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12:40.

After a restful night at Bigland Towers I’ve had a busy morning sorting out stuff for my next set of travels and work whilst helping Dawn at home. Dee’s gradually completing wallpapering the living room but needed help taking down the big TV we have wall-mounted above the fireplace. With that little chore done I prepared lunch (chickpea, vegan Feta and Tuna salad with black olives and red onion garnished with lemon juice, oregano and parsley – yum!) before my final task – watering the gardens, which are really starting to look good after our trips to garden centres last weekend.

The weather’s cooler and overcast today, making it a good one for travelling if not for Photography.

Right now I’m on Northern’s 12:00 from Sowerby Bridge as far as Wigan Wallgate which is operated by a 2-car 158. Whilst it’s crowded I’ve managed to set up the mobile office to do some work en-route.

The Sowerby Bridge station friends were busy planting for the summer season during my visit. Here’s one of their efforts which will no doubt look gorgeous in a few weeks time.

12:55.

Having arrived at Manchester Victoria we sat for 5 minutes waiting time as paths are tight here – a legacy of BR’s 1990s rationalisation of the station which decimated capacity. A mobile cleaner took advantage of our layover to whip through the train emptying bins and collecting rubbish left behind on seats and tables by lazy travellers.

Heading onwards towards Salford Crescent we passed the new carriage sidings which are being laid in recognition of the station’s growing importance in the role of the Trans-Pennine network and consequent upgrade. They’ll never replace the scale of the famous Red Bank sidings (the site of which is now being redeveloped) but it’s still good to see.

13:30.

As we made our way to Wigan via the former Lancashire and Yorkshire Railway main line via Atherton (now a shadow of its former self) I tucked into the lunch I’d prepared earlier. Sorry, pie and chip shops of Wigan, I’m giving you a pass today!

Burp!

13:40.

Arrived.

End of part 1. 158793’s carried me all the way from Sowerby Bridge to Wigan. Now to make my way to Southport. I’d half-considered stopping off at the rural station of Hoscar en-route, but as the station only has a 2-hourly service and one of them has just been cancelled maybe that’s a trip for another day when I’m not carrying so much kit and the weather’s not so cloudy.

To be continued…

I’ve a small favour to ask…
If you enjoy reading this or any of the other blogs I’ve written, please click on an advert or two. You don’t have to buy anything you don’t want to of course – although if you did find something that tickled your fancy that would be fab! – but the revenue from them helps me to cover some of the cost of maintaining this site (which isn’t cheap and comes out of my own pocket). Remember, 99% of the pictures used in my blogs can be purchased as prints from my other website –  https://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/

Cheers,

Paul