Techniquest
Veteran Member
Couldn't think of a better title, and I meant to post this last week but forgot! I got bored on my journey from Trowbridge to Hereford via Reading, so wrote up a trip report of sorts and thought I'd share it with the forum:
14th July 2010
All started off good, woke up and immediately started getting breakfast and so forth when the alarm went off at 0700. Sadly, the good feeling wasn’t to last for too long, as when I requested my ticket I found I now had to get an Anytime Return, not an Off Peak Return as previous occasions have allowed. Thus the ticket was more expensive, obviously not liking that. Still, on we must press with the journey and put up with the random fares change.
150281, in 52281, Trowbridge > Bath Spa (0823)
The good feeling disappeared even more so now, as I couldn’t get a seat. Worse still, there seemed to be no fresh cool air whatsoever on this 150, so a lot of sweating was inevitable. Even the Metro failed to be all that interesting today, which was disappointing. We finally arrive into Bath at 0844, observing 43196 on the front of the 0830 Bristol to Paddington.
Time now then for a coffee from Pumpkin, whilst observing movements. 43092+43003 worked the 0730 Paddington to Penzance, whilst 158769+153369 worked the 0709 Worcester Shrub Hill to Weymouth, with 159108 on the 0852 Bristol to Waterloo. I swear that thing works up to Bristol more times than the rest of the fleet!
43174+43030, in 44074, Bath Spa > Reading (0913, 1d)
Bah, I’d been hoping at least one power car would be required for haulage in 2010. Not so on this move sadly, maybe some better luck later. Having no earphones, MP3 player or anything on that front, I was bored once the moves book was updated. Still, a fast run through Didcot should be interesting.
No such luck, we were stuck behind a Cheltenham to Paddington, which was calling at Didcot, so a bit of a crawl through Didcot for us. It feels like a very long time ago when fast HSTs were actually fast at Didcot. 66501 gets noted on an eastbound Freightliner at 1006 between Cholsey and Goring & Streatley. We get delayed further outside Reading for a northbound Voyager to cross to the Down Main in front of us, with us arriving 5 minutes later as a result.
Bonus in that I got a shot of 59002 on the through road, headed for Acton, at 1038. An announcement was made for a through train through platform 8 a bit later, which was 6024 on a westbound Pullman set. I’d totally forgotten that 6024 was due out today, so a low quality video clip was all I managed from platform 4, with it going through approximately 1048.
43126+43037, in 40111, Reading > Hereford (via Evesham) (1052, 1d)
Once I had found a seat, I tried to remember what power car was on the front of this move. I had been so busy getting the rear ID that I forgot the front one in the meantime! I only recall it being dud for the year, was it 43136 I wonder…So a case of waiting until Hereford to get it now! 66016 was noted east of Pangbourne at 1057, then at 1202 we finally caught up with 6024. Surprisingly, I managed to get a decent shot at high speed, which was a welcome bonus. We got to Moreton Cutting and had to stop, an unusual occurrence for this working, then noted 6024 going by us. The sodding signallers had put it in front of us! Since when does a charter get priority over a Class 1 passenger working?!
Half the world gets off at Oxford, so I take advantage of a table to maximise room for writing this up. A slow run up to Wolvercot Junction, which is nothing unusual sadly. A text needs to be sent, but curses, no flipping signal! As usual, my phone’s not working properly when certain people ring. I swear there’s a curse on me with Nokia phones lately! All of a sudden, there’s a good few miles of signal, excellent.
Work at Charlbury is now at an advanced stage, with ground cleared for the re-instatement of the second track and platform. Still a fair bit of time until it’s re-opened of course, but it’s getting there. It’ll be great when the double track reaches right through to Evesham from Charlbury, much less likelihood of delays hopefully. Seems odd though to think there’ll be new track to scratch on one of my old local routes in 2011! With little else to do, I go through the few photos I’ve gotten today, and liked the one of the King so much it’s now my desktop background image.
