The Newsletter of the Mid-Cheshire Rail Users Association, the Voice for Users of the Manchester-Stockport-Altrincham-Knutsford-Northwich-Chester and Crewe-Hartford-Liverpool Lines.
See our website at www.mcrua.org.uk.
We are pleased to inform members that David Godley, the recently-appointed Area Director (West) of Northern Rail, is to speak at the 2005 MCRUA AGM, which is to be held in the Tatton Room at the Knutsford Civic Centre on Wednesday 22nd June at 7.45pm. The Knutsford Civic Centre is on the main A50 Toft Road adjacent to Knutsford station. The Tatton Room is at the rear of the building and has its own entrance. Suitable trains are the 18.24 from Manchester Piccadilly, due into Knutsford at 19.04 and the 18.10 rail replacement bus from Chester (see below), changing into a train at Northwich and arriving in Knutsford at 19.37. Suitable return trains are the 21.42 to Manchester Piccadilly and the 22.04 to Northwich, changing into a rail replacement bus for Chester. There is a large car park adjacent to the Civic Hall, which is accessible via Marcliff Grove, the first side road to the north of the station. We hope for a good turnout of members for this meeting, which will also feature a competition for two free tickets for a day trip on Northern Rail services (anyone for the Settle & Carlisle line?)
The section of the mid-Cheshire line between Chester and Northwich will be closed for three days in June for engineering work. The three days are Tuesday 21st June, Wednesday 22nd June and Thursday 23rd June. Rail replacement buses will operate in both directions, departing from Chester at 10 past the hour and from Northwich at 25 past the hour. The buses are scheduled to connect with trains at Northwich. We have no information as to the reason for this temporary closure of the line.
It has now become clear that the Stockport area is to be blocked every weekend in the summer (from Saturday 11th June to Sunday 18th September inclusive). MCRUA regrets that it should be necessary to have so many possessions despite the major blockade of last summer. In addition, Manchester Piccadilly station will be closed to the majority of services on Saturday 6th August and Sunday 7th August. As a consequence of these blockades, mid-Cheshire line services will only operate between Chester and Altrincham on Saturdays during the summer. MCRUA hopes that, as during previous similar blockades, National Rail tickets will be valid on the Metrolink Altrincham line on Saturdays during the blockades. At the time of writing (31st May) this has not been confirmed.
The summer 2005 timetable, which begins on Sunday 12th June, contains very few changes to the train service on the mid-Cheshire line. The main change is that, as mentioned above, the train service will only operate between Chester and Altrincham on Saturdays. A rail replacement bus service will link Altrincham and Stockport. Saturday trains will generally leave Chester at 01 minutes past the hour and will leave Altrincham at 08 minutes past the hour. Good news is that there is an 09.13 Altrincham-Chester service, which fills what is normally a gap in the service at that time of day. The 13.20 Sunday train from Altrincham to Chester is retimed to depart at 13.23. We are however disappointed that the last Sunday train from Chester still departs at 20.10, the same time as the boat train from Holyhead is arriving into Chester! We will continue to press for a connection to be provided between the two services. MCRUA is also pressing for the 09.31 Northwich-Blackpool North train to start in service from Greenbank rather than running empty from Greenbank to Northwich. The train arrives at Greenbank in passenger service from St Annes-on-Sea via Manchester but it is not allowed to depart in passenger service from the Chester-bound platform at Greenbank because it would do so under the authority of a position light signal. A position light signal is a signal, which governs shunting movements and is the equivalent of the old semaphore ground signal. There is however a signalled move for the train to reverse into the Manchester-bound platform at Greenbank, from where departure would be under the authority of a full-height signal. This should therefore be allowed by Her Majesty’s Railway Inspectorate. The train would fill what is currently a very long gap in services from Greenbank to Manchester between 08.29 and 10.25. A copy of the new pocket timetable for the mid-Cheshire line may be enclosed with this newsletter.
