Day 8 – Monday 19th May

Manchester Victoria – Nottingham – Kettering – Corby – St. Pancras – Liverpool St – Bishops Stortford

Homeward bound. These days I find a week is more than enough. I still have a single line to tick and that line has a single station – Corby. It’s served by trains from St. Pancras so if coming from the north I need to change at Kettering. That station used to be called Kettering for Corby before the branch was reopened to passenger traffic.

The line never closed for freight, which would have included traffic to and from the steelworks until their closure in 1981. The line is also a handy diversion route when there’s engineering on the Midland Main Line.

I’ve already looked at realtimetrains and it seems that I’d missed something. It’s correct that most trains run between Corby and St. Pancras but one train a day in each direction is to or from Melton Mowbray, so travels over the entire branch between Oakham and Kettering. So my plan was to travel on the 08:15 from Melton Mowbray. That would mean an early start because I was still in Manchester. In fact I’d need to catch the 05:05 from Piccadilly.

I normally don’t mind early starts but I made the decision the previous evening that I’d leave when I was ready and not before, so I eventually dragged myself and my cabin case over the road at about 07:30, giving me time to grab a coffee and croissant before heading up to the through platforms.

Train 61 – Manchester Piccadilly to Nottingham

Today’s first train was travelling a long way. It had started its journey in Liverpool before picking me up in Manchester and would continue all the way to Norwich. If I hadn’t wanted to visit Corby I would have gone all the way to Ely and then home. The operator was East Midlands Railway and the train a class 158. Perfectly comfortable trains, except that this line sometimes uses a single two-car unit which is completely inadequate. You can’t even escape into first class as there isn’t any. But it’s OK today as there are two units. Annoyingly almost every seat on this unit is facing backwards. Wouldn’t it make sense if it was closer to 50/50?

We called at Stockport then went onto the Hope Valley line back to Sheffield. We used this line a week ago, travelling in the opposite direction. Our stopping train on that day took us through New Mills Central. Today’s train takes us to the junction at New Mills in a slightly quicker way using the 1986 Hazel Grove chord. Not only is this route slightly quicker, it also allows a call at Stockport, an important interchange, and it allows trains to use the slow lines into Piccadilly so they can continue to Liverpool or further north.

The weather wasn’t as nice as it was last week. It remained dry but slightly overcast. Even so, it’s still a pleasure to travel through the Peak District.

This train reversed at Sheffield. There were announcements reminding passengers that the train was to divide at Nottingham so passengers for Peterborough, Ely and Norwich should travel in the front. I find these requests baffling. The train is reversing at Sheffield, so which is the front? The bit that arrived first, or the bit that leaves first? That’s assuming you even know that the train will reverse. Even worse the board at Sheffield advised passengers beyond Nottingham to use the first three carriages. Not very useful information when the train is composed of two two-car units.

But there’s always a bright side. A refreshment trolley was loaded at Sheffield. I always use these if I can. They’re expensive and have a limited range of goods but I’m trying to prevent their complete extinction. In any case the steward was an enthusiast and made it very clear indeed at about 100dB what products were on offer. It was hard to say no to tea and a Kitkat. There was also a lovely young conductor of far-Eastern origin who made announcements every few metres along the train reminding us that the train would spilt. Any confusion caused by the reversal and the ‘front three cars’ message was dispelled.

After Sheffield it was Chesterfield, Alfreton (no longer Mansfield Parkway) and Nottingham.

Train 62 – Nottingham to Kettering

I left the train., which was booked to remain at Nottingham for several minutes as it detached the rear unit which would be shunted out of the way until it was needed for a Liverpool-bound train later in the day. I didn’t have as far to walk here at Nottingham as I did on Tuesday, but it was still far enough to the footbridge. The station had a very different feel, though. It felt a bit bleak and desolate in the late evening, but so much better in full daylight with a lot of people around,.

My next train was an East Midlands class 222 Meridian bound for St. Pancras. It’s a member of the Voyager family so similar to those used by Cross-Country and Avanti West Coast. The main complaint so far as I’m concerned is the woeful provision for luggage, with tiny overhead racks and nothing else apart from the wheelchair space. It’s poor.

The train started its journey here but I found it to be almost full, or reserved, in first, although I did find a double seat after a couple of men decided to move down the train. I’d assumed that they’d come into first by mistake and were now moving to standard but it was only upon leaving the train that I realised that there was a further 2/3 of a car of first class accommodation in the next carriage.

I wouldn’t be on this train for long but gratefully accepted tea and a bacon roll which I enjoyed as we called at Leicester and Market Harborough, where a small group entered my carriage, claiming most of the reserved seats. At about this point a pleasant and very young woman, who had been handing out refreshments, asked to see my ticket. I handed it to her and she scribbled on the face of it with a ball-point. I asked her why she’d done that. I kept my tone friendly, as a stressed Craigentilly-based conductor had got very shirty when I asked him the same question a while ago. She paused. “I don’t really know, I suppose to show that the ticket has been used”. Another pause while she studied the ticket. “I think I probably shouldn’t have done that”. OK, I can accept that.

Next was my stop, Kettering. We were nine minutes late. I hadn’t noticed a delay as I wasn’t paying attention, but it’s normal. I don’t know why the trains on the Midland Main Line seem to always suffer delays, despite it not being the most complex line to operate by any means. Anyone know why?

Train 63 – Kettering to Corby

It occurred to me that I could have changed at Sheffield and caught a train to Kettering, instead of continuing to Nottingham. I imagine that the timings didn’t work out so I’d come the quickest way possible for my particular journey. Anyway, I was at Kettering, and late. Luckily my train for the single stop to Corby was also late. It was leaving from the other side of the same platform so I easily caught it.

A few years ago I caught a train from Bedford to St. Pancras. The full passenger service to Corby had just restarted and the train had come from there. It was a proper inter-city train with first class and refreshments, complete with a very nice but bored woman only too happy to see somebody to ply with tea, even though the journey was short. Today’s train was a four-car electric multiple unit (class 360) that had been running into Liverpool St. until quite recently. Uninteresting. Had I caught the through train from Melton Mowbray it would have been a Meridian, like my last train. Not great but very much a step up.

The line through Corby is single-track today, although a second platform remains, unused. They singled the track after the closure of the steel works as the amount of traffic dropped considerably.

Train 64 – Corby to St. Pancras

I remained on the train at Corby. I contemplated moving to the declassified first-class section but it’s small and others beat me to it. The train was well-used. This is another example of a restored service proving popular – it’s now a train every half an hour. Soon we were off back to Kettering, then Wellingborough then Bedford. There’s not a platform on the London-bound fast line so we had to use a crossover to make our station stop. After Bedford we went across to the fast line again for the remainder of our journey to Luton and St. Pancras.

Underground 2 – Kings Cross St. Pancras to Liverpool St.

I prefer to use Liverpool Street rather than Tottenham Hale, so time for my second Tube trip this voyage.

Train 65 – Liverpool Street to Bishop’s Stortford

And home. It was one of GA’s Class 720s. Bright, efficient, fast and smooth. Boring.