How Ellie Harrison’s show brought us fifty years of Greater Manchester transport history on wheels Bus Regulation The Musical. Manchester Art Gallery, 28 September 2019 (2pm and 3pm). Produced by Ellie Harrison. I could think of several ways of spending half an hour of my leisure time. One is listening to the entire ‘B’ side…
Category: Trains
TfGM’s Prospectus For Rail: A Bold Vision to Boost GM Rail Journeys
How would Our Prospectus For Rail boost heavy rail and light rail journeys in Tameside? Make no bones about it: Manchester is a UEFA Champions League city with EFL Division 2 rail services. In spite of Northern’s introduction of new trains on the Manchester Airport to Barrow-in-Furness route, it can do a lot better.
Our Network: Tameside’s Future Transport Network in Greater Manchester
Why Andy Burnham has moved one step closer to bus franchising and how this affects Tameside Greater Manchester is one step closer to seeing off Nicholas Ridley’s free market experiment. A free market experiment that has seen a 45% drop in bus patronage in Greater Manchester. An experiment which has seen swingeing cuts to the…
What Can You Do With a Fallen Pacer?
Department For Transport launches scheme to bring new life to withdrawn Pacer units Has April Fool’s Day 2020 been brought forward? The Department For Transport have conjured up a wheeze to bring new life to the Pacer family of trains. What you may be relieved to find is that continued use on our permanent way…
Official! It Is Now Easier to Travel from Wigan to North Korea than to Dukinfield*
Why a Wigan travel company is offering an inclusive train tour from Wigan North Western to Pyongyang A wee while back we looked at a 1976 Nationwide clip on Oldham MBC’s drive to promote Oldham as a tourist attraction. We looked at how you could spend a week in Oldham town centre and its surrounding…
Greenfield Station Snubbed in Access For All Funding Scheme
Why is Greenfield station – the only railway station in Oldham Council boundaries – still inaccessible for mobility impaired passengers? The Trans-Pennine route via Huddersfield should be given the same level of importance as the West Coast Main Line. Or at least any commuter route in the South East of England. Between Manchester and Huddersfield…
Packed Pacer Problem Solved for 2019 Deadline
East of the M60 EXCLUSIVE: Nodding Donkeys become beautiful bi-modes with revolutionary technology 10-car Pacers set for DDA compliant overhaul; New breed of Nodding Donkeys go electric. Set to carry on for a longer period of time than the UK’s Brexit negotiations is the fate of Northern’s Pacer units. Due to disability legislation, the much-maligned…
Red Star: When Parcels by Rail Were Faster By Far
Who remembers Red Star Parcels when you could send your worldly goods by train? Once upon a time, not so long ago, we used to deliver a lot of our post by rail. Before the late 1980s, our newspapers came by train. Such was the importance of Travelling Post Office trains, mail trains used to…
The Duffers’ Guide to Rail Operations #2: Sleeper Trains
A rough guide to nocturnal and, mainly horizontal, travel options Imagine boarding a long distance train by night and waking up in another part of the world the following morning. In another country, or another part of the country. Most of the great long distance trains, for example the Trans-Siberian Express, traverse more than one…
Christmas Day On The Buses, Greater Manchester, 1986
Was 1986 the last year when Greater Manchester had an extensive bus network on Christmas Day? For many carless households, leaving the house on Christmas Day is nigh-on impossible. As a rule of thumb, it is assumed that many people spend Christmas Day at home. They are more likely to open presents, get entangled with…
Northern Rail Strike: Six Saturdays of Industrial Action This Autumn
Arriva Rail North Saturday strikes: how they will affect passengers east of the M60 motorway After two months without strike action, there has been no sign of a resolution between Arriva Rail North and the RMT union. From Saturday [25 August], industrial action will resume on services operated by Arriva Rail North’s Northern franchise.
Whitstable Wanderings: A Now You Know What I Did This Summer Special
Four electric trains, three Underground trains, two trams, and two buses. Oh, and Two Creatives Go Mad in The Garden of England. In less than a year, I have broken a few travel related ducks in my time. Last September I took my first return flight on my own (from Manchester Airport to Belfast City…
