It's return working had made up some time, and after further freight watching, and trying to warm up with hot tea, we finally left a minute or so down. A storming start for a non-stop run to Gloucester along the Severn estuary. Some very impressive running saw us arriving early into Gloucester, to find a fairly sizable crowd of Wales fans waiting for the service back down. Held on to our seats rather than risk an uncomfortable trip back. This turned out to be a wise move, as stops at Lydney and Caldicot saw the train fill to bursting point. No way we could have struggled off at Newport, so pressed on to Cardiff where we paused for lunch before heading back to Newport.

66104 emerges from the mist

Even on the home straight things stayed fairly interesting with a sudden burst of activity including 66104 emerging from a now very misty scene beyond the station. 59201 also reappeared on it's return working. Set off early on the 14:43 to get back to Bristol before the end of the Rugby match. A fairly short but busying and interesting day. Entertainment on the way back provided by some fairly unsuccessful fare dodgers antics.

Inspector Sands and the End of Summertime

Posted in Railways on Saturday 28th October 2006 at 9:07pm

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The last weekend of British Summer Time is always strange. Darkness has descended early this past week or too - partly due to the encroaching nights and partly because of fairly ominous weather, but there's no mistaking that Winter is coming. In future, it might all be very different if these folks get their way. At this time of year, railtour operators wind down the enthusiast related parts of their business to some extent - who wants to visit some obscure branchline in the pitch black of a winter evening? They tend to offer more trips for 'normals' - Christmas Shopping jaunts and such like. With an impending possession blocking the line at Highbridge for most of November and with the lack of railtours to count on, I made a last ditch attempt to get out and about today.

This presented it's own difficulties - the line between Gloucester and Birmingham remains closed for engineering at weekends, along with an immense amount of other track around the country. Set off early for Bristol, then headed eastwards towards London. I'd managed to get a cheap fare on the 10:55 Midland Mainline service to Nottingham which I hoped was a nine-car Meridian, as these will soon enough be split to bolster the four car variant. Just as I was leaving the impressive new ticket hall at Kings Cross St Pancras underground, I heard the infamous 'Inspector Sands' announcement. Sped up my exit a little as the phrase looped on the tannoy. Saw a few extra BTP around, but I assumed these were for football related duties anyway. Didn't hear of any problems, so I can only assume it was a false alarm.

Once overground again, negotiated the maze that is St Pancras. Midland Mainline services have now moved from the Interim Station site, to their new home on platforms 1-4 of the station. Walked under the full width of the new station to reach the ticket hall - although it seems a new entrance on the Western side is under construction! There is still an air of the temporary about the station, but the ticket hall, toilets and such seem to be the finished article. Once upstairs on the concourse, noted the sensitive extension to the arched Barlow trainshed roof. Noted a nine car 222 in the platform too, and was soon settling in for the dash up to the East Midlands, which always seems to go surprisingly quickly.

I'd originally planned a longer break in Nottingham, but a desire to go home by a different route, and the lack of many sensible routes not involving bustitution meant a shorter stay. On to the 13:00 to Birmingham - full but not overflowing, which was a relief given previous experience with this service. A slow crawl past the Railway Technical Centre and Etches Park was interesting, then a reverse at Derby and a sleepy trip to New Street. I had an hour to wait at New Street for the next Virgin service to Oxford. I could potentially have squeezed onto the 14:33 just in time, but I couldn't have staked an advance purchased ticket on it! Spent the time wandering around the shops, before heading down to the platform to try to ensure I got a seat. Watched the dispatch of a hugely overcrowded service for Leicester and Stansted Airport before the Reading-bound Voyager arrived. Found a seat in the quiet coach between two girls having a fairly explicit conversation about their previous evening and a man inexplicably dressed in a full suit of desert camouflage dress, but not obviously a soldier. Much of the train bailed at Leamington Spa, clearly using this service in preference to the much slower stopper from Moor Street.

