Background.
So this is my first trip report. I'm not very good at them I don't think, I tend to miss out interesting bits and waffle quite a lot in text form, I will no doubt have bored most of you by the time I reach the next full stop.
It's important to note that I don't really do numbers, I have never found time or enough interest. I like trains, I like different types of trains but I have never bothered to record numbers or the likes. Maybe I will do one day and I will realise that I could have got a head start. I am interested in covering as much track as I can though (although junctions and loops and bits like that interest me less as a rule). So apologies to anyone expecting an array of numbers, you won't be getting that here. Also it's worth noting that I don't feel I'm doing many hugely interesting things this time around as I'm fitting this in with some bits of work I need to do so it has to be practical as well as fun and interesting. The one I did in July was a little more interesting which I will get around to writing up at some point.
ALR Day 0.
So after my eventful trip down to ST Pancras in the day (see earlier in the thread) I did all my work related stuff and went for a wander. I observed some interesting stuff at Liverpool Street, and at Kings Cross, and then back at Paddington where I went to buy my ALR. I'd planned to do it at Nottingham but the whole delay and Luton stuff made the ticket office busy and I decided not to bother. I left it until a little later to purchase it at Paddington as I was using a pile of RTV to part pay for this and I know it takes a bit of processing so didn't want to hold folk up during the peak. I wasn't quite aware just how long it would take the chap in the ticket office. Finding the ticket was no problem. He then had to stamp each rtv, then scan each rtv, then make me pay the rest of the balance, then feed each rtv through the machine individually which took about 20 seconds each, and then finally I got my ticket. He did apologise and I wasn't in a rush but I have never known them have to do so much.
I saw the Night Riviera parked up on platform 1 and remembered I have still never been on it. I had looked this week but it was full and I had no intention of sitting in a seat on it. Maybe next year. I considered popping into the First class lounge and hoping that the member of staff couldnt do maths as the ALR didnt start until the following day but I decided against this.
ALR Day 1.
Starting point. London Paddington 0706
End point Plymouth.
Accommodation tonight. Copthorne hotel Plymouth. £65 booked on the day.
Up before the sun this morning, Im nornally just getting to sleep at this time, woke up the guy in hotel reception to hand him my key who's scrap value was worth more than the hotel, he was in his sleeping bag sat in the chair, I wrongly assumed they'd use people that were asleep during the day.
I wandered to the station which is a 5 minute walk away, the first class lounge had a couple of people in, no ticket check on the way in at 0635.
The coffee machine was broken, as I don't drink coffee and rarely drink tea this doesn't really bother me but I can imagine some people not being able to physically cope with this. What is it with people who just have to have coffee? I cant fully appreciate it as I dont like the taste, that an Im not supposed to have caffeine due to heart rate/rhythm issues but Im fairly convinced that whilst the caffeine has an obvious effect on the body, it doesnt have the effect people think it does, and actually if you secretly changed it for decaf most people wouldnt be able to tell and would still feel more awake afterwards. This is a great example of me waffling in text format and not even saying anything about trains, I can assure you it will not get any better.
One orange juice and some odd thing that looks like a flattened snail later and I check RTT and notice a train has arrived on P2 which I couldn't see as the Sleeper was still on P1. I had a wander over and as I did so it was announced and I got a little caught behind many people for that train. I didn't have a seat booked but wasn't expecting it to be that busy in 1st. My ALR didn't work the barrier so I held people up and had to push through to see the member of staff. He was busy having a chat with other passengers and explaining things to them, very helpful but not for the queue of passengers that cannot get through the barriers at least 1 of which nearly missed the adjacent 0703 service due to this. So it seems my ticket already doesn't operate the barriers, on the first day of its validity, without it going through any barriers, living in a blue wallet for about 9 hours since being printed, being used at the station it was issued at. Helpful.
The train was fairly quiet in 1st having a table of 4 to myself for the entire journey. Wifi wasn't working on the train as announced by the staff about an hour in to our journey. We stopped at Pewsey on the way, a station I've never stopped at before, (insert joke about stopping in the right place here).
We lost a little time on the journey, I'm not sure why, but I know there have been some leaf based issues in this area now so maybe it was this.
I got off at Plymouth and the train went on to Penzance. I checked into my hotel a 5 minute walk away. I fully expected to have to just leave my bag there and do the checking in later in the day but there was a room available so I checked in at just before 11. I went to meet my friend for a couple of hours and then went back to the hotel for a nap. I wasn't feeling particularly brilliant (see above heart rate and rhythm issues) but an hours sleep helped. I then did the following pleasant yet uneventful journeys to finish the day.
1512 to Penzance. And then straight back again on the 1739 as far as Liskeard. A run to Looe and back. And then a stopping service back to Plymouth.
Realising I had only had a snail shaped thing at Paddington, an Almond Croissant on the way to Plymouth, some biscuits and a packet of crisps I decided to order a pie and chips to the room at the hotel which went down very well along with a bottle of sparkling water I had acquired on the train. Straight to bed afterwards as day 2 was to start even earlier.
ALR Day 2.
Starting point Plymouth 0553
End point Edinburgh 2122
Accommodation Edinburgh central Rose Street Travelodge
Day 2 seemed to start before day 1 finished. My alarm went off at 0503 as I simply cannot have alarms go off at round numbers like 0500 or 0505. I managed to leave the hotel by 0530 having showered and had all my necessary tablets and stuff. I didn't check out of the hotel as there was nobody there, I waited a couple of minutes and tried looking around but there was nobody there, I also needed to pay for my pie but they had my card details so hopefully they can charge it to my card. I'm certainly not one for trying to get away with not paying, and I had already paid for the room itself.
