WEDNESDAY. At Castlefields, Manchester
The 2008 trip thus far: 305 Locks; 560 Miles; 56 Swing\Lift Bridges. Bus pass journeys 21
I have some advice for those persons with a total lack of interest in railways. Now is a good time for your nap; your carer will awaken you when the lady from meals on wheels arrives. We walked the short distance from Castlefields to the Tram stop at Gmex; where we caught the Tram to Bury, for the East Lancs Railway.
The engine in steam for today was 92214, a BR standard class 9F 2-10-0; built at Swindon in 1959 and was allocated to 84C, Banbury. Although it currently carries 82F, Bath Green Park shed which covered the Somerset and Dorset line to Bournemouth; this loco was on loan there for just four weeks in May/June 1964. It was sold for scrap to Dai Woodham at Barry in October 1965; purchased there in 1978 and moved to Peak Rail at Buxton in December 1980. The actual total mileage run on scrapping is not known, but at 28th December 1963 it was 85,029.
We spent most of the day on the railway apart from a short visit to Bury market, where we stocked up on pork pies, some fish and some stick-on LED lights. If anyone out there has a good combined recipe, please contact us.
The all day ticket for concessions was good value at £7.60. We managed two complete returns from Heywood to Rawtenstall; an extra return journey from Bolton to Heywood behind D5074. This BR/Sulzer type 2 loco was completed in March 1960 at Derby works, initially allocated to 31B, March, Cambridgeshire. It was interesting sitting in the cane chairs of the Buffet car on the diesel run, although we much preferred the steam hauled runs, the sound of the engine made the journey complete for us.
The steam engine crew were really friendly and approachable. The diesel crew were not. In fact, there were just short of being downright rude.
We caught the tram back to Gmex which was full by the time it had reached Piccadilly station, fortunately we were seated. Even with a full load of standing passengers, the acceleration is quite something.
Weather –Showers, a few dry intervals.
