Paul Bigland's blog page.

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Here's the start of a new 'memory lane' picture blog which will look back at the life of Manchester Victoria station from 1990 to the present day. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/04/28/down-memory-lane-no-4-manchester-victoria-then-and-now/

 

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Here's a new 'memory lane' blog which looks at the history of Manchester Victoria station from 1990 to the present day. It's a work in progress as there's a lot of pictures to add. Some are taken from places the public never get to experience. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/04/28/down-memory-lane-no-4-manchester-victoria-then-and-now/

 

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Here's a run-down on and look at the new Class 717s which includes technical details and plans for service introduction ​

https://paulbigland.blog/2018/05/05/coming-soon-new-trains-for-the-gn-moorgate-lines/ …​

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It's not often I blog about what's left of the anti Hs2 campaign nowadays as they're really a complete waste of time, but I couldn't help but notice this piece of nonsense from today: https://paulbigland.blog/2018/05/06/when-the-stophs2-campaigns-out-in-force-in-trowell/

 

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I've been scanning a batch of old rail slides from 1995 today, which made me look at how much railway signalling's changed. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/05/10/down-memory-lane-no-5-semaphore-signals/

 

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Yesterday was 'Community rail in the city' day, when staff and volunteers held their biggest event so far. Stalls were out across the country, but I was in London, where events were held at London Bridge, Liverpool St, Waterloo, St Pancras, Kings Cross and Paddington. Here's a blog and pictures from the day. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/05/16/phew/

 

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I was on SWR metals today as part of a job around the Royal wedding. Here's a look at the railways part in events. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/05/19/surreality/

 

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I was at Waterloo and Windsor to photograph royal wedding crowds being moved by train. Here's a short blog and a few pictures from the day. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/05/19/surreality/

 

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Hi Folks, I'm out in New York at the moment, so here's a new gallery of NY travel and subway pictures. I'll be adding more later. http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p194937348

 

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I've added a load of pictures from my foray into Sussex to my website. Follow the link to see which galleries they're in. http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/recent.html

 

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Today's blog. Sunny days and Mondays - a trip on the Windermere branch which included a bit of industrial archaeology. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/06/25/rolling-blog-sunny-days-and-mondays/

 

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Here's yesterday's blog on travelling by train from Skegness back to West Yorkshire. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/06/27/rolling-blog-lets-do-the-time-warp-again/

 

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Here's a new blog about the latest Andrew Gilligan hatchet job on Hs2 in today's Sunday Times. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/07/22/more-anti-hs2-gilligoonery-in-the-times-today/

 

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Today's blog looks at the IPA report mentioned in the Sunday Times yesterday and show why you should take its 'traffic light' ratings with a pinch of salt. According to them, the IEP programme is 'unachievable' - despite new trains being delivered every week! https://paulbigland.blog/2018/07/23/more-on-the-gilligoon-fake-furore/

 

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I've been in Scotland these past couple of days and had chance to sample the new Scotrail Class 385s. Here's a sample of my blog about them;

"First impressions are good. We’re currently bowling along to Falkirk High and I’ve my laptop set up, plugged into the between seat power socket and connected to the onboard wifi. I’m in the front car of the second set. The acceleration of these trains is certainly good".

You can read the full review here; https://paulbigland.blog/2018/07/31/rolling-blog-hibernian-interlude/

Anyone else had chance to go for a spin yet?

 

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I've added a couple of hundred new pictures to my Zenfolio website. If you click on the link it will take you to the galleries that have been updated. https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/recent.html

 

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I've written a new blog (with pictures) looking at the progress on the £100m Calder Valley rail investment programme. Here's a taster.

"The Calder valley is seeing a package of rail improvements at the moment. The ones that are most visible to passengers are taking place right now as platform extensions to several stations are underway or just about to start. The following stations will see platforms extended by varying lengths, with work due to finish by December 2018.

Mills Hill. Smithy Bridge. Littleborough. Walsden. Todmorden. Hebden Bridge. Mytholmroyd. Sowerby Bridge and Bradford Interchange."

