Visit to Chathill Station (23 photos)

 Holidays, Photo galleries  No Responses »
Aug 112016
 

While I was on holiday at Seahouses in Northumberland, I visited the nearby railway station at Chathill, arguably the smallest and least used terminus on the railway network. The station has only two arrivals and departures Monday to Saturday, with no service on Sunday. Although on the East Coast mainline, there are no services from Chathill heading north. Both services leave heading south to Newcastle or Hexham. The photos in this gallery show my visit on July 7th 2016 to see the arrival of the 18:49 from MetroCentre, and its subsequent departure at 19:10 to Hexham. Chathill railway station on [Read more]

2015 – a stay at home year

 Holidays, In the garden, Weather, What I do  No Responses »
Jan 052016
 
2015 - a stay at home year

Despite having over a dozen overseas places on my ‘must visit’ list, 2015 was a year in which I stayed on these shores, unless you count the Channel Islands as abroad. Although outside of the United Kingdom, I don’t regard our annual holiday in Herm as a trip overseas. Holidays Apart from a day trip to Llandudno in April, my first holiday was a repeat trip to the Outer Hebrides, this time on an organised rail and coach trip. The last time I was in the Hebrides, Sandra and I flew there and drove the length of the Isles from Barra to Stornaway. [Read more]

Hebridean Islands Discovery

 Holidays  No Responses »
May 272015
 
Hebridean Islands Discovery

During early May, I went on a touring holiday of the Hebrides organised by Railtrail, who I toured North Wales with a couple of years ago. This is a report of my holiday. Day 1 – West Coast main line Instead of going directly to Glasgow, where the tour was to start, I decided to go to London and travel up to Glasgow on the West Coast main line. I went down to St Pancras on the 07:48 East Midlands train from Alfreton, arriving in London around 10:15. This journey was comfortable and uneventful and the train arrived on time. [Read more]

Day trip to Llandudno

 Holidays, Photo galleries, What I do  No Responses »
Apr 252015
 

On Saturday 18th April 2015, I visited Llandudno for the first time for seven years. I had driven eldest son Jamie to Crewe so he could do some work on a Railcam project and I had eight hours or so to spare. What better way to kill time than take a ride along the North Wales coast rail line. The route took me through Chester, passing the famous racecourse, before heading along the North Wales coast. The line runs through the seaside resorts of Rhyl, Abergele and Colwyn Bay, before branching off to Llandudno. The resorts along this coast are no longer [Read more]

HS2 – what it means to the neighbourhood

 What I do  3 Responses »
Jan 302013
 
HS2 - what it means to the neighbourhood

While residents of the small town of Toton will be welcoming the announcement of a new station with high-speed connections to London, Birmingham, Manchester and Leeds, communities north of the station will be wondering what effect the new High Speed 2 rail line will have on them. Immediately north of Toton, the M1 will be realigned for a distance of 1700 metres and a 950 metre viaduct constructed over the River Erewash flood plain, the Erewash Canal, Stanton Gate and the Erewash Valley railway line. Running mainly parallel to the M1 as the line snakes beyond Toton, the first villages [Read more]