Day 3 – Wednesday, 14th May

Worksop – Leeds (via Wakefield Kirkgate) – Sheffield (via Wakefield Westgate) – York (via Pontefract Baghill) – Newcastle – Easington – Newcastle – Whitley Bay – Manors

Let’s once again review progress so far. I’ve ticked off The GE & GN Joint Line, Coombe Valley Halt, Melksham, The Severn Beach Line and the Robin Hood Line. That’s good going. I’ve already had to deviate from my plan but that’s all to the good. I was always going to take the train that leaves Worksop just after 8, but I’d have had to travel up from Nottingham first. Now I can just stroll over the road a couple of minutes before it’s due.

So that’s what I did. It turns out that Worksop is another station with nice old buildings and some period signage that has been retained. I like the footbridge, too, although it’s easier to cross at the level crossing when the barriers are raised.

Train 24 – Worksop to Leeds

It was just after 8 o’clock so prime commuter time, and Worksop station was busy. My platform, in particular, was busy because the previous train had been cancelled. That might mean a very crowded journey. The train, when it arrived, was another Northern Railways Class 195. It didn’t seem to be suffering the loss of power that Monday’s one had. It was busy but tolerable. As is always the case on busy trains there are those who prefer to stand in the vestibules rather than share a seat, so I squeezed past those and occupied one of the few seats remaining. This seemed to displease the young woman whose bag had been sitting in comfort until my arrival. I offered to put the bag on the luggage rack but she preferred to have it on the table in front of her. She seemed distinctly dischuffed with life in general and me in particular. I wasn’t that happy myself. I like a window seat as I do like to see what there is outside the train but given the time of day and the earlier cancellation I had no real cause to moan. I adopted Plan B: eavesdrop on the conversations going on around you. It’s both banal and fascinating. I was, at least, on the move and I was on the train I’d planned to be on.

The train had come from Lincoln and had, on its way to Worksop, travelled over some of the same track that I’d used on Monday. I’ve ridden on this service before between Lincoln and Sheffield, but it was the part further on that I was interested in. Looking at the timetable for this service I noticed something. Nowadays there’s one train a day in the week that calls at Brigg and Gainsborough Central. When I rode on that line it only got a passenger service on Saturdays, the railway claiming that the line was fully occupied with freight in the week. Then, a few years ago, a weekday service was introduced but only to Gainsborough Central, not Brigg or beyond. Now there seems to be just one train each way every weekday running via Brigg and to/from Cleethorpes.

Being stuck on the aisle I was more attentive to the inside of the train that normal. There were displays on the walls above the seat that could presumably be used to display seat reservations. Do any Northern trains have seat reservations? Today they was all displaying the cryptic word DILAX. It seems that Dilax are a maker of train passenger and loading monitoring equipment.

We called at a few stations on our way to Sheffield. Last time I came along here there were semaphore signals at Kiveton Park. That was two years ago. I didn’t notice whether they’ve survived.

Most of the passengers got off at Sheffield. This included old sourpuss next to me. As I stood to allow her to get off she gave me a lovely smile and thank you. Maybe she wasn’t the grumpy one earlier.

We reversed at Sheffield and headed off to Meadowhall. I have two Meadowhall memories. The first was the occasion I mentioned earlier when I’d caught a severely overcrowded train between Doncaster and Sheffield. To avoid the crowds I got off at Meadowhall to catch the tram into the centre of Sheffield. Meadowhall is a terminus and there was a tram in the stop. The driver and conductor were standing alongside the tram indulging in some odd activity involving string. They explained it to me. On the end of the string was a magnet and they were lowing it into the drains. It seems that people are in the habit of dropping coins as they fiddle for change boarding the tram and those coins often end up in the drains. Hence the magnet-fishing.

My second Meadowhall story took place in the week between Christmas and new year in 2023. I was on a rail tour that dropped as at Meadowhall for 90 minutes while the crew had lunch, rested, and tidied up the train. I didn’t know what to do so walked over the bridge to the huge Meadowhall shopping centre. I’ve never seen a busier mall. Every Sheffield and Rotherham family had chosen that day to go shopping (why?). All food shops were bursting and it was difficult to even walk, the crowds were that heavy. I came away with a deep loathing of the place.

