08/08/08 Olympics Start Today!!
After taking my brothers down to my mums in Cornwall, it was time to board the 09:40 Bodmin Parkway Dundee. The previous day, I had tried to find GEN for the service, to find out whether it would be a Val, or MTU. Climbing over the footbridge, we were greeted by a guard, speaking frantically into his walkie talkie, as he still hadnt found out where First Class was, whether the rolling stock was HST or Voyager. So, I was pleasantly surprised when a Val turned up in the form of 43104. So, after Departing Bodmin Parkway, and finding my reserved seats (which for the second time after asking table seats ended up with two separate seats facing backwards after asking for forwards) I decided to take a walk upto the window of Carriage A. Unfortunately TGS was in the way of getting closer to the Val as I would have wanted, but I was happy with this spot. Numerous numbers of Network Rail Employees were working on the line between Bodmin Parkway and Exeter Saint Davids, so got to hear the horn on many occasions. ON passing the Dawlish Sea Wall however, I encountered a problem. On MSN, I was talking to Brandon, who told me I should flail out of the window. However, out of embarrassment, and the fact that I wouldnt know what to do I declined his advice and returned promptly to my seat after the various tunnels around Dawlish annoyed me so much that I couldnt keep an internet connection on my phone for more than 5 minutes.
Arriving at Cheltenham Spa, I decided to go back to my window at the front of the train, and wait for the Lickey, as I really had no idea where it was, and had been told if I could do it. Stations came and went, the train braked and accelerated through TSRs and Network Rail employees, and we came up to an unknown station and a rather large hill, which, I guessed was the Lickey incline .- steeper than I expected!! As we passed through the station, I caught its name Bromsgrove and started to listen for the mighty roar of the Valenta. The sheer amount of power that it had needed to climb up the Lickey was soon shown to me, as the train screamed to full power as we had previously been given ambers and train speed restrictions. Crossing the path of a XC Turbostar going down the steep descent, we finally reached the summit, and the train began to accelerate. We travelled at a fairly fast pace until we reached Barnt Green, where the train slowed for double ambers. Once we reached Kings Norton and Bournville, we were following single ambers due to us already being late, and this hindered our performance into New Street, where we finally arrived 13 minutes down. Arriving into my favourite station led me to ask a few questions how bright are train lights in tunnels? I soon got my answer as a XC Turbostar passed on its way to Great Malvern the rear lights seemed to be brighter than the front headlights!! Another question that came up, was why didnt the signal change as the XC Turbostar went past it? And to my surprise, a London Midland 323 Redditch followed within the space of seconds leaving me to wonder. Upon leaving New Street, a XC Turbostar dragged a 156 along the Lichfield Trent Valley line, and a XC Liveried Voyager descended into the bowels of New Street from Birmingham International. Up until now, considering all the standing I had done my recently injected Ankle Joint was faring well to all the standing at the window!! This soon caught up with me though on my other side, on the knee and ankle that werent injected on the Tuesday.
Departure from the unusually empty New Street was prompt due to the already late timing of the train. The departure time of 14:03 had now become 14:15, and the train quickly came up to line speed chasing after lost time on the way to Derby.
Upon arrival into Derby we had caught up with at least some of the lost time, arriving into Derby only 5 down. The carriage immediately became crowded with people trying to find seats, and queuing up to get past the snack trolley that had decided to come up the train instead of waiting until departure at Derby. Departure at Derby was 14:47, 8 minutes after scheduled arrival time. Building works at the station seem to be getting on just fine, and walking up and down the train there seems to be many fit guys to look at!!!
Between Derby and Sheffield was rather uneventful. Seemed to travel quite slow for the first 5/10 minutes between the two stations, numerous Voyagers/Meridians passed, as well as an ugly looking mix with an EMT Liveried Power car with an ex MML set.
Listening to my Ipod and typing this, made me think I was ahead of time. Asking my sister have we already been through Sheffield?? And getting Chesterfield in completely the wrong place, me thinking for 5 minutes or so, that it was between New Street and Derby. Saw a mix of rolling stock pass us, including an ex SWT 158 set now working for EMT.
