'Ardwick Blockade' - February 2026 (timetable alteration updates)

[jfollows]

I believe there was also a signalling issue somewhere around Stockport on Saturday morning (the first day) which caused some delays. To compound this, some of the northbound Avanti and XC were running late due to delays elsewhere and this complicated the situation. Some trains were taking 20 minutes for the short distance from Cheadle Hulme to Stockport (usually 4-5 minutes), presumably awaiting a platform.

Yes, just watching online it seems that there’s a lot of waiting for a platform.
Some of the Avanti & TPE services can run away to Longsight, and the Crewe local services hide in platform 3A, but the reverse has to be done generally on the down fast over the viaduct so is a bit of a bottleneck.
Just a current snapshot:

• 5K18 on the viaduct (goes to 2 for 2K18)
• 5K39 in 3A (Crewe EMU)
• 5T82 in 3 (from Cleethorpes)
• 5A48 in 4 (Pendolino) (became 5A54 for a while)
• 2B34 in 0 (Buxton DMU) (ECS had to reverse at Heaton Norris Junction to reach platform 0, and can only be done by diesels because it requires reversing after taking the junction to Reddish & Denton)
• 1H21 (another Pendolino) waiting for 3 or 4 to become free

Lots of shuffling around, anyway.

 

[IrishDave]

What has that got to do with Ardwick?

The 1H at xx:33 from Euston to Manchester has been brought forward to xx:30, presumably to align with available platform capacity at Stockport (unless there's some other reason I'm unaware of).

This necessitates bringing the 1S at xx:30 from Euston to Glasgow forward to xx:27.
That in turn requires the 1Y at xx:23 from Euston to Birmingham via Northampton to depart at xx:20.
The down 1Y now crosses DF-DS at Ledburn at xx:47½ vice xx:50½...
So instead of being a parallel move with the up 1Y, the down 1Y is timed to cross at precisely the same moment the up 1M from Glasgow is booked to barrel through on the Up Fast.

Clearly it's been missed in validation.

 

[The Planner]

The 1H at xx:33 from Euston to Manchester has been brought forward to xx:30, presumably to align with available platform capacity at Stockport (unless there's some other reason I'm unaware of).

This necessitates bringing the 1S at xx:30 from Euston to Glasgow forward to xx:27.
That in turn requires the 1Y at xx:23 from Euston to Birmingham via Northampton to depart at xx:20.
The down 1Y now crosses DF-DS at Ledburn at xx:47½ vice xx:50½...
So instead of being a parallel move with the up 1Y, the down 1Y is timed to cross at precisely the same moment the up 1M from Glasgow is booked to barrel through on the Up Fast.

Clearly it's been missed in validation.

Ah, thats a big one to miss in that case.

 

[Kite159]

The 1H at xx:33 from Euston to Manchester has been brought forward to xx:30, presumably to align with available platform capacity at Stockport (unless there's some other reason I'm unaware of).

This necessitates bringing the 1S at xx:30 from Euston to Glasgow forward to xx:27.
That in turn requires the 1Y at xx:23 from Euston to Birmingham via Northampton to depart at xx:20.
The down 1Y now crosses DF-DS at Ledburn at xx:47½ vice xx:50½...
So instead of being a parallel move with the up 1Y, the down 1Y is timed to cross at precisely the same moment the up 1M from Glasgow is booked to barrel through on the Up Fast.

Clearly it's been missed in validation.

Due to having an additional call at Nuneaton maybe? Normally, the XX:33 Manchester trains are nonstop to Stafford.

 

[IrishDave]

Due to having an additional call at Nuneaton maybe? Normally, the XX:33 Manchester trains are nonstop to Stafford.

Ahh, yes, that'll do it - Avanti are down to 2tph to Manchester and the xx:13 isn't running, so they'll have had to put the Nuneaton call in another train. Thanks, hadn't spotted that

 

[CHAPS2034]

Whilst units on the station generally pay a percentage of sales as rent, those outside that rely on footfall probably wont get anything.

The Piccadilly Tap on the station approach is closed from 15th -19th. Not sure whether they are doing some work there or just taking a break with the reduced footfall expected.

 

[Starmill]

I have also read on a local board that the Northern RRBs all stations Stockport-MAN have been binned and passengers are advised to catch the 192 service bus instead - runs every 3-5 minutes. They are certainly not showing on RTT anymore.

There weren't any replacement buses stopping at Heaton Chapel or Levenshulme. The ones in the data today are all 192s.

 

[CHAPS2034]

There weren't any replacement buses stopping at Heaton Chapel or Levenshulme. The ones in the data today are all 192s.

What is 'the data today' you refer to?

Looking on National Rail enquiries journey planner for Stockport to Levenshulme, it suggests the services are RRBs operated by Northern and run hourly from Stockport to Levenshulme at xx47 past the hour!

However a more frequent NT stopping RRB service - but not as frequent as the 192 - was showing on RTT last week and this has now disappeared, to be replaced by this hourly service.

