Ah yeah, Westbury East Curve, I never thought that would be a permitted service to use from Newbury to Salisbury!
Grateley to Bedwyn tickets. A circular route is possible, only at certain times of the day when the HSTs stop at little Bedwyn. NRE said to go via Trowbridge as it was the fastest route back (and still shorter than going via reading & Basingstoke.
-----
Had winner 159012 towards Waterloo yesterday morning
Only 159103 left to get.
The line to Pwilheli, beautiful (and one I will return to next year)
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
17th August – Redhill & Portsmouth
A nice day down the North Downs line was the aim of today, also to try and get a summer smiles ticket from Wokingham to Portsmouth, routed SWT only (available from the ticket machines, but not from the website). The only issue with travelling to Reading on a Sunday is the connection times at Basingstoke are slightly rubbish, the hourly FGW service departs just as the SWT service from Salisbury arrives (apart from the SWT services which omit Whitchurch & Overton which gives a 5 minute connection), so I was expecting today to be waiting around for trains.
After a relaxing drive to Andover to catch the 7:00 service, formed of 159002 for the fast service to Basingstoke, where I had a nice 40-odd minute wait for the 8:03 service to Reading, spent watching not a lot, formed today of 165118 (dud – although it looks better than the last time I rode on it), for the brief trip to Reading. I almost was in time to catch a delayed Gatwick service from platform 12 (I think), but sadly I wasn’t fast enough, so after picking up a lovely sausage sandwich from one of the food sellers on the new bridge, headed down towards the Southern platforms to sit back and relax.
Winner 458020 arrived with dud 458013 behind it, as I jumped on to get a nice seat for a short hop towards Wokingham in order to purchase Wokingham to Portsmouth Summer Sale tickets from the ticket-machine, routed SW-trains only which would make it an interesting route as the more common route would be FGW down to Guildford, then SWT to Portsmouth. I put them into my wallet to await the arrival of dud 166217 (last seen going to Worcester from Reading) for the brief trip down the North Downs towards Redhill. A very nice bit of line, although compared to other lines travelled it’s nothing that special.
At Redhill I headed down the town to have a quick walk, after noting down several 377s (interestingly the ticket-office still had Southeastern as a TOC which operated from that station, I wonder if that will be removed along with First Capital Connect). It’s a nice little town, but nothing that much of interest, so back to the station to await the arrival of 166217 to take me back to Guildford, quite busy from Gatwick, a RPI caught a couple youths sitting in 1st class without tickets (evil laugh), as it arrived into Guildford only a couple minutes late.
20 minutes at Guildford, as I watched as the Guildford-Newcastle 221 arrive, before dud (I’m not having a very good day with winning units) 444012 pulled in with a fast service to Portsmouth, finding an interesting single seat which lined up well with the window, near to the disabled toilet, one to keep in mind, for the trip down to Portsmouth (2nd time down the Portsmouth Direct Line) and there isn’t that much special, mostly in a cutting or through trees, passing some bags of some orange coloured objects, but a nice little trip down to the harbour pier, where it started to rain, passing the depot at Fratton and at Portsmouth & Southsea.
Due to the rain, I didn’t hang around for long, I dashed across to the Co-Op to pick up a late lunch and headed back towards the station, arriving into the station just as the heavens opened and a proper thunderstorm hit Portsmouth, for a brief moment of time. I had 2 options, either getting back onto 012 for a fast service to Guildford with 40-odd minutes at Guildford for the Ascot train, or wait and jump onto the ‘slow’ stopper to Guildford for a shorter wait at Guildford. I waited expecting a 450, maybe even a double 450, but was happy when 444011 pulled up, a winning 444.
44 miles later and I was back in Guildford, sitting at my lovely table with 2+2 seating, making a change from the usual 450s which run the Portsmouth Direct Line. Next step was to cross over and await the Ascot-Guildford service to pull in, to score some 456s, and 456009 arrived with 456013 behind, the southern branding removed, but still with Southern network posters stuck to the walls, nothing new inside, but another class scored, plus some new track, the curve between Ash and the Aldershot line, as the double 456 went down the line towards Aldershot station for the 10 minute break before setting off back up north towards Ascot, having only done this line previously heading south, it made a nice change heading north, as it’s a nice pretty little line.
