Shred`s UK trips.

[Techniquest]

Thanks for your comments Tech, always appreciated, but yes such a shame about Maesteg, you can still see a few signed of its more industrious past. Yes Ebbw Vale is definitely worth a visit, if only to look at the excellent dragon sculpture, I can`t see myself ticking off Wetherspoons any time soon, but have breakfasted in quite a few of them now in various parts of the UK. On Greggs I have my bacon roll head on at the moment, so may visit another one at some point this week

Oh my yes, if you follow National Cycle Network Route 885 out of Maesteg you'll find some incredible views. I cycled up that way some months ago, and it did require a good bit of fitness on the largely-traffic-free route, but worth it for the views. I did a trip report at the time for it, and the NCN 885 bits I did were certainly walkable and worthy of some hours exploring on its own.

Ebbw Vale is somewhere I can reasonably easily access for cheap by bus from here, or at least I used to be able to. It's been many a year since I did that route so I could be mistaken these days. I got to journey as a passenger/navigator in my Mum's car a good few months ago along that part of the world, taking in the A465 westwards from Abergavenny. Oh my days the HUGE civil engineering achievements that road has become is worth seeing in its own right. Back in 2004 or 2005 (I honestly don't remember which year now), when I first went that way on a Stagecoach bus (proper coach in the form of a Volvo B10M coach back then too!) the huge project was still in its early days. Fast forward to 2021 and the difference is incredible. Sadly, it is not a road that is open to cyclists but this is probably a good thing as I think I would destroy my body taking on those hills!

Going back to Ebbw Vale then, sorry that tale of the A465 needed telling as I do love a good bit of civil engineering on that sort of scale, I think I can still get there by bus easily enough but I am going to find this out today. My cycle is due to go in for some repairs, so I need to have something to do apart from housework! I hope so anyway, as it is a place I'd like to explore without the lure of beers this time (let's not go there!) and it has been many a year since I ticked off Spoons. Couldn't do it now, there's so many better things to do!

I will look for that dragon you mention, it sounds like a good excuse to go there!

Your day exploring the Valleys looks like it was a good one, there are some nice journeys to do down there and I look forward to doing some of them again when the new trains arrive. The 231s in particular promise to be good fun!

 

[shredder1]

That sounds fantastic Tech, , had it not been so wet I would have walked the old trackbed out of Maesteg, the cycle track sounds good, I suspect its part of the head of the valley lines, Ive always wanted to follow the alignment from Abergavenny to Merthyr and on to Neath and Swansea, an absolute plethora of lines came off, and joined up the the heads of the valleys line, it must have been mind blowing back in the day. cycle tracks apart, I suspect there are still many old trackbeds untouched up there. Yes I look forward to the class 231`s also, Ive traveled on the Bedford Bletchley variants and seen the TfW units parked up at Birkenhead North which are being trialed on the Bidston-Wrexham Central line.

 

[shredder1]

South Wales Rover, (Day 6). Thursday 3rd March 2022.

A four day in eight-day South Wales Rover, also using day valley rovers in between. I essentially wanted to spend some time on the TfW class 769`s, the WAG`s and the short rake HST`s. I was using the rover ticket for the first two and last two days and the four days in-between I purchased day valley rovers, plus a return out to Bristol for half a day, I covered every line in South Wales in the week, except the bit out to Fishguard Harbour, which I’ve done many times before. It was nice to revisit the branches again since I hadn’t done them since the Arriva Wales days a few years ago. There have been a few changes since my last visits, especially with the introduction of the IET`s and electrification, and of course the demise of the Pacer units, and its set to change again with the introduction on the new Stadler units and the Metro network upgrade. I had booked a guest house in Newport which is where I based myself for 7 nights. Most of my mid-week sessions were spent at Cardiff in the rush hour period, before traveling on other routes after the 09.30 peak periods.

