Visiting Every Station | YorkRanger Trip Reports

[YorkRanger]

I've decided to start posting reports of my trips as part of my quest to visit every station, I started this challenge back in October 2022, and so far have been to 321 stations, but because visiting every station wasn't difficult enough.. I set myself a couple of requirements for a station to be considered visited and completed:

1. I have to get a photo from the platform.
2. I have to leave the station and find something interesting in the local area.
3. A train has to be used to arrive at or depart the station (no arriving and departing on foot).

There are some stations where I haven't met all 3 of these requirements yet (mostly the stations I visited earlier on before I made this harder for myself..) and will be going back to them gradually to complete them.

I hope you lovely people enjoy reading through all my little adventures (and even if you don't - these reports will serve as a good record of memories for me ).

---

31st January 2024 - The Wirral Way

The plan for today would take me to the Wirral to revisit a couple of stations so that I could complete them, with walks along the Shropshire Union Canal and the Wirral Way. The day began by taking 777001 from Ormskirk to Liverpool Central, and then 777013 onward to Chester. The journey went without issue, though the seats onboard the 777s leave something to be desired.. I have now travelled 363 miles on those trains, and I am yet to find a way to sit comfortably in the slightly too narrow, bends your spine into weird shapes if you're anything above average height seats. It is lovely to be able to see out of the windows of 777013 though, having had its Eurovision livery (that blocked 90% of the windows) removed.


[777001 is near the buffers on the Merseyrail Platform at Ormskirk]

After arriving in Chester, I quickly found my way to the canal towpath via City Road, and began walking along it in a Westerly direction, until I located an entrance to the City Walls which overlooked the Cathedral. What an absolutely beautiful area, I can't believe I haven't visited Chester before! Both the canal and the city walls were a delight to walk around, and very easy to navigate (one of the things you'll learn about me if you stick around is just how easily I get lost.. even when following Google Maps...) After a short walk along the city walls, I made my way back onto the canal towpath, past the University of Chester and towards Bache Station. I had enjoyed my walk between Chester and Bache so much that I had slowed my walking pace so I could enjoy all of the beauty on offer, and as such, missed the train I was intending to catch (another thing you'll learn about me.. I am hopeless at getting to stations before the train!).


[Chester Cathedral as seen through some branches of a large bare tree, from the city walls]

My next stop took me to Capenhurst, a slightly awkward station with only every other service stopping there. The station, and the local area are pretty bare, with little to see and do. I did however, find a nice little village green with the biggest bug hotel I have seen to date! I enjoy a peaceful lunch in this green, before heading back to the station to find out the next train had been cancelled (pesky 777s).. When a stopping train finally arrived, I continued onward to Hooton, where I joined the Wirral Circular Trail and started the longest walk of the day.

This walk would take me on a 4.5 mile trip through the Wirral County park, with a particularly interesting feature near the village of Willaston. Hadlow Road railway station is a grade 2 listed heritage railway station, which has been amazingly looked after to maintain a feeling of a station from the 1950s, when this station closed to passengers. Complete with a platform, track, signalling box and station building, this station is well worth a visit on its own! I had a lovely look around the station (including looking into the signalling box, which has a particularly cosy feel to it now) before continuing with my walk, which follows the route of the disused line on which Hadlow Road was once situated.

[Hadlow Road Railway station, looking down the tracks, towards the station building and signalling box] THIS IS A DISUSED RAILWAY STATION - THE TRACK ONLY RUNS FROM ONE END OF THE PLATFORM TO THE OTHER. DO NOT TRESPASS ON ANY RAILWAY PROPERTY.

I continued walking along the Wirral Way, past Neston Fairy Garden, and on towards Neston railway station. There is still some evidence along this walk of where the railway used to run, but most of the path has now been taken back over by nature. I did encounter a small issue near Cuckoo Lane (Windle Hill), where the bridge over the road has been removed and a diversion was in place, but everything was well signposted and easy to work out how you were supposed to get around the small hurdle.

