Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Railways

  • Northern Trains : Shipley to Bradford Forster Square

    Northern Trains : Shipley to Bradford Forster Square

    A short rail journey today, from Shipley back into Bradford Forster Square. It’s not possible to go to Shipley to Bradford Interchange without taking a circuitous route via Leeds or something, as the two Bradford railway stations aren’t connected.

    The delights of Shipley railway station’s underground tunnels.

    They’re not very decadent, but at least everything is clearly signed.

    Shipley’s railway station, this is in a different part of the complex to where I left from last week.

    Clicking on this image makes it larger and it’s the Network Rail map of the railway station. Platform 5 is on the left, platforms 3 and 4 at the base and platforms 1 and 2 at the top. Dead simple….

    Here’s the Northern Trains Thunderbolt speeding into the station.

    The seating and it was busier than this, but I took the photos when disembarking. There were no ticket checks, although there was a passenger watching TikTok videos loudly, but I can manage to ignore those when the rail journey only lasts for a few minutes.

    Into Bradford Forster railway station, which has ticket barriers and staff members available to help customers (or at least check they’ve got tickets which I think is the priority here). The journey took all of seven minutes, arriving on time when it should have done.

    Walking to the road, that building to the left is where the old railway station used to stand until the early 1990s, when it was known as Bradford Midland.

    The current railway station is located where School Street is now located, with Bradford Midland having been entirely demolished. That was a mistake as far as I can see, the facilities at Forster Square are inadequate and there needs to be a bigger railway station here. It will though mean demolishing the HMRC building that’s in the way.

  • Northern Rail + TransPennine Express : Dodworth to Bingley

    Northern Rail + TransPennine Express : Dodworth to Bingley

    Today’s rail meander was from Dodworth to Bingley, a journey that required three trains to complete. Part of the reason, or indeed nearly all of it, that I write these railway posts up is to try and remind me of the routes that I’ve taken, and also to remember which rail companies have annoyed me.

    There were two ways of making this journey, one was to go into Barnsley and then up to Leeds, but on my previous journeys that line is crowded and I was hoping for a more peaceful journey where I could actually sit down.

    Which gave me the journey plan of:

    09:09 – 09:50 : Dodworth to Huddersfield (Northern Rail)

    10:12 – 10:31 : Huddersfield to Leeds (TransPennine Express)

    10:49 – 11:07 : Leeds to Bingley (Northern Rail)

    That meant that the bulk of the journey was on the first train, which I didn’t expect to be that busy.

    Dodworth railway station, a single track arrangement which is on the Penistone Line. The railway station was closed in 1959, but was re-opened in 1989 and seems to be reasonably well used.

    The two-carriage Northern Rail train meandering into the railway station.

    My guess that it wouldn’t be that busy was correct, I had a bank of the far too small seating to myself. It did get a bit busier as we approached Huddersfield, but nothing chaotic. There was a ticket check on the journey, unlike when I got the train the other way a few days ago.

    Back into Huddersfield railway station again, the one that is likely to be entirely rebuilt over the next few years.

    The second train pulled in early which slightly surprised me. I was standing on the other platform investigating something else, so it’s not an ideal photo. The train was three carriages and was busy with only a few seats not having reserved cards on the seats, although I was able to get one of them. No ticket check on this train, which goes to the beautiful city of Hull, but there were power sockets which were handy.

    Back into railway station at Leeds for what feels like the 30th time this year. There were some problems with football supporters yelling something that the police were heading to look at, but I have no idea what football team they were supporting as Leeds weren’t playing today.

    The third train was a bit broken and for a few seconds it was marked as cancelled, before being changed to delayed and then the doors opened. A staff member kept looking at the train and seemed pleased with something, but there was another option to get to Bingley a few minutes later if this train to Carlisle would have been cancelled. The train journey was moderately busy, but I was able to get a seat and there was a friendly guard doing ticket checks.

    And safely into Bingley, I think one minute late, so a very efficient set of journeys. Although the lack of delay meant that there was no chance of claiming Delay Repay, but I can’t always win on that one.