Into Ascot for a 25 minute break, with an overheard comment from passengers getting on for the return service that “have you borrowed these from Southern?”, I’m guessing there must have been some sort of event at the racecourse due to the number of security staff hanging around the station, the former platforms still in situ, very overgrown, but looked like the track was still in place, not the easiest station to cross over platforms in a hurry, but a nice station, thankfully the crowds from the race-course didn’t appear before the Reading service pulled in. Formed of winners 455916/455911 (yep, a double 455, lucky passengers travelling the whole way from Waterloo on toilet-less suburban units) for the trip back to Reading.
Originally I was going to catch the new Newbury bound service to try and score a HST coming back, but decided to ditch that idea and headed back towards Platforms 1 & 2, to await (sitting in the nice waiting area) as 165118 arrived, for the short hop back to Basingstoke with a nice 15 minute connection with a late running service to Exeter (yet another door fault), formed of duds 159015/159020, quite busy as well, but a nice short trip to Andover for a nice little drive home.
Scoring a couple winners, covering a bit of new track, recovering some previous track, overall a good day.
22nd August – August Weekend Madness Part 1
As I managed to get away from work at a nice early time, I decided to take a trip to London, to cover the last Streatham Hill – Tulse Hill – London Bridge service, and also to try and get the curve between the South Eastern Mainline & the Chatham mainline which is used on a handful of peak services which run fast between London Bridge & Rochester/Chatham (before continuing towards other Kent locations). A nice little walk to the station to purchase Grateley to Chatham tickets (any permitted route), to await the arrival of the 13:59 service from Salisbury.
On walking to the station I saw a double 159 storm though, thinking that either I was early or the previous fast service was running late or it was an empty train heading to Waterloo for rush-hour. 159107 arrived bang on time and it set off towards Waterloo, original plan was to head to Waterloo, exit the barriers to purchase a travel-card before heading back to Clapham, however this didn’t work as we came to a stop a couple minutes outside Andover as the guard announced that the train in front had broken down so it was cancelled, 15 minutes later we moved into Andover where the train suddenly became crowded with all the passengers from the previous service got on, but the good news is that the service would call additionally at Clapham Junction.
The rest of the journey was uneventful, the usual passengers at Basingstoke trying to board the unit via the locked front doors before dashing to board, but soon was zooming towards London, stopping off at an unusual platform at Clapham Junction, platform 8, which is quite low down. Heading first to purchase a travel-card and heading towards the Southern end, to await the next service which would call at Streatham Hill, 10 minutes and around 3 trains later, winners 377624/377611 pulled in, good that they have toilets, bad in that the seats are rather uncomfortable, but I was only on for a couple minutes as Streatham Hill arrived and I alighted.
I would imagine the usual Streatham Hill to London Bridge service doesn’t get that many passengers, but as it was going to be the last passenger service along that curve for a while, there were quite a few cameras and passengers awaiting as bog-standard (winner) 455804 arrived with dud 455834 behind it for the nice trip to London Bridge, with a few of the passengers alighting at Tulse Hill before it continues around the Outer South London Circle via Peckham towards London Bridge. As for the curve itself, nothing that special, just the usual South London stuff on a lovely 455
At London Bridge, I find the Northern Line platform for a short trip down to Elephant & Castle, for my usual walking up the stairs, through the shopping centre and to the mainline station to await the First Capital Connect service towards Beckenham Junction, formed of 319220 & 319438 (both winners) for the short trip to West Dulwich for purposes I can’t remember, changing platforms at West Dulwich (not the easiest of stations to change from platform 2 to 1 in a hurry) to hang around waiting for the next service to Victoria, a couple fast units thundered though before winner 465002 arrived. Nice short trip to Victoria where it attached to another unit which I didn’t get the number off due to dashing off to the underground station to catch a District line train to Cannon Street.
