Heart of England Rover Day 7

Birmingham Metro Tram
Birmingham Metro Tram

Purpose of the trip

Today is to pick up the pieces which have gone missing around Birmingham – so some new track and the trams of Birmingham!

The plan for today is:

HeadCodeDep TimeRouteArr TimeNRTRailmiles
2V38842Sandhurst - Reading (5)90111.511mi 52ch
1M30910Reading (7) - Birmingham New St (6B)105196.593mi 70ch
2P231103Birmingham New St (8A) - Lichfield TV114717.518mi 52ch
1U311217Lichfield TV - Rugeley TV122588mi 3ch
2I521250Rugeley TV (1) -Birmingham New St135026.2526mi 34ch
1400Trams Edgbaston - Wolverhampton1530
1O221539Wolverhampton - Reading1740109.5109mi 16ch
1O811749Reading (5) - Sandhurst180811.511mi 52ch
Total (excluding Trams)280.75279mi 39ch

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

Operations on the Day

Final day of gallivanting around the West Midlands picks up some significant uncovered passenger track – which have been added to national network since my map shows some as freight only.  The outward journey is pretty standard and as I have been this way a few times I settle down to do some reading.  Oddly I may not have previously travelled from Wolvercote Junction to Aynho Junction before this week – I am in two minds over counting it as new track as I am pretty confident I have been that way before – but after traversing it numerous times this week it is now definitely covered!

On my reference map however the line from Ashton to Lichfield Trent Valley (TV) is new track and indeed my map only shows a passenger service to Lichfield City with the extension to Lichfield TV being re-instated in 1988, although since 1992 only one platform is used.  The route continues onward for non-passenger services.

I am a little surprised to find a small café at Lichfield TV station – very busy in the mornings as there is some rush hour traffic into London but at this time of day it is very quiet.   I have a cup of coffee in an attempt to keep warm as I have a lengthy wait and the light is too poor to try and photograph trains speeding by on the fast lines.

It is only a few minutes along the line to Redditch Trent Valley (TV) from where I take the Chase Line back into Birmingham.  The section from Rugeley TV to Walsall re-opened finally in 1998 but at the time of my map was solely non-passenger.  We roll through some pleasant countryside then through the built up areas of Walsall and onwards to Birmingham New Street once again.   So that completes the new track on the rail network.

Now it is time to make up for Sunday’s nonsense.  I wander out of the station and the first tram to pass is not in passenger service.  After a few minutes it is possible to jump aboard the next tram and take the extension to Edgbaston village (which is relatively newly opened in 2022 compared with some of my journeys).  I rejoin the tram for the trip to Wolverhampton station which marks the newest extension in 2023.  The maps on the trams still show the route to the former terminus at Wolverhampton St George’s, although certainly the timetable makes no reference to it – so whilst still open it is not served!  I wonder if it is retained for the intended future expansions which are being constructed.

All zone fare for the trams (off peak) is £5 and amazingly they have a conductor on each service – obviously assisting the passengers as well as taking payments.  There are ticket machines at each tram stop but apart from one outside Grand Central all the others I see are sheeted over and not in use.  It is not clear to me if that is permanent or not.

At Wolverhampton after a decent wait a Cross Country rolls into the station and I can join it for the trip back to Reading.  Once again we are covering known track so I read on the way back and everything runs pretty smoothly to get back once again at a reasonable hour.

Costs / Ticket Checks

National Rail have a somewhat difficult to find page covering Rangers and Rovers and the Heart of England can be found there – there is reference to a map but incredibly no link.  A more useful source is railrover.org which is the starting point of my activities.  The relevant page has a diagrammatic map of the routes covered.

So a little summary of my week of travelling.  A total of 2,108 miles using three main operators – Cross Country, GWR and West Midlands with cameo appearances from SWR, EMR, North Western and TfW.  This excludes mileage using trams.  The majority of services were running on time with significant late running from TfW suffering from “attachment issues”, Cross Country where I believe an earlier signalling failure had delayed staff and West Midlands which aborted a trip to Lichfield TV.

