Kite159
Veteran Member
Back in January I sat down and thought to myself, that I would treat myself for completing my OU course I would take a weekend trip up north to somewhere I've always wanted to visit, Edinburgh, so I sat down and worked out a plan to go up on the West Coast and come back on the East Coast on the following day.
Everything went well, all booked up, mid February I had to change my hotel, was going to be the Seahaven Hotel in Portobello but they had closed down, so I booked another cheap looking basic hotel in Leith, more on that later.
I woke up early on Saturday (to be honest I found it hard sleeping the night before a good train adventure), drove to Basingstoke arriving at just after 7am, hoping to catch a fast train towards Waterloo to give me half an hour to go upto Euston and find the train. This is when disaster struck, I foolishly didn't check the night before to see what time trains were, to arrive at Basingstoke to find the only trains running towards Waterloo were the Basingstoke stoppers. Boarded the 7:24 (or so) 450 service towards Waterloo for the long 80 minute journey. Highlight was joining up with another 4 car 450 set at Woking. Arriving into Waterloo, half-closed for track replacement works, for 8:46.
My train left Euston at 8:43. Went down to the Northern Line platform and caught a train upto Euston to try my luck with a friendly customer service advisor to try and get my ticket endorsed for valid on a later train. In a way I got lucky, he was aware of the engineering works in Southampton and Waterloo, and was originally going to board me onto the 10:43 service to Edinburgh, but the computer told him that I could go on the 9:30 service to Glasgow, changing at Carlisle to catch the same train I was meant to go on (the Glasgow train ran fast to Warrington, where the Edinburgh train went via Birmingham).
9:30 service was 390104, nice fast trip to Warrington, first time on a 390 for me so it felt strange with the tilting.
On the run up towards Carlisle I noticed a few people with cameras in fields and the side of the road, so I'm guessing a steam train was going to come though at some point, slight delay waiting for a freight train to clear some of the hilly parts. At Carlisle, I had a nice surprise, some lovely old carriages with 47773 at the front. Going up I was playing a game of spotting the Pacer, sadly the 142/144 slipped my radar, did see several 150s/158s/153s and I'm pretty sure a 156, plus the odd 185 FPE set.
Waited 5 minutes for 390010 to pull in, my original seat was in coach B, a table seat but facing backwards, I dislike facing backwards so found an available forward facing table seat in the same car. Nice trip into Edinburgh, on the left hand side so no spotting other trains coming the other way.
Once in Edinburgh Waverley, the station with 20 platforms (2nd largest in the UK after Waterloo's 21?), found my way towards platform 20, to wait for a train to take me along the Fife Circle line towards Glenrothes with Thornton. Train 170478 (I like the 170s as there is a nice ledge by the window in which I can put my elbow on and look out of) pulled into the station, my first First Scotrail train, and the on-board announcements worked as far as Haymarket before breaking, we were approaching Haymarket for a good 25 odd miles
In Waverley itself I saw the East Coast 125 set with the East Midland trains mark 3 coaches pass though, on it's way up north where the wires don't run.
Lovely scenery, passing the airport, passed what looked like a crashed light aircraft (at the airport itself), and over the Forth rail bridge
, lovely run up towards GwT, up the Fife coast, pulled into GwT where the train set about returning towards Edinburgh, via Dunfermline. Still a very nice trip, lots of scrap-yards I noticed, back over the bridge and into Waverley. I was tempted to get off at Haymarket and wait around to see if I could catch a 334 towards Waverley, but decided against it, the 334 would have to wait for another day.
Once in Edinburgh I looked around some shops, and set about finding a bus towards Leith to find the hotel. For £34 I wasn't expecting a lot, but I was surprised, right next to Leith park, my room overlooked a little lane between buildings, could have done with a bigger bed, but overall a nice night, had a lovely meal in a pub just down the road called the Compass at Leith. I would recommend it, and I might return if I'm having an overnight stop at Edinburgh on my week's trip.
Sunday
Woke up after a lovely sleep, and headed back towards the city centre, just missed a number 16 bus so had to walk another 5 minutes towards the main road, where I caught a bus towards Waverley, my return train left at 2:30, so I had some time to spend, first stop was the North Berwick line, went into the station via the Waverley steps, purchased a ticket and headed towards the Eastern bays, which I would have thought would have been gated like the western bays, but no. That is when I first saw a 380, rather funky looking, 380101.
Slight delay getting out of the station and another delay on the way where the train had stopped, the reason given was a tree on the line, but it could have been a broken down train, I spent the time looking at the Cross Country 220/221s coming in, add in the odd East Coast 125/225 sets. After the delays, a nice run into North Berwick, sadly the plan was to spend 20 minutes around the station area to wait for the return leg, but as it was late getting in, it was a fast turnaround, so back towards Edinburgh.
