations to entertain us. Thankfully, they didn’t bring any more rain with then today. Today’s gainful employment has included adding a few more Northern rail pictures to my website, which you can find here, plus uploading another batch of old slides and railway memorabilia for sale on eBay which you can find here.
Today’s picture is of a rare item that I’ve added to eBay. It’s a limited edition Wedgewood plate and first day cover from the opening of the Docklands Light Railway in London on the 31st August 1987. Only 110 of these plate were produced. They were given to staff working on the railway when it opened and each one has the individual details on the back of the plate. If you fancy it, feel free to bid here.
I’ll be busy working from home again tomorrow, but I hope to be able to finish my earlier picture blog and history of the Alstom built Class 180 ‘Coradia’ fleet.
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 curate’s egg sort of day. This morning I strolled into Halifax in bright sunshine in order to visit a well known chain of opticians in order to have my two-yearly eye test and choose some new glasses. My old ones are past their sell-by date due to the photochromic darkening breaking down, leaving them rather blotchy. My eye test went well in that it revealed only a minor change in my prescription. But it also revealed that I have the very early stages of cataracts in both eyes. I’m not too surprised – or worried. After all, it’s an age-related problem that 30-50% of people will suffer from in their lives due to their age – and it can be cured with surgery (if it ever gets that bad). I’d never have known I had it if the optician hadn’t picked it up as It’s not affecting my eyesight. On the bright side, I’ll have new glasses and a new look in a fortnight’s time. Dawn came with me to approve my choice of frames. She’s happy with my pick which is good as she’ll spend more time looking at them than I will!
Appointment done and dusted and with the weather staying dry I decided to nip out for a few hours to reconnoiter photographic opportunities on the new railway electrification scheme between Bolton and Wigan. The quickest way to Wigan was via the old Lancashire and Yorkshire railway main line via Walkden. This route’s changed out of all recognition. It was once a four-track main line through a landscape dotted with collieries and cotton mills. All that’s gone. Now the route serves areas that are little more than dormitory towns for Manchester. That said, at least the stations have seen money spent on them and have a half-hourly train service. It’s a far cry from when I used to travel on it as a teenager in the 1970s.
My pair of Class 158s deposited me at Wigan Wallgate where I had 25 mins to wait for a return service, this time via Westhoughton on the section soon to be electrified. My return transport was rebuilt hybrid Class 769 which was rather nice as I was ensconced in the former first class saloon. Apart from vegetation clearance and some serious bridge reconstruction at Hindley where the station remains closed until 24th July whilst platforms are lengthened and resurfaced there’s little sign that electrification’s coming as installation of electrification masts and associated equipment has yet to start.
Back I Manchester I swapped my 769 for a busy CAF built Class 195/0 for the trip back across the Pennines, changing once more at Todmorden in order to arrive at Sowerby Bridge. Now I’m having a quiet night in with Dawn as the pair of us have another busy day tomorrow. I’ll leave you with a picture from the day for now.
158792 coupled to 158849 brings up the rear of 2I15, the 1249 Wigan Wallgate to Leeds (via Brighouse) service as it leaves Todmorden earlier today.
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/
Hmm, it’s been a wet start to the week here in the Calder valley and hardly a brilliant start to July – especially after hot weather we had in June. I see that the Met Office have declared June the warmest on record, which is hardly surprising. I was watching the daily forecasts (not from the Met Office) which showed average temperatures being broken day after day. Of course, this news has brought out the mouth-breathing, knuckle-dragging climate change deniers out in force on social media. Their best conspiracy theory has been that it’s only the hottest because the Met Office have fiddled previous years figures to make it look that way. Proof (if ever it were needed) that they’re not the sharpest tools in the box – and neither are the people who fall for them.
Still, after the heavy and persistent rain we had this morning I was rather pleased to see the sun this afternoon – even if the high-winds that have battered us for several days took the edge off the temperatures. Both Dee and I have been busy working from home today but we did manage to get out for a rare joint walk, which was lovely. The local woods are bursting with life at the moment. So much so that some of the footpaths are becoming obstacle courses due to all the brambles and nettles. I’ll not complain too much as I may be able to pick a good crop of Blackberries again and Dee’s threatening to have a go at harvesting Bilberries – something that are alien to me. Still, with Dawn being such a fantastic cook – if she wants to rustle up a few Bilberry pies I’m not going to complain. Maybe we can do a trade with my sister Anne for some of her home-grown and made Gooseberry pies…
The weather’s looking pretty crap for the rest of the week but I’ve things to do tomorrow so I’ll be out and about in some form whatever happens. With luck I may be able to get a blog from the day. In the meantime, here’s the picture of the day, which reflects how the weather and the seasons can change the landscape around here. This is the very first picture I took from our bedroom window when I moved here from London in January 2010.