It was another wet and dark morning as I made my way down to Newport railway station to catch up with the 06.58 WAG to Holyhead, it was a different rake with another loco at the head, TfW liveried 67025. After the obligatory photographs, I caught a Great Western HST into an overcast and very wet Cardiff Central. I spent another rush hour on the station followed by my 09.00 breakfast at Greggs for bacon rolls and hot coffee afterwards. The staff now knew me on a first name basis and had started welcoming me in the mornings, if I heard the translations correctly. I hadn’t really made any plans for the day as by now Id covered most of the lines around Cardiff and Swansea, on returning to the railway station a train to Aberdare direct arrived into the platforms, it was still raining hard, so I boarded it and had a run to the top of the line and back to Cardiff Central for a chill. On the way back however, I decided to catch a train over to Bristol and phot the HST`s coming through there, it was only another £9 return from Newport as I already had a valley day rover. An HST was sitting in the platform as I arrived back from Aberdare, so I boarded her, and traveled through the tunnel and over to Bristol Temple Meads.

In retrospect I should have headed for Bristol after the Cardiff rush hour, but despite not being there first thing, I did manage to capture a number of HST workings through the station. On arrival I was treated to DC Rail, class 60028 in a dark blue Cappagh Group of Companies livery, parked up on the one of the station’s sidings. I had a good afternoon on Temple Meads, which produced a good selection of HST`s, IET`s, classes 158, 165, 166, Great Western units, Cross Country Voyagers and a Cross Country HST, so plenty of variety to keep me going, although a far cry from the days of Westerns, Warships and Hymeks, but still, that’s life, I guess.

I returned to Newport via Bristol Parkway, which only produced one Freightliner class 66 on the stabling lines, I’ve seen as many as 7 parked up here, but that was at weekends. I then caught a Great Western IET back into Newport, taking tea in the city, (Newport achieved City status in 2002), before walking back up the hill, in the rain, to my guest house, another wet, but satisfying day.

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[Techniquest]

An excellent day clearly Agreed with the Heads of the Valleys route, that would have been amazing to do. I think there are a number of old railways in the Valleys now converted to cycle routes, but I have to confess I can't remember right now without looking for the relevant map. A job for another day, it's almost time to hit the hay here after all. I do recall some cycle routes follow old canals, Route 47 out of Newport and the 49 to Abergavenny certainly does. I think the 492 beyond Pontypool towards Blaenavon might be an old railway route, if it is then I recall Maps suggesting it was uphill all the way with some significant gradients. One day I will be brave enough to try it!

 

[shredder1]

An excellent day clearly Agreed with the Heads of the Valleys route, that would have been amazing to do. I think there are a number of old railways in the Valleys now converted to cycle routes, but I have to confess I can't remember right now without looking for the relevant map. A job for another day, it's almost time to hit the hay here after all. I do recall some cycle routes follow old canals, Route 47 out of Newport and the 49 to Abergavenny certainly does. I think the 492 beyond Pontypool towards Blaenavon might be an old railway route, if it is then I recall Maps suggesting it was uphill all the way with some significant gradients. One day I will be brave enough to try it!

Yes its certainly a region worth checking out, its good that the alignments have been preserved by cycle routes and not having had houses built on them, but yes Pontypool towards Blaenavon would most certainly be a former railway line.

 

[shredder1]

South Wales Rover, (Day 7). Friday 4th March 2022.

A four day in eight-day South Wales Rover, also using day valley rovers in between. I essentially wanted to spend some time on the TfW class 769`s, the WAG`s and the short rake HST`s. I was using the rover ticket for the first two and last two days and the four days in-between I purchased day valley rovers, plus a return out to Bristol for half a day, I covered every line in South Wales in the week, except the bit out to Fishguard Harbour, which I’ve done many times before. It was nice to revisit the branches again since I hadn’t done them since the Arriva Wales days a few years ago. There have been a few changes since my last visits, especially with the introduction of the IET`s and electrification, and of course the demise of the Pacer units, and its set to change again with the introduction on the new Stadler units and the Metro network upgrade. I had booked a guest house in Newport which is where I based myself for 7 nights. Most of my mid-week sessions were spent at Cardiff in the rush hour period, before traveling on other routes after the 09.30 peak periods.

