NorthWestRover's trip reports: Will it be the same?

Thank you

Plus you might be lucky to get a Chiltern 172/1 escaping to Birmingham if services go wrong (or they are putting extra coaches on for crowds).

I forgot to say about the Chiltern 165 which normally does Stratford Upon Avon - Leamington Spa shuttles and a 165 on a Moor Street - Leamington stopper.

West Midlands Day Ranger postponed as Warrington have unexpectedly made the Super League Grand Final next Saturday.

So, I've decided to do a mini-bash on a Saveaway (in and out of Liverpool Lime Street) on Sunday 14th. Start at Newton-le-Willows and then in and out on that line, the St Helens Central and South Parkway lines. Popping over briefly to Rock Ferry for an appointment. Should get a few different type of units even in that time. All for £5.30.

NorthWestRover said:

So, I've decided to do a mini-bash on a Saveaway (in and out of Liverpool Lime Street) on Sunday 14th. Start at Newton-le-Willows and then in and out on that line, the St Helens Central and South Parkway lines. Popping over briefly to Rock Ferry for an appointment. Should get a few different type of units even in that time. All for £5.30.

Click to expand...

Hope you enjoy mate. Bit less variety out to Parkway since the last timetable change. 156's on the Airport run, 158's to Norwich, 350's to Birmingham and a mixed bag on the stoppers to Oxford Road. Probably see some of the new Northern CAF units parked up on your right from Edge Hill to Mossley Hill, 2 and 3 car 190's today but the new EMU's have been there recently as well.

Sunday 14th October 2018
Merseytravel Saveaway
All Areas £5.30

Well, the aim was to drive from Warrington to Newton-le-Willows and pick up the 319 into Lime Street and take it from there. Train was a little delayed so kept checking and when it was over 30 minutes down, I changed plan and drove to St Helens Central where the Blackpool to Liverpool 319s were running, but not the Wigan to Liverpool ones (this was the reverse of what the Northern website said). So, car parked and ticket bought, off we went.

319 383 St Helens Central to Huyton
319 370 Huyton to Lime Street

Quick trip to South Parkway on the Manchester Airport semi fast and back on the stopper.

156 425 (+156 429) Lime St to South Parkway
150 145 (+150 104) South Parkway to Lime St

For those of you who collect numbers, Edge Hill Freightliner sidings had 66 761, 66 753 and 60 095.

Then time for my first LNWR 350 (well, knowingly, since I started this hobby again last month).

350 248 Lime St to South Parkway
156 472 (+156 438) South Parkway to Lime St

319 384 Lime St to Roby
319 371 Roby to Lea Green
319 383 Lea Green to Lime St
350 110 Lime St to South Parkway
156 486 (+156 426) South Parkway to Lime St

I've decided only to count for haulage the unit I travel in if it's a pair. My hobby, my rules.

Enough of that route. Let's go underground!

508 103 Lime St to Central
507 013 Central to Sandhills
508 111 Sandhills to Kirkdale

Special treat for those who like these sort of things...



DB98903 + DB98953 at Kirkdale

Back to my 507/508 bashing...

507 016 Kirkdale to Maghull North
507 007 Maghull North to Sandhills
507 031 Sandhills to Moorfields
507 012 Moorfields to Lime St

319 384 Lime St to St Helens Central.

That was it. Lots of short mileage scores and it's made me think I might do a Manchester version on a Sunday. I'd do Saturday, but strikes ...

Midweek Cheshire Day Ranger planned for mid-November.

Sounded like a productive Sunday

Interesting report - I must resurrect my plans to visit Scouseland as I noticed that aside from the 507s/508s there are a number of 156s up there I need. Hmmmm - food for thought...

All those 156s would go thru Manchester too.

Madness of the Northern Random Unit Generator tonight. Two months ago I did the North West Rover and had 156425 from Carlisle to Hexham. Guess which unit took me from Padgate to Manchester and back tonight...

Now had it on three separate days when I've barely been out!

NorthWestRover said:

Now had it on three separate days when I've barely been out!

Click to expand...

It's your stalker like 156463 has a habit of following me around the northern network

I'm doing Cheshire Day Ranger on Tuesday and Merseytravel Saveaway on Friday. Bet I have it both days!

