Trains at Warrington Bank Quay (WCML, CWL, HHL) - 14/02/2024

The 211th video of my train spotting adventures.
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Journeying out of Greater Manchester, we head along to the West Coast Mainline, first to Warrington Bank Quay railway station. A mid-sized 4-platform mainline interchange station, it was built back in 1868, originally with a two-level layout linked to the St Helens and Runcorn Gap Railway (SH&RGR). It's located right alongside a huge Unilever detergent manufacturing plant, which dominates its background in many photos.
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The easternmost island platforms retain the 19th century buildings; the westernmost platforms have newer buildings from the 1950s. The present Platform 4 was numbered 5 for quite some time whilst there was to be a north-facing bay platform numbered Platform 4; this saw no passenger usage in the end, and was taken out of use after 1972.
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Per the two-level layout mention above, until 1965 there were two east-west oriented platforms on the SH&RGR lines which pass beneath the main Warrington station complex. Unofficially this section was known as Bank Quay Low Level, and there also existed a Platform 7, an east-facing bay platform. There are no longer any platforms present, and the line is used only by freight trains to this day. However, as part of HS3/Northern Powerhouse Rail plans, designs have been proposed for a reinstatement of the line for passenger usage.
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Filmed on the:
West Coast Mainline
Chester-Warrington line (terminus)
Hooton-Helsby line
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Services seen:
AWC) Services towards Wigan North Western, Preston, Blackpool North, Lancaster, Carlisle, Glasgow Central, Edinburgh Waverley, Crewe, Stafford, and onwards to the West Midlands, Birmingham and London.
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NT) Services towards Ellesmere Port (limited), Liverpool Lime Street (limited) Chester, Earlestown, Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Victoria, Rochdale and onwards to Leeds.
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TFW) Services towards Chester, Shotton, Llandudno Junction, Llandudno, Holyhead, Newton-le-Willows, Manchester Oxford Road, Manchester Piccadilly and Manchester Airport.
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Trains seen:
AWC) Class 390 Pendolino
NT) Class 195 Civity
TFW) Class 197 Civity
DRS) Class 68
GBRf) Class 66
DB) Class 66
CR) Class 68
RM) Class 325
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