Ivo's Adventures 3: The Emerald Isle

[Ivo]

I did know that, but the others want to go via Dublin (and thus Holyhead). So no Pacers this time...

Plenty of new route coverage though - and not just in Ireland!

The report is underway, but I've been so busy (sleeping and on here mainly) that I am still some way short of finished. It'll need a few more days

 

[4SRKT]

You've been back for over a week man! What on earth is this report going to be like?

 

[Ivo]

I have not! I got back on Friday morning! I only left for the Emerald Isle a week ago yesterday!

 

[Techniquest]

IVO NEWS:

Could there be a second leg of the Great Irish Adventure? I am likely to go over with three friends (one from Canada) in September, and the current feeling is that Sail-Rail and the €100 4-day ticket - assuming it's still available - is the best option! And this would take in much of the network south and west of Dublin!

I read the leaflet for that €100 4 day ticket when I was over that way in January, it sounds like a good deal. €25 per day isn't too bad considering you could, probably, do something like Dublin > Waterford > Limerick > Ennis > Athenry (via the recently-ish re-opened section of the West Coastway route) then if there's time over to Galway and back to Dublin, if not straight back to Dublin. In one day, for €25, that would be an awesome deal.

Granted, such extravagant plans may not be do-able due to the ridiculously poor frequencies on most IE lines, but with some careful planning you could do quite well I reckon. If you make plans for this 4-day bash, I'd be interested in seeing what they are so as to base my own possible trip around the RoI one day.
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Where's your bl**dy report then? Have you warned the boys at RUK that they may need to invest in another server?

Did you know that you can also Sail Rail via Fishguard? Maybe you could get lucky and score a pacer all the way to Cheltenham on the way back!

I've just got to say that the first line of this post has got me in stitches! I don't know why I find it so funny, but then I'm in a totally random mood at the moment where all sorts is funny as anything.

*Makes mental note to write up my ALR trip report as soon as I get back in *

 

[Ivo]

Those plans are fine by me, but I'd be with three other people. Of those, one hasn't even left Devon since he stayed with me six months ago, one never travels by train at all (and lives in Canada!), and that leaves one from Kettering who has a passing interest in trains but not to the point that such journeys would appeal. So a round trip such as that just wouldn't work. Based on what I've read on Facebook this morning, the current idea among the others is to do a return from Dublin to Cork and a return from Dublin to Ennis (which could be interesting!), and a Sail-Rail from Whimple (where the guy in Devon lives).

The report is well underway; I hope to have it up on Wednesday night. It is too long to be honest...

 

[Techniquest]

Maybe it would be a better idea to upload the days separately? It would make for easier writing and, I suspect, easier management your end.

 

[4SRKT]

.......and probably easier reading at this end.......

 

[Techniquest]

Aye, I meant to put 'easier reading' and not 'easier writing'. Fail.

 

[Ivo]

I've got a little "sneak peak" for you all! This will be available for a limited time only and covers the very first part of the trip, from Bath Spa to Carlisle on Saturday 14th May. It will be taken down tomorrow evening, even if the final product is not finished tomorrow evening as it should be.

I have to admit, based on this particular file's size it's looking like the final piece will be across two or even three files! As a Word file, this bit alone was 2.85MB!

 

[sprinterguy]

I use the Cross City line As the premier, most popular commuter rail artery of Englands' second city, it certainly does deserve a train every ten minutes; the half hourly Sunday service is absolutely shocking for such a well used line in such a large city! Although I have to agree with you that I wish that more of the regional and Intercity services were routed via the Camp Hill line, which would certainly reduce delays and journey times.

The Cross-City line also passes through some of the more affluent, and some of the most pleasant (IMO) areas of Birmingham. Kings Norton, Bourneville, Selly Oak and the area around University are all quite nice places to be, and there are few things I enjoy better than whiling away a peaceful evening drinking in any of the numerous well-tended bars in Selly Oak.

This latest report is turning out to be an excellent read Ivo. My greatest of congratulations to you my fine fellow.
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Additionally, that metal shed on the "up" side of the line north of Warrington Bank Quay station is Warrington Royal Mail Terminal and Regional Distribution Centre, which is served by a number of Royal Mails' class 325 electric postal units each day on the Sheildmuir to Warrington to Willesden run. I spent a fascinating night there the other week loading and unloading York cages on and off the trains (I've now cabbed a 325!) and the lorries. Well, half a night really: I spent 6pm until midnight at the Mail Terminal and midnight 'til 6am drinking whiskey and watching DVDs back at my mates' apartment. And Warrington truly is an absolute dump. It's on a par with Middlesborough.

