Andy Pacer
Established Member
Hi all, fairly new to the forum but I've been reading your reports with great interest, always interesting to feel part of other people's days out (or longer) and also for some inspiration around where to go and more importantly how to go about it (which rovers/rangers to use etc).
A bit of background, I've been travelling around and interested in trains for quite some time but I've never really done much in the way of logging what I've travelled on and where I've been, so I'm going to start with a blank page as such where every unit and station will be a 'winner'. So onto day 1 of my maiden trip report.....
Thursday 27 July 2017 - Day 1
For the past few years I've tried to fit in a trip to the Cardiff valleys to have a general run around on the old pacers but also to relax in some of the interesting lines and scenery. There's something strangely theroputic about alighting a Pacer in the middle of nowhere and watching it go off on it's way, and then a little later hearing your next move through the countryside before you even see it!
So I set out for my first move from home, the 0612 2L08 from Syston to Leicester which was 158847 , we get a mix of 156 and 158 (with the occasional 222 on our local train.
An on time arrival into Leicester gave me a few minutes spare before my next move to Birmingham New Street. A couple of XC sets were parked up on platform 1 awaiting their day's work. The 0639 EMT service to London was terminating in Leicester due to a train fault, 43048 was on the front of it when it arrived. I boarded 170104 on the 1P02 0643 to Birmingham for a reasonably loaded run, these trains can get very busy despite the good frequency.
Half an hour or so in New Street gave me the chance to see the inevitable EMUs running around plus a couple of 170/153 combinations. 158818 and 158828 arrived to take me as 1J07 to Shrewsbury, this service much lighter loaded than it had been a few weeks ago when I travelled on business (although on that occasion it was short formed of 1 set). Quite a bit of building work going on at the always interesting Shrewsbury station.
The highlight of my trip (and reason for having 3 days instead of 2) was a ride on the Heart of Wales line, so a trip on the 1009 2V08 from Shrewsbury was the plan. I'd expected a 153 'tin rocket' (or potentially a double 153 combo) so I was slightly surprised when 150253 arrived from Crewe. An interesting ride through wonderful countryside, fairly lightly loaded until we got to Builth Road where a large number of passengers boarded who stayed with us for about an hour before most got off at Llandeilo. As my ultimate destination for the day was Cardiff, I left the service at Llanelli to move to 1B97 to Cardiff 150240 from Fishguard which was a slow move to Cardiff where we eventually arrived at just before 1530.
A couple of quick moved to enable me to dump my bags at Travelodge Cardiff Bay, 143605 to Queen Street and then 153303 down to the bay.
I decided to head out and try and tick something else off my very rough plan, so it was 153303 back up to Queen Street before a quick change onto 142073 to Cardiff Central. Just a note - many of the valley lines run with 2 units coupled together, for the purposes of logs and mileage I will only count th unit I'm travelling in.
So, you may have seen this coming, I decided to ride the WAG Express a certain distance out, so I boarded the 1716 1W96 which was under the power of 67029 Royal Diamond. I had used this service a few years ago but it was still nice to travel on something more substantial after a day of DMUs. I took his to Abergavenny and intended to cross over and catch the next train back to Cardiff, head back to the Bay and call it a night. Unfortunately things are never this simple and no trains were running south as a car had had an incident on a level crossing in Craven Arms and the line was blocked. So after a long wait (and a wander around the locality to kill time) 175106 rolled in some 42 minutes late, and just to make things more interesting was terminating at Newport......
We all had to alight at Newport, so a quick move to Cardiff was sought. I was pleased to find that 150001 turned up, even after a couple of 150's throughout the day getting the first of a class is always a bonus! Interesting that the searing layout of the Great Westerns is very different to the Arriva units.
After a fast run into Cardiff Central it was then a quick change onto 150278 along to Queen Street and back onto 153303 for the third time today back down to Cardiff Bay and to call it a day.
An interesting day and it definitely makes it more interesting to take notes and make reports, inevitably 12 of the trains I travelled on were winners.