A change in the weather thank goodness and I was due for some bright sunshine. I arrived at Newport station at 06.30 and in time for the 06.58 WAG to Holyhead, this was the third morning Id caught up with her and this time it had reverted back to TfW class 67010, so it appears that Cardiff Canton only have two rakes and two class 67 locomotives for the service, which do two runs a day to Holyhead and they seem to change locomotives on alternative days.

I again caught a Great Western HST into Cardiff Central for the rush hour period and at 09.00 I was off again to Greggs for breakfast. Today was a high mileage once again, I first boarded a train to Gloucester, after photographing class 60019 on a tank train, it passed me again at Newport and an hour after my arrival into Gloucester, 60019 passed me again, so I got plenty of pictures of her. Gloucester was also a location included on my South Wales rover ticket so I took advantage of the line up the river Severn estuary.

I returned to Cardiff Central and boarded a Great Western IET to Swansea, as I wanted to ride up the central Wales line, the IET however was running late. I made the connection with 3 minutes to spare, a class 153 Dogbox, and then I settled down to the three-and-a-half-hour journey to Shrewsbury, I think this is the fourth time I’ve travelled the line and still enjoy the ride and countryside it offers. At Shrewsbury I had an half hour to wait as I was returning to Newport for my last night at the guest house, and my last walk up the big hill. As the train pulled into the platform a fellow crank mate of mine, “Shrewsbury Robert”, an ex-pat from Manchester, was getting off the train, what a small world.

I arrived back into Newport just before 22.00, made my way up the hill to the guest house and fell asleep as soon as my head hit the pillow, a great day with some good weather for a change, my last night in the accommodation however, so I only had one day left on my trip.

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[shredder1]

South Wales Rover, (Day 8). Saturday 5th March 2022.

A four day in eight-day South Wales Rover, also using day valley rovers in between. I essentially wanted to spend some time on the TfW class 769`s, the WAG`s and the short rake HST`s. I was using the rover ticket for the first two and last two days and the four days in-between I purchased day valley rovers, plus a return out to Bristol for half a day, I covered every line in South Wales in the week, except the bit out to Fishguard Harbour, which I’ve done many times before. It was nice to revisit the branches again since I hadn’t done them since the Arriva Wales days a few years ago. There have been a few changes since my last visits, especially with the introduction of the IET`s and electrification, and of course the demise of the Pacer units, and its set to change again with the introduction on the new Stadler units and the Metro network upgrade. I had booked a guest house in Newport which is where I based myself for 7 nights. Most of my mid-week sessions were spent at Cardiff in the rush hour period, before traveling on other routes after the 09.30 peak periods.

My final day of the week, and I was again up early, showered, rucksack packed up and my final walk down the hill from the guest house, to Newport railway station. An early train into Cardiff Central, (the WAG doesn’t run at weekends), and also an earlier visit to Greggs for breakfast. As the light broke, it was to be another glorious day of bright sunshine. I caught a TfW class 175 into Swansea and decided to walk out to the IET depot at Maliphant. A public walkway and bridge cross over the depot, so it is possible to gain a few photographs from the bridge, on my visit though, only one IET was on shed.

The depot at Landore stands largely empty now, but I did note a Sprinter class 153 in front of the main depot. A far cry from the days of Western dominance, class 37`s and class 03 and 08 shunters in the 1970`s.

I walked from Swansea Maliphant depot to the National Waterfront Museum for a visit, the tram museum next door was sadly closed, but I did manage to take a few photographs from the outside as you can see two tram exhibits through the glass front. My particular interest has always been the Mumbles Railway, which was host to some extremely large and unique trams. Only the front end of one example survives, and this is displayed in the museum. The remains of a vandalism, a fire attack when it was in store in Leeds.

The National Waterfront Museum is well worth a visit and does have a railway section with some excellent models on display. I wanted to followed the route of the Mumbles Railway, and it was obvious where it went, now largely turned into a cycle track and walk way and runs around the bay to Mumbles Pier, roughly 4 miles from the museum. Due to time restrictions, I caught a bus there and back, the buses were actually covered on my South Wales Rover ticket anyway. The Mumbles Railway would have made a wonderful tourist attraction had it survived. I have stayed in a guest house on Swansea Bay once before, but this was the first time Id travelled to the end of the bay and the pier, a very touristic area.

