LittleRedTrain
Member
A couple of months ago, Gizmogle and I decided that we'd use the time I'd booked off from work from 15-21 August to go for a 7-day UK bash.
Having a disabled railcard allowed me to get a significant discount on an All Line Rover, and she could of course travel for free on her priv. Having houses in the south and north also allowed us to avoid paying for accommodation or doing large numbers of overnighters at stations or on trains.
Photos:
Mine: http://www.littleredtrain.co.uk/gallery
Gizmogles: http://gizmogle.fotopic.net
Before the trip
Getting the All Line Rover was not as easy as I expected, the ticket clerk at Ash Vale had no idea what one was and did not believe she could issue it. After I persuaded her that she could, she eventually phoned someone and I was issued with the correct ticket.
Day 1 Isle of Wight and Southern
Our aim was to get all of the IOW and some areas of the south coast done.
The day went pretty much to plan, we first headed to the IOW (having to leg it for the ferry at Portsmouth because the train from Guildford was running late). We bashed the line to Shanklin and intended to go back to Smallbrook Jn for the steam railway, but our train sailed straight through. We got off at Ryde St Johns Road and, after a quick look around, caught the next train back to Smallbrook, which did fortunately stop.
We took a trip on the steam railway behind an Austerity 0-6-0ST before catching Island Line back up to Ryde. Back on the mainline, we travelled from Portsmouth to Barnham and did the Bognor and Littlehampton branches, before heading up to London via Horsham, Epsom and Guildford.
After picking up an excessive amount of doughnuts in London, we took the 2200 HST from KX up to York, via the Askern freight line and then TPX to Manchester Picc, where we amused ourselves listening to the loud music played throughout the station until our 0520 departure.
Day 2 - North Wales
The aim was to catch the steam service on the Cambrian up to Porthmadog, go to Pwllheli and back, travel on the Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) and then use the Ffestiniog Railway, Conwy Valley Line and North Wales Coast to take us back to Manchester and then on to Buxton.
To get to Machynlleth in time for the steam train required a very early 0520 departure from Manchester, followed by a 6min connection at Stafford and a 7min connection at Wolverhampton. Fortunately, despite the late departure of our Voyager from Stafford, we manage to make both connections with relative ease. We were also spared having to wait around in the draughty waiting room at Machynlleth, as the steam service pulled into the station well before it was due to depart, and we could settle ourselves into some nice comfy seats.
The run up the Cambrian was very pleasant, much more so than by 158, and we arrived in Porthmadog pretty much on time. After a quick expedition to pick up some food and to purchase Gizmogles ticket for the Ffestiniog we caught a 158 to Pwllheli. We had time to get an ice cream before taking the same train back to Porthmadog, where we headed to the WHR(P),
Surprisingly, the WHR(P) train departed late and on our way back, we were a little concerned that we might miss our connection to the Ffestiniog. As it turned out, the Ffestiniog train was also delayed by 15mins so there was no problem. Fortunately, the connection to the Conwy Valley line was a generous 30mins so there was no risk of missing that. We got a 150 up the valley, then a 175 back to Manchester and 150 to Buxton, where we spent the night at Gizmogles.
Day 3 Settle & Carlisle
The original plan for this day was to bash the Settle and Carlisle, go across to Newcastle, travel to Sunderland by Metro and bash the Saltburn line before heading back to Buxton again.
Unfortunately the train from Buxton departed around 15mins late, meaning we missed our connection to Leeds at Manchester Picc. We caught the next TPX service to Leeds, but this just missed the connection onwards to Carlisle, and the next one wasnt for two hours.
Since we had time to kill, we switched to a backup plan thatd been devised on the train to Leeds, which consisted of a 155 to Bradford Interchange followed by a walk across Bradford and a 333 from Forster Square back to Leeds. The walk across Bradford wasnt as easy as it couldve been, it appeared that someone had been turning the direction signs around and had we followed them, we would have ended up walking in circles forever.
Our service up the S&C was on a 158 and after arriving at Carlisle, we had a quick look around the town before taking a 156 over to Newcastle, where we met up with Craig. Unfortunately, our earlier missed connection meant we no longer had time to do the metro or Saltburn, so took a GNER service down to York, then TPX across to Manchester, the latter was made rather eventful by a woman who announced loudly that she was going to throw up, and then headed straight for us. Thankfully she made it to the toilet. Worryingly she was also on our train to Buxton, which is where we again spent the night.
Day 4 Heart of Wales
The plan for this day was a very early departure from Buxton, with a trip down the Heart of Wales line from Shrewsbury, followed by the Milford Haven and Bridgend-Maesteg branches. Unfortuantely, we both slept through the 0530 alarm and were woken by Gizmogles mother at around 0600. The train was at 0634, but it was a little too early in the morning to be running across town to catch it.
