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As the wife was going away to see her friend overnight I wanted to go and tick off some new lines. Having looked at various hotels I discover that Glossop had a Travelodge and I managed to get a room for less than £50. Also, and this is Nick Badley’s fault, there is a rarely used line through Dinting platform 1.
Bold = Haulage, RED = Winner, All others are sightings.
I had mulled over a few ideas about this trip and while a few Mancunian lines were possible I want to try and tick off as much as I could in the shortest amount of time. Therefore, I decided on the MerseyRail network.
Avanti West Coast had let me down recently with delays but that’s what I needed to use to get up the west side of the country. But my journey started in Croydon and of course Thameslink was badly disrupted. So I ended up going up to Victoria.
1C01 East Croydon to Victoria 377408 non winner [10m 28ch]
Even at this early hour the four car train was pretty packed. A dash through the underground to get to Euston.
Victoria to Euston 11040 non winner [m ch]
I had a few minutes to spare so I grabbed some food before boarding my train. A new unit and a first time on one of the new class 807 Hitachi Evero EMUs.
1F11 Euston to Crewe 807006 winner [158m 05ch]
I must be honest here. They are pretty much the same at all of the LNER/GWR cl.8xx fleets but they are certainly an improvement on the aging Pendolinocl.390s, yes even the recently refurbished ones! They are a smoother ride for sure. At crewe I had a decent connection time and no running was needed this time.
1D53 Crewe to Chester 158835 winner [21m 11ch]
The last few times I have travelled on this route it has been one of the new class 197s so to get an old school BREL class 158 was a real treat.
At Chester I had about six minutes to get over to platform 7 where the MerseyRail trains generally depart from. Gone are the class 507s and class 508s that work the network for about 40 years. Now it the new Stadler Class 777s that rule on the MerseyRail Metals.
2Y08 Chester to Hooton 777011 winner [8m 09ch]
Chester to Hooton line ✔
Hooton is a bit of an unusual-ish station. There are three in use platform but with 5 platform edges. (image of Trasky Here) Platform 3 has all the Liverpool bound trains and Platform 2 host the trains for Chester and Ellesmere Port. It seems that platform 1 is rarely used. Looking at the rails they appeared rather rusty and at the Liverpool end it has a buffer stop. What I assume used to be platform 1 and also houses the main building and the way out has had the track lifted. My next train was running about 10 minutes late.
2Y08 Hooton to Ellesmere Port 777031 winner [3 62ch]
Hooton to Ellesmere Port line ✔
It arrived in to Ellesmere port just 6 minutes later but due to the turnaround it was on time leaving again.
2Y11 Ellesmere Port to Hamilton Square 777031 non winner [10m 72ch]
Hooton to Hamilston Square line ✔
On route to Hamilton Square I received notification that the West Kirby line was practically suspended due to track failure. Would this mean a massive problem and failure to tick the line off? Would I have to change plans come back another day to complete that one bit of line? I decided to wait it out and see what happened.
Inside the station at Hamilton Square it is really dull. It’s underground and soulless. It has three platforms. Allow yourself about 5 to 7 minutes to cross from the Liverpool bound platform to get to the New Brighton and West Kirby platforms. I had left a decent bit of time for this connections and I am glad I did as there were a good few people there and dodging them to get a shorter connection may have been a bit difficult.
2N19 Hamilton Square to New Brighton 777025 winner [5m 31ch]
Hamilton Square to New Brighton line ✔
The class 777 was a welcome sight to take me way from the gloomy Hamilton Square.
The line passes the Irish sea and looks towards the Isle of Man. I don’t think I saw the Isle of Man despite it being a clear day. I had very little time at New Brighton ands it was just a quick turnround and back on to the same unit.
2N23 New Brighton to Birkenhead North 777025 winner [3m 23ch]
It arrived in two minutes earlier than I expected and by the time I crossed the bridge there was a slightly late running train I was able to catch.
2W20 Birkenhead North to West Kirby 777036 winner [6m 51ch]
West Kirby is a neat little station with just the two platforms. I had time to take a few photos of the station building and its environs. After a quick chat with the driver of my train I boarded the same unit back towards Liverpool.
2W25 West Kirby to Liverpool Lime Street 777036 non winner [10m 63ch]
It was time for lunch. The last time I was intending to eat at the Wetherspoons at the station (North Western) it was heaving and there was no tables free. This time it was not that busy and I managed to get food.
It was now I had a decision to make.
Do I tick off one more MerseyRail lines or head to Manchester to tick off a few of those lines?
While eating I assessed the times I had initially planned out for the rest of the day and did a quick research on Realtime Trains to work out if it was worth doing the MerseyRail after all. The Manchester option won out. I had two choices to tick two different lines.
It was quite a busy train but by the time it arrived in Romily it had emptied out a fair bit. I also alighted here so I could tick off the branch line.
2R22 Romily to Rose Hill Marple 150108 winner [3m 06ch]
What a lovely little station Rose Hill Marple is. Originally built in 1869 with two platforms and was a through station that went off towards Macclesfield it now reduced to a single platform and trains terminate there. The station building is festooned with plaques and awards.
2H73 Rose Hill Marple to Guide Bridge 150108 non winner [8m 31ch]
Next port of call was Guide Bridge.
I have heard a lot about this station over the years and I must have visited it at the wrong time of day. If you are changing platforms you must, leave the station, cross the road bridge and then re-enter the station. Allow yourself time for this. There is a large building on platform 1 there is a large building that houses the Woodhead Railway Heritage Group and Friends of Guide Bridge Station. When I was there but it does appear to be a good place to visit. Maybe I will in the future.
2G25 Guide Bridge to Glossop 323235 Winner [7m 74ch]
I like Glossop. Let me get that out of the way first. It was my first visit to the town, and I thought it was small and nice. There isn’t a lot there and I guess it would be a great place to base yourself for walks and other trips in the area. Sadly I didn’t really spend much time in the town.
The
The room I had at the hotel was nice and compact but had little to no view apart from trees. I wasn’t there for the view. As the night drew in I had one more target to do. The main reason I decided to stay in Glossop and take two days off work.
2G74 Glossop to Guide Bridge 323232 winner [7m 74ch]
A long wait in the dark at Guide bridge was not that fun but it wasn’t raining. I should have stayed on the train to Manchester as it was the same unit on the way back.
2G35 Guide Bridge to Glossop 323235 non winner [9m 30ch]
This service is the one a day that uses Dinting platform 1. Due to the darkness I wasn’t able to get any photos of the platform. Maybe one day I’ll go to Dinting again and take some.
Thus ended my day.