Chairman's Blog

Most of the time the trains on our line turn up when expected and run on time. But every now and again things go wrong ….

Last Wednesday was one of those days for me. I thought you might find my experiences helpful.

I went for the 1555 from Mobberley to Chester, then to continue to Chirk south of Wrexham to meet up with my wife and some friends. I checked on the live train running system for Mobberley around 1540 and it showed the train running on time having left Stockport at 1530. It was very cold, so I put on a thick coat and scarf, taking gloves and even a hat – unusual for me – a good job as it turned out, and I walked the 5 minutes to Mobberley station.

The 1553 from Mobberley to Piccadilly left on time and I waited for the 1555 to Chester. By 1605 there was no sign, so I checked the internet site using my phone. It said the train was still on time, but it obviously wasn’t. I left it until 1615 and was starting to get rather cold, so decided to ring National Rail Enquiries (08457 48 49 50), the Northern Free Helpline having closed down around 6 months ago. I got through to a gentleman who I think was in India. He looked the train up on the system, telling me it was on time. I explained it couldn’t be as if it had been it would have passed 25 minutes ago. He again assured me it was on time. I told him it wasn’t and would he look into his system again. He put me on hold and after a couple of minutes came back to me saying the train had left Stockport on time and was shown on the system on time, but appeared to have been stopped somewhere between Stockport and Altrincham for the last 45 minutes. He then agreed that the train obviously wasn’t on time, but stressed the system said it was! By this time it was after 1630 and he told me the following train had also left Stockport on time. However, it turned out he could not tell me what was going on any more than I could find from the internet. I was by now getting very cold, but had a dilemma – I could not go to the pub and wait for the train, since if it came I would be the wrong side of the level crossing barriers to get on it. He then suggested I ring Northern Rail on 0845 00 00 125. I had forgotten this was open as I normally do this trip on Saturdays – the Northern number’s hours are Monday to Friday from 0800 to 2000.

I rang Northern and got through to someone in Leeds within 20 seconds. He was very helpful, telling me there was a points problem at Skelton Junction just north of Altrincham and the maintenance people were now there working on fixing it. He said he could not tell me how long it would take to fix, but volunteered to ring me on my mobile phone as soon as things started moving. I was halfway across the crossing to go and warm up in the pub when my mobile rang – it was Northern to tell me the trains had started running. However, the first train was to terminate at Greenbank rather than running through to Chester, but the following one would be right behind it. The train arrived and I found a heater to sit in front of and warm up. The conductor announced the points at Skelton Junction had been frozen.

We terminated at Greenbank with everyone getting off and the very cold passengers at Greenbank being persuaded not to get on since the next train was right behind. The train reversed out of the platform to pick up the passengers on the other platform waiting to go towards Manchester, but then stopped. It turned out the points at Greenbank were also frozen. The train crew rang Control and were instructed to run to Chester, fortunately being told to pick us up and take us, too. I found my heater again. We arrived in Chester over 90 minutes late. My wife had decided she wasn’t going to risk me on another train, so came in our car from near Chirk to pick me up. I warmed up eventually.

I use a lot of trains, not just on our line and almost all trains turn up and run on time. From my experiences, if the train company’s help line is open, use it first before trying National Rail Enquiries.