Andy Pacer
Established Member
Cheating a little here as not everything I did formed part of a Lakes ticket, but I decided to buy one in order to fill the day up.
Started off at my usual parking place when taking trains from Birmingham, Marston Green from which I joined winner 350115 for the short ride to Birmingham New Street.
I’d managed to get first class tickets for only a couple of quid more than standard, so why not! Another winner in the form of 390115 turned up on the 07:21 to Blackpool North to ferry me as far as Preston where I alighted to wait for a very busy 390128 Pendolino up to Lancaster.
Always nice to spend some time at Lancaster in the sun, last time I was there it was freezing in the February snow! 142001 was stabled in one of the bay platforms where it stayed for most of the day until disappearing by late afternoon. 390103 was my traction up to Oxenholme.
As soon as I arrived another pair of winners 57316 and 47245 took me down to Windermere on the WCRC shuttle (which was my main reason for being in the area). Very busy down on the 1040, but quieter coming back on the 1130. A good mix of punters, obviously plenty of enthusiasts but some ‘normals’ too! Never have I seen so many lineside photographers either, in fields, up hills, even with cameras on poles!
I then thought I’d do a little bit of Cumbrian Coast to fill the afternoon before my booked train back from Preston, so TPE 350410 took me back southwards to Lancaster. This was another very busy service so I opted to stand. There appeared to be some kind of disturbance going on in the next carriage, with someone coming into the one I was in to phone the police. I think there was an expectation for the BTP to be waiting at Lancaster - well they weren’t.
I then needed to get over to Barrow, so yet another winner 185141 made the hours run. A little slow going in places, I wondered if there may have been a speed restriction in place.
I’d planned to get the 1452 from Barrow just down the line to Askam as it is meant to be a 37 on a Saturday. However, the inbound service was cancelled due to a train fault, and the outbound was showing a 20 minute delay. The ‘68’ set was parked and running in the sidings (these run the next journey at around 15:30ish) and sure enough a 156 rolled in from Lancaster (I assume) as a terminating service and then took up the role of the late running 14:52. So, disappointing that it wasn’t a 37, it was also my first dud of the day, 156483 that id preciously had in Bolton a few months ago.
A nice sit in the sun at Askam for a few minutes while I waited for the train back to Lancaster, and back to the winners with 156452 rocking up for the long journey.
Delays had started to cause problems on the WCML by this point with some rather hideous hold ups in both directions. Fortunately I was able to get 390141 down to Preston and then 390138 First Class again back down to Birmingham New Street.
Last little leg back to Marston Green was in the hands of 350102.
So all in all an interesting and enjoyable day, nice to get some Virgin 1st Class action, plenty of winners, just the one disappointment with the 37 but the main reason for the whole trip was the WCRC operation of the Windermere Branch.
Started off at my usual parking place when taking trains from Birmingham, Marston Green from which I joined winner 350115 for the short ride to Birmingham New Street.
I’d managed to get first class tickets for only a couple of quid more than standard, so why not! Another winner in the form of 390115 turned up on the 07:21 to Blackpool North to ferry me as far as Preston where I alighted to wait for a very busy 390128 Pendolino up to Lancaster.
Always nice to spend some time at Lancaster in the sun, last time I was there it was freezing in the February snow! 142001 was stabled in one of the bay platforms where it stayed for most of the day until disappearing by late afternoon. 390103 was my traction up to Oxenholme.
As soon as I arrived another pair of winners 57316 and 47245 took me down to Windermere on the WCRC shuttle (which was my main reason for being in the area). Very busy down on the 1040, but quieter coming back on the 1130. A good mix of punters, obviously plenty of enthusiasts but some ‘normals’ too! Never have I seen so many lineside photographers either, in fields, up hills, even with cameras on poles!
I then thought I’d do a little bit of Cumbrian Coast to fill the afternoon before my booked train back from Preston, so TPE 350410 took me back southwards to Lancaster. This was another very busy service so I opted to stand. There appeared to be some kind of disturbance going on in the next carriage, with someone coming into the one I was in to phone the police. I think there was an expectation for the BTP to be waiting at Lancaster - well they weren’t.
I then needed to get over to Barrow, so yet another winner 185141 made the hours run. A little slow going in places, I wondered if there may have been a speed restriction in place.
I’d planned to get the 1452 from Barrow just down the line to Askam as it is meant to be a 37 on a Saturday. However, the inbound service was cancelled due to a train fault, and the outbound was showing a 20 minute delay. The ‘68’ set was parked and running in the sidings (these run the next journey at around 15:30ish) and sure enough a 156 rolled in from Lancaster (I assume) as a terminating service and then took up the role of the late running 14:52. So, disappointing that it wasn’t a 37, it was also my first dud of the day, 156483 that id preciously had in Bolton a few months ago.
A nice sit in the sun at Askam for a few minutes while I waited for the train back to Lancaster, and back to the winners with 156452 rocking up for the long journey.
Delays had started to cause problems on the WCML by this point with some rather hideous hold ups in both directions. Fortunately I was able to get 390141 down to Preston and then 390138 First Class again back down to Birmingham New Street.
Last little leg back to Marston Green was in the hands of 350102.
So all in all an interesting and enjoyable day, nice to get some Virgin 1st Class action, plenty of winners, just the one disappointment with the 37 but the main reason for the whole trip was the WCRC operation of the Windermere Branch.