But I wasn’t going to get off at Meadowhall now, although half of the remaining passengers did. Just before Meadowhall there’s a junction: you can continue for Rotherham and Doncaster, or turn left for Barnsley. Each line has a pair of platforms. So far this week I’ve passed through the Doncaster-bound platforms, now I was on the Barnsley branch. Last time I came along here it was on a stopping train, calling at places like Chapeltown and Elsecar on the way to Barnsley. This train was non-stop to Barnsley. Here the line branches again. One branch, mostly single-track, goes to Penistone and Huddersfield. I travelled over it a couple of years ago. It’s an interesting route with sharp bends and spectacular viaducts. But today I’d be taking the more important fork, the line to Leeds. This is new track for me, so another tick.

We stopped at Wakefield Kirkgate (Ker-git) which seems to have improved. I remember it as a total dump about 15 years ago. It’s the lesser of Wakefield’s stations but now has a London service provided by the open-access operator Grand Central. In fact it was on one of their trains, round about here, that I had the depressing experience of finding that the ‘plop’ I’d heard was one of my spectacle lenses landing in my cup of tea. You wouldn’t expect that in first class, would you? After Kirkgate we ran non-stop to Leeds via Normanton. I think the stretch through Normanton is another tick.

Train 25 – Leeds to Sheffield

I can’t say I’m a fan of Leeds station. The refurbished Western Ticket Hall is nice, but inside the barriers it’s very busy. My train from Worksop arrived on platform 17, the highest numbered platform on the station. It’s a bay platform the furthest away from the gateline possible, requiring you to walk the full length of the footbridge. But you have to get to the footbridge first. The bay is short so there is quite a walk from a train on platform 17 to the bridge. My train was busy and I was far from the first to alight. Now I had just a few minutes to get right across to the other side of the station and everyone else was walking very, very slowly.

It was close but I made it to the far side of the station, where there are several bay platforms, numbered from 0 to 5. My train went from platform 5, and was nearly set to go. I found a right-hand facing window seat. This train, operated by Northern, of course, was a class 150. I’d been on one of GWRs class 150s on Monday, and that was OK. This Northern example was less so. The cramped 3+2 airline-style seating had very little legroom, and (from memory) there were no charging points or seat-back tables. The toilet, however, was working and clean. Yes, I do mention toilets quite often. There is a reason.

This 150 had three cars. I thought that Class 150s only had two, apart from some GWR ones where they had botched up three car trains by adding half a train to a two car set. But I was wrong, It seems that it wasn’t a GWR thing but a BR thing, and that GWR no longer have any three-car class 150s. I also found out that only two 150s are ‘real’ three-car trains, all other three-car ones have a trapped, pointless, driver’s cab. I was on one of those.

We were, in a way, retracing our steps. This train is going back to Sheffield via Wakefield and Meadowhall. But it’s not the same route at all. We set off towards the main Wakefield station, Westgate. This is the route that the London trains use so it’s electrified. I’ve been along here many times, but usually in an express for which Wakefield Westgate is the only stop This train, however, is stopping at small stations I’ve never heard of, and whose nameplates I can’t usually read as we speed past.

This is quite a busy stretch of line. Not only are there the fast L:NER services and this Sheffield stopper, there are also stopping electric services to Doncaster and Cross Country south-west to north-east services. I passed along here when I rode 1V60, the daily Cross Country service from Aberdeen to Penzance (now, alas, no more).

Like the Cross Country Voyagers we leave the main line some time after calling at Fitzwilliam, on this day a busy station. Had we continued we’d have stopped at Adwick, the terminus for some local services to Sheffield. These were all showing as cancelled due to cable theft. That was probably also the cause of the cancellation at Worksop this morning. Almost immediately after the junction we call at Moorthorpe. I’ve been through here before, at speed. but until now I never knew exactly where Moorthorpe was. I notice that this station, and several of the other stations on this line, have wooden platforms. Somebody asked on a forum recently if there were still many wooden platforms in the country. I think there must be a great number.

