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As a steam engine enthusiast (no jokes on 'trainspotting' unless absolutely necessary!) it'd be great to have the East Lancs Railway (ELR) able to continue via the presumed junction at Castleton. That's in addition to any other benefits in facilitating public transport
Went on the Rochdale-Clitheroe service before lockdown, and it currently has to traipse through Salford before turning north, so this would circumvent that if it were extended on to Bolton as before
I believe the ELR is struggling at the minute due to lockdown, like many other businesses. It'd be a shame since it was responsible, through the engineering shed at Heywood, in helping the restoration of the Flying Scotsman a couple of years ago
Grant Shapps mentioned the re-opening of some branch lines closed during the Beeching cuts in the 1960s during the briefing yesterday, but that message will largely have been drowned out by other matters. It'll need to be commercially viable, but it'll allow former bury fans to come and watch some football more easily when they get sick of watching the weeds grow
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 10:46 - May 24 by James1980
Has reopening the line been looked into in the past?
Yes. It's been re-opening for about 20 years and about 10 years ago they seemed to push forward with trying to get a study done. I think the plan was to create another station/platform at Castleton on the other side of Manchester Road (Was the pub that used to be there called The Directors?) and run that behind what was the steel works up to Heywood. It is a great idea and I believe the track is all in working condition but the crossing is manual. There will be train boffins on here who can tell you more, but I am guessing they used this line a few years ago to get that massive famous steam train on there that I can not remember the name of (it's Sunday).
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Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 13:17 - May 24 with 4255 views
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 13:11 - May 24 by KenBoon
Yes. It's been re-opening for about 20 years and about 10 years ago they seemed to push forward with trying to get a study done. I think the plan was to create another station/platform at Castleton on the other side of Manchester Road (Was the pub that used to be there called The Directors?) and run that behind what was the steel works up to Heywood. It is a great idea and I believe the track is all in working condition but the crossing is manual. There will be train boffins on here who can tell you more, but I am guessing they used this line a few years ago to get that massive famous steam train on there that I can not remember the name of (it's Sunday).
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 13:11 - May 24 by KenBoon
Yes. It's been re-opening for about 20 years and about 10 years ago they seemed to push forward with trying to get a study done. I think the plan was to create another station/platform at Castleton on the other side of Manchester Road (Was the pub that used to be there called The Directors?) and run that behind what was the steel works up to Heywood. It is a great idea and I believe the track is all in working condition but the crossing is manual. There will be train boffins on here who can tell you more, but I am guessing they used this line a few years ago to get that massive famous steam train on there that I can not remember the name of (it's Sunday).
Sounds like a fair few lines up and down the country. Perhaps renewing lines will be part of an economic stimulus package.
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 13:57 - May 24 by James1980
Sounds like a fair few lines up and down the country. Perhaps renewing lines will be part of an economic stimulus package.
The sidings & sheds are behind St Gabriels I think, last time I went down the bumpy road to avoid the Tottington 10 Bob millionaires in their huge 4x4’s and own the road whilst picking kids up from Bury Grammer, there was a lot of rolling stock in there
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 13:57 - May 24 by James1980
Sounds like a fair few lines up and down the country. Perhaps renewing lines will be part of an economic stimulus package.
The Fleetwood line was mentioned yesterday at the government briefing. I used to live near it and some volunteers cleaned it up and it looks good but reopening that for heavy rail would be a massive job.
It has got one crossing which would never be judged as being safe nowadays, so would require either significant road changes or a one-way system that would cause mayhem. It has a bridge that is filled in (but can be reopened) and the track cannot go into Fleetwood centre because there's a road where it was and it is also on the 'wrong' side of the town for the public. So for heavy rail Fleetwood station would really be a park and ride.
After the signalling upgrades it is now disconnected from the Blackpool line, but they did some work so it can be easily reconnected.
Light rail would probably be a better solution because it could connect to the tram and there's room at Poulton (where the line is currently disconnected) to make a single platform terminus.
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Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 14:36 - May 24 with 4145 views
As a self-confessed 'train boffin', yesterday's announcement was typical of the sort of 'two steps forward, one step back' process we often see from the Department for Transport. If you include the existing use of the Bury - Heywood railway by the East Lancs, then we now have three possible claims for the line in question; the second being Transport for GM's 'tram-train pathfinder' idea.