I returned by bus back to Swansea bus station and walked back up the coastal city to the High Street and Swansea railway station, I had only a 30 minutes wait for a train directly back to Manchester, a Sprinter class 150 all the way. I arrived back into Manchester Piccadilly for 18.00 and after the bus ride home, I was in the house for 19.00. A fantastic week away and nice to catch up with the changes since my last visit to South Wales, many thanks for reading.

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[shredder1]

Greater Manchester. Wednesday 9th March 2022.

Ive started trainspotting again, back to underlining numbers in a book, I cleared BR in 1985, but some much has come and gone since then, that I decided to start jotting again.

I had a few hours spare, so took the Metrolink into Manchester Victoria, then took a Transpennine class 185 to Manchester Airport and returned to Manchester Piccadilly on a class 331, and later moved back to Manchester Victoria for the afternoon rush hour, class 70002 was on the bins through Victoria, it surprised me on the first run through and my shot was out of focus on its return.

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[Techniquest]

An excellent visit to South Wales all in, and that route to Mumbles is indeed good to do. I thoroughly enjoyed it until I pulled over near Verdi's where two unpleasant people decided to puff away on weed

There are some really nice scenic areas further on past Mumbles, I strongly recommend them. Off the top of my head, I'm unable to recall the names without checking though.

A 150 all the way from Swansea to Manchester, yikes! Nice and noisy, but that must have been interesting in terms of general ambience!

 

[Andy Pacer]

South Wales Rover, (Day 8). Saturday 5th March 2022.

A four day in eight-day South Wales Rover, also using day valley rovers in between. I essentially wanted to spend some time on the TfW class 769`s, the WAG`s and the short rake HST`s. I was using the rover ticket for the first two and last two days and the four days in-between I purchased day valley rovers, plus a return out to Bristol for half a day, I covered every line in South Wales in the week, except the bit out to Fishguard Harbour, which I’ve done many times before. It was nice to revisit the branches again since I hadn’t done them since the Arriva Wales days a few years ago. There have been a few changes since my last visits, especially with the introduction of the IET`s and electrification, and of course the demise of the Pacer units, and its set to change again with the introduction on the new Stadler units and the Metro network upgrade. I had booked a guest house in Newport which is where I based myself for 7 nights. Most of my mid-week sessions were spent at Cardiff in the rush hour period, before traveling on other routes after the 09.30 peak periods.

My final day of the week, and I was again up early, showered, rucksack packed up and my final walk down the hill from the guest house, to Newport railway station. An early train into Cardiff Central, (the WAG doesn’t run at weekends), and also an earlier visit to Greggs for breakfast. As the light broke, it was to be another glorious day of bright sunshine. I caught a TfW class 175 into Swansea and decided to walk out to the IET depot at Maliphant. A public walkway and bridge cross over the depot, so it is possible to gain a few photographs from the bridge, on my visit though, only one IET was on shed.

The depot at Landore stands largely empty now, but I did note a Sprinter class 153 in front of the main depot. A far cry from the days of Western dominance, class 37`s and class 03 and 08 shunters in the 1970`s.

I walked from Swansea Maliphant depot to the National Waterfront Museum for a visit, the tram museum next door was sadly closed, but I did manage to take a few photographs from the outside as you can see two tram exhibits through the glass front. My particular interest has always been the Mumbles Railway, which was host to some extremely large and unique trams. Only the front end of one example survives, and this is displayed in the museum. The remains of a vandalism, a fire attack when it was in store in Leeds.

The National Waterfront Museum is well worth a visit and does have a railway section with some excellent models on display. I wanted to followed the route of the Mumbles Railway, and it was obvious where it went, now largely turned into a cycle track and walk way and runs around the bay to Mumbles Pier, roughly 4 miles from the museum. Due to time restrictions, I caught a bus there and back, the buses were actually covered on my South Wales Rover ticket anyway. The Mumbles Railway would have made a wonderful tourist attraction had it survived. I have stayed in a guest house on Swansea Bay once before, but this was the first time Id travelled to the end of the bay and the pier, a very touristic area.

