The East Lancs Railway - A Blue Brigade soiree to see diesels, kettles, maroon and a bit of blue!

marsa69

Western Thunderer
Hello all,

In order to help the Colonels convalescence and to speed his recovery along I decided to take him to the East Lancs Railway for a bit of heritage therapy. After travelling in style by first class modern rail to Manchester we then embarked on that modern marvel that is the Metrolink all the way to Bury. We mused on the success of the system in replacing the worn out BR lines of DC electrics in the 504s as we tootled along. The Colonel was extremely looking forward to it as he had never been to the ELR before and he definitely seemed perkier, but just as cranky (and loud) :))! We arrived at Bolton Street station in time for the first departure of the day at 09:30 and took advantage of their allday ticket which is excellent value for £14.50, with the Colonel even managing a whopping great discount of £1.50 for being a grown-up railwayman :eek:

The ELR was where it all began for me many years ago as a 13 year old lad. I had a choice of either involving myself in something different or falling in with the wrong crowd. I fell in with the wrong crowd and have never gotten rid of the railway bug ever since.

We then proceeded to enjoy a rather great day trundling behind a rather deliciously sounding 31466 as we set of for Heywood. We chatted to staff and found out about the planned extension to Castleton, the Buckley Wells regeneration, the not so smooth going in the relocation of Riley Engineering, the various appeals for station canopies & locos and the lamenting of the fact that some idiot in local council had approved the obliteration of the trackbed north of Rawtenstall all those many years ago.

31466 performed faultlessly for the day and the sound of it storming the ski-jump to climb over the Metrolink was delightful. The other loco in operation was a resplendent 13065 which dribbled and hissed like any good kettle. The pairing of the two locos on services was quite ironic I thought seeing as they were both turned out in maroon. A sly sense of humour somewhere I think ;)

We then broke for a rather enjoyable visit to The Railwayman pub which was on t'other platform and partook of an excellent steak'n'ale pie with a nice pint of shandy (both unable to make it a full blooded pint of something with bite :() We then made a visit to the Transport Museum upon which the Colonel found his mojo in a magnificently looking blue Hymek D7076 :eek: It certainly brought back memories as I worked on that loco as a lad over 30 years ago and it amazed me at just how good it looked. We then managed to get a closer look courtesy of the staff and it just seemed to look better the closer we got. We then found a 52 looking rather sorry for itself inside the shed but knowing the guys and girls at the ELR no doubt it will look just as good as the Hymek.

We then both decided to turn for home and once again boarding the rather modern but infinitely less interesting tram we sat back with schoolboy grins on our face knowing that we had just enjoyed a rather good day out :thumbs:

The following are the pics that I took of our little adventure and I don't profess to be an expert in photography but I DO hope you enjoy them all the same :cool:

P1010287.JPG P1010288.JPG P1010289.JPG P1010290.JPG P1010291.JPG P1010292.JPG P1010292b&w.jpg P1010293.JPG P1010294.JPG P1010295.JPG P1010296.JPG P1010297.JPG P1010300.JPG P1010301.JPG P1010302.JPG
 
Last edited:

marsa69

Western Thunderer
A fine piece of descriptive writing, Sgt Marsa!! :)

Point of Order for the Blue Brigade though - your Class 31 is in Wisconsin Central livery. :p :D :)) :thumbs:

Tis maroon is it not as per the thread title? ;) What more do you want? :p
 
Last edited:

iploffy

OC Blue Brigade
I did find one thing really weird, hot Ribeana, I mean hot Ribeana all you need is Paracetamol and you have a Beechams. Lol
 

Ressaldar

Western Thunderer
Hi Mark and Ian,

glad the day went well. Must get up there myself sometime this year.

Any chance of seeing you both this Sunday afternoon at Birkenhead? (full details on the Exhibition thread)

cheers

Mike
 
Top