Meanwhile, the printed booklet which has been around for a couple of weeks, says that passengers for Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme should use the 192 (which runs every 5-10 minutes). So I guess that this was always the plan from a few weeks ago at least.

So conflicting information floating about. No doubt the people on site at Stockport will be directing people to the 192 stop a few minutes walk away on the A6. I assume there will be posters at Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme to inform what to do?

But surely only showing an hourly RRB in the journey planner/RTT is unhelpful to say the least to the casual passenger who doesn't know the area and may be planning a trip?

 

[Bayum]

Split from https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...way-construction-introduction-updates.195052/

Why would the driver need internal camera feeds?

I'm sure it's usefull in some circumstances.

It's possible to be faster than you want to be at the top of the Lickey-I'll leave that to you to understand what I mean. They're certainly (quite a bit) faster than 323s (although we're mandated to use less power on starting away than a 323-so it'll be rare that you see a 'launch control' start), it's taken drivers some adjustment, in slippery conditions under power they're not the greatest and WMT now uses a lot more sand than they used to, as 730s have an amazing appetite for it.

Traveline gives various options:

View attachment 198128

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 14 Feb 2026 ==


although oddly tne RRB at 1655 doesn't say walk to the station
it does give a silly journey though: 25mins bus to picc, walk 10 mins to Picc Gardens, wait 30 mins for another bus to Vic (5 mins) and walk to the station - with just 8 mins between the bus arriving and the train to York departing!
View attachment 198130

The easiest way will be the hourly bus straight to Huddersfield and change for a direct train (4ph) to York

I used the coach replacement from Huddersfield to Stockport this weekend. it worked ok. A decent coach with good luggage space. The journey ran smoothly until turning onto Wellington Road (the street from the motorway to Stockport station) where it was gridlock. it took over an hour for the journey but it was easy.

it was fine getting on at Hudds and I suspect it will be fine at the airport. It was a bit chaotic at Stockport.

In the end, she just gave up and used the coach. One of the lifts at the airport failed with her and 30 other travellers which caused her to be stuck for 20mins, just missing the 17:40 coach. Couldn’t find anything to eat or drink bar vending machines so wasn’t much up for travelling across Manchester.

 

[Killingworth]

An interesting aside, this week you can get a train from Sheffield and the Hope Valley to Glossop via a reversal at Guide Bridge. 195s on that line are a novelty.

 

[M60lad]

What's the actual reason for 195s over 323s being used on Glossop's this week? Is it just so the service can interwork with Sheffields?

 

[Segedunum]

What's the actual reason for 195s over 323s being used on Glossop's this week? Is it just so the service can interwork with Sheffields?

I suspect the lack of an available electrified route between their depots and Guide Bridge. You only have via Ardwick/Ashburys (which I assume is shut fully). You could possibly outstable a couple but from experience of planning such things, you're a) probably not going to be too popular with your fleet team and b) leaving yourself open to issues should the outstabled trains end up failing.

The DMUs come off Newton Heath, which is still accessible. As you also point out, it seems the timetable relies on interworking.

 

[Starmill]

What is 'the data today' you refer to?

The timetable feed which you're looking at on NRE and in Trust (realtimetrains.co.uk).

Looking on National Rail enquiries journey planner for Stockport to Levenshulme, it suggests the services are RRBs operated by Northern and run hourly from Stockport to Levenshulme at xx47 past the hour!

There aren't any replacement buses. They're the 192.

 

[billh]

An interesting aside, this week you can get a train from Sheffield and the Hope Valley to Glossop via a reversal at Guide Bridge. 195s on that line are a novelty.

I noticed that. Also, at Guide Bridge I think traksy has the platform numbering wrong. All passenger trains arrive and depart sensibly from the normal Manchester bound platform adjacent to the car park and RRB pick up point. Departing eastwards trains use the cross over to get right line,
this normally only used by the Saturday Stockport - Stalybridge .

 

[CHAPS2034]

The timetable feed which you're looking at on NRE and in Trust (realtimetrains.co.uk).


There aren't any replacement buses. They're the 192.

It should have been obvious from my post that I realise in reality the RRBs are the 192

But what I am querying is why the NRE journey planner is only showing 1 bus per hour from Stockport to Levenshulme when the 192 runs every 5 minutes or so.

 

[BurtonM]

IIRC the Glossop services are interworking with the Hope Valley. I saw a Facebook post from a local Glossop group where someone was commenting about how much nicer the trains are.
Hopefully this opens people's eyes a bit more to just how naff the "refurbed" 150s et al really are.

Northern have form for just not providing RRBs sometimes, when there have been TRU works on Stalybridge-Manchester Victoria in the past they've declined to provide an RRB, closed Ashton-under-lyne altogether for the weekend, and told Ashton passengers to use service buses and Metrolink, and Stalybridge passengers to change onto TPE for onward travel to Piccadilly.

What's Northern's thinking with this, as the way I see it they're just losing revenue to TfGM?