One re-plan later and we got up at around 10 for a much more civilised 1134 train from Buxton. We changed at Stockport for a 175 to Shrewsbury, then a pair of 153s down the Heart of Wales to Swansea. Due to our late running we had to abandon the Milford Haven and Maesteg branches, so caught an HST back to Reading. Our coach was full of drunken rugby fans who were shouting, singing and heckling other passengers and in true FGW style, the conductor was nowhere to be found. Eventually we moved into the next coach which was much more peaceful.
At Reading, we caught the next train to North Camp and spent the night at my place in Ash Vale.
Day 5 Exeter & Devon Branches
This day was our third day of bad luck. The plan was to head down to Exeter and do the Sundays-only branch to Okehampton, the Dartmoor railway, and the branches to Barnstaple, Exmouth and Paignton.
We travelled on FGW from North Camp to Reading, then Reading to Exeter by HST. This departed Reading about 10mins late and continued to lose time, with a stopper being put out in front of it at Bristol. Our connection to the Okehampton train at Exeter was only 7mins (the Sunday timetable meant nothing more generous was available) and unsurprisingly we missed that. A backup plan to get the Exmouth branch done before the next Okehampton was also screwed up as the HST eventually arrived into Exeter nearly 30mins late!
As we couldnt do anything else before the Okehampton train, we headed into town (which is a long walk from St Davids) in search of food. After stocking up at a co-op, we ended up at Exeter Central and caught a 159 back to St Davids.
Upon arrival, we found 34067 Tangmere sitting in platform 6, having failed, and got to watch a 66 being put on the front.
After boarding the train to Okehampton, we were surprised to find that neither my ALR nor Gizmogles priv were valid on the train (despite it being operated by FGW).
We ended up paying £6 for a rover ticket and then had to pay £5 each for a trip on the steam railway (which seemed a bit of a rip-off given its short length). Unfortunately, I managed to leave my bag on the train from Exeter (partly because there was a brat screaming his head off next to us, and I wanted to get off that train as quickly as possible) so I spent most of the steam trip phoning FGW and the Dartmoor railway trying to find out if anyone had located it. Rather unhelpfully, FGW wouldnt give me the number for Exeter St Davids (who couldve grabbed the bag off the train) and insist I call their lost property depot (who wouldnt actually get the bag until a couple of days after it was found). Fortunately, after enquiring on the train back to Exeter, it turned out that the guard had found it and handed it in to the Station Manager at Exeter, from whom it was retrieved upon arrival.
We then went to cover the Barnstaple, Exmouth and Paignton branches, which despite our late running, were still doable, albeit with the latter two in the dark. It turned out that the 1800 to Barnstaple actually ran a single diagram that covered all three in turn, finally arriving back into Exeter at 2350. This was formed of a class 150 and I have to say that spending 6 hours on one wasnt quite as bad as I had expected.
After arriving in Exeter, we set up camp in the customer lounge to wait for the Sleeper. We had to share the lounge with a couple of homeless druggies, who bragged about robbing off-licences and evading the cops, so it wasnt exactly the most pleasant of overnighters.
Day 6 Cornwall
When the sleeper arrived we boarded our coach to find that our reserved table seats had been taken by a fat woman who was loudly coughing and spluttering and the feet of the man sitting opposite. Having no desire to wake them, we set out to find the guard, who it turned out, had wandered off into the station somewhere. We did however run into Jordy, who was sitting in first class. When the guard finally returned, we explained the problem and he agreed to let us sit in first class instead.
We managed to catch some sleep and arrived into Penzance slightly early. After a quick look round and getting Gizmogles mum to screen-cap us on the Penzance webcam, we boarded the train to St Ives.
After doing the St Ives branch, we took a voyager from St Erth to Truro in order to do the Falmouth Branch. While we waiting in Truro, 158815 arrived, which made Gizmogle very excited.
We had a 150 down to Falmouth and, as we had some time there, wandered from Falmouth Docks to Falmouth Town, via a shop to pick up some food.
Arriving back at Truro, we had 158815 on our service to Liskeard (to pick up the Looe branch). Unfortunately, we only made it as far as Par before the train failed with a serious electrical fault and we all got chucked off to await the following train.
It did give us a chance to watch a 67 running round its train and a FGW HST heading for Newquay. The following train was a 150, which was running late and wed have missed our connection at Liskeard, had the connection not been held.
We met up with Jim at Liskeard to head down to Looe and back and he accompanied us for the rest of the day as far as Exeter.
