Wigan Wallgate To Headbolt Lane – 10th May 2025
I was now running late and decided to go back to Liverpool via the Kirkby Branch Line, with a change of train at Headbolt Lane.
I took these pictures along the route.
Note.
- Wigan Wallgate station could be refurbished into a quality station.
- Manchester to Wigan Wallgate is likely to be electrified, as I wrote in Bolton-Wigan £78m Rail Electrification Project Announced.
- Headbolt Lane station is a new station.
- The other stations on the line are fairly rudimentary affairs.
- Only Headbolt Lane station is step-free, as all platforms are on the same level.
The Kirkby Branch Line runs across the flat Lancashire countryside.
This Google Map shows the unusual layout of Headbolt Lane station.
Note.
- Liverpool is to the South-West.
- Wigan and Manchester are to the North-East.
- The station buildings and the car parks are on the North side of the tracks.
- There are two platforms pointing towards Liverpool.
- There is a single platform pointing towards Wigan.
- There is a second track pointing towards Wigan, that has no platform.
- None of the tracks are electrified.
- Three red buffer stops can be picked out.
- Trains to Liverpool are run by battery-electric Class 777 multiple units.
- Trains to Wigan and Manchester are run by diesel multiple units.
All platforms are the same level and you can walk from one side of the station to the other between the buffer stops.
It is effectively a step-free three-platform station without lifts or escalators.
I have never seen another station like it!
Modernising The Route Between Wigan Wallgate And Headbolt Lane
Consider.
- With the exception of Headbolt Lane station, there is no step-free access on this line and that needs to be addressed.
- Wigan Wallgate station has an island platform, with steps to the street.
- With the exception of Headbolt Lane station, there is very little parking.
- The Class 150 diesel multiple units are forty years old.
The distance between Wigan Wallgate and Headbolt Lane stations is about 15 miles.
The Future Of HS2 Could Lie In Its Original Vision
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article on Railway Gazette.
This is the sub-heading.
High Speed 2 should be rescoped to run from London Euston to Crewe, taking advantage of the lessons learned and supply chain foundations established during Phase 1, says Dyan Perry, Chair of the High Speed Rail Group.
The article has been written by Dyan Perry, who knows her railways and especially high speed ones well.
These two first paragraphs introduce her arguments.
High Speed 2 stands at a defining crossroads. Phase 1 from Old Oak Common to Birmingham has the green light, and under the new leadership of HS2 Ltd CEO Mark Wild the project is undergoing a positive and much needed ’reset’. With around 31 000 jobs currently supported, more than 75% of tunnelling completed and construction underway on two-thirds of HS2’s viaducts, momentum is building again.
This fresh injection of energy is welcome after years of shifting goalposts and cuts to the project’s scope. However, while Phase I pushes ahead, the handbrake has been pulled on the next critical phases of the project: the route from the West Midlands to Crewe and Old Oak Common to London Euston.
In the short term, this may appear fiscally sensible. However, as with all infrastructure investments, the project and potential returns must be viewed through a long-term lens. After all, a half-built railway moulded by short-term decision-making risks squandering investment to date and losing billions of pounds of taxpayers’ money.
The High Speed Rail Group (HSRG) has these recommendations.
- A “Euston to Crewe” Core.
- West Midlands to Crewe must be given the go-ahead before the powers to do so run out. This would provide much needed capacity on the West Coast Main Line.
- Use the lessons learned on Phase 1 to build West Midlands to Crewe more effectively.
- Build a streamlined, cost effective station at Euston.
- HSRG believes a concession let for a London to Birmingham and Crewe railway line, one that takes learning from the High Speed One financing model, could generate between £7·5bn and £10bn in concession value, a significant return for taxpayers.
High Speed Two needs a cohesive long term plan.
I very much agree with what Dyan and the HSRG are saying.
I also have some related thoughts.
High Speed East Coast
I am a Control Engineer by training and I’ve felt for some time, that the some of the bottlenecks on the East Coast Main Line to the South of Doncaster could be solved by intelligent digital signalling.
I believe that the major cities of the North-East of England and Eastern Scotland would be best served by direct high speed trains from London on the East Coast Main Line. I also think, that such an approach would deliver similar times to High Speed Two via Birmingham.
North of York
Just as stations on the West Coast to the North of Crewe will be served by High Speed Two and the West Coast Main Line, stations North of York will be served by trains going up the East Coast Main Line.
The Element Of Competition
I said earlier, that if a 30-year concession were to be sold for the West Coast Main Line, it could raise between £7.5bn and £10bn.