0540 and I grab a hot chocolate and microwaved bacon roll from the pumpkin café at Plymouth. I've always wondered what other people must think to these things. I for reasons unknown actually quite like slightly chewy bread that's warm after being in a microwave. It's almost as odd as my alarm time issues I guess. The train was waiting on the platform, so I got on and sat down. Wifi was working so already an advantage on the previous day. Another Almond Croissant for me, no tea though, as I mentioned Im not supposed to do caffeine really and the 3 cups I had the previous day likely contributed to the svts that made me a bit rough for a couple of hours.
I picked the 0553 as it's the fastest one. There are 2 services that leave before the 0553 in the morning that get to London after it. This one gets in at 0900, or about 0905 on this occasion. Reading was very busy and I expected first to fill up there, whilst it did get busier it was by no means full. I wanted to look at the interesting stock at Ealing or wherever it is, I had spotted last minute the morning before a couple of steam locomotives in there and thought I might get another look. Just as things came back into view a GWR hst came the other way and blocked my view, never have I been so disappointed to see a class 43.
A quick trip to the loo and a chocolate rectangular thing that gets your funny looks if you dont put it on a plate only to eat it in one and a half bites in the lounge at Paddington (coffee machine still broken) and it was a trip on the Bakerloo line to Marylebone. A short wait at Marylebone saw me on the 1010 up to Birmingham Moor Street. This is the class 68 hauled service with mk4s. The dilemma began. Do I sit at the front near the loco to listen, or do I sit in business zone at the back where it will be quieter and comfier. I opted for the latter, mainly because there are no openable windows in a mk4 and they're quite sound proof, and I know what a 68 sounds like. Business zone was pleasant, there was only me in it, well me and a lady doing market research from Chiltern who I filled in a form for about my journey. The wifi was ok, the power worked, it was quiet and it's mostly a bit of track I haven't done.
A short walk to New Street from Moor Street and into the lounge. I had to look twice when I saw the out of order sign on the coffee machine, maybe they're all just outside their warranty period. I didn't stay long in there, partially as I didn't have long to wait but mostly as it was full of very loud people who seemed to be burying themselves in empty packets of crisps and biscuits and shouting loudly about who had the best shoes. You can see who had the cheap advances.
I've never been on a Virgin Voyager before and whilst I'm not a fan of them it worked well with my routing and
how bad could it be?
Never in my days have I known a train resemble a zoo more accurately. Of course this isn't strictly true, certainly in this country we would (quite rightly) certainly never expect to treat our animals that badly, they'd require 4 times the space at least. If anyone opened up a zoo and kept animals like that they'd be facing prison, which incidentally would be forced to keep inmates in better conditions than on the train.
The 1230 from BHM to EUS had arrogance and attitude seeping from the doors. Everyone seemed to want a fight, everyone seemed to think that they were more entitled to a seat than the next person, everyone thought the world owed them a favour. It was like ladies day at the races where everyone pretends their 13 year old 5 series is their second car and that they are fed up of paying in the 40% bracket and their £47 suit is by a famous tailor named Mathew Alan. All this squeezed onto a horrible horrible train. There was huge commotion getting onto the train and I managed to get through the crowds and get to the front. I luckily grabbed the last remaining unreserved seat in 1st. A single airline style, facing backwards. This was going to be interesting.
We left late, we arrived at Birmingham International late, to scores more people trying to get on. I believe some may have been left behind. An elderly couple boarded at BHI without tickets as they'd been struggling to issue them with what they wanted. There were 2 seats but not together and the football fans that had decided to upgrade to first (possibly in the hope that the guard would forget) weren't moving for anyone. Even the lady that got on at Coventry into the reserved seat wouldn't move to the single seat so the elderly couple could be together. I offered to move so that they'd at least be only a row apart.
The 1230 menu appeared to be the mid morning style thing. They had 3 bacon rolls left, much to the overwhelming dismay of the football fans who made it clear how f****** s*** it was and how they'd be writing a complaint and didn't want to pay for an upgrade if they can't have a bacon roll. I had the spinach omelette, as that's what I would have picked anyway. It was actually really good. It was a noisy journey (I'm not sure if the football fans or the Voyager made the worst noise). The elderly couple needed tickets issuing to Euston and a return the following day. The guard seemed to take quite a while to issue them. He issued them as 2 pairs of singles as it was apparently cheaper to issues it this way as they would get a weekend first upgrade which worked out cheaper. I tried to have a look myself at some prices but the wifi was useless and I had a poor data connection at best.
At Euston I called into the lounge to use the facilities. I then hopped onto the northern line and headed north to Edgware, the last bit of that line I needed. I came straight back and alighted at Kings Cross St Pancras where I had a wander through STP and out towards KGX. A short trip via the lounge and out to platform 1 where I boarded the 1700 before it was announced (asking permission from the staff). I had a seat booked but found a better forward facing window seat so sat there and prepared to give away my original seat. I've caught the 1700 a few times over the years and it's always been full and often at least a couple of standees as far as York. For reasons unknown (can't see it being football related) first class was half empty. Sadly there was no power in coach L and nothing they could do to fix it other than keep supplying the G&T which seemed to make up for it. All 9 of them.
We lost a little time on the journey and after boarding my first train that day at 0553 and after the worrying equivalent of over half a bottle of gin I was certainly ready for bed. Travelodge was as expected. Not a cheap night being a Friday and in the middle of Edinburgh but I did benefit from their 15% off on a Friday offer.
ALR Day 3
Starting point. Edinburgh 1028
Finishing point. Broughty Ferry 2012
Accommodation : Jollys Hotel.
