Track Basher
Member
27 December 29 December 2012 - Scotland
The last few years myself and number one son have taken ourselves for a couple of days away. The run up to Christmas is normally very busy and it is nice to escape for a couple of days between Christmas and New Year.
Scotland was the normal destination. 2011 was a little to adventurous attempting Penzance Wick in one continuous journey with journeys from and back to South Wales either side. This was a bit much across 3 days.
2012 was to be a little less taxing with a family day out included. Thursday would be a trip down to London to visit the Harry Potter exhibition near Watford. After a meal in London we would split up with us two heading to Scotland and the rest of the family return home to South Wales.
We would catch the sleeper to Inverness continuing on to Kyle of Lochalsh. We would then catch the bus on to Skye to Armadale changing at Broadford. We would then catch the CalMac ferry to Mallaig and continue on to a hotel in Fort William. Then on the Saturday return from Fort William to South Wales. A slight deviation was required because of engineering works we would have to go via Manchester. This would not be too taxing as we did no have to leave until 08:40 on the first day and would arrive in Forth William at around 20:00 and also home just after 20:00.
In the days up to Christmas 2012 there were major floods throughout the UK with South West England. This caused major disruption in various parts of Devon and Cornwall twice during December. The line was washed away in early December 2012 near Bristol Parkway and it was gain closed the few days before Christmas.
Thursday 27 December 2012
We this disruption we decided on Boxing Day that we would head to London an hour early. We could quite easily lose this time if the train was diverted via Bath and we did not want to miss the Harry Potter tour. We caught the earlier train and went the normal route via Bristol Parkway. Network Rail had however set another trap for us. On leaving Swindon we were give the news that the train would be terminating at Reading because of overrunning engineering works. It would have been helpful if we had had that information earlier as we could have gone via Birmingham. We arrived in Reading just in time to see the 10:12 train depart for Waterloo as we reached the end of the platform.
This meant we had to wait for the 10:42. When the train left it was packed and you could not get anyone else on it. Some passengers didnt. Checking the options the quickest way is to change at Richmond, Willesden Jn and Harrow and Wealdstone rather than going into Waterloo and across on the tube.
The problem was the train keeps losing time because it is so full and people cannot get off or on. We are then further delayed at Staines because a passenger collapses on the train from the heat of everyone being packed in.
We have to wait for the passenger to be rescued from the train before we can set off again. We miss the connection at Richmond. I give up trying to plan and decide to just play it by ear and just keep heading towards Watford. We catch the next train to Willesden Jn where we change and head to the low level platforms for Watford. There is a direct train due in 5 minutes. We just join that and stay on it all the way.
We arrive in Watford Jn just before 13:00 and our tour is at 13:30. We need to buy food as I had originally planned to go the M&S at either Paddington or Euston. This plan was blown to pieces as we have not visited either of those stations. We had to make a visit to Upper Crust at Watford Jn. We purchase a large quantity of food and I go to check out the bus situation. Fortunately the bus is outside so we join and are away within 5 minutes. We eat our sandwiches on the bus. We arrive at the studios at 13:30 just in time for the tour. It is a good thing we set off an hour early.
It will not go into details of the tour but it is worth a visit even though it is very expensive. Tour over we head back for the bus to Watford Jn station. We walk up onto the platform and straight onto a train to Euston. I have booked a table at the Prezzo opposite Euston station in advance as it can get very busy. As it happened I need not have worried as there was plenty of room.
We eat and are finished before 19:15. I decide to go back to Paddington with Mrs Track Basher as the sleeper does not depart until 21:15. Her train is due at 20:10 back to South Wales so at 20:00 I leave her and me and Number One Son head back to Euston. As we get back we seek out the sleeper and check in before dumping our bags in the cabins. We head to the lounge car for a drink before bed time. I ring Mrs Track Basher to check progress and discover that they are still sat on a train in Paddington. They eventually left Paddington 40 minutes late and fortunately did not lose any more.
