Today’s been an enforced lazy Sunday. That wasn’t my plan, but the weather decreed otherwise as it’s been absolutely crap all day. Most of the time we’ve been closed in under low cloud and mist that’s chopped off the tops of the valley. Then there’s been the rain. There was no chance of getting any serious walking in and taking the camera out would’ve been pointless
So, a lazy morning was in order, keeping our feline charge happy. Luna was very comfortable curling up on the bed with us whilst we enjoyed a caffeine fix. Like us, she wasn’t as comfortable with the weather and spent much of the morning zooming around the house like a cat demented!
Luna before she hit her catnip stash…
We did manage to get out later in the day by driving back to Halifax to pick up more clothing and bits we’ll need for our stay here in Todmorden. Bad as the weather was here, it was worse back home where we were literally in cloud level.
Now the weekend’s winding down. On our way back we stopped off for a drink in our new ‘local’ (the Alehouse) which was its usual relaxed and friendly self – although I still can’t get used to hearing so many Lancashire accents and intonations. Britain’s a fascinating place in that respect. Dialect and accents can change in a very short distance, even in this day and age where TV has had such an impact in introducing homogenised language and Americanisation’s.
The highlight of the day’s been scoffing steaks that the people we’re cat-sitting for were kind enough to leave for us. We’re certainly not starving here as last night we enjoyed some fantastic fish dishes at a local Thai restaurant called the Three Wise Monkeys.
Chu Chee Pla. Seabass in a gorgeous sauce. One of the best I’ve had outside Thailand.Seabass with chili and tamarind.
Tomorrow we’ll be back to the grindstone. Sadly, the weather forecast is looking like the entire week is going to be fairly grim, although I’m still hoping I’ll be able to get out in the surrounding hills for one day at least. If not, I may have to venture further afield. Let’s see…
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Welcome to the first day of our Todmorden sojourn whilst we become surrogate humans to ‘Luna’, our friends young cat. I’ll post a picture of Luna when she finally sits still long enough for me to get one. That may take some time as she’s a young thing – little more than a kitten – although you wouldn’t think that from her size! She’s also just getting used to me being in her space.
Cute…
Dawn went off to do other things this morning, so I caught the train over to Todmorden in order to be ready for feeding time, after which I ventured into town to explore. ‘Tod’ as it’s known to locals isn’t unfamiliar to me. I’ve spent plenty of time here in the past, but that’s always been in transit. Being based here’s a little different.
The town has a curious vibe as it’s an odd mix. There’s the bohemian/old hippy element that’s a spin-off from nearby Hebden Bridge then there’s an undertow of old far-right racism and ‘flag-shagging’. Years ago, when far-right British National Party (BNP) membership list was leaked by an insider Todmorden had an unhealthy number of names attached.
Despite that, the town does have a lot to offer. It has a great market – both indoor and outdoor. Whilst the outdoor offerings change depending on the day, the indoor market has its regulars. There’s few tat stalls, instead it’s a mix of cafes, butchers, sweetshops and grocers. Just how a market should be.
The indoor market.
Tod’s at the junction of two valleys and two rivers. Just outside the market where the two join I spotted this Heron waiting patiently to catch its next meal…
Like many towns, Tod’s changed. A lot of old pubs have closed in recent years which is a shame, but then the place had plenty of them.
Another one bites the dust…
Some have been replaced by micro-pubs based in former shops, which appear to be doing rather well. I visited two, both of which had different characters. The first was the Alehouse on the Burnley Rd, a short walk from the town centre. It has both indoor and outdoor seating. There’s a good range of real ales (although other inebriants are available) and the staff are both friendly and helpful. It feels very much a local pub that’s a meeting point for the community, although strangers like me are made to feel welcome. What I found interesting was the range of accents. Todmorden’s part of West Yorkshire, but it’s borderline Lancashire (in the past its moved counties) and only a few miles from Burnley, so there was a real mix of Lancashire and Yorkshire accents on offer from the folk frequenting the place. Oh, and dogs. It’s a very dog friendly pub – not that the dogs are always friendly with each other!
Moving on into the centre to look for possible places to eat I stumbled across another micro-pub, ‘The Beer Necessities’ which is set back on a cobbled Water Street. This is another long and narrow converted shop on two levels, with a disabled toilet on the lower of the two. The clientele seemed to cover a greater age spectrum than the Alehouse, but that could just be its proximity to the town centre. The atmosphere was really good and its certainly a place I’d visit again.
