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Heart of England Rover Day 2

3 February 202524 January 2025 by admin

Purpose of the trip

Continuing my peregrinations around the Midlands.

The services utilised today are:

HeadCode	Dep Time	Route	Arr Time	NRT	Railmiles
2V38	0843	Sandhurst - Reading (5)	0901	11.5	11mi 52ch
1M30	0915	Reading (7) - Leamington Spa (2)	1014	68.25	69mi 77ch
1R17	1029	Leamington Spa (2) - Dorridge (2)	1048	12.75	12mi 68ch
2D39	1120	Dorridge (1) - Stratford Parkway	1138	12	14mi 44ch
2K54	1146	Stratford Parkway - Smethwick Galton Bridge (1)	1255	29	27mi 49ch
2W28	1320	Smethwick Galton Bridge - Wolverhampton (5)	1337	9	8mi 70ch
2G16	1355	Wolverhampton (3) - Birmingham New St (2B)	1426	15.5	15mi 26ch
2P37	1436	Birmingham New St (8a) - Gravelly Hill	1446	4	4mi 78ch
2O40	1509	Gravelly Hill - Birmingham New St	1520	4	4mi 78ch
1O22	1603	Birmingham New St - Reading (7)	1740	96.5	93mi 70 ch
1O81	1749	Reading (4) - Sandhurst	1807	11.5	11mi 52ch
		Total		274	276mi 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.

Heart of England Rover Day 1

3 February 202523 January 2025 by admin

Purpose of the trip

I took the opportunity of a quiet week to cover tracks I may not have previously visited using a combination of a season ticket (and it is a long time since I had one of those) and the Heart of England Rover. The intention was also to visit the Birmingham and Nottingham tram networks during the week.

The actual trains used today were:

HeadCode	Dep Time	Route	Arr Time	NRT	Railmiles
2V38	0842	Sandhurst to Reading (5)	0901	11.5	11mi 52ch
1M30	0915	Reading (7) to Leamington Spa (2)	1014	68.25	69mi 77ch
2G75	1040	Leamington Spa (4) to Nuneaton (1)	1118	19.25	19mi 67ch
1K11	1124	Nuneaton (7) to Leicester (1)	1151	18.5	18mi 62ch
1D31	1218	Leicester (2) to Beeston	1241	24.0	24mi 14ch
2A22	1301	Beeston to Matlock	1406	30.0	29mi 67ch
2A29	1415	Matlock to Derby (5)	1448	17.25	17mi 12ch
1V89	1453	Derby (2) to Reading (15)	1714	138.25	134mi 26ch
1O80	1720	Reading (4) to Sandhurst	1739	11.5	11mi 52ch
Totals				338.5	337mi 29ch

Notes:
As before my thanks to Real Time Trains for the material in the links. Due to a combination of Dropbox and security limited wifi not all links are available.

Operations on the Day

Having reached Reading the onward service is Cross Country. There is a decent load to Oxford which sees significant change in passengers off and on and I managed to get a facing window seat which was welcome. The crew changed at Reading – no ticket check before Leamington Spa. We are relatively slow leaving Reading – I think a GWR service just in front might have been slightly late. Once we get going running sprightly as might be expected. As we get closer to Leamington Spa the grey clouds lift slightly and I espy odd flashes of blue sky so perhaps the sunny weather promised for the next seven days is about to materialise.

I had promised myself a coffee at Leamington Spa as I have a decent connection. The coffee machine is broken so they are only serving filter coffee and they refuse to accept cash. Sorry but why is legal tender not acceptable? I can manage without a coffee so the custom is lost. The next train is 196005 which is not that old but it is also rattling quite noisily – loose passenger luggage rack is my guess. The passenger numbers leaving Leamington Spa are low but increase at Kenilworth. However this may be completely new track to Coventry for me whilst the onward route to Nuneaton was covered when it was freight only and not carrying a passenger service, so all part of covering the network. Just about everyone gets off at Coventry with few joining. Signs at Coventry Arena inform me that this is the Elephant and Bear Line – which refers to the two symbols of Coventry and Warwickshire and was adopted in 2023. Leaving Coventry the load is low – but this enables the first ticket check of the day as the guard passes through.

Next up is a Cross Country 170 to Leicester definitely looking the worse for use, but unlike the 196 not rattling and annoying. This is decently loaded – with large numbers joining at Nuneaton. The thick grey skies have returned as we head across to the next connection. Losing time steadily on this train – no announcement as to reason – sometimes guards are good at this and other times not. Next up is an EMR service to Nottingham and the connection is made, so not a problem.

I also find that connection to Dropbox is not working reliably with on train Wi-Fi so the Realtime train information has not yet been saved which is slightly annoying. The Wi-Fi does block certain traffic for capacity reasons and I assume that includes links to Dropbox.

However approaching Beeston I realise that my connection time in Nottingham could be tighter than is reasonable and I get enough of an online update to show that I can jump off at Beeston and then catch the onward train to my final planned destination. Once over the bridge and onto the other platform I find that the train prior to mine will arrive at the same time (1301) as mine – and Beeston cannot manage that! Eventually the delayed train is “under investigation” – it was previously a points failure – and my service rolls in at the appointed time enabling me to jump aboard. Although formed of only 2 coaches I am now in coach C which is confusing me is no one else notices!

