After nearly three months on the drawing board (well, a drawing board in Tiverton that is), the 29th of January finally arrived and the RailUK Devon Ranger Bash was on. For me, it meant an 0840 start - it would have been earlier if my shower was actually working! - and a quick skip on to the 0909 SPA1 bus to the city centre, ready to face a lovely +0 connection that would result in my saving somewhere in the region of £4.
As it turned out, the SPA1 arrived into the city centre early, and the 265 departed late, so what should have been a +0 became a +6 - dead easy. Otherwise, the bus factor of the day, or at least the morning, was a bit of a drag, and more than a bit on the naïve sie on the 265 driver's part after leaving a stop at which he had waited for several minutes knowing fully well another 265 was due in the opposite direction - on a stretch of road only four metres wide. Whoops.
After that bit of fun the journey proceeded normally and hit Westbury station more or less on time. I arrived on the platform at roughly 1050, being due out at 1150 (or so my Advance suggested anyway; the official time was 1154!
hock
, and thus bought myself a cup of tea. Shortly afterwards,
Heart-of-Wessex arrived on Westbury station, but it took us half an hour to find each other - even though we had met before...
Eventually the Penzance HST turned up, only for us to find that the seat I had reserved was surrounded by other reserved seats which were in use. Somewhat incorrectly I surrendered my reservation - on an Advance - and the two of us sat in the opposite table (H-o-W also had an Advance, but his was for the end of the carriage whereas mine was only the table next to ours). We went through the tedium of an HST being unable to exceed 40mph, as we trundled our way down to Yeovil, and with that I hit my first new trackage of the day in the Yeovil chord.
At Axminster the rest of the team arrived, making for a force nine-strong. I continued to sit with H-o-W, but
Temple Meads and his friend Keith joined us at the table, and I had quite a lengthy discussion about all manner of things railway-related - but predominantly Beeching-related - with the latter. (This is why I missed on the group photo at Exeter St David's.) In time, as we passed along the Sea Wall stretch, the similarities to the LTS line began to set in, minus of course the magnificent tunneled stretches beneath the many headlands.
Finally, Plymouth arrived, and true to form it was time for a couple of sausage rolls from Pumpkin Café. It was a nice surprise to see a Pumpkin that still sells hot food, as I discussed with the staff whilst there, but that aside Plymouth station was nothing special. I was inclined to buy a Devon street atlas but at £8.50 it was not the most sensible of ideas so I pased on that and instead went outside for a bit - where nothing but concrete and the odd person could be seen. Milton Keynes in disguise? Maybe not, but the station area in Plymouth could certainly do with a face-lift... in fact, the entire city could do with one. But worst of all, as Keith pointed out to me, the worst offender - never mind the airport, or what is left of it - is surely the Dockyard. A station that once saw 15,000 men arriving every day, which is on a par with Oxford, it is now little more than a Halt serving a small community of hardy workers that keep this relic ticking.
The 150 trek up to Gunnislake is where the intention of the party became clear though. A needless run from
ACE1888 from one end of St Budeaux Victoria Road to the other saw him labelled a "******* trainspotter" by a bunch of "scummy lowlife teenagers" (my own term; others invariably used a certain word that ends with a "v"), and by Bere Alston everyone who is a member on this forum was out and about photting, and also talking to the Guard. The photting continued on the famous Calstock Viaduct that carried us into Cornwall (see attached photo), and on to Gunnislake itself. Before arriving at the end of the line though, it was strange being on a train that stopped at each level crossing to blaze its horn again! (This is a reference to my
West of Wales run in February last year.)
Finally, at Gunnislake, we all got out for a spell of nearly 30 minutes, and we all went over to the former station site for a few pictures - or rather, beyond the former station site to the next bridge, because the former station site is now a property! As we returned to gunnislake station though, the dangers of travelling by train - or otherwise - became apparent when what appeared to be a light snow began to fall (yes, it can snow in Cornwall) and we all had to navigate an awkward mud trail back to the station. and guess who almost slipped? Yes, it was of course the one without a coat. Just as well my left foot refused to give way, otherwise I would have been a muddy mess for the return to Plymouth!
The skies grew dark as we returned to Plymouth where ACE left us, and by the time we got there night was upon us. The Gunnislake train was slightly late on arrival though, so we faced a +3 at Plymouth - but still several of the party insisted on ascertaining the HST power cars' numbers! The HST itself was rather uninteresting, unusually, so it was on to Newton Abbot - where Temple Meads' favourite train, 150128, appeared for its share of the day. (It is his "stalker" unit.)
A simple trip down to Paignton ensued, when on arrival back at Newton Abbot we learned that XC were up to their usual tricks and the 1903 was running late, so it was set to leave Newton Abbot first even though it had not yet arrived. Out we got after a collective decision to board it, when to our pleasure
another HST turned up! My first ever trip on an XC HST in Standard Class, and only my second ever. On the other hand, the Train Manager, a rather young looking lady with a lovely voice, "reminded" everyone over the intercom to not lean out of the windows. I wonder whom she may have been referring to? (Hint: It wasn't me, but it was someone I knew.)
Back at Exeter St David's, it was snack time. Over to the kebab van I went, and in time four others arrived behind me! "Follow the Leader"? Maybe! Nonetheless, we all went back to St David's, just as 150128 returned on its trip to Exeter Central - when suddenly I realised that it would be our train up to Newton St Cyres. D'oh! More 150 action! I genuinely wanted a Pacer...
It didn't last long of course, as we soon reached Newton St Cyres, where a propoer dose of snow awaited us! It wasn't settling, but it was definitely snowing this time. More group photo opportunities awaited, and in time our last DMU of the day turned up, and at long last we got our 143 fix, but not before a run to the local pub for Keith! I have to say though, it was a real effort to board the 143 from Newton St Cyres - it may as well be a tram stop given how low its platform is. This was also my first time using a request stop - and also the first time I have seen a 143+153 combination...
Finally, back at St David's it was time for people to start splitting up for real. (At this point, please forgive me but I could not remember each specific member's identity between Laryk, ollieb and 50Fan91 - sorry!) And in time, H-o-W's HST turned up, delayed due to "an object on the line", which in turned delayed my HST, making an already awkward connection in Bristol a gnarly +3. We soon hit Tiverton and H-o-W left us and headed off to his Advance seat... in First Class.
Finally, my delayed HST turned up, and it was time for me to be on my way home. Soon the Train Manager turned up - and revealed to me that the "object on the line" was a
television! That aside though, the journey to Bristol was uninteresting, until we pulled into Temple Meads (the station, not the person!) at 2205.
Why? Because I was blocked to no end; first, the people next to me weren't English and didn't move for me until the train stopped, second, at least ten people stood between me and the door as a result, and third, when I tried to run ahead someone practically held me back and pushed me! In other words, for the first time ever I failed a train into bus connection at Temple Meads - having made a +2 before now. Annoyed with this, I boarded a 9 into Bristol city centre, only to find that the vending machine in the bus station rejected virtually every coin I had when I wanted to buy a Pepsi...
In the end, it was home on the 649, and then the SPA1, and that was that.
All in all, a good day but in all honesty not my best ever bash day, but certainly one I would do again. It wasn't helped by the events at Temple Meads though, so the finale was the main problem...
I was too busy talking to Tim's friend Keith.
) and by the time I'm ready I will be off for my weekly DSA tutorial.