Cheshire Day Ranger 13/11/2018

£23.80 for a day travelling around the southern part of the North West. Previous day a broken rail at Glazebrook would have caused early problems for me, but this morning started fine with the 08.58 stopper from home station, Padgate, to Manchester Oxford Road. That was winner (for "haulage") 156464 which had been part of a three x 156 set I'd taken out of the airport back in September on a strike day. For loco spotters out there, 66742 was in Trafford Park. At Oxford Road, I let a dud EMT 158 pass, taking instead winner 150205 on the short trip to Piccadilly (paired with 142037, but I'm not counting second units for haulage). Of course, I was making this move to pick up the 09.53 Manchester Piccadilly to Holyhead which was today hauled by 67020. I do enjoy this train (well, I have both times I've done it) and I went all the way to Chester via Chat Moss and Warrington BQ.

Time for a Costa at Chester station before picking up 221114 (+221105) for the short hop to Crewe. This is a lovely trip with the railway and the Shropshire Union Canal crossing each other several times. Castles on the hills too.

Towards the end of the journey, there always used to be the challenge of trying to spy anything in Crewe Works over the wall whilst keeping an eye out for anything unexpected in Crewe Electric Depot. Is there anything left in the works now? Anyway, I was waiting for the former electric depot on the right and was surprised to see, behind some quite dense flora, an array of diesel locos - too far away for my untrained eye to identify. Shortly afterwards, there was a row of withdrawn electric locos (class 90? 91?). A quick glance to the other side at the Heritage Centre revealed nothing out of the ordinary. 87035 was there and that caused me to look up the names of those former kings of the WCML. Weren't they great names? Wolf of Badenoch, Cock o'the North, Black Douglas etc etc.

Into the erstwhile centre of the railway universe, Crewe, (which I still pronounce Cree-Wee in my head, lol) and onto LNWR/EMT 350125 for the short trip to Alsager. I'd made sure I knew what unit was on the Derby train running five minutes behind and therefore picked up EMT 153384 for the remainder of the journey to Stoke-on-Trent. Interesting to see an 08 shunter and a clutch of withdrawn 56s just before Longport station. What's that place then?

Stoke was Stoke, so after noting that the stopper to Manchester was a dud 323 and the Cross Country was late, I jumped on my only dud of the day, 390020 for the trip up to Stockport. At Stockport, there are literally dozens of trains an hour to Piccadilly, so I took the first winner 150203 on a Buxton service. Nothing of interest at Longsight.

From Piccadilly, I took 185103 round the Ordsall Chord to Victoria, where I boarded 185116 for a non-stop trip to Lea Green. I knew either a 319 or 323 would be following and, sure enough, 319366 took me on the rest of the line into Lime Street, passing 66763, 60095 and 66761 at Edge Hill. Cross from platform 1 to 7 at Lime St and onto 350247 on the Birmingham service as far as Crewe. Now I could see the TMD at Edge Hill with 331s and 195s parked up. 92014 was also lurking around Speke Junction.

At Crewe, I was either taking the split journey to Stoke again, or if the Manchester stopper was a winner, that. Well, the latter was winner 323235, so on I hopped for a pleasant run up to Wilmslow. There I awaited the following Pendolino which was winner 390104 for a short hop to Stockport. I let a couple of local trains go as a Cross Country train was showing as 4 coaches and I was uncertain what that meant. It was unexciting, but winner 220031 which was the first of its kind I have had since starting up on this hobby again. That arrived in Piccadilly right in the middle of evening rush hour, so I squashed onto a very full 142009 out to Guide Bridge (Rose Hill Marple service) from where I got 323234 back to Piccadilly. One of my first spotting trips back in 1976 was to the Manchester depots (Guide Bridge for 76s, 40s, 25s, 24s; Reddish for 76s; Longsight for all sorts; Newton Heath for units). I would have gone on the Class 506 DC EMUs that day.

That was pretty much my day done, just 150128 to get to Oxford Road and then repeat from the morning 156464 for the stopper home to Padgate.