At Derby the weather has cleared and we now have a clear blue sky and sunshine, so I am hopeful of a decent photo at our destination. Joining the service at Derby are three British Transport Police individuals who are spreading the word on 61016 – as if the Derwent Valley branch to Matlock is the home of hardened criminals! Alongside this the guard undertakes a full ticket check and is interested in my overall journey as he says that use of Rover tickets has declined greatly in recent years.

When I get to final destination of Matlock I find the station is not particularly well lit – but photos are taken and it is time to start the homeward journey. The branch has been a key target for new track to be covered – so I am pleased to have made it today. Returning I am very worried about my Derby connection. We are running marginally late down the branch and I know the Cross Country should be immediately behind us – so I am relieved when we get the route over the connection and join the main line ahead of the Cross Country. I know it will be right behind us so I stand close to the doors and luckily we stop and the doors are close to the steps up to the footbridge – a quick run up and slightly slower down and my train is being announced – with the board showing it running a couple of minutes late. A photo of the front end and then aboard in the first coach and this is my train back to Reading (from Newcastle). If only it were always so easy!

New track covered today was the Matlock branch plus Leamington Spa to Coventry and Wolvercote Jn to Aynho Junction (in theory although I suspect the last two may have been covered previously).

Costs / Ticket Checks

A couple of ticket checks although they seem rare on Cross Country. I will discuss the costs and value for money in a summary at the end of the week.

Rolling Stock

Quite a mixture today. The seat padding on the Cross Country units feels non-existent and none of the Cross Country units today had been refreshed which is underway. The 196 had annoying rattle but otherwise they ran and most maintained time.

Summary

Despite one late running train I was able to amend the plan to continue and overall the time lost was unimportant in completing the programme so it was a good day.

Motor Luggage Van

5 December 20245 December 2024 by admin

The plan is to recommence active modelling with a motor luggage van as used on the Southern Region.

Background

The motor luggage van story is well told by Blood and Custard which has the story from from start to finish. The Class 419 units have largely been preserved and there is a huge amount of photographic reference courtesy of Brian Daniels on Flickr recorded in 2014 when the vehicles were located on the East Kent Railway.

The base of the model is from a relatively new supplier (to me at any rate) Gosport Railworks which the owner commenced in relation to his own modelling endeavours but has extended to a range of locomotive and electric multiple units produced through 3D printing. Until recently I had been looking at the Rue d’Etropal models (also 3D printing) which, for the moment at least with the closure of Shapeways, are no longer available.

I am hoping to tell the journey from bare model to finished model – but probably with whimsical wandering along the way.

Bare Model

So a few emails exchanged with Gosport Railworks and before payment he supplied some photographs of the print. I could see that the solebars were a little distorted. Bearing in my the typical viewing position for all models I accepted that this was not sufficient reason to reject the model. Packed in a suitable box delivery was in much less than a week from making contact to arrival.

This is a photo of the model effectively untouched as it was delivered. The battery boxes dominate the left hand end of the bodyside and surface generally looks good.

Flipping the model over shows the underside which I have ordered with the intention of adding a powered chassis. I believe it is possible to order a version with underframe (but no bogies) which then works as an unpowered vehicle. The cross struts are to provide some strength but these will be removed to allow a chassis to be placed there.

Here is the cab end of the MLV far larger than real size and demonstrating that even in N it is possible to build a lot of detail – probably more than I could add by hand.

The main tasks are:

Chassis – under consideration – some titivation of the chassis will be needed I suspect.
Paint – BR Blue/Grey seems most likely although overall blue (one MLV was in this livery) is being considered.
Third rail pickup beam and shoes – no obvious solution.
Buffers – source uncertain at the moment

Chassis

I have been contemplating a number of possibilities.

Gosport Railworks recommends using a Tomytec TM25 chassis and so one was ordered from Osborne Models and arrived rapidly. This will probably be used but I have other possibilities. I will run it in first and check all is well with the unit and what can be done. There is little room for underframe detail as the motor sits low in the frame but it is of the right size in terms of length so relatively straightforward.

Next up is a chassis which was once under a Farish Railcar which I acquired (second hand) some years ago. At one point I am sure I had it working – but given its age it is again showing signs of split gears and has been sent away for service by a third party – so we will see if it can restored to some form of working order – I have undertaken such repairs in the past but this time could not work out which gears had gone.

Final option is far more complex. Some years ago it was suggested in print that a Class 101 chassis can be used under emus and I want more emus than just the MLV. A little while after the suggestion I bought a supply of class 101 multiple units but never made any progress – and life intervened. I have started a separate article which will discuss the entire saga to get from a class 101 short chassis to one which will fit under standard BR/SR emu stock – I have at least four to convert but the first one will take time – hence probably going with the Tomytec chassis.

Long term if the old Railcar chassis can be utilised that would be useful; short term getting the Tomytec working would get a moving model and prove the entire concept of making a functioning emu. Medium term the conversion work on the 101 chassis can be a testing ground for further models – either from Gosport Railworks or another supplier plus items on hand.