Looking across to Norland from our home on the 3rd January 2010. We have had snow in June here in the Pennines – but not like this! Ironically, with global warming making weather patterns more unpredictable, we may have more scenes like this – but not in July – unless we’ve completely screwed the planet!
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/
It’s been a very windy couple of days here at Bigland Towers. Nothing to do with the food I’ve been cooking you understand, the phenomenon’s been weather rather than digestive related. However, it did cause damage to some of the plants I have in pots out at the back of the house, so part of today’s been spent visiting various garden centres spread across the area. Pot prices (and choices) vary enormously depending on where you go. Fortunately I’d already checked out a few likely candidates recently, so our ‘go to’ garden centre was Totties near Holmfirth. They have a great selection of pots and other garden bits besides plants. Oh, the cafe’s not bad either – although the pea soup we ordered today turned out to be mushroom because no-one had changed the specials blackboard!
Once back at home I spent the afternoon up to my elbows in compost and cuttings, which is great therapy. We’ve replaced several old pots and baskets with some made out of recycled plastic. I do love traditional terracotta pots but with the cold winters and freezing winds we get here in the Pennines they can mean plants have a very short life.
Here’s the view from outside the kitchen window, where we have a mixture of herbs and flowers. It certainly brightens the place up – not to mention giving us a good selection of fresh herbs which we don’t have to pay through the nose for in supermarkets.
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/
Yep, I know it’s rather late in the day for a rolling blog but this is the best format to describe the day – and I’m still out and about.
I’d always hoped to get out today but the weather’s been grey and wet, so my original objective of garnering some scenic rail pictures went out of the window. But I did have another idea in mind. A discussion about surviving railway signalboxes has been generated on Twitter following my outing the other day. This reminded me that there was one old box at Pontefract I’d never managed to get a picture of as the sun was in the wrong place. Not a problem today – obviously! That said, I’ve not been around that area for years and was overdueca visit. So, after completing some other work this morning I decided to head off to ‘Pontycarlo’.
Walking down into Sowerby Bridge I jumped the first train to Leeds. I’d have preferred to have caught a Grand Central train direct from Halifax to Ponty but I was too late in the day. The trip to Leeds was fine. The train wasn’t too busy and Leeds station itself was in that quiet time between rush-hours and the mad influx into the city for a Friday night on the town.
My local service to Pontefract was late due to the fact two units had to be joined to form the service and one was late arriving. Sadly, this route’s worked by Class 150s now rather than the old ‘Pacer’ railbuses which I much preferred (although plenty of ordinary passengers would disagree!).
Arriving at Pontefract Monkhill I made a quick dash through a former council (or possibly NCB) housing estate to the kevel crossing where I could spy the old signalbox. It was built by the Lancashire and Yorkshire in 1912 and its showing its age – not helped by a fire that damaged a lot of the wooden structure in 2019.
The colliery it allowed access to (which was to the left of the picture) is long-gone by a decade or more. Now it’s a housing estate. The box itself was originally blanned to have been abolished in 2019 but like many of Network Rail’s resignalling plans it never happened. Who knows how long it’ll last now?
Right now I’m heading back to Leeds aboard yet more late-running Class 150s. It’s been an interesting day. Partly because I realise I got to see the last of the Yorkshire coal traffic by moving up to this neck of the woods in 2010. So much has changed in that time, even though to me it seems recent.
At some point I’ll write a blog dedicated to the surviving signalboxes of West Yorkshire. I have pictures of all but two. Once I’ve snapped those…
One of the joys (and frustrations) of railway photography for someone who’s trying to document the whole scene is it’s a bit like trying to complete a jigsaw. One wgere people keep removing and adding pieces! You’re never going to finish the picture, all you can do is try and leave as few missing pieces as possible.
17:40.
I’m back in Leeds and waiting for the 17:43 to Manchester Victoria to leave. It’s remarkably quiet in the front unit but I suspect that’s because it’s a ‘poets’ day in June. The station’s busy, but that’s with people heading into the city on a night out rather than returning home.
21:45
It’s time to end the day – and the blog. But I’ll do that with a few more pictures. On the way home from Halifax I did pop into our local pub to catch up with friends whom I’ve not seen for a few weeks as Friday night’s quiz night. Here’s some of the types of beer on offer.
