On Thursday, 13th November, I travelled to Greater Manchester with a GM Manchester Day Ranger ticket, which cost me £10.10. It’s an excellent Day Ticket, allowing unlimited travel on the entire Metrolink and Greater Manchester Rail network, including routes from Wigan, Manchester Piccadilly, Hadfield, and even places like Littleborough and Stalybridge.

My first stop was Wigan Wallgate station, it’s very close to the other Wigan station being Wigan North Western, I took the train from Liverpool Lime Street to Wigan onboard one of my favourite trains being a Class 331. These trains were introduced back in 2018/19 by Northern Trains and I remember getting to Ride on one of these at Blackpool North.

Starting my day at Wigan Wallgate I caught a Class 769 operated again by Northern Trains, this train would take me towards Manchester Victoria via Bolton where I decided to get off and change for a service heading towards Deansgate where I would then take the tram to Manchester Piccadilly. I Caught another class 331 which arrived from Blackpool North heading for Manchester Airport.

Once onboard I had a lovely ride towards Deansgate arriving relatively on time flying through stations like Kearsley, Moses Gate & even the awkward Station of Clifton which only sees a service twice a day, once in the evening and once in the morning. I have visited that station before but I look forward to revisiting it again soon.

I enjoy the run from Bolton to Manchester Piccadilly, which has recently undergone a major upgrade with overhead wires now extending towards Wigan Wallgate station. Trains like the Bi Mode 769s switch from Diesel to Electric, essentially becoming standard Class 319s once they change. However, I must admit I’m not a huge fan of the Class 319/769s, so I was thrilled when they were withdrawn.

Arriving at Deansgate station, this section of the line is always congested as it has never been widened since its creation in the Victorian era when the line from Liverpool Crown Street to Liverpool Road was built. There have been numerous occasions and ideas for plans to extend or widen the line to improve the service.

I disembarked at Manchester Piccadilly and initially planned to head towards Rose Hill Marple. However, I opted to take the Sheffield Train, a 195 service, to Marple station. From there, I caught a bus to Rose Hill Marple station and then walked along a disused railway towards Macclesfield via Middlewood.

Starting from Rose Hill Marple, I made my way to Hyde North, a new station I chose to visit for this adventure. From there, I walked to my final station of the day, Flowerfield, on the Hadfield/Glossop branch line, heading back towards Manchester Piccadilly.

I took the train from Floweryfield towards Manchester Piccadilly. Initially, I planned to visit Ardwick Station, but I decided to travel on one of my favourite mainline trains, a Class 390 (Pendolino). I stopped at Stockport Station, which I enjoy, and then took my final train, a Voyager operated by Cross Country, back to Manchester Piccadilly.

That’s it for this adventure. I really hope you enjoyed reading it. Sadly, I am unable to share anything on YouTube due to the number of people who want to dislike or even harm me through comments on my videos. However, I thoroughly enjoy writing about my adventures because the readers are genuinely nice.