I would hate to see the East Lancs suffer as a result of the coronavirus crisis, just as I would Dale for that matter. The ELR has played a central role in attracting tourists to the region and in regenerating places like Rammy. I really don't think Rammy would be the honeypot on-trend village it is now had the railway not been saved in the early 80s.
That said, I do wonder if the announcement yesterday is a tacit acknowledgement that without some proper modern transport function, the ELR may not survive. Personally I still feel like some kind of commuter rail service linking Rossendale, Bury, Rochdale and Manchester must be viable in some way shape or form, especially if central Manchester looks set to become even more car-free than it is already.
Another priority for Greater Mcr is to develop better radial links around the conurbation by public transport, similar to the London Overground system in London. I suspect developing tram-trains (a vehicle capable of running in both tram an main line rail modes) and integrating them with Metrolink is the best option, alongside investment in bus, cycling and -- maybe most important of all -- smart ticketing covering all transport modes with a single tap of your phone.
Anyway, DfT still managed to balls it up yesterday by including lines in its lost that are still running quite happily, like Watford to St Albans. Personally I don't think continually harking back to Beeching does anyone any favours; transport should focus on today's housing needs and linking where people live to where they work. But Beeching plays well with a certain ageing demographic of voter and is almost guaranteed news coverage -- great if there is something else in the news that the government is desperate not to talk about!
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Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 14:57 - May 24 with 4114 views
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 14:36 - May 24 by krafty80
As a self-confessed 'train boffin', yesterday's announcement was typical of the sort of 'two steps forward, one step back' process we often see from the Department for Transport. If you include the existing use of the Bury - Heywood railway by the East Lancs, then we now have three possible claims for the line in question; the second being Transport for GM's 'tram-train pathfinder' idea.
I would hate to see the East Lancs suffer as a result of the coronavirus crisis, just as I would Dale for that matter. The ELR has played a central role in attracting tourists to the region and in regenerating places like Rammy. I really don't think Rammy would be the honeypot on-trend village it is now had the railway not been saved in the early 80s.
That said, I do wonder if the announcement yesterday is a tacit acknowledgement that without some proper modern transport function, the ELR may not survive. Personally I still feel like some kind of commuter rail service linking Rossendale, Bury, Rochdale and Manchester must be viable in some way shape or form, especially if central Manchester looks set to become even more car-free than it is already.
Another priority for Greater Mcr is to develop better radial links around the conurbation by public transport, similar to the London Overground system in London. I suspect developing tram-trains (a vehicle capable of running in both tram an main line rail modes) and integrating them with Metrolink is the best option, alongside investment in bus, cycling and -- maybe most important of all -- smart ticketing covering all transport modes with a single tap of your phone.
Anyway, DfT still managed to balls it up yesterday by including lines in its lost that are still running quite happily, like Watford to St Albans. Personally I don't think continually harking back to Beeching does anyone any favours; transport should focus on today's housing needs and linking where people live to where they work. But Beeching plays well with a certain ageing demographic of voter and is almost guaranteed news coverage -- great if there is something else in the news that the government is desperate not to talk about!
Totally agree. Especially about smart ticketing. If they are serious about public transport then it needs to incorporate every train, bus (they already have plusbus so it should be possible) and tram service in the country. A BIFFO going to Fleetwood on public transport might need a Bus (£5), Manchester Metrolink (£5), Train (£20) and Blackpool Tramway (£5). It's expensive and a massive faff since two of those journeys need tickets purchased before travel. You should be able to do everything using an app or contactless card. I know you can get incorporated rail and tram tickets in Manchester but i've only ever been able to buy these from a real person in a real ticket office.
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Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 15:30 - May 24 with 4090 views
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 14:57 - May 24 by KenBoon
Totally agree. Especially about smart ticketing. If they are serious about public transport then it needs to incorporate every train, bus (they already have plusbus so it should be possible) and tram service in the country. A BIFFO going to Fleetwood on public transport might need a Bus (£5), Manchester Metrolink (£5), Train (£20) and Blackpool Tramway (£5). It's expensive and a massive faff since two of those journeys need tickets purchased before travel. You should be able to do everything using an app or contactless card. I know you can get incorporated rail and tram tickets in Manchester but i've only ever been able to buy these from a real person in a real ticket office.
