17-19th November – Weekend getaway to the North

 17-19th November – Weekend trip to the North

This was my last weekend getaway to the north (well Cheshire/Merseyside/Manchester) for the year, although the weather forecast wasn’t promising to be good, but it kept on changing so hard to make any solid plans.  I've tried something new with this blog post in pasting it here from Notepad which might get rid of some of the extra line spacing it gets when I copy it direct from Word.

17th November – Getting to Crewe

My original idea to get to London was with the 17:59 from Grateley, but the train it would have connected into at Basingstoke was running quite late caused by earlier delays around Woking.  Anyhow roll on December when the stoppers get extended to London again so the only time, I would need to change at Basingstoke for the ex-Weymouth will be if I wanted Clapham Junction.  With that issue I got home and got a lift to Andover for the slightly late running 17:37 service (after checking the call at Andover wasn’t being ripped out as SWR are quite good at ripping out stops whenever trains get delayed).

At Andover, it was a short wait before a trio of 159s rolled in (159006, 159022 & 159017) and I managed to get a decent table seat in the rear unit for the trip into Waterloo.  At Waterloo I had around 100 minutes to reach Euston for my booked train (the 20:46 Crewe) so with the weather being dry I decided to do my usual Underground avoidance move and headed for a gentle walk towards Euston.  This time I went on a slightly longer route via Waterloo Bridge & the crowds of Covent Garden (popping into a Tesco Express to grab some dinner items).  After dinner I followed Gower Street towards Euston Square doing a little loop at the Euston end to waste some more time.

455s at London Waterloo

Anyhow, I headed into London Euston and made my way towards platform 4 where the train to form the Crewe service arrived, with 350110 on the rear & 350237 on the front.  No prizes at which unit I sat in for the journey north.  Pretty uneventful journey towards Crewe, running a couple minutes late due to congestion caused by a late running Avanti service but generally quiet as I had a table seat to myself from Milton Keynes all the way to Crewe.  At a wet Crewe I headed towards the shared house, getting myself settled and bag sorted out, thankfully tonight it was very quiet.  Quiet both inside & outside, although a shame the hallway lights are still on (probably for Health & Safety) as the bedroom door has a couple gaps which allows light round the edges.

18th November – A Cheshire Day Ranger Trip

Had the weather forecast been more promising my idea was to head towards Manchester, meeting up with a good friend to walk the Huddersfield Narrow Canal from Mossley towards Standedge Tunnel before returning towards Stalybridge along the remains of the Micklehurst Loop line.  However, I decided that was better leaving it until next year as the weather was changeable (and walking in the rain isn’t much fun).  So as a plan B I settled on a Cheshire Day Ranger (I was also toying with doing an East Midlands Day Ranger to head towards Nottingham but decided that could wait).  Anyhow to the trains!

The day started with the 07:21 service to Chester from Crewe formed of winner 197108, where I changed onto winner 197109 on the Chester – Llandudno service (starting at Chester today due to engineering works on the line via Helsby, I dread to think how busy the Northern services via Northwich would have been with single 150s).   This 197 took me to Shotton where I had a short walk to the high-level platforms for winner 230008 to arrive from Wrexham to take me towards Upton where I decided to alight to have a little walk.

230008 departs Upton

My walk took me along a path running between the railway line & the M53 towards Woodchurch Road before going via Woodchurch back towards Upton.  After passing Upton station I headed towards the Bidston Windmill via Thermopylae Pass & some woodland.  The path was quite uneven with areas where it was wet, but it was a nice walk passing the windmill and onto Bidston Hill with some nice views of Liverpool before reaching the old Bidston Observatory.  I continued along this path as it dropped down into the village centre and headed towards the railway station.

I crossed over the tracks at the station and headed towards a cycle path which followed the railway going underneath the Kingsway flyover (M53) towards Wallasey before heading towards the Bidston Moss nature reserve, going over the hill before doing a loop on another cycle path which goes round the hill before heading towards Birkenhead North station (and the large car park where no overnight parking is allowed).  An enjoyable walk, although my legs did get a bit muddy due to some flooding & mud.