I returned by bus back to Swansea bus station and walked back up the coastal city to the High Street and Swansea railway station, I had only a 30 minutes wait for a train directly back to Manchester, a Sprinter class 150 all the way. I arrived back into Manchester Piccadilly for 18.00 and after the bus ride home, I was in the house for 19.00. A fantastic week away and nice to catch up with the changes since my last visit to South Wales, many thanks for reading.

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Really interesting reads so thanks for sharing. I've done a couple of South Wales rovers, and as you say it's great that they're valid from Gloucester and Shrewsbury. Being from Leicestershire it gives me good options for getting down there.

 

[shredder1]

Really interesting reads so thanks for sharing. I've done a couple of South Wales rovers, and as you say it's great that they're valid from Gloucester and Shrewsbury. Being from Leicestershire it gives me good options for getting down there.

Yes thank you, its quite a good ticket for £11 a day on a railcard, its the first time Ive use it, Ive done all line rovers in the past and Western Region rovers, and valley day tickets but not this one before.

 

[shredder1]

An excellent visit to South Wales all in, and that route to Mumbles is indeed good to do. I thoroughly enjoyed it until I pulled over near Verdi's where two unpleasant people decided to puff away on weed

There are some really nice scenic areas further on past Mumbles, I strongly recommend them. Off the top of my head, I'm unable to recall the names without checking though.

A 150 all the way from Swansea to Manchester, yikes! Nice and noisy, but that must have been interesting in terms of general ambience!

 

[shredder1]

Thanks very much Tech, yes Mumbles was an interesting one, beyond it the road ended at the pier, but a road continued overhead and around the bend, next time Im down that way Ill explore it. I was waiting for a class 175 back to Manchester and very surprised to find a two car Sprinter class 150, I had to check the date and make sure it wasn't April 1st, it amazingly got us up to Manchester without too much mental anguish

 

[shredder1]

Acton Bridge, Cheshire. Thursday 10th March 2022.

Chasing freight at Acton Bridge can be quite rewarding, but really you need good weather because south of the station there are two excellent footbridges, but quite open to the elements, and you can also get quite close lineside shots from the fields that border the area. The weather was largely dark and cloud, a cold day, but the sun did appear at times as the afternoon got underway.

I had arranged a trip with my mate ONEMANc, he picked me up at 08.30, he was doing the driving and we arrived in the village of Acton Bridge just before 09.30 and action was pretty much constant all day. We used a few locations including the railway station and both footbridges to the south o the station, I did however manage to miss the shot of the day, a pair of class 90`s on the Moss End to Daventry with the black liveried example leading, it came early and sneaked up on me, I also managed to miss a class 88 northbound, wrong place wrong time.

We did however phot the following, Southbound in the order they passed, 60056, 88010, 66519, 70002, 66548, 66065, 60047, 90024 and 90019 light engines together. Northbound, 66545 light engine, 66520, 90024 and 90019 light engines together, 70011, 66024, 56302, and 66563.

We stayed until 15.30 and then drove back to North Manchester to avoid the rush hour traffic on the M56 and M60 motorways, a very productive location though, with plenty of options for lineside photography.

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[shredder1]

Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Steam Gala. Saturday 12th March 2022.

Locomotives rostered, Collett 5700 class GWR Pannier tank 7714, LMS Class Royal Scot No.4610, LMS Class Royal Scot No.46100 London Midland & Scottish Railway 5XP ‘Jubilee’ Class 4-6-0 No.45596 ‘Bahamas Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway Class 25 ‘Ironclad’ 0-6-0 No.52044, Taff Vale Railway Class 02 0-6-2T No. 85, London Midland & Scottish designed Ivatt Class 2MT 2-6-2T No. 41241 and the LNER steam crane operating in Oakworth yard.

Another drive over the hill, the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway, Steam Gala. I guess I’m very lucky having the Worth Valley railway within an hour’s drive away and I always try to attend at least one day, every year, visiting the railway. It was also nice not to have a clash with the East Lancs gala.

