TransPennine Express (York to Liverpool Lime Street) - DRIVERS EYE VIEW

[Music] the city of york has a fine victorian station that befits its railway heritage the magnificent train shed dates from completion by the north eastern railways architect thomas presser in 1877 when it replaced the original york and north midland railway's dead end terminus of 1841 where through trains had to reverse today's current incumbent is operated by the london and northeastern railway a name widely known in railway analogues [Music] [Music] a class 185-0 diesel multiple unit arrives at the far end of platform four it has arrived from scarborough the branch being built in 1845. we are bound for liverpool lime street over the trans-pernine express route and will travel over some of the oldest railways in the country including the leeds and selby and liverpool and manchester railways we shall be riding aboard the 1138 calling at leeds huddersfield manchester victoria lee greene and liverpool lime street so leaving on the up main we get an excellent cab view of the train shed which is nowadays unnecessarily wide as the two tracks in the center have been removed long ago [Music] [Music] york roc is on the right the whole ecml is electrified on the 25 kilovolts ac system that reached this far north from london in 1989. [Music] holdgate junction where the york avoiding lines join us on the right at the same time we cross over from the up main to the up leads [Music] [Music] the holdgate reception sightings the speed limit on the main line is 125 miles per hour on our line it's 90. [Music] so a cross-country class 220 voyager passes us bound for newcastle having left reading at 07 46. here was the site of chandler's wind junction where the old east coast mainline used to diverge towards selby but with the development of the vast selby coalfield this line had to be diverted the national coal board raised the capital to form this route and british rail opened it in october 1983 train stopped serving selby from then onwards the following year so this was the site of cotman thorpe opening in 1841 it closed to passengers and goods in 1959 the fledgling york and north midland railway had opened from sheffield doing so in stages with this section all the way to sherburne junction completed in 1839 making the first link with the already extant leeds and selby railway one year later it was extended to sheffield from altoffs junction meeting up with the north midland railway as part of its new route between london pancreas and york via normanton swinton chesterfield and derby known as the dern valley route most trained passenger services along it are operated by northern part of the arriva group the ecml selby diversion branches off here at colton junction capable of handling a track speed of 125 miles per hour it's the fastest junction on the national rail network now the up main is referred to as the up normanton the up and down normanton line separate briefly as a reminder of the one-time station at bolton percy having a lifespan of 125 years from 1839 [Music] the quadruple track layout crosses over the river walk incidentally the layout here was strengthened to four tracks in 1904 which was done by the ner to our left is the island platform of bulaskel at present the first open station to the southwest of york on the 8th of december 1981 the york deliverable express derailed to the north of the station the locomotive had remained on the track but the six carriages it was hauling didn't with two of them rolling away down a steep embankment the cause of the accident in the subsequent enquiry was a broken rail and this left one man dead and 24 to be wounded this is a service bound for york operated by northern a two car class 158 dmu we are on the approach to church fenton the junction of the york and north midland line that continues towards its ultimate destination at sheffield just north of the present station was where a signal box once stood overseeing the junction with a branch line to harrogate via tadcaster and weatherby this line was also built by the york and north midland opened in 1848 sadly in reflection to the sign of the times this line came under the beaching axe and closed in 1964. meanwhile we are on a five mile long line between here and mickelfield opening in 1869 providing a direct route between york and leeds of course being in this part of the north of england the railway cut-off formed the main archery between the two cities and was created by the north eastern railway the company was incorporated in 1854 when it amalgamated with the leeds northern york and north midland and york newcastle and beric railways other lines in the ensuing years were taken over by the ner right up until 1922 when the four railway companies known as the big four became part of the lner as the main purpose of this route was to be a cut off no stations were provided on the line the line runs on a two mile long embankment with countryside on either side as we pass over the fertile plains of the vale of york currently transpanding express operate under the first group umbrella has 51 class 185-0 dmus running on all parts of their network in addition to these trains the company have 10 class 350 emu's operating on the northwest trans-pernine route from manchester airport to edinburgh and glasgow the year of 2019 will now bring a new era of rolling stock to the company the class 185s are due to stay but the 350 mark fours are being cascaded away to west midlands trains in turn the new fleet will consist of 14 class 68 diesel locos hauling brand new mark 5a coaches 12 five car class 3970 emu's and class 