Wednesday is Manchester Locomotive Society (MLS) day and though I don't go every Wednesday, I decided it was time for a little run out by train using my 'Northern' pass, so went to the club rooms on Stockport Station by a slightly indirect route.
I cycled down to Wilmslow station and tied up my steed (no parking problems with a bicycle) in time to see a Northern 323 Crewe to Liverpool Lime Street was due, so boarded that. It was a lengthy journey - it stopped at EVERY station on the way, including little-used Styal. It reversed at the Airport, emptied and filled again at Manchester Piccadilly and Oxford Road, before heading out over Chat Moss. It even stopped at places I'd never noticed before, such as Roby!
Through Olive Mount Cutting, Wavertree, and Edge Hill we snaked, and finally drew into the recently refurbished Lime Street.
A 'Northern' class 323 electric unit, one of which took me to Lime St this morning.
Now where? The journey had taken from 09:46 to 11:30 or thereabouts, so the day was rapidly getting used up. What I needed was quick whizz back to Stockport and the MLS club rooms. I couldn't find any destination indicator on the main concourse at Lime Street, only individual ones for each platform, but I didn't need one; the only quick way back to Stockport would be by an East Midlands train to Norwich, and on the far side of the station I espied that distinctive livery. Of course, my 'Northern' pass would not be valid, but I have yet to find that a problem!
The four-car 158 was due out at 11:52 but was still being prepared, with some passengers waiting to board. About ten minutes before departure, the doors were unlocked, and I found the Train Manager, showed him my pass and asked if I could ride as far as Stockport... "of course you can !".
The journey back was by the Cheshire Lines Committee (CLC) route via Liverpool South Parkway, Widnes, and Warrington stopping only at those places, then Oxford Road and Piccadilly, before arriving in Stockport about an hour after leaving Liverpool. On the way we'd sped through Chassen Road station at about 70mph, the station adjacent to Abbotsfield park home of our Urmston & District Model Engineering Society club railway track.
East Midlands Trains class 158, my fast transit from Lime St to Stockport. The one I used comprised two of these units coupled into a 4-car train.
Just time for a quick visit to the MLS club rooms; a cup of tea, a biscuit, a chat to a few members, pick up my club 'Mancunian' magazine, then back out onto platform 1 for the 13:16 to Crewe, a 'Northern' class 319 ex-Thameslink unit (that south east line now enjoying new replacement units - of course!).
I found one of only two seats in the 319 with a good window view (there are only two such seats in the entire train - one facing in each direction) and enjoyed a scenic run through the verdant Cheshire countryside down to Crewe, stopping at all stations. The return journey in the same unit, about twenty minutes after arriving in Crewe, ran non-stop Holmes Chapel to Alderley Edge, missing the Goostrey and Chelford stops.
I left the train at Wilmslow, my jolly by train ending pretty much where i came in; the 319 would continue to Lime Street as an all stations stopper, the same diagram as my first train this morning.
'Northern' class 319, ex-Thameslink cast-off. which took me Stockport to Crewe and back to Wilmslow.
