7th November – 9th November, Trip to the North West

 7th November – 9th November, Trip to the North West

Originally when the 125 Group announced a railtour involving their HST set from Derby to the East Lancs Railway, I was going to head towards Derby via Birmingham in the morning and to come back on the same night, however I decided to start looking at accommodation options.  Originally for just the Friday night but when I saw 2 nights in a shared house in Crewe was only a fiver more than a single night in a hotel, I decided to head up on the Thursday night after work.  Only so the Friday morning wouldn’t be such an early start.

7th November – Onwards to Crewe

I finished work getting home to get changed and returned to Grateley station for the 16:59 service, which was being delayed due to the 158 from Gillingham having to wait for a late running Exeter train to pass it (I was surprised when I saw it depart towards Gillingham earlier in the day due to the poor timekeeping on the West of England line that day, normally it gets dropped to add some flexibility.  (If a London train is more than say 10 minutes late it will get held at Gillingham for the Exeter train to pass it there, rather than delaying the next Exeter service which snowballs further down the line).

Anyhow it was onto 159005 & 158884, as I grabbed a seat in the 158 which was a lot quieter than the leading 159.  Lost a few more minutes heading towards London, arriving around 10 minutes late, nothing that major as I headed to the underground to jump on the first available Northern line service, formed of a busy 51556 & 51531 (featuring passengers who board and simply stop in the doorway, rather than moving down inside the carriage to allow more passengers to board).  This northern line service took me to Euston and a few minutes later I was in the main concourse, waiting for the inbound for the 19:07 Liverpool to arrive (as it had got caught up in earlier delays from Manchester).

DR 98970 passing Romsey Station

The Pendo arrived, emptied out and soon was announced for boarding as I made a bee-line straight for a table seat in coach G of 390151 as the train departed 6 minutes late, losing a bit more time as it was behind a service which called at Milton Keynes Central.  This service is non-stop to Crewe (I was tempted with the voyager on the 19:03 service, but that called at both Tamworth & Lichfield as well as being short formed so I decided my WCML Voyager farewell will wait for another trip).  I spent the time relaxing watching videos enjoying the high-speed run, arriving into Crewe around 10 minutes late, never recovering from the late start.

I exited the station, making my way to the accommodation, which for this trip wasn’t my usual place to stay (as that was unavailable), instead it was a room in a shared house on Nelson Street, around a 10-minute walk from the station (so broadly the same area).  First impression was quite good as I emptied my rucksack and headed back out towards Crewe station as I wanted to take the Birmingham 805 service for the novelty of an 805 between Stafford & Wolverhampton.  Back at the station and it wasn’t long before winner 805007 rolled in, with the front coach being empty as I settled down for the run towards Wolverhampton.

805007 at Wolverhampton

At Wolverhampton I had around 20 minutes to waste before 350111 rolled in from Birmingham on a Crewe service, bit busy at Wolverhampton but emptied out at Penkridge as once more I settled down, relaxing as the 350 went full speed on the fast lines north of Stafford arriving 10 minutes ahead of schedule (as it’s timed to use the slow lines as part of a 2 track timetable), I was tempted to hang around for the sleeper to come in for a photograph but decided against it and headed back to the shared house, which was very quiet in terms of outside noise.

8th November - The East Lancastrian Warrior

The day began with a little stroll towards the big Tesco in Crewe to grab some supplies before making my slow way to Crewe station to board the 09:10 service for Newark Castle, grabbing a seat on 170532 for the slow run towards Derby, looking out of the window at the passing scenery.  At Derby I changed to board 158863 working a Matlock service to take me to Belper, one of those stations on my list to revisit as the previous time I visited it was for a few minutes as the timetable at the time had the Matlock trains passing between Duffield & Belper.  It also had a nice Morrisons which I visited for some lunch items as well as having a little explore of the town centre area.

158863 returned me to Derby where the HST had already arrived from the Midland Railway Centre, with 43159 at the northern end and 43089 at the southern end.  Based on the crowd at the first-class end, I decided it would be better to attempt for a seat in standard class as there was no seat reservations on this charter service.  When the doors were released, I managed to grab an airline seat in the 2nd coach from the rear, enjoying the legroom as well as a view from the window.  The train departed from Derby, going southwards instead of northbound (a fault with 43159), with an unexpected trip via Long Eaton & Toton yard with a fast run via the Erewash Valley line.

