Rare Track Days #5: More Doncaster-York Diversions

Not content with travelling on two diversionary routes between Doncaster and York the previous weekend, on Sunday 27th January I set out to tick off a third, much rarer diversionary route. Rather than test Jonathan's hospitality once more, I set out instead on a day trip to York, no small undertaking when it ends up being a 470-mile, 12-hour round trip.

Once again the ECML between Doncaster and York was closed (see the yellow line on the map below), but this time not at Colton Jn, but rather at Shaftholme Jn, rendering both the previous diversionary routes unworkable. While East Coast were being sensible and simply running via Leeds (the blue line), Grand Central were running on a novel diversionary route via Normanton (the orange line).

(Map based on OpenStreetMap; © OpenStreetMap contributors)

Before I could go on the diversionary route, though, I had to get to either York or Doncaster. Unfortunately, the line between Sheffield and Doncaster was closed, so the easiest way to do it was to go to York, go to Doncaster, come back to York, and head home. To do it all in daylight, I started with the first train of the day from Coventry:

0837 Coventry to Birmingham New St, arr 0906
Headcode: 2C99, operated by London Midland using Desiro 350108*+350125
Distance: 19 miles

Because Saturday night and Sunday morning is used as maintenance time on the railways, the first train on a Sunday morning is comparatively late; not that an earlier one is really needed given the small handful of people on my train.

My initial plan had been to try and make a six-minute connection at New Street onto the first train of the day heading to York, in order to have some time in York. If everything had gone to plan, I would have changed once more in Derby for the once-a-day East Midlands Trains service thence to York, which because the Sheffield-Doncaster line was closed was diverted via Pontefract Baghill.

Unfortunately events conspired against me: we lost a few minutes on the way into Birmingham, pulling into the platform three minutes late. However, the signalman had only cleared us halfway down the platform - standard practice at New Street is to use the two halves of the platform separately, but on this occasion we were an eight-car train and wouldn't fit.

I was in the front coach, so I didn't notice this at first; all I noticed was that the doors didn't open. Then we heard "will the guard please contact the driver", presumably so he could ask "am I all on at the back?" The answer clearly having been no, we moved forward and stopped further down the platform.

The doors opened at 09:11, right next to the footbridge; I legged it up and across to platform 10, and ran down the stairs to find the 09:12 was down the other end of the platform. But it was too late; the doors had already been closed, and by the time I got to the back of the train it started to move off.

Having now lost all hope of having more than twenty minutes in York, I bought a sandwich to have for lunch on the train, and waited patiently for the 10:12 train to arrive.

1012 Birmingham New St to York, arr 1326
Headcode: 1S41, operated by CrossCountry using Voyager 220016+220027*
Distance: 168.75 miles

With no hope of going via Pontefract Baghill, I was instead condemned to more than three hours on a Voyager from Birmingham to York. Here we were subjected to the wrong kind of diversion: the train was diverted via Leicester, because of engineering works on the mainline between Birmingham and Derby, but I've been that way several times.

Instead of being interesting, it just made the journey to Derby over twice as long: just under 1 hour, 25 minutes for a journey that can take less than 35 minutes. Still a bit tired from the early start, I dozed off for a while.

The one good thing about this particular service was it was double the usual length. Normally CrossCountry only run four- or five-car trains on these long-distance services, but the engineering works south of Birmingham meant they had some spare, and so we ran with two Voyagers coupled together, which meant everyone could spread out a bit more; even when quite a crowd got on at Leeds there was still ample room.

Having eaten my lunch on the train, I disembarked at York and headed over to catch my Grand Central service south to Doncaster:

1352 (actual 1356) York to Doncaster, arr 1445 (actual 1451)
Headcode: 1A61, operated by Grand Central using Adelante 180114
Distance: 46 miles

With the ECML blocked, the East Coast service between Doncaster and York was reduced to hourly and diverted via Leeds. These left at 58 minutes past each hour; the diverted Grand Central service I got slotted in as the 13:52 departure. It was thus the first train to Doncaster for nearly an hour, and was thus quite busy.

