7th December – Farewell Virgin Trains & Cheshire Day Ranger

7^th December – Farewell Virgin Trains & Cheshire Day Ranger

Due to a BLS tour on the Sunday I needed to end the night in Crewe which gave me a couple options as I had booked up in Walsall overnight on the Friday.  My original idea was to do an East Midlands Day Ranger, but that got put aside instead the idea of a Cheshire Day Ranger came to mind.  The main reason was to revisit Sankey for Penketh for a photograph before it got made limited served (replaced with Warrington West).

6^th December – Onwards to Walsall

With the SWR strikes, it meant a different time from Grateley with services departing on the XX:33 of the hour instead of XX:59, this meant a slightly relaxed time at home, before walking to the station.  I headed to Clapham Junction on the 15:33 service formed of 159009, 159004 & 159012 (the middle unit was busy, but the front was very lightly loaded), it was delayed along the way due to congestion.  Once at Clapham, I touched into the Oyster network, headed to platform 2 with 378150 taken to Peckham Rye, followed with 455816 & 455810 to Queens Road Peckham.  378140 followed to Canada Water, before 378143 rolled in to take me under the river to Whitechapel, followed by 378144 to Dalston Junction.

Capitalstar 378221 at Queens Road Peckham

All those hops were for station photographs, and with low mileage 378146 given a little boost to Highbury & Islington, I exited the system to visit a nearby Tesco before returning with 11041/11042 taken to Euston (my original idea of catching a 717 to Moorgate went into the bin due to severe delays on the Northern City Line).  I wanted to catch the first London North-western train towards Birmingham in which the cheap super off-peak tickets are valid on, this being the 19:15 to Crewe & Rugeley.  The rear unit was already on platform 7 when I arrived, but the front unit didn’t actually arrive until 19:15 so it was a delayed departure.  My luck was in as the front unit was my last low mileage 350, the refurbished 350115 (with 350260 on the rear).

It was a good run towards New Street, delayed at Northampton where it went via platform 1 (normally the southbound platform), so before Coventry an announcement was made that due to the late running it would run non-stop to New Street and passengers for the stations it was due to call at were to change to a train on platform 2.  The non-stop run lasted until after Birmingham International where it caught up with another late running service in front (one which called at all the stations) so the run only regained 3 minutes, which was lost during the split.  After Stechford I shifted to the 3+2 seated unit (as the 350/1 would continue to Crewe), and eventually the units split at New Street and 350260 reversed to head towards Rugeley.

I noticed on RTT that the next Rugeley bound train was only a few minutes behind so I decided to bail at Hamstead for a photograph, waiting 5 minutes before 350240 rolled up to take me the remaining distance to Walsall, where it was a gentle walk to the Travelodge, to check myself in and relax for the rest of the evening.  I was happy I cleared some more stations needed for photographs, with the bonus of a decent 350 for the run to New Street (as it could have easily been a pair of 350/2s with the luxurious 3+2 seating).

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7^th December

The day began with a trip to Tesco in Walsall for some supplies before the 06:03 stopping service towards New Street, formed of a familiar looking 350260.  At Birmingham I had around 40 minutes before my booked train towards Warrington Bank Quay, so decided to pop out of the station for some fresh air, noticing the trams using the new extension (which appears to have opened up on the Wednesday so something to aim for next week).  After some fresh air I headed back to New Street and over to the Glasgow bound service formed of 221101 & 221142.  221101 looks odd all in white for the Virgin branding had been removed.

A naked 221101

Coach D on this pair of voyagers was lightly loaded for the fast run towards Warrington Bank Quay, where I had a gentle walk to Warrington Central, boarding winner 195104 for the short leap to Birchwood, where I attempted to use the old footbridge to access the opposite platform but it no longer gives access (has a locked gate), instead the only access is via the new footbridge at the Warrington end.  Thankfully I had a good fester but it is something to keep in mind for future visits for 195 hunting, the next Liverpool stopper was formed of the former Scottish 156496 leading 156484 which took me to Sankey for Penketh.

A pair of 156s depart the soon to be limited served Sankey for Penketh

An extended wait for the next Manchester train was running late (shock horror!) as 150203 rolled in to take me back to Warrington Central, as I transferred to the opposite platform with a nice low mileage 156490 & 156423 combo rolled in from Oxford Road, the run to Widnes was just enough to push the 156 over the ten mile line.  However my planned linear hop of around 10 minutes turned into 28 minutes as the East Midlands train behind was running hopelessly late (shock horror again!).  Eventually a single 156408 rolled in, I was one of the lucky passengers who managed to squeeze on (I guess one of the units got stolen for the Lincoln Christmas market).  Onwards the Liverpool South Parkway where I alighted and changed over to the opposite platform to await the next Crewe service, for I had noticed a good chance to grab Acton Bridge without too much of a wait.

A semi-busy 350129 rolled in from Lime Street to take me the couple stops to Acton Bridge where I had roughly 10 minutes to wait (good place for photographs) before 350372 rolled in from Crewe to take me to Runcorn.  I made a tight connection onto 350248 for the next Crewe bound service, only to Hartford to get it out of the way.  A busy 350241 was up next (only an hourly Birmingham – Liverpool service today, with the other service running to/from Crewe) and I was glad to bail at Runcorn again (this time for a better picture!)