To be continued…
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After walking over 15 miles up hill and down dale (not to mention up and down a bloody big viaduct) yesterday I’ve been taking it easy on the exercise front. Mind you, I’ve had plenty to do at home, so that’s no bad thing! Much of my day’s been spent editing all the images from yesterday to supply to the magazines that have requested them – along with detailed captions for one. Having prioritised the HS2 shots there’s still many other pictures remaining to caption and add to my Zenfolio website. Hopefully most will be done tomorrow. In the meantime, you can find a far bigger selection of HS2 Curzon St shots here.
I need to get the decks cleared of work tomorrow because Bigland Towers is moving! Not for long you understand, we’re relocating to Todmorden to cat-sit for a week whilst friends are off on holiday.
We’ll both be flitting between the two locations but we’re excited about having feline company again as it’s now 4 years since we lost ‘Jet’, our venerable moggie. In between being a cat servant I’m looking forward to having time to explore photographic opportunities around Todmorden without having to commute from home. Plus, I’ll get to update images like today’s picture which was taken way back in 2013.
Seen over over the rooftops, one of the old ‘Calder valley’ Class 155s crosses the wonky viaduct which bisects the centre of Todmorden on the 28th August 2013. Nowadays these units are based in Hull and rarely make it even as far West as Halifax.
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/
Oh, God. Is that really the time? I’m already up, drinking coffee and munching on toasted fruit teacakes in preparation for my stroll to Sowerby Bridge station to catch the first Manchester bound train of the day, the 06:03. I’ll be heading to Birmingham for an HS2 media visit, the first to this particular site which I’ll describe when I get there. Unlike some, this is no hole in the ground. Exactly the opposite, in fact – it’s rather eye-catching…
I’ll be blogging as and when I can, so feel free to pop back to see how the day goes…
06:10.
Whilst it’s a damp and somewhat icy morning my walk to the station was rather enjoyable. The fact it’s downhill all the way added to that fact! Now I’m relaxing in the warmth of a mostly empty 3-car Class 158, although I’ve no doubt it’ll have folled up with wage-slaves by the time we get to Manchester.
06:43.
As expected my train slowly filled up en-route but was way over half full by the time it left Rochdale which is the busiest station on the route after Halifax. The occupants are a mix of trades people heading into the city to work on various building projects and earlybird white collar office or shop workers.
07:33.
This morning’s walk twixt Vic and Picc stations was a chilly one. The city centre felt colder than back in the Pennines. I felt for the poor sods sleeping rough, hidden in cardboard boxes to keep warm, or just swaddled jn dleeping bags. There but for the grace of God…
Piccadilly station was just beginning to spring into life with long-distance services heading South and East whilst local trains ferried in commuters from the suburbs.
Piccadilly awakes…
Now I’m en-route to Crewe aboard an ex-London Midland Class 323 whilst dawn breaks over the city on what promises to be a decent winter’s day.
09:07.
I’m typing this aboard a London North-Western service from Crewe to Birmingham. I’m on a warm, comfortable Class 350/4 with plug sockets, a/c and wifi, which is a bit of a step-up from the Class 323 that got me here from Manchester. Not that it was a bad journey, watching the sunrise over frosty fields and frozen streams as we traversed the Cheshire countryside was gorgeous. At Crewe I bumped into two other rail journalist colleagues, but they’re booked on a later train so I’ve gone on ahead.
Staffordshire is just as frozen as Cheshire with everywhere covered in a thick layer of frost. If I was lineside it would make for some great pictures, but today I’ve other fish to fry.
09:33.
Perusing the BBC website my day was dimmed by the tragic news coming out of Thailand where 28 people have been killed when a construction crane collapsed onto a train. It’s a railway system I know well and I country I love, so it feels anything but abstract, or distant, especially as I’d normally be there this time of year.
11:00.
Having met up with Chris Howe and Rich Wilcock at New St we’re now on site. This is what we’ve come to learn about – and climb to the top of. The HS2 bridge which will span the existing line to Walsall at Duddeston.
14:35.
Visit over, I’m now having a warm and editing a few pictures. Here’s a sample (captions to follow).
