[*alarm clock noise*]
[[*alarm clock noise*]
[*water running*]
[*pouring water*]
[*clink of metal spoon on ceramic mug*]
Now the trouble, with a lot of least used stations
is that due to the nature of them being least used, a lot of them
have trains that are timed at
awkward times of day, either early in the morning
or later at night, you know cause there's either one a day or two a day
you know not all least used stations get a regular
daily service, which means going to them
at awkward times of the day.
Which often means ... travelling
the day before, staying overnight somewhere
Pad and pens! Most essential.
er, to get a very early train ... and it is
five forty-five
and I find myself waking up on a very dark and very cold morning
no way is the sun up yet .. in Cheshire
whilst we're out this morning
the sun will rise
and I say we ...
quarter to six in the morning ... i find myself doing ...
- Karl : the least used station, in Cheshire
yeah, Karl came along, thanks for coming!
We've got a 20 minute walk to ...
Ince & Elton
let's do that first
So it's dark now, but our day will get lighter
doing least used stations in the winter months, is ... tricky
but not impossible, and i realised that there was this window
this window of opportunity, which is now
these couple of weeks
just after the clocks have gone back
err, you get a bit of light in the morning which is perfectly timed
to get the service, that we want to get this morning
to Stanlow &Thornton, but to get there
[car drives past, noisy]
we're going to this station to catch the train
O oooh! we're on a bridge, we're on a bridge, we're on a bridge, we're on a bridge
which means, down here ... OOOOOOHHH!!
i just said "OOOOOH!" *laughs*
that, my friend. is Ince & Elton.
there is a pssengers, so the trains going that way, but we're not getting it
'cause we're, it's gonna reverse at Helsby then it's gonna go back that way
so Stanlow & Thornton, and that's the one
that we get. Is it a Pacer, Karl?
it's a brand new one, isn't it?
it's a new one, it's one of nothern's new toys
there's someone running for it! *laughs* this is like ...
Go! run run run run run run run! YEEEEAAHHH!
i need a map
we have one! there is Ellesmere Port, there is Stanlow & Thornton
and there .. is Ince & Elton
so it does four movement in the morning
first one, it comes from Liverpool, but it goes the long way round
Earlstown, down through Warrington
Helsby, ends up at Ellesmere Port
then, it doubles back from Ellesmere Port
to Helsby, doubles-back AGAIN, from Helsby
to Ellesmere Port, and it's final movement of the morning
Ellesmere Port, aaaall the way through Manchester on the Calder Valley line, to Leeds
Have you bought a ticket?
I don't have a ticket
what ticket you got?
From Ince & Elton to ... Stanlow?
Nooo, i've got one from Stanlow back to Manchester
so we're gonna have to buy a ticket from here - Ince & Elton, to Stanlow & Thornton
we are
i like your hat by the way
thank you very much! we're in the north.
what abo ut my hat? do you not like my hat? is my hat .. no?
It's functional.
What's yours then?
It's ... representative of the area that we are in.
[*train doors beeping*]
Morning!
[*train doors beeping*]
[muffled] thank you mate ... cheers mate [muffled]
It is ... six forty, i swear the sun's gonna rise shortly [*chuckles*] ... at Stanlow & Thornton
[*noise of train engines as it departs*]
Geoff - Morning Karl - Hello! Geoff - Come on in
Why's this station here Karl?
errm, because of a tiny little oil refinery that seems to be all over the place
it's there, there, there and there!
The Essar ... Stanlow ... Oil Refinery, yeah
there's a footbridge here
now on that side, so leading off to the south
there's like there's definetely like a metal bar in place
yeah, couldn't get through
but ... this side, there are some steps that just leads down
to ... the road, and then there's cars down there so
i'm not sure if that's a private road or a public road
but the station is open - there's always some speculation that it's blocked off
but there's no sign saying 'private', there's no sign saying ...
don't come here, it's just, it's an open station with, with a sign
VIcki and I came here of course in 2017
what was interesting about that is that back then there were the two early morning services
and then the afternoon evening services, there were two in the afternoon
what they've done is that they've moved the afternoon services
to the evening, but they've reduced it from two to one
so there were four trips a day, and now there's only three trips a day
so i think that accounts for Ince & Eltons figures falling
the Stanlow, so the Stanlow bit is evident, it's all around you, eerm
the Thornton bit, there's a little village called Thornton-le-Moors down the road
So ...
you have to .. you would think .. you would have to be able to get out of here
to access, Thornton-le-Moors. otherwise ...
you'd just call in Stanlow, wouldn't ya?
and at 6/7 in the morning it's quiet .. and and, and eerie, and err it is somewhat desolate
it is on the desolate scale, somewhere ... it is .. it's there. it's defintely ...
large shades of desolate ... and industry
Karl! ( yeah! ) i've found the train times!
you know your job! Karl - let's have a look
we've got ... in the morning
Going towards ... Ellesmere port, we've got
oh six, oh six, that starts at Liverpool
as we discussed before
0637, and then ... not again
until three minute past six, and then going back towards Helsby
we've got 0621
again slightly different times Saturday, 0718, 0720
in the evening
either 0623 or 0627 again slightly different
so it's, so it's only six trains a day
but like ... three in each direction - Karl : three in each direction
Shall we do a famous Geoff Marshall .. big bag .. in the breeze?
eugggh!... i dont know what ... *laughs* it's definetely collected rainwater
erm, hi! there are no dot matrix displays
there's definetely ... no ticketing facilities
there are some waiting shelters
we should probably go and sit in one of the shelters and do some station stats
there's half a bin
there's no bike rack, there is .. erm ..
an oil refinery!
so .. you know, i don't know how many other least used stations
I don't remember King's Sutton, or ...