At Swinton we join the line from Doncaster that formed part of our route on Monday. Unlike that train this one will call at Rotherham Central so we took some points to the left. We’re now on a pair of lines leading towards what’s left of Tinsley Yard, diverging from the direct Sheffield line at a very acute angle. There used to be steelworks all over the place in this area, but there’s little left now, although there is an extant steelworks near Rotherham that I went into on a railtour a couple of years ago. The same railtour that dumped me at Meadowhall that time.

Just to the right of the tracks,, between our line and the line directly into Sheffield, there’s Parkway tram stop. The trams immediately come onto our line, sharing it with the big railway. For this reason they’re know as tram-trains. At Rotherham Central the station has two pairs of platforms, two at the right height for Northern trains and two, lower, platforms for tram-trains.

After Rotherham we take a short, single-track spur back on to the main line, while the trams take the line straight ahead. We cross a level crossing and a junction. These provide road and rail access to Booth’s of Rotherham, a scrapyard with a name familiar to anyone with railway knowledge, although most old trains seem to go to South Wales to die these days.

We now call at Meadowhall then Sheffield. My next service leaves from platform 1. It so happens that the Sheffield Tap is on platform 1. Well, it’s more comfortable than a platform bench but I wasn’t best pleased that their pork pie delivery hadn’t arrived yet.

Train 26- Sheffield to York

I left the Sheffield Tap a couple of minutes before my next train was due to leave. It was another of Northern’s class 150s, with just two cars this time. A lot of other people boarded the train before me so I didn’t get a great seat.

We were about to double back stopping at Meadowhall, Rotherham Central, Swinton and Moorthorpe. So why did I come all the way back to Sheffield instead of changing at Moorthorpe? I’ve chosen this train for a reason. There are other trains between Sheffield and York, including an hourly non-stop Cross Country service. But I was on an unusual route (tick) that only has three trains a day. Had I changed earlier, on my way from Leeds, I’d have had a long wait somewhere far less comfortable than the Sheffield Tap.

At Meadowhall many people got off, clutching their shopping bags. I found a better seat. We then headed off to Moorthorpe. Most sensible trains, at this point, take the junction up towards Wakefield Westgate but we carried straight on. The next stop is Pontefract Baghill. Pontefract has three stations called Pontefract Monkhill, Pontefract Tanshelf and Pontefract Baghill. None are exactly Clapham Junction but Baghill is the quietest of the three. It gets no trains at all on Sunday. However there seems to have been quite a growth in passenger numbers last year, but only to about 15500. That’s less than 300 per week. I wonder why the numbers increased so much in a year? if the figures are to be believed the increase was about 60%. New housing estate? Major new employer? Maybe just a change in the way that the station usage is counted?

The platform at Baghill was far from empty when my train arrived, and many passengers had luggage. It looks as if there is a demand to meet if only the trains were provided.

After Pontefract was Sherburn-in-Elmet. This station benefits from additional trains from Hull and Bridlington. These have come from the east and pass under the East Coast Main Line looking to all of the world as if they wanted to go to Leeds. But then they take a curve onto our line just before Sherburn-in-Elmet. After Sherburn was Church Fenton as we joined the main four-track Leeds to York line. This is being electrified as part of the Trans-Pennine Upgrade project. I know it quite well but I don’t think I’ve been on a stopping service before. It gives you a different perspective. But soon we were in York.

Train 27- York to Newcastle

I grabbed some lunch. My next train was an LNER service to Newcastle. Or so I thought. It turned out to be Transpennine Express (TPE) train. It was a fast Hitachi unit, very similar to those used by GWR and LNER. The train had come across the Pennines from Liverpool but was now nearing the end of its journey so I easily found a single seat with a table.

I wasn’t on this train for long. This is the East Coast Main Line so mostly has a 125mph speed limit. The train is modern and accelerates rapidly, although you don’t notice it. It was a bright, clear day with good visibility. I’ve used this line many times but never seen the white horse from the train. I used to see it when I needed to drive up and down the A19 (when it was the A168, I think) which passes closer to the horse than the train does. A quick search suggests the horse is at Kilburn, North Yorkshire. Wikipedia says it “is visible from some distance, particularly from the East Coast Main Line railway south of Thirsk, and from the A19“. I wrote the start of this paragraph before I looked that up, honest.

