29th February & 1st March – A
weekend in the West Midlands
The idea of this trip came about when reading an issue of
the Branch Line Newsletter earlier in the year which had news that the bay
platform 3 at Worcester Shrub Hill had a booked use. This bay avoided me 3 times a couple years
ago, either bowled out due to cancelled trains, poor weather or the train using
platform 1. Although the timing was a
bit awkward (08:58 on a Saturday) which meant an overnight in the Birmingham
area was required. Making use of a sale
for “Friday & Sunday” nights booked me a room in the Travelodge in Walsall
and a rough plan was thrown together. A
couple weeks later I was looking at hotels for the Saturday night and found the
Premier Inn outside Wolverhampton station was reasonably priced so I decided to
make it into both nights.
I reached Walsall on the Friday night, after a little trip
to Upper Halliford (to clear the Shepperton line), pausing off at Bescot
Stadium on the way there to tick off two more stations. I got lucky with a refurbished 350/1
(attached to a 350/2 which was heading to Crewe) for the long run to
Bescot. Not the best of nights due to a
stag party deciding to play music out loud pre-loading on drinks before heading
out to carry on partying.
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| Upper Halliford, had nice views of the M3! |
29th February - A day in Gloucestershire, Worcestershire & the West Midlands
The day began with the 06:03 stopping service, passing the
“Wolverhampton – Walsall – Rugeley” ghost train at Walsall [uses the direct
line from Wolverhampton to Walsall, then runs nonstop to Rugeley, it looked
empty!]. I was a bit surprised when I
saw 323209 on this service as it has always been a 350 since the timetable
change, but I wasn’t complaining with the noise from the motors for the run to
New Street, popping outside for some breakfast before boarding 170503 & 170632
on the Hereford service, which I took to Worcester Foregate Street. A short walk around (to be honest I was a bit
shocked the Sainsburys Local located pretty much outside the station doesn’t
open until 8am, even on a weekday), before boarding 800030 for the trip around
the corner to Worcester Shrub Hill.
I was in luck because the 158 to form the Westbury service
was sitting on platform 3, hidden away at the end of platform 2, behind several
stabled DMUs in the centre siding. Due
to the short platform, it was local door only on winner 158765 (previous had when it was part of a 158/9 hybrid set), the
rearmost door was partly off the end of the platform, with the frontmost door
on some anti-trespass spikes, which meant getting a picture of the unit on the
bay was very hard, considering there isn’t a platform number visible!
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| Platform 3 at Worcester Shrub Hill getting used! |
I remained on this 158 to Cheltenham Spa, where I
changed onto the late running Bristol bound 220023, where I even got a seat in
the leading coach! I took this voyager
to Bristol Temple Meads, looping the 158 south of the Gloucester junction. At Bristol Temple Meads I changed over to a
Cardiff bound 43158/43041 for some mini-HST action for the run to Filton
Abbey Wood, scoring platform 4 in the process (still a bit of a nightmare
to change platforms) then onto 166201 to Yate for an hour fester. This station can be awkward to visit as the
trains can pass within a couple minutes of each other, and the road between the
platforms is quite busy. I went for a
little walk before returning to the station for the service an hour later, with
165119 taken to Gloucester.
A quick visit to a nearby Tesco Express to grab lunch
supplies needed ended badly as that is a Tesco Express without self-service
tills and one of the till operators was busy dealing with checking a pile of
lottery tickets given to them.
Thankfully I made it back to the station in time to board the Birmingham
bound 170109, which is one of the few XC services to call at Ashchurch for
Tewkesbury, confusing the guard as he forgot that this service calls
there. I did look into doing this
service from Ashcurch to Worcestershire Parkway, but there are no connections
at the high level platform (the next Worcester service skips the station). The wind had increased somewhat, forcing me
to relocate to the little shelter for the wait before the next GWR service,
formed of 165129 which took me to Worcester Shrub Hill.
