6th July – A trip to the West Midlands

6^th July – A trip to the West Midlands

It is always nice to have a break from visiting stations or doing railtours, with an unplanned trip to the West Midlands, the idea was to do some random platform scores plus some mileage hunting of units.  I started the day with a walk to Grateley station to board the 05:59 service (noting the service to Corfe Castle was terminating at Salisbury), this service was formed of 159010 which I took to Basingstoke, transferring over to platform 5 to board 165128 on the hourly (?) Reading stopper (no idea why the half hourly service had been cut back to an hourly service, but you would have imagined a 3-coach unit would have been used).

Sadly my plan to grab something cold from Boots was defeated as it was meant to open at 07:00, but at 07:05 I gave up (along with 5 others) as there was no sign it was going to be opening soon, there was someone moving around in the stockroom.  Anyhow with that idea put on the back-burner I headed towards platform 12 to board a lightly loaded 221136 to Banbury, where due to my gold card not being valid on XC outside the older NSE area, I changed for 168215 & 168113 for the leg to Leamington, changing once more onto low mileage 165008 for the run to Hatton.  Sadly not quite enough to push this 165 over 10 miles, as it would leave it on 9, but something to keep an eye on for later in the day maybe, a short connection at Hatton before 165023 rolled in from Banbury to take me to Solihull where I leapt off to purchase my DayTripper & the add-on ticket, which was done after a short wait as the ticket office seller had to phone another ticket office as she couldn’t remember how to issue the add-on ticket.

(The add-on ticket, gives extended validity to Leamington, Kidderminster, Stratford Upon Avon, Lichfield City & Rugeley Trent Valley).

Tickets issued, I headed back to the island platform as a pair of 172/0s arrived heading towards Stratford upon Avon, first time I’ve seen them out in the wide in the new colours, and they do look smart.  For me, it was 172336 for the trip to Jewellery Quarter, where it appears an old warehouse building next to the station has recently been knocked down, revealing what looks to be old industrial fireplaces for manufacturer of jewellery? Anyhow 10 minutes later 172343 rolled in to take me to Hagley, which is a wonderful station for the old building canopy & a covered footbridge

10 (or so) minutes later 172336 returned from Kidderminster to take me back one stop to Stourbridge Junction, where I made an unofficial connection to 139002 for a quick spin to Stourbridge Town & back (because no trip to Stourbridge is complete without a trip on the unique 139s), the next Dorridge train wasn’t of interest, so I waited for 172211 to arrive from Stratford Upon Avon for a quick turnaround before heading back towards Stratford Upon Avon, a 2-coach unit on a stopping service, I was glad I boarded at Stourbridge as it was quite cosy by Rowley Regis, emptying out at Snow Hill before going full & standing for the run towards Stratford via Whitlocks End.  I had a fight to alight at Whitlocks End, where my connection had increased as the next unit from Stratford was running around 15 minutes late, however as a result it was due to run fast from Whitlocks End to Moor Street.  172338 eventually rolled in, with announcements from the guard that it was due to run fast (a couple passengers got out to cross the footbridge to join the 172 waiting on the opposite platform) and it was an enjoyable trip (I do like the 172s, although the interior could do with little bottle holders or tables in the bays).

At Moor Street, I was shocked the barriers were in operation, as I headed across to New Street, via Tesco for lunch and other supplies, before boarding 323241 for the run to Four Oaks, crossing over (in the rain) to the main northbound platform for 323210 to take me to Lichfield City.  15 (or so) minutes later 323210 returned from Lichfield Trent Valley to take me back towards Birmingham (the services which don’t call at Shenstone are quite fast!), staying on to alight at Kings Norton, returning to New Street on 323242, a few more random platform scores into my book.  My next idea was to head towards Rugeley Trent Valley to sample an EMU north of Walsall (also to get the northbound platform at Hednesford), however as per usual with the new timetable the LNwR services were in a bit of a mess (not helped with signalling issues around Watford Junction and a broken down train somewhere).

A pair of Scotland bound voyagers appeared from Coventry, the front one rang a bell, as I changed my mind and headed across to board 221105 & 221109 which clears my voyagers for 10 miles (as 221105 was only previous in my books on a Haymarket – Edinburgh leap), with the run to Wolverhampton.  A short wait with low mileage 350261 popping up from Crewe (via Stoke) for the non-stop run back towards New Street, another 350/2 over the line, horrible things interior wise.  A short wait at New Street before I was heading back towards Wolverhampton on low mileage 323214, deciding to change at Coseley for a +5 to a service from Liverpool (nothing of interest at Wolverhampton itself), sadly 350249 broke my run of good luck, and after 20 minutes of floating around New Street keeping an eye out for anything else of interest, I headed across to Moor Street (still shocked the barriers were still in operation!  New Street was wide open).

I leapt onto 168324 & 168325 for the run to Leamington Spa, for a short wait before 165023 took me back towards Hatton for a 15 minute wait for 165008 to roll in from Stratford Upon Avon, which clears some unfinished business from the morning.  At Leamington Spa, it was a short wait before 168113 rolled in, I was worried as I’ve done this service before and it has been busy, but I got a private table in the leading coach for the single stop leap to Banbury.  My eyes were drawn to 165036 sitting on platform 4 which I took to Haddenham & Thame Parkway (platform scratch) for a 30-minute (or so) wait before 168325 & 168324 returned from Marylebone to take me to Oxford (NRE seems to suggest a Reading – Banbury day return is valid via Haddenham so I was legal).  At Oxford I had an extended wait due to a southbound voyager being 25-odd minutes wait and as I was hungry my options were limited somewhat to M&S, where I purchased some bits and pieces (knowing the WH Smiths next to M&S is one of those which charges £4.99 for a meal deal, it’s £5.00 in M&S and I have no doubt the quality of a M&S sandwich (or pasta pot) is much higher than the Urban Eats sandwich found in WH Smiths.  Mild sandwich rant over, as an empty (in the rear coach at least) 800023 took me to Reading (via Didcot Parkway), and 165128 took me to Basingstoke.

Although this is where things nearly went wrong, as the 165 was held for nearly 8 minutes for the late running voyager to arrive and go in front, although thankfully the SWR service to Salisbury was itself running 10 minutes late so no extended wait at Basingstoke for me, as 159104 rolled in to take me back home, and a short walk.  Overall an enjoyable day, a shame my friend was feeling under the weather as he was going to join me for a good social catch-up, but health comes first.  Some random platforms, with some more units over 10 miles, I will leave you with this picture of 68013 taken in the morning at Leamington Spa from 165008.