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

MIDDLEWICH DIVERSIONS MARCH 16th 2014

Virgin diversion near Croxton Lane, August 2013

Andrew Macfarlane of our parent organisation MCRUA writes:

I've just received my latest copy of Branch Line News, the journal of the Branch Line Society and it mentions that Virgin Trains are diverting passenger trains via Middlewich on Sunday 16th March. The trains involved are the 11.54, 12.40, 13.50 and 14.35 from Chester and the 10.02 from Crewe.

Andrew    

Here are the train timings (courtesy of Railforum):

Train no 1A27

Holyhead 10.08, Middlewich 12.31 (from Northwich)

Train no 1A35

Holyhead 11.00, Middlewich 13.20 (from Northwich)

Train no 1A43

Holyhead 12 noon, Middlewich  14.32 (from Northwich)

Train no 1A 51

Holyhead 13.00, Middlewich 15.14 (from Northwich)

Train no 1D83

Crewe 10.02, Middlewich 10.21 (from Sandbach)

Full details of all timings from Railforum:

RAILFORUM LINK

PHOTOS BY DAVID HAWKES AND GLEN LEIGH

BANNER MAKES ITS DEBUT

Photo: CLIFF ASTLES

MAJOR UPDATE TO THE DISUSED STATIONS SITE MIDDLEWICH ENTRY

Middlewich Station in 1963, three years after closure to passengers  Photo: H B Priestley

Subterranea Britannica's excellent site on disused British railway stations has updated its section on the old 1867/8 LNWR station in Middlewich and now provides many more photographs (including one of ours!) of the station  and its environs both in the past and in the present day, together with examples of tickets for journeys on the line, maps and timetables and a lot more information.

There's also a very valuable link back to this site for those wanting to read more about the re-opening campaign.

If we can get permission to 'borrow' some of these photographs, it will give us the opportunity to explain more about how the railway scene in Middlewich used to be and how the station was built and adapted over the years to cater for the town's needs including the carriage of livestock and, of course, salt.

Middlewich Station  in 2005 during construction of housing on the site of the station yard. Photo: Paul Wright

It's remarkable that in the second decade of the 21st Century the site of Middlewich Station is still so easily recognisable. This is partly because of the continuing existence of the Middlewich loop (hence the two tracks seen here) and the huge amount of infrastructure needed for the new signalling system which had been installed not long before Paul Wright took this picture.

DISUSED STATIONS: MIDDLEWICH

Other updates to the disused stations site mean that we can, for the first time, take a look at the Sandbach-Middlewich-Northwich line's only other 'stations' - Billinge Green Halt (near Davenham) and Cledford Bridge Halt (adjacent to the road bridge in Cledford Lane),

BILLINGE GREEN HALT

CLEDFORD BRIDGE HALT

UNUSUAL VISITORS TO THE MIDDLEWICH BRANCH 1998

Seen entering the Middlewich passing loop on Saturday February 28th 1998 is this Pathfinder Railtour headed by  unusual motive power. The Type 73 electro-diesel is a kind of hybrid loco which can operate over electrified lines but also has its own diesel engine for use on other lines.

Most Type 73's are to be found on what was once BR's Southern Region, where they can take advantage of the electrified lines in that area, as the on-board diesel engine is  less powerful than the loco's electric traction motors.
This makes it quite rare for them to be seen in this area.
There are a few examples, however, not too far away on Merseyrail, which runs trains in the Merseyside and Wirral area and has been operated by several different companies over the years.
The leading loco appears to be in a former Merseyrail livery (although, at first glance, it looks strikingly similar to the notorious Middlewich UDC 'tangerine and delft blue' livery of the early 70s which our sister site, the Middlewich Diary showed us here.)
The second loco is in plain old BR Blue.
There's a bit of a mystery about the name of the train itself, as displayed on the green headboard on the front of the leading loco.
We've enlarged it as best we can, but still can't make a guess at a name for the train which sounds likely.

It appears to say something like 'THE HEN HAM'.

Does anyone know what this might mean? Or are we reading it wrongly? If so, what does it actually say? All information gratefully received.

If you've followed the Middlewich Campaign saga to any extent you'll know already that the train in our picture is passing the proposed site for the new Middlewich station.

The scene has changed somewhat over the years, with many track and signalling improvements on the branch, but this view, at the southern end of the Middlewich loop, remains a favourite for photographers of movements between Sandbach, Middlewich and Northwich.

MIDDLEWICH STATION 1965

Photo courtesy of Frank Smith and Bill Eaton

This photograph and article also appear on our sister site, The Middlewich Diary

by Dave Roberts
This photograph recently found its way back to the Middlewich Station site by way of Bill Eaton, who was given a lot of material written and collected by the late Frank Smith of Ravenscroft, an early contributor to the Middlewich Heritage Society and its Newsletter.
Bill has been passing on various bits of material for publication on the Middlewich Diary and MRLC websites, rightly thinking that it would be of interest to readers of both.
I was intrigued when he emailed this photo to me, with my own handwriting on the bottom giving details of its origin.
Obviously, in the early years of the Heritage Society, when I was editing the MHS Newsletter, I must, at some point, have given Frank this photo for his records.
This would have been sometime in the mid-late1980s.
The somewhat dubious quality of the picture betrays its origins as a photocopy of an original photograph by Alan Wilkinson, who lived in Middlewich in the 1960s and is well known as a railway photographer and author.
It came originally from a book called The Stanier 8F 2-8-0 published by D Bradford Barton and the Stanier 8F Loco Society, and the original caption for the photo reads:

'Saturday afternoon bustle on a Cheshire by-way.

Crewe South's recently outshopped 48505 (D44)

slows for a brisk tablet exchange at Middlewich,

heading the 12.25 Stanlow -Egginton Junction

tanks in January 1965.'

Railway enthusiasts will, of course, have little need for any explanation, but for the layman/woman, here are some explanatory notes:

The engine shown here is, as indicated, a Stanier 8F - a very common type of  engine on the Middlewich line in the 1960s and 1970s, when freight traffic was very heavy.
One very important type of traffic was oil, which came from Stanlow via the West Cheshire route from Helsby to Mouldsworth on the Mid-Cheshire line* and then via Northwich and  Middlewich  to Sandbach and (until 1971) along the Sandbach-Kidsgrove line  to the Stoke area without having to pass through Crewe.
The 'tablet exchange' is the handing over of the token which enabled the train to travel over the single line section from Northwich to Middlewich. The signalman can be seen with his arm out of the signal box window, ready to take the token from the engine driver.
Note the water tower on the left, and the familiar MIDDLEWICH sign on the signal box.
This sign is now in the possession of the MRLC Committee, having been retrieved from Uttoxeter.
Its story is told here.

* the official title of MCRUA's Middlewich sub-committee (the Middlewich Rail Link Campain), which aims to build a new Middlewich Station and introduce a new passenger service from Crewe to Manchester via Sandbach, Middlewich and Northwich, is the Middlewich & West Cheshire Committee.
The West Cheshire line has been lifted, but the trackbed is protected and we keep an eye on the route with a view to its possible re-instatement in the future

Very belated thanks to ERF Ltd for very much unauthorised photocopying facilities.