TheJRB
Established Member
I have four trips I need to write up from August so rather than post them in separate threads, I thought I'd put them all here.
Wednesday 1st August: Reading – The Long Way!
Arriving at Ashford in good time, we saw there was a reasonably long queue and so I suggested that we should make use of the ticket machines instead. I must admit that I didn’t know that the machines sold tickets with railcard discounts which came as a pleasant surprise. With our tickets we headed up and walked to the west end of platform 2. Observing the twelve car 395 formations and extra staff in pink vests, it was obvious that the Olympics’ effect had reached Ashford.
On time, 375609 arrived at platform 2 just as a Eurostar winded in to platform 3. Following the coupling up of the Ramsgate via Dover Priory portion, we began our journey to Tonbridge. As usual, the stations which this service used to pass through at high speed presented a reasonable number of passengers.
After finding that the rear portion was 375914, we hopped across the platform at Tonbridge and on to dual voltage unit, 377202 for the 10:19 to Redhill. The stations on this line are noticeably quieter than that of the Ashford-Tonbridge stretch, which is perhaps why it only receives the one train per hour in each direction. I couldn’t help but overhear somebody who boarded on this line request a ticket to Bristol Temple Meads; I feel for people who buy tickets for that sort of journey on the day. This unit seemed to have difficulty leaving a couple of stations; perhaps adhesion issues?
There was a hold outside Redhill to allow the Victoria bound service from Bognor and Portsmouth to enter the station; shortly afterwards we crossed the lines and arrived at platform 1A. We required platform 1B for our next train and walked south with plenty of time. I read aloud from the departure board the information regarding the closure of the Rail Gourmet centre to which one man laughed. He commented that Gourmet seems a little over the top!
166202, my first 166 for haulage, arrived from Gatwick for the 11:13 to Reading and seats were found aboard this busy service. I thoroughly enjoyed the portion of the journey from Redhill to Guildford as the scenery is pleasant and interesting. It was interesting too to see the signal box still in use at Reigate. Guildford is a surprisingly large and busy station with more platforms than most stations that serve similar areas.
Arriving at Reading two minutes late, we walked down platform 7 and followed the escalator and walkway across to platform 9. We spent a total of one hour and forty minutes at Reading, seeing plenty of HSTs, Turbos, Junipers, Voyagers and a few freights trains too (two 66s and a 59).
As the Olympics were taking place, we were slightly wary of heading to London but we eventually decided that we would hop on an HST to Paddington. The 14:01 arrived with 43005 on the front and 43125 on the back and we made our way inside after a member of platform staff helped get the door open (it didn’t seem like it would budge and it felt as though this wasn’t the first time they’d seen it).
The run to London was speedy and we arrived at Paddington on time at 14:32. We saw a few HSTs enter the station before heading for the Praed Street Underground. It was a bit of a wait on the westbound platform but before too long 5606, 5583 and 5593 turned up on train 207 and we departed at 14:51. The train wasn’t particularly busy until High Street Kensington where a great number of people joined, most of whom appeared to be Olympic spectators. The train remained well filled until St James’s Park, a station which has always been relatively quiet from my experience, but where almost everybody alighted. It was quiet once more right until we alighted at Blackfriars at 15:17.
Blackfriars mainline station has progressed yet further since our last visit with even more stairs now available to get from the concourse to platform 1. We must have just missed a Sevenoaks service as we had a wait of around twenty five minutes. Some of the trains we saw here, especially the 319s, looked in dire need of a wash and some were completely covered in graffiti.
On time, 319430 and 319214 arrived with the 15:42 to Sevenoaks. This service called at all stations via Catford and Bat & Ball but the journey didn’t feel too long. It was quite busy beyond Elephant & Castle but almost everybody alighted at Bromley South. In fact for the remainder of the journey to Sevenoaks, we were only two of about five in our carriage! We found ourselves racing a 465 bound for Gillingham from just outside St Mary Cray. Whilst we both departed around about the same time and both went on to call at Swanley, the 465 managed to overtake us (465s must have better acceleration).
Ticking off the obscure Bat & Ball branch, we arrived at Sevenoaks six minutes late at 16:49. It was quite hot in the sun at Sevenoaks and the smell of manure was in the air (as it seems to have been all of this summer) so we decided to catch the next train to Tonbridge.
465917 and 465921 formed the 17:03 to Tunbridge Wells and we appeared to be hitting the beginning of rush hour traffic now. The sound of the traction is probably one of the few good things about the 465/9s because I must say I do find them a little bumpy in ride quality. Still it was only a ten minute journey and we arrived at Tonbridge at 17:13, leaving only a five minute wait there.