Looking down along the bridge from the high girders at the Birmingham end of the structure.The view looking the othe way towards Curzon St with a cross-city line train on the route the bridge will be pushed out over…A zoom lens shot of Curzon St station under construction.
18:00.
I’m now on my way home from Crewe after a fascinating day. I’ll be writing a seperate blog about Curzon St No2 bridge soon. Hs2 Ltd organised an excellent visit with lots of information and access to the engineers building this project.
Having left site I had a couple of hours to get pictures around New St station before catching the 16:34 North. This was another busy train which was rammed all tge way to Wolverhampton. It remained busy all the way to Crewe, where I had a few minutes grace between trains to photograph these beasties.
The Class 37. Still serving the railway after 60 plus years.
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After yesterdays travels and exertions I’ve been having a quiet day here at Bigland Towers in order to recharge the batteries for another long day and silly o’ clock start tomorrow.
Much of my day’s been taken up by editing yesterday’s pictures, sorting out new stuff to go on eBay and working out just how many old slides seem to have mysteriously disappeared off my account the other year. I reckon there’s over 200 which were somehow deleted. I’ll try and add them again soon. Apart from that there was dealing with an invitation to the Avanti West Coast photographic competition presentation in London next month, plus contact from a previous customer who wants me to do a couple of days work trackside as soon as we can arrange it. So, all in all, not a bad day workwise.
Now it’s time to wind down, pack my kit and supplies for tomorrow’s little adventure, then get some sleep. I’ll let you know where I’m heading tomorrow. In the meantime, here’s today’s picture, taken in Southport yesterday.
One of Merseyrail’s Stadler built Class 777s at Southport, bearing a very odd destination! These units are several years old now but are still suffering teething problems, one of which is the Passenger Information System (PIS) which is powered by Teleste. The trains often don’t seem to know where they are or when they’re meant to be carrying passengers. Several of the units I saw displayed ‘not in service’ even when they were which resulted in a few despairing corrective announcements from station staff. This one’s even worse! Unless someone’s reinstated and electrified the Burscough curve without telling me, there’s no way this train’s going to Ormskirk!
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/
Another week begins, but this one sees me out and about more. Right now I’m on a Northern service from Halifax to Manchester in order to head over to Southport where the RAIL 200 ‘inspiration train’ is stabled until Tuesday. I’ve not had chance to visit this exhibition until now but seeing it in my old home town is rather appropriate. The train will continue its tour of the network through the next few months and tickets (which are free) are still available.
The weather’s decidedly mixed so it’s not the best day to be out with the camera. Even so, I’m hopeful of getting a few useful pictures. At least it’s mild (a balmy 7 degrees here in the Pennines) so I won’t be in danger of frostbite in the way I was on my last outing to Ribblehead!
My Manchester service consists of a 3-car Class 195 which is fairly empty due to the time of day, allowing to purloin a table bay and set up the mobile office in peace. I’ll be blogging throughout the day, so feel free to pop pack anythime to see what I get up to…
10:15.
We’ve now traversed the Pennines to an equally grey and gloomy Greater Manchester to call at Rochdale, which is the quietest I’ve seen it for some time. Only a handful of passengers were waiting to join us for the trip into the city.
11:30.
My time in Manchester was short, just long enough to get a few pictures around a very quiet station. You can tell it’s January as so few people are about. Everybody’s too skint to go out after spending loads over Christmas and New Year! It’s not a new phenomenon, but it is noticeable. Plus, the weather’s hardly conducive, but then I normally flee the UK in January, so I don’t normally have to experience all this.
The Wigan Wanderer. 158849 will take me as far as Wallgate
Right now I’m on another Northern service. This time as far as Wigan Wallgate via the old Lancashire and Yorkshire main line that avoids Bolton to go through the wonderfully named ‘Hag Fold’. The line’s a shadow of it’s former self, but there’s been an improvement in frequency since late BR days. I’m sat on a 2-car 158 which is virtually empty. Many passengers seem to join for short hops between stations.
11:40.
Bugger. Everthing was going so well until we reached Daisy Hill, one of those places where the lovely-sounding name bears absolutely no relationship to the surroundings.
My suspicions were aroused when we were still at the platform for minutes rather than the usual 90 seconds. The Conductor’s just walked through the train to inform us all we’ll be stuck here for a while due to a ‘problem’ on the line ahead. God knows what it is as we’ve been passed by a train in the opposite direction. Well, bang goes my connection in Wigan…
11:55.
