What future for Warrington Arpley

[woodenhead]

With the impending closure of Fiddlers Ferry (own topic let's not debate the generating mix), what is the future now for Warrington's yard and the line to Ditton.

 

I was on Bank Quay this afternoon on a trip back from Cumbria and I had a quick look down the embankment, lots of coal hoppers. Interestingly something passed under the station that wasn't coal, looked like containers of some form maybe waste, I've looked on realtime trains but cannot find Arpley or anything similar to ID the service.

 

But without Trainload freight which Warrington was a hub for, what else does the yard serve other than service or storage of wagons?

 

Is it a train crew sign on and will they lose their jobs?

[woodenhead]

Found it, Gypsum service from FF to New Biggin, so will be lost when FF closes.

[slg]

Ford car and van trains use the yard as time and space is not always available at Speke to fit them in.

It is also still a point where wagons are removed or added to selected services such as the Folly Lane tanks.

It is also a wagon repair site and a fuelling point.

 

If DB don't see a future in the site one of the others may 

 

Plus it has been mentioned in the Hattons section that the line past Fiddlers has been safe guarded so maybe it could become a passenger route for Merseyrail

[Zomboid]

I imagine whatever they decide to do with the fiddlers site will be a major factor.

If it was in the South East, it would become "luxury" apartments...

[Edwin_m]

There was a plan a few years ago to build a curve so trains to and from FF could access the WCML southwards or various groups of sidings without having to reverse at Latchford.  Quite apart from the operational inconvenience the council would like to see the Latchford run-around loop removed to make space for development.  However the curve would have taken out a piece of the yard and had various other disadvantages. 

 

Last I heard NR was still kicking around other ideas, but I would imagine unless FF is replaced by some other facility that generates significant rail traffic, Latchford to Ditton will close.  There is some benefit in linking the Arpley yards with Merseyside but I doubt it is enough to justify the cost of keeping the line open. 

 

However Arpley is a major operating base for DBS so I would expect most of it to remain in use. 

[Powerhaul 70 Pey]

If you search Arpley sidings on realtime trains there is still quite a bit of activity throughout the day. This is dispite the loss of coal, which has practically been gone since last april. Ews/db Schenker had a good number of trains running to and from liverpool bulk terminal which have all now finished. A new waste flow from knowsley to Wilton starts soon which i believe is Db Schenker hauled that is booked for short stop at warrington bank quay, i assume for a crew change. Quite a few db Schenker hauled trains have a crew change from drivers at arpley. Hopefully, it will ride the storm along with freightliner Who have also suffrered since the decline in coal traffic.

[woodenhead]

But if the activity is restricted to crew changes then that doesn't require more than the goods loop in Bank Quay.

 

A lot of the stock stored in the yard is for coal so I guess they will sit there until such time as possibly Europe calls.

[Jamesb]

Apologies to revive a dead thread, but while there may not be a future for the 'low level line' (Arpley Jnc to Ditton), there is a future for Arpley sidings.

 

Most of the activity is at night time, with the daytime being relatively quiet by comparison. The loss of coal to Fidlers Ferry is a red herring as when the coal was still running, Arpley only stabled coal sets there over the weekend. The loss of work to Fidlers Ferry hasn't actually impacted on Arpley as much as you would expect. While it is true that jobs have been lost (12 drivers took voluntary redundancy as a result of the cessation of the LBT- Fidlers traffic), the actual impact on the yard hasn't been that bad. As I previously explained, Arpley was only used by the coal sets to stable on a Saturday night, through to early Monday morning, as the Fidlers trains didn't run on a Sunday. Walton Old Jnc (MSC sidings) and Latchford have been affected though, as this was where the trains ran round (Walton MSC to head to Latchford and Latchford to head to Fidlers).

 

Arpley has carriage and wagon repair facilities which see weekly trips to/from Marcroft engineering at Stoke and Springs Branch. It also has loco fueling and covered maintenance/examination facilities. Both of these are enough to justify it's continued existence. The nearest loco fueling points after Warrington are Peak Forest or Trafford Park and neither of these have covered accommodation or an inspection pit ! W.H Davis (external contractors) also use Arpley to service and repair the wagons used on the Ellesmere Port sand flow (which also uses Arpley at night). 

 

Activity isn't restricted to crew changes (there are actually very few crew changes at Arpley). A lot of what actually goes on is traction changes. Crew changes are usually done in Warrington Bank Quay station, as there is no need to enter the yard. Traction changes (diesel to electric and visa versa) are a different matter as they usually also incorporate attaching/detaching traffic, none of which can be done on the mainline or in the goods/passenger loops at Bank Quay. As an example, 6X52 (Portbury automotive terminal - Mossend) calls at Arpley just after midnight to attach/detach traffic and also change from diesel to electric traction. Traffic being attached is usually the Caustic Soda tanks from the twice weekly Runcorn Folly lane trip, but can also include other traffic. Detaching traffic can be anything!

 

Sadly, there isn't very much traffic left going over the low level line. When Fidlers Ferry does finally close, that will be the end of the Gypsum traffic. I would be very surprised if the line stayed open for the few light engine moves and the occasional wagon being moved from Halewood/Speke back to Warrington. In true railway fashion, there have been quite a few improvements of late, with new level crossings at Marsh House and Fidlers Ferry, as well as the clearance and general tidying of the area around the former Widnes South station. Sadly and despite this, I think the future is looking pretty bleak for this section of railway.