3rd August – How the North was Won
Back a few months ago when I was pencilling in dates for
trips, this would have been my finale in my master plan, but the Conwy Valley
closed and I had the car accident in June, and with Bishop Lydeard joining my
list due to the GWR summer shuttles meant it wouldn’t be a case of saying “England,
Tick”. However I would be able to say “Northern,
Tick”, which considering the various issues over the last few months would be
nice to do.
Anyhow for the first time in many months, it was an 04:45
alarm call for a short walk to the station for the 05:27 service towards Waterloo,
159015 was doing the honours and it was actually quite busy, in the past it
used to be dead quiet until Basingstoke (where passengers from
Southampton/Winchester board due to their service turning into a stopper). Anyhow a nice trip to Waterloo, crossing over
to arrive in platform 16 which felt unusual being that far across on a diesel
(but again it’s been many months so this could be usual for this service).
Onwards to Kings Cross St Pancras, with 3554/3253 taken to
Oxford Circus on the Bakerloo, with 11077/11078 to Kings Cross on the Victoria
line, a quick visit to Tesco for something to eat (and cold to drink), before
picking up my rover from the ticket office (just saves a job for later). Sadly due to overhead wire damage in the
Fitzwilliam area, the Leeds branch of the ECML was closed for traffic,
cancelling several services with passengers for Leeds told to go via York. The next York bound service was the 08:00
Edinburgh, one I know from past is already busy so it was a case of boarding as
soon as it was announced to grab an available seat. The service left full & standing, not
only was it carrying its usual passengers but passengers for Leeds and sneaky
passengers from a cancelled Grand Central service who didn’t want to go via
Manchester.
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| The old guard at Kings Cross |
91131 was up front, for potentially my last fast 91 hauled
set to York (although at the time of writing I have no bookings for LNER, the
next time is in October coming back from Inverness which will most likely be a
long trip on a HST). A good fast trip
(compared to last week where it was on a stopping service), and at York I had
the option of waiting for a delayed TPE for Liverpool or boarding a Blackpool
bound Northern 158. After asking the
guard for permission to board (the website only mentioned ticket usage for TPE)
I took a seat on 158759 for the fast run towards Leeds, calling at Church Fenton
only. I met up with my friend, Dan,
during the layover at Leeds and we carried on to New Pudsey to intercept a
pacer shaped object coming from Manchester Victoria.
153332 rolled in with low mileage 142039 on the back,
another northern pacer into my book for mileage; sadly it looks like I will
miss out on getting more than a mile from 142033 as that one is earmarked for
being sent off-lease in the next couple weeks, so it will leave me with 2. Both weren’t really gettable today (one was
on Preston – Blackpool extras, the other was on Morecambe – Lancaster shuttles
& the third was heading towards Brigg).
Anyhow it was to Leeds, before boarding 142052 to Wakefield Kirkgate
because Dan needed the curve linking the two Wakefield stations, followed up by
a busy 158842 to Leeds.
When the 158 was running into Leeds, we ran in alongside a
170 from the Harrogate line, and after checking my list noted it was low
mileage 170476 which was taken to Horsforth for a ~ 20 minute connection
for 170455 back to Leeds (at least it’s over the ten mile line now, leaves just
the single Northern 170 for mileage). Earlier
in the day I had spotted my last 322 for mileage on the Aire/Wharfdale servides,
knowing these units are numbered I worked out a rough plan and caught 333005 to
Shipley for a short fester before 322481 rolled in from Skipton to clear
the class. Back to Leeds on the 322 and
after lunch it was onto winner 800113
for my first Wakefield Azuma leap, first but by no means will be the last
time! A short connection over to the
footbridge and it was onto 43274 & 43290 with the former EMT “It’s never
dull in Hull” set (the one with the IC70 seating but with plug sockets).
Another short connection at Leeds before I eyed up low
mileage 150272 on the Huddersfield via Brighouse stopper, so it was a
trip towards Huddersfield, mainly to cover the curve heading from Brighouse,
the first TPE service back towards Leeds wasn’t of interest and was busy,
neither was the second but with one eye on the time we didn’t have much choice
so back to Leeds standing in the ballroom on 185115. After a bit of shopping I said farewell to
Dan, nice to have a little social catchup, and headed towards a late running
144016 on the next Sheffield stopper to take me to Woodlesford for a random
platform scratch. This was a bit of a
gamble because the Goole train was showing as “formed of 1 coach”, but the
screens lie as former the former West Midlands 150107 rolled in.
The train emptied out along the way, but unlike last week
where I had a pacer to myself there was at least 4 others on board after
Knottingley, 2 of those alighted at Whitley Bridge and maybe someone boarded at
Hensall, but I was all alone in alighting from the 150 at Snaith to allow me to say “Northern, Tick” (unless Manchester Utd
FC Halt reopens as I need to board there, but as it hasn’t been served since
around November 2017 it’s been mothballed in my eyes). Anyhow with an hour to kill I took a walk
towards the town centre to buy food from a local Co-Op before returning to a
litter filled platform to eat said food and relax, waiting for 150107 to
return, trying to work out where in the day 153330 had been swapped out.
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| Northern, Tick |
150107 returned from Goole, there was 2 others on board, and
someone else boarded alongside me, but nobody else joining at the other two
stations, in a way I’m glad I don’t have to come back out this way again, and
doing this line not on a pacer felt odd.
At Leeds it was a short connection to a late running 156466 bound for
Manchester, where it stopped outside the station due to the signaller trying to
send the unit via Dewsbury instead of via Bradford, but I took the unit to New
Pudsey, but alas my hunch was incorrect as the next Leeds service was 153332
& 142039 from earlier in the day. No
idea what happened to 153330 but it will be around for a few extra months, but
at this point I was coming up with ideas what to do, keeping my eye for my
final trains to get me to Bradford.
The decision was made as winner 800108 was sat on the opposite platform bound for Bradford Forster
Square, so onwards to Shipley (where it used platform 4 due to the length and
was a set-down only call). A quick walk
between platforms saw me onto 333007 for the run to Guiseley for a short
wait for 333003 for the short hop to Menston before 333007 returned from Ilkley
on the final Bradford bound train. It reached
Guiseley and sat on the platform for a good 20 minutes, the guard coming
through to say we were awaiting a member of Network Rail staff to inspect the
line as this unit caused a transformer to trip previously (in all fairness it
was a loud pop with sparks) between Guiseley & Baildon. Eventually the train pulled forward but
stopped again before the junction, eventually getting going once again, going
via Baildon and reaching Bradford Forster Square a good 45 minutes late.
I started the day with overhead wire issues; I ended the day
with overhead wire issues, ah well these things happen as I walked towards the
Ibis Budget, doing the usual attempting to cross the road at a crossing which
lacks traffic lights. I crashed into the
bed after a quick derance, the end of a successful day.
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| Shipley Azuma |
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