Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Railways

London – Bromley (Borough of) – Bromley North Branch Line

The lighting in this photo isn’t at all ideal, but I couldn’t use the night mode as this takes a few seconds of keeping the phone still and people kept walking in front of me. There are better day-time photos available on-line anyway…… I went on a little visit to Bromley to have a look at this slightly odd branch line, which goes to just three stations.

And here is this quirky section of line, comprising the three stations of Grove Park, Sundridge Park and Bromley North.

From Openstreetmap the branch line is clearly visible, coming off the South Eastern Main Line.

The main part of the station building was closed, so the line could only be accessed by walking around the side. I poked my camera through the gates to take a photo of the concourse area that passengers couldn’t access. There was a sad event in April 1920, when a couple abandoned a four-week old baby on the train from Charing Cross railway station and the child was discovered here and taken to the waiting room, before the police later took the poor young soul to Bromley Infirmary. The newspaper noted that the child was left in the second-class section of the train….

This area hasn’t much changed since the railway station was built in 1878, the odd set-up is historic and not because the line has been cut off during its history.

The platforms at Bromley North railway station, with the station being extensively remodelled in the mid-1920s, which annoyed the dozen tradesmen who had premises at the station and were given notice to leave in 1924. The Southern Railway Company were displeased to discover in 1939 that their leading parcel porter and a colleague at the station had been on the steal for some time, primarily pinching clothes. The police investigated the two men responsible, Frederick William Smart (aged 52) and Sidney White (aged 40 and no relation) and they were sentenced to six months in prison.

And the train coming in, with another not very clear photo…..

The train just goes up and down the branch line, it’s not particularly decadent, but it is perfectly functional.

And here we are ten minutes later at Grove Park, where there are direct trains into London. When the station was built, there were direct trains to London from these branch line stations, but they became peak-only in 1976 and they were then entirely withdrawn in 1990.

These are the main lines into London, the branch line is at the rear of the photo and can be accessed by going over that bridge.

The railway set-up is the same today as it was 100 years ago when the map was produced, but the entire area is now surrounded by housing.

There has been some debate as to whether more can be done with this line, but there’s a limited capacity on the mainline which means that there aren’t really that many options available. For the moment this little set-up remains as a slight oddity and I can’t imagine this arrangement makes much money for the rail company, especially given the alternative bus alternatives that are available, and that there’s another railway station in Bromley. However, I’m glad it’s all still here (although surprised that it wasn’t closed down in the 1960s or 1970s), it felt just slightly quirky….

November 10, 2021
Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

This was the end of my little trek around the country that has taken place over recent weeks, the Greater Anglia operated train from London Liverpool Street to Norwich. As can be seen with the poor quality of the photos that I took last Friday, I think I had rather given up with trying to document anything more than the basics here. I was surprised to get a cheap fare for this journey, as it was a commuter service, but that at least avoided me needing to wait for the 21:30 evening service which I often get, as time can really drag waiting for that when wanting to get home.

I got myself a table seat and everything worked as expected, such as the train itself and the power points, which were the only two things that I really needed to work. The train was at seating capacity and there were some customers who were sitting on the floor near to the doors, so it’s unclear why the rail company was issuing cheap fares for this service. I am pleased that they were, but I suspect they’ll be removing that option soon enough now they can see how popular the rail service is at this time. The whole health thing over the last eighteen months has perhaps put commuters off coming into London, but that seems to be coming to an end now.

There was not much of interest during the journey for me to comment on, everything ran to schedule and the train seemed clean and organised. I didn’t see a guard during the journey, but there are ticket barriers at every stop along the route, so in theory it would be hard to fare evade. For the price of £12.50, I thought that this was a perfectly comfortable service and that meant I arrived in Norwich at a reasonable time ready for what I consider to be an extended stay in the city over the next couple of weeks.