    And here we are…..

  • Northern Trains : Huddersfield to Barnsley

    Northern Trains : Huddersfield to Barnsley

    My time in Huddersfield was up, so I waved farewell to Harold Wilson and went into the railway station, slightly saddened that I was leaving too early to pop into the King’s Head or the Head of Steam (both pubs at the railway station) for one more quick visit. This rail journey cost just over £8, which was relatively high for a direct train journey of under one hour, based on prices that I’ve been paying recently. The anytime single meant that I could break my journey anywhere along the route, although nowhere initially sprang to my mind. I only realised too late that I could have got off at a stop near Holmfirth and walked there, but I’ll remember that for another occasion.

    Huddersfield railway station is probably going to be knocked down soon, or at least this rickety old bit at the back is. The frontage of the railway station is one of the finest in the country from the Victorian period when it was constructed, but everything else is tired, inefficient and in need of replacement. The matter is currently with Grant Shapps, which doesn’t entirely fill me with confidence, but perhaps that’s being unfair.

    This is platform 2, which it took me a little while to find. It’s illogically numbered due to historic reasons, but it’s actually the platform nearest to the station building, even though logically that should be platform 1 (which is behind it in the above photo).

    The service operates on the Penistone Line, which opened in 1850 and meanders through some fairly small settlements before going through Barnsley and onto Sheffield. There’s apparently a real ale trail which often takes place along the line, which sounds rather lovely (although probably isn’t, it’s probably packed with people feeling ill, but I digress).

    The situation I found myself in was a little odd. The train from Sheffield rolled in and it’s the only service that departs from Platform 2, so it was clearly the train going back again to Sheffield. The driver left the doors open and popped into the railway station building, so I assumed that everyone waiting would get on. They didn’t. I faffed about a bit on the platform looking awkward and confused, before deciding that I’d be brave and climb on board. I was half expecting the damn train thing to drive off and end up at Torquay or something if I’m being honest. One person followed me on, also looking confused. The driver came back a few minutes later and a customer asked him if they could board. He also looked confused, as if permission was needed to get on a train which had the doors open. Perhaps they’re just very polite people in Huddersfield…..

    Also, the seating set-up is completely pointless (not that I want to start moaning about something else), as three people don’t fit sitting side by side on those seats (well, usually don’t). They’d be far better off converting those to the same as most other rail companies, two seats one side of the aisle and two seats the other side. Anyway, the train service wasn’t that busy, so I didn’t have a problem getting a block of seats to myself.

    It’s not going to win any photography awards, but there were some scenic landscapes, and a fair few tunnels, along the journey. The guard seemed helpful, but there was no checking of tickets going on at any stage. They must be trusting folk.

    Arriving on time into Barnsley.

    This is Barnsley Interchange railway station, constructed a few years ago to try and merge the town’s rail and bus operations. What it meant for me was the chance to explore Barnsley, a town that I’ve never been to before. As an aside, I kept hearing Michael Parkinson’s voice in my mind (not all day, just occasionally, I’m not yet entirely losing the plot) who is the most famous Barnsley resident that I know. I don’t know many others, just Arthur Scargill and Dickie Bird, who statue I might go and have a little look at. Anyway, I digress.

  • Northern Trains + TransPennine Express : Shipley to Huddersfield

    Northern Trains + TransPennine Express : Shipley to Huddersfield

    My rail journey today was from Shipley to Huddersfield, which isn’t an expensive one, coming in at £6.50 for the two services, a Northern Rail from Shipley to Leeds and a TransPennine Express from Leeds to Huddersfield.

    It takes a little bit of working out to find the appropriate platform at Shipley railway station.

    Wikipedia tells me that there are only two triangular railway stations left in the country, this one and Earlestown on Merseyside. I’m not entirely sure how interesting a fact that is, but there we go.

    That’s how the situation evolved.

    A handy little waiting room.

