Northern Rail Complimentary travel voucher

[185143]

I have been lucky enough to receive 2 of these in the post today! I am planning to use one on Saturday however I have no idea! I am starting from Birchwood and expecting to take the 06:43 TP service to MAN with my season ticket. I have to be back around 8/9 PM. Any ideas, suggestions or anything will be appreciated!

 

[Harpers Tate]

Are you looking for sampling specific rolling stock (not easy with Northern but you can play the odds) or interesting route, or towns/cities to visit or what?

 

[185143]

Interesting routes to travel down. I was just wondering what the forum would recommend, although I probably didn't ask at a good time of day tbh!

I now have a TPE advance which gets me to Leeds at 08:10.

 

[fowler9]

I would consider heading somewhere a bit different, spend the night there and make 2 days of it. Perhaps a night in Leeds or York?

 

[yorksrob]

I would recommend getting the little North Western to Lancaster, spending a couple of hours then catching one of the Northern services around the Cumbrian Coast and either exploring (some beautiful scenery around there) or staying on all the way round then getting the good old Settle Carlisle back (warning - you probably won't see much scenery on the thin drag at this time of year though).

 

[fowler9]

I would recommend getting the little North Western to Lancaster, spending a couple of hours then catching one of the Northern services around the Cumbrian Coast and either exploring (some beautiful scenery around there) or staying on all the way round then getting the good old Settle Carlisle back (warning - you probably won't see much scenery on the thin drag at this time of year though).

Well they can always wait a month or so till the days get longer. I was lucky enough to get 4 free passes off Northern as compensation and used them with a night in a hotel with the ex in Leeds.

Perhaps head up the Cumbrian Coast one day and stay somewhere overnight and then come back down the S&C the next day or Vice Versa.

 

[yorksrob]

Well they can always wait a month or so till the days get longer. I was lucky enough to get 4 free passes off Northern as compensation and used them with a night in a hotel with the ex in Leeds.

Perhaps head up the Cumbrian Coast one day and stay somewhere overnight and then come back down the S&C the next day or Vice Versa.

Indeed. It's quite a long day going all the way round in one go (even for a rail enthusiast !)

 

[185143]

Indeed. It's quite a long day going all the way round in one go (even for a rail enthusiast !)

Ive done that before on a Northern Rail Weekender.

I went
Warrington-Preston(VT)
Preston-Carlisle via Cumbrian coast
Carlisle-Leeds
Leeds-Manchester Victoria
Manchester Oxford Road-Warrington central

It was a long day, but highly enjoyable and I would do it again.

 

[yorksrob]

Ive done that before on a Northern Rail Weekender.

I went
Warrington-Preston(VT)
Preston-Carlisle via Cumbrian coast
Carlisle-Leeds
Leeds-Manchester Victoria
Manchester Oxford Road-Warrington central

It was a long day, but highly enjoyable and I would do it again.

I caught that solitary Northern Rail Preston - Cumbrian Coast service once. Checking NRE recently I'm not sure it still runs from Preston. Can anyone confirm ?

 

[fowler9]

It does sound like a long day but a good one.

 

[185143]

I caught that solitary Northern Rail Preston - Cumbrian Coast service once. Checking NRE recently I'm not sure it still runs from Preston. Can anyone confirm ?

No, now goes from Morecambe. Direct services do still exist from Carlisle.

 

[yorksrob]

No, now goes from Morecambe. Direct services do still exist from Carlisle.

Ah, that explains it. Thanks for the confirmation.

 

[185143]

Ive done that before on a Northern Rail Weekender.

I went
Warrington-Preston(VT)
Preston-Carlisle via Cumbrian coast
Carlisle-Leeds
Leeds-Manchester Victoria
Manchester Oxford Road-Warrington central

It was a long day, but highly enjoyable and I would do it again.

At least I got a 156! It was surprisingly a pacer free day too. Managed the same seat on the same 158 from Carlisle to Manchester Vic!

