Wires At Kirkham And Wesham Station – 17th April 2018
These pictures show Kirkham and Wesham station.
Note.
- Two new lifts are being installed.
- The overhead wires appear to be complete on the two main lines.
- The platform used by the Blackpool South Branch appears not to have been electrified.
Does anybody know if the line to Blackpool South station will be electrified?
- After all a four-coach bi-mode train like a Class 769 train could run the service.
- The last two Open Championships at Royal Lytham and St.Annes, were in 2012 and 2001, so it could return in the early 2020s.
But that gives the Blackpool area and Northern time to create the proper transport solution for the next Open at Royal Lytham and St. Annes.
Another Ambitious Tunnel
This article on Global Rail News is entitled Study Finds C$1.7bn Undersea Rail Tunnel The Most Attractive Option For Labrador-Newfoundland Link.
The article cites innovations in tunnel technology is one of the reasons, that this tunnel is now possible at an affordable cost.
The study also proposed that the single rail tunnel, uses this operational method.
Travelling at up to 100km/h, the train would take 20 minutes to cross the strait. It would operate 12 hours a day, seven days a week, carrying a maximum of around 130 vehicles.
They indicate because of low traffic levels, this would handle traffic for over forty years.
Tunnel builders will increasingly get more ambitious and we’ll see more plans for tunnels in the future.
Between Blackpool South And Colne Stations Could Take Longer After 20th May
Tomorrow, trains between Blackpool South and Colne stations will take a few minutes under two hours.
But after the timetable change of May 20th, the journey will take an hour longer.
- There will be a change at Preston.
- This change will involve a wait of an hour.
I have ridden that line and in the summer, there are a lot of passengers that use it for a trip to the seaside.
Northern’s Plans For Between Preston And Ormskirk
The service on the Ormskirk Branch Line between Preston and Ormskirk stations is an infuriating one.
- The Class 153 trains that run the service seem to be unreliable when I use it.
- The frequency is roughly hourly and not clockface by any means.
- Sometimes the trains are very full.
- The signalling appears to be old-fashioned.
But it seems that from May 21st, things will be getting better.
The timetable shows the following.
- Trains leave Ormskirk hourly from 07:01 until 23:11 and take 31 minutes to get to Preston.
- Trains leave Preston hourly from 06:26 until 21:26 and take 30 minutes to get to Ormskirk.
Journey times are actually similar to now, so I would assume they are for a Class 153 train.
What a pity, that the round trip will take over an hour.
Northern will need two trains to run this service, but if they could do a round trip in an hour, only one train would be needed.
Consider.
The Class 153 train is only a 75 mph train.
Part of the journey is along the electrified West Coast Main Line.
Northern have or soon will have faster trains in their fleet
- Class 158 train – 90 mph
- Class 170 train – 100 mph
- Class 769 train – 100 mph on electric, 90 mph on diesel.
I suspect that any one of these trains could achieve the hourly round trip.
All would offer increased capacity and better quality interiors.
The Class 769 train would handle the route with ease.
- The train could use the electrification on the West Coast Main Line.
- The train is faster.
- It is a four-car train.
I doubt it will happen, but the trains could continue on the Merseyrail network, if their third-rail electrification shoes, were to be refitted.
But who knows what will happen if Merseyrail and Northern decide to bring the railways between Blackpool, Kirkby, Ormskirk, Preston, Southport and Wigan into the twenty-first century?
There’s certainly a lot happening in the area at the timetable change on May 20th.
- Blackpool to Liverpool gets an electric hourly service.
- Blackpool to Manchester Airport gets an hourly service, which will go electric in time.
- Ormskirk to Preston gets a proper hourly service.
- Wigan North Western to Alderley Edge gets a new service using Class 769 trains.
- Wigan North Western to Stalybridge gets a revamped service using Class 769 trains.
Porterbrook’s affordable bi-mode Class 769 train seems to be fully involved.
What Rolling Stock Will Northern Use Between Blackpool North And Manchester Airport Stations From Tomorrow?
I was alerted to the opening of the service, by this article in Rail Technology Magazine, which is entitled Blackpool To Preston Route To Reopen After Major 5-Month Transformation.
As I was coming up to see someone on Tuesday, I’ve decided to come up on the first Virgin from Euston at 16:33 to Blackpool North station.
My train coming up from London, is I suspect a Class 221 train, as I’m in First in Coach E. So I’ll be diesel-hauled all the way.
