Tag Archives: train

Jun 22 2024
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Daily Post, Transport

Tin pipe number 4

Friday 21st June 2024, 3.10pm (day 4,684)

LNER cattle truck, 21/6/24

I spent the whole day, from 1.30am in Toronto when we boarded the plane, until 6.45pm when arriving back in Hebden Bridge, on a series of rather overcrowded tin pipes. If we included Heathrow Airport itself as number 2, this train at King’s Cross was the fourth, and the most overcrowded pipe of all — the East Coast main line going into spasm once more thanks to some ‘operational incident’ or other. But at least I was in a seat. Home now, anyway, and no more flying aboard for a while. I need a rest.

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Jun 05 2024
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Daily Post, Landscape

Cloudscape from the train

Wednesday 5th June 2024, 5.50pm (day 4,668)

Cloudscape from train, 5/6/24

More weather, but it was better today, and anyway I don’t care as once again I am leaving the country. Whether conditions will be improved where I’m going, who knows. The first part of my journey was by rail — this shot was snapped at about 90mph somewhere in the vicinity of Peterborough.

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Nov 23 2023
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger, Transport

The morning cattle truck, at Rochdale

Thursday 23rd November 2023, 9.00am (day 4,473)

Rochdale, busy train, 23/11/23

Not only did this peak hour train turn up with half the usual number of carriages, thus assigning itself instant CTS (Cattle Truck Status) — but it was also 23 minutes late at this point, being scheduled to pass through Rochdale at 8.37. Grin and bear it? Bollocks to that, I wasn’t grinning at this point, put it that way.

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Sep 21 2023
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Daily Post, Hebden Bridge, Transport

The 7:12 arrives, on time (nearly)

Thursday 21st September 2023, 7.15am (day 4,410)

7:12 train, 21/9/23

Regular early morning shots seem to have mostly disappeared from the blog; this is the earliest, and the first before 8am, since 20th January, and that was taken when coming into Addis Ababa airport so not exactly normal circumstances. Other than that this is the earliest since 7th October 2022. In all that time Northern Rail might have run a whole morning’s service which didn’t contain at least one train that turned up just that few minutes late…. but I doubt it.

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May 25 2023
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Daily Post, Transport

Not the night service

Thursday 25th May 2023, 3.20pm (day 4,291)

Dark Victoria, 25/5/23

Don’t read the time from the light here. Victoria station is much improved from twenty years ago, when I first started using it, but platforms 3-6 are still mere warrens, skulking under the overhead bulk of the Arena. Dark holes in which one can wait a while to find out if they’re running your service today.

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Mar 03 2023
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Daily Post, Transport

Cattle truck

Thursday 2nd March 2023, 8.05am (day 4,207)

Cattle truck, 2/3/23

Documentary. I got on this train at 7.56am at Hebden Bridge. A few minutes later I got off it again, at Todmorden (where this shot is taken), thanks to it being, as you can hopefully tell,. a stupidly overcrowded two-carriage cattle truck, and waited for the next one. On Monday I have to spend about 10.5 hours on a train…. what we do for our kicks, eh?

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Jan 12 2023
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Daily Post, Transport

Evening train home

Wednesday 11th January 2023, 6.10pm (day 4,157)

Victoria Platform 4, 11/1/23

Made use of a facility that I haven’t accessed since December 9th, namely Manchester Victoria station. It’s not a bad place — when it works — and certainly way better than it was when I first started using it regularly in 2005, when it was still largely a hole in the ground.

But in all honesty, this is a picture of her trousers, which I think are excellent, particularly the shape they make.

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Oct 08 2022
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Daily Post, Portrait, Stranger

The 7:10 at Rochdale

Friday 7th October 2022, 7.10am (day 4,061)

Sleepy couple, 7/10/22

7:10am on 7/10. People have their observable routines. With teaching having started and my having 9am classes here and there, I have been catching the 6:55am train at Hebden Bridge. This becomes the 7:10 at Rochdale, and each time I’ve caught it, these two have got on. Today, they almost immediately dozed off. I sympathise. They look comfortable enough together, and good luck to them.

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Aug 25 2022
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Daily Post, Interior, Transport

Rotterdam Centraal station

Thursday 25th August 2022, 10.30am (day 4,018)

Rotterdam Centraal, 25/8/22

In my mind’s eye there is a perfectly symmetrical version of this shot. But in the absence of its reality, this one will do.

This was the third of eight railway stations passed through today (nine if you count Wageningen bus station) as I travelled from a small provincial town somewhere near the centre of the Netherlands to a small provincial town somewhere near the centre of Great Britain (Hebden Bridge). And so ends my 11th complete year of doing this blog.

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Aug 20 2022
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Daily Post, Transport

Leeds station

Friday 19th August 2022, 4.25pm (day 4,012)

Leeds station, 19/8/22

On the move again — a schedule dictated by the rail unions. I support the strikes, though. Anything that pisses off the morons currently running this country must have some validity.

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