Whitnet Railways

GB RailRover – Day 5

8 February 202519 May 2024 by admin

Plan for the day

In the very original plan for today it was intended to cover the line between Castleford and York but the TransPennine upgrade which is in process meant that this had to be abandoned – but there is always another, far more attractive way of reaching Newcastle:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
08:15	2M04	Llandrinod to Shrewsbury	09:46	51.75
10:24	1D12	Shrewsbury to Wrexham General	11:01	29.75
11:20	2J60	Wrexham General to Wrexham Central	11:24	0.5
11:29	2F66	Wrexham Central to Bidston	12:32	27.5
12:36	2W24	Bidston to Liverpool Lime Street	12:53	4.75
13:15	2F58	Liverpool Lime St to Wigan North Western	14:04	20
14:26	1S62	Wigan NW to Lancaster	14:57	36.25
15:02	1C57	Lancaster to Barrow in Furness	16:05	34.75
16:11	2C35	Barrow in Furness to Carlisle	18:41	85.25
18:49	2A46	Carlisle to Newcastle	20:16	61.75

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

Operations on the Day

A bacon sandwich in the hotel where they kindly arrange to open the kitchen early and I am on the platform ready for the train onwards to Shrewsbury which started some hours earlier at Swansea. Any points problems have been fixed as it rolls in on time.

New track never previously covered from here to the junction with the line to Craven Arms. Shrewsbury to Wrexham has been covered previously but the Borderlands line between Dee Marsh Junction and Bidston is probably new track (I certainly cannot remember covering it). There is some uncertainty about how and why I might have visited this area previously which will need some more research.

At Bidston I am briefly on a third rail network into Liverpool Lime Street where it is a long walk upstairs to take new track (again) to Wigan NW where I join the WCML and an Avanti service for the trip to Lancaster. I cannot be bothered to walk to the back of the train and instead join one of the Standard Premium coaches – which are also marked first class. This is an uninspiring bodge up – which the train staff are seeking to market and yet on ECML they are filling first class. It is unclear what Avanti are trying to achieve by re-introducing a “second class” – deliver a proper first class solution and garner the additional revenue – many other operators could do that too simply by providing some better seating for first class. The apparently forced removal of first class on many trains is hard to fathom.

At Lancaster I have a few minutes before the Cumbrian Coast line service to Barrow in Furness so can pick up a coffee once I find the relevant outlet as the place seems to be covered in scaffolding hiding all signage. The onward train is running late and the guard offers advice on where to be to access the subway at Barrow in Furness to catch the train onto the rest of the Cumbrian Coast – but he is pretty certain that the connection will be held as they are used to delays.

As ever the journey along the coast through Grange-over-Sands is stunning – yet another supremely picturesque view available from the trains in this country – especially with the sun shining on it as it is today.

My previous visit used the cut off from Dalton Junction to Park South Junction so going through Barrow-in-Furness station is a first. At Ravenglass the L’il Ratty is in evidence and thereafter it is new track for the rest of the day. We subsequently cross West Country Braunton leading a railtour and the conductor gives fair warning.

The trip north along the coast to Maryport not only has attractive scenery – the hills of the Lake District on one side and the sea on the other make for some lovely views although the bulk of the former nuclear station at Sellafield which is now the centre of decommissioning of the first generation of nuclear power stations is perhaps less attractive.

Beyond Maryport we turn inland to Carlisle. Some of the route is single track north of Sellafield but with many level crossings and ancient signalling systems the line remains expensive to operate. Loadings are good on this train all the way to Carlisle.

In the original plans the connection at Carlisle was around five minutes into the next service but this has eased and I was easily able to shift across the station in time for the onward journey through Northumberland. Again this is attractive countryside as we head through Haltwhistle and Hexham to reach Newcastle where a hotel and dinner await.

Rolling Stock

More or less from the sublime to the ridiculous – a class 153 to start the day, an almost new class 777 on the third rail, Pendolino on the WCML and Northern units around the Cumbrian Coast and across Northumberland. Most of the trains seemed to have decent loading and apart from odd minutes here and there generally running pretty close to time.

The Class 777 units are now working a good proportion of the Merseyrail network and my brief experience shows that they are capable of doing a good job. There is a problem with the battery units because no-one could work out how to extend the third rail – a sad reflection on the inability of the modern railways to stand up for themselves with no-one even attempting a safety case for the extension to Headbolt Lane.

It was also a brand new 197 unit on the Borderlands line – it should be former A stock / Vivarail conversion but these are not achieving the required level of reliability as yet.

Ticket Checks

Nothing on Avanti West Coast at all but at least one check on most services – although I am pretty sure that some other travellers underpaid on the Borderlands line – and they only paid to Bidston but were apparently going on into Liverpool for the football judging by the discussion!

Summary

Hugely attractive scenery particularly around the Cumbrian Coast and then across Northumberland. The sun shone most of the time so it was actually quite warm on some of the trains.

GB RailRover – Day 4

8 February 202518 May 2024 by admin

Plan for the day

The plan for Friday is to mop up some branch lines and to head back in a northerly direction:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
06:58	2A03	Penzance to St Ives	07:18	10
07:32	2A04	St Ives to St Erth	07:44	4.25
07:47	2U14	St Erth to Truro	08:18	20
08:45	2F70	Truro to Falmouth Docks	09:09	12.25
09:15	2T70	Falmouth Docks to Truro	09:42	12.25
09:53	1A82	Truro to Exeter	12:12	105.75
12:27	1S49	Exeter St Davids to Bristol Temple Meads	13:27	76.25
13:46	2K34	BTM to Severn Beach	14:23	13.5
15:01	2K37	Severn Beach to BTM	15:43	13.5
15:57	1F20	BTM to Cardiff Central	16:45	38.25
16:56	1V44	Cardiff Central to Swansea	18:11	47.5
18:19	2M12	Swansea to Llandrinod	20:48	69.75

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

Operations on the Day

The day starts well – breakfast on the Penzance Quay at Sullivans – and even though it is 6:30 in the morning the sun is shining and they have outdoor seats and it is a great way to start the day! A couple of weeks later even Rishi Sunak is using it after using the sleeper!

First up is the little line to St Ives – the first service of the day uses the through connection and then the unit gets locked into the branch for the rest of the day until the final working in the evening with the token being collected from the signal box briefly after serving St Erth station. Whilst the beach at Carbis Bay is unoccupied this early the train is seeing a number of users besides myself.

The timetables work fairly well at this point and re-joining main line after the branch perambulation means that I can take first class to Truro where I disembark for the second new branch line of the day to Falmouth Docks.

Picking up the main line service again at Truro is straightforward and there are then announcements that there are possible problems in the Weston-Super-Mare area and I am conscious that the service to Severn Beach sometimes interworks to and from Weston and therefore that my timings may be disrupted. In addition I remain aware of the possibility that the Cross Country planned to Bristol Temple Meads would be heavily loaded after the experience yesterday.