    The Northern train which had come from Skipton, with Shipley being the final stop before Leeds. This is a horrible train (or the interior, the actual train is fine), the seating isn’t large enough, but more about that another time when I get around to writing about when I went from Leicester to Bradford (when I took photos). It’s really not a good look for a rail company, and the Government managed Northern Trains (no longer Northern Rail, just to confuse things) would do well to just take half the seats out and dump them in a heap somewhere, as a large number of seats are unuseable with the current set-up. Anyway, I digress and it didn’t much matter as I found a seat at the end of the carriage.

    Here we are in Leeds.

    There’s the TransPennine Express service from Leeds to Manchester, which was operating at well over its seating capacity, meaning standing room only. As the journey from Leeds to Huddersfield is only 17 minutes, I decided just to stand near to the end of the carriage, but I felt sorry for those unable to be seated who were going all the way to Manchester. There was a friendly guy who was passing around sweets (which were sealed) to customers in his vicinity, which I don’t think was a mass poisoning exercise (can’t be too careful). I hope not anyway, I had a Wispa.

    And safely into Huddersfield, with hoards more people trying to get on (mostly not in the photo). This is clearly a heavily congested route, I’m not sure if there are usually this many problems with a lack of seating. Customers would have got away without paying for a ticket though on this route, there were no ticket checks and there are no barriers at Shipley and the barriers at Huddersfield weren’t in operation.

    The exterior of Huddersfield railway station, and a statue of the former Prime Minister Harold Wilson.

    As for this journey, convenient and on-time as it was, it’s not an ideal set-up from the rail companies who seem to be struggling to deal with the number of passengers wanting to use their services. Time perhaps for the Government to speed up more investment in the rail network to get more services running. Anyway, I digress….

  • Abellio ScotRail – Glasgow Central to Paisley Canal (Paisley Canal Line)

    Abellio ScotRail – Glasgow Central to Paisley Canal (Paisley Canal Line)

    The Paisley Canal railway line is a little bit odd, as services were reduced in the 1960s and 1970s, before it was finally closed down in 1983. Soon after closure and the demolition of key structures along the route, there was a new plan to re-open it again, with the line coming back into service in July 1990, even though there’s another line which goes from Glasgow to Paisley. Although I think it’s marvellous for a rail line to be brought back into usage, I’m surprised that this one was saved.

    This map from the 1890s shows how strange this rail line is (clicking on the map makes it a little larger). The rail line at the top is beautifully straight (well, other than the curve, but my point is hopefully clear) whereas this canal line to the south of it is all over the show with its little curves and bends. That’s because they built the line on top of the former canal (hence the name), so it wasn’t really ideal in very many ways.

    This is the departure boards at Glasgow Central railway station and this is where one of the first differences with the new Paisley Canal line becomes evident.

    The railway line used to start at St. Enoch station, but that was knocked down in 1975. As can be seen above, they’ve now built a shopping on that site, so services have been to Glasgow Central railway station.

    The train was departing from platform 12, as observant readers might notice.

    I had to look this up (I’m not that much of a train geek), but this is a Class 380 train, built in Germany around ten years ago, operated by Abellio ScotRail.

    The train wasn’t overly busy and was suitably clean throughout.

    I was slightly surprised to see power points.

    Some of the stations had to be reconstructed, but in many places only one platform was put back.

    Previously operated by diesel locomotives, the line has now also been electrified, with the work being completed in 2012.

    There was a platform there once….

    And here’s the end of the line, Paisley Canal railway station. It didn’t always end here, it used to carry on to Kilmacolm and there are apparently vague plans put forwards to restoring it all the way.

    This plaque was unveiled by the local MP, who at the time was Douglas Alexander who was also the Secretary of State for International Development. To be precise, he had been given that Cabinet the day before he unveiled this plaque, which likely wasn’t ideal timing. It notes that the work on the Ardrossan Canal was completed in 1811, being converted into a rail line in 1883.

    A plaque noting the reopening of the line, although I’d like to see one next to it showing the politicians who had decided to close it just a few years before.

    This is where the line used to continue, they’ve plonked some steps up to the bridge and made a big hole in that to give access to the road.

