31st – 2nd June, Weekend in the North

 31st – 2nd June, Weekend in the North

A weekend in the north with mum for her pre birthday present, 3rd time lucky as the last couple attempts at something similar ran into strike action, so I was glad when the 2-week deadline passed.

31st May – Getting to Crewe

The trip began with the 17:59 service from Grateley, an extremely busy 159014 running around 10 minutes late due to the late running of the train from Exeter having all stops after Salisbury ripped out (and with the stopper getting an additionally call at Clapham Junction).  Large turnover off passengers at Andover but the sprinter remained quite busy throughout as it lost a bit more time outside Clapham Junction (as I presume the route was set via platform 8 whereas it needed to use the loop for that additional call pushing the total delay over 15 minutes so a bit of good news with some money back).

After visiting the toilets & Sainsburys for some dinner items we headed to the bus stop at Tenison Way for the first bus towards Euston which were bunching up again looking at the app.  Eventually LT783 rolled in on a route 68 as we got a seat at the front for the slow route towards Euston playing hopscotch with another 68 service.  I did have a look at RTT along the way to see the progress of the inbound of the 20:46 to Crewe (finding out earlier in the day that my luck with 350 roulette was still rubbish and it was a pair of 2s), seeing it running a couple of minutes late but didn’t think anything else of it.

London Eye from Waterloo Bridge

We got to Euston around 20:20 making our way towards platform 2 (which is the booked platform) when I noticed the inbound was stuck at Watford Junction, before noticing that nothing was moving due to a tragic incident around the Harrow & Wealdstone area.  Passengers for the West Midlands were being told to make their way to Marylebone for Chiltern services (I dread to think how busy the 3 coach 168 would have been on the 21:00 Birmingham service) and we headed to the waiting area to grab a seat to wait, eating food and playing solitaire.

An hour and a half later, I noticed trains were moving around Harrow & Wealdstone (the only departures had been a half hourly Overground service to Harrow & Wealdstone) when I noticed the screens for the 22:00 to Liverpool had changed to “preparing” with the 21:0X Preston service showing as “Preston only”.  Springing into action when I saw a platform getting assigned to the Liverpool service around 22:20 for a bit of a rush to climb on board 390134, grabbing a table seat underneath the pan well on coach U (the seats where the overhead luggage racks are next to useless).  I don’t think some passengers were very happy the guard was enforcing First Class & Standard Premium, but around half ten we were finally on the way (yippee!)

Not the fastest service due to running on the slow lines catching up with late running freight which had also got caught up with the tragic event, gaining the fast lines at Bourne End where speed was gained calling at Milton Keynes then nonstop to Tamworth & Lichfield before waiting time near Colwich for the Preston service to go in front, which both trains calling at Stafford & Crewe, arrival into Crewe was just after 1am, and we paused to photograph the late running Highland sleeper picking up a few passengers (with a large group in a waiting room, whom I presume were waiting for a taxi as the Preston train had the calls at Warrington & Wigan removed, due to no platform staff available at those stations I presume).

92018 at Crewe

We made our way slowly towards the shared house, getting into the downstairs room (which for me was the first time I had it as a twin room layout rather than a double bed), and didn’t last long before going to sleep.  It had been a long journey north, but thankfully we made it, although with the later than expected arrival my original rough plan for the Saturday went into the bin.

1st June – Here, There & Everywhere in Cheshire

We got up around half seven, getting ourselves sorted for the day as I did some research, my revised original idea featured the 08:42 service from Crewe to Cardiff (diverted via Chester due to engineering works on the line via Nantwich) as that potentially was a loco hauled set (for the novelty factor of 67+Mk4 coverage between Crewe & Chester) but as that was showing as a 3 coach 197 I turned that rough idea down.  Randomly searching for what my last EMR 170 was working (just in case it popped up during the day on a Crewe – Newark Castle stopper) highlighted something even better as it was working a service to Liverpool.