So why not sell a concession for the East Coast Main Line?
A further benefit, is that competition between the two concessions and the budget airlines, might bring down timings and prices, just as competition did in the Railway Races of 1888 and 1895.
High Speed North Wales
I have believed for some time, that there is a need for a zero-carbon (green) route between London and Dublin and ultimately between the Channel Tunnel and Dublin.
The last Conservative government promised to electrify Crewe and Holyhead along the North Wales Coast.
This route could deliver passengers to Holyhead for a zero-carbon high speed catamaran to Dublin.
The EU would be a beneficiary and might like to help fund the route.
Arriving In Liverpool Lime Street Station – 10th May 2025
Liverpool Lime Street station has one of the more spectacular approaches of British railway stations, as these pictures show.
These sections describe the approach.
Crossing The Mersey
You cross the Mersey at Runcorn on the Ethelfreda or Britannia Bridge, which is described in this Wikipedia entry.
It was completed in 1868 and hopefully in a few years, it will be carrying High Speed Two trains between London and Liverpool.
On your right as you cross the Mersey to Liverpool is the Silver Jubilee road bridge, which is a through arch bridge that opened in 1961 to replace a historic transporter bridge. I am just a little bit too young to have seen the transporter bridge.
Further to your right, you can see the Mersey Gateway Bridge, which is a cable-stayed bridge, that opened in 2017 and is described in this Wikipedia entry.
Drax’s Biomass
As you approach Lime Street station, you pass through Edge Hill, where there are the GB Railfreight sidings, where the biomass trains for Drax power station are marshalled for their journey across the Pennines. These Drax trains seem to be one of the few freight trains in the UK, that carry advertising. Tesco trains also do, but their’s is just big letters.
In Do Cummins And Stadler Have a Cunning Plan?, I talked about the possible conversion at some date in the future of GB Railfreight’s new electro-diesel Class 99 locomotives to electro-hydrogen locomotives. These locomotives will surely be ideal for hauling Drax’s biomass trains across the Pennines.
I do believe that these Class 99 locomotives are the future of heavy freight trains in the UK. In Iarnród Éireann Looks At Diesel Loco Replacement Options, I write about speculation, that Stadler may build a version for the Irish.
Through The Edge Hill Cutting
From Edge Hill a deep cutting through the sandstone takes you into Lime Street station.
It looked good in the sun, but the first time I arrived in the city to start my studies at Liverpool University, it was chucking it down and the cutting was very dark and wet.
It was a very different welcome to that, which I got yesterday.
My Train Arrived In Platform 10
Liverpool Lime Street has two cast iron train sheds.
- The Western shed has platform 1 to 5 and generally handles trains from the East.
- The Eastern shed has platform 6 to 10 and generally handles trains from the South.
Note.
- Changing between trains is just a step-free walk across the station concourse.
- Both sections have their own taxi rank and full-size clock.
- The Ticket Office is in the Western train shed.
I just walked from my train to the Ticket Office, bought a Lancashire Day Ranger ticket and then walked fifty metres to my next train.
How many stations have such an easy change of trains?
Is Liverpool Lime Street Station Ready For High Speed Two?
Consider.
- I travelled North in an 11-car Class 390 train, which is 265.3 metres long and can carry 607 passengers.
- As the last pictures show, the train fitted easily into platform 10.
- High Speed Two plans to send 200 metre classic-compatible trains to Liverpool Lime Street, with each having a capacity of up to 528.
It looks to me, that these High Speed Two classic-compatible trains will fit into Liverpool Lime Street station, at any platform that currently accepts an eleven-car Class 390 train.
Looking on Real Time trains over the last few days, I’ve found eleven-car Class 390 trains using platforms 9, 10 and 6.
It seems that Network Rail’s engineers have done a superb job to turn the Grade II Listed station, into one of the best operationally.
New Routemasters As Advertising Hoardings
Increasingly, New Routemasters are appearing as advertising hoardings.
Note.
- I am unsure if some of the products should be advertised so prominently.
- The last picture is of a naked bus to fill the space.
- I shall be adding to this gallery.
In Could London’s New Routemaster Buses Be Converted To Hydrogen Power?, I came to this conclusion.
I believe from my knowledge of Cummins and the way they work, that they will come up with a hydrogen-based solution, that will replace the Cummins diesel in these buses with a zero-carbon engine.
If Cummins don’t then someone else will.
Whoever solves the problem of converting London’s new Routemasters to hydrogen will have one of the best adverts for their product, there has ever been.
