Todmorden Curve

[Xenophon PCDGS]

As u mentioned, this is a simple piece of additional infrastructure less than 500 metres long...and yet here we have some 84 pages of comments on it. The mind boggles....

I think you have to realise that this thread started when the bid process was still in process and has covered quite a long period of time which has seen aspirations raised culminating in the success of the bid that covered the Weavers Triangle refurbishments works plus the Todmorden Chord works.

Matters then proceeded with hope springing eternal in the hearts of those forum members who saw the new service as being one to aid the rail travel between East Lancashire and Manchester and were at pains to reiterate the time savings that would be made. The thread then covered a number of postings regarding the service offered by TransDev on the X43 Lancashire Witch service that runs with a very modern fleet of double-decker buses.

Finally, there came the news that the Spring 2014 hoped-for new rail service would not take place for nine months as there was said to be no rolling stock available to run it.

 

[Whistler40145]

History has been made, 142003 & 142038 are sat on the Todmorden Curve.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[STANDISH]

Pathfinders Tour leaves Crewe at 10.00am Saturday. Should be the first passenger train over the curve. No times in RTT at the moment.

 

[Xenophon PCDGS]

History has been made, 142003 & 142038 are sat on the Todmorden Curve.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

.....most probably staking their Class 142 claim to be the rolling stock of choice that will be running the new service in December...

 

[northwichcat]

.....most probably staking their Class 142 claim to be the rolling stock of choice that will be running the new service in December...

When I saw TimSYoung40145's post earlier I thought Paul Sidorczuk is going to comment on that!

Which DMUs are currently booked to operate the services which turn back at Todmorden?

We know the extra unit freed up off Chat Moss will be a Sprinter but like I said before we don't know if there could be an indirect cascade to put the released Sprinter on a busy Pacer diagram leaving the Pacer to run the extra diagram.

 

[Emyr]

Whether a Pacer turns up probably depends on the passenger counts on the other diesel-only lines, e.g. Mid-Cheshire, Hope Valley etc.

The most heavily loaded will get 150s (20m, wider doors, less dwell time) the next 156 (23m, more seats but end doors) and in an ideal world the 16 metre Pacers will have the quiet life they deserve leading up retirement.

Pacers might not be the most pleasant but at least you can get off them quickly!

 

[Starmill]

Pacers might not be the most pleasant but at least you can get off them quickly!

But they've only got 3 doors per side! A 156 might have narrower ones but it has 4!

 

[Darren R]

Pathfinders Tour leaves Crewe at 10.00am Saturday. Should be the first passenger train over the curve. No times in RTT at the moment.

Times are now confirmed and on RTT (http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U51619/2014/05/31/advanced). (It's very cleverly masquerading as a freight, the 1002 Crewe to Clitheroe Castle Cement!)

So the first fare-paying passengers will hit the Toddy Curve at 1217 on Saturday 31st May - while the rest of us will have to wait until Sunday 14th December at around 0855!

Still - good to see Stansfield Hall Junction reappearing in the timetables!

(Oh - and it's not a Pacer! )

 

[spongsdad]

Times are now confirmed and on RTT (http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/train/U51619/2014/05/31/advanced). (It's very cleverly masquerading as a freight, the 1002 Crewe to Clitheroe Castle Cement!)

So the first fare-paying passengers will hit the Toddy Curve at 1217 on Saturday 31st May - while the rest of us will have to wait until Sunday 14th December at around 0855!

Sad that we'll have to wait till December for our much longed for Pacer service.:cry:
I rather suspect that there'll be one or two other specials round the curve before then, though.

 

[STANDISH]

Yes the train is also going to Clitheroe Cement but only up to the level crossing.

The next known rail tour around the curve is in the opposite direction on THURSDAY 18th September. UK Railtours coming up from the south, picking up passengers from there and the Midlands. It ends up at Southport.

 

[northwichcat]

Pacers might not be the most pleasant but at least you can get off them quickly!

The doors seem to be slower to open on 142s compared to 150s, while they only have 6 sets of passenger doors in total compared to 8 on the 150s. The guard also has to access a set of passenger doors to release the doors on a 142 which can prove difficult on a busy train.

