HISTORIC STEAM LOCO VISITS SANDBACH STATION, JULY 2015

'Union Of South Africa'     Photo: Peter Herring (from his book Classic British Steam Locomotives, Abbeydale Press 2004

by Dave Roberts

A distinguished visitor is due to call at Sandbach railway station  on July 23rd and 24th 2015 in the shape of Union Of South Africa, an A4 Pacific express passenger loco built by the LNER in 1937.
All the A4s, which hauled prestigious express trains on the East Coast Main Line from Kings Cross to Edinburgh, were originally going to be named after birds - the most famous of them being the record breaking Mallard - but it was decided that five of them should instead be named after Dominions of the British Empire, so 60009 was given the name she still bears today instead of the intended Osprey.* Her original LNER number was 4488.

In 1963 'no 9' hauled the final scheduled steam-hauled service out of King's Cross and then became the last steam loco overhauled at Doncaster - Peter Herring

*Paul Hurley says that no. 60009 did carry the name Osprey when the South African regime was out of favour during the apartheid era. This would make her unique in being given her  original intended name without her having carried  it at the start of her life - if you see what I mean!

I have fond personal memories of Union Of South Africa and her class mates because in the late 1950s and early 1960s I would spend childhood holidays in Welwyn Garden City and enjoy many hours watching them haul fast trains from London to Edinburgh. As time wore on they were gradually replaced by the equally famous 'Deltic' diesels. I remember seeing the prototype Deltic looking magnificent in blue and white, on the West Coast Main Line when I was on my way to school at Wimboldsley in the early 1960s.

The Deltic prototype at York
Photo: David Heys collection

Number 60009 is making test runs from Crewe Heritage Sidings to Sandbach this Thursday and Friday under the auspices of Network Rail and the West Coast Rail Company.
In the nature of these things the planned itinerary has changed several times since the runs were first planned.
 Originally the engine was going to run up the WCML from Crewe to Winsford but the route was then altered to Crewe-Sandbach-Middlewich and Northwich.
Unfortunately, at the last minute, the branch line part of the itinerary was dropped and the loco will now run only to Sandbach station.
It will, however, be pulling into platform 3 at Sandbach which will, when our branch line re-opens to passengers, be the platform for trains to Manchester via Middlewich.
There is a remote possibility that things may change again, leading to the branch line trip being re-instated but this is considered 'very unlikely'.

Network Rail forbids the publication of its special notices giving timings for these special runs, but we can tell you that rough timings for both days are:

CREWE HERITAGE SIDINGS  11.40am  SANDBACH (PLATFORM 3)  12.14pm

and return

CREWE HERITAGE SIDINGS  3.20pm   SANDBACH (PLATFORM 3)  3.53pm

and return


Full timings can also be found on the Realtime Trains site.
Train nos are 5Z60, 5Z69, 5Z80 and 5Z89


Many thanks to Marc Holmes for this information.

We hope railway lovers will be out in force at Sandbach to witness this rare steam working, and would welcome any photos and videos for possible publication on the Middlewich Station website and/or the Middlewich Diary. Full acknowledgments given.

THIS ARTICLE ALSO APPEARS ON THE MIDDLEWICH DIARY

MORE ON THE MAY DIVERSIONS

Voyager meets Voyager in the Middlewich loop, May 2014. The train on the left is heading for Euston via Crewe and, as can be seen, has a green light to proceed. The other train is heading for Holyhead via Chester and will also have a green light from  the signal on the right as the line via Northwich West Junction and Chester will be clear, at least as far as Northwich. These trains are 'crossing' in Middlewich, to use the correct railway term, with the Holyhead train being held at a red light until the Euston train arrives. In practice, as Charlie Hulme points out on his website, trains were arriving fifteen minutes early at this point, leading many to believe that some, at least, of the speed restrictions on the line are somewhat redundant. There have been a lot of improvements to both track and signalling in recent years. Just beyond the green light, which stands on the same spot as the old Middlewich signal box, is the site of the  LNWR Middlewich Station with the Holmes Chapel Road Bridge (or 'Station Bridge') at the top of the picture.
Photo: North Wales Coast Railway website/Greg Mape