I was both lineside and riding, I first drove over to Haworth Sheds for the usual preparation shed photographs. I then took breakfast in the café opposite Haworth railway station and my first trip was a ride up to Howarth behind the Taff Vale loco and Ivatt Mickey Mouse tank, a walked back down the line to Oakworth and took the Jubilee back to Ingrow West, where I was tempted to spend another £60 on a Hornby loco, an 1883, GER J15, a bargain and it helps the railway of course, the second one in my collection now. I then walked down the track bed to Keighley, the only other train I caught was the shuttle up to Ingrow West and back, so plenty of walking and catching up with friends. A chip shop supper at the Worth Valley Fisheries, Ingrow West, before driving back over the Moors to north Manchester.

The weather started off wet with light showers but turned into a beautiful blue sky with just a few clouds as the afternoon wore on. A great day out, and a big well done to the Keighley & Worth Valley Railway for putting on another excellent gala.

Steam Gala Weekend - Keighley & Worth Valley Railway

kwvr.co.uk

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[shredder1]

West Midland Day Rover. Saturday 19th March 2022.

The weekend had arrived again, and what a fantastic day Saturday was with clear blue skies, the first one this year, I think. The alarm was set for 04.00am and a drive down to Manchester Piccadilly for the 05.11 Cross Country Voyager to Bournemouth which took me as far as Birmingham New Street. I was chasing class 350`s and West Midland class 232`s as I still needed one or two to tick off. Nice to see many of the latter now carrying names, albeit stick on name plates, but with a cross city branding also, Id not seen this before.

I stayed in Birmingham New Street station until 09.00 the rush hour period, although it was a Saturday. I then had a ride up to Walsall on a class 350. Three class 66`s on Bescot yard, two class 08 shunters and a class 60. From Walsall I could see a class 66 move out of Tasker Street/Midland Yard, but decided against waiting for it to pass.

I returned to Birmingham New Street and walked across to Birmingham Moor Street station, after spending some time on the station I boarded a class 172 out to Tyseley. A large selection of the new CAF Civity class 196 now stand in the upper yard, from passing I noted 001, 003 and 005, not a bad looking unit, they have been on trials but I’m not sure when they will come into service yet. There appeared to be a driver shortage in the West Midlands which caused a number of cancelled trains on my visit.

I walked down the road to try to get a closer look at the class 196 fleet through the binoculars, but this proved less than easy. On returning to Tyseley railway station I was just in time to miss the William Shakespeare charter behind Black 5 locomotive 45231 “Sherwood Forester”, on its way from York to Stratford, I was on the wrong platform and it took me by surprise, same old story.

I returned to Birmingham Moor Street and later took a train through the tunnels to Birmingham Snow Hill, walking back through the city to Birmingham New Street. I then travelled on a few of the class 323`s up the Trent Valley line, first to Four Oaks, then back to Sutton Coldfield, nice to see much of these original stations preserved.

From Sutton Coalfield I went to the top of the line at Litchfield, before returning for the last hour on Birmingham New Street and catching a late running Cross Country Voyager, just after 19.00, and arriving home for 21.30, so quite a long day, but great weather and a great and productive day out.

West Midlands Day Ranger | National Rail

Special offer: West Midlands Day Ranger. The portal into UK rail travel, including information on ticket purchase and promotions, train times and delays, and more.

www.nationalrail.co.uk

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[Techniquest]

Sounds like a nice bit of variety, fair play. 323s definitely get a big thumbs up from me

 

[shredder1]

Sounds like a nice bit of variety, fair play. 323s definitely get a big thumbs up from me

A great website cheers Tech, must do Stockholm, should have been over there in 2020 but covid cancelled for me.

 

[Techniquest]

A great website cheers Tech, must do Stockholm, should have been over there in 2020 but covid cancelled for me.

Glad you enjoyed it! There's more action coming soon, although it'll be in my trip report thread here first I suspect. Got to type today's notes up first...

 

[shredder1]

Glad you enjoyed it! There's more action coming soon, although it'll be in my trip report thread here first I suspect. Got to type today's notes up first...

Ill look forward to it Tech.