A meeting of the MCRUA committee on Monday 16th May agreed on two main objectives for the
Association. These are:
David Muskett and John Oates have resigned as Committee Members. We thank them for their contribution to the association’s work. John Oates in particular had been a committee member since 1988. He will be a hard act to follow as Treasurer but if any member would like to consider taking on this important role please contact Andrew Macfarlane by 20th June. MCRUA’s webmaster Robin Polack is seriously ill and we regret that the MCRUA website is currently not being updated.
This year’s mid-Cheshire line steam train is described in detail in John Kitchen’s report but suffice to say that the train was heavily over-subscribed and thoroughly enjoyed by all those who went on it. Northern Rail Area Director David Godley was unfortunately left behind at Knutsford when a newspaper photographer insisted on taking his picture on the opposite platform but happily David was able to join the train at Northwich, where a ceremony took place to mark the renovation of the station building. The MCRUA special train from Altrincham to Bath, Salisbury and Eastleigh on Saturday 14th May also ran well behind locomotive no. 67022. We unfortunately left 4 people behind at Salisbury (it’s obviously becoming a habit!) but happily they got back home OK by service trains for no extra charge. A booking form is enclosed with this newsletter for the association’s next special train, The North Yorkshire Moors Express, to York, Malton (for a coach link to the North Yorkshire Moors Railway) and Scarborough on Saturday 8th October. This train is being run jointly with the Ffestiniog Railway Dee and Mersey Group and the Chester Model Railway Club.
The FoAI have recently been collecting signatures on a petition to be presented to GMPTE calling for the glass to be reinstated in the canopy above platform 1 at Altrincham (the main Metrolink platform). Customer Information Screens are to be installed at Altrincham station under a £370m Strategic Rail Authority programme to improve access at stations. The next meeting of the FoAI is on Monday 13th June at the Altrincham Baptist Church, Hale Road (opposite its junction with Oxford Road), starting at 7.30pm. MCRUA members are welcome.
The normal timetable from Hartford and Winsford was reinstated as from Monday 28th March following the renewal of the Rest Day Working agreement between ASLEF and Central Trains. MCRUA put out a press release to inform the travelling public of this. There is unfortunately now doubt over the promised Birmingham-Hartford-Preston service and only one Central Trains service will operate on that route in the summer timetable (a 16.51 Monday to Friday Birmingham-Preston service). Network Rail has apparently encountered difficulty in pathing the new service on the West Coast main line and there is now talk of the new Siemens class 350 Desiro electric trains being used on the Manchester-Birmingham service in place of the Voyager trains. MCRUA will continue to press for a service from Hartford northwards along the West Coast main line. The next meeting of MCRUA’s Hartford and Winsford Sub-Committee is at the Red Lion, 277 Chester Road, Hartford, on Thursday 23rd June, starting at 7.45pm. All MCRUA members are welcome to attend.
I am writing this on 24 May. The service at the moment is running well. The latest statistics available for the line for the 4 weeks to 30 April (Period 1) show reliability (trains running) as 99.1% (target 99%) and punctuality (trains arriving within 5 minutes of timetabled time) of 90.2%. The target for punctuality was previously 90%, though was raised to 91% when Northern took over last December. The moving annual average is less than that for period 1, and is improving. Overall performance is good and dramatically better than a few years ago. The QIT is not for sitting back and congratulating itself, though! The hard bit now is keeping the performance this good, and indeed improving on it. The two major disruption factors in Period 1 were further problems with the signalling for the single line section between Mouldsworth and Mickle Trafford and the overbridge at Lostock Gralam (bridge 54) again being hit by lorries, causing that part of the line to be closed for up to 2-3 hours awaiting a bridge inspector.
As regards the single line, Network Rail has a plan for resignalling the section some time in 2006. The QIT is awaiting more details, so it can assess whether this will overcome the current problems. These relate to the type of track circuiting in use being very susceptible to failure when electrical storms are about (and indeed, in our experience, a lot of other things as well!) This failed yet again last Sunday afternoon, but was fixed within an hour or so. On bridge 54, Cheshire County Council as the road authority has some responsibility for correct signage. Currently Network Rail is assessing whether the signage is as good as it could/should be. The QIT will have sight of the report following this assessment. We will then take a view on whether further measures could be brought in. Quite what these may be remains to be seen, but any ideas would be appreciated. The other main problem appears to be the regular power supply failure to Greenbank signal box. This seems to happen for a variety of reasons from power blips on the grid locally, to rats eating the supply cables. This latter tends to be terminal for the rats involved, but since there are a lot of them, it keeps happening. Network Rail is also considering what could be done to reduce / stop these incidents.