 This sign is one of several placed on  the old Down platform at Middlewich by a former campaign member and catches the eye of many a passenger on diverted trains running via Middlewich. Sadly the website address is no longer valid although, obviously, anyone interested can always use Google to access the site you're looking at now and find out more about the Middlewich Rail Link Campaign. Significantly, although Network Rail track maintenance workers are frequently on site (they have an access staircase from Holmes Chapel Road leading down to the Up Platform), no one has seen fit to remove these signs as yet.
Photo: North Wales Coast Railway website/Simon Barber

Back in May 2014 many trains were diverted through Middlewich while engineering work took place on the Chester line.
As always Charlie Hulme and his excellent North Wales Coast Railway website were on the case and featured photographs of some of the diverted trains, including several taken at the Northwich end of our line.

You can see these photos at:

NORTH WALES COAST  RAILWAY NOTICEBOARD

(scroll down to 'Middlewich Diversions')

And while you're there take a look at some of the other 'Noticeboards' which, week after week, chronicle the news and events relating to the Crewe-Holyhead and related routes.

See also:

ONE OF MANY (VIDEO)
MORE MIDDLEWICH DIVERSIONS

CAMPAIGN UPDATE - JULY 2014

CAMPAIGN UPDATE: Things have been quiet on the MRLC front lately, but as always there is much going on behind the scenes. We're in the process of updating our website and have re-registered the Middlewichstation.co.uk URL which will (we fervently hope) soon be back in action. Please note that the Middlewichstation.org.uk is no longer valid (although it still appears on the signs on the old LNWR station site which were put there by a former campaign member). Go to that website now, and you'll find advice on losing weight. Perhaps they're trying to tell (some of) us something? At present we find ourselves unable to buy the name back at a reasonable cost. Meanwhile we are writing several important letters to various key players and hope to get things moving again soon. Make no mistake, we are still very much in the business of getting this railway line re-opened to passenger trains and getting a new station built in Middlewich. This is not just a matter of local concern - we are promoting a scheme which will bring immense benefits to Middlewich, to the Weaver Valley, to the County of Cheshire and the North-West region in general. By no means the least of these benefits will be a new direct route to Crewe for passengers on the Chester-Manchester line, particularly those living east of Northwich, who will for the first time in many years be able to travel to this important railway hub without first having to go to Manchester or Chester.

Dave Roberts
Chairman
MRLC
7th July 2014

ONE OF MANY: A VIRGIN LONDON-CHESTER TRAIN PASSES THROUGH MIDDLEWICH IN MAY 2014

A very short video showing just one of the many trains which used the Middlewich line over the week from the 12th - 16th May 2014.

WATCH IT ON YOUTUBE

MORE MIDDLEWICH DIVERSIONS, MAY 12th - 16th 2014 (ARCHIVED)

ARCHIVED

Diverted Virgin Train passes British Salt, Middlewich, in March 2014. PHOTO: GLEN LEIGH

The following has been received from our parent organisation, MCRUA, and is adapted from a posting on the MCRUA website by Simon Barber:

The Crewe-Chester line is closed next week, Monday May 12th- Friday May16th, for drainage works at Christleton tunnel and and almost the whole Virgin Trains service is running via Middlewich.

A few VT trains are not running at all, and a few are running via Warrington Bank Quay with a reversal there, which is a faster diversion but evidently a route without much spare capacity.

The times are available on http://www.opentraintimes.com (the code you need is MDLW)
SERVICES AT MIDDLEWICH

Worthy of note is that many of the Voyagers are being timetabled to cross in the Middlewich loop, with the Euston-Chester train timed to wait for 15 minutes (from xx15 to xx30 most hours) whilst the southbound train runs through non-stop at xx26.

