Ivo's Adventures 3: The Emerald Isle

[Ivo]

It is just coming up to 11am on the 14th of May. And this message is being sent live from Coach D on the 10:20 Virgin Voyager to Glasgow Central. Yes, that famous Coach D that allows free Wi-Fi in Standard!

We are currently in the vicinity of that famous WCML shack, Norton Bridge. I have so far written just under 2,000 words for my report, which I have to confess will probably hit 20,000 in all.

I'll update on here once every so often, but otherwise that is about all I have to say at present. Everything has run smoothly so far (I even got to Brum 30 minutes early), and I have the Settle & Carlisle to look forward to in approximately two hours.

 

[4SRKT]

You will be outblogging me at this rate!

20,000 words! My longest hasn't even been 4,000 so far and I thought it was a bit long-winded!

 

[Ivo]

3,700 and we haven't even hit Settle yet (we are close though).

My GRE one was almost 7,000 in case you hadn't noticed...

Something else while I think about it. 4SRKT has asked me to pick up the Cork and DART timetables for him. Are there any others people would like? I would like to suggest a maximum of three per person as a precaution though.

 

[4SRKT]

3,700 and we haven't even hit Settle yet (we are close though).

My GRE one was almost 7,000 in case you hadn't noticed...

Something else while I think about it. 4SRKT has asked me to pick up the Cork and DART timetables for him. Are there any others people would like? I would like to suggest a maximum of three per person as a precaution though.

All the NIR leaflets fit in an envelope and go comfortably for a second class stamp.

Can't believe you're getting Clitheroe > Hellifield. It's required track for me, and although I don't actually bother with red bits it's always nice to get one ticked off.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

20,000 words is half a Masters thesis....

 

[Ivo]

I'll keep this brief, because I'm currently using the world's worst Internet, that of Stena. We are just about to leave Stranraer. Everything has gone without problems today, and I have plenty of Guess the Station material. The S&C was majestic. And down to Stranraer wasn't eaxctly bad either.

I know 20,000 is a lot, but if anything I'll exceed that...!

 

[4SRKT]

The S&C was majestic. And down to Stranraer wasn't eaxctly bad either.

North is best. Maybe at last you can see that now

 

[ralphchadkirk]

North is best. Maybe at last you can see that now

I had heard rumours that the barren landscape north of the Watford gap was passable now

 

[Hydro]

I had heard rumours that the barren landscape north of the Watford gap was passable now

Ever since they sorted out that Orc problem, it's been quite hospitable in the North.

 

[4SRKT]

Ever since they sorted out that Orc problem, it's been quite hospitable in the North.

That's what YOU think.....!

 

[Ivo]

I never doubted you for a second

45 minutes from Belfast

I would like to repeat my above statement. I had stated a maximum of three timetables per person on space grounds; I can only fit so many timetables in the inside pocket of my laptop bag! If only a couple of people respond (i.e. 4SRKT and one other by PM thus far), then I see no reason why more would not be possible.

Oh, and actually, the Stena connection isn't that bad. It's just their Surf Points that are. I'm on my laptop now!
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Right then. I have at least ten copies of all four NIR timetables, and also a card with Enterprise times on them (giving two Enterprise timetables). I actually don't know how many I picked up, but I probably have more than 20 Derry Line tables!

If anyone would like any, give us a shout! Note that some of them (not sure which) were updated in February 2011, so anyone whose copies all date from December 2009 may want to ask for the updates...

I did everything as planned today. I just wish 4SRKT's plan had left longer Cultra for the museum... Still, given I only had 50 minutes (allowing for walking to and from the site) they waived the entrance fee!

 

[4SRKT]

Did you do the DEMU taster this morning?

 

[Ivo]

I had one 450 (second journey) and that was it. Everything else was a C3K. Was this what you refer to? Thsoe things are really loud!

That Coleraine Express did run, but it doesn't continue to Portrush now. I would have gone on it but it would have meant surrendering the rest of the day's plans and jumping to Portrush early. What you may be interested to know is that there was a £6 ticket that you didn't mention called the Day Tracker, which is basically a Sunday-only one-day ALR! Some of the best value I have ever seen in a ticket! Given I reckon I covered 350mi today (I'll ask MattE for clarification) that works out at <2p a mile!