Arriving into Cannon Street, finding my way to the national rail platforms, I’ve noticed I had a good 25 minutes to spare before the next fast service to Chatham, and noticing that the ticket-office was rather dead, I managed to get an over-distance excess for my Shrewsbury to Gobowen tickets to turn them into Shrewsbury to Chester tickets, saves a job for tomorrow at least. Heading towards platform 6 to get onto the 11 car monster of a triple 375, leading was 375614 with 375308 in the middle and 375702 in the rear, 614 & 308 being duds with 702 being a winner. I managed to get a good window seat in 614 as I waited as it started to fill with passengers, before the doors closed and the train moved away, running neck and neck with a 465-465-466 combo coming from Charing Cross approaching London Bridge.
Perfect example of rush-hour behaviour, the rear 465 was rammed, the middle 465 had the odd seat available, but the 466 looked empty, pulling into London Bridge as more passengers boarded, with announcements that this train runs fast to Chatham, the doors closed and we raced the 465-465-466 out of London Bridge overtaking it as the train used the Lewisham bypass lines to go onto the slow lines of the South Eastern Main-Line, passing various stations before pulling away after St Mary Cray around the grade separated junction onto the Chatham Main-line and it accelerated, passing through various stations, going underneath the CTRL with lovely views of the Medway viaduct, around a curve before going though Rochester and stopping at Chatham with a few passengers alighted. I noticed a FCC branded 377 passing the other way, plus a 395 & a few other 375s.
Chatham station has trains heading to a lot of the London terminals, Victoria, Charing Cross, Cannon Street, Bridge, East and St Pancras. I was waiting for a St Pancras train to arrive, as hey my tickets said any permitted route and I would be foolish not to get a bit of high-speed action (although interestingly it took less time coming from Cannon Street than it does to St Pancras, only a mile or so between the distances, must be the extra stops the high speed service makes. Javelin 395025 was the service of the day with a very well spoken train manager who was very fast at checking tickets. I was sat on the table next to the front loo, the one with a nice window on the left but nothing on the right. I’m guessing the little screens above the seats were meant to be for a reservation system which Southeastern don’t use.
Accelerating away on the 3rd rail network before passing Gravesend where it changed onto the spur to Ebbsfleet, I’m guessing the changeover from DC to AC happens when it’s stopped at Ebbsfleet, but you do notice the difference with acceleration coming away from Ebbsfleet as it makes its way under the Thames and alongside the C2C commuter trains before diving for the HS tunnels, very strange sensation doing that sort of speed underground, hurts your ears, stopping at the white elephant of Stratford High Speed, before accelerating back up towards St Pancras. I knew I had plenty of time as it arrived at 8:12, and the next Salisbury bound service would leave Waterloo at 9:20 (ignoring the 8:20). I still need to learn my bearings around St Pancras to locate the fast way down to the Victoria line platforms as I ended up going the long way round to get to the Victoria line.
Victoria than changing to the heritage line at Oxford Circus for the short trip down to Waterloo, I’ve got the exit at Waterloo worked out to be best by the first set of double doors in the 3rd car, stops pretty much opposite the ‘exit’ tunnel, passing some old escalators to exit to the platform, stopping via Sainsburys to pick up a bite to eat, I headed up to sit around 159107, the doors were locked as 159106 rumbled in, passengers got off 106 as the doors locked and it rolled forward to crash into 107, and the doors were opened as I got my usual seat and it zoomed away back towards Grateley, nothing that unusual with the return trip.
23rd August – August Weekend Madness Part 2
The aim of today was to complete North Wales, and get my last main TOC and do some of the Merseyrail network. However with the WCML closed, I was forced onto Crosscountry, a couple lovely long trips on voyagers. I headed up to the station, nice early morning walk wearing my high-viz, to await the arrival of 159008 to take me the 24 miles to Basingstoke, nice enough trip, as I alighted at Basingstoke to cross over to platform 4 to await the 6:47 service to Manchester, today it was formed of winner 220019 and I was lucky, not only did I get one of the 2 table-seats in coach D, I managed to get the one where I was heading backwards at first, but after the reversal at Reading was heading forward for the majority of the trip.
