21st August – Another bounce in the Valleys
When I learnt that Transport for Wales had introduced a
couple peak time 37 hauled sets in Wales, I decided to give them a go, plus it
allowed me to finish a job I started earlier in the month and hopefully clear
my last trio of Welsh Pacers for 10 miles, as this could potentially be my last
trip to the Valleys before the end of the year.
The original idea of this day changed to start from Grateley instead of
starting from Salisbury, which limited my end time to being the 19:30
Portsmouth service, and my start time to the 09:07 service from Grateley.
Like on the Tuesday it was walk to the station, noting the
TVM was out of order (I was glad I picked up my tickets yesterday at
Basingstoke), watching the London train pull in with a good number boarding,
before 159105, 159013 & 159016 arrived from London. I took a seat in the leading unit as this
continued towards Yeovil via Westbury, only as far as Warminster, before a
short fester for 158951 to roll in to take me all the way to Cardiff. It got caught up in some delays around
Southampton, regained some of the time, but lost more time after Newport when a
late running pair of 153s from Ebbw Vale were put out in front, but I had a
rough plan because some kind souls on the WNXX forum had put up the workings
for my pacers, plus one of my last couple Welsh 150s.
At Cardiff Central, I met up with my good friend, Jules, and
we set about chatting and putting the world to right with 150281 on the run to
Pontypridd, where we crossed over to the opposite platform for a service I
highlighted as a must-do move as once this unit got back into Cardiff it looked
like it run to the depot, so I was glad when 143622 rolled in, the ten
mile mark being passed between Radyr & Llandaf, so we bailed at Llandaf. Sadly I couldn’t work RTT and it wasn’t 142076
on the next service but 150254/143607. A
quick call for gen found out it was a set swap earlier on so a replan was in
order, after popping out to grab lunch at Cardiff Queen Street.
Up next on my rough plan was 143601 which we took to
Penarth, remaining on board for the trip back towards Cardiff, this being a
weird service which doesn’t carry on towards Caerphilly like most other
services from Penarth does, but goes towards Pontypridd, the unit was cleared
for 10 miles (and clears the class), but sadly due to an ECS being late from
the depot, with this pacer being put in front at Cardiff Central, it was 3
minutes late leaving Queen Street when the Bargoed was put in front. My hopeful +4 at Taffs Well was broken as we
played it safe and bailed from the 143 at Radyr.
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| 143601 departs Radyr |
The next southbound service was low mileage and final Welsh
Pacer, 142076, but the run to Cardiff Central wasn’t quite enough, so we
remained on board for the trip back to Radyr, via the City line. A short wait at Radyr before it was back
towards Cardiff Central, again via the City line, on 150279 and it was time to
change to something a bit more modern and fast, in the shape of 802008 &
802012 with the run to Bridgend, returning to Cardiff Central on 175105,
wasting time before the main event of the evening as we walked towards platform
6 to await the inbound ECS for the 17:01 Rhymney.
We heard it before we saw 37418 rolling in, nearly getting caught out as the guard van was
behind the loco, but we got on board and stood by the vestibule. The security guard allowed us to open the
window to get some fresh air (as the toilet was a bit smelly), it was busy from
Queen Street but we were only on for a single stop to Heath High Level, giving
us time to watch it depart and slowly make our way slowly towards the
southbound platform for low mileage 150285
getting a little boost back to Cardiff Central, giving us some more time before
the 2nd loco hauled set rolled in, this was with 37421 leading and 37025 on the back
running but not providing power. This time
we took a seat in the 2nd coach to enjoy the noise for the run to Caerphilly;
stepping back for 150285 to get some
extra mileage (not quite enough to push it over 10 miles, but 9.5 miles is
better than 0.5 miles!) to Ystrad Mynach, where we were surprised to see a
loaded coal train wasting time on the nearby freight line.
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| 37418 at Heath (High Level) |
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| 37421 at Caerphilly |
150262 was on the Ystrad Mynach – Cardiff express service
tonight, and unlike a couple weeks ago when I had a private pacer, this one had
around half a dozen other passengers on board.
Back to Cardiff Central, where we parted ways with Jules boarding a
required 800 to Newport and I took a seat on 158956 for the long run back
towards Salisbury, followed by 159018 on the 21:47 Salisbury – Reading service. A gentle walk home where I could relax after
a good day in South Wales, both my main missions were successful, plus I
managed to increase the mileage for 150285.
Probably the last time I will be heading into the Valleys for a while
though L
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