375826 and 375905 arrived for the 17:18 to Ramsgate and Ramsgate. It was well filled but we managed to find seats albeit apart from each other. The thirty eight minutes flew by as usual and we arrived back at Ashford International at 17:56 to end the day. We had actually managed to stop at every station from Blackfriars to Ashford via Catford, Bat & Ball and Tonbridge!
I hadn’t travelled on any of the trains before apart from 375905 and the day’s total mileage was 196 miles 24 chains.
More to come!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Saturday 11th August: Gatwick Airport Farewell to the Junipers
It was noticeably busy at Ashford owing to the Olympics and there were significant queues for both the manned windows and ticket machines. Fortunately a member of Southeastern staff was around selling tickets and we acquired ours from him.
Upstairs we headed and at platform 1a was a six car Networker formation (465914 leading 466022) on the 11:30 to Victoria via Maidstone East; thats more carriages than youd normally get on a weekday, nevermind a Saturday! A few minutes later 171805 arrived from Brighton providing additional capacity during the Eastbourne Airshow; thats the right number of carriages for that service if you ask me.
On time, 375627 and 375605 arrived from Ramsgate, which we knew meant that our train would be formed of 12 coaches before we left. Indeed 375608 arrived from Dover Priory and coupled up before our punctual departure at 11:33. The only station on this line not capable of taking all 12 coaches is Pluckley, the first call on this service.
We arrived at Tonbridge and following a check of the rear unit, walked across the platform and on to 377117 for the 12:19 London Bridge via Redhill service. This line once again proved its usefulness in our trip. As always, we paused outside Redhill in order to allow a Victoria service from the coast to enter the station. Once again being placed as far up the London end of platform 1 as possible, we made our way down to cross to platform 3.
The 13:00 to Southampton Central and Bognor Regis was significantly delayed and so we reluctantly settled on the 13:10 to Horsham instead, believing that at only four coaches it would be quite crowded. 377458 turned up a minute or so late and proved us wrong; there was plenty of room aboard this service. Following calls at Earlswood, Salfords and Horley, we arrived at Gatwick Airport platform 3 still a couple of minutes down at 13:25.
460002 was at platform 2 allowing me to get a good close up view of one of these units for the first and perhaps last time too. We found a decent spot in the sun towards the Brighton end of the platform and stayed there for a time. A signalling problem at Battersea Park was causing minor delays to services from Victoria. We soon noted the amount of variety of rolling stock that visits this station. Indeed Gatwick Airport station is positively a dream for transport enthusiasts with a regular stream of aircraft overhead and a large amount of activity on the rails!
Before the day was done with we had seen 460001, 002 and 007 along with a First Great Western 166, a load of First Capital Connect 319s, 377s and Southern 377s and 442s.
It was across to platform 2 for our return trip to Redhill and we found out en-route to our surprise that this station lacks toilets. Passengers must enter the airport to gain access to such facilities! 377406 and 377419 arrived with the 14:38 to Victoria (the latter of which I had travelled on from Brighton to Ford back in June). This journey was notably quicker than the outward leg with only the one call at Horley before our arrival at Redhill.
We had just over half an hour back at Redhill before our train back to Tonbridge was due to arrive. I am beginning to get familiar with the timetable at this station now having witnessed the xx00 to Southampton and Bognor, xx10 to Horsham and xx17 to Tonbridge a few times.
377145 appeared for the 15:17 to Tonbridge. As we have now well and truly learned where the good seating is, we walked through the train to the rear driving carriage. We had a conversion with a man beside us and we discussed the Olympic opening ceremony among other things; indeed spontaneous conversations with fellow passengers are one of my favourite parts of travelling by rail it certainly makes the journey seem quicker.
Rather than wait for the 16:20 to Dover Priory and Ramsgate at Tonbridge, we decided to hop on 375307 forming the 16:03 to Strood, for the short stretch to Paddock Wood. It was still an eighteen minute wait at Paddock Wood but it divided the journey and made a change.
375604, 375611 and 375911 arrived on time for the 16:28 to Dover Priory and Ramsgate. I noticed that Southeastern were rather clever in the way they had tackled this service during the Olympics. Normally this service would be formed of eight coaches with the front four coaches continuing to Ramsgate via Canterbury West and the rear four terminating at Ashford. Of course without the High Speed service to Dover from St Pancras during the games, the front four coaches of this service were used instead with the same calling pattern (fast to Folkestone West).
An on time arrival back at Ashford finished the day well with a total of 106 miles and 32 chains covered. All trains travelled on aside from 377419 and 375307 were new to me too.