I awoke feeling mediocre at best but in fairness better than expected. The travelodge shower was tame, I think it was one of those water saving environmentally friendly ones. The taps in the sink are very much the same. I remember the first time I encountered one of these taps, it was at a Travelodge in Staines (which doesnt matter, why do I include such un-necessary details) . I turned the tap on and witnessed what appeared to be he most violent eruption of water ever seen by man, yet when I placed a suitable vessel underneath it seemed to fill incredibly slowly, it was quite surreal. Anyway the shower at Edinburgh had such low water pressure that had it been a mere joint in a pipe it likely wouldnt have even required attention from a plumber. Nevertheless I was cleaner afterwards. So, trains. The 1028 to Aberdeen was a few minutes late and there was an increased dwell time at Edinburgh due to the vast turnaround of people. We lost a little more time just after Dundee due to some apparent signal problems in the Carnoustie area. Aberdeen was cold, and I just had time to pop into the lounge to make myself a hot chocolate and eat random cheese and biscuits before getting the 1338 to Inverness or as far as I could reasonably get.
I'd planned to stop at Huntly to see a friend but they were delayed elsewhere so I carried on. This is new track for me but I knew I wasn't going to get to Inverness and back. I stopped at Nairn and awaited the train back to Aberdeen. The train I caught had a 15 minute dwell time in Nairn. The guard couldn't tell me why, I assume either a single track section between there and Inverness or lack of platforms or similar. I shall have a look what Mr Baker says about the track when I get home. The 3 car + 2 car 158s on the way back had no first class, it was also really busy. What had I done? Luckily I got a seat and the nice lady said there's no first class but I'm welcome to a drink from the trolley which was nice although I declined the offer. Power from the 13A socket or the USB sockets wasn't working. There's a huge difference in ride from the 170, well certainly between this 2 specific trains anyway, something I hadn't noticed before. I thought we had come off at one point. Back at Aberdeen I spoke briefly to a couple wanting to buy a house near where I live and had a discussion about my ticket not working in barriers with the man on the barrier before getting the service to Dundee.
Dundee was very busy with people returning and when the north bound VTEC service arrived it was like being in the middle of a riot. The board showed up as Delayed shortly after arrival and I feared it would be cancelled forcing everyone onto the 3 car stopping service due 10 minutes afterwards, the one I needed to get. After some commotion towards the front of the train it left around 5L and I awaited with a couple of hundred loud drunk people (and a handful of others) for the 2005.
On arrival I spotted a young girl maybe in her early 20s get pushed around a lot by the drunk people whilst trying to board, I decided that to save lots of hassle I'd bundle her into 1st at the front of the train as it was hardly crime of the century and a ticket check was unlikely. She was most grateful and was only going the one stop like me. Off at Broughty Ferry to find some food and my hotel, which were very likely to be under the same roof given I was in the local Wetherspoons hotel a few minutes walk away. For those who are interested, though likely the lack of train numbers has put 95% of people off already so they're not reading me waffling on about water pressure and drunk people, the hotel was ok. The room was £40, it was a comfy single bed with a good shower and the usual facilities. I ate there in the evening, it was quite busy and quite noisy but the food arrived promptly and was average to slightly over cooked but nothing to really moan about. My sleep was poor due to other hotel guests having no courtesy whatsoever when they stagger back to their rooms at all hours. I was genuinely shocked that people would find it even remotely acceptable to stand outside in a hotel corridor at 1am and have a loud drunken conversation. I will point out that these were English people not Scottish people so I guess I was less surprised really. A family too, a mix of adults if you can call them that and children. Of course none of this relates to trains so that's another 3% of people no longer reading.
ALR Day 4
Starting point. Broughty Ferry
Finish point. Liverpool.
Accommodation. The Z hotel Liverpool.
A not so early start again today, but lots to do on the train as I have a production meeting in London at 1730
if my trains work out as planned. There are I believe 3 trains towards Dundee/Edinburgh/Glasgow on a Sunday from Broughty Ferry and I'm getting the first one but only as far as Dundee. I had breakfast at the hotel, rather unsurprisingly it was just a little overdone as my meal the night before but acceptable for a little over £3. Recently I have had to pay anything from £7.99 to a quite unforgivably outrageous £24,99 for a hotel breakfast and few of them have been that much better so there are certainly advantages of staying in a Wetherspoons hotel, infact I have recently had staff in 5 star central London hotels recommend a café up the road for breakfast as the one there was poor and too expensive. Within the next 600 words I might mention a train, don't worry, the pair of you that are still reading will give up soon then I can talk about burnt toast as much as I want. Did I mention the burnt toast? You know, I've often wondered how chefs can get it so wrong sometimes. Don't get me wrong my cooking skills are mediocre at best, I can burn a salad but toast I can do. I appreciate different people like their toast done differently and I respect that I like it quite lightly toasted if I get the chance but in all my years touring the world and eating lots and lots of toast I have yet to meet anyone who likes their toast to resemble coal. Whilst there may be such individuals out there you would think they would accept they are far from the norm and would be happy to request a 1/2lb lump of smokeless instead of toast so that the rest of us can eat normal toast. It's also pretty easy to spot when toast is burnt. Even to the untrained eye the complete black surface and smoke coming from your toaster or grille is a subtle clue. It's also not a particularly complicated cooking process either. You only really need 3 ingredients, bread, warm, time. Nevertheless the toast was burnt and the butter in the little pots had been put on the hot plate in late June and as such was a warm liquid.
It's entirely possible I've lost my train of thought. Ah, trains, well reminded.