802 bmmus converging on our left under the a1m at mickelfield junction is the leeds and selby line where transpandine express services operate to hull we pass through mickelfield station dating from 1834. we are now on former leeds and selby railway metals one of the oldest railways in the uk opening on the 22nd of september 1834 leeds at this time had always been an important industrial town and the merchants of leeds needed to get their stock to the north sea as quickly as possible the air and colder navigation and the leeds and liverpool canal was the fastest means of transportation to the sea superseded when the railway had arrived of course as is often the case with a new railway the lns had opened in total isolation until the connection with the already mentioned york and north midland line at sherburne junction in 1839 you may have noticed every so often that most of the railway bridges have been built with the likelihood of quadruple track being required even though that may be the case the second pair of tracks were never actually laid quite clearly seen in the cutting verge here a housing estate sprung up alongside the line resulting in more people moving to the town of garth this led to the decision to open a brand new station in the town in 1986 and it was called east garfield and here is the present garth station the first original station on the lns we pass under the m1 motorway [Music] somewhere along here was the site of the uk's shortest live station it was known as roman road and had in fact opened with the line in september 1834 however the directors of the lns at the time had insisted that both cross gates and roman road be removed within two months of opening this was carried out in november of that year and not for cross gates as that remains open to this day and we shall pass through it shortly so cross gate station is served by northern trains evidence of the former run-through lines at the station can still be seen cross gates was also the junction with another line that ran to weatherby on the 1st of may 1876 as a single line in 1901 the line was doubled enabling express trains from newcastle and liverpool to use the line the line joined up with the route from church fenton to harrogate and by 1964 became another victim of dr beeching go the automatic warning system or aws applies to the advanced warning board of a reduction in speed in this case our driver needs to decelerate from 90 to 55 but with all the check signals it's possible they may already be doing that later speed so there is no trace of the former station of osmond thorpe which was a 20th century halt it was opened by the lner in 1930 and lasted for just 30 years the electrification resumes again just in view on our right as we skirt around the side of neville hill track maintenance depot the depot dates from ner times in 1904 and since that time the depot is currently owned as a joint operation between east midlands trains and northern used for light or heavy maintenance cross-country and lner trains are also glimpsed within the depot compound for stabling purposes now the wires eventually come over the top of us there is a stated aspiration to electrify the line to york from leeds something which has been considered for the future and will enhance on journey times immeasurably the large bore of richmond hill tunnel once 700 yards long it was opened out with the laying of additional tracks in the 1890s the lns's very original terminus in the city was at marsh lane that was straight ahead we curve away from that alignment to run out onto a tall concrete viaduct over the city center years later the old station was converted into a goods yard because the ner had taken the opportunity to extend the lines away from marsh lane to run into the present leed station in 1869 permitting passengers and goods traffic to continue beyond marsh lane station had closed in 1958 and the warehouse buildings engulfed by fire in the 1970s although this route is at full line capacity it will be impossible to quadruple owing to what you can see from the cab view the area in the locality is fully built up [Music] above the signal the route indicator shows we are bound for platform 16. [Music] [Music] lead station as we see it today dates from a major expansion project in 2002 increasing the number of platforms from 12 to 17 which are normally split from letters a to d in theory without inclusion of lettering on the platforms there would be a total of 47 platforms the station is an important railway hub on the british railway network with trains running to all destinations around the country such as london edinburgh birmingham and penzance in 2017 and 2018 the station handled up to nearly 31 million passengers that's an incredible number of travelers starting or finishing their journeys here and on top of this has the novelty of being the third busiest railway station outside london after glasgow and birmingham the forecast in railway passenger traffic is expected to surge by 63 percent in the next 10 years so even more expansion work is required so we leave leeds on the f line the 2002 expansion work has also included the laying of additional tracks new electric pylons to support the wires and re-signaling of the whole area to enable a smoother and faster service the line diverging away to the left leads towards woodlesford and castleford being a part of the former north midland railway to derby that had opened in 1840 it forms one part of a triangular junction known as whitehall and holbeck junctions [Music] we pass a class 321 emu now leaving us on the right are the northern metro lines of the airedale