FGW Diversions Trip - 29th March 2013

[Crossover]

Well, along with a few other forum members, I am embarking on a trip to fairly unknown territory (for me, this is) today, and I figure that starting a trip report now will lead to it being more detailed, as I sit onboard the Grand Central service to London Kings Cross, what with having free WiFi at my disposal :P

Not one for getting up early (though I don't think I am the earliest for this trip by a long margin) I was wondering why I had subjected myself to a 7.30am train on Good Friday! The only saving graces are that it is nice and light and the start is no earlier than leaving for work (driving to which, I regularly pass the GC service en-route anyway!)

So, the day started with a quick breakfast and then a brisk walk to the station to catch the 07:28 GC from Mirfield International (:P)
The weather, whilst cold, is dry this morning and the roads very quiet, so it made for a rather pleasant, if slightly nippy, walk.

Arriving at Mirfield station with a few minutes to spare, the service was announced and arrived soon after in the form of 180101 - from memory, what I believe to be a winner...good start! Whilst I thought the whole train could get in the platform, it appears only the front 4 coaches are on the platform, with the guard opening up only the front 3. A couple of members of staff appeared from the local door, where I also boarded, but it seems that I was alone catching the service this morning.

Arriving at the next stop, Wakefield Kirkgate, I have to say I think the place looks rather better than it did before the refurb - things can only get better! Unlike the last time I was on this service, we only had a couple of minutes at Wakefield, picking up a fairly healthy number of passengers, before heading off towards Ponte Carlo.

Not far out of Wakefield, we passed a Class 66 running light engine towards Wakefield under caution and we continued along towards Streethouse. I'm sure it didn't seem so bad last time, but Streethouse seemed to take an age in arriving and we trundled along the line. Just when it didn't seem possible to go much slower, we slowed further still! I think it is just the linespeed in the area rather than being cautioned, but I am sure the Northern services go quicker! Trundling along, I likened it to having a high powered car and taking it on a 30 road - it just doesn't like going so slow!

To my surprise, arrival at Pontefract Monkhill was bang on time and we picked up another fairly decent amount of passengers before quickly heading off towards the Knottingley avoider, passing a number of tanks in the sidings en-route. Another trundle and we are heading along the freight line (which in places, looks fairly recently relaid!) and passed another Class 66, this time hauling a number of wagons.

This part of the trip was much the same as the last part, until we got to the single lead junction north of Doncaster and onto the ECML, where the 180 could finally show what it is capable of and really give it some power! Arrival at Doncaster was again prompt and the platform reasonably busy, with an East Coast mixed livery set across the other side of the station. I think we were only booked a couple of minutes at Donny, which soon passed. I heard what I believe was the whistle to the guard followed by a member of staff hurriedly walking down the platform to the front crew door of our train...I guess it was our driver who had made a quick getaway at Donny nearly getting caught out!

It was 8:30 by now (so an hour so far) and despite it being Good Friday, the spotters were already out in force on the end of the platform. I counted 4 that I could see, set up with tripods and other equipment. One grabbed a quick photo of our 180 before joining the rest to phot/film 2 freight trains having a race through Doncaster station, one behind the other. Unfortunately I didn't see what was on the business end of these services, so cannot report on that

Leaving Doncaster, the only thing of note has been yet another Class 66 not far out of Donny, this one being 66720, notable for the artwork on the side of it.

Having passed Grantham a little while ago, I have now technically travelled all the GC West Riding route (including the services avoiding Pontefract) - the last service I had from London terminated at Grantham due to track defects, so I had a GC hole in the middle :P

I come to you now having just passed (slowly) through Peterborough, where it is looking a bit brighter (it got quite overcast round the Newark area) and a whole host of FCC 317 and 321's on depot, as well as a 66 (number ended with a 5, could have been 805) the East Coast service for Edinburgh.

Next stop is Kings Cross in about 45 minutes, before a dash across to Waterloo to meet the HST. Hopefully there will be more to come soon

 

[eastwestdivide]

More please from our on-the-spot roving reporter...

