GB RailRover – Day 6

800102 at Newcastle

800102 at Newcastle

Plan for the day

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

Plan DepTrain NoJourneyPlan ArrNRT Miles
08:451S03Newcastle to Edinburgh10:27124.5
10:352Y14Edinburgh to North Berwick11:0929.25
11:202Y13North Berwick to Edinburgh11:5229.25
12:172K01Edinburgh to Glenrothes with Thornton13:1430.75
13:202G02Glenrothes to Edinburgh Haymarket14:1629.5
14:302Y45E Haymarket to Glasgow C15:5947.25
18:211Y27Glasgow Q St to Oban21:24101.5

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

Operations on the Day

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

380113 Edinburgh
380113 Edinburgh

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

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

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

Crossing the Clyde
Crossing the Clyde

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

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

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

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

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

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

Rolling Stock

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

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

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

Ticket Checks

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

Summary

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

 

GB RailRover – Day 5

197104 at Shrewsbury
197104 at Shrewsbury

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 DepTrain NoJourneyPlan ArrNRT Miles
08:152M04Llandrinod to Shrewsbury09:4651.75
10:241D12Shrewsbury to Wrexham General11:0129.75
11:202J60Wrexham General to Wrexham Central11:240.5
11:292F66Wrexham Central to Bidston12:3227.5
12:362W24Bidston to Liverpool Lime Street12:534.75
13:152F58Liverpool Lime St to Wigan North Western14:0420
14:261S62Wigan NW to Lancaster14:5736.25
15:021C57Lancaster to Barrow in Furness16:0534.75
16:112C35Barrow in Furness to Carlisle18:4185.25
18:492A46Carlisle to Newcastle20:1661.75

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.

777 at Bidston
777 at Bidston

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.

Grange over Sands
Grange over Sands

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.