5th - 9th August – A trip to the North West
The idea for this long trip came from wanting to use up a Travelodge voucher (from when the country got put into lockdown in November), however due to the value (it was around £70 including the “25% bonus”) meant I used it on a 3 night stay in the hotel in Stockport (topped off with a Sunday night in the Easy Hotel in Manchester). Ideas came and went for what to do for the trip, eventually coming up with a rough idea with some "want to do XYZ", along with some walks.
Sadly due to the poor weather (sudden heavy downpours mixed with more rain) meant my original idea to do some walking was put on hold for future trips. I had planned to walk from Stockport towards the Ashton canal along part of the old “Stockport and Woodley Junction” railway & Stockport Canal on the Thursday, Middlewood Way on the Saturday and have an explore of the Sankey Viaduct near Earlestown.
5th August (Thursday)
The trip began with the 07:25-odd service to London Waterloo where I had been able to secure a cheap advance ticket on. A pair of 159s and I had a table seat for the run into Waterloo on an uneventful run, a sign of the times as in pre Covid times this would have been 9 coaches and very busy with commuters. Anyhow on arrival into Waterloo I had around 2 hours to reach Euston for the 10:46 Crewe service, the first train valid for use with the £35 super off-peak return to Manchester.
So with time to kill, I headed out on foot towards the Jubilee footbridges over the River Thames (a pair of footbridges attached to the railway bridge for Charing Cross) before walking along the north embankment of the Thames, underneath Waterloo Bridge, and having to divert before Blackfriars due to works. Underneath Blackfriars railway bridge and across to the South Bank via the Millennium Bridge, before I continued heading along the Thames, although the path does move away from the river bank due to various buildings.
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| Millennium Bridge |
I reached London Bridge, using the wrong entrance (should have walked along the road a bit more, it would have been quieter!) and onto a 700 to Blackfriars stepping back for another 700 to St Pancras, where I walked to Euston. I got to the station just as the platform had been announced so it was a bit of a rush to head towards the platform and get a decent seat for the long trip to Crewe. My heart sank when I saw a 350/2 on the rear, but improved as a 350/3 was leading, needless to say I sat in the /3, in the front coach [less of a walk at Crewe!]
An uneventful trip towards Crewe, train picked up a few passengers at Rugeley but they alighted at Stafford, but it was nice and quiet in the front coach. At Crewe I exited the station in search of lunch from the nearby Tesco Express and also to pick up a GM Wayfarer as I made a rough plan for the next few hours as I wanted to do the slight novelty of a pair of 331s which ran non-stop to Manchester Victoria from Earlestown. Anyhow back to the trains as a 3 coach 175 rolled in from South Wales, getting lucky due to a tree coming down on the line between Shrewsbury & Crewe blocking the Shrewsbury bound line (a train to South Wales got diverted via Chester and the stopper cancelled). I managed to get a seat for the run into Piccadilly, the train arriving roughly on time to complete my journey to Manchester.
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| A 175 at Manchester Piccadilly |
I headed across to platform 13 to board a pair of 331s from Blackpool, as one of them was a low mileage unit, so it was cleared for mileage by the time I reached the Airport, returning to Piccadilly on a 175, which was a bit chaotic due to a late running freight train getting in the passenger trains way causing delays before a required 195 rolled in from the Lancaster direction, which took me back to Manchester Airport, where once more I boarded the Chester bound 175.
This time I took the Chester train towards Earlestown, the train getting quite busy at Piccadilly with more passengers boarding at Earlestown when I alighted for a short walk to Tesco to grab dinner before returning to the station to await the Manchester Victoria train, noticing that there was issues around Huyton, which meant the 331s arrived a few minutes late, but were lightly loaded as I headed to Manchester Victoria arriving a few minutes behind schedule.
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| Platform 1 at Earlestown with the Manchester Victoria Express |
At Manchester Victoria I crossed over to platform 3 to board a very busy 2 coach 158 (with no working toilet) for the short leap to Salford Crescent, returning to Manchester Victoria on a required 769. My original idea was to catch the Clitheroe train to Bolton, but the allocation for that unit had been swapped due to the Clitheroe trains arriving and departing within a couple minutes (rather than sitting at the station for an hour) so it was back onto the 769 for the run to what would have been Bolton.
This service called at all the stations towards Bolton, including a wet and miserable Clifton; however after Farnworth the train came to a stop, lights went out as the overhead wires had tripped, a few minutes later the driver started the engines to carry on the journey towards Bolton, with the overhead wires broken I decided it would be safer to remain on board the 769 towards Wigan Wallgate (also allowed me to tick off the northern end of platform 5 at Bolton).
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| A Southport bound 769 departing Wigan Wallgate |
At Wigan Wallgate I crossed over to the opposite platform to board the next 769 back towards Manchester, as the problem had been fixed and trains were back moving (with some delays). I took this one to Bolton, changing platforms to board a Blackpool bound pair of 331s to Horwich Parkway, solely as a time wasting move before another pair of 331s took me to Salford Crescent (another one over ten miles). Back to Bolton for a short break (where I popped out to Sainsburys) before heading towards Manchester on the next Airport bound service (a required unit & one needed for mileage).