Polesworth, having an oil refinery. I have't heard any PA announcements
- Karl : nope there's nothing is there
there's no help point!
normally there's like a ... even Pontefract Baghill
had a help point.
Stanlow &Thornton ....
.... not so much.
Are you resting your knees on the ground?
are you just crouching? - Karl : i'm crouching
so what there is .. there's a seat, there's a bench, in this
reminds me of like a football terrace, i dunno, it's a bit
it's like a dark
shroud of a
Yeah, it's like a non-league stand
yeah that's it!
if you've never been to non-league football
but it's so dark in there i don't think the camera pick us up
so we're crouching on the platform instead
although there's what looks like to be the remnants of a shelf
can you see up there? there's like some brackets, why would that be there
someone's installed a shelf on the eastbound platform!
it's very sparse, and barren isn' it?
very
it's almost very
communist, eastern Europe isn't it?
it's like you know .. bleak, dark. and look! there's a
can see a burning, a burning flame
Stanlow simmering away in the distance!
which is why it doesn't get many passengers a year
how many Karl? ... 92!
ninety-two passengers a year
so that was the ORR stats, very important to get this right
for 2017 ... to 2018 period
what's er, what's 92 divided by 365?
*make silly noise* dlub lub flll dllr dlpp bllpp eelp blp flp nought point two six people per day
do that noise again!
dlub lub flll dllr dlpp bllpp eelp blp flp
very mathematical!
you sound like a character from the muppets!
oh .. .who was that? *laughs*
i know who you mean, i can't think of his name now
0.26 people per day
wow .. Ok
a quarter of a person
arrives and returns, from Stanlow & Thornton
ok, well ... yeah, and we've seen nuthin'
nuthin' my friend ... not. a. sausage.
although you could your sausages on that flame over there couldn't ya? you could, mmm.
But genuinely ... who would use this station?
when there is such a terrible service
come join me Karl! join me for a philosophical talk about Britain's railways
because there is a local railway users group, that tries to encourage more services on this line
and what we were discussing over dinner last night
was the, the thing to do , would be because up there what happens is that it gets to Ellesmere Port
and that's where Merseyrail ends
it's kinda like Northern meets Merseyrail, and Ellesmere Port gets a
are they every 30 minutes, or every 20 ...
you could extend that .. how, how costly would it be
to third rail this, all the way through to Helsby, and extend Merseyrail
through to Helsby, and just have Merseyrail trains to Helsby instead and have a
it would the, well i say, the sensible thing to do!
I love eBay!
get things, geting things like this
what is this?
this is 1981 to 1982 don't ask me why i've got it, i just have, ok ... it was cheap!
and it shows that there was ... a regular [ it does! ] if i conveniently go to Table 107
so ... if we have a look
yup, we can see that Stanlow & Thornton, yup, had an hourly service
and is when they were running from Helsby, through to Rock Ferry ... on the Wirral
but nope, here we go ... early eighties
regular as clockwork, ever hour and even
on a Sunday!
this is a thing of beauty, this is, eBay you say? how much?
i .. i ... pphhtt ... i can't remember
Karl .. have you got a whole room at home, just full of old railway timetables?
look at it! it's so .. proper, look at his flares!
hang on! 1980, hadn't flares gone out by then?
errm ... this one and two others
so this is the view from the footbridge
what time is it? 7:14 now is it just
just left Ellesmere port, yes ... due here at 7:18
so we're just gonna get the train back ... yeah
i'm, well i'm getting out at Ince
i'm going all the way back to Manchester Victoria, i've got work to do
i'm just gonna go ... back to London
personal point of view ... Stanlow & Thornton, tick! done.
[*TRAIN PA: this is, Stanlow and Thornton*]
[*TRAIN PA: this train, is the Northern service to ... Leeds*]
that is ... hats off
that is the least used station in Cheshire, tiiiiick!
one tiny thing, we've broken a rule
there's an unwritten rule, of Geoff and least used station videos
that -- apart from Vicki - who doesn't count because obviously it's Vicki
people are only ever allowed to come with me once
this is now your second ... time
i'm gonna get hate mail!
don'te tell anyone - ssh! SSSHH Keep that quiet
you're only allowed to come once, and then that's it
so you were never here. Karl - Ok, doesn't exist
[* TRAIN PA : we will shorly be arriving at Ince and Elton *]