I went for a walk in the opposite direction to the train station, for no reason other than knowing I could write about it to disappoint even more people reading my ramblings. I looked at the water and took a couple of photographs. I then walked back to the station and patiently awaited the 1034 that arrived around 8L. Does anyone live in Broughty Ferry? Anyone on this forum I mean not just anyone in general that would be a waste of a load of houses and you'd have to wonder where all the pub trade came from. Did they make the platforms when trains had shopping trolley wheels? I didn't notice it on the other side on the way out but getting into the back of the 170 at platform whatever it is that goes south was only an inch away from needing to put my hand on the step. I have done many big steps up and down from trains but I don't remember anything like that. A short hop to Dundee and I awaited the 1103 to Kings Cross and hoped it wouldn't be too busy. I was in luck. Not too busy AND it's the older seat types, I want to say they're the carriages they got from EMT a while back, they are the original seats I believe only with their new leather covering. I prefer these so the 6 hour journey would be somewhat better. Well, better if it wasn't for the woman on the left of me who appears to have an issue with everything anyone does, she has shouted at every member of staff individually about things, shouted at every passenger that has tried to sit opposite stating there are other seats and mentioned that putting a small bag on the rack above was not safe and she would not accept it being there. As she sits there streaming videos on the wifi and complaining it isn't fast enough you have to wonder if anyone would miss her if she accidentally fell out of a window. She even made a member of train crew sit down with her whilst she quietly complained about goodness knows what, but she pointed at several people individually and I caught the words disgusting pathetic and sentences like what are they doing in here.
This attitude seemed to continue throughout. The train (as expected) got very busy at York and I found out about the disruption south of Stevenage. I fully expected delays and the wicked witch of the west to have something to say about it. Even the train manager asked about the reserved seat opposite her and she claimed that someone HAD been siting there but she didn't know where they had gone so nobody else could sit there. She kept telling people to be quiet and have some respect and I thought it about time to settle matters. The next time someone asked I said (in ear shot of the train manager) there has been nobody sat there since I got on at Dundee so I think it's ok for someone to sit there now given we are south of York and the next stop is Kings Cross. I got a horrible look which I found incredibly amusing. A horrible lady all in all. Despite a bit of a slow run near Stevenage and the diversion via Palmers Green (which was planned and timetabled) we arrived about 5L and I managed to walk down the road to my meeting. I expected it to last between 60 and 90 minutes and was planning to get the 1905 to Liverpool Lime Street. As things were it lasted 25 minutes and I managed to catch the 1805.
A fairly uneventful trip up. A ham and egg sandwich and one of their chocolate things that seem to be either made from stone or helium depending on how they have been stored, there appears to be no inbetween.
2 people I spoke to on the train came with me to the underground platforms at Liverpool. One had never been down there before and was staying just opposite liverpool central. I explained that his ticket was valid so there was no need to get a taxi or walk in the rain which would be expensive or wet, probably in the same order unless someone previously had left the taxi window open, or worse. He followed me and we made the 2028 despite getting off coach K right at the back of a very full train. I got off at James Street and walked to my hotel from there as that was quicker than a change and then a train back to Moorfields. Well, I say quicker, of course I am forgetting the lifts at James street. For those of you who have ever been, they are world record holders for being the worst lifts in Liverpool. Of course, this isnt true, but Ive never managed to get in and out without a member of staff pressing extra buttons and communicating via radio with someone at the top. Incidentally how deep is James street? Ive never been able to find out this information.
It was still raining so I got a little damp walking the few minutes to the hotel.
The hotel was good. I got upgraded although it wasn't necessarily an upgrade as such. You know when sometimes you wish you could go back down the 8 floors and go back to reception and say, you know the room I was going to get? It is still available? I had one of the accessible rooms which are generally more spacious but then you find the shower heads don't go high enough and the toilets are 11 from the ground etc. Of course these rooms are excellent and there ought to be more of them and I would absolutely sooner struggle than someone less able than me having to but I can't help thinking every time I get a room like this, what if this is the last one of these, what if someone who needs it comes having broken down nearby and needs this room. One of the key things about this room is the walk in wet room / shower / toilet. A sliding glass door with a glass frame around it. Frosted only from knee to neck height for those who can stand. So a full view into the shower and toilet from the bedroom area and of course the hotel / office building opposite if the curtains are open. I'm sorry this has turned into a hotel wet room review post. 1 13A socket and 1 Euro plug. Luckily I have a 10A USB charger to charge a few things at once. I signed up to their corporate thing which gives me 10% off if I book on their website, the problem is with that it's about £30 a night more expensive than doing it on booking.com
A bit of TV and then some sleep.
More to follow...........
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ALR Day 5
Starting point : liverpool (moorfields)
End point : London ……. Or Edinburgh
Accommodation : Belgrove Hotel, king’s cross……… or the Jury’s Inn Edinburgh.
I wonder how many guests it will take in that room before they notice the fuse isn't in the air conditioning unit. Having switched it off completely before going to bed it randomly decided it would come back on again with much squeaking and hissing and whistling and blowing. After switching it off 2 more times I felt that it more more suitable to take the fuse out. Peace at last. I did mean to put it back in but it's only after reading my notes to write this that I remembered about it.
To the trains!
Moorfields was the closest station and I'd only alighted at James Street the previous night to save a change and wait for a 1 stop train ride. That said I had forgotten the James street lift saga I mentioned so I calculated that had I caught the other train and walked the shorter distance from moorfields I would have beaten my James street self by a couple of minutes. Nevertheless the walk did me good I'm sure.
A short hop to lime street, and I popped in to reserve a couple of seats for later days. My production meeting in London was put back from 2 to 4 so rather than the London train I decided to go elsewhere. I had a quick look in the lounge, first time in there. Nice selection of crisps. Then a bit of a brisk walk to the front of platform 9 for what must have been the 1122 (I didn't get up early) to Scarborough. I went as far as Manchester with the intention of going to London from there. No refreshments on here luckily I had stored a bottle of water from a previous trip in my bag. After a quick walk through the lounge there, only 2 flavours of crisps, I found myself on platform 1 for the 1225? To York. Another TPE service. First class was quite busy, only 3 unreserved seats, one already occupied. Me and a young lady who's bags I'd help carry onto the train quickly occupied the other 2. There were a couple of first class standees between Leeds and York. Once again no refreshments. Maybe TPE hadn't paid the bill. At York I had a little wandering time until the 1357 arrived on platform 5A to take me to London for my meeting. It was about this time that I realised that given my recording session the following day In Edinburgh had been brought forward a couple of hours that despite their being trains that could get me there on time I Firstly didn't want to risk it and secondly remembered (luckily) that you can't use an ALR before 10am at King’s Cross. This made a mess of my plans for that night including a forum meet. Sorry once again.