As a comparison we leave Euston on time and head north. We watch a film before we go to bed. It has not finished by 22:45 so go to bed and we will watch the end tomorrow. We go a slightly different route tonight diverging form the West Coast Mainline at Rugby and head towards Coventry, Aston, Bescot and re-join at Stafford. I check Mrs Track Basher has not fallen asleep as her train is at Bridgend, before heading off for a nights sleep. I normally have restless sleep on sleeper trains but tonight is better than normal only waking a couple of times.
Friday 28 December 2012
At 07:00 I give up and decide it is time to get up. I look out of the window and there is snow outside. I quick check of National Rail enquiries and we are on time. I head down to the lounge car for breakfast. Next check CalMac journey check app. The ferry is the key connection today. If this does not run we are stranded on Skye and cannot get to the hotel.
It is not good news. The app shows possible disruption. This in shipping speak means they do not think it will run. We have to re-plan. There are a couple of options. Do Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and back then catch the bus to Fort William. This is not great as it involves a two hour wait in Inverness when you get back or we can go straight on the bus to Fort William or take the train via Glasgow. Number one son chooses the train. This means we will have 15 minutes in Inverness before heading back south again to Glasgow 12 minutes between trains and back to Fort William.
We arrive in Inverness on time and there is just enough time for a trip to M&S for sandwiches and back on the train to Glasgow. As we leave Inverness 37419 is coupled to the incoming sleeper coaches to do the shunt to the carriage sidings. This is like days of old, I have fond memories of 37419 on the Far North and Kyle lines in the 1980s. It is a shame it has not worked through from Edinburgh.
Dawn is just arriving as we leave Inverness. Progress is good as we head south. Just south of Dalwhinnie we climb above the snow line where there a couple of inches. We continue through this for the next few miles but it has changed to rain by Blair Atholl. There is time to watch the end of our film from yesterday evening. The train gets busier south of Perth. I consider what we are doing. We will arrive in Fort William just after 16:00 and there is little we can do until we return the following morning. There are no possible moves and if we go down to Mallaig and back it will be dark. This does beg the question why? We are missing all the good parts of the trip doing this. I suggest why do we not just go home?
He thinks about it for a while than agrees, the best option would be to just give up and go home. That is what we decided to do. As the train leave Larbert we head to Glasgow via Cumbernauld and Springburn. We arrive in Queen St on time and have 25 minutes to walk across to Central. This is achieved easily. We depart south on a London train that is stopping at Crewe. Normally these are last stop Warrington. I check the options to get home and we can go via Crewe or Crewe, Birmingham and Bristol Parkway with a slightly later arrival time. The last couple of times I have been via Bristol Parkway it has been a disaster getting home very late so I opt for the safe option via Crewe.
The train arrives in Crewe on time and we have 25 minutes to wait for the train home to Neath. There is just time for a walk to McDonalds for food. This is going to be our last chance to buy anything as the next leg is 4 hours with only a trolley part way. The Class 175 arrives it is busy but everyone gets seats just.
It is going dark but the journey passes quickly as I read a book. Cardiff arrives on time. I had not been checking the time of trains just letting the journey go by as we were planning on staying on this train all the way home. An announcement comes that the First Great Western train will be departing first. I had not considered this as an option but this late running train will get us home earlier than planned. We make a quick exit and board the other train. We arrive home over a day early. This is probably the earliest I have ever arrived home and the longest trip to nowhere.
Haulage Log:
27 December 2012
43132+43042 Neath Reading
8023+8027 Reading Richmond
378229 Richmond Willesden Jn
378215 Willesden Jn Watford Jn
350124 Watford Jn Euston
90039 Euston Rugby Coventry Bescot Stafford Crewe Edinburgh
28 December 2012
67021 Edinburgh Stirling Perth Inverness
170470 Inverness Perth Cumbernauld Springburn Glasgow Q St
390006 Glasgow Central Crewe
175007 Crewe Cardiff Central
43189+43136 Cardiff Central - Neath
The last few years myself and number one son have taken ourselves for a couple of days away. The run up to Christmas is normally very busy and it is nice to escape for a couple of days between Christmas and New Year.
