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Tag Archives: Northern Rail

The changing face of rail in the Calder Valley

13 Saturday Jul 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Northern Rail, Uncategorized

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The new Northern Rail trains have been in a long time in the pipeline and their introduction’s been delayed by six months, but this weekend the new CAF built Class 195s have actually arrived – even if it is on text runs. On Saturday and Sunday the trains are on test between Bradford Interchange and Todmorden, where they reverse to head back East. If you want to see them on Sunday, here’s a link to the times they should be running at.

I managed to catch a couple of the runs today as Dawn and I were enjoying a leisurely day in the valley so nipped out to Sowerby Bridge. Here’s 195110 returning to Bradford Interchange after a run out to Todmordon.

DG328555. 195110. Sowerby Bridge. 13.7.19.crop

I’m really looking forward to these units entering service on the Calder Valley route in the next couple of months as they’re a step-change to anything we’ve had before. Here’s a look at the interiors.

DG326635. Interior. 331106. 28.6.19.crop

So, if you have time to nip out tomorrow, enjoy the sight of our new trains!

 

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A long day at the office.

02 Tuesday Jul 2019

Posted by in Manchester, Northern Powerhouse, Northern Rail, Rail Investment, Railways, TPE, Transport for Wales (TfW)

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I’ve been at work since 07:30 this morning, busy editing the mountain of pictures from yesterday, sorting out paperwork and job enquiries and all the other stuff that comes with being a freelance photographer, writer and ACoRP judge. Sometimes I feel like I could do to clone myself as there’s just not enough hours in the day to get through everything. On the bright side, my commute from bedroom to office takes about a minute – or possibly 10 if I go downstairs and make coffee first!

Editing the pictures I took yesterday made me realise just how much the railways in the North are changing. The location I picked in Central Manchester is one I’ve not used for a few years. Since then, several of the franchises passing through (EMT, Northern and Transport for Wales) have or are changing hands, whilst a number of new services are using it due to the extension of electrification and the opening of the Ordsall Chord. Here’s a couple of pictures I didn’t add to yesterday’s blog that illustrate what I mean.

DG327070. 319374. Manchester Oxford Rd. 1.7.19.crop

Here’s 319374 working 2F17, the 1318 Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street. The 319s started appearing in the NW in 2015, displacing many of the Class 323s on Crewe trains when the service was extended to Liverpool Lime St thanks to electrification.

DG327141. 323223. 319370. Manchester Oxford Rd. 1.7.19.crop

A sight you never used to see. 323223 works 2A90, the 1428 Liverpool Lime Street to Crewe whilst 319370 is working 2N69, the 1502 Hazel Grove to Blackpool North.

DG327184. 175107. 175109. Manchester Oxford Rd. 1.7.19.crop

I’d never seen a five-car on this train before. Here’s 175107 in the new Transport for Wales livery and 175109 in the old ATW livery working 1D30, the 1536 Manchester Airport to Llandudno. These units will be replaced by brand new stock in the next few years.

DG327177. 67014. Oxford Rd. Manchester. 1.7.19.crop

Another train that’s due to be replaced by new stock is this, TfW’s 1H89, the 1307 Holyhead to Manchester Piccadilly which still uses ex-Virgin Trains Mk3 coaches and a DVT. The DB Class 37 still sports the old Wrexham and Shropshire livery, despite that company ceasing operation in January 2011. 

DG327121. 185117. Manchester Oxford Rd. 1.7.19.crop

185117 just after leaving Oxford Rd whilst working 1P76, the 1255 Middlesbrough to Manchester Airport which has passed through Manchester Victoria and traversed the Ordsall chord.

As you can see, it’s a changed network and it will change even more over the next few years as the CAF built Class 195s enter service en-masse and if the West Midlands Class 323s are cascaded to Northern to replace the 319s in order to allow 6-car trains to run. Then there’s the new TPE stock which will (hopefully) begin to enter service later this year. The North’s railways are going through some exciting and positive times, not that you’d know that from listening to the Mayor of Manchester, Andy Burnham, who only mentions the railways when it’s an excuse to stick the boot into the Northern Rail franchise. Despite an invitation to attend the launch of Northern’s new trains, he was conspicuous by his absence.

