The Slow, Scenic Train, The Boat Train, The Little Trains, and Several Other Trains, part 1

Ticking Off Several Items from "The List"

I have long wanted to visit the Isle of Man, partly to see its vintage railways and partly just to experience life in a Crown Dependency, a British Isle that is not the UK nor Ireland. My parents considered it when I was still with them in my early teens but it did not come off then and the opportunity never seemed to arise again ... I have also wanted to experience the trans-pennine rail routes, to stay in the Midland Hotel, that great deco moderne masterpiece in Morecambe, and to visit Leeds again, the last time being many years ago. It all fell into place when I was thumbing through a newly-delivered Great Rail Journeys British Isles Catalogue: their Vintage Railways of the Isle of Man escorted tour ticks all of the boxes for the Isle of Man itself and begins and ends at Heysham ferry terminal, a short hop from Morecambe. Furthermore, if it suited our friends who live in Warrington we could stay with them for a few days on the way, and my wife could visit a former colleague now living in Leeds on the way back, both trips involving new routes for us. The various friends were contacted and arrangements made around the most suitable Isle of Man dates for our diary and the Midland Hotel booked. There were so many exciting things about this trip where almost everything except our friends was new to us, and we even fitted in a couple of unexpected things while travelling.

Armed with a picnic including a couple of individual bottles of Prosecco and some plastic wine glasses we set out to Peterborough on the 10:57 Cross Country train on a Friday. It was a touch late but we still had time to buy takeaway coffee at Peterborough before boarding our next train, the 11:23 East Midlands Railway train to Liverpool which would take us all the way through to Warrington Central. It was a beautiful day and it was great gazing from the windowat countryside which, to begin with, was very familiar but we had usually seen at twice the speed on East Coast Route expresses. This was an express (limited stop) service, but with a much lower maximum speed. At Grantham the train left the main line and headed off to Nottingham and along here we enjoyed our lunch. Just as we finished the train's refreshment trolley came through and we bought coffee to round off the meal. From Nottingham we headed north through Chesterfield to Sheffield and then across the Pennines to Manchester. Through Manchester was the slowest part of the journey and we lost time on the congested track between Piccadilly and Deansgate, being picked up by our friends about five minutes late. It had been a super ride through lovely countryside (OK, yes and Sheffield and Manchester as well!) in comfortable seats and with a great picnic. It was not the quickest way to Warrington, but that was not the point: it was slow and scenic and we had a lovely lunch on the way.

Our friends met us and drove us to their home where we stayed the next three nights, having a day out on Saturday and a day in after church on Sunday ... with a couple of pub visits thrown in.

On Monday they took us to the other station in Warrington, Bank Quay, where we took an Avanti West Coast train (another first: I've never travelled with them before, except rammed into a vestibule between Birmingham New Street and Birmingham International). It was a comfortable, although late, journey, and we had plenty of space, perhaps an advantage of travelling mid-afternoon. We left Avanti at Lancaster and, being late, had a tight connection into our train to Morecambe. Now this was a bit of an adventure. We had just enough time to get over the bridge to the train we could see waiting on the other side of the track (platform 4 for those who know Lancaster station, which I didn't until then), so we went to the lift because I really cannot climb stairs with luggage. The lift was not quick, and when we got to the bridge we soon realised that we could not access the stairs down to where the train was waiting as the seconds ticked by. We had to use the lift down as well, and again it took ages to comes and ages to go down by which train the train should have left, but this being Northern it was still there. Indeed it was still there ten minutes later. I do not think we ever saw a train, of any operator, on time at Lancaster over the course of this holiday, and as you'll see, we were there quite a lot. The timekeeping on the routes that converge there is appalling. Still the train got us to Morecambe: it is only a few minutes, much closer than our home in Stamford is to the main junction station at Peterborough. Although it was the same type of unit (Class 158) as the one we had enjoyed travelling on all the way from Peterborough to Warrington it was somehow less appealing - possibly because of the noisy schoolchildren who got off at the one intermediate stop at Bare Lane, but probably also because these sets were never intended for short distance stopping services but for the long distance express service like the Norwich-Liverpool route that we had use to travel to Warrington.

The walk to the Midland Hotel is longer than it used to be. The railway line has been cut short and, to be fair, is probably better located to serve the actual town and also connects well with local buses and a new retail park (this is a travel blog, not a town planning critique, so I won't go on about how that has killed the town centre), but it is not directly opposite the hotel which was built by the LMS Railway to serve the high-class resort at Morecambe. We saw the Midland shortly after its refurbishment (it had lain derelict for some years and was really at risk) and it is no longer quite the class of establishment that the then owners intended. The external finish could do with renewing and some of the interior could do with a little bit of a spruce-up. The meals, although good in themselves, are served in a pub-like manner, ordered at the bar, and there are no tablecloths. Very good, but not the high standard it used to be. It remains staggeringly good in its context, though, for Morecambe is not a thriving town.