After arriving back at Liskeard, we caught a FGW HD HST to Plymouth and then a 150 down the Gunnislake branch. After that was another Voyager to Exeter and then a 159 up the SWT line to Basingstoke, and 450s to Woking and then Ash Vale.
Day 7 East Anglia
The aim of the East Anglia trip was to cover the line from London to Norwich, the branch to Sheringham, North Norfolk Railway, both lines to Great Yarmouth and the line back to Liverpool St via Cambridge.
Although our departure from Liverpool St was on time, we only got about 50 yards before the train made a sudden brake application and stopped for 10mins. We were told it was an operational incident but not exactly what had happened.
We arrived about 15mins late into Norwich and had to run for our connection, which we fortunately just made.
We got to Sheringham on time and found it to be full of large numbers of old people and small children. We were hauled by 9F 92203 on the North Norfolk Railway before heading back to Norwich, where we had a break long enough to go into the city and pick up some food.
We then got a 170 to Great Yarmouth via Acle. Our return train wasnt for 1h40, so we headed off into the town and had a look around the beach and pier. When we got back to the station, we found it locked up, somewhat daft at 1730ish, especially as the departure screens were inside.
Our return train to Norwich went via Berney Arms and we then caught a train off to Cambridge. The guard on the Cambridge train was incredibly strict and managed to delay the train by 15mins by failing to dispatch the train while arguing with passengers over tickets and bike spaces.
At Cambridge, we picked up some food and then caught our train back to Liverpool St. Our original plan had us going back to Ash Vale via Ascot, but given that we were
both tired, we decided to get a direct train back via Woking instead.
Summary
The whole trip was generally enjoyable, and we managed to cover a great many lines which we wouldnt normally have been able to, while keeping the costs minimal. There are a few main points to take away from it though.
Drunken rugby fans and screaming children are really really annoying and there seem to be an awful lot of them travelling on the rail network.
The less frequent your connecting service is, the more chance that youll miss the connection!
Dont trust First Great Western if planning connections, they simply wont work, however much time you leave.
Having a mobile phone with access to the National Rail journey planner is incredibly useful for when things go tits-up.
No matter how appealing a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts may seem when you buy them, getting through them all is a challenge and its annoying having to carry them around on trains with you.
Having a disabled railcard allowed me to get a significant discount on an All Line Rover, and she could of course travel for free on her priv. Having houses in the south and north also allowed us to avoid paying for accommodation or doing large numbers of overnighters at stations or on trains.
Photos:
Mine: http://www.littleredtrain.co.uk/gallery
Gizmogles: http://gizmogle.fotopic.net
Before the trip
Getting the All Line Rover was not as easy as I expected, the ticket clerk at Ash Vale had no idea what one was and did not believe she could issue it. After I persuaded her that she could, she eventually phoned someone and I was issued with the correct ticket.
Day 1 Isle of Wight and Southern
Our aim was to get all of the IOW and some areas of the south coast done.
The day went pretty much to plan, we first headed to the IOW (having to leg it for the ferry at Portsmouth because the train from Guildford was running late). We bashed the line to Shanklin and intended to go back to Smallbrook Jn for the steam railway, but our train sailed straight through. We got off at Ryde St Johns Road and, after a quick look around, caught the next train back to Smallbrook, which did fortunately stop.
We took a trip on the steam railway behind an Austerity 0-6-0ST before catching Island Line back up to Ryde. Back on the mainline, we travelled from Portsmouth to Barnham and did the Bognor and Littlehampton branches, before heading up to London via Horsham, Epsom and Guildford.
After picking up an excessive amount of doughnuts in London, we took the 2200 HST from KX up to York, via the Askern freight line and then TPX to Manchester Picc, where we amused ourselves listening to the loud music played throughout the station until our 0520 departure.
Day 2 - North Wales
The aim was to catch the steam service on the Cambrian up to Porthmadog, go to Pwllheli and back, travel on the Welsh Highland Railway (Porthmadog) and then use the Ffestiniog Railway, Conwy Valley Line and North Wales Coast to take us back to Manchester and then on to Buxton.
To get to Machynlleth in time for the steam train required a very early 0520 departure from Manchester, followed by a 6min connection at Stafford and a 7min connection at Wolverhampton. Fortunately, despite the late departure of our Voyager from Stafford, we manage to make both connections with relative ease. We were also spared having to wait around in the draughty waiting room at Machynlleth, as the steam service pulled into the station well before it was due to depart, and we could settle ourselves into some nice comfy seats.