I completed my walk at Neston, where I had missed the train by 4 minutes, so enjoyed a 40 minute wait at the station with a particularly rowdy bunch of teenager . When a train eventually appeared, I continued my journey towards Bidston. I was hoping to travel on a class 230, however because I missed the previous service, I was treated to 197051. The 197s are nice units to travel on, with comfortable seating and plug sockets (something my dying phone particularly enjoyed at this point!) but I can't help feeling that these trains would be better utilised on other lines.

Upon arriving in Bidston, the skies had opened and I was getting soaked, so I snapped a quick picture of the station and made my way on foot out of the station. Exiting the station in the direction of the Birket following a very soggy footpath toward Bidston Moss and on towards the Wallacre. There were a couple of good photography points of both the West Kirkby and New Brighton lines along this walk, however as the path was already flooding and the rain showed no signs of giving up, I chose not to hang around too long and made my way towards Wallasey Village station. Perhaps when its a bit less soggy, I shall have to try visiting this walk again.

At Wallasey Village I boarded a train towards New Brighton so that I could take a stroll along the promenade. By this point, not only had the rain not shown any signs of giving up, but the wind had started to pick up and the sun had set, so while I particularly enjoy the scenery of the New Brighton seafront, tonight was not the night to be capturing photos. If you are ever in the area though, I recommend taking a walk towards the lighthouse and Fort Perch Rock. My walk along the promenade tonight took me in the direction of Wallasey Grove Road station, the final station I would visit today. There was once again a good photo opportunity for trains on the New Brighton line, but with the weather conditions still not letting up, I decided it was best to continue my walk and come back on another day.

I now began my journey back towards Liverpool, although another broken 777 at James Street tried to put a spanner in the works of that plan (they seem to always chose the worst places to have issues..). By the time I arrived in Liverpool, services were begining to wind down with the half hourly evening timetable in operation, so to kill some time, I decided to head to Rice Lane on a required 777/1 (might as well when there's actually 1 in service that is working) and walk across to Walton, where I picked up another required 777 (though I'm still sad that there are never 507s on the Ormskirk line anymore - even as a one off ) and returned to my starting location, where I called it a day.

Overall it was a very nice day out, with plenty of interesting things to see, a couple of new place discovered that I would like to go back to and spend more time exploring and 10 stations completed. It's just a shame the weather tailed off towards the end, but at least it was only soggy at the end of the day rather than for the whole day! Now its time to go and tend to all my blisters...

Stations Completed: Liverpool Central | Chester | Bache | Capenhurst | Hooton | Neston | Bidston | Wallasey Village | New Brighton | Wallasey Grove Road

New Haulages:
197051 | Neston to Bidston | 8mi 48ch
777146 | Liverpool Central to Rice Lane | 4mi 30ch
777005 | Walton to Ormskirk | 8mi 50ch

Units Cleared for 10 Miles: 777001 and 777013

 

[All platforms]

Good luck with your adventures - it will keep you busy for years i'm sure, especially as you are leaving each station and finding something interesting to do before returning. This may be a bit challenging at some locations due to weather or a station literally in the middle of nowhere. I guess it depends how you define interesting....

I particularly enjoyed learning about Hadlow Road station which in the scheme of things is not far from me and is a new find. It looks a good spot to pause on a day out. It also looks typical of a few other Cheshire stations you will encounter albeit none in better condition than this one i would wager.

As you travel further afield some of the lesser used stations might prove problematic for you with one a day/week services, or maybe two services which are at very different ends of the day. All part of the adventure as to how best to navigate these. I wish you well.

 

[YorkRanger]

Thank you @All platforms. Based on my current progress rate, it could take me well over 10 years to complete this challenge, but at least the end of it I should have found lots of new wonderful places to go and explore. Some of my interesting things I've included so far are rivers, canals, lakes, parks, a church, a weekly market, railway photography locations, a bug hotel (Capenhurst really didn't have much else on offer) and a small family run pub. There are definitely some stations where I'm going to struggle to find things in the local area, but that's all part of the fun.

