[Green Lane]

Originally Posted by ATWalex101

Another good trip report. I couldnt do your hike lol. Whitby is ok wolverham and the wessy (westminster) are absolute dumps. If you want nicer places try the great sutton area, not much but just a generally nice area

Cheers, thanks for the feedback. Indeed I do like Great Sutton, funnily enough I walked through there last time I visited Capenhurst, back in June on an All Zones Saveaway. That was a memorable trip too - but alas I did not have the time to write it up back then.

As for hiking, I used to think nothing of walking from Birkenhead to Ellesmere Port and back again - the whole way. I even did Birkenhead-Chester once (32 miles round trip) but I could only do it because I've been hiking for years and slowly built up my stamina over a long period of time. When I first started hiking, I was so unfit could barely walk to the shops without feeling it

At the moment though, I'm down to about half of my usual hiking distances, due to damaging my left tibia six months ago (caused by overuse). Thankfully, the healing continues really well now and walking seems enjoyable again, but the great thing that came out of that injury was the fact that I started riding on trains at the weekend a lot more than I used to. So I've got back into enjoying this hobby again now. If that injury had never happened, I probably would never have ended up visiting Stanlow & Thornton station anytime soon. Funny how things work out!

[JoeGJ1984]

It does seem odd to me that the crew seem to be treating Stanlow & Thornton and Ince & Elton stations as request stops. They're not request stops in any timetable though, so they shouldn't be doing this. If they are doing this, they might as well give them request stop status.

A similar situation exists at Gilfach Fargoed on the Valley lines; the conductor asked anybody getting off to go to the front doors (it's a short platform and they just open the local door), then they slowed down and there was nobody there so started again without opening the doors (it seems to be a request stop in all but name).

[185]

Originally Posted by JoeGJ1984

It does seem odd to me that the crew seem to be treating Stanlow & Thornton and Ince & Elton stations as request stops. They're not request stops in any timetable though, so they shouldn't be doing this.

Hardly going to leave thousands of people behind? Safe to assume this is the one line Lime Street crews can do this on without incoveniencing anyone.

[12CSVT]

Originally Posted by JoeGJ1984

A similar situation exists at Gilfach Fargoed on the Valley lines; the conductor asked anybody getting off to go to the front doors (it's a short platform and they just open the local door), then they slowed down and there was nobody there so started again without opening the doors (it seems to be a request stop in all but name).

Gilfach Fargoed was a request stop until recently. It was an operational nightmare when they ran loco hauled services as only one door was in the platform.

[Green Lane]

Thanks all for the further interesting replies and thanks very much to the mods/admins for renaming the thread title!

I finally got around to uploading some of my pics from yesterday:-

Departures screen at Ellesmere Port, taken sometime around 15:10. The text is a bit faint in the sunlight, but you can see the Helsby/Warrington services. Also of note are the Hooton services, due to the planned engineering work on the Wirral Line.


At Stanlow and Thornton now and I'm not using any zoom on this one, so it shows the long platforms quite well, even though I've already walked a bit down the platform before taking it. Also shows how the shelters are set back from the platforms.


Looking towards the shelters on the Helsby-bound platform.


Looking towards the overbridge. This one also shows the white lampposts with blue rings at a set height.


Looking towards the Helsby-bound platform.


The overbridge. It's a lot longer than shown here - a section now closed off to passengers crosses more sidings immediately to the south of the station (out of shot to the left).


Obligatory station sign!


Looking towards Ince & Elton and Helsby.


Looking towards Ellesmere Port.


The way out from the Ellesmere Port-bound platform and information sign.


Up-to-date timetable. Perhaps surprisingly, it does mention that rail-replacement bus services will drop off/pick up from Oil Sites Road (the restricted private road, owned by the refinery).


142005 approaching the Ellesmere Port-bound platform.


And back in Ellesmere Port


Heading back out from Ellesmere Port for the final time of the day, towards Warrington BQ.


Ticket, kept for posterity.


Now in the frame, from left to right, Ince & Elton, Hawarden Bridge (Borderlands Line), Stanlow & Thornton. Just six more tickets of obscure local journeys needed now, to totally fill the frame. The quest continues.

[Eire Sprinter]

Another excellent trip account. Glad you got to visit Stanlow and Thornton.

