The other option is simply to wait for the "right kind" of engineering works — that is, some engineering works closing the "normal route" for trains, thus forcing them to be diverted over a different route. This latter option requires patience, since it may be some time before you get the right kind of engineering works. However, once they do come along you have much greater certainty that the train will use the diversionary route, and what's more these opportunities usually come at weekends — so instead of going out late on a weeknight to do some tiny bit of track in the dark and not be able to see out the window, one can enjoy the view and have an enjoyable Saturday or Sunday day trip.
Saturday 27th April 2013 was one of those lovely weekend days with the right kind of engineering works in the Sheffield area. A ¾-mile section of the line between Sheffield and Rotherham Central was closed, necessitating a five-mile diversion via Tinsley, along track which normally gets just one train each weekday at 22:00 — it was well worth the trip to Yorkshire to get to do this on a weekend in daylight.
I took the opportunity to do a couple of other bits of rarely-used track too, whose trains fell into the first category above (not the second) — so I met up with a friend, Paul, who had come all the way from Reading to get the track as well!
0902 (actual 0915) Coventry to Birmingham New St, arr 0927 (actual 0936)
Headcode: 1G07, operated by Virgin Trains using Pendolino 390125
Distance: 19 miles
I started as usual with a late-running Virgin Pendolino from Coventry to Birmingham New Street. Usually when a fast train is late it would get caught behind a stopping train, but in this case the stopping train had been held at Rugby to follow us, so we made reasonably good time into New Street. New Street was in the middle of being rebuilt at this stage, so I deliberately allowed a little extra time to make the change for my next train.
1003 Birmingham New St to Sheffield, arr 1117
Headcode: 1S39, operated by CrossCountry using Voyager 221141
Distance: 77¼ miles
I changed for a CrossCountry Voyager northwards from Birmingham to Sheffield, a journey I'd done many times. Unfortunately, while we were on time as far as Chesterfield, there was some congestion in the Sheffield area — perhaps caused by the very diversions I was heading for! — and we arrived in Sheffield 5½ minutes late. Since I only had seven minutes to make my connection, now reduced to 90 seconds, I ran over the footbridge from platform 2 to platform 1A to make my train:
1124 Sheffield to Doncaster, arr 1204
Headcode: 2R67, operated by Northern Rail using Pacer 144009
Distance: 19 miles
Fortunately, I just about made it! Frustratingly, though, the train was held further down the platform waiting for my previous train to depart, with some people who weren't quite so quick at getting over the footbridge lamenting the fact that the train hadn't been held with the doors open for another minute (since it wouldn't have caused any additional delay).
But after a couple of minutes we were off, and almost immediately after leaving Sheffield station we veered right at Nunnery Main Line Junction and onto our diversionary route to Rotherham.
The railways in the former West Riding are a maze of former lines built by different companies and joined together in a very haphazard way. This ended up with two largely parallel routes heading north-east out of Sheffield: one was built by the Midland Railway, running through Meadowhall but skirting the edge of Rotherham (with a station on the outskirts at Masborough); the other, built by the South Yorkshire Railway and eventually absorbed into the Great Central Railway, ran slightly to the east, past a huge marshalling yard at Tinsley and onwards through the centre of Rotherham.
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| Map based on OpenStreetMap; © OpenStreetMap contributors |
The route via Tinsley fell largely into disuse when the chord was built, with a single track retained so trains could still divert if needs be, and for freight trains to access what's left of Tinsley Yard. It was this route we were using to get to Rotherham and onwards to Doncaster; because there's a three-mile-long single-track section, only about four trains an hour could be accommodated over the line. Some trains, such as ours, ran via Tinsley to maintain the stop at Rotherham Central; others ran via the Midland route to maintain the stop at Meadowhall instead.
Our Pacer made reasonable time along the slow and somewhat bumpy diversion — tracks on diversionary routes tend not to be very well-maintained! — and after Rotherham Central the train continued to Doncaster. Here again there are two routes, one common and one rare — but sadly the rare route (via Thrybergh Junction and the "Roundwood Chord") here was not in use and I had to wait another few years to get that bit of track in!