So a further replan of the next part of the journey is undertaken.

Plan Dep	Headcode	Route	Plan Arr	NRT miles
09:53	1A82	Truro to Tiverton Parkway	12:29	122.25
12:40	1S49	Tiverton Parkway - Bristol Parkway	13:43	65.75
14:05	1B15	Bristol Parkway - Cardiff Central	14:37	33.5
14:50	2Y55	Cardiff Central - Barry Island	15:24	9.25
15:26	2M42	Barry Island - Barry	15:30	0.75
16:05	2E40	Barry - Bridgend	16:38	19.0
16:58	1B19	Bridgend - Swansea	17:30	27.25
18:19	2M12	Swansea - Llandrinod	20:48	69.75

NRT only provides distances via Weston-super-Mare (presumably because there are no stations on the avoiding line). The loop line is about four miles and the avoiding line is less so the above mileage is slightly overstated, subsequent digging in the Sectional Appendices identify that the direct route is physically a mile shorter than the loop via the town so not overly significant.

So I lose the mileage to Severn Beach and add the rather modest distance to Barry Island from Barry having passed over this route before it was added back into the passenger network in June 2005. It also eases a slightly tight connection at Swansea which might have been problematic. I did not subsequently check the trips I would have taken – but better safe than sorry.

I therefore stay on the GWR service to Tiverton Parkway and then pick up a Cross Country service to Bristol Parkway (which I had planned to catch at Exeter but decided to stay put to minimise time on Cross Country). The Cross Country service is well laden again and we are held for a few minutes before coming to a rest at Bristol Parkway.

My train westwards is delayed by a slow freight which has been pathed in front of the service and we lose a few more minutes on the journey through the Severn tunnel and into Cardiff Central. The various perturbations seem to have hit GWR again today.

TfW class 150 for the journey down to Barry Docks where the adjacent fun fair is undergoing pre-season maintenance. There is a large multi-generational family traveling together from Cardiff on this service and they disembark en masse and seek to exit the station – except that they don’t and they rejoin the service (as do I watching closely). Once we get back to Barry they all disembark again and this time the leave the station. Looks like they went a stop too far.

I have time to walk to the far end of the platform and observe the new trains currently stabled in the new stabling point at Barry having recovered the site from the former preservation railway. The trains are due to enter service in the near future as the local valley lines are upgraded.

A further 150 takes me onto Bridgend along the line re-instated to passengers in 2005 and using terminal platform 1A at Bridgend (avoiding the hated platform 0 designation used elsewhere). The next service is running late and loses time all the way from Swindon as it heads to Bridgend. I had hoped to use the time in Swansea to find something hot to eat as a takeaway on the next journey as I fear that dinner at my destination will be limited. Quickly poking my nose outside the station shows no obvious take aways and with time now limited I return to the station – but cannot join the waiting train as the crew are not there.

A celebrity is spotted on the service into Swansea – the actress Sian Phillips is identified leaving the train and heading off along the platform – she comes from South Wales originally.

It is a long time since I last traversed the Heart of Wales line but I do recall some stunning scenery – it is still there but much of the line now runs through an effective tree-lined route and the scenery is therefore hard to see – the trees have been allowed to grow here (and elsewhere) so the views are simply impossible to see.

153382 at Swansea before heading to Llanrtrwyd Wells

The service on this line is thin and is to be reduced in December – and yet the trains are well loaded and one wonders if running a more frequent service might raise more revenue than the marginal costs. Unfortunately these days such approaches are rare.

All is going well until we get towards Llanwrtyd Wells where these days the two crews swap over with the Shrewsbury crew returning home and the Swansea crew doing likewise. Except that tonight each crew has decided that they want to take their own train home and all the passengers on the two trains have to walk along the train, over the foot crossing and join the other unit.

The unit on which I arrived heads off happily back to Swansea. However we remain stationary. And now the potential impact on my ability to get anything to eat is starting to worry me. The northern set of points had been reset to allow the other unit to depart north after our arrival and apparently nothing would now change them to enable us to move off to the north. If the decision to swap units had been conveyed to the signalling team the points need not have been changed after our arrival (although possibly they had to to permit the other unit to enter the loop). So until permission is obtained to hand crank the points and that has been done we cannot leave. Over 30 minutes late. In the December timetable change the crossing point will move to Llandrinod Wells because there is a larger population and it is not so remote – so one wonders just how often this happens.

Going downhill we recover some time but the only place to get food has already stopped cooking fish and there are a couple of fishcakes. Why do the Welsh give up so early?

At least I am able to book into my hotel, eat the fishcakes (not particularly palatable either), and catch up on the score as Southampton are playing the second leg of the play offs which they win.

Rolling Stock

A real mixture today with modern inter city stock and class 150 units at the other extreme. Services generally well loaded – even the Heart of Wales line unit is well loaded on the departure from Swansea and Llanelli as it takes passengers home up the line having had a day out.

Ticket Checks

Very mixed – obviously checked on the branch lines but little evidence on the main line trains.

Summary

Not a good day for time keeping. Obviously the initial cancellation of the planned Cross Country service which was the planned highpoint of the entire trip. Then GWR seemed to have a problem in the Swindon area delaying trains and then the problem with TfW / Network Rail at Llanwtryd Wells which is presumably down to equipment failure – but it took the edge of the good running enjoyed over the other days and indeed on the decent times on other trains today.

GB RailRover – Day 3

1 June 202417 May 2024 by admin

I7C at Inverness for Aberdeen - 43021 — I7C at Inverness for Aberdeen – 43021

Plan for the day

The plan for today is to take the longest single working on the railway from Aberdeen to Penzance:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
08:20	1V60	Aberdeen to Penzance	21:36	785

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

Operations on the Day

I finish having breakfast in the hotel and then check my train – it has been cancelled (it is later re-instated from Edinburgh south) but I have already missed a train to Edinburgh which would connect into the service – so a new plan was rapidly constructed – Cross Country themselves suggest an Edinburgh – London service and a Cross Country to Plymouth and local service to Penzance.

I work up a new plan:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
09:04	1B74	Aberdeen - Edinburgh	11:22	130.5
11:30	1E13	Edinburgh - York	13:54	204.5
14:44	1V62	York - Plymouth	20:49	372.50
21:17	1C92	Plymouth - Penzance	22:59	79.5

The through train is unique in the UK – the longest single train working and was always the centrepiece of the holiday – to join in Aberdeen and walk off in Penzance – a long day but staying on the move all day. So that has been ruined. And for no obvious reason I note that whilst Cross Country tout their service as covering 785 miles the NRT mileages for the spit I am following is 787. NRT mileages are adjusted to a quarter mile and I assume that explains the difference (NRT does not have a mileage table for Cross Country – that has to come from the individual routes and RealTime Trains do not seem to have mileage on all detailed train plans although their website does say they are on the majority).

