Originally, the plan was to be on Past Time's 'Edinburgh Explorer' tour today. With this rescheduled for late July, had to find other things to do. Having considered a trip to Cardiff for the Vale of Glamorgan reopening, the news that the 37s were running only tomorrow along the route helped me decide that a trip to the Diesel Gala at the South Devon Railway was the better option. After a shaky start, where Wessex and National Rail Enquiries decided to get existential about the 0614 service to Penzance, finally got going a little before 0800 travelling via Bristol and then south on a Voyager for Totnes. Short break at Exeter St Davids for breakfast, then onto a rather wedged HST for the last leg of the journey. Seemed to be significant numbers of cranks aboard, and I swear the train almost tilted when we slowed for Totnes and 55019 was sighted on the right-hand side, basking in the sunshine at Littlehempston!
Joined the queue for the next train to Buckfastleigh, with 55019 in charge. A pair of 20s also hanging around, including 20905 in pristine DRS blue but without branding. 55019 performed well, but rather quietly for my liking on the journey upriver.
A photo stop at Buckfastleigh, and then since I wanted a little noise we joined 37037 for the trip back to Totnes. This loco was for me, the star of the gala, ending up on several trains I travelled on and generally looking and sounding fantastic. Persuaded to part with cash by the sales stand, which was conveniently next to the beer counter. Sampled a pint of 'Diesel Driver' from Newton Abbot, which was an excellent accompaniment to the sounds of 37037 and the scenery of South Devon.
After this, it was the turn of the 20s to entertain. I hadn't realised just how many 'Choppers' were to be here today. I confess they have never been a favourite locomotive of mine perhaps because I saw so few of them in service, but in these lean times its a bonus just to find locomotives in working order, hauling trains. Having spent very little time around 20s, quite enjoyed seeing them at work . A particular favourite was 20118 in large-logo Railfreight grey livery with a red solebar.
A bite to eat at Buckfastleigh, and a quick look around the yard where 25901 was to be found, along with the sorry looking 50002 'Superb' which hopefully has a brighter future ahead. It will be interesting to see if it retains it's Network SouthEast livery after repair, or conforms to the current fashion of all-things BR blue.
A last trip down to Totnes behind 55019 before heading back to the mainline to find Arriva had cancelled the 1738 Carmarthen service. A sleepy Voyager journey back to Bristol and a HST to Weston, leaving connections a little trick for some of us. Fantastic weather, and aside for some irritating troubles with service trains, a great day out at the South Devon Railway. A few other pictures are here.
Up obscenely early to get a lift to Bristol in time for the 05:36 departure of 40145 on Pathfinder's "Whistling Slater" tour to Blaenau Ffestiniog and Holyhead. Arrived to find the stock in platform 3, and the headboard and beer being loaded. A few familiar faces on board, and I was soon joined by my travelling companions for the day, who added greatly to the entertainment during the journey!
Set off on time, and managed to arrive early at all of our pick-up points. Surprisingly spritely and somewhat thunderous run up the Lickey. Interesting routing around Birmingham, via Camp Hill to New Street, then Bescot and to Wolverhampton via Portobello Junction. After a pick up here, via Oxley to Shrewsbury and the scenic route to Crewe. An early arrival meant time to hop off and watch the Pendolino drags before setting off again for Llandudno Junction and a loud and spirited run around before heading for Blaenau.
A little delay on the branch awaiting a passing unit. Incredible and somewhat awe-inspiring scenery as we wound along the floor of the Conwy Valley, occasionally glimpsing Snowdon. After a long twisting climb which really got 40145 working hard, arrived at Blaenau in pouring rain, where quite a crowd left for the Ffestiniog Railway and coach trip through Snowdonia. Stayed on board for the run back down the branch, over the Britannia Bridge and on to Holyhead. Time for pictures, followed by a mass exodus for the chip shops and bakeries of Holyhead.
A little before 16:00 the other tour of the day shunted back into the station prior to departure for Crewe with 'Duchess of Sutherland' doing the honours. Most impressive start, hauling a long train with a dead 47826 'Springburn' on the rear for insurance. With two tours in town at the same time, no wonder there were queues in every shop serving any kind of food! Huge crowds of spectators too, which added to the atmosphere. Good to see some of them sticking around for our departure too.