 

[greatkingrat]

I expect the cost of running the replacement buses outweighs any extra revenue gained, particularly as many of the bus passengers won't have tickets anyway.

 

[The exile]

I expect the cost of running the replacement buses outweighs any extra revenue gained, particularly as many of the bus passengers won't have tickets anyway.

That’s if they can even be sourced. Keep the RRBs for routes where there isn’t a frequent service bus as an alternative.

 

[HST125Scorton]

Down Slow pilot workings have began, 4M95 was the 1st to run through.


66518 & 66518 4M95 Southampton-Trafford
66424 4H43 Daventry-Trafford
66206 4L56 Trafford-London Gateway

 

[Starmill]

It should have been obvious from my post that I realise in reality the RRBs are the 192

But what I am querying is why the NRE journey planner is only showing 1 bus per hour from Stockport to Levenshulme when the 192 runs every 5 minutes or so.

It wasn't obvious at all I'm afraid, given your reference to there previously having been one in your previous post. There are lots of issues, for example the screens are saying they're departing from the station front when in fact they aren't.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 17 Feb 2026 ==

Northern have form for just not providing RRBs sometimes, when there have been TRU works on Stalybridge-Manchester Victoria in the past they've declined to provide an RRB, closed Ashton-under-lyne altogether for the weekend, and told Ashton passengers to use service buses and Metrolink, and Stalybridge passengers to change onto TPE for onward travel to Piccadilly.

Ashton-under-Lyne used to have Sunday replacement buses as well in 2023 and early 2024. Not any more.

 

[BurtonM]

It wasn't obvious at all I'm afraid, given your reference to there previously having been one in your previous post.

It could definitely be clearer. Northern's service update page on their website is broken for me, I can't actually view the disruption information (using Edge). The dropdowns don't reveal anything.
However the Northern Journey Check page explains it clearly (if you can find it/know it exists), and National Rail's rather clunky website has the information buried away in its disruption section- but it's not very clearly worded.
I've noticed that if there's no distinct RRB that's been timed, then nothing shows up on journey planners - when Ashton under Lyne is closed at the weekends it just shows that there are no services at all.

 

[Starmill]

It could definitely be clearer. Northern's service update page on their website is broken for me, I can't actually view the disruption information (using Edge). The dropdowns don't reveal anything.
However the Northern Journey Check page explains it clearly (if you can find it/know it exists), and National Rail's rather clunky website has the information buried away in its disruption section- but it's not very clearly worded.
I've noticed that if there's no distinct RRB that's been timed, then nothing shows up on journey planners - when Ashton under Lyne is closed at the weekends it just shows that there are no services at all.

In the case of Ashton-under-Lyne there's usually no ticket acceptance to show. There isn't on Sundays.

The Ardwick information is quite a mess unfortunately.

 

[LRV3004]

I assume there will be two drivers at each end?

Yes. I was on 4H43 last Saturday as the “drawback” loco from just outside Oxford Road to Trafford Park, and on 4B43 as the lead loco from Trafford Park into Piccadilly. We communicated with each other via two-way hand held radios.

 

[teaspoon]

Piccadilly is largely closed again today, seemingly due to knock-on works from the blockade.

However, Avanti are running some charters to Euston for Brit Awards attendees and crew, one of which seems to have been un-unadvertised:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Manchester Piccadilly all day on 01/03/2026

Train information at Manchester Piccadilly all day on 01/03/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

 

[The Planner]

Piccadilly is largely closed again today, seemingly due to knock-on works from the blockade.

However, Avanti are running some charters to Euston for Brit Awards attendees and crew, one of which seems to have been un-unadvertised:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Manchester Piccadilly all day on 01/03/2026

Train information at Manchester Piccadilly all day on 01/03/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

Follow up tamping. This won't be the last one.

 

[ayubdaud]

Must be a very rare bit of track running via the UDG at Ardwick Jn through to Slade Lane!

Edit: in the opposite direction, 1H63 appears to be trapped at Slade Lane though as there isn't a route on the fast lines. Edit2: seems to have found a way through.

 

[CHAPS2034]

Piccadilly is largely closed again today, seemingly due to knock-on works from the blockade.

However, Avanti are running some charters to Euston for Brit Awards attendees and crew, one of which seems to have been un-unadvertised:

Realtime Trains | Departures from Manchester Piccadilly all day on 01/03/2026

Train information at Manchester Piccadilly all day on 01/03/2026. From Realtime Trains, an independent source of train running info for Great Britain.

www.realtimetrains.co.uk

1Z67 is loco hauled with 67006 and 67007 unless the locos have been changed since it came north yesterday. At Arpley overnight.

Edited to say 67006/7 still in charge and it's the VSOE Pullman

 

[The Planner]

Must be a very rare bit of track running via the UDG at Ardwick Jn through to Slade Lane!

Edit: in the opposite direction, 1H63 appears to be trapped at Slade Lane though as there isn't a route on the fast lines. Edit2: seems to have found a way through.

Single line working I expect.