When using the online planners even if you leave Aberdeen on the original through train you are told to change at Haymarket and catch a train down the West Coast and you get to the destination sooner than staying on it! And if I had stayed on the LNER service from Edinburgh to Kings Cross and then travelled west from Paddington I would have been earlier than my actual arrival. So Cross Country the service is slow and so no-one is actually recommended to use it from end to end!

Turning to my actual journey the trip down the East Coast of Scotland and across the Tay and Forth Bridges was one I had not previously taken so entirely new and the sun is shining so the countryside can be seen as we head south. I benefit from the luxury once again of I7C (HST) first class which is in good order although these sets appear not to have hugely reliable wifi – on a couple there is simply no signal and inevitably in the wilds of Scotland often no transmitter with which to connect even if it is working on the train. Never mind it is very pleasant to watch the world passing by and of course the crossings of the Tay and Firth of Forth are excellent.

Checking on the LNER train from Inverness I can see it was running late so hopefully giving me additional connection time – but we come to a stand having passed Haymarket and I watch the London train go past on the other line and we trail it into Edinburgh station only slightly late on platform 17 – but it is a long walk and I need to negotiate the gateline (which the rover ticket no longer works) followed by a mad rush to platform 2 before boarding – and I then have a long walk through to the first class.

LNER first class team are welcoming and I settle in a seat which is reserved from Newcastle onwards so know I will have to move – but at least I can see the coastline as we head south. I spend some time rechecking my options – and decide that I will leave at York and take the Cross Country service so sticking to the original route – but at the cost of at least an hour on arrival time. At Newcastle I move seats to one reserved from Edinburgh to London but has been empty all of the way and so it seems reasonable to sit there.

Lunch is taken and this solves the meal problem for the day – I had always been worried that finding anything to eat in Penzance tonight would be impossible.

Far too soon we are in York and at this point I am only about 15 minutes behind the train I originally planned to catch – but it is just passing Church Fenton as it powers to Penzance. It eventually arrives in Penzance about three minutes late.

Announcements and the number of passengers waiting at York imply the train will be well loaded – I find a seat but I can see people are standing and later in the journey first class is declassified – even though there are only three seats available and the catering facility is at the rear of the unit (first is at the front) and has no way of getting through the the train. Whilst reference is made to a previous service cancellation there cannot be many from north of Edinburgh who are now on this train to cause this level of overloading. I think it is Tiverton Parkway before the first class is reclassified.

The scenery on this section is dominated by the run along Dawlish – the third time recently and it remains magnificent and on the original plan I would have had the equally magnificent Northumberland coast on the same train.

The 1803 from Paddington leaves Plymouth on time but we are delayed at Bodmin Parkway and roll into Penzance a minute late – but nearly 90 minutes later than the original plan. The hotel is an uphill 10 minute walk and much to my surprise they have waited for me. I just want to have a bath and get to bed!

Rolling Stock

By a long way the best was of course Scotrail’s I7C in terms of comfort. Catering and comfort was not bad on the LNER service to York. Loading on the Cross Country is way beyond acceptable – and the Cross Country practice of allowing seat reservations to commence during the journey (which led to people, including me, constantly having to change seats as they were initially available) remains an unwanted “improvement” for most travellers. Cross Country definitively needs longer trains urgently. Adding a coach with a pantograph and a transformer which can feed the power to the tracks whilst under the wires (and on the third rail too) would be a huge expense but a good solution.

I did not use the first class into Cornwall – it was at the rear of the train and I could not face adding the inevitable walk back and then forwards at Penzance to the exit.

Ticket Checks

Oddly I am not entirely sure that LNER undertook a ticket check and Cross Country did before the train became overloaded. If GWR did it was pretty cursory.

Summary

Obviously a massive disappointment not to sit on a Cross Country Voyager for the entire day – in some senses! The route was traversed, a decent meal supplied by LNER and the obvious scenic sections remained. Having failed to use the train once it will not feature high in my priority list for the future – there remains much more of the National network to cover.

GB RailRover – Day 2

8 February 202516 May 2024 by admin

Plan for the day

The plan for Wednesday is to head north from Inverness as far as the train can go; once there to come back and then go on to Aberdeen:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
07:00	2H61	Inverness to Wick	11:31	175
12:34	2H62	Wick to Inverness	17:08	175
17:13	1A26	Inverness to Aberdeen	19:36	108.25

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

Operations on the Day

An early start this morning as it takes a long time to get to the Far North! As far as Dingwall I am on previously explored track having travelled to Kyle of Lochalsh and over to Skye using the ferry (long before the bridge was constructed). However the onward route to Thurso and Wick is all new ground.

I have been this way since that trip by car – but the rail line takes a very different route particularly north of Helmsdale where the road stays close to the coast and my route today goes inland. Rail is now at a huge disadvantage to road in journey time as the rail route has to go inland first to Beauly whilst the road traverses the Kessock Bridge and again near Dornoch where the road has a bridge whilst the trains go inland to Bonar Bridge to cross the Kyle of Sutherland. The former is perhaps less of a problem than the latter which adds a lot to the journey time.

Weather is much improved this morning and there are decent loadings on the service as we head North. With the request stops on the line now having modern facilities to alert train crew to waiting passengers we go through most of them at close to line speed so easing the pressure on the driver. Dunrobin Castle is an exception as a number of passengers alight there to visit the castle.

Train crews exchange at Lairg with those on the southbound unit taking us onwards and our crew taking charge of the unit heading towards Inverness.

Spotted several times today is a new countryside adornment. About three or four times today a digger is randomly “abandoned” in the corner of a field adjacent to the line. All of them seem left with no obvious digging work to undertake and no staff anywhere near. Quite why or what they represent remains a mystery. It seems like a lot of expensive machinery to leave almost lying around – although with the low level of population they are unlikely to go anywhere.

The route is far more rural and heavily populated by sheep (and some cows). In nearly every case the low service frequency means that we are given a display, particularly by lambs and calves, of how fast they can run from the noisy machine which might be about to enter the field and chase them around. Older ewes are less prone to run, staring at the mad antics of their offspring as they make a run for it. Needless to say the ewes have seen it all before – probably yesterday.

Once the line has turned inland at Helmsdale much of the route is over the Flow Country which is new to me. it is an extensive blanket bog system of peat which acts as a significant way of addressing the climate change and is currently seeking World Heritage site classification – a decision is awaited.

At the far end of the line the train reverses at Georgemas Junction before heading to the furthermost north station of Thurso and then heading back to Wick where lunch is acquired in a very conveniently located Coop. An hour after arrival a new train crew starts us up with a journey to Thurso before again reversing at Georgemas Junction and retracing our earlier steps.

On the return journey we have a long period where it appears a TSR has been imposed since our outward journey and we lose time. We steadily recover the time as our journey continues until we reach Connell Ferry where the time is largely lost as a large coach party leaves us and we are late into Inverness.

Jump off near the front of the train and run around to the departure platform for the train to Aberdeen and jump on the first door where the guard is standing. A two minute connection and I make it. Quite why the train leaves at that time I am not sure as a couple of stations down the line it has to await a working in the other direction before entering a single line section. Another I7C unit so very comfortable for this run.

Lovely countryside through here and in addition to the other wildlife there is a hare which runs briefly and then sits upright with huge ears in a ploughed field. More deer too. It looks like good farming country.

The hotel in Aberdeen is immediately outside the station and is at the very least convenient.

Rolling Stock

The lack of refreshments both ways to Wick is a slight problem and something on the service to Aberdeen would have been welcome – a huge coffee deficit today. No first class on the Far North line – but a decent loading particularly on the southbound journey with the coach tour of pensioners who had presumably gone north on the coach so were making a one way journey on 158. As already mentioned the I7C to Aberdeen was very comfortable.

Ticket Checks

The crews on the Far North line carried out checks plus there was a check on the way to Aberdeen. Scotrail are good at regular ticket checks.

Summary

An absolutely wonderful day for the scenery – nine hours on one unit with a brief break in Wick was somewhat boring – but apart from the resulting tight connection in Inverness it was a lovely day to see the scenery.

GB RailRover – Day 1 Part 2

8 February 202515 May 2024 by admin

Plan for the day

The plan for the first full day on the Railrover is to visit a new line from Edinburgh and then to go to Glasgow before heading for Inverness:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
07:40	2T64	Edinburgh (6) to Tweedbank	08:40	38.5
08:50	2T65	Tweedbank to Edinburgh (7)	09:48	38.5
10:08	2H19	Edinburgh (10) to Helensburgh C (2)	12:16	68
12:25	2H34	Helensburgh C to Dalreoch	12:38	8
12:51	2E73	Dalreoch to Balloch	13:02	5
13:08	2E56	Balloch to Westerton	13:41	15
13:53	2V37	Westerton to Milngavie	14:04	2.5
14:06	2V54	Milngavie to Glasgow Queen Street (9)	14:30	8.25
15:07	1H21	Glasgow Queen Street (7) to Inverness	18:26	180

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

Operations on the Day

Today I have my first opportunity to travel the Borders line to Tweedbank closed in 1969 and re-opened in September 2015 and once we get off the Edinburgh main line the first few stations are close together. Noticeably the car parks along the line (and at many other Scotrail stations) are very full. As we get further along the line the stations are more widely spread and I know from driving through the Borders Country the much touted extension towards Carlisle passes through many sheep but no real conurbations which will provide traffic. A pity it was not constructed as electrified line and my understanding is that spare capacity for additional services is limited – but decent patronage.

Highlight on the return journey is to spot a deer in an adjacent field which seems unsure if it should runaway.

My next journey is westwards on the line to Helensburgh Central via Bathgate on a line previously either part closed or freight only which was reinstated in 2010 as an electrified line and now attracts significant passenger usage through the main Central Belt of Scotland. West of Glasgow it eventually joins the line to the West Highlands before reaching Helensburgh Central.

Retracing my steps slightly I am now going to visit a pair of branch termini – Balloch at the southern end of Loch Lomond and Milngavie where I suddenly realise that my incoming train does not form the outgoing connection which is pawing the ground awaiting a green signal at the other platform. I was already at the front pair of doors and walk around the end of the two trains and onto the rear doors of the unit which is ready to depart.

That was scary!

This runs through to Glasgow Queen Street Low Level and I ascend into the modern main station. Here I have time for a cup of coffee before joining an I7C (HST stock) for a train to Inverness. For the first time today I am in real comfort in some well maintained and recently updated rolling stock and with decent power these units are providing some real quality for travellers as we head up to the Highlands. This is very definitely the way to travel.

The line to Tweedbank is mainly agricultural as we get away from Edinburgh whilst even the Central Belt line via Bathgate is not entirely devoid of some open fields, although more industrialised than earlier. West of Glasgow the line runs along the Clyde river – largely mud on this tidal area but later in the week it will be passed covered with water. Once heading towards the Highlands the landscape starts changing significantly as we travel towards Inverness especially as we parallel the A9 for a large chunk of the journey and are typically moving faster than the road traffic as we traverse the Cairngorms National Park which covers the line from around Killiecrankie until a little way short of Tomatin. Lovely to watch the world go by!

Lunch was easily obtained when I first arrived at Edinburgh this morning and consumed whilst using the Bathgate line. Pre-planning meant that dinner was booked for the Mustard Seed in Inverness and this is located along the river front and is recommended. Many mussels and followed by an some excellent venison.

The four branch termini (Tweedbank, Helensburgh Central, Balloch (sadly the onward length Balloch Pier is long gone) and Milngavie have not previously been visited so quite a bit of new track covered today and one of the most interesting changes was Westerton where I caught a train once before and remember it being a little bit of a wasteland. It is now developed all around, with relatively modern developments showing a huge increase in residential development in the area.

Trains were generally all well used and time keeping was generally excellent throughout the day.

Rolling Stock

On the Borders line Class 170 with first class accommodation is used, although it was not clear that first class tickets are available and indeed there seems to be a war on first class on many journeys – one wonders why operators are so keen to forego revenue from first class (probably slightly warped view as I was travelling on a first class ticket ahead of a particular journey later in the week).

The electric operations are a variety of class 334, 318 and 320 units notably one of each of the latter two paired up and this must be deliberate to run the two types together for some reason. All workmanlike and varying degrees of dirt. Heavily used workhorses and nothing wrong with that.

The I7C units are a class apart of course and have the benefit of a lot of spare power (compared to the weight) to get trains moving rapidly and then to hold decent speeds on the main lines. Very comfortable seating and inevitably a snooze or two happened as we headed northwards.

Ticket Checks

I found Edinburgh rather strange – a ticket was needed to get through the barrier off of the sleeper but joining the train to Helensburgh later did not mean passing through barriers as I recall. On train the trip on the Class 170 there were ticket checks on the train and the same was true on all of the electric services where the checking was regular. Given that there are often two units coupled on these services I have to assume that both units are each carrying revenue staff which means three people on a train – a long way from Thameslink services!

Summary

An excellent day – not the best of weather but that matters little when on a train and it improved in the Highlands. The excellent time keeping and rail activities made it all straightforward with little worry or concern. A solidly boring and reliable railway today.

GB RailRover – Day 1 Part 1

8 February 202514 May 2024 by admin

92018 – at the head of sleeper train at London Euston

Plan for the day

My railrover ticket commences on Tuesday 14 May but there is a well known easement on railrovers allowing departure on a sleeper train on the day prior to commencement, so although I have to get myself to London Euston on another ticket it will be valid for the sleeper berth I have booked for tonight.

