***********************************************************************

Revolutionary new tram trains to be piloted in South Yorkshire

Publisher: Department for Transport

Published date: 17 May 2012

Type: Press release

Mode/topic: Roads, Road transport

Passengers in South Yorkshire will be the first in the country to benefit from flexible new Tram Trains that will make their journeys easier and more convenient.

Transport Minister Norman Baker today gave the green light to a £58m pilot scheme to run revolutionary Tram Trains on both rail and tram networks, making them ideal for the eight mile non-stop journeys of no more than 25 minutes between, suburb and city centres from Sheffield to Rotherham.

As well as providing a boost to the regional economy thanks to improved connections across the region, the project is also expected to create 35 new jobs locally as well.

As part of the major works being undertaken to make the project a reality includes the electrification of a stretch of track between Sheffield and Rotherham and the construction of 400 metre line linking the tramway to the train tracks.

Norman Baker said:

“Providing better connections between Sheffield and Rotherham’s city centres and residential areas will help to reinvigorate the local economy. It will also encourage people to leave their cars at home, making this pilot environmentally friendly.

“This is great news for passengers in South Yorkshire and potentially it could benefit people across the country wherever tram and rail networks exist together.

“Tram Trains have already proven hugely popular on the Continent. Now we will be able to test whether they can bridge the gap between tram and train networks in this country.”

Welcoming the announcement, David Brown, SYPTE’s Director General, said:

“We welcome the announcement today by the Minister confirming approval of the funding for the Sheffield /Rotherham tram train project. It is further welcome investment by government in the transport infrastructure of South Yorkshire. The project will provide important enhanced local connectivity and demonstrate the potential, both locally and nationally, of this new technology to deliver value for money services.”

For the pilot to go ahead, rail infrastructure operator Network Rail will electrify a stretch of track between Sheffield and Rotherham.

Phil Verster, route managing director for Network Rail, said:

“Tram Trains offer a real opportunity to improve transport links in urban areas and today’s announcement of funding is extremely welcome.

“We have already learned a significant amount about how a Tram Train could benefit Britain’s rail network. Now we can move into detailed design and delivery of the infrastructure to support this exciting project which will bring lasting benefits to passengers in the Sheffield and Rotherham areas.”

Northern Rail’s Managing Director Ian Bevan said:

“We are working with our partners to pilot Tram Trains on the network as we believe these vehicles can complement heavy rail, particularly in outer urban and semi-rural areas around major cities with an existing tram network. There are lessons to be learned here and Northern cities are among those well placed to benefit from them.”

Margaret Kay, Managing Director of Stagecoach Supertram, said:

“We welcome today’s announcement and look forward to playing an important role in this pilot. Tram Trains offer us the potential to deliver greener, smarter public transport services to even more people. We have a strong track record of providing high quality, good value services to the people of Sheffield day in, day out and we are excited at the prospect of being able to expand our services even further through this ground-breaking project.”

If the pilot is successful, it opens the way for Tram Trains to be introduced in other parts of the country.

Councillor Andrew Fender, Chair of the Transport for Greater Manchester Committee, said:

“We’ll be watching Sheffield’s Tram Train pilot very closely as we have begun work to understand whether this technology could be deployed within Greater Manchester. Tram Train could combine the advantages of the better access to the city centre our Metrolink tram system provides with the reach of the rail system into neighbouring districts. It has the potential to both improve public transport for passengers while also making our local rail services more cost-effective.”

The new Tram Train vehicles will operate from 2015 on Sheffield’s Supertram network and on part of the national rail network, which will be adapted to allow seamless travel from one to the other.

There are expected to be three services an hour all day and every day. These will operate from Parkgate Retail Park in Rotherham travelling through Rotherham Central Station and joining up to the existing Supertram network at Meadowhall where the services will then continue onwards to Sheffield City Centre.

Notes to Editors

The Tram Train pilot is a partnership between the Department for Transport and Network Rail, Northern Rail Ltd, South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive (SYPTE) and Stagecoach Supertram. SYPTE will lead on delivery of the pilot.

