The Wirral Swan Song
Posted on 14th September 2024 at 10:30 am
The final goodbye for the 507s is near. Just six units remain available for service,
including ‘celebrity’ 507001. However, since 26th August there has been no booked work for the legacy fleet, with all services on the Merseyrail network planned to be operated with the new class 777s. The six remaining 507s remain until December but will only be used as emergency cover.
To celebrate the long career of the 507s, there will be two farewell tours operated by Merseyrail in conjunction with the Branch Line Society. The first tour, “The Wirral Swan Song”, will run on Sunday 15th September and focus on the Wirral Lines. As usual for a BLS Fixture, various sidings and crossovers not usually used by passenger trains will feature.
The Class 507 Preservation Society will be on board, with a range of fundraising merchandise for sale, including T-Shirts, Mugs, Calendars and DVDs. These items will also shortly be available from our online shop. It's also a chance to talk to the society about our plans for the unit and how you can help.
507001 at Hunts Cross during a previous BLS railtour, “The Ruby Shoesday”, on 28th October 2018.
The tour starts at Hooton at 9:20am on Sunday morning, arriving back there at 5:50pm, with an extended lunch break in New Brighton. Timings for the tour are now available on open data sites such as Realtime Trains, should you wish to track it around the network.
For those of you who were not lucky enough to get tickets, a second tour is planned for later in the year. We recommend you keep an eye on the Branch Line Society website for more details. When tickets do go on sale, be quick, as they will sell out quickly.
We are grateful to the BLS for allowing us to be on board the train with our sales stand. Please direct any queries about the tour to the Branch Line Society as they are the organisers.
