There is some impressive flooding at Walsden in West Yorkshire
http://www.todmordennews.co.uk/news/local/rail-services-still-suspended-due-to-flooding-1-5902752

There are some pictures of the station under water on Twitter as #walsden

Rather less impressed was my other half trying to get from Leeds to Manchester @ 07:00 today

Are the short-term plans for Station Hill documented anywhere now that pedestrian access has been diverted elsewhere ?

I see the shopfronts have all been boarded up and painted an eco compliant green colour but that doesn't exactly draw the eye from the immense gravel pit in the foreground.

The surface of P1/2 has been completely redone very subtly, overnight - there is a new drain channel down the centre and all the brickwork has been relaid (except around the bases of the temporary supports, of course) with a nice gradient into the drain. Only the edging stones are unchanged at present.

All the riser girders are in place along the remaining length of P8/9 too.

The removal of the P3/P7 roof has been taking place over the last couple of nights - everyone at that end should be getting a good suntan now
It can be seen (or rather not!) at the left side of camera 02#02

The monitors beneath the main departure boards at Paddington on Friday ~17:15 were showing a picture also posted on twitter of some burned out line-side cabling.
I don't have access to it here to be able to repost it.

There is infrastructure work going on around p1/p2 most nights it seems . A large 400V power distribution cupboard went in a couple of weeks ago and it looks like underground works are taking place along the platforms, judging by the fresh concrete some mornings.

I also saw the following piece of genius engineering last week

J.

I witnessed someone at a local station 'not exactly' smoking on the platform. In that they were stood on the platform but their hand holding the cigarette was held over the railings onto the car park side. In order to have a puff he craned his neck over the railings. An interesting interpretation.

This of course in no way impeded the stench of cigarette smoke onto the platform...

I wonder if the filming had spread to Paddington by yesterday evening.
Someone was being ejected from a service waiting to depart and various dispatch staff, followed by BTP^▸ (British Transport Police), followed by sprinting camera-person disappeared up the length of the platform.

Ah yes, I remember that time well and generally asked the train manager to confirm that the coach in position H was in fact non-quiet. Generally I find first class very well self-policing and someone will come stomping along quite rapidly once anything gets above low-ambient noise.

There was a period a few years ago where there was a reprint of an FT(?) letter displayed at the ends of the quiet coach near the magazine rack where someone was having a rant about people abusing the clearly signed quiet zones.

This did amuse me though:
http://www.rosiemillard.com/2012/05/children-should-be-seen-and-not-heard/

It looks as though preparations are happening for the laying of track into P11 on the London side of the station.
The ballast has been leveled and the route marked out in blue.

There appears to be some foundation work taking place in the compound behind P1/2/3 as well.

It was the turn of the country side this morning with impressive pools near the p8/9 and p10/11 escalators.

Things were quite slow again this morning @ 06:50. There was something of a procession of trains all waiting for P15 towards Paddington and running around 10-15 minutes late.

I had a look around whilst I waited for a fast service - the transfer deck does feel nice and airy and has great potential. It does feel cold and very exposed near the platform exits as previously noted.

There always seems to be one of the escalators in the south entrance out of action.

I wasn't overly impressed with the summary train displays - only a single screen the size of my TV on each pier. It would be nice to have larger and more displays available. With many departures having a subtext line (eg, calls at Slough) there isn't much room for that many services to be shown, even when it is flipping over two pages.

There are the 5 groups of screens at the NW and SE sides of the deck but I had to look at them a while to work out whether they were related to a single platform(s) or all the upcoming departures.

What looks like a Starbucks booth (judging by the logo half hidden under cladding) was being erected in the centre.

The Twitter feed was earlier blaming displaced carriages on the overrunning engineering works.

The wrappings were very much coming off this morning. The wooden hoardings along P7, 8, 9 were replaced by metal fences and various waiting rooms and lifts were in evidence. A large arrivals and departures screen was operational in the south entrance opposite the stairs.