9-11th February – Edinburgh & Stoke on Trent

 9-11th February – Edinburgh & Stoke

My first weekend away based in Crewe of the year, same accommodation as I usually use for price, location & the fact you can roll in at 11pm on the Friday night without issue as it’s all self-service.  My original idea for the Saturday changed in the TPE £1 seat sale where I had a moment of madness to get tickets for a little trip to Edinburgh as it had been a while since I went via the Lakes in daylight.

9th February – Onwards to Crewe

The trip began with the usual 17:59 service, which tonight was formed of a busy (half-term week getaway) 159019 towards London Waterloo, nothing unusual happening along the way other than noticing some posters advertising Bournemouth Airport at Woking station, an airport which is nearly impossible to reach these days using public transport (2 buses to the Airport from Bournemouth early morning and 3 buses from the Airport in the afternoon/evening with the route 737).  Anyhow arrival into Waterloo was a few minutes ahead of schedule but was met with pouring rain, so it was to the underground (no point getting soaked at the start of the trip).

I jumped onto the first northbound train (set 51592 & 51591, which as a bonus was a sub-mile pair) to Euston, a station in a bit of chaos due to many delays & cancellations (just another day on the WCML) caused by a broken-down train in the Berkhamsted area.  As I was on a flexible ticket, I headed towards platform 2 to board the late running 19:46 LNR to Crewe, which didn’t arrive until 19:48 having been caught up with the chaos.  I took a seat on 350406 (with 350130 on the rear) as it departed around 14 minutes late, time it never really made up (I suspect had there not been a Pendo blocking platform 5 at Milton Keynes it might have been held there to allow a couple of Avanti services pass).

350406 at London Euston

Nothing unusual happened along the way north (other than using platform 3 at Nuneaton) and it arrived at Crewe around 22:10.   A gentle walk to the shared house to get checked in, noticing that both shared toilets were lacking toilet paper (not sure what happened there, maybe someone stole it or an oversight of the housekeeper), so I popped to the large Tesco Extra to grab a pack of cheap toilet paper as well as some supplies for the morning.  I returned to the shared house, and relaxed for the rest of the night, being quiet outside with no idiotic youths messing around on an off-road motorbike.

10th February – A Day trip to Edinburgh

A later start than usual for me on a Saturday from Crewe with the 08:30 TfW service to Manchester, which due to some chaos at Crewe with cancelled Avanti services blocking up platforms 11 & 12 meant it lost 10 minutes sitting outside Crewe station waiting for a platform to become available as a busy 197006 rolled in.  I was lucky to get a seat for the run towards Piccadilly on this busy 2 coach service, and at Piccadilly I headed towards platform 13 to board 397008 to the Airport, mainly to give me something to do as this would be my booked train to Edinburgh but more importantly allowed me to avoid the chaos of boarding at Piccadilly when it would return.

I decided to upgrade myself for weekend first for the leg towards Edinburgh as due to the reduced timetable between Manchester & Preston I suspected that standard class would be completely rammed.  So once back on board at the Airport I made my way to the posh seated area, selecting a single seat which had a decent window view (as a couple had a view of plastic) with my card ready to pay the £20 upgrade (I did try with Seatfrog but that auction ended with someone paying around £25 plus the £3 fee).

First Class on a TPE 397

Back towards Piccadilly and as expected standard class was chaotic, it didn’t help that this train was meant to be the 802 which has more seats, so there were a few passengers with seat reservations for seats which didn’t exist.  Meanwhile in the posh seats at the front I was relaxing as that area slowly filled up, especially after Oxford Road.  For some reason Northern were running replacement buses between Bolton & Manchester today, whilst the line was open, so it felt a bit strange heading towards Bolton without passing another train on what normally is, a busy section of track.  The train joined the WCML at Leyland and carried on towards Scotland, after Carstairs junction I was onto new track for TPE coverage (one of the reasons why I wanted to do this service).  I made use of the freebie snacks & soft drinks from the catering trolley as I was enjoying looking out of the scenery.

Arrival into Edinburgh Waverley was near enough on time, as I headed out of the station towards the busy tram stop (Rugby was on!) at St Andrews Square, jumping onto tram 251 for the slow run towards the Foot of the Walk tram stop in Leith where my little walk began.  Today was going to be an odds & sods sort of day, the first was the “Restalrig Walk” which I believe uses part of the track bed of the former Caledonian Railways route to South Leith Docks.  This was a large loop, and I had a little unplanned detour to the Lochend Park which was quite nice.  The Restalrig Walk ended on Easter Road, the railway beyond this section lost to developments.