I have read somewhere that four-car trains will be running between Blackpool North and Manchester Airport stations, so as these trains will be going via Bolton, where there is still no electrification, I would expect, that Northern will be running a couple of Class 156 trains on this route.
But the route would also be an ideal one to introduce the long-awaited Class 769 trains!
- Trains call at Poulton-le-Fylde, Preston, Buckshaw Parkway, Chorley, Horwich Parkway, Bolton, Salford Crescent, Deansgate, Oxford Road, Piccadilly and Heald Green.
- It is electrified, except for between Preston and Deansgate, which could be ready in May 2018.
- The trains are four-cars with a universal access toilet, so are a step up from the previous rolling stock.
In their news release on the reopening of the Blackpool to Preston route, Northern says this.
Train services between Preston and Blackpool North will resume from Monday 16 April 2018 initially with one train per hour allowing time for driver training on the route.
Obviously, drivers have to learn the route, but as Northern have a fleet of thirty-two Class 319 trains, I suspect they have enough drivers to handle this fleet, when they eventually get to run between Blackpool North and Manchester Airport.
I think it’s unlikely, but I wouldn’t be completely surprised to see Class 769 trains working this route for training purposes.
In Does A New Service Start Between Wigan North Western And Alderley Edge Stations Using Class 769 Trains On May 20th?, I came to the conclusion that from May 20th, Northern will be adding these two hourly services using Class 769 trains.
- Wigan North Western and Alderley Edge
- Wigan North Western and Stalybridge
So will the training of the drivers be completed between Blackpool North and Preston?
Blackpool North And Liverpool Lime Street
I have been exploring this route on the timetable.
I found these trains running from Blackpool North to Liverpool Lime Street.
- Sundays from April 22nd an hourly train between 11:00 and 22:00
- Monday to Saturday from April 20th a direct train at 18:02.
- Sundays from May 21st an hourly train between 08:30 and 22:00
- Monday to Saturday from May 21st an hourly service between 06:00 and 22:00
And these trains running from Liverpool Lime Street to Blackpool North.
- Sundays from April 22nd an hourly train between 08:47 and 20:47
- Monday to Saturday from April 20th a direct train at 07:56.
- Sundays from May 21st an hourly train between 06:36 and 22:15
- Monday to Saturday from May 21st an hourly service between 06:00 and 22:00
I would assume that all trains would be served by Class 319 trains.
I think that Northern are being canny here.
- Liverpool Lime Street and Blackpool North services will be run from the next weekend, with an hourly Sunday service. This will sort out any possible problems with an hourly service, before it is introduced on May 20th.
- They have added a couple of trains to help commuters between Liverpool and Blackpool.
- There is still a lot of capacity between Preston and Blackpool North for training.
It will be interesting to see how passengers react to the new timetable on May 20th.
Marks And Spencer Returns To Dalston
Marks and Spencer used to have a shop in Dalston, but it is now long gone. In those days before and during the Second World War, the shop would have been close to where my mother worked at Reeves.
Yesterday, I went to the littleWaitrose at Highbury and Islington, only to find it was being rebuilt, so I decided to take the Overground to Dalston Kingsland station and get the tin of cannellini beans, needed from the big Sainsburys opposite.
On turning right out of the station, I saw a new store had been opened under a new residential block.
Imagine my surprise, when I saw it was a new M & S Foothall.
But Marks and Spencer don’t sell cannellini beans, do they? Oh! Yes they do!
- This new stop may only have a short frontage on the street, but it is deep.
- It is much more Kings Road, than Dalston Kingsland High Street.
- The gluten-free section is massive.
- I was even able to get the Southwold 0.5% low-alcohol beer.
These pictures show the store on Dalston Kingsland High Street.
I suspect this store will be a roaraway success.
- It is a high-quality store.
- The world-famous Ridley Road Market is opposite.
- The only major store in the area, is a medium-sized, but rather tired Sainsburys.
- Passengers changing between the two alston stations will have to pass the front door.
- It is up there with new stores I’ve seem in Camden Town, Muswell Hill and West Hampstead.
If Crossrail 2 is built, it will sit right on top of the Dalston mega-station.
Putting Right Norfolk’s £150m Rail Mistake
The title of this post is the same as that of an article in Issue 849 Of Rail Magazine.
The article discusses reopening the the former branch line between King’s Lynn station and Hunstanton, which in the author’s view, was a a mistake on British Rail’s part and nothing to do with Beeching.
This video shows the line just before closing.