 

[185143]

Anyone here on the Pathfinder Railtour tomorrow?

 

[Whistler40145]

Yes, I'm on the Pathfinder Tour tomorrow.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD

 

[Techniquest]

Anyone here on the Pathfinder Railtour tomorrow?

Sadly not, I've got to go to work Frigging hate having to work Saturdays...

 

[Darren R]

Not on the train but I'll wave as you go past the house later this afternoon!

I couldn't help notice from RTT that the train was late by the time it traversed the curve - only six minutes, but it seems somehow appropriate!

 

[spongsdad]

The Pathfinder-appropriately named in this case- comes off the Curve and makes a little bit of history as the first revenue earning service on the restored section. Even the point switching was managed automatically, though the contractors were there to deal with any last minute snags.

 

[ianhr]

Apart from light rail and Metro extensions in Greater Manchester and Tyne & Wear this must be the first reinstated track in the North of England for a VERY long time!...the last addition to the National network in the North that I can think of would be Merseyrail electrics from Liverpool Central to Hunt's Cross in the late 1970's?

 

[Manchester77]

Windsor Link surely?

 

[Lampshade]

Windsor Link surely?

Wasn't that a new line as opposed to reinstating an old one?

 

[edwin_m]

The Windsor Link follows in part an old freight line to Salford Docks. If we are to consider "additions to the rail network" there are also the Selby Diversion and Manchester Airport.

 

[tbtc]

Apart from light rail and Metro extensions in Greater Manchester and Tyne & Wear this must be the first reinstated track in the North of England for a VERY long time!...the last addition to the National network in the North that I can think of would be Merseyrail electrics from Liverpool Central to Hunt's Cross in the late 1970's?

Holmes Chord in the late 1980s?

The chord from Hazel Grove to Chinley around the same time?

(or was that all "new" track?)

 

[ianhr]

Yes I was thinking of reinstatement/reopening rather than new build.

The list of new build we are generating is of very modest schemes too....nothing much more than 2kms or so and certainly not comparable to re-openings in Scotland (Paisley Canal, Larkhall, Alloa, Bathgate-Airdrie, Borders railway) which must total 10's kms by now.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

Holmes Chord in the late 1980s?
The chord from Hazel Grove to Chinley around the same time?
(or was that all "new" track?)

The Windsor Bridge Link - Ordsall Lane-Salford Crescent (1987)?
This was previously a set of sidings off the LNWR route at Ordsall Lane, and a separate L&Y branch from the site of Salford Crescent leading to a tunnel to the Salford Docks system.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

A contender for the last RE-INSTATED track in the North might be the two chords that allowed Huddersfield-Bradford via Brighouse to restart, in around 2000. Namely Bradley Junction-Bradley Wood Junction at the Huddersfield end; and Greetland Junction to Dryclough Junction at the Halifax end. All other sections had remained open to freight and diversions.

 

[ianhr]

A contender for the last RE-INSTATED track in the North might be the two chords that allowed Huddersfield-Bradford via Brighouse to restart, in around 2000. Namely Bradley Junction-Bradley Wood Junction at the Huddersfield end; and Greetland Junction to Dryclough Junction at the Halifax end. All other sections had remained open to freight and diversions.

I may be wrong but I don't think these were actually lifted. They may have been designated as oou, and when they were proposed for re-instatement found to be in such poor condition that they required total relaying.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

I may be wrong but I don't think these were actually lifted. They may have been designated as oou, and when they were proposed for re-instatement found to be in such poor condition that they required total relaying.

The Halifax end was still in place, but overgrown and rusty. At the Huddersfield end the track was still in place, including the pointwork at Bradley Junction (not sure about Bradley Wood as there was seldom chance to see it from a passing train!) though again the chord was heavily overgrown and might not have been fully intact even underneath the undergrowth. Though I remember seeing from trains passing, that some sort of makeshift block had been placed on the chord made from recycled wooden sleepers, which suggests that there were no plans to send anything down there prior to the re-instatement. If there had been plans to re-use the track that was still in place I'd suggest that was wishful thinking at best. There was even a mature tree in the four-foot near Greetland junction- so I'd suggest the chords must've been considered to be closed, even if not 'officially'.

