Saturday 17 May 2014

MORE MIDDLEWICH DIVERSIONS, MAY 12th - 16th 2014 (ARCHIVED)

ARCHIVED

Diverted Virgin Train passes British Salt, Middlewich, in March 2014. PHOTO: GLEN LEIGH

The following has been received from our parent organisation, MCRUA, and is adapted from a posting on the MCRUA website by Simon Barber:

The Crewe-Chester line is closed next week, Monday May 12th- Friday May16th, for drainage works at Christleton tunnel and and almost the whole Virgin Trains service is running via Middlewich.

A few VT trains are not running at all, and a few are running via Warrington Bank Quay with a reversal there, which is a faster diversion but evidently a route without much spare capacity.

The times are available on http://www.opentraintimes.com (the code you need is MDLW)
SERVICES AT MIDDLEWICH

Worthy of note is that many of the Voyagers are being timetabled to cross in the Middlewich loop, with the Euston-Chester train timed to wait for 15 minutes (from xx15 to xx30 most hours) whilst the southbound train runs through non-stop at xx26.

There  will also be ECS (empty coaching stock)   and freight workings running over the line all through the week.

All in all a busy week for the Middlewich line with some good photo opportunities at the loop and at Northwich West and South junctions.

Many thanks to Andrew MacFarlane of MCRUA for sending us this information and to MRLC member Peter Shillito who has also brought this to our attention.

We would, as always, be grateful for any photographs/videos of trains on the Middlewich Branch during this busy period.


Dave Roberts, Editor.


Update Saturday 17th May:

The flurry of trains has died down now, but there are still some using the line on a regular basis - something like two or three trains a day on average. The link in the above post will enable you to find out when trains are expected. We welcome any photos of trains on the line. -Ed

First published 11th May 2014
Re-published 17th May 2014