Fortunately, I had anticipated this: since I was using a vaguely complicated combination of day returns, I had decided to book my tickets online to save the hassle at the ticket office. While doing so, I reserved seats for the two Grand Central services I was using. Since I was using an anytime day return York-Doncaster, it didn't oblige me to use those services, but it did get me a seat. I thus ended up with a good window seat on an otherwise nearly full train.

The Grand Central diversion used several rare bits of track, two of which I hadn't previously covered. We headed south out of York, going straight on at Colton Jn, through Church Fenton, and straight on to Milford Jn. Here, rather than turning left and heading to Ferrybridge like I did last week, we continued straight on on the line to Castleford. This five-mile stretch of line is used by a handful of Transpennine Express services between Leeds and York as a diversionary route late at night, but I hadn't done it before and was glad to tick it off.

From Castleford we headed towards Normanton and Wakefield Kirkgate (marked K on the map). But just before Kirkgate station, we turned left at Turners Lane Junction, and took the "Turners Lane curve" round to Calder Bridge Junction. This is only scheduled for use by the 2330 Sheffield-Leeds service on a Friday night, but even that doesn't always use it. To get a train doing the curve in daylight was thus a real find.

So rare, in fact, that I wasn't even the only track-basher on the train - I spotted a couple of other people with railway atlases out, clearly intent on getting a train over the rare Turners Lane curve. (I was too shy to try and say hello...)

After the extra-rare track, from Calder Bridge Jn we started on the line to Knottingley, but turned off at Crofton West Jn and headed for the Leeds-Doncaster mainline, which we rejoined at Hare Park Jn. This is regularly used by a few Grand Central services, and I'd done it once before, but it's rare enough track nonetheless.

After nearly an hour plodding round these obscure railway lines, we eventually arrived in Doncaster. With nothing much else to do, I headed over to the other platform and waited for the next Grand Central service back to York, just half an hour away:

1519 (actual 1529½) Doncaster to York, arr 1616 (actual 1625½)
Headcode: 1N92, operated by Grand Central using HST 43465+43484
Distance: 46 miles

Unfortunately an earlier broken down train near Kings Cross had caused some congestion, and our train was running about 10 minutes late by the time it got to Doncaster.

When it arrived, I was glad to see it was an HST, rather than an Adelante: the Adelante from York had been a bit cramped, while this HST was rather more spacious. Grand Central have not heavily refurbished their HST carriages, and they retain their original seats, generously spacious and low-backed for good visibility. What's more, the window seat I'd reserved was on the opposite side of the track, so I got the other view going back.

Otherwise, the journey back to York was much the same; we had to follow a slightly delayed East Coast service to Leeds as far as Hare Park Jn, but once we peeled off to retrace our steps round the Turners Lane curve and back through Castleford there were very few other trains in the area, with Castleford geting just one train every hour.

After nearly an hour we made it back to York, where I had just under fifteen minutes before heading back south again. This time, platform 3 at York was rather emptier, so I hoped the train wouldn't be too cramped...

1640 York to Birmingham New St, arr 1950
Headcode: 1V66, operated by CrossCountry using Voyager 221122*+220021
Distance: 168.75 miles

As it happens I needn't have worried: once more we had a double Voyager, with nine carriages to spread out in. I found a seat with plenty of legroom in the quiet coach and settled down for the three-hour trek back to Birmingham. While Leeds looked fairly pretty in the late evening twilight, by the time we got to Sheffield it was completely dark outside.

I thus resigned myself to getting some work done, and succeeded in finishing off a few loose ends of mathematics that I'd been meaning to do for a few days. Even so, the journey back dragged on, not helped by a (booked) nine minute stand at Leicester to let an East Midlands Trains service overtake.

After a seemingly interminable trip, we arrived back into New Street. My next train to Coventry would have been the 20:04 CrossCountry service, but the platform was quite busy and I couldn't face any more time on a CrossCountry Voyager, so I waited for the next Virgin Pendolino:

2010 Birmingham New St to Coventry, arr 2030
Headcode: 1B81, operated by Virgin Trains using Pendolino 390011
Distance: 19 miles

After the all-too-familiar run from Birmingham to Coventry, I arrived back in Coventry after a 467.5 mile round-trip, on which I spent nine hours on trains (twelve hours from first train to last train). It was a lovely sunny day of track-bashing, though a rather long one - but worth it for the rare Turners Lane curve.

