10th & 11th April – North West Trip Part 2
Sunday:
The day began with checking out of the accommodation, a place I will use again as its handy for Crewe (and quite reasonably priced). The idea for today was to have a nice walk before hunting down some required trams in Manchester. My deadline was the 19:30 service towards Shrewsbury from Manchester as that connected in with the Birmingham International Hippo at Crewe.
First train of the day was a 323 on the stopper to Manchester Piccadilly, after watching the unusual sight of a 150+153+153+158 combo departing towards Chester. One of these days I will understand why the guard comes through after Crewe checking tickets but disappears in the back cab afterwards (and hence ignoring anybody boarding at the intermediate stations). Anyhow I purchased my “Train + Tram” ranger from a Metrolink TVM I had a short wait before a busy 319 on a Liverpool stopper which I took to Patricroft, where my walk began.
175107 passing Patricroft
From looking at the map there is a few options for a walk starting at Patricroft, heading north towards Bolton on the old railway line (via Walkden Low Level), towards Leigh along part of the old railway line (then guided busway), on the Port Salford Greenway path, or head south along the Bridgewater canal. All featured in my head for potential ideas, but in the end, I decided on the Bridgewater Canal towpath. Access to the towpath from the station was reasonably easy (all signposted), and soon I was heading in a mostly south-easterly direction towards Barton, where the canal goes across the Manchester Ship Canal in a wonderfully engineered Swing Aqueduct.
Barton Swing Aqueduct.
Evidence on the ground of the tracks of the former Trafford Park railway system (which I believe used to be quite large in the olden days). I crossed over the Manchester Ship Canal via the road swing bridge, re-joining the canal for a leisurely walk under the trees. It was peaceful for a time before the industrial units started appearing. I passed the Trafford Centre shopping centre and went underneath the Metrolink bridge (pausing for a photo of a tram crossing the canal). I continued my walk along the canal reaching the area I was in on Friday evening near Trafford Park station where the Manchester branch of the canal heads towards Manchester. I had another pause to get a photo of a pair of 195s crossing the railway bridge before continuing.
Trafford Centre bound Metrolink Tram 3121 crossing over the Bridgewater Canal
The canal had a large turning around Stretford as it goes towards the south west and got a lot busier with other walkers/cyclists/dog walkers. I guess as the Metrolink runs close by it’s popular for linear walks, anyhow I continued along the towpath crossing the River Mersey and going underneath the M60 near Sale. My walk continued along the canal, with a little detour along a path next to the Sinderland Brook for a little change of scenery.
Tram Across the Mersey... Doesn't have the same ring to it.
After my little detour, I was back on the canal towpath, going underneath an old railway bridge for the disused line which ran from the Glazebrook area towards Timperley (which I judge by looking at Google Maps, part of the old line is walkable towards the Ship Canal, but the old Cadishead Viaduct is off-limits. I had another little detour via the West Timperley Nature Reserve before returning once more to the canal to head towards a road bridge to leave the canal towpath. The next section was a walk along Navigation Road which led towards Navigation Road station (and who could have predicted that?).
I had good timing as the first tram towards Altrincham was a sub mile 3051 which was pushed over the mile on the run to Altrincham. I had a tight connection to board a 150+156 on the Manchester bound (former EMR 156401), where I made a beeline to the toilet. I alighted from this busy pair of units at Navigation Road, crossing back over to the Metrolink platform to board the return of 3051 which was standing room only (and it only got worse as it went on).
"This is the East Midlands Railway service to... ;)"
I alighted from this tram at Cornbrook, with the next tram behind being winner 3131 so my deckchair wasn’t even unfolded as I was on the St Peters Square bound. A short (5 minute if that) break before 3137 arrived from the Airport. This took me to Manchester Victoria where I remained on board to ride it back towards Shudehill to push it over a mile, along the way I noticed a sub mile tram on a Whitefield terminator (would have been Bury but there was engineering works). I decided to have a little break away from the trams so walked to Manchester Victoria, where the gateline staff got confused by my ranger ticket.
First up was a 150+156 combo on a Wigan North Western service via Bolton, crossing over to Wigan Wallgate to board another 150+156 back to Manchester, this time via Walkden. This 156 was a former GA unit and looked very tired inside, but soon enough I was back in Manchester, and back to the trams. I was going to head towards Whitefield as I hadn’t been on that line for a fair while but required 3134 popped up on an East Didsbury tram, so I took it to Deansgate. I returned to Victoria via Market Street where I spotted another low mile tram on a MediaCity tram, but didn’t give chase as I landed at Victoria, for a small deckchair session.
The newest tram on Metrolink (well until 3138-45 enter use)
I noticed Northern had strengthened a Leeds service to be a 150+158, for that platform when it rolled in was very busy (TPE strike day). Anyway, eventually sub mile 3063 rolled in which I took to Piccadilly Gardens pushing it over a mile, and with good timing the next tram was sub mile 3129 (plus friend) which I took to Holt Town. Due to the kickball finishing at the Man City ground I decided to make a quick getaway by foot, following a path which went via the River Medlock path.
This was actually a pretty path for woodlands, and came out near Fairfield street, where I had a walk along the road underneath the railway line, and to Piccadilly station, jumping on a busy 9 coach Pendo to take me to Stockport. My theory was to intercept the late running 175 at Stockport, to remain on board during the turnaround at Piccadilly. This turned out to be a good move as it soon filled up due to the next London Pendo getting cancelled [so those with flexible tickets jumped on the 175 to change at Crewe].