Seven vehicles are being bought for Tram Train and the additional Sheffield Supertram capacity announced in 2011. The total project is estimated to cost £58 million.

A procurement competition led by Northern in 2009-10 identified Vossloh as the lead bidder for the supply of the Tram Train vehicles. Because Northern’s franchise ends before the two year experimental period, the contract for the vehicles will be let by South Yorkshire PTE and the vehicles are expected to be operated by Stagecoach Supertram.

Tram Train will commence in 2015 and the pilot will run for two years with a view to permanent operation. Tickets will be fully integrated with Supertram.

The core objectives of the Tram Train pilot are to:

Understand the changes to industry costs of operating a lighter weight vehicle with track brakes on the national rail network;

Determine changes to technical standards required both to allow inter-running of lightweight tram vehicles with heavy rail passenger and freight traffic and to gain the maximum cost benefit from Tram Train operation;

Gauge passenger perception and acceptability of Tram Train;

Determine the practical and operational issues of extending Tram Trains from the national rail network to on-street running; and

Understand the technical and operational challenges involved in this project so that the concept can potentially be rolled out elsewhere.

A Tram Train vehicle is based on a tram that has been enhanced to make it suitable for operation on the main line as a train as well as street running. Typically a tram train will have:

Higher vehicle crashworthiness to allow for the higher average speed operations of it and other trains and to resist slow speed collisions with heavier trains;

Enhancements to the signalling system to minimise the risk of a collision between trains and Tram Trains. This involves installing train protection and warning system (TPWS) at all signals, whereas TPWS is currently installed at junctions and sites with high levels of signal passed at danger (SPAD) incidents;

Road Traffic Act compliant head lights and direction indicators for on-street operation and to meet rail main line lighting requirements for visibility;

Additional main line signalling and communications equipment such as TPWS and the Global System for Mobile Communication – Railway (GSM-R);

More seating than a tram for longer distance journeys;

A wheel profile suitable for both tramway and standard main line track.

Press Enquiries: 020 7944 3108

Out of Hours: 020 7944 4292

Public Enquiries: 0300 330 3000

Department for Transport Website

***********************************************************************

Next we’d like to see tram-train for the Mid Cheshire line in between our normal trains.

We hope to have a proposal to publish on this shortly.

The Ffestiniog Round Robin is valid from stations on the Mid Cheshire line. You can go in either direction, clockwise or anticlockwise. I like both!!

Here’s the Ffestiniog Round Robin Map from the Arriva Trains Wales website.

It’s great value at only £34 (stunning value at £21.10 with a railcard if you have one) and there’s also a family ticket (2 adults, 2 children at £68), and a child fare at £17.  The single Ffestiniog fare if you were just travelling on that part is £13.10 (£11.80 for concessions).  The Round Robin also includes the scenic Conwy Valley Line, as well as round the very pretty Cambrian Coast. Incredible value!

Tickets can be bought at stations or from the conductor on the train.  If buying from the conductor you’ll probably find you have to buy the ticket with Manchester as the “start” station as the ticket doesn’t seem to be in the machines starting at our stations.  As it’s the same price this doesn’t matter (though it doesn’t do our “footfall” along the line any good!)

You might like to try the following: -

**********************************************************

Clockwise

You can go via Stockport and Crewe to Shrewsbury or else via Chester.

If going via Chester you need to catch the first train along our line to Chester (Altrincham 0646, Knutsford 0659, Northwich 0712) arriving in Chester at 0745.

Then it’s onto the 0819 from Chester, a class 175 train from Holyhead heading towards Cardiff via Wrexham and Shropshire to Shrewsbury due at 0913 and normally into platform 7.  As you arrive into Shrewsbury look out for the old semaphore signals.  Many are lower quadrant of Great Western Railway or Western Region origin, some are upper quadrant from London Midland Region days, and that at the southern end of platform 3 is almost brand new despite being a semaphore – probably the newest semaphore on National Rail!  There’s some colourlight signals and look out for the couple of very old lower quadrant signals at the southern end of platform 7.