Paignton & Exmouth 5.11.24

9 November 20246 November 2024 by admin

Purpose of the trip

The plan for today is a relatively simple out and back trip to visit the end of the line (in passenger terms) at Paignton and the physical end of the line at Exmouth as I do not believe I have been to either on a passenger service.

The plan for today is:

Head code	Dep time	Route	Arr time	NRT	Railmiles
1V39	0910	Sandhurst to Reading (5)	0930	11.5	11mi 52ch
1C75	1003	Reading (7) to Exeter St Davids (4)	1154	137.75	137mi 39ch
1C75	1156	Exeter St David's to Paignton (1)	1239	28.25	28mi 20ch
2F19	1255	Paignton (2) to Exeter St Davids (1) (R)	1347	28.25	28mi 20ch
2F19	1351	Exeter St Davids to Exmouth	1417	11.25	11mi 18ch
2T22	1423	Exmouth to Exeter St Davids (3)	1454	11.25	11mi 18ch
1A89	1542	Exeter St Davids (6) to Reading (11)	1742	137.75	137mi 39ch
1O81	1749	Reading (5) to Sandhurst	1807	11.5	11mi 52ch
				377.5	377mi 18ch
Things did not go to plan so these trains were taken
2F20	1320	Paignton (2) to Exmouth	1447
2T23	1457	Exmouth to Exeter St Davids	1525
1O82	1821	Reading (5) to Sandhurst	1839

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

Operations on the Day

Today should be straightforward, local train to Reading, fast train to Paignton, local train to Exmouth, reverse back to Exeter St Davids and then a reverse of the outward journey. The aim is to visit Paignton as I am not sure I have been there by train previously, although I have left the station by the Dart Valley Railway a few times, and Exmouth for a definitive first visit.

Sandhurst to Reading runs smoothly and the train is slightly early, having noted that at least temporarily the Happy Christmas bridge has lost the graffiti which has adorned it for many a year. It will be interesting to see what it says tonight.

At Reading we depart on time but then Mr Pete Tong arrives. For reasons not made clear we are making extra stops a Kintbury, Hungerford, Bedway and Pewsey. At Kintbury at least one passenger is not in the right coach to emerge, despite the announcements and we are stuck for five minutes or so. The other additional stops, all of which are of course places which should be passed at speed makes the delay greater. On board the announcements do NOT say why the additional calls are made – apparently a previous service was cancelled – but the last time I sought extra stops on a service it was refused due to “pathing problems”, which of course this service will now be causing – however staff did know at Paddington that the extra stops were being made.

On board the information panels are confusing and conflict with the passenger announcements as it is reporting that the next station will be Westbury as the onboard system does not seem to know about the change in train plan and yet it is also saying that at the next stop there will be limited egress from certain coaches – which at least one person thinks is Westbury because the announcements are simply not good enough. The information panels never show the right next station and yet can advise that the next station has short platforms – this is simply poor. If making extra stops the panels need to be turned off and an announcements saying why they are off – if they cannot show the right information.

Last time I came this way earlier this year the service used the Westbury avoiding line but today we serve the station. The mileages in the Sectional Appendix are odd around here and are worth noting (all still recorded in miles and chains and not metricated):

From Line of Route GW560:
Heywood Jn is 94m 45ch
Westbury North Jn is 95mi 33ch / 109mi 49ch
From Line of Route GW500:
Fairwood Jn 97mi 02ch / 111mi 18ch
In consequence and using the back of envelope (literally) the avoiding line is 2mi 37ch. Using the line through Westbury totals – 2mi 37ch. So the avoiding line is as long as line through the station!

The connecting Weymouth service is then held at Castle Cary (the connection is normally at Westbury) – but again a short platform so people are running through the train to leave – and the slower train in front impedes our recovery time.

We are 15 late into Taunton and there is a delay repayment announcement – so that is positive I suppose. Can we now recover more time as we head westwards? Slight improvement arriving at Exeter St David’s about 14 late but I have only a 16 minute connection at Paignton. If it were not a grey day I would be able to enjoy this picturesque part of the journey alongside the Exe estuary; it is always great to see those on the beach, mainly dog walking as rumble along.

However at Dawlish Warren it gets worse. We are looped to allow another (Penzance) train to pass on the through line and then we pull forward to our stop at Dawlish. Now considerably later we end up in Paignton some 18 late and as we approach the station my planned next train heads out of the station.

Departures from Paignton are half hourly so I wander over the footbridge to take a picture of the incoming train which heads into platform 2 and I join it to await departure back towards Exeter, retracing my earlier steps. Ticket is checked just before we reach Marsh Barton.

At Exeter St Davids the service reverses leaving the former GWR line and taking up the L&SWR line which climbs up to Exeter Central at which point quite a few other passengers leave to access the City Centre. We then swing on to the Avocet line which runs along the other side of the River Exe from the GW main line to the terminus of Exmouth. The view of the Exe estuary is perhaps not quite as good from this side and now getting a little boring as this is my third viewing today! The line is mainly single track with a crossing point at Topsham but enjoys a decent service frequency. We wait slightly at Topsham as the other unit is slightly late.