In my view a request stop could be formalised at both Stanlow and Thornton and Ince and Elton.

Wonder what those blue rings on the lampposts are for - perhaps just part of the station livery.

I wonder too do those sidings to the south see much/any use.

A trip on a rail replacement bus on this line would be very interesting. Even if there was no passenger already onboard for Stanlow and Thornton it would have to serve the station approach in case there was an intending passenger.

PS: thanks for the detailed info for the Hawarden Bridge trip.

[Green Lane]

Originally Posted by Eire Sprinter

Another excellent trip account. Glad you got to visit Stanlow and Thornton.

Thanks again for the feedback! I am unsure as to whether the refinery still uses rail to move oil or petroleum products? For some reason, I had thought it had completely ceased. Clearly the sidings at Stanlow would have been busy some time ago (as seen in old photos etc..) But the fact that the set of sidings to the south of the platforms hasn't been lifted may suggest at the very least they've been mothballed. In any case, it may be prudent to shift some of the workload back to rail at some point in the future, so I can understand the potential benefits of keeping some rail options open.

On the issue of request stops, indeed, I have on many occasions used request stops that have far greater usage than the two intermediate stations on this line. Whilst I'm not opposed to the status quo, I am surprised they are not officially request stops at present.

As for the lampposts, yes to me the blue rings just appear to be part of the station livery. Although, it was something that stood out when I was there. Perhaps because there's a lot of plain white at the station!

In other news, I've just had a great week off work, I took a few rail trips again, but really no time to write them up sadly. I chose not to do the Ellesmere Port-Helsby line again as after recent trips, I now feel I've more or less completely covered it, so I instead did some other trips.

Funny thing was today, at Liverpool Lime Street, I jumped on the 12:16 Northern service to Liverpool South Parkway (ex Blackpool North I think), and it was the same guard on the train, who was on the Stanlow service last Saturday. It's a small world!

I'd never done this particular service before so it was the first time I'd actually travelled on the slow lines to Liverpool South Parkway.

The highlight of today though was probably my visit to Ditton railway station (in Widnes). It's been closed for 18 years, but the nearby bus stop outside still says "Ditton station" on it! Got a few snaps of the old station, but not had a chance to upload them yet. Cheers!

[142094]

Blue rings are the Northern standard station painting design. Quite suprised that it isn't still in the ex-Arriva Trains Northern livery.

[Green Lane]

Originally Posted by 142094

Blue rings are the Northern standard station painting design. Quite suprised that it isn't still in the ex-Arriva Trains Northern livery.

A belated thanks for the info! Since you posted this, I have to admit I've noticed these blue rings or "stripes" on all other Northern-managed stations I've visited.

Anyway just another update to this thread. Recently I've been doing more walks in the general area of the Ellesmere Port to Helsby line. This is all part of a greater plan in that eventually I want to walk from Birkenhead to Liverpool via the Runcorn Bridge. (In fact I walked over the Runcorn Bridge on Saturday, that trip would be another thread in itself - and this isn't really a hiking forum ), but these "scouting" missions have led me into using the line twice more since last posting. Truthfully, the route has proven handy for me as I generally tend to return home around mid-afternoon from a hike, and the trains from Helsby have been at about the right time for me, when coming back. (A bit too early for me in the morning though!).

Firstly, I boarded the 15:20 from Ince & Elton on Saturday 28th July. As I arrived a little early, I walked around the station area a bit more and discovered the other, far more concealed entrance to the station. Namely a set of steps that come out onto Orchard Park Lane, Elton. This might be handy when walking to/from Elton village. I do have photos from this day, but have not yet got around to uploading them.

I also noticed that some people were sitting in a car in the station car park - the first time I have ever seen anyone in the vicinity of the station. I thought they might have been wanting to get a train or pick someone up from a train, but a few minutes later they just drove off! Also whilst waiting on the Ellesmere Port-bound platform, I noticed a woman walked onto the Helsby-bound platform and sat in the shelter. I started to think "this line is getting popular". But when I got up to put something in the bin, I presume that she must have noticed me as shortly thereafter she walked out of the station. I can only guess that she must have just wanted to sit somewhere quiet where there's (usually) guaranteed to be no-one around. Although it was ten minutes before the train was due, I'm guessing local people just aren't too used to seeing passengers here. So I have still yet to see an actual passenger either alight or board at this station - maybe one day! This trip was memorable though, as I chatted with the guard about rail stuff on the way back to Ellesmere Port. This time I was the only passenger. One passenger boarded at Ellesmere Port for the return trip though.

