7th August (Saturday) (Greater Manchester Wayfarer)
When I was doing the rough idea for today, the Saturday was going to be a walk along the Middlewood Way, between Rose Hill Marple & Macclesfield, however with the expected bad weather most of the day (as well as the rain from Friday) I decided to give it a miss, for it isn’t much fun getting soaked or hitting bad mud. So with that in mind I had a quick scan of RTT for any of my required units making a few notes before heading out with the first train of the day from Stockport heading towards Manchester, the 06:15 Blackpool.
I took this pair of units to Salford Crescent, stepping back to a required 769 on the next Southport working which is booked to go via the Atherton line (instead of the more usual via Bolton), and after a false start when the engines didn’t want to start the first time round, the 769 departed as I enjoyed looking out of the window at a line less frequently travelled. I remained on the train until Appleby Bridge as the next train back towards Bolton was also a couple minutes late, which was a single 150 which I took to Bolton, changing platforms to take the next Blackpool train to Horwich Parkway, mainly as a time wasting move.
A pair of 331s depart Horwich Parkway bound for Blackpool North
A required 331 was on the next Manchester Airport service which I took to Manchester Oxford Road, popping out of the station to visit a Sainsburys Local to grab something to drink, before returning to the station with a required 397 taken to Manchester Airport, the train emptying out quite well at Piccadilly. After a short fester at Manchester Airport I was bound for Alderley Edge on a Crewe bound 319, although from the looks of the signalling diagram it did look like there was some issues further along the line. At Alderley Edge I had 30 minutes to waste so ended up doing a little time wasting loop, getting caught out by the rain (but saved hanging around the station).
The
reason for visiting Alderley Edge was to take the same 769 I had earlier back
towards Manchester Oxford Road, this time instead of sitting in the motor coach
I sat in the former first class area (which is 2+1 seating). The train got busy along the way (departed in
front of a late running Manchester bound TfW service so took the passengers at
Wilmslow), but it did empty out by Oxford Road, where I had a short wait before
another required 397 rolled in from Edinburgh to take me back towards the
Airport. Having TPE on RTT makes things easier when it comes to hunting down the 397s as I'm over halfway there!)
A 66 running light engine passing a very wet Alderley Edge
I made the connection onto a Blackpool bound pair of 331s which took me back to Oxford Road, where I had a short wait before boarding a Liverpool bound 195 for the slow run towards Warrington Central, where the train got very busy, but I swapped platforms to await the arrival of my last 156 needed for ten miles, attached with a 150. This unit has evaded me a couple times in recent trips as being out on the Friday but having a day in the depot on the Saturday, so I was pleased to finally get 156424 taken over the ten mile line.
Back at Manchester Oxford Road it was a short wait before a pair of EMR units arrived from Liverpool for the short hop to Piccadilly, where it was a fight to get off due to the waiting crowd wanting to board (the units from Liverpool were very quiet, I think most of the passengers who were on them when they arrived from Liverpool also alighted at Manchester). Another short wait at Piccadilly before a required 195 rolled in from Barrow in Furness which took me towards the Airport, leaving me with just one more 3 coach 195 to get (sadly wasn’t out on the Saturday).
195111 "NHS Train" at Manchester Airport
I returned towards Salford Crescent on a pair of 331s, having a short wait before a 156+150 combo rolled in to take me to Manchester Victoria, where I took a seat on the reformed 150004 for the run to Bolton, changing platforms to take the same 156+150 combo to Wigan Wallgate, where I crossed over to Wigan North Western to take a seat on a Manchester bound 158. Why on earth these services don’t call at the interchange station of Hindley to allow passengers from the Southport – Alderley Edge services to change at Hindley [same platform] rather than having to dash across the road if they want stations towards Swinton is a bit of a mystery. Surely a call at Hindley will be used more than calling at the nothing station of Hag Fold!
Anyhow rant over, it was on the 158 for the trip to Salford Crescent, where I had a short wait before a Hazel Grove bound pair of 331s took me to Piccadilly where I changed to board a Chester bound 2-coach 175 (which was very busy). I had hoped when looking at the timetable TPE would be sensible to used 802s on the hourly Liverpool – Manchester Airport services making use of the overhead wires, but instead they were using pairs of 185s, burning lots of diesel. Nearly as wasteful as Avanti running voyagers under the wires on Edinburgh – London services when they have spare Pendos due to running a reduced timetable. I noticed when paused at Newton-Le-Willows there was a lot of passengers waiting for the Liverpool train following a few minutes behind, so I was glad to be heading to Earlestown for some peace.