A ticket check including amazingly a railcard request – perhaps I do not look my age – on the return to Exeter!

The London train is waiting patiently and I had allowed some spare time so am making a connection into my booked train. A late departure due to an engine problem is announced – this line should be electrified – but reportedly resolved by the time we leave. Slightly to my surprise there are refreshments on this service, so getting a coffee prior to departure was unnecessary. Some other operators could learn a lesson – after all this journey is only a couple of hours long!

We seem unable to recover any of the lost time whilst running on diesel and there is no explicit pathing time until just before Westbury – which is only a minute. It will be very tight at Reading – especially as we are over long in the station at Castle Cary where we lose another two minutes. I note that generally approach to stations is often gentle and I suspect the leaf fall season is partially to blame to ensure that stops are made safely.

An annoyance throughout the day is that getting the iPad to connect to the train Wi-Fi reliably seems difficult. The phone (which is much newer) seems to work reasonably well but perhaps the older chips in the iPad are simply not connecting smoothly. I try to upload files from the iPad to Dropbox – but that does not seem to work at all – Google Drive works but uploads the files with the same name which is not overly helpful.

As we head into Reading the guard usefully confirms that my connection home will be departing from Platform 5 – after all it is a legal connection for Reading and in normal circumstances I could make it. However at Reading (reminder brand new station) the relevant up escalator is blocked off and cannot even be used as a stairway – why not? – so it is a long trek and the lift is filling and I just make it. I pound along the bridge and down the escalator then much of the length of platform 7 and I can see the tail lights of my connecting train at the far end of the platform. So much for that connection.

So that will be about 30 minutes late. Except that when the train comes to leave we have no guard as they have not arrived on an incoming service (I know just how they feel) and we depart a couple of minutes late meaning we are around 3 late into Sandhurst so it will be a 30 minutes plus delay repay claim.

Looks like the repainting is making progress.

Costs / Ticket Checks

Today cost more than I would have liked. I did not book the outward Advance ticket early enough to get the cheap prices so the costs added up a bit:
Sandhurst – Reading day return: £4.90
Reading – Exeter St David’s: £35.95
Exeter – Paignton return: £6.75
Exeter – Exmouth return: £4.25
Exeter – Reading: £24.95
Total: £76.80

So this trip is just over 20p / mile which was part subsidised by my birthday present (thank you Katie) and will reduce further once my delay repay claims are authorised. It will depend on how they treat the split tickets as at the point that the two main line tickets ended both were under 15 minutes late (14 late at Exeter, 7 at Reading) but it is the knock on impact of taking a later service which is relevant. I have not claimed for the delays on the trains to and from Exmouth as it is simply too difficult to explain.

Update One of the delay repay claims has been approved with a refund of £13.71 for the delay on the return journey so reducing the cost to £63.09 and the mileage cost to 16.7p per mile.

Rolling Stock

Little variety today with modern 800 units on the main line and class 165/6 units on the branches at both ends. The former are the subject of some comment over ride and they are certainly noisier as they operate on diesel west of Newbury – so the cabin noise is inevitably higher than an HST. Operationally losing time on the outward journey was a fact of life and with speed limits needing to be strictly observed the potential for recovery is close to zero. The lost time generally had little impact on me – apart from getting home later than planned. The microwave saved the day.

Summary

Disappointed by the time keeping. Pleased to find some refreshments available on the return working – not needed but nice to know they are there. Train loadings on the branch lines generally good and providing a solid reliable service for the local residents.

Swanage Railway 7.9.24

9 September 20248 September 2024 by admin

Purpose of the trip

I have previously been advised that T3 563 will be in service today on the Swanage Railway. I first saw this locomotive in (I think) the very early 70’s at Clapham Transport Museum – certainly before I went to University in 1972. A stylish Victorian product by William Adams (built in the long closed Nine Elms locomotive works) most of the class had been withdrawn by 1933 but three survivors soldiered on with 563 being refettled for light steaming duties at the 100th anniversary celebrations at Waterloo Station in 1948.

Then as part of the National Collection the locomotive was loaned for stage productions of “The Railway Children” making it to Canada before return to the UK and a decision by the Science Museum that it could be transferred to the ownership of the Swanage Railway Trust in 2017 after three years of negotiation. Subsequently the locomotive underwent a very full overhaul and rebuilding at the Flour Mill in South Wales and I have made very modest contributions to the work undertaken leading to the locomotive returning to active service in October 2023. I was unable to participate in the launch then and I have been waiting for a date when I am able to travel behind the locomotive.

Use in recent months has allegedly been limited as 563 was unable to leave the Swanage loco shed as the turntable immediately outside the shed had been damaged when being used by a Bulleid Pacific and the turntable needed repairs before it could be crossed. However given the age of the locomotive it cannot be expected to be in regular service compared to more modern locos – and at the moment the Swanage Railway works on a one engine in steam service with the second service being provided by either a DMU or class 33 on a rake of coaches. No doubt the economics limit the use of steam.