Exiting the house, swinging via the Tesco garage for breakfast items, we boarded 197112 on a Crewe – Manchester shuttle service for the run to Manchester Piccadilly giving us 30 minutes before 170422 rolled in on the next Liverpool service, grabbing a seat in the former 1st class area at the front of the train for the trip via Warrington Central (where it got a lot busier) to arrive at Lime Street near enough on time.  We exited the station at Lime Street heading via the city centre area to the waterfront (and the latest Cunard ship) before heading to James Street to jump on the first available train to Lime Street.

170422 at Liverpool Lime Street

The first train was winner 777022 (which was a bit annoying considering I try and do units for ten miles) for the short journey to Lime Street, coming up via the lift (to avoid a long walk as the link passage in the main concourse was closed) and boarding 390126 on the next London train to take us to Crewe, where we had a short walk to platform 12 to board a Mk4 set with DVT 82226 leading and 67020 at the rear on the next Cardiff service to take us towards Chester where I had a few ideas at what to do.  A late running 777030 arrived onto a busy platform 7 departing back towards Liverpool around 10 minutes late so I wasn’t surprised when a few seconds before the train was due to arrive at Hooton the announcement was made that it would run nonstop to Birkenhead Central with passengers for the intermediate stations asked to change at Hooton for the next train (from Ellesmere Port which was held back).

After Hooton it was a nice fast run to Birkenhead Central, even though the on-board announcements got confused “We are now approaching X” when it sped though, regaining the delay by Birkenhead Central, and we changed at Liverpool Lime Street.  The sooner Merseyrail start running 8 coach sets on Chester services at weekends the better as it was very crowded on the 4-coach unit (I still think they should have just ordered a fixed formation 120-metre-long train rather than 4 coach units).  Anyhow at Lime Street, it was another trip via the busy lift and onto 802211 on the next Newcastle service (featuring an epic seat reservation from Lea Green to Newton-Le-Willows!).  We alighted at Newton-Le-Willows to wait for the next TfW service for Piccadilly, getting a surprise with Earl of Mount Edgcumbe steam train running past on an empty coaching stock movement (which made mum very happy as she love steam trains).

GWR 4073 Class 5043 Earl of Mount Edgcumbe passing Newton-Le-Willows

Winner 197118 rolled in on the next Manchester Airport train, which was quite busy, but we got a seat near the front and even had a clear run to Oxford Road without the usual congestion around Deansgate!  At Piccadilly we changed to board 220009 on the next Bristol service which was late arriving due to issues (which caused the following Bournemouth train to get spun at Macclesfield).  As usual for a 4-coach voyager this was quite busy, but we got a seat in coach F for the run to Macclesfield, exiting the station (after visiting the toilets) for the walk to the bus station for a bus route recommended by Jules, the High Peak operated route 58 to Buxton.  An Optare Solo (fleet 286) rolled into the bus station before departing heading via some of the Macclesfield suburbs before joining the Cat & Fiddle Road giving some excellent views on this twisty & hilly road to the Peak District.  At the Buxton end of the route, it detours to serve a housing area before going to the town centre where we alighted at the stop opposite the railway station, making our way to the platform to take a seat on 150143 & 150105 on the next Manchester service.

This pair of 150s took us back towards Manchester Piccadilly with some more lovely scenery (and some not so lovely noise being played by some other passengers because they hadn’t heard of the concept of headphones).  We had a little stroll around the station area before boarding winner 197103 on a Chester service for some more looking out of the window (being thankful when a group of loud drunken middle-aged men alighted at Frodsham).  The last train of the day was winner 197017 on a Crewe shuttle which was departing from platform 7 and was lightly loaded, however due to some poor signalling a 197 which was on test (121) got put ahead of the service train and with the long signal blocks on this line meant the 197 was 10 minutes late into Crewe (on a 12 minute turnaround for a Cardiff service, whereas the test train was running an hour early).