There  will also be ECS (empty coaching stock)   and freight workings running over the line all through the week.

All in all a busy week for the Middlewich line with some good photo opportunities at the loop and at Northwich West and South junctions.

Many thanks to Andrew MacFarlane of MCRUA for sending us this information and to MRLC member Peter Shillito who has also brought this to our attention.

We would, as always, be grateful for any photographs/videos of trains on the Middlewich Branch during this busy period.

Dave Roberts, Editor.

Update Saturday 17th May:

The flurry of trains has died down now, but there are still some using the line on a regular basis - something like two or three trains a day on average. The link in the above post will enable you to find out when trains are expected. We welcome any photos of trains on the line. -Ed

First published 11th May 2014
Re-published 17th May 2014

VIRGIN DIVERSIONS THROUGH MIDDLEWICH, MARCH 2014 (ARCHIVED)

ARCHIVED

Selected photographs of the Virgin Trains Euston-Holyhead services diverted along the Middlewich Branch on Sunday 16th March 2014 because of engineering work on the Crewe-Chester line.

The first shot is by Glen Leigh, who always tries to incorporate a typically Middlewich feature into his photos of trains running through the town (see our current masthead).

What could be more appropriate than this one showing a Virgin service passing close to the British Salt works?

To the right of the picture is Middlewich's celebrated 'salt mountain' which came to the rescue of many a short-sighted local authority a few years ago when freezing conditions brought about a severe shortage of the salt used to keep roads free from ice, and lorries were queuing all through the town to pick up supplies of the precious material from British Salt.

Such was the demand that the 'salt mountain' shrank quite a lot. Now it is growing again, ready for the next unforeseen crisis. 

On a single track it is always difficult to tell, in a photograph, which direction a train is heading in. In this case there do not appear to be any red tail lights in view on the train so we tentatively suggest that it is heading north towards Northwich.

A little further north, on the other side of Cledford Lane, Glen has captured another Virgin service passing near to the former ERF 'factory' in ERF Way, off Pochin Way, Middlewich's half-completed bypass road.

To get this shot Glen must have been either on the access path which runs from Cledford Lane to Brooks Lane, or on  the lime-beds which run parallel to it.

The new ERF 'works', which was supposed to replace the Sun Works in Sandbach, could reasonably be described as 'the factory that never was'. 

It didn't look like a factory and never properly worked as one. It was clearly designed as the warehouse which it has since become. The office building has served, since the abrupt departure of ERF, as an administrative centre for the NHS. Does anyone know who occupies it now? How long, we wonder, before 'ERF Way' is given a more appropriate name?

Meanwhile, long-time MRLC member and supporter David Hawkes opted to photograph the diversions from the 'classic' location on Holmes Chapel Road Bridge (or, more appropriately, 'Station Bridge'). This shot shows one of the trains coming from the Sandbach direction and entering the Middlewich passing loop, which runs from Holmes Chapel Road, through the site of the old station, and up to the King Street Bridge. It is a sign of the importance that Network Rail places on the Middlewich line as a diversionary route that this loop is still in existence and signalled to passenger standards. It enables two trains pass one another in Middlewich, thus saving  time.

More time could be saved if some of the speed restrictions on the line could be lifted - something which will have to be done once regular passenger services start to run.

This train is passing the proposed site for the new Middlewich Station. In the background the huge equipment cabinets behind the green railings are part of the  signalling equipment installed here a few years ago to enable trains on the branch to be controlled from the Manchester South signalling centre. A little further up the line is the radio mast installed even more recently to enable in-cab communication between drivers and signallers.

And here's the same train passing the site of the old Middlewich station. The red lights at this end of the train show us that it is moving away from us in the direction of Northwich. 

Just to the left of the train you can just make out a black and white sign, one of several placed on the old up platform by a former member of the Middlewich Rail Link Campaign. It reads:

MIDDLEWICH

WHERE'S THE STATION?

and gives contact details for the  re-opening campaign for the information of any diverted passenger who might be interested.