Factually I do know that in early 2024 563 caused some lineside fires and a spark arrestor was to be added before it could return to active service – so it may be a combination of reasons has been responsible for it being a rare sight in recent months. Today it is so wet that the chance of a lineside fire even without a spark arrestor must be close to nil!

Operations on the Day

I join the 10:40 train at Norden (the station closest to Wareham and where there is extensive parking as there is no longer a service to and from Wareham unlike my last [undocumented] visit, aided by the service being 5 minutes or so late as the timing was a bit close!

South of Corfe Castle there is a rising gradient of 1 in 80 heading towards Swanage and the loco briefly loses her footing on the damp rails and slips but it is soon brought under control. The steam service operates between 5 and 10 minutes late for the rest of the day whilst I am travelling and this imposes a similar delay on the diesel service as they cross at Harmans Cross.

At Swanage there is a rapid run around and we head back along the line and with a load of five well occupied coaches the locomotive certainly seems to be able to cope well. We do not get any later – although it is steadily getting wetter. I hop off at Corfe Castle to take some photos and then take the return trip to Swanage where this time I leave the station to go to the nearby overbridge to be able to take some photos as it departs on the 12:40 service. As 563 departs a brake van trip also leaves the other platform which to my mind does not enhance the photographs – but in reality a sunny day is needed for that.

I take the next diesel service to Corfe and await 563 arriving from Swanage for some final photos then take the service to Norden where I leave the train and after some final photos head for home.

Costs / Ticket Checks

£27.50 for the line rover plus £4 for parking – with a need to return to the car to put the ticket in the window. Ticket checked on the first train but no further inspections thereafter.

Rolling Stock

Mark 1s throughout. A number of toilets were out of use – that may have just been my bad luck – the stock on this line has a problem in that they do not have any significant under cover storage. A few years ago there was a plan to provide a facility at the Wytch Farm oil facility at Furzebrook which had closed for rail extraction being replaced by pipelines. However the site is protected by various conservation laws and the planning permission for the site required the removal of the rail facilities when no longer needed and no new permission could be granted to the railway for much needed coach storage (and potentially locomotive works which are currently “off-railway”. So stock maintenance is very difficult for the line.

Summary

Bluebell Railway 20.8.24

27 August 202421 August 2024 by admin

The last documented trip I made to the Bluebell Railway was some ten years ago at the very start of this record. This time around I was accompanied by my grandson, Max, who has been with me on some other undocumented outings to railways down the years. I did make a brief visit in 2015 but only travelled over part of the line and for once did not feel welcomed as they were unable to easily sell me the right tickets.

The initial plan was to do the entire trip by rail as I did last time – after all if the line runs to East Grinstead then making use of the National Rail connection means no driving. However someone, somewhere has not realised that to do so a decent service is needed. An unlikely two minute connection at Redhill (given the GWR operation to that point) and a rather stupid hourly only service to East Grinstead off-peak giving a very poor connections at both East Croydon and at East Grinstead mean that driving is vastly more attractive – when are the TOCs going to realise that leisure travel means having proper off peak timetables again – after all it now dominates. So we arrive by car at Sheffield Park – just like the vast majority of my other visits over the years

In steam are Sir Archibald Sinclair and Camelot. The first is hauling our 10:30 departure from Sheffield Park which is the Mark I rake. We travel up to East Grinstead and then return to Horsted Keynes. With Max being older (and costing me full fare!!) I can point out the meaning of the gradient posts and the different styles of the stations from the eras they represent as well as the replacement brickwork on platform 5 at Horsted Keynes and the branch to Haywards Heath.

At Horsted Keynes we cross the platform to where the second rake of much older vehicles is waiting behind Camelot and I choose to travel in LC&DR 114 which is the oldest vehicle running today.

The coach was originally on a six wheel chassis but at present is running on a new four wheel chassis built for its return to operation from a previous life as a cottage in Devon.

Sir Archibald Sinclair has only recently returned to the railway’s available roster and makes light work of the trip. Camelot on the lighter set does sound like it is being worked slightly harder and certainly the ride on four wheels is at points rougher than in a bogie carriage.

Being the school holidays the railway has a decent number of travellers but I would say that it could be busier. Max now travels on an adult ticket whilst at least my fare is a member’s fare and we are on rovers which seems to be the norm these days.

A reminder that the Bluebell is often used for filming – this resides at Horsted Keynes.

After lunch we go into Steam Works and I can introduce Max to Stepney – closing on 150 years old – and amongst others Birch Grove – a loco I would dearly love to see return to service but accept that it is unlikely in my lifetime now. Outside the shed is new build “Beachy Head” – the Atlantic built around an ex-GN boiler which has taken nearly 40 years to go from a bright idea to a locomotive in service. She formally returned to service a few days after we visited the railway – at this time there was the odd wisp of steam so she was being readied for the big day.

London 1.8.24

26 August 20242 August 2024 by admin

Purpose of the trip

Every so often I go to London – in recent years there seems to have been new infrastructure to visit with trips along the Elizabeth Line, the overground extension to Barking Riverside, underground extension to Nine Elms and the new route through Bank where the narrow platform has been abandoned to enable greater capacity (although with Working From Home it may be many years before it is needed).

