Freedon of Severn & Solent 2018

[45022]

Hi All.
I decided to do my annual FOSS in mid-February this year, but despite the 3 day version now costing £61, it is still great value for money with the area, diversity and mileage you can cover.
This year I set myself a number of goals, all of which I had done before but it adds a bit of variety to the planning. These were:
1) XC HST to Tiverton Parkway - 1V50/1S51 move
2) Travel Taunton-Westbury via Castle Cary
3) Melksham line (never done on normal passenger turn)
4) ATW 67
5) Cardiff-Swindon & Bristol TM-Swindon on FGW HST's only
6) Trying to get my last FGW power car 43177 (final one for almost 2 years!)
Avoiding IET's at all cost
So Day 1 - Thursday 15th February
Quick drive to Lydney (with its recently extended Car Park) for the 917 ATW to Newport. My son kindly had the gen that 43177 was the 1134 Paignton-Paddington, so I needed to get to Tiverton Parkway for it. 150235 duly transported me from Lydney, where I sat in comfortable bay of 4 complete with table. At Newport a short wait for the 956 Cardiff-Paddington which was 10 minutes late with 43147+43137. A quick journey to Bristol Parkway followed where I made the 0807 Manchester Paignton. A very empty 220015 soon arrived and a empty table of four was found for the journey via Weston-super-Mare to Tiverton. Whilst the voyagers are not my favourite traction, I found this quite comfortable - a 45/0 and a set of Vacs would have been better mind (sorry....drifted back to the 80's then) TVP was reached on time and I had a short wait for the HST back north. I cannot say how much I detest TVP as a station - its cold, windy, in the middle of nowhere and just an uninspiring place to wait at. However, red pen at the ready, when 43177+43079 arrived on the Paddington. A settled into a fairly empty train for the journey to Westbury via Castle Cary - the more I do this journey I realise how pleasant a journey it actually is. At Westbury, the wind seemed to cut me in half in my 30 minute wait for the train back west. There is something about Westbury however that still has appeal. There is usually something moving around the yard, an array of colours and it hasn't changed for years. At 1400 my return train to Taunton came in with 43180+43161. This was empty, so again a table of four was available where I relaxed. At Taunton, I had time to kill before going back north on 1525 Plymouth-Leeds, so due to the 1304 Paddington-Plymouth being slightly late I had to do some fill in moves between Taunton & Tiverton Parkway. 43139+43190 to TVP, 220004 back to TAU for 43056+43160 back to TVP. After a short wait at my favourite station, it was the XC pairing of 43366+43285 which efficiently took me back to Cheltenham Spa. I really rate the XC HST's! At Cheltenham, it was a quick food stop before the 1834 Paddington to Gloucester - which happened to be 43177+43079 (again!). At Gloucester I had a short wait for a pair of 158's (834&818) on the 1845 Cheltenham-Maesteg back to Lydney.
So end of day 1 - 2/6 Objectives achieved.
Day 2 to follow

 

[mark_47769]

Looks like you had a good day. I look forward to reading more.

 

[ash39]

Sounded like a good day. You're right about the XC HST's - lovely trains. I wonder if it's the contrast between the HST and Voyager that makes them more appealing though??

 

[Kite159]

The XC HSTs have the 2nd best HST interior in my eyes.

Congrats on getting your final GWR 43 as well

 

[45022]

Hi All - thanks for the comments so far - here's Day 2
Friday 16th February started with a drive to Severn Tunnel Junction. The place is totally different to the days of the 80's, but is a well used and useful station for Bristol and Cardiff commutes. At £4 per day to park - that's quite reasonable also.
First train of the day was the 926 departure to Bristol TM, formed of 166207. It's amazing how the addition of a 3 car unit on local services will have transformed people's perception, although replacing the 158's on the Portsmouth route - I'm not convinced. Anyway, I sat in the former First Class bit which I think locals are still not sure about with its tables & 2+2 seating for the trip under the Severn back into England. At Bristol, whilst waiting for the 1000 to Paddington, an old Peak Basher tapped me on the shoulder who I had not seen for about 15 years. Great to catch up but worrying that he was out scratching the 800's and telling me the highest one he had had! Anyway 43161+43180 sped us to Swindon on a busy service, before a quick walk under the tunnel to have 43002+43010 back to Bristol. It's the first time I have had a chance to have a good look at 43002, and it is a superb job. I took a quick photograph of it at the western end of Temple Meads before making my way to the 1200 Manchester service with 221139. Whilst waiting, the northbound flasks went through behind 68001&68005 - running almost 2 hours early! I took the voyager through to Parkway in order to make the Edinburgh-Plymouth XC HST. This arrived on time (unusually for 1V50) with 43384+43301, which performed superbly to Tiverton Parkway, whilst I enjoyed my table seat in the TGS. At my favourite station there is a 8 minute connection, so that was perfectly acceptable before 43366+43285 arrived on the Plymouth-Glasgow. Once again, a comfortable table seat in the TGS for a storming run through to Bristol Parkway. Here, I waited about 20 minutes for the next Paddington service which was 43018+43193 which I took to Swindon for a +8 connection back. 66041 was shunting the steels in the sidings adjacent to Platform 1. My return train from Swindon back through to Cardiff was led by 43002, with 43010 still on the back - arriving in the Welsh capital at 1645, and meeting up with my son en-route at Bristol Parkway. At Cardiff, there was some freight activity including 70817 (sounding loud) on the Westbury to Aberthaw cements. The plan at Cardiff was to wait for the Holyhead, which with 67016 at the front, was a red pen moment for my son and myself. It's a good job the train is loco hauled as leaving Cardiff it was wedged, including a hen party of about 12 women - I thought Cardiff would have been a destination! We left the train at Newport to await the following 158961 on the Portsmouth which again was packed, but it was only the 10 minute trip to pick up the car at Severn Tunnel Junction.
So, another successful day, with objectives 1), 4) and 5) - well except for the Cardiff-Newport leg completed.
Hope you enjoy - Day 3 to follow

