15-17th November – A return to the North West

 15 - 17th November – A return to the North West

Originally this weekend I was going to head towards Hull on the Friday, hoping to do the novelty of a Northern service between Doncaster & Selby, with the Saturday being a disused railway line walk in the Hull area.  With that line out of action due to a set of points at Selby I decided to cancel the hotel booking in Hull and instead booked a 2-night stay in the same shared house as I used the week before in Crewe.  With 2 assessments in the week, I felt like I needed a little getaway, and I like using Crewe as a base due to the many options available (although this time of year some of the canal options can be ruled out due to potential of muddy towpaths).

15th November – “You are, Number 6”

I finished work at a decent time to allow me to take 159019 to Waterloo, changing to the underground with 51541/51540 on the first available Northern line service to Euston, where I headed towards the Holyhead train, with 805010 leading 805007 to take me to Chester, calling only at Stafford & Crewe.  Nice and fast, the train getting very busy at Chester due to a TfW cancellation of the previous Holyhead service, but thankfully I alighted to transfer towards platform 2 to board a very busy 158827 for the short distance to Shotton.  Judging by the platform screen this was meant to be a 6-coach formation so a bit of a downgrade in the number of coaches.

I had around 35 minutes to waste at Shotton before the next Wrexham Central service so I headed into the shopping area to waste some time, watching the heavy traffic due to roadworks before heading back to the station, taking a seat at the northern end.  Winner 230006 rolled in on the next Wrexham train, so I climbed on board taking a seat near the rear (which was quieter than the front coaches) and had a nice little ride towards Wrexham Central.  I do like the interiors of the Welsh 230s and I was happy to get number 6 into my book after it avoided me the previous Saturday.

230006 at Wrexham Central

As this service goes back north empty and the next departure from Wrexham Central wouldn’t be for another 3 hours (the next southbound service spins at Wrexham General and the following unit shunting to platform 3 at Wrexham General to form a Shrewsbury stopper), I had a gentle walk to Wrexham General, getting a bit lost along the way due to poor lighting.  This time of night there is a couple of departures towards Chester within 15 minutes of each other, and I was expecting the unit from Birmingham to be busy (and hence was going to step back to the Wrexham – Liverpool service considering it made no difference with the connection at Crewe).  I was surprised when 197007 rolled in (a set swap at Shrewsbury) with the area behind the drivers cab empty, easy enough to grab a seat on this delayed service to North Wales (which got delayed further awaiting a freight service to clear the single line section).

Onwards to Chester, where I decided against heading out to Tesco for dinner, instead headed towards platform 1 to await the arrival of 197110 on the shuttle, grabbing a seat near the front of the unit as it returned to Crewe.  At Crewe it was a simply case of heading to the accommodation, via the Tesco garage for something to eat for dinner, picking up the keys from the low-down lockbox and getting into the same room I had the previous week.  On arrival, I simply relaxed for the rest of the evening, looking at options for the Saturday based on the expected weather forecast being a bit damp in places.  I was happy to get that 230 into my book, after it took a while to enter service as it was being used as a parts doner to keep the other 4 units running after Viva Rail went bust.

16th November – Little North Western & Trams

Working with the predicted weather forecast I decided to head towards Lancashire to do a short disused railway walk which had been on my radar to do, using the route of the former North Western Railway route towards Bentham, which the first section has been turned into a mixed-use path with access via a bus to Caton or Brookhouse.  The day began with 390006 working an early morning Birmingham – Edinburgh service, departing Crewe around 07:10 with the smooth run to Lancaster, passing some heavy rain around Wigan.

In Lancaster, it was a short walk towards the city bus station to take the route 81 service run by Kirkby Lonsdale Coaches, heading to Kirkby Lonsdale, a route which looks like it will be worthwhile doing in full one of these days.  The bus was a 22 plate Volvo Evora (fleet number 207), and handing over my £2 I joined the bus as it headed away from Lancaster city centre, towards the M6 and Halton.  After Halton it crossed over the Lune to call at Caton and finally at Brookhouse where I alighted.  A bus route which felt like it had a bit of timetable allowances as the driver stopped a few times along the way to wait for the correct departure point at the timing points.  Anyway, after a quick photo of the bus my walk began.