and wharfdale lines to skipton and ilkley the former is part of the scenic settle and carlyle line at the same time line f has now become the up huddersfield copley hill east junction takes electric trains away to our left to join the east coast main line at doncaster it's the route taken by cross country northern and lner services the wakefield line to doncaster passes overhead we head away from the city of leeds at 75 miles per hour onto what is simply known as the huddersfield line considered to be the busiest intercity rail line in the north of england for the west yorkshire metro train network most train services are now operated by trans-pennine express following the may 2018 timetable change providing four trains an hour between manchester and leeds in addition to a few local northern services this bridge carries the m621 cottingly station was opened by british rail in 1988 and today seized just one train per hour provided by northern to southport it was near to cottingly that there was another station it was called cherwell opened by the lnwr in 1848 and closed in 1940 we have now passed into another railway territory having been traveling over the tracks that were operated by the north eastern railway we are now in the former territory of the london and northwestern railway the largest joint stock railway company in the world in 1923 the lnwr became a constituent of the london midland and scottish railway and when the railways were nationalized in 1948 became part of the london midland region the lnwr had opened this line from leeds to huddersfield in 1848 first known known as the leeds gooseberry and manchester railway a blanket speed limit of 45 miles per hour applies as we approach morley once been called morley low to distinguish it from the bradford artsley line station that was called morley top it closed in 1961. morley tunnel is 3369 yards in length just under 2 miles and we reach a summit with inside the tunnel work started on the tunnel in 1845 with the first stone being laid at morley station taking three years to construct it was finally completed in 1848 but it hadn't been an easy one to build this tunnel required 11 powerful steam engines 15 double horse skins 2 000 men and 350 horses to plow through day and night to complete the tunnel obviously there are signs of a former railway that crossed our path with the signal box that now controls our route tucked away to the right this was the route taken by the line from bradford to wakefield via gooseberry central a great northern railway branch line opening in 1864 and closing 100 years later the wide layout to the left just before battling is an indication of its former junction status once boasting an extra platform there was another line that diverged here at badly towards birdstall opening 12 years earlier than the bradford line twice in its lifetime it has closed firstly in 1917 as a wartime economy measure and secondly permanently for all traffic in 1963 in 1878 another station opened in batsley and took the name staincliff and battley carr really serving the northern outskirts of jewsbury both passengers and goods were withdrawn in 1952 the splendid jewsbury viaduct over the town itself the station at jewsbury is the only survivor the already mentioned gooseberry central station closing in 1964. but a third station in the town called jewsbury marketplace on the manchester and leeds railway had shut in 1930 to avoid bewilderment with passengers the current station had been called gooseberry wellington road until 1969. [Music] a single yellow aspect or caution signal is displayed here indicating to our driver that they will need to take precautions as the next signal might be red [Music] our train crosses the calder river this bridge takes us over the former railway route to bradford interchange via heckmann white spend raven's thorpe opened in 1890 as a late addition to the lnwr but was provided with a station building and good shed to attract the burgeoning freight traffic in the area the wakefield line now joins our formation at thornhill lnw junction three tracks remain with lines from left to right being classified as up slow up fast and down fast a single car class 153 is overtaken this stretch of line was opened by the manchester and leeds railway on their line from normanton to hebton bridge in the year of 1840 centuries later the lnwr had planned to open its own route through here but faced competition with the lancashire and yorkshire one of the successes of the m l after much negotiation an agreement with the m l allowed lnwr trains to jointly use this six mile long section to heat and launch east junction however this had resulted in the lines through the town of murfield becoming heavily congested even when the line had been progressively quadrupled in 1884 this didn't provide much solution a class 170 turbo star stands at one of the platforms at murfield just imagine what this station would have looked like at its peak when the station was enlarged between 1864 and 1866 adding facilities such as a ticket office hotel buffet and billiard room all are joined by an overall roof the roof was demolished in the mid-1980s and has since to this day had its status reduced down to becoming unstaffed with no ticketing facilities of any kind heaton lodge east junction is where we leave the calder valley line behind the former junction station having closed in 1864. with the opening of the midland railway built line to huddersfield albeit separate line to what we are on now the congestion slightly improved more of the midland huddersfield line in a moment in the meantime we separate from