 

[Crossover]

More please from our on-the-spot roving reporter...

Haha

Well, I'm on mobile now, so anything will be brief. Now on the 1059 service, which oddly, left at 1107 still on time...it is pretty wedged!

 

[anthony263]

Excellent looking forward to reading more soon.

 

[CC 72100]

Haha

Well, I'm on mobile now, so anything will be brief. Now on the 1059 service, which oddly, left at 1107 still on time...it is pretty wedged!

07 is is the WTT departure times from Waterloo according to another thread, as to not conflict with the x:00 Portsmouth Hbr and x:05 [somewhere else] SWT services.

 

[MCR247]

I think the xx.05 are Weymouth services

 

[Searle]

To my surprise, arrival at Pontefract Monkhill was bang on time and we picked up another fairly decent amount of passengers before quickly heading off towards the Knottingley avoider, passing a number of tanks in the sidings en-route. Another trundle and we are heading along the freight line (which in places, looks fairly recently relaid!) and passed another Class 66, this time hauling a number of wagons.

There's a huge amount of slack between Wakefield and Pontefract, when I did this service, we waited on an empty Pontefract Monkhill for about 10-15 minutes before heading off :P Might be something to do with making sure that they get their path on the ECML on time.

 

[Crossover]

07 is is the WTT departure times from Waterloo according to another thread, as to not conflict with the x:00 Portsmouth Hbr and x:05 [somewhere else] SWT services.

Quite correct. I was wondering if it would confuse anyone but you're all too good. Indeed 11:07 was the WTT departure, and my was it needed to get everyone on in time!

There's a huge amount of slack between Wakefield and Pontefract, when I did this service, we waited on an empty Pontefract Monkhill for about 10-15 minutes before heading off :P Might be something to do with making sure that they get their path on the ECML on time.

Last time I made the trip, we were so early (despite leaving Mirfield late) at Wakefield Kirkgate, we had to wait for the Knottingley train and had a lengthy wait there and at Pontefract, so it could have been that the driver just took it leisurely and admired the view, rather than nailing it between stations and having ages to wait. We didn't have more than a couple of minutes at each station (see here)

 

[Crossover]

Well, here I am with the rest of the day (I had started this the other day in browser, then accidently hit back and lost it all )

I don't have my notes of unit numbers to hand either, so they will be largely missing on this occasion.

To pick up from where I left off, arrival at Kings Cross was a refreshing 3 minutes early and was instantly greeted with somewhat surprising sight of the lack of the old "arrivals" area, as I hadn't realised it had now gone. This also put paid to my intended route to the Underground, but nonetheless, along with a fellow member, we made our way to the Victoria Line, changing at Oxford Circus to the Bakerloo Line and on to Waterloo to meet some of the other members, arriving with plenty time to spare.

I made a quick dash for food to Boots (in itself it may seem odd, but WH Smith was rammed and I had a Boots gift voucher to use ) before locating the others and our HST sat on platform 11 (pretty unmistakeable in a sea of mostly SWT orange!)
The queue was getting pretty long at the barrier line already with passengers not being allowed through to begin with. A little ingenuity and we were soon on the platform though and soon boarding with the masses!

We found ourselves towards the front, in Coach E, and it wasn't long before people were unable to go one way down the carriage for people going the other! Thankfully, most of the group were able to get a seat and it didn't take long for the remainder to be filled. As reported earlier, the extra time between the public timetable and working timetable departure time was definitely required and we eventually departed behind the various SWT services.

Though we were routed on the fasts, we did seem to trundle along more than anything and I didn't get any great sense of speed. Nonetheless, the non-stop run through Clapham Junction was something a little different, especially with the bemused looks on the faces of some on the platform! It was also a case of spot the spotters/photters as there were quite a few erm....stationed on stations along the route, with one even perched on the top of a stepladder in the car park of one of the stations, though I can't recall which.

Arrival at Basingstoke was on time and was greeted with quite a few photters, both male and female, with some of them proceeding to get to the opposite end of the platform ready to phot the departure as well...not all made it! As Basingstoke was a pick-up only station, it was only going to get busier, which it did. The station also had an XC Voyager sat on another platform, having terminated there doing shuttles to/from Bournemouth.