The method for producing the detailed statistics of individual trains has been changed. At the moment, we do not have the level of information we used to have to allow us to easily see which trains are losing time and where. We are assured this will be reinstated shortly. Thus, we know which trains are performing less well, but find it hard to pinpoint where, and through this, why. Nevertheless, the poor performers are good compared to previous years. It’s just we want to make them better! A number of “quick fixes” were carried out in February / March, one of which has had a very beneficial effect. The signaller at Edgeley Junction at the Stockport end of the single line section from Northenden is now able to find out how our train is progressing on the single line. Thus, the signaller can set up the route such that we often now proceed into Stockport without stopping. Before, it was most usual for us to be stopped at Edgeley Junction and then restarted a few minutes later.
This “quick fix” appears to have rescued since the end of February one of the worst runners on the line, the 06.57 from Chester. This service is formed of one of the bus-bodied class 142 Pacer trains and regularly carries more people than it has seats between Northwich and Altrincham. The resulting delays have been causing it to arrive late into Stockport and then be further delayed having “lost its path”. The extra couple of minutes saved by the quick fix has sorted this for most days, though often not on Mondays when the train is particularly heavily loaded and the conductor is also attempting to sell weekly tickets. From the timetable change in June this train will at our request cease to call at Heaton Chapel and Levenshulme. This should help, but only if the train manages to get onto the main line at Edgeley Junction within a couple of minutes of time.
Another “quick fix” is the decision to put manual train reporting into TRUST (the train progress monitoring system) at Mobberley signal box, bridging the gap between Deansgate Junction (near Navigation Road) and Greenbank. All the wiring, including road works were carried out in March, though at the time of writing the equipment had yet to be delivered and installed. This fix was share-funded by Network Rail and Northern Rail. Confusion continues at Chester as to whether the Chester-based drivers employed by Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) are allowed to help out when required. It seems ATW Control think they are, but the drivers think they aren’t! Hopefully, David Godley, the newly-arrived Area Director (West) will have a go at getting this resolved, once he has his feet properly under the table, since this often really helps when things get disrupted at Chester (e.g. units requiring fuel, turning on the triangle due to defects, getting out of the yard that Piccadilly drivers don’t “sign” and starting up for frost precautions). As regards planned replacement buses, the latest version of the plan, version 5, has been accepted and adopted. There is still some tweaking required, including agreeing a method of getting passengers from the railway platforms onto the replacement bus, when they think they are waiting for a train! Watch this space on this.
There are a few other initiatives to report. Knutsford is to have its RJIS (Rail Journey Information System) reinstated from next Wednesday after a period of about two years without it. This means the booking office will again be able to make seat reservations, as well as check how closely to time trains are running. There is also a plan to introduce this system at Northwich in the not that distant future. We are still trying to get the Manchester-bound trains in the evening to be at the same standard departure times as those during the day. At present they run 4 minutes earlier from 17.57, regularly catching passengers out (including my wife!) and causing upset and aggravation. This is especially the case when the 20.57 is just missed and the next train is 1 hour and 48 minutes later!! Hopefully, we will be able to get this uncustomer-focussed situation resolved from next December. We should know more at the next meeting in July. Overall, though, things are going very well. As David Franks, a previous managing director once said, it’s now all about “sticking to the knitting”.
The Community Rail Partnership is still trying to secure funds for the continuation of the Partnership following the end of the initial tranche of funding. From contact with our colleagues in Lancashire it seems likely that the North West Development Agency will fund partnership work, but are unlikely to fund the Partnership’s revenue costs (i.e. salaries and office costs) – this presents the Partnership with a problem which will be addressed at the next Partnership meeting. The demise of the Countryside Agency has affected all Rural Transport Partnerships – not least ACoRP, which received the bulk of its funding from the Countryside Agency. They have been able to replace their funding from a range of agencies and we will have to do the same.
