First North Western (FNW) Class 101s | 1997-2003

[Mat17]

The 101s were taken off of Hope Valley services on the 2000 timetable change (I believe) - that's not to say they didn't fill in from time to time.

From 2000-2003 they were mostly concentrated on the Marple expresses, and the Rose Hill stoppers. The other diagrams over this route the Sheffield and New Mills stoppers were mostly 142, 150/1 and the occasional 156.

If I recall correctly, the Rose Hill trains (2002-2003) departed Piccadilly at XX:15 and the Marple expresses left at XX:25.

The Marples went direct via Reddish and stopped at only at Romiley and Marple and returned to Piccadilly via the same route - after terminating at Piccadilly it would then for the next Rose Hill service.

The Rose Hill service went via Guide Bridge and Woodley. Stopping pattern I believe was - Ashburys, Gorton, Fairfield, Guide Bridge, Hyde North, Hyde Central, Woodley, Romiley and Rose Hill. It would return the same route - upon terminating at Piccadilly it would then form the next express to Marple.

A third set was often stood on platform 1 as a standby unit. Although platform 1 was the usual haunt of all three sets in a day, sometimes the standby would be on 2 or 3, and the service trains could and would use any of these platforms. There was also usually both a pacer and a 323 parked up on these platforms as standby units as well - presumably as back ups for Glossop/Hadfield and Hope Valley lines.

Of the 6XX facelifted units:

101651-101665 (power-trailer sets), 101676-101683 & L835 were in Regional Railways livery.

101684, 101686-101691, 101693-101695 were in Strathclyde Red livery.

101685 was in a mock up of BR Green.

101692 was in Strathclyde Blue livery.

L840 was in Network South East.


The last six sets were 676, 678, 680, 685, 692 & 693.

101680 was an interesting set as the DMS of 680 was withdrawn and replaced with a former Scottish 101 vehicle which was given a full repaint into Regional Railways livery in 2002, with full RR branding. The pairing were an odd sight, the facelifted DMS was ex-works and looked brand new. The DMBS was the most rusty looking of all the remaining 101 vehicles - instantly recognisably by the large rust patch on the cab front.

The DMBS of 101685 celebrated its 47th birthday on 17 December 2003. To celebrate this, they swapped out a 142 and sent 685 over the Hope Valley line to Sheffield. I remember some concern at this time about such a trip, as if the 101 had broken down then FNW would have had a considerable fine - none of the other units on the line would have been able to rescue it and the MML HSTs were running over the route from Piccadilly to St Pancras at the time. As it would turn out, the 101 made the trip with no bother. The following day, the booked 142 went and broke down near the junction at Chinley and blocked everything. Nothing like irony.

At the end of November 2003, 101692 broke down with a seized gearbox and was withdrawn. It had to be removed from Longsight by road when going to Shoeburyness for storage.

101685 made one final visit to Sheffield on the final day 24th December 2003.

 

[nw1]

Looking at the WTT for summer 1997, it appears that the 1647 and 1747 peak additionals from Piccadilly on the mid-Cheshire were operated by "D1" and "D3", while most other services were "DMU(S)" (i.e. Sprinter). It's not clear what these mean - the key says "see sectional appendix" which is missing from the WTT.

There were also three peak additionals in the morning, a D3 from Northwich and two D1s from Chester.

EDIT: it appears they were indeed 101s. See below.


== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Mar 2023 ==

The 101s were taken off of Hope Valley services on the 2000 timetable change (I believe) - that's not to say they didn't fill in from time to time.

From 2000-2003 they were mostly concentrated on the Marple expresses, and the Rose Hill stoppers. The other diagrams over this route the Sheffield and New Mills stoppers were mostly 142, 150/1 and the occasional 156.

If I recall correctly, the Rose Hill trains (2002-2003) departed Piccadilly at XX:15 and the Marple expresses left at XX:25.