the down line which at this point is running over the former heat and lodge and wartley railway or the leeds new lines built by the lnwr as an alternative route to leeds closed in 1953 british rail diverted the downline in 1987 so it can pass beneath the calder valley line without conflict another line coming in from the right at bradley junction the form at lancashire and yorkshire route from salvi bridge opened still to this day with trains bound for brickhouse and halifax bradley station was located here and that lasted from 1847 to 1950. british rail opened deaton station in 1982 just before the present station was deaton junction where the erstwhile branch line to kirk burton used to head off towards the south the lnwr had built that line in 1867 with a possible extension to barnsley which never happened deaton's first station was positioned on the branch on the other side of whitetaker street that incidentally opened in 1871. chiefly used for the transportation of goods passengers were also transported along the route until they were withdrawn from service in 1930 goods struggled on until 1965 when dr beeching closed the route forever here was the site of yet another junction known as red dolls once forming a connection with the recently mentioned huddersfield midland build line from heaton lodge east junction the line had opened in 1910 running to a separate hitherto station located outside the town center which was to be called newtown a grave mistake the midland made as passengers had vehemently opposed that they would be deposited at this isolated station that would have no connecting services unlike the present the mishap of their idea resulted in newtown never opening to passengers but to goods instead the line descended the bank to the left towards the goods depot and by 1923 when under the control of the lms red dole junction was provided including access to the gas works nearby soon it was apparent that the branch line from heat and lodge east junction was of no use and closed in 1937 after a life span of just 27 years the goods depot fared better from red dolls junction and that lasted longer until 1968. arriving on platform one at huddersfield station the only one on our route managed by trans pennine express it's quite hard to believe that the station once had one platform today there are six a reminder of the rapid growth in passenger traffic and the continuous minor accidents that occurred here [Applause] the station facade designed by james pigott pritchard in the corinthian order with a fantastic center portico to be opened as a joint operation for the lnwr and ellen y in 1850 three years after the line opened from cooper bridge there used to be separate booking offices and refreshment rooms supplied by the two distinct companies with only one platform and in dire need of expansion because of the passengers and minor accidents the board of trade insisted on alternative arrangements to be provided and so a new island platform and overall roof were installed by the 1880s [Music] leaving huddersfield our train passes the bay platform and into huddersfield south tunnel 695 yards long this section of the route as far as daily bridge opened in 1849 springwood junction the divergence of the peniston line to barnsley before entering the gledholt south tunnel weighing in at 204 yards opened in 1850 by the lancashire and yorkshire railway it ran as far as peniston from there it made a head-on connection with the manchester sheffield and lincolnshire railway the pioneer to the great central railway this then provided a direct route between huddersfield and sheffield the bridge once carried the huddersfield corporation tramway initially started off with steam power from its introductory in 1883 by 1900 the tramway merchant had decided to adopt the electric method of propulsion over the route starting the following year the track gauge was also unusual being the same size as the standard british gauge railway or slightly smaller standard gauge is measured at four feet eight and a half inches and the tramway was at four feet seven and three quarter inches bizarrely the trams used to transport coal from the neighboring mills that had burgeoned around the area stretching as far as marsden the trams had a long lifetime but they were retired and removed from service in june 1914. mild bridge viaduct the aws warns of a temporary speed restriction over a section of newly laid track fun the temporary speed restriction starts here with passenger trains reducing down to 50 and for freight at 30. t stands for termination our driver can now resume the normal speed of 75. no trace of the station at gold car remain although there have been calls to rebuild the station in the past it was another 1968 closure saddleworth moore is on either side of the railway alignments now the rural picturesque landscape of the pennines has played host to dozens of [Music] photographs crumble viaduct just ahead of the staggered platforms of slaughter station this is slow it or in some cases pronounced slaithwaite opened with the line in 1849 whilst again northern managed the station the company serves a minimal peak hour service here in the morning and evenings the rest are now served by the hourly tpe service from hull leeds and manchester so [Applause] marsden is another original station marking the end of the west yorkshire metro network approaching stanage tunnel the fourth longest on the national rail network at three miles 66 yards long the history of stanage tunnel is quite remarkable as there were incidentally four that burrowed beneath the pennines three railway and one canal tunnel