This little essay is one of contrasts. 'Work' took me to a leadership conference in Manchester and 'leisure' took me to the Alsager Model society's show at Crewe. Manchester Piccadilly is one of the busiest stations in the U.K with twelve terminus platforms and two through platforms. the action never stops through the day and a variety of companies run trains through. Here we can see two Virgin class 390 Pendolinos EMUs waiting to depart to London Euston alongside an Arriva Wales Class 175 DMU and a TPE class 350 on an Edinburgh to Manchester Airport working. In the background a Northern Rail 142 DMU is stabled on Platform 1 Northern Rail dominate proceedings with a Class 150 seen here on a suburban service The class 142s are on borrowed time. Well past their use-by date and unable to meet disabilty access regulations these deeply unloved 4 wheelers are scheduled to be withdrawn at the rate of eight a month soon. They were a stop gap design with a Leyland bus body mounted on a railway underframe, the ride was horrible and they gained a nickname of 'Nodding Donkeys' I was out filming the Jubilee class 4-6-0 Galatea on a special (See later) and was photographing a 142 before it arrived. "What you filming that for?" one of the other railfans said. "Because you'll miss them when they are gone and you'l regret not capturing their twilight years" I replied One reason why their days are numbered is the introduction of the Class 319 EMUs cascaded from other parts of the network. They are not that new but as my mate at Northern said 'They are new to us' lots more soon Kev
To get to the conference I had traveled down by train, of course. This meant changing trains at Preston, another very busy rail hub, where traffic from Scotland, Liverpool, Blackpool, East Lancashire and Cumbria converge. Again the 142s are still busy but for how much longer The Borg are here! Sadly the time I arrived at Manchester was in a gap in the Trafford Park Intermodal freight services but the loco hauled Arriva train was a bonus Shot against the morning sun 67 020 was on a Piccadilly-Holyhead passenger turn as it rumbled through Platform 1r At the back a DVT finished in Arriva Wales livery
So just 17 miles from the bustle of Piccadilly is the little station at Plumley on the former Cheshire Lines Committee route from Manchester to Chester. This rural scene seems a world away from the city centre as 150 201 waits to depart with a Manchester bound suburban The line sees a fair bit of freight traffic with 'Bin-liners' (Household waste) Biomass and Aggregate traffic to the fore A Dowlow-Bow stone working has come down from the high Peaks on a London working hauled by A DB Cargo class 66 Another DB Class 66 heads in the opposite direction with a bin-liner Another Class 142 heads for Piccadilly. You can see by how bright the lights are what a murky day it was Kev
A few miles west if the station at Lostock Gralam. No original buildings survive at the station on the outskirts of Northwich sadly A bin-liner hauled by a Freightliner Class 66 this time It was so dark by this stage that I had the camera aperture wide open just to keep the shutter speed up so the focus is a bit soft 156 466 on a Picadilly bound stopper Again the semi rural area is a stark contrast to Manchester Video of the CLC at Kev
A I read through this topic, and it suddenly switched to country views, I felt this impact. I am a rural/farm kid, so it almost seems a relief to escape urban life.
Still in the North West but a bit earlier in the year saws a couple of Steam hauled excursions with Jubilee 45699 'Galatea' in charge. This loco has a long history with my family as my dad photographed it back in 1953 at Millhouses in the south suburbs of Sheffield on a London bound express The only survivor from this picture is the loco itself, the sidings, signalbox, goods shed and telegraph poles all consigned to history So happy days that it survived and still main line registered. First tour was the Cathedrals Express seen passing Park South level crossing. The loco is drifting downhill from the summit at park before attacking the climb up through Dalton to Lindal summit A couple of weeks later it was at the head of the Cumbrian Coast Express and was again in fine form. seen here on the climb out of Askam Nipping over the hill I caught it again at Crooklands where the gradient really starts to bite Kev
The gradient isn't extreme by any standards but is still a stiff challenge even to modern stock. i was on a class 158 DMU the other day heading to Preston on a frosty morning and didn't think were going to get going on the hill as the driver fought some serious wheelslip in Dalton station. I was just about to suggest I'd get down and hand sand the track (something I've not had to do for a long time) when he managed to get it hooked up and on the move. Even so we still had a couple of moments further down the line . Our Class 88s had some early issues on the climb, mainly due to the automatic sanders emptying the sand boxes too quick,but seem to be on top of the job now in other news the days of the Class 37/4s on Cumbrian Coast passenger workings are coming to a close. Latest I've heard is that January will be the end although the mini plows on the locos might come in handy of the weather gets bad! 37 403 was on an ECS (Empty coaching stock) move one Saturday Video of Galatea and some Class 37/4, 68 and 88 action Kev
6ft 9inch I've got a set of gauge 1 castings turned ready to do a Jubilee some time in the future, retirement project. Spirit fired Live steam with three cylinders Kev
Wow, you are having some great weather over there, I always picture that countryside cloudy and rainy. We have 100% rain for the next week forecasted, yuck!!
Interesting that some of these scenes show jointed rail alongside of apparent welded, with the trains on the jointed side.
