2nd – 4th October – Manchester area
I originally booked a 2 night stay in Walsall for a railtour before that got pushed back to next year so I came up with the idea of heading towards the Cambrian Coast in Wales, but that got ditched because the appeal of being on the 2nd last train towards Walsall on a Saturday night was low (and the long-term weather forecast predicted Saturday would be a bit wet & windy). Other options fell away at the way-side due to the weather forecast so in the end I decided on a trip to Manchester to finish my last 3 stations I needed to revisit in that general area before having an unit hunt with my little red pen.
2nd October – Onwards to Walsall
Making use of one of the “Anytime Advance” tickets which London Northwestern has introduced on a ‘temporary’ basic [effectively valid any time of the day but needs to be purchased at least 3 days in advance] meant an earlier arrival than previously. The retimed 15:06 from Grateley took me to Waterloo arriving a few minutes late due to signalling issues around Clapham and a delay in exiting the station due to a RPI block. Sounded like the person in front of me got caught trying to use an e-ticket from Clapham Junction when the train didn’t stop there.
Anyhow after a supply trip to Tesco, it was to the bus stop for a route 168 bus to Euston (where it terminated short as it was meant to carry on to Hampstead Heath), for a quick meet-up with my good friend Jules. Similar to last week it was to platform 12 for the 17:46 service for Crewe, but changing at Rugby for the run into Birmingham New Street [there is only one train an hour from Euston to Birmingham at the moment, the other starts at Northampton and doesn’t connect into anything from the south]. So far my 350/2 avoidance went well but sadly the semi-fast train towards Rugeley was a 350/2, but these are standard class only at the moment so I sat in the posh seats!
At Walsall, it was a simple walk to the hotel, where I ran into a grumpy receptionist, nobody was around the desk when I arrived, or replied with a “hello” sat loudly so I pressed the intercom button on the door outside [the night arrival entrance] to be moaned because I should have rung a number which was printed at the bottom of a notice about parking. Certainly has put me off using this particular Travelodge again in a hurry (which is a shame because it is one of the better ones with AC fitted).
3rd October – A wet day in Manchester
The day started with the random non-stop service from Walsall to Rugeley Trent Valley (the weekly service from Wolverhampton which uses the direct line) although as it sits at Rugeley Trent Valley for around 20 minutes (before departing at the same time as the train towards Crewe arrives because some of the connections at Rugeley Trent Valley are very passenger unfriendly, especially at a station which has hardly any shelter which doesn’t leak. I ended up waiting for a short while sat on the 350 exiting a few minutes before it was due out, the next Crewe service arrived and took me to Crewe where I changed onto a lightly loaded 175 from Shrewsbury [engineering works from Shrewsbury towards Hereford] to take me to Stockport where I picked up my ranger from the Avanti TVM.
After a short wait at Stockport it was onto a Chester bound pair of 150s to take me to Ashley, returning to Altrincham on a late running 150, before another pair of 150s took me to Knutsford to clear the line before it drops to 2 hourly. Another single 150 rolled in which I was going to take back to Manchester, but at Altrincham it got announced that due to issues at Stockport the train would be held at Altrincham with passengers suggested to change over to the Metrolink where the tickets would be accepted, so it was a case of jumping on the first tram to take me to Cornbrook before another took me to Deansgate-Castlefield, my plan changing as a Blackpool train was running late. This turned out to be a pair of required 331s which I took to Bolton to put them over 10 miles, before waiting for the next Southport (pair of 150s) to take me to Wigan Wallgate where I exited the station for some lunch.
Back onto the platform at Wigan Wallgate, my eyes noticed my last Northern 158 needed for mileage had just rolled in from the sidings on a Leeds service, so a quick change of plan saw me on this 158 which I ended up taking to Salford Crescent due to a late running train towards Kirkby, which I took back towards Pemberton, sitting in the pacer for some pacer based noise. Pemberton was my last station in Greater Manchester, but sadly meant a 45 minute wait, standing in a shelter without seats as the rain continued. Eventually I exited the shelter to move down the platform, solely because a couple under 30s arrived, coughing away without masks. In this area you can’t be too cautious; thankfully the pacer & 150 arrived back from Kirkby for the short hop to Wigan Wallgate where I changed to Wigan North Western for a required 195 from Barrow to take me to Oxford Road.