Having left Basingstoke, I can't say I can recall much of the journey to Westbury, aside from passing Sailsbury, due to looking up some things on maps with a fellow member - oddly those "things" being in the Midlands! We arrived at Westbury on time and proceeded to make our way past the crowds to get off the train. It took a while but we got there, with one member, on alighting, wishing those waiting to board "good luck" in doing so - they would certainly need it.

We had a little wait (and the departure of the HST) before the Cardiff bound service arrived to take us onto Bristol via Trowbridge. The platform looked a touch busy and we got ourselves in a location where we hoped we would get on the train. FGW's 158953 (from what I recall) turned up and we piled on the front of the service, most of having to stand, some in the carriage aisles and some in the vestibule, with some getting a seat. It wasn't quite as busy as I expected and on arrival at Bath Spa, the service emptied out, meaning we all got seats for the last dash to Temple Meads.

I may end up being a little controversial here, but on arrival at Bristol Temple Meads (the first time I have been here) I was rather underwhelmed. Once it was noted we had come into an "outside" platform, I likened it to a slightly larger York, only I somehow prefer York. Nonetheless, we headed towards the main train shed as the 158 prepped for departure, complete with a gull on the roof - bet he was trying to travel ticketless :P - whilst discussions began about where we should go for food.

A quick look at the main trainshed, which improved my perception a bit (though I thought it was bigger than it is) and a note of how quiet the station was (very few trains around) and we headed across the way to The Knights Templar - a Wetherspoons pub nearby. Finding a couple of tables, the food came very promptly and at a reasonable cost, would definitely recommend

The food arrived so quickly, we had more time to spare than we realised and with seemingly little in the immediate vicinity, headed for a train earlier than planned and to spend the additional time in London. Making our way back across the station, the HST was in but hadn't been opened up...not that it stopped people trying to open the doors anyway. "Thunk" and we were on - much quieter and it didn't really fill up all that much at Temple Meads.

We had a prompt getaway and back onto Bath Spa where the train very quickly filled up...the platforms on arrival were heaving. Expecting the train to now be rather busy for the duration, we got a surprise when a similarly large number of people alighted at the next station along the line, through Brunel's Box Tunnel, Chippenham, which is notable for having 3 platform faces but only the island platform both in use and with tracks. On from here was going to more bits of new track for me, as we headed onto Swindon and then Oxford, via Didcot Power Station and the normally freight only Didcot avoiding curve and onto the line to Oxford. Incidentally, for me, it means I have done the rare track of the Swindon-Oxford avoider before doing the routes that see a regular service (that I remember anyway - I may have done the Reading - Didcot - Swindon line before)

There was a reasonable loading from Oxford, but it didn't leave the train overly busy, and we headed off on the short hop to Banbury, where the doors were released despite not being a calling point. The turn around was short and we were soon signalled out via one of the many semaphores and headed out onto the Chilterns. The sun started setting as we came along - all in all, a fairly pleasant journey, though nothing much to really report back on! As we came alongside the Underground's Central Line at West Ruislip, we play cat and mouse with a 1992 Stock service, which out accelerates us between stations then drops back to call at stations. This continues up until Greenford where we join the New North Main Line and are are subject to severe speed restrictions so the Underground train well and truly outdoes us! As we progress along the line, a few of us stood in the vestibule, there is an announcement from the guard informing us the speed restriction is 20mph, but that we will soon be back at normal speed once we get on the mainline, a few minutes later.

It isn't long before this arrived and we are back onto the main line and the approach to Paddington, running ahead of time, and signalling the end of the diversions per sé. On arrival at Paddington we all bail off the HST and head our own ways. For myself and a few others, this was via the Underground to Kings Cross and to the O'Neils pub nearby to kill some time before heading our own way. As a final part, that, for me and a couple of others was the 21:00 service from the Cross which I departed at York to complete the rest of my journey by road, after yet another great day out