24th July – 26th July, Return to the West Midlands & Manchester

24^th July – 26^th July, Return to the West Midlands

This trip came about as I was looking on the Travelodge website, for ideas to use up a couple cancellation vouchers I had been sent from cancelled bookings when the hotels were closed.  When I spotted 2 days in the Newhall Street hotel for £50, it was a good excuse to get my first weekend away since March.  My original idea was to head towards the Cambrian Coast, but as public transport in Wales is still for “Essential journeys only” so my plans changed to having a trip to Manchester to get some odds & sods within the Wayfarer area.

I was using up a day’s annual leave for the Friday (as we need to use up 50% before the end of September) with the idea of doing some stations I needed to revisit within the West Midlands, making use of the current reduced timetable.  This would be more station focused than walking.

 

24^th July

The day began with the 09:33 service to London Waterloo, formed of 158890, 159016 & 159002, which only really got ‘busy’ (in a social distancing sense of the word) at Woking.  Into London for the first time since March and it was to the little Tesco outside the station for lunch before a quiet Northern Line service took me to Euston (51607/51608) where I went outside of the station to eat my lunch before heading for the 11:46 Crewe service, formed of 350246 & 350119 for the run to Lichfield Trent Valley.  Needless to say I was sitting in the refurbished 119 rather than the horrid 3+2 seating of the /2.

 

 At Lichfield Trent Valley, it was a case of walking up the stairs to board 323221/323207 working the next Cross City Line service (reduced to running every 20 minutes) which I took to Butlers Lane, doubling back to Shenstone on 323213/323204.  It was a short wait at this Staffordshire station before 323204/323213 took me to Blake Street where I caught a late running 323219/323202 to Lichfield City, mainly as a time wasting move.  The same units shortly returned from Lichfield Trent Valley, to take me to Sutton Coldfield my rough plan going out of the window due to the delay (it was built around making a +7 at Aston for a Walsall stopper, but as it was 10 minutes late that connection wouldn’t have been made).

A short time later 323218/323209 arrived to take me to Erdington where I made the tight connection to 323242/323240 due to it being a couple minutes late, but only for half a mile to Chester Road.  Next up was 323220/323203 to take me to Gravelly Hill to clear the northern section of the Cross City Line and a twenty minute wait before 323206/323210 took me to New Street, where I exited the station to visit Sports Direct for a new pair of trousers as I hadn’t noticed the pair I was wearing had a split in, and now the Bull Ring was a busy place and I was glad to get out and to Moor Street and following the one way system to reach platform 1 (you go in, have to walk down platform 3, come back via platform 2 to reach the stairs to cross over to platform 1, certainly not one to do if in a hurry).

My next move was with 172334 which took me to Wythall on the Stratford Line connecting to 172345 on the next stopper which I took all the way to Langley Green, doubling back to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 172008/172005 (my god this station smelt very much of drug use).  Next up was 172335/172215 on the next Stourbridge stopper to take me to Rowley Regis where I had a short wait for 68011 to roll in (DVT 82305 on the rear) for the run to Kidderminster (front carriage was nearly empty).

 I made use of the connection at Kidderminster to visit the nearby Tesco to grab dinner before returning to the rebuilt station (looks very nice) with 172336/172222 to Blakedown returning to Kidderminster on 172217/172004 (which is the first time I’ve had a gangway 172 work alongside one of the former London Overground units).  A short wait for it to return from the turnback siding to take the same pair of units to Cradley Heath for a short wait for 172213/172212 to Old Hill, returning to Lye with 172005/172008 (where I noticed a 168 heading towards Kidderminster instead of a loco hauled set).

 

 

With the “northern” section of the Snow Hill Lines complete, I only had one more station to go, and as 172211/172219 was bound for Dorridge, it would be a good chance to get it down so it was onto these units for the long run to Widney Manor, waiting 10 minutes for the same pair of units to return from Dorridge to take me to Birmingham Snow Hill, the end of a productive day as I walked to the hotel to get checked in and unwind.  I might have missed out on Tame Bridge to Rugeley but made up for it with the Cross City line & Snow Hill line.