An hour and a half or so left of the journey, I decide it’s time to have a festering for 56s round on Hellfire. Only 3 red lines in the whole week at Chesterfield, only 1 of which produced anything. Sadly, no 56s all week. We arrive at Evesham, time to now await the Paddington-bound Turbo, which will no doubt be late. It was only slightly late as it turns out, with it arriving at 1227 vice 1226, which I discovered on a timetable near my coach on the platform. We finally leave at 1231, after the poxy 165113 finally departed 3 minutes late. Colas’ tamper 75406 was in a siding at Evesham, so got photted.
Bowled! We passed over the mainline near Norton Junction at approximately 1243, looking to the south I saw a 37! One assumes either Bridgwater to Crewe or Berkeley to Crewe flasks, but what the second loco, if there was one, was I have no idea. Will be looking that up as soon as I get online! Bowled again on the approach to Worcester Shrub Hill, as 66508 was present unexpectedly! I’ve never seen a Freightliner 66 in the Worcester area, so absolutely gutted I missed the phot. More so when we left Shrub Hill and I see it had run round, so I missed the shot again! Not my day for photography today it would seem. A couple of 150s and a 153 are also present, 150216+1533xx on the Middle Siding, 150014 next to platform 2.
Nothing really to report on now, a pretty uneventful, boring journey onwards. 43063+43141 were observed at Ledbury on the 1311 Hereford to Paddington, and we arrived at 1346, just one minute late. A lift to Kington was gotten, although we first had to spend ages in Hereford doing shopping for my sister’s graduation ceremony, the whole point of my trip. I just wonder how bowled I’ll get on my return journey!
EDIT 21/07/2010: Looked up the 37s a few days later, found these were fairly certainly 37610+37611 on a Berkeley to Crewe flask working. Although have yet to find out why 66508 was in Worcester and running around its wagons. I also found out I was mis-sold my ticket and that the Off Peak fare I wanted was indeed valid. A complaint to FGW is being prepared!
14th July 2010
All started off good, woke up and immediately started getting breakfast and so forth when the alarm went off at 0700. Sadly, the good feeling wasn’t to last for too long, as when I requested my ticket I found I now had to get an Anytime Return, not an Off Peak Return as previous occasions have allowed. Thus the ticket was more expensive, obviously not liking that. Still, on we must press with the journey and put up with the random fares change.
150281, in 52281, Trowbridge > Bath Spa (0823)
The good feeling disappeared even more so now, as I couldn’t get a seat. Worse still, there seemed to be no fresh cool air whatsoever on this 150, so a lot of sweating was inevitable. Even the Metro failed to be all that interesting today, which was disappointing. We finally arrive into Bath at 0844, observing 43196 on the front of the 0830 Bristol to Paddington.
Time now then for a coffee from Pumpkin, whilst observing movements. 43092+43003 worked the 0730 Paddington to Penzance, whilst 158769+153369 worked the 0709 Worcester Shrub Hill to Weymouth, with 159108 on the 0852 Bristol to Waterloo. I swear that thing works up to Bristol more times than the rest of the fleet!
43174+43030, in 44074, Bath Spa > Reading (0913, 1d)
Bah, I’d been hoping at least one power car would be required for haulage in 2010. Not so on this move sadly, maybe some better luck later. Having no earphones, MP3 player or anything on that front, I was bored once the moves book was updated. Still, a fast run through Didcot should be interesting.
No such luck, we were stuck behind a Cheltenham to Paddington, which was calling at Didcot, so a bit of a crawl through Didcot for us. It feels like a very long time ago when fast HSTs were actually fast at Didcot. 66501 gets noted on an eastbound Freightliner at 1006 between Cholsey and Goring & Streatley. We get delayed further outside Reading for a northbound Voyager to cross to the Down Main in front of us, with us arriving 5 minutes later as a result.
Bonus in that I got a shot of 59002 on the through road, headed for Acton, at 1038. An announcement was made for a through train through platform 8 a bit later, which was 6024 on a westbound Pullman set. I’d totally forgotten that 6024 was due out today, so a low quality video clip was all I managed from platform 4, with it going through approximately 1048.