Note that John Betjeman was the Michael Portillo of his day, but he had a more traditional dress sense and wrote better poetry.
- It would be a fifteen mile railway to one of the UK’s top-quality coastal resorts.
- The track-bed is more or less intact, although it is blocked in places.
- The branch used to have intermediate stations at North Wootton, Wolferton, Dershingham, Snettisham and Heacham.
- Wolferton station used to serve the Royal residence of Sandringham.
- A parkway station at Hunstanton is suggested to replace the former Hunstanton station.
These reasons are given for reopening the line.
- The number of people over sixty in North West Norfolk is a third over the National average.
- King’s Lynn is the local centre, with a good shopping centre, hospital and rail and bus connections to all over Norfolk and to Cambridge and London.
- Young people leave the area to get skilled jobs, when they leave school.
- Day visitors from places like Cambridge would be encouraged to come by train.
- The roads are overcrowded.
But possibly, the biggest reason could be to create a rail link to the vast silica sand deposits near Dershingham.
- Rail would be an ideal way to transport the silica sand, as the roads are crowded now!
- The quarry near Middleton Towers uses trains to Barnsley, Doncaster and Goole.
- The development would probably mean more local jobs.
It is also stated, that Norfolk County Council are supportive of rail developments.
These are my thoughts on the proposals.
Kings Lynn Station
King’s Lynn has a quirky Grade II Listed station, as I described in King’s Lynn Station.
- The station has three platforms and plenty of spare capacity
- The station is within walking distance of the town centre and bus station.
- It is likely in future that the train service to Ely, ambridge and London will be at least two trains per hour (tph)
The station could certainly handle passenger trains to and from Hunstanton.
The Fen Line
I believe that any serious increase in the number of trains on the Fen Line, will result in the redoubling of the line.
A double-track line Fen Line, coupled with the sorting of Ely North junction, would probably be able to handle up to twelve tph. which would be more than enough to handle extra passenger and freight trains to Hunstanton.
Tracks Between King’s Lynn and Hunstanton
The line would probably be in two parts.
- King’s Lynn to Dershingham, where passenger and freight services would operate.
- Dershingham to Hunstanton, where only passenger services would operate.
The line could even be built as a double -track to Dershingham and then single track to Hunstanton.
Electrification would depend on the trains.
Passenger Trains Between King’s Lynn and Hunstanton
Passenger trains could serve the branch in one of two ways.
- The branch could have a shuttle train, that was timetabled to work well with London trains.
- London trains could go on to Hunstanton with a reverse at King’s Lynn.
The branch would be about the same length as the Felixstowe Branch Line, which has an hourly shuttle to Ipswich.
This simple service should be possible between King’s Lynn and Hunstanton, working on the principle of ome-train on branch.
But it would probably make it easy to timetable an extended service as well.
As it is proposed that services between King’s Lynn and Kings Cross are going to be doubled in frequency, there are a lot of decisions to take.
What Type Of Trains Would Run Between King’s Lynn and Hunstanton?
Technology is moving on apace and this will drive the choice.
In a few years time, trains could be 125 mph capable on the Kings Cross and King’s Lynn route, as I wrote about in Call For ETCS On King’s Lynn Route.
The 125 mph would not be needed, but technology like batteries or bi-mode would be available to trundle the train along the route to m Hunstanton.
Independently powered trains, would not require any electrification of the branch, which would reduce the cost of both building and operating the line.
I also think, that we’ll see a high degree of automation to both handle the reverse at king’s Lynn and running along the branch.
Hunstanton Station
The article suggests that Hunstanton station could be a parkway station to the East of the town.
- The original station site is mainly a car park in the centre of the town.
- There is space outside the town.
Putting the station to the East would make it easier to extend the railway.
Onward From Hunstanton
On a map in the article, a line to Wells and Fakenham is shown.
Could the author be thinking that the King’s Lynn to Hunstanton line eventually ends up as a coastal railway?
He’s certainly not ruling it out.
- It could go all the way to Sheringham, where it would link up with the service to Norwich?
- You can see a lot of the old track-bed on Google Map.
But such a line would restore a rail link between King’s Lynn and Norwich.
Conclusion
Reopening the line between King’s Lynn and Hunstanton, would appear to be not onoy feaiblre, but also something that could be very financially worthwhile.
Caledonian Sleeper’s New Mark 5 Carriages Tested In UK For First Time
The title of this post is the same as that of this article on Global Rail News.