This left me needing to book a hotel and try to get a seat on what would be one of 2 trains left to get me to Edinburgh that night. I looked at the timing schedule and wasn’t sure how long my meeting would take so it was likely to be busy at least for the first part of the journey. The meeting lasted a staggering 35 minutes and was as usual nothing that could not have been done on the phone. If I didn't hang about I could make the 1700 before it was announced. I assumed the crew that took the Inverness train in would be taking the 1700 back up. But there was no Class 43 to be found. RTT had got itself wrapped up in its own mess and there were no door signs or seat reservations. I took a wild guess at platform 6 even though that was a 91 and struck lucky. Not only did I get on and get a g&t before the train was announced I had a bank of 4 to myself the whole journey. The mk4 have 3 full (give or take the bit of crew area at the front of K) first class carriages and as such there were a pile of unreserved at the front of K that don't exist on a mk3 coach J. We ran a little late up to Edinburgh which for once couldn’t be blamed on the doors. I had the lamb. It was really nice, first time I've had VTEC lamb.
There was a guy in the block of 4 behind who seemed to develop a bit of a gas problem throughout the journey. I thought someone had let a lion on board at one point. He seemed in no rush to cover his mouth or try to be silent about it either. I am not sure whether I found it funny or disturbing. The train ran out of tonic at Darlington and out of slimline tonic at Newcastle so the last couple of drinks I had with lemonade and it worked, sort of. The jury’s Inn beckoned but not before watching the loudest train in the world (92043, yes. A number. There are you happy now?) drag the sleeper in around 10pm. One of the grey 90’s was still asleep in its usual resting place. I assume that is there to take the highland sleeper down ? Or maybe they just leave it there all the time. It's a different one every time. Not that I look at the numbers you understand.
ALR day 6
Starting point Edinburgh
End point Llandudno.
Accommodation. Broadway Hotel Llandudno
An early night, and an early morning. The Jury's inn where I have stayed before was a little disappointing this time. I was in a triple room with a double and a single bed. I am assuming it's what they had left. The curtains fell down, the shower didn't get much above the melting point of nitrogen and and there was a door leading to the next room that was unlocked and blocked by chairs. There was nobody in the next room when I opened it (wondering if it was a cupboard or an adjoining door) but who knows if the room was occupied at all overnight. Either way I was only there a few hours. I did find the notice on the door to not leave valuables in the room quite amusing after this.
The time was 0542, my alarm had gone of at 0507. I had to be in a church sat at a piano in 18 minutes. Plenty of time. The session went well and I managed to make the 0730 to king’s cross with only the mk3 slam doors saving me from missing it. (it's the only time I will walk past one and leave it open on my way to my carriage if I know I'm a bit late) We did leave on time, infact a couple more got on after me. Reservations in first were plentiful and I luckily managed to find an unreserved seat In the middle of L. I found out later that that service should have been a 91 and mk4 but they'd put a 43 and mk3 on it for reasons only the powers that be will ever know. Of course this has the opposite effect that I had experienced on the 1700 the previous day in that it was full. Or at least it would be by Darlington and York. Breakfast was good, apart from the toast which as always was cold, there has to be a better way surely. The service did fill up quite quickly but with the seat reservations up in the air there were many complaints. Some unjustified like ‘I ALWAYS sit on the left’ and some more understandable like the father and son (likely to be 5 or 6) who had been given seats opposite each other in a mk4 but that translates to 2 airline style singles one behind the other in a mk3. The guy asked fairly politely if they could move but the guard said no as the service was full. As I had a spare seat opposite me I was about to suggest that I moved to one of their seats so they could occupy mine and the one facing when a lady in the next row suggested exactly the same, so I got to stay put. What's the speed limit through the lines at Doncaster? Not through a platform. We seemed to slow down quite fiercely on approach, more than I've noticed before. It was a grab your drink sort of braking too. We arrived a couple of minutes late and after a quick trip to the lounge at King’s Cross to grab the last Pain au chocolate which was more like pain au bale of straw I headed out into London to get a tube to Paddington. I arrived at Paddington to find 2 GWR employees having a shouting match with a youngish smartly dressed gentleman about ticket validity. I believe the gentleman won as he was shouting about wanting an apology. Maybe it was someone on here. I walked into the lounge and grabbed a sandwich and drink before heading over to platform 5 which RTT informs me will be the 1245 to Swansea which I will catch as far as Cardiff. The train was announced and I was let through the barrier to find the damn thing had been brought in the wrong way around so I had an extra walk to the front of the train. 43*** and 43*** took me to Cardiff on time. I hadn't got a plan from this point and decided that I had been on trains a lot, so I went for a walk around the city. Before I did however I spotted some of that there freight stuff appearing in the distance. It was 66*** pulling some……….. things. Ok it was 66520, happy now? Just then 66087 came in through another line at the same time. After a walk around I popped into the first class lounge and awaited what I was hoping to be a pleasant experience. The 1716 from Cardiff to Holyhead, as far as Llandudno Junction at least. I was going to get chance to sample their menu at last. I had booked a seat on this not knowing how busy it would be so I thought I'd play it safe. As it happens it was only half full in coach I. I am not sure why but I expected a larger train, having a coach I. It arrived in 67 C B A I DVT formation which according to platform staff is different every evening although I can only assume it sometimes comes in DVT first and they don't randomly shuffle them about willy nilly as they implied. It's not a bad carriage, it's certainly not as recently refurbished as the VTEC stock or even the GWR stock infact in comparison it does look quite tired though I have a seat, it's forward facing, it's by a window (not that I can see anything due to the passage of time and the spinning of the earth) and I have a power socket. It's round about now that I should state that the battery on my phone has given up. It doesn't work. From 100% it goes down to 96% in 5 minutes and then 79% instantly and then switches off. The numbers vary, sometimes it makes it to 39% (although it gets there in under an hour) sometimes it stays at 100% for an hour and then switches off and such. Essentially it needs mending with a new one. It's still under warranty but Apple stores are always too busy and I'm never in the same city twice the same day the next week and it's just too difficult. So I'm living on plug in batteries and charging when I can on the trains. I'm carrying over 18,000 mAh of additional charge on me and I've been lucky enough not to use more than a 1/3 of it up to now. Here endeth the random babbling on about phones, and it's back to the trains, or is it back to the food and drink.