We called at Darlington. The layout there is odd (or just archaic?). Trains leave the East Coast Main Line to access the station, which is off to one side of the through lines. I saw work taking place there. I think I heard they’re adding platforms to the through goods lines that lie alongside the main through lines to increase capacity and reduce the number of conflicting movements as trains enter and leave the station.

The next stop was Durham. I visited the cathedral on my first ever Rover, in 2006. I like Durham but it’s a bit of a walk from the station to the city centre, and a longer one back, it being uphill. A tip: when I visited about two years ago there was a computer repair shop on the corner just beyond the busy roundabout near the station called Dot Com Systems. They have a left luggage side-line that may be worth considering if you’re pay a fleeting visit to Durham. Nice chap, too.

In theory one of the advantages of travelling first class is that you have the benefit of at-seat catering, free of charge. In practice it’s hit and miss. The staff will pass through the train early in the journey and that may the last you see of them, unless you go and ask at the door of their kitchen/hiding place. TPE seem to be the worst of all for this. I know this was near the end of the journey and I was only on board for an hour but I shouldn’t have had to go and ask for a coffee.

The train was non-stop from Durham to Newcastle, the journey from York having taken just an hour. I’m very familiar with the East Coast route but now it was time to gain another tick.

Train 28- Newcastle to Ashington

Ashington station was a victim of the Beeching cuts, losing its passenger service in 1964. This area, to the north of Gateshead between the ECML and the coast, was very industrial so this and some other lines remained in goods use. The Ashington line reopened to passenger trains in December 2024. That’s the problem with trying to travel over the entire network: they keep opening new bits.

I don’t know why but I find Newcastle station a bit confusing. Last year I almost missed a train across to Carlisle because I’d crossed a crowded footbridge unnecessarily and had to fight my way back again against a train-load of people. It isn’t a particularly complex station, so the problem is me. Anyway, my train was leaving from a bay platform at the north end of the station. The trains are every 30 minutes and the next about 15 minutes away. I can’t complain – that’s the average time I should expect to wait. For a line that has only been open for a few months there were a lot of us waiting.

Looking at RTT I noticed that some trains from Newcastle terminate at Nunthorpe. This was a concern. Where was Nunthorpe? Have I missed a line completely? No, as it turned out. Nunthorpe was in the Middlesborough area a bit beyond James Cook Hospital and on the line that eventually goes to Whitby. Been there, done it. A nice rural line, part of which is shared with steam trains from the North York Moors Railway.

My train, when it arrived, was a Northern Class 156. A close relation to the Class 150s I was on earlier but built for longer-distance regional routes. They’re capable of 90mph whereas the 150 can only get to 75mph. More importantly the seating is less dense. They’re simply nicer trains. I haven’t mentioned the weather very much on this trip. It’s been warm and sunny during the day but cold at night and in the mornings, so this unit had the heating on. It was definitely not comfortable. The train isn’t air-conditioned but has opening hopper windows. That helped quite a bit.

The first part of the journey is north along the ECML. We soon stop at Manors. This is another inner-city station that may consider itself lucky to have avoided the 20th century cuts. It’s now a place to interchange with the Tyne and Wear Metro. It used to get just one train an hour on the service between Morpeth and Newcastle, Metrocentre and Carlisle. Alternate trains on the Ashington line now also call, giving it two trains per hour, unevenly spaced.

After Manors we passed Heaton Depot then Benton Junction where we turned off of the ECML. Most stations on this line are not yet complete. Realtimetrains suggests we made unadvertised stops at the not-yet-here stations. Maybe we did, but I don’t remember it.

The line from Benton Junction to Northumberland Park is single. Our line is next to the Metro tracks so it’s likely that some of the formation was sacrificed to the Metro back in the 1970s. It would have made sense when this line carried at most a handful of goods trains a day but will be limiting in the future if this line really takes off. Northumberland Park will become a key interchange for the Metro (and vice versa) when it opens later in the year.