the latter was the first to arrive here in 1811 by the canal and road extraordinaire thomas telford making his canal still today the longest canal tunnel in the uk before this double track tunnel came into use the lnwr had built two separate twin bore tunnels in 1848 and by 1894 the company built one double track tunnel where the bulk of service is used the signal box is where the former station of diggle used to be serving the village of that name a quarter of a mile away this was the junction with the mickelhurst loop opened by the lnwr to allow freight trains to bypass and not disrupt the passenger service between diggle and staley bridge it was an 1885 opening and despite being targeted for freight trains had four intermediate stations on the loop all had opened in 1886 but with this being one of the most sporadically inhabited parts of the pennines closed all four stations between 1907 and 1917. eventually the freight line itself came under serious threat with the goods station closing in the interim years of 1964 and 1966. there was a station at saddleworth and in common with most of the other stations between huddersfield and staley bridge closed in 1968. after upper mill viaduct there was a trailing junction with the line to delft which was one and a quarter miles long and had opened relatively late to the railway network in 1912 nicknamed the delft donkey because a railway carriage was drawn by a donkey lasted until 1963 with passengers ceasing eight years earlier the halt at moorgate opened with the delft line and closed at the same time as passenger traffic ended this is greenfield the delph donkey continued diverging here towards oldham via lease so this is mostly just take a look at how close the industrial houses are to the track side it really would have been impossible to quadruple the tracks between staley bridge and diggle in a matter of fact that was the very reason for why the mickelhurst loop was added back in 1885 as there simply was no way for extra tracks to be laid because of the rugged terrain of the pennines the 202 yard long scout tunnel this is where the mickelhurst loop rejoined our formation before staley bridge tunnel we enter staley bridge tunnel 668 yards stady bridge station has been rebuilt with extra bay platforms for local terminating services from manchester and wigan the buffet on the down platform was restored to its former 1885 condition voted one of the best bars by the tameside food and drink festival in 2008. with a plaque inscribed with further refurbishment in 2012. the signal box at stady bridge junction has now gone since 2012 with the area now being controlled by the rail operating center in manchester we now branch off the line where trains continue to manchester piccadilly whereas we turn onto the line acquired by the lny back in 1847 though the line had opened one year earlier by the ashton staley bridge and liverpool junction railway that was from miles plating on the former manchester and leeds railway to ashton underline with this section to stadi bridge opening at the same time from huddersfield 1849 so catherine street tunnel the island platform or ashton underline originally called ashton in 1846 had the name charleston in brackets after it in 1874 with the current name after a third renaming in 1968. this was the site of drillston station we encounter ashton moss north junction here tracks convert from stockport built by the manchester and birmingham railway shortly before its merger with the lnwr in 1845 it survives today but since 1992 has been used mainly by one passenger train in one direction only every weekday including the use of freight trains and empty rolling stock one of the stations denton was recorded as the third least busiest station on the national rail network with an estimate record of 70 passengers using the station in 2017 and 2018 oh so [Music] so the site of clayton bridge station the signal box which stood just to the east side of berry brow was removed when the level crossing became automated with cctv fitted in 1973. inside the box was a 22 lever l and y frame that dated from 1893 bagley fold junction controlled by the adjacent signal box park station had lasted longer than most on the line lately only served by a handful of trains since the dark days of 1968. with patronage growing ever lower and rendered uneconomical closed on the 27th of may 1995. the third side of the triangular junction meets at phillips park west junction a route to ashbury's on the electrified hatfield and glossop line that was the former wood head route over the pennines closing in 1981 by british rail immediately afterwards we encounter another triangular junction this being with the route from leeds via hebden bridge and todd morden passenger trains normally use this side of the triangle at miles plating junction the closure of that name station was in 1995. now we follow the route of the manchester and leeds railway the forerunner of the lny and had opened a year after queen victoria's accession to the throne the terminus of the m l was at oldham road in 1844 the tracks were realigned on a new course to open a joint station with the liverpool and manchester at hunts bank today hunt's bank is manchester victoria the speed limit into victoria changes from 50 to 40 just here overhead catenary now resumes and remains above us all the way to liverpool just to our left are the tracks of the metrolink tram route 2 berry which run over former british rail tracks opened by the eastern lancashire railway of 1846 before adaptation of the tram network in 1991 the line was unique in being operated by a 1 200 volt third