The Marples went direct via Reddish and stopped at only at Romiley and Marple and returned to Piccadilly via the same route - after terminating at Piccadilly it would then for the next Rose Hill service.

The Rose Hill service went via Guide Bridge and Woodley. Stopping pattern I believe was - Ashburys, Gorton, Fairfield, Guide Bridge, Hyde North, Hyde Central, Woodley, Romiley and Rose Hill. It would return the same route - upon terminating at Piccadilly it would then form the next express to Marple.

Interesting, I don't recall Marple expresses at all, but as I said above, most of my journeys on this route were between 1996 and (April, so prior to timetable change) 2000.

EDITED after looking at the WTT:

The pattern in this period (summer 1997 specifically) was:

xx47 to either New Mills (odd hours) or Hope Valley (even hours), but all Hope Valley near the peaks, fast to Reddish North then all except Strines on some services
xx08 1tph to Marple direct, all stations except Ardwick
xx20 1tph to Rose Hill, via Hyde

All services during weekday off-peak hours were marked "D1" or "D3". The D1s did the Marple/Rose Hill services while the D3s did New Mills or Hope Valley. Thus I think the D1/D3 riddle has been solved (see above).

I swear I remember travelling in a 142 on a late afternoon Sheffield-Manchester that year, but there's no evidence of it on the WTT, which indicates almost exclusively 101-operated, if we assume D1/D3 mean 101. Could have been a sub, I guess.

 

[Mat17]

Interesting, I don't recall Marple expresses at all, but as I said above, most of my journeys on this route were between 1996 and (April, so prior to timetable change) 2000.

FNW timetable for early 2003. It was XX:16 for the 101 booked Rose Hill stoppers (Not XX:15 and they missed Gorton, I miss-remembered this). The 101 expresses were XX:25 as I thought.

I assume the XX:22/XX:52 are Hadfield, the XX:43 were either Sheffield or New Mills. The XX:05 were the 2nd gen booked Marple stoppers.

 

[nw1]

FNW timetable for early 2003. It was XX:16 for the 101 booked stoppers (Not XX:15 and they missed Gorton, I miss-remembered this). The expresses were XX:25 as I thought.

I assume the XX:22/XX:52 are Hadfield, the XX:43 were either Sheffield or New Mills.

Ah ok, interesting, thanks. The timings of the others seem almost unchanged.

I wonder if the Marple express interworked with the Marple stopper?

Another interesting feature of the 1997 timetable was the almost 2-hour turnaround at New Mills for those services which terminated there. Arrive even-hours 16, depart next-even-hour 03.

It appears the unit and the driver must have just had an extended break, as there is no evidence of ECS workings to and from New Mills to balance these terminators.

I guess the 2000 timetable re-jigged things to lessen the turnaround, and as a result, allowed the Marple expresses to run without any more units being needed?

 

[Mat17]

I wonder if the Marple express interworked with the Marple stopper?

Not to my knowledge. The units for the Marple stoppers potentially swapped about with the New Mills/Sheffield services.

I never saw a 101 on a Marple stopper on the many days I went that way. I did see it the opposite way around when a Rose Hill stopper turned up a 142. That happened twice to me in the 18 months I used the service. So not a common occurrence.

When they swapped out the 142 for the 101 on 17th Dec, they used the standby set. So on that day all three sets out on that day were working services.

 

[Strathclyder]

L840 was in Network South East.

Was this the last ex-NSE set to retain it's London set number to remain in front-line service? Just checked on Railcar and it managed to last until 31st August 2000 (was withdrawn at the end of service that day). Was it the arrival of the ex-Strathclyde 101s that ultimately pushed this one out? Only reason I'm wondering that is because it wasn't long after their arrival (a few weeks at most) before time was called on L840.

At the end of November 2003, 101692 broke down with a seized gearbox and was withdrawn. It had to be removed from Longsight by road when going to Shoeburyness for storage.