We’re still enjoying the vistas of Daisy Hill. I’ve had a chat with crew who tell me the problem is due to the driver of a previous train having reported that they hit a swan…
Daisy Hill, with no hills or daisies.
12:35.
Hooray! We’re finally on the move, a mere 65 minutes late…
13:00.
Finally, I’m on my way to Southport. Rail services on the line through Wigan Wallgate are in disarray in all directions with many trains cancelled. Fortunately, a Southport train was running right behind mine so I had only minutes to wait in the rain befire boarding a busy 2-car Class 150 for the last leg. Sadly, the weather has dereriorated. The skies have closed in to bring heavy, peristant rain, so even if I hadn’t been delayed I wouldn’t have been able to do what I’d hoped. Maybe things will be better on the coast, but I’m not holding my breath…
17:00.
Well, that was an interesting day. The weather in Southport was drier, with cloud cover that was constantly changing to tease me. As I was late arriving I didn’t have as much time to expore as I’d have liked before I was booked onto the exhibition train so my wanderings were confined to the town centre. Not that Monday’s are a great day to explore because much of Southport seems not to bother opening on a Monday!
That said, there’s not as much to open anyways. The amount of empty shops in the town centre’s rather depressing, but that’s the nature of the modern ‘online’ world. There were some greenshoots with places that were long-closed having reopened, but trade was sparse to say the least. Some of the ‘improvements’ don’t seem to have been thought through either..
Maybe an aquatic plants display would have been sensible here outside the old market hall. At least the old ”Corrie” (Coronation) pub opposite has reopened in a new guise after being empty for very many years.
I had a bit of a trip down memory lane to pass old haunts, many of which have vanished, but after nearly half a century that’s probably only to be expected…
I arrived back at the station in plenty of time for my alloted spot on the exhibition train. Not only was it fully booked but staff did their best to squeeze on some ticketless folk. The levels of interest were really good to see. The audience was of all ages with the displays doing their best with limited space to inform, educate and entertain. What was lovely was to bump into several familiar faces from the community rail sector who’d come along to volunteer whilst the train’s in this part of the world.
With my time over on the train I hung around the station long enough to get some pictures before heading East. One thing I noticed was that Merserail’s new Stadler built trains are still having problems. If you’ll pardon the pun – their information systems are still up the Swanee…
Every train that I saw sat in the station displayed the message ‘not in service’ even though it was. Station staff kept making announcements to say ‘ignore what they train says’. Even worse was the final arrival I saw where the onboard screen insisted that the train was going to Ormskirk. What? Someone’s re-instated the Burscough curve overnight? We should be so lucky!
17:30.
I’m now on my way to Manchester aboard another venerable Class 150. It’s OK, the internals are well-maintained by the whole train’s showing its age. It’s about time these units had their swan-song (that’s enough bloody swan jokes for one blog: Ed)
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 yesterday’s escapade I’ve had a quiet one here at Bigland Towers. The sunny weather fleeting, we’re back to low cloud, dull skies and the odd snow shower with temperatures hovering just above freezing – which has been a relief as its kept roads and pavements ice-free.
Much of my day’s been spent editing the pictures from my trip. You can find the full range in these galleries, just click on the link…
Whilst editing, a couple of media invites/jobs came in via email. They’ll see me visiting two very different sides of the railways over the next few weeks. In the meantime, I’d love to get more snow pictures. Sadly, getting up to the far North of Scotland before it all melts is unlikely, but we may yet see more in this part of the world. If we do…
One part of the world I certainly won’t be visiting for the foreseeable is the USA. Trump’s paramilitary force (ICE) are too out of control, having shot dead an innocent woman today. The way trump and his cronies have dealt with the whole thing is appalling. Not content with killing her, they’re now killing her reputation. I can’t help wondering how long it’ll be before Trump declares martial law and cancels the mid-term elections, whilst the MAGA morons cheer him on. What’s happening in the US right now is an object lesson in just how fragile democracy is. Sadly, we have some of his acolytes here in the UK (yes, you Farage) who’re aping his playbook when it comes to lying and sowing division whilst spreading hatred. I’d hope Britons were smarter than Americans, but sometimes I wonder…
Leaving politics and returning to the weather and mother nature, here’s today’s picture, which was actually taken yesterday. This is a snow covered Pen-y-Ghent (one of Yorkshire’s three peaks), seen from Ribblehead.
