Crewe Basford Hall Yard to Southport (Merseyrail)
Running as an inspection loco/route refresher, this is a rare opportunity for a Class 56 cab ride over one of Liverpool's much sought after freight-only lines and Merseyrail's Northern line to Southport!
Starting from Basford Hall Yard at Crewe we are routed via the Liverpool Independent Lines and forward on the WCML. At Warrington Bank Quay, we take the rarely used down slow and continue to Winwick Junction onto Earlestown and the electrified Manchester - Liverpool line, passing Rainhill.
At Olive Mount Junction, we take the freight-only curve to Edge Lane Junction and join the Bootle Branch. Passing through the deep cuttings and numerous tunnels we emerge at Bootle Junction and cross onto Merseyrail's Liverpool - Southport line, for the full journey through to Southport, arriving on platform 1.
The Bootle Branch may well be the highlight of this programme but a Class 56, running on the Northern Line, during daylight hours - passing 507s and 508s in normal traffic - probably makes this the working of the year!
Filmed on a perfect summer's day, with (almost) wall to wall sunshine.The entire journey is featured.
Bonus Footage: Southport to Sandhills and into the reversing siding.
Produced by - Train Crazy
Duration - 150 minutes
Format - 16:9 widescreen
Blu-Ray and DVD
Released - August 2021