ValleyLines142
Established Member
Afternoon all!
Yesterday I did a 'trianglular' trip, going from Cardiff to Birmingham, Birmingham to London and London back to Cardiff. It was great. Here's a version of the events.
Got to Cardiff Central for 6.40am. I had an Advance booking on 1M25 0700 Cardiff to Manchester, as far as Birmingham. I really do like this train. It is unique in that it is a daily extension of the hourly Bristol to Manchester service, meaning that Cardiff has a one daily Voyager service leaving early in the morning, and arriving back at 9pm. The last time I went on this service, it was advertised as departing from platform 0, but it got changed to platform 1 then. For those of you who know Cardiff station, transferring from platform 0 to 1/2 is not the simplest of tasks, but never mind!
Anyway, today it was booked to leave from platform 0. I made my way up to the platform, and the unit operating the service today was, to add to further uniqueness, 221141! Now most people know that 221141 is unique in that it is the only four-car Voyager operated by CrossCountry (in fact I think it is now the only four-car unit of the entire Voyager fleet now that Virgin's 221142 and 221143 are now five-car units), so that was even more pleasant.
The journey went well to Birmingham, leaving exactly on time. I really enjoy the stretch of the journey from Barnt Green to Birmingham; I really like how it follows the canal along parts of the route.
The approach to Birmingham is a real bizarre one. The stretch from University to New Street via Five Ways only appears to be two tracks and is covered by a huge wall on the left-hand side. Most other cities have a relatively large approach, such as London Paddington, Bristol Temple Meads and Manchester Piccadilly. I imagine the fact that New Street is an enclosed station probably makes the approach look tiny, although of course New Street is not exactly a tiny station!
Arriving into Birmingham exactly bang on time at 0926, I alighted 221141 and made my way up to the main concourse. It's been two years since I alighted at New Street, and it does seem to have changed! With Gateway Plus currently in full swing, I can see why.
I must say that staff sat in the little booths acting as ticket barriers is very bizarre; it looks more like customs at an airport. It is a very good idea though.
I exited the station via the entrance to the Bullring. I haven't been to the Bullring for the best part of three years and it does seem totally different to what I remember it to be. I had a quick look in the shops before making my way to the exit by Moor Street Station. I can honestly say that Birmingham is catching London up with the number of buses on the road. There are hundreds. I saw Enviro 400s on the 50, a brand new one (4909) on the 957, a few Scanias on the 37, Gemini 4668 on the 31A and a few Tridents on the 35. Was very interesting to see. I then made my way underneath what I think is still part of the Bullring along St Martin's Queensway, eventually coming out in Paradise Forum. I then made my way along Broad Street, spotting some more buses (4822 on the 141, 2085 and 2088 on the 120 and 5403 on the 23), before making my way to Gas Street Basin to catch the waterbus along the beautiful canals.
The Waterbus arrived shortly and I hopped on board. At £4 for a half-hour round trip, I thought that was pretty reasonable. We made our way along the canal, which is really beautiful, before doing a circular trip. Unfortunately, disaster struck. We stopped at Brindley Place, and still had two more stops to do, but the rope got caught in the propeller! As we were almost by Gas Street Basin anyway, the driver told us to get off here anyway as we could be stuck for quite a while!
We disembarked the boat and walked along the canal to the mailbox. We then walked through and ended back up by New Street station and the Bullring. We sat in Starbucks facing St Martin's Church, which really is a lovely view, before grabbing a Subway and making our way back to the station.
We were booked on 1B24 1350 Birmingham to Euston, which was advertised as departing from platform 1. We made our way to the platform and 390127 was in charge. I haven't been on a Pendolino for six years; this was only my third time also as I had done a return from Crewe to Preston on one (390037 on the way out, 390011 on the way back). 390127 was also my first eleven car Pendolino. Sadly, I made an absolute royal tit of myself when we got on. I know that London is south-east of Birmingham, but because New Street is a massive underground station, with buildings over most of its span, it is very easy to lose your bearings, so I had to ask a member of staff which way the train was leaving, as I cannot travel backwards. We then left bang on time, travelling through International and Coventry, before making a stop at Rugby. Unfortunately, we were delayed by about fifteen minutes in the Harrow and Wealdstone area due to trespassers in the Watford Junction area. We arrived at Euston at 1526, twelve minutes behind schedule, so it wasn't too bad in the end.