After converting London’s thousand Routemasters, the engineers could move on to anything powered by a Cummins engine.
It would be a quick, easy and affordable way to create a thousand zero-carbon buses.
Does Your Car Have A Large Capacity, Dash Mounted Refrigerator?
I suspect not, but Wrightbus’s new Contour Coach will have one for the driver and the lucky soul, who sits in the other front seat.
Wrightbus have now put the specification of the Contour coach on a page that is entitled Experience The Contour Difference.
This is the introduction.
Introducing the Wright Contour Diesel Coach, where luxury, innovation, and performance come together. Since 1946, Wright has been at the forefront of transportation innovation, shaping the future with its unwavering commitment to excellence. Today, as UK’s No.1 zero-emission bus manufacturer and one of Europe’s fastest growing brands, Wright is making a bold return to the luxury coach market with the all-new Contour Diesel Coach (available in UK and Europe). In the 1980s, Wright revolutionised the luxury coach industry with its innovative, high-end Contour models, setting new standards in design and comfort. On 5th March 2025, Wright makes a bold return to the coach market with the all-new Contour Diesel Coach, redefining performance, style, and efficiency, offering spacious interiors, advanced safety features, and a high-performance Cummins X11 Euro 6 engine delivering 400hp. With competitive pricing, reduced lead times, and full service support to ‘complete Vehicle OEM and operator support’ from Wright’s All Service One Network, the Contour is built to exceed expectations. Plus, with a 2-year or 200,000km warranty backed fully by Wright, it ensures reliability and peace of mind.
I asked Google AI if the Cummins X11 engine can be converted to hydrogen and was told this.
Yes, while not inherently designed for hydrogen from the factory, the Cummins X11 engine, like many Cummins diesel engines, can be converted to run on hydrogen fuel. This involves modifications, including changing the cylinder head and fuel system.
As I discussed in Wrightbus StreetDeck Ultroliner Next-Gen To Get Cummins Power, it appears Wrightbus are going the Cummins route, to open up the possibility of converting the vehicles to hydrogen at some point in the future.
Cummins have certainly seen a green vision. on the Road to Net Zero, which seems to go via their Darlington factory.
The coach specification includes.
- Premium reclining seats for all passengers.
- Adjustable armrests, and USB ports at every seat.
- Safety features like 3-point seat belts and ‘buckle up’ alerts.
- Powered doors to the lockers underneath.
- Reversing and rear-door cameras.
Wrightbus are also promising reduced lead times, which in my experience as a part-owner of a leasing company, that financed a large number of coaches, is very much to be welcomed.
Hydrogen Fuel Cell-Powered Coaches
Two trips convinced me, that hydrogen fuel cell coaches are the way to go.
In Riding Rail Air Between Reading Station And Heathrow Terminal 5, I did what it says in the title.
I was very disappointed.
The coach may have been a nearly-new top-of-the-range model, but my journey was to the accompanying thump-thump-thump of the diesel engine. There were also no USB ports, which these days many British Rail-era trains are sporting.
In Sutton Station To Gatwick Airport By Hydrogen-Powered Bus, I also did what it said in the title.
I was very impressed and it convinced me that hydrogen fuel cell-powered coaches could be an interesting proposition.
The power unit was mouse-quiet and the bus had more than adequate performance for the route, through the Surrey Hills.
It would be a very fruitful experiment, if say a twenty-mile route to say an airport, that is currently run by a traditional diesel coach, were to be replaced by a hydrogen fuel cell-powered bus, with a more luggage-friendly interior.
- Would passenger numbers increase?
- Would the number of airport workers using the service increase?
I believe that in a few years diesel coaches will be filed under Betamax.
Is There A Market For A Wrightbus Hydroliner FCEV-based Hybrid Coach?
A few years ago, there was a plan, to improve public transport to Heathrow, that would have seen the Elizabeth Line to Terminal 5 extended to Staines. I went to Staines and discussed this with one of the staff at the station.
He was all for this, as it would have given staff at the airport and in the airlines, an easy route to and from work, which would mean, they didn’t have to pay to take their car, especially, when they were working difficult shifts.
A Wrightbus Hydroliner FCEV, with a hybrid interior geared to both passengers with heavy luggage and passengers and airport and airline workers with just a carry-on size bag, might appeal to some operators.
Especially for some of the night bus routes operating to Heathrow.
The Story Of An O-Ring
I have a very unusual skin, as is partly shown by these pictures.
Note.
