d9009alycidon
Member
I had a business trip to Manchester last week, staying at the airport. Journey down on Wednesday 26th was straightforward enough, 380 from Troon to Glasgow then one of the new class 397s (397006) to Manchester. Left and arrived on-time, but I was not particularly impressed, the staff could not get a comfortable temperature in the coach, it was either too cold or stifling hot, the public address system was also not in use, they tried switching it on a Lancaster and it immediately told us we were at Deansgate!
The journey home on the Friday was totally different! I arrived at Manchester Airport station in plenty of time for the 11:07 to Glasgow, but this was shown as cancelled and we were advised to use the 10:53 (to Cleethorpes) as far as Manchester Piccadilly, so I set of on a class 180 DMU for the short hop to Manchester, noticed a class 350 sitting at Ardwick and figured correctly that this was my ride home. Nipped across to platform 14 and duly the 350 (409) rolled in. Seat reservations were out the window and the train was full and standing. We then took 20 minutes to get to Deansgate as there were signalling issues in the area and we were under pass signal at danger rules all the way. Further delays were accumulated before Bolton just due to being out of path and stoppers in front. We then were brought to a stand at Lostock and the train manager told us that the driver had been told about possible OHLE damage between there and Blackrod, so we were to proceed at 10mph. Just beyond Blackrod we passed a unit that had broken down on the other line, turns out they though that unit had damaged the OHLE but thankfully it was undamaged.
From Blackrod we were then 55 minutes down but there were no further delays, however we were then told as we approached Carlisle that the train was terminating there, Avanti and Scotrail were accepting tickets so we were transferred to a class 390 that we running just behind us,TBH I was happy to be transferred as I had a much more comfortable seat.
The 390 was due in Central at 15:30 (about 17mins late) which was a pest as my connecting service to Troon departed at exactly the same time - however a quick look on Tracksy showed that the 15:30 from Central, which originated from Edinburgh had been delayed itself by about 25 mins at Carstairs, I thought my luck was in as it was held between Wishaw and Shieldmuir to let us pass and thinking I was being smart I bailed at Motherwell to catch this service - but Scotrail control had other ideas and as I was sitting in the unit at platform 15 in Central, the announcements came over that this train was for LARGS!! No advance announcements and "this train is for Ayr" was still being announced on departing Motherwell, so jump off and find the 16:00 to Ayr which arrived ECS from Shields in Platform 11, so 5 trains instead of 2, but actually found it quite fun and harked back to the old days!
The journey home on the Friday was totally different! I arrived at Manchester Airport station in plenty of time for the 11:07 to Glasgow, but this was shown as cancelled and we were advised to use the 10:53 (to Cleethorpes) as far as Manchester Piccadilly, so I set of on a class 180 DMU for the short hop to Manchester, noticed a class 350 sitting at Ardwick and figured correctly that this was my ride home. Nipped across to platform 14 and duly the 350 (409) rolled in. Seat reservations were out the window and the train was full and standing. We then took 20 minutes to get to Deansgate as there were signalling issues in the area and we were under pass signal at danger rules all the way. Further delays were accumulated before Bolton just due to being out of path and stoppers in front. We then were brought to a stand at Lostock and the train manager told us that the driver had been told about possible OHLE damage between there and Blackrod, so we were to proceed at 10mph. Just beyond Blackrod we passed a unit that had broken down on the other line, turns out they though that unit had damaged the OHLE but thankfully it was undamaged.
From Blackrod we were then 55 minutes down but there were no further delays, however we were then told as we approached Carlisle that the train was terminating there, Avanti and Scotrail were accepting tickets so we were transferred to a class 390 that we running just behind us,TBH I was happy to be transferred as I had a much more comfortable seat.
The 390 was due in Central at 15:30 (about 17mins late) which was a pest as my connecting service to Troon departed at exactly the same time - however a quick look on Tracksy showed that the 15:30 from Central, which originated from Edinburgh had been delayed itself by about 25 mins at Carstairs, I thought my luck was in as it was held between Wishaw and Shieldmuir to let us pass and thinking I was being smart I bailed at Motherwell to catch this service - but Scotrail control had other ideas and as I was sitting in the unit at platform 15 in Central, the announcements came over that this train was for LARGS!! No advance announcements and "this train is for Ayr" was still being announced on departing Motherwell, so jump off and find the 16:00 to Ayr which arrived ECS from Shields in Platform 11, so 5 trains instead of 2, but actually found it quite fun and harked back to the old days!