NorthWestRover
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What units operate the above service?
It's for the Crewe - Stoke bit I was was asking as I'm doing a Cheshire Day Ranger next month and couldn't decide whether to do the EMU or the DMU. Could do both, of course (especially Eastbound).
It's for the Crewe - Stoke bit I was was asking as I'm doing a Cheshire Day Ranger next month and couldn't decide whether to do the EMU or the DMU. Could do both, of course (especially Eastbound).
There are usually 3 single 153s allocated to the service.
Apart from the fact they are refurbished units, it's about as mean a service as you can get.
Eastbound they leave Crewe only 5 minutes after the LNWR Crewe-Euston via Stoke.
Westbound they are rather better separated from Stoke.
Don't hang around in Stoke too long. I once saw 2 guys ask another guy where is car was as they wanted to steal his wheels. When he said he was walking they stole his shoes........
Not just the last 20 years. I don't think I've been on it since 1974, but in those years it felt as if it were treated as a first class cross-country, if secondary line. We had the Swindon-built 3-car units (also to Lincoln and Skeggy, and on the Matlock branch to boot) - I don't know the class number. <Googles - looks like they were Cl 120> I can't say that I remember trains as particularly full, or the units being fast - but they were pretty comfortable for a DMU and I was truly shocked to hear most of the trains had degenerated to single unit Class 153s.Amazing how the Crewe-Stoke-Derby corridor has suffered decline in the last 20 years. In the late 90s it was an hourly service through to Nottingham and beyond (Lincoln/Grantham/Skegness) using 156s with on board trolley service, and whenever I travelled, well patronised.
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Oh, I've spent some time in Stoke. I won't be there long, trust me!!
Stoke is the only place I've ever been threatened with having my teeth knocked out - by a shopkeeper!
I was visiting one Saturday in, I think, October 73 to do some photography for a friend in Hanley. As I walked up the (long) road from the station on the south pavement, I noticed an interesting shop on the north side of the road. IIRC, it was a bicycle shop, and the guy had a bike or two on the facade as decoration. Whatever, I thought it was an interesting photo - and I took my old Exakta VX1000 out and was preparing to take a shot and this fellah comes rushing out and said he'd do me in if I took a pic. I was totally perplexed as to what he was so worried or excited about. I should have called the police and insisted on my rights, but I wasn't so bothered and couldn't spare the time or hassle, and as he was massive, I put my camera away. It was only then that I noticed the name on the shop - I totally forget what it was, but it was 'funny' (like Bigbottom's Bikes or something of that ilk) - and the penny dropped that this was what he was peed off about. In fact, I had only been interested in the patterns and shadows on his facade, not his family name.
Amazing how the Crewe-Stoke-Derby corridor has suffered decline in the last 20 years. In the late 90s it was an hourly service through to Nottingham and beyond (Lincoln/Grantham/Skegness) using 156s with on board trolley service, and whenever I travelled, well patronised.
Central Trains are the culprits who killed it off, when they withdrew the third (stopping) train each hour between Derby and Nottingham and started splitting the local calls between the two previously fast Nottingham-Birmingham services each hour, which was WHOLLY and laughably inadequate, particularly in the peaks. The lowest of the low came on a Friday in mid-June 2006 (during university going-home season) when the 1718 Nottingham-Birmingham NS produced a single 153 and left about 250 pax with luggage behind. I was going to Bristol on RSTL dependent pass - quickly dashed for the next St Pancras service! EMT restored the third service but unfortunately it goes to Matlock which is pretty useless TBH.
Haha brilliant! I recall going into Stoke in the 90s there was a large warehouse near the line with the name ‘Shufflebottom’s’ painted in massive black lettering - literally cried with laughter as a 10-yr old.
Don't hang around in Stoke too long. I once saw 2 guys ask another guy where his car was as they wanted to steal his wheels. When he said he was walking they stole his shoes........
I often wonder how much of it is down to improvements on the parallel A50 and A500 roads, the timeline(s) of which seem to match up with its period of decline.Amazing how the Crewe-Stoke-Derby corridor has suffered decline in the last 20 years. In the late 90s it was an hourly service through to Nottingham and beyond (Lincoln/Grantham/Skegness) using 156s with on board trolley service, and whenever I travelled, well patronised.
EMT restored the third service but unfortunately it goes to Matlock which is pretty useless TBH.
Are these the ones with legroom only for pygmies? Totally shocked the other day when I caught one out of Stoke. Hate traveling this route nowadays, I always end up with a bad back from sitting legs akimbo or twisted.PS now starting to see ex FGW 153s on the route - but you can only tell by the internal trim.
Still there. Jones and Shufflebotham aka Jones and Shuffs - builders merchants.Haha brilliant! I recall going into Stoke in the 90s there was a large warehouse near the line with the name ‘Shufflebottom’s’ painted in massive black lettering - literally cried with laughter as a 10-yr old.
It is also a much better use of units diagrammatically as it is impossible to do a round trip from Derby to Matlock in less than an hour and while just about possible it would not be feasible for a unit to be scheduled to do Derby to Nottingham and back in an hour but allowing 2 hours for either of these would see a unit spending most of each hour not in use so a unit can be saved by combining the 2 services which couldn't happen if it was the Crewe service that continued to Nottingham.Unless you happen to live in the Matlock area like I do, then it's pretty useful actually.
I often wonder how much of it is down to improvements on the parallel A50 and A500 roads, the timeline(s) of which seem to match up with its period of decline.
Not just the last 20 years. I don't think I've been on it since 1974, but in those years it felt as if it were treated as a first class cross-country, if secondary line. We had the Swindon-built 3-car units (also to Lincoln and Skeggy, and on the Matlock branch to boot) - I don't know the class number. <Googles - looks like they were Cl 120> I can't say that I remember trains as particularly full, or the units being fast - but they were pretty comfortable for a DMU and I was truly shocked to hear most of the trains had degenerated to single unit Class 153s.
I do wonder whether it had a more prestigious status in BR days (and quite possibly LMS days before that) because of the number of BR staff and particularly management who might have needed to use the service on a daily basis if they were based in Derby but had meetings in Crewe or vice versa.