 

[Techniquest]

Just reading your sneak peak, a fascinating read thus far. Got to say, I don't envy you doing all that Voyager mileage! However, I take issue with this comment (having let the 323 and Cross-City comments slide):

"Even this less-impressive stretch though would utterly pulverise virtually every other line in the country!"

That's surely a most unfair comment, since you still need the Cambrian (and most of Wales!), the Highland Main Line, the West Highland Line and the more northerly stretch of the North and West (aka the Marches) for just a few examples!

I'm sorry, but the Settle and Carlisle doesn't compare to the sheer beauty of the West Highland, or indeed the Kyle line. The Central Wales is also quite stunning. I did the Settle and Carlisle in winter with snow all over the place. Lovely yes, but by fook isn't it a boring run. So slow and dull for that, not even a 56 could change that!

Anyway, rant done. Not finished reading the sneak peak yet but I am enjoying the read in general. However I'll avoid ranting about your comments on 323s and the Cross City line, since I happen to quite like both of those.

 

[Ivo]

Thank you for the comments so far; I shan't be revising that section now but it is always interesting to hear what you have to say! I await Thumper's verdict with interest! I have to admit that, on this and other evidence, you have to question whether teaching really is the best career for me, based on utilising what I am capable of in various degrees, especially given I am training at primary level...

Anyway, some bad news. We have a house birthday tomorrow, and I had been under the impression that her party was on Thursday night because she couldn't actually make tomorrow. However, the others have hit on the idea of doing it tonight instead, which if confirmed will make it difficult for me to finish in time. Thus, it may have to be Thursday instead. Sorry! I shall confirm presently.

I still stand by my Cross City comments though. And I shall continue to do so for a while to come - unless someone can truly prove otherwise.
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EDIT: I am afraid that it shall have to be Thursday. But the reason has changed slightly; apparently the others now what to take the chance of holding the party when she returns from going out with others - when she'll probably be drunk. I warned them about this but got out-voted 2-1 and thus this new plan stands.

Idiots.

 

[4SRKT]

Very entertaining! How on earth do you manage to write so much? I worry that I waffle in my blogs, but the most I've ever run to is a bit short of 6 sides of A4 for a 4 day trip! Pity you had to have your first trip on the S&C in an odious (my choice of word ) Voyager. TBF a 158 is only slightly better from a visibility POV, but the way to do this line is in hauled-stock, which means a railtour. No other line in *England* cries out so loudly for people to be able to lean out. [NOSTALGIA] Oh for the twice daily service of 07:38 Hull> Carlisle formed of 2x31 + 10 mk Is and 16:07 Leeds > Carlisle formed of 4 or 5 mk Is with a 40 on![/NOSTALGIA].

I have to agree with Sprinterguy that you are waaaaay off beam about the Cross City Line though. Even in my day this had a 15 minute interval of 3-car 116s, so if it still had only this interval it would be almost unique in suburban services in major conurbations in having had no frequency improvement in 25 years. I think your anti-323 prejudice is getting the better of you: it's Cross Country that needs to find a better way through Birmingham.

I'm most interested in the journey from Carlisle onwards though. I haven't been to Stranraer for years.

Hope you had a few beers at the party! I haven't done a trip gonzo for ages: work trips don't really lend themselves to this. Tentatively Spitfire's awesome looking 50 tour to Edinburgh on 13th August looks likely to be the next opportunity

 

[sprinterguy]

Very entertaining! How on earth do you manage to write so much? I worry that I waffle in my blogs, but the most I've ever run to is a bit short of 6 sides of A4 for a 4 day trip! Pity you had to have your first trip on the S&C in an odious (my choice of word ) Voyager. TBF a 158 is only slightly better from a visibility POV, but the way to do this line is in hauled-stock, which means a railtour. No other line in *England* cries out so loudly for people to be able to lean out. [NOSTALGIA] Oh for the twice daily service of 07:38 Hull> Carlisle formed of 2x31 + 10 mk Is and 16:07 Leeds > Carlisle formed of 4 or 5 mk Is with a 40 on![/NOSTALGIA].

I did the entire length of the Settle & Carlisle for the first time in February. I’d travelled over sections of it in the past, and I’ve walked a number of the hills and moors surrounding it, but never travelled the whole thing from Hellifield to Carlisle before then. I think you’ll agree that I did it in the best possible way it can be done in the present day: In a mark 2 carriage hauled by no less than a 20+37 combination. You could really tell how much effort it took to tackle the long drag with load 12 and two dead 47s on the back (That makes the total train weight about equivalent to load 19!): Absolutely hellfire. As an added bonus there was a thick layer of snow coating everything and making it look like a scene from a Christmas card.