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| 170109 passes at Ashchurch |
I was meant to stay on this unit to Malvern Link, changing
over to a Hereford bound service to Colwall, however this is when things went a
bit pear shaped as due to a signalling issue between Worcester & Malvern
all the lines were blocked and West Midland Railways had collapsed into
themselves (which to be honest isn’t that hard for them to do!) The 165 terminated at Shrub Hill and with
nothing moving, other than a pair of 172s which arrived and departed without a
word from the station staff with the platform displays showing “terminates
here” (I would imagine it would have been a Whitlocks End – Great Malvern
service). To make things worse when
trains did start moving, a late running Hereford – Paddington service (roughly
an hour late into Shrub Hill) was announced as running non-stop to Oxford, with
the next service also being delayed due to the signalling fault. Anyhow after a couple more services arrived
into the station being terminated early, it was a short wait before a pair of
172s arrived from Whitlock’s End which formed a New Street service.
This service is one which has been on my “to-do” list for a
while, as it goes via the Camp Hill Line to approach New Street from the
Coventry end (where it forms a Hereford service). I took a seat on a busy 172220 & 172222
for the delayed start before the service regained time due to a lot of padding
by Droitwich Spa. As booked it turn off
the mainline after Kings Norton to go via the Camp Hill Line, a line where one
day might get some stations reopened (used mainly by some XC services to avoid
reversals at New Street). I forgot how
messy this line is for flytipping, so I was glad when it approached New Street,
a few minutes early and for a fight to get off the train due to the waiting
passengers.
At New Street I crossed over the cross city line and did
some linear hops, with 323208 taken to Five Ways, 323241 to Selly Oak
& 323207 to Bourneville returning to University on 323243 before
boarding 170109 to take me to the country’s newest railway station, Worcestershire
Parkway. Due to late running I
didn’t have that long here, but the station does look impressive, and well used
with a good number of passengers alighting from that 170. After a quick photo of a GWR service on the
high level platform, it was to the Birmingham bound platform with 170110 taken
to New Street where I grabbed some dinner before heading to a late running
Euston stopper.
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| 170109 passes at Worcestershire Parkway |
The line between New Street & Coventry isn’t the easiest
to do for stations due to the skip-stop nature of the services, add on random
delays and I know my rough plan probably would be put to the test. First up was the former TPE 350410 leading
350110 to Canley, where I changed my plan to take a late running 350371
to Tile Hill for a short fester before 350370 & 350376 arrived to
take me to Marston Green for a connection onto a 15 minute late running
350243 & 350126 to Berkswell, it got looped by a voyager at
International so this was hit & miss, but thankfully the next New Street
service was delayed, so I took 350250 & 350111 to Hampton in Arden,
making another tight connection to another late running service with 350112
& 350103 taken back to Berkswell, connecting onto 350102 & 350244 to
Birmingham International.
A short wait at Birmingham International, before 350370
arrived on a terminator, which I took to Stechford (featuring a
temporary footbridge due to having a new accessible footbridge/lifts
installed). Another short wait at this
quiet station before 350104 & 350249 arrived to take me to New Street,
where I boarded 220014 for the short run to Wolverhampton, quite pleased I had
completed the line for stations, arriving at Wolverhampton earlier than
expected. When I was heading out of the
station I noticed on the arrival screen that the new stopper was showing as
“delayed”, and a quick look at RTT saw it sitting at New Street 10 minutes
after it should have departed, so my trip to the hotel was delayed as I took a
seat on 350128 for the short run to Tipton, giving me 5 minutes to
change platforms to board a late running 350111 back to Wolverhampton.
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| Temporary footbridge at Stechford |
Can’t beat a bonus station, especially one which isn’t the
easiest to get normally (a tight connection), and on arrival back to
Wolverhampton, it was a short walk to the Premier Inn where I crashed for the
night. On reflection a productive day,
other than losing those two stations west of Worcester, but those can be
recovered on a WMDR trip, on the upside I got a couple additional stations,
plus the bay platform at Worcester Shrub Hill.