 

[shredder1]

Acton Bridge, Cheshire. Friday 25th March 2022.

It was still glorious weather and I was on holiday, so ONEMANc had phoned the night before and we had arranged a drive into Cheshire to Acton Bridge the night before, so it was another trip into Cheshire, but with me doing the driving this time.
We set up chairs in the field near the second footbridge to the south of Acton Bridge railway station and between taking in the sun, the following workings went passed,

South Bound double headed class 90024 in Malcolm livery and class 90037” Christine”, in DB Cargo red glider livery. 70020 and 70004 in Freightliner liveries, class 60024 and 60074 in DB Cargo liveries and class 60021 in GBRf livery, class 88005 in DRS livery and class 66171 in EWS livery, class 66564 and class 66531 in Freightliner liveries. Northbound class 70020 in Freightliner livery and class 66559 in Freightliner livery, and Class 88004 in DRS livery.

We arrived around 09.30 and left just after 15.00 and pretty much had action all day, well worth the drive over and effort and great to be lineside in a Tee-shirt again.

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Video,

 

[shredder1]

Manchester and Leeds. Saturday 26th March 2022.

A bit of a chilled-out Saturday for a change, I didn’t bother setting the alarm, but just woke up naturally at around 05.30 and had a leisurely drive to my local Metrolink station and Crumpsall for a 06.30 tram into Manchester Victoria.

Still making the most of the glorious weather. I bought a return from Greenfield to Huddersfield, the end of the Great Manchester region with my free pass and then purchased a West Yorkshire day rover at Huddersfield before catching a Transpennine Cat class 68025 “Superb” to Leeds.

I didn’t really move much out of Leeds all day, I needed one class 331 off Neville Hill and it was just leaving as I arrived, I still need about 3 class 195`s based at Newton Heath, but they can be anywhere between Chester and Worksop, although I did cop one of them, I also need a few Azuma`s and some Cross Country Voyagers. It was also a great day for photography and I was lucky in that two Cross Country HST`s passed through Leeds, one northbound and the other southbound. One of the LNER class 91110 “Battle of Britain Memorial Flight” also brought a train into Leeds.

Around 09.30 I caught a Transpennine class 185 back to Huddersfield for a late breakfast in Wimpys, and I later returned to Leeds. After a few more hours on the station, I thought Id try to get out to Midland Road depot by bus, Ive only ever driven there in the past. Its only a ten minute bus ride from the city centre and quite a number of buses take you out there, after poking my camera through the railings and taking a few photographs of mainly Freightliner class 70`s and a few class 66`s, I had no trouble finding another bus to take me back into Leeds.

I later boarded a Transpennine class 185 back over the hill to Manchester Piccadilly and as my train was arriving, true to form, 6233 “Duchess of Sutherland” passed me and to add insult to injury, the Metrolink line into Piccadilly was closed for maintenance, so I had to walk across Manchester to Exchange Square to catch a tram back to the car. A good day though all the same.

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[shredder1]

Lancashire Day Rover. Saturday 2nd April 2022.

Probably not the best weekend to buy a Lancashire Day Rover, Lancashire was spit between the north and south by engineering works, I should have done my research, but as it turned out I managed a few cops, so not a bad day overall.

I started my day with a drive over to Crampsall tram stop, parked the car up and then caught a tram for 07.00, arriving in Manchester Victoria just in time to phot a double headed class 47 charter, class 47614 in corporate blue Scottie livery and leading class 47 D1944 in BR two tone green, so a nice start to the day.

I then caught a Transpennine Nova 1 IET directly to Liverpool Lime Street. On passing Edge Hill, GBRf class 60 021 was parked in the yard. Essentially, I was looking for 4 Allerton class 331`s that I still needed and 5 class 195`s, from my return to trainspotting this year, I also wanted to try and see the new class 777`s at the back of the yard at Kirkdale. My first move was a Sprinter to Liverpool South Parkway to get the binoculars out to see what was on Allerton depot, I then went on the line down to Hunts Cross to pass the depot, but I didn’t note any cops.

