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.