Our room, however, was quite amazing. It was spacious and with a sea view and had some design features I have never seen anywhere else, possibly original. You need to see my YouTube video to get the full effect, but suffice it to say that if you go into the ensuite bathroom you may think there is no door. And then you realise there is no WC either, but when you pull at a hand-hold in the wall boarding a whole section of the wall swings round to close off the bathroom from the bedroom and reveals a WC with toilet paper and all the kit. Tea and coffee facilities and the TV and waste bin are behind another panel, and the wardrobe behind another. There were two deco moderne armchairs and a drinks table. We were very happy there for our two nights, and I would easily and confidently recommend this hotel as a stopover on the way to or from the Isle of Man, handy as it is for the Heysham ferry terminal, as I shall go on, eventually, to describe.

We went for a walk along the seafront which was uplifting and saddening in equal measure. It was a clear evening and the view across Morecambe Bay to the Lake District hills was breathtaking. The local authorities had obviously spent a great deal to improve the public realm of the seafront and local people were out walking, running, skating and cycling along it. All the shops were shut, but then it was evening and many were simply closed for the night, but many also were closed for good. Several small hotels were also clearly closed for good. We were looking for somewhere to eat and were just thinking that we'd have to return to the hotel when we spotted the Bay Café a small fish and chip shop on a street corner. It was open, and it had a few tables inside. There was a couple eating there; we asked how it was and on their advice asked for the small portion of fish and chips. It was delicious, it was filling and it was very inexpensive. Very little else was open in Morecambe that evening but we hit on what was probably the best traditional fish & chips I have ever had. We returned happy to the Midland where we enjoyed cocktails in the bar before bath and bed.

On the Tuesday morning we decided to take the 10:00 bus into Lancaster. After a quick look around the town centre, coffee and gelato we gave further thought to the day and, realising how close we were decided to take a train to Carnforth, for two reasons: one was that a craftsman in Carnforth, as it happens, was assessing a vintage flute that once belonged to a long-deceased relative and we thought it would be good to meet him in person, and the other was that I had long wanted to visit Carnforth station where a lot of location-shooting was done for the film Brief Encounter. A phone call checked that the instrument-maker was available and we made our way to his home where his front room was his workshop. A lovely person, we made arrangements for the flute to be sold and restored so that it would be playable again rather than end up on a rubbish tip. When we were at Lancaster station awaiting our train to Carnforth we saw a steam locomotive there and identified it as Blue Peter, the very locomotive which had taken us to and from the Lake District last autumn. I had to pop over and say "hello" ... well, not literally, I'm not that mad.

After our brief encounter with the antique flute we made our back to the station and enjoyed a good salad lunch at the refreshment room made famous in Brief Encounter, explored the heritage centre and then went across to the opposite platform to await a train to Grange-Over-Sands. This was only a few minutes' scenic ride away and, having stayed there many years ago, we knew it as a pretty town. we were not disappointed: the train ride, the town, and the garden we walked through on our way back to the station were all lovely. We only stayed there about an hour but the rail fares here are so reasonable that it seemed a worthwhile thing to do. We took the next train through to Lancaster and then back to Morecambe (remembering to buy a ticket because we had come by bus in the morning so we did not have a return half!). We enjoyed a cocktail in the hotel bar-restaurant again ...) and then dinner, which was excellent. The next day we were to leave England for Man and we started our packing before a good night's sleep.

Wednesday was to be the start of our Great Rail Journeys escorted tour to the historic railways of the Isle of Man, but our ferry was not due to leave until 15:30, although one has to board well before then, and we also had to meet our tour manager at the ferry terminal. There is a boat train once a day from Lancaster to Heysham Harbour (or Heysham Port; the name varies from sign to sign!) which calls at Morecambe, so we were to take that when the time came. Meanwhile, after checking out we had the hotel store our luggage and went off for a short walk along the seafront and then visited the new shops opposite the rail station. Now I could see why B&M no longer occupied the lovely art deco building on the sea front near the hotel: they had a new shop in the new shopping area. After looking around a bit we went to a supermarket there to pick up a few things for a picnic lunch which we would have while waiting to board the ship, the Manxman. Meanwhile, we took coffee back at the hotel bar and then recovered our luggage and went to get the boat train, actually buying our tickets at the station. The train was just an ordinary two-coach Sprinter of Northern Trains which normally ply between Lancaster (or sometimes Leeds) and Morecambe but for this one service per day reverse at Morecambe and take the single-track branch line to Heysham Port, the driver getting out and changing the point to access the branch. The picture shows it arrived at Heysham with the driver walking to the other end to take passengers off the ferry to Lancaster.

