I checked out of the quiet and pleasant, but rather chaotic Union Hotel rather early. Not because of the hotel, but because I've grown to really appreciate seeing towns on Sunday mornings. Sadly, there was nowhere in Penzance at 8am to sit and watch the world go by with a decent coffee, so contented myself with shopping for provisions and wandering down to the station in a sudden burst of light rain. Found a few fellow passengers already lurking around - I'm not entirely sure if they were early birds too, or just hadn't gone to bed yet? The train finally pulled in just prior to the departure of the London service, and we resumed our seats for another day of entertainment. With D1015 leading, we made the short trip to St Erth, before curving north onto the St Ives branch. I can't recall a loco-hauled service on this branch at all, and there were plenty of people out and about early on the golf course, or at the windows of the expensive-looking homes we passed who seemed equally surprised to see us. Perhaps the best part of the journey along this branch is the moment that foliage and cutting gives way to a sudden view over the sea at Carbis Bay. The sun made a brief appearance too here, and the carriage which had been busy with conversations about last night's exploits was suddenly silenced as seemingly everyone regarded the blue water, yellow sand and picture-postcard view of St Ives. As we came to a halt at the buffers things returned to normal however, and people began to scramble through the train to get a photograph at such a rare spot. Used the opportunity to get a coffee and relax whilst enjoying the view. I'd forgotten how much I loved this trip in fact.
After a short break, we reversed with 40145 hauling the train all the way back into Penzance for late joiners. A situation had been developing during the trip however, where some people seemed to have lost items which they'd been assured would be secure on the train overnight. In most cases, it wasn't valuable stuff - mainly food bags and suchlike - but it was clearly pretty annoying. I remember being a little surprised when the stewards had suggested the train was secure - and not mentioned our 'own risk' at all. I have to say that the organiser dealt pretty well with what was a bizarre situation which I don't think I've ever come across before. Once everyone was onboard again the items began to be found, misplaced near the front of the train. A few theories followed - perhaps thieves had passed through the train, gathering what they wanted to steal and consolidating it at the end of the rake? Maybe overzealous cleaners had misunderstood why things were left on the racks? For a while this situation threatened to put a damper on festivities, but some swift action, the personal touch and some genuine apologies stopped it from becoming a major issue despite early internet reports.
Underway again from Penzance, with D1015 one again leading, we made swifter progress along the mainline to Par. The village looked just as sleepy and closed on a Sunday morning as it did when I last visited on a Saturday afternoon! We came to a halt on the branch platform, and reversed again with 40145 leading us onto the Newquay branch. St Blazey was rather depressingly empty and looked almost abandoned as we passed by, before beginning the fearsome climb at Luxulyan. With the only serious burst of rain of the entire trip falling on the rails, the 40 began to slip and stutter. After a few attempts to keep us moving, the Western roared into life and gave a mighty shove from the rear. Whatever the traction preferences of those on board, the bank on wet rails with a heavy train and a dead loco on the rear was always going to be tough. Settled down to enjoy the contrast this branch offers - deep green cuttings and wild open moorland. I hadn't been to Newquay for many, many years - and not much had changed at the station. Got my picture, and wandered a bit before heading back to my seat for the trip home.
More fairly swift running on the mainline kept us close to time, as we headed for Plymouth. Here the locos were to manoeuvre once again to double head the train northwards, with D1015 leading 40145. Watched the operations and got some more shots of the locos, before heading onto the concourse for a decent cup of coffee and some late breakfast. Queued with a seemingly local chap who was perhaps the most irritating person I'd met all weekend - cutting into my transaction to share his thoughts with the cafe staff, chatting about his life rather loudly, and urging them to "cook quicker" because he wanted his coffee. As I paid the lady behind the counter confided "I've never seen the bloke before!". Wondered if this would be me in a few years, lurking at stations and trying to befriend the staff? A worrying prophecy indeed! Lazed in the sun a little, watching the other charter trains which had arrived alongside us, making Plymouth something of a gala, before heading back to the train for the final bit of my journey.
The mainline run back to Bristol was rather fantastic, with some sterling performances put in by both of the vintage locos at the front of the train. Again, the sea wall provided a highlight, with photographers lining the route in what were now pretty much perfect conditions. With few signal checks and a fairly clear passage through the stations at Exeter and Taunton, we were still almost on time as we slowed at Bedminster for the approach to Temple Meads. Gathered my possessions and had to accept a good-natured withering from two of the Spitfire crew for "only doing half the tour" as I headed for the platform. Dashed over to get some final shots of the train leaving a surprisingly busy Temple Meads, with D1015 emitting a huge black cloud as it accelerated away from the station and headed for points east and north.
Pondered the weekend on a strange, sprinter journey homewards which retraced some of the track I'd just covered. This tour was a huge gamble - and appeared at first just a pipe-dream. However, because about 400 of us had stuck with it, I'd just had almost a thousand miles of remarkable haulage and visited some of the finest countryside in Britain in some style. The trip started with me complaining that some operators were abandoning the crank market through lack of bookings or interest - but this trip shows that there will always be a bunch of people crazy enough to spend a whole weekend trundling around the country! The busy months of May and June this year are full of these excursions, and I hope they all work out as well as this one. And as one passenger said to a slightly worried looking John Stephens during the homeward run: "so where are we going next time then?".
