Imber by Hastings

Back in August, we headed south to Tonbridge one Friday after finishing work to stay a couple of nights in the Kentish market town. Despite the town having plenty to see and do in the vicinity, we weren’t staying in Kent to do any of that, we were staying to enable us to get an early start and leave the Garden of England by way of doing something a bit different. Saturday 17th August was the day in 2024 when old London buses took over the town of Warminster and the nearby Salisbury plain and so we were heading to Imber, by Hastings!

CTR-EUS Avanti West Coast – Standard Class – New Evero Train

Having arrived in Chester on a delayed Transport for Wales service from Manchester Airport, I had a reasonable length connection before the last leg of my tour of the north-west, the train taking me south. To finish this mini rail tour I would be travelling on what was, at the time, Britain’s newest class of train, Avanti West Coast’s (AWC) class 805s. This journey from Chester to London Euston during the first month of the type’s operation in standard class would be a good test to see how the units compare to other members of the AWC fleet.

MIA-CTR Transport for Wales – Standard Class

My time travelling around the north-west was drawing to a close and with a day of spotting at Manchester Airport under my belt, it was time to start the journey home. The obvious routing for me to get to Peterborough from the airport would be to take a train to Manchester Piccadilly and then change for the direct East Midlands Railway service to Peterborough, but where would be the fun in that? As such, the first leg of my journey home would actually be taking me further away, as I headed to a city on the western edge of England, Chester.

CAR-MIA TransPennine Express – 1st Class

Day two of my mini-tour of the north-west started bright and early at Carlisle station where I’d arrived less than 12 hours earlier onboard an Avanti West Coast Pendolino. Now it was time to head back south, although this journey wouldn’t be with the West Coast Mainline’s (WCML) primary operator, as I would heading to Manchester Airport with TransPennine Express (TPE). This leg of the trip would be in 1st Class with me getting to try out TPE’s premium offering once again, this time on one of their flagship WCML routes.

WGN-CAR Avanti West Coast – Standard

The end of day one of my mini tour of the north-west saw me heading north, almost to the Scottish border, to stay the night in Carlisle. From Merseyside, and more specifically Headbolt Lane, the easiest way to do this was to head east on a Northern service to Wigan Wallgate and then cross the road (literally) to Wigan Northwestern to jump on a train north. With a 20 minute connection at Wigan, I was initially a bit nervous, but the one minute walk from station to station meant this wasn’t a problem and I was soon waiting on one of Wigan Northwestern’s platforms waiting for my Avanti West Coast service.

Liverpool’s New Class 777s

Entering service on the Merseyrail network in November 1978 and March 1983 respectively, the class 507 and class 508 units have served the commuters of Merseyside and the surrounding areas for over 40 years. Despite a refresh in the early noughties, the class 507s and 508s were showing their age and a replacement clearly needed. This replacement came on 23rd January 2023 when 777049, the first Class 777 entered service.