Northern is now well established with its franchise and restructuring is proceeding apace. This has meant considerable change in various parts of the organisation with associated changes in personnel and departmental locations. It is now clear that a major presence will remain in Manchester with Bridgewater House as a regional centre. We were very pleased to welcome David Godley – Northern’s Area Director - on the Rail Day on 1st of May. We look forward to working with David and his team in the future. A recent piece of news is that our station manager Adrian Barkley is retaining his responsibilities. A scheme to provide litter bins at stations is in the process of being undertaken as a joint venture between the Partnership and Northern.
The refurbishment of Northwich station is now substantially complete with the booking office end complete. Plans are now being laid for the occupancy of the Vale Royal end of the building and the involvement of the community. Opening on current form should be around the end of June or early July. It is hoped that following completion the surroundings of the station can be brought up to a good standard. Various developments are also planned for better integration of public transport in the area and providing services to travellers on the station for longer than the current single shift operation.
The major spring event for the Partnership was, of course, a repeat of the Rail Day on 1st of May. The event was an even bigger success than last year in terms of the number of passengers carried and press coverage with both the Manchester Evening News and the BBC covering the event in the North West, as well as the local press. The event has a very high local profile and promotes the line in a unique and very visible way. A particularly desirable aspect of this years operation was the presence of so many young families – these are the people we must reach, they are the future of rail travel and the mid Cheshire in particular. The railway industry has commended the event at all levels and we had guests from Northern/Network Rail/SRA and West Coast who operated the train for us. They recognised the difficulties of operating a ten-coach train on our line and the organisational challenges involved. I am pleased to say that all of them commended our operation with one being moved to say that they were working with the “A team”. This is a tremendous tribute to all the MCRUA volunteers who managed such things on the day as embarking 500 people in less than five minutes at Altrincham in the morning.
Operationally, the day was also a success where despite the train turning up 15 minutes late in the morning (recovered by shortening the Northwich stop) it subsequently ran on time all day. 45407 performed admirably with a ten-coach load including the support coach and we still did not have enough capacity to satisfy all comers! This, however, is the limit for even a Black 5 – despite the popular perception of Cheshire being flat, our line is, in fact, quite severely graded and any poorer climatic conditions (drizzle between Mouldsworth and Delamere for example) would cause risks with any greater load. Ian Riley – the owner of 45407 – assures me that the job is as hard as anything on the main line with all the starts and presents a real challenge for the crew.
Financially, we more or less balanced the books this year – if you ignore all the voluntary effort that went into the organisation and operation of the event. On a personal note I would like to thank all the volunteers who supported us on the day and Andrew Macfarlane. He managed the entire back office operations of enquiries/bookings/ticketing/seating plans/etc. without which the event could not have taken place. The couriers were superb in managing the crowds and ensuring as far as possible that our passengers had a good time. One final thank you and specific mention, unsung but vital Les Hopwood, both this year and last, ensured that the train was kept free of rubbish, a vital piece of the jigsaw. He was specifically mentioned to me on three separate occasions during the day and particularly by West Coast who were extremely grateful to have the train returned in the condition that it arrived!
The release of the Railfilms production “Along Cheshire Lines” is now imminent. Having seen a preview copy of the film I can wholeheartedly say that the film is one of the best railway films I have seen – looking at the line as a service to Cheshire. For enthusiasts there are separate sections of the programme covering freight traffic and steam special trains. It will give the Partnership a unique marketing tool and will put us right at the forefront of the Rail Partnership community. At £10.00 it is very reasonably priced and I would commend the film to all MCRUA members. I intend to use the film to promote the line and its attractions at various locations in the future. It also forms an ideal companion to the Cheshire Lines Cab Ride released earlier this year.
As John Kitchen mentions in his report, a new DVD about the mid-Cheshire line entitled Along Cheshire Lines will soon be available. The 63-minute DVD includes archive footage from the steam era and also footage of the mid-Cheshire line steam trains in both 2004 and 2005. Present day passenger and freight operations and places of interest along the line are also covered in detail. If you would like a copy of the DVD please send £10 plus £1.50 postage and packing to Telerail, 9a New Street, Carnforth, Lancashire LA5 9BX or telephone 01524-735774 and quote your credit or debit card number. Orders can also be placed on the Railfilms website at www.railfilms.com.