    Looking back to the end of the line.

  • Glasgow – Glasgow Subway

    Glasgow – Glasgow Subway

    I use London Underground a lot, so was strangely and frankly needlessly excited to use the Glasgow Subway, which is the third oldest network in the world. It’s also the oldest in the world still to be in its original form as there hasn’t been an expansion since it opened on 14 December 1896. It took them six years to build it and there are fifteen stations (and always have been since it opened) on the 6.5 miles circular route. What wasn’t entirely ideal was that in its first week there was a crash at St. Enoch station when one carriage ran into the back of another one. It didn’t discourage the locals though who were apparently mostly quite excited about this new service.

    There’s an Outer and Inner network, although they’re both the same other than they go around the circle in a different direction. There’s just the one line, so there’s not much chance of getting lost.

    The platforms, some of which are laid out differently so that there are separate platforms for each direction.

    And the train itself. Rather impressively, this is only the second set of carriages that the network has had, with the first ones in use between 1896 and 1977, and the second set from 1979 until today. There’s good news though, an entirely new set of carriages is being brought into usage from next year. The gap from 1977 until 1979 is that the network closed for an extensive modernisation and restoration, but there was talk at the time that it might not reopen due to falling demand.

    This is a fantastic video of the period just before the closure in 1977 and it’s fair to say that it looks in a right old state….

    The interior of the carriages, which felt comfortable enough to me. There’s the benefit that although it can get busy it’s unlikely that anyone will wait long for a seat given that no passenger is likely remain on for more than a few stops (unless they’re just sitting there going around and around which I assume must happen).

    I paid £4.20 for an all-day adult ticket which allows unlimited use for the day, which isn’t an unreasonable price. It’s a shame that the network has never been expanded, but that does mean its retained its historic feel. The system is though easy to use, everything seems clean and the service is regular with trains every few minutes.

  • Southern Railway : London Victoria to Eastbourne

    Southern Railway : London Victoria to Eastbourne

    And another little adventure begins, I’m leaving London (and Pret) behind for a brief time and popping to Eastbourne, the jewel of the south coast (or something like that anyway) for a walking expedition with Hike Norfolk.

    Southern Railways sometimes have an annoying habit of only announcing the platform about four minutes before the train departures, which can be a bit fiddly in a railway station the size of London Victoria (although that can lead to interesting scenes watching people running or tripping towards the train desperate to get it in time). Fortunately, this one was announced over twenty minutes before it departed.

    I like the clear signage of when the next direct train to each location is, although slightly less convenient for those who wanted to go to Arundel or Bognor Regis.

    OK, I’m going to struggle to make this sound exciting as very little happened of note. But here’s the train and the boarding process. Normally on this service a fair number of the passengers are going to Gatwick, but for obvious reasons, that wasn’t happening on today’s service.

    The train did get busier and tickets were checked by a friendly and jolly member of staff. He was checking the tickets carefully and I always get worried when the guard stares at my ticket for more than two seconds in case something is wrong with it. This isn’t entirely rational as I know bloody well that the ticket is correct, I think it’s just a British thing. Anyway, it was fine.

    Coffee and a railway ticket, what more could anyone want for a train journey…. For anyone who gets this train hoping to charge their electrical devices though, they will be disappointed. There are a reasonable number of table seats available on the train and there’s also a small First Class section, although it didn’t look very busy.

    Given the company named here, this reminded me of something that my friend Liam would put up…..

    Welcome to Eastbourne, or as the station refers to it as, “the sunshine coast”. Eastbourne Railway Station has ticket barriers, although they weren’t in use today, so I could meander through (slightly annoyed at the lack of checks because these sometimes create drama from passengers who have lost their ticket between the train and the barrier, but that’s a different matter).

    And looking back at the train that I arrived into Eastbourne on. OK, this isn’t a very exciting report of a rail journey since nothing much of note happened. But that also means it arrived on time, which was handy (although meant I wouldn’t be claiming any Delay Repay). The journey cost £8.50 with Southern Railways, which seems quite a fair price given the distance travelled. And hello to Eastbourne.