The rest of this evening’s been taken up with planning the logistics of the next couple of days work for a client. Thursday – Friday will see me in London and Manchester and I’ll be travelling down to London later tomorrow. It will involve another early morning commute to the office as I’ve plenty to do before I head South. So, it’s goodnight from me! Watch out for a rolling blog tomorrow…

 

 

 

Rolling blog: different strokes…

01 Monday Jul 2019

Posted by in Calder Valley, Community rail, I love my job, New trains, Northern Rail, Rail Investment, Railways, Rolling blogs, Transport, Travel, West Yorkshire

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08:05.

Today’s an important one for Northern Rail as 9 of their new CAF built trains are used in passenger service for the very first time. So I’m off to do two things, get pictures of them and also visit a community rail project that involves them.They day’s not started well. The hot and sticky weather we had on Saturday has given way to wind and unexpected drizzle, which make the walk to the station fun. Northern aren’t having much luck with Calder Vally services this morning either. I’m on the late-running 07:45 which didn’t leave Halifax until 08:01. Despite the fact it’s a 3-car Class 158 it’s rammed!

08:17.

We’ve just left Bradford Interchange and it’s sardine conditions aboard now! 11 of us are crammed into the cab end vestibule and we’ve not even got to New Pudsey yet!

08:26.

We’ve just left New Pudsey and there’s now 14 of us crammed into the vestibule! There’s hardly an inch of floor left free as we’ve taken as many onboard as we can but still left some behind. The atmosphere’s stoic – and humid! I’ll be glad to get to Leeds…

09:21.

Due to the crush the train doors seemed to open with a louder pop than normal when we reached Leeds. Grateful to be in the cool I’m now on something very different – a Class 331 in public service. It’s 331106 on the 09:21 to Doncaster.

13:11.

Having visited Fitzwilliam station to see the unveiling of the new artwork on the adjacent footbridge. Here’s a sample. I’ll add the pictures I took on my camera later but it’s a great bit of work that’s full of interest as many of the windows contain pictures of the area.

Update, here’s a couple of camera pictures.

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Afterwards I headed back to Leeds to grab a few more Class 331 pictures before heading across the Pennines to Manchester to catch the Class 195s in action. We’re just approaching Manchester Victoria now. The weather’s a bit better over here in the the clouds are interspersed with blue sky and sunshine. Most of my time on the train was spent editing the pictures from this morning, so I had little time to enjoy the views.

14:07.

I’m now in position on the corridor linking Piccadilly and Oxford Rd stations as it’s an interesting backdrop to the railway and all the Class 195 diagrams are filtered through it. So far I’ve managed to capture two Northbound units, one Barrow bound, the other off to Liverpool.

16:12.

Time to go home! I’ve had a successful day in Manchester as even the sun played ball in some if the pictures. I’ll upload a few later. Now I’m at Piccadilly, making my way home via the Colne valley rather than the Calder.

22:25.

Sorry for the huge gap. I was hoping to stop off on the way and use the wifi in the Stalybridge buffet bar but the weather was so nice I ended up enjoying a quiet pint outside. I’ve been back at home several hours and spent the past few editing pictures, so here they are.

DG326892. 331106. Leeds. 1.7.19.

331106 waves it’s way through the maze of tracks to the West of Leeds station with a service from Doncaster. On arrival it formed the 09:21 back to Doncaster.

DG327020. 195116. Manchester Oxford Rd. 1.7.19.crop

The honour of being the first Class 195 to carry fare-paying passengers fell to 195116, which left Barrow around 5am. It’s seen here between Piccadilly and Oxford Rd stations in Manchester whilst working 1C55, the 1329 Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness.