Departed a little late from Holyhead, collecting the remainder of our passengers at Bangor. Lightning fast run along the coast making up time nicely, but disappointingly held outside Crewe for some time, where another steam tour led by 45305 passed us. Slow going from Crewe to Birmingham where we were around 18 minutes down on arrival. Considered my contingency plans for getting home from Temple Meads. Need not have worried, after the slow stretch from St Andrew's Junction to Lifford, things got interesting - and noisy. Faultess performance by 40145, some skillful driving and the help of gravity saw us achieving incredible progress down the Lickey and as far as Cheltenham. Almost wish I could have been on the lineside during this part of the journey to appreciate the sight of 40145 flashing by. More fast running from here, and the lack of a planned pathing stop at Gloucester Yard Junction meant we arrived at Temple Meads eight minutes early by my calculation. My expected dash across town to the bus station became a saunter over to platform 15 for the 22:15 to Weston.
An incredible day in the company of a splendidly preserved and well-engineered locomotive. Also, lots of fun from the crowd on board. Looking forward to my next tour in the company of D1015. Grateful however, to be heading for my own well-deserved bed...
Came up to London yesterday morning having failed miserably to obtain cheap tickets from Great Western for this morning. Checked into the Cosmo, after waiting a while for a member of staff to show up. Glad to see its still the same, no frills establishment which I've grown to love. No real plans so took a gentle walk to Euston and spent the afternoon at Willesden Junction watching trains before heading back to the Swan for a couple of pints, then an early night.
Up early, but similar problems finding a member of staff to check me out of the hotel! Customary breakfast on Southampton Row, and a meandering trip out to Liverpool Street via Kings Cross. As with the previous LAMAS walk, had problems identifying fellow members. Eventually we began to assemble, with the notable exception of the leader of the walk, who arrived a little late and breathless!
The proposed walk was a little longer than I'd expected, but I plunged in with high hopes of being able to complete the whole course before dashing off to my parents house prior to tomorrows' trip to North Wales. Set out wandering into Spitalfields, to examine the Norman Foster scheme which has to some extent changed the skyline around Christ Church. From here, via a series of smaller back streets and some impressive 18th century shopfronts to Bevis Marks. Some negotiation from our party leader, a security check and some temporary headgear gained us access to the Spanish and Portugese Synagogue which is hidden from view behind other properties. An amazing building, not dissimilar to a contemporary Wren church. Amusing and friendly warden gave us a long and fascinating talk about the history and day to day workings of the building, including stories of some of its previous worshippers.
Next a number of city churches including rarely open St Katherine Cree, St Helen's with its curious double nave, noble St Stephen Walbrook and good old St Mary Woolnoth which unnerved some of our party with its unusual design and strangely square internal proportions! Explored Leadenhall Market and its environs before slipping into alleyways once occupied by Coffee Shops and Inns. At many points we considered how the Swiss Re 'gherkin' has altered the skyline and created some unusual new views. A fair point was made about the strange circular footprint in a square plot. Some sadness too that the frontage of the old Baltic Exchange had not been preseved to maintain the largely Edwardian street scene.
Unfortunately, at this point I realised that a long break for food during a busy city Friday lunchtime would mean the walk had some hours to run. Disappointed to have to call it a day here before getting to some of my city highlights, but glad to have been able to visit some unusual spots today. Good to spend some time in some old haunts too.
Last week I promised to help a friend get DSL up and running, but stumbled at the first hurdle as Windows NT4 did not even recognise the USB ports on the machine, let alone run any of the supplied software! I suspected an upgrade to Windows was required. It would have been great to think this was an opportunity to promote Linux, but in reality it wasn't the time or the place.
Having not installed Windows for six or seven years now, I didn't know what to expect from the shiny new Windows XP disk we purchased from the computer shop. The install took a long time, and seemed to load drivers for all kinds of esoteric hardware prior to beginning 'just in case'. Whilst it wasn't prepared to upgrade NT4, it sorted itself out in a way that left NT intact, along with all the data created with the previous install.
I was pretty impressed with the results - it seemed quite quick to learn, easy to use and nice to look at. Whilst it still suffers from some of the frustrations which drove me away from Windows in the first place, lessons seem to have been learned in terms of multiple users and security. A nice touch was the dialog which walked me through installing a virus scanner, firewall etc.
Ironically, the DSL install on XP took literally seconds and was so simple my friend could have done it unassisted! I don't think I'll be switching back to Windows XP any time soon but I'd consider a second machine with it installed just to play around with. It seems to have come a long way.
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.