The barrow crossing between platforms 3 and 4 at Altrincham had been reinstated by 24th March and was used on the Mid-Cheshire Rail Day on 1st May. GMPTE is looking into the possibility of submitting a Major Scheme bid to the Departnent for Transport for a new public transport interchange at Stockport. This would be centred on the present bus station site and would include provision for Metrolink. There would be much-improved links with the railway station. There is now a later bus at 18.35 on Monday to Saturday (except Bank Holidays) on the 289 bus route from Altrincham to Northwich via Knutsford. The route is now operated by Swans Travel. There will again be buses from Knutsford, Hartford and Northwich stations to the Cheshire Show at Tabley on Tuesday and Wednesday 21st and 22nd June. There will also again be free buses from Altrincham station (bus station side) and from the Knutsford entrance to Tatton Park to the RHS Flower Show at Tatton Park from Wednesday 20th July to Sunday 24th July. As usual, the Wednesday is for RHS members only. The Saturday 19th March Railway Touring Company steam special from Cleethorpes to Chester via the mid-Cheshire line was in the event hauled by “Black Five” 45407 The Lancashire Fusilier rather than former LNER B1 locomotive No. 61264. Also the train was diverted to run via Diggle and Stockport due to the Hope Valley route being blocked by engineering work.
The flyash traffic to Oakleigh Sidings, Winnington, in connection with the Northwich Salt Mine Stabilisation scheme began running directly from Drax Power Station in Yorkshire as from 24th April. The train is however now usually routed in both directions via Manchester Victoria, Warrington Bank Quay and the Hartford LNW/CLC curve. The lease on the Barton Containerbase near the Trafford Centre expires in 2011 and Peel Holdings, the owners of the site, wish to extend the Trafford Centre over the site of the Containerbase. One alternative site for the rail-served container terminal is the proposed “Port Salford” site alongside the Manchester Ship Canal near the Barton M60 motorway bridge. This would entail the construction of a branch line off the “Chat Moss” Manchester-Liverpool line to the west of Patricroft. A triangular junction is envisaged, which would enable trains to enter the site from either the Warrington or Manchester directions.
Cheshire County Council is proposing to hold a meeting of interested parties to discuss how to take forward the Middlewich line reopening scheme. The next meeting of the Middlewich & West Cheshire Committee of MCRUA is on Tuesday 28th June at the usual venue of the Boar’s Head on Kinderton Street in Middlewich, starting at 7.45pm. All members are welcome to attend.
We understand that there is to be a decision “soon” on the £102m upgrade scheme for Metrolink Phase 1 (the Bury and Altrincham lines). The current plan for the Phase 3 extensions (Rochdale via Oldham, Ashton and Manchester Airport) appears to be to build one line at a time. Work is well under way on construction of a £36m Metrolink stop and bridge over the Manchester-Rochdale direct line at Central Park, near to Thorpes Bridge Junction, Newton Heath. Metrolink vehicle 1015 (ironically the “Get our Metrolink back on Track” overall advert) was out of service for 12 weeks following its derailment on Auburn Street near Piccadilly station on 11th January. Vehicle 1008 was back in service after overhaul by 25th April and 1013 was back in service by 29th April. Work on the enlarged car park at Navigation Road was finally scheduled to start on 6th June. The possibility of a new Metrolink station at Abraham Moss, between Woodlands Road and Crumpsall, is being investigated but funding for the new station is not currently available.
Some Metrolink fares including cheap day returns, singles and Metromax (day and weekend rover) fares increased as from Sunday 27th February. Altrincham-Manchester is now £3.10 single and £3.30 cheap day return. The off-peak Metromax fare is now £3.40 (child £1.60). The off-peak concessionary fares are now 60p single and £1.10 return. These fares are only available to GMPTE concessionary pass holders. GMPTE concessionary pass holders pay half fare on Metrolink before 09.30 on Monday to Friday and they do this by using the child button. If making a return journey starting before 09.30, it is best to buy a half single on the outward leg and then to pay 60p on the return journey. It would be useful if this information was publicised to the general public. Metrolink ticket machines do not take copper coins but members are reminded that through tickets are available from any National Rail station to any Metrolink station.
