19th October – A Greater Manchester Wayfarer
Day
The idea of this weekend was to do some platform scratches
within the GM Wayfarer area, if any required units for mileage popped up it
would be a nice bonus. I was overnight
in the Stockport Travelodge, a place I’ve stayed a few times before for it be
quite handy for the station (around a 5 minute walk), staying overnight in a
room above a pub in South Stockport, near Davenport station. Also I’ve recently finished going through my
pictures taken over the last 6 years to make a note of what stations I need to
revisit in order to take a photograph, yes it be a new challenge (just to beat
off boredom). If I remember correctly it
is around 1050 stations I need to revisit for pictures, although the majority
are in the ‘easy’ pile, i.e. not limited served, and heck around 200 are within
Greater London.
It was an early start for the first Manchester service from
Stockport, which is a Hazel Grove – Blackpool North service, and unsurprisingly
it wasn’t that busy when 319383 rolled in to take me to Salford Crescent, which
is where my plan could have gone one or two ways depending if the 319 was on
time to go ahead of a Wigan stopper, thankfully it was on time (arrived a
minute or so early) so I stepped back to board an empty 142014 for the short
bounce to Swinton (Manchester).
In a way I was lucky with the weather as whilst it was a bit chilly it
was dry, ideal for a gentle walk towards a certain station which only sees one
train a day calling in each direction, Clifton.
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| The Magical Clifton Station |
First time I’ve seen this station in daylight (the last two
times I’ve been here has been in darkness) and it is a bit unloved, but quite
nice to relax with some bird song.
Eventually the Stalybridge train rolled up, 150271 & 150274 on the
honours, and needless to say I was the only passenger boarding and other than a
confused looking lady who got off before reboarding (thinking it was Salford)
nobody alighted. I had a decision to
risk a minus 1 at Ashton Under Lyne or hang back for half an hour, looking up
RTT highlighted a couple late running TPE services which would mean the
Manchester Victoria shuttle would most likely be held back a couple minutes so
I decided to take the chance to stay on after Victoria to alight at Ashton
Under Lyne. A good decision for
later as 150137 rolled in to take me back to Manchester Victoria, this was
quite surprising as this service should be two units as they divide at
Stalybridge to form the Denton flyer, maybe Northern would see sense and
instead split that pair of 150s from earlier...
Nope, it was back towards Ashton and on for the next mile to
Stalybridge where the train went into platform 2 (little crossover
scored). The 150 departed towards
Stockport with the next Victoria service cancelled (much to the annoyance of
the driver & guard who were stuck at Stalybridge with no unit!). I jumped on a quiet 185141 for the run to
Manchester Piccadilly where after a visit to the Sainsburys for breakfast, I
headed towards platform 14, jumping on 150128 & 150131 for the hop to
Oxford Road, noticing the next train was the Liverpool (via Chat Moss) stopper
so it was a change of plan time as I hung back to board a busy 323239 to Earlestown
making a 4 minute connection for a Leeds train for the mile back to Newton Le
Willows, 142030 & 142038. (I
probably have got my friend Dan mouth watering at the idea of a nice fast run
on a pair of pacers as I think these are semi-fast after Victoria). Funny how I was at Newton Le Willows last
weekend, alighting from a brand new 802, but this week was a pair of
pacers. I hung back a few minutes for
the Crewe stopper formed of 319373 to take me to Patricroft.
Not a lot around this station, so it was back to Earlestown
on 323236 (still feels strange seeing 323s in this part of the network), and I
had a mildly fast walk to the Leeds train formed of 156461 which took me to
Rochdale, a nice bit of speed along the way.
I walked to platform 4 to board the stopper which was formed of 150209 &
153351 to take me to Mills Hill where in my rush to cross over the
temporary footbridge didn’t get a decent picture of the station with 150206
& 153358 taken back to Rochdale before a late running service from
Blackburn with a wedged out 142011 taken back to Victoria. 142049 & 142034 took me to Salford
Central (needed for a photo) before 150146 & 158859 took me to Salford
Crescent before 319371 rolled in on the opposite platform to take me to
Piccadilly where I had a short walk to board 150222 for the run towards the
Peak District at Buxton.
The main reason for coming to Buxton was to recover the
scenic line; the second reason is that there is an hourly service which uses
platform 1, so with half an hour I headed to the town centre where I could
swear there used to be a Co-Op, but either my memory is playing games or the
store has closed since I was last here, so it was to Greggs for lunch, before
heading back to the station to board 150141 & 150110 on platform 1. These units took me to Davenport where I
exited the station, walking to the pub I was staying to check myself in, and
dropping off some weight.
