“End to End” trip diary
Sunday 13th June 2010
After several months of planning – which is a story in itself – it was time to set out on my attempt to become the first person to do a complete return “End to End” trip entirely by public transport.
Starting out from Epsom on the 19.24 to Waterloo proved interesting even before the train was in – a fox cub was exploring the long grass at the lineside by the south end of the platform. It scampered away into the grass when the train, formed of unit 5723, drew in.
After the short ride to Waterloo, I caught the Bakerloo Line to Paddington, travelling on units 3260 + 3460, and then had a nice big meal at Garfunkel’s in Praed Street to fill me up ahead of the journey. My choice was one of their triple egg cheese omelettes with chips.
Having thus filled myself up, I then waited in the 1st class lounge until it was time to board the Night Riviera Sleeper to Penzance; this being my positioning trip to get me in place to start the record attempt the following day. Boarding started at 22.30 for a 23.50 departure. I boarded straight away and spent some time reading before departure time.
The locomotive hauling the Sleeper was 57 603, and the rake was carriages 17175 / 12161 / 10225 / 10563(s)* / 10584* / 10594* / 10589. This was a good rake for me as it included three of the four FGW Sleepers that I needed for haulage, indicated by an * and one of these – denoted by (s) – was the one in which my berth was located.
Departure was on time and I spent the first few minutes of the journey looking out of the window with the lights off, but heavy cloud cover prevented me from getting more than a few minutes of astronomy ( another of my hobbies ) done, so I settled down for the night, pleased to note that FGW still use proper sheets and blankets on their Sleeper service and surprised to find that the Volo TV system has been installed in the cabins.
Monday 14th June
Upon waking up about an hour before arrival in Penzance I was surprised to find that the train had made a reversal in the night; clearly there had been a diversion due to engineering works. A quick enquiry established that our route had been via Newbury and the Westbury avoider to Castle Cary then Yeovil Pen Mill, Yeovil Junction and Exeter, where the reversal was made.
This was very good from my point of view because I had been trying to ride over the Yeovil connecting spur for some years!
Arrival at Penzance, in some rather grey and windy weather, was a few minutes early and I took the opportunity to get a few photographs done of the Sleeper carriages and then had breakfast at the diner just outside the station; I chose to have sausage, egg and chips.
As the day went on the weather brightened up; meanwhile I had some time to wait until I was due to be picked up by taxi at 12.30 in order to be taken to Lands End for the start of the record attempt. Some more reading filled in part of this time; I was also able to get a photograph of 153 382 off my list as it conveniently arrived with a Plymouth train early on in my wait.
The taxi turned up right on time and there were no problems with the traffic to Land’s End. It was extremely windy there, but the required photographs by the signpost were eventually obtained and then it was time to start the record attempt itself!
Against a scheduled time of 13.15, the taxi actually left at 13.08, having noted some roadworks a few miles along the route while we were driving the other way and some heavy inbound traffic in the town centre in Penzance. This proved wise as although the roadworks were only a minor irritation, there was indeed some delay going through the town centre, although it did mean that in order to meet the 50 hour target I had to be back at Land’s End by 15.08 rather than 15.15 on the Wednesday. So, seven minutes tighter than planned, but better than missing the very first train!
Upon arrival back at Penzance, the 14.00 to Paddington was ready for boarding so after a few quick photographs I settled into my seat in carriage H for the journey, due in to London at 19.24. The formation was 43017 leading 41141 / 41142 / 40734 / 42333 / 42075 / 42291 / 42293 / 44038 with 43063 trailing.
Departure was on time and we had a good run along the Berks & Hants line which turned a minor arrears of 3 minutes at Taunton into a 5 minutes early through Aldermaston. And then a bit of drama – a signal failure at Theale! Our passage through the affected section was efficiently dealt with, however, and we were soon on the move again, arriving at Paddington only 10 minutes late; a relatively light penalty for a signal failure.