A London bound Pendo speeding past Acton Bridge

I turned down a 150 from Chester, before boarding a quiet 390115 from London (I even got a table seat for a quick charge of my phone).  Next stop was Liverpool Lime Street, where I had time to pick up some lunch before heading over to a Newcastle bound 802, with a grey 802218 getting ticked off in my book with the run to Newton-Le-Willows.  The rear coaches were busy but coach D was very quiet, but another TPE 802 bites the dust.  I changed over to the opposite platform to board a busy 323230 one stop to Earlestown, more of a time wasting move for the Leeds service.  Sadly hopes of a 195 were dashed with 150110 on this service, onwards to Manchester Victoria where I changed onto 150116/150204 to Salford Crescent changing onto 319366 for the run to Manchester Piccadilly.

I had news of a low mileage pacer being on the Wigan - Alderley Edge service (sadly 142033 was having a day off on the depot, now gone off-lease).  A delayed arrival into Piccadilly (lost 10 minutes waiting for some delayed services from the hopelessly unreliable Warrington Central line, meant a couple of the options had gone, but my eyes picked out a 331 on the next Crewe service so it was onto winner 331013 for a quick look at where I could take this unit, with one eye on the requirement for the pacer behind.  I bailed at Cheadle Hulme (8 and a quarter miles isn’t a bad start), crossed over to await a wedged out 323231 to roll in from Crewe which took me to Levenshulme, allowing me time to cross over to the opposite platform to wait for 142054 to roll in with 142001 behind.  I remained on this pacer until the end at Alderley Edge, for a short wait before the next Crewe service.

142001 at Alderley Edge.

It was time to give the Northern Random Unit Generator (NRUG) a spin with the next Liverpool – Crewe stopper, the one an hour ago was a single 156, but these services can throw out any of the electrics, this time it landed on 323232 for the run to Sandbach for a 15 minute wait before 323231 returned from Manchester (thankfully less busy this time!) to take me the final few miles into Crewe, where I headed to my hotel to get myself checked in for the night.

Less than 20 minutes later, I was back on Crewe station and not wanting to go towards Manchester due to the football, decided to head towards Chester on 150257, changing onto a busy Manchester bound 175004 to Frodsham for a photograph.  The next Chester service was running late, and kept on getting later & later before 175105 rolled in to take me one stop to Helsby, my silly idea of doing the Northern Parli to Ellesmere Port went in the bin as it was cancelled.  Eventually 195122 rolled in from Leeds (the PIS couldn’t decide between this service or a service from Liverpool arriving first) which took me to Chester, where after a quick scan saw me reboarding the 195 for the run to Warrington Bank Quay.  My original idea was to walk across to Warrington Central to try and intercept that 195 I had earlier in the day, but my eyes turned to winner 331111 which had arrived empty from Preston and would form the next Liverpool stopper.  I took a seat for the trip towards Lime Street (which I believe is the first time I have departed Warrington Bank Quay heading north from platform 1, and also first time with an EMU towards Earlestown.

331111 at Warrington Bank Quay.

At Liverpool Lime Street I nearly got knocked flying by a prat on a bike riding like they were in the Tour De France.  First up was to see what 158s were on a delayed Nottingham service, neither were required and when 802218 rolled into platform 10 which was showing as the platform for the next Airport service I headed back towards the concourse, only for the 195 to go in on top of the 802.  At least it meant I managed to walk alongside the train to get a decent seat on 195104, and it was quieter than expected, although a bit slow in places as the EMR service was behind a stopper, which itself was delayed, and unlike heading west where there is a loop before Glazebrook, there is nothing for services heading east, and some lengthy signal sections.  Eventually the 195 arrived into Oxford Road where I decided to bail to see what was following, turned out to be nothing other than 319369, so a trip to Piccadilly where due to a delay to an inbound service I had time to pop out to grab something from Sainsburys before walking a 68 accelerate away from the mainshed.

185119 alongside 68019 in the main shed at Manchester Piccadilly

One thing I noticed is that a Stoke bound stopper was formed of a pair of 323s, something I’ve never seen before on Northern.  Also it was a dry train with barriers at the main concourse where bags were being searched, but nothing stopping someone boarding from the overbridge.  Eventually 175116 rolled up, as I managed to get a seat for the trip back to Crewe where I was originally going to head back to the hotel for the night but decided to photograph the final Preston bound Virgin Trains service, which got me looking on RTT, as I could catch the final Manchester bound Virgin Trains service to Stockport for a +15 to the final Crewe stopper.  It would get me back into Crewe late, but feck it I said to myself.

390132 was doing the last Manchester bound Virgin service and it wasn’t that badly loaded, I managed to get a table seat in coach U for the trip towards Stockport, where I alighted into the pouring rain, I headed towards the southern end of the platform to grab a picture, and hopefully a picture of it departing, but it didn’t move.  Only until I walked back to the canopy I saw a lot of passengers alighting and being told to board a train from Buxton for the unit had failed with broken windscreen wipers and due to the storm wasn’t going anywhere fast.

390132 at Stockport (it was a bit wet!)

I noticed a contractor putting on new vinyl signage for the handover to Avanti West Coast, as I headed over to platforms 1 & 2 to await the final Crewe stopper, itself being a few minutes late allowing time to grab another picture of the final Euston – Stockport Virgin Trains service, just the sake of history.  Eventually a very busy 323225 rolled in from Manchester, I was lucky enough to get a seat, but the train never really emptied out until Crewe.  At Crewe it was a short walk to the hotel, to relax and reflect on a busy day.

"This Franchise Terminates Here, all change please"