Starting My First All Line Rover Tomorrow (Sat 7/4/2018)

[PeterY]

I've now got my ALR ticket and my old persons card (senior). OK I'm splashing out a bit but I'll only be 60 once, so it's 1st class. My plans had to change at short notice and it feels like I made no end of revisions.

I will try to write daily reports but I prefer to write using my laptop and a proper keyboard, instead of a tablet. I don't really do shacks or unit numbers.

The plan is get up at silly hour 05.30 and get to Hemel Hempstead station, which is a good 2.5 mile walk, for about 7.30. The route planned Milton Keynes, Crewe and Shrewsbury, I want to try and photograph some semaphore signals, Hereford, Great Malvern for a lunch break and a wander then direct to Paddington. The first two days of my ALR I will be staying at home.

 

[gazthomas]

Peter, enjoy your trip - I look forward to your reports!

And make sure you get value from your ticket - advance tickets may lack flexibility but they are generally cheap. You have flexibility of course!

 

[PeterY]

Peter, enjoy your trip - I look forward to your reports!

And make sure you get value from your ticket - advance tickets may lack flexibility but they are generally cheap. You have flexibility of course!

Day 1.
I did a bit more than I was expecting, which is good.
I did follow the route I'd planned until I got to Shrewsbury, I took a few photos of the semaphores but it was raining rather heavily. I got the following train to Hereford. There was an HST waiting there, so I jumped on that to Reading. Having gained 1.5 hours by Reading, there was a 20 minute delay at Oxford due to a broken down train. I looked up on Realtime Trains to see what was due to leave Reading and decided to go to Gatwick before returning home.

New track: Crewe to Hereford and Reading to Redhill.

My thoughts of the day
First class, lots of air being carried around.
Gatwick Express, what's the fuss about?? It's nothing special. I was looked suspiciously by the guard sitting in first class and probably the only ticket he checked.
Virgin Voyagers still smell.
No Gateline liked my ticket. In the end I just spoke to one of the gateline staff to let me in and out. The lady at Crewe was convinced it'd open the gateline but alias NO.

Thoroughly enjoyed being able to pick and choose which trains I traveled on without worrying about advances.

 

[robbeech]

Sounds like a good start overall. I would never put an ALR through a barrier (unless specifically told to by staff) as I have had one eaten before. I’ve only known them work a couple of times anyway.

 

[noddy1878]

Sounded good! I wondered what the problem was at Oxford. I got the impression it was a signalling farce! Not the end of the world for me but I got stuck at Radley for 30 minutes waiting for train the other way! I just went to the pub! I wouldn't put my ticket in the barriers either. One day I may do another ALR.

 

[Andy Pacer]

Sounded good! I wondered what the problem was at Oxford. I got the impression it was a signalling farce! Not the end of the world for me but I got stuck at Radley for 30 minutes waiting for train the other way! I just went to the pub! I wouldn't put my ticket in the barriers either. One day I may do another ALR.

There were problems around Banbury and Leamington Spa due to a broken down train, so don’t know if this may have had a knock on to Oxford

 

[yorkie]

Gatwick Express, what's the fuss about?? It's nothing special. I was looked suspiciously by the guard sitting in first class and probably the only ticket he checked.

It's the same unit as used on some of the company's other routes, except they are red inside and out. No other difference.

1st is identical to Standard.

They do not have Guards; several of their ticket inspectors are trying to catch people out (sometimes refusing to honour valid tickets) and are openly hostile towards customers.

The company's GX branded trains are often slower than the company's Southern branded trains. It's a tourist honeypot trap which is morally indefensible and legally dubious.

It is run like this quite deliberately with the approval of the Department for Transport.

 

[Kite159]

It's the same unit as used on some of the company's other routes, except they are red inside and out. No other difference.

1st is identical to Standard.
t.

Lies...

...First class has very fine antimacassars indeed

(Agreed about it being a waste of money though, the time saving (if any) isn't worth the extra)

-----

Have a good trip on your ALR, hopefully you don't hit any major issues

 

[PeterY]

Day 2
Another early start but I wanted an early finish because extra early tomorrow.
Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street (via Stoke), Birmingham Moor street, London Marylebone, Harrow on the Hill, (Met line was down) Harrow and Wealdstone, Apsley and home.
I was surprised when I totted up the mileage, 381 miles.

My thoughts of the day.
Glad I booked a seat on the 11.27 Cross Country Manchester to Birmingham. First class was full and standard heaving. Even in first class it seemed more like musical chairs, with reservations.
Chiltern Mainline class 168's are surprisingly comfortable DMU's
A sign at the kiosk at Moorstreet, Next coffee Marylebone.

New lines bashed Cheadle Hulme, to Little Bridgeford Jct and Birmingham Moorstreet to Banbury.

 

[cambsy]

Sounds like you had fun pottering about, I’m more about relaxing on longish trips and chilling out, rather than on and off trains all day, but each to their own, have fun exploring the railways, and try make use of the 1st class lounges while waiting between trains, as they are worth doing and more comfortable than waiting around on stations.

