24th September Fields of (Red) Roses, Day 1
A trip to Lancashire was on the cards to finish visiting some stations on the Preston Colne section of line, plus a visit towards Clitheroe, as when I did the line for coverage it was on a 70 hauled rail-tour towards the S&C so all 4 stations on that section of line remain unstopped at. An overnight stay was planned in Blackpool to allow me to hit the rails with the Blackpool tram system as well.
The usual 05:27 start this morning, joining 3 other passengers on the platform at Grateley for 159102 to roll in for the nice run towards Waterloo, heading towards the underground station where after a couple dud sets required
51600/51601 rolled in to take me the 2 and a quarter miles to Euston, swinging via WH Smiths to pick up a newspaper, before heading towards the 07:30 service towards Glasgow Central, formed this morning of dud 390047. Kicking a moody lady out of my reserved seat (as she huffed and puffed shifting her oversized handbag), the reason for selecting E62, is like C9, it has elbow room and the window sill makes a good arm rest (although it means the seat opposite is one of those with a view of plastic).
Non-stop to Warrington, so with some excellent tilt and the unusual sight of the member of staff in the shop going for a walk with the trolley (which seemed to sell a few coffees and snacks), it wasnt long before I alighted at a busy Wigan North Western. Popping down to the ticket office to purchase my Lancashire Day Rover and it was a short walk back to the platform with two options to get to Preston in time for the next Colne bound service, however the 2nd was a TPE and it was doing what TPE does best and running around 15 minutes late. Thankfully required
390119 rolled in on route to Edinburgh having started from Birmingham, so with a smile I took a seat for the 15 mile trip northbound, only 3 more 390s left to locate (including forum celebrity 114).
To platform 2 at Preston, as I alighted the arrival of the service from Blackpool South, and in bounced dud 142045 leading 150134 (which was locked out of use after Preston due to short platforms). I managed to grab a decent seat on the former Merseyside seated example to the first new station of the day at
Rishton, which features a handy looking pub outside the station and a nice footbridge. A short wait before duds 142029 & 150115 rolled in for the short bounce back to Blackburn. A RPI revenue block was in place (although easy to avoid by making use of the lifts!) as I had a short wait for the next Manchester Victoria via Todmorden service (the line south of Blackburn towards Darwen was out of use today due to engineering works), so I had a quick walk outside.
10 or so minutes later I returned as duds 156420 & 150226 had rolled in, to take me to Rose Grove, with the driver being extra careful to fit all 4 coaches on the platform (it just fits). Making use of the handy island platform featuring many chairs, it was a short wait for 150134/142045 to return requesting the next station (as it is one of the three request stops on this service), to alight at
Hapton, a basic stop with only housing around, but a short walk via the road bridge I was onto the other platform, ready to flag down the next Colne bound service. In rolled required
142046 attached to dud 150277 to take me to
Burnley Central, where I had 30 minutes (or so) to kill so I headed to the town centre to purchase lunch from Greggs. Heading back to the single platform, waiting as 150277 returned with a fresh dud 142046 on the rear, taking a seat in the 150 this time (not like I had much choice), it was a short run to
Huncoat, a station which involved a timetabled +0 (or +3 if you are lucky), however it is a footbridge shack (located at the Blackburn end) and we didnt call at Hapton so I was able to easily make the connection, watching as some ladies tried to hold the Blackpool train, but in vain as a couple were slow walking from (Im guessing the car or a house) leaving them with an hour wait.
Anyhow, I managed to get across to the other side to be rewarded with required
150220 attached with dud 150137 to take me to the end of the line at Colne, before returning back to Rose Grove, for a 10 minute (or so) wait for duds 142027/150116 to Accrington and another short time wasting fester for dud 158860 to take me to Blackburn. It was a time wasting move due to the rather poor connection between the Blackpool South train and the next Blackburn - Clitheroe shuttle service, which was formed of dud 150270. It was a busy train full of passengers heading out for a good time as I alighted at
Whalley, crossing via the subway to the other platform (via a little walk around, the station is located at one end of a nice viaduct). A short wait later and 150270 returned to take me to
Ramsgreave & Wilpshire, another short walk around the area later and I returned to the other platform as dud 150111 rolled in to take me to the end of the service at
Clitheroe.