The station at Heysham Port exists solely to connect with the ships to Douglas and it was simple enough to walk across to the departures entrance where we met Alan, our tour manager, who briefed us on the procedure for checking-in our luggage, boarding the ferry and finding he best place to sit (the Njarbil Lounge on Deck 8, which has superb views at the front of the ship). We just had time to eat our lunch, with drinks bought from the cafeteria on site, before we were called to board. The next adventure had begun.

The Manxman took an interesting route, curving well south before making west across the Irish Sea. But when you think about it, the enormous offshore wind farm we saw over to starboard is presumably located in shallow water. There were also a handful of oil platforms, quite a lot of activity out here at sea, as wells a few other ships and even fewer smaller vessels. The shipping lane is not as wide as you might think! Soon enough we saw the outline of the Isle of Man standing above low-level mist and watched it draw nearer and then waited for the ship to berth and disembarkation to be announced.

By the time we had crossed the enormous elevated walkway across the docks to the arrival area and collected our luggage from the carousel it was past our usual bedtime when we arrived at the Claremont Hotel. We had been given our room keys by hotel staff who met the group at the arrivals hall, so we did not have to check in and we made our way straight into the dining room to have dinner, which was excellent. The Great Rail Journeys group had a sort of table d'hôte menu with a choice of about three starters, three mains and three desserts, so we had enough choice to cope with faddy eaters (which we most definitely are not!) and everything we had at each dinner was superb. Unusually for a GRJ tour, dinner was included every evening, as well as breakfast every morning. Meals were not generally at fixed times but between certain times so we had much fllecxibility.

Also included in the pack which contained our room keys and meal times were a pass each for transport through the island and a pass for all the heritage sites. These would be used on all the included activities but were also available in our free time to do anything else we wanted with no further cost.

Our room was at the back of the hotel with no new at all - indeed the lower window was obscure glass to avoid us seeing the insalubrious back yard outside. However, the interior of the room was super, with flexible lighting and enough electrical points for all our electronic kit. On trips like this we do not spend a lot of time in our room, though, always out and about exploring. For now, shower and bed.

The Thursday was the first group activity of the tour and the one which mattered most to me from my reading of an article in Railway Modeller when I was eleven years old, about a model railway layout based on the Isle of Man Railway. This once extensive network is now reduced to one line, between Douglas and Port Erin but is still operated by the original steam locomotives and wooden carriages. It is a charming railway well worth visiting even if you never read that article back in 1965. We all walked to Douglas station and after some photographs joined our carriages on the train. The weather was cool and damp and there was plenty of visible steam as the locomotive was prepared and backed onto the train. When we arrived at Port Erin we had a sort guided tour of the small railway museum there and then we taken by road coach to The Sound where there are seals to be spotted in the sea and The Calf of Man island just off the shore. With better weather apparently you can also see Ireland beyond, but we could barely see the Calf of Man on the day we were there. We did spot a couple of seals on the rocks, and most importantly had a mug of hot chocolate at the café!

The coach then took us on to Castletown where we had time for lunch and then gathered at the appointed time to visit together The Old House of Keys, erstwhile home of the oldest parliament in the world. We learnt a lot in a series of mock debates based on important decisions in the past, mainly that although this may be the world's oldest parliament it is most certainly not the oldest democracy but had quite a lot of catching up to do. We took part in debates to elect Members to the House of Keys, to allow women to vote and to move the capital from Castletown to Douglas (largely because the building had become beyond economic repair to continue in use).

The afternoon had no included activities but most of the group, ourselves included, visited Castle Rushen, just across the street, probably the best-preserved medieval castle in the British Isles. This was included in our attractions passes, too, and cost us nothing. Great views, apparently, were to be had from to top of the keep, but at the time I was not fit enough to climb up there. The castle is, of course, intimately linked to the history of the island, ad there was a lot to learn about how it has been ruled and governed over the centuries.

Many of the party were returned to Douglas and direct to the hotel by the coach, but several of us opted to return on the Isle of Man Steam Railway from Castletown station a cost-free option as it was covered by our travel passes. Back at the hotel we had time to change before dinner and then have a lazy evening after a busy day before a good night's sleep ready to the next action-packed day.

The story will be continued in a future post with more Little Trains and a few more Other Trains!

Here's a video taster: