Leaving Crewe 07.42 on a Saturday (the 1989 tours had all been on Sundays) 'top & tailed' with 37706 & 47479 and running north on the West Coast Main Line (WCML), the first reversal was at Earlestown West Jn. This was a late replacement for Folly Lane, to cover the then freight only Earlestown west curve (which was, however, regularly used by diverted trains). On returning back along the WCML, the tour passed the then recently lifted ICI exchange sidings at Gorstage (the end of the Wallerscote Light Railway) on the Up (left) side - see next map. It then took the curve left from Hartford (LNWR) Jn to Hartford CLC Jn and Greenbank turning left at Hartford West Jn, onto the ICI Winnington branch.

After passing Hartford North Jn (where the east curve trails in right to make a triangular junction), the train ran through Oakleigh Sidings before taking the line past the limestone unloading plant. It stopped just before the ICI transport offices but past the British Rail (BR) boundary. At the time of the tour the branch was very busy, the main traffic was frequent trainloads of limestone from ICI Tunstead Quarry, seven days a week. The 1½ mile ICI owned and run Wallerscote Light Railway OG Feb 1953, between Winnington and Gorstage (above). The tour brought back memories of our Society's four trips over that railway, the first on 4 Oct 1978 and the last on 23 Nov 1990 - 54 members participated. BLN 654 reports that it was lifted by Mar 1991 but we do not have a closure date (if anyone knows?).

The last limestone train ran to Winnington on Sun 2 Feb 2014 when the Soda Ash plant closed with production concentrated at the nearby Lostock Works, Northwich. The branch and triangular junction remained in situ but disused. The next known train was the UK Railtours 1 Jun 2019 'Curvey Weaver', when the branch was fenced off at Winnington Lane (A533) overbridge, just short of Oakleigh Sidings.

Returning to Hartford North Jn, the aforementioned curve to Hartford East Jn was taken, before the tour ran via Altrincham then from Deansgate Jn on the line to Stockport (only reopened to passengers on 15 May 1989) and into Manchester Piccadilly, where it reversed. Running back through Stockport, the train then took the line through Hazel Grove to Buxton No1 Jn, where it turned left, went through the 514yd Hindlow Tunnel before reaching what was, and still is, the highest point on the English main line operational system (1,267ft above sea level, 4m 30ch from the junction), then on to Briggs Sidings Ground Frame (4m 43ch) at Hindlow. Here it reversed, although the ex-L&NWR line to Ashbourne and Uttoxeter continued south almost another mile to 5m 39ch, just beyond the site of Dowlow Halt.

Returning to Stockport, with a double reversal via Buxton Access Road ('XYZ' Sidings') then again in P2 at the former L&NWR terminus station, to access the Down Line, the tour carried on through Reddish South and Ashton Moss North Jn round to Manchester Victoria, where there was a four minute pause. From here it was on to Wigan North Western via Parkside Jn for a further reversal.

Returning down the West Coast Main Line the railtour reached Haydock Branch Jn, before taking the 1968 connection to (Golborne North) Edge Green Jn, where the former Great Central branch from Lowton St Marys to St Helens Central was joined. The line beyond here had served Haydock Oil Terminal (which used to run on a Saturday morning - a future Story that can now be told...) until its closure in Feb 1987 but a short stretch was still retained to provide a headshunt for the Kelbit bitumen works branch which was taken right through to the line end in the works. This was despite it not being shown on the map or in the itinerary (nowadays referred to as an 'on the day Adlam extra') as part of our route with a very sharp curve - particularly for main line stock. [The rear of the train was at 90o to the front and the vestibule connections were rather askew ..!] After periods of disuse, the branch, over ¾ mile long, now has regular aggregate trains but has not been railtoured since this 1991 tour.

Retracing our steps to the WCML, the train ran via the Bamfurlong goods lines diveunder to Springs Branch Jn, where a further reversal preceded a visit to the first colliery of the day, Bickershaw. By the time of our visit in 1991 the internal railway system had gone and all that was left was a single line branch of over three miles through a rapid loading bunker, which was taken to the end. Interestingly locos on merry-go-round (MGR) trains had to propel along the branch as there was no runround loop and they were not allowed through the loading bunker (so the tour did better than the loco on coal trains would have). As recently as 1983 a National Coal Board Austerity 0-6-0 steam loco was still used here to trip portions (!) of MGR coal trains between the colliery and exchange sidings. Regular steam traction use resulted in many photographers there. Bickershaw was linked underground to Golborne and Parsonage collieries, with all coal being wound and processed at Bickershaw, known as a 'super pit' and able to produce over 1M tonnes a year, but this didn't prevent it closing on 13 Mar 1992.

After another reversal at Springs Branch Jn, Bamfurlong diveunder followed again; we left the WCML at Lowton Jn via the curve to Newton-le-Willows. A reversal accessed the short branch to Parkside Colliery, reaching the end of line. The last deep pit in the Lancashire coalfield to close, Parkside was one of the newest and most modern, with very large reserves, sunk in 1957; production began in 1964. It was 'mothballed' after 23 Oct 1992, the last day of production, and formal closure came in Apr 1993.

As mentioned earlier, a late change of route meant that we ran through St Helens Junction, passing under the St Helens to Ditton line which had served Sutton Manor Colliery. This colliery, on a short branch from a triangular junction at Clock Face (from which this line took its informal name) closed on 24 May 1991, so we had just missed it by four months. By the time of the pit's closure, the Clock Face (through) line had closed south of here so only the colliery north curve was then used. This pit has some significance for the writer who, as a trainee accountant in the early 1970s, visited it to carry out a check on the stock of coal. As can be imagined, it was straightforward to verify that a pile of coal existed, but confirming that it weighed 5,000 tonnes was impossible, but a box had to be ticked!

Continuing on towards Liverpool, we passed Huyton Jn, from where a branch to Cronton Colliery had closed in 1984, and arrived at Edge Hill. After a reversal here we proceeded to Allerton East Jn where the tour took the curve to Garston Jn before reversing again short of Garston Church Road. From here it was on to Ditton Jn and Fiddlers Ferry Power Station (which closed on 31 Mar 2020 after generating big financial losses), for reversal at its junction to run round the loop. Leaving here the train ran on to Warrington Latchford Sidings for a final reversal - the 20th of the day (!) - to regain the WCML for the run back to Crewe. Arrival was at 19.48 after just over 12 hours and 251½ miles of railtouring. David Mellor's original tour maps show the large number of collieries there once were in the area.