43126+43037, in 40111, Reading > Hereford (via Evesham) (1052, 1d)
Once I had found a seat, I tried to remember what power car was on the front of this move. I had been so busy getting the rear ID that I forgot the front one in the meantime! I only recall it being dud for the year, was it 43136 I wonder…So a case of waiting until Hereford to get it now! 66016 was noted east of Pangbourne at 1057, then at 1202 we finally caught up with 6024. Surprisingly, I managed to get a decent shot at high speed, which was a welcome bonus. We got to Moreton Cutting and had to stop, an unusual occurrence for this working, then noted 6024 going by us. The sodding signallers had put it in front of us! Since when does a charter get priority over a Class 1 passenger working?!
Half the world gets off at Oxford, so I take advantage of a table to maximise room for writing this up. A slow run up to Wolvercot Junction, which is nothing unusual sadly. A text needs to be sent, but curses, no flipping signal! As usual, my phone’s not working properly when certain people ring. I swear there’s a curse on me with Nokia phones lately! All of a sudden, there’s a good few miles of signal, excellent.
Work at Charlbury is now at an advanced stage, with ground cleared for the re-instatement of the second track and platform. Still a fair bit of time until it’s re-opened of course, but it’s getting there. It’ll be great when the double track reaches right through to Evesham from Charlbury, much less likelihood of delays hopefully. Seems odd though to think there’ll be new track to scratch on one of my old local routes in 2011! With little else to do, I go through the few photos I’ve gotten today, and liked the one of the King so much it’s now my desktop background image.
An hour and a half or so left of the journey, I decide it’s time to have a festering for 56s round on Hellfire. Only 3 red lines in the whole week at Chesterfield, only 1 of which produced anything. Sadly, no 56s all week. We arrive at Evesham, time to now await the Paddington-bound Turbo, which will no doubt be late. It was only slightly late as it turns out, with it arriving at 1227 vice 1226, which I discovered on a timetable near my coach on the platform. We finally leave at 1231, after the poxy 165113 finally departed 3 minutes late. Colas’ tamper 75406 was in a siding at Evesham, so got photted.
Bowled! We passed over the mainline near Norton Junction at approximately 1243, looking to the south I saw a 37! One assumes either Bridgwater to Crewe or Berkeley to Crewe flasks, but what the second loco, if there was one, was I have no idea. Will be looking that up as soon as I get online! Bowled again on the approach to Worcester Shrub Hill, as 66508 was present unexpectedly! I’ve never seen a Freightliner 66 in the Worcester area, so absolutely gutted I missed the phot. More so when we left Shrub Hill and I see it had run round, so I missed the shot again! Not my day for photography today it would seem. A couple of 150s and a 153 are also present, 150216+1533xx on the Middle Siding, 150014 next to platform 2.
Nothing really to report on now, a pretty uneventful, boring journey onwards. 43063+43141 were observed at Ledbury on the 1311 Hereford to Paddington, and we arrived at 1346, just one minute late. A lift to Kington was gotten, although we first had to spend ages in Hereford doing shopping for my sister’s graduation ceremony, the whole point of my trip. I just wonder how bowled I’ll get on my return journey!
EDIT 21/07/2010: Looked up the 37s a few days later, found these were fairly certainly 37610+37611 on a Berkeley to Crewe flask working. Although have yet to find out why 66508 was in Worcester and running around its wagons. I also found out I was mis-sold my ticket and that the Off Peak fare I wanted was indeed valid. A complaint to FGW is being prepared!
. More seriously, regulation's more a matter of minimising overall delay rather than giving absolute priority according to class. So, for example, putting a couple of minutes into your train that could have been recovered anyway might have been a better option than bringing the charter down to a stand instead, if that'd mean that it'd then miss its path (or at least delay something else) shortly afterwards. It's all about the bigger picture 
.