43089 at Derby

A further pick-up was made at Chesterfield with the train heading towards Sheffield, with a pathing stop at the southern end of the station before picking up a lot more passengers.  The next section was very slow as it was booked to follow the all-stations stopper via Moorthorpe, crawling behind signal section to signal section, not really getting any sort of speed.  It used the Hare Park line to head towards Wakefield Kirkgate (using the line bypassing platform 3) picking up some speed with the run towards Mirfield & Stalybridge with a nonstop run via Huddersfield.  First time I’ve been in this area for a while and the scale of the works for the upgrades is quite impressive.

At Stalybridge the train picked up some more passengers (and dropped some off), as it headed towards Manchester, taking the Brewery curve with another pathing stop.  Next stop was Castleton station where the train reversed in direction to access the north facing curve leading towards the East Lancs Railway, with a couple of pauses along the way with crossings before the HST passed Heywood and headed to Bury Bolton Street station where it completed its journey.  I will need to return to the East Lancs Railway one of these days for coverage of the rest of the line towards Rawtenstall, but I wouldn’t be surprised if there wasn’t a tour to use the south curve when it comes back into use.

43159 at Bury Bolton Street

I left the HST and made my slow way towards the Metrolink station boarding 3143 & 3146 for my first decent length run on Metrolink since January 2023 with the near 11 mile run towards Piccadilly, I headed to the main concourse at Manchester Piccadilly getting lucky as the 17:15 Pendo was delayed with a late arrival of another Pendo, allowing me to jump onto 390129 for the run to Stoke on Trent, spending the time thinking of potential options to grab a West Midlands Day Ranger for a little visit to the West Midlands for some 730s (or even a required 2 coach 196), but connections were rubbish at Rugby & also at Stoke on Trent (didn’t help that I hit the time of day where XC divert via Crewe due to an extra Northern stopper with LNR cancelling a Stafford train).

At Stoke on Trent I decided against heading towards the West Midlands, and instead jumped onto 350258 on the Crewe service to take me back to Crewe, where after swinging via the Tesco at the garage I headed towards the shared house to relax for the rest of the evening, catching up with the interweb and being lazy.  An enjoyable little railtour, some nice scenery and some new track into my book with the connection from Castleton North junction towards the ELR and onwards to Bury, with a bonus of having an empty seat next to me all day and a seat with some decent legroom, rather than playing footsie with passengers sitting opposite on Mk2 coaches.

9th November – Sankey Valley Trail

The Sankey Valley Trail is the name given to a path which follows the route of the Sankey Canal, part of which is in water, other places it’s disappeared under modern developments.  Running from the banks of the Mersey at Widnes towards St Helens via Warrington, it is one of the oldest canals in this country.  I will admit it felt strange departing my accommodation in Crewe (had its faults but was quite reasonable, certainly a place I would use again) on a Saturday rather than the more usual Sunday, but as I had an event on the Sunday, I needed to be home on the Saturday night.

Anyhow after picking up a Cheshire Day Ranger from the ticket office, my eyes picked out the potential of a score of a 230 on the Wrexham – Bidston line as 230006 was showing as being out on the morning shift.  What I didn’t see is that the first-round run got cancelled after arriving into Chester on 197006 forcing a quick change of plan (for there would be no point heading to Shotton to fester for that 230 to return from Bidston, assuming it would make it out for the 2nd trip).  It was onto 197116 onto a Manchester service to take me to Earlestown station where my walk began.

331109 at Earlestown Station

The first section was following Earle Street to the west of the town centre to where the Sankey Valley Trail crossed the road, as I headed back on myself underneath the wonderful Sankey Railway Viaduct (also known as Nine Arches), one of the oldest railway viaducts in this country, even pausing for a 331 passing over the time.  I followed the path as the restored section of canal started skirting around the edge of Vulcan Village, heading towards the WCML where the restored section ended.  This part was very beautiful with the woods, the next part not so pretty in comparison as it ran close to the railway in fields (along a tarmac path).

I passed the remains of Winwick Lock, and went underneath the M62 heading towards Warrington, skirting between Dallam & Callands with the path changing sides with the occasional glimpse of old canal.  I did make a wrong turn in one part as the signage was a bit rubbish, which turned out to be a good move as I ended up walking alongside the remains of the canal towards the former Bewsey Lock where the next section is restored (in holding water).  I headed underneath the Warrington Central railway line just as an EMR 170 passed overhead, heading towards Sankey Bridges with a crossing of the busy A57, reaching the small settlement of Sankey Bridges where the Trans Pennine Trail joined the towpath (along with a lot of runners/joggers).