I exited at Euston, and boy what a big station it is. Stupidly, the escalators heading down to the tube were not working, and it was a Saturday and it was incredibly busy, so the only option was to use the lift, which had a ridiculous queue, or to use the stairs. I got to the tube concourse, added my 16-25 railcard on my Oyster (thanks to everyone's help regarding this!) and hopped on the Northern Line to Waterloo, where I was meeting my friend. We met up and made our way on the Jubilee Line to North Greenwich, as we fancied a ride on the cable car. We got to the cable car and hopped in pod 25, for a single to Royal Victoria Docks. I must admit, the staff here are excellent. There's one lady who stands by the Oyster machines and is very friendly and helps you through the ticketing process. I also noticed two male members of staff standing with Emirates Air Line umbrellas. They're fantastic, I want one!! Unfortunately, it was raining, which did spoil the view slightly, but nevertheless it was still fun. We made our way to the DLR. Our plan was to do Royal Victoria to Poplar, Poplar to Stratford and Stratford to Camden Road. The first DLR trains were 114 and 112, on a Beckton to Tower Gateway service. We sat right in the very front, the first time I have done this, and it is cool! We then changed at Poplar, where trains 13 and 42 took us to Stratford. I must admit, the bend between Poplar and All Saints, passing the DLR depot, is very curved, not great if you're going backwards!! Luckily we were facing forwards, sat in the front again, although on the rear unit, so we had unit 13 in front of us. We arrived at Stratford, where we then caught 378232 on 2Y97 1735 Stratford to Clapham Junction. Our plan was to alight at Camden Road and go to Camden Town; however, time was ticking, and we had tickets for Ripley's, so we got off at Highbury & Islington, caught the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus and then took the Bakerloo Line to Piccadilly Circus. So, instead of going from Royal Victoria to Canning Town, Canning Town to Waterloo and Waterloo to Piccadilly Circus, we ended up going via Poplar, Stratford, Highbury & Islington and Oxford Circus, which took an hour and twenty minutes. I was worried I'd be charged the maximum full fare, but this wasn't the case.
We then went for food in Bella Italia on the Strand, before making our way into Ripley's. We spent two hours in Ripley's, before taking the Piccadilly Line to Waterloo, saying bye to my friend at Waterloo, before taking the Bakerloo back up to Paddington. I have to say, passing through the temporarily closed Edgware Road on the Bakerloo was very eerie. It said 'Station closed' on all the roundel signs and on the walls. It was very interesting.
At Paddington, my train home, the 2200 to Cardiff, was departing on platform 2. 43132 was at the London end of the train. I've yet to know the leading power car on this service; I've asked for a request on the TOPS Request Thread. I managed to speak to the guard on the platform before boarding and asked if I could upgrade to First Class. She said that's fine and I went First Class home, sitting in Coach G Seat 3. What an absolutely wonderful guard she was - big shout out to her if she sees this!!
All in all, it was another great day! I'm going to Italy on 2nd September and Blackpool on 14th, so will do more reports then!
Also, I forgot to mention, my Oyster card worked perfectly! I had £25.10 on there, subtracting £5.10 for the price cap and £3.20 for the cable car, so that should have been £8.30 off, and I found out I had £16.80 left, which I do! So it was perfect!
Thanks for reading!
Yesterday I did a 'trianglular' trip, going from Cardiff to Birmingham, Birmingham to London and London back to Cardiff. It was great. Here's a version of the events.
Got to Cardiff Central for 6.40am. I had an Advance booking on 1M25 0700 Cardiff to Manchester, as far as Birmingham. I really do like this train. It is unique in that it is a daily extension of the hourly Bristol to Manchester service, meaning that Cardiff has a one daily Voyager service leaving early in the morning, and arriving back at 9pm. The last time I went on this service, it was advertised as departing from platform 0, but it got changed to platform 1 then. For those of you who know Cardiff station, transferring from platform 0 to 1/2 is not the simplest of tasks, but never mind!
Anyway, today it was booked to leave from platform 0. I made my way up to the platform, and the unit operating the service today was, to add to further uniqueness, 221141! Now most people know that 221141 is unique in that it is the only four-car Voyager operated by CrossCountry (in fact I think it is now the only four-car unit of the entire Voyager fleet now that Virgin's 221142 and 221143 are now five-car units), so that was even more pleasant.
The journey went well to Birmingham, leaving exactly on time. I really enjoy the stretch of the journey from Barnt Green to Birmingham; I really like how it follows the canal along parts of the route.
The approach to Birmingham is a real bizarre one. The stretch from University to New Street via Five Ways only appears to be two tracks and is covered by a huge wall on the left-hand side. Most other cities have a relatively large approach, such as London Paddington, Bristol Temple Meads and Manchester Piccadilly. I imagine the fact that New Street is an enclosed station probably makes the approach look tiny, although of course New Street is not exactly a tiny station!
Arriving into Birmingham exactly bang on time at 0926, I alighted 221141 and made my way up to the main concourse. It's been two years since I alighted at New Street, and it does seem to have changed! With Gateway Plus currently in full swing, I can see why.
I must say that staff sat in the little booths acting as ticket barriers is very bizarre; it looks more like customs at an airport. It is a very good idea though.
I exited the station via the entrance to the Bullring. I haven't been to the Bullring for the best part of three years and it does seem totally different to what I remember it to be. I had a quick look in the shops before making my way to the exit by Moor Street Station. I can honestly say that Birmingham is catching London up with the number of buses on the road. There are hundreds. I saw Enviro 400s on the 50, a brand new one (4909) on the 957, a few Scanias on the 37, Gemini 4668 on the 31A and a few Tridents on the 35. Was very interesting to see. I then made my way underneath what I think is still part of the Bullring along St Martin's Queensway, eventually coming out in Paradise Forum. I then made my way along Broad Street, spotting some more buses (4822 on the 141, 2085 and 2088 on the 120 and 5403 on the 23), before making my way to Gas Street Basin to catch the waterbus along the beautiful canals.