Lemonade. What is it with those tiny cans? Why if you ask for a Coke you get a 330ml can and when you ask for a lemonade you get a small cylindrical vessel that at one point was left in the same postcode as a bottle of lemonade. Luckily however for the first time I can remember I was given a brace of said vessels which seemed to make more sense. The chap, a rather large chap not unlike myself although I think he had the edge on me by a cwt or so opposite ordered a bottle of wine which had a name I didn't catch. He ordered in such a way to imply that this would not be the only one. Words to the effect of “I will have a bottle of this for now and see how we go”.
First course I had the soup. Or cauliflower and cheese broth as the Bwydlen says. I can only assume that's Menu in Welsh, I have started picking up a few Welsh words recently. I know the please do not smoke on the station announcement quite well.
Do you know when you cook cauliflower, by boiling it, and you go to serve it directly out of the pan onto the plate and you've not washed up for a while so all you have left is a large spoon, everyone has one of those large spoons, you have no idea where it came from you can only assume that one of your ancestors was either a chef or a thief. A spoon so large it wouldn't fit in your mouth but not large enough to be dedicated to serving food out of a vessel it's been cooked in. That spoon. The one for the sake of this unbelievable tangent is non porous. And you serve the cauliflower onto the plate with this spoon, in the dark, in a wind tunnel, with a wasp flying around your face, you're going to get some water on your plate.imagine leaving 2 small barely visible even when lit pieces of cauliflower in the water. Now imagine that before you cooked the cauliflower in the water you accidentally dropped in a small cube of cheese into the water still in its wrapper before fishing it out with aforementioned and soon to be invaluable spoon, this will explain in rather too much detail how bland this was. It was a little thicker than you are likely sat imagining but a little disappointing to say the least. Luckily salt on the table and some sachets of black pepper I had stored in my bag for emergency situations gave it a bit of something it lacked and the course was finished. Next was the lamb. It had a name. Dolly is a likely candidate. It had some stuff and things with it. We are on menu week 3 which is available in all good book stores unlike this trip report which will be available in dentists waiting rooms and hung by string in all mediocre outdoor toilets. The lamb was really good, I can forgive them for the ‘water with the emulsion brush dipped in’ that I had before it. More lemonade for me and another bottle of wine for the chap opposite and a short wait for dessert. In the meantime we have some drink spilling braking a little before Shrewsbury and a crawl for what must have been a couple of miles. Dessert arrived, the Welsh Cakes. I'm not a huge dessert fan, and by that I mean I'm not a big fan of all desserts, those I do like I like huge ones. So I am a huge dessert fan for some d….. likely doesn't matter.
Went down a treat, almost as well as the portly gentleman’s second bottle of wine which was by now empty. He had the cheese which also looked very good. It arrived on a slate, a couple of years ago you'd have thought, what a great idea they stack better than plates you can get more in the cupboard but now you just think of all the different foods that are served on things that aren't plates or dishes. There's a website I think with lots of photos of food served in shovels and baskets and hollowed out marrows and nappies (at least one of the above isn't true) that is likely more interesting than this trip report.
The time was 19.30 and that meant only one thing. Well, it meant more than one thing if you think about it. I'd missed the archers, but more importantly we were about halfway through the trip. So it was time to relax and admire the view, which there wasn't so I spent some time writing up this report. And then spent some time writing up this report. And then spent some time slipping into a past present and future vortex which I didn't know they had in mk3 carriages. So the gentleman opposite has a bottle of rose to finish off and gets his bill and the card machine debacle begins. The restaurant card machine is chewing up paper faster than they can put new rolls in but with Wrexham around the corner, or it might be straight, either way we are a good 15L so that is my connection at LLJ out of the window, they hope to get some signal to process the payment. It says it's successful but he doesn't get a print out. Unfazed by this the lady accepts that if it hasn't gone through it's their loss but for future card payments she will get the guard to sell vouchers and do it that way.
I noticed at this point that the guy sat on the other side of the train is deaf. A young smartly dressed guy, and it reminded me of my gripe with languages in the UK. It has nothing to do with trains and as such fits in perfectly with this trip report. We are quick to teach children French and German and Spanish in schools, indeed whilst it may have changed, back just before the turn of the century when I did my GCSEs it was compulsory to take 1 other language. What annoys me is that we don't speak those languages in this country, and when we visit Germany I never tell people what sort of dwelling I live in, I never ask where the library is, I don't say I have a sister called Debra, which is also a fact not just a point I'm making about languages, I don't go to France and tell people that the swimming pool is closed on a Thursday nor that my favourite animal is the pig. I do however in my home country come across people who are deaf or have issues speaking, or both. So why not teach people another British Language, BSL for example, then we can communicate much better. I have nothing against other languages, or other countries, or the people from them, I'm part French myself, but we can learn the basics of these languages at other times, or still at school but with less emphasis on that.