rail system with specifically operated class 504 emu's a steep gradient of one in a hundred takes us down into victoria manchester victoria is the third busiest station after piccadilly and oxford road and is managed by northern the station provides a major interchange with routes to blackburn newcastle southport blackpool and liverpool provided by both northern and tpe in 2009 the station underwent a major refurbishment with the removal of the old overall roof completed in 2015 at a cost of 44 million pounds included within the renovation works was the installment of the overhead wires throughout the station creating a greener environmentally friendly atmosphere throughout the liverpool bolton manchester and blackpool areas apart from the modernization project of the 21st century the station buildings facing hunts bank are little altered from the opening day the government and the department of transport had politically aspirated the routes around manchester and liverpool to be electrified in 2010 when a change of government had come about work on the electrification of the route had been delayed but the section between manchester and newton and willows had already been completed by 2013. two years later the line was fully equipped and class 319 emus from the thameslink cross london route were transferred up to the north west for the purpose we passed salford central station on our right that station had opened six years before this line by the manchester and bolton railway as such they called their station salford the central suffix was added in 1988 prior to this there had been two more name changes in 1858 and 1865 erwell street junction this is where we leave most tpe services as they head off to oxford road and piccadilly stations and subsequently for manchester airport it's known as the author cord constructed at a cost of 85 million pounds opening on december the 10th 2017. the very original terminus of the liverpool and manchester railway was at liverpool road out of sight on our left we joined the lines from piccadilly at ortel lane junction the tracks are unusually widespread as a result of the closure of the station in 1957. also diverging here is the now electrified line to bolton and preston and now we travel over the final section of our journey one of the oldest railway lines in the world still existing to this day the liverpool and manchester railway opened all the way to liverpool crown street on the 15th of september 1830. above us is a large interchange at the start of the m602 which runs alongside the line as far as echoes the founding of the liverpool and manchester can be traced back to liverpool corn merchant joseph saunders and manchurian mill owner john kennedy who influenced william james to survey a route between the two cities back in 1822 transporting passengers and goods had been intolerable over the canal network and so a radical solution was proposed there was satisfactory approval from both parties in both cities incorporating the liverpool and manchester railway on the 20th of may 1824 william james's route was unfortunately defective and with robert stevenson departing for south america james sadly became bankrupted this led to the decision of calling upon the father of robert george stevenson also referred to as the father of railways to survey a route here was where east station once stood others were located at crosslane and seedly all three closed in the 1950s on our right a branch line built in 1895 for the manchester ship canal joins us at eccles station junction the track circuit block section is controlled by the adjacent signal box echo station opened with the line in 1830 facing and trading junctions used to cross our path here branching off to lee and pendlebury these had opened in 1864 and 1850 respectively closure came for both of these routes in 1969 and 1953 another 1830 station patrick croft the station marks the end of the western suburban belt of the city of greater manchester for the second time we pass over the top of the m60 upgrade works has allowed for our train to travel from the past 75 miles per hour to rise up to 90 especially over this section known as chat moss the area is notorious in railway analogues and effectively could have halted any completion of the railway today formed of mainly peat bogs it covers roughly an area of 10 square miles with depths ranging from 24 to 30 feet spongy and unwalkable it was a struggle let alone building upon this is the m62 transparent motorway forging a path across chat moss was surveyed by a third man called charles blacker vignon after the chairman of the l m rejected stevenson's path between the two cities a bill had been rejected at first in 1825 after stevenson's survey one man who had opposed to the railway was the marquis of stafford funnily enough he ended up financially supporting the railway because of much persuasion and enthusiasm from the railway promoters george and john rennie the royal ascent was granted for the second time to the railway company in 1826 reappointing george stevenson as chief engineer along with his assistant joseph locke despite other railway engineers proclaiming that the line would not open george stevenson proved them all wrong with the help from robert stannard by infilling this was done by using a large volume of wooden and heather herders which sunk into the box before filling in the parts with rocks stones and earth until a suitable foundation could be had to this day trains that are 25 times the weight of the very first steam locomotive to run on these tracks have not sunk into the ground the line is level alongside for nearly 