4th – 6th March, Pathfinder’s Lancashire Tour
When another freight line tour got announced by Pathfinder last year it looked interesting enough for me to book onto it, after doing some research with hotels, I found the Premier Inn at Longbridge being £60 for both nights the best option.
Friday
I didn't have much time to waste on the Friday evening for me, as I got changed at work,
drove home to drop off my work stuff and drove to Andover, arriving with 10
minutes to spare before the 17:38 train to London. I wanted to do this for 2 reasons, the first
because it gave me more time to get towards Euston for the 19:52-odd Birmingham
train & due to there being replacement buses on the Sunday from
Guildford. Driving to Andover means I
don’t have to waste time on the Sunday after the bus arrives or have worries if
the bus gets caught up in heavy traffic (and misses the connection)
Anyhow it was a busy 8 coach sprinter formation towards London Waterloo, where I had around 10 minutes to waste before 7pm and the start of “off-peak” where my gold card gave me a discount on the oyster fare to Euston (those little 80p savings do add up), so I popped to Sainsburys before heading to the underground with a Northern line service to Euston.
And so another fine adventure begins!
I waited on the concourse before the Birmingham train rolled in and once more it was a pair of 350/2s (I’m beginning to think this is a service to avoid as I’ve seen it 4 times in the last few months and it’s been a pair of 2s). However, the train towards Crewe was a pair of 350/1s which I took a seat on (solely to reduce the time spent on the 3+2 seated units). I took these to Rugby, changing for a 40-odd minute wait for the Birmingham train to roll in, and as expected it was very busy. I assume first class had been declassified as it was busy in that little area.
The train arrived at Birmingham New Street around 10 minutes late, which meant I missed an unofficial connection to a Redditch train, so it was a short wait before a pair of 323s rolled in from Lichfield Trent Valley bound for Bromsgrove to take me to Longbridge. I made the mistake of sitting at the back coach, as that got very busy at Five Ways but emptied out around Kings Norton.
323214 at Birmingham New Street
At Longbridge I exited the station and followed the instructions to reach the Premier Inn around 5 minutes away, getting myself checked in and sorted my bag out for the Saturday before heading to sleep. Usual Premier Inn style room, reasonably quiet from outside, comfy bed.
323s at Longbridge
Saturday
The tour departed New Street around 8am, so I wanted to be on the 06:50 service towards Birmingham from Longbridge, as this would give me some time to grab some supplies for lunch from Tesco (as well as having a couple backup services in case they got cancelled). I took a seat on a pair of 323s for the run towards Birmingham, where I decided to jump off at University to see how the station rebuild was coming along (slow but steady).
A 3 coach 172 soon arrived to take me the final 2 and a half miles into New Street, where I exited the station to get my lunch items (as well as a breakfast wrap from Tim Hortons). I returned to the station and waited for winner 66084 to roll in along with the usual Mk1 coaches, some in better state of condition than others. I took my seat saying hello to the people around my table, being thankful I avoided a narrow bench seat this time round.
Platform 10 for the Big Red Shed to Manchester.
The tour was a slow but steady trip towards Wolverhampton going via Aston & Perry Barr before going towards Soho and the main line, taking in a loop near the 323 Soho depot and carrying on for another pick-up at Wolverhampton. The tour continued towards Stafford, going via the goods loop and the former Royal Mail platform where it paused for time. After Stafford it was a trip towards Stoke, using a loop before the station to allow a 350 to pass, before going via platform 1 at Stoke and into another goods line beyond the station.
After Stoke the tour continued towards Kidsgrove and towards Crewe going via a couple more loops along the way (this tour was very loopy!). A final pick-up at Crewe and the tour continued going towards Manchester going via the airport line, nonstop through Piccadilly & Oxford Road before it headed towards Eccles, branching off into the goods loop behind the back of the Eccles platform (where I learnt something new, that Eccles used to have 4 platforms, with remains of a platform in the undergrowth).
Loco 60015 soon joined the train having arrived from the Peak Forest freight area, which took the train down towards the Weaste concrete depot on the banks of the Ship Canal, reversing to do both lines to the gate, before the tour returned to the loop behind Eccles station, before returning towards Manchester and towards Stockport (going via another loop near the depot at Longsight).
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| Eccles station from the Goods Loop |
The tour continued taking the line towards Chester, reversing on the line to visit the Northenden Refuse Terminal, before continuing towards Northwich. The plan was for the tour to go via Middlewich then towards Crewe via the Manchester independent lines, but due to an incident the tour got diverted to use the chord to the WCML between Hartford & Acton Bridge, reversing once more to go towards the Crewe area using the Liverpool independent line which dived underneath the running lines to come out into the freight area behind Crewe station.
After passing Crewe station the tour headed up to join the line towards Shrewsbury, passing the DRS depot, reversing for one last time and back towards Crewe via one last loop, where it arrived at Platform 12, only around 10 minutes late, but it was nice to get off the train to have a little break. We had around a 2 and a bit hour break, so I decided to have a walk.