Hadlow Road is absolutely worth the visit, and with the café on site, you could easily spend a fair amount of time there, particularly when the weather is nice.

I've already done a couple of awkward stations, including Chathill and Salwick which don't have particularly useful timetables, but as you say, it's all part of the adventure.

 

[Andy Pacer]

I've already done a couple of awkward stations, including Chathill and Salwick which don't have particularly useful timetables, but as you say, it's all part of the adventure.

Out of interest what did you find "interesting in the local area" when you did Chathill?

 

[Kite159]

Chester is on my list for a decent explore one of these days, considering I've walked into (and out of) the city via the canal & river Dee [plus most of the old railway line from Shotton, I still need the eastern section towards Mickle Trafford], with a look on the city walls.

From Bidston towards Wallasey, I remember that path well (if you used the same path as I did which follows the railway and passes the end of the turnback siding which used to continue towards New Brighton). Exploring areas is a good way to see different parts of the country, rather than just jumping off, waiting X minutes on the platform before jumping on the next train without leaving the station.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

An enjoyable report - thanks for posting it!

 

[YorkRanger]

Out of interest what did you find "interesting in the local area" when you did Chathill?

Since it's now a private residence, I counted the former station building as my interesting thing, though I did take a walk around the hamlet while I was waiting for the train to return from Crag Mill Loop.

From Bidston towards Wallasey, I remember that path well (if you used the same path as I did which follows the railway and passes the end of the turnback siding which used to continue towards New Brighton).

That is indeed the path that I used. It was a touch flooded when I went down there though.

[A flooded footpath, with large raindrops falling into the water]

An enjoyable report - thanks for posting it!

Thank you

 

[Gathursty]

There's nothing interesting near Ince, Hoscar or Bescar Lane.

 

[YorkRanger]

I have been to all 3 of those stations already.

By Ince, there was quite a nice stretch of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal (I walked between Britannia Bridge/Warrington Road and Scotmans Bridge/Westwood Drive where I carried on to Pemberton Station).

For Hoscar, I did another section of the Leeds & Liverpool Canal (This time walking from Liverpool Road North in Burscough to Ring O' Bells and then up to the station via Ring O'Bells Lane and Hoscar Moss Lane)

And then for Bescar Lane, I took a walk towards Bescar/Scarisbrick, and stopped off at St Elizabeth's Church on Hall Road, before getting the 375 bus towards Southport.

 

[D841 Roebuck]

There's nothing interesting near Ince, Hoscar or Bescar Lane.

If you have an interest in birds, a walk from Bescar Lane to Martinmere RSPB/Wildfowl trust is somewhat further than the walk there from New Lane, but still reasonable, and gives the benefit of visiting two obscure rural shacks for the price of one!

 

[The exile]

There's nothing interesting near Ince, Hoscar or Bescar Lane.

Depends on what you define as interesting….

 

[ChrisC]

What a mammoth task this is going to be and it will take you years. But also what a wonderful way to explore the country. I have no intention of doing this at every station on the network, but for many years I have been doing this in more localised areas. I’ve stated in other threads that I have never wanted to do an All Line Rover because I would rather explore a smaller area and get out and about around that area exploring in more depth. Many of my holidays have involved using regional rover and ranger tickets. I don’t always travel huge distances but like to hop on and off and explore and sometimes spend a whole day or more just along one line.

Sometimes I actually prefer to explore small isolated locations and small villages more than I do large cities. I enjoy walking along country lanes, walking around small villages looking at gardens and above all visiting churches and churchyards. Planning a walk using footpaths to walk from one station to another is also a good thing to do to see an area. It‘s difficult to say where my favourite isolated locations have been where I have got off the train as there are so many. Kirkby in Furnace on the Cumbrian Coast is one of my favourites as are Plockton on the Kyle of Lochalsh Line and Brora on the Far North Line. I could make a very long list including some in perhaps not quite so scenic areas. Even on my local Robin Hood Line through the ex mining areas of Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire there are some interesting things to see near most stations, although perhaps not Bulwell or Sutton Parkway!