On arrival at Doncaster, I met up with Paul, who'd come from Reading via London and York ("I couldn't resist some Grand Central HST mileage", he said, not unreasonably!), and we headed back the way we came.
1226 Doncaster to Sheffield, arr 1312
Headcode: 2R68, operated by Northern Rail using Pacer 142091
Distance: 19 miles
I retraced my steps, being able to talk Paul through the route — though we got more of a view of Tinsley Yard than perhaps we'd expected, being held at Tinsley East Junction for about ten minutes waiting for a train to come off the single line, but we only arrived into Sheffield five minutes late, and grabbed some lunch before heading for another train.
1338 Sheffield to York, arr 1455
Headcode: 2Y82, operated by Northern Rail using Sprinter 158855
Distance: 46¾ miles
Another train, another unusual piece of track — but this was different. Firstly, this wasn't a diversion, this was a regular service that only runs twice a day — fortunately it gets a Saturday service, and during daylight hours at that! More importantly, it's not just a piece of track that's rarely-used, but a station too — Pontefract Baghill is one of three stations in Pontefract: while Monkhill and Tanshelf get regular services to Leeds and Wakefield, Baghill gets just these two trains a day between Sheffield and York. (Oh, and lastly, the train was a nice Class 158 Sprinter, not a Pacer!)
We headed out of Sheffield to the north, on the other route via Meadowhall this time — although the train would normally call at Meadowhall and Rotherham Central, one of the stops had to be sacrificed and in this case the Rotherham Central stop was dropped. We took the normal route to Leeds as far as Moorthorpe, where we carried straight on instead of turning left for 17 miles of unusual track.
The first nine miles, between Moorthorpe and Ferrybridge, get no other regular passenger services, although very occasionally CrossCountry trains between Sheffield and York will divert via this route (this would normally require two separate engineering blocks to block both of the normal routes via Doncaster and via Leeds). Pontefract Baghill station is a fairly basic affair, with minimal facilites for the handful of people who use it every day (just 7,376 people used it in 2018/19).
After Ferrybridge, we carried on north on eight miles of track I'd done earlier that year (and wrote about at the time) past Ferrybridge Power Station and onwards to Milford Junction, where we crossed over to the little-used route between Castleford and Church Fenton. With the myriad of connections and chords on these lines, it can be quite hard to keep track (no pun intended) of what track you've been on!
We called at Sherburn-in-Elmet before we finally rejoined a "main line" at Church Fenton, pausing again at the very little-used station at Ulleskelf, before finally joining the East Coast Main Line at Colton Junction for the final stretch into York. Although we had left Sheffield some five minutes late, we arrived at York a full six minutes early, since we'd been booked to wait for an ECML train at Colton Junction, but were let out in front of it instead!
1511 York to Leeds (via Harrogate), arr 1622
Headcode: 2C41, operated by Northern Rail using Sprinter 150207
Distance: 38¾ miles
After only a few minutes in York, we got on another train on a route that I'd done before but that Paul hadn't, the long way round from York to Leeds via Harrogate. This was a busy stopping service on a sunny Saturday afternoon, and we did well to get a seat; unfortunately the Class 150s don't really lend themselves to seeing out the window easily, but we could still admire the view from the numerous viaducts while chatting.
On arrival at Leeds, Paul headed back to London, while I waited around for my next train. Using the slower route to Leeds had also enabled me to kill a bit of time, as I had one more unusual line to do, that was truly impossible to do other than on one of the two trains a day that serve it — and because they're timed for commuters working in Leeds, I had to wait for the evening peak to catch it (even though it was Saturday!).
