Class 121 'Bubble Cars' at Aylesbury

Yesterday I noticed a post about an old type of train in the Dull Men's Club Facebook Group.

My fellow Dull Men's Club member had spotted a Class 121 'Bubble Car' at Princes Risborough railway station and it reminded me that I'd seen them before at Aylesbury station.

What a mixture of trains at Aylesbury Maintenance Depot back in July 2011

What I hadn't realised at the time was they are the longest serving DMUs in the UK, having started life in 1960. I thought they were en route to a heritage day or line, not that Chiltern Railways were still regularly using them in service!

Unfortunately the end of the line is nearing for the Class 121 'Bubble Cars' as spare parts are becoming more difficult to source and the engines are getting ever more frail.

Top trainspotting

Well done to Emily who wins this week's prize for trainspotting having seen this Pacer Railbus at Manchester Piccadilly yesterday.

A Class 142 Pacer Railbus at Manchester Piccadilly. Yesterday

What's so special you may ask? Well, take a look at the number. It's the James Bond of Pacers!

Last year we traveled on the old London Underground tube trains in use on the Isle of Wight's Island Line and were carried to Shanklin in number 007.

No more trainspotting

In what could spell the end for my train nerdery I've heard word that trainspotting is to be banned next year!

Don't walk this way. Trainspotting ban to be enforced next year

Until recently train nerds were more than welcome to indulge in their passion for spotting the wide variety of different engines and rolling stock on our rails, no more so than at Stockport station.

Signs like these will be a thing of the past in a year today

But from 1st April 2018 - the same year the withdrawal of Pacer Railbuses is due to begin - Northern, along with other rail operators, will not allow non-travellers on the platform, bringing an end to a much loved (though often maligned) pastime.

Two things of the past - no more railbuses and no more train nerds in 2018

At least my YouTube Channel is well stocked with vids of the wide range of trains we get up north. Enjoy them while you can, as you won't see the likes of this cracker from next year.



I'll have to take up a new pursuit - any suggestions on what is a step-up/down from trainspotting or minigolf course hunting?

Related blog posts:
- Train Nerdery
- Dull Men's Club

Steam train at Davenport railway station in Stockport

Catching a glimpse of BR Standard 4 76084 Buxton Spa Express at Davenport railway station in Stockport.

Steam Engine 76084 aka the 'Lancashire Lazarus' (and 45690 Leander) passes through Davenport railway station in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport at 9.35am on Saturday 25th February 2017.



The BR Standard 4 2-6-0 locomotive and carriages formed 'The Buxton Spa Express' special charter mainline service.

76084 at Davenport railway station

The back of the last carriage forming the Buxton Spa Express

Just as 76084 passed through a two-coach Northern rail Class 150 Sprinter (150116) called at the station heading north to Manchester and Bolton.

If this Class 150 Sprinter had been 30 seconds faster it would've ruined the view for the trainspotters on the other platform!

For further information visit the 76084 Standard 4 website.

76084 was preceded by a Class 185 TransPennine Express and followed by a Northern Class 142 Pacer Railbus.





Related blog posts:
- Stockport
- Train Nerd
- Trains

A visit to East Didsbury railway station

Maximum Train Nerdery at East Didsbury railway station.

Since moving to the north of England we've been travelling to a lot of new places. This has given me the chance to see some new railway stations and a lot of different trains too.

Train nerd Richard Gottfried at East Didsbury railway station

My new favourite railway station is East Didsbury in Manchester. It's actually one of the closest to ours and we stopped by on Friday prior to going tenpin bowling over the road at Parrs Wood. In just ten minutes six trains passed through the station, although only one stopped. And that was en route to Llandudno!



Check out my YouTube Channel and the links below to see some of my other recent train nerdery captured on camera.

Related blog posts:
- Train Nerd
- Train
- Trains
- A trip to Ashton-under-Lyne railway station
- Tube trains on the Isle of Wight

Videos:

- Crazy Golf and a train at Vickersway Park in Northwich

- GBRf 66737 with Drax freight trucks at Cheadle Heath

- Northern Sprinter train on a railway bridge in Cheadle Heath

- Northern Sprinter and Pacer Railbus trains at Ashton-under-Lyne station

- Pacer Railbus train in Cheadle Heath

- Class 150 Sprinter Northern service from Altrincham to Stockport

- Trainspotting at East Didsbury railway station

- First TransPennine Express Class 185's passing East Didsbury station

- Arriva Trains Wales Class 175 stopping at East Didsbury station

- Northern Class 150 Sprinter passing East Didsbury station

- Northern Class 156 passing East Didsbury station

- Northern Electrics Class 319 passing East Didsbury station

A trip to Ashton-under-Lyne railway station

Visiting Ashton-under-Lyne railway station.

While visiting Ashton-under-Lyne and the great Portland Basin Museum for the first time we swung by the railway station for a quick look for some classic Northern trains.

Train nerd

We were in luck as we saw BOTH 16:34 services arriving at and departing from the station! One was a two-coach Class 150 Sprinter heading to Huddersfield, the other was a four-coach Pacer Railbus en route to Wigan Wallgate.