An enjoyable day. A variety of diesel and electric units plus the thrill of loco haulage. A few more ticked off in my very sparsely-filled class lists. The 319s are filling up (and I imagine, I'll tick off one or two more on a Merseytravel Saveaway on Friday) and of course the 142s, 150s, 156s are just everywhere. I may be able to get out a lot more next year (fingers crossed).

Great read mate. Don't go out on full day bashing jaunts myself any more probs about once a month I'll get a Virgin return from Lime Street to Crewe. Have a mooch around there then get a return to Chester for lunch, that is a really nice little journey.

A good day trip around Cheshire

Merseytravel Saveaway 16/11/2018

No narrative today other than to note all but the last two journeys were winners. Good chipping away at the Northern 319s and the LNWR/WMT 350s.

185108 Newton-le-Willows to Liverpool Lime St
350240 Lime St to Liverpool South Parkway
158854 South Parkway to Lime St
350243 Lime St to South Parkway
350249 South Parkway to Lime St
319381 Lime St to Huyton
323225 Huyton to Lea Green
319363 Lea Green to Huyton
...where there was some excitement...
195107 on test passing through Huyton

319374 Huyton to Lime St
350265 Lime St to South Parkway
156420 South Parkway to Lime St
319385 Lime St to Huyton
319380 Huyton to St Helens Central
319362 St Helens Central to Lime St
507002 (+507/8 xxx) Liverpool Central to St Michaels
507025 St Michaels to Liverpool Central
185108 Lime St to Newton-le-Willows

Winners for haulage...15 in total
156 (1)
158 (1)
185 (1)
319 (6)
323 (1)
350 (4)
507 (1)

Sounds like you had a good day. Hopefully soon, I'll be starting to clear some lines in the Liverpool area.

Had a job interview in Preston today, so a mini-bash.

142056 Padgate to Warrington Central
390119 Warrington BQ to Preston
390117 Preston to WBQ
156459 Warrington C to Padgate

3 winners for haulage (the second Pendo wasn't).

Not much else to report. Most trains seemed to be delayed, quite a few cancellations. Normal day in Northern land.

I moved from Warrington to Wigan recently and now live only a five minute walk from North Western and Wallgate stations. Other priorities have kept me from the railways in recent months, but I took the advantage of a sunny Bank Holiday Monday to combine some Pacer carriage (a better word than haulage for units) with some pleasant countryside and relaxation with a good book (Mary Shelley's Frankenstein).

So, I bought GM Wayfarer (£14) at Wallgate with the intention of getting to Manchester early on and then seeing how I felt before deciding on my next destination. Well, the best laid plans... 150 129 (and another unidentified 150) trundled in on the Southport to Blackburn which I intended to take as far as Manchester Victoria. All was going well until Atherton when a delay in departure suddenly became lengthy. The guard wanders along and informs the passengers that the driver saw "something that could not be ignored" on the approach to the station and he was obtaining permission to go and investigate. It turned out to be a body and, obviously, all trains were then cancelled (today's local paper reveals it was a 28 year old man, cause of death to be determined).

As I had a Wayfarer, I didn't need to wait for the replacement bus, but found the 582 First Manchester service (Leigh to Bolton) operated by Volvo B7RLE Wrightbus Eclipse Urban 2 single decker (or so Google tells me) - Fleet number 69521, reg BD 11 CEN. That deposited me at Bolton Interchange from where I took the two minute walk to the railway station. I've long felt Bolton is one of those stations with far too much space for its trains, and nowadays, with nothing but units to fill the platforms, it really does feel oversized. A shame really. 156 489 was taken to Piccadilly (on an Alderley Edge service).

I had a look around to see what was waiting in the low numbered platforms (Buxton, Sheffield stopper, New Mills type trains) but the only Pacer I didn't need for carriage, so I hopped on 323 231 for the trip out to Glossop, a route which gets better the further you go. I quite like Glossop as a town, so I went and sat in the square outside the old style Partington Theatre with a coffee and cake before wandering back to the station for 323 223. A quick look at the timetables showed I could change at Guide Bridge for what was likely to be a Pacer to Rose Hill Marple.

