Searching For George Stephenson’s Bridge
One of the major components of the Northern Hub is the Ordsall Chord. This is so important it has its own web site.
Would you believe that where logically the curve should go, there is a Grade One listed bridge put up by George Stephenson?
The various heritage sites are shown here on the Ordsall Chord web site.
So I went to take some pictures of the area.
There are several bridges there and quite frankly none appears to have much elegance.
The solitary Salford lith was useless, as it only gave details about Salford. I was virtually outside Manchester Victoria station and that wasn’t shown.
Salford and Manchester may be two separate cities, but the rest of the world sees them as one and they should act as such, otherwise visitors will come back with tales of this impenetrable city and discourage their friends from coming.
Why Wasn’t The Picc-Vic Tunnel Built?
The Picc-Vicc Tunnel, which would have been a rail bypass under Manchester. Having experienced the tunnel under Liverpool,earlier in the day, I was wondering, why a similar tunnel hadn’t been built in Manchester.
On the way back from Huddersfield to Manchester, I was discussing with several Huddersfield fans, how the Northern Hub would affect their journeys. All seemed to be welcoming the upgrade, so I asked why the Picc-Vicc tunnel wasn’t built.
One guy, said that he’d been to a lecture at the local historical society. He said that British Rail and the government were planning three tunnels in the 1970s; Liverpool, Manchester and the Tyneside Metro.
So because of cost, one had to be dropped, and Manchester was chosen.
As we’re getting much better with tunnels every year, I wouldn’t say that the Picc-Vicc tunnel is dead. Crossrail was on the back-burner for so long, no-one ever thought it would happen!
Could we for instance see a tunnel under part of Manchester for HS2?
To The Football At Huddersfield
I arrived in Manchester on my trip from Southport at Piccadilly and had the long walk from Platform 13 to the main concourse to get the tram to my hotel. There are plans to put another two platforms here, so careful design must be used to avoid worsening a nightmare interchange.
I had a bath and then returned to Piccadilly for supper in Carluccio’s. This branch seems to be much faster than most and I’ve not missed a train yet there, due to a slow meal.
I nearly did this time though, as the next Huddersfield train left at 18:11 and I didn’t get to Platform 13 until 18:15. But the crowded train was late!
I was in my seat half-an-hour before the match started.
Ipswich won 2-0 and I was able to catch the 22:00 train back to Manchester, where I had a non-alcoholic nightcap in Carluccio’s.
I suspect that Piccadilly needs almost to create a new concourse linking the dreaded Platforms 13 and 14 and the proposed two new ones to the lines in the main station, at the far end of the station.
Let’s hope some of the UK’s best architects are working on creating a station fit for the twentieth century, let alone the twenty-first!
On To Southport And Manchester
I don’t ever remember ever going to Southport and I certainly have never been there by train. I took these pictures as I finished my trip to Manchester after my walk on the beach.
It is a pleasant route and as Merseyrail don’t seem too bothered if you break your journey, it is an interesting excursion, with lots of opportunities for a walk.
Note in the pictures approaching Manchester the new electrification work.
Is this line from Manchester to Southport one of those extra lines that will eventually be electrified under the developing plans for the Northern Hub? It must have strong claims as Southport is a town of 90,000 people and is still a major resort for the beach and golf. It certainly has a clean modernised station, which almost uniquely is in the main shopping street. It also already hosts electric trains, so it might be an easy line to upgrade.
In Wikipedia’s article on the Manchester to Southport line, there is this paragraph.
Additionally Network Rail has identified electrification of Wigan to Southport, together with Ormskirk to Preston Line and the Burscough Curves as a possible source of new services.
So it looks like Network Rail is on the job.
Upgrading the Ormskirk to Preston line would enable better Liverpool to Preston services and the curves would help all services in the area, according to campaigners.
A Walk Along The Beach
I took the Nortern line to Blundellsands and Crosby station from where I walked along the beach and the promenade to Hall Road station.
It was an easy walk of a couple of kilometres, although it was extremely windy.
I was reminded of the story Jimmy Edward told of eating a sandwich on a horse in a high wind, when he missed and took a large bite of ,moustache instead, as I tried to eat my lunch in the small amount of shelter on the promenade.
I was able to get close to Antony Gormley‘s figures called Another Place. I liked them and so did a couple of local dog walkers. On the rest of my trip, I said I’d been to see them several times and everybody I spoke to, said that they liked them!