Looking at my watch it was 15:15, so we werent going to be that late in to Sheffield. 15:15 45 minutes to go!!! Which means the sooner I get home, the sooner I can see my new kittens whom mother cat gave birth to when I wasnt there
Arrival into Sheffield was slightly later than I thought it would be. 150s and 158s in Northern Livery were heralding our arrival 6 minutes down, as a 185 departed for Manchester Piccadilly or Airport. As usual the platforms packed, and I see a Northern 158 in ex Alphaline Livery departing, on a possible slow or fast service to Leeds. As this train departs, a Northern 158 arrives with a 15:41 service to Hull, running fast to Doncaster calling at Meadowhall only. Busy people across the station hurry and busy themselves onto an EMT HST, readying itself for departure to London St Pancras. Unfortunately for me, the eye candy in Sheffield wasnt as good as I was told it was. Either way, good looking guys were slowly dwindling on the train. Departure at Sheffield is 15:23, two minutes after arrival time.
Again looking at my watch as the train slowed before joining the Leeds Branch of the ECML at Moorthorpe, I looked at my watch, and realised that again we were going to be late on arrival into Wakefield Westgate. 15:41 and an arrival time of 15:46 told me we werent going to do it in time. One thing was for sure however, we were getting closer and closer to home by the minute, and I couldnt wait to be back!!
Upon arrival into Wakefield Westgate, my watch told me I was right, and that we were still 5 down. Im thinking at this moment in time, that we might possibly be a little bit later than the scheduled arrival of 16:02 into Leeds. But, on prervious recollection, I believe that whilst the train is scheduled to arrive at 16:02, departure at Leeds isnt until 16:08. Looking out of the window, Westgate seems to be a bit different to how I remember it, and me and my sister start to pack our stuff from the journey so that we can alight at Leeds City Station, hopefully no less than 5 minutes down.
Arriving into Leeds, it turned out that we were no more than a minute late upon arrival. The station was busier than New Street, with a NXEC 91 leaving for Kings Cross, the arrival of a 6 car 185 to Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly, and the arrival of a 333 in Northern Livery. Really dont like that one. As I departed the train and station, 220xx arrived in AXC colours with a southbound service.
Walking towards the escalators, I found out that the rear Powercar was in fact 43007, so 43104 leading, and 43007 at the rear. Both were amazing and I can really understand now why people like the Vals so much!!
After taking my brothers down to my mums in Cornwall, it was time to board the 09:40 Bodmin Parkway Dundee. The previous day, I had tried to find GEN for the service, to find out whether it would be a Val, or MTU. Climbing over the footbridge, we were greeted by a guard, speaking frantically into his walkie talkie, as he still hadnt found out where First Class was, whether the rolling stock was HST or Voyager. So, I was pleasantly surprised when a Val turned up in the form of 43104. So, after Departing Bodmin Parkway, and finding my reserved seats (which for the second time after asking table seats ended up with two separate seats facing backwards after asking for forwards) I decided to take a walk upto the window of Carriage A. Unfortunately TGS was in the way of getting closer to the Val as I would have wanted, but I was happy with this spot. Numerous numbers of Network Rail Employees were working on the line between Bodmin Parkway and Exeter Saint Davids, so got to hear the horn on many occasions. ON passing the Dawlish Sea Wall however, I encountered a problem. On MSN, I was talking to Brandon, who told me I should flail out of the window. However, out of embarrassment, and the fact that I wouldnt know what to do I declined his advice and returned promptly to my seat after the various tunnels around Dawlish annoyed me so much that I couldnt keep an internet connection on my phone for more than 5 minutes.
Arriving at Cheltenham Spa, I decided to go back to my window at the front of the train, and wait for the Lickey, as I really had no idea where it was, and had been told if I could do it. Stations came and went, the train braked and accelerated through TSRs and Network Rail employees, and we came up to an unknown station and a rather large hill, which, I guessed was the Lickey incline .- steeper than I expected!! As we passed through the station, I caught its name Bromsgrove and started to listen for the mighty roar of the Valenta. The sheer amount of power that it had needed to climb up the Lickey was soon shown to me, as the train screamed to full power as we had previously been given ambers and train speed restrictions. Crossing the path of a XC Turbostar going down the steep descent, we finally reached the summit, and the train began to accelerate. We travelled at a fairly fast pace until we reached Barnt Green, where the train slowed for double ambers. Once we reached Kings Norton and Bournville, we were following single ambers due to us already being late, and this hindered our performance into New Street, where we finally arrived 13 minutes down. Arriving into my favourite station led me to ask a few questions how bright are train lights in tunnels? I soon got my answer as a XC Turbostar passed on its way to Great Malvern the rear lights seemed to be brighter than the front headlights!! Another question that came up, was why didnt the signal change as the XC Turbostar went past it? And to my surprise, a London Midland 323 Redditch followed within the space of seconds leaving me to wonder. Upon leaving New Street, a XC Turbostar dragged a 156 along the Lichfield Trent Valley line, and a XC Liveried Voyager descended into the bowels of New Street from Birmingham International. Up until now, considering all the standing I had done my recently injected Ankle Joint was faring well to all the standing at the window!! This soon caught up with me though on my other side, on the knee and ankle that werent injected on the Tuesday.