The rugged beauty of the S&C isn’t as spectacular as the lochs and glens of the Kyle and West Highland lines, which I’ve also travelled over, but it has an appeal all of it’s own.

 

[Ivo]

I don't drink remember

Regarding the Cross City, outside of the peaks no-one uses it! It has some patronage from the University, yes, but look at these statistics...

REDDITCH (30 freq.): 860K
ALVECHURCH (30 freq.): 137K
LONGBRIDGE: 625K
NORTHFIELD: 565K
KING'S NORTON: 785K
BOURNVILLE: 772K
SELLY OAK: 1.6M (OK, fair enough)
UNIVERSITY: 2M (also has XC service)
FIVE WAYS: 1M

You mean to tell me that these statistics, admittedly with a little extra for Daytrippers but at most double the above, is worthy of the capacity of the LTS route via Basildon, ever hour, multiplied by 1.5? Sorry, but no. XC should run via the Camp Hill, but I honestly think that the Cross City doesn't need a 10 frequency. 15 would be plenty.

 

[4SRKT]

I doubt many planners use the LTS route via Basildon as any sort of yardstick. You also slightly disingenuously fail to mention that capacity to the wider South Essex conurbation also exists via Grays, and from Liverpool Street. The XC sets are required for a peak time service, so the intention is presumably to use them to provide a very high quality service rather than have them idle. Don't forget there is a PTE determining the services here, with very different priorities to a TOC in terms of connectivity through the [former] Metropolitan County.

PTEs cause apparent anomolies of this type in lots of cases. Skipton is a town with a population of 14,000 that isn't even in West Yorkshire, yet has 4 trains per hour to the Leeds/Bradford conurbation (connections at Shipley mean all four can be used to either). It also has on average one semi-fast train per hour to/from Leeds on either the Carlisle or Morecambe lines. Compare this with Scarborough, a town in the same county and with 3.5 times the population, but with one TPH to the regional centres of York and Leeds.

 

[sprinterguy]

Regarding the Cross City, outside of the peaks no-one uses it! It has some patronage from the University, yes, but look at these statistics...

REDDITCH (30 freq.): 860K
ALVECHURCH (30 freq.): 137K
LONGBRIDGE: 625K
NORTHFIELD: 565K
KING'S NORTON: 785K
BOURNVILLE: 772K
SELLY OAK: 1.6M (OK, fair enough)
UNIVERSITY: 2M (also has XC service)
FIVE WAYS: 1M

You mean to tell me that these statistics, admittedly with a little extra for Daytrippers but at most double the above, is worthy of the capacity of the LTS route via Basildon, ever hour, multiplied by 1.5? Sorry, but no. XC should run via the Camp Hill, but I honestly think that the Cross City doesn't need a 10 frequency. 15 would be plenty.

Unfortunately, I don’t have the time to knock some spreadsheets together to ascertain how many people are travelling on each Cross City service. However, what I do have to hand is the boarding and alighting totals at New Street which should give a reasonable idea of the number of people on each train, assuming that there is a minimal amount of travel across the centre and that the majority of trips on the Cross City line are to or from New Street.

Taking the 10am to 3pm off peak period, the lowest number of people alighting from a Cross City line service from Cross City south is 70 passengers, which is from the 12:33 Longbridge to Lichfield Trent Valley. Even this is not an inconsiderable number of passengers. In contrast, the highest alighting figures, just for the off peak period, is 248 and 258 passengers respectively from the 10:27 and 10:57 Redditch to Four Oaks services: Both of these trains are single class 323s, as opposed to a pair of units, which means that with a 323s seating capacity of 284, that these trains are pretty full. Given that that is the case for the off-peak, I think you can imagine how busy things can get during the peak periods (Just in case you can’t, I’ll tell you that the busiest Cross City service is the 17:04 New Street to Redditch, which starts at Lichfield and has 405 people cramming into a three carriage 323 at New Street). A ten minute frequency certainly is needed on the Cross City line.

 

[Ivo]

Serious problerm on my part. My laptop battery and/or power unit has died. So until furhter notice I can't complete or submit my trip report! It was saved only on my laptop, because (a) I haven't transferred data between my laptop and desktop since the start of the month and (b) my supply of pictures is basically zero. So until further notice, this has been suspended, and my forum access will be minimal.

Sorry
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OK; it's working again. But I don't know how long for. I can't give a definite timescale at preent...