The first actual, open, stop was Seaton Delaval, the next Newsham. Again, much of this stretch is single-track. Newsham has a large car park that was nearly full. That suggests that the line has already attracted many commuters or people on days out. Later in the journey we crossed grand viaducts across the Rivers Blyth and Wansbeck. We passed junctions with lines heading to North Blyth and round to Morpeth, where the line rejoins the ECML. I doubt that these carry much traffic these days.

Finally we reached Ashington, the terminus, lying on a spur. It has a single platform. The through line continues to Lynemouth Power Station. This was designed to burn coal from the Northumberland coalfield and was served by Merry-go-Round trains. Now it burns biomass which I don’t think arrives by train.

Train 29- Ashington to Newcastle

I stayed on the train for the return to Newcastle. I was again impressed by the scenery as we crossed the rivers. I noticed that the other train on this service today is a Class 158. These are even better than this one, and have air-conditioning. But it’s not needed now as the crew who boarded the train at Newcastle must have turned off the heating and it’s now comfortable. Some 40-odd minutes later I’m back in Newcastle. That’s another tick, and I’m glad that investment in reopening the line seems to have paid off.

I found my hotel and dumped my bag. After a cuppa I thought about the evening. What shall I do? I’m right in the centre of Newcastle so there’s plenty of choice, but first let’s take a ride on the Tyne and Wear Metro. Where to? I don’t know. yet.

Tyne and Wear Metro 1 – Newcastle Central to South Shields

I decided to buy a day ticket for the Metro. I went down to the subterranean ticket office and peered at the ticket machine. I had no idea what to press. I asked a member of staff who helped. I can’t remember what the day rover is called, but the publicity and the ticket machines seem to use different names.

I walked through the gates, which were open. I was surprised by this the last time I used the Metro, at least a decade ago. Why go to the expense of installing ticket gates if you leave them open? I found my platform and waited a few minutes for my train. I’d decided I’d go for a ride on a ferry, so this train had South Shields as its destination.

My Metrocar train was built in 1980 and is getting old and it showed. The seats surprised me: their shape and moquette covering reminded me of older London tube stock, but that maybe isn’t surprising as they were built in Birmingham by Metro-Cammell, who also built tube trains for London. New trains are being delivered but there have been delays in bringing them into service (as ever). I think the odd one has now made it but I didn’t see any.

I got off at the terminus and left the station, a smart, modern glass and concrete structure. I’d got a firm idea that the Shields Ferry was an integral part of the area’s public transport network and that it would therefore be near the Metro. I was wrong. I had to walk along a depressing shopping street with vape and betting shops. Well, it wasn’t that bad but it did look as if it has had better days. South Shields just has a defeated feel. Young people and old men hanging about aimlessly, smoking, vaping and drinking.

Ferry 1 – South Shields to North Shields

I reached the ferry terminal quite quickly – Google says it should have taken eight minutes, but that doesn’t allow for orientation time – and joined the short queue. The ferry runs half-hourly and would be here in a few minutes. The other passengers were a mixed bunch, including a young Indian couple who were determined to document every aspect of their journey with their decent-looking camera.

At just about the moment our ferry should have arrived a large cruise vessel passed us. You can’t get away for these monstrosities, can you? it was the Borealis, operated by Fred Olsen. She was built in 1997 as ‘Rotterdam’ but refitted and sold to Fred Olsen in 2012. She’s based in Liverpool. With crew the maximum capacity is only 2000 people. Small compared with some modern monstrosities. I was curious as to where these souls were going and found that they were at the very start of their eight-day cruise during which they would ruin visit three places in Iceland. It could be much worse.

Our ferry arrived and we all got on. There was a desk just inside at the top of the gangplank where a man was diligent in checking tickets. My ticket covered the ferry. Most passengers stayed outside on the deck, but there was a large inside area. The temperature had dropped and the wind was blowing hard from the north but we were hardy folk. In fact we’re now in a part of the world in which women go for a night out in the depths of winter wearing little more than a thin, short dress and stiletto heels.