The plan for overnight is:

Plan Dep	Train No	Journey	Plan Arr	NRT Miles
23:45	1S26	Euston to Carstairs	06:15	400
06:40	1B26	Carstairs to Edinburgh (11)	07:30

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

Operations on the Day

My initial journeys are not covered by the Rover – I have to get from home to London Euston so take the 20:40 Sandhurst to Guildford (2O90) and then the 21:15 Guildford to London Waterloo (1P72) and the Northern line. Buying the right ticket proves impossible as neither guard has the right sort of machine to produce a ticket allowing TfL travel. So I buy a ticket to Waterloo and then use my Oyster card which needs topping up – so debits my account with £20 – it all adds up.

SWR have a points problem at Woking and a freight train waiting a driver at Clapham Junction which leads to a significantly late arrival, although it is questionable if I would succeed with a delay/repay claim. The train unusually uses the Windsor Line Shed (the old International station) and terminates in platform 23 so we snake across numerous points to reach this destination – and it will depart as a train to Reading.

The sleeper is sitting on platform 1 at Euston and is ready to board once I get to the station. I find my cabin (sole occupation) and dump my bags before heading back to the club car for a glass of red wine and coffee. I return to the cabin by departure and try to sleep but the noise seems oppressive and I can sleep on most trains! After nearly 30 minutes we rumble to a halt – at Watford Junction. Hmmm.

I settle down again and this time sleep for about an hour and overall I reckon I get around five and a half hours, with the alarm going off at 06:20 shortly before breakfast – ordered last night is delivered to the berth.

As the linked times reveal there appears to be plenty of slack in the booked times as we are running late at one point and yet easily recover to arrive on the working time which is a chunk earlier than the public times.

Rolling Stock

Class 92 top and I assume tailed as the one at the rear at Euston took my portion onwards to Edinburgh after the train was split at Carstairs – I woke to find the train at rest there – and so it was an early awakening. It was light and so I could watch the world pass by as we headed in to the capital city.

This is the relatively new Mark V coaching stock which had a torrid time at introduction and on which I believe a lot of money has been spent to achieve decent service quality since delivery. Certainly having slept reasonably well and not been uncomfortable I did not have a problem. Trying to sort out one or two things between bags is not easy given the limited space but all essential needs are met and the noises seemed less of a problem once we were running smoothly.

There was water on the floor of the toilet, source not immediately obvious and some of the initial clunking noises did not give the right impression, although not preventing sleeping once I became used to them. I did not find the bar stools in the club car at all comfortable. Service was generally friendly and it is a convenient way to get from the south to Scotland.

Ticket Checks

Absolutely none – the sleeper berth booking was checked a couple of times by the sleeper staff as it is bought separately from the all line rover but the physical ticket was not checked at all.

Summary

Well apart from the delays into Waterloo a very solid start to the rail rover – ending up in the right place at the right time, breakfast consumed and ready for the day ahead.

Quick before it Goes 26.3.24

2 April 202427 March 2024 by admin

Purpose of the trip

Most of my trips are designed around visiting rail routes not previously covered – which in some ways is true of today. However the main attraction today is that at the end of the week the Tilbury – Gravesend ferry is to be withdrawn – and so a day has been devised around that journey.

Back in the latter half of the seventies I had a week commuting to Southend and thought that I had planned the week to cover all possible routes to and from London to what was then the town of Southend and which now has City status. My records (created years later) show that this may not be the case or that my memory is faulty – so the plan ensures the track is covered.

The plan for today is:

Dep Time	Hcode	Route	Arr Time	Railmiles	NRT
0842	1O61	Sandhurst to Guildford	0908	14mi 25ch	14.25
0934	2P26	Guildford to Waterloo	1016	30 mi 1 ch	30.25
		Jubilee line to West Ham		7mi 41ch
1102	2R84	West Ham to Grays	1127	15mi 48ch	15.75
1148	2D26	Grays to Tilbury	1151	1mi 62ch	1.75
1203		Bus
1230		Tilbury - Gravesend	12??
1242		Gravesend - Tilbury	12??
		Bus	1318
1320	2D32	Tilbury - Southend Central	1354	20mi 16ch	20.25
		Southend Pier Railway (rtn)			2.5
1511	2D57	Southend Central - West Ham	1616	40mi 66ch	41
		Jubilee line to Waterloo		7mi 41ch
1700	1P53	Waterloo - Guildford	1733	30mi 1 ch	30.25
1744	1V57	Guildford - Sandhurst	1811	14mi 25ch	14.25
				182mi 6ch	167.75

Notes:
Railmiles excludes bus, water and Pier Railway miles
NRT excludes Jubilee line, water, bus and Pier Railway

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

Operations on the Day

Sandhurst – Waterloo

I attempt to buy a ticket from the Guard on the GWR service to Guildford. Their ticket machines only issue floppy paper tickets which do not work on TfL gates so as ever a polite refusal. Luckily because of the appalling GWR timetable I have time to go to the ticket office at Guildford. The continuing problem where by a ticket issued at Guildford station (commencing at Sandhurst) does NOT open the ticket gates at Guildford continues. I am sure this is capable of being fixed but obviously we are on NGAD railway once again. Having re-entered the station we have an on time run to Waterloo.

Jubilee Line

Down into the depths of Waterloo and take the Jubilee line to West Ham where I am regularly advised that the lifts are not functioning. There is time to take some photographs of the stock operating through the station. Not much to say about the Jubilee line apart from it being hard to believe that it simply did not exist when I first came to London. Only the National Rail platforms actually appear to have numbers. Entrance to these platforms is at one end – but c2c prefers to park its outbound shorter trains at the far end of the platforms rather than having a shorter car length stop mid-platform.

West Ham to Grays and thence to Tilbury Town

This route is one of those not shown as having been previously traversed on my records and travelling on it today I admit I have no recollection of it. Along much of the route it is closely tracked by the main line to the Continent – and to show how much it is used only one Javelin set passes by! All that infrastructure and not that many obvious trains! My first train terminates in the bay platform at Grays and there is then a wait for the onward service. This line used to carry a more regular service but that now runs via the line through Ockenden.

This wait is marred by a bunch of young men considering it is their right to abuse the security guard adjacent to the ticket gate stating that one (and maybe more) would be travelling without a ticket and the obviously outnumbered security guard having little choice but to give way. They missed the departure of the train from the bay platform so had to cross over to the far side but the shouting and unpleasant behaviour continued. I journey onward to Grays on a train which has arrived from Chafford Hundreds which I shall visit later.

My ticket says “Tilbury Town or Riverside” – the latter station having closed and vanished in the nineties, with no obvious evidence now remaining that it existed. The line has been replaced by a bus service and there is a group of passengers waiting for the bus – some with cases are obviously going to the International Port adjacent to the ferry terminal from where cruise ships depart. The pier for the ferry to Gravesend is pretty basic in comparison. Whilst Real Time Trains shows departure times for the bus to Riverside and the PA announces where to catch the bus the staff at the station seem unaware of the timetable when asked (by another passenger) and I cannot find a timetable at the bus stop. Not helpful. I do not test my ticket being accepted and instead proffer my bus pass which is accepted without question – or any obvious record.

