Tuesday 24th March 2026, 7.00pm (day 5,325)
I got out of the house, at least. One doesn’t often see trains like this, but let’s enjoy it while it lasts, and take a relaxed attitude, as this person seems to be doing.
Not so busy
Being 42
Life, one day at a time
Tag Archives: train
Pontypridd station
Wednesday 18th March 2026, 4.45pm (day 5,319)
Random railway station, number…. quite a few. The train is the one I was catching, so from this shot you can see where I was; where I was going; and how long I had to wait. In a world where all movements are tracked I might as well be honest about it.
New Dairy Farm
Monday 16th March 2026, 2.50pm (day 5,317)
This bizarre hellscape was captured on a train. I noticed there was a line of pylons stretching away into the distance, we were slowing down and I had a shot at it, and here you are. The farm buildings and paraphernalia didn’t even get noticed until after the shot had been ‘developed’. As far as I can tell it is the farm labelled on the OS map as ‘New Dairy Farm’ at grid reference ST306840, just outside Newport in south Wales.
In reflective mood
Saturday 14th March 2026, 12.45pm (day 5,315)
This one is the result of me sitting on a train (somewhere in the vicinity of Bolton) and feeling experimental. I did my best to capture the reflection of this man in the hat in the train’s window, really just to see how it turned out. And, well, it’s OK. It’s the shot I intended to take, anyway, and that’s always the source of at least a little satisfaction.
Evidence of commuter
Tuesday 24th February 2026, 9.45am (day 5,297)
I was about to post a picture of the year’s first cherry blossom in Sackville Gardens, flowering above the seated statue of Alan Turing, but then I realised I had done exactly the same in both the preceding Februaries (the evidence is available at this tag). I would still like to avoid such repetition if I can — for my own self-satisfaction if nothing else — but I spent all day in the office and didn’t really capture much else. Bloke on Train with Someone Else’s Half-Completed Crossword is my best alternative. But I guess it at least records a trip to the big city. With a comfortably late start (thanks to teaching until 6pm again).
The 12:10 to Edinburgh
Wednesday 24th December 2025, 12.15pm (day 5,235)
As seen crossing the Tay rail bridge, more-or-less on schedule. The shot is taken from Newport-on-Tay, on the opposite side of the firth from Dundee. I am feeling minimalist this Christmas Eve, it seems.
Freight passing through
Tuesday 16th December 2025, 5.50pm (day 5,227)
Freight does still make an occasional appearance on the line, usually long trains of wagons marked with ‘Drax’, meaning they are heading to or (in this case) from the power station. Not that you can tell any of this from this extended blur, but I challenge anyone to get a sharp picture of something moving at at least 30mph in the dark. Drax (it’s amazing what you can learn from Wikipedia pages on a Wednesday morning) burns wood imported from the US and Canada, which these trains then ship across the country from Liverpool, with Hebden en route — so we often see these, at all times of day and night.
Between platforms
Tuesday 11th November 2025, 12.15pm (day 5,192)
Platforms 4 and 5 of Manchester Victoria station, to be precise (making this, incidentally, the 900th shot taken in Manchester). The sign is meaningless in context, but the pigeon seems to be wilfully defying it anyway. On the left (4), the 12:15 to Redcar Central and on the right, the 12:15 to Blackburn, both punctual. But was I on my way into work late, or coming home early?
Rochdale station (unscheduled)
Tuesday 9th September 2025, 12 noon (day 5,129)
With the main rail line through Huddersfield closed this month — apparently it’s an ‘upgrade’ though that could mean anything — services are being routed along the Calder Valley line and adding further pressure to an already-creaking system. I was not supposed to have 20 minutes or so of hanging out at Rochdale station today, but here it is.
The tower over there has always impressed me — the building used to be a fire station, so presumably this is an observation tower, from the days before 999.
T-shirt axiom
Saturday 30th August 2025, 11.30am (day 5,119)
I’ll go with that. In fact I’d quite like this T-shirt, which is one reason I took a photograph of it. As seen on platform 17 of Leeds station this morning.
Being 42 