View from bus route between Macclesfield & Buxton via Cat & Fiddle Road

We headed back to the shared house, swinging via a takeaway to pick up dinner, eating it in the lounge of what sounded like a private house (certainly for the 30 minutes we were in the lounge we didn’t see or hear anybody else, nor did I hear the front-door unlocking when we were relaxing in the room).  Not like I’m complaining after a couple of bad experiences in the past involving lady who laughs at everything a gentlemen, she was with said with a high-pitched laugh which sounded like an engine trying to turn over.  An enjoyable & varied day in Cheshire, the highlight being that unexpected steam train and the bus.

2nd June – Back home, via Yorkshire

I guess in hindsight when I was putting together this trip, I could have done things differently with maybe the Saturday being a Heart of Wales round trip & the Sunday being a short-day trip to Liverpool using LNR on the way to Euston on the Sunday, but hey-ho.  Today was a case of heading back to London but going via Yorkshire, the day starting with leaving the shared house, swinging via Tesco for breakfast before boarding a busy 197002 on the first TfW service to Manchester Piccadilly (going via Styal for a bit of unusual track coverage with a 197).  Sadly, I didn’t research engineering works on Metrolink and found out the city centre was closed with no services going via Victoria so good in a way I gave us over an hour to get between the stations as it was a gentle stroll to Manchester Victoria (towards Piccadilly Gardens, before following the tram tracks after Market Street).

We arrived at Manchester Victoria to a station in a bit of chaos due to numerous cancellations on both Northern & TPE, overrunning engineering works at Leeds was causing some severe delays to westbound trains added with the overtime ban & lack of volunteers to work the Sunday.  We were booked on the 10:20 service which was meant to have started at Chester but was changed to starting from Manchester Victoria the night before, that was cancelled with the 09:54 service not expected to arrive until 10:35, so with the Northern Journey checker saying “if your original train is cancelled, ticket acceptance is with TPE” so we joined the large queue waiting for the Newcastle train.

I gambled on which end would be 1st class (1st class was leading) however I made use of the quieter loadings by boarding 1st class and moving down towards standard class to grab a decent seat before the masses boarded.   802214 departed rather cosy as it headed towards Leeds going via the Calder Valley for a bit of extra scenery. More fun & games at both Brighouse & Dewsbury with passengers trying to squeeze onto the train before running to Leeds where it did empty out a bit (only to get filled up again).  I was glad to have alighted, but the plan for the next trip was thrown up in the air due to an incident between Shipley & Skipton closing the line.  I was originally booked on one of the random semi-fast 333 services (just for the novelty of a fast run on a 333) but that was cancelled with the first train heading towards Skipton being a 45 minute late single 158 for Carlisle which was completely swamped with passengers.

802214 at Leeds Station

Change of plan time as Skipton was out, so for the lack of a better idea I purchased a day return for Ilkley, boarding 333010 for the run to Ilkley with a short explore (popping to Tesco for lunch) before we took the same 333 back to Leeds, popping out of the station for 20 minutes before returning to board 158757 on a Halifax service to take us to Bradford Interchange changing to board 180105 on the 15:10 departure to London Kings Cross (with 221143 working the later 15:59 service).  No seat reservation labels had been placed out but thankfully we got a table seat for the slow run via West Yorkshire the train only filling up at Doncaster.

An uneventful run on the ECML towards London, arriving a couple of minutes early.  At Kings Cross we headed towards the underground to take the Victoria line (set 11091/11092) to Oxford Circus changing to a busy Bakerloo line service (3238/3563) to Waterloo, popping out of the station to grab some food from Tesco before boarding the 18:45 service to Salisbury formed of 159008 & 158890 for an uneventful run to Grateley, where we exited the train and had a gentle walk home.  Overall, it was a relaxing weekend for me and a good weekend for mum (as she enjoyed herself).

180105 & 221143 at Bradford Interchange

Thanks for reading :)