Today is a little different and my main aim is to travel on Mail Rail – the remnant of the railway that used to run from Paddington in the West to Whitechapel in the East to enable mail to be moved around without adding to London’s traffic.

Among the exhibits is a remnant of a much earlier pneumatic railway with a car from that line which ran between 1863 and 1874 – although with limited success – which has been found in recent times. A lost railway and one of which I was unaware.

The Mail Rail train completes a loop around the remaining network of lines under Mount Pleasant which was a major sorting office with traffic coming from the connected main line rail companies and then rerouted back to the termini for despatch to their destination. Before my trip I had not found a map of the route (so with thanks to Dave Cross) his blog has a map and I would concur that the trip operated around something that felt like that layout.

Being a single traveller I was given a “compartment” to myself at the very rear of the train so could not see along the line – although being underground there is not a lot to see – but then originally passengers were not carried. The train stops at various platforms to enable videos to be played telling the story of the line and how the postal workers moved the mail around between the trains and conveyor belts to platforms or sorting offices and it was pretty continuous with mail volumes so much higher than current levels.

River Thanes — Obligatory view from Blackfriars over the Thames

Having travelled around the line I walked back to Farringdon and caught a Thameslink to Blackfriars and travelled one stop to Monument. Many, many years ago I walked the warren of passages which link Bank and Monument. However since then the Docklands Light Railway has opened and today I wanted to travel on the latter. It is further than I remember – but that could just be my memory!

The DLR has one entry in PSUL and so although I think I have been that way before I travel to Lewisham from Bank to ensure that I cover the curve concerned.

At Lewisham I walk over the the National Rail station and take up residence at the end of platform 1 so that I can photograph the trains as they pass over the crossovers at that end of the station. This enables me to get a decent selection of side shots of the various types operating on SouthEastern. I am highly conscious that I do not have decent side shots of earlier rolling stock showing the underframes – so although there is far less visible detail these days I now should be able to find an example of just about all classes in the photos – one advantage of digital is that there is minimal cost whilst historically every shutter press had a significant cost.

Finally having upset the station staff by my presence (I was ordered away from the end of the platform) I catch a train into Waterloo East. I believe we run to time but it strikes me as very slow as we trundle into London Bridge. Then the peak timetable only offers a half hourly service to Farnborough – which feels frankly like not enough given the way the car park is filling up these days – it is more occupied than it was before the additional deck was put in place and we had a better service then.

GB RailRover Summary

8 February 20252 June 2024 by admin

Roll up of the Daily Summaries

Day	No of services used	Routing	NRT mileages	Lost time
Day 1 Part 1	2	London - Edinburgh	400	0
Day 1 Part 2	9	Edinburgh - Tweedbank - Glasgow N - Inverness	363.75	0
Day 2	3	Inverness - Far North - Aberdeen	458.25	0 overall
Day 3	4 (plan was 1)	Aberdeen - Penzance	787	84 minutes
Day 4	13 (plan was 12)	Penzance - Llandrinod Wells	406.25	44 minutes overall 26 late at end of the day
Day 5	10	Llandrinod Wells - Newcastle	352.25	0
Day 6	7	Newcastle - Glasgow - Oban	392	0
Day 7	7	Oban - Sandhurst	568.75	0 (Some in to Euston)
Totals	55		3728.25

Highlights

Not encountering a delay which ruined the overall plan – so out there a lot of good work is happening to ensure that the railways run and largely run to time.

Getting a meal on an LNER train when my catering plan for the day was limited – on a train I had not planned to catch.

Scenery – Dawlish Coast, Northumbrian Coast, St Ives branch, Cumbrian Coast (and Hills), Oban branch in the evening sunlight, Northumberland, Heart of Wales line, Flow Country.

New track – many miles and some odds and ends in terms of passenger lines – all of the Far North has now been covered, all of Cornwall plus other pieces such as Barrow in Furness station line. Lines where passenger services have returned – notably Tweedbank, Anniesland, Glenrothes-with-Thornton, Cardiff to Bridgend (Okehampton was never contemplated as I have previously been to Meldon Quarry).

Lowlights

The cancellation of the Cross Country service from Aberdeen. It runs once a day so you would think that Cross Country would move heaven and earth to ensure it runs.

The need to swap units at Llantwryd Wells as without that the points failure would not have been a problem. That caused real concern. I have no doubt that there was a good engineering reason but the staff could and should have done more to keep us informed.

The recurrent problem where Scotrail seem unable to get doors open at terminal stations a decent amount of time prior to departure – in the worst case opening them at the timetable departure time. This is simply not good enough and it was evident on at least three departures – something is wrong somewhere for this to recur.

Cross Country – the overloading on the couple of services I used was significant – mid-week and not in the holiday season. I know a few more units are coming – but the services no longer radiate to Portsmouth, Brighton, Kent Coast or other destinations and it is all a long way from the promises of Operation Princess – much more capacity appears to be needed given the predominance of leisure travel.