Wednesday 1st August: Reading – The Long Way!
Arriving at Ashford in good time, we saw there was a reasonably long queue and so I suggested that we should make use of the ticket machines instead. I must admit that I didn’t know that the machines sold tickets with railcard discounts which came as a pleasant surprise. With our tickets we headed up and walked to the west end of platform 2. Observing the twelve car 395 formations and extra staff in pink vests, it was obvious that the Olympics’ effect had reached Ashford.
On time, 375609 arrived at platform 2 just as a Eurostar winded in to platform 3. Following the coupling up of the Ramsgate via Dover Priory portion, we began our journey to Tonbridge. As usual, the stations which this service used to pass through at high speed presented a reasonable number of passengers.
After finding that the rear portion was 375914, we hopped across the platform at Tonbridge and on to dual voltage unit, 377202 for the 10:19 to Redhill. The stations on this line are noticeably quieter than that of the Ashford-Tonbridge stretch, which is perhaps why it only receives the one train per hour in each direction. I couldn’t help but overhear somebody who boarded on this line request a ticket to Bristol Temple Meads; I feel for people who buy tickets for that sort of journey on the day. This unit seemed to have difficulty leaving a couple of stations; perhaps adhesion issues?
There was a hold outside Redhill to allow the Victoria bound service from Bognor and Portsmouth to enter the station; shortly afterwards we crossed the lines and arrived at platform 1A. We required platform 1B for our next train and walked south with plenty of time. I read aloud from the departure board the information regarding the closure of the Rail Gourmet centre to which one man laughed. He commented that Gourmet seems a little over the top!
166202, my first 166 for haulage, arrived from Gatwick for the 11:13 to Reading and seats were found aboard this busy service. I thoroughly enjoyed the portion of the journey from Redhill to Guildford as the scenery is pleasant and interesting. It was interesting too to see the signal box still in use at Reigate. Guildford is a surprisingly large and busy station with more platforms than most stations that serve similar areas.
Arriving at Reading two minutes late, we walked down platform 7 and followed the escalator and walkway across to platform 9. We spent a total of one hour and forty minutes at Reading, seeing plenty of HSTs, Turbos, Junipers, Voyagers and a few freights trains too (two 66s and a 59).
As the Olympics were taking place, we were slightly wary of heading to London but we eventually decided that we would hop on an HST to Paddington. The 14:01 arrived with 43005 on the front and 43125 on the back and we made our way inside after a member of platform staff helped get the door open (it didn’t seem like it would budge and it felt as though this wasn’t the first time they’d seen it).
The run to London was speedy and we arrived at Paddington on time at 14:32. We saw a few HSTs enter the station before heading for the Praed Street Underground. It was a bit of a wait on the westbound platform but before too long 5606, 5583 and 5593 turned up on train 207 and we departed at 14:51. The train wasn’t particularly busy until High Street Kensington where a great number of people joined, most of whom appeared to be Olympic spectators. The train remained well filled until St James’s Park, a station which has always been relatively quiet from my experience, but where almost everybody alighted. It was quiet once more right until we alighted at Blackfriars at 15:17.
Blackfriars mainline station has progressed yet further since our last visit with even more stairs now available to get from the concourse to platform 1. We must have just missed a Sevenoaks service as we had a wait of around twenty five minutes. Some of the trains we saw here, especially the 319s, looked in dire need of a wash and some were completely covered in graffiti.
On time, 319430 and 319214 arrived with the 15:42 to Sevenoaks. This service called at all stations via Catford and Bat & Ball but the journey didn’t feel too long. It was quite busy beyond Elephant & Castle but almost everybody alighted at Bromley South. In fact for the remainder of the journey to Sevenoaks, we were only two of about five in our carriage! We found ourselves racing a 465 bound for Gillingham from just outside St Mary Cray. Whilst we both departed around about the same time and both went on to call at Swanley, the 465 managed to overtake us (465s must have better acceleration).
Ticking off the obscure Bat & Ball branch, we arrived at Sevenoaks six minutes late at 16:49. It was quite hot in the sun at Sevenoaks and the smell of manure was in the air (as it seems to have been all of this summer) so we decided to catch the next train to Tonbridge.
465917 and 465921 formed the 17:03 to Tunbridge Wells and we appeared to be hitting the beginning of rush hour traffic now. The sound of the traction is probably one of the few good things about the 465/9s because I must say I do find them a little bumpy in ride quality. Still it was only a ten minute journey and we arrived at Tonbridge at 17:13, leaving only a five minute wait there.