Rare Track Days #4: The Soon-To-Be-Electrified Parkside East Curve

After an enjoyable evening in Sheffield on the Saturday night, on Sunday 20th I headed across the Pennines to do a short curve of track in Newton-le-Willows, making up the third side of a triangle connecting the Manchester-Liverpool via Earlestown line to the WCML between Warrington and Wigan.

I started with a trip on one of my favourite lines in England, the Hope Valley Line:

1138 Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly, arr 1238
Headcode: 1R38, operated by East Midlands Trains using Sprinter 158862*+158788
Distance: 42.75 miles

After the Woodhead Line closed in 1981, the Hope Valley Line became the main line between Manchester and Sheffield. It criss-crosses the southern Pennines, with three of the longest tunnels in the country: Totley Tunnel, at 3 miles, 950 yards, was the longest in the country (not counting the London Underground or Merseyrail) until the Channel Tunnel Rail Link (HS1) was built in 2007.

Between the tunnels, in the Hope Valley itself, is some of the steepest mountain scenery to be seen anywhere in England; the line hugs the hillside up the valley up to Edale. On a sunny day it makes for some of the most beautiful scenery to be had on any train in England; in the snow, however, it took on a whole other-worldly feel, with little colour other than the brown of the bare trees and the white of the snow, making for a train ride I won't forget in a hurry.

But all good things must come to an end: we emerged from the last of the tunnels in the outskirts of Stockport, calling there before crawling our way into Manchester. I had intended to get a Metrolink tram from Piccadilly station to Victoria station, but there were engineering works, so I did it the old-fashioned way and walked through a fairly quiet central Manchester.

Once in Manchester Victoria, my aim was simple: head to Preston and back. The usual route was closed at Salford Crescent, so a connection from the Manchester-Liverpool line to the WCML between Warrington and Wigan was in use. This map should help:

(Map based on OpenStreetMap; © OpenStreetMap contributors)

The dark blue line running east-west is the original Liverpool and Manchester Railway, opened in 1830. What is now the WCML is marked in yellow, but in fact the green connection from Earlestown to Warrington opened next in 1831, and the orange connection from Parkside Jn to Wigan opened in 1832. The connection from Lowton to Newton-le-Willows only opened in 1847, while the WCML section between Winwick Jn and Golborne Jn opened in 1864.

Nowadays, however, while all three sides of the triangular station at Earlestown are used regularly, the only side of the Newton-le-Willows triangle that is regularly used is the Liverpool-Manchester stretch. I did the west curve (green) a couple of years ago; it's used by a couple of trains a day between Liverpool and Wigan.

However, the east curve (orange) from Parkside Jn to Golborne Jn - once the original line to Wigan - until recently saw no regular services at all. But in just a few years time it will become the main route for Manchester-Scotland trains, which will be diverted away from the busy Bolton corridor in connection with electrification works.

While there are now two trains each weekday over the east curve, they aren't conveniently timed; instead, I waited for a Sunday on which all trains were going that way, because of engineering works at Salford Crescent:

1339 Manchester Victoria to Preston, arr 1431
Headcode: 2N97, operated by Northern Rail using Pacer 142044
Distance: 36.75 miles

Unfortunately, "all" trains going that way meant just two an hour. When you consider that on weekdays the Manchester-Preston corridor gets up to ten trains an hour, it was no wonder that this titchy little two-car Pacer was... a bit busy.

It also had one of the worst seating layouts ever conceived, with all the seats in each coach facing the same direction, having very little legroom, and arranged with three seats on one side of the aisle and two on the other. I took a window seat, but came to regret it after nearly an hour crushed into a rather small space.