As the trains run every fifteen minutes, you shouldn’t have to wait long for a train, at the end of your walk.
My only regret was that I didn’t walk it in a Southerly direction, as that way, I would have been blown along in just a few minutes.
Liverpool’s Cross City Underground Railway
Liverpool is unique outside London in that railways on two sides of the city are connected underneath the city with a tunnel. This the Northern line that links the north and south. To get to this line I took the loop of the Wirral line between Liverpool Lime Street and Central stations. I took these pictures as I changed trains.
The trains these days are Class 507, which date from the late 1970s and the slightly younger Class 508. However they have been refurbished and are not of the standard you would expect from an over thirty-year-old train. I’ve travelled on them several times in the last few years and I can’t remember being in a dirty train or one with bits hanging off.
I often decry railway engineering of the 1960s and 1970s, but Liverpool’s Underground lines seems to be something that British Rail got right.
Surprisingly, this was the first time that I have used the Northern line and quite frankly, I was impressed. It has the feel of the Northern City line, that I sometimes use near my home in London. But it is a bit more upmarket with refreshed trains and stations.
Liverpool To Manchester By The Scenic Route
My objective was to get to Huddersfield to see Ipswich play and then spend the night in Manchester before returning to London Wednesday.
Arriving in Liverpool Lime Street station just after mid-day I picked up some gluten-free sandwiches in M&S and then made my way to Southport taking in the Anthony Gormley statues on the way.
I then took a train from Southport to Manchester Piccadilly.
A Ticket To Ride For £7.85
All of this cost me just £7.85 and the guy who sold me the ticket said I could get on and off as I required.
This Is Becoming A Habit
I had another letter in The Times yesterday under the heading of Bus Information
The rest of the country is lagging far behind London for maps and timetables — could rivalry be to blame?
Sir, Roger Sexton (letter, Apr 4) says that there are no controls on commercial bus fares outside London.
As a senior citizen living in a Tube-free London borough, I use buses a great deal and I travel a lot around the UK. Outside the capital, I find that buses run in an information-free zone, with no maps and unworkable text systems to check arrivals. As London’s excellent system is software based, surely, it could be applied countrywide. Or perhaps cities like Birmingham, Manchester and Edinburgh are saying that they don’t want any system that has been proven in London.
I doubt that information will improve, although a friend told how there was an item on bus regulation in Newcastle on Radio 4 yesterday.
Is The Banking Industry Stirring Or Dying?
A few days ago, I reported about a new approach to retail banking from TSB. Yesterday, The Times carried a big advert detailing everything.
If I was with a dinosaur bank, I’d certainly think about moving, as I meet their conditions for interest and because I could try before I moved everything.
Yesterday too, I heard a report at 05:30 in the morning from PwC, that a quarter of all bank branches will be closed. I actually think that is a low figure, if the amount of traffic you see in branches round here is anything to go by!
My friend, David, saw the writing on the wall decades ago.
What Do You Do With A Problem Like Euston?
Or more particularly, how do you connect Euston station to Euston Square Underground station.
I walked between the two stations today and took these pictures.
It’s a congested route and it involves at least one busy road crossing.
I had wondered if some sort of pedestrian over-bridge could be used with a moving pavement to link the two stations. But it would appear that layout of the buildings plonked in the front of Euston station would probably make this impossible.
Wikipedia does state that Network Rail devised plans in 2005 to link the two stations with a subway. This project seems to have sunk without trace.
The only thing that could possibly be done, is to put a lift to the street on the Northern side of the lines in Euston Square station, to improve access to the Eastbound platform.
I never walk between the two stations and to get to and from the station, I usually use a 30 or 73 bus, as the tube station underneath the mainline station is a dark warren of tunnels and escalators.
The trouble though with the buses, is they get stuck in the traffic on the Euston Road.
Why a proper connection between the two stations wasn’t incorporated, when they rebuilt Euston in the 1960s, only a genius of the level of Einstein could tell. But sadly he’s dead, so we’ll have to use the ouija board.
What puzzles me, is that how come the architects in the 1960s, could create two stations as bad as Manchester Piccadilly and Euston and yet leave Liverpool Lime Street as a properly working station! This section in Wikipedia offers a few clues.
The Anonymous Widower 