We continue to fall behind time taking a serious hit at Chester, the announcement was made at Flint that we were late because of a late arrival at Chester and had been made further late by following a Virgin Trains service. It was said in such a way that implied it was the fault of the Virgin Train, I said in ear shot of the guard “do you mean the on time Virgin Train?” And much undeniably false laughter ensued. It was clear I was never going to make the 2058 from Llandudno Junction to Llandudno and at this rate at 26L I might be looking at a taxi if I miss the next and final connecting train. Alas, the chap opposite paid cash for a couple of brandys and managed to drink them within one signal block where he promptly alighted at Flint, thanking the staff for their hospitality which I must add was second to none, I'd even think it beats VTEC in some respects. 2119 or so rolls up and I get off the train and close the door behind me …. Novel concept I know. Over the bridge, or half of it anyway to Platform 3 where the connecting train is just pulling in. There's a 12 or so minute dwell time here so I'm not in a rush. It's a superb piece of machinery. It's 150***, one of my favourite 150s. I get on and there's a bag with an umbrella, someone has left a bag. I quickly amble to the door and find a lady running back to collect it, another good deed for the day. 2132 arrives promptly and we listen to the longest prerecorded on board safety announcement I have ever heard. No information about what train it is, where it's going, the next stop, nothing like that. Just simply telling me to mind the gap and store luggage safely and keep an eye on it at all times. Me and the other passenger on the train improve our luggage security immediately by sitting still and allowing time to pass. 2 stops to go on this luxurious piece of engineering. On arrival at Llandudno I notice it is unstaffed, I'm not sure why I noticed this but I thought it may lengthen a train based fact so this is still valid in trip planning and reports. Of course by now it is only being read for moderation purposes and as such it matters not what I write. That said I have taken that approach all along.
A short 5 minute walk to my hotel and I know I'm in for a treat. This was the cheapest accommodation of the week. An astronomical £31.50, it wasn't even the cheapest room here, I could have saved £3 by having to walk across a corridor to the toilet and down another one to shower, I'm speculating here, I do not have the blue prints for the hotel although the entire thing could be written in a deceptively thick marker pen on the piece of leather bound oak that is attached to the key, what is it with hotels having HUGE keys? I could have saved a further £2.40 (I have no intention of actually looking up the correct amount so please just stare open mouthed at the value for a while and let us move on) by taking one of life's greatest risks. A non refundable tariff. I also get breakfast, which will be interesting.
Of course this sort of place is unlikely to be busy at this time of year, a Tuesday night in November isn't peak time for Llandudno, infact the reason that the London and Edinburgh hotels are so expensive is because they only have a few rooms left with the others filled with people from Llandudno. I had had a call from the lady, sorry do we need a subtitle at the bottom of the screen saying “EARLIER THAT DAY……” to ask what time I would arrive. It's that sort of place I thought. One with character, I like places like that. Sure enough it has character, a single ensuite room, that wall paper with the bits of wood in it, the 4 inch “small Paul” coving. I have no idea what coving it is, I just remember 25 years ago seeing a leaflet for coving and one being called small Paul. It made me laugh as much as Coving can make a 7 year old laugh, which as it turns out is quite a lot, and I still find it funny today. The room is on a 1 in 3 and you have to be a contortionist to see the tv from the bed, infact I would have had an easier time trying to read the ticket machine at Helsby station from this bed than the tv but the room has a teapot, nowhere has a teapot anymore, all this making your tea in a cup nonsense, if tea were not supposed to be made in a teapot we wouldn't have teapots would we. It had a socket with free fireworks display where I carefully plug in my charger, and the mug is straight off of a VTEC train so that makes me happy. Of course, I won't use any of these things, but it's good that they're there, a little like a fire extinguisher. So, to bed, it's been quite a long day. And up again to switch the bathroom light off and to bed, it's been quite a long day. Radiator is on nuclear warhead setting. And to bed… day, long.
Day 7 to follow when i have written up my notes.
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ALR Day 7
Starting Point : Llandudno
End Point : HOME!
Accommodation : Home!
