IanD
Established Member
When I asked for the day off work, my boss for once showed some interest and asked where I was going. "Stranraer" I replied. "Stranraer," said he, "wear the fox hat!" Anyway, it was the middle of a heatwave so I decided dressing like Davy Crockett was not appropriate.
Off to a bad start. My mobile goes off at 5am and it's Hazel, my supposed travelling companion for the day, ringing to say she's hurt her foot (again) so won't be coming so I have to drive myself to the station. I grab a spot in my usual car park at 6am, pay my £5.50 and walk round the corner to Milton Keynes Central. My train's not due until 0622 so I have time to visit Pumpkin to get a coffee and bacon roll for £2.60 (thanks to Bite) and one more stamp - just one to go for my freebie! I head down to platform 6 in time to observe the departure of the 0610 to Liverpool. Then they manually announce that "due to overrunning engineering works in the Tring area" my train was going to be 15 minutes late. The auto announcer chips in that it will be 5 minutes late and the departure screens are updated to reflect this. Strange that the Lime Street train managed to avoid these overrunning engineering works, maybe it had dislodged or tripped something as the first service through. Anyhow, these conflicting announcements are repeated for 15 minutes until the automated system catches up with the real person. My train arrives at 0636 and we are away.
I find my booked seat (seats really as Hazel had one too) and settle down for the journey. The train manager comes on and apologises for the delay (giving the revised ETAs) and also for the fact that the reservations aren't working. I just get on with my job of eating my yoghurt and staring out of the window, waving to the concrete cows as we pass and straining to peer down the diveunder to Wolverton works. We're in open country now and although still slightly hazy the scenery is stunning all the way to just short of Warrington. The TM comes round to check tickets. The couple opposite are heading to Edinburgh and are advised that they may have to stay on to Glasgow rather than changing at Carlisle but we won't know until we get to Carlisle - they don't look too pleased. 10 minutes later this advice is repeated over the intercom for the benefit of all those Edinburgh bound.
Approaching Wigan, still 15 minutes down, I notice that there's still a lot of hi-vis clad workers around, presumably finishing up after the previous week's total blockade in the area. Despite my comments in a previous thread, I find that the view between Warrington and Lancaster isn't particularly awful (other than close to the stations). North of Preston I do the usual thing of trying to spot Blackpool Tower but fail again (5th time in a row). I know it's still a bit hazy but I'm beginning to wonder if I'd just imagined that you could see it and really, when I was a lad, I'd been mistaking one of those distant pylons for the elusive landmark! My carriage is now quite full, mostly due to Virgin's habit of sticking all the Advance reservations in Coach B. A couple of Japanese girls join me at my table heading for Kendal. They're at uni but doing a tour of England before heading back home for the summer. I'm impressed that they've managed to get some very cheap Advance ticket for this leg of their trip.
After Lancaster there's a short stretch along the coast, with a view across the bay to Barrow and then, after passing the old Steamtown, we're heading in to the lakes. The sun's really out now and lights up the terrain to perfection. Half the carriage, including my tablemates, alight at Oxenholme. Shortly afterwards, I spot a row of caravans overlooking the line and make a note to see if I can find out where they are when I get home - and here they are! .
As we cruise through Penrith, I notice a TPE service in the trainshed so it looks like Edinburgh passengers are going to be in luck at Carlisle. Sure enough, 10 minutes later the new train manager (crews were swapped at Preston) makes the announcement. At Carlisle the couple opposite get off looking quite happy (if it was me, I'd have been miffed that I'd be losing out on some RTVs and a bonus trip from Glasgow to Edinburgh but some people just like to get there on time!).
We're still about 10 minutes down leaving Carlisle but I'm not fussed as I have a +74 at Glasgow Central. As I've no distractions, I'm quite successful at spotting the trackside landmarks I usually miss: Kingsmoor, Longtown, Gretna Junction, Lockerbie, Beattock etc... At Carstairs, there's a local ScotRail service approaching from the opposite direction then all too soon were passing Carluke and the last bit of open countryside before we hit Shieldmuir/Motherwell and the drag into Glasgow Central. Still, the mess of lines in the area is quite interesting (there seems to be a new link going in at Newton) if not as scenic as the previous 300 odd miles! Next time I vow to bring Baker so I can identify the stations as we whizz through. We cross the mighty Clyde and arrive only 8 minutes down.