I'm not sure I've done the Guide Bridge to Rose Hill Marple route before - I'm pretty certain I've not done the last bit. Wow, it really gets that Pacer screeching going - steep, slow and windy. Really good squealing. Won't we miss it... (142 013 by the way). The last bit of the journey is on a spectacular viaduct alongside the canal. If I'd known I was going to end up here, I might have researched beforehand as I think I could have followed the canal from Rose Hill Marple to Marple station, but as I was acting on the hoof, I just followed Google maps walk along the busy A626.

My next move I had planned a little and I took 142 043 for the short trip to New Mills Central. Straight out of the station, I found the Millennium Walkway and plunged down towards the River Goyt. Well, this was an excellent 15-20 minutes walk - sunny, lovely river with a small weir, a heron sighted and some old mills on each side of the river. Oh, and the Millennium Walkway bridge which was probably quite an event in 2000. Of course, I was walking to New Mills Newtown from where I would take 150 143 into Buxton.

It really is a great place, Buxton. Busy of course on this day, but it's still got its charm. After a walk up and down the main street and the purchase of a second hand book from one of the many charity shops, I walked up to the Pavilion Gardens where I spent a lovely half hour sitting on the grass listening to the brass band playing such classics as Bridge Over Troubled Water and I Don't Know How To Love Him. After that excitement, 150 137 (with 150 269) took me back into Greater Manchester, as far as Stockport where I changed onto 220 021 for the last leap to Piccadilly.

Normally on a Monday it would be a nightmare at Piccadilly at 5pm, but a stroll over to Platform 14 and I found a seat easily enough on an Airport to Middlesbrough TPE (185 132) which I just took round the curve to Victoria. I wasn't quite finished as I saw 142 031 (+ 150 xxx) about to leave for Stalybridge. That could only mean one thing - yes, an hour in the wonderful Stalybridge Buffet Bar where a pint of Blackjack Five Hop (red ale) was followed by a pint of Greenfield Black Five mild. Both yummy. Just to add to the convenience, the 18.31 from Stalybridge to Manchester Vic continues to... Wigan North Western. So, on I went with 142 035 (+156 460) my fourth Pacer of the day for carriage.

I was back in my flat (apartment?) by 7.45 after a lovely day of daytripping. Every unit I travelled on was new for "carriage". Well, at least as far as recording them goes - all those missed years when I didn't record anything - about 30 years in total... Ah well. Until the next time, dear reader, adiós!

Sounds like a good mix of railways and more normal touristy activities after an unfortunate start.

A grim start, but a good thing the driver saw it. Goodness knows what could have happened otherwise!

Certainly a nicely varied day there, the run to Rose Hill Marple intrigues me as I don't remember it being that interesting. Mind you that was over 15 years ago so memory is ultra-hazy! Agreed on Glossop and the line to it, quite a nice one to do and an interesting looking town which I've never fully explored.

The beers also sounded good!

Lancashire Day Ranger
Monday 24th June 2019

Took a day off work and after some anxious checks on the weather (the forecast thunderstorms never arrived), I took the five minute walk to Wigan North Western and purchased a Lancashire Day Ranger. I don't think this is the most exciting of day rangers from an enthusiast's point of view, but I fancied, as usual, a mix of unit bashing (not that there is much else to bash anyway) and a bit of day tripping. Some nice sea air...

I suppose from a train point of view, I was looking to travel on a few Pacers and chip away at the Northern 319s for travel. They are probably the only TOC subclass I can get anywhere near clearing given my current domestic circumstances, so that's a little mini target. I started the day needing 8 out of the 27.

First train out of Wigan NW after 9am is, indeed, a 319 diagram, but this threw up dud 319 371 for the short hop to Preston. I wanted the coast, but no way was I going to the hell hole otherwise known as Blackpool North, so I jumped on winner 142 021 to the more genteel St Anne's-on-the-Sea on the Blackpool South branch. A gentle stroll to the pier, not the most exciting of places although the cakes looked nice in the pier cafe. However, I had other plans for my mid-morning break. Via a few charity shops (always on the look out for book bargains) I arrived at Elbourne's Tea Emporium. Now I don't like tea, so had to settle for an average cappuccino. However, the cake was excellent - home made rhubarb and custard sponge. Yummy. A nice setting too, in the comfy chair in the bay window with my current book - Changing Places by David Lodge.