 

25^th July – Greater Manchester Wayfarer

 

After not the best sleep (got woken up at 4am with people singing happy birthday in the area outside the hotel, my window was open due to the lack of AC within the rooms), I was up and about walking to New Street station to catch the first train towards Manchester, a nearly empty 220027/220014 (I walked up on the approach to Stockport and there was 4 other passengers in the standard class seats of the rear unit).  I alighted at Stockport and headed over to platform 1 for the Buxton train, taking 150135/150147 to Whaley Bridge.

 

 

A short wait at Whaley Bridge and it was onto 150225/150134 to Disley in the pouring rain, returning to Derbyshire and New Mills Newtown on 150124/150122, still with original first blue seats.  Thankfully the rain has gone away for the time being as I walked to New Mills Central (via a Co-Op), spotting a pacer/sprinter combo in the turnback siding (for the 2 hourly Piccadilly – New Mills stopper), and getting a nice surprise when 142068 rolled in alongside 150109 to take me to Edale (bounce bounce!).   The rain had returned so I was glad when 150143/150133 rolled in to take me to Manchester Piccadilly so I could dry out a bit.

 

 

At Manchester Piccadilly I headed towards platform 14 to catch 158857/158865 for the short hop to Manchester Oxford Road (because Oxford Road is a far nicer place to hang around for a train than Piccadilly), a few minutes later winner 195103 rolled in from Windermere which took me to Heald Green for a short wait before winner 331019 & mileage need 331013 arrived from Blackpool to take me to Manchester Airport, where I remained on the same pair of units for the return leg to Manchester Oxford Road, where I had a short wait before the next Liverpool stopper (a service I was surprised has remained as half hourly in the current timetable).  150132 & a refurbished 156425 took me to Padgate for a short wait before 156464 & 150106 arrived from Liverpool to take me to Deansgate where I exited the station (the RPI didn’t even look at the ticket, just that I had a ticket of some description).

 

I transferred over to the Metrolink platforms at Deansgate Castlefield, for it was time to tick off the new line to the Trafford Centre, for ease of reading I will do these as a summary of linear hops:

Deansgate Castlefield -> Cornbrook: 3054

Cornbrook -> Pomona: 3079

Pomona ->Wharfside: 3110 (crown control pens for the nearby football ground)

Wharfside ->Imperial War Museum: 3087 (island platform here)

Imperial War Museum -> Village: 3120

Village -> Parkway: 3106

Parkway -> Barton Dock Road: 3103

Barton Dock Road -> Intu Trafford Centre: 3110

Intu Trafford Centre -> Cornbrook: 3110

Cornbrook -> Deansgate-Castlefield: 3056 (noticing that tram 3110 was on the centre platform for a reversal)

 

 

With the tram line complete and all the stations visited, it was a short hop back to the national rail station with 323223 taken to Oxford Road, where the toilets were visited before I boarded 331005 & 331012 for the trip to Chorley, a short wait before 319372 arrived from Preston on the stopper to take me to Blackrod, where I had forgotten how long of a walk it was between platforms.  319361 was on the other Preston stopper which took me to Adlington (Lancs) where I headed to a nearby Tesco for dinner, before returning to catch 331008 & 331003 to Chorley, before 319361 returned from Preston to take me to Bolton.

 

A short wait at Bolton with 331024 & 331020 taken to Horwich Parkway before an extended wait for my first big delay of the day with 331012 & 331005 returning from Blackpool to take me to Oxford Road, linear hopping to Piccadilly on 195115, with me calling it a day, as I headed over to the next Birmingham bound service, formed of a quiet 221138 & 220006 which I took to Wolverhampton solely to have a look at the new station building before 350407 took me to New Street on the stopper.

 

 

A gentle walk back to the hotel (dodging the drunks) and I relaxed after a productive day in the Wayfarer area; I don’t need that many stations left in the Manchester area (just a couple on the other side of Wigan).