October 4, 2021
West Yorkshire Day Ranger – Bradford, Halifax, Brighouse, Hebden Bridge, Sowerby Bridge

There’s a handy rail rover ticket called the West Yorkshire Train DaySaver which costs £8.30 for the day and allows travel in Zones 1 to 5 of the above map, which is the area covered by West Yorkshire. On weekends, the ticket can be used at any time, but on weekdays it can only be used after 09:30 and not between 16:00 and 18:30. Nonetheless, it seemed a way of seeing a few towns in the area.

Waiting for my first train at Bradford Interchange, which is also the railway station where I purchased my ticket from. I think that the tickets have to be purchased from the ticket office, or from guards on board when there isn’t a ticket office.

Most of the services were run by Northern, although they’re also valid on East Midlands Railway, LNER, TransPennine Express and CrossCountry in the area.

My first visit of the day was to Halifax, not somewhere that I’ve been before.

This is the town’s new library, merging together a church and a more modern construction. Obviously this brilliant new library which has come at vast expense was shut for the day. £9 million this cost and it’s not open on some weekdays. Apparently they’re planning to improve opening times soon, which would be rather useful…..

The town’s Minster, which was shut.

Wetherspoons was open, so I popped in there.

There we go, a quick half pint of the Chapter 4 – 24 Carrot from Fuggle Bunny brewery, perfectly acceptable…. Unfortunately, there was a limited opening of any decent pubs in town until later on during the day, leaving me opportunity to visit the other Wetherspoons in the town, the Barum Top Inn.

I didn’t expect anything like this when I walked through the gates, the enormously impressive Piece Hall, the sole surviving cloth hall in the north of the country. It opened in 1779 when there were 315 separate rooms for smaller traders to sell their wares. It has recently been restored and the nineteenth century sheds shoved in the middle have all been removed.

One of the gates into the Piece Hall.

Then onto the train to the Richard Oastler pub in Brighouse which is located in a former Methodist chapel.

And lunch in that pub, from JD Wetherspoon’s new chicken menu that is still just in trial pubs, but is being launched nationally from next week. As an aside, that means they’re bringing back half chickens, which they ditched a few years ago.

The delights of Brighouse.

And another train, this time taking me to Sowerby Bridge.

A nicely looked after station, with plenty of history boards as well.

I visited a few pubs here, the Hogs Head, the Commercial Inn and the Hollins Mill.

I had to stay in Sowerby Bridge until 18:30 due to the restrictions on the train ticket, by which time it was starting to get dark. I’m not sure why I wrote that last bit, it’s self-evident from the photo. But there we go….

I had a quick visit to Vocation’s pub.

Then waiting for the train back to Bradford, although I stopped off at Halifax to visit the Victorian Craft Beer Cafe. This was my favourite train journey of the day as a customer complained that the toilet was still occupied. The guard stood outside the toilet looking annoyed, banging on the door loudly saying “there are other customers who need to use the facility, finish up quickly and get out please”. I love the direct approach that was suitably passive aggressive. An embarrassed young woman emerged a couple of minutes later, much to the relief of other waiting passengers. This is a tricky situation though, it might be that there was a hidden disability and the lady needed the time, but it did present some drama for me between Hebden Bridge and Halifax.

Anyway, I thought that the ticket was good value for money and it let me see a few towns that I might not otherwise have done so. The ticket was a bit restrictive that it couldn’t be used in the evening rush hour, but I didn’t have any issues with using it. Northern seem to have very regular ticket checks, so I must have shown my ticket around ten times during the time, but it’s good to be on top of that I guess. All of the trains I boarded were relatively quiet, so this is a good way of selling what would otherwise be empty inventory. Other than for a very short delays, everything ran to schedule as well and I was back into Bradford before the trains stopped running….

September 24, 2021
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.

September 19, 2021
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…..

September 18, 2021
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.

September 15, 2021
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….

September 12, 2021
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.

August 30, 2021
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.

August 27, 2021
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.

August 18, 2021