 

[4SRKT]

I had one 450 (second journey) and that was it. Everything else was a C3K. Was this what you refer to? Thsoe things are really loud!

That Coleraine Express did run, but it doesn't continue to Portrush now. I would have gone on it but it would have meant surrendering the rest of the day's plans and jumping to Portrush early. What you may be interested to know is that there was a £6 ticket that you didn't mention called the Day Tracker, which is basically a Sunday-only one-day ALR! Some of the best value I have ever seen in a ticket! Given I reckon I covered 350mi today (I'll ask MattE for clarification) that works out at <2p a mile!

That 450 this morning is the only DEMU on a Sunday, except the 22:20 Belfast > Larne, which you clearly can't have done or you wouldn't be back at the hostel yet. I didn't know about that Sunday ticket, but I never go to NI on Sundays because of the lack of DEMUs. It is indeed superb value though!

The plan gave you 7.5 miles each way GVS > Whiteabbey, 95.5 miles GVS > Derry, 93.75 miles Derry > Central, 12.5 miles to Bangor, 39.25 back to Portadown, 18 miles to Newry, 44.25 miles back to Central. I don't do miles and chains myself, but it's all there in the Quail or Irish Railways Traction and Travel.

 

[Ivo]

The 80 failed today and a CAF turned up instead :cry:

That really disappointed me. I wanted to try this random thing! But instead the 12:12 from Central to Carrickfergus was 3008.

I asked the guard about it, and he said he didn't know; he later told me that he had since found out that it had failed earlier in the day. Which basically ruined the afternoon for me...

...or rather it would have if he hadn't offered me the "compromise" of taking me into the rear cab for the last three minutes of the journey!!!!! I felt like a little kid in a sweet shop! I've never been in a cab whilst a train has been in motion before! I even got a few shots of the whole thing, and he went through all of the various dials and controls (some of which, like the "dartboard", I had been unsure of their purpose). And then he gave me a few odd bits of memorabilia (sp?), including two Weekly Notices, one Disabled Poster (from 2007 ) and one "Out of Use" sticker for use on doors.

That made up for the 80's non-appearance to a point, but ultimately it means that if I want it I have to leave later on Wednesday (I'm not doing Portrush again because I've been told that the full iLink would be cheaper than a peak return) and hope it turns up...!

The combination of body and engine within the 450 still seems odd though.

 

[4SRKT]

What an absolute bummer. Did you flag the odious CAF and go 450 bashing instead?

 

[Ivo]

Partly. I did travel up to Larne on a 450 later in the day, but I took the chance to do a bit of shopping and sight-seeing. I did however stay on the CAF for the full Belfast - C'fergus - Belfast - Larne - Belfast run though, and as I said I did get to travel in the CAF's cab!

 

[Techniquest]

Ah yes, I know what you mean about those Internet access points on Stena. The ones on Stena Adventurer weren't even on, however on my way back they worked. Not that they were awesome mind, but it was still really useful.

Glad to hear your taster of the 450s was enjoyable, hope you get to enjoy more of them. Sad that you've so far missed out on the 80, hope you manage to get that in too.

Didn't know they still did the Sunday ticket, it's been so long since I'd heard about it last that I'd forgotten it, otherwise I'd have advised on it.

Finally, how are you finding the hostel?

 

[Ivo]

Just left Belfast on the return to Stranraer.

The hostel was surprisingly good actually. Having never previously stayed in one before I was not sure what to expect but it was very comfortable and the staff were very helpful. Apart from whoever it was that kept changing my bed sheet every night! Why couldn't they have kept it on? :roll:

I did get the 80 in the end, and my word was it worth the wait (and the cost)! It felt like I had gone back in time to 1997 when I went on the Marshlink for the first time (aged 8). But sadly it started to fail (it stopped "thumping") at Carrickfergus on the way back - I only did Whitehead and back - and was withdrawn when we returned to Central :cry: Still, that was all I'd paid for (requiring the 11:45 ferry made further journeys impossible) so it wasn't all that bad. According to my gen man (no prizes for guessing who! ) the 80 hasn't been out all week so I got lucky in that sense. It truly was a case of saving the best 'til late...!

