Recent content by Matt_pool

Book your hotel through booking.com and select options with free cancellation. Then, in the very likely event that your train will be cancelled, you can cancel your hotel without losing any money.

Once again, the 2022 is the last Northern service on the CLC from Liverpool Lime Street to Manchester Oxford Road today (30/12/22). Miss that and it's another 3 hour 14 minute wait until the last train at 2336. Fortunately it's 2 x 156's, but from past experience on a Friday evening it's best...

There were two BTP stood together on the concourse at Liverpool Lime Street this morning. They were talking to a passenger and then pointed her in the direction of the toilets, or it could have been The North Western Wetherspoons!

A Nova 3 (class 68 and Mk 5's) on 1B85 made it from Cleethorpes to Liverpool yesterday, although the service started in Grimsby for passengers. Give TPE a round of applause!

You were lucky, last time I went on EMR from Manchester Piccadilly it was a 2 carriage 156 with standing room only all the way to Liverpool!

I actually caught a train from Liverpool Lime Street last night, but it was a TfW 197 on the 2047 which I got as far as South Parkway from where I caught a bus the rest of the way home! The Northern 2022 to Oxford Road was running, but I didn't fancy my chances with that (I excpect it was...

Pathetic isn't it? And I see that tomorrow there are lots of cancellations again, including the 0813 that I need to get from West Allerton to Lime Street so I can go to work!

No Northern services on the CLC again today, and I've just checked and the Northern service I usually get to work tomorrow has already been cancelled. Actually, the last time I was able to catch the 0813 from West Allerton was on Monday 12th December! My Merseytravel Trio pass, which allows...

No Northern on the CLC today. Arriva buses to the rescue again! I wouldn't want to be living out in Widnes or Warrington though. Hundreds of people there rely on the trains to get to pubs and restaurants (especially over Xmas and New Year) and also shops, work, visiting relatives etc, in...

Would something like De Lijn work in the north of England, or even just the north west of England? De Lijn is a government owned authority which runs the buses and trams in Flanders, the northern part of Belgium. When I was in Belgium earlier this year I bought a 10 journey ticket on the De...

The last time I was able to catch a train from my local station in south Liverpool was Monday 12th December. Strikes and cancellations have basically made my local Northern operated station, which is only served by Northern services, redundant! I can walk 20 minutes to a Merseyrail station...

What is a "British taxi driver"? Correct me if I'm wrong, but aren't "Muslim" taxi drivers also British? Okay, some of them might not have been born in the UK, but they will have British passports, or maybe just Indefinite Leave To Remain. An ex work colleague of mine was a Muslim of...

I think it's time that local rag the Liverpool Echo got involved. They only ever highlight issues with Merseyrail. There was an article on their website a couple of days ago about how Merseyrail would be affected by the strikes, but no mention of Northern who operate (or try to operate) what is...

Living in Liverpool I started to avoid using the train at the weekends a long time ago. My local station is served by Northern and at the weekend, if the trains aren't delayed or cancelled, a 2 carriage 150 or 156 will turn up that is full to standing, and probably has been since Warrington and...

Just looked on National Rail Enquiries and all trains starting at Warrington Central and going to Liverpool have been cancelled tomorrow. I suppose it will have to be another nightmare bus journey in rush hour traffic again!