Now time for some exercise to work off the calories and after getting back to the front, I turned left for the 3 mile or so walk to Lytham. Thoroughly pleasant and an hour or so later, I was boarding 142 001 for a very short trip to Kirkham & Wesham. Here I scored the first of my 319s for the day as I took 319 372 as far as Bolton (first time on an EMU to there for me) and a quick change on to another winner, 319 373 back up to Preston. A quarter of my requirements gone...

From Preston, I took winner 350 405 up the WCML to Lancaster, followed by more Pacer action as winner 142 062 took me to Morecambe and back. Morecambe has seen better days (a long time ago), but I do like the sea air and 30 minutes promenading was time well spent.

Silly connections at Lancaster meant a 45 minute wait (saw 331 005 - I think - on testing/training, having also seen 397 *** and 397 004 at Wigan first thing) before I let a dud 350 pass, preferring winner 390 127 back down to Preston. I couldn't decide whether to go back to Wigan and do a bit of Pacer bashing, or go to Liverpool via Ormskirk (probable Pacer) or something else. I spotted a 319, but it was a dud, so in the end I caught winner 158 902 on a Windermere to Manchester Airport service, non-stop all the way to Manchester Oxford Road. Again keeping my eyes peeled for 319 winners, none appeared, so I did the Ordsall Chord on dud 185 149 and alighted at Man Vic to either take a Pacer back home to Wigan or add in a quick trip across Chat Moss to Liverpool. The Liverpool was winner 319 377, so that was my choice. I was now getting tired, so rather than take that all the way to Lime Street, I changed at Huyton and picked up dud 319 382 back to North Western.

My three aims for the day were achieved - sea air, Pacer travel and a reduction in my 319 requirements - just the five to go now. Living in Wigan, that should not be too problematic, but as new units come into service in the coming months, who knows how long the 319s will last around here.

For those who want to sample Pacer travel for one last time, there are so many opportunities in these parts - both Wigan stations, Preston, all three Manchester stations, are awash with the delightful little things. We'll miss them when they've gone. Maybe.

I'm on a Greater Manchester Wayfarer on Friday so, pop pickers, look forward to more demented praise for the Pacers and who knows what else.

Sounded like a good trip

Greater Manchester Wayfarer, 28th June 2019

It's been several months since my last update, but I thought I'd start the year with good intentions of trying to keep up to date. I don't get out anywhere near as much as some of you, so it won't take long to catch up with my reports. Anyway, first one was this perambulation around the local area on the very good value GM Wayfarer.

Started at Wigan Wallgate 142005 (and a 150) only as far as Hindley, as I'd checked out the following train at North Western and it was a required sprinter. So, 150126 (and another 150) as far as Bolton. These early moves were just to get me to Bolton so I could trundle up to Darwen to visit the excellent Italian deli in the market place there for a good cappuccino. 150223 took me there and 150150 brought me back (coupled to 153316). Then, 319365 from Bolton to Oxford Road before a cheap score on 185145 for the short leap to Piccadilly. I was on the hunt for Pacers and success was found easily enough with 142037 (and 142042) taking me to Romiley (via Guide Bridge) and 142033 (and 142056) providing the traction on the return. I then managed to find a couple of my needed Northern 319s - 319379 and 319386 from Picc to Stockport and back, staying on the latter to Salford Crescent. 142029 (and a 150) took me on to Bolton and although I was intending to go home then, the appearance of needed 319361 took me back to Salford Crescent before 150132 finished the day off with the journey back to Wigan North Western.

A good day in my attempts to clear the Northern 319s and get some Pacer action...

Merseytravel Saveaway, 19th July 2019

Had a day off work and decided to go and sample my first 195 as well as look out for my remaining two Northern 319s.

185149 Newton-le-Willows to Liverpool Lime St
507028 Lime St to Bebington
Couple of hours in Port Sunlight/Lady Lever Art Gallery
507010 Port Sunlight to Hamilton Square
507017 Hamilton Square to Liverpool Central
185148 Lime St to Lea Green
323238 Lea Green to Huyton
319383 Huyton to Lime St
195118 Lime St to South Parkway
Only a short run for my first time on a 195. I was pleasantly surprised and have been on several since (some longer journeys too!).
350127 South Parkway to Lime St
507025 Lime St to Central
508114 (and 507002) Central to Moorfields
508124 Moorfields to Sandhills
508143 Sandhills to Moorfields
508108 Moorfields to Lime St
185147 Lime St to Lea Green
319385 Lea Green to Huyton
323239 Huyton to Newton-le-Willows

So, I achieved my main aim of travelling on a 195. I had a nice time in Port Sunlight. However, I was still left with two 319s to clear the Northern fleet. And the 331s would be coming soon...

