13th Dec - 15th Dec, West Midlands, Grotto Grid Tour, Warrington West
13th December – An evening in the West
Midlands
I was booked on the latest Pathfinder tour (scary to think
my first with the operator since the overnight Thames Branches trip in February),
which was picking up in the Birmingham area, annoyingly with the original
timings it was going to be picking up at Northfield to bypass New Street and
the timings meant no overnight in Walsall (for it would be a bit tight). So I ended up booking a city centre hostel I’ve
used in the past (the other one seems to have doubled their prices), not the
best in terms of noise but other than paying over the odds for a hotel room in Birmingham
city centre (and getting woken up at 2am when party goers return).
I finished work in time to catch the revised 14:33 service
from Grateley, formed of 159005, 159104 & 159004 for the run to Basingstoke
where I had a ~ 40 minute fester for the next northbound XC service which was
220020, I managed to get a seat for the trip to Reading, shifting to a better
one (one which wasn’t reserved from Oxford) for the next leg because as per
usual it got a bit wedged out after Oxford.
I alighted at Banbury and had a short wait before 68014 rolled in for
the next leg to Moor Street and enjoyed a private table (until Solihull),
listening to the sound of the 68 working hard.
With a few hours in Birmingham I had a couple units on my target list,
thankfully both were working all-day services on the Snow Hill lines so didn’t
need anything more than a regular Daytripper.
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| Being forced to change at Banbury does have it's benefits... Meow |
First move was on a very busy 172335 to take me one stop to
Small Heath for a picture, followed by 170502 & 153366 with another 153 on
the rear, but I couldn’t quite ID it when I boarded, thankfully when I alighted
at Whitlocks End where it terminated, it was indeed 153364, my final 153
for ten miles. After a quick photograph
it was back onto this trio of units to take me to Hall Green, returning to (Don’t
call me) Shirley on 170630. 172333
rolled in from Stratford to take me to Spring Road for a short wait before
172212 & 172214 rolled in for the leg to Yardley Wood, just to get some
more stations for photographs before my final 172/0 for mileage, 172006, rolled
in with 172008 for company.
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| *Insert joke about not calling someone this station name here* |
I took the former London Overground units to Birmingham Snow
Hill, but that wasn’t enough for 172006 (for it was on a ~1 mile bus stop leap),
so I remained on board for the trip towards Acocks Green, again for a
photograph. A short wait before 172343
& 172220 rolled in from Dorridge to take me back to Snow Hill, and after a
quick supply raid at the nearby Tesco I walked over to Bull Street tram stop to
await the next tram towards the recently opened extension to Centenary Square,
it had no wires!
West Midland Metro Tram 20 had the honours for the first
trip beyond Grand Central, a bit stop start in places with traffic lights, but
it reached Library (for Centenary Square),
time for a quick photo before hopping back on board for the run back down the
hill to Town Hill (Victoria Square). The
next Library bound service was running a couple minutes late so I decided to
return to Library on low mileage tram 37, before heading back to the Grand
Central New Street stop.
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| The Town Hall towers over Tram 20 at Town Hall |
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| Tram 37 at Library. |
Due to a fire alarm in Euston, the WCML had fallen over, I
boarded 390042 for the short run to Birmingham International (for a station
photograph as the ones I have the signs are unreadable), before an extended
wait before 390127 arrived to take me back to New Street, where I called it a
night, walking to the hostel, checking myself in, getting surprised that I got
given a bottom bunk and the room already was full (so no idiots coming in
during the early hours throwing on the lights).
A bit noisy with a group of football supporters staying close by, but
overall it was alright.
A productive evening where both my last 153 & 172 needed
for mileage fell, plus a handful of stations ticked off for photographs.