Tilbury – Gravesend Ferry

Jetstream Tours are the current ferry operator using “Jacob Marley” a 98 person capacity Class IV vessel of catamaran design and smartly transfers the assembled passengers to Gravesend. This moves us smartly across to Gravesend where I remain on board. The passengers are clearly a mix of locals and those travelling for the last time before the service ends and before long we are on the return journey. Uneventful is the best description. I later find that my bus pass would have been valid so someone has made money as I paid £5.50! Once back on the pier head I take some photographs before heading back to the bus – and despite my extended stay I just make it before it sets off on a grand circular tour of the Tilbury area. Not exactly the most desirable area I have visited recently. I have a long wait at Tilbury Town station once reached so it must be lunchtime.

Tilbury Town – Southend Central

A lightly loaded 357 appears for this service and it is largely a pleasant run, much of it Thameside, as we head east to the second destination of the day. It steadily becomes more prosperous as we head through South Essex. Emerging from the station (gates open – no staff visible) there are signs for the seafront and pier and I avoid the new lifts from 2016 on the downward journey – walking down steps is not difficult. Across the road is my planned destination – the Pier and the railway.

The Southend Pier Railway

The track gauge is 3ft and the pier is 1.25 miles long. Those I can see on the pier itself are well wrapped up – so I am taking a return journey (£4). One of the new battery electric units is in use today, the other one is standing spare. These date from 2021 with one of the 1986 diesel trains stored at the pier end allegedly as a “spare” although it cannot see much use. The 1986 and 2021 sets were all built by Severn Lamb. From 1889 to 1978 it operated as a 3′ 6″ gauge electric railway and was then closed until 1986 when it re-opened with the diesel sets following rebuilding.

There are two platforms at the land end (one housing the spare battery electric unit) and a passing place half way along the pier with two platforms at the sea end (one housing the spare diesel set).

A half hourly service was running on the day of my visit and this seems to apply apart from the busiest days. The journey takes about 8 – 10 minutes and so there is only about 5 minutes before the service returns on the quarter hour.

Southend Central – West Ham

I take the new lifts to the town level before wandering back to the station. It is many years since I last visited Southend and like many seaside towns I do not get the feeling it has improved in the interim. Southend Central station platform roofs look like they need attention and the (now) City looks generally depressed. On my return I need to find my ticket as the gateline is now staffed.

My return train is waiting in the bay platform and it retraces my earlier journey as far as Tilbury Town before taking the line through Chafford Hundreds – opened in May 1995 to serve the extensive local housing and Lakeside shopping centre. It is single track on this section and it is my belief that this is likely to have been my first coverage of the line as it was for a while an Upminster – Grays shuttle, calling at the only station, Ockenden and I do not think it featured in my travels. So new track I believe. In 2022/2023, Chafford Hundred Lakeside had 2,127,970 entries and exits, making it the 222^nd most used station in Great Britain. This makes it the busiest single platform station in the UK beating Windsor and Eton Central (1,580,166). With thanks to Railway Data Centre for providing easy access to these numbers.

At West Ham I do not hang around – straight to the Jubilee and onto Waterloo station.

Waterloo – Sandhurst

I just miss the 16:45 departure – I am at the gateline as the train gets the route. So I can snaffle a coffee with the 17:00 is at the adjacent platform and get on board and get comfortable thinking that this last part of the journey will be straightforward and with no worries. Departure time comes and we don’t. The guard comes on the PA. Apparently a member of train crew – namely himself – was on the wrong platform. So a minor mistake is likely to ruin today’s excellent timekeeping.

When we do get underway it is far from the usual whoosh out of Waterloo and running is sedate for some minutes with further time lost. Once we get out of the canyon of buildings along the line it is possible to get a data signal and so I can check train running – and eventually identify that for some reason the service from Redhill is running late, so unless we lose a lot of time the connection will hold. We recover a little of the time lost and once at Guildford the late running train to Reading is confirmed.

Home is reached ten minutes or so late – but much better than my excursion a couple of months ago.

Costs / Ticket Checks

I was uncertain as to running times for the bus/ferry combination so bought a return ticket to Tilbury (£26.75) and from Tilbury to Southend (£7.65) which would have been cheaper as a single ticket. I could have saved £5.50 on the ferry and the only other item was £4 (concession) on the Pier Railway. The rail expenditure was therefore 18.9p per mile – not quite as cheap as other trips.

The only attempt at a ticket check was on the first train where I stopped the guard to try and buy a ticket – he was not seriously checking tickets. Gates at Southend were open on arrival. At Tilbury Town the gateline was working as it was at Waterloo. Only Guildford station gates refused to work for the ticket and this is a long standing nuisance.

Rolling Stock

165 on GWR service, 444 on Portsmouth line, 357 on the c2c services. 720s were seen on the c2c lines but none presented for travel on the designated services. The 357 fleet started entering service between 1999 and 2002 so most of them are in good condition. The 357 are part of the Electrostar fleet and so comparable to similar units elsewhere on the network. Nothing unusual.

Summary

The day worked well – all objectives achieved and return home almost on time without serious concerns.

Ever Increasing Circles 27.2.24

31 March 20241 March 2024 by admin

Curve to St Albans Abbey line at Watford

Purpose of the trip

The underlying aim of the plan was to cover four sections of track which I do not believe I have previously travelled – for a variety of reasons.

The plan was as follows:

Hcode	Dep time	Route	Arr time	NRT	Railmiles
1V39	0907	Blackwater to Reading	0930	13.5	13mi 16ch
1D18	0948	Reading (9) to Oxford (4)	1015	27.5	27mi 31ch
1Y29	1019	Oxford (2) to Princes Risborough (2)	1057	30.5	30mi 39ch
2A23	1132	Princes Risborough (1) to Aylesbury (1)	1148	7.5	7mi 17ch
2V25	1156	Aylesbury to Aylesbury Vale Parkway	1203	2.75	2mi 25ch
2C40	1213	Aylesbury Vale Parkway to Marylebone	1319	40.5	41mi 13ch
2F23	1518	Euston (11) to Watford Jn (11)	1539	17.5	17mi 5 ch
2K41	1600	Watford Jn (8) to Bletchley (3)	1638	29.25	29 mi 20 ch
2S23	1645	Bletchley (6) to Bedford (1A)	1727	16.75	16mi 17ch
1H48	1741	Bedford (2) to St Pancras	1822	49	49mi 53ch
1B31	1918	Paddington (4) to Reading (8)	1941	36	35mi 70ch
1O88	1954	Reading (4) to Blackwater	2012	13.5	13mi 16ch
				284.25	283mi 2ch

I should thank Real Time Trains for the ability to record the services used in the linked documents.