DG327188. 195121. Manchester Oxford Rd. 1.7.19.crop

Here’s 195121 working 1U97, the 1353 Barrow-in-Furness to Manchester Airport

Right, that’s all from me tonight folks. I’m working from home tomorrow, so expect to see a few more photos on my Zenfolio website.

 

Rolling blog: New trains for Northern.

28 Friday Jun 2019

Posted by in LNER, Northern Rail, Rail Investment, RAIL magazine, Railways

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09:00.

I’m currently heading to Doncaster from Leeds aboard one of LNER’s new ‘Azuma’ trains, the second one in two days. I’m just as impressed as I was yesterday and could certainly get used to these. That said – I’ll have to as they’re the future of East Coast travel and they’ll see me out as I’d be over 100 by the time they come up for replacement!

DG326514crop

Today’s very much a new train day as I’m meeting up with RAIL’s Richard Clinnick to have a look at Northern’s new Class 331 EMUs. The first two of which will go into public service between Doncaster and Leeds on the 1st July.

13:21.

It’s been a busy day at the Class 331 train launch. I’ve not had chance to blog until now, so here’s a few pictures from the event and on-board the train, which you can sample for yourselves from Monday.

DG326536crop

L-R: Richard Allan, Northern Rail deputy MD. Chris Burchill, MD of Arriva. Andrew Jones MP, Rail Minister, at the Class 331 launch this morning.

DG326635crop

A view of one of the passenger saloons.

DG326638crop

It’s a step-change from a Pacer!

DG326650crop

Disabled seating/wheelchair area adjacent to the accessible toilet.

DG326689crop

The same area as above from the side.

DG326713crop

The vestibules are wide and spacious, with tip-up seats at one side.

DG326722crop

Looking through the gangway into the next car. There are no internal doors, giving a feeling of spaciousness

DG326679crop

Rail Minister Andrew Jones MP being interviewed by the BBC.

DG326742crop

Our train after arriving at Leeds.

The weather’s so good I’ve stayed at Doncaster for a while getting library shots. The rail scene is going to change dramatically over the next year as the LNER Mk4 sets and HSTs disappear, along with the Nirthern Pacers and Hull Trains Class 180s, so I’m getting shots whilst I can.

Our trip on the CAF built 331 went really well. They have great acceleration and braking – as you’d hope for from 100mph units. The interior’s a step-change to anything Northern’s had before. Unlike the 158s there’s plenty of legroom, both in the airline seats and table bays. The old table bays could be a bugger to get out of as your legs could get trapped. The vestibules are roomy, with some tie-up seats provided. My only observation was they’re so wide it would be difficult to find something to hold onto if you’re in the middle and it’s crowded.

Seats are always a contentious issue with some. My personal view is the seats on these units are comfortable with good lumbar support and the airline ones have big, solid seat back tables. The seats were chosen in a competition by the public who were given a choice of three different versions. The same ones are used in the refurbished class 158s.

18:39.

I’m finally on my way home from Leeds. It’s Friday, the traditional day for the ECML to break. So it did today with my train from Doncaster being 35 mins late. On the bright side, it was another ‘Azuma’ so the air-conditioning worked – which is more than I can say for the unrefurbished Class 158 I’m on now! I ended up getting way laid in Leeds watching the British Transport Police carrying out an operation where they had a heavy presence along with a metal detector in an effort to combat knife crimes. After observing for a while I popped into the adjacent Sainsbury’s, where I had one of those totally random experiences that offer an insight into the world. I bought a sandwich and paid at a till staffed by a young Asian girl. Nothing unusual in that as Yorkshire has a significant Asian population. Except for the fact that – as we spoke, I realised she had an Irish accent! I’d have loved to have stopped and spoken to her, explaining why I was interested and ask how and why but the place was busy and in some ways it’s a bit awkward in these Brexity times.

Rolling blog: making pictures whilst the sun shines…

03 Monday Jun 2019

Posted by in Northern Rail, Photography, Railways, Rolling blogs, Travel

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11:37.

