Match Forty-Six – Blackburn 3 – Ipswich 2
For the last match of the normal season, in some ways this was a bit of a disappointment, as Ipswich only needed a point to be certain of the play-offs.
But at least we got through as Reading surprisingly beat Derby. In the end the Ipswich fans were singing “Come on Reading”
Mill Hill Station And Ewood Park
Ewood Park, the home of Blackburn Rovers is not the easiest ground to get to from the main station for the town.
Normally, I take a bus from the station, but it is not the easiest way as there is no relevant information, despite the fact that the bus station is outside the train one. Obviously, the natives are psychic in Blackburn.
So today, I decided to go via Mill Hill station as it looked like a downhill walk to the ground. This Google Earth image shows the area.
Mill Hill Station And Ewood Park
Mill Hill station is in the top left of the picture and the football ground is to the bottom right. These are some pictures of the station.
I didn’t post any of the maps and signposts at the station, as there isn’t any meaningful information on how to get to the football ground.
I don’t think I’ll bother with this route again, as it has little to recommend it and a station that desperately needs more information and disabled access.
It is a truly dreadful station and after the Todmorden Curve is fully open, you’ll need to change trains at Blackburn to get here from Manchester.
The Scenic Route From Preston To Blackburn
I didn’t take the direct route from Preston to Blackburn, but decided to explore the East Lancashire Line that stretches from Blackpool on the coast to Colne deep in the hills.
It is one of those rural lines, that has a lot of the flavour of the Valley Lines in South Wales. Trains are elderly, but well-turned out Class 142 and Class 150 trains, running between a series of stations, many of which have been recently upgraded. To get a better feel of the Burnley area, this is a Google Earth image of the centre of Burnley.
The Centre Of Burnley
The two stations; Central and Barracks lie on the rail line that goes across the top-left corner of the image. For most of that way, the line is on a viaduct with a station at each end. Turf Moor, the home of Burnley FC is at the far right of the map.
The East Lancashire Line is very much down the list of electrification priorities, but as it has interchanges at Preston, Blackpool and Rose Grove, that are electrified or will be in a few years, the costs of electrification will be eased by the supplying of power being already there.
Some work needs to be done on the stations, but a lot is informational like the signage and local maps at Mill Hill. Some like Mill Hill and perhaps others, need improvement to their disabled access.
There is pressure to extend the line past Colne to Skipton. and it is description under South East Lancashire Rail Action Partnership. The Wikipedia article says this about the link.
The missing section of railway between Skipton and Colne is 11.5 miles in length; it was closed in January 1970 although it was not a target under the Beeching Axe.
Dr. Beeching is a hot topic, but when he said a railway shouldn’t be closed, history has in some cases like the Varsity Line, shown him to be right.
At least with Colne to Skipton, the trackbed hasn’t been built on.
Having seen tram-trains working successfully in Germany and France, I think that if the Class 399 trains prove successful in their trials between Sheffield and Rotherham, that vehicles like this may offer a cost effective way of linking between two electrified lines. Skipton station is electrified, but Colne is not. However from Rose Grove to Preston and on to Blackpool is planned to be completely electrified in the next few years.
So as Burnley Barracks and Central, Brierfield, Nelson and Colne will effectively be on a single line branch from Rose Grove could it be electrified to perhaps only a tramway standard with occasional passing places and extended to Skipton? Intriguingly, at the other end of the line at Blackpool South the trains could then transfer to the Blackpool tram system.
It may sound all rather fanciful, but it might be easier to slot a tram track through Colne, rather than build a new railway, especially as this Google Earth image of Colne station, shows that there is the dual-carriageway A6068 and a football pitch in the way.
Colne Station
It would surely be cheaper to cross the main road with a tram rather than a railway track.
Surely another advantage of using tram technology is that it will be easier to add extra stops on the line.
I do think that this neglected line from Blackpool South to Colne via Preston has scope for improvement. Judging by some of the ideas in various forums on the Internet, there are a lot of ideas that get proposed by politicians, rail professionals, enthusiasts and train users.
Three things though are going to help decide what happens to this line.