  • LNER : York to London King’s Cross

    LNER : York to London King’s Cross

    This is really handy when you’ve looking for platform 5 (I was on platform 6 at the time).

    Anyway, this was the journey I took a few days ago from York to London King’s Cross. I’ll let the guard’s words speak for themselves about the state of this journey:

    “I really wish I hadn’t been on this service, I wasn’t meant to be on it, I’m angry that I am on it”.

    I certainly felt for him, LNER had served him badly, let alone the customers who had paid to be on it.

    It is possible to try and work out where to stand on the platform by following the little code at the bottom. No-one bothered judging by the rushing around from place to place when the train arrived, it’s all a bit complex.

    The LNER Azuma train sweeps into York. In fairness to LNER, these are perfectly nice trains, or would be if they were operated by a proper company.

    I’m normally more polite, but LNER really can’t run a rail service very well, the service is ridden with managerial incompetence.

    They insist that customers book a seat as part of the reservation system. This is so often a policy set for disaster, as LNER don’t bother putting anyone on the trains to enforce this policy, they just dump that problem on the guard. And on this occasion, he was busy dealing with the British Transport Police who were lifting a customer off the service. Nor indeed is the seat reservation policy enforceable anyway. My reserved seat was taken, so I just sat nearby. The problem is that this happened to nearly every customer. We had this ridiculous situation that some seats were kept free as customers thought others would be sitting in them (as the sign by the seat said they were reserved), whilst other customers gave up and sat in the aisle (as visible in the above photo).

    This would be much easier if LNER did what most other rail companies and just make reserving a seat optional when buying a ticket. I don’t want to reserve a seat, I wish they’d stop making me as otherwise I can’t buy a ticket. If someone wants to reserve one, then let them. LNER’s system just forces customers to cram into carriages hunting for their seat, which isn’t ideal during Covid times. I suspect there was a carriage somewhere on the train where there was open seating and there weren’t any reservations, but I have no idea where that was.

    Anyway, the guard put an announcement over the tannoy that British Transport Police had already been called to the train on two occasions and he was now dealing with a third problem. The poor guard sounded fed up and he vaguely attempted to check tickets, but was continually called to deal with seating issues due to LNER’s hopeless reservation policy. Drunken customers were also making his job harder and he reminded them over the tannoy that he would ask the British Transport Police to board again if necessary. He also suggested that customers text British Transport Police themselves if they couldn’t find him on the train. This announcement was made when we had just left York railway station, so it hardly felt a friendly welcome to LNER.

    As an aside, to be honest, people don’t really need to buy tickets for this service (although I’m too well behaved to risk that) as there is no gate line at York and the one at King’s Cross wasn’t enforced.

    The poor staff in the catering section were trying to walk up and down the train to supply food and drink as LNER have this great idea that customers can order at their seat. The system didn’t work as the staff couldn’t find the customer who had ordered it and they had to battle to get past the customers sitting in the aisle.

    As this journey unfolded, there was more excitement just before Peterborough, someone had started smoking in one of the on-board toilets. This positively annoyed the guard who made another tannoy announcement about the situation, evidently just entirely fed up with this service.

    And into King’s Cross, admittedly on-time. The guard must have been relieved that the service was over. I certainly was. The rail network perhaps needs to consider some significant modernisation to its processes as otherwise I suspect more people will just give up and start flying rather than getting the train. Or perhaps they could let British Airways take over the East Coast Mainline……..

    I accept this all sounds a bit ranty, but, to be fair, the guard was too and I agree with him.

  • Avanti West Coast : Birmingham New Street to Coventry

    Avanti West Coast : Birmingham New Street to Coventry

    Birmingham New Street is a delightful new and bright railway station, but the platforms under it weren’t modernised as part of the new structure. It seems a little unusual to go from a beautiful building which is modern and flooded in light, to the dingy platforms underneath. It reminds me slightly of Penn Station in New York, with the platform section being totally different to what is above (in that case because they demolished the beautiful building above the platforms).

