Heart of England Rover Day 2

68011 at Leamington Spa
68011 at Leamington Spa

Purpose of the trip

Continuing my peregrinations around the Midlands.

The services utilised today are:

HeadCodeDep TimeRouteArr TimeNRTRailmiles
2V380843Sandhurst - Reading (5)090111.511mi 52ch
1M300915Reading (7) - Leamington Spa (2)101468.2569mi 77ch
1R171029Leamington Spa (2) - Dorridge (2)104812.7512mi 68ch
2D391120Dorridge (1) - Stratford Parkway11381214mi 44ch
2K541146Stratford Parkway - Smethwick Galton Bridge (1)12552927mi 49ch
2W281320Smethwick Galton Bridge - Wolverhampton (5)133798mi 70ch
2G161355Wolverhampton (3) - Birmingham New St (2B)142615.515mi 26ch
2P371436Birmingham New St (8a) - Gravelly Hill144644mi 78ch
2O401509Gravelly Hill - Birmingham New St152044mi 78ch
1O221603Birmingham New St - Reading (7)174096.593mi 70 ch
1O811749Reading (4) - Sandhurst180711.511mi 52ch
Total274276mi 24ch

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

Operations on the Day

This day was originally planned as day 3 but I swapped it over to day 2 as it is likely to be a late finish and the original day 2 plan can be improved I think – which I will look at later as I head home; obviously darkness descends before the end of my daily journey and so I can look again at tomorrow’s plan.  On train wifi is always a little mixed and some areas even in the south midlands are pretty bad at times.

Although the plan today was originally to start from Blackwater I decided to commence at Sandhurst and this may mean a later finish – but I can abort during the day and get home earlier.  The train from Reading is again the Cross Country as yesterday but does not seem quite so heavily laden entering Reading today – but I am sitting further along the train.  Reading does experience quite a change in patronage with large numbers waiting to board.

The Cross Country is pretty well laden out of Reading, I still manage to obtain a seat at a table.  This morning however there is a full ticket check north of Oxford – so I make sure I have the right ticket visible.  It is I think the only ticket check on Cross Country this week.  Very misty this morning as predicted.  Let us hope it clears as the day progresses.

From Leamington Spa to Dorridge I taste something special.  A Chiltern loco hauled main line set of Mark 3s with upgraded seating and plenty of space.  These are likely to be replaced soon and it is my first experience – just a pity it is for a relatively short distance.  I can certainly see why these trains attract users given the comfort offered.

I reach Dorridge to find that it has a charming (and dog welcoming and busy) cafe with entrances both from platform and the outside world – but again they refuse take cash and as I really want one this time I am forced to use my card.  Annoyed.  What has the world got against legal tender?

A West Midlands train arrives and I pass over the curve between Hatton North and Hatton West junction (which I almost miss as a ticket check is undertaken) and is the first piece of new track today as I have previously covered the Hatton South to West curve.   Then to the “new” station at Stratford Parkway which opened in May 2013 and is my point of disembarcation.  I hop over the bridge and I am soon on another 5 coach West Midlands train along a new route from Bearley Junction (to me) leading all the way the junction just before Tyseley.

Just after Small Heath however the train takes the route to Moor Street, never previously visited by train (by me) and then we dive into another non-existent route on my map leading to Snow Hill and onwards via Jewellery Quarter to Smethwick Galton Bridge.  Snow Hill reopened (a new station was built) in 1987 having only been closed for 15 years – we closed too much too quickly and as this week proves so much has had to be put back, restoring your railway is not a fad – it should be an ongoing activity as other re-openings have proven in more recent times.

The interconnecting station of Smethwick Galton Bridge where I change and take the service to Wolverhampton is completely new (1995) and replaced Smethwick West.  Waiting at Wolverhampton I start worrying as various trains are being reported late but my service via Tame Bridge Parkway appears and departs on time.  There is a ticket check on leaving Wolverhampton.  Again my map shows the line from Wolverhampton to the Chase Line as non-passenger but this changed when the new station was opened in 1990.  Also new track is the line from Perry Bar Jn to Soho Jn into Birmingham New Street.

At Birmingham New Street my train to Lichfield TV is initially shown as 8 minutes late which steadily becomes 19 minutes late which does not worry me as I have a decent allowance at Lichfield TV which is my next planned destination.  I board the train and we set off and after we have called at Aston the guard announces that the service will be cut short at Lichfield City – which probably does not bother most passengers but means I would be quite a distance away from my connection at Lichfield TV low level.  I abandon the train at Gravelly Hill and return on the next passing service to New Street where I can board the same Newcastle – Reading service I used yesterday – which is again well loaded.  So it will be an early and not a late finish.

At Reading yesterday it pulled right down to the London end of the station so today I am at the rear of the train.  Tonight it is in platform 3 – and so I now have a longer walk to pass the entire train to reach the Gatwick service.  However we are on time and so it is a slightly less fraught walk to catch the train to Sandhurst and several hours earlier than originally planned having cut out the trip to Lichfield etc – this will be added back later in the week.

Costs / Ticket Checks

After two early ticket checks there were no more through the day.

Rolling Stock

My impression of the relatively new 196s is that they are not very clean externally – could be the time of year whilst West Midlands seem to like lashing a 170 with a corridor connection to a unit without a corridor connection which strikes me as odd.  At a lot of stations the platforms are not long enough for the 5 coach trains being operated and people are constantly being urged to walk forward to the front coach of the rear unit.  All of which feels odd as they trains are not particularly heavily loaded at any point.  The other oddity was that others joined the service at Wolverhampton for Birmingham New Street but as it goes the long way round they might have arrived sooner by catching the next direct train (but there may be ticket restrictions which explain it).

The loco hauled Chiltern set was however a little special.  However there are no more such trips in the rest of the weel.

Summary

Annoying I could not reach Lichfield TV – so need to replan day 7 as it can probably be absorbed there and I was probably too hopeful that all would run smoothly for seven days.  There was no actual explanation of the late running train.