6th May Exploring West Wales, Day 4
After a semi-alright night in the hostel, I was quiet as a mouse leaving the room and walking back to Cardiff Central, for I was using the 4th day on my South Wales rover, and wanted a nice early start in order to grab some more request stops. The first westbound service rolled in from the depot (well was two units, with the 175 on the other end going to Manchester), as the first Milford Haven service was formed of 175112, which was moderately loaded (mainly some hung over all-nighters headed home), but was a service which called at all stations (apart from Kidwelly, nobody requested that one).
Eventually the service rolled into Carmarthen were I popped to the station shop for a newspaper, before heading for a short walk to try and wake myself up a bit, before returning to board 175002 requesting my first new shack of the day at
Ferryside. Im guessing in years gone past there used to be some sort of ferry service from this area, but this morning was quiet, just the old style signals and lovely signal box (as visited by Paul Merton a few years ago I believe). The sound of the level crossing going down [dont worry there is a bridge] signalled the arrival of sub-10 mile 150262 which was bound for Pembroke Dock.
At Carmarthen it attached itself to 150217 for the short trip to Whitland where the 150s had a massive falling out as 217 wanted to go to Fishguard but 262 wanted to carry on to Pembroke. It wasnt a pretty sight (only joking), anyhow after departure from Whitland the 150 turned left onto the single track branchline as I alighted at the first stop of
Narberth. A nice looking station with a decent canopy (as the picture shows), a lot of housing and an industrial area but nothing else to report, so I sat down on a low bench under the canopy to await the arrival of the 09:57 to Swansea.
In bounced one of Mr Quinns all time favourite units, as somehow 143604 had escaped from the Valley Lines, but I wasnt on the pacer for that long before I bailed at Whitland, home of the rubbish connection (most of the time the train from Pembroke Dock arrives ~ 5 minutes after a train towards Milford Haven has gone, in an ideal world the trains for Milford Haven would be pushed back 10 minutes to allow passengers to make said connection). Anyhow mini-rant over, here be a picture of a pacer:
The next Milford Haven service arrived, and was formed of 2 coaches, sadly 003 continued its avoidance game with 175001 taking me to
Johnston (not to be confused with Johnstone in Scotland), a nice basic single platform, another industrial estate nearby but more importantly a little shop in order I could purchase something rather cold (and something to munch on). It was a short fester before 175001 would return from the Haven bound for Manchester to take me to
Clunderwen, which is on the two track section shared with Fishguard trains. It is a good +5 between platforms via a road bridge (looked like in days of old a barrow crossing was in existence) so beware of any tight connections.
Nothing much around the station (mainly houses), so I took up a seat in the little waiting shelter [I save up newspapers to read] before the next Milford Haven service rolled in, the first I believe to arrive from Manchester, and was an odd surprise for it was my first ATW 158 of the rover, 158831, which took me back onto the branch to the pretty station of
Haverfordwest. This station might have two platforms, but I believe the 2nd is only used by a tiny number of services a day. Anyhow with an hour to kill before the 158 would return I headed to the town centre to a Morrisons to pick up lunch (beware the pedestrian access route is a bit dodgy in places [in terms of having to cross the road on a blind junction]. Picking up supplies I returned to the station to have a short wait for the 158 to return:
I managed to grab a table seat and my phone was thankful for a quick boost of electricity from the plug sockets as the train returned to the main-line, reversed at Carmarthen and dropped me off at Pembrey & Burry Port with a few minutes to spare before the next Carmarthen bound service. 175006 would be having the honours of taking me back 5 miles to
Kidwelly, my final shack which sees GWR services pass. Beware this station is super evil to change platforms, long access paths with a level crossing thrown in for good measures (as well as being a request stop!), served 2-hourly off-peak so just be careful as you need a good 5 minutes, if not more, to be safe, as you never know a 150 from Fishguard might come rushing through.
My connection was a reasonable 40 minutes, but nothing much of note around the station which I could see, so I returned to the little waiting shelter, before shifting to sit on a bench in the sunshine as 175006 returned from Carmarthen. The next London bound HST at Swansea was dud so I stayed on board the 175 until Cardiff, swapping over platforms onto a Taunton bound 150248, as it was time to switch rovers to take me to Bristol Temple Meads on an extremely vocal 150, needless to say I was looking forward to the tunnel.
Once at Bristol Temple Meads, nothing required was spotted (next 2 HSTs were both dud, so was a HST bound for Paignton) 158763 was pretending to be heading to the Exhibition Centre on a limited stop service, as it was waiting for a delayed 150 from Gloucester to be taken on a little trip to Westbury (where the 150 would continue to Weymouth). With nothing better to do I jumped on a freshly refurbished 158951 (very shiny it was) to Westbury where I had a rough 15 minute wait before 150108 rolled in from the sidings on a short Westbury Southampton Central working to take me to Salisbury, where it did feel strange finishing a bash so early compared to normal.