From Hunts Cross I return to Liverpool Central and then caught a train out to Kirkdale class 777007 and 777015 were parked in front of the depot, but even with the binoculars out, I still couldn’t make out the numbers on the units parked against the far wall.

I returned through the tunnels to Lime Street station with the intention of catching a train up to Preston, but because of engineering works, trains were stopping at St Helens with a substitute rail bus service taking passengers on to Preston and I didn’t really fancy that, staff however told me that a rail service was operating into Preston from Ormskirk, so I went back down the tunnels and caught a train up to Ormskirk On arrival however, this was also a bus substitute, so I’d been given wrong information at Lime Street.

From Ormskirk I returned as far as Walton and walked around to Rice Road station and caught a train up to Kirkby, as the Kirkby to Blackburn via Wigan Wallgate trains were running, I also bumped into one of my railway mates from my Czech trips, “Prar”, who was up from the south of England shack bashing, I handed my camera to a passenger opposite for a photograph of us both, but he didn’t manage to take one, and “Prar” was alighting at the next station, but never mind, next time mate. I walked over to Wigan North-western station, and just managed to cop one of my classes 195`s on a Leeds working. Nothing was going North however from Wigan, so I had no choice this time but to catch a rail replacement bus to Preston.

It took just over an hour to Preston on the replacement bus and I caught a Sprinter from Preston into Blackpool. Not much happening at Blackpool North but quite a few class`s 331`sand 195`s parked up on the TMD, so I walked around to the yard and got the binoculars out, amazingly I copped two class 331`s both park together. I then proceed to walk under the railway line and back to Blackpool North station from the opposite side of the lines, ensuring that I could see everything on shed. I didn’t get any hassle at all taking photographs at Blackpool North, even wandering around with a large camera around my next, I guess they must have eventually got rid of the rednecks who once worked there.

I returned to Wigan North-western by rail replacement bus, had a fish and chip supper in the town and caught the 18.58 Northern class 195 back into Manchester Victoria and as luck has it, my last class 150 Sprinter cop, 150 005, was just pulling into the station as my train arrived, so not a bad day really after all.

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[NorthWestRover]

I came back from a couple of days in Lincoln yesterday and the subway at Wigan North Western was barriered off as platforms 5 and 6 were not needed all day. No trains at all today.

I returned to Wigan North-western by rail replacement bus, had a fish and chip supper in the town

Wallgate Chippy?

 

[Techniquest]

An HOUR to do Wigan to Preston? Good gravy it isn't that far is it?!

 

[shredder1]

I came back from a couple of days in Lincoln yesterday and the subway at Wigan North Western was barriered off as platforms 5 and 6 were not needed all day. No trains at all today.



Wallgate Chippy?

Not sure what its called, it was just across the road from Northwestern station.

 

[NorthWestRover]

Yes, that's the Wallgate Chippy. Does good halloumi strips.

 

[shredder1]

An HOUR to do Wigan to Preston? Good gravy it isn't that far is it?!

It stopped at two stations on the way up, but when I had to get the bus back it only took half of that time, I think it was a Pendolino bus

 

[shredder1]

Yes, that's the Wallgate Chippy. Does good halloumi strips.

I thought they only sold pies in Wigan, what are Halloumi Strips?

 

[shredder1]

Manchester Piccadilly. Monday 4th April 2022.

A spare Monday for a change, so I decided to catch the last hour or so of the morning rush hour at Manchester Piccadilly station. I was hoping to cop, maybe my last two Allerton Class 331`s or maybe one of my class 195`s. I had no luck with the class 331`s but did cop class 195 110 working on a Newmills Manchester Piccadilly diagram, so only 3 more to go. My last East Midland class 158 also went through on the Liverpool Norwich service 158813 and 2 class 397 Nova 2`s on the Manchester Airport to Edinburgh working class 397004 and class 397005.

A few locomotives also passed through the station these were EWS liveried class 66165, Freightliner class 70001 and light twin engines class 90043 in green Freightliner livery and class 90013 in Orange Freightliner livery.

I suppose I should have arrived at the start of the rush hour really, but it was a wet and miserable morning and I struggled getting out of bed, so there you go.

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