Oxford – Bicester

I had covered this when it was a freight only line, presumably on a railtour, but had never traversed the chord at Bicester linking the cross country line to the line towards London enabling a service between Marylebone and Oxford (operated by Chiltern) which became fully operational in 2016. A slightly tight connection at Oxford was some concern before the day but was made with ease. The journey certainly seemed to be enjoying good patronage – with the obvious attraction of Bicester Village on the line.

Princes Risborough – Aylesbury

This stretch of line being “new” is open to question as I have a feeling I did attempt to cover it at some point – but do not have any record of doing so. My service is held up outside Princes Risborough and I later discover that the main route between Aylesbury and London Marylebone is not running smoothly. I have arrived over 30 minutes before the onward journey and that period here enables some photos to be taken as trains are passing in all directions. There are significant works on this line as it has been raised to enable HS2 to pass underneath and the landscape currently shows significant earthworks in progress in all directions.

Aylesbury to Aylesbury Vale Parkway

The service was extended here from Aylesbury in 2008 and I had been Aylesbury and over the line northwards, again on a railtour, many years ago but the station had not been visited. There is a lot of new development around the terminus but in terms of passengers from Aylesbury beside myself there was a couple and a dog. I assume it is busier at other times.

Euston to Watford Jn

The track concerned here is covered once a day and it is the curve from the main line to Watford Junction platform 11 which is used by the shuttle to St Albans Abbey throughout the day – with a daily unit changeover being organised by running this service from London Euston into platform 11 – so having previously covered the branch I leave once the curve has been traversed and head into the main station to catch a stopping train northwards towards Milton Keynes.

Bletchley – Bedford

Further up I referred to four pieces of track – and this is a fifth! I do not believe that this covered any new track – but Bedford St Johns was relocated in 1984 onto the curve into Bedford station and therefore there is an additional station which was not there previously. For a line that has been closed for a significant period it is noticeable that passengers numbers were indicating decent usage and the Bedford St John’s station was where the majority of remaining passengers alighted as it is presumably closer to the town centre.

Operations on the Day

For most of the day the services ran largely as anticipated. 1Y29 was late into Princes Risborough no doubt due to diverted services from Aylesbury using the route to London.

2C40 the train from Aylesbury to London Marylebone was also diverted via Princes Risborough – I was quite surprised to be back on the branch line I had left not much earlier retracing my steps and running over the old GC/GWR route! The direct route distance (shown above) is 41mi 13ch. Via the actual route it 45mi 64ch so adding 4mi 51ch to the distance travelled today. However as the link notes with zero stops we actually arrived 1 minute early into Marylebone. At the latter station there was no indication of any disruption and no announcements so presumably the problems had been fixed. However it appears that the problem is actually a significant earth slip. Quite how the displays at Marylebone were not reporting this I am not sure – as this was ongoing for some time.

1H48 was a service from Corby to St Pancras and was running late due to a train fault earlier in the journey. I had hopes that as it had already recovered some time before reaching Bedford that it would recover more on the run into London but presumably as the path had been lost it eventually ended up losing more time. I already knew the potential connection into the service from Paddington was tight and it is a long walk from EMR trains to the Hammersmith and City line station. The ticket opened the gate but the hoped for service was leaving the platform as I reached it. It is also a long walk at Paddington from the Hammersmith and City platforms and whilst I am sure I used to use the footbridge with signs to the relevant platforms that all appears to be closed at present (with the exception of Heathrow Express) and so it is a long walk to the concourse. The ticket did not open the gate at Paddington and in retrospect that was because the train I now intended to catch – 1W36 – which runs to Great Malvern – is one of those which is not permitted on Off Peak Days returns (p7) restriction. I showed the ticket to the man on the gate and he let me through – which was nice. Indeed having rechecked the restrictions I note that the originally planned 19:18 departure (see above) is also banned! Naughty! In reality I do wonder if these restrictions out of Paddington need to be reconsidered, although I cannot deny that the Great Malvern was fairly full close to the rear I suspect the front coaches had a lot of seats.

Overall the original train home was achieved so no real problems.

Tickets and Cost

When I was planning the day out I had great difficulty with the tickets. No-one believes that Sandhurst residents want to go to Aylesbury Vale Parkway and so there is no fare via the route I wished to take – the only approved route is via London, even though it is probably shorter via Oxford! Split Tickets indicate that the solution is a day return Sandhurst to Wokingham and a day return from there to Aylesbury Vale Parkway which as “any permitted route” allows the outward journey taken – quite why the logic allows a different permitted route from Wokingham is far from obvious. A number of the ticket offerings were limited to “via London” which could not be over-ridden and so finding the right combination provided a challenge (even if the train out of Paddington was not allowed). It also opened the gate at St Pancras for the Underground.

The ticket from Euston to Bedford is (and the guard on the service to Bletchley agreed) valid from Euston to Bletchley, although the journey planners tend not to use that route and certainly not with a change of train at Watford Junction – but I did not leave the station so it is not really a break of journey.

Tickets were actually bought from GWR and SWR this time around as follows

Blackwater – Wokingham Off Peak Day Return £4.80
Wokingham – Aylesbury Vale Parkway Off Peak Day Return £24.75
Euston (actually Underground Zone 1 & 2) – Bedford Off Peak Day Return £22.30

So total costs of £51.85 so around 18p per mile – not as cheap as the previous trip but that was aided by Advance tickets which tend not to be available on shorter journeys such as this. If I had travelled via London from Sandhurst the cost would have been less – but only by about £2.

Ticket Checks

Unusually my ticket was checked before Wokingham. The next check was on the service to Bletchley and then again on the line to Bedford so kudos to the operator. No checks at all on Chiltern and the gates were open at Marylebone and again at Euston – which both seem odd. At Euston the train was announced and I was able to reach the platform but the train itself was not open to passengers – poor given that the time from boarding to departure was not very long. A ticket check out of Paddington would have shown an illegal journey – so for that I should be grateful!

Rolling Stock

Inevitably a huge mixture. The GWR Turbos may be getting on a bit but internally and externally they have all bee refreshed in the not too distant past and look in good condition. The Chiltern Turbos by comparison are equally long in the tooth and certainly internally look it – seat covers generally in poor condition, although as ever it might just be the units I utilised. The 350 units from Euston were average. The 150 on the Marston Vale line have been tarted up quite nicely for their revitalisation of the line and no doubt are capable of doing the job for now. The 360 from Bedford south looked reasonable but again they have recently had a makeover. Units used are shown on the linked Real Time sheets except for 2F23 (350107), 2K41(350405 & 350127) and 2S23 (150141), all West Midlands Trains operated and who are not as yet providing the data feed I believe.

Summary

Route and objectives achieved. Return home on time as planned and nothing seriously went wrong – despite one route being closed due to a landslip and another service running late due to a fault. I have to hope this can be matched on future trips. By the end of this day I was feeling fairly tired and I am still not used to lugging around a bag for the entire day – and I know that on a railrover that will be more significant.

Other photos from the day (all a little random) are in this album.