Departure from the unusually empty New Street was prompt due to the already late timing of the train. The departure time of 14:03 had now become 14:15, and the train quickly came up to line speed chasing after lost time on the way to Derby.
Upon arrival into Derby we had caught up with at least some of the lost time, arriving into Derby only 5 down. The carriage immediately became crowded with people trying to find seats, and queuing up to get past the snack trolley that had decided to come up the train instead of waiting until departure at Derby. Departure at Derby was 14:47, 8 minutes after scheduled arrival time. Building works at the station seem to be getting on just fine, and walking up and down the train there seems to be many fit guys to look at!!!
Between Derby and Sheffield was rather uneventful. Seemed to travel quite slow for the first 5/10 minutes between the two stations, numerous Voyagers/Meridians passed, as well as an ugly looking mix with an EMT Liveried Power car with an ex MML set.
Listening to my Ipod and typing this, made me think I was ahead of time. Asking my sister have we already been through Sheffield?? And getting Chesterfield in completely the wrong place, me thinking for 5 minutes or so, that it was between New Street and Derby. Saw a mix of rolling stock pass us, including an ex SWT 158 set now working for EMT.
Looking at my watch it was 15:15, so we werent going to be that late in to Sheffield. 15:15 45 minutes to go!!! Which means the sooner I get home, the sooner I can see my new kittens whom mother cat gave birth to when I wasnt there
Arrival into Sheffield was slightly later than I thought it would be. 150s and 158s in Northern Livery were heralding our arrival 6 minutes down, as a 185 departed for Manchester Piccadilly or Airport. As usual the platforms packed, and I see a Northern 158 in ex Alphaline Livery departing, on a possible slow or fast service to Leeds. As this train departs, a Northern 158 arrives with a 15:41 service to Hull, running fast to Doncaster calling at Meadowhall only. Busy people across the station hurry and busy themselves onto an EMT HST, readying itself for departure to London St Pancras. Unfortunately for me, the eye candy in Sheffield wasnt as good as I was told it was. Either way, good looking guys were slowly dwindling on the train. Departure at Sheffield is 15:23, two minutes after arrival time.
Again looking at my watch as the train slowed before joining the Leeds Branch of the ECML at Moorthorpe, I looked at my watch, and realised that again we were going to be late on arrival into Wakefield Westgate. 15:41 and an arrival time of 15:46 told me we werent going to do it in time. One thing was for sure however, we were getting closer and closer to home by the minute, and I couldnt wait to be back!!
Upon arrival into Wakefield Westgate, my watch told me I was right, and that we were still 5 down. Im thinking at this moment in time, that we might possibly be a little bit later than the scheduled arrival of 16:02 into Leeds. But, on prervious recollection, I believe that whilst the train is scheduled to arrive at 16:02, departure at Leeds isnt until 16:08. Looking out of the window, Westgate seems to be a bit different to how I remember it, and me and my sister start to pack our stuff from the journey so that we can alight at Leeds City Station, hopefully no less than 5 minutes down.
Arriving into Leeds, it turned out that we were no more than a minute late upon arrival. The station was busier than New Street, with a NXEC 91 leaving for Kings Cross, the arrival of a 6 car 185 to Liverpool Lime Street and Manchester Piccadilly, and the arrival of a 333 in Northern Livery. Really dont like that one. As I departed the train and station, 220xx arrived in AXC colours with a southbound service.
Walking towards the escalators, I found out that the rear Powercar was in fact 43007, so 43104 leading, and 43007 at the rear. Both were amazing and I can really understand now why people like the Vals so much!!
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