By Oxford, the light was beginning to fail. Had a wander out of the station and noted how much the approach to the city had changed since my first visit. Also noted a fair bit of lateness on the departure board due to a fatality at Maidenhead, and realised that with a fairly big gap in services to Didcot I risked missing my connection, even though it was an hour or so away! Hopped on the next Didcot service, unusually a Virgin service to Southampton not booked to call at Reading. Headed for the end of the platform at Didcot on arrival to see if anything interesting was happening. Apparently not, with most of the cranks amusing themselves by watching an elderly lady practicing Tai Chi on the platform! Consoled myself with a quick pint in the Prince of Wales, before heading back for a now entirely dark station to get the train back to Highbridge. As I said, a strange time of year...

The Sandblower

Posted in Railways on Saturday 21st October 2006 at 11:53pm

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Today was the first time in a fair while that I've been booked on a railtour which starts locally. This also meant an early start, and my Dad's assistance to get to Temple Meads for the 06:40 departure time. Arrived in plenty of time to see 66068 crawling into platform 15 with a rake of Riviera Trains finest. Found my seat and relaxed for the first part of the journey - a spin along the Great Western Main Line, picking up at Chippenham, Swindon, Didcot, Reading and Ealing Broadway. With the train now full, I was able to make an assessment of my travelling companions for the day. All in all, a fairly quiet bunch - but I did get chatting to a couple of gents next to me who were much more enthusiastic - if a little geographically confused at some points!

After Ealing, things began to get interesting. Onto the Goods Lines at Acton and time for our first loco change of the day. Took the opportunity to hang out of the window a bit, and noticed the weather clearing a little in comparison to the damp and windy west. With 60034 attached (a veteran of the Humber Haulier tour for me) we set off on a slow but interesting route around North London, through Acton Wells and Acton Canal Wharf Junction to Cricklewood covering some fairly unusual track. Then, after a brief run down the Midland Mainline, we branched northeast at Carlton Road Junction and followed the North London Line until joining it at the tautologically named Junction Road Junction. We finally regained passenger lines at Harringay, taking the tight curve onto the northbound East Coast Main Line. From here it was a fairly speedy run into Ely via Cambridge.

60034 on arrival at Ely

Early running all the way to Ely, where we were pointlessly held until booked time on the Goods Line. Took the time to sample the beer on offer, and found Stonehenge's green beer 'Sign of Spring'. The day had turned out surprisingly warm, and I spent most of the hour watching passing trains from the window, beer in hand. Once we were off, we faced a rather rural plod through Suffolk countryside via Stowmarket, where as in previous years a small contingent of DRS locomotives were based for the leaf-fall water cannon trains. From here, still early into Ipswich Yard for our next loco change. Disappointingly, the hour spent at Ely meant that we were losing the light very fast indeed. This tour was originally meant to run in July and the itinerary clearly lent itself more to long summer nights. However, with 92003 on the front we made excellent progress towards Stratford, the first set-down stop. I'm always impressed by the performance of the 92s and I suspect only politics around ownership prevents us seeing them more often on passenger services.

From Stratford, we took the briefly freight-only route to Channesea Junction, rejoining the North London Line. Unusual to traverse this line at night, much of which is on viaducts above the streets. Lots of impromptu firework displays too - which no-one could explain, certainly far too many for coincidence and we weren't aware of any local teams winning anything! Later, I was reminded it was Diwali, and given the districts we were passing through and their populations, this makes sense. In any case, it was a fantastic display which stretched from Hackney to Wembley! We reached the latter via the steep line which descends beside the DC line platforms at Willesden Junction Low Level from Kensal Green Junction. Another bit of line I never thought I'd end up travelling on! Once inside the floodlit yard, noted a fair number of locomotives - including three 56s just returned from service in France. Another change for us here, with 66066 being attached and 92003 left behind. Once we'd crossed under the West Coast Main Line and taken the curve to Acton, it was all fairly straightforward, heading home via a slight diversion to Bristol Parkway. We were fairly lucky to get through West London without delays however, as a fatality at Southall seemed to have held things up for an hour or more in some cases.