Bidston Windmill

It was time to play with some trains (choo choo!), first up was winner 777036 which I took to Leasowe via the city centre loop (to make sure it was over ten miles) before taking 507018 back towards the city centre, alighting at Hamilton Square, turning down a couple of dud 777s on Chester services (one heading towards Chester & one towards the city centre), with limited time available I jumped on dud 777012 on an Ellesmere Port service towards Eastham Rake with a fast platform change onto winner 777005 back towards Hamilton Square (going via the city centre loop to push it over ten miles).  I crossed over to platform 3 to catch 507004 towards Bidston for a short wait, having arrived 15 minutes earlier than planned.

The Bidston – Wrexham line was in a state of chaos (nothing new there) due to a vehicle striking a bridge in the Neston area, the 13:33 service was running around an hour late when it rolled in (the 150).  I can only assume it was due a staff change at the Wrexham end as it departed at 14:34 being advertised as nonstop to Shotton then all stations to Wrexham [strange it didn’t get advertised as Wrexham General only due to the late running].  That 150 cleared away and winner 230010 rolled in from Birkenhead Depot to work the 14:30 service (it’s the time of day where the 230s swap over) which departed 5 minutes late, getting round the corner away from the mainline and stopped for 10+ minutes due to the 150 being in the long signal section in front.

777005 at Eastham Rake Station

Eventually the 230 got a green signal and resumed heading south and I took it to Shotton.  My original idea was to catch the 150 going back the other way but that had been cancelled and with around 25-odd minutes to kill I headed into the town centre to pick up some bits for a late lunch from Iceland before making my way back to the station to board a busy winner 197105 to Chester.  I remained on board this 197 for the return for a short fester before 197109 arrived to push that 197 over ten miles.  A short connection at Chester saw me onto a very busy winner 777031 to Liverpool Lime Street to jump onto a Hull bound 185122 for the dash to Manchester Victoria on another busy train (all the 3 coach TPE units).

With the next Manchester Airport bound service running 20-odd minutes late, I decided to have a short walk towards Piccadilly via the city centre where originally I was going to take a XC service to Stockport to intercept a pair of 197s but what I didn’t notice is those 197s hadn’t moved in nearly an hour due to a police incident between Wem & Whitchurch so I jumped off the busy voyager to head towards platform 13 jumping onto 331003 to take me to Mauldeth Road to grab some better photos of this basic station.

A short wait at Mauldeth Road before 323237 rolled in from the Airport to take me back to Manchester Piccadilly where I noticed the 19:30 service had been cancelled with the service starting from Crewe, so with that plan into the bin (and not wanting to do the stopper which looked like it would be busy) I headed towards platform 14 to jump onto 158799 & 158854 for the run back towards Liverpool Lime Street (where it joined up with another pair of 158s from an earlier cancellation for the return towards Nottingham).

Metrolink Tram 3121 near Shudehill

At Liverpool Lime Street I headed towards the Merseyrail platform to board a very busy winning 777011 (remaining busy throughout) which I took to Bache.  Originally, I was toying with the idea of taking the same unit back up towards Liverpool to intercept 777006 but I noticed that particular service was running 5 minutes late (where it lost more time within Liverpool and hence ran nonstop from Birkenhead Central to Hooton) so with the connection at Chester in mind I gave that a miss.  I headed towards the large Morrisons next to the station to grab some late-night munchies before having a gentle walk towards Chester station (to waste some time).

I arrived at Chester station in good time, watching as a Colas 70+56 freight reversed on platform 4, which delayed the arrival of winner 197050 from Holyhead, and further delayed that train on the way to Crewe due to the long signal sections, eventually arriving around 20 minutes late.  I was toying with the idea of taking another required 197 for the run to Whitchurch but that train was being delayed due to awaiting a guard (whom was on a late running Manchester train) and the train I would have caught back from Whitchurch (a 158+153 combo from Birmingham) was itself delayed and was caught behind the Shrewsbury stopper.  So, I decided to give that 197 a miss and headed towards the shared house to relax for the remainder of the evening.