Value for Money

The ticket was £599.25 and I covered 3728.25 miles – so that is around 16p per mile which I reckon is pretty good value. The total cost including hotels, meals and so on took to the cost to around 50p per mile, so not excessive. I might be a little more discerning over hotels and costs next time – but I say beware of Premier Inn offering rooms for around £50 – none of the bookings were less £120 and several were higher. I reckon their advertising is by the same team that advertise on behalf of DFS. If you do get a bargain out of Premier Inn let me know how please.

Next Year

A plan will be devised. There are a lot of railways south of Glasgow (particularly if Stranraer re-opens) to be covered which will take some time. Leven has re-opened. There is the Merseyrail network to cover and then the network between Liverpool, Manchester, Leeds. Plus the completely revamped lines in South Wales will need to be addressed. However so much of that does not have first class that a standard class ticket may be the solution.

And a need to revisit past railtours as they are not necessarily correctly recorded in my earlier records.

GB RailRover – Day 7

8 February 202521 May 2024 by admin

Plan for the day

The target for the day is to get home before the ticket expires. On an earlier rover I was not checking the time sufficiently carefully and ended up 30 miles from home and needed rescuing by car, which my father kindly executed. The plan is relatively simple:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
08:57	1Y22	Oban to Glasgow Q St	11:56	101.5
12:03	2W73	Glasgow Q st to Anniesland	12:22	4.25
12:30	2L04	Anniesland to Glasgow Central	12:43	4
13:13	1L91	Glasgow Central to Carlisle	15:39	115.5
15:47	1M15	Carlisle to Euston	19:12	299
19:45	2P63	London Waterloo to Guildford	20:23	30.25
20:46	1V65	Guildford to Sandhurst	21:12	14.25

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

Operations on the Day

I suppose a die-hard enthusiast would (like the Heart of Wales line) have taken the very early service out of Oban – I am too old for such action. The light does not work so well on the surroundings as it did last night but it remains another attractive landscape through which to travel which of course retraces all the way to Glasgow Queen Street.

An unusual way to reach Glasgow Central is to take the local service to Anniesland using a chord which closed in 1985 and was lifted in 1988. By 2005 the tide had turned and the chord was relaid and the line re-opened. For me a wander along the platform to the other face and I can catch a train into Glasgow Central Low Level.

320321 at Anniesland

Here there are a large number of people waiting with queues on the far side for main line services and what appears to be standard operating practice of not opening platforms to passengers until the very last possible moment. This might have been compounded by a late platform change. RealTime Trains was advising (until after we departed) that we would be leaving from Platform 7 – but at a very late stage the train is advertised from platform 6 so for some reason I suspect a unit swap was undertaken.

Travelling on an overnight service many years we were routed via Kilmarnock I was told subsequently – but knew nothing of it, so I am taking the opportunity today to do it in daylight as a different way of reaching Carlisle. We head through the southern outskirts of the City and then into the countryside – the stations are well spaced in the countryside and we head through an area of the Borders country which I have never visited – more new attractive countryside. A number of stations along the line were re-opened in 1994 adding to the usage but even now given the paucity of the population the usage remains low.

At Carlisle I walk to the front of the incoming train and board first class for the high speed journey into London Euston. We are more or less to time until just before Watford Junction when we come to a stand and then run 8 to 9 minutes late until we arrive at Euston. It is highly disappointing that my travel time is not a meal service – just light bites – I had hoped I might get something decent to compare with my LNER experience earlier in the holiday. It remains a pity that these units are hobbled at 125mph and are not running at their design speeds of 140mph. And in Europe similar units are running at even higher speeds.

The Northern line soon delivers me to Waterloo and I am able to catch a train 15 minutes earlier than planned and then the onward hourly service home – where unusually I am able to travel first class.

Rolling Stock

The Pendolinos have undergone a fairly heavy mid-life refurbishment and the units are in generally good order and the fleet is looking good and generally performing well.

GWR (unusually as I rarely like much of what they do – my local line timetable is the evidence of my hatred) is a prime example of how other operators should work. A small bay adjacent to the cab with a small number of better seats isolated from the remainder of the train provides a better and branded first class environment. Why can other non-metro operators not do this on longer time services – four hours is NOT a metro service, why not fit a few first class seats and take the extra money? Why throw money away?

As an example the line via Kilmarnock and Dumfries is through a lot of countryside – so why no first class on the trains.

Ticket Checks

Travelling first class from Guildford home I was a little surprised not to have a ticket check but otherwise checks again a little thin – but then I was on some trains for some distance.

Summary

Another day when there was a small amount of late running – but the delays did not knock onto causing delays to reaching the eventual destination on time. Again today has gone well and the last 569 miles (plus the Underground) and many people have made it all work extremely well.

GB RailRover – Day 6

8 February 202520 May 2024 by admin

800102 at Newcastle

Plan for the day

Quite often Sundays see routes disrupted due to engineering works and so it was important to find ways of using the day and also not getting held up – plus I have never been to Oban by train as far as I can remember. Which delivered this plan:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
08:45	1S03	Newcastle to Edinburgh	10:27	124.5
10:35	2Y14	Edinburgh to North Berwick	11:09	29.25
11:20	2Y13	North Berwick to Edinburgh	11:52	29.25
12:17	2K01	Edinburgh to Glenrothes with Thornton	13:14	30.75
13:20	2G02	Glenrothes to Edinburgh Haymarket	14:16	29.5
14:30	2Y45	E Haymarket to Glasgow C	15:59	47.25
18:21	1Y27	Glasgow Q St to Oban	21:24	101.5

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

Operations on the Day

Having spent the night in Newcastle an Azuma soon has me back in Edinburgh; it is misty this morning so the views are not so good as earlier in the week. A very early plan for the week had me spending an additional night in Edinburgh to cover some local services – and this return allows those to be covered.