The train to the Cambrian Coast will be a class 158 unit and usually leaves from platform 5.  It’s arrived from Birmingham International and is heading for Aberystwyth.  Leaving at 0927, you’re on this train as far as Machynlleth.  Soon after leaving the station the train turns right along the “North and West” towards South Wales.  Look out for the spectacular Shrewsbury Abbey on the left.  Then a few minutes later at Sutton Bridge Junction the train turns right onto the single line towards Welshpool – you may spot where there was a left hand branch here down towards Ironbridge and then Bridgnorth and what is now the Severn Valley Railway.

Rural Shropshire is beautiful, then soon it’s into Powys and paralleling the Welshpool Bypass into Welshpool Station.  Here the road occupies the land the trains used to run on, with the trains moved a little to the south.  The old station building still stands, somewhat oddly presiding over the bypass.

On another day, you might think of alighting here, strolling into town for the local market and lunch, and then strolling a little further to Raven Square for a trip over the Welshpool & Llanfair Light Railway to Llanfair Caereinion.  If you’ve not been on this, it’s a must, being built in the early 1900s when engines were much stronger than in the days many of our railways were built in the 1840s & 1850s.  No tunnels or embankments here, the train simply climbs up and down the hills!  If you’re thinking of staying round here another time for a few days, try the town of Montgomery only a few miles away and 20 minutes on the bus. It has great views from the castle. The Dragon Hotel is a nice country town hotel worth considering.

Next stop is Newtown another interesting market town, then straight on before turning sharp right and starting to climb through Carno and up to the top of Talerddig Bank where there’s a passing loop for the train coming the other way.  Then it’s a steep drop down to Machynlleth and almost sea level, with pretty valley views on the right-hand side.

We leave our train at 1046.  There may just be time to collect a take away tea in the station café before joining the 1054 Pwllheli train, another class 158 that is to take you for almost the next 2 hours along the coast to Porthmadog.  The best side for the views is on the left, though there are good views on the right, too.

The views on this section are superb.  There’s so much to see, I can’t cover it all, but do look out for Ffriog Cliffs, Barmouth Bridge with Cader Idris on the right, the Talyllyn Railway just before Tywyn station, the views across to Portmeirion, an incredibly special place, going under the Ffestiniog Railway just before Minffordd station, and then the views across Traeth Mawr to Porthmadog on the left and on a clear day to the top of Snowdon on the right.

Arrival is at 1245.  The Ffestiniog train is at 1335, though you could leave it until the 1600.

If you’re going on the 1335, I suggest you get across town to the FRs Harbour Station.  There’s a good café and real ale bar in the station called “Spooners”, so you might grab some food and drink there, and there are buffet cars on the trains, too.  If you’re leaving it until the 1600, you’ve plenty of time to pop across the road from the National Rail station to the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway and also sample some of Porthmadog.  There’s the Hen Fecws Restaurant next door to The Ship pub behind the park on the right before you get to Harbour Station which is regularly recommended for excellent food in the Ffestiniog Magazine.  If you fancy fish and chips, many of the locals go to the one in the back streets – you turn left at the traffic lights in the middle of town and it’s on the far side of the road at the bottom of that street.

I’ll not say much about the trip over the Ffestiniog – so much has been said.  If you don’t know it that well, at the start buy one of the line guides.  They’re A4, in full colour and have a full map to open out giving a commentary as you travel up the line.

At Blaenau Ffestiniog it’s just a couple of minutes walk across the tracks to the Arriva Trains Wales class 150 unit down the branch to Llandudno.  The Ffestiniog train arrives at 1445 (1720 on the later one) and the Arriva service leaves at 1457 (1737 on the later one), so you’ve not long between trains.  If you need teas and coffees, get them on the Ffestiniog train.  The food offering on the Ffestiniog service is limited, so if you need more and are nimble there’s a Co-op just the other side of the road from the station entrance, but be quick!