Direct ticket costs were £129.30 for a season ticket from Sandhurst – Oxford (no railcard discount on that of course) and £95.20 for the Heart of England Rover (after railcard discount), a total of £224.50.  Obviously the Sunday trip to Birmingham was just mileage and achieved nothing (but in other circumstances could have done so).  However a lot of formerly untravelled lines around Birmingham have now been visited and that can only be good.

Overall therefore 10.66 pence per mile which I reckon is pretty cheap.  None of the days were particularly long given that light was going by the end of the afternoon and overall not much waiting around on platforms (about the longest was Lichfield Trent Valley and Reading).  Overall pretty successful and a tribute to the railway staff who, by and large, are determined to deliver on time regular operations.

Rolling Stock

West Midlands stock appear to be the dirtiest externally – the windows were never clean.  Cross Country was also a little mixed.  Heaviest loaded trains definitely Cross Country – but I was not largely travelling in the rush hour.  West Midlands frequencies are good – with decent length trains – which in a number of places were longer than the platforms.

Summary

A good way to spend a quiet week in January – travelling over some new track and seeing the current much higher level of service being delivered to railways in the Midlands for not huge sums of money.

Heart of England Rover Day 6

Nottingham Trams at Toton Lane
Nottingham Trams at Toton Lane

Purpose of the trip

So having swapped the days around as already mentioned I will now head to Nottingham as the football fans will have gone, Southampton having comprehensively lost yet again.  A very poor season, based on a poor squad, poor recruitment and appalling owners (not to mention some questionable on pitch decisions).

The services utilised today are:

HeadCodeDep TimeRouteArr TimeNRTRailmiles
2V380842Sandhurst - Reading (5)085711.511m 52ch
1M300915Reading (13B) - Birmingham New St (7)105196.593mi 70ch
1D391109Birmingham New St (10A) - Nottingham (5B)122357.2555mi 17ch
Nottingham station - Toton Lane
Toton Lane - David Lane
David Lane - Nottingham Station
1G381441Nottingham (3B) - Birmingham New St (10A)155557.2555mi 17ch
1O221603Birmingham New St (1A) - Reading (7)174196.593mi 70ch
1O811749Reading (5) - Sandhurst181111.511m 52ch
Total (excluding trams)332.5321mi 38ch

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

Operations on the Day

All went well to Nottingham, it is actually faster via Birmingham than by using the connecting cross country services.  I soon realised that I had not allowed anywhere near enough time to cover the entire tram network and if I travel back any later than planned I end up with a poor connection at Reading.  The problem as ever is the paucity of GWR services to Sandhurst where if I come back much later than planned then I get stuck in Reading for about 30 minutes (depending on actual times) at a time of year when it is not very warm and which I have sought to avoid throughout the week.

So on the NET (Nottingham Express Transit) I travelled from the main station where there is access from the footbridge to the high level tram platforms at right angles to the national rail tracks below, although I fail to note the exact access point.  The two southern routes separate immediately south of the station, one to Toton Lane and the other to Clifton South (which actually goes westwards).

I take a tram service to Toton Lane which is the furthest extremity in that direction.   I take the tram back through the City Centre as far as David Lane where the two branches divert on the northern side of the City.  However my time is limited if I am going to get home at a decent time and I therefore returned to Nottingham station from David Lane.  That leaves me to do both sections from David Lane to Phoenix Park and Hucknall and also the line to Clifton South.  Hucknall is on the Robin Hood line which I need to cover at some time in the future so perhaps it can all be worked in as part of that outing.

Nottingham Trams recently (at the time of writing) reported losses of £57m on turnover of £63.3m in the year ended 31 March 2023.  Apparently this includes an impairment review, burdensome loans since renegotiated and energy costs rising from £3.5m to £6m pa.  Loadings appeared good on the services on which I travelled and there was certainly indications of unticketed travel but it would take a lot of effort to close a gap of £57m on turnover of £63m as that would imply a 70% fare increase.  At some point it will need to restructure financially.