Once in Edinburgh I decided to walk up towards the castle, had a look around the outside of the castle before walking the royal mile down towards the palace, coming back into the train station at 2:20 to go down towards the East Coast 125 service to Kings Cross, front was 43206, rear was 43257. Found my seat in coach C, good news that it was a window seat at a table, bad news is that it was heading backwards, and it was a busy service (the only seats I could see without the little slip of paper were some odd aisle seats against a pillar).
First impression of East Coast is that unlike Virgin, some one didn't go up and down with bin bags to collect any rubbish (as the table I was sat on had empty beer cans, empty bottles of water and sandwich boxes on, which was swifty put into a nearby bin). Nice run down the East Coast, overlooking some lovely scenery. I was again on train watch, hoping to see a Pacer. Between Edinburgh and Newcastle the only trains passing were East Coasts 125/225s, and Voyagers. At York I saw lots of 158s, a 222 parked up, some 153s and 150s, and a Pacer (not sure if 142 or 144) parked on the south bay platforms, partly hidden by the East Midland 222. I saw another Pacer heading north, can't remember where (between Gratham and York).
After Grathan the darkness fell, so I went to playing some cards and reading a book on the Nexus (the one previously lost on a trip to Margate but found by Southeastern). Passed some FCC services, First Hull and Grand Central. It looked like we slowed down at stevenage to go via the Hertford line. Into Kings Cross, where I had an hour to get towards Waterloo. Eventually got to the Victoria Line platform to head towards Oxford Circus where a quick cross platform interchange to a Bakerloo train heading south to Waterloo. At Waterloo I had a MacDonalds (I was hungry and wanted to use my student card to get a free McFuffy).
Waited around Waterloo for 15 minutes before the Yeovil/Salisbury service came in, quick changeover, made up of 8 cars, going from front 159106/159105 and 158887. I sat in the 2nd car, where both toilets were out of action, arrived back into Basingstoke where a quick drive home got me back in around 9:50.
The only downside is that I can't seem to find my phone charger, I'm sure I put it back into my bag in the hotel, but if I've left it there it's no big issue as it's a standard usb charger.
Next weekend I'm planning to have a weekend off from travelling
Anyways, pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27666294@N02/sets/72157642504975543/
Everything went well, all booked up, mid February I had to change my hotel, was going to be the Seahaven Hotel in Portobello but they had closed down, so I booked another cheap looking basic hotel in Leith, more on that later.
I woke up early on Saturday (to be honest I found it hard sleeping the night before a good train adventure), drove to Basingstoke arriving at just after 7am, hoping to catch a fast train towards Waterloo to give me half an hour to go upto Euston and find the train. This is when disaster struck, I foolishly didn't check the night before to see what time trains were, to arrive at Basingstoke to find the only trains running towards Waterloo were the Basingstoke stoppers. Boarded the 7:24 (or so) 450 service towards Waterloo for the long 80 minute journey. Highlight was joining up with another 4 car 450 set at Woking. Arriving into Waterloo, half-closed for track replacement works, for 8:46.
My train left Euston at 8:43. Went down to the Northern Line platform and caught a train upto Euston to try my luck with a friendly customer service advisor to try and get my ticket endorsed for valid on a later train. In a way I got lucky, he was aware of the engineering works in Southampton and Waterloo, and was originally going to board me onto the 10:43 service to Edinburgh, but the computer told him that I could go on the 9:30 service to Glasgow, changing at Carlisle to catch the same train I was meant to go on (the Glasgow train ran fast to Warrington, where the Edinburgh train went via Birmingham).
9:30 service was 390104, nice fast trip to Warrington, first time on a 390 for me so it felt strange with the tilting.
On the run up towards Carlisle I noticed a few people with cameras in fields and the side of the road, so I'm guessing a steam train was going to come though at some point, slight delay waiting for a freight train to clear some of the hilly parts. At Carlisle, I had a nice surprise, some lovely old carriages with 47773 at the front. Going up I was playing a game of spotting the Pacer, sadly the 142/144 slipped my radar, did see several 150s/158s/153s and I'm pretty sure a 156, plus the odd 185 FPE set.
Waited 5 minutes for 390010 to pull in, my original seat was in coach B, a table seat but facing backwards, I dislike facing backwards so found an available forward facing table seat in the same car. Nice trip into Edinburgh, on the left hand side so no spotting other trains coming the other way.