Manchester's attempts to roll out smart ticketing via the Get Me There app has been a shambles, agreed. Sad thing is that we have in London one of the best smart ticketing systems in the world, and TfL is now licensing it to places like Sydney (covers the whole of NSW more or less) and New York (just Subway and bus system), and making money from doing so.
Given that we love to beat ourselves up about how useless our public sector is, this system (which TfL devised because it was sick of being ripped off for service charges by the IT consultants who delivered the Oyster card via PFI) is a genuine tech innovation. Why on earth is UK govt not saying we'll part-fund roll out in every major city region in England? It's not fair to say it's a London-centric conspiracy because (until the last few years) TfL had the volume of users/revenue to do stuff that no other city transport body can, but even so.
Having said which, the integrated paper tickets probably do need to stay because not everyone is smartphone literate or even has a bank account. I believe that one reason nobody knows about those TfGM passes you mention is because TfGM can't market them -- the bus giants want to push people to their own products. First Group quitting Manchester bus market might help smooth things over -- I am always fairly impressed by the service provided by Rosso (now owned by Transdev, a French group backed by their equivalent of National Savings & Investments), although I mostly use them to get to Spotland so regulars may feel differently!
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Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 15:40 - May 24 with 4067 views
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 15:30 - May 24 by krafty80
Manchester's attempts to roll out smart ticketing via the Get Me There app has been a shambles, agreed. Sad thing is that we have in London one of the best smart ticketing systems in the world, and TfL is now licensing it to places like Sydney (covers the whole of NSW more or less) and New York (just Subway and bus system), and making money from doing so.
Given that we love to beat ourselves up about how useless our public sector is, this system (which TfL devised because it was sick of being ripped off for service charges by the IT consultants who delivered the Oyster card via PFI) is a genuine tech innovation. Why on earth is UK govt not saying we'll part-fund roll out in every major city region in England? It's not fair to say it's a London-centric conspiracy because (until the last few years) TfL had the volume of users/revenue to do stuff that no other city transport body can, but even so.
Having said which, the integrated paper tickets probably do need to stay because not everyone is smartphone literate or even has a bank account. I believe that one reason nobody knows about those TfGM passes you mention is because TfGM can't market them -- the bus giants want to push people to their own products. First Group quitting Manchester bus market might help smooth things over -- I am always fairly impressed by the service provided by Rosso (now owned by Transdev, a French group backed by their equivalent of National Savings & Investments), although I mostly use them to get to Spotland so regulars may feel differently!
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 10:30 - May 24 by D_Alien
As a steam engine enthusiast (no jokes on 'trainspotting' unless absolutely necessary!) it'd be great to have the East Lancs Railway (ELR) able to continue via the presumed junction at Castleton. That's in addition to any other benefits in facilitating public transport
Went on the Rochdale-Clitheroe service before lockdown, and it currently has to traipse through Salford before turning north, so this would circumvent that if it were extended on to Bolton as before
I believe the ELR is struggling at the minute due to lockdown, like many other businesses. It'd be a shame since it was responsible, through the engineering shed at Heywood, in helping the restoration of the Flying Scotsman a couple of years ago
Grant Shapps mentioned the re-opening of some branch lines closed during the Beeching cuts in the 1960s during the briefing yesterday, but that message will largely have been drowned out by other matters. It'll need to be commercially viable, but it'll allow former bury fans to come and watch some football more easily when they get sick of watching the weeds grow
[Post edited 24 May 2020 10:40]
I always go to Clitheroe from littleborough via Burnley and Blackburn , rather than through victoria
When I was a scruffy oink back in the late 60's early 70's Daybrook Station was just at the bottom of my road and I spent many times there exporing it,although it was closed by that Beeching bloke the building and lines remained there for a good ten or fifteen years afterwards,I would love to go back in time and see it when it was busy instead of the derelict building that I remember although it's a B+Q now so I doubt that it will be reopened
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 22:03 - May 24 by TVOS1907
Traversing the once closed Todmorden Curve.
I've not been on a train that's been as close to the houses as this one as it climbs out of Todmorden.
