One of the most well-known sheds on the northern stretch of the West Coast Main Line provided vital assistance for trains climbing up to Shap summit.

Being too young to go to Shildon in 1975, my railway hobby started with the Liverpool and Manchester Rocket 150 celebrations in May 1980. I have lasting memories of visiting Rainhill for the cavalcade

1M86, the 09.35 Glasgow Central-St Pancras, was the famous Up Thames Clyde Express and ran via the Glasgow Sou’ Western route, then the Settle and Carlisle line to Leeds, and then took the Midland Mai

Even before I moved to the Chester area for work in autumn 1955, family visits via the city and its railway hub and on into Wales were regularly undertaken, always by train, but now I was living in Sa

Through trains between Wrexham and Liverpool have been talked about for decades, but we’re now the closest we’ve ever come to it actually happening. CHRIS HOWE reports

PART ONE