Tag Archives: rail travel

Aug 01 2018
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger, Transport

Can I stop going to work yet?

Tuesday 31st July 2018, 9.55am (day 2,532)

Asleep on train, 31/7/18

My summer holiday has been a long time coming this year and there’s the rest of this week to get through yet. Despite the later start to the day, I still feel like this guy.

This will probably turn out to be the last shot taken by my Canon Power Shot SX710 camera which since its debut on 27th June 2015 has put in sterling service every day since, including getting up to the top of Kilimanjaro and back. But the lens cover has been requiring the intervention of fingers to retract successfully for some time now and it’s been randomly freezing up, to be recovered only by removing the battery. I took the plunge and invested in another model this morning. Farewell then to the old one, it still does work so I’ll keep it as a backup.

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Jun 01 2018
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Daily Post, Transport

6.30am trains

Thursday 31st May 2018, 6.30am (day 2,471)

6.30 am trains, 31/5/18

Most of the local train service remains a scandal of national proportions (some 2,000 trains cancelled across Northern’s domain since the new timetable was launched, blunderingly, on 20th May) but I must admit I have been a small locus of punctuality all week. But no one should have to suffer a 6.30am train too often. Or, two of them.

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Mar 21 2018
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

Train doze

Tuesday 20th March 2018, 3.55pm (day 2,399)

Asleep on train, 20/3/18

Yes, this was me today (well, apart from the hair)…. and it’s only Tuesday…

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Mar 15 2018
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Daily Post, Interior

Waiting it out on platform 5

Wednesday 14th March 2018, 10.50am (day 2,393)

Victoria, platform 5, 14/3/18

This blog isn’t intended to be political and it’s been a little while since I had cause to depict the lousy state of the local train service. I know this can be a default position for the commuter, that it’s always terrible, but really, Arriva Northern have surpassed themselves in recent months with overcrowding and cancellations. I am lucky – I can organise my day to avoid peak rush hours, on the whole, hence the timing of this shot. Many cannot and are forced to put up with the same crap every week day.

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Nov 20 2017
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger, Transport

Full-on CTS (Cattle Truck Status)

Monday 20th November 2017, 7.20am (day 2,279)

Cattle truck, 20/11/17

Monday morning, and it’s raining, and you’ve just bought a weekly ticket for the first time in ages (meaning you’re going into Manchester every day this week) and the 06:59 turns up as a two-carriage piece of obsolete shit as it always does, only today the previous service through was cancelled so by Littleborough it’s already achieved full CTS (Cattle Truck Status) and we haven’t even had the Rochdale passengers on yet. Happy Mondays.

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Oct 10 2017
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Daily Post, Transport

View from the train, Doncaster

Monday 9th October 2017, 4.15pm (day 2,237)

Doncaster rail yard, 9/10/17

Pretty much everything on the railways heading north out of London passes through Doncaster, which remains a major passenger rail interchange and has these immense goods yards too; one of the few remaining places on the UK rail network where you do get a sense of what a lot of it probably looked like sixty years ago. Taken from inside the train as it departed platform 8 and returned me home after my short and ultimately pointless trip to London (thank you, Mr Putin).

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Oct 06 2017
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Transport

Hebden Bridge station

Friday 6th October 2017, 8.05am (day 2,234)

HB station, 6/10/17

One of those days when the sun just comes up at the right time, two minutes before the train arrives to take me to Manchester.

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Jul 17 2017
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger, Transport

Tired

Monday 17th July 2017, 3.35pm (day 2,153)

Tired, 17/7/17

It’s actually not a bad place to catch forty winks, the train home — I manage it frequently. Like these two gentlemen, I am tired…. but have now just three days left before my summer break.

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Jul 12 2017
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Daily Post, Transport

Boarding the London train

Tuesday 11th July 2017, 9.30am (day 2,147)

London train, 11/7/17

Another trip to London…. but just for the day. Platform 8, Leeds station, to which I returned approximately ten hours later. The first precisely timed shot for a while.

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May 10 2017
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Daily Post, Transport

On the 6:59

Tuesday 9th May 2017, 7.00am (day 2,084)

On the 6:59, 9/5/17

Ah, the joys of the 06:59 Hebden Bridge to Manchester Victoria service…. its cruddy carriages, standing room only by Todmorden, and then there’s that ‘6’ at the start of the time, which firmly puts it in the realm of ‘too early’. I dislike it, as you’ve probably gathered. Then again I doubt anyone has reached retirement age and fondly reminisced about the good old days on the 06:59.

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