A 397 arrives at Wigan from Liverpool.
The idea of heading to Earlestown was to catch the daily Wigan North Western service which uses the rarer side of the Lowton triangle giving access to the West Coast Main Line for the run into Wigan North Western terminating on platform 1. An earlier idea was to catch a 150 from the bay platform to Salford to intercept a 195 bound for Wigan Wallgate (according to RTT), but that train got cancelled so it was onto another idea as I crossed the road and headed to Wigan Wallgate to jump on a 769 for the run to Parbold and a short break before a 158 arrived from Southport. I was originally going to take this back to Bolton and have a break to hunt down some dinner, but due to a late running Airport TPE this service got put out first at Lostock junction and went via platform 4 at Bolton (allowing the 397 to overtake).
So I stayed on the 158 for the sake of completing the trackwork (BLS hat on), taking it to Salford Crescent for a tight connection onto a busy 150 heading back towards Bolton, crossing over to the opposite platform to await the Manchester Airport service which featured a required 331 (my last 3 coach 331 needed outright, just one more left to clear for ten miles). I took these units back to Manchester Piccadilly where I had a fast walk towards the Co-Op outside the station (the Sainsburys was bare bones) to grab a sandwich meal-deal before coming back to jump on a pair of 150s bound for Buxton, which I took the end of the wires at Hazel Grove.
Unexpected Microgrice to go into platform 4 at Bolton heading towards Manchester
My last train move of the day was a single 331 (wisdom of Northern, run pairs most of the day but only singles late at night when all the drinkers start heading home!), which I took back to Stockport, solely to tick off Stockport – Hazel Grove for 331 coverage. After arrival I had a gentle walk back to the hotel after a productive day, sadly not much walking but a decent enough day in my eyes, the highlight is getting that final 156 for ten miles and the novelty of a 769 via the Atherton line.
Stockport Viaduct at Night
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Sunday 8th August
The main aim of today was to take the Sundays only Dalesrail Carlisle – Blackpool service, for the chance to revisit the line between Clitheroe & Hellifield, however that was a planned cancellation from the Saturday, so I spent the Saturday evening after arriving back at the hotel coming up with a couple plans. I eventually picked the one which didn’t involve much walking or festering (as I didn’t fancy 90 minutes at Appleby in the pouring rain!) and after checking out of the hotel, headed to Stockport station to board the first Northern service towards Manchester, a pair of 150s from Buxton. I avoided the crowd and boarded the rear unit for the run into Piccadilly where I had a short wait before a busy 195 rolled in from the Airport to take me towards Barrow in Furness.
The unit got very busy after Lancaster (platform 2 at Preston for a York train looked very busy!) as it headed along the Furness line arriving at Barrow in Furness pretty much on time, sadly a late notice cancellation of the next Carlisle service meant I had an hour to waste at this station (spent popping out to a nearby Tesco and relaxing). The doors on the former Scottish 156 were released for my first chance to experience the new style seats on a 156 (similar seats as found on the Northern 158s), noticing that the legroom for the table seats was a bit rubbish! My friend Stu joined me as he made a tight connection from a late running train from Manchester to this 156 as we had a little catch-up.
A 195 at journeys end at Barrow in Furness
I noticed as the train went along the coast, some of the stations have been rebranded into the plain “GBR” style station names, black text on a white background, functional I would guess. Anyhow the 156 headed towards Carlisle, picking up/dropping off passengers along the way calling at a couple of the request stops, along a beautiful line along the coast, there is a few places along this line on my big list to revisit one of these days to have a decent explore, but that has to wait for the weather to get better (for sudden heavy downpours was the order of the day). Arriving at Carlisle we popped out to the Tesco to pick up some food before heading back to board the Leeds semi-fast service (only calls at Kirkby Stephen & Appleby between Carlisle & Settle).
This was a pair of 158s creating 5 coaches (however the rear unit seemed to be locked out of use when we alighted at Skipton), we sat in the front coach (where it was quieter) for the run towards Skipton along the beautiful Settle & Carlisle line. I said my farewell to Stu as he headed back west on a Morecambe train and I was welcomed on board the Leeds train for my first 333 for a while, where I noticed the flooding in some fields south of Skipton. Arriving into Leeds where I had a short wait before a low mileage 195 took me to New Pudsey, returning to Leeds on a 158 where I headed towards the Nottingham train.