Off to a bad start. My mobile goes off at 5am and it's Hazel, my supposed travelling companion for the day, ringing to say she's hurt her foot (again) so won't be coming so I have to drive myself to the station. I grab a spot in my usual car park at 6am, pay my £5.50 and walk round the corner to Milton Keynes Central. My train's not due until 0622 so I have time to visit Pumpkin to get a coffee and bacon roll for £2.60 (thanks to Bite) and one more stamp - just one to go for my freebie! I head down to platform 6 in time to observe the departure of the 0610 to Liverpool. Then they manually announce that "due to overrunning engineering works in the Tring area" my train was going to be 15 minutes late. The auto announcer chips in that it will be 5 minutes late and the departure screens are updated to reflect this. Strange that the Lime Street train managed to avoid these overrunning engineering works, maybe it had dislodged or tripped something as the first service through. Anyhow, these conflicting announcements are repeated for 15 minutes until the automated system catches up with the real person. My train arrives at 0636 and we are away.
I find my booked seat (seats really as Hazel had one too) and settle down for the journey. The train manager comes on and apologises for the delay (giving the revised ETAs) and also for the fact that the reservations aren't working. I just get on with my job of eating my yoghurt and staring out of the window, waving to the concrete cows as we pass and straining to peer down the diveunder to Wolverton works. We're in open country now and although still slightly hazy the scenery is stunning all the way to just short of Warrington. The TM comes round to check tickets. The couple opposite are heading to Edinburgh and are advised that they may have to stay on to Glasgow rather than changing at Carlisle but we won't know until we get to Carlisle - they don't look too pleased. 10 minutes later this advice is repeated over the intercom for the benefit of all those Edinburgh bound.
Approaching Wigan, still 15 minutes down, I notice that there's still a lot of hi-vis clad workers around, presumably finishing up after the previous week's total blockade in the area. Despite my comments in a previous thread, I find that the view between Warrington and Lancaster isn't particularly awful (other than close to the stations). North of Preston I do the usual thing of trying to spot Blackpool Tower but fail again (5th time in a row). I know it's still a bit hazy but I'm beginning to wonder if I'd just imagined that you could see it and really, when I was a lad, I'd been mistaking one of those distant pylons for the elusive landmark! My carriage is now quite full, mostly due to Virgin's habit of sticking all the Advance reservations in Coach B. A couple of Japanese girls join me at my table heading for Kendal. They're at uni but doing a tour of England before heading back home for the summer. I'm impressed that they've managed to get some very cheap Advance ticket for this leg of their trip.
After Lancaster there's a short stretch along the coast, with a view across the bay to Barrow and then, after passing the old Steamtown, we're heading in to the lakes. The sun's really out now and lights up the terrain to perfection. Half the carriage, including my tablemates, alight at Oxenholme. Shortly afterwards, I spot a row of caravans overlooking the line and make a note to see if I can find out where they are when I get home - and here they are! .
As we cruise through Penrith, I notice a TPE service in the trainshed so it looks like Edinburgh passengers are going to be in luck at Carlisle. Sure enough, 10 minutes later the new train manager (crews were swapped at Preston) makes the announcement. At Carlisle the couple opposite get off looking quite happy (if it was me, I'd have been miffed that I'd be losing out on some RTVs and a bonus trip from Glasgow to Edinburgh but some people just like to get there on time!).
We're still about 10 minutes down leaving Carlisle but I'm not fussed as I have a +74 at Glasgow Central. As I've no distractions, I'm quite successful at spotting the trackside landmarks I usually miss: Kingsmoor, Longtown, Gretna Junction, Lockerbie, Beattock etc... At Carstairs, there's a local ScotRail service approaching from the opposite direction then all too soon were passing Carluke and the last bit of open countryside before we hit Shieldmuir/Motherwell and the drag into Glasgow Central. Still, the mess of lines in the area is quite interesting (there seems to be a new link going in at Newton) if not as scenic as the previous 300 odd miles! Next time I vow to bring Baker so I can identify the stations as we whizz through. We cross the mighty Clyde and arrive only 8 minutes down.