Looking down-river the cruise ship was still in view but navigating a bend to the right. From the vantage point of the ferry it looked very tight but was probably not as bad as it looked.

The crossing is quite oblique, the north bank pier being some way down river from the south, but the crossing only takes a few minutes. I was soon on terra firma and looking for the Metro. Yes, there were signs, but not very good ones. Google Maps suggested I needed to walk up a rather steep road which was crossed by a high footbridge. An old railway? Google suggests not, just a bridge linking two roads.

This side of the Tyne was quiet. I passed one pub that seemed busy but there were no signs of people just hanging about. Some of the buildings were quite fine.

I reached North Shields Interchange. Naively I assumed that an interchange would allow changing from bus to Metro, but no. It seems to be just a bus station. There is an indoor waiting area but every door I tried was locked. I’d not taken the best route but a few minutes later I did find the station. They don’t make it easy, do they?

Tyne and Wear Metro 2 – North Shields to Whitley Bay

I’d decided to visit Whitley Bay, a sea-side resort beloved of Geordies. I entered North Shields station. I may have had to use my ticket to open the gate – I did at at least one of these stations, but not most. The station has the usual platform on each side of the double track but there’s a third some distance away on the towards-Newcastle side. Apparently it used to be used for services to St. James but extensions to the network made it redundant. It’s noticeable now as there’s a sloping accessible route sloping down to it and then to the rest of the station.

I only waited a few minutes for my next train. It had Whitley Bay on the front, and on the indicators, but it would be continuing round via the coast and back to Newcastle via Northumberland Park. In a few uneventful minutes I was at Whitley Bay.

I crossed the line by concrete footbridge and found myself in a road. It was a seven-minute walk to the Promenade in theory, although I seem to have discovered a longer route. The place was pleasant enough with solid houses, the odd fast food outlet and so on. But it was quiet, being a cold Tuesday evening in May. Not much was open.

I got to the coast. It was c-c-c-cold. I walked along the promenade, noting the two lighthouses. This would be pleasant in the right weather. But I soon became bored and shivering so considered the food situation. I hadn’t seen anything open where I was so walked back towards the town centre.

I reached a crossroads. Just over the road was The Library. I wasn’t that sure what it was, but they had a lot of things going on. In fact it was a trendy pub but I didn’t know that then. I was standing outside a far more traditional pub called The Brewery. It was fairly large but wasn’t that busy. Two men were playing pool and making a huge din. I suspect they’d been playing for a few hours. I saw that there were menus on the tables so ordered a pint and found a table as far from the pool shouters as I could.

The beer was good and I think brewed on the premises. But this was far from a typical brewpub. The prices were reasonable, the decor traditional. The other punters were mixed, but skewed towards the elderly. One very old lady, obviously known to the barman, and accompanied by a small dog, bought herself some spirits and a mixer before retiring to an obscure table.

I ordered my food, which arrived promptly. It was a mixed-meat baguette with gravy, served with some chips and more gravy, a large jug of the stuff. OK, I know the meat was left over from the Sunday roasts but this was still tremendous value at £8.95.

Full of gravy I walked up to the station. I hadn’t really noticed the station buildings when I arrived but they are worth seeing. There’s a large area used today for things such as farmer’s markets and book fairs, there’s some art and just nice architecture.

Tyne and Wear Metro 3 – Whitley Bay to Manors

I’d planned to cross the line and take the train back via Northumberland Park but I’d need to wait nearly 20 minutes, so caught a direct train back to the city. This branch of the Metro doesn’t serve Central Station so I’d have a short walk. I alighted at Monument, knowing it wasn’t far to walk. Except – I can’t have done. I think I must have got off at Manors and I now found myself in one of those pedestrian nightmares where you find yourself confined to tortuous paths alongside and over multilane traffic. Once I’d crossed the awful roads that no city should have to endure I found my way back easily enough. I think my route would have been very lively on a Friday night but there wasn’t much happening on a Wednesday.

And so to bed. Another successful day, so far as the project goes.