Unusual place for a 323, in the little used Stockport bay
I said farewell to Manchester Piccadilly as the overcrowded Hippo left passengers behind at Stockport, but a handful did alight at Wilmslow allowing those passengers there to board. Emptied out quite well at Crewe, with most heading over to platform 5 for a London train. I headed out of the station to buy something to eat from Tesco to waste time, before returning for a short wait for 175102 to roll in from Llandudno Junction on the novelty of a TfW Rail service via Stafford, something which is getting axed from the May timetable change.
The train was lightly loaded, and remained so all the way to Birmingham International, where I had a short wait to return towards Birmingham New Street on a pair of 350s, walking to the Travelodge at Newhall Street. The end of an enjoyable day featuring a canalside walk, some 156s & some trams ticked off. I only need one more tram for a mile, plus trams 3138 onwards whenever they might enter service.
175102 at Birmingham International
Monday
As usual I had a few ideas for today, the first was to head towards Bletchley to see if any of my required 230s were out on the Marston Vale line, but that idea went into the bin due to some of the services getting cancelled the night before. So I decided on another canalside walk, deciding between the options I had from starting at Newhall Street (I could either go along the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal towards Aston (or branching onto the Digbeth Branch Canal to head towards Small Heath) or head towards Wolverhampton.
After flipping a virtual coin in my head I decided to head towards Wolverhampton, only as far as Sandwell & Dudley station, but even that gave me options due to the multiple canals in the Birmingham area, So I checked out of the hotel, swung via a Tesco Express close by for breakfast before heading onto the canal towpath, following a similar route as I did back in February, but this time I carried straight on at Old Turn Junction where the Birmingham and Fazeley Canal meets the Birmingham Canal.
Sheepcote Street Bridge over Birmingham Canal
There are a few loops away from the main canal, however only some of these are accessible to the public, some have no access, others are for private moorings where the towpath is gated off. I stayed on the main canal, passing the sight where there used to be a railway bridge to carry the long closed Harborne Railway over the canal. When the Soho loop came back onto the main canal, I took a little detour along this loop towards All Saints Park, returning on myself to carry along the main canal, passing close by to Soho depot where a couple 323s were resting.
A 350 crossing the Soho Loop of the Birmingham Canal
At this point there was towpaths on both sides of the canal, I decided to stay on the path on the northern side and reached Smethwick Junction where the canal splits into the Old Main Line & New Main Line. I decided to pick the Old Main Line, going up some locks, passing the so called “Engine Arm” which crosses the “New Main Line” on a nice looking aqueduct, one probably better to get photos from the low ground on the New Main canal. Around Smethwick Rolfe Street I decided to do a detour towards the station for some better photos, before returning to the canal, where a lovely old pumping station was between the two canals.
Galton Valley Pumping Station
After the pumping station the old line turned quite rural (and towpath went a bit muddy in places). Although the rural section soon changed into a section where the canal was underneath the M5. The canal split with a short “Spon Lane Locks Branch” which seemed to be inaccessible from the towpath on the southern side which messed up my rough plan as I continued towards the multi-level Stewart Aqueduct where the M5 crosses the railway line which itself crosses the Old Line Canal which crosses the New Line canal. All the bridges!
*
A 350 near Stewart Aqueduct
Thankfully at this point there is a link between the two canals, all be quite steep. Now I was on the “New Line” I carried on underneath the M5 doing a short detour at Bromfield Junction, crossing one of the locks to bypass a fence for the little branch (which looked like the water level was very low in between locks). I did a U-turn and carried on along the canal, reaching the A4034 road bridge which links the canal to Sandwell & Dudley station.
I could have easily continued (to maybe Dudley Port or even Tipton), but I had one eye on the clock, as I fancied doing the afternoon 68 move from Moor Street, abet only to Solihull. The next train towards Birmingham was a single 2 coach 170 from Shrewsbury, which was a bit cosy. This took me to Birmingham New Street, where after grabbing lunch from Tesco I headed towards Birmingham Moor Street. 68015 was sitting on the buffer stops on platform 4, so I took a seat in the coach next to the loco for the extra noise. The trip to Solihull was short but was good enough for the time being.
Soli Cat
I had a short wait at Solihull for a late running XC to pass, followed by a 70 hauling containers then finally a pair of 172s to take me to Smethwick Galton Bridge. A 350 on the next stopper took me back to Birmingham New Street but when I saw the next London train was a pair of 350/2s I decided against taking them to Watford Junction for a spin on the St Albans Abbey line (good thing I did as the Abbey Line fell over with it getting replaced by buses). For a time wasting move I had a gentle walk in the city centre before returning to the station, waiting on the platform for the next London Euston LNR service to roll in.
Desiro Roulette was kind to me as it was a 350/1 leading a 350/2, so no prizes at which unit I sat in for the run towards Watford Junction, getting up some nice speed on the nonstop run from Milton Keynes to Watford. I had a short wait at Watford Junction for a trio of 319s to roll in from Euston, this will be my sort of farewell to the LNR 319s as they must be on borrowed time, I can’t see them lasting until the end of the year, with a little shuffle of 350s to cover the limited services the 319s operate.
I took a seat in the motor coach for the run to London Euston, pausing only at Harrow & Wealdstone. At Euston I decided to have a walk towards Waterloo, to waste time before the 19:20 service back home. Nothing out of the ordinary in terms of route (no detours to visit green spaces etc), and I soon arrived at Waterloo with time to spare.
On Borrowed Time? LNR 319s
The last train of my long weekend was short formed to 5 coaches instead of the usual 8, so was a bit busier than I suspect it would have been. Soon enough I had alighted at Grateley to walk home, to spend the remainder of the evening relaxing. A busy few days meant I had a lazy day on the Tuesday (went to see a film in the cinema).
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