Heart of England Rover Day 3

Purpose of the trip

The aim today is to couple two tiny branches which I have never previously visited.  A lot of miles for little reward.

The services on which I travelled today:

HeadCodeDep TimeRouteArr TimeNRTRailmiles
2V380842Sandhurst - Reading (5)090111.511mi 52ch
1W170919Reading (8) - Worcester Foregate St (1)110285.2585mi 2ch
2C511115Worcester Foregate St (2) - Stourbridge Jn (2)114921.522mi 76ch
2P731150Stourbridge Jn to Stourbridge Town11530.7563ch
2P741155Stourbridge Town to Stourbridge Jn11580.7563ch
2S531200Stourbridge Jn (3) to Smethwick Galton Bridge12218.258mi 21ch
2A251236Smethwick Galton Bridge (1) - Birmingham New St (2A)124544mi 0ch
2R311315Birmingham New St (12) - Redditch135315.515mi 41ch
2U381401Redditch to Birmingham New St (8A)144215.515mi 41ch
1O201503Birmingham New St (1A) to Reading (7)164096.593mi 70ch
1O801720Reading (5) to Sandhurst173811.511mi 52ch
Total271270mi 1ch

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

Operations on the Day

This little trip has been in mind for some time to visit a couple of small branches that I have never visited and it fits into a day quite smartly, simply as a day out – however the concept of covering more ground using a rover led to this entire week.  I replanned it a couple of days ago and as I keep going into and out of Birmingham New Street there are abort points to get home, but it is actually a relatively short day.

The usual train into Reading this morning but then a wander across to platform 8 to catch the GWR service to Great Malvern, I am only travelling as far as Worcester Foregate Street today.  We get away rapidly immediately in the tracks of the Cross Country voyager I had been using so far as both services run fast to Oxford.  In some senses it is a pity this train does not run in front of the Cross Country as Reading – Oxford passengers would then not crowd the Cross Country service.

This is far less crowded than the Cross Country service and in the front coach I have a table to myself.  Once we leave Oxford we soon curve left and off to the West along the Cotswold line.  I attempted a photo at the location of the former Adelstrop station but we were moving far too quickly to capture the location.  At Foregate Street it is a quick descent to the other platform for the next service.

A somewhat unclean West Midlands train takes me in towards central Birmingham but I need to make a small diversion.  At Stourbridge Junction I walk across the platform to the waiting 139001 – a Parry People Mover, a pair of which are unique to this little branch line and I wend my way down to Stourbridge Town with a train where nearly all the seats are occupied.  A quick turnaround ensues and with the train about half full we climb back up the hill to the Junction.  Again cross platform to the waiting West Midlands train which I then leave at Smethwick Galton Bridge so have completed the whole of that route – so two new pieces of track so far.

In Birmingham New Street I encounter the madness of having to use barriers to stay within the station.  It is the first time that the Rover ticket has been used in a barrier and it is not working the barrier at all.  My next service will take me to Redditch and bring me back – another new piece of track from Barnt Green which I had not previously experienced.  The Redditch branch is rather longer than the Stourbridge branch but the total new track today is quite limited.  The line to and from central Birmingham passes through some famous names – Bournville and the Cadbury factory and then a little further along Longbridge where the car assembly plant is long gone.

At Birmingham New Street once again it is barrier madness and I feel sorry for visitors trying to find their way around.  The display on the board means that something is up as they are showing a later train on the same platform as ours is expected – but the first train has a later departure time.  Eventually and at a very late stage the Cross Country service is replatformed on the displays – so a large number of people have to ascend and descend with at least one escalator not working.  This was clearly nonsense – someone, somewhere knew our train was running late and it would arrive after the Avanti service so not getting the passengers moved sooner was simply wrong.

The Cross Country is rammed and I have to stand initially but at Coventry I can just about grab a seat and manage to retain it to Reading.  We are running late because reportedly the crew were late arriving at Manchester at the start of the journey, possibly due to a signalling problem.  Time recovery is limited as the train is well laden.  I miss my anticipated connection home but am in plenty of time for the next one and nothing to get to upset about as at this time of the day they are every 30 minutes – which would be welcome if it applied throughout the day.

I also wonder if I can apply for a delay repay as I arrive 30 minutes later than planned but decide it probably would be rejected due to other services which might have managed to get me back on time.

Costs / Ticket Checks

I think I travelled today without a ticket check.

Rolling Stock

The GWR service was an IET running mainly on diesel power – what a waste – the need to complete electrification over the Western is a major condemnation of our ability to develop our railways.  Similarly the lines stretching out of Birmingham to Worcester are not electrified either – surely it cannot be that difficult?  The West Midland train from Birmingham to Redditch was heavily loaded on leaving New Street and the load declined as we progressed – but it was the first heavily loaded WM train I have used.

Summary

Planned new track achieved – otherwise some very pleasant countryside but a criminal lack of investment as many of these operations should be electrically operated.