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| 150s at Buxton |
I exit the pub and crossed over the road to board bus 12209
on a route 192 (Hazel Grove Park & Ride to Piccadilly) bus to Stockport,
where I boarded 319383 for the leap to Heaton Chapel (needed for a picture),
150126 & 150101 took me a mile to Levenshulme before 150222 returned from
Piccadilly to take me to Stockport. A
short fester before 150271 & 150274 took me to Cheadle Hulme before 323233
rolled in to take me to Bramhall where I had a half hour fester before
323227 rolled up to take me to Piccadilly.
I decided to go off-plan (as I was going to head towards Reddish North)
but earlier in the day I saw a low mileage 158 working to Chester so I decided
to intercept it at Rochdale, so it was to Metrolink with tram 3112 taken to
Piccadilly Gardens followed by a walk to Market Street for tram 3113 to take me
to Victoria (no direct trams from Piccadilly towards Victoria today due to the
Bury line being closed).
At Manchester Victoria I had a short wait before 158906
rolled in to take me to Rochdale, but sadly my luck wasn’t in as it wasn’t
158789 rolling in but 158842 (I believe the former Scottish unit ended up
heading towards Blackpool), you win some, you lose some as I took this 158 back
to Victoria, changing onto 150127 to Salford Crescent. For some time wasting I took 150131 &
150128 to Deansgate (mainly for a picture) returning to Salford on 319381
before 156469 took me to Bolton. The
reason for heading to Bolton is that I had news that my last Northern 153 for
mileage was working the next Rochdale service, so it would be rude to turn down
the former GWR 153380 attached with 150119. I took this pair of units to Salford,
stepping back to board 319386 for the run to Oxford Road, with winner 195115 rolling in a couple minutes
behind, so it was a trip to the Airport.
Not a lot around the Airport, so with confirming the
Liverpool service was a dud 195, I boarded 319371 on a fast service back to
Piccadilly, fighting my way through the crowds to reach a busy Buxton bound
150222 for the run back to Davenport and a gentle walk to the pub.
In terms of units, not the best of days, a 153 for mileage
plus a 195 outright (sadly my last 185 was sitting on the depot, and last 3
pacers weren’t in the area, doubt I will get those 3 before they get
withdrawn), but for my platforms it looks better for Greater Manchester,
getting Clifton out of the way was the main aim as it means I don’t have to
stay in Stockport if Macclesfield is cheaper.
Overall I was impressed with the pub room, hardly any outside noise,
plus the rooms were quite nice inside, certainly a place I would probably
consider staying again.
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20th October – Manchester Sunday
Due to where I was staying being on the main route 192, I
had an earlier bus journey into Manchester city centre then to wait around for
the first train, so after checking out and making my way to the bus stop for a
short wait before bus 12110 rolled up. I
was smart enough to have purchased my wayfarer from Oxford Road the night
before, so no issues with getting on the bus for the 35-odd minutes into the
streets around Piccadilly. Not the
fastest of bus routes but fast enough due to the quiet streets (I would imagine
at peak time this bus would take ages).
A rough idea I had was to head towards the Hope Valley, but
my eyes caught on a low mileage 319, one which I turned down the day before and
after a mental coin toss decided to board 319374 for the run to Gatley for a photo, before 319382
returned me to Piccadilly, saves having to chase that 319 down later in the day
(which was good as it ended up getting cancelled when it reached
Liverpool). At Piccadilly I headed over
to platform 1 where the next Sheffield stopping service was getting ready to
board, taking a seat in 142058 (which was leading 150114), and to be honest I
had forgotten how nice the Hope Valley is for scenery, even outside Manchester
via Marple. Anyhow I remained on board
this pacer + sprinter combo to Hope to score the platform. Nearly getting knocked flying by some prats
on bikes that couldn’t push their bikes to the gate at the bottom of the
footbridge (and the funny thing is those cyclists were in the car park for ages
after the train had gone so it wasn’t like they were in a hurry).
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| I'm very Hopeful of having a good view |
A nice peaceful time before 142028 bounced in from
Sheffield, I managed to get a decent seat (for it did get busy after Romiley),
but I bailed at Reddish North to score the Manchester bound
platform. A gentle walk out of the
station to a nearby bus stop for a delayed route 203 bus (fleet 11267, looked
very new), which took me towards Piccadilly via Belle Vue (another slow bus
route, but it got me there).
At Manchester Piccadilly I have a couple free hours before
my booked Pendo back to London, so after a quick scan of the platforms
highlighted nothing of interest, it was to Oxford Road on 158773 & 158813
with the main idea to intercept a 195 from Barrow (which turned out to be not
required), however sitting in the bay platform was a low mileage 319 which
would be cleared for 10 miles by Salford, so I took a seat on 319378 for
the run to Salford Crescent, leaving me with just the one Northern 319 to track
down. A late running service from
Blackpool caught my eye as 156426 rolled in, completely wedged out. I was lucky to get on board for the trip to
Oxford Road for due to the Sunday cancellations there were only 3 trains an
hour from Bolton towards Manchester.
