Here we go all, sorry it's only a few weeks late!
Meeting A New Friend
A month or so ago, AndrewR232 and I had a chat over private message and soon after we decided to meet up on my home turf. It was touch and go if Id be able to keep to the date with my daughter due on the 24th, but thankfully, she arrived on her due date and I was able to meet Andrew on the 25th.
I get my SaveAway and head down into the city centre, with the plan to visit a required station before Andrews arrival at around 11:30. Deciding on my chosen station, I head over to Liverpool Central to get the 10:08 to Southport. I made a quick visit to PoundBakery beforehand to get myself some much needed supplies, two sausage rolls and a bottle of Pepsi.
Needless to say, the sausage rolls went down very well. I took 507026 "
Councillor George Howard" up to
Hightown, where I take a few walks up and down the platform to pass the time. During my wait, I happened to come across a robin which was looking around the platform. I like birds, and I have to admit seeing the robin gave me a smile. I wonder where he is now?
On my way back to Liverpool Central, its 507006 doing the honours. I head over to Lime Street to meet with Andrew, before we head over to Liverpool Central to get the 11:55 up to Ormskirk. After a short wait, we board 508110 which we take up to
Aughton Park. Ive got to say, this is a very difficult station to navigate! With most Merseyrail stations, its easy to switch between platforms, but with this one we have a very long climb up to the bridge that towers over the track, and then another long descent back down on the other side.
We leave Aughton Park at 12:38, alighting 508110 (again) at
Old Roan. From here we went up to
Maghull, with 508115 operating this short hop back up the line. At least one thing was on our side, the weather was lovely, albeit a little on the chilly side. Nevertheless, it had been a productive day so far for visiting required stations for us both. From Maghull, we took 508104 on the 13:15 back to Liverpool Central, where Andrews pre-prepared plan meant we would need to take the short walk over to Liverpool Lime Street. Im all too happy to do this, because I get a ride on the 319s again as well as getting a required station or two. Result!
The 14:00 to Wigan North Western was our required train, and we took 319383 from Lime Street to
Roby. Here, Im amused to see one of the CCTV notices still has the logo from the old franchise, but I took a photograph for nostalgias sake if nothing else. From Roby, we took a short ride on 319362
Northern Powerhouse down to
Broad Green. Ive got to admit, it wasnt the most exciting station Ive visited, but at least now I wont have to worry about returning any time soon. At 14:39, we depart Broad Green on 319364, taking this all the way back to Lime Street.
Once were back at Lime Street, Andrews plan means we take our second walk of the day over to Liverpool Central. We make it in time, and were soon on our way up towards Southport, with this journey being my second ride of the day on 507026 "
Councillor George Howard". We take this as far as
Ainsdale, where Andrew makes a point that our service back towards Liverpool again should be a six car service. He was spot on, as a six car train formed of 507006 and partner 507016 "
Merseyrail - Celebrating the first ten years 2003-2013" arrived shortly afterwards. This is by far our longest journey of the day, as we take this service all the way down to Liverpool South Parkway. The journey does get busy, but it soon passes.
Once were at South Parkway, we have a short wait to get our next and final train of the day together. We head down to Platform 4 one our train arrives, the 17:04 to Preston. This was another lightly loaded service (as usual in my experience), but I was very pleased to see it was my favourite Class 319 unit, 319363, doing the honours on this journey. We arrived at Lime Street for the second time that day on time, and I opted to stay on the train until just before its scheduled departure to have a chat with Andrew for a bit longer. With the pre departure announcement made, I bid farewell to Andrew and made my way home, sad that a great day had ended, but happy that Id made a new friend and had an extremely productive and enjoyable day out.
Id like to thank Andrew for his company and for his excellent journey plan which went extremely well indeed. Hope to see you soon mate!
. Another good read there, although I don't think I'd have returned to Hall Road with many more shacks to get on Merseyrail!