Sounds interesting, and i'm always interested in curves!
I shall investigate, and better to be close to houses than to go all round the houses
Can't be as close as the trams in Lisbon though, especially the one that goes up to the castle, passing (with no exaggeration) less than an inch away from some properties on tight corners. I'd imagine there's been plenty of scraped elbows leaning out of windows, possibly a few digits lost over the years. The Tod houses aren't that close are they?
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 22:56 - May 24 by D_Alien
Sounds interesting, and i'm always interested in curves!
I shall investigate, and better to be close to houses than to go all round the houses
Can't be as close as the trams in Lisbon though, especially the one that goes up to the castle, passing (with no exaggeration) less than an inch away from some properties on tight corners. I'd imagine there's been plenty of scraped elbows leaning out of windows, possibly a few digits lost over the years. The Tod houses aren't that close are they?
[Post edited 24 May 2020 23:02]
Not quite.
Hope that wasn't Barnard Castle...
When I was your age, I used to enjoy the odd game of tennis. Or was it golf?
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Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 23:05 - May 24 with 3787 views
Going back to James' question as whether this has been looked I to before, the answer is yes. And most recently it forms part of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority/Transport for Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040. The best map of this I've found is this one
Pretty key to the TfGM ambitions is the 'tram-train' version of Metrolink - light rail trams being able to run on heavy rail tracks - which will be needed for several of the planned Metrolink extensions. This might apply also to the line out to Bury - previously East Lancs railway (or Peter Waterman anyway) have been keen to keep the line between Castleton and Heywood open and licensed to enable preserved trains to access the ELR from the mainline. This seems do-able on an occasional use basis, but whether ELR would be able to continue their service between Heywood and Bury is a moot point - a heritage service sharing a line with a modern system does not seem particularly feasible. And given ELRs reported financial difficulties, they might welcome an annexing of the Heywood/Bury section.
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Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 08:52 - May 25 with 3641 views
Thank you that is very comprehensive, hopefully whatever happens the heritage railway will continue, perhaps access to the 'mainline' could be use to its advantage. On smart ticketing there is a national rail project called Smart ticketing on national rail (imaginative I know) which is to set standardised smart ticketing across the industry.
'Only happy when you've got it often makes you miss the journey'
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 07:15 - May 25 by smaclad1
Going back to James' question as whether this has been looked I to before, the answer is yes. And most recently it forms part of the Greater Manchester Combined Authority/Transport for Greater Manchester Transport Strategy 2040. The best map of this I've found is this one
Pretty key to the TfGM ambitions is the 'tram-train' version of Metrolink - light rail trams being able to run on heavy rail tracks - which will be needed for several of the planned Metrolink extensions. This might apply also to the line out to Bury - previously East Lancs railway (or Peter Waterman anyway) have been keen to keep the line between Castleton and Heywood open and licensed to enable preserved trains to access the ELR from the mainline. This seems do-able on an occasional use basis, but whether ELR would be able to continue their service between Heywood and Bury is a moot point - a heritage service sharing a line with a modern system does not seem particularly feasible. And given ELRs reported financial difficulties, they might welcome an annexing of the Heywood/Bury section.
I must admit finding the Metrolink handy at times when going into Manchester, with the free parking at Crumpsall its a lot cheaper than central Manchester parking. Have done Rochdale interchange to Mcr once (only because I couldn’t be bothered walking from the town centre to the station) it took forever.
One thing I noticed on the extension plan though was a bus interchange sign at Heywood.
Why on earth would Heywood need a bus interchange? As far as I know it only has busses to Mcr/Rochdale & Bury. It’s not exactly a metropolis is it, there isn’t exactly a lot there and in addition, where would they build it because once you get to Iceland it goes one of two ways, Pilsworth or Bury?
Rochdale - Heywood - bUrY railway on 06:38 - May 25 by rochdaleriddler
All good so far, stopped the antihistamine.
Was going to mention that... otherwise you wouldn't know how effective the spray was
Don't let the odd sneeze bother you, they usually stop. And unlike the antihistamine tabs (where once you start sneezing it's likely you'll carry on, and won't be able to take another that day), if you just do one spray each side in the morning, you can always do a top-up if necessary
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