 

[PeterY]

I'm now on day 5. Exmouth to glasgow via edinburgh. Glad I'm doing this first class. Full report when i get home.

 

[mrcheek]

I always recommend First Class for an ALR.
I do a two week ALR every year. Ive done 11 of them now. But unfortunately this year I started on March 1st, the same day as The Beast from the East hit, so the first few days were ruined!

Hope youre enjoying yourself!

 

[robbeech]

I always recommend First Class for an ALR.
I do a two week ALR every year. Ive done 11 of them now. But unfortunately this year I started on March 1st, the same day as The Beast from the East hit, so the first few days were ruined!

Hope youre enjoying yourself!

Do make sure you claim delay repay for any journeys you were delayed on over that time. Any compensation can go towards the next ALR

 

[Mike99]

Do make sure you claim delay repay for any journeys you were delayed on over that time. Any compensation can go towards the next ALR

How is delay repay calculated against an ALR? would a TOC just base the refund, calculating against the appropriate single fare for the journey made?

 

[Segedunum]

How is delay repay calculated against an ALR? would a TOC just base the refund, calculating against the appropriate single fare for the journey made?

When I claimed on mine for a 55 or so minute delay on VTWC (this was when someone's E-Cig blew up at Euston and stranded us on approach) it was calculated as half of (£491.70/14). Probably an even weirder claim as I'd sweet talked the guard into letting me just travel from Watford to Euston on the basis that my ticket was valid from Coventry.

Ended up with about £17 iirc.

 

[robbeech]

It varies from toc to toc but they can be fairly generous. I was delayed by about 90 minutes on a journey between Newcastle and Edinburgh due to <insert reason here> and I got 10% of the ticket value back for that which was just under £73 at the time. (Was on a 7 day 1st)

 

[PeterY]

I've just finished day 6. I'm in Stockport tonight ready for the Denton flyer tomorrow. A delayed Cross county service at Exeter meant I could leave 56 minutes earlier yesterday with connection off of Exmouth branch. Delayed trains can work out in your favour. Anyway I,ll do a full report of days 3 to 7 when I get home. Too awkward writing on a tablet. One thing I will say is how useful realtime train has been.

 

[gazthomas]

I've just finished day 6. I'm in Stockport tonight ready for the Denton flyer tomorrow. A delayed Cross county service at Exeter meant I could leave 56 minutes earlier yesterday with connection off of Exmouth branch. Delayed trains can work out in your favour. Anyway I,ll do a full report of days 3 to 7 when I get home. Too awkward writing on a tablet. One thing I will say is how useful realtime train has been.

The RTT guys will happily take donations

 

[robbeech]

I've just finished day 6. I'm in Stockport tonight ready for the Denton flyer tomorrow. A delayed Cross county service at Exeter meant I could leave 56 minutes earlier yesterday with connection off of Exmouth branch. Delayed trains can work out in your favour. Anyway I,ll do a full report of days 3 to 7 when I get home. Too awkward writing on a tablet. One thing I will say is how useful realtime train has been.

Don’t forget to make use of the “WTT order vs Actual order” feature. Sometimes when you’re wanting to look at connections it helps lag things out better, particularly during disruption.

 

[shredder1]

Enjoyable read, glad you are enjoying the ALR, its been a few years since I did an ALR in the UK, these days my ALR`s are Interrail tickets across Europe.

 

[PeterY]

Home now. Sane people do a cruise etc for big birthdays. I chose an all line rover. I,ve just done my total mileage for the week 3,163. Full report to follow over the weekend.

 

[PeterY]

I'll try and do one report a day to cover the last 5 days. So nice to be using a proper keyboard.

Monday 9th April.
A very early start from Hemel Hempstead to catch the 08.03 Grand Central to York. I enjoyed their first class. I had intended to get Trans Pennine Express to Newcastle but it was running 20 minutes late, so I'd of missed my connection to Carlisle. I needed to by in Rhyl by 5.30 to meet a friend, so it was a quick look at the PIS board and caught the TPE to Liverpool. It was all new lines, so I wasn't overly disappointed. Once I got to Liverpool looked at the PIS board and another new line bashed to Wigan North Western and back to Liverpool. Then made my way to Chester using Merseyrail and got to Rhyl by 5.

I stayed over night in Rhyl.

391 rail miles.

It was strange riding the 319's again, with the announcement saying welcome to "Liverpool's new electric service".

All the times I used Transpennine Express, I was so glad I had a first class ticket, on the whole their trains in standard were rammed.

 

[peri]

What sort of extras are you getting from the various TOCs other than less crowding?

 

[PeterY]

Tuesday 10th April
I got an early start from Rhyl and I changed at Chester for the Virgin Voyager down to London Euston. I'd aimed for the 12.30 train to Chippenham but ended up on the 12.00 because I got across from Euston to Paddington in 18 minutes. A short break in Chippenham and caught the dirtiest 150 I'd ever seen to Westbury and from Westbury the Southwestern railway train to Bristol. Then made my way down to Exmouth for the overnight stop.
I wanted to do a short walk in the evening but because it was raining the bonus was pacer action on the Exmouth branch and spent some time train watching trains at Exeter St Davids and a short chat to the crossing keeper at Cow Lane crossing.