Eariler that month (8th November), 101692 had dropped onto a Stoke-on-Trent to Manchester working subbing for a EMU. The linked Railcar image below (originally taken by David Clegg) shows it at Kidsgrove's platform 2. Not entirely unheard of obviously, but I would imagine it was a fairly rare occurrence by this very late stage.

Class 101 DMU at Kidsgrove

 

[Merle Haggard]

Looking at the WTT for summer 1997, it appears that the 1647 and 1747 peak additionals from Piccadilly on the mid-Cheshire were operated by "D1" and "D3", while most other services were "DMU(S)" (i.e. Sprinter). It's not clear what these mean - the key says "see sectional appendix" which is missing from the WTT.

There were also three peak additionals in the morning, a D3 from Northwich and two D1s from Chester.

EDIT: it appears they were indeed 101s. See below.


== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Mar 2023 ==


Interesting, I don't recall Marple expresses at all, but as I said above, most of my journeys on this route were between 1996 and (April, so prior to timetable change) 2000.

EDITED after looking at the WTT:

The pattern in this period (summer 1997 specifically) was:

xx47 to either New Mills (odd hours) or Hope Valley (even hours), but all Hope Valley near the peaks, fast to Reddish North then all except Strines on some services
xx08 1tph to Marple direct, all stations except Ardwick
xx20 1tph to Rose Hill, via Hyde

All services during weekday off-peak hours were marked "D1" or "D3". The D1s did the Marple/Rose Hill services while the D3s did New Mills or Hope Valley. Thus I think the D1/D3 riddle has been solved (see above).

I swear I remember travelling in a 142 on a late afternoon Sheffield-Manchester that year, but there's no evidence of it on the WTT, which indicates almost exclusively 101-operated, if we assume D1/D3 mean 101. Could have been a sub, I guess.

Regarding 'D1' vs 'D3' I do have a S.A. which lists the meaning (under 'Working of D.M.U. trains') and, without repeating a very long list, in essence 'D1' means it's timed for the combination of power and trailer cars which has the most trailers permitted (i.e.,broadly 1 trailer per power car) and 'D3' is timed for entirely power cars. D2, as an aside, is for combinations of 2 power cars to one trailer.

 

[Mat17]

Was this the last ex-NSE set to retain it's London set number to remain in front-line service? Just checked on Railcar and it managed to last until 31st August 2000 (was withdrawn at the end of service that day). Was it the arrival of the ex-Strathclyde 101s that ultimately pushed this one out? Only reason I'm wondering that is because it wasn't long after their arrival (a few weeks at most) before time was called on L840.

When the Scottish units arrived there were some big changes.

The power-trailer sets and the 'Go Faster' sets (a power-trailer set with an extra locked out DMBS coupled on the front), were all withdrawn.

The Scottish sets were considered to be in better condition and also saw L840 and many RR sets withdrawn as well.

That said, due to increasing 175 availability, some of the Scottish sets didn't last long in service. I don't think 101686, 101687, 101689 did much in Manchester.

Two other interesting points. First, one of the DTS vehicles which survived in service until 2000 (101658) wasn't actually a class 101 vehicle, but was a class 111 vehicle. Which I hadn't realised at the time.

Second, for rare workings, here is a link to a Sandite unit on a passenger service!

Class 101 DMU at Cheadle Hulme

 

[Strathclyder]

When the Scottish units arrived there were some big changes.

The power-trailer sets and the 'Go Faster' sets (a power-trailer set with an extra locked out DMBS coupled on the front), were all withdrawn.

The Scottish sets were considered to be in better condition and also saw L840 and many RR sets withdrawn as well.

Ah gotcha. That all squares.

That said, due to increasing 175 availability, some of the Scottish sets didn't last long in service. I don't think 101686, 101687, 101689 did much in Manchester.

According to Railcar, one vehicle (51500) that made up 101686 was withdrawn in April 2000, a few months before the transfers that were discussed above occurred. Neither it or the set's other vehicle (51231) were fit to be moved to Longsight by rail, as the latter was officially withdrawn from Corkerhill that December.