 

[45022]

Hi All: And here's day 3 which was Monday 19th February
With it being a Monday it gave an extra NE/SW XC HST leaving Cheltenham at 1000, so I decided to park at Gloucester station. The 12 mile journey in from the Forest of Dean took just short of an hour, and with parking at £8.20 reminded me why I try to avoid this option. It did however, put me in a better position to complete Objective 7) which was a HST down the Golden Valley. My first train of the day was the Paddington-Cheltenham with 43005+43186, which I caught for the 6.5 mile journey to its destination. Here, I had a short wait for the York-Plymouth (MO - XC HST) which arrived in the form of 43285+43366. I was torn whether to ditch my plan of the Melksham and instead add a Devon Day Ranger to my ticket to allow through travel to Plymouth. After consideration of the poor weather (sea wall not looking as good in those conditions) and the fact that the West Country would remain HST operated for longer meant I plumped for my initial plan. I managed to find a table seat towards the back of the train and was interested to find out whether the 956 Cardiff-Paddington, which I had a +1 at Parkway for was running. Real Time Trains did not help, but on arrival at BPW I was ready to bail, only to hear the engine noise of an IET working it - suitably rejected. Staying on 1V46 to Temple Meads, I arrived at 1045. knowing that the 1100 Paddington was an IET. Bristol is starting to look much different now with the absence of 150/1's, 153's - being replaced by the Turbo's and the IET's starting to oust the HST's. It was much better in the 80's though with 33's, 45's, 46's, 47's & 50's - well the first three classes anyway!! I went for a short walk outside the station around an area that is also unrecognisable from a few years ago and ended up arriving back for the 1130 Paddington. Some short hops followed with 43174+43151 to Chippenham, 43027+43029 back to Bath and 43180+43172 returning to Chippenham to position myself for the Westbury via Melksham. 166219 duly arrived on-time and I sat in the former 1st class area for the short journey towards Westbury. On the approach to Melksham the Conductor (is that what they are called these days?) came through as Melksham is a one door, one paving stone platform. Regular travellers on this line may have wondered what they did to go from a single 153 to a 3 car turbo in such a short time. At Trowbridge I realised that the South Western Railway Bristol-Waterloo was 2 minutes behind so bailed for the required 159 on this service for the 3 miles to Westbury. Westbury was home to 3x70's & 2x66's as normal, as I waited for 43175+43165 which was on the 1234 Paddington-Taunton. The weather had cleared somewhat by now - in fact Westbury could have been described as warm considering how it was on Day 1! On arrival at Taunton, I had a short wait for the Plymouth-Edinburgh which was slowly losing time due to a traction problem with 43366+43285. My orginal plan was to go for a +3 at Parkway, but despite the best efforts of the XC HST which stormed to Bristol, it was still 8 late at Parkway so I had to do the 1609 across to Cardiff with 43172+43180. This meant I only had about 30 minutes, so the relaxing Wetherspoons was replaced with a luke warm Big Mac. I just about got back to Central to see the Holyhead, but due to a delay at the sidings this was well late - it had only been there since 10am in the morning! Congestion around the station meant that the 1726 Paddington was 6 late leaving with 43069+43141, so my planned +8 at Swindon looked a tad more dubious. However, some excellent running meant we were only 2 late by Swindon, which meant the last trip was the 1838 back to Gloucester with 43177(again!)+43142.
So in summary - all 7 objectives completed - well over 1000 miles, and still no red pen needed for the IET's. I never thought I would say this, but I will miss the HST's when they finally bow out on the Paddington's - I cannot think of better designed class of locomotive (controversial moment) that has for over 40 years continued with the job it was designed for. Yes I love Mark 1's and can still remember the Eastern Region Steam Heat only sets with BR1 bogies swaying and groaning in the West Country behind the peaks, but the Mark 3's are still a fantastic vehicle to ride in.
Hope you enjoyed the report.
Cheers

 

[Kite159]

If you think it is all change at Bristol, just picture Reading

165/166s on local stoppers pushed out for 387s with 345s due to join them next year, IETs replacing the HSTs & 180s on long distance stuff. 458/5s replacing 450s on the SWR services, which will be replaced by whatever unit number the new SWR suburban stock is getting.

Anyhow, good news on completing your objectives for a FOSS