At York Station

We're train photographers; it wouldn't be a visit to a railway city like York without a post on the station.

Gorgeous old station roof.

There's definitely something about the contrast between the historical architecture and the modern trains rumbling through.

 

York Walls

Mini midweek post- some shots taken around the City Walls in York.

Love some ferns.

 

A walk around York

At the start of August, we took a trip to York. Originally, we'd been supposed to be having just an overnight stop before getting on an excursion train, but the company running it couldn't get their train set to work. Rather than cancel our stay, we decided to have 24 hours in York.

What follows then is basically a selection of shots snapped around the city whilst we were out and about.

There's always lots of historic features to see, especially if you look up above head height.

Also for a historical city like this, little nooks and alleyways.

Room for a bit of 1960's and 1970's architecture in there too.

smoke-staining and wear on the brickwork.

Lovely old stained-glass dome at the bar at the station, whilst waiting for the train home.

 

Carlisle Citadel Station

Carlisle Citadel (the old name, which I -Ben- being a train nerd, insist on calling it by). My favourite station. I mean look at it, it's magnificent!  They've finally cleaned the roof recently, and it creates some nice shadows and patterns.

I worked here for a bit whilst at Uni, but spent a lot of time here over the years in general. It was where I caught the train home of course, but also the setting-off point for adventures to Scotland, Newcastle, the Cumbrian Coast. I have fond memories of just sitting here, soaking up the atmosphere whilst waiting for the trains.

We had an hour or so until the train, so decided to grab a brew in the cafe that I used to work in back in 2004.

Freightliner kindly obliged us with a couple of trains- class 90's, lovely old dinosaurs on the modern network. Not many A/C electrics around now. Sadly, I can remember when these were brand new and cutting edge.

The newer livery- I think I prefer this over the green and yellow.

The Workington bay.

Waiting for the train back to West Yorkshire, Newcastle train in the other bay.

Nice to pop back and visit, and always plenty to see as an enthusiast.

 

Carlisle Cathedral.

We didn't just spend our day (well, afternoon- thanks Northern Rail, and your late-running trains) in Carlisle wandering about taking pictures of random bits of wall. We also went to the wonderful, imposing, and frankly beautiful, Cathedral.

We had our graduation ceremony here- just look at the cieling!

This place never disappoints, it's breath-taking. Helped as well on the day by the choir who were practising.

There was a lovely (and busy) cafe in the grounds as well- tea for two, with this as the backdrop? A very nice afternoon.

 

(Day) Return to Carlisle

We returned to Carlisle this summer, just for a day trip. We were meant to go on an Excursion, but West Coast Railways couldn't organise their train set and it got cancelled. So we travelled by Northern Rail instead. Well, the trains are old enough to also count as 'heritage'...

To be fair, class 158's aren't too bad, and they've been refurbished to a high standard. There was even a trolley service!  Shame it ran slow and late, but hey, that's the Settle Carlisle line. Looks pretty, but not run terribly well. How you can run late on a double-tracked main line when there's no other trains using it...

Enough moaning. Anyway, this was a bit of a nostalgia trip for us, as we met in Carlisle whilst on the Photography course at what was then the Cumbria Institute of the Arts, now a small arts campus of the Uni of Cumbria. The above pic is a revisit of one of Amy's early, but very large, projects, documenting the surviving Emergency Water Supply signs (World War 2 vintage) scattered around the city.

We did the Cathedral as well, and more on that in a seperate post.

We didn't exactly do the tourist thing; our interest in Carlisle when we lived there was always taking random pics of the overlooked bits. Peer closely enough at the above, for example, and there's another ghost sign, from when this was an office for the Caledonian Railway.

And the above; this was Woolworths when we lived there. Look at the bonkers patchwork of bricks!

Another ghost sign. Some more pics from Carlisle to follow.