Scary Train

Leaf fall season is upon us and this is one of the units that keeps the lines free of leaves and mulch on the merseyrail network, they work in from Wigan day 

A big one at Chester

Christmas services using 6 car trains 

Northern rail goes electric

319 365 Liverpool Lime street 

Walrus .......

To rival London's Oyster Card, Merseytravel have now launched, currently only in Wirral their own Smartcard called Walrus 

Loco at Chester

New Livery

Has taken me a while to go and photograph a train that has been reliveried, but here is my first.

Look fairly smart from a distance and new and clean but so did the other, will this last or fade away.

Will the rust show through, wait and see.

Birkenhead Bus

Just to make a refreshing change? and to get to post something, this is an image of civic pride for Birkenhead, looks like a brand new bus passing the Town Hall at Hamilton Square.

Snow

The snow is still lingering a bit longer and so I thought I would share this atmospheric shot taken one morning at Hooton of train and snow in perfect harmony.

Welcome to 2013

Following on from the Tram Replacement post, this is a Leyland Olympian covering for Arriva Trains, sitting out at Manchester Piccadily during November 2012.

Notice the tree hanging into the bus, the problem with trees these days causing damage to buses.

Wallasey Tram No 78

The trams running along the Wirral tramway have now ceased.

Similar to railways Wirral Transport Museum are now operating a Bus replacement service on place of Trams running to and from Birkenhead Woodside to Taylor Street museum.

Tram 78 was photographed at the Wirral Bus and Tram show at the beginning of October 2012, I am glad now that I photographed and managed a ride on three trams.

Class 31 ?

Not exactly sure what this is, but I saw it on the Llangollen Railway line in Glyndyfrdwy

 

Flip Flops

The Grand National has now been and gone.

Did you manage to get a pair of the fashion status Merseyrail flip flops?

This year they were I am told in a black colour and design. Unfortunately I am yet to see any although I have a yellow pair from last year.

Do you think will become collectable in the future?

Welcome to 2011

Happy New Year,

I know I keep saying this, but I really must devote some more time to keeping this more up to date .... then again does anybody actually read it?

The 15 minute service to Chester started and within a week, it disintegrated to due to bad weather.

After the ice and snow cleared Merseyrail continued to only guarantee to provide and reduced service and the passengers asked why ... The snow has gone etc,. was their grievance, with over crowded trains at quite a busy time of year.

The snow and ice play havoc with the motors that power the train, they are not designed to work in such extreme temperatures and it caused all sorts of problems, Alternators blowing, heaters failing and other things. The shoes that collect the electricity from the 3rd rail were being clogged up with ice and freezing to the rails, they then had to be cut free and as they couldnt then collect energy had to be rescued and pushed by another train.

Thankfully, between then and new year the majority of the trains were brought back into service after being repaired and things are back to normal (touch wood).

Scavaway Tickets

 

Another new thing for 2010. As from 7th March 2010, Merseyrail will not be issuing Saveway tickets in the current 'scratch off' form and in future the ticket will be issued via the STAR machine and look like an ordinary ticket, except it is classed as a Ranger and has a large date.

It should be possible in the future for this type of ticket to be used in the Automatic Ticket Barriers on some stations.

H.N.Y.

 

Sorry for the lack of updates, if anyone actually looks at these pages .....

Happy New Year for 2010, wonder what this year will bring in the life of Merseyrail, Well a new Customer Service Experiance has been implemented.

Perhaps as part of this, new Network Maps are being fixed to the cove panels of trains, this one seen on 507 032, showing places of interest and their nearest station.

Well here we are in August and doesn't time fly !!

I have had a major computer failure, waiting to see if it can be repaired or has to be destroyed!!

Consequently all of my pics and data are on the other one !

What Happens If .......

 

A sign spotted at Ellesmere Port, warning drivers basically not to go past this point as the third rail does not go any further ... but what would happen if ......

Sunrise

The early morning sunrise can be a beautiful thing, likewise the sunset is magical.

The lovely colours, red, oranges, deep and rich can be seen reflecting on the side of this train.

Leaf Fall Season

It is now coming towards the end of October, we are definetely in Leaf Fall Season, where the track can become a mulch of leaves which sends the wheels spinning, slipping and sliding along the rails.

This is oneof the Network Rail MPV which go along and blast the rails clean and spread a substance on the track to help adhesion to the rails.

Seen here near to Little Sutton.

Bank Holiday Weekend 25th August 2008

25th August proved to be extremely busy for rail services in the Merseyside area, as well as the 2008 CofC events, it was the Matthew Street festival and as many trains on the Merseyrail network were pressed into service.