Nonetheless, I succeeded in doing the soon-not-to-be-rare track. We headed west out of Manchester Victoria, as if for Liverpool, before slowing down for the east curve to take us towards Wigan: it being, as the map shows, quite a tight curve, though, meant we only crawled round it at all of 20mph.

We joined the WCML at Golborne Jn, and all of a sudden our little 75mph Pacer was sharing tracks with the 125mph Pendolinos, over eight times the length. We were, nonetheless, a stopping service, in the sense that we didn't just call at Wigan and Preston, but also at Leyland.

We arrived at Preston on time; with little to do for 15 minutes, I headed over to the other platform to head back the way I'd come:

1447 Preston to Manchester Victoria, arr 1531
Headcode: 1M95, operated by Transpennine Express using Desiro 185132*+185143
Distance: 36.75 miles

Fortunately, this time I was on the Transpennine Express service, a six-car train which had come all the way from Edinburgh, and which was only calling at Wigan. There was thus plenty of room for me to stretch my cramped legs out and have some lunch.

The electrification of various lines in the north-west has been talked about now for about four years, and the line I was using between Golborne Jn and Manchester is first in line for wires. Indeed, it has long been planned that the wires will be up by the end of 2013, with electric trains running by early 2014.

But now that we're getting close to that 2014 date, things have actually started happening on the ground. The north-west electrification is no longer just a part of a budget document and a coloured line on a map somewhere; it's actually happening.

Indeed, the gantries and masts going up quite quickly now: while there was just one small stretch of wire over Ordsall Lane Jn, just outside Manchester, a variety of different types of mast adorned most of the route between Manchester and Golborne, with a few miles in the middle with no masts yet. I look forward to coming back to this route in a year or two's time to get a brand-new electric train.

We had a small hiccup stopping at Wigan North Western: it seems the driver had thought he was only driving a three-car train, but when he pulled up the guard had to say to him "oi, this is a six car!" before he moved forward and released the doors in the correct location. Fortunately that didn't delay us too much.

We arrived back into Manchester Victoria on time, and I wandered back across to Piccadilly. I glanced up at the platform indicator and saw the next train to New Street went from platform 6, and as soon as my eyes caught sight of platform 6 I saw my train just pulling in, having arrived from Birmingham.

1607 Manchester Piccadilly to Birmingham New St, arr 1734
Headcode: 1V63, operated by CrossCountry using Voyager 220016
Distance: 82.5 miles

Just as I was about to get on the train, I noticed the train said "Next stop: Stoke-on-Trent". I queried the guard, who said this was correct; on Sundays, half the trains do not stop at Stockport. So I can add Stockport to my list of stations I have passed through non-stop: thanks to my non-stopping Birmingham New Street on New Year's Day, the only stations on the WCML I haven't been through non-stop are Stoke-on-Trent, Runcorn, Preston and Carlisle.

Apart from that, the journey back to Birmingham was fairly quiet. I'd been texting Ian, and it transpired he was getting into New Street just twenty minutes behind me on his way home to Northampton; neither of us much felt like cooking, so I hung around in New Street until he arrived.

The snow, which had held off since Friday night, had started again, so we walked through the snow to Wagamama in the Bullring. After an impressively quick but enjoyable dinner, we walked back up the hill, with the snow now coming down a little heavier, and headed for the next train to Northampton, which was a stopper as far as Coventry:

1914 (actual 1924) Birmingham New St to Coventry, arr 1944 (actual 1957)
Headcode: 2Y41, operated by London Midland using Desiro 350232+350106*
Distance: 19 miles

Unfortunately some frozen points at Rugby delayed the inbound service - which had been due in at 18:59 - didn't arrive until 19:16, two minutes after we'd been due to leave. By the time the driver got to the other end and all the passengers got on, we left ten minutes late. We weren't further delayed as far as Coventry, but unfortunately Ian was delayed a bit more getting into Northampton due to the points problem at Rugby.

I made it round and up the steps just in time to make a bus home, saving me the walk home - normally the station is a twenty minute walk, but in the snow it was more like half an hour. After 217¾ miles and over 4½ hours on trains on Sunday alone, I settled down to warm up after a very enjoyable - but rather cold - weekend.