Travelling down the branch is special.  You can download a guide in advance. Try to sit on the left-hand side.  The first part of the line down to Betws-y-Coed was designed to be narrow gauge, but then laid with standard gauge track, so there’s some very sharp twists and turns.  There’s some specular scenery on this section – firstly the moonscape of the slate tips in Blaenau, then the longest railway tunnel in Wales, then out into the daylight and surrounded by beautiful green scenery.  Special!

At Betws look out for the Museum on the right-hand side as well as the nicely turned out station building.

From here it’s reasonably flat along the Conwy Valley (you were in the Lledr Valley before).  Dolgarrog on the left was the site of a specular dam collapse up the hill early in the last century that almost wiped the village out and caused new dam legislation to be introduced.  From here the river becomes tidal.  There’s plenty of bird life to watch out for.  As you approach Llandudno Junction, look out for Conwy Castle across the estuary and Stephenson’s Tubular railway bridge, similar in construction to the way the Britannia Bridge over the Menai Straits between the mainland and Anglesey used to be before the disastrous fire.

Arrival at Llandudno Junction is at 1556 (1835).  The next train towards Chester is at 1615, being the class 175 service from Llandudno towards Manchester Piccadilly (1853 being the class 175 service from Llandudno towards Manchester Airport).  There are trolley services on these trains, but if you’re quick you could go to the Asda in the car park outside the station for some cold drinks and food.

Travelling along the coast, the left-hand side is my favourite.  And so are the class 175 units, in my view the best DMUs running on National Rail at present despite their initial poor reliability.  Look out for the wind farms out in Liverpool Bay, the miniature railway tracks in the marine park just before Rhyl station, the poor delapidated “Duke of Lancaster” after Point of Ayr and as the Wirral Peninsula comes into view across the Dee Estuary, Shotton Steelworks, the line in from Wrexham just before Chester, the Roodee, and then the canal locks climbing up between the walls before arriving into Chester at 1710 (1949) where you’ll just have missed the 1707 up our line! (or won’t on the later one, as you’re nicely in time for our 2007).  Whilst in Chester you could go to the old Great Western first class refreshment rooms now called “Carriages”, or across the road to the Queen Hotel which is beautifully furnished, great for a reasonably priced tea or coffee though very expensive real ale!

Our train is adjacent in platform 6.

**********************************************************

Anticlockwise

Catch the train on our line that originates from Piccadilly at 0717, so for Altrincham that’s 0746, Knutsford 0759, Northwich 0812 and Cuddington 0822.

This arrives in Chester at 0845.  The official connection is into the 0923 Llandudno train.  This comes from Birmingham International and is a class 158, probably one of Arriva Trains Wales’ newly-refurbished ones (most have now been completed) and arrives into Llandudno Junction at 1011.

The train on our line is the one the scholars use from South Trafford to Knutsford, and then again from Knutsford, Lostock Gralam and Northwich to Greenbank and is very full indeed, though empties out after Knutsford and much more from Greenbank.  If you arrive on time into Chester at 0845 and get a move on from platform 6 to platform 3B, you may be able to catch the 0855 from Manchester Piccadilly via Warrington, a Llandudno train and a nice smooth class 175 unit which arrives at Llandudno Junction at 0948.  This gives you plenty of time to pop into Denise’s Cafe on the platform for a hot mug of tea and a bacon butty!  Make sure you pick up one of the scenic guides for the Conwy Valley line, as well as the informative Ffestiniog Railway timetable.

Our next train is the 1034 to Blaenau Ffestiniog, one of ATW’s nicely-refurbished class 150 units which have some tables.  Try standing near the entrance on platform 1 as that’s where the back of the train stops.  You want a seat on the platform side of the train, as the right-hand side going forward has the best views.  Be ready to dive on quick, though if it’s a sunny day there may already be a few on the train, especially as local bus passes are valid on the Conwy Valley line.