19 miles as far as helen's junction [Applause] you might think as a railway enthusiast or railway historian that this was the first railway to be operated by steam in the world but in fact it wasn't the first was the canterbury and whitstable railway that had opened four months beforehand but despite this that railway has now gone because of closure in 1953 but on a serious note the liverpool and manchester was the creation of intercity railways the first of its type in the world built with two tracks from the outset along chat moss wayside stations were placed every couple of miles these included barton moss lamb's cottage astley flomos halt and glaysbury and berry lane notwithstanding the unfortunate start to its career the line was a financial success as within a few weeks of opening there were various excursion and mail trains flying backwards and boards each summer and normal weekdays in today's modern era trains run to various destinations such as ours from scarborough newcastle manchester chandigarh and holly head all provided by many companies there is a large waste ground to our right and it is part of the former junction to bolton by the kenyan and lee junction railway along with the station that was called kenyan latterly bolton closed in 1969 unnoticeable from the cab view but there was once a railway line that crossed our path just here it was the wigan junction railway of 1879 soon to become part of the great central railway route into wigan and helen central stations its final year was 1968. near here was where the last coal mine in lancashire was located at park site opening in 1964 and having expected to last for years on end had a merry-go-round system added in 1976 fossil fuels were fighting against the political climate on which it turned upon despite the protests from angry workers their cries to keep the collary open fell on deaf ears shutting its front doors in 1993 so after a short delay we're on the move again [Music] so [Music] we pass a class 350-0 on a tpe northwest service as mentioned earlier these trains will have gone from the tpe network when they are transferred to west midlands trains after being replaced by the class 397s a connection is made with the west coast mainline at parkside junction that runs through wigan northwestern the large white memorial on the left hand side of the train is dedicated to william huskerson the former member of parliament for liverpool was killed on the opening day of the l m by george stevenson's locomotive rocket another connection with the wcml as we pass under the m6 the tracks of the wcml pass beneath newton the willow's station building is one of the oldest extent railway buildings in the country dating from the line's opening and undergoing a major overhaul in 2010 it was incidentally known as newton and newton bridge now called newton the willows since 1888. we are now approaching the station of earl's town the triangular junction station with platforms founded on all sides of the three apexes earlstown east junction is where trains to warrington and chester diverge while straight ahead are the lmm platforms that of course are original it first took the name as warrington junction the branch now the second side of the triangle coming into use in 1831 built by the newton and warrington railway that company along with the liverpool and manchester railway combined together and changed their name to the grand junction railway in 1845 one year before becoming a part of the lnwr we cross over the sankey viaduct the first of its kind in the world to carry a railway built with a combination of ginger and red bricks today it crosses over the sankey brook and sankey canal the latter was opened in 1757 making it the first ever built waterway of industrial revolution although the canal was closed in the 1960s plants are afoot to reopen it and function as it did all those years ago this was the location of collins green station there is no site at the station now as it closed in 1951 so this isn't helen's junction it's no longer a railway junction but back in 1832 a short branch line was built by the saint helens and runcorn gap railway that used to diverge off to our right to meet the main line itself the route covered by the saint helens and run call gap railway used to pass over the top of us at this point the shuttle from zinhelen's junction to saint helen central closed in 1965 with the main line closing in 1988 notice the two bridges before the station new and old stand side by side this is lee green it opened in 2000 and is no surprise the least busiest station on the route today the station ticket office is however staffed six days a week and the station does provide a utilitarian style atmosphere lee greene's first station on the liverpool and manchester had opened with the line in 1830 but in 1955 had gone the service pattern at station consists of a two hourly train service provided by northern and this hourly service by tpe lee green is our penultimate calling point from here onwards it's non-stop to lime street we passed beneath the wide concrete bridge carrying the a570 towards the helens and the m-62 signaling is now under the control of the warrington psb it was well publicized that the stockton and darlington of 1825 and hitton colliery railway of 1822 had been horse-drawn and labor cable hauled steam power was however still on tried so in 1829 a competition was hosted at rain hill to incentivize manufacturers to come up with a design that would be best for the l m five locomotives were put on trial running the one mile level track from rain hill already advocated by the award which was 