Tag: Blake street

#365daysofbiking Tenacity

February 14th – Having missed a train at Blake Street station, I took refuge from the cold in the waiting room.

It’s perfectly neat, tidy and cleaned well: But it’s noticeable a visitor from outside is being allowed to come in from the cold.

I loved how this ivy frond  which looked healthy and seemed to be growing well has worked in through the window frame and climbed down the electric cable.

The tenacity of plants is fantastic.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/39OEVkn
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking A late arrival

January 14th – A grim, mostly wet journey to Telford and an even wetter one coming home that really wasn’t conducive to photography.

One thing I did notice in the morning though was that after about two years of being out of order, the information display on the Birmingham bound platform of Blake Street Station is finally working again.

Excuse upon excuse was made, with vvarious parties blaming each other yet nothing seemed to get fixed. Occasionally someone would clearly have a go, as the garbage the screen displayed would change, or it would throw up network status mesages.

At long last, due to the late arrival of the display, we can now see how late the arrival of the train is.

I suppose this is progress, of a sort…

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/3adcn4Z
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking A careless display

November 26th – Just lately, local rail travel in the West Midlands operated by West Midlands Railway has been a shambles. Not enough staff, cancelled services, late running. The service this autumn has been atrocious, and little does more to sum up the careless attitude to customer service than the sage of the passenger information board at Blake Street on the Birmingham bound platform.

It’s been out of action now for about 18 months. Possibly longer, and displays an error message with completely the wrong time.

When asked why it has not been fixed, customer service waffle about overhead lines needing to be off to undertake the repairs and other stuff, blaming Network Rail. It doesn’t wash.

It would be relatively trivial to fit a working, temporary display in the safe zone nearby. That the company cannot do this, or make a proper arrangement with Network Rail within 18 months tells us much about the attitude of the operator to its customers, that pretty much they don’t care.

As long as they can blame someone else, who cares that your punters aren’t getting service information?

It might be amusing, but we’re paying for this crap.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here

from Tumblr https://ift.tt/33FngZ5
via IFTTT

#365daysofbiking Waiting for a train

May 23rd – Spotted waiting for a train at Blake Street, an urbane puss undertaking some grroming duties whilst loafing on the platform like so many commuters do.

This utterly unfazed, handsome and elderly-looking cat just continued with the maintenance while a train came and went only pausing to scowl at me for daring to take his photo.

Long time since I met a railway station kitty. A pleasure to make this one’s acquaintance on such a lovely morning.

This journal is moving home. Find out more by clicking here.

from Tumblr http://bit.ly/2whvuIB
via IFTTT

December 18th – Off to Telford again, and caught out by a sharp frost, I nearly lost the bike on black ice, having chosen the one bike without ice tyres as I thought it was too warm.

I’d set out at dawn, and in Brownhills, it wa misty and warm. Unusually, as I got to Mill Green, it was cold, clear and frosty. This was unusual, as normally the reverse is true. Turning into Mill Lane I realised ice was a problem and about 100 yards on I did a series of shimmies that would have please Torville and Dean. 

Luckily, I had no following vehicles, and relaxed, I let the bike go where it wanted and gradually let the velocity drain away, before walking back up the lane to the main road.

A close shave, which meant I missed my train; but it did give me chance to catch an icy dawn over Hill Hook.

December 12th – Off to Telford in the early morning in temperatures pushing minus 6 with a fresh fall of snow the night before. Blake Street Station looked oddly eerie in the dawn light and pure white, and as the electric 323 train rolled in past a familiar view of the Sutton Mast going in the opposite direction, the pantograph pickup arced continuously and noisily due to the ice on the catenary wires.

A mesmerising sight,  I couldn’t help wondering if ithe 25,000 volt arc degraded the pickup carbons or just burnt of the ice. 

Something you don’t witness too often, that.

November 29th – A very cold, frosty morning, but thankfully the roads weren’t terribly icy due to the dry weather, but a morning journey to the station was taken carefully, particularly down the backlanes.

Waiting for my train, I caught the sun rising behind Hill Hook and the Sutton Transmitter, and thought how long it’s been since I saw this at dawn.

A great view, but also rather chilly.

February 2nd – I went into Birmingham late in the day, and 2very tired, I picked my return station to give me best wind advantage.

As I got out my gloves and sorted the lights and things at Blake Street, I watched a second train come through, a blur of light.

Sometimes, that’s exactly how I feel.

January 23rd – Heading into Birmingham on a dull, misty and early morning, I hit a queue of traffic along Blake Street which was unusual, Rounding the bend, I saw an articulated lorry with the top of it’s trailer crudely torn off – the effect of driving it under the low bridge now behind it.

The vehicle but have been going at a fair speed as the entire of the trailer’s roof was destroyed, and the HGV near clear of the railway over bridge.

There really is no excuse for this, and it’s fortunate nobody was injured. Any driver has to know the height of their rig and where the acceptable routes are. Trying to think of anything to mitigate this guy’s position I came up blank.

Perhaps the bridge should have been wearing more hi-vis…

This king of the road’s idiocy mate for a touch and go, very uncomfortable commute for me and anyone else who was on the Cross City Line. What’s so maddening is this is a fairly regular occurrence here.

How hard is it to read a warning sign?

January 16th – A terrible, awful, wet commuting day. I got wet on may way to work, wet mid day when visiting a customer, and wet on my way back. The bike is so damp, when it catches the light it has it’s own rainbow.

I came back unusually to Blake Street, as the train I was on didn’t serve Shenstone, and it was just to horrid to come from Four Oaks up that hill. I stood at the top of the steps – the ramp is a long way up the platform, and the steps are quicker – and in that moment it struck me how odd they are. Open with no roof, they descend into a passageway under the railway. Painted cream and well lit, it’s like they once had a roof, and it was removed.

I wonder…?