Cheshire Day Ranger - Tuesday 12th March 2019
Part 1 - into Liverpool I go
A last minute call was made to venture out for my first big trip of 2019. Bristol and Cardiff was my main choice but, having found decent priced tickets, I fortunately remembered that my day of choice also coincided with the opening day of this year's Cheltenham Festival. Journeys with race goers was not high up my list of things to do, so I decided to head in a northerly direction by making use of the Cheshire Day Ranger.
My day didn't start as early as most of my outings owing to the fact that I only needed to make it to Crewe to get into the Ranger area and this couldn't be used before 9am. My trip started at Stafford with the 0824 to Liverpool Lime Street taking me as far as Crewe and it was a decent start as
390137 arrived to receive a tick in the 'haulage' category
VTWC Pendolino 390137 arriving into Stafford by
The_Train
My arrival into Crewe got my day off to a flyer as a couple of Colas 56s sat in Basford Hall saw
56096 into the book and although 56105 was dud, any Colas additions are always welcome. 710103, which I'd seen a few days earlier passing the local, was sat outside the LNWR depot and a couple of TPE mk5 units were also dotted around along with a couple of TPE liveried cats - none of which I could ID unfortunately. Generally the carriage sidings opposite don't tend to throw much up whenever I pass (apart from the rusting carriages of course) but today was very different as I was rewarded with the sight of
92020 looking resplendent in its GBRf livery having recently been brought back to life after many years out of action. Another blast from the past was
45231 "Sherwood Forester" which was also stabled there and up against the newly built Locomotive Services depot was
47841. A nice treble to get things up and running and Crewe wasn't finished there as my first steps onto the platform were welcomed by my first sighting of a new Northern 195. It was sat over in platform 12 and I needed to head over there to ID it and was able to chalk off
195110 which had arrived from Allerton Depot and was waiting to head towards Liverpool South Parkway
Northern Trains 195110 waits at Crewe by
The_Train
Dud 57307 was stabled in the station awaiting it's rescue call should any stranded Pendolino or Voyager require it but it wasn't long before another winner was noted with
319381 forming a service towards the North West. It was time for my next move towards Manchester but not before
175107 became the next winner as it worked a service towards Wales before
390136 became my 2nd winner for haulage of the day. I did t have to wait for arrival into Piccadilly before I was able to claim my next winner as I nabbed
319366 while we made our call at Stockport but it was clock watching time as an already tight connection at Manchester was getting tighter as a 3 down arrival left me with 5 minutes to get across to the through platforms. I made my way to the door well before arrival into Manchester and as we crept into the terminus we caught up with
319369 which was an added bonus. My decision to sit in a front carriage paid dividends as a quick escape from the Pendolino and a dash across Piccadilly saw me arrive onto platform 14 just as
67014 pulled in to start the 0953 service to Holyhead. It wasn't required for sight (one of the coaches -
12185 - was though) but was definitely required for haulage, as was
82308 at the other end, and I certainly enjoyed the noise the 67 made from my seat in the front carriage. To add to this enjoyment I was also able to pick up another winner on route as
319362 was chalked off as we called at Oxford Road. I'd originally planned to take this all the way to Chester but engineering works on the Merseyrail network meant there were limited services out of Chester so instead I opted to jump off at Warrington Bank Quay
67012 at Warrington Bank Quay by
The_Train
This proved to be a good call as, after enjoying a bit of banter with the Costa staff there,
66154 passed through working light from Arpley to Seaforth
66154 runs through Warrington Bank Quay by
The_Train
319378 arrived into platform 1 with a terminating service from Liverpool before heading out to perform a reverse manoeuvre so that it could start it's next journey from platform 4. It so happened that this would be the service to Liverpool which I was waiting for so this particular 319 became a winner for everything
Northern 319378 at Warrington Bank Quay by
The_Train
Just before we departed dud 66772 arrived with an Avonmouth to Clitheroe cement working but that would be the final act from Warrington as we were soon on our way. There was little of interest in the early part of the journey to Liverpool so I passed the time with the crossword in the metro but that was soon forgotten as we entered the Edge Hill area. There was little in the form of units but
60002 and
60056, looking good in the GBRf livery, were at the head of biomass trains. 66741 was also parked up but I was more interested in
DR73921 as this was another winner. I had no plans to hang around Lime Street once we arrived so once I'd had a quick comfort break, I was off for my first venture on the Merseyrail network. I headed down into the depths of Lime Street where I was able to jump on
507016 for the short hop to Liverpool Central. I stayed on the Wirral Line platform for 90 minutes or so and was able to chalk off these winners....
507:
507001,
507002,
507006,
507014,
507015,
507025,
506031,
507032
508:
508110,
508124,
508128,
508130,
508139,
508143
Units were starting to make a return to Central so I decided this was my cue to move on. I headed off to the Northern line platforms where I jumped on
508120 for another short hop, this time back into the open at Sandhills were I ticked off the following Merseyrail units:
507:
507003,
507008,
507011,
507013,
507019,
507020,
507023,
507028,
507030
508:
508104,
508111,
508112,
508117,
508126,
508127,
508140
507031 arrives at Sandhills by
The_Train
I felt as though I'd not given Sandhills enough time but a few units had started to reappear in both directions and I was conscious about the next part of my day and a need to get back to Lime Street so I jumped on
507011 and very quickly jumped back off again at Moorfield where I changed back into the depths of the Wirral Line for the short run back to Lime Street,
507001 doing the honours. Having made it back to being on top of the planet as opposed to inside it, I did a quick round up of all of the units parked up in the platforms and was able to nail another 5 winners with
156428,
156468,
142094,
150101 and
156459 helping to eat away at my Northern requirements. After another quick comfort break (too much coffee me thinks)
319386 became yet another Northern unit to fall before TPE 185126 became my latest haulage although it wasn't required for sight nor haulage. A busy service towards Newcastle meant it was standing room only for my jaunt into Manchester and with little to note, except for dud 185108 at Newton-le-Willows, I spent the time reflecting on the 54 winners I'd bagged already and wondering what my first visit to Manchester Victoria would throw up.
Tune in next time to find out........