October 9th – A real, live hipster and his fixie at Moor Street Station. Interestingly, this is one of the few double sided hubs I’ve ever seen being ridden of the fixed wheel side. Respect for that. It’s a remarkable bike. He loses points in the style stakes for the backwards cap and overloaded rucksack, mind. A good illustration of the variety of cycling.
September 24th – The bad evening predicated a bad morning; it was one of the worst commutes weather-wise I’d had for years. Thanks to a tipoff early on twitter by Aiden MacHaffie, I knew before I left that trains on the Cross City were shafted, and my journey would therefore have to start at Walsall. Heading to Tyseley in heavy rain, the usually assortment of bad weather bad drivers made themselves painfully evident. The trains were rammed, and by the time I found myself waiting at Moor Street, I was wet, chilly and down in the dumps. I don’t know so much about autumn, someone seems to have left the door open and winter wandered in. Ugh.
September 19th – Off to Tyseley, and stood on Moor Street Station in Birmingham, I looked through the railings back towards Masshouse, and the edge of Eastside. Not many folk realise that Moor Street Station actually sits on a bridge over the approaches to New Street Station, so this may one day be the location of a new Birmingham central transport interchange. I was struck by the state of this area in terms of architecture and regeneration. Caught between dereliction and rebirth, the shiny new blocks contrast jarringly with the boarded up buildings nearby. With the recent change in control at Birmingham City Council, hopefully the indecisive hiatus that stalled development of Eastside for over a decade will end.
May 21st – Today, I was mostly in Tyseley again, which meant a short hop on the Snow Hill line. I jumped on the train at Moor Street Station – a beautifully restored building, more of a film set than commuter hub. Like it’s sister Chiltern Railways station, Marylebone, it’s a bright, airy, wonderful place to catch a train from.
A rare delight in the UK rail system.
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