Our thanks to Network Rail for station painting

Repainted walls and handrails at Walkden

Hats off to Network Rail who have repainted the stairway walls at Walkden as part of the roof repair project.

The walls of the stairs and booking hall had not been painted for many years and had become dirty and stained, while the red paint on the handrails was peeling and flaking away.

As our picture shows, the shiny new walls and handrails are a great improvement and give the station a much more inviting appearance. And from the way passengers rounded on kids suspected of recent graffiti damage to the station, the bright and clean walls are well appreciated by station users too !

As we understand the situation from previous discussions, repainting of the walls is the responsibility of the train operating company (Northern Rail). Network Rail’s decoration work is therefore even more appreciated as it was not their responsibility to tackle the job anyway.

The newly-retiled station roof at Walkden

The roof repairs, which started in August, are nearly complete and most of the scaffold will be removed this weekend, putting an end to some local kids’ dangerous use of it as a climbing frame.

Away from the public areas of the station Network Rail have installed a floor in a disused room which should provide lots of useful storage space for staff.

FOWS meet Northern Rail at the Business North West Conference

FOWS Chairman Peter Aust with Elissa Robinson from Northern Rail

Hello FOWS Bloggers, I was working at the Business North West at Manchester Central this week and during a break took a look around the exhibition stands and guess what? a Northern Rail stand came into view.

Never wanting to miss an opportunity to remind Northern of our objectives, I had a few words with the charming Elissa Robinson, Sales Manager who was looking after the stand at the time.

Although of course our problems do not fall into her area of responsible Elissa listened sympathetically and – who knows ? – the message may get through, whatever, we must keep on message !!

Peter

Pillar as good as new !

Freshly painted pillar on platform 1

Thanks to Northern and Network Rail for fixing the first pillar on the Manchester platform which has been over-flowing and corroding since the canopy was repainted last summer.

The freshly painted pillar looks great and we’re delighted the water damage to this part of the station’s fabric has been staunched.

FOWS make the case for Walkden with Transport bosses and planners

Our Chairman Peter Aust has sent this report of his meeting with transport “top brass” and politicians – another example of how FOWS works, often behind the scenes, to secure improvements for Walkden station.

FOWS Chairman Peter Aust meeting Shadow Transport Minister Stephen Hammond MP

Hello Friends, On Monday last in my capacity as Chair of FOWS I attended a seminar at Manchester Town Hall entitled ” The Future of Rail in the North. The Speakers were Stephen Hammond MP, Shadow Transport Minister Edward Timpson MP,Crewe & Natwich Councillor Ian Macdonald, Vice Chairman GMITA Paul Plummer, Director, Planning & Regulation, Network Rail It was ably chaired by TV Presenter Andy Crane.

There were plenty of discussions about the Manchester Hub (not just about Manchester) that is a major bottleneck on the rail network that negatively impacts on rail services for the whole of the North of England and the proposal of a high-speed line from London to Glasgow, which would include a stop at Manchester. It was fortunate that Cllr Iain Lindley who was in attendance highlighted to the panel the importance also of the issues concerning local rail stations such as Walkden, yes! Walkden got a mention!!

I had the chance to meet a few of the top brass and spread the word about FOWS, Tom Wadsworth, Communications Manager of Network Rail, Emma Pemberton-Eccles, Public Affairs Manager Network Rail and even a quick word and a photo opportunity with Stephen Hammond, MP, Shadow Transport Minister.

Newton Heath depot visit

A class 142 in the depot at Newton Heath

Thanks to our friends at Northern, FOWS today visited Newton Heath depot for an informal open day commemorating the last day of trains running on the Oldham Loop.

We were given an interesting tour of the repair and paintshops by Northern staff who had kindly come in on their days off to act as hosts and guides.

The depot’s 200-strong workforce’s achievements are impressive, coaxing much improved reliability out of the 100+ aged diesel units in their care. Passengers will also have noticed the on-going refurbishment process which has seen nearly all of the units turned out in Northern colours, and many of them fitted with new and better quality seating, wheelchair spaces and areas with tip-up seats that can accommodate bicycles.

Freshly painted class 156 unit outside NewtonHeath depot

We were interested to learn that Northern’s trains are all painted by hand: it takes a team of 6 painters 3 days to complete a unit like the freshly out-shopped example shown here.

A big thank you to the Northern staff, both for today’s visit and their excellent work improving an aging fleet on a limited budget.

“Leaf Fall” timetable begins Monday

Next Monday (Oct 5th) sees the start of the so-called “Leaf Fall” timetable on the Walkden line, with train times adjusted to allow a little more time to cope with delays caused by fallen leaves on the line. The idea is to help keep punctuality and reliability up despite the problems with leaves.

Although the same number of trains will run as at present, the timings of many are altered by a few minutes one way or another, so you do need to recheck your departure time before travelling.

For example, most Manchester bound services that currently leave Walkden at 20 and 50 minutes past the hour will be leaving at 17 and 48 minutes past the hour instead. These are not the only services affected !

The new timetable can be downloaded from Northern Rail here.

Congratulations Friends of Glossop !

It gives us very great pleasure indeed to congratulate Neil Williams and the gang at the Friends of Glossop Station for winning the Best Station Adoption Group Award at this year’s National Community Rail Awards.

The award is highly sought after with literally hundreds of friends groups around the country now. But after visiting some of their fantastic station galas (and nicking a few of their ideas like the poetry poster case !) and also knowing about some of the more difficult and mundane challenges they’ve overcome (yes, it’s far from plain-sailing even in the picturesque market town), there can be no doubt this award is thoroughly well deserved.

Well done to all at FOGS !

Police efforts pay dividends

Thanks to British Transport Police and the local Community Support Officers, anti-social behaviour and vandalism at the station has markedly declined in recent weeks.
Regular visits by uniformed and plain clothes officers have had the desired result, and station staff report a notable improvement in the overnight condition of the station – something FOWS have also noticed on our last few Sunday morning litter collections.

Meet The Manager – A “Thank You”

A quick “Thank You” to Northern Rail’s Chris Ingham and Peter Gedding for their “Meet The Manager” session at the station yesterday morning.

It’s great that Northern’s management are willing to come and meet the travelling public like this.

We understand not that many people took the chance to talk to Chris which is a great shame – he’s very approachable and genuinely interested passengers’ views. What’s more, if issues don’t get raised at events like this the “powers that be” in Northern HQ will be less likely to believe there are any major problems at Walkden.

Pillar repairs

Judging by the cones and “Men At Work” signs clustered around its base, the first pillar on the Manchester platform is being repaired by Network Rail.

The gutter that runs down the interior of this pillar has been blocked for some time, causing rainwater to overflow onto the platform and stream down the pillar’s exterior. It should have been unblocked (as the others were) when the canopy was repainted last summer, but for some reason this pillar was overlooked

FOWS have been reporting the problem in our monthly reports to Northern Rail for the last year, and Northern have been chasing the station owners Network Rail on our behalf.

We’re delighted the work is under way and would like to thank Northern and Network for taking action to preserve the fabric and appearance of the station.