Figure of Eight 7.2.24

12 February 20248 February 2024 by admin

Gunnislake Terminus — Gunnislake Buffer stop

This is my first planned rail trip of the new series. I am planning a Railrover later in the year and when doing the planning for that trip fitting in the Gunnislake branch (which I have never travelled) proved very difficult – the service is only two hourly and a plan could not be found so it is going to have to be a one off trip.

The plan is

Dep	Code	Route	Arr	Miles	Railmiles
08:14	1V37	Sandhurst to Reading (5)	08:32	11.5	11m 52ch
09:30	1C74	Reading (7) to Plymouth (5)	12:14	189.75	189m 42ch
12:28	2G79	Plymouth (3) to Gunnislake	13:14	14.5	14m 49ch
13:19	2G80	Gunnislake to Plymouth (3)	14:04	14.5	14m 49ch
14:15	1A88	Plymouth (4) to Exeter St Davids (5)	15:12	52	52m 3ch
15:25	1L60	Exeter St Davids (1) to Woking (2)	18:16	148.25	147m 51ch
18:24	1P57	Woking (4) to Guildford (4)	18:33	5.75	5m 74ch
18:45	1V59	Guildford (5) to Sandhurst	19:11	14.25	14m 25ch

Clicking the train code links through to the Real Time Trains report of the service concerned, for the last one see below. My thanks to Real Time Trains for the excellent facility they provide. Tickets were sourced from Split Tickets – see comments at the end.

The starting time is made particularly annoying by the loss of an hour in Reading. Great Western have failed to realise that the North Downs requires a regular 30 minute interval to all stations and there is a strange timetable which does not even manage hourly repeats throughout the day with an odd minute changing in different hours. Morning and evening peaks manage a semblance of a 30 minute service – but that needs to extend to the entire day. So the train arrives as the Plymouth service departs – so an hour’s wait.

Once on board the Plymouth train we get off to half decent start running to time until Hungerford at which time the power drops off and we are slowing, ahead of us 800306 on a Westbury service which had been running early is delayed for some reason and is now delaying our progress and will continue to do so until Heywood Road Junction where it heads off to Westbury station and we take the loop line to Fairwood Junction; we recover a few minutes by Taunton but then remain about 7 minutes late for the rest of the journey to Plymouth.

Here I am pleased to note that the onward connection into Cornwall has been held and as we are due to follow that out of Plymouth the Gunnislake branch train has been held as well. Smart activity gets those onward into Cornwall across the platform whilst we walk to platform 3 which is bay, although it used to be a through line – now cut with a walkway to the station entrance. The next train is 150265 which heads initially westwards and then turns north off the main line and starts following the eastern edge of the River Tamar.

Railway Magazine visited the branch and records the line’s origins and features. I particularly note that as we leave Plymouth the lineside mileage markers decrease as we head towards Waterloo and that our progress is soon limited by the gradients which limit uphill speed. A reasonable number of people aboard for a lunchtime service – quite a number of children in school uniform whom I presume form an important reason for the line’s retention. The article refers to an intention that by 2022/3 the service would have been extended over the old Southern alignment to Tavistock. In 2024 that possibility is even more years away than 5 or 6 as implied then!

Situated at Bere Ferrers is the Tamar Belle using the station and railway land adjacent, I did not have time to stop but perhaps a revisit sometime in the future and no need for a car.

At Bere Alston the train stops and the driver moves to the other end and we head back out curving away from the previous L&SWR line onto an earlier, formerly narrow gauge line. Mileage count restarts from zero and the route executes a 180 degree turn to the right before about 90 degrees to the left and across the Calstock viaduct following which there are further twists and turns as the line rises to the terminus at Gunnislake.

Destination achieved.

On a fine day I am sure the views are stunning, even today on a typical grey February day the views over the countryside are pretty good and there is a few minutes before the return journey commences as the driver again swaps ends. The return journey, particularly after Bere Alston is downhill and speeds are therefore much higher than on the outward journey as we return to Plymouth. Then a further GWR train this time as far as Exeter where I leave the service.

To get the best price for the day I used a split ticket supplier for the first time and the return routing (no doubt because it is slower) is over the former L&SWR via Salisbury and a pair of Class 159s emerges from the sidings. These units are now starting to show their age – the air conditioning is pretty noisy as are the diesel engines. We leave slightly retracing our steps before turning left and taking the sharp curves and gradient up to Exeter Central, which for the remainder of my journey is shown on the public display in my coach as the next station.

Ticket checks were experienced after leaving Reading, on the Gunnislake branch and again twice on this service. As ever it seems that guards on North Downs services are not allowed to get out of the rear cab except at stations).

The figure of 8 comes about because at Farnborough the Exeter train passes over the line from Guildford to Sandhurst and so I disembark at Woking and await a connecting service to Guildford at which point for the first time today it all falls apart as the planned 1V59 has failed and is returning to reading as 5V59 which is not much fun because as already remarked this line has a far from desirable hourly service (and yes I know that is better than the Gunnislake branch BUT the population levels are significantly different!!). An hour’s wait is therefore mandated by the manadarins at Swindon who know little of commuter territory and how frequent regular half hourly services can be provided.

A polite request is made via “X” (you know Twitter) for additional calls in 1V60 which would enable the stranded to make an earlier return – I doubt Control was even asked or even considered the possibility of making amends for the train failure. In consequence 1V62 looks the appropriate option. Tossing a coin I decide to take 1V60 to Blackwater and a hugely expensive taxi.

Fares today totalled (excluding the taxi) £53.85. The distance covered was 448.50 miles, so the cost was 12p per mile which will be an interesting benchmark for future excursions. This was an interesting mix of anytime single, advance singles, evening out, off peak day return which I defy any rational individual to actually discover or utilise without an online resource!

One of the reasons for undertaking this trip was also to see how I cope with a long day travelling as I have not pursued such activity for many years. I could have done with a coffee in Exeter – and by the time I realised that the café facility on platform 1 cannot be accessed from the platform side (so would need finding ticket and so on) or returning to platform 5 I felt time was too limited. Also the failure of the train from Guildford ruined what otherwise was a sensible day. I will admit to having a snooze as we travelled between Exeter and Yeovil. However other aspects were successful and I am sure some better light would have led to more photographs.

Reboot – 2024 – A New Start

8 February 202414 January 2024 by admin

Having now been retired about 10 years the changes in the last couple of years have brought about a change in thinking. When I retired I started getting out and about for a few months until getting involved with other activities.

During covid thoughts turned to undertaking a railrover – indeed planned and booked until a rail strike was called. Some 18 months or so later that threat has receded and so one is planned – but even so there are large parts of the rail network never visited. So 2024 and a reboot. There will be visits around the rail network – circular trips where ticket validity allows or pricing has some impact. Whilst the old Southern Region was covered a long time ago the aim is to try and see much of the rest of the rail network.

So this old repository has been repurposed and is being rebuilt for the reboot.