Lonsdale Buses BV22 HBP in Brookhouse on a route 81

The first section was along a narrow country lane towards the A683, picking up the route of the old railway line near the Bull Beck picnic site, and walking east to the end of the route where it joined the A683.  I headed back on myself towards the picnic site and carried on towards Caton (having a little detour to visit the Co-Op).  After Caton I crossed over the river Lune twice at the Crook O' Lune bridges, giving some nice views of the river before carrying on along the route of the old railway.  Not much evidence of old railway line until I reached the remains of Halton railway station, the platform & building being used by a university club (I presume probably for rowing as the river was never too far away).

I soon reached the outskirts of Lancaster, going underneath the M6 & A683, passing the Holiday Inn, the path being quite busy with joggers.  The next landmark was the Lune aqueduct carrying the Lancaster canal over both the old railway line and the river Lune as it made its way towards Carnforth.  The next section was more industrial and soon I reached the end of the railway route at Green Ayre, heading towards the station via the roads & castle.  An enjoyable stroll from Caton, some nice woodland in parts.

Remains of Halton Railway Station (North Western Railway)

The next southbound service was a TPE formed of 397008 where I was lucky to get a seat (advertising “First Class in coach E” but without saying which way round the train is seemed to be complete & utter pointless in my eyes).  Anyhow this 397 took me to Preston where I made a tight connection onto former GA 156402 (now with Northern seat covers!) working a service to Blackpool South (as it had been a while since I last did this branch, also would be easier with the trams).  At Blackpool South I had a short walk towards Waterloo Road tram stop for my least favourite tramway, no departure screens and a timetable of 4 trams per hour, on a busy Saturday afternoon just isn’t enough as I couldn’t board the first tram it was that wedged out.

15 minutes later, I managed to squeeze onto tram 12 to take me to Talbot Square and a short wait before tram 6 on a southbound service took me to North Station (where it sat for a good 5 minutes before departing).  My last tram move was onto tram 8 to take me to Pleasant Street, the Blackpool seafront is a bit depressing these days with boarded up hotels.  At Pleasant Street I headed back towards Blackpool North on foot as my hour ticket had nearly expired, and boarded 331111 working a Liverpool service to take me towards Wigan North Western.

Blackpool Tram 012 at Talbot Square

In Wigan I transferred to Wigan Wallgate, where I had a change of plan and instead of heading towards Headbolt Lane (to tick of platform 3), I boarded 769442 for the run to Southport for my first 769 of the year, sitting in the motor coach for the classic 319 motor noise with the slow run to Southport where I made a tight connection onto winner 777038 on the next Liverpool Central service which I took to Hall Road, pushing it over ten miles and hanging back for winner 777017 on the following service which I took to Liverpool Central, hanging back to take the same unit back north to Bank Hall to clear it for ten miles.

A swift cross platform change at Bank Hall saw me onto dud 777032 back to Sandhils and onto 777144 to Kirkby where I had previously seen a winner 777/1 heading towards Headbolt Lane.  My first time at Kirkby station since the line was extended and part of the 3rd rail being pulled up.  777152 rolled in from Headbolt to take me to Liverpool Central, where I remained on board back to Kirkby to see the 4th unit on Headbolt Lane services today, which was winner 777146.  Back to Liverpool Central, and remaining on board (sometimes doing metro units for ten miles is a pain in the rear end!), exiting at Kirkdale.

Dud 777144 took me back towards Sandhills, followed by dud 777032 to Moorfields.  I was tempted to go after a winner 777/1 on the Ormskirk line but decided that could wait for another day.  At Moorfields I made it to the Wirral line platform, with a couple of options, either something to Lime Street for a Pendo back to Crewe or a 777 towards Chester for a TfW service for Crewe.  The first Chester service wasn’t needed (I was hanging back to see what was on the Ellesmere Port service) before 777043 rolled in, a unit I needed for mileage, so my original plan went into the bin and I headed to New Brighton!

777043 alongside 777015 at New Brighton

I crossed over the platform at New Brighton to board 777015 back towards the city centre (043 departed for the depot as it was the time of evening when Merseyrail drop from 4tph to 2tph).  At Lime Street I headed to the mainline station, and towards a LNR for Birmingham.  Sadly, this was also the time of night where the option of going via Chester was ruled out due to the 2-hour gap in Crewe trains, so it was onto a busy 350242 & 350116, making a mistake to sit in the /1 where in hindsight I should have walked to the front of the /2 for a potentially quieter journey.