The remains of the old platforms can still be clearly seen, although the platform edges were removed some years ago to give clearance to certain types of modern motive power.

Just opposite the front of the train, to the right, you can see the rear of one of the colour light signals which now control the line (a grey rectangle).

This signal stands on the site of the old Middlewich Signal Box (seen here) which did the job until 1980.

And in the distance that green dot is another colour light, giving the train permission to leave the loop, rejoin the single line and head for Northwich, Chester and, ultimately, Holyhead.

NOTE: There were more diversions of Virgin trains, along with freight and empty coaching stock movements from other companies via Middlewich from the 12th - 16th May 2014. Follow this link to learn more. Many thanks to MRLC member Peter Shillito for this information - Ed.

CAMPAIGN UPDATE MARCH 2014

MIDDLEWICH RAIL LINK CAMPAIGN

CAMPAIGN UPDATE

The latest meeting of the Middlewich Rail Link Campaign took place on Tuesday 25th March at the Boar's Head in  Middlewich.

Discussion largely centered on Cheshire East Council's Local Plan Strategy. The importance of representations on this from the Campaign and also from members of the public was stressed.

MRLC will be making representations in writing on this matter to Cheshire East before the deadline of 25^th April

Chapter 14 of the document concerns Sustainable Transport and talks about rail infrastructure schemes in Cheshire East.

Although the Middlewich Rail Link scheme is included in this section and the document talks about 'supporting the aspiration for re-opening the Sandbach to Northwich railway line...(and)...opening a station at Middlewich', we feel that the wording is far too vague.

Our campaign has been running for over twenty years, and the case for re-opening has been more than proved. We feel that the wording should be changed to reflect this and should read:

'Taking action to bring about the re-opening of the Sandbach to Northwich railway line to passengers, including the opening of a station in Middlewich, by direct talks with Network Rail and all other interested parties.'

Another section of the Local Plan Strategy document covers STRATEGIC LOCATION SL9 which includes the Brooks Lane area and the station site.

In the section headed

Site Specific Principles of Development

we are requesting that the document should include the following wording:

'Safeguarding the site for the new railway station in Middlewich, fully taking into account the exact siting of the platform and associated access. Car parking for the station should also be taken into account and provision made for it.'

and the map accompanying this section should also be amended to show the railway station, its exact location and dimensions

In order to facilitate these changes to the local plan document, the Council can make reference to the Railway Consultancy report (available via the MRLC website) and also liaise with Network Rail.

In general, MRLC feels that the time for 'ifs, buts and maybes' has long since passed and that we should proceed on the assumption that the re-opening will go ahead, however long it may take.

Cllr Mike Parsons has been doing sterling work in keeping the issue alive with the relevant people at Cheshire East, pointing out the immense benefits this scheme would provide, right across Cheshire and the opportunities for funding which are coming along at the moment.

We are still waiting for results from the meeting last November in which representatives from Cheshire East and Network Rail were able to meet face to face to discuss the re-opening of this line.

We also talked about the new 'Cheshire Fresh' development in Holmes Chapel Road which has just been granted planning permission, and felt that this, once again, strengthens the case for the new station.

Discussion of the diverted Virgin trains which ran through Middlewich on the 16^th March also took place. We have some great photos of these trains from Glen Leigh and David Hawkes, and these will appear in due course on this website.

If you'd like to make your own representations on Cheshire East's Local Plan Strategy document, here is the link:

www.cheshireeast.gov.uk/localplan

It is also possible to make submissions in writing by obtaining forms from the local library and other Cheshire East offices. Details are on the Cheshire East website.

Submissions need to be in for 5pm on Friday 25^th April.

If you have any questions, don't hesitate to email us on

stationcampaign@aol.com

and we'll do our best to answer them

Dave Roberts

MRLC

27^th March 2014