One good thing with the voyagers is the window blind, with a low sun I pulled the blind down slightly to block out the sun from being so blinding for the fast trip up though Oxford, though Banbury, following the route taken by the railtour I did in June, up towards Birmingham International and into Birmingham New Street, quite a nice line, one I wouldn’t mind returning to do it on a stopper service. At New Street I had the option of following the schedule and getting onto a London Midland stopper to Shrewsbury or waiting around to jump onto the Holyhead bound train, as my tickets didn’t have a reservation part from Birmingham to Shrewsbury, I hung around, and a good thing to.
Winning Arriva Train Wales units 158821 pulled in with 158827 (not that hard not to be a dud as I’ve only done 1 ATW 158 before), 158827 was due to detach at Shrewsbury forcing a lot of bags into the front 2 cars, a lot of people heading to Holyhead to get the ferry to Ireland it seems. 158821 was pretty much full after Telford, the unlucky passengers who were sat in 827 having to move forward had no luck on finding a seat, neither did the passengers boarding at Shrewsbury, as it went onto new track for me heading away from Shrewsbury.
The Shrewsbury to Chester line is rather odd, it’s not a main-line, nor is it a branch line, just a slow ride up north, but beautiful scenery entering Wales and crossing the Ceiriog Valley viaduct, running alongside the Shropshire Union aqueduct, beautiful. Meanwhile back on the train which by Ruabon was 10 minutes down (but still On Time to the platform signs), caused by large numbers of passengers trying to get onboard. I had to force my way out at Wrexham General, along with a couple other passengers, couldn’t have been much more room after Wrexham, madness it was.
My phone failed to pick up a signal so I made a rough guess to walk towards Wrexham Central, managing to find my way to the platform eventually (with a very odd timetable where the train is timetabled to arrive 1 minute after it was meant to depart). Getting a seat on the bench and waited along with other passengers, 11:30 came and went; the train disappeared from the display, 11:35 arrived as dud 150284 arrived (although this time riding it for longer than the 56 chain journey between Cardiff Queen & Cardiff Central), the guard apologising for the late arrival, changing ends and it set off on its way around 10 minutes late, quite a few passengers remained on board when it turned around.
Borderline line is quite nice, a few request stops, some trimmed platforms, but a good line, a championship level line in terms of scenery, it managed to make up 5 minutes as it pulled into Bidston, one of the few parts of the Merseyrail network which is shared with other operators. Everybody got off with the majority of passengers heading onto the Liverpool bound service, but I was heading to West Kirby, as 507017 pulled in. 1st Merseyrail unit, and first 507, super winner. First impression is that it is like the 314s around Glasgow that all doors open at the stations, and like the 314s the seating layout is bit rubbish, true they had bays, but they didn’t line up that well with the windows.
Sped off towards West Kirby, nice area it seems, but nothing that special, arriving into West Kirby with a 10 minute wait for the same service to depart back towards Liverpool, I headed out and found a little shop where I purchased some late lunch before heading back to the station to reboard 507017, I was after coverage not units today, for the 6 mile trip to Birkenhead North where I changed platforms to await a delayed service to New Brighton, formed of 507013, nice run along the seaside (see pictures) before arriving into New Brighton where the turnover was 5 minutes, so changing seats I remained on board.
The little 3 car yellow monster sped away towards Liverpool itself, going underneath the Mersey and underground as I alighted at Moorfields, to head to the Northern line platforms to await as 508127/508120 arrived, my first 508, and I can’t tell the difference, this took me south towards the southern terminal of Hunts Cross, stopping at Liverpool South Parkway, I think the only station which has 3rd Rail DC, overhead AC and diesels stopping which isn’t a terminal for either type (which excludes the likes of Ashford International, Euston & Watford Junction). A brief wait as a TPE 185 sped pass, as 508120 led 508127 back up north on the northern line to Southport.