If the incoming government does what is threatened at the present time and electrifies the Calder Valley Line from Preston to Leeds via Blackburn and Burnley, there will likely be a sound economic case for electrifying from Blackpool South to Preston and from Rose Grove to Colne, as both lines are mainly single track.
Electrification will also make sound sense, as there will be more than a few electric trains available, as Crossrail and Thameslink are getting new trains and the displaced trains will be cheaper to refurbish than build new diesels.
I believe tram-trains will be a success and that these could prove ideal to extend the Blackpool tramway. Incidentally, I’ve found a report on the Sintropher website, which details how the Blackpool tramway will be made compatible with tram-trains.
Poulton-le-Fylde Station
Poulton-le-Fylde station is a station on the Blackpool North branch line. After my troubles at Oxenholme, I decided to use my ticket to explore some of the stations on the branch. These are some pictures I took.
Although the station looks rather disabled-unfriendly, it does have a lift.
There is still a track from here to Fleetwood, which in some reports might be reopened as an extension to the Blackpool tramway. It is clearly visible in this Google Earth image.
Poulton-le-Fylde Station
As the Blackpool tramway has been made tram-train ready, this might mean that tram-trains run from Fleetwood to places further inland.
Trouble At Oxenholme
These pictures don’t really tell the whole story of my changing of trains at Oxenholme from the Windermere branch to go to Carlisle, from where I intended to get the train to Leeds via the Settle-Carlisle Line over one of the most spectacular lines in England.
Normally, the interchange probably works well, as it appears trains on the main line going north and south are timed to meet the Class 185 train to or from Windermere.
But!
A West Coast Railways charter train, hauled by a Class 68 had broken down at Carlisle station. According to Virgin station staff the errant train had broken down twice before it actually got on the main line. Apparently, it wasn’t the brand-new engine, but the geriatric coaches. According to Wikipedia West Coast Railways are not having a good time.
West Coast Railways’ operating licence is currently suspended by Network Rail. The suspension came into force at midnight on 3 April 2015, for a minimum of six weeks, due to ongoing safety concerns relating to a serious SPAD (signal passed at danger) incident involving WCR on 7 March 2015.
I shall not be going anywhere near any of their charters.
I spent an hour on a Virgin waiting to get to Carlisle and as they said progress would be slow, I gave up and took a train south to Preston.
So I went to Poulton-le-Fylde instead.
An Excursion To Windermere
I caught a train from Preston direct to Windermere to have a look at the town.
I walked from Windermere station to the town, which is a couple of miles downhill and rather badly signposted. Coming back I took a taxi up the hill, as I wanted to catch a train, which was dead on time and dumped me right in it at Oxenholme. But that wasn’t their fault and as expected there was a ready Virgin waiting.
I should note, that I had an excellent gluten-free lunch at Hyltons close to the lake.
The Windermere Branch Line is almost an oddity on the UK rail network, in that it is a very simple out-and-back line with no passing loops from Oxenholme that runs a better than hourly service using modern trains ( Class 185 trains). Signalling at present is non-existent and it relies on just one train being on the line at a time.
So now sixteen million pounds is going to be spent to electrify the line. Unless the line is given a modern signalling system and a better track layout, this won’t in itself give a better train service, than that at present.
Could the one platform Windermere station cope with anything more than a half-hourly four coach train?
So I suspect there is another motive behind electrifying this line.
The line has to be operated by diesels at present and this may give problems about where the trains are stabled at night, as they will need to be refuelled. And where would you park it overnight, as there is no siding at Oxenholm, so you’d have to leave it in a platform at either end of the line.
Currently, I suspect the first train in the morning comes in from Preston and then the last train of the day goes there for fuelling and an overnight clean and service.
My train direct from Preston to Windermere actually split at Preston, with the front half going to Blackpool. When Blackpool is electrified and electric trains serve that route, this splitting will not be possible, as you’d need to send a diesel train to Windermere, unless the branch was electrified.
Does an electric train working the branch give much greater flexibility in planning the schedules and providing a top class frequent service?
I think it probably does.
The only alternative to electrifying the Windermere branch is to use a battery-assisted electric train, like the one I rode in at Manningtree. But although that technology appears to be very successful, no train company would have just one of these, as what happens when it fails?
The Anonymous Widower 