The fare for all zones for concessions is £4 off peak and is therefore great value for my journey if covering the entire network.  We get a ticket check – four inspectors board,  one at each of the doors,  and check tickets in each section which they manage to do before the next stop.  I note that one gentleman is escorted off for a further discussion.  They try to scan my bus card – but it does not work – I am only showing it to prove that I am entitled to the concession and I soon point this out and direct them to the paper ticket dispensed by the machine at the boarding stop.

Back at Nottingham station I get confused as I think I go back in the entrance I had used as exit – on the way out I simply came out of the overbridge onto the tram station but following the signs means that I rightly have to go through the ticket barriers, obviously I did not pay enough attention to go back the same way – even if it is possible.

As the service approaches Birmingham New Street (it is crawling along) a little late I realise that for a large station the connection is not as long as I might like, added to which we are running a few minutes late.  However we arrive and I am near the Western over bridge which is not gate restricted and I can go up the steps quickly (but am easily overtaken) and then find that platform 1 is up even more steps before descending.  I head up these steps and then down and I can see that the departure signal is red and I head towards the unit at the far end of the platform and dive into coach B and drop into a seat.  And we still have a couple of minutes prior to departure actually happening.  Tight connections can be made but knowledge of the layout is important – avoid the gates at Birmingham New Street – at least one guard advised using this particular overbridge over the public address on one journey to avoid the gates.

Talking of gates a few months ago my All Line Railrover gave up on gates after a day or so and I blamed myself for having it close to my phone at one point.  This rover ticket has experienced the same failure as well – except that later in the week I tried it again and it worked, although I have tried to scrupulously keep it away from my phone.  With the All Line Rover it simply would not work – but this partial working is hard to explain.

We are now heading back towards Reading and running well laden, although loading steadily thins out as the train makes progress.  Over the week I think I had one ticket check on Cross Country but we have been fairly consistently head counted.  I assume the vast majority of Cross Country stations are gated.  It is all well and good knowing how many are on board (especially on some of the over-crowded services – but are they travelling within ticket validity?).  The other problem with Cross Country are the seat reservations.  A couple of times I occupy reserved seats which are empty at arrival and on a couple of times I am asked to move because it has been reserved since I sat down.  All poor, I have not attempted a reservation myself and will probably try the unreserved coach on each train tomorrow.

Leaving Oxford we are much slower and if this does not improve I will miss my final connection but after Didcot we are back up to line speed and the connection is a rapid trot along platform 7 to the connection in the east bay.

Costs / Ticket Checks

Pretty comprehensive on NET – but evidence it is needed.

Rolling Stock

The Cross Country units between Birmingham and Nottingham are class 170 on which the operator has made the crazy decision to withdraw first class.  As the units are refurbished the space will be converted to standard but at the moment the former first class seats are still there (but worn).  So my trips made use of the former first class with table and lights.  But why deprive yourself of the first class revenue?  Why not refit it and make it a selling point?  Both these Cross Country services also had catering trolleys – if they can manage it on relatively short distance journeys why cannot operators south of the Thames provide creature comforts?

Summary

Mainly a pity that I did not adjust the time in Nottingham and complete the tram network – in retrospect I should probably have just gone for a late finish – but the poor service to Sandhurst tends to colour my thinking knowing that it is possible to become stuck in Reading for far too long!

Heart of England Rover Day 5

172213 at Worcester Foregate St
172213 at Worcester Foregate St

Purpose of the trip

Planning a trip on Sunday was probably a mistake.  My very tentative early plan worked on a Sunday with no engineering work.  When it came to the actual Sunday both my local line and the road north of Oxford were unavailable so I decided it would be a good day to visit the extensions (so far) on the Birmingham Metro.