More later...

I had a good look around Port Sunlight a couple of years ago and, yes, it is a great place to visit (walked Port Sunlight to Bebington). What struck me is how alien the concept now is of an employer providing quality accommodation and facilities for their workers. It's almost as if fit, healthy, happy workers who feel valued might actually be more productive.

I also went around the Lady Lever Art gallery but it was shockingly hot and so didn't appreciate it to the full.

To pick up my story in August 2019, I began a North West Rover on Sunday 25th...

150 215/150 105 - Wigan Wallgate to Man Vic
185 114 Man Vic to Leeds
158 792/158 *** Leeds to Kirkby Stephen (I made this connection with about 2 seconds to spare).

Walked down the path to the Stainmore Railway where I had a short trundle on 2084 FC Tingey which I believe is an 0-4-0 Saddle Tank (I know nothing about steam trains). Then walked into Kirkby Stephen and had a pint in The Taggy Man. How weird that all reads today.

158 815/158 *** Kirkby Stephen to Leeds
185 137 Leeds to Man Vic

I don't seem to have recorded how I got back to Wigan...

Anyway, Bank Holiday Monday 26th August...

195 116 Wigan NW to Grange-over-Sands
Walk along the prom
156 480 Grange to Arnside

Arnside had been recommended to me by a colleague, not least for the pie shop. The pie shop was indeed excellent as was the home made vegan chocolate cake I had in a small cafe (with an average cappuccino). Spent a couple of hours here with a walk along the beach/shore.

195 119 Arnside to Carnforth

Had a quick look round the rail museum and the Brief Encounter experience.

150 134 Carnforth to Skipton

Wandered into the town. Very pleasant.

333 013 Skipton to Leeds
185 106 Leeds to Man Picc
67 010 Man Picc to Leeds
Loco hauled always worth the time
158 832 Chester to Warrington BQ
390 123 Warrington BQ to Wigan NW

That'll do for now. More later.

Tuesday 27th August 2019

Day 3 of North West Rover

195 122 Wigan NW to Man Picc

Met my ex for a coffee and visit to the cinema in The Printworks to see Once Upon A Time in Hollywood which I reckon is Tarantino's best film since Jackie Brown.

175 109 Oxford Road to Warrington BQ
221 101/221 107 WBQ to Preston

I fancied a route I haven't done very often at all, so...

150 120 Preston to Ormskirk
507 020/508 124 Ormskirk to Liverpool Central
319 377 Liverpool LS to Wigan NW

Wednesday 28th August 2019

North West Rover Day 4

An exciting day...

195 102 Wigan NW to Piccadilly
185 106 Piccadilly to Victoria
150 117 Victoria to Leeds (via Halifax)

I was aiming to pick up the Nova3 diagram but the signs were indicating the train being formed of 3 coaches and yes, sure enough...

185 142 Leeds to Victoria

As I resigned myself to trying again another day (this was when the diagrams were very unreliable) the Diagrams forum came alive with suggestions that the Nova3 was to take over from Victoria and on departure from Huddersfield, there was an announcement that the train was to terminate at Manchester but that a train would be on hand to carry passengers on to Liverpool. Well, most of the train groaned and griped. I just smiled to myself. When we got to Victoria, we all alighted and the 185 disappeared off. There was no sign of the Nova3 but the train was advertised on the boards. I overheard the staff saying the train was on its way from Longsight, so I knew I was in for some loco-hauled. And yes, eventually in it rolled - 68 026 leading and the whole set looking very smart.

So, I took this over to Lime St, along with quite a few enthusiasts. As it was quite delayed, there was a quick turnaround and then we all piled back on for a push across Chat Moss and over the Pennines.