Bound for Wigan Wallgate

Off to Huddersfield

One of the non-stopping trains passing through Ashton-under-Lyne station

Videos:
- Northern Sprinter and Pacer Railbus trains at Ashton-under-Lyne station
- Northern Sprinter train on a railway bridge at Normanton Road, Cheadle
- GBRf 66737 with Drax freight trucks at Cheadle Heath

Related blog posts:
- Train nerd
- Trains

A trip to Reddish South railway station

Visiting Reddish South railway station.

Last year we watched the TV programme Paul Merton's Secret Stations and were interested to hear about the once a week 'parliamentary' rail service from Reddish South railway station in Greater Manchester.

Reddish South railway station. A very quiet spot

When we moved to Cheadle Hulme last summer we noticed on a local map that Reddish South was one of our closest stations here in the Metropolitan Borough of Stockport!

The station's timetable makes for grim viewing

Yesterday we went to explore the station. Unfortunately we didn't see any trains pass through Reddish South and we didn't fancy waiting for the next and only service - the 09:27 to Stalybridge. On Friday!

Five days early, or two days late, for the next train from Reddish South

The station is one of the quietest in the UK, and the least used in Greater Manchester, with only 38 passengers using the station in 2015/16.

A view of Reddish Station from down the line

Ticking off another railway station visit on our travels

The station has a Friends group that are campaigning for a regular service from Reddish South

Practicing my hailing motion for when we actually catch a train from the request stop

An old unused tunnel to the right

A view of one of the old and unused platforms

The station has no facilities for passengers at all. At least Denton, another station on the Stockport-Stalybridge Line, has a bench.

Distinctly lacking in facilities

You can find out more about the station and service from the Friends of Reddish South Station group.

Watch episode 3 of Paul Merton's Secret Stations to see Reddish South station.

Further information about the station can be found on the Northern Railway website.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf at Amazonia in Bolton

A visit to the Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at the Market Place in Bolton.

On the 21st December I headed to Bolton to visit and play the new 18-hole Lost Valley Adventure Golf course located indoors at the Market Place shopping centre.

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course

It's a superb minigolf layout and a great location for a course. The 'Lost Valley' can be quite easily discovered as it's well signposted from ground level!

Bolton's Market Place shopping centre - and the indoor Adventure Golf course - are well worth a visit

I was invited for a round at the Lost Valley by Simon from HM Adventure Golf who designed and built the course. We'd picked a good time to tee-off as we were able to get well into the swing of our round before the course began to get busy around lunchtime.

Five and a half of the holes are in the lower section of the course. The theming and lighting is great throughout

On the 5th green. This is in the lower part of the course

In our round I managed to pick up the win 45-48 with Simon carding a ruinous 6 on the 18th hole to scupper his chances of victory.

Teeing-off on the 10th

I was very pleased with my hole-in-one on the 15th and I'm sure with a bit more practice on the course there are some rewarding aces to be had on the tricky but fun layout.

Holing out on the 13th

The scorecards at the Lost Valley are some of the largest I've seen. Once opened the scorecard is 41.5cm wide!

Looks normal enough...

But then when you open it up!

The Lost Valley Adventure Golf course at Amazonia in Bolton's Market Place shopping centre was the 420th course played and 720th visited overall on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour.

Hole 1

Snakey

A festive hole 2

The very small but tricky hole 3

Hole 4

Hole 5 begins upstairs

But ends downstairs

Hole 6 was the toughest hole for me

The green on hole 6

Hole 7

Hole 8

Hole 9 and another festive character

Hole 9

Hole 9

Hole 10

Hole 10

Hole 11

The green on hole 11

The nice surprise on hole 11

Hole 12

Which is the best hole to putt into?

The green on hole 12

There are two routes to the cup on hole 13

Hole 13

Hole 13

Hole 14

Hole 15 - the scene of my hole-in-one

Hole 16

Hole 17

Hole 17

There are two cups inside the mouth of the treeman on hole 18

Hole 18

As a bonus there was also a Miniature Train ride in Amazonia!

The Jungle Express

The Miniature Train ride runs along the edge of the Adventure Golf course

Check out the Lost Valley Adventure Golf course website for opening times and prices.

The flooring throughout the Lost Valley is fantastic - I'm not sure arachnophobes would be quite so keen!

It was great finding out about some of the other miniature golf courses the team at HM Adventure Golf are working on. Emily and I reckon there are around 50-odd more courses for us to visit in the UK, but with new courses opening all the time there is likely to still be 50 for us left to visit this time next year!

I'm looking forward to a minigolf match against Emily on the Lost Valley course

Head to the HM Adventure Golf website for further details on their projects. Their latest course opened at Haigh Woodland Park in Wigan, Lancashire this month. We're looking forward to a game there soon. I understand that the old course - the 521st visited on the Crazy World of Minigolf Tour - is still in the park too.

Related blog posts:
- Indoor Adventure Golf
- Crazy World of Minigolf Tour

Links:
- The Lost Valley Adventure Golf
- HM Adventure Golf
- Bolton Market Place

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