Fiddlers Ferry to close

[woodenhead]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-merseyside-48628334

 

I imagine what little coal it now receives will dwindle further in the coming months until it has enough through to closure.

 

How might this impact Warrington Arpley - there is the truncated freight route under Bank Quay and the yards at Warrington, without coal for Fiddlers Ferry what other traffic does it support?

 

Looking at RealTime trains, the only live train today is from Ditton to Dollands Moor

 

[Bucoops]

Another idiotic move. We have very little spare generating capacity.

[montyburns56]

A couple of years I explored the area around the former Tanhouse Lane sidings and the closed Widnes Loop and I didn't seen a single train in the four hours that I was there, so I suspect that there will be next to zero traffic from now on.  I doubt that the line will be closed though, as I should imagine it could be useful as a diversionary route if there's ever any problems with the Runcorn bridge over the Mersey.

[woodenhead]

13 minutes ago, montyburns56 said:

A couple of years I explored the area around the former Tanhouse Lane sidings and the closed Widnes Loop and I didn't seen a single train in the four hours that I was there, so I suspect that there will be next to zero traffic from now on.  I doubt that the line will be closed though, as I should imagine it could be useful as a diversionary route if there's ever any problems with the Runcorn bridge over the Mersey.

The diversionary route for the Runcorn bridge would now be Earlestown or Manchester as it's all electric and no need to reverse or involve diesels.

[montyburns56]

5 minutes ago, woodenhead said:

The diversionary route for the Runcorn bridge would now be Earlestown or Manchester as it's all electric and no need to reverse or involve diesels.

 

I was thinking more about the freight from Garston and Halewood.

[woodenhead]

1 minute ago, montyburns56 said:

 

I was thinking more about the freight from Garston and Halewood.

Interestingly the one train which did run today was from Ditton to Dollands Moor so it's not really a diversionary route, it is a recognised route for some freight.

 

I imagine more of Warrington's yards will be laid to waste, though DB/Schenker or whatever name they go by now are mostly using it for storing redundant wagons I think.

 

To think there was a route all the way to Godley Junction from here once, I remember the Sunday visits to see what 25, 40 and 47s were stabled there.

[montyburns56]

1 minute ago, woodenhead said:

Interestingly the one train which did run today was from Ditton to Dollands Moor so it's not really a diversionary route, it is a recognised route for some freight.

 

I imagine more of Warrington's yards will be laid to waste, though DB/Schenker or whatever name they go by now are mostly using it for storing redundant wagons I think.

 

To think there was a route all the way to Godley Junction from here once, I remember the Sunday visits to see what 25, 40 and 47s were stabled there.

 

Yep, a huge chunk of the line from Sheffield to Latchford has been lifted. Another victim of the coal mine closures.

 

I photographed what remains of Arpley Yard at about the same time and like you said it did seem to be mostly used for wagon storage. Although I did manage to spot an old Minilink container in the yard! Apparently there were plans to provide a direct link from the Fiddler's Ferry line to the Arpley Yard so that trains would avoid having to reverse on the remains of the line Latchford route, but Network Rail couldn't justify the cost.