However, that was enough of a delay that I decided to abandon the idea of another meal at Garfunkel’s and caught the Underground ( having to change at Edgware Road because the Circle Line no longer runs a proper service; my two trains were formed of units 5520 / 5529 / 5574 and 5568 / 5553 / 5710 ) straight to Euston instead, where I had two plain double cheeseburgers with chips from Burger King as an alternative. Well, no point in risking missing the 21.15 Inverness Sleeper…
This was more or less ready for boarding when I got down to it, and I quickly noted the formation: 90 029 hauling 10508 / 10543 / 10613 / 10690 / 10542 / 10666 / 6705 / 9810 / 10680 / 10529(s) / 10683 / 10522 / 10520 / 10719 / 6701 / 9802. Upon boarding I found that ScotRail have replaced the sheets and blankets with duvets, which did not impress me, but their service was as good as ever.
After departure the weather continued to clear and I did an hour’s astronomy with a very thin crescent Moon close to Venus low in the west presenting an easy subject. As it got darker I was able to make out Mars, Saturn and some stars as well, before turning in for the night somewhere around Atherstone in Warwickshire.
Tuesday 15th June
Waking up in the Aviemore area, I noted that there was still quite a lot of snow visible on the upper levels of the Cairngorms, and that the weather was still a bit grey but reasonably bright and dry, so conditions were good. Arrival at Inverness was on time at 08.30, with locomotive 67 003 hauling from Edinburgh.
There was over two hours to wait until the Far North departure at 10.38, which meant I had time to get a proper breakfast at the Royal Highland Hotel, conveniently located literally next door to the station. I had two rashers of bacon, three fried eggs, a hash brown, a sausage and some baked beans plus two slices of white toast.
After breakfast I was able to board the train about ¾ hour before departure, so I took the opportunity to do a bit more reading. Departure was right time, and there were no problems on the way north. This was my first trip along the Far North Line, so all the scenery was new to me.
The most critical part of the attempt lay ahead, with some very tight timings…
We were two minutes early at Thurso, where a taxi and photographer were waiting for me. We quickly obtained some pictures, then at 14.28 left for John O’ Groats.
There was no problem with the traffic and we arrived there at 14.55 and very quickly got the signpost photography done, leaving Groats again a few minutes ahead of schedule at 15.00. Another traffic free drive saw us arriving at Wick at 15.22, well ahead of schedule and with plenty of time to get some more photography done prior to the train departing back to Inverness at 16.00 – via Thurso!
An interesting operational quirk at the tip of the Far North Line means the trains from Inverness reverse at Georgemas Junction for Thurso and then run back to Georgemas and on to Wick; in the southbound direction they run from Wick to Georgemas and on to Thurso, back to Georgemas and then a reversal again in order to get to Inverness.
This gave the valuable extra time needed to make the trip possible without missing out any of the Far North Line because to do the taxi to Groats to and from wick had a zero margin for error, yet to do it to and from Thurso would have meant missing out Georgemas Junction to Wick altogether, which might have disqualified the attempt. However, as shown above, using the taxi on the route Thurso – Groats – Wick was viable for time and did not omit anything.
The departure back to Inverness was on time and having studied the scenery on the way north I paid more attention to the wildlife on the way south. Observations included numerous Petrels, which are a distinctive sea bird with black wings with a white stripe running full length along their upper surface, a large number of Falcons, some more usual birds of the crow family and smaller familiar birds plus a few Curlews. There were also numerous deer, including several stags with large antlers, visible from the train.
Arrival was on time at Inverness ( 20.10 ), but all the station shops had closed by that time of the evening and with only a 36 minute margin to catch the southbound Sleeper dinner at the hotel was out of the question so I had to have snacks on this occasion! Still, the Sleeper departed on time at 20.46, which was the important thing, with the same locomotive and rake as northbound. This time, however, there was too much cloud to attempt any astronomy so I settled down for an early night, going to bed somewhere around Aviemore.