1716 Leeds to Goole, arr 1830
Headcode: 2F25, operated by Northern Rail using Pacer 144021
Distance: 32½ miles
and
1849 Goole to Leeds, arr 2000
Headcode: 2F30, operated by Northern Rail using Pacer 144021
Distance: 32½ miles
The line between Knottingley and Goole gets just two trains a day in each direction; one in the morning peak, and one in the evening peak. Fortunately for me, the evening train then comes back from Goole to get back to the depot in Leeds — and it does so in service, so I could easily go to Goole and come back in order to colour in the track on my map.
The route from Leeds to Knottingley has an hourly service, and the Goole trains simply serve as an extension of one of those trains. Due to the track layout at Castleford, where no trains terminate but all trains are required to reverse in a single platform, it likely isn't possible to run a more frequent service — though Castleford has a disused second platform and reopening it might allow more trains to run. The original Lancashire & Yorkshire route between Leeds and Knottingley avoided Castleford, but the direct route shut in 1981, with trains diverted to serve the town.
Beyond Knottingley lie eight miles of double track, as far as Drax Branch Junction, and then another eight miles of single track to reach Goole. This is one of the few lines in the UK that sees more freight trains than passenger trains — or did, anyway, with numerous coal trains serving the power stations at Eggborough and Drax. However, Eggborough Power Station closed in 2018, and while Drax has the largest generating capacity of any power station in the UK (at 3.9GW), it is gradually being converted from coal to biomass and natural gas, meaning coal trains will soon be a thing of the past on this line.
The intermediate stations are, really, an inconvenience in the operation of this railway, then: the four intermediate stations at Whitley Bridge, Hensall, Snaith and Rawcliffe had just 2,550 passengers between them in 2018/19, or less than 10 passengers a day along the whole of the line. Even so, it is cheaper to retain the line and run one train a day than it is to embark upon the expensive public inquiry required to formally close the line, so this "parliamentary" service continues — albeit timed in as useful a way as possible that it might be used by commuters, unlike some other such services.
This bizarre train eventually pulled into Goole four minutes early, with almost no-one on it, before shunting to the other platform ready to head back to Leeds. (Sadly I had to disembark for the shunt move!)
There is a level crossing at one end of the station, which I distinctly remember using to cross the line to get to the other platform, even though there is also a pedestrian subway adjacent to it - there's something rather enjoyable about pausing briefly on a quiet level crossing with no traffic and no trains to admire the meeting of transport modes.
After only 20 minutes in the small town of Goole, I headed back on the very same train to Leeds, retracing my steps, where we arrived five minutes early, giving me plenty of time to make my connection back to Birmingham:
2011 (actual 2015) Leeds to Birmingham New St, arr 2205 (actual 2212)
Headcode: 1M80, operated by CrossCountry using Voyager 221128
Distance: 116 miles
The train was a few minutes late — hardly surprising given it had started from Edinburgh — and after a last-minute platform alteration from 12C to 16A (necessitating a dash over the footbridge) we were on our way. A couple of temporary speed restrictions through Wakefield meant we lost a little more time, and eventually arrived back into Birmingham seven minutes late.
I therefore missed the 2214 train to Coventry, but this gave me a change to look around New Street a little bit. As I mentioned, they were in the middle of rebuilding the station, with half of the new concourse being built while most of the old one remained open, and this happened to be the weekend they were switching over from the old station concourse to the new station concourse — with the change happening overnight on Saturday night.
When I passed through that morning, everything was still boarded up; but in the evening they'd started to take the hoardings down and, on the old main footbridge between platforms 3 and 4, you could see through to the new concourse — and my head exploded as I finally started to comprehend the enormity of the change the station was going through. I actually went back the following afternoon to take some photographs of the new concourse, after it had opened!
2234 Birmingham New St to Coventry, arr 2300
Headcode: 2C67, operated by London Midland using Desiro 350259
Distance: 19 miles
My final train home was a stopping train — the last fast train having left much earlier in the evening — and I arrived back in Coventry having spent over 10 hours and done 420 miles on trains; a long day, but worth it to ride on three unusual routes across the former West Riding of Yorkshire!
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