Traffic chaos, missing buses and the return of proper snowmen in the Tameside area
For most of us around the UK, this week’s weather has had a fundamental effect on our daily lives. Whether we were stuck on trains to and from the continent or walking to the railway station, we will have no doubt been affected by the lack of grit on the roads and pavements. Read the rest of this entry »
Tameside area service changes (December 2009):
After being awarded to First Pioneer on an emergency tender since the 5th October 2009, Speedwell Bus has regained the Monday to Friday daytime service of the 343 route. Prior to then, the Hyde based company operated the route since April 2007, with the weekday service being ran commercially since the 25th April 2009. Read the rest of this entry »
Since I wrote the first installment of ‘Lost Bus Routes of Greater Manchester’, there has already been a favourable response in terms of comments and visitor numbers. This has prompted me to continue the series further. With the fluid nature of bus routes since deregulation began over 23 years ago, it has made for fascinating reading and jogged a few memories of those who have almost forgotten the routes. Read the rest of this entry »
Anger as Top Mossley residents are cut off from outside world by road closure.
When’s the best time to close a main road for roadworks: Christmas Day? Half Term holidays? The rush hour? Christmas Day would of the three as most people would be sat at home scoffing turkey and listening to this year’s X Factor winner (whom would have rigged the Christmas No. 1 spot for the umpteenth time). In a small town, the half term holidays is a least worst option due to the reduced schools traffic. Read the rest of this entry »
OK, not quite.
A nice surprise came to me this morning in one of the free papers on the 220 service towards Stalybridge railway station. I was reading the Metro when turning towards ‘The Ridiculant’ page I found that one of my side projects was listed.
As advertised elsewhere within East of the M60, I created a Google map on the places namechecked by Half Man Half Biscuit entitled (ahem) ‘Half Map Half Biscuit’ (don’t you just love the wordplay).
Top of the list under a section entitled ‘Check These Ones Out’ was… Half Map Half Biscuit!
Fame at last I thought. Quoting from the Metro, The Ridiculant stated:
“At long last someone has created a Google map of every place ever mentioned in a Half Man Half Biscuit song. You young ‘uns probably don’t even know who the band HMHB are, do you? Shame on you.”
Click on the link to The Ridiculant to see the map itself, some comments and other goodies.
At this time of writing, some 6,927 people have seen the map – not bad for a Google map anyway, but one that has only been up for one day more than a month! Feel free to contribute the map itself. Please note that entries may be edited for spelling and grammatical errors.
S.V., 18 February 2009
Popular stationmaster retires after 32 years
In a reign which has seen three recessions, privatisation, and several restructuring attempts, a well-known figure at Stalybridge station is to retire after 32 years in the job.
Ashley Oliver joined the Cheshire station in 1976, preciding over an era which has seen the Stockport – Stalybridge line service cut to once a week, substantial improvements on Manchester to Huddersfield services, and a multitude of liveries.
When Ashley joined Stalybridge station, the stopping service from Manchester to Huddersfield only ran in the peak hours, Class 40s, 123s and 45s formed the Trans-Pennine services, and the station buffet bar only had the conservatory and main bar.
Since 1976, Stalybridge station has seen:
Always a popular sight at Stalybridge station, Ashley’s announcements will be missed by over 700,000 people who use this station. In honour of his 32 years at the station, a special poster was produced on platform 1 by First Transpennine. George Wright Brewery have also made a special ale (Ashley’s Ale) in honour of his tenure.
We wish Ashley well on his retirement and hope his successor does as good a job he did. See you at the buffet bar over a pint of some obscure ale.
Some photos were taken at his farewell do at the buffet bar by Mike Smith (also known as Mossley Smiffy).
S.V., 15 October 2008
Most often than not, the very two words ’service changes’ fill me with dread. Thankfully not this time.