 

[natureboy]

The Halifax end was still in place, but overgrown and rusty. At the Huddersfield end the track was still in place, including the pointwork at Bradley Junction (not sure about Bradley Wood as there was seldom chance to see it from a passing train!) though again the chord was heavily overgrown and might not have been fully intact even underneath the undergrowth. Though I remember seeing from trains passing, that some sort of makeshift block had been placed on the chord made from recycled wooden sleepers, which suggests that there were no plans to send anything down there prior to the re-instatement. If there had been plans to re-use the track that was still in place I'd suggest that was wishful thinking at best. There was even a mature tree in the four-foot near Greetland junction- so I'd suggest the chords must've been considered to be closed, even if not 'officially'.

When I was 16 I remember being diverted via the Calder Valley between Leeds and Manchester Victoria. The reason for this was the replacement of a bridge over the Huddersfield narrow canal. This bridge was, and still is, painted red, but has lost much of its shine over the years.
The highlight for me was when I returned to Leeds. I got on the train at Manchester Victoria, which in those days was a class 47 and eight or nine coaches. I returned the same way (Rochdale/Hebden Bridge), but on reaching Bradley Wood Jn the train unexpectedly stopped at a red signal. The driver alighted and made contact with the signalman who fair quickly set the route into Huddersfield. Although it was dark I knew where I was. The M62 crosses overhead. The train moved off and lurched over the crossover and on to Bradley Wood Curve. As we approached the short tunnel there was a lot of debris and scrub on and very close to the track, but we kept going and with the squealing and screeching increasing we made it on to the main line. This must be the rustiest line I have ever had the pleasure to ride! The date: Saturday 28th. November 1987. And I still have the ticket; a Blue Saver return from Leeds to Manchester 'BR' priced at £4:20!

 

[61653 HTAFC]

When I was 16 I remember being diverted via the Calder Valley between Leeds and Manchester Victoria. The reason for this was the replacement of a bridge over the Huddersfield narrow canal. This bridge was, and still is, painted red, but has lost much of its shine over the years.
The highlight for me was when I returned to Leeds. I got on the train at Manchester Victoria, which in those days was a class 47 and eight or nine coaches. I returned the same way (Rochdale/Hebden Bridge), but on reaching Bradley Wood Jn the train unexpectedly stopped at a red signal. The driver alighted and made contact with the signalman who fair quickly set the route into Huddersfield. Although it was dark I knew where I was. The M62 crosses overhead. The train moved off and lurched over the crossover and on to Bradley Wood Curve. As we approached the short tunnel there was a lot of debris and scrub on and very close to the track, but we kept going and with the squealing and screeching increasing we made it on to the main line. This must be the rustiest line I have ever had the pleasure to ride! The date: Saturday 28th. November 1987. And I still have the ticket; a Blue Saver return from Leeds to Manchester 'BR' priced at £4:20!

That might well have been among the last times the chord was used (pre-re-instatement), then. My memory of seeing the Huddersfield end of the chord 'blocked' would've been around 1994. They certainly no longer diverted the Transpennine services that way in 1997, as I remember a trip to Manchester one Sunday that year involving a 144 shuttle to Mirfield for the 158 up the Calder Valley, from which I noticed that the trees had begun to reclaim the formation towards Halifax!

 

[AndyHudds]

The track was never lifted as far as I recall, we used ride our bikes along the track, accessing the line through the church yard at Bradley, and again as far as I recall it was never severed at either end, I may be wrong though as the last time I 'trespassed' will have been 1990ish.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The track was never lifted as far as I recall, we used ride our bikes along the track, accessing the line through the church yard at Bradley, and again as far as I recall it was never severed at either end, I may be wrong though as the last time I 'trespassed' will have been 1990ish.

I'd say that the two chords were definitely unable to carry passengers prior to the work to officially re-open at the turn of the millenium. The track was apparently still in place, but any hopes that they wouldn't have required replacement would be optimistic to the point of foolishness.