Coming back from Dublin last night was another matter. A suspect package was found at Lurgan so I had to get off at Newry for a bus connection to Belfast...

N.B.: As MattE suggested previously (it may have been in a PM, I can't remember), IE do not publish a timetable for every line now. So no DART timetables were available Have to download them and then print if necessary. But hasn't it occurred to them that some people don't have the Internet?
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I am using East Coast's free Wi-Fi so this will have to be brief. You only get 15 minutes free and I'm not paying £4.99 for just one hour!

In case you hadn't sussed from the above, I am taking an ambitious route home. Stranraer comes under Kilmarnock and Paisley and passes the fare check for both from Bath so routes via both are valid. I have decided to take advantage of the most optimistic-looking of these routes, CE+NE+EG, and pushing it well beyond normal means. I only have times for this as far as the *, but my route runs thusly:

Stranraer - Ayr - Paisley GS - Glasgow C - Glasgow QS - Falkirk High - Edinburgh - Newcastle * Sunderland - Middlesbrough - York - Harrogate - Leeds - Barnsley - Sheffield - [XC] - Cheltenham - Newport - Bristol - Bath

I get to stay overnight at either Newcastle or Sunderland. Ouch. Not so long ago, I was suggesting I wanted to visit Sunderland... :roll:

Currently in the vicinity of Drem.

 

[Techniquest]

That's got to be one of the most twisted ways of returning from Stranraer to Bath ever! When I returned via Stranraer, it was direct to Kilmarnock, straight to Carlisle, straight through to Birmingham, straight down the XC mainline to Bristol with a very good connection onto the next Pompey to Trowbridge. None of these convoluted routes for me!

Congratulations on, by a long way, overtaking me in the mileage compo!

 

[sprinterguy]

I get to stay overnight at either Newcastle or Sunderland. Ouch. Not so long ago, I was suggesting I wanted to visit Sunderland... :roll:

There's surely no good reason for visiting Sunderland unless you are like me and have family there!

Where did you end up staying overnight? I would have suggested staying in Newcastle. There's a much greater range of hotels and hostels to stay in, and the city centre is much more pleasant. The Premier Inn in Sunderland is located directly above its' clubbiest Wetherspoons, which even for me, with my inate and deep held love of Wetherspoons, doesn't strike me as a great arrangement. That sort of sets the scene for accomodation in Sunderland! Stick with Newcastle, it's much nicer.

Did you make use of the Grand Central service from Sunderland to York at all?

 

[Ivo]

I went down to Newcastle, and got on the T&W to Sunderland - to find nothing there! So it was back up to Newc (another £3 worse off; I'm not chancing a free bus at that time :roll where I was directed to a hostel, which wouldn't accept my ID! They directed me to the Euro Hostel, which didn't need ID at all - and even gave me a dorm room all to myself in spite of arriving at 00:30. £17 for an eight-bed room all to myself. Good enough for me!

As for my ridiculous route, I had a close call with it. I went with GC from Sunderland to Eaglescliffe (my first non-HC Open Access journey), where I decided to go to Redcar and back on a simple YP return to waste time before the TPE to York. I wanted to eliminate as many required units and TOCs as possible, hence the diversion, but Saltburn would have fluffed the connections. I didn't bother with Chiltern though, because I'm not walking to Moor Street heavily laden at 21:30! Anyway, I got on the TPE service - and the guard rejected my ticket. D'oh. I showed him without too much trouble that it was valid, and he actually took great interest in what I was doing from then on and we even discussed route coverage (e.g. my having not done Horsham when he was diverted that way after the Purley accident, which happened four weeks before I was born). Ultimately, it wasn't his fault; it's TPE's training. According to what he had been told, Any Permitted means any reasonable or preferably direct route, as opposed to quite literally any permitted [by the Routeing Guide].

That's about it for now. I've got a long write-up ahead of me! However, I should say that after Brum I instead went via Oxford, which gave some new mileage in place of missing Lydney for 1,000,001st time!

N.B.: Whilst over there, I picked up countless timetables (probably anything up to 20 of some of them!). I shall put up a list of timetables before the end of the weekend, and any I have more than one of will be up for grabs. Please note however the above-stated lack of DART timetables.
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I picked up the following timetables whilst away. All of those I have more than one of will be made available. Keep in mind though that some may be out-of-date, either due to them still be valid (for the next four hours ) or due to the TOC's incompetence!