I was quite amused by the comments concerning Hoscar. Am I the only forum member who has been on holiday to Hoscar? Around 10 years ago I stayed in a farm cottage just a few minutes walk from the station. The main purpose of the holiday was to visit Martin Mere and to explore the coast around Formby. Whilst there I also enjoyed walking from the cottage around the country lanes and by the canal. I found it a fascinating area, which with the flatness of the land, dark black soil, and all the farm workers arriving everyday to harvest the cabbages, it reminded me very much of a compact version of the Lincolnshire and Cambridgeshire Fens.

 

[JJTRN2024]

Wow , Yes that is going to be an excellent challenge for yourself.

Hopefully over the next how ever many years timetables go in your favour , or rule number 3 will be difficult

word of advice , when it comes to doing smaller least used stations I've found get them out the way in the morning if you can, more likely to see a cancellation in the afternoon/ evening. (Don't all jump on me just what I've found)

Good luck and I hope to see some more progress updates on here

JJ

 

[Andy Pacer]

Since it's now a private residence, I counted the former station building as my interesting thing, though I did take a walk around the hamlet while I was waiting for the train to return from Crag Mill Loop.

Interesting, I did Chathill late last year, but perhaps saving it for the lighter evenings would've been better.

 

[YorkRanger]

What a wonderful way to explore the country. I have no intention of doing this at every station on the network, but for many years I have been doing this in more localised areas. I’ve stated in other threads that I have never wanted to do an All Line Rover because I would rather explore a smaller area and get out and about around that area exploring in more depth.

Absolutely, I enjoy going out for long walks, but found I was sticking to the same couple of areas and it was getting a bit boring seeing the same things so thought this would be a fun new way to get out and explore different places, even if it does take me a decade .

I was quite amused by the comments concerning Hoscar. Am I the only forum member who has been on holiday to Hoscar?

I definitely haven't heard of anyone else using Hoscar as their base for a holiday, but if a holiday cottage exists, then there must be someone else who has. As you say, it's a great location for a range of activities, it just depends on what you're interested in.

Hopefully over the next how ever many years timetables go in your favour , or rule number 3 will be difficult

I may have worded it poorly, I could for example arrive on foot (or by other means of transport) and then leave on a train or vice versa, I just can't for example walk to the station, have a quick look around and then leave again on foot. A train has to be involved somewhere.

Word of advice , when it comes to doing smaller least used stations I've found get them out the way in the morning if you can, more likely to see a cancellation in the afternoon/ evening.

It's certainly what I did when I visited Salwick, though my body did not enjoy the 3am alarm.. I decided it was best to get the morning train there as if it was cancelled I could carry on with the rest of my plan along the Blackpool South line and get it on the way back towards Preston instead.

Good luck and I hope to see some more progress updates on here

Thank you, I definitely hope to keep this thread updated with my adventures.

Interesting, I did Chathill late last year, but perhaps saving it for the lighter evenings would've been better.

Yes, it probably would be better in lighter evenings, though it was dark when I went too. The station building was lovely, I can imagine it would be even better in daylight, or perhaps with a nice sunset over the station.

 

[YorkRanger]

16th February 2024
Recent Photos (on Flickr): 150101 | 150131 | 158757 | 197051 | 331030

Most of my recent trips on the railway have been focused on gathering photographs required for my university research project. I've had to collect photos of 6 different types of signs commonly found at stations so that I can eventually develop a system that can recognise and identify the signs, which has been leading to my camera roll looking something like this:

[ A collection of signs including no trespassing, stop markers and speed boards].

I've typically been sticking to larger stations as there's more chance of me finding all of the type of signs that I need, but yesterday I took a trip out along the Harrogate line to complete a handful more stations, while continuing my sign collection (with less chance of people watching me and wondering what on earth I am up to ).

