© Geoff’s Rail Diaries 2011 There was no particular purpose to this trip - just a day out in the north-west, around Manchester. We started at Greenfield, on the line to Diggle and Standedge Tunnel. No Peaks around now - but a couple of 47s, including none other than 47 401 "North Eastern", the original D1500 - plus a couple of 37s on a freight and the by now ubiquitous 150/2s. We moved over to Castleton, on the L&Y main line to Yorkshire. We weren't expecting anything special, so, after a picture of a 150/2 arriving, we moved on. The Bury electrics, the unique 1200v DC side-contact electrics, were in their last years. Soon they would be withdrawn and the route converted to "Metro". "We'd better get a few photos". The bridge just along from Hagside level crossing proved ideal. Just three or four miles away, we found a spot beside the Manchester - Bolton line, near Kearsley, up above the power station there. Just the one loco-hauled working passed through - plus the usual array of multiple units, in this case with some variety of type. Heading south-westwards now, we called at Trafford Park to see if anything was doing on the internal railway system. It wasn't - we had to content ourselves with a couple of pictures of the system's Hudswell Clarke diesel locos, stabled and awaiting duty. Lastly, we called at Irlam viaduct, where the former CLC route crosses the Manchester Ship Canal. As ever, the light was all wrong... A few snaps of passing trains - as ever, the ones with locos were going the wrong way. Time for home.