457 rail miles.

New routes were Chippenham to Westbury, Westbury to Bath and the Weston Super Mare avoiding line.

 

[PeterY]

Wednesday 11th April
I took the short ride from Exmouth to St Davids. I'd aimed for the 10.24 Cross Country train to Birmingham New street but caught the late running 09.24, Sometimes late trains workout. I arrived at New Street an hour earlier than planned, looked up at the PIS board, I was heading for Glasgow and jumped on a Pendolino heading to Edinburgh, thinking I'd change at Carlisle but made the decision to stay on the whole way, so it was more new lines bashed from Carstairs South Jnt to Edinburgh. Then I took a Scotrail 170 to Glasgow Queen Street via Falkirk High. Another new line.

I booked in at the Premier Inn and then took a circular ride around the Glasgow Subway. I've always wanted to do that. I was surprised just how small it is, in comparison to the London underground.

Rail miles 531

 

[PeterY]

Thursday 12th April
I had a very early breakfast and headed straight to Glasgow Central for the 07.50 to Wemyss Bay. I always wanted to see the station and I wasn't disappointed, stunning. I headed straight back to Glasgow and caught another voyager aiming to go to Preston but a quick check with Realtimestrains it worked out I could fit in the Carlisle to Newcastle line, which I'd missed on Monday. I was delighted to see it was a pacer. I then caught a Transpennine Express train from Newcastle to Manchester Victoria. I caught the tram over to Piccadilly and another 150 to Buxton. The Buxton line was very scenic and it felt very traditional with the semaphore signalling. Buxton back to Stockport, and another Premier Inn but I was too tired to go out again.

Rail miles 424

New lines Wemyss Bay, Glasgow Central to Carstairs south Jct, Carlisle to Newcastle and the Buxton branch.

 

[PeterY]

Friday 13th April (last day)
I woke up early, so to pass the time it was a crowded 323 to Manchester Piccadilly and a pendolino back to Stockport. I waited for the Denton flyer to Staylbridge. The guard introduced this, has the weekly parliamentary train to Stalybridge. There were a handful of people on it and a dog. When we got to Stalybridge the guard announced "this train will run again next week by popular demand"
When I made my original plan to come back home I got my Manchester stations muddled up. I guess it's easily done living down south.
So the trip back was made up and I zig zagged my way back. From Stalybridge to Hull using Transpinnine. I looked at the PIS board in Hull and saw a train to Sheffield via Goole. In Sheffield I had a 10 minute wait for an East Midlands 222 back to London at 15.30. I walked to Euston I still had some time to spare, so I again looked up the PIS board and it worked out I had enough time to go to Coventry and back.

New lines
Stockport to Stalybridge.
Micklefield Jct to Hull (It was nice to see the semaphore signals before they go)
Gilberdyke to Doncaster.
Doncaster to Sheffield.

Rail miles 543

 

[PeterY]

Conclusions of the week and lessons learnt.
Firstly I thoroughly enjoyed the All Line Rover and I thought it was good value for money. I probably had about £100 worth of tea and snacks
I know, I'd never do a standard class weekly rover now.
It was nice not to have to worry about permitted routes, timed advances, doubling back, and other than the advertised peak restrictions, peak restrictions.
Looking at the PIS boards, knowing I can jump on any train and make up a route up has I go along.

To keep the weight down I didn't take my Baker rail atlas... mistake.

Would I do another rover.... YES Next time, I won't be so meticulous about planning, most of it went out of the window anyway, just places I'm staying overnight.

What sort of extras are you getting from the various TOCs other than less crowding?

Basically it was tea and snacks. Virgin, Grand Central and East Midlands you get china cups all the others cardboard cups. Virgin were serving alcohol but I don't drink.

 

[PY33]

Day 2
Another early start but I wanted an early finish because extra early tomorrow.
Hemel Hempstead, Milton Keynes, Manchester Piccadilly, Birmingham New Street (via Stoke), Birmingham Moor street, London Marylebone, Harrow on the Hill, (Met line was down) Harrow and Wealdstone, Apsley and home.
I was surprised when I totted up the mileage, 381 miles.

My thoughts of the day.
Glad I booked a seat on the 11.27 Cross Country Manchester to Birmingham. First class was full and standard heaving. Even in first class it seemed more like musical chairs, with reservations.
Chiltern Mainline class 168's are surprisingly comfortable DMU's
A sign at the kiosk at Moorstreet, Next coffee Marylebone.

New lines bashed Cheadle Hulme, to Little Bridgeford Jct and Birmingham Moorstreet to Banbury.

How do you book a seat on a specific train with an ALR?

 

[mrcheek]

To keep the weight down I didn't take my Baker rail atlas... mistake.

.

Might be worth trying to get a 2nd hand copy of Ball's pocket version. A bit out of date, but there will only be a few lines that have changed, and its easier to carry around!