101684 was one Strathclyde set, along with the other two you cite, that didn't see much in the way of use in Manchester; can find a grand total of one pic of it at Rose Hill on Railcar (have found a couple more on Flickr). That set was withdrawn in October 2000.

Class 101 DMU at Rose Hill Marple

Two other interesting points. First, one of the DTS vehicles which survived in service until 2000 (101658) wasn't actually a class 101 vehicle, but was a class 111 vehicle. Which I hadn't realised at the time.

Ah, that would've been 54091. The last non-101 Met-Camm DMU vehicle in service by a comfortable margin I think. Though by the end, you couldn't externally tell it apart from the 101 vehicle it was paired up with unless you knew where to look.

Second, for rare workings, here is a link to a Sandite unit on a passenger service!

Class 101 DMU at Cheadle Hulme

First (and only) time I've seen that happening in the post-BR era (taken in November 1998). It was in all likelihood a one-off as the image description postulates.

 

[Cheshire Scot]

Second, for rare workings, here is a link to a Sandite unit on a passenger service!

Class 101 DMU at Cheadle Hulme
The history of Diesel Multiple Units (DMUs / railcars) in Britain.
www.railcar.co.uk

First (and only) time I've seen that happening in the post-BR era (taken in November 1998). It was in all likelihood a one-off as the image description postulates.

That working was normally a two car, and ECS from Longsight (except on a Friday when it did the Staly Parliamentary then ECS to Macc. That makes me wonder if it was some sort of proving/running in turn after repairs or maintenance by attaching it to a booked 101 turn and perhaps not in passenger use - pure speculation I admit.

 

[Mat17]

That working was normally a two car, and ECS from Longsight (except on a Friday when it did the Staly Parliamentary then ECS to Macc. That makes me wonder if it was some sort of proving/running in turn after repairs or maintenance by attaching it to a booked 101 turn and perhaps not in passenger use - pure speculation I admit.

I wouldn't doubt it being something like that. It's a decidedly unusual occurence for a sandite unit to end up on a passenger train (just think of all the equipment inside the train). As I wasn't there though taking the photo, I can only go on the details provided (presumably by the photographer?)

 

[MadMac]

I wouldn't doubt it being something like that. It's a decidedly unusual occurence for a sandite unit to end up on a passenger train (just think of all the equipment inside the train). As I wasn't there though taking the photo, I can only go on the details provided (presumably by the photographer?)

A little anecdote about Sandite at https://www.railcar.co.uk/topic/features/cricklewood-driver/?page=page-05

 

[Strathclyder]

That working was normally a two car, and ECS from Longsight (except on a Friday when it did the Staly Parliamentary then ECS to Macc. That makes me wonder if it was some sort of proving/running in turn after repairs or maintenance by attaching it to a booked 101 turn and perhaps not in passenger use - pure speculation I admit.

I wouldn't doubt it being something like that. It's a decidedly unusual occurence for a sandite unit to end up on a passenger train (just think of all the equipment inside the train). As I wasn't there though taking the photo, I can only go on the details provided (presumably by the photographer?)

I did think it was something along those lines, but I'm fairly certain there's someone sitting in the vehicle closest to the camera there (just in front of the first passenger door), unless it's just my eyes playing tricks and it's just a piece of sandite equipment. All things considered, I suspect it was something along the lines of what @Cheshire Scot described and the sandite unit was locked out for passenger use. One of the very few times this happened post-BR I can well imagine.

 

[nw1]

That working was normally a two car, and ECS from Longsight (except on a Friday when it did the Staly Parliamentary then ECS to Macc. That makes me wonder if it was some sort of proving/running in turn after repairs or maintenance by attaching it to a booked 101 turn and perhaps not in passenger use - pure speculation I admit.

I imagined that to be a 101 covering for an EMU! Interesting that there was a booked turn from Macclesfield.