With the summer season ending in the Peak District, the Tameside area often gets four sets of service changes from Stagecoach alone. In addition to those affecting Manchester routes, Tameside’s are also affected by revisions affecting Glossop and Peak District routes at the beginning of and at the end of the summer season.
For probably the first time ever, the King Street and Boyd’s Walk area of Dukinfield will have a direct link with Mossley on Monday – Saturdays. Between the Albion Hotel and Mossley (Brookbottom), this will augment Speedwell’s 343 service. This is the knock on effect caused by the withdrawal of Mayne’s routes 232 – 235. Mossley passengers travelling into to Manchester by bus will take the 217 in a clockwise direction, with the 218 moving anti-clockwise.
Sunday services on the 220 will be renumbered 217 on journeys to Manchester from Stalybridge and 218 on journeys out of Manchester into Stalybridge and follow the route of the present 218 service. The present 217 Sunday service to Tameside Hospital will see westbound journeys renumbered as the 218.
The Littlemoss and Smallshaw sections of the 232 – 235 routes will be served by an upgraded 231, with a 15 minute daytime frequency between Ashton – Manchester – and buses running every 7/8 minutes in the weekday peaks. This will also replace the whole 230 route operated by Stagecoach.
The revisions also end an embarrassing gap in service provision in Dukinfield where there is at present a 4 hour gap between direct Manchester buses (1515 – 1915 from the Albion Hotel). However, there are some gripes with the changes, in that a more direct link with Tameside Hospital has been severed, and that there is no longer a journey between 0830 and 1012 to Stalybridge from Dukinfield (Albion Hotel).
Though less of a gripe (and of surprise) evening services on the 236/237 will terminate at Ashton, with extra journeys on the 216 taking over. I was also relieved to find that the 236/237 will still run to and from Manchester in the peak hours.
All other services are unaffected, thus meaning the evening 217 (Speedwell), evening 220 and 230 journeys (both First Manchester) will run as normal. The new 217/218 will also augment the extra peak hour journeys on the 220 and 221, also operated by Stagecoach Manchester.
S.V., 03 October 2008.
TESCO Extension Plans Akin To Aesthetics Of A Youth Offenders’ Institute
Summertime has traditionally been a slow news period and a dependable outlet for news on the latest Big Brother entrants. Read the rest of this entry »
Plans for new cross-city bus network proposed under Transport Innovation Fund
Unless you have had your head buried in the sand, Manchester was the successful bidder for the Government’s Transport Innovation Fund. This would Read the rest of this entry »
How the local bus (almost) saved me from commuting worries
In the last two weeks, most of us UK residents will have known about the flood affecting the North West and Yorkshire areas. This has obviously had a profound effect on the railways within Lancashire and Yorkshire Read the rest of this entry »
As stated on the Stagecoach Manchester website and in today’s Manchester Evening News, the proposed stoppages on the 27th and the 29th November have been postponed. Instead, there will be a second ballot on Tuesday 27th November over a revised pay deal.
Should drivers agree to the revised offer, then the strikes on the 29th November, and the four days in December will be called off.
Confirmed in today’s [23 November 2007] Read the rest of this entry »
Setanta Shield, First Round, 25 October 2007
Stalybridge Celtic 0, Blyth Spartans 0 (AET Blyth Spartans win 4 – 3 on penalties)
A: This is your action news reporter coming to you live from the Setanta Shield First Round. Pardon me sir, do you see what happened?
B: Yeah I did. I saw a goalless draw taken to extra time and penalties with every ounce of drama you could think of. Four men ran on to the pitch from the Popular Side with 10 minutes to go, half a dozen teens had a fight just before extra time, and worse, the floodlights cut out during the penalty shoot out.