View of the Sea near Whitehaven
Due to engineering works, the line around Barnsley was closed so the hourly Leeds – Nottingham services were going via Wakefield Westgate & Moorthorpe, even though it departed in front of a late running Birmingham bound XC service, it was lightly loaded, at least in the front coach, as the 195 had a chance to get up some speed on the faster route between Leeds & Sheffield. At Sheffield it was another short wait before I boarded a 3 coach 195 on the Manchester Piccadilly service, which I was surprised at how busy it was, considering this one randomly ran non-stop to Manchester.
I settled down on the 195 for the run across the Hope Valley, sadly in the dark with the odd fast of light when it passed a station, slowing to a crawl for a couple of them (New Mills Central), but it arrived into Manchester 9 minutes early (I was expecting for it to pass Adwick 9 minutes early but then sit outside the station for 10 minutes waiting for a platform!). I exited the station and headed towards the Easy Hotel, and relaxing for the remainder of the evening (other than the noise of a couple in a room nearby making love, and some drunken Scottish girls arriving back in the early hours being quite loud).
Other than the delay at Barrow (which didn’t make much difference in the end), it was a nice day spent looking out of the window at the scenery
Platform 7 for the 21:35 Northern Service to Manchester Piccadilly... Calling at Manchester Piccadilly Only
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Monday 9th August
I wanted to be on the 11:35-odd service towards South Wales at the latest so the Monday morning was going be spent having a Metrolink session, hunting for the newer trams (3121 onwards) as well as some of my “sub-mile” trams, deciding to run between Cornbrook & St Peters Square as that gets some speed up on the section towards Deansgate (better than a crawl in the city centre!). Although at first I wanted to do a little walk along the canal, but my first idea went into the bin as the towpath was closed for “filming” [was going to walk towards Deansgate], the second part was blocked [Ashton Canal] so I ended up walking along the Rochdale canal towards the junction where the New Islington Basin came in for a walk towards New Islington Metrolink stop. A nice gentle early morning potter before playing with some trams, although I did notice on the map there might be an access point to the Bridgwater Canal near Cornbrook, but it could be blocked by a gate.
New Islington Basin in Manchester
I was surprised at how cheap an all-day “Zone 1” travelcard is as I jumped on the first tram to Piccadilly, where I exited to swing via Sainsburys for breakfast before heading back to the tram platform, jumping on a tram to St Peters Square. Over the next couple hours I spent going back & forth between the two stations, mixed up with a trip into Piccadilly and back out again, and only saw 2 of the new trams out in service. After swinging into Victoria before heading to Piccadilly, it was time to say farewell to the trams, I think from memory I got 2 new trams plus around 10 more pushed over the mile mark. Oddest sight was seeing a Pendo (ECS from Preston) crawling towards Deansgate, and a very busy single 150 from Warrington Central [as that line passes next to Cornbrook station].
Metrolink Tram 3126 at Cornbrook... Mmm New Tram Smell
I got a seat on the 11:35 service, an un-refurbed 175 for the run to Crewe, the train picking up a good load along the way and I was glad to exit at Crewe to have a short walk along to platform 7, my fingers crossed, to board a 350/1 leading a 350/3 on the next London Euston service. Needless to say I was in the front coach of the 350/1. Where the train did pick up some passengers along the way it never got that busy and a couple hours or so later I arrived at London Euston, and I headed towards the Overground platforms to take my first 5 coach 710 for the run to Willesden Junction.
A 5 coach 710/3 at London Euston
A short wait at Willesden Junction before a 378 arrived from Stratford to take me to Clapham Junction, where with around 30 minutes before the next Basingstoke bound service (large scale engineering works around Weybridge) I exited the station and popped to a nearby large Asda for another drink & something snacky to munch on. Back at Clapham Junction (where passenger flow has returned to normal now the idiotic one-way system in the subway is gone), I had a short wait before a single 458 soaked up a lot of the waiting passengers before a pair of 444s arrived to take me on the crawl via Staines. Once more I sat in the front coach and it was lightly loaded, as I settled down.
Eventually the 444s arrived at Basingstoke, where I had a short wait before some sprinters arrived from the Salisbury direction, discharging its passengers before heading back out towards Salisbury, the last train of this trip, although it was nice to get home.
159s at Basingstoke
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