1st March – A Sunday spin to Wellington
The idea of today was to clear my remaining stations on the
line towards Shrewsbury, plus a couple other stations within the WMDR area,
some of these stations are easier on a Sunday morning due to having a couple
additional TfW Rail services calling everywhere. After checking out of the hotel, I walked to
the station, picking up the tickets for today and boarded 350376 on the first
stopper towards Walsall, only to Dudley Port which clears the line
between Wolverhampton & New Street.
A short wait here on the island platform before 170508 & 170515
rolled in to take me to Bilbrook, where I had a gentle walk (via a
nearby Co-Op) to Codsall to relax before the next Shrewsbury service.
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| A 170 approaching the footbridge at Codsall |
170505 & 170511 were up next to take me to Albrighton
for a short walk around the station before 158818 & 158823 arrived to take
me to Oakengates followed by 170512 & 170517 to Wellington to
complete the line. I had a walk around
the town centre near to the station, but it was a bit on the quiet side. Back to the station and I looked in dread as
“formed of 2 coaches” popped up on the next TfW Rail service, but thankfully
158822 wasn’t that busy, I even got a table seat. With this line complete it was to New Street,
swinging via Boots for a meal-deal before boarding 390044 on the next Avanti
service, this was a bit of a crawl due to a late running stopping 350 from
Crewe getting put ahead of the Pendo, but I had time to play with at Coventry
before the Nuneaton shuttle arrived.
I wanted to do Bedworth on a Sunday because it is a thirty
minute walk for the same train back, on a weekday/Saturday the length of time
is longer due to the hourly services passing north of Coventry Arena, so it was
onto 172006 for the run to Bedworth, alighting in the rain so it was a
case of hiding in the little shelter, as a hail storm struck, and the shelter
didn’t really give that much protection, mix between the open tops, the hole
punched metal sides and the wind.
Eventually 172006 returned to take me back to safety at Coventry, where
I transferred to 350115 & 350372 working the next Euston service to take me
to Long Buckby, a longer fester than expected due to late running but
eventually a busy 350257 rolled in to take me to Milton Keynes Central. This forms a semi-fast service to Euston and
when there was an express service from Crewe (via the Trent Valley) due 10
minutes after that 350 departed it was worth the gamble (that it won’t be a
pair of 350/2s).
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| Pendo 002 clears the platform of waiting passengers at Milton Keynes Central |
Thankfully the gamble paid off with a refurbished 350117
leading 350238 for the non-stop run into Euston, where I transferred to the
Victoria line with 11069/11070 taken to Oxford Circus, walking to the
northbound Bakerloo platform just as a service was leaving, next up was 8
minutes (then 16 minutes). For lack of a
better idea I stayed put (the idea of going to the Central line for a service
to Lancaster Gate never crossed my mind), eventually a busy 3563/3256 rolled in
to take me to Paddington where it took me nearly 10 minutes to exit the
underground area due to congestion (the main Bakerloo gateline is closed and is
peak-time only, forcing passengers along a narrow passageway towards the
district line gateline. Something for me
to bear in mind for the future, as I had a quick scan at Paddington, the next
option was an Oxford service formed of 802016, which got very busy before
departure (emptied out a little bit at Slough). At Reading I made a connection
to 221138 to take me to Basingstoke where I visited the nearby KFC (very slow
service due to only having a couple members of staff doing the food, the third
was too busy inputting web orders).
Back at Basingstoke and it was a short wait before 159021
& 158887 arrived from Reading to take me back to Grateley, where I had a
gentle walk home and relaxing evening.
Reflecting on today I did everything I wanted with the Shrewsbury line
covered, Bedworth & Long Buckby also covered for photographs. Overall a good weekend and other than the
signalling issues on Saturday no cancelled trains (or stops ripped out to make
up lost time which is something West Midlands Trains are in a bad habit of doing).
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| A Cardiff bound "Castle" HST departs Filton Abbey Wood, because who doesn't like a random picture of a HST? |
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