The services used today were:

HeadCodeDep TimeRouteArr TimeNRTRailmiles
2C150849Wokingham - Reading (4)09026.756mi 66ch
1W350911Reading (7) - Worcester Foregate St (1)110185.2585mi 2ch
2S081121Worcester Foregate St (1) - Birmingham Snow Hill (3)122235.7534mi 72ch
1V241400Birmingham New St (11B) - Worcester Foregate St (1)143924.529mi 33ch
1P631511Worcester Foregate St (1) - Reading165685.2585mi 2ch
2C561724Reading - Wokingham17376.756mi 66ch
Total244.25248mi 1ch

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

Operations on the Day

The morning commences badly, I take a different road route to Wokingham and find traffic lights in Crowthorne and another two sets along the road past what used to be the TRL and is now a housing estate.  It then gets worse when SWR provide a pair of 455 units (really?) on the service to Reading.  They do not have toilets and should never be used on long distance services.  The train also runs three minutes late and the tight connection becomes tighter.  Three of us are adjacent to the front doors of the 455 and run for the connection – I am the slowest and we all make it.  It then departs a couple of minutes late which is welcome.

The plan for today was designed to deal with the inevitable Sunday engineering works and therefore the available routes are limited – hence heading towards the west from Oxford.  Departure from platform 7 at Reading is not via the new flyover but we snake around it and are sent down the slow lines.

As we pass Radley there is a field full of men clad in black undertaking metal detecting across the entire area – I wonder what has been lost?

What I find really odd is that this service has more stops than the one two days ago and yet manages to reach my destination point in almost exactly the same time – which feels very odd to say the least.

As a sidelight one of the curves I believe I need to cover which I have tried to include on these excursions is the one from Cheltenham Spa direct into Worcester Shrub Hill and I had tried to plan it into a couple of days on this rover – but timewise they became too long.  However later in the year we are booked on a steam special to Worcester and checking the planned route I find it will do the missing curve – which I perhaps should have been checked much sooner – so removing the need for it on these trips.

Having gone into Worcester Foregate Street the West Midlands train visits Worcester Shrub Hill before reversing and heading towards Birmingham Snow Hill from the other direction to my trip earlier through that station earlier in the week.  So far so good.  At my destination it is a cold walk around the corner from Snow Hill to the lift up to the immediately adjacent St Chad’s tram stop – which is not enhanced when I find that the lift is not responsive to the button and steadfastly refuses to descend from platform level.  I climb the adjacent stairs.

Metro Tram Notice
Metro Tram Notice

On finding myself on St Chad’s tram stop I find there are no trams this morning; however the display says there will be one in about 20 minutes shortly before the 1300 opening time on the notice and I decide to wait – if it turns up as shown I can still do the entire route.  As I stand there the arrival time gets put back a couple of minutes and then after about 15 minutes and I get ever colder it is put back to another 20 minutes or so, at which point I give in – this is simply not going to happen.

I walk across central Birmingham to find New Street and the restaurants in “Grand Central”.  I make a poor choice of restaurant in the hope of getting something hot and spicy and decide that a warm bowl of sludge is not worth finishing.  I should just have got the train home, which I do eventually but have a 30 minute layover in Worcester so find the cathedral which we will visit later in the year.  It turns out the steam special will be going to/from Shrub Hill so it will be a longer walk and so I only know half the route!

Back at Reading they have imposed yet another set of 455s on the passengers.  I assume this is because it is effectively “free mileage” on soon to be withdrawn units but depriving those passengers of toilets is a very poor decision and one which I hope a return to public ownership will correct as soon as it can actually get the 701’s into service – after all they were originally due in 2019 with fleet service in 2020.

Costs / Ticket Checks

No ticket checks today apart from the barriers at Snow Hill and New Street, even Wokingham is a straight walk in and out.

Rolling Stock

GWR IETs, the dirty West Midlands units and 455s – are any of them attractive?

Summary

I would have been better off staying at home – it was particularly cold today and no new track was achieved at all.  Even the food was poor.

Heart of England Rover Day 4

197020 at Shrewsbury
197020 at Shrewsbury

Purpose of the trip

This was originally planned against a weekday time table but as a result of “events” it also works in theory on a Saturday – so the actual trains today:

HeadCodeDep TimeRouteArr TimeNRTRailmiles
2C130827Wokingham - Reading (5)08436.756mi 66ch
1W170919Reading (9) - Great Malvern112492.7592mi 76ch
1V251146Great Malvern - Hereford12172120mi 62ch
1W181255Hereford - Crewe (6)142883.583mi 59ch
2K801533Crewe (3) - Stoke-on-Trent15581614mi 78ch
1O241621Stoke-on-Trent - Reading1841140.5137mi 74ch
1O841854Reading - Wokingham19036.756mi 66ch
Total367.25364mi 1ch

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

Operations on the Day

This was not the original plan for Saturday – I was going to go and ride on the trams of Nottingham but saw a message that Southampton were playing Notts Forest this afternoon, however something went wrong with the dates and the game is actually on tomorrow, never mind it should still work.  Tomorrow with engineering works I think it is virtually impossible for the Southampton fans to travel to Nottingham anyway!  So this plan was swapped in from next Tuesday (day 7).

In view of the short notice and in of the poor Sandhurst service I felt it was worth making the 10 minute drive to Wokingham – until I tried it.  The direct route was completely closed, the Old Wokingham Road has road works with a four way delay traffic lights.  The traffic flow in Wokingham near the station has been changed so that you can no longer turn into the station – right turn forbidden.  No obvious or practical reason apart from changing the kerb – which meant going all the way round a roundabout.  In all it took 27 minutes from getting into the car to standing on the station platform.

The train from Reading towards the West is far more heavily loaded than yesterday and I sit in an allegedly reserved seat to Oxford.  As we head west the loadings decline and there is plenty of space in the train.  The GWR train terminates at Great Malvern and this is a very peaceful station – very quiet  apart from the pensioner playing her phone videos – why can people not use earphones?  It remains an attractive station even if the former subway to the adjacent hotel is long closed (as is the hotel).

A West Midlands train takes me onward to Hereford.  On board there is a very full ticket check and chat with the guard who tells me that he sees few rovers these days as they simply do not get any local promotion so they are not sold.  Leaving the train at Hereford I check the destination boards and I find that my next service is delayed due to “attachment issues” and is running around 25 late.  I attempt to purchase lunch at a nearby KFC but fail.  The instructions on what to do pay by cash are unclear – obviously the modern age and I are simply not compatible.  No-one has obviously tested it properly to ensure proper instructions are given.  It saves me eating junk food and the station cafe has an odd sandwich available.

Attachment Issues
Attachment Issues

My late running TfW two car single unit obviously decided to come by itself and it just about copes with the demand as we head via Shrewsbury to Crewe.  There is catering on board but they lose out on a sale as they will not take cash – and I continue my aversion to spending optional funds with organisations that do not want to take legal tender.  This is a very naughty unit as the toilet is not working either.  The service is terminated early at Crewe so that it can go home again, hopefully for a formal disciplinary interview at the depot.  However the section from Shrewsbury to Crewe has never previously been traversed and therefore it is another section of line covered for the first time.

However the late running means my planned connection has gone and so has my backup plan,  so I am now going to run an hour later than planned for the rest of the day – first on a service to Stoke-on-Trent and then onto a Cross Country which is running immediately behind it to enable coverage of the previously (at least so I believe) un-covered route to Stone.  There is a proper ticket check on the local service from Crewe with the added attraction of non-passengers at one station giving the train a huge wave as we leave!  Waving at trains is rare these days.