 

26^th July – Return to Home

 

A later start this morning, as I walked along the canal to reach Snow Hill and a nearby Co-Op for breakfast, before reaching New Street via a couple photographs of trams before catching 170634 to University, before 323211 was taken to King’s Norton for a short wait for 323222/323212 for the run to Alvechurch to finish the southern end of the Cross-city line.  A short wait before the same units returned from Redditch to take me back to New Street, where I transferred over to an Euston service.

 

 

I was lucky with 350406 leading 350105 for the run to Rugby, where I transferred to 350119 & 350246 on the Rugby starter (Trent Valley line was closed) which was meant to go via Weedon, but it went via Northampton due to a trespass incident on the main-line.  This meant the connection to a Milton Keynes – Euston stopper was missed so I had 55 minutes to wait before the next stopper, so I popped out of the station, probably for the first time since 2013 time, and headed to Morrisons for some food.

 

Back at the station and it was onto 350371 leading 350265 on the next stopper to take me to Cheddington returning to Leighton Buzzard on 350263/350117/350234 with 350266 & 350120 taken to Berkhamsted.  A short photograph session (some good tilt of 390s due to the corner to the south of the station and it was onwards to Euston with 350234/350117/350263.

 

 

At Euston I went straight to the underground with a quiet 51654/51655 taken to Waterloo, where I took a seat on the Exeter train (probably safer sitting on the sprinter than sitting on the concourse), formed of 159105, 159004 & 159006 and by far this was the busiest train of the weekend, when I exited at Grateley there wasn’t that many spare pairs of seats.  Sadly Grateley is only every 2 hours on Sundays and those are the ones which extend to Exeter so are probably busier than the ones which terminate at Salisbury.

 

Other than the delay in reaching Cheddington, missing out on Kings Langley (which will be a job for another day), it was a good weekend, my requirements in the West Midlands is Tame Bridge Parkway, plus a handful of stations within Staffordshire & Malvern Link towards Ledbury.

 

A lot more photos from this weekend are available on this link: https://www.flickr.com/photos/157760463@N05/sets/72157715046373496

 

Returning to the Rails in the CV World

Returning to the Rails in the CV World

We all know the world has changed since February/March time when the CV arrived in this country forcing a lockdown for several weeks to protect the NHS from being overwhelmed, and other than a trip to Salisbury in June when I needed some shopping (and the car was being repaired due to a puncture) I had been sensible and stayed away from the rails.  Although with leisure travel being allowed from the start of July it was about time to spread my wings, with a couple short day trips to see what riding the rails in July 2020 was like.

11^th July – Southampton

My first “leisure” trip since March and it would be a (nearly) round trip from my home towards Southampton, where I would have a couple walks to break up the time.  First up was a triple 159 with 159102, 159015 & 159020 to take me towards Salisbury, it was slightly busy and I ended up sitting on a fold-down seat in the vestibule by the doors, although it could simply have been I picked a busy coach and the rest of the train was empty, or the fact it connected with a 2 hourly Salisbury – Exeter service meant it was busy.

Anyhow my time at Salisbury wasn’t for long as I made my way over to platform 6 for the Romsey via Southampton service, a service which only runs once every 3 hours (with an extra unit doing Romsey circulars), nearly getting knocked flying by a cyclist riding like the wind along the platform (some things never change) and I took a seat on 158881, the front coach on departure from Salisbury only had myself and that cyclist, picked up a few more passengers at Dean & Mottisfont and a few more at Romsey (noting the new signage since those stations transferred to SWR).  I alighted from the 158 at Redbridge where I needed a photograph, and after a quick walk around the station I headed out to the road.

444043 passing Redbridge

My original idea was to head to a footpath which crossed the M271, but that appeared to be blocked off, a path lost to time, retracing my steps I headed to the Redbridge Causeway, a flyover over the River Test to reach Totton, pausing a couple times on the pavement for photographs of trains before heading towards the station, doing a random path as a time wasting move in Totton.  My next train was 444030 & 444045 working the all station stopping service from Bournemouth to Southampton and the coach I boarded was empty for the short trip to Southampton Central.