Chris Kimberley, the Commercial Director of Northern Rail, informed the MCRUA public meeting in Knutsford on 30th March that Northern Rail intends to make the Metrolink Altrincham line a part of the National Rail network for ticketing purposes. This is now possible due to Serco’s involvement in both Northern Rail and Metrolink. MCRUA welcomes this move, which would extend the present Sundays only arrangement to 7 days a week. It would end the nonsense of tickets between the mid-Cheshire line and Manchester only being valid via one route (either Stockport or Metrolink) and passengers would have the freedom to return from Manchester by whichever route they liked.
The popular Wayfarer ticket went up in price as from 30th April. The new prices are: Adult £8, Concessionary (children aged 5 to 15 and anyone aged 60 or over. Proof of age may be required) £4, Weekend Adult (consecutive Saturday and Sunday) £11.50 and Group (up to 4 persons, no more than 2 of whom are adults) £15. Virgin Trains continues to offer unrestricted travel to any National Railcard holder with a Saver return ticket. This means that railcard holders can purchase a Saver return ticket at the usual 34% discount and then travel on ANY Virgin train at any time of day. The current (until 11th June) Saver return fare from Manchester, Altrincham, Knutsford, Northwich and Chester to London is £55 and the Saver return fare from Crewe to London is £50. The Saver return is a walk-on ticket, which can be purchased from the booking office on the day of travel and does not need to be booked in advance. The return journey can be made up to a month after the outward journey. As members may well have heard, free off-peak local bus travel is to be made available for pensioners and disabled people from April 2006.
The weekly Stockport-Stalybridge passenger train becomes a 16.15 Fridays Only Stalybridge-Stockport service from the start of the summer timetable. The 08.25 Saturdays Only Chester-Runcorn (main line station) service via the Frodsham Junction-Halton Junction “Halton curve” again runs this summer. The useful Arriva Trains Wales (ATW) Manchester Piccadilly-Penzance through service is unfortunately to cease in December 2005, the date when ATW introduces its “clockface” timetable. There are some very reasonable fares on this service (examples in the Fares Manual valid until 11th June 2005 are £34 Apex return from Manchester to Exeter and £38 Apex return from Manchester to Plymouth). A problem has been encountered with the proposed drop-in doctor’s surgery at Manchester Piccadilly in that there is currently nowhere on the concourse, which is both available and large enough to accommodate it. As mentioned in the previous newsletter Crewe Locomotive Worksis to hold an Open Weekend on Saturday and Sunday 10th and 11th September. Grand Central’sproposal for a York-Manchester Victoria-Chester service via the Calder Valley route has unfortunately been abandoned. The main building at the unstaffed Woodley station is currently being renovated in preparation for an alternative use.
Railfuture is the only national, voluntary body which campaigns for more investment in the national rail network. Railfuture would like to see many more new trains and new stations and a rolling programme of main line electrification. Any proposals for service reductions or line closures will be vigorously opposed by Railfuture. The benefits of Railfuture membership include a quality magazine Railwatch four times a year and also the North West branch newsletter (which is also of high quality!). Railfuture members are also invited to attend regular conferences and branch meetings (held every two months in the North West). Subscription rates are: £18 individual, £18 family (plus £2 per extra person), £10 pensioner/student/unwaged. To join, please send your name, address, postcode, telephone number and email address (if any) and a cheque made payable to ‘Railfuture’ to The Membership Secretary, 6 Carral Close, Lincoln, LN5 9BD.
The Altrincham Electric Railway Preservation Society’s autumn coach trip is this year running to the Bala Lake Railway and the Llangollen Railway steam gala on Sunday 18th September. Full details will be available nearer the date from David Walton on 0161-928-4112.
