| These services must have been the least well-publicised ones ever to run in Saddleworth. One of the reasons for this was probably that they were Wayfarer services, leisure transport in West Yorkshire which was sponsored by Metro (West Yorkshire PTE). It was even necessary to cross the Pennines to get timetable information, but even then you had to know it existed!
Both services crossed the Pennines using the A635 (Isle of Skye road), but otherwise had little in common. The 903 served Oldham, having left Huddersfield through Holmfirth, using the route which was adopted for the subsequent summer extensions of the 180 and 429. The 904 passed through Netherton and Meltham, climbing up to join the A635 at the Ford Inn. From Greenfield it went through bottom Mossley to Ashton. The poor publicity led to predictably low loadings. However, the idea was clearly good in principle and for several subsequent years the Manchester to Greenfield service was extended to Huddersfield on summer Sundays. It had one other problem apart from the publicity, which was the unrealistic running times leading to poor timekeeping as I recall. For example, the service was allowed just seven minutes to get from Ashton Bus Station to Mossley station. In the one summer of operation the 903 and 904 were worked by Yorkshire Rider. |
5502 has started the climb out of Greenfield over to Holmfirth on a 903 from Oldham. This batch of vehicles were started by Roe but finished at ECW, due to the closure of the Roe factory. They were new in an Executive livery of ivory, brown and red. Their first use, for some time, was as rail replacement vehicles between Littleborough and Todmorden following the disastrous Summit Tunnel fire in December 1984. 799x533 903001_13004.jpg |
5502 is seen again, this time on what was probably the last-ever journey to Ashton. The destination display is “Local Excursion” as Ashton was not on the blind. 799x533 903002_13005.jpg |
This was the chance encounter that made me aware of these services. I had been photographing trains nearby and happened to be in the right place at the right time as 5148, one of the Olympians with Optare bodies, descended the hill at Greenfield station. 799x533 903003_13001.jpg |
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The reasons for the bailey bridges that spanned the canal and river in Greenfield are explained in the 10 and 180 collection captions. This shot gives a particularly good view of the construction of these bridges, with Yorkshire Rider Olympian 5085 making steady progress across. 799x533 903004_12998.jpg |