68 026 Manchester Vic to Liverpool Lime St
68 026 Liverpool LS to Leeds

I enjoyed the trip, very pleasant environment but whilst the thrash of the 68 as it left Leeds was impressive, the hermetically sealed carriages mean there's little chance to experience that whilst actually on the train.

Back to units...

150 117 Leeds to Bradford Interchange
158 797 Bradford Int to Halifax
142 026 Halifax to Huddersfield
Squeal around the Brighouse Line followed by a pint in The Head of Steam
185 102 Huddersfield to Man Vic
150 211/150 1** Man Vic to Wigan NW

Two more days done... Next day stretches the definition of North West to its extremes...

Thursday 29th August 2019

North West Rover Day 5

After the excitement of loco-hauled travel over the Pennines, it was back to tourism for day 5 of my rover, and indeed it was off to bonny Scotland and the Queen of the South, Dumfries. Now, I have been to Dumfries back in the early Noughties, but I didn't really take note of the trains then; I went to see Queen of the South play Forfar (don't ask). I know it was a unit from Carlisle to Dumfries, but what would have taken me up the WCML back in (probably 2005)?

Anyway, back to the present day and it started with some excitement as one of the two Northern 319s I required for that sub-class clearance appeared on the Liverpool to Blackpool turn. One to go...

319 369 Wigan NW to Preston
390 002 Preston to Carlisle

It really is a beautiful journey, isn't it?

156 503 Carlisle to Dumfries

Dumfries is famous for its links with Robert Burns (no, not 87 035), but rather the Bard of Scotland. I planned to visit his house which is now a museum and then see what else there was. I probably had three or four hours there. The house is fantastically interesting, one of the better museums of its kind. And just across the road is St Michael's Church where Robbie is buried in a large mausoleum. All very good.

I then wandered along the banks of the River Nith crossing over an architecturally interesting bridge. Up into the town for a look around - not that thrilling really, so then back to the station to make my way back south on 4 different types of unit...

156 508 Dumfries to Carlisle
350 408 Carlisle to Oxenholme
195 117 Oxenholme to Preston
390 157 Preston to Wigan NW.

Home.

Time to complete the final two days of my North West Rover. It's nice to remember being able to travel around like this...

Friday 30th August 2019

Day 6

This day was a bit of a pot pourri. I started out with plans to visit one of my favourite destinations on the rover and to do the new Liverpool to Chester service via the Halton Curve.

390 148 Wigan NW to Preston
158 908 Preston to Hebden Bridge

It is a nice journey across East Lancashire and then into the Calder Valley. I really do like Hebden Bridge and spent a couple of hours in the town and going for a walk along the canal. Given the current global crisis, it's easy to forget that it was only a couple of months ago that Hebden Bridge and neighbouring towns were suffering the devastation of floods. Lots of small, independent businesses there must wonder what is coming next. Enough of the maudlin stuff...

158 906 Hebden Bridge to Manchester Vic
185 119 Man Vic to Liverpool LS
150 260 Liverpool LS to Chester

A very sparsely populated trundle on this TfW route - new for me on a scheduled service. I believe traveller numbers had picked up in recent months.

175 005 Chester to Manchester Picc
195 114/195 115 Manchester Picc to Liverpool Lime St (via Warrington Central).

I chose to do this as it used to be my "home" route and it's a long time that I've done the full length of the route in one go. Probably last time was behind a 31/4 in the early to mid 80s.

Anyway, big news at Lime St as the Chat Moss stopper service was my last Northern 319 to travel on. Woo hoo.

319 375 Liverpool LS to Manchester Vic
150 126 Man Vic to Wigan NW

Saturday 31st August 2019

Day 7

So, last day of the rover and I decided to do touristy stuff.

390 047 Wigan NW to Preston
195 125 Preston to Kendal

Three hours here on the edge of the Lake District which was very pleasant. In another reference to different times, this was time that parliament had been prorogued early and there was a demonstration to "Stop the Coup". Hmmm.

195 125 Kendal to Preston
150 125/150 133 Preston to Lytham

Couple of hours at this lovely resort on the Fylde Coast...

150 137 Lytham to Preston
390 153 Preston to Wigan NW

The end.

I'll do more reports on day rovers, Northern 10p trips and the like over the next few days. It'll break up reading, TV, on line scrabble...

Keep safe