Once in Edinburgh Waverley, the station with 20 platforms (2nd largest in the UK after Waterloo's 21?), found my way towards platform 20, to wait for a train to take me along the Fife Circle line towards Glenrothes with Thornton. Train 170478 (I like the 170s as there is a nice ledge by the window in which I can put my elbow on and look out of) pulled into the station, my first First Scotrail train, and the on-board announcements worked as far as Haymarket before breaking, we were approaching Haymarket for a good 25 odd miles
In Waverley itself I saw the East Coast 125 set with the East Midland trains mark 3 coaches pass though, on it's way up north where the wires don't run.
Lovely scenery, passing the airport, passed what looked like a crashed light aircraft (at the airport itself), and over the Forth rail bridge
, lovely run up towards GwT, up the Fife coast, pulled into GwT where the train set about returning towards Edinburgh, via Dunfermline. Still a very nice trip, lots of scrap-yards I noticed, back over the bridge and into Waverley. I was tempted to get off at Haymarket and wait around to see if I could catch a 334 towards Waverley, but decided against it, the 334 would have to wait for another day.Once in Edinburgh I looked around some shops, and set about finding a bus towards Leith to find the hotel. For £34 I wasn't expecting a lot, but I was surprised, right next to Leith park, my room overlooked a little lane between buildings, could have done with a bigger bed, but overall a nice night, had a lovely meal in a pub just down the road called the Compass at Leith. I would recommend it, and I might return if I'm having an overnight stop at Edinburgh on my week's trip.
Sunday
Woke up after a lovely sleep, and headed back towards the city centre, just missed a number 16 bus so had to walk another 5 minutes towards the main road, where I caught a bus towards Waverley, my return train left at 2:30, so I had some time to spend, first stop was the North Berwick line, went into the station via the Waverley steps, purchased a ticket and headed towards the Eastern bays, which I would have thought would have been gated like the western bays, but no. That is when I first saw a 380, rather funky looking, 380101.
Slight delay getting out of the station and another delay on the way where the train had stopped, the reason given was a tree on the line, but it could have been a broken down train, I spent the time looking at the Cross Country 220/221s coming in, add in the odd East Coast 125/225 sets. After the delays, a nice run into North Berwick, sadly the plan was to spend 20 minutes around the station area to wait for the return leg, but as it was late getting in, it was a fast turnaround, so back towards Edinburgh.
Once in Edinburgh I decided to walk up towards the castle, had a look around the outside of the castle before walking the royal mile down towards the palace, coming back into the train station at 2:20 to go down towards the East Coast 125 service to Kings Cross, front was 43206, rear was 43257. Found my seat in coach C, good news that it was a window seat at a table, bad news is that it was heading backwards, and it was a busy service (the only seats I could see without the little slip of paper were some odd aisle seats against a pillar).
First impression of East Coast is that unlike Virgin, some one didn't go up and down with bin bags to collect any rubbish (as the table I was sat on had empty beer cans, empty bottles of water and sandwich boxes on, which was swifty put into a nearby bin). Nice run down the East Coast, overlooking some lovely scenery. I was again on train watch, hoping to see a Pacer. Between Edinburgh and Newcastle the only trains passing were East Coasts 125/225s, and Voyagers. At York I saw lots of 158s, a 222 parked up, some 153s and 150s, and a Pacer (not sure if 142 or 144) parked on the south bay platforms, partly hidden by the East Midland 222
. I saw another Pacer heading north, can't remember where (between Gratham and York).After Grathan the darkness fell, so I went to playing some cards and reading a book on the Nexus (the one previously lost on a trip to Margate but found by Southeastern). Passed some FCC services, First Hull and Grand Central. It looked like we slowed down at stevenage to go via the Hertford line. Into Kings Cross, where I had an hour to get towards Waterloo. Eventually got to the Victoria Line platform to head towards Oxford Circus where a quick cross platform interchange to a Bakerloo train heading south to Waterloo. At Waterloo I had a MacDonalds (I was hungry and wanted to use my student card to get a free McFuffy).
Waited around Waterloo for 15 minutes before the Yeovil/Salisbury service came in, quick changeover, made up of 8 cars, going from front 159106/159105 and 158887. I sat in the 2nd car, where both toilets were out of action, arrived back into Basingstoke where a quick drive home got me back in around 9:50.
The only downside is that I can't seem to find my phone charger, I'm sure I put it back into my bag in the hotel, but if I've left it there it's no big issue as it's a standard usb charger.
Next weekend I'm planning to have a weekend off from travelling
Anyways, pictures:
http://www.flickr.com/photos/27666294@N02/sets/72157642504975543/