Meanwhile, here’s a couple of extra pictures from the day…
LNERs ‘Azuma’ number 800109 is ready to leave Leeds for London Kings Cross. Later in the day, Grand Centrals Bradford – Kings Cross service worked by 180105 is about to call at Pontefact Monkhill whilst working 1A67, the 1450 Bradford Interchange to London Kings Cross.
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/
Here I am, almost in July – wondering where the bloody hell the year’s going! 2023’s certainly had its interesting moments so far, but I feel that I’ve a long list of things I want to do/see/achieve and I’m only scratching the surface in a race against time.
I’d intended to get out and about today but realised I’d more than enough things to do here at Bigland Towers – especially as I had a couple of hours set aside this afternoon to be part of a ‘Zoom’ seminar. Us Community Rail judges have made ourselves available on 2-hour long scheduled Q&A sessions to help people with their entries for the CRN awards. After the last one I’d contemplated holding the surgery whilst I was travelling but that wouldn’t have been fair on those popping in as you just know technology would let you down at the crucial moment.
So, I stayed at home, ignored the good(ish) weather and edited loads of pictures and dealt with paperwork instead. You can find the latest batch of pictures in the following galleries. Railway stations are here, whilst railway infrastructure and engineering is here. Borth galleries relate to my travels yesterday.
This evening I’ve been busy in the kitchen, giving Dawn a break after her culinary endeavors on our Norfolk holiday. Tonight’s effort was batch-cooking Thai green curry with chicken, which should keep us well fed for a few days and the freezer topped up for the future.
Of course, tomorrow’s another day. Will I make it out anywhere? Let’s wait and see. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture. As I was wading through the archives earlier I realised there’s one batch of pictures I still haven’t done anything with. These are the transport pictures from our visit to Turkey nearly two months ago. Eventually, they’ll go in their own gallery on my Zenfolio website, but for now, here’s a taste.
Modern trams in Sultanhamet Square. If only more cities had this greener form of transport.
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/
The weather’s finally picking up. Well, it’s stopped raining – so I’m off to have a look at recent work on the Trans-Pennine route upgrade (TRU) for the afternoon.
Having walked down to Sowerby Bridge station I fear I may be overdressed as it’s far warmer and muggier than the forecast suggested, shorts and a vest top would have been better than walking pants, polo shirt and a denim jacket. Today may get sweaty!
I’m currently aboard Northern’s 11:22 to Leeds made up of a pair of Class 158s. I’m not going to complain as the air-conditioning’s welcome! Next stop is Batley, then Morley…
Feel free to pop back and see what I get up to during the day…
11:40.
Our first stop was at Brighouse where I spied half a dozen members of the station friends group buzzing around keeping the place clean and maintaining the garden and planters. The station looks stunning at the moment as everything’s in summer bloom. I really need to pop in and get some pictures whilst I can.
Network Rail have been busy too. Sections of the old 4-track route towards Huddersfield have had some serious vegetation clearence carried out. The work’s removed many large trees and opened up views lost for 30-40 years, as well as having made the lineside safer.
14:00.
Time for a break. Detraining at Batley I walked to the site of Lady Anne Crossing, a former road level crossing that’s been reduced to a foot crossing for several years. It was guarded by one of the last operational signalboxes in West Yorkshire, but it was abolished last weekend as it’s been replaced with a footbridge as part of the TRU. Here’s a few pictures.
Looking across to the ramp that’s been built out of the old GNR railway embankment to allow level access to the footbridge from the Eastern side of the railway. Work’s still in progress to create steps as a shortcut, finish some fencing and minor works as well as landscaping.Seen from the new footbridge, a TPE Class 185 bound for Manchester crosses the site of the old foot crossing. Not the new bi-directional signalling which has been commissioned during the blockade. The new footbridge. This was installed by a rail-mounted crane in four lifts over two days. The decommissioned signalbox. This leaves Horbury Junction box near Wakefield as the last operational signalbox in West Yorkshire.
Next stop was at the new station at Morley which opened on Monday after a 9 day blockade of the line which also allowed the work at Batley to be completed. Well, I say completed – neither is as there’s still cosmetic and other work to be done but the point is the facilities they were replacing have closed. TRU staff have worked hard to get these improvements done on time and the new station at Morley is a great improvement on the cramped old station.