Second time on the line was today. After a hike from Helsby to Frodsham and then on to the A56 road bridge at Sutton Weaver, I walked back to Helsby and then halfway up Helsby Hill. Finally returned to Helsby station, Where I got back home via Ellesmere Port. At £4.85 for an off-peak day return from Birkenhead Central to Helsby - it's pretty good value. Suffice it to say I departed BKC at 09:52 and travelled via Chester on the way out.

I have posted some full-resolution images this time. Please click on the links to view. I did not want to use an "img" tag for these as some of them are over 4000 pixels across. If you then click on the actual image again (depends on browser) you should get the full blown-up images.

This first image, taken from halfway up Helsby Hill shows most of the line. Helsby station itself is just out of the shot, just beyond where the line curves at the bottom of the image. The red tower blocks at the top right of the image are the "Joseph Groome Towers" on the Westminster Estate, Ellesmere Port. They are very close to Ellesmere Port station (just slightly beyond it). In fact you can't miss them when in the vicinity of Ellesmere Port station.
http://java.cms.livjm.ac.uk/homepage...l/DSCF4316.JPG

In fact on some other photos, I also managed to capture Liverpool City Centre and Cammel Lairds shipbuilding hall at Birkenhead from this same location, although because of the distances involved they are a little hazy!

Also, please feel free to have a look at these other high-res images in this folder:-
http://java.cms.livjm.ac.uk/homepage...cmspcar1/rail/

156425 was the unit on the route this afternoon. It arrived from the Chester direction and then reversed. I then heard the signalman operate the points (Really worth going to Helsby to watch this in action). The train then reversed and arrived into platform 4. When I last boarded at Helsby around two years ago, platform 3 was the one for Ellesmere Port. But now it's platform 4, over the bridge. It's also great that the Ellesmere Port-bound platform now has an electronic information sign. This was useful as without it I might have wrongly waited at Platform 3.

The bench on platform 4 is overgrown by a large shrub though - I had to fight it back a bit so I could sit down and eat my banana!

Again I was the only passenger on this particular service today, and this time no-one boarded at Ellesmere Port for the return trip, as far as I could tell.

Anyway I hope you might find some of the above photos interesting, cheers!

[JoeGJ1984]

Originally Posted by Green Lane

156425 was the unit on the route this afternoon. It arrived from the Chester direction and then reversed. I then heard the signalman operate the points (Really worth going to Helsby to watch this in action). The train then reversed and arrived into platform 4.

Does anyone know if this always happens (i.e. the train arriving empty from Chester)? Or does the empty train sometimes come from Warrington Bank Quay?

[Green Lane]

Originally Posted by JoeGJ1984

Does anyone know if this always happens (i.e. the train arriving empty from Chester)? Or does the empty train sometimes come from Warrington Bank Quay?

Although I can't answer your question. I have to admit, until I saw the train arrive, I also did think that it would originate from the Warrington BQ direction, rather than Chester. It was quite funny really, because for a moment, I thought to myself "what's that Northern train passing through platform 2?", before thinking about two seconds later "erm, I think it's my train".

Two years ago when I last boarded this service at Helsby, sadly I arrived at the station literally five minutes before it departed. The train was already in at platform 3 on that occasion. Although I remember it well, because as no passengers were expected, all of the doors were locked. When the guard eventually saw me trying to get in, she unlocked the doors for me.

Another difference was back then, the train did not come to an absolute complete stop at the intermediate stations. Whereas on Monday this week, it did completely stop at all stations. I guess it depends on the guard.

--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

Further to this, by sheer co-incidence, I arrived by Merseyrail train at Ellesmere Port today at 16:00, and the Helsby train was in. I hadn't planned to see this, but it was just how things worked out.

The destination blind on the Helsby train read "Chester". I have a photo of it on my camera. Perhaps it had originally come off the mid-Cheshire line or something? Just a guess.