    Here’s the Avanti train, not really looking the most beautiful in terms of its design, although apparently a number of their trains are currently receiving makeovers and so perhaps this one will soon receive the same modernisation.

    I had booked my train about twenty minutes before the trip using GWR (to get a few Nectar points) and it cost £4.90 to get from Birmingham to Coventry. Seat reservations are required and I was in Carriage F, although it transpired to not really be very busy on-board. The above set-up really doesn’t help customers find their carriage if they’re labelling them G and then U. The announcements made clear that customers need no longer wear masks, although they were welcome to if they wanted, which makes me confused as to what the rules actually are now as they seem to differ between rail companies. Customers were though asked not to sit in the aisle seats to help protect staff, although that request seemed to be widely ignored.

    The carriage, all clean and bright, although I couldn’t find any at-seat power (not that I actually needed any given that the journey was only twenty minutes). These are the old Virgin trains from when they operated the West Coast mainline franchise from 1997 to 2019, but Avanti will only hold the new franchise until 2026 due to changes to the way that the rail system will operate in the future (I suspect for the worse, but that’s a discussion for elsewhere).

    And safely into Coventry on time.

    I thought that this was all rather positive, they’re building a new station complex. The current railway station isn’t really very nice, it’s a bit tired and was in need of a modernisation. It was built in the 1960s after the previous perfectly adequate building was demolished, a sad loss for the city. As part of the integrated public transport strategy, buses and trains will now connect together at the new railway station building.

    Which all means that I’m safely in Coventry and this new development gives a much better first impression to the city than it used to.

  • West Midlands Metro : Birmingham to Wolverhampton

    West Midlands Metro : Birmingham to Wolverhampton

    I rather like light rail and tram solutions to public transport difficulties and thought that I’d spend the day going on the West Midlands Metro line which goes from Birmingham to Wolverhampton. An off-peak day pass cost £4.80 and it was easy enough to buy it on-line using the Metro’s app. There’s only the one line at the moment, but construction has started on additional lines given the popularity of the service.

    The timetable at a stop in Birmingham, although the trams seemed to run to an erratic schedule throughout the day. Sometimes there were fifteen minutes between them, sometimes three minutes, although the boards at stations were clear and accurate. It takes 45 minutes to get from Birmingham to Wolverhampton, although I got on and off the service numerous times on my journey to explore the highlights of the urban settlements between the two cities.

    Quite a sleek looking operation and there are 21 of these trams shuttling up and down the network

    The tram’s interior. I was surprised to see that they’re using a conductor and driver on every service, which isn’t a set-up that I’ve seen often on tram or light rail. It’s possible to buy tickets on board using cash or card, but the set-up that I had to show my ticket several times over the day seemed a bit labour intensive compared to other systems. Having written that though, it makes the service feel safer to have staff always available and they were helpful and friendly. The tram stops along the route are though all unstaffed and have limited facilities at them.

    It’s very hot at the moment and there’s no air conditioning other than in the driver’s cab. I know this as a customer commented to the conductor about the heat and he said they rely on opening windows to keep passengers cool, although the driver has air conditioning in his cab. The customer amused me by saying “as long as the staff are comfortable” in a manner that didn’t seem too rude. I didn’t think that the temperature on board was too bad though and the trams were clean and tidy. There were free Metro newspapers for those who want them, which is a handy coincidence given the name. There’s not a huge amount of seating on board the tram, but there are numerous places to stand, and most passengers aren’t on the service for too long.

    As a transportation option, I thought that this was well used, easy to use and clearly popular, so I’m glad that it is being extended. I’m sure that there are many more similar projects that could be brought in across the country, especially if it allows for the re-opening of closed rail lines. There is sometimes talk, although unfortunately rarely serious, of a tram network in Norwich, which is something that I suspect would be very successful if the up-front cost could somehow be subsidised. Unfortunately, that up-front cost is huge and so I can’t imagine that it will ever happen.

    There’s more about the planned extensions at https://metroalliance.co.uk/.