From Liverpool To Huddersfield
These pictures document a trip I took between Liverpool and Huddersfield.
Some thoughts on the trip.
The Class 319 Interior
The first batch of Northern’s Class 319 trains are very much pack-it-in specials for running commuter services around the Blackpool, Liverpool, Manchester Airport triangle.
They are good for a thirty-year-old train, but they could be better.
In Porterbrook’s Class 319 Flex brochure, they show a proposed interior based on a Class 319/4 with the following.
- A mix of 2×2 and 2×3 seating.
- 12 First Class seats
- 255 Standard Class seats
- A full-accessible toilet.
- Two luggage racks per car.
It would certainly be a much better passenger experience.
Works At Edge Hill
Buckingham Group obviously have a big project on to the East of Edge Hill station.
This Google Map shows the lines through and to the East of Edge Hill.
Note how to the South of the Retail Park and/or warehouses, work seems to be going on. Are extra tracks being created?
There is also a white scar at Wavertree Technology Park station, so if this was two fast lines, then fast services between Liverpool and Manchester and Wigan could storm in and out.
The Atherton Line
The Atherton Line is part of the Manchester-Southport Line and runs between Wigan Wallgate and Salford Crescent stations.
Wikipedia says this about Improvements to the Atherton Line.
There is ongoing feasibility into the conversion of parts of this line (Wigan–Atherton–Manchester) to operate as a Manchester Metrolink service with a higher frequency metro service for the Greater Manchester Boroughs of Wigan and Salford into the city centre. In November 2013, the Greater Manchester Combined Authority approved a recommended strategy for reconfiguring existing commuter services into tram-train operation, identifying the Atherton line as providing an opportunity for extending potential tram-train services from the south-east (Marple, Glossop) across the city centre and outwards to the north west.[2] Southport and Kirkby services on this line would be diverted to operate via Bolton. Additionally, Network Rail has identified electrification of Wigan to Southport, together with the Ormskirk–Preston line and the Burscough Curves as a possible source of new services.
I also think that the route from Salford Crescent to Southport via Atherton and Wigan could be ideal for electrifying in stages using Class 319 Flex trains to bridge any gaps.
The tools seem to be there, now is the time to think about how the work will be done.
Salford Crescent
Salford Crescent station could look very different in the future, as modern station design might be seen to favour two island platforms, one face of each dealing with Manchester Victoria station and the other Manchester Piccadilly station.
- Passengers going in to Manchester, needing trains to the other terminus, would just wait on the platform and catch the next train.
- Passengers coming from Manchester, who needed a different distination would change at Salford Crescent to their desired train.
- Comprehensive information would be provided.
The platforms would be built with lots of space, waiting rooms and coffee kiosks and would be well-staffed.
Manchester Victoria Station
Manchester Victoria station is starting look dirty again.
It must be all those elderly diesel trains.
Huddersfield Line
The Huddersfield Line took me to Stalybridge station and then later on to Huddersfield station.
There was no sign of any electrification work.
Stalybridge Station
As a coeliac, I found Stalybridge station one of the most gluten-free-unfriendly stations I have ever found.
In future, if I’m going that way, I’ll make sure that I stock up in Manchester or Leeds first.
TransPennine Express
The train was crowded and getting on at Stalybridge for the short trip to Huddersfield was delayed, as the conductor couldn’t get near to the doors to open them. Whereas the driver could have had a clear view.
It’s about time the NUR stopped this Driver Only Operation farce, which nearly all passengers think is sillier than the Teletubbies.
I hope the idiot, who landed TransPennine routes with the inadequate number of Class 185 trains, now has a job where he can do no harm, like in charge of the railways on the Scilly Isles.
Huddersfield
I don’t know Huddersfield and the only thing I’ve ever bought in the town is a ticket to the football.
You arrive in the Grade I Listed Huddersfield station and walk out into the magnificent St. George’s Square, which should be a welcoming gateway to the town.
Compare it to Kings Cross Square, where there is generally something going on and on a Friday is bustling with food stalls.
I walked to the shops and did find Marks and Spencer in a prominent place, but why wasn’t the route for pedestrians only, as it was crammed with traffic and parked cars.
Huddersfield needs to think how they organise their town centre, as except for the square ut’s about as weloming to visitors as Turkey is to the Dutch.
This Google Map shows the area.
I feel that Huddersfield needs what most European towns of this size would have and that is a tram, that goes through the centre.
You would walk out of the station and in the square would be a tram stop. Trams would go South along a pedestrianised John William Street and New Street. Obviously the route would be designed to go through the town to the main hospital, the University and if possible the the Council Offices, the Courts and the football/rugby stadium.
Incidentally, if you search for Huddersfield Hospital, you don’t find the NHS hospital, but a private one. All major hospitals should have a name like Ipswich, Reading or Crawley Hospital. It should also be galleria for sports venues to constantly change their names.
Huddersfield might wonder, why it doesn’t get the visitors, it thinks it should. It’s because it isn’t visitor friendly.
If I was a businessman wanting to set up a depot, warehouse or whatever in a large town in the North of England, Huddersfield would put me off because of its non-existent and chaotic transport system, built around everybody having a car with a sat-nav.
From Blackburn To Liverpool
I took these pictures as I went from Blackburn to Liverpool by a rather roundabout route mainly using a Lancashire Day Ranger.
These are my notes on the pictures.
The North Wakes Up Slow
I usually wake up about five and listen to the early news and Wake Up To Money on BBC Radio 5.
One of the reasons, I stay in Premier Inns, is that when I’m in one, I don’t have to change my routine.
I often leave home around seven and get my paper from the shop on the corner, which opens at the same time. Even on Sundays!
But in Blackburn and many places in the North, try getting a paper at that time and nothing’s open.
The Morrisons in Blackburn Town Centre didn’t open until 08:30, which is almost the afternoon for me!
Clitheroe Station
I did take one of the first stations to Clitheroe station, which cost me just £2.70 with my Senior Railcard.
Clitheroe is the sort of station, that has a homely atmosphere and serves as the terminal for the Ribble Valley Line, with a ticket office, four-car platforms and an underpass to get across the tracks.
To Southport via Bolton
I took the train back to Bolton station and I just had time to buy a Lancashire Day Ranger in time to get a train to Southport station.
Southport station has a direct entrance to the town’s Marks and Spencer, so it must have the biggest food hall in any UK station.
I took the opportunity to pick up some sandwiches for an early lunch.
Kirkby Station
Kirkby station is like Ormskirk station, where the Merseyrail third-rail electric trains meet Northern’s services from Manchester or Preston.
It is not the best of designs, but Merseyrail are aiming to move the interchange to a new station at Headbolt Lane, which will hopefully have electric trains to Manchester on the Kirkby Branch Line, via Wigan Wallgate and Atherton stations.
Kirkdale Station
Kirkdale station is architecturally unusual, in that everything is on a step-free bridge across the tracks. Liverpool has another similar one in Wavertree Technology Parkstation, but why haven’t we got a standard station like this for lines in cuttings?
St. Luke’s Church
I always visit St. Luke’s Church, if I have time, when I pass through Liverpool.
It was one of C’s favourite places in the City and to me, it sums up Liverpool’s attitude to the troubles that beset us all!
Sadly, it would appear that La Bussola in old Street is no more, as it’s reincarnation as a Starbucks has been turned into a clothes shop.
The places of 1960s Liverpool are disappearing. At least Phred seemed to still be standing tall on the shell of the former Lewis’s Department Store.
The Anonymous Widower 