- There is a scar on the back of my left hand, where I cut it on the glass bathroom door in my bedroom.
- But with skillful gluing at the Royal London hospital and TLC and stern words from the practice nurse at my GP’s it healed perfectly.
- If I give blood samples or have an injection, I don’t need a plaster.
- My left foot is a deeper shade of red to the right. No-one has given me a reason for this.
- My previous now-retired GP, always took his own blood samples, when he needed them and had smiles all over his face. Perhaps, he was proving to himself, that it was happening?
- I wrote about my skin before in My Strange Skin, in 2020.
- One therapist said unusually for someone, who had a left-sided stroke, that my left leg is the stronger.
As my ancestry is part-Jewish and part-Huguenot could it just be that only the strongest genes survived from their poor living conditions my ancestors endured in the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries?
My Cardiologist And His Wife, Have Suggested I Use An Emollient In My Bath
I am now adding Oilatum Emollient to my bath water, which I get delivered by Ocado.
It is not cheap, but my feet are now more made for walking.
I put three cap-fulls in a bath and lie in it for about 10-20 minutes.
An O-Ring Failure On Bad Friday
A rubber O-ring sitting in a groove on the plug, should keep the water in the bath, but as this picture shows the O-ring had seen better days.
The picture of the new O-ring shows how it should look on the plug.
On Bad Friday, the O-ring finally gave up and any water put in the bath, went straight down the drain.
A Fruitless Bad Friday
Internet searches proved fruitless in my search for a shop that was open on Bad Friday.
So I vowed to try again today.
Searching For cp Hart At Waterloo
cp Hart, from whom I bought the original bath, appeared to be open at Waterloo, so after breakfast on Moorgate, I made my way to look for the branch of cp Hart at Waterloo.
Note.
- Why does South London and its trains have to be covered in graffiti?
- Most of it, is not even good graffiti.
- In my view, the Bakerloo Line should not get new trains, until the graffiti has stopped.
- I wandered round Waterloo for about ninety minutes before I found cp Hart, with the help of two police constables.
- And when I finally found cp Hart, they didn’t do spares.
- I tripped over the uneven pavement in the last picture. But as I usually do, I retained my balance and didn’t fall. Is that all the B12 I take for coeliac disease?
My mother always used to say, that you shouldn’t go to South London without a posse.
Eventually, I had a coffee in Costa and took the 76 bus home.
Success At Last!
To get home on a 76 bus, I have to change in De Beauvoir Town and whilst I waited for the 141 bus to take me home, I checked out the local builders merchants.
The owner was his usual self and fitted my plug with a free new O-ring.
I was now able to have a bath.
And watch the snooker.
I can certainly recommend a television in your bathroom.
Note the vertical handrail, that allows me to step easily in and out of the bath.
Level Boarding Included In Rail Innovation Funding Competition
The title of this post, is the same as that of this article in Railway Gazette.
This is the introductory paragraph.
Innovate UK has opened the latest calls for grant funding proposals under the First of a Kind programme, which supports the demonstration of innovative technologies to give them a better chance at being deployed by railway companies.
What annoys me about boarding trains (and some buses for that matter!), is how variable it is.
- Trains in East Anglia, Merseyside and Switzerland are particularly good, but then they have the common Stadler factor.
- Will the Newcastle Metro and the Glasgow Subway be as good?
- Some European countries, including Germany, could do much better!
- Once at Leipzig, I helped four hefty Germans lift a guy and his wheel-chair out of the bottom-deck of a double-deck train.
- In London, the Docklands Light Railway, the Elizabeth Line and some parts of the Overground are acceptable, but there is need for improvement.
- Southeastern, including the HighSpeed is particularly dodgy and I need help at some stations like Clapham Junction and Lewisham.
- Bank has a notorious platform on the Central Line.
- Perhaps the worst in London are some stations on theBakerloo Line, where it shares with the Watford DC Line.
All passengers on buses and trains deserve the best access that designers and bus and train manufacturers can devise.
In one incident, a slight, elderly Indian lady in a sari, was having difficulty getting down from an Overground train on the Watford DC Line at Willesden Junction station.
I was the only person on the platform, so I called out. “Can You Jump?”
Which she did and landed safely on her feet! I caught her and it was smiles all round!
I suspect she’d done that before.
So is one idea to give all passengers, lessons in jumping on and off buses and trains?
Seriously though, could Lego devise a large-scale engineering version of their product, that could be used to create steps and humps, which could be glued together for strength.
Alternatively, 3D printing could be used to create gap-fillers.
