GWR

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.