However things didn’t go swimmingly, as this train got terminated at Oxford Road due to a staff shortage, so before it got announced as being cancelled I hopped over to platform 2 to board a TPE service bound for the Airport back to Piccadilly. At Piccadilly I headed towards platform 12 for the final train of the day with a Crewe bound 175 for the short run to Stockport, where I headed to the hotel to get myself checked in and relaxed for the remainder of the evening.
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| A 323 alongside a 175 at Manchester Piccadilly |
6th August (Friday)
My original idea for the morning got put on hold as the Wilmslow – Warrington Central - Liverpool 195 isn’t running at the moment due to staff isolating etc, so this gave me a later start as I headed towards Stockport station, purchasing my South Pennies Day Ranger and waiting for 9am to come round so it would become valid. My first train of the day was a Southport bound 769 for the non-stop run to Manchester Piccadilly, where after swinging via the Co-Op outside the station I headed towards the low numbered platforms to board a Newcastle bound 802, which due to large scale engineering works between Victoria & Stalybridge was starting from Piccadilly.
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| A 802 in the Main Shed at Piccadilly |
I got a decent window seat for the nice run towards Yorkshire, arriving into Leeds pretty much bang on time, where I set myself a little plan to take a required Blackpool bound 195 to Hebden Bridge which would intercept a low mileage pair of units from Moston. I managed to get a seat on the required 2 coach 195 but it was very busy after New Pudsey with more passengers boarding at Bradford Interchange so I believe the decision was made to rip out the stops between Hebden Bridge & Preston due to the severe overcrowding. I alighted from the train at Halifax as yet more people tried to squeeze on, and I exited the station for a quick break (noticing that the next Blackpool – York train looked busy when it departed Halifax).
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| A York bound 195 departing Halifax |
After my break it was back to the platform with a 150 taken to Low Moor (more of a time wasting move) before the pair of 195s rolled in from Moston to take me to Leeds, another 195 cleared for ten miles. At Leeds after looking at RTT for ideas for required units, I decided on a time wasting spin to Wakefield on a 800+801 lash up, returning to Leeds on a 150 from Knottingley (busy in the rear coach, empty in the front!). I had some spare time before the 801s arrived from the depot so popped out of the station for some fresh air, before returning to take the required pair of 801s to Wakefield.
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| A pair of Azumas at Wakefield |
I noticed that during the day since I checked in the morning, one of the 4 coach 331s had swapped over for the Doncaster services, so I had a little time wasting move back to Leeds on a 158 from Knottingley, returning to Wakefield on the same 158 which had attached to another unit, for another short break before the 331 rolled in from Doncaster to allow me to tick it off for my book. The next Harrogate – London train was due to be a required 800 so with some more time to kill I headed to Dewsbury on a 158, returning to Leeds on another 158 (the original idea was to take a 802 to Huddersfield, but that was running around 10 minutes late so would have missed the connection coming back).
Once more at Leeds, I headed over to board an Azuma for the run to Wakefield Westgate, making a fast connection via the footbridge to board a required 9 coach 801 heading back towards Leeds, where I had another short wait before boarding a Nottingham bound 195 from platform 17, another 2 coach 195 which was busy from the start. I took this 195 for the fast run to Sheffield (via Barnsley) and with around 35 minutes to wait popped out of the station and up the hill to a Tesco Express to grab some dinner, returning to the station to eat the food watching some unhappy passengers being told they couldn’t board a Lincoln stopper as they didn’t have a ticket. It wasn’t long before a 7 coach 222 rolled in from St Pancras to form the token EMR Leeds train and judging by the passenger loadings (2 others in the leading coach and not that many in the other coaches) I can’t see it lasting long.
I alighted from the 222 at Wakefield Westgate to wait for a required 800 on the next Harrogate service with a very slim chance of making a Sheffield stopper at Leeds but it wasn’t to be (I was going to take that stopper back to Wakefield to intercept a required 5 coach 800 on the token Skipton train). So it was time for another plan as I boarded a 195 for the spin to New Pudsey, returning back to Leeds on a pair of 195s and headed over to platform 5 to board the 222, which I took back to Wakefield (solely to complete Leeds – Swinton for 222 coverage).
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| The daily EMR 222 at Leeds |
At Wakefield I made a connection onto a late running XC HST to take me back to Leeds for the final time of the day, before a required 802 took me to Huddersfield where I had a short wait before some Mk5 coaches rolled in with 68019 on the rear on one of the very few 68 hauled services which escapes York – Scarborough. I managed to get a seat in the 2nd to last coach (the last coach being first class), and listened to the sound of the loco as it pushed the set towards Manchester, sadly ruined somewhat by someone having an argument on his phone, so loud that he was sat near the front! [I was glad when the tunnel arrived so he shut up!]
A slow run towards Piccadilly after Guide Bridge due to not having a good path (follows a stopper from Hadfield & something from New Mills at Ashburys junction), but meant the service arrived into Piccadilly on time, allowing me time to head over to board a pair of 150s on the final Buxton service which I took to Stockport and headed back to the hotel. It might not have been a varied day but was productive for some more units ticked off (plus a 68 pushed over ten miles as I had previously had that one when it was in Anglia).
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| 68019 at Manchester Piccadilly |
To be continued
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