Scotland was the normal destination. 2011 was a little to adventurous attempting Penzance Wick in one continuous journey with journeys from and back to South Wales either side. This was a bit much across 3 days.
2012 was to be a little less taxing with a family day out included. Thursday would be a trip down to London to visit the Harry Potter exhibition near Watford. After a meal in London we would split up with us two heading to Scotland and the rest of the family return home to South Wales.
We would catch the sleeper to Inverness continuing on to Kyle of Lochalsh. We would then catch the bus on to Skye to Armadale changing at Broadford. We would then catch the CalMac ferry to Mallaig and continue on to a hotel in Fort William. Then on the Saturday return from Fort William to South Wales. A slight deviation was required because of engineering works we would have to go via Manchester. This would not be too taxing as we did no have to leave until 08:40 on the first day and would arrive in Forth William at around 20:00 and also home just after 20:00.
In the days up to Christmas 2012 there were major floods throughout the UK with South West England. This caused major disruption in various parts of Devon and Cornwall twice during December. The line was washed away in early December 2012 near Bristol Parkway and it was gain closed the few days before Christmas.
Thursday 27 December 2012
We this disruption we decided on Boxing Day that we would head to London an hour early. We could quite easily lose this time if the train was diverted via Bath and we did not want to miss the Harry Potter tour. We caught the earlier train and went the normal route via Bristol Parkway. Network Rail had however set another trap for us. On leaving Swindon we were give the news that the train would be terminating at Reading because of overrunning engineering works. It would have been helpful if we had had that information earlier as we could have gone via Birmingham. We arrived in Reading just in time to see the 10:12 train depart for Waterloo as we reached the end of the platform.
This meant we had to wait for the 10:42. When the train left it was packed and you could not get anyone else on it. Some passengers didnt. Checking the options the quickest way is to change at Richmond, Willesden Jn and Harrow and Wealdstone rather than going into Waterloo and across on the tube.
The problem was the train keeps losing time because it is so full and people cannot get off or on. We are then further delayed at Staines because a passenger collapses on the train from the heat of everyone being packed in.
We have to wait for the passenger to be rescued from the train before we can set off again. We miss the connection at Richmond. I give up trying to plan and decide to just play it by ear and just keep heading towards Watford. We catch the next train to Willesden Jn where we change and head to the low level platforms for Watford. There is a direct train due in 5 minutes. We just join that and stay on it all the way.
We arrive in Watford Jn just before 13:00 and our tour is at 13:30. We need to buy food as I had originally planned to go the M&S at either Paddington or Euston. This plan was blown to pieces as we have not visited either of those stations. We had to make a visit to Upper Crust at Watford Jn. We purchase a large quantity of food and I go to check out the bus situation. Fortunately the bus is outside so we join and are away within 5 minutes. We eat our sandwiches on the bus. We arrive at the studios at 13:30 just in time for the tour. It is a good thing we set off an hour early.
It will not go into details of the tour but it is worth a visit even though it is very expensive. Tour over we head back for the bus to Watford Jn station. We walk up onto the platform and straight onto a train to Euston. I have booked a table at the Prezzo opposite Euston station in advance as it can get very busy. As it happened I need not have worried as there was plenty of room.
We eat and are finished before 19:15. I decide to go back to Paddington with Mrs Track Basher as the sleeper does not depart until 21:15. Her train is due at 20:10 back to South Wales so at 20:00 I leave her and me and Number One Son head back to Euston. As we get back we seek out the sleeper and check in before dumping our bags in the cabins. We head to the lounge car for a drink before bed time. I ring Mrs Track Basher to check progress and discover that they are still sat on a train in Paddington. They eventually left Paddington 40 minutes late and fortunately did not lose any more.