The site of the old station. The footbridge and Huddersfield bound platform have already been demolished and track through the site relaid. A stopping service from Leeds to Huddersfield pulls out of the new station. As can be seen, there’s still a lot of work to be completed. The footbridge has temporary steps and no lift towers. Looking down from the footbridge onto the new platforms at Morley.A TPE service from Huddersfield to Leeds calls at the new platform 1.
16:15.
Things haven’t entirely gone to plan! After a brief stop at Dewsbury to upload pictures and avoid showers I caught a TPE service to Huddersfield and back to check out TRU work as things change on a weekly basis. At the moment a worksite’s being set up West of Deighton where two rail overbridges are to be replaced. The new signalling that’s been commissioned streches East from LNW junction by Ravensthorpe to beyond Morley. Huddersfield itself remains little changed – at the moment. I was only intending to change trains at Dewsbury in order to head back to Brighouse but I got caught up in 30 plus minute delays due to kids trespassing on the lines I’d only just traversed. Now I’m finally on a delayed Northern service heading in the right direction.
21:30.
I stopped off in Halifax en-route to home for a swift libation at the Meandering Bear, a bar in town where some neighbours work. As they were both in I ended up chatting and the swift beer turned into two. Oops!
Name your poison…
Back home I was on cooking duty, learning to use our new Ninja air-fryer. Dawn’s already converted but I’ve yet to get to grips with it, although after a couple of tries I have to say I’m impressed.
I’ll get the hang of it, eventually…
Now it’s time to relax. Tomorrow’s another day.
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/
It’s another working week back here at Bigland Towers. The holiday and the weekend flew by all too quickly. Now my focus is centred on work, although parts of the holiday were very much the proverbial busman’s. Sunday was in similar vein as I waded through pictures I needed to get out to clients or just place on my website. It wasn’t too much of a problem as the pair of us had no great plans for the day. The weather forecast predicted thunderstorms so there was little point in planning a great outdoors adventure. In the end the predictions were false. Oh, we had some moody skies- but no pyrotechnics – much to our joint disappointment. What we did gate late in the day was some very heavy showers, which saved me the job of watering the gardens so I’m not going to complain! In the evening the pair of us sat down to watch the finale of the Glastonbury festival with the appearance of Elton John, who was excellent. It certainly took me back a bit. I’ve not been to Glastonbury since 2000 and the last time I saw Elton John live was in 1975!
Today’s been another day where I’ve spent much of my time glued to a computer screen. I needed to finish penning my net article for RAIL which is about the ‘3 peaks by rail’ marathon from the other week. You’ll be able to read all about it in RAIL 987 which will hit the newsagents on the 12th July. Tomorrow my work moves online as I’ll be taking part in an online seminar for Community Rail Network as part of my role as one of the CRN awards judges. Hopefully, on Wednesday (weather permitting) I’ll be out and about looking at the latest work on the trans-pennine route upgrade (TRU) before I’m back to online work on Thursday.
In the meantime, expect more blogs to appear as I’m free to write about other stuff just as ‘me’. O, and there’s plenty of pictures to look at too. You’ll find recent railway images from the Anglia network here, travel images here and social issues photography here. There’s more to come when I’ve finished editing other categories later in the week.
I’ll end with the picture of the day which comes from last weeks outings. I found these old wooden-bodied railway coaches just down the road from where we were staying. These were once a common sight around the country from the early part of the last century as railway companies sold off old vehicles to be used for a variety of uses, from chicken coops to holiday homes. Few remain, which is why I was surprised to find these two still in use as part of someone’s home.
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/
Sorry for the lack of blogging these past few days folks but I’ve been taking time off for various reasons, but now I’m back in a new week and cycle which will provide plenty of time to blog and lots to blog about.
We returned from our Surrey sojourn on Sunday. Dawn drive all the way in good time and with only one stop. The fantastic weather we’d had in Tilford when we spent the day watching Dee’s nephew playing cricket followed us home. Thunderstorms have been predicted but have failed to materialise despite the looming cloud formations being equal to the task. The lack of rain’s kept me active in the garden, lugging cans of water up and down the steps and terraces, so I’ve had quite a workout.
Yesterday was busy sorting out all the pictures I’d been taking which have gone out to various clients. I was also kept busy arranging a potential job which would have taken me up to Scotland next week. The work came in on Thursday but by the time we came to arrange it yesterday the remit had already changed! Such is freelance life. I’m not complaining as the work (and more) is still in the pipeline. Besides, I’m meant to be on holiday in Norfolk next week, which will be a welcome chance to relax as this Thursday I start the Railway Children’s annual ‘3 Peaks by Rail’ odyssey. It’s the 20th anniversary this year so it’s going to be a special event but my lips are sealed about details – for now.