It’s been a long day already as I was working at 06:30, editing pictures from the weekend to get on my Zenfolio picture website. The beauty of having an office at home is the commute to work takes no time at all, even if I detour via the kitchen to make coffee!

That and a few chores done I’ve nipped out for a few hours to get some library shots in the sunshine before nipping back through Manchester to take advantage of the city’s excellent range of shops.

Right now I’m Preston bound on Northern’s York-Blackpool North service in order to bag a few more shots of the new CAF Class 195s on training runs and (hopefully) a new TPE set.

15:24.

Well, that was a frustrating afternoon the nearly went awry! It started well enough. I’m not a fan of the Blackpool trains as there’s often too many screaming kids and drunks on ’em, but I was joined at my table by a polite young man who eventually struck up a conversation. He admitted that he wouldn’t normally, but a friend on social media had mentioned that people do talk on trains now as they’re too busy staring at their phones, iPads etc, so he thought he would. My camera sitting on the table provided the talking point. We spent an enjoyable half hour chatting about travelling as he’d just finished college for the summer and was off to work in Cyprus for the summer.

It was only when we got to Preston things went pear-shaped. It was obvious none of the new CAF trains were sticking to the STP (Special Train Plan) timings so I decided to head over to Blackpool in the hope of catching some there. The plan worked although I was surprised to see a couple of the electric versions (the Class 331) stacked in the sidings too. I managed a few decent shots and bag a couple of the units in and out of the station in the sunshine.

DG324624crop

One is electric, the other diesel powered. Can you spot the difference? 

Now I’m on my way to Manchester to do the less exciting bit and shop.

18:44.

I’m finally homeward bound after spending a couple of hours tramping the streets of Manchester in search of a new suitcase as our last one bit the dust after a month in Mew Zealand & proved impossible to get repaired. I also had to visit the city’s new Uniqlo clothes store on a shopping mission for Dawn. Not trusting me to get the right ones she sent me a PDF if pictures and sizes which I’d printed off so I couldn’t get it wrong!

On the way to the station I saw an anti Trump demonstration by the National Football museum and couldn’t resist popping in. Organised by the Labour party, it was supported by just a few hundred people.

Now I’m rammed in the vestibule of the 18:37 Manchester Victoria-Leeds which has worked by a 2-car Class 150. As usual, it’s packed as far as Rochdale then eases off, giving everybody left aboard a chance to get a seat, which begs the question – is 2 cars plenty?

23:09.

It’s almost time for bed, but I’ve been sorting out a few of today’s pictures first, so here’s one of the new CAF units seen at Blackpool North earlier today.

DG324638CROP

Rolling blog: Picking up where I left off…

01 Friday Feb 2019

Posted by in Northern Rail, Railways, Rolling blogs, Transport, Travel, West Yorkshire

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11:15.

It’s time to shrug off the jet-lag and hit the ground running now that I’m back in the UK. First off is meeting up with friends and colleagues in Manchester to find out what I’ve missed over the past month and to sort out some projects for the coming months. Of course, there’s a social side to it too!

I’m currently on my first Northern Rail service of the year, the 11:06 off Sowerby Bridge to my old home town, Southport. It’s a good start as it’s on time and it’s made up of two refurbished units, a 150/156 combo. I’m travelling on the 156 as I much prefer them to the 150s, it’s good to see them becoming regular on the Calder Valley line again nowadays.

The walk down to Sowerby station wasn’t too bad, despite the fact there’s fresh snow on the ground. The weather’s turned milder so I don’t feel like a fish out of water after being used to New Zealand’s summer temperatures!

The dusting of snow we’ve got on the hills around us is thicker and lower as I’ve journeyed West, so this is also a valuable reduce trip as I need some snow pictures for a client. Hopefully the snow will hang around for a day or two.

11:44.

We’re now on the Eastern outskirts of Manchester, where the snow’s thinner but still present and the weather brighter. After being used to an Island with less than 5 million inhabitants it feels rather odd being back in the far more populous UK.