Anyhow a productive day for me, shack wise with the West Wales lines cleared, sadly that 175 didnt produce but it was always going to be a shack day
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7th May A lazy Sunday
The idea of today (and reason for buying the FOSS on Friday) was to have a lazy day, recovering lines I havent been along for a while, so making use of the weekend parking ticket I drove to Salisbury and parked in the station (normally I would have gone to either Romsey or parked on the side of the road at Salisbury). The first southbound service was in the hands of 158885 which I decided to take to Romsey (first time Ive called at Dean & Mottisfont for ages) mainly because I hadnt had this 158 this year yet.
Once at Romsey that 158 would reach Southampton the longer way round (via Eastleigh) as I stepped back onto 158886 to head to Southampton Central via Redbridge. Over the footbridge to platform 4 where the Fab 444018 was waiting on the next Weymouth service, I grabbed a table seat in the leading coach and started the first of my many looking out of the window trips, via the New Forest and Dorset heath, it was a nice relaxing trip to the end of the line at Weymouth, where I popped out to a nearby tesco to pick up supplies for later.
Im pretty sure this is the first time I have used the short platform 1 at Weymouth, as 150246 rolled in with 153373 on the back, needless to say I took up a seat in the 153 for some DBT as it was bound for Westbury via the Heart of Wessex line. A very enjoyable trip heading north, pausing briefly at Chetnole to pick up one passenger, but nobody at either Yetminster or Thornford, but the danger music was on after Yeovil Pen Mill due to an extended dwell caused by a lot of passengers. At Castle Cary the HST was already in on platform 1, so it was a dive over the footbridge, no idea what power cars were on this busy service from Penzance (many bags in the doorways). I sat down for the enjoyable 20 and a half mile run to Westbury, which was quite busy with all 3 platforms in use.
Checking the numbers, I was happy because winner
43174 was on the front and dud 43063 was on the rear, an unexpected winner. This set appeared to have a First Class coach pretending to be coach F (lucky for anybody going for a long distance), however it was in reverse formation, along with 43172 & 43170 on the next westbound service. Lightly loaded compared to the previous service for the trip westwards via East Somerset, a nice way to spend some time watching the countryside before reaching Taunton where I had a tight connection to a XC bound for Edinburgh.
Thankfully I easily made the connection at Taunton (option B would have been a trip to Tiverton Parkway on the following HST to wait time before the next XC service). I took up a seat on 43384 & 43285, noting that the reservation screens had failed with most seats having GWR reservation labels (which did cause confusion at Bristol). Anyhow it was an enjoyable trip north, pausing for a good 20 minutes at Bristol Temple Meads before the HST turned right to head towards Bath.
Pausing to pick up passengers at Bath Spa before running non-stop to Swindon (felt strange storming through Chippenham on a HST), reversing on platform 1 to head towards Cheltenham Spa via the Golden Valley Line, all this time I was looking out of the window at the passing scenery, on a table seat which had been booked from Totnes to Cheltenham Spa (group of no-shows). Once at Cheltenham Spa, I exited the HST and crossed over to the opposite platform with the square buttoned 150245 taking me to Gloucester. The next Cheltenham bound HST was running late, but was dud so after witnessing some idiotic passengers moaning that the 2-hourly ATW service was held for them (cant win with some people!), I boarded 150130 bound for Swindon.
A quick scan of RTT highlighted that the next Bristol bound HST was running a couple minutes late, and with the 150 arriving a couple minutes early, it made it possible for me to make a tight connection onto 43124 leading 43141 (found out it was 43141 on the rear) for a speedy run to Bath Spa, with its rebuilt platforms and new track layout (the large gap between lines isnt so wide anymore). Another tight connection was made onto a busy 150238 bound for Weymouth, calling at Freshford & Avoncliff for the first time in a fair while. I bailed at Westbury, with the Brighton bound 158 sat on platform 1 waiting for a guard who was caught up in delays (caused by a trespasser around Fratton).
The next Bristol bound 158 was running fast to Bath Spa due to late running (it was around 38 minutes late at this time), with another 158 behind it from Brighton picking up the additional calls. Nothing else around as I jumped onto a warm 158958 to Warminster, with 158955 taking me back to Westbury as a time wasting move as I had spotted the next Portsmouth service was Timed for 75mph max which seemed to suggest it could be a 150 (as the 158s are timed for 90 mph), and I was correct in my theory that it was a 150. Sadly it was a busy 150202 (complete with the luxurious 3+2 airline seating), but for the 2nd time in 2 days I was arriving into Salisbury on a 150.
Overall a good little random day spent mainly looking out of the window, relaxing and chilling out
. Next Saturday is a voyager of discovery to Manchester to do the 2nd City Crossing, plus having a unit hunt (with the theory that if the cards fall in my favour I could be clearing 4 classes!) Currently both Friday & Sunday are unknowns (potential of a trip to Bristol on Friday if some of my required 150s are floating around and are gettable), anyhow thanks for reading