Today’s blog entry would have had a more mundane title like “Stalybridge Celtic on TV” had it not been for four streakers, in a game that was remembered most for anything other than the game itself. Read the rest of this entry »
Service changes, September 2007
One happy accident of Stagecoach in Manchester’s September service revisions has been the restoration of a link between Stalybridge and Stockport. Read the rest of this entry »
Longdendale Bypass public enquiry, Stalybridge Civic Hall
Opponents of the Longdendale Bypass criticised plans to build a 3.5 mile across Green Belt land between Mottram-in-Longdendale. Read the rest of this entry »
Steve Burr appointed as new ‘Bridge manager.
It was announced yesterday that former Northwich Victoria manager Steve Burr signed a two year contract at Stalybridge Celtic.
The Cheshire side’s replacement for John Reed (now linked with the vacancy at Worksop Town) Read the rest of this entry »
Reports of a Labour meltdown seem to have fallen on deaf ears in the Tameside area. With Hull losing to the Liberal Democrats and the Tories taking control of Plymouth, it has been business as usual for the Greater Manchester area. Rochdale switched from being in no overall control to being a Lib Dem council. Manchester, Wigan, Salford and Tameside metropolitan borough councils remained solid Labour territory. Read the rest of this entry »
15 April 2007 Service Changes, Greater Manchester
The changes to the 343, as per the previous post has been confirmed by the GMPTE website.
Its sister service, the 344 will also be operated by Speedwell Travel. This service comprises of one journey from Oldham to Hyde, via Waterhead (unlike the other long withdrawn 344, Hyde – Mossley service via Staley Road). Read the rest of this entry »
Speedwell Travel to run daytime 343 service
It was announced in this week’s Tameside Advertiser that the daytime 343 service will continue to after the 15 April 2007.
As stated elsewhere within this blog, Read the rest of this entry »
An EXCLUSIVE from East of the M60
From the 15th April 2007, First Manchester’s 343 service from Oldham to Hyde will see the withdrawal of its commercially operated journeys. This will not be the complete end of the service, as subsidised journeys in evenings, Sundays and Bank Holiday will continue.
I can reveal that GMPTE will be discussing the alternatives during a planning meeting, which will take place on Friday 23rd March 2007 in Manchester town hall. This meeting will discuss alternatives to fill the gap, which would leave Dukinfield bus users without a direct link to Mossley for the first time since 1904 for most part of the day. The 343 is one of six services in Greater Manchester under threat from the company’s April service revisions (the others include the 387 Ashton – Stalybridge – Newton – Hyde route).
Should the gap be left unfilled, this would mean greatly extended journey times. For example, a journey from Mossley to Grotton (five to ten minutes on the 343) would be three times longer, allowing for a change at Grasscroft, Greenfield or Uppermill. Rail passengers in the Dukinfield area, who use Flowery Field station would be expected to walk, or board the 346 for Newton instead of Flowery Field.
More will be revealed within this blog nearer the time of its proposed withdrawal.
The Stockport – Stalybridge Train (1128 hours, Saturdays Only)
Is this the worst scheduled passenger rail service in Europe in terms of frequency?
Running once a week, Saturdays only, is a train with only one journey – just one journey in one direction. The train calls between Stockport and Stalybridge via three intermediate stations: Reddish South, Denton and Guide Bridge. Both Reddish South and Denton are unstaffed stations without disabled access and (wait for it) platform lighting.
Before privatisation, this line had a much better service than that of passengers travelling to Mossley by rail from Stalybridge, with an hourly frequency. In 1991-92, 12,000 people signed a petition against cutbacks to the service, which boasted a frequency of five trains a day (two one way, three the other). Now, the current service is once weekly, and passengers to Mossley are now afforded an hourly service with a two hourly Sunday service.
The latest Network Rail Draft Network Management Statement for the North West proposes the closure of Denton and Reddish South stations. The local MP Andrew Gwynne favours the launch of a direct service from the doomed stations to Manchester Victoria. This move will increase journey opportunities for Denton and Reddish residents, as they would be able to travel to Bury, Bolton, Oldham and Blackburn without crossing Manchester city centre. This plan will involve turning left at Denton junction onto the line leading to Ashton Moss and Miles Platting. However, there is one problem in that links between Stalybridge and Guide Bridge would be severed.