The day started off well.. As I arrived at the station, I watched the train that I was planning on catching pulling out of the platform (one day I may get to the station before the train...) However, not all was lost as it did give me the opportunity to take a stroll down to the end of Platform 7 and snap a picture of the DVT end of the set forming the 12:02 service to London.


[DVT 82222 leading set NL16 and 91119 at the end of Platform 6 at York]

My first couple of stops were Poppleton, Hammerton and Cattal where I just needed to take a platform photo at each station to complete the stations, having visited on previous occasions and already have found my interesting things (the River Ouse at Poppleton and the Kirk Hammerton Beck between Hammerton and Cattal). I always enjoy visiting this end of the line with some of it's more 'traditional' features of the railway including the signal boxes, station buildings, semaphore signaling and manual crossing gates.


[170477 arrives at platform 1 at Cattal]

With my platform photos taken, and a million and one images of signs collected, I continued along the line towards Knarseborough. What an adorable little market town this is! There is such a community feeling about the place, with beautiful scenary and plenty to see and do. I started by taking a short walk along the river, before heading back up towards the station via The Parsonage to see St John the Baptist Church (and of course the Viaduct from the balcony viewpoint). This is absolutley a place I need to come back to in the summer and spend more than just an hour at.


[St John the Baptist Church seen behind a large bare tree]

Leaving behind Knaresborough, I continued on towards Starbeck and Pannal, where once again all I needed to complete the station was photos from the platform, having visited both of these stations on previous trips. At this point a lot of trains were starting to run late due to knock on affect of trespassers on the other side of Leeds, so as I head towards Weeton, I decided I would make that my final station of the day. Weeton is one of those stations where there really isn't much to do or see in the local area. While walking around the village however, I did find a VR postbox which I thought was quite cool - there's not many of them out in the wild these days..


[A VR Pillar postbox standing in a small patch of grass in front of a road]

A few issues meant I couldn't visit as many stations as I had planned to, but the primary purpose of the trip was to find more signs to take photos of, of which I took 165 photos, so it was still a moderately successful trip out.


Stations Completed: Poppleton | Hammerton | Cattal | Knaresborough | Starbeck | Pannal | Weeton

New Haulages:
05-02-2024 | 156429 | Preston to Ormskirk | 15mi 28ch
08-02-2024 | 156460 | Ormskirk to Preston | 15mi 28ch
15-02-2024 | 150131 | Ormskirk to Preston | 15mi 28ch
15-02-2024 | 195117 | Preston to York | 87mi 47ch
16-02-2024 | 170454 | York to Poppleton | 2mi 72ch
16-02-2024 | 170461 | Poppleton to Hammerton | 5mi 69ch
16-02-2024 | 170460 | Hammerton to Cattal | 1mi 39ch
16-02-2024 | 158575 | Knaresborough to Starbeck | 1mi 57ch
16-02-2024 | 195115 | Leeds to York | 25mi 49ch

Units Cleared for 10 Miles: 150105, 170460

Units Cleared for 100 Miles: 195103, 195131

 

[sh24]

I do like your criteria of visiting something interesting in the area of each station. It's going to slow you down, but make the whole challenge a great deal more memorable.

 

[childwallblues]

Good luck with your project. My ambition was to ride on every line but now I am too old to complete. My one big miss was Inverness to Wick but COVID knackered that idea. I have some cherished memories of long closed lines in Wales and Scotland but my one big prize was Grand National Day 1955. My dad took me on the Liverpool Overhead Railway from Dingle to Aintree Racecourse, a service that only ran on one day a year. The sparks that flew from the third rail from Seaforth Sands up to the racecourse were incredible.

 

[birchesgreen]

I like your project, i am doing similar myself (visiting all stations but also trying to visit the area around each one). After 4-5 years of doing this i'm up to 475 stations so i have a loooooong way to go.