Wednesday 16th June
In the morning, with clear and bright weather, I woke up while the train was still in the Trent Valley with 109 miles to go until reaching Euston! So I settled back to doze for the majority of the remainder of the run and arrival was 6 minutes early at 07.41.
There were no problem crossing London on the Underground ( units 5535 / 5525 / 5543 direct to Paddington ), whereupon I bought two egg butties from Burger King as breakfast, in place of a planned Garfunkel’s breakfast – I had decided to play safe with the time again! ( They need to re-introduce their curly Cumberland sausages at Burger King; the fact that I chose to order the butties with just the egg in – rejecting the sausage patty – should give them a hint or two! ).
Then it was time to board the 09.06 to Plymouth, which was another right time departure. The formation was 43148 leading 44032 / 42269 / 42267 / 42325 / 42072 / 40716 / 41130 / 41129 with 43136 trailing.
Another fast run along the Berks & Hants line followed, but for some reason we came to a brief standstill just beyond Castle Cary, for an unknown reason ( but likely to have been another signalling glitch ), but this time the delay was a minimal 5 minutes and we were soon on our way again.
We made up one minute of this and arrived at Plymouth, the tightest connection of the whole attempt, at 12.21; fortunately the 12.39 to Penzance ( unit 150 248 ) was a cross platform connection.
Missing this would not have prevented me from completing the return trip by public transport but it would have made it impossible to do so within the target of 50 hours – and left the resulting journey time open to being easily beaten!
Once again, departure was on time and the run to Penzance was smooth, with arrival in by now perfect weather being 4 minutes early at 14.35; there was again a taxi and photographer waiting for me and even before the train doors opened I was being photographed through the door windows!
A quick dash to the taxi followed, then it was off to Land’s End again. This time we encountered some slow traffic at more than one location, and the roadworks again intervened but the margin was good enough; Land’s end was reached at 14.57, which meant I was 11 minutes inside the target time!
So, the first person to do the “End to End” double ( ie the return trip as one journey ) entirely by public transport and doing so in a virtually unbeatable time of 49 hours 49 minutes – at least virtually unbeatable with the current timetable at any rate! The only way of bettering the time at present is to risk missing the 14.00 from Penzance by delaying the taxi departure from Land’s End by a few minutes, and that is a very high risk strategy indeed…!!
As you might expect, a large number of signpost photographs were done, including some “starburst jump” pictures, before a more leisurely ride back to Penzance in the taxi.
Following this I had a lot of time to spare before returning to London, so I took the opportunity to have a large meal at The Dolphin pub, which is a traditional style building with lots of atmosphere and, apparently, three ghosts! My choice of food after a journey like that was perhaps not a surprise – a large medium rump steak, chips, peas and onion rings.
During the long wait at the station, after the meal, while waiting for the Sleeper to board I spent some time studying the crescent Moon and also picking out Venus in broad daylight. After the Sleeper departed at 21.45 ( same rake of carriages as Sunday night but with 57 605 hauling ) I spent another hour or so watching out of the cabin window with the light off and turned in for the night just after St Austell.
Thursday 17th June
After getting back to Paddington, once again on time, I finally got my Garfunkel’s bacon and egg breakfast with two slices of white bloomer bread toast ( yummy! ) and then had to wait around in London for a bit as I had three appointments at the ear hospital that day, it being a year on from my cochlear implant operation.
After these appointments were over, I returned to Epsom on 377 129, forming the 15.31 from Victoria, having managed to ride three of the new Victoria Line trains while crossing London!
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The trip went like clockwork and the "End to End" double was achieved entirely by public transport, as per the plan, inside the target time of 50 hours by a margin of 11 minutes.
( The text on the JustGiving page has been amended to reflect this. )
Here are links to the details as on the FirstGroup website and a report on the Scottish TV news website. I hope to add my personal report in place of the "holding paragraph" at the top of this post at some point over the weekend; there will be a lot more detail in that!
http://www.firstgroup.com/corporate/latest_news/?id=006041
http://news.stv.tv/scotland/highlan...first-lands-end-to-john-o-groats-return-trip/