14:10

People familiar with Manchester pubs might know where we are now…

16:52.

After a very convivial afternoon I’m on a train back across the Pennines. To be honest – it’s bleeding freezing! Clear skies have seen the temperature plummet. Even this trains HVAC system’s struggling to cope…

17:37.

A quick pit-stop at the Hogshead before I tackle the hill home. One thing I did miss in New Zealand was the one thing the UK is unique at – pubs. Nowhere else in the world comes close. It was one of the things UK expat (in New Zealand & elsewhere) always mention with a wistful expression.

Rolling blog: Birmingham return…

13 Thursday Dec 2018

Posted by in ACoRP, Birmingham, Northern Rail, Rolling blogs, Travel

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09:30

Dawn and I are on our way to Birmingham for the ACORP Association Of community rail lartnerships) AGM. It’s not the quickest of journeys to Britain’s second city due to our Victorian rail network. Right now we’re on one of Northern’s no-frills Class 150s heading to Manchester Victoria. In my opinion these are the worst trains Northern have – even the Pacers beat them. They’re very much in as-built form, which means there’s no tables, the seating’s 3×2, it’s difficult to find a rubbish bin and the views are poor because of the window and doorway arrangements.

Admittedly, there’s not a lot that you can do with the major design defects, but Arriva Trains Wales refurbished their 150/2s and brought them up to a much higher standard. I’ll see if I can dig out a picture to compare later.

10:39

After a brisk stroll across central Manchester we’re now sitting on Cross-Country’s 11:05 to Bristol Temple Leads which is being worked by a 5-car Voyager. I can’t wait to be doing this trip on Hs2, although I’ll have to as it’s not going to open until 2033!

11:49.

We’re well on our way to Birmingham now. The train’s pretty empty for a change, I’ve managed to get a table seat and crack on with some picture editing. Dawn and her colleague Hazel have the table opposite me, so I’m leaving them to it!

The weather’s picking up the further South we get, so I’m hoping to get one or two rail shots before the ACORP AGM starts…

12:52.

The ladies have headed off to AGM venue and I’ve nipped off for an hour to get some new library shots of the cross-city line which is operated by these old Hunslet built Class 323s.

26 of these trains (which date from 1992) work around Birmingham with another 17 based in Manchester. They’re nippy units that are comfortable to travel on as well as being popular with drivers. Despite this, they’re due to be displaced by brand new trains from 2020. However, there are plans to transfer these trains to Northern allowing them to replace the 4-car Class 319s there and work in multiple to run 6-car trains (2×319=8, which wouldn’t fit in most platforms).

16:06.

The AGM’s over and there’s six new board members elected from nine candidates.

18:00

Dawn and Hazel with the outgoing Chair of the ACORP board, Peter Roberts, who’s been keeping order for the last 18 years.

Rolling blog: Sunny days and Mondays…

25 Monday Jun 2018

Posted by in Community rail, Northern Rail, Pacers, Rail electrification, Rail Investment, Railways, Travel

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I’m taking advantage of the glorious sunshine to get some rail pictures for a client today – I had planned to visit a line I’ve not been on for some time – the South Fylde line to Blackpool South. It’s a shadow of its former self compared to the glory days of the Edwardian era when tens of thousands would travel to the seaside town by train. Then mills across the North would shut down for the annual Wakes week with people travelling en-masse on excusion trains dispatched from stations across Lancashire and Yorkshire. Now it’s a glorified siding that branches off the main line to Blackpool North at Kirkham and Wesham, but it’s still a useful line used by a Pacer train shuttle service from Colne (another much truncated line). Sadly, due to problems with delayed electrification and a shortage of rolling stock, the service isn’t operated by trains today – only buses. So I’ve opted for plan B. I’m heading for the Windermere branch!

Right now I’m on a Northern service from Halifax to Preston. The Blackpool lines only recently reopened after being electrified. My train would normally run through to Blackpool but a combination of factors mean many services are replaced by buses from Preston, including this one.

