Welcome to my first trip report, I hope you enjoy reading it:
It was 06:30 in the morning on 11th August, and it was time to get up for my annual trip to London from Sanquhar! I got prepared and arrived at Sanquhar Station at 08:15 ready to catch the 08:33 sprinter to Newcastle. In rolled 156508, with hardly anyone onboard! I easily managed to grab a table seat on the "Second man's side". Upon arrival to Dumfries, the train quickly got to standing room only, and I had a family of 3 at my table, who, unbeknownst to me, were also travelling to London, on the same train that I was! We pulled in to Carlisle at 09:43 , where I alighted to find the roof was being refurbished, and there was a jungle of scaffolding poles on the station concourse. I headed over to platform 3 as I had an hour before my train. I clearly wasn't the only one who had decided to do this, as there was a group of about 5 men who were clearly collecting loco and unit numbers. Not much interesting traffic in the hour I had. I saw the independence day train - 390107 on a Glasgow Bound express service, and I saw some network rail engineering trains stabled in the sidings. The Tesco express also came through. I soon headed over to platform 4 to board the 10:49 pendo to Euston. In came 390103, and I had reserved a backward facing table seat. The train was quite quiet, and I managed to get a hot chocolate from the shop, despite a customer getting impatient with the card machine. We pulled into a quiet Oxenholme, only to hear a deep voice repeatedly saying "Is everything okay" over the tannoy, much to the discomfort of many passengers. The train remained quiet until we reached Preston, where we quickly become standing room only! I had a very young (younger than 10) and enthusiastic rail enthusiast sitting across from me, who was riding his first pendolino, and he was VERY excited! He loved the train! The only problem was that he thought he was on a HST, and that we were on the ECML! I politely explained to him that the train we were on was a 390 and this was the WCML. I also showed him my railcam signalling diagrams! After Warrington it was a very crammed train down to London, but I had a table seat at a window, so I enjoyed it!! As the train passed Crewe I managed to catch a glimpse of the highly famous "Flying banana" in the sidings. I used my railcam subscription to track my train on the signalling diagrams. We seemed to slow down near Wolverton, however I do not know why. We arrived at London 10 minutes early! I then caught the Victoria line to Highbury and Islington and a 378 out to my premier inn at Stratford. We had a amazing room and I could see the North London line, Great Eastern Mainline and HS1 from my window, as well as the city! I then just spend the remainder of the day in London.
On the Friday morning I caught the Central line into London, and just before departure from Stratford some rather fast man decided to make himself part of an underground favourite, a 'closing door sandwich'. The doors were released to allow him and I headed in to Bank station. I mainly just went around tourist attractions on Friday. I highly recommend the 'Skygarden', as it offers amazing views over the city free of charge. Up top you can see London Bridge, and Blackfriars stations and the whole city! In the afternoon I walked from Victoria station to Hyde park, which was nice, and I then went down to south bank before going to pizza hut for dinner. Afterwards I caught a 321 from Liverpool street out to Stratford at night (and I caught a glimpse of the ex VTWC "pretendolino" working into Liverpool Street.)
On the Saturday I was to come back on the 12:43 VTWC service from Euston to Edinburgh via Brum. I caught a 360 into Liverpool street in the morning and I just headed to the south bank for a while. I arrived at Euston at 12:00. Our train was on the board, and it was a double voyager! We boarded on platform 6 and headed out on the long journey. I had once against booked a table seat. I had someone sitting across from me until Brum, where the train got extremely busy! Across from me were two very loud teenagers, who even louder than the constant irritating hum of the underfloor engines. They got off at Lancaster! I then had a quiet and pleasant ride up to Carlisle, where I got off, with the noise of the engine still wringing in my ears. I quickly changed onto a packed 156 to Dumfries, and I discovered that a return fare was cheaper than a single!? We eventually pulled into Dumfries where I got driven back home.
Overall a great trip!
It was 06:30 in the morning on 11th August, and it was time to get up for my annual trip to London from Sanquhar! I got prepared and arrived at Sanquhar Station at 08:15 ready to catch the 08:33 sprinter to Newcastle. In rolled 156508, with hardly anyone onboard! I easily managed to grab a table seat on the "Second man's side". Upon arrival to Dumfries, the train quickly got to standing room only, and I had a family of 3 at my table, who, unbeknownst to me, were also travelling to London, on the same train that I was! We pulled in to Carlisle at 09:43 , where I alighted to find the roof was being refurbished, and there was a jungle of scaffolding poles on the station concourse. I headed over to platform 3 as I had an hour before my train. I clearly wasn't the only one who had decided to do this, as there was a group of about 5 men who were clearly collecting loco and unit numbers. Not much interesting traffic in the hour I had. I saw the independence day train - 390107 on a Glasgow Bound express service, and I saw some network rail engineering trains stabled in the sidings. The Tesco express also came through. I soon headed over to platform 4 to board the 10:49 pendo to Euston. In came 390103, and I had reserved a backward facing table seat. The train was quite quiet, and I managed to get a hot chocolate from the shop, despite a customer getting impatient with the card machine. We pulled into a quiet Oxenholme, only to hear a deep voice repeatedly saying "Is everything okay" over the tannoy, much to the discomfort of many passengers. The train remained quiet until we reached Preston, where we quickly become standing room only! I had a very young (younger than 10) and enthusiastic rail enthusiast sitting across from me, who was riding his first pendolino, and he was VERY excited! He loved the train! The only problem was that he thought he was on a HST, and that we were on the ECML! I politely explained to him that the train we were on was a 390 and this was the WCML. I also showed him my railcam signalling diagrams! After Warrington it was a very crammed train down to London, but I had a table seat at a window, so I enjoyed it!! As the train passed Crewe I managed to catch a glimpse of the highly famous "Flying banana" in the sidings. I used my railcam subscription to track my train on the signalling diagrams. We seemed to slow down near Wolverton, however I do not know why. We arrived at London 10 minutes early! I then caught the Victoria line to Highbury and Islington and a 378 out to my premier inn at Stratford. We had a amazing room and I could see the North London line, Great Eastern Mainline and HS1 from my window, as well as the city! I then just spend the remainder of the day in London.
On the Friday morning I caught the Central line into London, and just before departure from Stratford some rather fast man decided to make himself part of an underground favourite, a 'closing door sandwich'. The doors were released to allow him and I headed in to Bank station. I mainly just went around tourist attractions on Friday. I highly recommend the 'Skygarden', as it offers amazing views over the city free of charge. Up top you can see London Bridge, and Blackfriars stations and the whole city! In the afternoon I walked from Victoria station to Hyde park, which was nice, and I then went down to south bank before going to pizza hut for dinner. Afterwards I caught a 321 from Liverpool street out to Stratford at night (and I caught a glimpse of the ex VTWC "pretendolino" working into Liverpool Street.)
On the Saturday I was to come back on the 12:43 VTWC service from Euston to Edinburgh via Brum. I caught a 360 into Liverpool street in the morning and I just headed to the south bank for a while. I arrived at Euston at 12:00. Our train was on the board, and it was a double voyager! We boarded on platform 6 and headed out on the long journey. I had once against booked a table seat. I had someone sitting across from me until Brum, where the train got extremely busy! Across from me were two very loud teenagers, who even louder than the constant irritating hum of the underfloor engines. They got off at Lancaster! I then had a quiet and pleasant ride up to Carlisle, where I got off, with the noise of the engine still wringing in my ears. I quickly changed onto a packed 156 to Dumfries, and I discovered that a return fare was cheaper than a single!? We eventually pulled into Dumfries where I got driven back home.
Overall a great trip!
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