Lochend Park Doocot (Edinburgh)

Onto the road network as I made my way towards Pilrig Park with another detour towards Redbraes Park where I saw the gap in the fence of the disused Powderhall branch line allowing local residents to use the railway bridge over the Water of Leith (although it wasn't the largest of gaps in the fence).  I picked up the St Mark's Path leading towards St Marks Park crossing over the Water of Leith and headed towards the opposite end of the railway bridge I saw earlier to walk part of the Water of Leith Walkway I missed a couple of weeks ago.

Disused Powderhall Branch bridge over the Water of Leith

I was now onto a path which made use of the former Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway route near Bonnington station, where I continued to near Junction Road (where a couple of weeks ago I walked the riverside path as this is where the Water of Leith walkway splits into two).  I did a U-turn to head back towards the Victoria Path leading towards Victoria Park and onto part of the former Caledonian Railways route.  This led towards the Hawthornvale Path near Bangholm woods and to "Five Ways" where 5 old railway line paths merge.

It was back onto the route of the former Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway route, this time on the Trinity branch, passing the remains of Trinity station and via Trinity tunnel.  The path came to an end at the waterfront of Wardie Bay which was very rough with waves this afternoon.  I followed a path along the waterfront towards the Granton Harbour East Breakwater where sadly I ran out of time (my original goal was to finish near Crewe Toll).  Had the water been calmer I might have walked along the breakwater towards the lighthouse, but I didn't fancy walking along the breakwater to get hit with a big wave as it was quite exposed.

Wardie Bay, Edinburgh

My walk came to an end at Granton Square, where it was onto Lothian bus route 19 (bus 648) for the slow ride back towards a busy Princes Street (due to the rugby having finished).  I alighted on Princes Street, visiting a couple of shops for dinner items before heading to Edinburgh Waverley station to relax before boarding 397003 on the last Manchester train of the evening.  Unlike this morning I decided to remain in standard class, watching some videos on my tablet due to the darkness.  A busy train after Haymarket which emptied out at Lockerbie (and Carlisle).  After Carlisle there was a good passenger changeover along the way getting busy after Lancaster but emptying out at Preston.  The lost time caused by a late running Shotts line stopper was recovered by the time the train reached Oxford Road so arrival into Piccadilly was on time allowing me a better chance at making an unofficial 4-minute connection to the next TfW service (to avoid an hour fester).

I easily made the connection onto winner (bonus!) 197048, and with an extra bonus I even got a seat (which I wasn’t expecting boarding so late).  The train was delayed by 4 minutes (I’m guessing congestion), and it emptied out at Crewe, which is where I left the service, heading back towards the shared house to have a shower and relax for the remainder of the evening.  An enjoyable little trip to Edinburgh making use of the £1 fare sale, shame I didn’t get the chance to compare a 397 with a 802 on the WCML as both trains were 397s.

Trinity Tunnel on Trinity Path (former Edinburgh, Leith and Newhaven Railway), Edinburgh (North Portal)

11th February – Walking the Trent & Mersey + Potteries Loop Line

After a good night sleep, I checked out of the shared house, swinging via Tesco at the Esso garage for breakfast before heading to Crewe station to board 350375 working the first Stafford (via Stoke) service of the day (used to be the first LNR service to Birmingham from Crewe on a Sunday but now the first LNR to Birmingham isn’t until nearly 3 hours later with the first Liverpool – Birmingham train).  I dread to think how busier the XC services are between Stafford & Birmingham now those LNR services don’t run.  Anyhow I took this 350 to Stone to begin my Sunday walk.  Thankfully the wet weather which was being forecasted earlier in the week had changed to being overcast (although there was a couple of light short drizzly showers along the walk).

This planned walk was a combination of a couple of ideas I had, the first was a return to covering the Trent & Mersey canal, access to the canal from Stone station was quite easy as it was a footpath near the station car park, over a modern bridge (which had replaced a foot crossing) before another short path coming out near a lock and onto the towpath, this time I turned right (as I’ve got another walk planned where I will turn left and head towards Rugeley but that will probably be a task for the spring/summer months).  The towpath was good quality as it was part of cycle route 5, a few areas of mud caused by recent rain but nothing too bad.

350375 departs Stone Station

My walk along the towpath took me mostly in a northern direction, running alongside the railway for a short section with the towpath flipping sides a couple of times as it left Stone behind and into a rural area.  The towpath was busy with other cyclists & joggers with a few dog walkers but was quite relaxing heading towards Barlaston (and the zombie station) and onto a section of the towpath I walked back in 2019 when visiting the zombie stations of Barlaston & Wedgwood with my good friend Paul.  After passing the Wedgwood factory I entered the Stoke on Trent area with a few housing in the Trentham area as the towpath went from rural countryside to more urban.