Plan B meant changing to a Virgin Trains Pendolino to Lancaster. Then picking up a Trans-Pennine service to Oxenholme. Icould have caught the TPE srvice at Preston but those 4 car trains are always rammed, whilst the VT service was a 9 car Pendolino, giving me a bit more space. Here it is pulling in. A repainted 390047…

True enough, when I caught the TPE at Lancaster,I ended up sitting on the vestibule floor!

20:19.

I’m retracing my steps towards Halifax after an enjoyable day exploring a railway I’ve rarely visited. It’s been a trip made even more fun by fab weather and old-fashioned loco-hauled trains.

My first surprise was when the TPE guard annouced “change at Oxenholme for the West Coast Railways service to Windermere”. I wadn’t expecting that, but good on them for recognising it was something unusual. As we were late I had to sprint across the platform to make the train, which was made up of 3 old Mk2 coaches in WCR livery topped and tailed by a pair of ex-Virgin Trains “Thunderbirds” (57314 and 57316 for the number crunchers). The train was packed so I ended up stood in a vestibule -right next to someone I knew from the rail industry who was having a ‘jolly’!

We had a real catch-up about mutual friends and what they were all up to nowadays as we made our way to Staveley where I decamped to look for a suitable lineside location to get pictures. Sadly, like many lines, vegetation has encroached to choke off many opportunities. This is the problem when you don’t know a line well and haven’t had time to do much research!

In the end I decided to spend more time exploring than photographing and headed back as far as Burneside where I found the remains of a freight branch that used to serve 3 local paper mills. Only a short section of track is intact but it’s a suprising survivor in this day and age. I never even knew it existed, but a few minutes on the internet threw up this Wikipedia page.

The track is still in situ at this point but it’s gradually disappearing beneath the gravel. The old BRB sign’s a bit of a giveaway! The old goods yard is in front of the camera. Behind me the line crosses a yard then ends in a stone wall.

Looking towards the old goods yard. The road here leads to Burnside railway station on the left.

After an amble around the area & noting locations for a future visit I had a run down to Windermere before heading back to Kendal to get a few more pictures like this one.

DG300784

57316 (with 57314 on the rear) pulls away from Kendal station as it heads towards Windermere. I took this picture from a lattice footbridge which crosses the line at this point. The land to the right was once a large goods yard which is long gone.

 

 

Good news for the Calder valley & other Northern railways

06 Friday Mar 2015

Posted by in Northern Rail, Rail electrification, Railways, Transport

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Yesterday was a good day for railways in the North. As well as the start of the Northern electric service a report from the Northern Electrification Task Force, set up by the Transport Secretary to advise the government on which areas it should focus its investment was published.

You can find it here.

http://www.railnorth.org/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/EFT_Final_Report_FINAL_web.pdf

Schemes were prioritised into three tiers. Tier 1 (the highest priority) are as follows:

  • Calder Valley (Leeds to Manchester and Preston via Bradford and Brighouse)
  • Liverpool to Manchester via Warrington Central
  • Southport/Kirkby to Salford Crescent
  • Chester to Stockport
  • Northallerton to Middlesbrough
  • Leeds to York via Harrogate
  • Selby to Hull
  • Sheffield (Meadowhall) to Leeds via Barnsley / Castleford & connections
  • Bolton to Clitheroe
  • Sheffield to Doncaster/Wakefield Westgate (Dearne Valley)
  • Hazel Grove to Buxton
  • Warrington to Chester

This is great news for the Calder Valley as the importance of the line as a mixed traffic, Trans Pennine route has been recognised. The line is also a crucial diversionary route for Trans-Pennine Express trains when the Colne Valley is closed for engineering route. As the Colne Valley will be electrified in the near future, the Calder would have been useless to TPE’s future electric services.

