Saturday 10th of April
I managed to hit the rails yesterday for the first time in a long time (excluding a Meadowhall-Sheffield return for work purposes), the main purpose of which was for one of the forum walks, which was very enjoyable and I managed to cover a new line while I was at it, meaning it was a productive day.
I started off at Meadowhall as it's very easy to park there these days and it has a substantially better service than Chapeltown, which is only really useful for me when heading North. The forecast for the day in the Shirebrook area was dry, sunny but cool but that wouldn't be a problem while we were walking.
1021 Meadowhall-Sheffield. Northern 150.
This train had originated from Huddersfield but was quiet. The guard managed to get down to check my ticket which is pretty rare on such a short journey.
After alighting at Sheffield I was immediately confronted by a small army of RPI's, which I was glad to see as the Sheffield-Meadowhall-Barnsley corridor is a hotbed of fare evasion from my own observations due to the lack of barriers at the stations.
1054 Sheffield-Worksop. Northern 2 car 195.
I'm really enjoying the introduction of 195's on the Northern routes, they are quiet, comfortable and appear to have excellent acceleration.
At Worksop the sun was shining and the weather was briefly very pleasant. I then met a number of forum members before heading down to Sutton Parkway where the forum walk would start.
1138 Worksop-Sutton Parkway. EMR 170.
This was my first trip on a 170 in EMR guise. The units look externally smart, but I was a little disappointing to find the interior was still Scotrail. The units do carry stickers saying they will be refurbished internally soon and the positive is that I find the Scotrail seats to be pretty comfortable ones. One of the plus points of todays trip was many journeys through the yards at Worksop which contain some really interesting stuff. I managed a quick shot of an Anglia class 47 that was doing some shunting- you don't see many loco's still in that livery!
As mentioned this was my first trip down what is known as the Robin Hood Line. It's a line of real variety, the countryside is nice at the Northern end of the route and some of the smaller villages are pleasant. Unfortunately, the weather took a turn for the worst while we travelled through Mansfield, with some unexpected and fairly heavy snow descending upon us. Sutton Parkway was a nice enough little station. After briefly waiting for some forum members from the South we set off in the snow on a pleasant walk involving some old railway lines in the area. Luckily, the snow did not last too long and the walk was an enjoyable one on good quality paths too. It was also nice to meet some new forum members as always. Thanks to
@yorkie once again for organising it. A couple of photographic highlights below:
The walk finished at Shirebrook with the Sports Direct warehouse looming over the landscape. I was wishing to cover the full line while I was in the area as it was new coverage for me, so I got the train South from there to Nottingham.
1558 Shirebrook-Nottingham. EMR 156.
The line changes as you head South, slowly becoming more and more urban in character. On a Saturday, the line did unfortunately have a feel of being a linear playground for the local youths, but it didn't spoil the trip. On the Southern section of the line we raced a tram (and won) for a little while. Having never really explored this area, I wasn't aware that the train and trams shared the trackbed for so long.
Once at Nottingham, rather than wait there for the next Worksop train, I opted to jump on the service that goes as far as Mansfield Woodhouse, mainly to keep moving and keep warm.
1653 Nottingham-Mansfield Woodhouse. EMR 156.
The 156 on this leg seemed to develop some engine trouble, losing one engine and really struggling to accelerate out of stations on the remaining one. We stopped at Newstead for around 10 minutes while the problem was looked into and the engine was restarted. This seemed to improve things, but not fully cure them. The train completed its journey, terminating at Mansfield Woodhouse, but I did notice there were cancellations on the line later that evening so I assume the unit was withdrawn after returning to Nottingham.
Mansfield Woodhouse is a curious little station with not much around it and an interesting shelter on the bay platform. I headed over to the through platform to wait for the train onwards to Worksop and avoid the local youths.
1809 Mansfield Woodhouse-Worksop. EMR 156.
Nothing really happened on this service apart from a couple of people flouting the lines' alcohol ban. I was actually quite surprised that this line had such a ban.
The connections at Worksop from the Robin Hood Line are frankly, terrible. So I had pretty much an hour to wait on the increasingly cold, closed-up and deserted Worksop station. It's quite a good looking station and I should imagine it's a decent station to use in normal times, but Covid has ruined it a little.
1932 Worksop-Sheffield. Northern 150.
I was mildly disappointed it wasn't a 195 again, but at the same time I appreciated the 150 just for some warmth as I was freezing at this point. This was actually one of the busier trains I travelled on all day.
At Sheffield I didn't have long to wait for a train back out to Meadowhall.
2011 Sheffield-Meadowhall. TP 6-Car 185.
- - - - -
Overall it was a very enjoyable day apart from it being a bit more wintry at times than anticipated. It was really good to get out on the rails again, meet some new forum members, have a pleasant walk and to cover the full Robin Hood Line at the same time