31st August – A day of unit hunting in Manchester

31st August – A day of unit hunting in Manchester

As I mentioned on the report for Friday, today was meant to be a railtour, but due to said tour being pushed back to next year I was left with a free Saturday, in the end deciding to head to Manchester as it was reasonably cheap with split tickets.  I had some random platforms on my list in Manchester but the main aim was to look for any of my low mileage units, I did put a request in to see if any of my remaining trio of pacers was operating in the Manchester area, of which one was working Manchester Victoria – Stalybridge shuttles before doing the Denton flyer.

The day began early, with a walk to Walsall station via Tesco for some breakfast & other supplies, with 323211 on the first stopper to New Street, giving a nice sunrise over the Aston area.  New Street was a bit in chaos due to a PHBT between Birmingham International & Coventry, but I jumped on a Liverpool bound 350375 to take me to Wolverhampton before 220025 on a Manchester service which goes via Crewe, and was quite empty throughout the trip."

"This is Wilmslow"

Once I was at Piccadilly, I managed to get the TVM to sell me a GM Rail Ranger before heading back, deciding to do a time wasting random platform at Bramhall before the Denton train, so I took a seat on 323233 to Stockport where I bailed due to a couple things, the Denton train had been cancelled and a low mileage 150 was spotted on a Buxton service.  Sorry Bramhall you will have to wait for another trip, as I headed back towards Piccadilly on 156468 & 156452 and after a brief look around to see if there was anything else of interest before I took a seat on the Buxton service with 150220 leading 150113 for the run to Stockport.

After a brief fester, it was back to Piccadilly on 390044, heading across to platform 14 to board 150224 & 142007 to Oxford Road, with 323226 taken to Deansgate as a time wasting move as the next Norwich bound service would feature a low mileage 158.  A good time wasting move as the next Oxford Road terminator was a low mileage 150218 leading 142048, so that 150 went onto my list to intercept later on.  A couple minutes at Oxford Road before my first East Midlands Railway service appeared, 158777 was leading 158865 which would be cleared for mileage with a time honoured Stockport leap.

Another short turnaround at Stockport, boarding 175116 back to Piccadilly, before walking over to the Huddersfield stopper formed of 185140 to take me to Greenfield to allow me to intercept a slightly late running 185129 back to Stalybridge which put that 185 over ten miles (leaving just 185108 to go, and that is only on a mile from a couple Oxford Road/Piccadilly leaps).  Due to the late running I was thinking my chance with the Manchester Victoria shuttle would have gone, but that was held back to allow a late running Liverpool service go first, but alas 142001 had buggered off somewhere else as it was 142044 on its own.  A short connection at Victoria before I boarded a late running Airport bound 18513 2 to take me around the curve to Oxford Road, with 156459 taken to Urmston, where I alighted for a random platform score and also to intercept the return of 150218 & 142048 from Liverpool, an excuse to get that station out of the way.

At Oxford Road, the next Piccadilly bound service was the Norwich bound EMR service which featured an ultra low mileage 158866 leading 158799, so it was another trip to Stockport, not enough to push 866 over the line, but as it was at the front it allowed me to make a note of when it should in theory return to Stockport in around 4 hours time.  After another short fester of nothing of interest it was a run back to Piccadilly on 175010 to allow me to take a seat on a low mileage 150149 working a Rose Hill Marple service (with 142020 on the rear), the run to Ashburys was enough to push the unit over the line.  I had three options to return to Piccadilly, first was a 142, followed by a 323, and then 150122, so it was onto that sprinter to avoid having a half hour wait.

Piccadilly won't be the same when the 142s are gone

I headed over to platform 13, where winner 195119 rolled in from Liverpool, so it was a trip to the airport, just missing out on a required 195, so with nothing else of interest it was onwards to Salford Crescent on a Blackpool bound 319381.  A brief fester at the island platform for anything of interest before a heavily delayed Clitheroe bound service appeared, I had to double take but my luck was in as it was a low mileage 150110 which cleared my Northern 150s for ten miles, Woohoo!  The run to Bolton was enough so I’m glad I can ignore any Northern 150s in the future.  My BLS hat came out to play next as due to the late running the next Blackburn train had arrived and went into platform 3 at Bolton which used the lesser used connection from platform 3  towards the Darwen line, it was a busy 150145 (funny how the previous service was pretty much empty) to Bromley Cross, the first time I have used this station in a few years, and a chance to grab a picture (as IIRC when I used the station before it was in the darkness).

"Waiting for the train in front to clear the single track"

Due to the single track sections on this line, it was a good wait before 150101 & 153328 appeared, going via platform 3 at Bolton, as I noted a low mileage 153 heading northbound.  This pair of sprinters made up some time and thankfully there was a late running airport bound 185109 due to arrive at Victoria a couple minutes after I arrived (which saved a trip on the tram).  A short walk at Piccadilly to board a busy 156429 to Stockport, but I shouldn’t have rushed as the Liverpool train was running around 15 minutes late (some issues on the TPE network causing some quite lengthy delays).  My patience paid off as 158780 arrived with 158866 on the back, the run to Piccadilly pushing that 158 over the line, but sadly due to the delay meant a quick replan was in order for that 153.  First of all it was a return of low mileage 150285 on a service towards Chester, the extra half a mile pushing this Welsh 150 ever closer to ten miles (I think it’s on 9 miles and 60 chains now).  A busy Blackpool bound 319367 was up next to take me to Salford Crescent where I had a short fester to await for the return of 153330 & 150123.

A run to Moston would be enough to put this 153 over the ten mile line, but gave me a +5 to another service, but thankfully it was on time with the next Blackburn service (150145) being a minute or so late.  Back to Victoria, where it was a short trip to Piccadilly on tram 3002, a chance to grab dinner before boarding 323233 for the long trip to Stoke on Trent (with an extended dwell at the world famous Congleton station due to the sheer number of passengers alighting, and getting stuck in the toilet), but due to my booked Voyager to Wolverhampton getting cancelled it was an extended fester at a chilly Stoke for 221139 to arrive on the final Birmingham bound service.   I remained on board to Birmingham to await the arrival of 350265 from Wolverhampton where it formed the final stopper towards Hednesford, and it wasn’t as busy as I was expecting it to be, at least in the front coach.

Cheap train to Stoke

 Arrival at Walsall where there was a lot of passengers alighting, some looking a bit worse for wear, and I had a gentle walk back to the hotel.  Reflecting on a good day for me, with 8 units gaining entry to the Ten Mile club, a 195 gaining entry to my red pen and a tiny boost of mileage to a Welsh 150, certainly wasn’t expecting to see my last 4 Northern 150s, but no real delays (other than the half hour delay back to Wolverhampton).