GB RailRover – Day 3

Notes:
As before my thanks to Real Time Trains for the material in the links.

Operations on the Day

I finish having breakfast in the hotel and then check my train – it has been cancelled (it is later re-instated from Edinburgh south) but I have already missed a train to Edinburgh which would connect into the service – so a new plan was rapidly constructed – Cross Country themselves suggest an Edinburgh – London service and a Cross Country to Plymouth and local service to Penzance.

I work up a new plan:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
09:04	1B74	Aberdeen - Edinburgh	11:22	130.5
11:30	1E13	Edinburgh - York	13:54	204.5
14:44	1V62	York - Plymouth	20:49	372.50
21:17	1C92	Plymouth - Penzance	22:59	79.5

The through train is unique in the UK – the longest single train working and was always the centrepiece of the holiday – to join in Aberdeen and walk off in Penzance – a long day but staying on the move all day.  So that has been ruined.  And for no obvious reason I note that whilst Cross Country tout their service as covering 785 miles the NRT mileages for the spit I am following is 787.  NRT mileages are adjusted to a quarter mile and I assume that explains the difference (NRT does not have a mileage table for Cross Country – that has to come from the individual routes and RealTime Trains do not seem to have mileage on all detailed train plans although their website does say they are on the majority).

When using the online planners even if you leave Aberdeen on the original through train you are told to change at Haymarket and catch a train down the West Coast and you get to the destination sooner than staying on it!  And if I had stayed on the LNER service from Edinburgh to Kings Cross and then travelled west from Paddington I would have been earlier than my actual arrival.  So Cross Country the service is slow and so no-one is actually recommended to use it from end to end!

Turning to my actual journey the trip down the East Coast of Scotland and across the Tay and Forth Bridges was one I had not previously taken so entirely new and the sun is shining so the countryside can be seen as we head south.  I benefit from the luxury once again of I7C (HST) first class which is in good order although these sets appear not to have hugely reliable wifi – on a couple there is simply no signal and inevitably in the wilds of Scotland often no transmitter with which to connect even if it is working on the train.  Never mind it is very pleasant to watch the world passing by and of course the crossings of the Tay and Firth of Forth are excellent.

Checking on the LNER train from Inverness I can see it was running late so hopefully giving me additional connection time – but we come to a stand having passed Haymarket and I watch the London train go past on the other line and we trail it into Edinburgh station only slightly late on platform 17 – but it is a long walk and I need to negotiate the gateline (which the rover ticket no longer works) followed by a mad rush to platform 2 before boarding – and I then have a long walk through to the first class.

LNER first class team are welcoming and I settle in a seat which is reserved from Newcastle onwards so know I will have to move – but at least I can see the coastline as we head south.  I spend some time rechecking my options – and decide that I will leave at York and take the Cross Country service so sticking to the original route – but at the cost of at least an hour on arrival time.  At Newcastle I move seats to one reserved from Edinburgh to London but has been empty all of the way and so it seems reasonable to sit there.

Lunch is taken and this solves the meal problem for the day – I had always been worried that finding anything to eat in Penzance tonight would be impossible.

Far too soon we are in York and at this point I am only about 15 minutes behind the train I originally planned to catch – but it is just passing Church Fenton as it powers to Penzance.  It eventually arrives in Penzance about three minutes late.

Announcements and the number of passengers waiting at York imply the train will be well loaded – I find a seat but I can see people are standing and later in the journey first class is declassified – even though there are only three seats available and the catering facility is at the rear of the unit (first is at the front) and has no way of getting through the the train.  Whilst reference is made to a previous service cancellation there cannot be many from north of Edinburgh who are now on this train to cause this level of overloading.  I think it is Tiverton Parkway before the first class is reclassified.

The scenery on this section is dominated by the run along Dawlish – the third time recently and it remains magnificent and on the original plan I would have had the equally magnificent Northumberland coast on the same train.

The 1803 from Paddington leaves Plymouth on time but we are delayed at Bodmin Parkway and roll into Penzance a minute late – but nearly 90 minutes later than the original plan.  The hotel is an uphill 10 minute walk and much to my surprise they have waited for me.  I just want to have a bath and get to bed!

Rolling Stock

By a long way the best was of course Scotrail’s I7C in terms of comfort.  Catering and comfort was not bad on the LNER service to York.  Loading on the Cross Country is way beyond acceptable – and the Cross Country practice of allowing seat reservations to commence during the journey (which led to people, including me, constantly having to change seats as they were initially available) remains an unwanted “improvement” for most travellers.  Cross Country definitively needs longer trains urgently.  Adding a coach with a pantograph and a transformer which can feed the power to the tracks whilst under the wires (and on the third rail too) would be a huge expense but a good solution.

I did not use the first class into Cornwall – it was at the rear of the train and I could not face adding the inevitable walk back and then forwards at Penzance to the exit.

Ticket Checks

Oddly I am not entirely sure that LNER undertook a ticket check and Cross Country did before the train became overloaded.  If GWR did it was pretty cursory.

Summary

Obviously a massive disappointment not to sit on a Cross Country Voyager for the entire day – in some senses!  The route was traversed, a decent meal supplied by LNER and the obvious scenic sections remained.  Having failed to use the train once it will not feature high in my priority list for the future – there remains much more of the National network to cover.