The run up the Cambrian was very pleasant, much more so than by 158, and we arrived in Porthmadog pretty much on time. After a quick expedition to pick up some food and to purchase Gizmogles ticket for the Ffestiniog we caught a 158 to Pwllheli. We had time to get an ice cream before taking the same train back to Porthmadog, where we headed to the WHR(P),
Surprisingly, the WHR(P) train departed late and on our way back, we were a little concerned that we might miss our connection to the Ffestiniog. As it turned out, the Ffestiniog train was also delayed by 15mins so there was no problem. Fortunately, the connection to the Conwy Valley line was a generous 30mins so there was no risk of missing that. We got a 150 up the valley, then a 175 back to Manchester and 150 to Buxton, where we spent the night at Gizmogles.
Day 3 Settle & Carlisle
The original plan for this day was to bash the Settle and Carlisle, go across to Newcastle, travel to Sunderland by Metro and bash the Saltburn line before heading back to Buxton again.
Unfortunately the train from Buxton departed around 15mins late, meaning we missed our connection to Leeds at Manchester Picc. We caught the next TPX service to Leeds, but this just missed the connection onwards to Carlisle, and the next one wasnt for two hours.
Since we had time to kill, we switched to a backup plan thatd been devised on the train to Leeds, which consisted of a 155 to Bradford Interchange followed by a walk across Bradford and a 333 from Forster Square back to Leeds. The walk across Bradford wasnt as easy as it couldve been, it appeared that someone had been turning the direction signs around and had we followed them, we would have ended up walking in circles forever.
Our service up the S&C was on a 158 and after arriving at Carlisle, we had a quick look around the town before taking a 156 over to Newcastle, where we met up with Craig. Unfortunately, our earlier missed connection meant we no longer had time to do the metro or Saltburn, so took a GNER service down to York, then TPX across to Manchester, the latter was made rather eventful by a woman who announced loudly that she was going to throw up, and then headed straight for us. Thankfully she made it to the toilet. Worryingly she was also on our train to Buxton, which is where we again spent the night.
Day 4 Heart of Wales
The plan for this day was a very early departure from Buxton, with a trip down the Heart of Wales line from Shrewsbury, followed by the Milford Haven and Bridgend-Maesteg branches. Unfortuantely, we both slept through the 0530 alarm and were woken by Gizmogles mother at around 0600. The train was at 0634, but it was a little too early in the morning to be running across town to catch it.
One re-plan later and we got up at around 10 for a much more civilised 1134 train from Buxton. We changed at Stockport for a 175 to Shrewsbury, then a pair of 153s down the Heart of Wales to Swansea. Due to our late running we had to abandon the Milford Haven and Maesteg branches, so caught an HST back to Reading. Our coach was full of drunken rugby fans who were shouting, singing and heckling other passengers and in true FGW style, the conductor was nowhere to be found. Eventually we moved into the next coach which was much more peaceful.
At Reading, we caught the next train to North Camp and spent the night at my place in Ash Vale.
Day 5 Exeter & Devon Branches
This day was our third day of bad luck. The plan was to head down to Exeter and do the Sundays-only branch to Okehampton, the Dartmoor railway, and the branches to Barnstaple, Exmouth and Paignton.
We travelled on FGW from North Camp to Reading, then Reading to Exeter by HST. This departed Reading about 10mins late and continued to lose time, with a stopper being put out in front of it at Bristol. Our connection to the Okehampton train at Exeter was only 7mins (the Sunday timetable meant nothing more generous was available) and unsurprisingly we missed that. A backup plan to get the Exmouth branch done before the next Okehampton was also screwed up as the HST eventually arrived into Exeter nearly 30mins late!
As we couldnt do anything else before the Okehampton train, we headed into town (which is a long walk from St Davids) in search of food. After stocking up at a co-op, we ended up at Exeter Central and caught a 159 back to St Davids.
Upon arrival, we found 34067 Tangmere sitting in platform 6, having failed, and got to watch a 66 being put on the front.
After boarding the train to Okehampton, we were surprised to find that neither my ALR nor Gizmogles priv were valid on the train (despite it being operated by FGW).
We ended up paying £6 for a rover ticket and then had to pay £5 each for a trip on the steam railway (which seemed a bit of a rip-off given its short length). Unfortunately, I managed to leave my bag on the train from Exeter (partly because there was a brat screaming his head off next to us, and I wanted to get off that train as quickly as possible) so I spent most of the steam trip phoning FGW and the Dartmoor railway trying to find out if anyone had located it. Rather unhelpfully, FGW wouldnt give me the number for Exeter St Davids (who couldve grabbed the bag off the train) and insist I call their lost property depot (who wouldnt actually get the bag until a couple of days after it was found). Fortunately, after enquiring on the train back to Exeter, it turned out that the guard had found it and handed it in to the Station Manager at Exeter, from whom it was retrieved upon arrival.
