Waterloo

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

Operations on the Day

I suppose a die-hard enthusiast would (like the Heart of Wales line) have taken the very early service out of Oban – I am too old for such action.  The light does not work so well on the surroundings as it did last night but it  remains another attractive landscape through which to travel which of course retraces all the way to Glasgow Queen Street.

An unusual way to reach Glasgow Central is to take the local service to Anniesland using a chord which closed in 1985 and was lifted in 1988.  By 2005 the tide had turned and the chord was relaid and the line re-opened.  For me a wander along the platform to the other face and I can catch a train into Glasgow Central Low Level.

320321 at Anniesland

Here there are a large number of people waiting with queues on the far side for main line services and what appears to be standard operating practice of not opening platforms to passengers until the very last possible moment.  This might have been compounded by a late platform change.  RealTime Trains was advising (until after we departed) that we would be leaving from Platform 7 – but at a very late stage the train is advertised from platform 6 so for some reason I suspect a unit swap was undertaken.

Travelling on an overnight service many years we were routed via Kilmarnock I was told subsequently – but knew nothing of it, so I am taking the opportunity today to do it in daylight as a different way of reaching Carlisle.  We head through the southern outskirts of the City and then into the countryside – the stations are well spaced in the countryside and we head through an area of the Borders country which I have never visited – more new attractive countryside.  A number of stations along the line were re-opened in 1994 adding to the usage but even now given the paucity of the population the usage remains low.

At Carlisle I walk to the front of the incoming train and board first class for the high speed journey into London Euston.  We are more or less to time until just before Watford Junction when we come to a stand and then run 8 to 9 minutes late until we arrive at Euston.  It is highly disappointing that my travel time is not a meal service – just light bites – I had hoped I might get something decent to compare with my LNER experience earlier in the holiday.  It remains a pity that these units are hobbled at 125mph and are not running at their design speeds of 140mph.  And in Europe similar units are running at even higher speeds.

The Northern line soon delivers me to Waterloo and I am able to catch a train 15 minutes earlier than planned and then the onward hourly service home – where unusually I am able to travel first class.

Rolling Stock

The Pendolinos have undergone a fairly heavy mid-life refurbishment and the units are in generally good order and the fleet is looking good and generally performing well.

GWR (unusually as I rarely like much of what they do – my local line timetable is the evidence of my hatred) is a prime example of how other operators should work.  A small bay adjacent to the cab with a small number of better seats isolated from the remainder of the train provides a better and branded first class environment.  Why can other non-metro operators not do this on longer time services – four hours is NOT a metro service, why not fit a few first class seats and take the extra money?  Why throw money away?

As an example the line via Kilmarnock and Dumfries is through a lot of countryside – so why no first class on the trains.

Ticket Checks

Travelling first class from Guildford home I was a little surprised not to have a ticket check but otherwise checks again a little thin – but then I was on some trains for some distance.

Summary

Another day when there was a small amount of late running – but the delays did not knock onto causing delays to reaching the eventual destination on time.  Again today has gone well and the last 569 miles (plus the Underground) and many people have made it all work extremely well.