As the very wise Aidan Moffat once sang "It was the first big weekend of the summer..." and as I made my way up to Crewe yesterday, via an uncharacteristic battle at the hotel, I couldn't help but feel that this was something of special event. It hadn't been a fantastic week for railtours, with stalwart operator Pathfinder publishing an entire season's list of trips with virtually no crank excursions and little info on their daytrips to help make a judgement about their value in track or loco terms. So, to arrive at a quiet Crewe station and watch 40145 manoeuvring ready for today's trip was a bit of a reminder that interesting stuff still happens. It's been interesting to watch this trip, ostensibly a joint effort with the DTG - but mainly organised by the CFPS via the irrepressible John Stephens, grow from a notion to a campaign to a reality over the past few months. It only really began to sink in that it was really happening when the stock drew slowly into Platform 5 at Crewe at an absurdly early hour behind 40145, closely followed by the Up Sleeper on the adjacent line!
I'd planned to do as much of the route as possible, to make up for bailing out at Bristol on the return tomorrow. So at 05:20 we set off northwards - exactly the wrong direction for Cornwall - to make pick-ups at Warrington and Manchester Victoria, before taking the line through Denton to gain the route south via Stoke-on-Trent and Stafford. Skirting Birmingham, we headed for a break at International where 40145 was to be joined by the Western. A quick dash upstairs for decent coffee and along to the buffet car for the excellent bacon rolls followed, whilst D1015 - wearing the identity of it's long lost sister "Western Firebrand" - dropped quietly onto the front of the train. Once we were off, any notion of quietness was forgotten as the pair of locos made an impressive racket. A pause on the through roads at Oxford, then around the west curve at Didcot and onto the Great Western Main Line. With the easy grades and straight alignment, the pair on the front really began to stretch their legs and with the sun shining and the bar open, the atmosphere on board became one of easy camaraderie between the unlikely coupling of 40 and Hydraulic followers!
A short wait at Bristol before heading off south once again, on very familiar territory for me! It always seems strange to pass this way on a railtour, but I make a point of occupying a window and watching my home county pass by. Noted some locals out on the platform at Highbridge as we sped past, then settled in to enjoy some of the local cider to celebrate our thunder through Somerset. Two things were now on the minds of most of the tour participants - the classic journey along the sea wall at Dawlish, and the assault on the South Devon banks. We were running consistently early now, and the locos were checked briefly at Exeter before pressing on and gaining speed before the sea wall - a brief concern we'd be held at Dawlish Warren was soon dispelled and we rocketed through the resorts with an amazing amount of people watching our progress it seemed. Next stop Plymouth, where the locos switched to top and tail the train in preparation for the branch lines we'd cover later in the trip. Fully intended to wander off the platform here, but instead enjoyed the atmosphere among the photo taking crowd and got some pictures of D1015 and 40145 in the sun. It had been a long day, and the progress down into Cornwall was a little slower and sleepier as we crossed the ever-impressive Royal Albert Bridge over the Tamar. Found myself dozing slightly in the warm afternoon, feeling for the first time in a while thoroughly relaxed.
And so we arrived at Penzance, pretty much on time after our epic journey from the North West. There was the customary gaggle of photographers at the end of the platforms admiring 40145 which had brought us into the station, so instead I headed off into town to find my hotel, along with a fair amount of the train's other passengers. More 'Fawlty Towers' style silliness followed as another guest was assigned the same room as me. After blustering around the place apparently telling us how it was our fault, the owner soon sorted the problem - not before the other guest - a fellow tour passenger - had submitted him to an impressively withering display of sarcasm however. When the owner said he wished everyone could be as patient as me I explained it had been a long journey. The owner replied, rather enigmatically "We've all had a long journey Sir....". Pondered this curious response as I headed back to the station, via the supermarket, for the evening's entertainment.
The plan was to use the long, light evening to head out to Falmouth Docks. A Western had been here before on the former London through service in the 1970s, but a 40 probably hadn't! Once again we departed on time, with D1015 leading out to Truro. Some curious characters sighted on the platform here, as we reversed with 40145 leading us across the tracks and onto the branch. My first use of the innovative loop at Penryn too, which allows two passing trains to occupying a single platform face. We past one of the frequent units here on this increasingly busy line as we headed down to the coast through pleasant, leafy countryside. At the end of the line, a scramble for pictures at the somewhat deserted terminus. A real sense of pride too, that this tour which we'd backed with our cash and cheques from the outset had made it here to the buffers - and consequently the return trip up the branch took on the atmosphere of a celebratory Beer-ex. As 40145 drew us back into Penzance and passengers scattered either to their digs or to local hostelries to continue celebrating, it was hard not to feel that we'd all been part of a very special day indeed.
And the best part? We get to do it all again tomorrow...
The most important thing today was getting up on time! After last week's unnerving catastrophe I was concerned only to be at the station in good time. Having had a fairly weird end to my week with an all-nighter watching Election results trickle in followed by a very strange day trying to rationalise the inconclusive result with colleagues, I was feeling disconnected and jaded. The alarm clock, however, functioned as planned and I made the customary move to Weston-super-Mare on the first train, in order to get 1A06 direct to Paddington. No buffet at first, and despite collecting a member of staff the service didn't begin until well after Bath Spa. Apparently there was some issue with a member of staff working the empty stock down to Weston, which seems odd as we've often found the buffet open and ready for service before departure. Decided to just add this to the whole sense that the world had become confusing lately, and ruminated on the situation over one of FGW's much improved bacon rolls. Things soon felt better.
The next issue was just what to do with the day. As the preview service on the East London Line had yet to extend to weekends (although this was still, apparently, imminent) the original aspiration of doing an all-currently-open-track tour of the new line was scuppered. Still, decided to start with a South London Line service via Crystal Palace to have a look at New Cross Gate. Arrived to find 378's manoeuvring from depot to down platform and back, with some passing through to shadow the route out to Crystal Palace. Spent a little while here before heading in to London Bridge for coffee and some veg-like platform-ending. I don't do this very often, but with London Bridge being fairly friendly to enthusiasts (or at least, completely uninterested in their activities provided they're not leaping on the juice rail!) it was pleasant to hang around, dodge the showers of rain and view the intensive service here.
Next it was in to Cannon Street - cold, dark and empty on a weekend morning. The entire station seems to have disappeared behind blue boards to facilitate rebuilding, and the sparse facilities available to passengers have completely gone. A colleague needed some of the North Kent Lines, so formed a plan to wander out to Charlton, and spent the gap before the next train viewing London Stone and resurrecting my tour guide career. The train out to Charlton were not producing 376's which I'd have preferred, but were quiet and provided an interesting journey into the suburbs. Misjudged a move back to Lewisham and then to Barnehurst where the service terminated rather than trundling around the curve to form a return working. My knowledge of the timetable here is pretty sparse, especially since much of it was recast in connection with the advent of High Speed services. Decided to head north for more required track for my companion on this trip, but did so via a tried and tested move to East Croydon, then onto one of their cross-London services via Balham, Clapham, the West London line and onto the WCML. This provided a fly-past of Willesden and Wembley, before a brief pause at Harrow and Wealdstone. The newsagent here was trying to report a minor crime at the same time as serving customers which provided quite a spectacle as he switched between barking shrilly at the Police switchboard and quietly intoning "that's 45 pence please sir". Not sorry to get the 350 back into Euston and make the short walk to Kings Cross.
The object here was to pick up a service from the Suburban platforms, which we did in the form of a 365 to Finsbury Park for a 313 onwards to Alexandra Palace. Short leaps, but a chance to wander - and perhaps the only reasonable opportunity to get the camera out all day. Spent a little time here providing a tutorial on shutter speeds and fast-moving objects. A little of the blind leading the blind perhaps, but an interesting interlude. Back to The Cross, for a 205 bus move to Paddington and a welcome pint, having covered a fair bit of ground and had a varied and interesting day wandering about the Capital.
Today didn't really work out as planned, but having made the best of it, I think it turned out to be far better than it promised. This provides an interesting analogy with the emerging political situation which seems to have dogged the weekend. There is a sense that we should just "get on with it and see what happens". If it's as diverting as the day I spent wandering today, then perhaps it's a sensible way to approach things and it'll all be fine...
Perhaps...
Another Bank Holiday, and another trip - albeit unplanned - to Paignton! Having heard that 67029 'Royal Diamond' was working the diagram today, I decided having little else to do, that I'd have another trip to the seaside. Down to the station in plenty of time to see the shiny, silver machine drawing in to the platform. A fair few fellow cranks on board too, as we set off southwards.
Decided to wander further into town this time, so after arriving headed up to the gardens near the Palace Theatre to read in the sunshine for a while. Noticed that things in this part of town seemed worse than elsewhere, with many of the smaller shops closed or closing down soon. Also strange to note that very few of the smaller tea rooms and cafes were open here. Read for a while and munched the sandwiches I'd packed, just like the old days. As the clouds closed in and the rain started to speckle the pathways in the gardens, I headed back to the station.
Like many of the seaside towns I seem to end up visiting, Paignton feels like it needs a boost - something big to catapult it into the 21st century, but not so big it loses it's charm. The train back was full - a mixture of locals and trippers. There is a market to be had...but is anyone sticking around to chase it?
Lost::MikeGTN
I've had a home on the web for more years than I care to remember, and a few kind souls persuade me it's worth persisting with keeping it updated. This current incarnation of the site is centred around the blog posts which began back in 1999 as 'the daylog' and continued through my travels and tribulations during the following years.
I don't get out and about nearly as much these days, but I do try to record significant events and trips for posterity. You may also have arrived here by following the trail to my former music blog Songs Heard On Fast Trains. That content is preserved here too.
