National Rail

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.

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.

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!

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.