EM: 1x 1; 1x 2
GC: 2x GC
GR: 2x EC
GW: 1x 16; 1x 17
IE: 5x 1; 1x 4; 2x 5; 1x 6; 1x 8; 1x 9; 1x 10; 1x 14; 5x 15; 1x 16
NI: 16x B/P; 12x Enterprise; 10x Enterprise pocket; 15x Larne; 21x Derry
NT: 1x Cumbrian Coast; 1x NCL-CAR; 1x NOT-SHF; 1x 1; 2x 2; 2x 3; 2x 4; 1x 6; 1x 7; 1x 30; 1x 32; 1x 33
SR: 1x Orange; 2x Red; 1x Pink; 1x Indigo; 1x Cyan; 1x L. Blue; 1x Claret; 2x "Purple"; 1x Violet; 2x Tan; 1x Caley; 1x Ayrshire
TP:1x 9; 1x 14; 1x North
VT: 2x EF
XC: 1x 1; 1x 3; 1x 4
SYPTE: 1x Blue; 1x Green; 1x Pink
Ulsterbus: 3x B'mena; 2x Bangor; 2x C'avon; 1x Derry; 2x D'gannon; 2x E'killen; 2x Larne; 2x Derry Cty; 2x M&C'town; 1x Newry; 2x N'nards

(Much abbreviating above to keep all entries to single lines. Ask if you require more information!)

Total = 162...

 

[Crossover]

Obviously the North is by far the better :P

Glad you got a 185 - aside from the minor problems with the guard, what did you make of them?

Also, how was S&C? It's one line I would like to do at some point, just because of its scenery.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Sounds like you had a good trip then Ivo!

 

[Techniquest]

Where's that hostel you went to in Newcastle Ivo? That is, how far from Newcastle Central is it, also is it worth staying in? I've never found a hostel up there through HostelBookers or HostelWorld, so I'm genuinely interested.

Glad to hear you had a good trip back after all, good thing you had the Routing Guide maps with you really!

 

[Ivo]

Aye!

I have travelled on a 185 a few times, but not this year. This was my first time on them since... I don't even know when; February last year maybe? I quite like them actually, but as many otehrs will tell you they are too small! The first time I travelled on one, to Scarborough in March '09, I had to stand...

The hostel was about 12 minutes walk from NCL. Make your way to the Nelson's-esque monument (after which Monument on the T&W is named), and then turn right away from Grainger Street. There will soon be an ATM on the left, and a police station. You turn right by the police station and it is in front of you. It is only 200m or so from Manors. Click here for a Google Map of central Newcastle with the location visible.

Do watch out if travelling late at night, as I did; plenty of nightclubs around from the looks of things...!

 

[sprinterguy]

The hostel was about 12 minutes walk from NCL. Make your way to the Nelson's-esque monument (after which Monument on the T&W is named), and then turn right away from Grainger Street. There will soon be an ATM on the left, and a police station. You turn right by the police station and it is in front of you. It is only 200m or so from Manors. Click here for a Google Map of central Newcastle with the location visible.

Do watch out if travelling late at night, as I did; plenty of nightclubs around from the looks of things...!

Ah right, I get where you mean there. Charles Gray is the fella on top of the Monument. Yep, plenty of clubs in the vicinity (Some pretty decent, many others not so much), as long as you don't stray too deep into the Bigg Market (Approximately half way between Central station and Monument) then they aren't generally any bother.

 

[Techniquest]

Cheers Ivo, that information may come in handy for later in the year for me. Wouldn't need it if TPX still ran the 0120 Newcastle to Manchester Airport, but hey ho!

 

[Ivo]

IVO NEWS:

Could there be a second leg of the Great Irish Adventure? I am likely to go over with three friends (one from Canada) in September, and the current feeling is that Sail-Rail and the €100 4-day ticket - assuming it's still available - is the best option! And this would take in much of the network south and west of Dublin!

 

[4SRKT]

Where's your bl**dy report then? Have you warned the boys at RUK that they may need to invest in another server?

Did you know that you can also Sail Rail via Fishguard? Maybe you could get lucky and score a pacer all the way to Cheltenham on the way back!