I did a little detour in the Trentham area to walk along part of the former North Staffordshire “Trentham Branch” which is now a mixed used path going between housing, doing a U-turn at the Longton Brook and headed back towards the canal to carry on heading along the towpath with new housing being built on the opposite bank before returning into more rural countryside before industrial units appeared along with the A500 Queensway Road (which was quite busy).  I continued along the towpath reaching the area near Stoke on Trent station which was the end of my little canal walk (as I had previously walked the canal from Stoke towards Kidsgrove last January.

Trent & Mersey Canal between Stone & Barlaston

My positioning walk to reach my second walk took me via Hanley Park (which looked quite nice), across the Caldon Canal and Hanley town centre (and a large Tesco which came in handy for lunch & a toilet break).  I soon reached the start of a path running along the remains of the Potteries Loop Line, a railway which closed due to Beeching in the 1960s (although parts remained until the 1970s due to a diversional route when Stoke – Manchester was getting wired up according to Wikipedia).  The first section was near the site of Waterloo Road station (although nothing remains of that station) before detouring towards the Central Forest Park area due to the closure of the Cobridge tunnel.  I re-joined the old railway near Cobridge park, passing what seemed to be the remains of a platform before heading towards     Burslem.

Within Burslem itself the former railway route has been lost under modern developments, so it was via the roads, following some poorly located signs for cycle route 5 to join the old railway line route for the section towards the town of Tunstall (one of the towns which makes up the city of Stoke on Trent).  I was a bit tempted to walk part of the former Pinnox branch (which linked the Potteries Loop line with the WCML near Longport) but decided that could wait for another trip as I want to visit Westport Lake.  Anyhow a couple of the modern tunnels’ underneath roads were a bit flooded due to the recent rain but were passable with care.  The next section of old railway came to an end near Pitts Hill where once more the route has been lost to modern roads forcing a detour before re-joining the route near the Scotia Brook.

I was now onto the final section of this walk, with no more detours onto roads as the path headed away from Stoke on Trent towards the Birchenwood country park where the railway goes into a deep tree-lined cutting running close to a small river.  This area also featured Goldenhill Tunnel and was very nice (even if the path in this area was a bit muddy in places).  The last section was in Kidsgrove itself as I carried on to the end of the railway path near the Tesco in Kidsgrove, near the site of the former Kidsgrove Liverpool Road station.  I had no time to rest as I made my way to Kidsgrove station climbing the many steps on the footbridge to reach platform 3 with a couple of minutes to spare before 350375 rolled in from Crewe to take me to Stafford.

Portal of the Goldenhill Tunnel on the former Potteries Loop Line in Kidsgrove

The walk was quite enjoyable, other than the sections lost to modern developments, decent path throughout with no major areas of mud or flooding, but my legs were feeling the near 18 mile walk as I collapsed onto that 350, putting my phone on charge and having my delayed lunch.  At Stafford it was a bit chaotic due to a landslip between Coventry & Rugby with a Pendo blocking platform 1, causing a 10-minute delay to the next LNR service for London Euston.  This was formed of 350262 & 350119, and I had a good position away from the large crowd to board into coach 5, grabbing the extra legroom table seat behind the cab on 119, putting my phone on charge and settling down to watch some videos for the journey to London.  I noticed the guard locking out the gangway door between units soon after departing Atherstone, clearly a guard who didn't want to be pestered by those pesky passengers (complete difference to the guard on the train from Kidsgrove who was patrolling the train checking tickets etc).

The train was further delayed on the southern part of the WCML due to a broken rail (I think) losing some more time so arrival into London Euston was around 20 minutes late.  I headed away from the busy train, swinging via Sainsburys for some food before walking (slowly) to Euston Square where I got lucky a couple of minute wait before the next Hammersmith bound service, a circle line 21356/21355 for the short journey to Paddington.  Due to engineering works in the Woking area, there was the magical replacement bus from Guildford to Basingstoke, but giving SWR some credit they extended the Salisbury stoppers to/from Reading rather than terminating them at Basingstoke (the ones in the evening which would normally run to London).  Every little helps and all that jazz.

Anyhow the first available service to Reading when I arrived at Paddington was 387167 & 387164 on a busy service for Swindon for the slightly bumpy trip to Reading.  At Reading I had a short wait before 159107 & 158890 rolled in from Salisbury to form the 19:12 service to Salisbury and I climbed on board to relax, catching up with some internet sites as I had finished what I was watching.  This service took me towards Basingstoke & then to Grateley, where I had a gentle walk home, resting my legs.

387167 at Reading Station

All in all, an enjoyable weekend getaway, Edinburgh was busy with the rugby, but I managed to do mostly what I had hoped for.  Another section of the Trent & Mersey canal has been complete as well as an old railway line walk.  I was glad when those 350s rolled into Stafford as when I saw the inbound service was cancelled, I was expecting the worse.  Thanks for reading, a lot more photos can be found on my Flickr of both days, not much in the way of train action this weekend but I need to make the most of the dry weather.