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| 172006 at Snow Hill |
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14th December – The Grotto Grid Tour
When this tour went on sale, it ticked the boxes for
required Baker (atlas) level track, both big & small, where it did start
from Westbury, I didn’t fancy the drive from home there early on a December morning
(nor driving home after the tour), plus it would give no chance to get supplies
as it was an all-day tour with only a short 45 minute break in Barnetby, a
place famous for not having a lot around (it has a pub, a chippy & a small
shop), so buying before hand was needed (as on board food can be hit & miss
at what is on offer).
With the tour getting rerouted to go via New Street instead
of via Camp Hill meant a slightly later start for me, and a small cost saving,
as after swinging via Tesco to get supplies, I headed towards the depths to
await the arrival of winner shed 66099
from Trowbridge, hauling the usual selection of Mk1 coaches. Due to it being advertised Mk1 I was in the
posh seats (it was a long day after-all), so located the coach, said morning to
the neighbours (who were a very chatty bunch, making a very welcome change to
some grumps who stay silent throughout the day). Further pickups were made at Coleshill
Parkway, Burton on Trent [quite a few boarding here] & Derby before the
train headed towards Chaddesden Sidings where 66099 was removed with another 66
& 56113 attached to the rear.
Departure from Chaddesden went via platform 7 at Derby (the
pilot line) and towards Nottingham, doing a little weave after Beeston and
before Nottingham where we managed to pass non-stop, before carrying on towards
Lincoln, a bit stop/start in places with the signalling and awaiting the path
across Newark Flat Crossing, through a very busy Lincoln before heading towards
Market Rasen and Barnetby for the break.
I took the most to photograph the locos, sadly the one I had of 66099
was a bit burred.
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| 66171 at Barnetby |
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| 56113 at Barnetby |
I noticed TPE were their usual state of collapse [lots of
cancellations showing], and during the break the 56 ran round to be at the standard
class end of the train, leaving required 66171
at the first class end for the reversals.
The 56 departed heading towards Scunthorpe, doing a little weave in a
loop before heading towards the waste disposal place at the end of the near 5
mile long Roxby Gullet branch. Another reversal
with 66171 under power for the first time (quite a few red pens were out in
force) to take us back towards the main-line and into Anchor Sidings on the British
Steel site. A further reversal with the
56 in charge, and it was around the Scunthorpe station avoiding lines and
towards Doncaster.
After Kirk Sandall the train turned left to take the flyover
over the trains leading to the Doncaster avoiding lines (which was a little bit
of required baker track as I’ve only ever used these lines heading towards
Hatfield). A few more stations passed,
the trip via the Swinton avoider was cut due to flood damage, and the train
went on the “old road” after the former Rotherham Masborough station towards
Barrow Hill, where the train reversed once again to head towards Woodhouse and
went into the little used sidings alongside the station. Another reversal and it was back on the line
towards Barrow Hill, pausing at Chesterfield to drop off passengers before the
train took the line towards Nottingham, using the goods loops along the way [I
swear I have used the goods line which goes behind Langley Mill more times than
I’ve used the regular tracks now!]
A small highlight for me was the tour turning left at the
northern end of Toton to head towards Nottingham, where it took the Lenton
curve to reach Beeston, before entering the Toton complex from the southern
end, where the 56 was detached with the 66 leading the way back towards
Birmingham. The 66 took us via the
Castle Donnington line to rejoin the main line for a short distance before
going via Burton East Yard, surprisingly being given the signal ahead of a late
running fast XC service to call at Burton station. I was also surprised we didn’t get looped
before Tamworth for the XC to pass, but we went straight through Tamworth
before heading towards Coleshill for a further drop-off, before a slow trip
towards New Street, arriving near enough on time.
The end of a successful tour, but when I was at New Street,
my eyes picked up a low mileage XC 170 on a Leicester service, so after
grabbing dinner I picked up a return to Coleshill (after checking for return
options) and took a seat at the front of 170637 leading low mileage 170113,
using the theory that people don’t like walking far and I was proved correct
because there was 3 other passengers in that coach on departure! A trip to Coleshill Parkway and a 25 minute
fester before 170398 & 170397 rolled in to take me back to New Street and a
walk to the hostel, where I attempted some sleep.