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/
Ugh! Up at sparrowfart for the first time this year…
Having perused the weather forecast, looked out of the window to see the roads are clear – and checked that all the trains are running, I’m preparing to head out into Halifax and catch a train to Ribblehead as planned. Let’s see how the day unfolds…
06:45.
Phew! After slipping and sliding much of the way I made it to the station upright abd in one piece. Black ice and frozen pavements meant it was the most treacherous walk I’ve done for years. First, I had to get up here…
A wet and icy cobbled hill. Nice…
Crossing Spring Edge I passed a determined (if foolhardy) jogger. Apart from him, a couple of dog walkers abd a gritter hardly anyone else was around. I was congratulating myself on making it to the station when I hit a final challenge. The approaches hadn’t been gritted, leaving me to slip and slide the last 200m across glass-like pavements and cobbles. Thankfully I’d given myself 50% more time than usual to walk in order to avoid rushing and breaking my neck.
07:00.
Now I’m on the 06:44 to Leeds which is running late, but I’m hopeful I’ll still make my connection as I gave myself wriggle room. We’ll see…
12:15.
I made it in plenty of time to catch the trains I wanted to get pictures of. Mainly because they were all running late! That’s given me plenty of time to wander and freeze in the Baltic conditions that prevail here at Ribblehead. Snow sits on the tops, leaving the moss free but freezing. Now I’m having a quick warm and coffee in the local pub before heading out to get a few more pictures like this – incoming clouds permitting…
GBRf’s 66729 and 66721 head 6Z77, the 10:30 Blea Moor Up Goods Loop to Hunslet Tilcon in Leeds.Avanti West Coast 805003 working 1Z85, the 0924 Carlisle to Preston passes over the Ribblehead viaduct.
14:10.
I’m still at Ribblehead, having retreated back to the the nearby pub after waiting far too long in the biting wind for trains that never arrive. Phone reception up here is non-existent, so the only way of keeping track of things is logging onto the Station Inn pub wifi. Mind you, it’s a lovely place to take refuge in.
The bar in the Station Inn
I’m not the only one either. There’s been about a dozen other photographers nipping in and out in the hope of capturing pictures like this.
A pair of AWC ‘Evero’ trains are dwarfed by the viaduct and surrounding landscape. As you can see, we’re playing cat and mouse with the clouds this time of the day…
15:40.
A combination of cancelled or delayed Avanti services along with the non-appearance of certain freight trains meant that I gave up on being battered by the weather at Ribblehead. Just before I was planning to leave I bumped into an old friend and fellow railway photographer who was on the same mission as me. Bob Avery is another alumni of the Pheonix photographic circle. He was accompanied by a friend involved in preserving Armathwaite signalbox who’d escaped from her family for the day to chase trains. None of us could resist the pub’s real fire on a day like this!
As the light fades at Ribblehead, 158797 arrives to take me and many others South.
Having left early I opted to stop off in nearby Settle for a while. It’s an attractive little market town that’s very quiet off-season. Only hardened walkers and hikers and the occasional passer-by darken its doors this time of year. Still, it has an attractive old Midland Railway station and museum based around another old signalbox.
During my exploration I found a little micro-pub called Millers @ Bar 13. It’s a lovely little place that’s obviously popular. There’s range of real ales on handpump. I tried the Chinook, which was very well kept.
Millers at Bar 13.
I didn’t tarry longer as the train service isn’t that regular. I was lucky I was heading to Leeds as – whilst my train was delayed, it was still running whilst the Carlisle service in the opposite direction was cancelled entirely.
158851 arrives at Settle to take me back to Leeds.
I didn’t hang around in Leeds and caught the first available train back to Halifax. The walk home was a lot less dangerous than when I left it this morning as all the ice had disappeared. I’d had a lovely day out exploring, even if the weather was bloody freezing. I’d like to return and get some shots around Blea Moor, but that might have to wait until the weather warms up!