We then went to cover the Barnstaple, Exmouth and Paignton branches, which despite our late running, were still doable, albeit with the latter two in the dark. It turned out that the 1800 to Barnstaple actually ran a single diagram that covered all three in turn, finally arriving back into Exeter at 2350. This was formed of a class 150 and I have to say that spending 6 hours on one wasnt quite as bad as I had expected.
After arriving in Exeter, we set up camp in the customer lounge to wait for the Sleeper. We had to share the lounge with a couple of homeless druggies, who bragged about robbing off-licences and evading the cops, so it wasnt exactly the most pleasant of overnighters.
Day 6 Cornwall
When the sleeper arrived we boarded our coach to find that our reserved table seats had been taken by a fat woman who was loudly coughing and spluttering and the feet of the man sitting opposite. Having no desire to wake them, we set out to find the guard, who it turned out, had wandered off into the station somewhere. We did however run into Jordy, who was sitting in first class. When the guard finally returned, we explained the problem and he agreed to let us sit in first class instead.
We managed to catch some sleep and arrived into Penzance slightly early. After a quick look round and getting Gizmogles mum to screen-cap us on the Penzance webcam, we boarded the train to St Ives.
After doing the St Ives branch, we took a voyager from St Erth to Truro in order to do the Falmouth Branch. While we waiting in Truro, 158815 arrived, which made Gizmogle very excited.
We had a 150 down to Falmouth and, as we had some time there, wandered from Falmouth Docks to Falmouth Town, via a shop to pick up some food.
Arriving back at Truro, we had 158815 on our service to Liskeard (to pick up the Looe branch). Unfortunately, we only made it as far as Par before the train failed with a serious electrical fault and we all got chucked off to await the following train.
It did give us a chance to watch a 67 running round its train and a FGW HST heading for Newquay. The following train was a 150, which was running late and wed have missed our connection at Liskeard, had the connection not been held.
We met up with Jim at Liskeard to head down to Looe and back and he accompanied us for the rest of the day as far as Exeter.
After arriving back at Liskeard, we caught a FGW HD HST to Plymouth and then a 150 down the Gunnislake branch. After that was another Voyager to Exeter and then a 159 up the SWT line to Basingstoke, and 450s to Woking and then Ash Vale.
Day 7 East Anglia
The aim of the East Anglia trip was to cover the line from London to Norwich, the branch to Sheringham, North Norfolk Railway, both lines to Great Yarmouth and the line back to Liverpool St via Cambridge.
Although our departure from Liverpool St was on time, we only got about 50 yards before the train made a sudden brake application and stopped for 10mins. We were told it was an operational incident but not exactly what had happened.
We arrived about 15mins late into Norwich and had to run for our connection, which we fortunately just made.
We got to Sheringham on time and found it to be full of large numbers of old people and small children. We were hauled by 9F 92203 on the North Norfolk Railway before heading back to Norwich, where we had a break long enough to go into the city and pick up some food.
We then got a 170 to Great Yarmouth via Acle. Our return train wasnt for 1h40, so we headed off into the town and had a look around the beach and pier. When we got back to the station, we found it locked up, somewhat daft at 1730ish, especially as the departure screens were inside.
Our return train to Norwich went via Berney Arms and we then caught a train off to Cambridge. The guard on the Cambridge train was incredibly strict and managed to delay the train by 15mins by failing to dispatch the train while arguing with passengers over tickets and bike spaces.
At Cambridge, we picked up some food and then caught our train back to Liverpool St. Our original plan had us going back to Ash Vale via Ascot, but given that we were
both tired, we decided to get a direct train back via Woking instead.
Summary
The whole trip was generally enjoyable, and we managed to cover a great many lines which we wouldnt normally have been able to, while keeping the costs minimal. There are a few main points to take away from it though.
Drunken rugby fans and screaming children are really really annoying and there seem to be an awful lot of them travelling on the rail network.
The less frequent your connecting service is, the more chance that youll miss the connection!
Dont trust First Great Western if planning connections, they simply wont work, however much time you leave.
Having a mobile phone with access to the National Rail journey planner is incredibly useful for when things go tits-up.
No matter how appealing a dozen Krispy Kreme doughnuts may seem when you buy them, getting through them all is a challenge and its annoying having to carry them around on trains with you.
, what locos did you get haulage behind
????.
). Managed to bash 150s, 153s, 155s, 156s, 158s and 159s.