The Waterbus arrived shortly and I hopped on board. At £4 for a half-hour round trip, I thought that was pretty reasonable. We made our way along the canal, which is really beautiful, before doing a circular trip. Unfortunately, disaster struck. We stopped at Brindley Place, and still had two more stops to do, but the rope got caught in the propeller! As we were almost by Gas Street Basin anyway, the driver told us to get off here anyway as we could be stuck for quite a while!
We disembarked the boat and walked along the canal to the mailbox. We then walked through and ended back up by New Street station and the Bullring. We sat in Starbucks facing St Martin's Church, which really is a lovely view, before grabbing a Subway and making our way back to the station.
We were booked on 1B24 1350 Birmingham to Euston, which was advertised as departing from platform 1. We made our way to the platform and 390127 was in charge. I haven't been on a Pendolino for six years; this was only my third time also as I had done a return from Crewe to Preston on one (390037 on the way out, 390011 on the way back). 390127 was also my first eleven car Pendolino. Sadly, I made an absolute royal tit of myself when we got on. I know that London is south-east of Birmingham, but because New Street is a massive underground station, with buildings over most of its span, it is very easy to lose your bearings, so I had to ask a member of staff which way the train was leaving, as I cannot travel backwards. We then left bang on time, travelling through International and Coventry, before making a stop at Rugby. Unfortunately, we were delayed by about fifteen minutes in the Harrow and Wealdstone area due to trespassers in the Watford Junction area. We arrived at Euston at 1526, twelve minutes behind schedule, so it wasn't too bad in the end.
I exited at Euston, and boy what a big station it is. Stupidly, the escalators heading down to the tube were not working, and it was a Saturday and it was incredibly busy, so the only option was to use the lift, which had a ridiculous queue, or to use the stairs. I got to the tube concourse, added my 16-25 railcard on my Oyster (thanks to everyone's help regarding this!) and hopped on the Northern Line to Waterloo, where I was meeting my friend. We met up and made our way on the Jubilee Line to North Greenwich, as we fancied a ride on the cable car. We got to the cable car and hopped in pod 25, for a single to Royal Victoria Docks. I must admit, the staff here are excellent. There's one lady who stands by the Oyster machines and is very friendly and helps you through the ticketing process. I also noticed two male members of staff standing with Emirates Air Line umbrellas. They're fantastic, I want one!! Unfortunately, it was raining, which did spoil the view slightly, but nevertheless it was still fun. We made our way to the DLR. Our plan was to do Royal Victoria to Poplar, Poplar to Stratford and Stratford to Camden Road. The first DLR trains were 114 and 112, on a Beckton to Tower Gateway service. We sat right in the very front, the first time I have done this, and it is cool! We then changed at Poplar, where trains 13 and 42 took us to Stratford. I must admit, the bend between Poplar and All Saints, passing the DLR depot, is very curved, not great if you're going backwards!! Luckily we were facing forwards, sat in the front again, although on the rear unit, so we had unit 13 in front of us. We arrived at Stratford, where we then caught 378232 on 2Y97 1735 Stratford to Clapham Junction. Our plan was to alight at Camden Road and go to Camden Town; however, time was ticking, and we had tickets for Ripley's, so we got off at Highbury & Islington, caught the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus and then took the Bakerloo Line to Piccadilly Circus. So, instead of going from Royal Victoria to Canning Town, Canning Town to Waterloo and Waterloo to Piccadilly Circus, we ended up going via Poplar, Stratford, Highbury & Islington and Oxford Circus, which took an hour and twenty minutes. I was worried I'd be charged the maximum full fare, but this wasn't the case.
We then went for food in Bella Italia on the Strand, before making our way into Ripley's. We spent two hours in Ripley's, before taking the Piccadilly Line to Waterloo, saying bye to my friend at Waterloo, before taking the Bakerloo back up to Paddington. I have to say, passing through the temporarily closed Edgware Road on the Bakerloo was very eerie. It said 'Station closed' on all the roundel signs and on the walls. It was very interesting.
At Paddington, my train home, the 2200 to Cardiff, was departing on platform 2. 43132 was at the London end of the train. I've yet to know the leading power car on this service; I've asked for a request on the TOPS Request Thread. I managed to speak to the guard on the platform before boarding and asked if I could upgrade to First Class. She said that's fine and I went First Class home, sitting in Coach G Seat 3. What an absolutely wonderful guard she was - big shout out to her if she sees this!!
All in all, it was another great day! I'm going to Italy on 2nd September and Blackpool on 14th, so will do more reports then!
Also, I forgot to mention, my Oyster card worked perfectly! I had £25.10 on there, subtracting £5.10 for the price cap and £3.20 for the cable car, so that should have been £8.30 off, and I found out I had £16.80 left, which I do! So it was perfect!
Thanks for reading!