So, you may be wondering WHY LLANDUDNO? Well it was primarily as it was en route from the ATW premier service and it was inexpensive, I also had to get to Manchester the next morning. The thing was, I didn’t have to get to Manchester the next morning, as it had been cancelled but it made no sense to try and change it. The hotel was great, the lady there was very helpful. I’m fairly convinced I was the only person staying there, I saw nobody else in the breakfast room and hadn’t heard thing all night or morning and my room was near the stairs. A full cooked breakfast was in order and very nice it was too. Being from England I find it incredibly amusing when i visit Scotland and Wales how other English people try and get around using the term English breakfast. How hard can it be to call it a cooked breakfast? I remembered one chap from the morning before on the 0730 from Edinburgh saying, I would lie the bacon and eggs and sausage and stuff. It even has a name, on the menu, infront of you. It was raining. It was really really raining rather a lot, in the 5 or 6 minutes it took for me to get from the hotel to the station I was wetter than an otter’s pocket, but I was in time for the train the 0945 to Manchester Airport. I would have originally caught this to Oxford road but as this work was cancelled I had been thinking up places to go. I planned to go to Windermere, a bit of track I’ve never done, even though I have been past lots of times and been there in the car more than once. It seems a nice enough station, the Alice in Wonderland display thing inside is, interesting. The train arrived, it was 175009, aren’t I nice to you lot. There were a handful of us on there and we departed on time. The interior is very tired, I notice the aisles are very narrow, I’ve not been on many 175s before. I notice the auto announcements say thankyou after telling me what the next stop is. That’s awful polite. There’s a ship, it is quite a big ship, its quite an interesting trip, one I’ve only ever done in the dark both the night previous and a few years back. We arrive at Flint, a little late and I spot a sign that says “Are you stopping at Shotton?” I’m assuming there have been trains that have failed to stop there when they should, though I looked at the timetable and the majority of these trains seem to stop there so it seems an odd sign. We arrive at Shotton, we stop ok, but we seem to really struggle to get going again. The train is struggling, it had done this earlier too I thought it was leaf based at first but we are downhill applying minimal power now and the engine is up and down, there is something definitely wrong. Just then an engineer appears out of the front cab and walks down the train. He gets off at Chester and runs back to the front and gets in again. The train fills up to being really overcrowded very suddenly at Chester, one group of people “Must have a table” and suggest other people occupying the table stand up so they can sit at a table as they need a table. Needless to say no musical chairs happened and the rather unpleasant people were forced to find seats elsewhere. I had noticed that as soon as we got into England, the auto announcer stopped saying thankyou at the end of the station names. Why is this? Is it because we English aren’t worth a thankyou? It made me quite unnaturally cross. Helsby sees a few more people squeeze on and I am looking to get to Warrington to change for an Edinburgh train as far as Oxenholme so I prepare myself to get out and work my way through the crowd a little afterwards so as not to be pushing at the last minute. Foolishly I got up when Warrington was announced and made it to the vestibule end just as the train came to a stop…….outside the station. We stood there for maybe 10 minutes and then moved into the station. I assumed I had missed the Edinburgh train but RTT informed me that it too was delayed and I would have had a good 10 minutes still. I informed another chap who seemed anxious and had been talking on the phone saying he would likely miss it. He was most grateful. Coach K on the 390 from Warrington was empty so I went in there, had an orange juice and a bacon cob. We were 20 minutes late, I was going to miss the connection to Windermere which was disappointing as I had planned the day around it and needed to be in Huddersfield for the forum meet in the evening. I got off the train at Oxenholme shortly after it was announced that they could not hold the Windermere train this long and the next one would be 1333 or something. I had a long wait. I went for a wander and as I came up onto the south bound platform side I just spotted 66*** going past pulling what appeared to be a MK2 coach and a DBSO. I can only assume that they were being taken from Carlisle to Barrow, the quicker way. I went for a bit of a walk and had a meat and potato pie from the little shop. I didn’t really want to eat too much as I knew I would be eating in Huddersfield later but, who can resist a homemade pie for £1.60? Next time I shall find great pleasure in resisting the homemade pie for £1.60 as it was mediocre. I did have a chocolate covered mind cake though which was pleasant. More wandering and I spot that lots and lots of trains are late. Very detailed announcements were made here about trains particularly airport ones and connecting trains that would be missed, it was quite informative and it would be nice to see more of this. I went back to the other side of the station and boarded the 156 waiting to go to Windermere. At least 3 people used the toilet whilst in the station. I wanted to move the train and then throw them in it on the track. Off to Windermere we went, the crawl across the crossing with no barriers is fun, I stayed on the train and came straight back, I just wanted the track really. I got back to Oxenholme and awaited the next service south. Everything was still running badly late and I was concerned that even though I had lots of time left I didn’t want to be catching busy rush hour horrid trains to Huddersfield later so I worked out a plan to go early. As it happened the plan to go early didn’t really work out as a late train saw me waiting at Preston for 40 minutes, before a trip to Manchester Piccadilly and back out on the 1641 TPE service. We waited a member of train crew and left late at 1648, we then crawled at less than 30mph all the way there for reasons unknown at the time. I arrived into Huddersfield around 20L I believe and met up with forum members one by one as they arrived on their trains, most of which were also late. Shortly after everyone had arrived there was a trespass incident just East of Huddersfield and all trains were stopped. Chaos ensued, not that it mattered to us. It was likely 40 minutes before trains started moving again and some of the trains other forum members caught were well over an hour late. Luckily (or not depending on how you look at it) I was catching a Sheffield train so not affected by this disruption although it had apparently been a bit slippery earlier. I caught the 2113 to Sheffield, a 144 with a view to catching the 2244 to Worksop afterwards. It’s a valid connection, but only just. We ran about 5L but luckily it was a short platform hop and whilst confused at first I boarded the 158 to Worksop, what luxury to end the day and to end my ALR. I was fully expecting to have to endure my last journey on a busy 142 back to Worksop, but not only was it a 158, it was fairly quiet too. My taxi was just pulling in as I walked around the side of the station building and my short journey home (The last Whitwell train leaves an hour earlier, though I was quite tired and my bag was heavy and it’s a long old steep uphill walk at that time of night from Whitwell station to my house so I would have likely favoured a taxi anyway). I got home around 2340 and went straight to bed, my own bed. Having been on world tours, and spent weeks on tour buses whilst working long days, I get used to not sleeping in my own bed, I average 3 to 4 nights in it per week most of the year as it is but this week I was certainly glad to get home.
I’ve done a few bits of new track, The Windermere branch, the Marylebone to Moor street bit, south of Leamington anyway, Aberdeen to Nairn, Llandudno Junction to Llandudno, Chester to Warrington Bank Quay.
I’ve been on the ATW Premier service, a first for me, also the first time I’ve been on one of their loco hauled sets full stop.
I won’t suggest I had a favourite journey over that week, I won’t even suggest I had a least favourite, though I still say that despite the great service from Cardiff, VTEC crew still win.
I’ve got a pile of notes to write up for my ALR I did in July, my North East Rover I did in……September? October? I can’t remember. And my North West Rover I did with my other half in Late October/Early November. I will get around to it.
It is unlikely anyone has got this far as the train content has been somewhat minimal and the utter drivel content has been somewhat higher, but for anyone with a spare lunar month that fancies reading through all this lot the I hope you might find some bits enjoyable, or even useful, though, I pity you.
Rob