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| A Pacer at Pemberton |
After a crawl into Oxford Road, it was over the footbridge to board a 185 for the short spin around the corner to Manchester Victoria, jumping onto a pair of 195s from Chester for the run to Rochdale, one was required outright, and the other needed for mileage. A short connection saw me boarding the 158 I had earlier back to Manchester Victoria before another pair of 195s took me back out to Rochdale (sadly both not needed), where I intercepted a required 195 from Leeds for the run back to Victoria, before a 156+150 combo took me to Salford Crescent where I changed onto a pair of 331s from Blackpool to take me to Oxford Road, stepping back to board a required 397 from Edinburgh to shake me to the airport, sorry but I am not a fan of the seats on these TPE units, my back was hurting after 10 minutes, however it was the first time ticking off one of these units on a run to the airport and I suspect not the last.
At Manchester Airport it was a short walk over to platform 4 where a peak time Liverpool service was waiting, a required 195 so happy days (although I probably would have boarded it regardless as the next service was a stopper). This train (bit messy inside) took me to Piccadilly where I exited the station to look in the Co-Op to grab some cookies, before heading back to the station to board a 175 to take me to Crewe for a simple change onto the next London NorthWestern service towards Rugeley (better than changing at both Stoke & Stafford), sadly this was a pair of 350/2s (at least I was only on it to Rugeley and not all the way towards Rugby/Northampton).
Sadly my luck didn’t change as due to a speed restriction of 50mph introduced due to the forecast high winds meant a +20 connection at Rugeley was missed as the 350s arrived around 25 minutes late, due to a 55 minute wait before the next service I fired up Google Map for options (as I was originally planning a visit to Dominoes in Walsall for dinner) as it would be near 10pm when I would get back to Walsall where food places have to close up. I spotted a Tesco so I headed in that general direction, carrying on to Rugeley Town as it was closer to the Tesco, reaching the station for a short wait before a 350 took me back to Walsall, walking back to the hotel to dry out and warm up after getting quite wet.
Not the best ends of the day, I didn’t get my pizza :(
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| A 153 at Salford Crescent |
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4th October – Return home
With the heavy rain overnight blocking the Chiltern Main Line, my original idea (and booked train) was to take the daily loco hauled service to Marylebone and have a few hours in London before heading home. That train got cancelled with ticket acceptance on Avanti so it was a bit of a no-brainer. The first train of the day took me from Walsall to New Street, going via Soho due to engineering works around Aston, where I had a short wait before the next London Euston bound Pendo would arrive from Wolverhampton. First time I’ve seen 390119 up close, the Pendo in pride colours and it is certainly colourful, and I easily enough got a table seat in coach E for the trip towards London.
A bit slow due to the speed restrictions, but I had the novelty of going via platform 1 at Rugby before a 50mph ‘crawl’ via Weedon, arriving into London at some point (think it was around 17-odd minutes late in the end, but a lot of that was made up due to the Sunday timetable where it was booked on the slow lines but ended up on the fasts). A toss up in my head and I ended up going to Walthamstow Central on the Victoria Line, although the gamble didn’t pay off as the first two London departures were 315s!
I jumped on the second departure to take the 315 to Clapton to get rewarded with a pair of 710s back towards Chingford which I took to Wood Street, for a short oyster break, before returning onto the station with another pair of 710s to Bethnal Green, making the first connection for an Cheshunt service which was another pair of 710s which I took to Silver Street to get them over the 5 mile mark, returning towards Seven Sisters on the first pair of 315s I saw earlier. I noticed SWR seemed to be in a bit of a mess in the late afternoon services towards Salisbury (3 in a row got cancelled from Waterloo) so I decided to call it a day, the rain wasn’t helping things along either.
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Switching over to the underground platforms at Seven Sisters, it was some more high speed Victoria Line based fun to Oxford Circus, changing over to the Bakerloo to Paddington, where I got a nice seat on a Swansea departure (a 800/3 where everybody boarded in the first couple coaches they reached) for the speedy run to Reading where it was a case of swapping over to platform 13 for a triple 159 on the Salisbury stopper for the spin back home to Grateley.
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| The 4 operators at Reading |
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