At Oxford Road, I stepped back to board 185138 to
Piccadilly, returning to Oxford Road on 158852 &158780 before heading back
to Piccadilly on a late running 350405, just time wasting leaps. At Piccadilly for the final time I headed to
Boots for some food before heading over to join my booked train back to London,
the last London train before the advance fares jump (even when booking as soon
as the tickets become available, there is a notable jump in fares after the
14:15 service. 390155 would be my ride
back to London where it was an uneventful trip, I think arriving pretty much on
time.
With some time to kill before the next Andover train (I
guess in theory I could have rushed for the 16:45 service), I headed to
Highbury & Islington on 11079/11080 making a connection onto 378142
for the run to Rotherhithe, 378213
took me forward to Surrey Quays
followed by 378140 to Clapham Junction, where after tapping out I jumped
onto 444044 & 444013 for the run to Basingstoke as due to engineering works
the diesels were turning back at Andover so it was a train of unknown length,
and I didn’t fancy standing on a single 159 to Basingstoke! A short fester at Basingstoke before 158886
& 158881 arrived to take me the final 18 and half miles to Andover, where
after swinging via the local pizza shop I drove home.
Overall a successful weekend for my platform requirements,
Greater Manchester is now complete, just need to revisit some of the stations
for pictures, but that is a job for next year.
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| Pacer at Reddish |
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18th October - The Road to Stockport
The Friday was another day in London and another at
Liverpool Street as I attempted to make a dent into my low mileage 321s, this
time I was armed with gen to create a rough idea, sadly a couple of the units
were first stop Chelmsford so were written out (after all you can’t use Oyster
at Chelmsford!), but I decided to focus on those unmodified sub 6 miles units
(as they will probably get redrawn first).
Like with previous weeks I was going via Reading, but this time I was
aimed with news of a required 802 on a service from Bedwyn.
After driving to Andover, I managed to catch a late running
semi-fast service, formed of 159004 & 159104 to take me non-stop to
Basingstoke (where it had its stops at Woking & Clapham ripped out
afterwards), a short wait before 165106 rolled up to take me to Reading where I
made use of some time to buy something from Boots in the old station before
heading to board winner 802002 from
Bedwyn. It was held back for a late running service from Bristol to storm
through without stopping, but regained the time due to these services still
being timed for 90mph turbos (it was around 5 minutes early before getting held
at Airport Junction for a Heathrow Express).
Once at Paddington it was a short walk to the Bakerloo
platforms for 3254 & 3541 to take me to Baker Street before 21025/21026 on
the Metropolitan line to Liverpool Street (in all fairness there is not much in
the timings due to the slowness of the services from Hammersmith to Baker
Street). At Liverpool Street I went to
ID an unknown service before boarding winner 345044 for the run to Ilford, not enough to push it over 10 miles
but 7 and a bit miles was slightly better than 4 miles to Stratford. 315851 & 315819 took me back to Liverpool
Street, where I had a gentle walk over to board 321402 leading 321314
& 321410 for the run to Shenfield, returning to Liverpool Street on a
non-stop service with 321440, 321344 & 321337.
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| Trains at Liverpool Street |
I headed out of the station to get something from Tesco,
before returning for 321361 & 321365 to take me to Stratford to allow me to
intercept 345044 from earlier to take it over the ten mile line with the
run to Liverpool Street followed by a little hop to Stratford on 321434 & 321338, not enough to push
this 321 over ten miles but puts it on 8 so every little helps. Back to Liverpool Street on 321438 &
321429 where I headed over to the Central Line with 91199/92174/92118/91167
taken to Tottenham Court Road (due to many delays on LU lines), with
51662/51661 taken to Euston on the Northern Line.
With time to kill at Euston, I headed to the DC line platforms
with winner 710267 taken for the 3
miles to Kilburn High Road, returning
to Euston on another winner in the shape of 710261, although both will go on the “sub 5 mile” list, it killed
hanging around Euston for 45 minutes. My
booked train was just started to be boarded with 390011 boarded for the
fast(ish) run towards Stockport, making an additional call at Nuneaton [did
someone at Milton Keynes mix Manchester up with Liverpool again?]. A bit of slow running where it arrived around
15 minutes late, so it was first stop Travelodge, dumping my bags and having a
nice shower.
Overall a good little evening, one more 345 into my book, 2
more 321s over ten miles with a 3rd given a mileage boost, could
have been better but could have been worse.
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| 345044 departs Ilford |
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