Ricster Diaries Episode 81 - Storm Jocelyn On The West Coast Mainline | 23/01/2024

Filmed on 23/01/2024. So, here we go for another thrilling year on the railways. And for the first outing of the year, we venture for what was supposed to be three stations but cut back to two stations during Storm Jocelyn.
Starting the journey at Scarborough, we catch the 05:48 Transpennine Express class 185 service to York running through to Leeds. Sadly, we recently said goodbye to the beloved Nova 3 sets which are now in storage at Long Marsden. Also, the withdrawal of the class 175 Coradia from Transport For Wales which are now stored at Ilford. Anyway at York, we then catch one of daily Transpennine Express services which runs via Wakefield Kirkgate vice Leeds which is the 06:48 to Manchester Piccadilly. At Manchester Piccadilly, there were issues: Due to Storm Jocelyn impacting the railway and all services were badly impacted. So, we managed to board the 09:04 Cross Country Super Voyager service to our first station, Stockport. Despite the weather, a rather fun hour of trainspotting with 3 freight trains and even an ex DRS class 37 on route learner.
Next and to our second and final station, Crewe. Normally, this would be a rather straight forward journey to Crewe but a points failure caused chaos. So, we caught the 10:36 Avanti West Coast service back to Manchester Piccadilly which then formed the late running 10:50 Avanti West Coast service to London Euston but by passed Stockport due to the points failure to Wilmslow. At Crewe and even for just hours, a lot of epic variety of the old and the newest of trains. London North Western Railway and West Midlands Railway are testing their new class 730 units which will be entering service in the near future to replace the class 323's (which are Northern bound) and the 350/2's. Cross Country Trains and Avanti West Coast were also on diverts due to line closure.
There would've been a third station on this day which would've been Stoke-On-Trent. Sadly, there has been a fatality which happened near Macclesfield area which the lines was closed. Would like to say all thoughts and prayers are those involved.
Finally the journey home, we catch the 13:47 Northern service to Manchester Piccadilly via Stockport which the situation at Stockport seems to been resolved in a way. Although, traffic on the fast lines diverted onto the slow lines into Manchester Piccadilly due to earlier points failure. At Manchester Piccadilly, we catch the 14:58 Transpennine Express class 185 to York via Wakefield Kirkgate. Few passengers got confused as this service didn't call at Leeds so changed trains at Huddersfield. At York and before our train was due, a surprising track machine blocked platform 5 and awaited clear signal to proceed onwards. Finally, we catch the late running 17:17 Transpennine Express service to Scarborough.
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#ricsterdiaries #wcml2024 #travelvloguk #stockportrailwaystation #avantiwestcoast #class390 #pendolino #crosscountrytrains #class220 #voyager #class221 #supervoyager #uktrains2024 #transpennineexpress #class185 #desiro #crewerailwaystation #colasrail #trackmachine #class37 #northern #class150 #sprinter #class156 #class323
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[@RAILTravelers]

Nice

[@RickyNowis]

Thanks very much :-)

[@Joelsmarbleruns]

Happy New Year, Ricky. This was an excellent episode.

[@RickyNowis]

Happy New Year Joel and thanks :-)

[@rafethetrainspotter]

amazing video ricky I enjoyed watching your videos

[@RickyNowis]

Thank you Rafe, happy to hear you've enjoyed it :-)

[@RichardBrooke1971]

I'm glad the storm didn't deter you from going out & making this diary Ricky. Nice to see the line between York & Castleford now has a passenger service running through it. I do know one of the last passenger services through Castleford went in January 1970 when the York - Sowerby Bridge service was withdrawn. That is a line I am hoping to travel on in the near future. Thank you for sharing your day, looking forward to seeing more in 2024. 😊

[@RickyNowis]

Transpennine Express has bought back these services via Castleford and Wakefield Kirkgate for the first time in 50 years, direct rail services to York and Manchester. Well, the storm didn't cause too much damage but we still made the most of a great day. Thank you Richard, there'll be plenty to come for this year :-)