After crossing over the mothballed railway route from Warrington Bank Quay low level, I carried on leaving the built-up area of Warrington behind, with the glimpse of the River Mersey at a couple of points.  I continued along the towpath giving way to runners coming in the opposite direction at some narrow points, reaching Fiddlers Ferry Boat yard where there is a lock connecting the canal to the River Mersey.  Beyond a swing bridge the canal isn't restored and is quite overgrown as I passed the remains of Fiddlers Ferry Power Station.  This section probably wasn't the nicest as there was a tall security fence on my left-hand side and tall weeds from the canal on the right hand side, felt like it was fenced in.  I was glad when both the fence and the weeds disappeared allowing for a couple of photos of the cooling towers of the old power station before they disappear to the history books.

The canal returned to having water in it close to Widnes, as it went underneath the modern bridge carrying the A533 towards the Mersey Gateway Bridge, crossing over the canal on a modern swing bridge (so modern that it doesn't even appear on Google Maps or on my Strava map), picking up the towpath on the north side of the canal towards Widnes lock where the canal ended, meeting the Mersey.  Re-joining the road network for a short section before detouring via the Victoria Promenade for a photograph of the Silver Jubilee bridge.  After my photograph I headed via the roads and some footpaths to join the footpath which goes over said bridge, crossing the River Mersey & Manchester Ship Canal heading towards Runcorn with a bit of a fast walk near the end as I navigated the road network to reach Runcorn station, arriving just as a LNR service for Liverpool rolled in.

Silver Jubilee Bridge from the Victoria Promenade, West Bank, Widnes

A mostly enjoyable walk along that canal and parts where it no longer exists, one of these days I will do the northern section towards St Helens, but that will probably need to wait until next year.  Anyway, it was onto 350260 leading 350410 as I got a decent seat in the former TPE unit, putting my phone on charge and relaxed for the fast run towards Lime Street, where after grabbing some lunch, I headed to the underground platform to see if I could get lucky with a winner 777.  My luck wasn’t with me as it was dud after dud before sub-10-mile unit 777022 rolled in on a New Brighton service, which I took to New Brighton (also clearing that branch for 777 coverage), returning on the same unit back to Birkenhead North, changing over to dud 777009 to Manor Road.

Winner 777041 was on the next Liverpool service which I took to James Street, via the city centre loop, to push it over 10 miles, changing to the inbound platform for dud 777036 to Lime Street where my visit to Liverpool was at an end as I boarded 350122 on the semi-fast Birmingham service, making a big mistake in alighting at Wolverhampton at the same time as Wolverhampton vs Southampton had finished in the kickball, my idea of dashing out of the station to pick up supplies for dinner was put on hold as I watched a contest of “how many passengers can you squeeze onto a 4 coach voyager” special before 196104 took me to Birmingham New Street, going via Tame Bridge Parkway, mainly because platform 4 where the next direct service was due a couple of minutes afterwards was extremely busy.

This 196 took me to Birmingham New Street, where I popped out of the station to visit Tesco, the city centre being very busy due to the Christmas market.  After my visit to Tesco, I headed back to the station to hunt down the next London Euston service, winner 807004.  I got a decent seat in coach C which got quite busy on departure but did empty out at Coventry, the train losing some time along to Rugby due to the pair of 350s in front being late (they did look busy when it departed).  This service was nonstop to London after Coventry, arriving a few minutes behind schedule due to congestion at the London end where it was 2 tracks in operation.

807004 at London Euston

At Euston, I alighted from the train, heading towards the Underground jumping onto 51676 & 51675 as the first available southbound Northern line service to Waterloo, and headed to board 159006 on the busy 20:50 service for Salisbury, managing to grab a seat near the front of the unit.  75 or so minutes later I had arrived at Grateley, the train emptying out somewhat at Basingstoke, and I had a gentle stroll home to relax for the rest of the evening before calling it a night.

An enjoyable weekend getaway, the HST tour was good fun on the Friday and I managed a good 14 and a bit mile walk on the Saturday.  Thanks for reading, more photos can be found on my Flickr here.