Overall, a long but productive day, with some interesting new places visited and a few new locomotives under my belt. As railtours go, this was a quieter affair - and I think some of the tours originating in the North and Midlands have been a little more sociable.

ALR06/02 Day Seven - Taking The Long Way Home

Posted in Railways on Sunday 15th October 2006 at 6:26pm

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Awoke early in the hope that somewhere in Birmingham would be open for decent coffee on a Sunday morning. After checking out of the hotel, discovered I was mistaken - should probably have gone to New Street station, but even there I've struggled to get a decent cup at this time of day on a Sunday. Strolled around the very quiet and rather chilly City Centre, in the general direction of Snow Hill Station. Took a route through St Phillip's Cathedral (closest I've been to a church on a Sunday for a long time!) and into Colmore Row. Remembered lots of tales from my mother about working near here in the late 1960s, and taking the train from New Street which was under reconstruction at the time. Today though, I was starting out from Snow Hill. I used to be fascinated with this part of the network - particularly because the station closed just a little before I was born. It's probably ten years since I caught a train from here, and whilst the booking office is a bit more functional not a lot has changed at platform level. Today though, it was necessity rather than sentimentality bringing me here - the route from Birmingham to Gloucester being blocked at the weekend for a number of weeks. I could have taken a bus, but on the last day of the trip, that would be admitting defeat!

Having arrived early, had a fairly long wait with a pretty odd crowd of fellow passengers. Eventually, a single 165 arrived at the platform in an appalling mess internally. A train cleaner made a fair effort to sweep away the detritus of a Saturday night, but he needed much longer than he had, so we had a short-formed, partly cleaned set for the trip to London. The guard apologised for the overcrowding early into the journey and promised a full ticket inspection - it didn't happen, simply because once we left Solihull it was impossible to pass along the train at all! Things became progressively worse, and by High Wycombe staff were refusing access to further passengers - something I've not seen for a while. Chiltern have been rather gloatingly remarking on their website about offering a 'full train service' to London during the engineering work causing Virgin's bus substitution and terminating short of Euston. Well, in fairness this train was about as full as it was possible to be!

Uncurled myself from my seat and hobbled off at Marylebone. I've always liked the journey via the Chiltern line, but this time I just wanted it to end as soon as possible. Got my legs working again, and realised I needed to make good time to Paddington for my next train. There were plenty of alternatives as far as Bristol, but few that linked into trains back to Highbridge on a Sunday. In the event, made excellent progress and had time for a stroll around Paddington before boarding. Departed on time, and had a relaxing and uneventful trip diverted via the Berks & Hants. Somewhere along the way the mist cleared and I enjoyed some fantastic views and some late-autumn sun. At Temple Meads made a swift change to my final train of the week. As I dashed down the stairs and up again, noted that my bags seemed much heavier than when I was crossing the station last Monday! An ex-Transpennine unit was already waiting, so I found a seat in the declassified first class section, and stuck my MP3 player on to drown out the giggling girls in the seats behind me.

So, another All-line Rover completed. In retrospect, I've really enjoyed the week and I think I stuck the right balance between pioneering runs out to far-flung parts of the network, and high-speed dashes along busy lines. As it gets harder to find bits of passenger line I've not travelled on, I suspect future rovers will be more about finding the unusual services and exploring the changes in journeys which re-franchising is going to bring about. Someone once asked what I would do in the unlikely event I ever managed to cover all the track possible? Quite apart from the lure of mainland Europe and Ireland, there is always something changing on the railway - something new happening, something old about to cease, new trains, new services. It's taken over a decade to get this far (albeit with a break where I tried, unsuccessfully to have a normal life!). The next Rover seems much too far away...