29th June – Lancashire Rover

29^th June – Lancashire Rover

My alarm was set for 05:45 with an “on the road” time of around 06:10, as I wanted to be on the first Southport service of the day, which departs Wigan Wallgate around 06:30, so it was a walk back towards the stations in Wigan, passing all the closed nightclubs, all the takeaway boxes on the ground, and to Wigan Wallgate.  The Southport train was already in the platform and was 150137 leading 156468, and I was in two minds at where to bail.  Either New Lane which gave a tight 4 minute connection to the other platform (which would solely depend on the level crossing going up between trains), or to Bescar Lane which gave roughly an hour sitting in the morning sun for the same pair of units to return from Southport.  My rough plan of the day had me bailing at Bescar Lane, but I decided to attempt the connection at New Lane, if the level crossing didn’t go up between trains than what would be would be.  Little did I know this decision would prove to be vital in a few hours time.

I took a seat in the mostly empty 156 (a few other passengers joined the leading 150) for the trip towards Southport, calling at all the stations, with announcements after Hoscar that any passengers for New & Bescar Lane should be in the rear unit by the  rearmost door due to short platforms.  I was the only passenger to alight at New Lane where I noticed the barriers had gone up so instead of my more usual picture of the train departing I walked fast across the road and managed to get a picture [as one thing I regret is that I didn’t take pictures that much in the early days of station visiting, in case anybody was wondering I needed to alight at New Lane as last time I rode from Burscough Junction).  Just as I arrived onto the Wigan bound platform the barriers sounded and lowered as 142044 & 142041 rolled in, again an empty service (although that was only based on the rear coach of 041), as I decided to take these pacers to Gathurst, as I forgot how long the walk between platforms is at this station!

Anyhow I made it to the other platform with time to spare with low mileage 142049 & 150127, as I took a seat in the former GWR unit for the trip to Burscough Bridge, where I failed to note the nearby Tesco didn’t open until 8am!  Never mind as I crossed over to the opposite platform to await the return of 156468 & 150137 from Southport to take me one stop back east to Hoscar.  Another level crossing station, but this time I had plenty of time, enough to take a seat and watch the countryside before 150222 & low mileage 142030 rolled in, the mile and a half wouldn’t be enough for the pacer but every little helps as I returned to Burscough Bridge, popping to the Tesco for something cold & wet as it was getting quite warm.  After leaving the Tesco it was a short walk along the road to reach the other station in Burscough, Burscough Junction.  A simpler station than Bridge, with evidence of the former platform still in existence with some flower pots on I arrived earlier than expected which allowed me a trip to Ormskirk on 142038, swapping ends for the trip to Rufford.

A short half hour wait at Rufford (not the best seats in the world), until 142048 bounced into the loop to take me back to Ormskirk where I headed across to the next platform to take a seat on 507004 for the run to Sandhills where I made a “man of steel” move across the platform as a late running Southport service was rolling in, with low mileage 507020 leading 508143, I took to Formby for a random platform score, waiting 15 minutes for 508131 & 508141 to take me to Southport, where I headed out of the station to get lunch for later on, returning to the station for the next Blackburn service to roll in, with 142041 & 142044. It was a case of a Tardis like “how many folk can you fit on a pacer” challenge (everybody to the seaside!) before I took a seat at the rear of 142044 and the pacers departed, clearing the carriage sidings before coming to a sudden stop before reaching Meols Cop.  The guard (and I assume a trainee) checked the toilet in case someone had pulled the lever, but after 15 minutes the driver climbed up to take the units wrong line back into Southport, the leading pacer had “broke”.

Needless to say this threw my plans up in the air as I was aiming for Bescar Lane, one of the smaller limited served stations on the Southport line, the next service scheduled to call would be in 3 hours time.  However lady luck was on my side as the next Southport service was running around 15 minutes late so a cheeky “is this stopping at Bescar Lane in lieu of the cancelled service?” question to the guard got an additional call added to the next Leeds train.  By the time156461 & 150119 arrived at Bescar Lane it was a tight connection, so once more it was a fast walk across the level crossing, with the barriers going down less than a minute after I got onto the platform (joining another passenger).  A mix of luck the additional call was made, the Southport service was running late & I did New Lane early on, otherwise I would have had to do some replanning.  Anyhow what rolled in was 150137 on its own (must have had a falling out with 156468) and it was wedged out, I managed to squeeze on for the uncomfortable trip back to Southport, thankfully the train emptied out as I got a seat for the return service to take me back to Wigan Wallgate.