A large Booths supermarket was located near the station, seemed to be a posher version of Waitrose, but after a quick look around it was back onto 150111 to the last station on this section of line at
Langho which has excellent views of the countryside. 150270 returned from Blackburn to take me back to Clitheroe, having a walk around the town (which seems to have a lot of pubs) before re-joining the 150 back down to Blackburn. Swinging via a nearby Morrisons for some dinner, before returning to platform 4 to join 158759 for the run to Blackpool North, where my rover failed to open the barriers, and the rain which had been threating to arrive most of the afternoon had finally arrived.
A quick walk along the road towards the sea front, walking passed North Pier to
Tower for a longish wait for a wedged out dud (typical, only had 1 tram before!) 009 (featuring a conductor attempting to check/sell tickets but failing unless you ended up wedged in the door area), due to the sheer overcrowding it was hanging around at the stops for 2 minutes to unload and then reload with passengers for the lights. I managed to escape at
St Chads Road where I checked into the hotel, dropping some stuff from my bag before returning to the tramway, and my moves were as followed, walking between some ultra-close stops:
St Chads Road South Pier on tram
016 (handing over £5 for a 24 hour ticket)
Pleasure Beach Burlington Road West on tram
004
Harrow Place - Manchester Square on the return of dud 016
Central Pier Pleasant Street on
014 (getting a bit wedged at North Pier where crowd control measures were in place)
Wilton Parade to Gynn Square on
003
Cliffs Hotel to (Uncle Toms) Cabin on the return of 004
(Uncle Toms) Cabin to Lowther Avenue on winner
010 (which was right behind 004)
Lowther Avenue to Cavendish Road on
008
Bispham to Cavendish Road on
011 (walked to Bispham and doubled back)
Cavendish Road to Sandhurst Avenue on
001
Sandhurst Avenue to Norbreck on
012 (another two trams within a couple minutes, although the only busy trams at this point were the half hourly ones which went all the way to Fleetwood hence some bunching of services)
Norbreck North to Little Bispham on
015
Little Bispham to North Pier on
005 (massive distance between the two platforms at North pier, probably more than the distance between some of the stops, stepped back a tram after 015 departed towards Starr Gate).
My final move was from North Pier to Starr Gate on 010, which caught some passengers out as the last northbound tram had already departed for the evening, however I had other plans and walked the short distance over to
Squires Gate on the Blackpool South loop for a cheeky shack score with a late running 150137/150220 taking me to Blackpool South and a short walk back to the hotel to turn in for the night, getting woken up by what sounded like a massive storm. I was happy as I had cleared the tramway for stops to Little Bispham, leaving the 14 or so stops towards Fleetwood to do, and with a frequency on the Sunday of 6 trams an hour, it should be easily done.
25th September Fields of (red) Roses, Day 2
After a decent nights sleep, I had a nice breakfast in the hotel before checking out and heading to St Chads Road to wait for the next northbound tram. Would I get lucky and get my last 4 trams today (as 12 out of the 16 trams should be out today with the 10 minute frequency, anyhow the rain overnight had cleared leaving a sunny day, bit chilly in the sea breeze, but good walking weather:
St Chads Road to Anchorsholme Lane on 014
Anchorsholme Lane to Cleveleys on 004
West Drive to Thornton Gate on
007
Rossall Beach to Rossall School on 001
Rossall Square to Broadwater on 010 (making use of the 10 minutes to grab a cold drink due to no easy walk to the next stop)
Broadwater to Heathfield Road on 008
Lindel Road to Stanley Road on 005
Fishermans Walk to London Street on 015
Victoria Street to Fleetwood Ferry on
002
Where I headed for a quick walk to wait to see what else was out as I had completed my mission, as the next tram was dud I walked back towards Victoria Street to see what the following tram would be, as that was 009, I jumped onto 012 to Cleveleys for a brief lunch break, as the one following 009 would be required (and with time to kill before stage 2 of my plan I could waste time).
013 rolled in to take me to the end of the line at Starr Gate, getting a bit wedged out after Cliffs Hotel (passing a hotel on route which was advertising the fact it had 3 lifts, which I know is very high on the list of what customers look out for in a hotel).