Having finished with pictures and emails earlier and with the weather still cracking the flags and reaching records for the time of year here in the Calder valley I’ve ventured out for a few hours to head West and another valley. Right now I’m on Northern’s 13.02 from Sowerby Bridge to Manchester Victoria. It consists of a single 2-car Class 158 with all available windows open – which suggests the air-conditioning is kaput. It’s certainly warm in here – and noisy. On the table opposite me I have two young people knocking back the Pimms and G&Ts. I wouldn’t mind, apart from the fact they both suffer from inarticulacy. Every 3rd word is ‘like’. In the case of the young girl it’s almost every second word, which is extremely repetitive when she’s talking 90 to the dozen. Even their ‘posh’ accents can’t disguise just how limited their vocabulary is. To deaden the sound I’ve resorted to headphones and the ability to drift away on a music cloud. In this case memories of an equally warm summer day in back in 1978 when I saw Genesis at the Knebworth festival. Oh, God – I’ve just realised that was 45 years ago!
13:55
I may have been critical of the young couple adjacent to me but I’ll give them credit for clearing up the half-ton of scrap drinks cans they had on their table and binning them when they left the train. It’s more than many do nowadays.
Arrival. My train from Sowerby Bridge in the middle of a crew-change at Manchester Victoria before it heads off to Wigan Wallgate.
I made a swift cross-platform interchange to catch one of Metropolitan-Cammell’s finest modern products in the shape of a Northern Class 156 heading for Stalybridge. It’s running late but no matter as I’m in no particular hurry.
14:45.
I observed steady progress electrifying the line to Stalybridge. Since my last trip the contact wires have been installed all the way from Miles Platting as far as the West Junction at Stalybridge. There’s still steelwork to install in the station area plus the East throat and some of that is now lying in the 6 foot between platforms, ready to be installed during overnight or weekend possessions
17:15.
Next stop was Mossley but the summer sun had already moved on to leave heavy shadows which was a shame as it’s a great location. Victorian homes abut the railway with such closeness its amazing anyone got to sleep in the age of steam, when clanking unfitted freight trains thundered past their bedrooms. But then you didn’t have Nimbys in those days!
After that I detrained at Greenfield for the mile long climb up a back road to a vantage point over the Uppermill viaduct. Sadly, the view’s not what it was due to tree growth which has hidden a lot of the viaduct. Even so – on a day like this it’s still a photographic location.
18:20.
Time to head home. I’ll add some of the camera pics later. Right now I’m on a train from Greenfield back to Stalybridge in order to get back to ‘my’ bit of the Pennines. Thankfully, the walk back from the site overlooking the viaduct is almost all downhill and there’s a great real-ale pub opposite Greenfield station. Well – I felt like I deserved one!
19:15.
Well, that was ‘fun’. Checking on various timetables it seemed my best option for getting home was via Stalybridge and Manchester Victoria. So, I duly caught a train to ‘Stalyvegas’ where it all went a bit ‘Pete Tong’. Late running meant going via Victoria was up the spout. Still, there was always the option of getting the first train to Huddersfield and going via Halifax, right? Then the information screens and updates fell apart. I missed one train to Huddersfield as I was waiting for one to Hull that was only delayed by a couple of minutes but I was on the wrong platform. Then this really helpful screen came up.
Apparently, the 1841 is coming in sideways, which will upset Network Rail as that’ll take out many of the new electrification masts. Meanwhile, I was in the subway like I was waiting someone to serve in tennis.
19:12.
I’m now on the optimistically timed 18:41 which is currently crawling from signal to signal on its approach to Diggle, barely a mile from where I was taking pictures earlier. I suspect this is going to be a long journey home.
22:15.
Home again! Despite the crawl across the Pennines I arrived in Huddersfield with a few minutes to spare to catch my connection to Halifax. The 2-car Northern 158 supplying the service had working air-conditioning and was pretty empty, so the journey was easy. Admittedly, walking up the hill from Halifax to Spring Edge was more of a slog so required a pit-stop at the ‘Big 6’ for a swift half, but beyond that life’s been good. I’ll put the exercise down to limbering up for a bigger event later in the week.
Now it’s time to relax at home before another busy day tomorrow.
I’ve a small favour to ask… If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website – https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/