197043 at Crewe Station

Overall, a good day, true things didn’t always go to plan but hey-ho.  Thankfully the house was quiet once more, both inside & outside and the weather did hold out for me.

19th November – A South Pennies Day Ranger

Originally the rough plan for today was to head towards Littleborough to walk the Rochdale canal over the hill towards Todmorden, maybe even Hebden Bridge, but that plan got parked in the sidings due to the heavy rain forecasted.  My alternative plan was to make use of one of my Northern freebie single tickets I’ve had for a few years (so old it still has the old logo from Arriva days) but when I saw XC were diverting via Barnsley I decided to do a South Pennies Day Ranger.

I noticed the night before when looking at ticket costs that the TfW Only ticket from Crewe to Manchester has been hiked up from around £10 to 20p less than the any permitted fare (around £16) which is a massive 10p less than the “Avanti only” fare, with them going down the advance fare route (which are not sold by all websites).  A quick play with the Avanti TVM on the Saturday night (more an experiment) sold me a £3.80 advance for the 08:32 service so I was happy with that saving.

Anyhow to the trains, as I checked out of the shared house for the last time this year, swinging via the Tesco at the garage for something for breakfast and to the station, buying my ranger from the ticket office.  I headed to platform 5 to take a seat on the 08:32 service with DVT 82200 leading a former GC set with 67020 on the rear, first time for me having this 67 in England as previously I only had it on a sleeper move from Edinburgh to Stirling.  Reasonably busy in the front 1.5 standard class coaches (first class was empty) with the rear coach being lightly loaded.

67020 at Crewe Station

Departure was on time as the 67 pushed the train towards Manchester, going via Styal as it was a Sunday morning, all was going well until it reached the Heald Green area where the line from Manchester Airport joined, and was held for 5 minutes due to a late running Manchester Airport – Blackpool train (which also called at Heald Green), sadly this meant the set rolled into Piccadilly just as a TPE for Cleethorpes was departing.  It was a completely unofficial but slightly hopeful connection which would have put me an hour ahead of myself but ah-well, these things happen as I headed towards platform 2 to await the next Northern stopper (noticing the next Cleethorpes train was a 3 coach TPE special so something to avoid).

I had forgotten that Northern ran 156s to Sheffield on Sundays, so it was a nice surprise as I was expecting a pair of 150s when I saw it was formed of 4 coaches, a large crowd was gathered round 156428 as 156424 rolled in from New Mills which attached to 428 to form a 4 coach service, and when the doors were eventually reopened (a minute before departure) I managed to get a decent seat at the front of 424.  Pretty sure this would be the first time I’ve had a 156 all the way to Sheffield and it made a decent noise in the various tunnels.  The train did empty out along the way, and I did feel a bit sorry for those going for a hike in the heavy rain, no doubt getting wetter than the average swimmer.  I noticed the construction of the 2nd platform at Dore is coming along well, and also there seems to be a path available following the river towards the city centre which is something I need to research.

156424 at Sheffield

Anyhow, the 156s arrived at Sheffield, a couple of minutes late (mainly at the Sheffield end due to congestion) and after a little walkabout (not going too far due to the rain).  I noticed that the TPE which was following looked very busy when it rolled into Sheffield (other than 1st class which was nearly empty) so a good thing I went for the slower stopper to sit in comfort.  After the 185 departed, 221131 rolled in on an Edinburgh train, expecting the worst I was surprised to get a pair of seats to myself in coach F (even had a view).  The voyager departed (thankfully in front of the Northern stopper) and headed towards Leeds, going via Barnsley due to engineering works in the Wakefield Westgate area.  Certainly, it was interesting going nonstop through Barnsley station and towards West Yorkshire.  The train passed Wakefield Kirkgate and headed towards Leeds, where it got stuck for a few minutes outside the station waiting for a platform to become available.