After leaving “the Junction” the train turns right heading up the Conwy Valley.  Watch out for the bird life on the right and the views towards the mountains, and looking behind you Conwy Castle and Stephenson’s Tubular Bridge.  From Tal-y-Cafn the valley narrows.  There’s great views all the way along to Betws-y-Coed.  From here the line becomes much more windy and steep.  This bit was originally built to be narrow gauge, but in the event was laid as standard gauge.  A few miles after Betws the line heads over a castellated viaduct and into the Lledr Valley.  It’s very scenic and green from here, through Dolwyddellan and Roman Bridge before heading into Wales’ longest railway tunnel and emerging a few miles later into Blaenau Ffestiniog surrounded by slate tips and anything but green.  A bit like suddenly landing on the moon!  Look on the right for the Ffestiniog Railway tracks and on arriving at the station at 1136, the Ffestiniog train may already be in.

Head quickly over to the Ffestiniog platform.  The best side for views is the left-hand side facing forwards.  There’s a buffet service in the front part of the train, though no sandwiches, just tea, coffee, snacks, beer, etc.

The train leaves at 1150, possibly hauled by one of the Ffestiniog’s double-ended Double Fairlie locos.  If you’ve not travelled over the line before ask one of the buffet stewards to sell you a line guide soon after leaving Blaenau.  It’s got an excellent line guide in it, shows you what to look out for as you’re travelling along and explains about the history of the world’s oldest still extant railway company incorporated in 1836.

Just after Minffordd Station you pass over the Cambrian Coast line.  Remember this as you’ll be on it soon!

As you cross the Cob (embankment before Porthmadog) on a clear day you can see the top of Snowdon.  You arrive at Porthmadog Harbour Station at 1300.

The National Rail station is 10-15 minutes walk away at the other end of Porthmadog.  You could stop for lunch at The Little Wonder café at Harbour Station, which has lots of railway artefacts inside as well as one of the early engines, “Princess”.  If it’s busy you’ll probably rather get across to the other end of town.  There’s a pub on the National Rail station that does good sandwiches, hot pies, etc., so you might try that, or pop into the Welsh Highland Heritage Railway just across the road to look around there.

The next train is at 1400, an Arriva Trains Wales class 158 destined for Birmingham International.  The side to sit on is on the right facing direction of travel.  The views for the next 3½ hours all the way to Shrewsbury are quite something.  The first 2 hours is a slow meander to Machynlleth.  Look out for The Ffestiniog Railway crossing above in Minffordd Station, Portmeirion on the left shortly afterwards, Harlech Castle, Barmouth, Barmouth Bridge, Ffriog Cliffs, the Talyllyn Railway on the left at Tywyn, Aberdovey, Dovey Junction where the line from Aberystwyth comes in from the right and then Machynlleth.

Here the train waits for the train from Aberystwyth to arrive around 10 minutes later.  This couples on the back and from here there’s usually a trolley service.  Then it’s off along the flat for a few miles and before the steep climb starts up Talerddig Bank, feared by steam engine drivers, but now all a bit of a breeze with a couple of 158s!

Then down through Carno, Caersws and along through Newtown and Welshpool and scenic mid Wales before arriving into Shrewsbury’s grand station at 1726.

Unfortunately the connections off “the Cambrian” northbound to Chester are pretty poor.  The train leaves at 1724, so you’ll probably miss this one.  There’s a café on the station and if you’re not in a rush have a look around Shrewsbury’s beautifully-restored station or even take time to pop into the town itself, just as interesting as Chester but without anything like so many tourists.

From Shrewsbury there’s two ways to Chester, either via Crewe or via Wrexham.  If you’ve travelled from the Manchester end of our line you could also travel from here to Stockport, in which case catch the 1751 class 175 train which originates at Milford Haven coming via Cardiff and is heading for Manchester Piccadilly.  This arrives at Stockport at 1858, so the next connection along our line is at 1930.