I’m guessing the 508s are not meant for end to end journeys as they get rather uncomfortable after a while, and with no toilets were a pain, but it headed north, running alongside an old diesel track at Bootle, the other branches broke away and it carried on up north, can’t remember much of the journey though, apart from Waterloo. The northern line platforms at Waterloo (Merseyside) are a lot better than the northern line platforms at Waterloo (London).
At Southport, I watched as a pacer departed on a service to Manchester Victoria as I located a toilet and made use before jumping back onto 508127/508120 for the trip back south towards Moorfields, where I transferred to the Wirral line platform to await the next service bound for Ellesmere Port, made up of 507005 I hopped on around the circle and back out to the open air and down south, breaking away from the Chester line at Hooton and headed towards Ellesmere Port, the terminal of Merseyrail and another parliamentary service from Northern, the station building was getting rebuilt at the time of visiting, but seemed a nice-ish enough area, but soon I was back onto 507005 back along the 3 miles to Hooton, where I alighted with a 10 minute wait for the next Chester bound service.
A couple unused platforms at Hooton and a shop which was closed was a highlight, nothing else around that area which I could see, so headed back to the open platform as 507018 arrived to take me down south towards Chester, and the end of the Wirral line. In Chester I had a 20 minute wait for the service from Holyhead down south, I was expecting a repeat of the trip north, but was happy when winner 175115 arrived with a few empty seats. I do like the 175s, probably the best DMU.
Heading south along the redoubling works between Chester and Wrexham, back along the nice valleys, but I was looking at my phone as I had a 10 minute connection at Shrewsbury and the service was 6 minutes late at Gobowen, so when Shrewsbury arrived, it was a bit of a rush to cross platforms, as idiots decided to crowd around the doors without thinking that passengers were wanting to get off the train, I did my usual “excuse me” as I sort of forced my way through the crowd to get to a waiting 158836 for the short trip down towards Wolverhampton. The train was a bit busy so I couldn’t get a window seat, so I spent my time reading my book.
At Wolverhampton (a hateful station) I had 50 minutes to wait before the Crosscountry service arrived, so heading out I visited the Co-Op to purchase something to eat before making my way back to the station, to await the arrival of the voyager. One annoying thing is that I did not have any idea where to stand for coach D, but I was lucky again in having the table seat, however it lined up nicely against the wall of 221131, but it didn’t matter as the light had all but disappeared and the line between Wolverhampton and New Street isn’t the nicest part of track, areas look like a bomb went off and nobody has bothered clearing up the mess.
Sooner than I knew it, the train was emptying out as we had a stop at Oxford as it was running early!, great news for my unofficial 2 minute connection at Basingstoke, passing the Reading festival site, all lit up and into Reading for the reversal, leaving bang on time, things were looking good as we arrived into Basingstoke a couple minutes early to allow me to get the unit number and for a short walk from P1 to P2, to wait as 159001 & 159006 pulled in on the 23:10 service (beats waiting around for 80 minutes for the next Salisbury bound service) where it was empty, for the trip back home, with a nice walk home.
A very good day, covering a lot of new track, with Merseyrail crossed off my list, with both 507 & 508s ridden on.
), hoping to score either a 155 or a 322, my 2 remaining classes to try and score, idea was to get onto the last East Coast service to London with everybody else to wait at Wakefield for the Doncaster electric (which would have been either a 322 or even a 321/9), the East Coast service was made up of 82205 leading 91116 for the short hop to Wakefield, where we said goodbye to the members heading back south to London, and alighted. A Voyager came and went as we checked RTT to see the Doncaster service hadn’t left Leeds (and got cancelled due to a train fault), so hoping onto the East Coast service to Skipton, formed of winners 43251 pulling 43274, going into Leeds and reversing, the service getting rather empty after Leeds as it accelerated towards Keighley, a music festival at Bingley with a lot of crowds, changing at Keighley to cross over to the other platform to await as my 3rd 333 pulled in, 333016 for the service to Leeds, getting busy at Bingley but arriving into Leeds