A pair of voyagers crossing the River Test

 At Southampton I had a rough idea of a walking route towards St Denys area for a path alongside the River Itchen (sandwiched between the railway line & the river, sadly not the best for photographs due to bushes and a closely knitted fence), I went via the busy level crossing at Mount Pleasant before returning to the riverside path to reach Northam bridge, returning to the roadside to head towards the football ground (which was surrounded by tall steel walls), walking towards the level crossing at Chapel Road (over the freight line towards Southampton Eastern Docks), swinging via St Mary’s Church and a couple other bridges over the main line before returning to the station area.

166205 heading away from Southampton Central towards Northam

My next train was a pair of voyagers to Basingstoke, skipping Winchester was unusual, but I had a private coach on 221120 & 220014.  At Basingstoke it was a short wait before the next Salisbury train, which was 159019, 159016 & 159009, once more getting a private coach for the trip back to Grateley, where I walked home, the end of my first day back on the rails.

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18^th July – Onwards to Melksham

The following week I was back on the rails, this time I decided to head towards GWR land and revisit Melksham, stopping off along the way at Dilton Marsh for a walk to Westbury (as the connections at Westbury were a bit pants, and spending 55 minutes there wouldn’t have been fun).

The first train of this trip was 159019, 159018 & 159021 for the short run towards Salisbury, where I made the most of the connection time to visit Sainsburys for lunch, returning to the station with a last minute platform swap from P3 to P4 as an unexpected surprise with 158959 rolling in (the previous weekend when I was in Southampton, everything GWR spotted were 166s), nice bit of luxury for the trip to Dilton Marsh where unsurprisingly I was the only person to alight at the tiny platforms at this request stop.

 

158959 departs Dilton Marsh

The plan was simply, follow a little road before walking a footpath towards Westbury, the road side part was simple enough but I could tell something was wrong when I went onto the footpath and it was a tad overgrown in places, requiring use of my hands to push away some of the thorns.  I probably could have bailed onto another path, but I decided to carry on, crossing over the Westbury avoiding lines and turning away from the railway line as the path goes around the rear of the Westbury freight area.

Westbury Avoiding line

That was until I reached a gate which was blocked off by a large fence, forcing a double back to a gap in the fence going across a field, eventually reaching a foot crossing of the Westbury avoider line, which was locked closed, although I climbed over the gates, crossed over the line and exited onto the road, walking along the road to reach Westbury station, arriving 5 minutes or so before the service towards Swindon would depart, a bit of a close call, would have been easier sticking to the road side all the way.

165135 was working the Westbury – Swindon shuttles today as I took a seat for the run to Melksham the guard coming through after departure to make sure passengers were wearing masks (most alighted at Trowbridge).  Melksham a station which previously had a very limited service for a number of years, gained a regular (ish) service a few years ago, and I had around an hour to fester, so I went for a walk, reaching a footbridge over the River Avon for a riverside walk into the town centre, following it a bit further to cut back across the car park at Sainsburys, before heading towards a foot crossing over the single line swinging back towards the road side along a footpath, and returning to the station to await the return of the 165.

Melksham Station

I alighted from the 165 at Trowbridge, only because it was a same platform change rather than the high chance of changing platforms at Westbury.  The next train towards Portsmouth was showing as formed of 5 coaches, so I was surprised when in rolled winner 158747 leading 158950 for the run back to Salisbury, where due to the rubbish connections I decided to head for a little walk in Salisbury towards the Milford area returning to the station around 90 minutes later to board 159014, 159010 & 159002 back home.

River Avon near Harnham, Salisbury

None of the trains used were that busy, it was a nice little trip to Melksham, other than that overgrown & blocked footpath from Dilton Marsh to Westbury, certainly got 2 semi-awkward stations revisited which will make things easier for future.