The report goes on to say “the routes detailed in Tier One should now be taken forward through the production of more detailed business cases with a view to including them in the work programme for the next rail industry ‘Control Period’ (2019 to 2024). Rail North and Network Rail should jointly progress this work and we therefore ask Government to prioritise resources, identified specifically for this purpose, so that work can progress with the required degree of urgency”.

Another good feature of the report is it recommends a rolling programme of electrification beginning with tier 1 but carrying on until all 3 tiers are complete. The other tiers are these. Tier 2 contains eight routes;

  • Manchester to Sheffield and south-east Manchester local services
  • York to Scarborough
  • Bishop Auckland/Darlington to Saltburn and Sunderland
  • Barnsley to Huddersfield
  • Sheffield to Lincoln via Retford
  • Chester to Crewe
  • Burnley to Colne & Kirkham to Blackpool South
  • Knottingley to Goole

Whilst tier 3 contains a further 12 routes;

  • Barrow to Carnforth
  • Pontefract to Church Fenton
  • Hull to Scarborough
  • Ormskirk to Preston
  • Carlisle to Newcastle
  • Skipton to Carlisle
  • Barton on Humber
  • Cumbrian Coast
  • Doncaster to Gilberdyke
  • Cleethorpes to Thorne (Doncaster)
  • Middlesbrough to Whitby
  • Skipton to Heysham

I would love to think we’ll see such a rolling programme and that (one day) branch lines such as Whitby & Barton on Humber, but I won’t hold my breath! In the meantime, I’ll be happy to see the tier 1 routes included in CP6.

There’s a feeling amongst quite a few people, both within the rail industry, local government and the political arena – that the present Calder Valley service is suppressing demand. Reliability isn’t what it could be, nor is there an express service between Leeds, Bradford & Manchester that could tempt people out of their cars. Electrification could allow this to happen by increasing capacity, speeds & reliability – as well as improving the passenger environment. Now the ball is in the Minister’s court, but this close to an election, don’t expect any announcements until the dust has settled…

Needless to say, there’s a lot in the document and – as always – the devil is in the detail. I’d urge you to read through at your leisure to see the full depth of what’s been considered.

 

 

Northern’s new electrics hit the rails in the North West

05 Thursday Mar 2015

Posted by in Northern Rail, Railways, Transport

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Today was a bit of a red letter day for Northern Rail as their new electric train service between Liverpool Lime St & Manchester Airport started carrying fare paying passengers, 53 years after the overhead wires first reached the city when the West Coast Main Line was electrified. I took a trip across the Pennines to Merseyside to check out how it all went & I have to admit I was impressed. The ex-Thameslink Class 319s have received an internal refresh which has greatly improved their tired interior but what really stands out is their performance. These 4-car, 100mph EMUs are replacing 2-car 75mph DMUs on a route that has line speeds of 90mph. Leaving Liverpool Lime St you can be forgiven for not really noticing much difference – except for the absence of the vibration & noise of an underfloor engine. As the service stops at Wavertree Technology Park it doesn’t really get to stretch its legs but that soon changes. From just before Roby until our next stop at Helens Junction, we flew! The acceleration of the 319s is impressive & the trip was a rather exhilarating experience after ‘enjoying’ decades of fairly pedestrian diesel units that wheezed & rattled along the same route the electrics now glide over with ease. The performance was just as ‘electric’ as far as Newton-le-Willows where I swapped riding them for photographing them. Considering the trains have doubled in size I was surprised by how full they were already. Whether this was the first day effect or not I don’t know but two other electric services I saw were just as busy. I’ll pop back in a couple of weeks to find out. On my return I couldn’t resist stopping off at Rainhill station to grab a shot of a 319 passing the site of one of the most famous events in railway history – the Rainhill trials. Here, in 1829, Stephenson’s ‘Rocket’ reached the heady speed of 30mph. Now, Northern’s new electric service will be speeding past at 90mph. How times (eventually) change!

Here’s that picture at Rainhill; http://paulbigland.zenfolio.com/p755024368/h22d6177#h22d6177