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/
We’ve had another productive (but cold) day here at Bigland Towers. This morning’s brief flurry of fresh snow was washed away by the arrival of rain this afternoon which has now settled in for the evening to make the Yorkshire stone pavements and cobbled streets things to venture along at your peril. Slips and trips? Not half…
Because of the forecast both Dawn and I ventured out earlier in order to pick up some provisions and get in our daily constitutionals before settling in back at home, where it’s been a productive day. I’ve caught up with more picture editing and blogging (another reservoir walk) whilst keeping half an eye on the news.
The doom and gloom the right wing media and politicians were predicting at the end of 2025 has singularly failed to appear. If you’d believed them, high streets were deserted because Xmas shoppers were staying away in droves as no-one had any money to spend thanks to this dastardly Labour government. It was all bollocks of course. Market researcher Worldpanel said overall grocery sales were 13.8 billion pounds in the four weeks to December 28, up 3.8% year-on-year.
Meanwhile, the ‘Next’ chain raised profit forecast to £1.15bn after bumper Christmas sales. Wait – ‘bumper Xmas sales’? But I thought the media said the sales would be shit?
A new survey of senior executives by Deloitte indicates that business confidence among leading companies in the UK improved to its highest level in about two years following the Government’s autumn budget announcement. The exact opposite of the picture some have tried to paint.
To cap it all, the stock markets have also ignored the dire predictions. Today the FTSE100 closed at a record 10,122.73 points, up 1.18% on yesterday, bringing year on year gains to 22.84%. It’s a figure meaningless to some but relevant to anyone who has a pension fund or other investments.
There’s an irony to this. One of the reasons the UK markets are performing so well are the erratic actions of the orange fool in the White House. Trump’s behavior is destroying the USAs credibility on the world stage, causing investors to look at putting their money in safer markets like the FTSE 100. Plus, the fact the US is no longer seen as a trustworthy ally in the face of Russian ambitions has galvanised pan-European investment in re-arming and expanding industry, which is benefitting UK firms like Rolls-Royce and BAe.
Oh, mentioning Trump I should welcome all the new people who’ve registered to read this blog. Today I’ve had a flood of sign-ups from the USA, all using @pinchamail.org addresses. I can only assume these women are fascinated to learn more about railways, rambles around reservoirs in West Yorkshire or some of my other thoughts! Howdy folks…
Tomorrow I’m hoping for a change of tempo – and scenery (weather and train services permitting). If the forecast delivers on its predictions I’m intending to have a day out on the Settle-Carlisle railway to head out to Ribblehead, home of the famous viaduct, with the intention of updating pictures to capture some of the diverted Avanti West Coast, freight and local trains in what’s a glorious setting. This brings me on to the picture of the day. Here’s how the historic viaduct looked in October 2010. I wonder how it’ll look tomorrow? I’ll be making sure I’ll be dressed for whatever the weather can throw at me as it can get a bit changeable in these parts!
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/
With the Christmas and New Year holidays over it’s back to the grindstone for Dawn and I. To make the start of the week more interesting we’ve had an unexpected snowfall which began arriving yesterday evening. When we opened the bedroom blinds this morning we found a fresh deposit, leaving us covered in a couple of centimeters of the white stuff. It looked gorgeous, especially against the clear blue sky that’s kept us company all of the day.
However, the snow wasn’t sufficient to make me change my plans as I had work to do at home. First up was judging the Avanti West Coast photographic competition entries. I won’t let anything slip, other than to say that there were some cracking entries. Let’s see if my fellow judges agree which ones those are…
That job done it was time to sort out a few more bits to put up for sale on Ebay. I’ve added several new badges and railway-themed bits, which you can find by following this link. This particular sale finishes in five days time, so you have time to browse and get your bids in!
Next up was editing all the pictures that I’ve been taking from a series of walks the pair of us have enjoyed these last days of the holidays. I’ll be blogging about each day separately as I’m working from home again tomorrow. Well, that’s the plan anyway. We’re meant to be getting more snow tomorrow but unless there’s something significant I can’t see me venturing out with the camera, so I’ll have time to catch up with some blogging.
After that, the rest of the week’s flexible, depending on the weather. I would like to get some snow shots but if not, there’s some other interesting railway workings that I’d like to cover before the West Coast Main Line (WCML) reopens after a series of possessions along the route. Watch this space…
For now, I’ll leave you with today’s picture, which was taken in one of our local woodlands this afternoon when I managed to get out for a stroll. After what seemed like weeks of gray skies and rain it’s been lovely to see the sun again.
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 