The following people or companies have joined MCRUA since the previous issue of the
newsletter was published:
Mr A W Wills, Marple
Mr A J Hilton, Timperley
Mr Michael Lenz, Rudheath, Northwich
Mr John Dennis Smith, Castletown, Isle of Man
Mr Clive Biddick and Mrs Vivien Kenyon, Timperley
Mr Ian Frank, Northwich
Mr John Pedrick, Keighley
Ashley & Dumville Limited, Knutsford
We welcome back the following rejoined family member:
Mr Chris Proudfoot and Ms Jill West, Norley, Frodsham
We very much regret to record the deaths of MCRUA members Stephen Williamson of Altrincham (on 20th May) and Patsy Calton, the recently re-elected MP for Cheadle (Greater Manchester), on Sunday 29th May.
A subscription renewal reminder is enclosed with this newsletter if you have not yet renewed for 2005.
MCRUA member and long-serving former railway employee Peter Michie of Altrincham has recently had a spell in hospital. We wish him a speedy and complete recovery. We send our congratulations to MCRUA member Doug Darby of Sale, who celebrated his 90th birthday on 1st June.
Opinions expressed in this newsletter do not necessarily reflect the views of the MCRUA committee.
National Rail Enquiries - 08457 48 49 50 (24 hours a day)
The Trainline (bookings by telephone) - 08457 222 333
Freephone number to report crime on the railway - 0800 40 50 40
Northern Train Running Information - 0800-528-0200 or 0870 602 33 22
Helpline for Manchester Piccadilly station - 0845 0000 033
GMPTE Bus, Rail and Metrolink Enquiries - 0161 228 7811 (08.00 to 20.00)
Metrolink Enquiries - 0161 205 2000
Cheshire Traveline - 01244 602666 (08.00 to 20.00)
Merseyside PTE Public Transport Enquiry Line - 0151-236-7676 (08.00 to 20.00)
National Public Transport Enquiry Line - 0870 608 2 608
Rail Passengers Committee for North Western England - 0870 336 6095
EXECUTIVE CHAIRMAN AND NEWSLETTER EDITOR:
Andrew Macfarlane
25 Prestbury Avenue, Timperley, Altrincham WA15 8HY. Tel: 0161-928-939
MEMBERSHIP SECRETARY
John Allen, 36 Townfields, Knutsford, Cheshire WA16 8DR.
Tel: 01565-632437.
MINUTES SECRETARY
Peter Frier, 2 Hawthorn Road, Plumley, Knutsford WA16 OUH.Tel: 01565-722140.
COMMITTEE MEMBERS
Peter Davies, 53 Acacia Avenue, Hale, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA15 8QY. Tel: 0161-233-0438
David Miller 16 Primrose Hill, Cuddington, Northwich, Cheshire, CW8 2TZ. Tel: 01606-888093
Arthur Sancto 8 Roxby Way, Knutsford, Cheshire, WA16 9AX. Tel: 01565-651209.
Nora Gleave 35 Navigation Road, Altrincham, Cheshire, WA14 1LN. Tel: 0161-941-6204.
Mike Honeyman 36 Navigation Road, Northwich, Cheshire, CW8 1BE. Tel: 01606-74920
Middlewich & West Cheshire Sub-Committee Chairman: Dave Roberts, 5 Whitley Close, Middlewich, CW10 0NQ. Tel: 01606-833404 (home), 07900-194975 (mobile).
Hartford & Winsford Sub-Committee
Chairman: Andrew Macfarlane (details above).
MCRUA QIT representative:
John Oates ”Swallowfield", Slade Lane, Mobberley, Knutsford.
Tel: 01565-873059 (home), 07860-513309 (mobile) WA16 7QN.
John Kitchen Mobile number: 07909-872667; E-mail address: jkitchen@valeroyal.gov.uk.
Membership of the association costs £4 for individuals, £6 for families and £12 for corporate bodies.
If you wish to join please return the form below to MCRUA, 25 Prestbury Avenue, Timperley, Altrincham WA15 8HY. Please make cheques payable to "Mid Cheshire Rail Users Association".
Please send any subscription renewals to John Allen, 36 Townfields, Knutsford, WA16 8DR.
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