Although Network Rail tried to scupper long distance travellers into the city , with engineering works, there were more than a few that managed to visit Liverpool.

This photo shows one of the strengthened services, a view from Everton Valley across to Wallasey, with a Northern Line 6 car working, taking people home from the day's events.

It's August already - Where has the year gone?

508 134 at Manor Road (Blue C of C one)


Well it is now August and the Capital of Culture celebrations are well and truly with us.


Liverpool is busy, but there is so much going on with things like the new arena, wonder if CofC has really made much of a difference.


Tall Ships weekend brought many visitors .... would it have happened anyway?


August bank holiday, is always a Beatles and general music festivaly type of weekend - transport will be stretched!


As Sandy Denny and Fairport Convention sang - Where does the time go?

More Culture

507 019 seen here at Ellesmere Port is another unit that has been finished in Capital of Culture livery.

This time it is in red and advertises Sport as it's theme.

Capital Of Culture

This is the second Merseyrail train to be outshopped in the 2008 Capital Of Culture advertising garb, this is 507 008 as seen on the 15th March 2008 at Bidston.

The first one to take to the rails was 508 134, there are to be a total of four Merseyrail unit in this scheme and I believe two Northern Rail DMU's are to be done.

Steam On The Wirral (Put the kettle on)!!

An afternoon down in Royden Park, Wirral found these minature Steam (and a Diesel) running.

I haven't seen these for years, they also have a new track on the ground that runs into some fields, although the old track that was raised from the ground was still in situ in the woods. That has seen use from the 1960's.

There were 4 engines in use that day.

Helpful & Compassionate Passengers ...

Looks like any normal winter's evening, except for it was raining at this point !!

The guard on this train was getting quite a bit of stick from passengers, who on the way home towards West Kirby had been delayed at Conway Park for 11 minutes, due to an 'Incident on the line ahead of this train'.

It turns out that someone in the Wallasey area had tried to commit suicide by lying on the rails, luckily the train driver had seen him and been able to stop before any damage had been done to said person. Due to this the electricity is cut off to prevent people getting a good old frying, they then switch it back on section, by section and get other trains and lines back to normal as soon as possible.

Certain passengers were very disgruntled and told the guard so, that the person trying to kill themselves was selfish and they had delayed them getting home to their sad little lives !!! Was it going to be back to normal later, will there be cancellations ??? Why did they have to try and kill themselves in the peak hour, why didn't they do it when it was a bit quiter and they wouldn't inconvenience many people !! Yes, this is absolutely true.

To be honest, I would shoot those that showed the compassion of a battering ram !!

So here is a word of advice ..... If you ever plan to kill yourself, think about others first and don't inconvenience them !!

Welcome to 2008, Liverpool, Capital of Culture year

Happy New Year and welcome to 2008

What did I do ?

I had to go to work, no fun and frivolity for me last night :(

Manor Road

When I was a kid, I used to use Manor Road station, near Hoylake quite a lot as my nan lived near there.

I visited again quite recently and took some photographs, it still retains it's olde worlde charm, a nice pleasant place.

Although the Booking office has been refurbished with a larger window to serve people, the old brass, I don't know what it is, a seat or a luggage holder is still there after all of these years, it takes me back to happier times as a child ......

De-Railers

Photobucket Album

These yelow things are locked into place on the track, when a train is already occupying a place in the shed etc., if a train is routed there by accident, these de-railers will do exactly as it says on the box ... will get the train off the tracks to ensure that there is no collision between units.

The Naughty Bits

These are the bits that the tourists don't usually see !! The electrical pick up shoes that collect power from the third rail and take it to the traction motors to enable it to power the motors and make the train drive.

Lots of electric 750 volts to be exact, so you would be very dead if you licked it.

Hooton 6 Car

In the 1980's there was a band that played the local Merseyside music scene, I am sure that their name was 'Hooton 6 Car' well this is the genuine article, so to speak, the very rare appearance of a 6 car train....

Heading towards Chester on an evening peak working during the summer of 2007.

In The Beginning ..............

In the beginning there was steam .................. In 1886 the Mersey Railway started a rail service between Rock Ferry and Liverpool, also Birkenhead Park to Liverpool.

They originally used steam powered locomotives to pull the carriages, this was most unsatisfactory as most of the lines were underground and steam/smoke and tunnels dont give much chance for oxygen to circulate !!

The result - A failure and people went back to the Ferries .

They later went on to use the new fangled electricity to power the trains from a 3rd rail next to the existing running rails, now this was better, people could now breathe in the air underground.

I might use this blog to give anecdotes of history, if I can be bothered to, or it may just be my experiences at Merseyrail, we will see what happens.

Come back soon .. . . . . .