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| The train at Barnetby |
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15th December – Warrington West
I did have a plan to cover both Warrington West & Worcestershire
Parkway, but as the later has been delayed it allowed me to change my plan for
Warrington West, a station which has been “coming soon” for a while. It is a new station a couple miles west of
Warrington Central and effectively replaces Sankey (reduced to a token service
of two trains a day, although I wouldn’t be surprised if it doesn’t regain an
hourly service). Visiting on a Sunday
would mean using Northern on a Sunday, what could go wrong?
I was booked on the 09:20 Glasgow service, which was formed
of 221106 for the fast run towards Warrington Bank Quay, felt strange not
calling at Sandwell & Dudley. At Warrington
I had around 45 minutes to reach Central, so I took my time, looking at RTT for
cancellations and being thankful that it appears the two trains I wanted to
catch hadn’t been cancelled (yet), and after a short wait at Warrington Central
it was onto the stopper formed of 150104 & 156440 for the short distance to
England’s latest station, Warrington
West. (It held the title of GB’s latest station for all of 20 minutes until
the first train stopped at Robroyston in Scotland!).
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| A 156 departs Warrington West |
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| Sign at Warrington West |
The station at platform level is quite basic, little
shelters and bench seats, a nice ticket office with some inside seating, some
staff members giving out free drinks & flapjacks, but it wasn’t long before
I was back on the Manchester bound platform, the last stopper had been
cancelled but as the next service calls here first after South Parkway it
shouldn’t make that much of an impact, but I was quite wrong as winner 195101 rolled in, doing a very good
impression of an eastbound 345 at Stratford during high peak, for it was
completely wedged. I managed to squeeze
in by asking two gentlemen with oversized backpacks if they wouldn’t mind
removing them (seems the idea of using overhead luggage racks to store luggage
is lost around here).
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| 195101 at Oxford Road |
The 195 lost more time, leaving more passengers behind at Warrington
Central & Birchwood, but on the bright side didn’t stop at Castlefield
junction! This one only runs to Oxford
Road, so everybody off and everybody onto an already busy 185129 which was
delayed due to the ECS being given the road first. I bailed at Piccadilly and somehow made a
busy 220031 on a Bournemouth train, changing seats at Stoke. A bit of a farce outside Wolverhampton as we
lost a bit of time waiting for the voyager from Lancaster to go first due to a
stopper being on platform 3 (as a 323 had broken down in the usual bay
platform).
Thankfully when the voyager was late, the train I was hoping
to catch from New Street was also running late (with the backup option being
behind the voyager), so I had time to wait before 350120 & 350368 arrived
from London for a short turnaround.
Needless to say I sat in the 350/3 and was considering bailing at Long
Buckby, but decided against it as I wanted to get home (for Grateley was still
only every 2 hours on the strike timetable, and was on the 2 hourly “Exeter”
trains so were going to be extra busy), besides I was comfortable with a plug
socket for the fast sprint to Euston.
It took around 1 hour 55 minutes to reach Euston, which isn’t
that bad as it went via Northampton and called at some stations (fast from
Leighton to Watford, also International only between New Street &
Coventry). I headed to the toilets,
before getting struck down, my legs & body just felt heavy. I made it to the Northern line with 51668
& 51669 taken to Waterloo and made it onto the Exeter train (159014, 158884
& 159108) and collapsed onto the seat for the trip back to Grateley, where
I made it home, unpacked my bag and went straight to sleep where I slept for
nearly 12 hours. My body felt like it
had hit a brick wall and came down with a cold which took a couple days to
recover from.
Other than the end, it was a productive weekend, getting a
required 195 was a bonus (even if it was for standing), plus means I only have Robroyston
left before being able to claim clearance of all currently rail served national
rail stations in Great Britain again, and that is on my list to do this weekend
when in Scotland.
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