No particular message today; just an interesting urban scene. I’ve been seeking to, at some point, capture a train coming over one or other of Manchester’s downtown rail bridges, and here it is.
Sackville Street was the subject of the Inspiral Carpets’ rather good track “Sackville“, don’t you know. The place has obviously cleaned up a bit since that came out in 1990, considering the lyrics.
A walk around the Todmorden area today gave me the chance to see from above the railway line on which I travel frequently to Manchester. The settlement is certainly packed into this narrow valley at this point, isn’t it. But the railway somehow dominates, like it’s the thing that really controls the transport here.
This is the fourth shot in a row taken outside of Hebden Bridge. The last time that happened was over Christmas, in Norfolk — and the time before that, early October. This says a lot about the last few months.
Altrincham Street marks one of the edges of the Manchester campus. Officially, it ends just behind where this shot was taken: here, we are looking through a gate that blocks off this extension, squeezing itself through the gap between the car park and the (overcrowded and inadequate) cross-Manchester railway line on the right. Why this shot, and the second monochrome shot in a row? I just like the perspectives. And it’s a kind of non-space, forgotten, unused. In some cities there’d be a whole thriving community down here.
This rail bridge takes the train (in this case a freight) between Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Oxford Road stations. The building in the background is the Faraday building, late of the University but now empty and awaiting demolition. I like the general drabness of this shot — very January, although it was a sunny and crisp day today.