 

[yorksrob]

At least I got a 156! It was surprisingly a pacer free day too. Managed the same seat on the same 158 from Carlisle to Manchester Vic!

When I went all the way round from Carnforth it was a single 153. Got very cosy at times

 

[185143]

When I went all the way round from Carnforth it was a single 153. Got very cosy at times

My 156 was cosy at times too! Specifically Whitehaven to Carlisle, it turned out Carlisle were playing Preston North End at home. Unsurprisingly, there were no Preston fans onboard. It got quite loud too.

 

[Starmill]

I remember my uses of these very well! May not provide you with further ideas but:

Manchester Vic - Wigan Wallgate - Wigan NW - Preston - Blackpool South - Blackburn (Could get tram to Blackpool North) - Leeds - Skipton - Leeds - York - Hull - Sheffield - Huddersfield - Manchester Vic

Another was:

Manchester Vic - Leeds - Harrogate - York - TPE AP (bought the night before, £4 something w/railcard promo) to Darlington - Saltburn - Middlesbrough - Sunderland - Metro Centre - Carlisle - Leeds - Wakefield Westgate - Huddersfield - Manchester Vic



My very first one, must be almost two years ago now (doesn't time fly!) was as wearing as has been suggested, but really good! Up to Leeds on the Caldervale the S+C to Carlisle and then the Cumbrian Coast all the way back down to Preston, and then a stopper back to Victoria! Man that was a long time spent on a couple of those trains...

 

[185143]

I'll report back then:

I picked up a TPE advance from Manchester to Leeds for £4 last night.

The Trains I took:
06:43 TP Birchwood to Leeds 185
08:49 NT Leeds to Carlisle 158+153
11:51 NT Carlisle to Leeds 158+153(return working of outward service)
15:02 NT Leeds to Ilkley 333
15:40 NT Ilkley to Leeds 333
16:20 NT Leeds to Doncaster 322(Was the 2+2 seating section declassified first class?) It was 2+2, always a bonus and had armrests)
17:24 NT Doncaster to Sheffield 144
18:16 NT Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly 142(lovely Merseyrail bus.)
20:07 TP Manchester Piccadilly to Birchwood 185

The 2+2 seated section of the 322's (322483) was in very poor condition! All of the seats were effectively bowl shape, all of the seat cushions need replacing.

The Merseyrail Bus back from Sheffield(142057) was absolute hell. It was my first time to Sheffield, so first time down the hope valley. It meant I couldn't see anything of the line. Im going to try to get to Whitby via the cumbrian coast on my next one. That should be good to see how that one works out!

It was a wearing day, but very enjoyable. The First class (not declassified) on the TPE service back to Birchwood was much appreciated. I am a monthly season ticket holder so don't accuse me of fare evasion!

 

[yorksrob]

Yeah, I remember going back into the Sheffield Tap a couple of times, avoiding the Merseyrail hell carts. For some reason they all seemed to be them, so I gave up and went to the Head of Steam in Hudds via Pennistone instead.

 

[Starmill]

I'm yet to brave the Hope Valley Line on the stopper. There are some reasonably quick services on the Caldervale Line and the Standege stopper is much more bearable apart from all the drunks! Oh, and the other issue with those vouchers is the gap from York to Darlington (and the infrequent Preston - Lancaster)

 

[185143]

I'm yet to brave the Hope Valley Line on the stopper. There are some reasonably quick services on the Caldervale Line and the Standege stopper is much more bearable apart from all the drunks! Oh, and the other issue with those vouchers is the gap from York to Darlington (and the infrequent Preston - Lancaster)

I did Preston-Lancaster on a Weekender last year. This was on the way to the Cumbrian Coast. If York-Darlington was available, then you could get to Whitby return in 1 DAY!

 

[Starmill]

I did Preston-Lancaster on a Weekender last year. This was on the way to the Cumbrian Coast. If York-Darlington was available, then you could get to Whitby return in 1 DAY!

Whitby is easy though, look at the York - Whitby Route: Not DAR fare, it's an absolute bargain!