500 pounds in today's money that's 43 000 pounds the winner was none other than george stevenson's rocket and shortly afterwards his company received the contract to produce the locomotives for the liverpool and manchester at the end of rain hill station is the skew bridge dating from the time of opening adorned with inscription it nowadays carries the a57 warrington road and is a listed structure weston is relatively new to the lnm opening in 1990 to serve new housing nearby was the site of heightened quarry station this had opened with the line and closed in 1958 the site of the old station is now where the electrical switching station is located provided for the electrification of this line in 2014 [Music] height and junction is where the line from wigan and saint helens joins our formation it was in 1871 that the lnwr decided to establish the link to wigan and liverpool since then the entire area and station complex has been reorganized additional platforms were added in 2014 for the electrification works with the signal box that once controlled this area closed and demolished two years earlier the whole platform layout still exists at robin it's interesting to note that these extra lines on our left have been relayed for the second time the first time they were lifted was in the 1970s for when they were laid before it's hard to say although it might have been suggested that they could have been here since the opening of the wigan line in 1871 after passing roby station our trained numerical head coach has now passed into the hands of the power box at edge hill broad green station is dwarfed by the large concrete road bridge carrying the m62 at junction 4 currently the end of the motorway from manchester wavertree lane was one of those original stations that had closed within the first decade of the line's existence in fact it only was around six years this is olive mount cutting a challenging prospect it was for those early railway navis in spite of being so deep they managed to burn out the sandstone with just picks and shovels at the end of the cutting is olive mount junction which survives to this day but not carrying passengers but freight to and from the bootle branch and docks the line passes through the tunnel of the same name another lnwr built railway of 1866 wavertree technology park is younger than whiston by eight years opening in 1988 to serve the nearby industrial estate as well as new housing in the area another connection is made with the bootle and docs branch just here on our right is the west coast mainline cord from weaver junction opened in 1864 leading off to crew and runcorn by the lnwr virgin trains west midlands trains northern and transport for wales use this route daily the former seas trains run hourly to london houston [Music] so the liverpool and manchester railways very original terminus was at crown street the line that continues straight ahead of us before we turn to the right through edge hill station of 1886 while the route between here and manchester was relatively moderate for the early steam trains of the period the descent down to crown street was so severe that trains leaving the station required to be cable hauled up the incline the locos were attached by a stationary steam engine before being released at edge hill descending the gradient was naturally done by gravity goods traffic was handled at the whopping goods station adjacent to liverpool docks but both branches were first traversed by impressive tunnels underneath the city center especially the route to whopping a similar method to crown street was also adopted with trains going to the docks by gravity and returning by cable haulage crown street closed to passengers in 1836 when this line to lime street opened in the same year and to goods in 1972 the line towards lime street was once a continuous set of tunnels but had been opened out mainly around 1885 with the accumulation of other tracks in the vicinity [Music] [Music] [Music] we get the root indicator into platform 3 at liverpool lime street [Music] work has now finished on the lime street remodeling scheme that started in 2017 to enable the provision of additional platforms and to modernize the signaling within the station complex augmentation of the departure speed has also been implemented from the former 15 miles per hour rising it up to twenty-five [Music] lime street is one of 19 major stations in the uk owned and managed by network rail a hive of activity sees trains departing almost every five to ten minutes with a range of destinations to the north east and south arriving on platform three our train will have a rest bike here before returning over the trans-pennine route to york and onwards to scarborough the station at lime street is the city's only surviving mainline terminus dating from the 15th of august 1836. the railway contractors constructed this route when it was discovered that crown street was unpopular to passengers due to its distance from the city centre with two distinctive train sheds covering 10 platforms lime street welcomes hundreds and thousands of passengers every day to a city with not only a population of 491 000 but to a city noted for its culture and architecture [Music] so foreign [Music] you

Channel: Train_Paul 94

Views: 86,775

Keywords: rail, ukrail, uktrains, class185, dmu, emu, train, trains, transpennineexpress, pennines, transpennine, yorkshire, cheshire, lancashire, york, leeds, liverpool, huddersfield, lea green, uk, station, train station, railway station, drivers eye view, train_paul94

Id: cZkraBBymaE

Length: 99min 11sec (5951 seconds)

Published: Fri Sep 13 2019