The next train to Chester is at 1806 and nicknamed the “WAG Express”, being the Welsh (Assembly) Government-sponsored class 67 hauled 4 coach train.  This goes via Crewe to Chester arriving at 1906, just as our 1907 is leaving! 

So you might choose to stay in Shrewsbury a little longer and catch the 1824 class 158 service.  This originates from Birmingham International and goes to Holyhead via the old Great Western main line.  Look out for Gobowen’s tastefully restored station, the canal aqueduct alongside just before Chirk.  Chirk Station is a recent winner of a community award – you’ll see why – and then Cadbury’s followed by the Kronospan chipboard factory on the right which receives up to 2 log trains a day from Ribblehead, Carlisle and various Scottish locations.  After Wrexham the line was singled to make the Wrexham Bypass cheaper to build.  Most of this line is proposed for redoubling once the Welsh Government allocates the funds, though not the section over Gresford Bank down to Rossett, a section that both the Great Western and British Rail found very expensive to maintain due to the bank continually slipping.  Our train arrives into Chester at 1920, so there’s time to pop into Carriages or even the very smart Queen Hotel across the road from the station before returning for the 2007 up our line.

**********************************************************

Whichever way round you go, it’s a long day but a very good day full of interest.

If you take this trip and take some good pictures, email them in to me and I’ll add them to this post.

Have fun!  Enjoy the day!

More details are on their website including about their next Board Meeting on Wednesday 16 May which is in Manchester and is open to the public.

If you go and hear anything of interest to our lines, please let us know.

All ready to go at Chester

We arrived a little early at Skegness and then again on the return at Chester. The train was full and had been full for the previous 7 weeks after some particularly effective marketing. Many thanks go to all who helped make this train run so well, our volunteers, Riviera Trains (the provider of the coaches), DB Schenker, Network Rail and Flying Scotsman Catering who stood in at short notice following the very sad death of Steve Wells earlier this year – Steve ran Rolling Riot Catering which has now closed.

Here’s a picture of our train taken (with permission) from the signalbox ….

…. and inside the signalbox.

It was a delight to see so many happy people leaving our train on our return and to receive many congratulatory emails. This is what makes it all worth it for us. We had some problems with the heating from Chester, mainly resolved by Reddish South where over 50 passengers including their band joined us. However, we did struggle being unable to get any heat into coach D. The Riviera and DBS traincrew tried to fix this, but without success. Because we were completely full, we were only able to move some of the people for coach D into warm accommodation. We have apologised to those inconvenienced and are in discussion with Riviera about this.

Passengers seemed to enjoy the raffle and the draw, and we will be able to donate £125 to The Railway Children charity in respect of the draw for the visit for two to Manchester Piccadilly Signalling Centre.

We were delighted that a number of “stars” from our “Manchester to Chester in 4 minutes and 40 seconds” YouTube video were able to join us as guests. The video has received well over 4,000 hits, and Northern Rail are so delighted with it that they’ve paid the producers to created a digitally-enhanced version for their publicity events. It’s on http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jQ4BsoNaFy4  for those who haven’t seen it yet.

Many passengers completed our forms asking for ideas of where we might take our special train next year. If you were on the train and want to put forward further ideas, or even if you didn’t make the train, please email me with any ideas for next year’s railtour. We always take these into account. A couple of things to bear in mind. It’s difficult for us to travel over the single track between Chester and Wrexham between 8am and 9.30am as it’s so full. Also, it needs to be attractive to 550 travellers – single people, families and friends – and to have a reasonable element of rail interest.

There’s some pictures appeared on the web ….

http://railway-photography.smugmug.com/HuddersfieldDieseltours/Lincolnshire-Coast-Express-5-5/22804548_NFL6jX#!i=1829689847&k=XCR9QmQ

and see the last few pictures of – http://www.nwrail.org.uk/nwnews.htm?

Great fun?  Yes! 