I had one last station on my radar which was on the Kirkby branch, so it was a case of sitting in the sunshine waiting for the shuttle to arrive, this timetable change was very helpful for me as it meant I could do Upholland with a 30 minute connection rather than a 55 minute wait from the Wigan end (or do it from the Kirkby end).  150226 rolled into the bay platform at Wigan Wallgate, emptied out (only a dozen or so passengers), and returned with me on it for a couple stops to Upholland, the station between the two PTE areas.  Not a lot around the station so I took a seat (being thankful it was in a cutting so was shaded as it was quite warm today.  Anyhow the time past and 150226 returned to take me back to Wigan Wallgate, down to 22 stations left.  I turned down a low mileage pacer on the next Leeds service instead exited the station, walked across the road to Wigan North Western and awaited the next Blackpool train.

This was mainly to sample a 319 to Blackpool, with 319368 doing the job with a nice fast run terminating into platform 6, where I crossed over to platform 3 for the next Liverpool service (the Manchester wasn’t of interest) which was a low mileage 319367 for the run to Preston.  My original idea was to wait for the Manchester Airport TPE service to sample my first electric unit via Chorley, but on platform 5 was a heavily delayed 319446 bound for Hazel Grove which had all the stops ripped out to Oxford Road.  It was a bit of a gamble as where it was booked to go via Bolton I guess it could have easily diverted to Wigan then Chat Moss, but it was worth taking as the motor coach was empty, and the gamble was worth it as it turned left after Leyland for a nice fast run via Chorley, slowing down for the speed limit at Bolton and catching up with the previous stopping service around Salford area, before the more usual crawl via Castlefield.  Anyhow I alighted at Piccadilly and headed for a walk to my accommodation for the night, just to get myself checked in to lose some weight from the bag.  It was a pub near Shudehill, booked for the location and the reasonable price (£40 for a private room, all be it with shared bathroom).

After I got checked in, I was back on the street and walked to Victoria, toying with ideas as I wanted to be at Liverpool for the 19:45 Wigan service which was rumoured to be a 323 working, which would be a novelty, and as I’m not sure when the next time I will be in this area on a Saturday night, I decided to give it a spin.  A Chester bound 142068 took me to Earlestown, where I walked from the Warrington bound platform 5 to the Liverpool bound platform (I swear the distance between Wigan stations is less!), with low mileage 323236 taken to Lime Street, the next Manchester bound stopper wasn’t of interest, nor was the late running Blackpool train, so I took  a seat back onto 323236 which got busy (this train departed Lime Street on time, but got held outside for the late running 319 semi-fast Blackpool service to pass, much to the annoyance of some St Helens folk).  It made a good noise for the trip towards Wigan, and was enjoyable on the faster sections, but even with the greater acceleration over a 319 it didn’t make up much time.

The next Manchester stopper via Swinton had rolled into the bay platform at Wigan North Western, and it was a familiar looking Pacer+Sprinter combo from earlier in the day as low mileage 142030 & 150222 had returned, a quick check on Rail Miles and my calculator and I worked out the run to Hindley would be enough to push it over the 10 miles.  I know I won’t get all 8 of my remaining Northern 142s over 10 miles before they start getting retired, but I will give it my best shot.  Next up was 150108 &150276 which I took to Bolton for a very unsuccessful hunt of mileage requirements, slightly regretting not boarding a busy 150+153 for Blackburn which got routed via platform 3 for the rare connection towards the Darwen line (most Blackburn [via Bromley Cross] use platform 1].  Eventually I boarded 319379 for the run to Lostock for a random platform score with 319386 taken back to Bolton for a “what the hell” move with 153324 & 150209 taken to Hall I’ th’ Wood (another random platform score) which gave me a +5 to the final train, which was running a few minutes late.  I guess the station lights are on a timer as the station was thrown into darkness before 150150 appeared to take me to a quiet Manchester Victoria.  Quiet other than folk hanging around having missed their last trains home.

A short walk up the hill to Shudehill, making my way to the room, phone on charge and relax, the end of a successful day, getting extremely lucky with Bescar Lane and also lucky with a fast 319 via Chorley (it might just be a placebo but the motors on that 319/4 Northern have sound better).