I think this challenge from Innovate UK will bring forward some good solutions.
A Step-Free Adventure Under The Thames Between Moorgate and Grove Park
I am assembling this post, as a number of sub-posts, so it will not make sense until it is finished.
From Moorgate Station To East India Station
I started this adventure from Moorgate, but I could have started it from any Central London location that is well-connected to Bank station.
As I had had a full English breakfast in a pot, at Leon on Moorgate, it seemed to be a good place to start.
My route started simple, in that I took the Northern Line to Bank station and then took the Docklands Light Railway to East India station.
This first gallery of pictures shows my journey until I caught the SL4 bus at East India station.
Note.
- The first few pictures show getting to East India station on the Docklands Light Railway.
- Moorgate station has a high step into the Northern Line train.
- All the others are more or less level.
- East India station is then shown in detail.
East India station is fully step-free with lifts.
Southbound Through The Silvertown Tunnel
This second gallery of pictures shows my Southbound journey approaching and through the Silvertown Tunnel.
Note.
- The dual-carriageway leading to the tunnel wasn’t busy.
- The bus was in the inside lane all the way through.
- I don’t think anybody passed the bus.
- There appeared to be more traffic coming out of the Blackwall Tunnel.
The traffic from the two tunnels seemed to merging well.
Blackheath Station
This third gallery of pictures shows Blackheath station.
Note.
- Blackheath station has a good number of useful shops for a worthwhile pit-stop.
- There was even a fish and chip shop.
- Blackheath station has a lift to one platform and a ramp to the other.
- The bus stop I used was only a small step into the bus.
The transfer between bus and train would not be as easy as East India station, but I don’t think it would be difficult for say someone in a wheel-chair.
Lee Station
This fourth gallery of pictures shows Lee station.
Note.
- The station was a stiff uphill walk from the bus stop.
- Both platforms had their own uphill walk.
If I was in a wheel-chair, I’d give this Lee station a miss.
Grove Park
The route ends at Grove Park bus station.
This fifth gallery of pictures shows, where the bus terminated.
Note.
- It wasn’t the most interesting of places.
- I couldn’t even find a decent cafe for a coffee.
- In the fifteen minutes I was at Grove Park, I must have seen five SL4 buses.
- I’d hoped it would be near to Grove Park station, but I couldn’t see any signs to it and the two people I asked didn’t know where it was.
- In the end I had to walk about five hundred metres to get the SL4 back to Central London.
My mother always advised you take a posse with you, when you venture into South London. She was right!
When I got home, I looked up, where I’d been on Google Maps.
Note.
- Baring Road running North-South down the Eastern side of the map.
- The Esso filling station and the bus station are at the top of the map.
- Grove Park station is at the bottom of the map.
My mother would have said, this is why you need a posse.
Return To East India Station
This sixth gallery of pictures shows the run up the dual-carriageway approach and the run through the tunnel.
Note.
My First Trip Through The Silvertown Tunnel – 7th April 2025
These pictures show my first trip through the Silvertown Tunnel.
Note.
- The two S4 Bus Stops are not far from the Waitrose At Canary Wharf.
- I picked up the S4 Bus in the North Collonade At Canary Wharf at stop H.
- Coming North I would have been dropped at Stop J, which is close to the plaza of the famous clocks.
- Unfortunately, I was given bad information by station staff and I took a roundabout route to stop H, but a helpful security guard put me right.
- One of the first stops of the bus was East India station, which looks a good accessible interchange with the Docklands Light Railway.
I got out of the bus at Blackheath station, which was a short walk across the road from the bus stop.
I have some thoughts.
Who Chose The Chinese Buses?
On a prestige project like this it is a classic opportunity to show off, the best of British design and technology.
So undoubtedly, it was a mistake that the buses through the tunnel are Chinese.
I doubt the French, German or Spanish would have chosen Chinese buses on such a project.
Are There Enough Stops At Stations Close To The River?
There seem to be quite a few small hotels between the Silvertown Tunnel and Blackheath and I wondered if there were enough stops.
There also doesn’t appear to be a stop by Westcombe Park station.
Thirty mph Seems Fast Enough In The Tunnel
Everything seemed to be going smoothly in the tunnel.
Conclusion
I shall be writing more about the Silvertown Tunnel.
But from a first ride-through, it looks a well-built tunnel.
Moorgate’s New Light-Controlled Crossing – 5th April 2025
I was on Moorgate this morning and took these extra pictures of the new pedestrian crossing.
It will certainly make it easier to cross the road.
The Anonymous Widower 