375826 and 375905 arrived for the 17:18 to Ramsgate and Ramsgate. It was well filled but we managed to find seats albeit apart from each other. The thirty eight minutes flew by as usual and we arrived back at Ashford International at 17:56 to end the day. We had actually managed to stop at every station from Blackfriars to Ashford via Catford, Bat & Ball and Tonbridge!
I hadn’t travelled on any of the trains before apart from 375905 and the day’s total mileage was 196 miles 24 chains.
More to come!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Saturday 11th August: Gatwick Airport Farewell to the Junipers
It was noticeably busy at Ashford owing to the Olympics and there were significant queues for both the manned windows and ticket machines. Fortunately a member of Southeastern staff was around selling tickets and we acquired ours from him.
Upstairs we headed and at platform 1a was a six car Networker formation (465914 leading 466022) on the 11:30 to Victoria via Maidstone East; thats more carriages than youd normally get on a weekday, nevermind a Saturday! A few minutes later 171805 arrived from Brighton providing additional capacity during the Eastbourne Airshow; thats the right number of carriages for that service if you ask me.
On time, 375627 and 375605 arrived from Ramsgate, which we knew meant that our train would be formed of 12 coaches before we left. Indeed 375608 arrived from Dover Priory and coupled up before our punctual departure at 11:33. The only station on this line not capable of taking all 12 coaches is Pluckley, the first call on this service.
We arrived at Tonbridge and following a check of the rear unit, walked across the platform and on to 377117 for the 12:19 London Bridge via Redhill service. This line once again proved its usefulness in our trip. As always, we paused outside Redhill in order to allow a Victoria service from the coast to enter the station. Once again being placed as far up the London end of platform 1 as possible, we made our way down to cross to platform 3.
The 13:00 to Southampton Central and Bognor Regis was significantly delayed and so we reluctantly settled on the 13:10 to Horsham instead, believing that at only four coaches it would be quite crowded. 377458 turned up a minute or so late and proved us wrong; there was plenty of room aboard this service. Following calls at Earlswood, Salfords and Horley, we arrived at Gatwick Airport platform 3 still a couple of minutes down at 13:25.
460002 was at platform 2 allowing me to get a good close up view of one of these units for the first and perhaps last time too. We found a decent spot in the sun towards the Brighton end of the platform and stayed there for a time. A signalling problem at Battersea Park was causing minor delays to services from Victoria. We soon noted the amount of variety of rolling stock that visits this station. Indeed Gatwick Airport station is positively a dream for transport enthusiasts with a regular stream of aircraft overhead and a large amount of activity on the rails!
[youtube]ncy5yGGhKjg[/youtube]
Before the day was done with we had seen 460001, 002 and 007 along with a First Great Western 166, a load of First Capital Connect 319s, 377s and Southern 377s and 442s.
It was across to platform 2 for our return trip to Redhill and we found out en-route to our surprise that this station lacks toilets. Passengers must enter the airport to gain access to such facilities! 377406 and 377419 arrived with the 14:38 to Victoria (the latter of which I had travelled on from Brighton to Ford back in June). This journey was notably quicker than the outward leg with only the one call at Horley before our arrival at Redhill.
We had just over half an hour back at Redhill before our train back to Tonbridge was due to arrive. I am beginning to get familiar with the timetable at this station now having witnessed the xx00 to Southampton and Bognor, xx10 to Horsham and xx17 to Tonbridge a few times.
377145 appeared for the 15:17 to Tonbridge. As we have now well and truly learned where the good seating is, we walked through the train to the rear driving carriage. We had a conversion with a man beside us and we discussed the Olympic opening ceremony among other things; indeed spontaneous conversations with fellow passengers are one of my favourite parts of travelling by rail it certainly makes the journey seem quicker.
Rather than wait for the 16:20 to Dover Priory and Ramsgate at Tonbridge, we decided to hop on 375307 forming the 16:03 to Strood, for the short stretch to Paddock Wood. It was still an eighteen minute wait at Paddock Wood but it divided the journey and made a change.
375604, 375611 and 375911 arrived on time for the 16:28 to Dover Priory and Ramsgate. I noticed that Southeastern were rather clever in the way they had tackled this service during the Olympics. Normally this service would be formed of eight coaches with the front four coaches continuing to Ramsgate via Canterbury West and the rear four terminating at Ashford. Of course without the High Speed service to Dover from St Pancras during the games, the front four coaches of this service were used instead with the same calling pattern (fast to Folkestone West).
An on time arrival back at Ashford finished the day well with a total of 106 miles and 32 chains covered. All trains travelled on aside from 377419 and 375307 were new to me too.
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