At Starr Gate I took a seat to have my lunch to see what was the last tram, sadly that was dud 011 (so 006 must have been one of the three sat on the depot, ah well, gives me an excuse to return in 2018 time when the extension to Blackpool North is open and 017 & 018 arrive). Back to Burlington Road West, with a short walk (less than 5 minutes) took me to
Blackpool Pleasure Beach station on the loop, pulling up a seat as the service from Colne arrived to roll into Blackpool South before returning a few minutes later. It was onto duds 150142 & 142028 to
Moss Side, a station which doesnt really serve anything (apart from a few posh looking houses), sadly the toilet on the 150 was locked out of use, so I had to wait for the next service.
Dud 150103 (with a working toilet!) and 150277 were up next to take me to the small town of
St Annes-on-the-Sea, where I had a short walk around the town centre before returning for 150277/150103 to take me to
Lytham. An upmarket looking place, with an upmarket looking pub in the former station building, I pulled out my top hat and fitted in (with my cucumber sandwiches for High Tea). Anyhow it wasnt that long of a fester before 150138 & 142045 rolled in to my final shack on the loop at
Andsell & Fairhaven, a former island platform, with some shops nearby (the island platform being annoying to some cyclists who had to shift their bikes to allow myself and other passengers to alight from the train).
A short wait (spent purchasing a light snack from a nearby Co-Op) before 142045 & 150138 returned to take me back to Preston, where I alighted and the train got quite busy (as it seemed the previous Colne bound service 2 hours ago got cancelled as it was sitting on platform 5). Although I doubt that wouldnt be as busy as a single 221 heading towards Euston from Glasgow Central (via Birmingham). When on the 142 it sounded like a passenger was cutting it fine to reach Manchester Airport, however he probably didnt look at the timetable as the Manchester Airport train overtakes the Colne train at Kirkham & Wesham.
Anyhow once in Preston, it wasnt long before I was back on the move on required
142035 attached to dud 150146 to Kirkham & Wesham, returning to Preston 10 minutes later on 150277/150103. Dud 156448 & 156428 rolled in on route to Manchester Airport via Wigan, so for some 156 thrash I boarded to take me to Wigan, switching over to my advance ticket for the delayed service from Edinburgh changing at Crewe for the faster service from Liverpool. Dud 390020 rolled in around 15 minutes late, running in reverse formation (which itself caused a higher dwell time as passengers had to swap ends), and was quite busy. I had to kick someone out of my reserved seat (as the seat reservations were working and stated reserved from Wigan, he wasnt a happy bunny (although that might be down to not being able to show off that he had an Apple laptop). Into Crewe and it wasnt a long wait for the delayed service from Liverpool rolled in, around the same time as the service from Manchester rolled in.
It was onto dud 390126, taking up seat C9, and I was surprised that this 390 was put out in front of the one from Manchester (as that one runs non-stop to Euston, whereas this one calls at Stafford). An excellent run with some good tilt (although made worst by someone who was on the phone for most of the time sat in C1 about booking hotels). Into Euston and it was a short walk to the underground station and to the Northern Line with a few dud sets before
51705/51609 took me to Leicester Square, followed by
51670/51671 to Waterloo. Swinging via McDonalds for some much needed food, as Inspector Sands was called to visit Concourse South (fire alarm test), and I took a seat on the 21:15 towards Exeter, formed tonight of 159021, 159003 and 158882 (which avoided me for many months, only to tip up for the 3rd week running on my service out of Waterloo!).
Anyhow, a good run back towards Grateley with a short walk home, reflecting on the clearance of some more Northern shacks, the Blackpool Tramway, plus getting a couple more 142s (5 remain) a 150 (4 remain for Northern), plus a 390 (3 left), and getting 14 out of my 15 required Blackpool trams (Im ignoring the heritage trams, although they did look nice in Fleetwood). The lights at Blackpool are an excellent sight and were a good highlight of the trip.
Some pictures of both days:
This station is a Request Stop sign at Hapton:
Huncoat:
Pretty signage at Rose Grove:
Countryside at Langho:
Colourful tram in Blackpool:
The Tower:
Tram 005 at Little Bispham, just about to go round the loop to head back south:
Double Decker Tram in Fleetwood:
Old Twin Car heading towards Fleetwood Ferry:
The upmarket looking Station building at Lytham:
The former island platform at Andsell & Fairhaven
!
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