My next move was towards platform 16 to board a busy 802214 on a Liverpool service to take me towards Huddersfield, diverting via Wakefield Kirkgate due to engineering works on the line via Dewsbury.  Part of me was tempted to remain on board to Manchester Victoria for a 195 towards Bradford but connections were just a bit too tight for comfort.  So up next was 150228 working the next Huddersfield – Bradford – Leeds service, another service where the doors didn’t get opened until a minute before departure.  This unit took me towards Bradford Interchange where I exited the station and headed into the city centre, going into the shopping centre to visit Boots for lunch and also Poundland for a new charging cable for my iPod as my previous cable suffered an untimely demise on the Saturday (and I didn’t trust my iPod’s battery to last until I got home for it is getting quite old).

802214 under the canopy at Huddersfield

After getting hopelessly lost trying to get back to the station, I jumped onto a busy Leeds bound 195022 + 195015 to take me to Bramley, a station I needed for some better photos.  After nearly getting run over by an idiotic driver on a zebra crossing, I took a very busy 195130 back to Bradford Interchange, making my way across to platform 1 where 221142 was idling away on the next Grand Central service.  My original idea was to make use of my free GC single I got from September due to being an hour late into London (due to Grand Central cancelling a service) but when they announced they were doing a £10 seat sale on those services booked to be voyager operated I decided it was too good to turn down.  Sadly, my booked seat was a bit rubbish (airline style with a view of plastic) so I relocated myself to coach D, grabbing one of the unreserved table seats (removing my seat reservation label to make it available for others).

It was my first time on a (former) Avanti Voyager in a couple of years, and I had forgotten how nice the refurb was with the seat covers, the train got very busy throughout the journey (didn’t help that the previous train around midday was cancelled) and was diverted via Pontefract, calling at Monkhill station which I was shocked at the numbers waiting for this service (although not sure if they were passengers from Leeds due to a reduced LNER service).  I think this was the first time since 2015 I had a Grand Central on the ‘alternative’ route via Pontefract, and I had forgotten how painfully slow the Askern branch line was.

221142 & 180105 at Bradford Interchange

Darkness had fallen by the time the voyager reached the ECML, so it was to watch some videos on my tablet as the voyager got up to speed reaching Doncaster.  Before a nonstop run towards the Peterborough area where it got caught up in congestion caused by an earlier issue (with a seriously late running Thameslink service getting put ahead of intercity services for the section of line between Peterborough & Huntingdon which is mostly 2 track.  A bit slow at a couple more times along the way as it caught up with trains in front so arrival into London was around 15 minutes late giving me near enough an hour to reach Waterloo (as SWR had swapped departure times of the West of England services due to engineering works between Salisbury & Yeovil).  Sadly, the rain had returned so I couldn’t do my usual TfL avoidance move with a walk, so it was to the underground, going towards the Piccadilly line where my luck getting any sub mile 1973 stock sets continued to be bad.

Sets 102 & 107 took me to Covent Garden before sets 242 & 117 took me to Green Park (on a South Harrow terminator) where I transferred towards the Jubilee line.  I nearly got knocked flying by someone marching against the flow of passengers on one of the corridors hurting my hand as it hit the dividing barrier. On the Jubilee line I took sets 96059+96016 to Waterloo (god the track is loud), swinging via Tesco for dinner before heading to the concourse to await the arrival of the sprinters to form the 19:15 Salisbury stopper.  158881 was leading 159012 which was quite busy but also quite slow, came to a stop alongside another train at Farnborough for a few minutes before continuing to Basingstoke but felt like the engine underneath the coach I was in wasn’t firing on all cylinders as the delay kept on slipping by a minute or two at each station, getting into Grateley around 20 minutes late.

158881 at London Waterloo

I had a gentle walk home, thankfully it wasn’t raining, sorting my bag out, removing some overnight items which won’t be required for a few weeks as my next overnight adventure is Worcester for a railtour of various freight lines & loops in the West Midlands.  Overall, an enjoyable weekend away, even if the weather at times was quite wet.  More photos can be found on my flickr available here: Flickr