Unfortunately, I was caught in the disruption at Southport this afternoon and it descended into a total shambles once again. The guard on 003+023 was excellent, keeping us informed of the situation with very regular announcements as the units waiting under the Eastbank Street bridge with broken points ahead, before a wrong-side run back to Birkdale. He couldn't apologise enough for the disruption, in fairness.
However, this was in stark contrast to the officious, extremely rude station staff at Birkdale whose attitude managed to draw the ire of just about everyone waiting. No audible announcements were provided by him in over an hour despite there being no clear information on what Liverpool-bound passengers were supposed to do. An announcement from Sandhills control confirmed replacement buses were ordered, yet this chap was adamant there would be no buses. He then dismissively suggested we stop 'waiting around' at Birkdale and make our own way on foot - in absolutely apocalyptic rain - to Hillside, a 25-minute walk! This, unfortunately, summarises the overall decline of Merseyrail in recent years. Every time something goes wrong nowadays, utter chaos seems to ensue.
Anyway, rant over. 507016 was the other unit on the New Brighton line, whilst 507002, 020 and 032 are in the sidings at New Brighton this evening. It definitely looks ominous for 002 and 032, sadly. 029 was out on the West Kirby line as mentioned above and in excellent form too, so many thanks to Dave for the updates.
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