Hope this has been interesting for readers, soon be time to take on day 2:
A bit of background, I've been travelling around and interested in trains for quite some time but I've never really done much in the way of logging what I've travelled on and where I've been, so I'm going to start with a blank page as such where every unit and station will be a 'winner'. So onto day 1 of my maiden trip report.....
Thursday 27 July 2017 - Day 1
For the past few years I've tried to fit in a trip to the Cardiff valleys to have a general run around on the old pacers but also to relax in some of the interesting lines and scenery. There's something strangely theroputic about alighting a Pacer in the middle of nowhere and watching it go off on it's way, and then a little later hearing your next move through the countryside before you even see it!
So I set out for my first move from home, the 0612 2L08 from Syston to Leicester which was 158847 , we get a mix of 156 and 158 (with the occasional 222 on our local train.
An on time arrival into Leicester gave me a few minutes spare before my next move to Birmingham New Street. A couple of XC sets were parked up on platform 1 awaiting their day's work. The 0639 EMT service to London was terminating in Leicester due to a train fault, 43048 was on the front of it when it arrived. I boarded 170104 on the 1P02 0643 to Birmingham for a reasonably loaded run, these trains can get very busy despite the good frequency.
Half an hour or so in New Street gave me the chance to see the inevitable EMUs running around plus a couple of 170/153 combinations. 158818 and 158828 arrived to take me as 1J07 to Shrewsbury, this service much lighter loaded than it had been a few weeks ago when I travelled on business (although on that occasion it was short formed of 1 set). Quite a bit of building work going on at the always interesting Shrewsbury station.
The highlight of my trip (and reason for having 3 days instead of 2) was a ride on the Heart of Wales line, so a trip on the 1009 2V08 from Shrewsbury was the plan. I'd expected a 153 'tin rocket' (or potentially a double 153 combo) so I was slightly surprised when 150253 arrived from Crewe. An interesting ride through wonderful countryside, fairly lightly loaded until we got to Builth Road where a large number of passengers boarded who stayed with us for about an hour before most got off at Llandeilo. As my ultimate destination for the day was Cardiff, I left the service at Llanelli to move to 1B97 to Cardiff 150240 from Fishguard which was a slow move to Cardiff where we eventually arrived at just before 1530.
A couple of quick moved to enable me to dump my bags at Travelodge Cardiff Bay, 143605 to Queen Street and then 153303 down to the bay.
I decided to head out and try and tick something else off my very rough plan, so it was 153303 back up to Queen Street before a quick change onto 142073 to Cardiff Central. Just a note - many of the valley lines run with 2 units coupled together, for the purposes of logs and mileage I will only count th unit I'm travelling in.
So, you may have seen this coming, I decided to ride the WAG Express a certain distance out, so I boarded the 1716 1W96 which was under the power of 67029 Royal Diamond. I had used this service a few years ago but it was still nice to travel on something more substantial after a day of DMUs. I took his to Abergavenny and intended to cross over and catch the next train back to Cardiff, head back to the Bay and call it a night. Unfortunately things are never this simple and no trains were running south as a car had had an incident on a level crossing in Craven Arms and the line was blocked. So after a long wait (and a wander around the locality to kill time) 175106 rolled in some 42 minutes late, and just to make things more interesting was terminating at Newport......
We all had to alight at Newport, so a quick move to Cardiff was sought. I was pleased to find that 150001 turned up, even after a couple of 150's throughout the day getting the first of a class is always a bonus! Interesting that the searing layout of the Great Westerns is very different to the Arriva units.
After a fast run into Cardiff Central it was then a quick change onto 150278 along to Queen Street and back onto 153303 for the third time today back down to Cardiff Bay and to call it a day.
An interesting day and it definitely makes it more interesting to take notes and make reports, inevitably 12 of the trains I travelled on were winners.
Hope this has been interesting for readers, soon be time to take on day 2:
