pnepauls travels

[pnepaul]

On May 18th I celebrated my 60th birthday by getting a Senior rail card. I decided to splash out on a 7 day First Class all line rover!. I will try and give brief accounts of what I got up to. This is my first contribution to this forum

Day 1
I live in Workington. So I travelled to Glasgow via Carlisle. I then went from Glasgow to Euston. First Class was almost fully booked and heavily reserved, I had no reservation, but as I have mentioned in another thread, I was found a seat. ( I must admit I find travelling not facing forward hard work at times). The journey was uneventful apart from a rail or signalling problem at Bourne End, which made us about 15 mins late

I then caught the 17.43 service to Birmingham New St. As it was Friday I was expecting first class to be very busy - but it wan't. Only half a dozen in coach J!. I stopped the night at the New St Premier Inn.

Day 2

I caught the 9.30 to Euston. It was Voyager and was busy. I then went to Kings Cross and got the 12noon Inverness service to Edinburgh. I was in last coach next to the trailing power unit. It was a bumpy journey!. At one point disaster nearly struck, I had my ticket out ready for inspection when my cup of jumped at one bumpy point, the tea spilled all over and almost on to my ticket. Apart from that. it was a pleasant journey. I did notice that after Newcastle First Class was more than half empty. More to come hopefully.

Finally, on the short journey from Waverley to Edinburgh Park, I saw a traffic jam of trains on either side of Haymarket Station.

 

[PeterY]

I will be 60 in Jan, so I will be doing something similar. I'm surprised just how busy first class is nowadays.

I hope you have a me trip and it sounds like your going for as many miles as possible.

Any plans for the next 5 days.

 

[Kite159]

Enjoy the freedom

 

[AnthonyRail]

Do the prices go up for ALR on Monday like the freedom of Severn and Solent rover?

 

[pnepaul]

Do the prices go up for ALR on Monday like the freedom of Severn and Solent rover?

No they don't. But there are some restrictions like you can't get on Many trains in or out of London before 10am Mon to Friday

 

[Techniquest]

Well, that's not true. You can't leave, for example, Kings Cross before 1000 on a weekday with Virgin Trains East Coast, but you can happily do so on Great Northern, Hull Trains or Grand Central.

Similar applies to Birmingham New Street. No Virgin Trains West Coast or CrossCountry journeys before 1000, but you can avoid that happily by using London Midland or Arriva Trains Wales. Need to do Birmingham to Manchester around 0930? Simple, jump on the 0936 with London Midland to Liverpool, changing at Wolverhampton or Stafford for the CrossCountry service around 20 minutes later.

The pre-1000 restrictions are easily worked around wherever they apply, just it takes a little planning occasionally.

Enjoyed the read so far, and what a way to celebrate turning 60! I suspect I'll do the exact same thing when I get there in a little over 27 years. Heck I might save some money to do the same for the epic 40th birthday bash!

Looking forward to the rest of the rest when it's ready

 

[Segedunum]

I've also travelled from Derby to New Street on the 0905 XC arrival from York one weekday morning on an All Liner and nobody came along to chastise me [emoji38]

Anyways, sounds like you're getting good use out of that ticket so far.

Sent from my F3111 using Tapatalk

 

[pnepaul]

I must admit I am going for the mileage, also I do like travelling on the fast trains - but that's me! Anyway..

Day 3

It being a Sunday, I caught the 11am Virgin East Coast service to York. This time was in the quiet coach and it was quiet only and handful in it. It was an uneventful journey. Once at York my intention was to catch the following Cross Country Penzanze service as far as Birmingham. However when it rolled in it was packed, as was First Class. So I waited for the next Birmingham servce the 14.35 to Reading. It was a good move, as it first class was almost empty. However, I did sit in a seat marked "reserved from Newcastle to Birmingham International", the person had not turned up!. In passing I must say that York was very very busy.

I am now in the Travellodge at Rugby station, more journies to come!

 

[Techniquest]

If you're in a room next to the railway, expect a lot of noise from 350s calling at Rugby until the small hours!

 

[pnepaul]

If you're in a room next to the railway, expect a lot of noise from 350s calling at Rugby until the small hours!

I just watched the Inverness/ Aberdeen / Fort William sleep roll through !

 

[pnepaul]

Day 4

Today I went from Euston to Liverpool as I had not done the latter part of the journey. There must be a little padding in the schedule as there were a few minor delays end route, but we were only a few minutes late into Lime Street. From there I went to Leeds via Chat Moss, another new route for me.

On arrival at Leeds I returned to London Kings Cross the class 91 that hauled or should I say pushed us was Flying Scotsman. I posted this to my friends who were duly intrigued

 

[Techniquest]

No doubt your friends all thought you had the world-famous steam loco taking you to London!

There's not many, if any, long-distance journeys anywhere in the country that don't have some amount of padding to help keep things on time. Liverpool trains do indeed have some, I think it's 2 minutes right at the end, not including some padding various allowances for pathing along the way.

I've yet to do Liverpool to Manchester via Chat Moss on a 185, still on the agenda purely to see what it's like. There's not much of the TPX network I haven't covered on a 185 now, just Durham to Newcastle, Carstairs to Edinburgh and Liverpool to Manchester via Chat Moss.

I do wonder where you went to next!

 

[pnepaul]

Day 5

Today I wanted to try Hull Trains. I was onboard the 11.48 from Kings Cross. I had reserved a seat on this train. When I made the booking I was told there were no forward facing seats available. However, when I boarded the train there were quite a few!. The train manager told me this was ongoing problem with the booking system. It was a pleasant journey to Hull. The meal was good . I was surprised at the number of semaphore signals between Selby and Hull.

I then took a Transpennine Express DMU to Manchester Picadilly. I has First Class to myself until Leeds....

From Picadilly I went back to Euston on the 16.55 service. We were diverted on to the ( not so ) slow line at Lichefield. Just south of Nuneaton we came to a stop as there thought to be trespassers on the line. Thankfully it was only a short delay. On the way back to Rugby we were stopped at Watford Tunnel for more trespassers on the line!.

 

[pnepaul]

Day 6

Today I travelled from St Pancras to Sheffield. On boarding I found that yet again First Class was heavily reserved.... However I ended in a seat that said reserved from St Pancras to Sheffield but, thankfully for me, there was a no show. Indeed quite a few no shows in the carriage I was in, a bit strange I thought.
From Sheffield, I caught a Cross Country service as far as Reading. The direct(?) route to Leamington Spa via Solihull was new for me. It was a bit disconcerting to see armed police at Reading station!

Day 7

Today I went to Birmingham New St and then to Bristol Temple Meads on the 10.47 Cross Country service. I was surprised when headed initially towards London!, we joined the main route at Kings Norton, so another new route for me.
My original idea was to go on to Exeter and then back to Paddington. At Temple Meads I discovered the service to London Waterloo via Bath and Salisbury and it had first class. The Bath Salisbury was a route I have always wanted to do, so I had a last minute change of plan.

Tomorrow I return to Workington, I have seat H24 backward facing partial view ... deep joy lol

 

[Blindtraveler]

A nice varied week there. I agree that many of the East Coast MK3s are rough riders..

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like a nice varied week

 

[Techniquest]

Wow you sure got about on your final few days there!

The armed police on trains is going to be happening a lot for a while, I'm told, following recent events in Manchester.

 

[pnepaul]

A bit a of gap for me!
Anyway I have just returned from a brief to Germany.
My first trip was the classic Rhine route from Mainz to Bonn via Boppard and Koblenz. I actually started in Frankfurt. I was booked on an IC train that would end up in Kiel. The weather was great sunny and not a cloud in the sky. The journey went well. I was surprised to be in a compartment! On arrival in Bonn I had a 2 hour wait for the next train, so I had a change of plan, I took the regional stopping train back to Mainz. It was slower, but I could enjoy the views better! A very enjoyable day until I realised I had lost my passport....

The next day I sampled the ICE high speed line from Frankfurt to Essen. It was fast and very busy. The return journey was more like being at home lol. I had a local train from Essen to Koln. This started 15 mins late was 30 mins late into Koln, I missed my connection but got back the FRankfurt. One I got there I was amused to see some cancellations due "technical issues on the line"

 

[Techniquest]

Sounds like a busy time in Germany, I hope you got your passport issues sorted though!