The New Headbolt Lane Station Is Now Open!

Found a 2015 Office of Rail and Road document which explains why Third Rail electrification will never be used to expand the network: orr.gov.uk/__data/assets/pdf_file/0017/17621/dc-el…

Seeing you with David was like you meeting a previous Doctor Who, all the stations regenerated!

The black panel Geoff, will prevent drivers of trains being blinded by another unit arriving with headlights on. There is a simular arrangement at Ormskirk.

Must have watched too many Geoff videos knew he'd come out of the other toilet.... David is a treasure, Geoff you need to set up a full interview and compare notes...

What an unassuming chap David was. A gentleman and a gentle man.

Re stations with 'Road' in the name. When I was Chief Clerk in the Information Production Unit, Southampton in 1995, I suggested changing the name of Lyndhurst Road to Ashurst (New Forest). The village of Lyndhurst is the 'Capital' of the New Forest and approximately 2½ miles from the station. There is an infrequent bus service. We used to get tourists in the Summer getting off at the station, then trying to work out where the village was! I then had the job to change all the Solari flap indicators and recorded announcements at stations. I now have the old NSE Lyndhurst Road running in board on my garage wall.

Chester Road has to be the most vaguely named "road" station, as the A452 it's named after is around 100 miles long!

David Brewer is worthy of a whole video

You need to have a longer interview with David what an ace bloke would love to hear more about his experiences over the years and his thoughts on the modern state of BR

This is exactly why we cant lose ticket offices as the ticket machines are either out of order or are in accessable for most poeople but especially blind and partially sighted people

The black panel is there as a kind of anti dazzle/light baffle screen/sighting screen that's been placed there between the two buffer stop/stop blocks to block out any lights beyond the stop blocks that may dazzle & distract drivers as they enter the station. They are basically there to assist drivers & traincrews with sighting purely the buffer stops & end of the line as they enter the station at Headbolt Lane, there is a similar (but smaller one) in use at Ormskirk also placed between the buffer stops there. In 1988 when the new signalling & signal box at Rufford was brought into use it was quickly noticed as part of a signal sighting committee that trains when entering the up platform were likely to be dazzled by the new station lighting & that might cause sighting problems with the new colour light signal that protected the level crossing & entry onto the single line to Midge Hall. So the station lamps on the up side at Rufford were fitted with dark screens on one side (facing Ormskirk) so that they didn't affect the sighting of the signal anymore on the approach to Rufford station.

Platform 3 at Wigan is used mainly to stable units in the day when things go wrong. It also used for early morning departures when starting from Wigan (not so much these days) and when there is engineering work south of Wigan, so services towards Southport and Headbolt can start from there.

What a wonderful man David is. Cracking chat with him

Yes, Bristol falls into the "street/road" suffix trap with Stapleton Road (Easton), Parson Street (South Bedminster) and St. Andrew's Road (Severnside)

Platform 3 in Wigan Wallgate only ever sees trains when there is no service between Wigan and Hindley, letting the Headbolt Lane trains turn there, and I've occasionally seen it used for services to Southport part-cancelled from Manchester. It used to be quite frequent to see a 769 sat in there but not so much anymore.

It's always great to see Karl in a video! I do like this station design, there is a sense of place about it that was missing from your 2022 new stations video thread!

David is a lovely chap. He used to work on the station at Chorley. Always went along to have a chat about his travels and where he had been 🙂

Fantastic, Geoff. Always good to see the northern correspondent and great to see David as well. Finally a new station with a decent station building and toilets!

Great video! A new station AND an electric train! Not seen one of those before! Really enjoyed your meeting with David. It was like an episode of Dr Who where he meets an earlier version of himself!

Such an excellent video, and well deserved of it being #17 on trending (if that even means anything anymore?!!) Absolutely love seeing Carl and Roger, both my favourite regulars on the channel. The new station looks absolutely brilliant and the unexpected chat with David (who I vaguely remember you mentioning all the way back in 2017) really made this video a special one. And the funny bits too. legend