Bracing?  Well not in Lincoln from what I heard where passengers had a good time with the catherdral and the shops, but in Skegness it definitely was bracing where there was a 20mph northerly wind and also driving rain for about an hour!  The rain stopped, and the fish and chips were excellent  

And for the “Eagle Eyed”.

Did you notice the headboard was the wrong one?

The story behind this is that our colleagues in Chester Model Railway Club who lend us the headboards delivered it to me the previous Wednesday evening, but I didn’t check it. When I did, it was too late to do anything about it.

It seems that when they went to where they store the headboards, one of them had a bit of a memory lapse and selected the wrong one as they do have a “Lincolnshire Poacher” headboard. Keep taking the tablets, folks!!

The signalbox cat which has been around the ‘box longer than any of the signalmen, probably over 20 years, has been suffering with weight loss and more recently was giving rise to concern.

Cat on the toilet roof

Signalman Eddie had taken “Cat” to Zoe from the adjacent Mobberley Cattery at 1 & 2 Railway Cottages, these cottages built by the railway in the 1860′s. Zoe and Bob helped as best they could and a trip to the vets identified liver failure. There was nothing much that could be done for him.

With some help from the vets, Cat came back to the ‘box for a comfortable last night on Friday. Then on Saturday Zoe and Bob took Eddie and Cat to the vets to say a very humane “goodbye”. Eddie and the other signalmen have ensured he has a comfortable final resting place.

Cat will be greatly missed locally, not just by the signalmen, but also by passing locals, though not by the fieldmice!

Our condolensces go the the signalmen who we know will miss him, especially on those long nights with few trains.

Our friends running the Middlewich Diary have just published an entry with pictures of the Push-Pull Farewell tour run in 1966.

How long until we get passenger trains back to Middlewich, the largest town in Cheshire without a railway station?

Well it’s happening, though for one day only – Mid Cheshire – Sunday 20 May 2012

The reason?

Northern are one of the sponsors of the Spellbound Forest event in Delamere Forest that Sunday. And they’ve kindly rescheduled services and added extra resources to give the line an hourly service that day.

Now here’s the challenge!

How about we all try to use the service that day to go somewhere, even if only a short trip like Mobberley to Knutsford, Hale to Stockport or Chester to Delamere. All the income that day is accounted for in LENNON (nothing to do with The Beatles! – Latest Earnings Networked Nationally Over Night) and so by the following day Northern (and others, i.e. DfT and TfGM) will see the increase in takings over to the normal two-hourly service.

We get to hear overall statistics afterwards, though not the detail. We’ll let you know what we hear about tickets sold and earnings for Sunday 20 May.

***************************************************************************
We had our first Music Train of the summer last Tuesday – a daytime trip from Chester to the Greyhound at Ashley. It was for the Wirral Branch of Parkinson’s UK and they brought 36 people. A good test of the Ashley arrangements and it went well.

The first ‘public’ Music Train is this Wednesday evening, 25 April, from Chester to Plumley – it’s the popular Chester Folk Festival one with three bands.

The first ‘To Jazz in Chester’ Music Train is the following week – 2 May – booked in advance via Alexanders – 16 bookings already.

Through the summer we will have three a month.

We have changed the publicity arrangements so there will be one poster a month announcing the next few Music Trains rather than an individual one for each Music Train. I will shortly have all the details of the series settled and we will then publish the full programme.

Michael Ross
Music Trains Organiser
Mid Cheshire Community Rail Partnership
musictrains@midcheshirerail.org.uk
***************************************************************************

So that’s 3 music trains a month.

Last year was our best year ever. The Plumley evening trains averaged 33 with a few each time who came from the east or drove. The Plumley daytime trains averaged 20, pretty good since this was its first year of operation and since they were only bi-monthly. The Chester Jazz trains averaged 25, this being their second year of operation and again these were bi-monthly.

This year, as it’s proving so popular, we’ve decided to go monthly from Spring through to Autumn and we’re also running some “private” trains for parties where they’ve requested this, the first one being last week as in Michael’s note.