It appears from the article, that the project is on track, as the new Mark 5A carriages for the Caledonian Sleeper being tested on the West Highland Line, have spent time doing mandatory testing in the Czech Republic.
Two pictures in the article, show the carriages being hauled on test, by a Class 73 locomotive.
We must be only country in the world, where a flagship service, that runs virtually the whole length of the country , is hauled part of the way by a locomotive over fifty years old.
On the other hand, the Class 73 locomotives were built for the narrow tunnels and limited clearances of the Hastings Line, so they could work any of the third-rail electrified lines in the South of England.
The Highlands of Scotland may not have any electrification, but there are routes with limited clearances, where the Caledonian Sleeper will go.
So the Class 73 locomotive is an ideal choice for motive power.
More Thameslink Trains Serving The East Coast Main Line From May 20th 2018
The National Rail timetable is now showing the following new Thameslink trains serving the East Coast Main Line.
There will be two trains per hour (tph) between Peterborough and Horsham.
- XX:26 and XX:56 – Peterborough
- XX:08 and XX;38 – Finsbury Park
- XX:00 and XX:30 – London Bridge
- XX:08 and XX:38 – Horsham
Note.
- Trains take two hours and 45 minutes.
- Stops include Huntingdon, St. Neots, Hitchin, Steveange and Finsbury Park, to the North of the Thames.
- The trains call at St. Pancras Thameslink, Farringdon, City Thameslink and London Bridge in the core.
- Stops include East Croydon, Gatwick Airport, Three Bridges and Crawley to the South of the Thames.
- The first train is 05:24 from Peterborough.
Trains generally leave Horsham at XX:25 and XX:55.
There will be one tph between Cambridge and Brighton.
- XX:54 at Cambridge
- XX:52 – Finsbury Park
- XX:15 – London Bridge
- XX:19 – Brighton
Note.
- Trains take two hours and 25 minutes.
- Stops include Royston, Hitchin, Steveange and Finsbury Park, to the North of the Thames.
- The trains call at St. Pancras Thameslink, Farringdon, City Thameslink and London Bridge in the core.
- Stops include East Croydon, Gatwick Airport, Three Bridges and Haywards Heath to the South of the Thames.
- The first train is 05:54 from Cambridge.
Trains generally leave Horsham at XX:07.
But going to Gatwick, I might go to Finsbury Park, where I can now get three trains per hour to the Airport.
- XX:08 taking around 70 minutes
- XX:38 taking around 70 minutes
- XX:52 taking around 52 minutes
But coming back, I would take the first train to London Bridge, from where I’d get a 141 bus to just outside my door.
Are The Trains Acceptable?
For my journey of an hour to Gatwick, the trains are just about acceptable.
But, in some ways, I think that passengers from Cambridge and Peterborough will only use Thameslink to South of East Croydon occasionally, as over two hours in a Class 700 train, is an experience, passengers will be reluctant to repeat.
I would do the following.
- Add wi-fi and power sockets.
- Add a few tables to make some groups of four seats, suitable for families.
- Add seat-back tables.
- Make the seats more comfortable.
I’d love to have five minutes with the idiot who signed off the order for these trains, which must be the worst new trains on the UK network. Perhaps, that’s not being harsh enough. I suspect they could be the worst new trains in the world!
I’ve had better passenger comfort in a Pacer, that I wrote about in Is This Really A Pacer In A New Outfit?.
But that journey was only between Rotherham and Sheffield, not say Cambridge and Gatwick.
King’s Lynn Station
These pictures show King’s Lynn Station, which is Grade II Listed.
Note.
- It is not the normal design for a station in the UK.
- The station has two platforms, but could have add another.
- The facilities are at a high level for a station of this size, with a booking office, toilets and a cafe.
- The station was reopened by Michael Portillo. Who else?
Perhaps we should see more station designs, not in a standard corporate mould. Others include Birmingham Moor Street, Hanwell and Hebden Bridge.
The only problems with the station are that there aren’t enough trains and the information and signage for visitors could be better.
In an ideal world this would be the train service
- At least two trains per hour in both directions.
- Running between King’s Lynn and Cambridge, stopping at Watlington, Downham Market, Littleport, Ely, Waterbeach and Cambridge North.
- Good interchange with services to Bury St. Edmunds, Ipswich, Peterborough and Stansted Airport at either Ely or Cambridge.
King’s Lynn station certainly has the capacity for more frequent trains.
The Anonymous Widower 