As a comparison we leave Euston on time and head north. We watch a film before we go to bed. It has not finished by 22:45 so go to bed and we will watch the end tomorrow. We go a slightly different route tonight diverging form the West Coast Mainline at Rugby and head towards Coventry, Aston, Bescot and re-join at Stafford. I check Mrs Track Basher has not fallen asleep as her train is at Bridgend, before heading off for a nights sleep. I normally have restless sleep on sleeper trains but tonight is better than normal only waking a couple of times.
Friday 28 December 2012
At 07:00 I give up and decide it is time to get up. I look out of the window and there is snow outside. I quick check of National Rail enquiries and we are on time. I head down to the lounge car for breakfast. Next check CalMac journey check app. The ferry is the key connection today. If this does not run we are stranded on Skye and cannot get to the hotel.
It is not good news. The app shows possible disruption. This in shipping speak means they do not think it will run. We have to re-plan. There are a couple of options. Do Inverness to Kyle of Lochalsh and back then catch the bus to Fort William. This is not great as it involves a two hour wait in Inverness when you get back or we can go straight on the bus to Fort William or take the train via Glasgow. Number one son chooses the train. This means we will have 15 minutes in Inverness before heading back south again to Glasgow 12 minutes between trains and back to Fort William.
We arrive in Inverness on time and there is just enough time for a trip to M&S for sandwiches and back on the train to Glasgow. As we leave Inverness 37419 is coupled to the incoming sleeper coaches to do the shunt to the carriage sidings. This is like days of old, I have fond memories of 37419 on the Far North and Kyle lines in the 1980s. It is a shame it has not worked through from Edinburgh.
Dawn is just arriving as we leave Inverness. Progress is good as we head south. Just south of Dalwhinnie we climb above the snow line where there a couple of inches. We continue through this for the next few miles but it has changed to rain by Blair Atholl. There is time to watch the end of our film from yesterday evening. The train gets busier south of Perth. I consider what we are doing. We will arrive in Fort William just after 16:00 and there is little we can do until we return the following morning. There are no possible moves and if we go down to Mallaig and back it will be dark. This does beg the question why? We are missing all the good parts of the trip doing this. I suggest why do we not just go home?
He thinks about it for a while than agrees, the best option would be to just give up and go home. That is what we decided to do. As the train leave Larbert we head to Glasgow via Cumbernauld and Springburn. We arrive in Queen St on time and have 25 minutes to walk across to Central. This is achieved easily. We depart south on a London train that is stopping at Crewe. Normally these are last stop Warrington. I check the options to get home and we can go via Crewe or Crewe, Birmingham and Bristol Parkway with a slightly later arrival time. The last couple of times I have been via Bristol Parkway it has been a disaster getting home very late so I opt for the safe option via Crewe.
The train arrives in Crewe on time and we have 25 minutes to wait for the train home to Neath. There is just time for a walk to McDonalds for food. This is going to be our last chance to buy anything as the next leg is 4 hours with only a trolley part way. The Class 175 arrives it is busy but everyone gets seats just.
It is going dark but the journey passes quickly as I read a book. Cardiff arrives on time. I had not been checking the time of trains just letting the journey go by as we were planning on staying on this train all the way home. An announcement comes that the First Great Western train will be departing first. I had not considered this as an option but this late running train will get us home earlier than planned. We make a quick exit and board the other train. We arrive home over a day early. This is probably the earliest I have ever arrived home and the longest trip to nowhere.
Haulage Log:
27 December 2012
43132+43042 Neath Reading
8023+8027 Reading Richmond
378229 Richmond Willesden Jn
378215 Willesden Jn Watford Jn
350124 Watford Jn Euston
90039 Euston Rugby Coventry Bescot Stafford Crewe Edinburgh
28 December 2012
67021 Edinburgh Stirling Perth Inverness
170470 Inverness Perth Cumbernauld Springburn Glasgow Q St
390006 Glasgow Central Crewe
175007 Crewe Cardiff Central
43189+43136 Cardiff Central - Neath