Back at Crewe and I headed towards the shared house, going via a recently opened takeaway (“Get Smashed” for a very tasty cheese burger combo box, certainly a better burger (or in this case a triple burger) than from Tiger Bite.  Certainly, a place I will return to the next time I’m in Crewe, whenever that might be (my trips next year so far have been paused until I find out what line of the roster I end up on and what my shift pattern/free days will be, hence why I’m trying to make the most of my weekends off when I still can.  Anyhow after my very tasty burger I relaxed for the rest of the evening, looking at options for Sunday as my original walking idea seemed to be rained off.

17th November – Coventry Canal in Coventry

With the poor weather forecast in the Manchester area, I came up with many alternative ideas, eventually deciding on a canal walk from Bedworth towards Coventry as the weather forecast in that area was looking dryer until early afternoon.  I departed from my accommodation and headed towards Crewe station (going via the Tesco garage for some breakfast) for a Liverpool – London service which called at Nuneaton.  Due to engineering works in the Stafford area the first few services from Crewe were being diverted via Kidsgrove.

390009 rolled in from Liverpool and I managed to grab a seat in coach C with the train heading slowly towards Kidsgrove, I’m guessing there must have been some signalling issue as it was quite slow in places, losing nearly 10 minutes by the time the train reached Kidsgrove, not the first time I’ve been on a Pendo between Crewe & Kidsgrove (pretty sure in January 2020 when heading towards Stockport when I ended up on the last train towards Manchester).  Anyhow passing Stoke on Trent without stopping was a nice oddity as the train headed towards Rugeley on the Colwich line, a line I haven’t done in a fair while.  Arrival into Nuneaton was still around 10 minutes late, but that didn’t bother me as I had a 30-minute connection.

390009 at Nuneaton

I headed towards platform 1 to take a seat on 196004 on a Leamington Spa service for the short ride towards Bedworth where my walk began in some nice sunshine.  The first section after leaving the station was the short section heading east along the B4029 to reach the Coventry canal (which skirts around the edge of Bedworth), dropping down onto the towpath which was a bit muddy in places but nothing that major.  This section of the towpath was quite woody and was pretty as it headed towards Hawkesbury Junction where the Oxford canal joins, passing an old engine house.

After the junction I continued heading along the canal towpath, now tarmacked as it passed underneath the M6 and towards Longford, skirting close to the Coventry arena towards Little Heath.  The canal's character changing from rural to urban (in terms of litter and noise of traffic) as it weaved towards Edgwick before going twisty for the last couple of miles before the canal ended at the basin close to the city centre.

Coventry Canal between Bedworth & Hawkesbury Junction (1)

The weather had changed from being sunny to being quite cloudy and as I made my way towards the city centre it did start to spit, as I detoured via the remains of the cathedral before making my way towards the station, the rain turning heavy in the last minute as I approached the building.  I headed towards platform 2 to see what the other 196 was on the Nuneaton - Leamington services was today (turned out to be 002 so not needed), before boarding 390155 on the next non-stop London Euston service, easily grabbing a seat in coach G to give my phone a charge and relax.

The Pendo arrived earlier than scheduled which gave me hope to make an earlier train from Waterloo as I headed towards the underground, squeezing onto the first Northern line service (51717 & 51525) to take me to Waterloo for a short walk to board a busy 450005 on a Basingstoke terminator (engineering works at Winchester).  This got quite cosy after Clapham Junction but did empty out at Woking.  At Basingstoke it was a simply change to platform 1, only for a late notice platform change to platform 3 for 159019 & 158888 on a Salisbury service from Reading to take me to Grateley.  A gentle stroll home and I could relax for the rest of the evening.

Coventry Cathedral

An enjoyable weekend getaway, two nice walks.  I’ve got no idea when the next time I will be back in the Crewe area on a long weekend, but my list of 777s have come down.  As ever thanks for reading, more photos can be found on my Flickr.  I’m not doing a blog post for my trip on the 23rd November as that was simply a red pen day in the West Midlands scoring various 730s plus another 2 coach 196.