60015 at Crewe
My walk took me towards the residential part of Crewe, joining up with a mixed used path which ran along the Valley Brook, via Valley Park, after this I went towards Queens Park which was very nice however due to time restrictions (it closed at half 5) I couldn’t spend as long as I would have liked exploring the park. After exiting the park, I returned to the roads to go towards Morrisons for some dinner items before heading towards the town centre area, crossing over the main WCML near Grand Junction retail park, crossing over the Manchester branch as darkness had arrived.
I returned towards Crewe station along the main road and took a seat before 66060 rolled in with the coaches. 66084 had an issue so the locos got swapped as a precaution. I assume due to a Branch Line Society tour in Liverpool the following day (wish I could have been on that; however, it would have needed me to have taken the Monday off work) the train at least in my coach was half full. This allowed me to spread out onto an empty table (to avoid playing footsie with the two sitting opposite) to read a magazine on the way towards Birmingham.
Queens Park, Crewe
The route taken was the mainline towards Stafford, then Wolverhampton for a drop-off, before carrying on towards Birmingham going via a loop near Dudley Port before heading into New Street where I alighted. I decided to pop out of the station to have a short tram hunt (rather than going straight back to the hotel) with the first tram I saw heading towards Library being one of the new batch, so I gave chase towards Town Hall to intercept it on the return journey.
Tram 39 was into my book with a run to Jewellery Quarter, the limit of the Birmingham City Zone. I decided to spend 45-odd minutes at the station (never knew how deep down a cutting the station was when I popped outside for a photo). I called it a night with another tram back towards Grand Central before a pair of 323s towards Longbridge. I was worried when I arrived on platform 12 to find it busy however I suspect most of those passengers were waiting for the last Leicester train which was behind the Bromsgrove service (or waiting for a Redditch train).
Entrance to Jewellery Quarter Station
The 323s took me to Longbridge for the short walk back to the hotel, where I relaxed for the remainder of the evening, making use of the free WiFi that Premier Inn offers
West Midland Metro Tram 39 at Jewellery Quarter
Sunday
I checked out of the Premier Inn and headed towards Greggs for a breakfast Ham & Cheese baguette, for the idea this morning was to walk towards Birmingham city centre, along the River Rea path then the Worcester & Birmingham Canal. It was a good thing I wasn’t planning on using the trains as the first few services had been cancelled due to a points failure!
My walk took me on a small loop of Austin Park, an area near the hotel before I headed towards the River Rea path, starting by running alongside Longbridge station towards the Northfield area. The path was quite nice, some nice scenery of the river & woods (especially near a little Ford where a little lane crossed the river). After Northfield I continued along the route (bike route 5 I believe) via the Wychall Reservoir and King’s Norton Park to reach the canal at Kings Norton junction (where the Stratford canal meets the Worcester & Birmingham Canal)
The River Rea (not the River to Hell)
I turned left onto the canal towpath, going underneath the Camp Hill Lines bridge continuing along the towpath (which was a bit narrow in places, which doesn’t help when you get idiots on bikes pretending, they are the next Chris Froome). The railway was reached at Bournville where the towpath ran close to the railway line for the next couple miles to Five Ways. It made for some good photos of passing trains.
Voyager Peek-A-Bo
A pair of 323s bound for glorious Lichfield
After Five Ways the railway goes one way and the canal another way but soon, I had reached Gas Street Bain in the centre of Birmingham. I left the canal side and headed towards the Library tram stop before going towards New Street via a Sainsburys local. I was originally going to have a fester at the tram stop but decided to start heading back home. The next Northampton service was a pair of 350/1s where the front coaches were busy but I had a private rear coach for the run to Rugby, getting delayed at Birmingham International for a late running diverted Pendo to pass, then at Coventry due to an issue on the previous Birmingham – London train.
At Rugby I was in luck as the London train was a 350/2 leading a 350/4, no guesses which unit I sat in. I made myself comfortable as it was still 15-odd minutes before departure (starting from platform 2), before the train departed calling at Milton Keynes only on the way to London Euston, arriving a few minutes early which always helps.
A nice 350 at Rugby
I headed straight towards the underground for a Northern line service to Waterloo, and boarding the first train towards Guildford, a pair of 444s bound for Weymouth. By far this was the busiest train of the day for me and I was sitting in coach 6 of 10 for the run towards Guildford via Cobham, getting myself ready for the potential organised chaos of rail replacement buses at Guildford.
Surprisingly I was straight onto a coach for Andover, it was going from the wrong zonal marker but as an extra bonus it was due to run nonstop to Andover. The coach was quite reasonable for legroom and was reasonably busy as it departed Guildford heading towards Andover via various dual carriageways & the M3. I think it got into Andover a good 30 minutes before the next train was due to depart, but that didn’t worry me as I headed to my car to drive home.
An enjoyable weekend, a nice railtour on the Saturday, followed by a nice walk on the Sunday. I would certainly use the Longbridge Premier Inn again if the price was right (and timings would allow it)
Worcester & Birmingham Canal in the Kings Norton area
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