In my opinion, I would give 2.5 cheers to this plan (the .5 being due to the real ale lovers missing their once weekly unidirectional shuttle to the Stalybridge Station Buffet Bar). Perhaps Gwynne’s proposal could prompt the reopening of Droylsden station. Cut off from the rail network since 1968, the Droylsden area suffers from congestion between Manchester Road (Audenshaw) and Edge Lane/Ashton New Road. This would be alleviated by a reopened Droylsden station off Lumb Lane near Littlemoss (as well as the Metrolink).
To make up the loss of the Stalybridge – Guide Bridge – Denton section of the route, I would recommend retaining the once weekly train for the time being, in addition to Gwynne’s proposal. This could be replaced by a direct London service, or other services to Cheshire, starting at Stalybridge or Huddersfield. This section also offers potential for a prospective Huddersfield to London Euston route (calling at Stalybridge, Guide Bridge and Stockport stations), though subject to line access issues.
0600 Hull Paragon – Manchester Piccadilly – Liverpool Lime Street
After nearly two years of using Stalybridge station as a commuter rather than a leisure traveller, I found myself surprised to see one of First Transpennine’s new Class 185 diesel units on the 0748 to Liverpool Lime Street.
For nearly a year, these new DMUs have been plying their trade on services to Hull Paragon and Middlesbrough from Manchester Piccadilly. In recent months, these have included the service from Manchester Airport to Cleethorpes.
Now, it is the turn of the Scarborough to Liverpool routes.
Boarding the 0748 at platform 2 of Stalybridge station, the train pulled in some three minutes earlier than its actual departure time.
The ascent from the platform to carriage was two thirds higher than that of the more regular Class 158s. Only the earlier Class 101 or Class 110 Calder Valley DMUs – and the Mark II carriages – had a drop as high as this. Thankfully, the doors are twice the width of these Heritage DMUs – and a third longer than the Class 158s. Elsewhere within Stalybridge station are posters detailing the engineering works. I hope this includes raising the height of the platforms. Till then, I shall invest in a decent walking pole or get my boots on.
Once inside the train, acceleration is akin to an electric train. The legroom is greater than the Class 158s, and the ride quality is slightly smoother. One notable function is the inclusion of electronic information displays and announcements, in tones similar to the Connie character of the AOL adverts fame. Another first is the inclusion of a digital clock – ideal for calculating how long your train will be stuck at Ardwick junction for!
Sadly, the Class 185 has some imperfections. One is the lab rat style lighting (not very good for persons with sensory impairments), compared with the more relaxed levels on the Class 158s. The other is the positioning of the doors. Positioned a third and two thirds way of each carriage, it gives the impression of the train being suited for suburban medium distance workings, rather than medium-long distance inter-city journeys (which is the sector best suited to the Transpennine lines from Liverpool to Newcastle/Scarborough/Hull/Middlesbrough). Despite that, the positioning also allows for faster entry and exit. The only other quibble I have are the seat cushions. Though ideal for a short journey to Manchester Piccadilly, I would say the cushions would be a bit hard if I used the same station for a journey to Scarborough or Newcastle.
Other than that, the three car units are an improvement on most of the rolling stock that has appeared on the Transpennine line. Designed by Siemens, the units are reminiscent of their Class 350 EMUs, which I have had the pleasure of travelling on earlier this year from Crewe to Birmingham New Street. Unlike the 1988 Class 158s, there seems to be improved noise insulation.
My journey arrived at Manchester Piccadilly on time, though at Oxford Road, the train arrived two minutes late, due to the non technical issue of awaiting the guard for the Manchester Piccadilly – Liverpool Lime Street section.
Overall rating: 82%: Not the ultimate train for the Transpennine line, though not far off. Corridor ends rather than sealed cabs would have been much better for workings with greater than three carriages.