The Cross Country service is busy – but in the front coach there are some seats – so people could sit if they wished.  Birmingham New Street sees a huge changeover of passengers.  Passengers seem very slow to exit – when I board I stand in the vestibule for a while having boarded – there was no-one waiting to get off at the door – but they are still in the carriage walking towards the door – it does not do a lot for keeping the service moving on time.  Once again I am occupying a seat which was theoretically reserved.  Vast change in passengers at Oxford – where it becomes markedly noisier for some reason.  The homeward drive by a different route was equally disrupted with more sets of traffic lights!  What do they have against us (and the chip shop had no chicken)!

Costs / Ticket Checks

Several ticket checks during the day but once again noticeably not on Cross Country which is where I spent a lot of the day.

Rolling Stock

Obviously the 197 was disappointing in that it was not two units and was running late with a toilet not functioning correctly.  The West Midlands unit was also externally fairly dirty.

Summary

The late running was disappointing and it was just as well I drove to Wokingham – but the day did not become excessively long.  However these journeys are some way from showing that we have an utterly boring, utterly reliable railway out there.

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.

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.

Heart of England Rover Day 1

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:

HeadCodeDep TimeRouteArr TimeNRTRailmiles
2V380842
Sandhurst to Reading (5)090111.511mi 52ch
1M300915Reading (7) to Leamington Spa (2)101468.2569mi 77ch
2G751040Leamington Spa (4) to Nuneaton (1)111819.2519mi 67ch
1K111124Nuneaton (7) to Leicester (1)115118.518mi 62ch
1D311218Leicester (2) to Beeston124124.0
24mi 14ch
2A221301Beeston to Matlock140630.029mi 67ch
2A291415Matlock to Derby (5)144817.2517mi 12ch
1V891453Derby (2) to Reading (15)1714138.25134mi 26ch
1O801720Reading (4) to Sandhurst173911.511mi 52ch
Totals338.5337mi 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.

Paignton & Exmouth 5.11.24

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 timeRouteArr timeNRTRailmiles
1V390910Sandhurst to Reading (5)093011.511mi 52ch
1C751003Reading (7) to Exeter St Davids (4)1154137.75137mi 39ch
1C751156Exeter St David's to Paignton (1)123928.2528mi 20ch
2F191255Paignton (2) to Exeter St Davids (1) (R)134728.2528mi 20ch
2F191351Exeter St Davids to Exmouth141711.2511mi 18ch
2T221423Exmouth to Exeter St Davids (3)145411.2511mi 18ch
1A891542Exeter St Davids (6) to Reading (11)1742137.75137mi 39ch
1O811749Reading (5) to Sandhurst180711.511mi 52ch
377.5377mi 18ch
Things did not go to plan so these trains were taken
2F201320Paignton (2) to Exmouth1447
2T231457Exmouth to Exeter St Davids1525
1O821821
Reading (5) to Sandhurst1839

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.

Exmouth Buffer stops
Exmouth Buffer stops

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.

Happy Christmas Bridge Sandhurst
Happy Christmas Bridge Sandhurst

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.

London 1.8.24

Mail Rail trains
Mail Rail trains

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.

Pneumatic Car
Pneumatic Car

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.

465008 Lewisham
465008 Lewisham

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

All Live Rover Ticket
All Live Rover Ticket

Roll up of the Daily Summaries

DayNo of services usedRoutingNRT mileagesLost time
Day 1 Part 12London - Edinburgh4000
Day 1 Part 29Edinburgh - Tweedbank - Glasgow N - Inverness363.750
Day 23Inverness - Far North - Aberdeen458.250 overall
Day 34 (plan was 1)Aberdeen - Penzance787 84 minutes
Day 413 (plan was 12)Penzance - Llandrinod Wells406.2544 minutes overall
26 late at end of the day
Day 510Llandrinod Wells - Newcastle352.250
Day 67Newcastle - Glasgow - Oban3920
Day 77Oban - Sandhurst568.750 (Some in to Euston)
Totals553728.25

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.