You can read the rest of the blog and see the pictures here:

https://paulbigland.blog/2018/08/16/calder-valley-rail-improvements-progress/

 

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Here's a new blog in which I go looking for the best places around Manchester to see the old BR Pacer trains before they start to be withdrawn and find lines which are worked by pairs of the beasties for most of the day. Oh, there's a few photo ideas, a bit of history, comparison shots from 2000, pub recommendations and a bit about station friends groups and the work they do.

https://paulbigland.blog/2018/08/22/more-pictures-not-words/

 

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I've started a new 'down memory lane' picture blog on London Bridge station. Part 1 and 2 look at the station in the BR years from 1989 and also the privatisation years before the 'slammers' disappeared.

https://paulbigland.blog/2018/08/28/down-memory-lane-no-5-london-bridge/

 

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Yesterday's rolling blog ended up being a bit of a review of station pubs and cafes. It starts off with a visit to the new pub (The Waiting Room) on Durham station and also has reviews of a couple of establishments on the Tyne and Wear metro system. The Left Luggage Rooms on Monkwearmouth and also Coffee Central at Whitley Bay, so if you want to know where you can play 'Rhino Quoits' or get Spanish lessons, read on here....https://paulbigland.blog/2018/08/29/escaped/ Needless to say, there's also plenty of pictures.

 

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Earlier this week the few remaining MPs who oppose Hs2 had a Parliamentary debate. Here's my blog on why it all went a bit pear-shaped for them...

"This morning there was a Parliamentary debate on Hs2 which had been organised by Bill Cash, the MP for Stone (on the Hs2 route in Staffs). Cash is, how shall we say – not entirely connected with the real world. Not only is he an ardent Brexit supporter (and we all know just how well that’s going), he’s also been rather creative in the past with his expenses"

https://paulbigland.blog/2018/09/12/stop-hs2-i-had-to-laugh/

 

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Here's a new blog looking (or rather laughing) at the abortive 'relaunch' of the Stop Hs2 campaign. A couple of weeks ago a meeting was held in Warwickshire to try and breathe new life into their dead campaign. To say that it wasn't a success is an understatement. Yesterday was their 'big event' when they turned up outside the Labour party conference.

It wasn't so much one man and his dog as one man and his elephant! https://paulbigland.blog/2018/09/26/stophs2-give-over/

 

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On a different topic, I've put together a pictorial history of the Class 314 fleet now that Scotrail have taken the first three out of traffic. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/09/26/the-end-of-the-line-for-scotrails-class-314-emus/

 

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As Monday is the 150th birthday of St Pancras station I thought I'd repost this blog which looks back at how the station has changed since the early 1990s. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/04/24/down-memory-lane-no-3-how-time-flies/

 

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Today's blog. Why no-one takes the Stophs2 campaign seriously (and hasn't for years). Their 'Campaign Manager', Joe Rukin lies through his teeth on ITV and claims building Hs2 will means there's no other investment in the railways for the next 20 years! Anyone involved in the rail industry will be laughing at this rubbish. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/10/11/the-fantasy-world-of-joe-rukin-and-stophs2/

 

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I've compiled a new pictorial blog on the Class 313 EMU's which are now being withdrawn from Great Northern services. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/10/15/the-twilight-of-the-class-313s/

 

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Here's a new blog looking at the fuss around old graveyards being dug up to make way for Hs2. It's not exactly a new thing, as this blog documents. I'd be interested if anyone has any information on other stations beyond the ones I've mentioned. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/10/30...-hs2-its-not-as-if-it-hasnt-been-done-before/

 

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Here's a new blog that crunches the Stop Hs2 groups social media numbers on Twitter and Facebook. There's 3 months work of data that covers their 'relaunch' and the party conference season. What the stats expose is that their following is tiny, and the activist core even smaller. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/11/01/crunching-the-stophs2-social-media-stats-october-2018/

 

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Yesterday I added a new blog from a trip to Widnes and Liverpool as part of a job. It included pictures of 390119 at Alstom, Widnes, where the repainting of the Pendolino fleet has reached the halfway stage. There's also a look at the mock-up of the new Stadler trains for Merseyrail which is currently on display at Liverpool Lime St. https://paulbigland.blog/2018/11/05/rolling-blog-foggy-monday/

 

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I've added another 75 + rail and travel pictures to my website. Some are new, some are archive. Follow the link to see the galleries they're in. https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/recent.html