I leave Edinburgh in the direction from which I arrived as I am heading to North Berwick for a little section of new track down the branch line before re-visiting Edinburgh once again and I then take two trips over the Forth Bridge as I circumnavigate the Fife Circle – there are few trains around the circle during the week but are common at the weekend and so I cover the curve into Glenrothes-with-Thornton. This section re-opened to passenger traffic in 1989 with the station being constructed in 1992 with the oddity that the two platforms are both capable of bi-directional operation. A return visit to this area will be required from June 2024 when the branch to Leven is re-opened to passenger traffic but these are to be routed by the coastal route so not covering the west to north curve at Thornton Junction.

Dodge of the day when planning the detail was to detrain at Haymarket and consequently make a connection onto the next service without having to run around like a headless chicken – simply up to the concourse and down the other side – if I had thought about it I might even have had time for a cup of coffee but better safe than sorry!

I leave Edinburgh (Haymarket) for the last time on this holiday by another one of the routes to Glasgow – this time via Shotts which is less developed than the route via Bathgate take earlier in the trip. The train rolls into Glasgow Central and originally my plan was to use my time here to traverse the Glasgow subway and see the new trains currently being introduced.

However I will be arriving in Oban far too late to eat. The meal last night was poor – and I have not had a really decent meal since Inverness. A little review of restaurant possibilities throws up a branch of the Gaucho chain conveniently half way between Central and Queen Street stations! As it is mid-afternoon the absence of a booking is not a problem (earlier visits to Scotland had taught me that without a booking you can rapidly be turned away from many restaurants so care is needed). An excellent steak (far better than one in the Station Hotel Aberdeen) and a glass of Rioja are very welcome given my travels. I sit and reflect on how excellent most of the time keeping has been over recent days and a decent meal is far better than travelling around the Glasgow Subway – so another return visit is needed – also to cover most of the rail lines south of the Clyde.

Never having previously been outside a station in Glasgow it is a pleasant walk through the City Centre and the distance between the two main stations is perhaps less than anticipated.

A hugely disappointing event then happened. The unit for the Oban working is obviously standing on platform 5 for the 18:21 departure. The gates and announcement are made at about 18:19 – so there is a mad dash of passengers with a fair degree of luggage, bikes and so forth. And finally at 18:21 the train doors are opened. Given that there are signs indicating that doors will be closed 30 seconds prior to departure this treatment of passengers is simply wrong. There is mad panic as people scramble aboard and try to find seats. I guess incorrectly and sit on the “wrong” side of the train in the rush. Departure happens at 18:23.

Scotrail this is the second time today when doors open too close to departure time (the train to North Berwick being the other one). It cannot aid running off on time services and is far from best treatment for passengers. If you cannot ensure staff are in the right place to allow earlier door opening at terminals then you are not planning correctly.

We again depart out through the north west districts of Glasgow which were visited earlier in the week and then take the line the north-west. So again I run past the northern edge of the River Clyde and it then passes alongside Gare Loch and Loch Long for an extended distance. The views then switch to the other side as are running along Loch Lomond, with a slightly different viewpoint to the road which is right on the edge of the Loch. At Crianlarich the line splits and we head off to the left and running close to the A85 Old Military Road and the River Lochy which we follow until we pick up the River Orchy which feeds Loch Awe. We then turn up to Loch Etive which we track to Connel Ferry, long replaced by a bridge, before running southwards and then north to run into the much simplified Oban station. We pass the Royal Scotsman train running away from Oban.

Oban is much reduced and my hotel resides on the former freight depot – but allows bags to be dumped before a drink in an adjacent public house.

Rolling Stock

The Azuma gave a good ride back across the border and the only real question is if they are worth what they have cost as they are expensive.

Scotrail units are not overly clean – hence some photos showing light streaks from the muck on the windows. Internally they are not too bad given the usage.

All generally in good order with class 156 units to Crianlarich and a single unit to Oban. Generally good loadings on most services – the early Azuma to Edinburgh was lightly loaded but to my slight surprise the train to North Berwick was well loaded as were the other local trains. It looked like the majority of passengers on the Oban service were actually going all the way with few leaving at intermediate stations. I remain of the opinion that ensuring trains can be accessed a few minutes before departure from the commencing terminal so that people can be seated before the journey commences is a good thing.

Ticket Checks

A little sparse today compared with some of the ticket checking undertaken earlier in the week by Scotrail – but still in evidence.

Summary

This turned out to be an excellent way to pass a Sunday avoiding any delays due to engineering. Inevitably wonderful scenery on the line to Oban – even being sat on the wrong side for the best of it. The evening sun lighting up the Highland hillsides beautifully.