Thus, 2012′s programme is: -

One from Altrincham to Chester on the 1817 from Piccadilly, but with the music only starting from Knutsford as the train is too full for musicians to play until Knutsford. This ties in with a transfer to Alexander’s Jazz Club for the music to continue and a return on the 2248 from Chester. The Alexander’s element needs to be pre-booked.

One evening train from Chester to The Golden Pheasant at Plumley on the 1907 from Chester, the band then playing at the pub, with a return on the 2203 from Plumley.

And one lunchtime train from Chester on the 1207 to The Greyhound at Ashley, the band then playing at the pub, with a return on the 1452 from Ashley.

Once we have the full details, I’ll add them to this post. So if you’re interested, make sure you “Subscribe” to the Blog and flag this post as one you want notification where comments are posted.

Come along and join us if you can. It’s great fun!

Our contacts at Delamere Forest write: -

Organised by Wild Rumpus, The Spellbound Forest is an enchanting day out as we invite a family audience to follow the paths in Delamere Forest, each telling the story of an English fairy tale through theatrical performance, music, storytelling, creative writing and dance.  There is also lots of lovely food and drink and a picnic area.  Families will come into the forest on a timed ticket.  Tickets will allow entry within a 15 minute time slot.  This is to make sure that the forest doesn’t get too busy.

Using to train to and from Delamere is an ideal way to get there as the station is under 10 minutes walk from the Visitor Centre.  Remember to ask for a “Northern Duo” if starting from Mid Cheshire Line stations – it’s a Buy One get Second Half Price deal!

Fancy volunteering to help?

We require helpful, friendly volunteers to guide families, dress up, tell stories and help us turn a beautiful forest into an even more magical wonderland capable of bringing to life 3 classic English Fairy Tales.

We’re holding a volunteer meeting at Delamere Visitor Centre on Saturday 28 April from 3pm-5pm.

Spellbound Volunteer Application Form 2012

About Wild Rumpus

We organise large scale family arts events in wild natural landscapes.

The events that we organise take families out of their day to day lives into magical and enchanting places which can inspire, create memories and have a lasting impact. We provide the environment where families can sing, dance & play together not in separate children’s activities and believe that families deserve access to the highest quality art.

Wild Rumpus produce the award-winning Just So Festival , a boutique, weekend-long festival of creativity aimed at children, young people and their families; Nutcrack Night , a a large-scale outdoor family evening of theatrical performance, wild dancing, light spectaculars and masked mayhem; and are expanding our repertoire of events further in 2012.

In addition, we are developing an accompanying programme of research, dissemination, advocacy and artist development, creating a virtuous circle informing our own practice and promoting and developing best practice in family arts nationally.

But no more!

Cheshire West & Chester Council have just commissioned a new set of traffic lights which include pedestrian signals.

Here’s some pictures I took yesterday ….

Looking towards the town centre with the sadly, boarded up Lion & Railway pub on the right-hand side.

It’s a busy junction, and the pedestrian crossings are well used.

Looking towards the town centre from the bridge, it’s still no right turn towards the station, meaning those from Rudheath and Middlewich have to pass the station and go round the roundabout and come back to get to the station, which must be over a quarter of a mile.

Looking in the direction of Lostock Gralam ….

…. and towards the station.

The Northwich Town Centre to Rudheath route 2 (Arriva North West) service passes the station every 20 minutes. However, because of the nature of the road layout, this service is not allowed to stop near the station, the bus stops being around 5 minutes walk away and not signposted. There are services which stop at the station, the routes 45 and 289, but these run rather infrequently and when they do, do not connect with the train services. Lack of train/bus connectivity at Northwich was one of the topics we discussed with Graham Evans, MP for Weaver Vale when he invited us to meet with him a few months ago.

Overall, a great improvement.

We wonder whether the Council might consider changing the traffic regulations slightly to allow the route 2 service (i.e. service buses only) to turn right towards the station to provide a service to/from the town centre around a 10-15 minute walk away, but only 3 minutes on the bus.