13 – 15th August, Freedom of the Severn & Solent Part 1
The idea of this weekend’s trip was to make a good impact into my remaining GWR stations I need for photographs outside Devon & Cornwall, plus to do the novelty of a passenger service via St Philips Marsh Depot. Although things turned out to be stressful at times due to the sheer number of cancellations across the network on all 3 days.
Friday
the 13th
The day started with the 09:07 service from Grateley towards Salisbury, where originally I was going to purchase my ranger from the ticket office to take the next Cardiff service to Filton for a Weston service, but that Weston service got cancelled forcing a quick replan of the day, and so after speaking with the guard (who was unable to sell me the ranger), I remained on the 159 beyond Salisbury to take me to Frome to tick off my first station of the trip.
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| A 159 departs Frome |
A short wait at Frome, before a busy 2 coach 158 on a Gloucester stopper, which I took all the way to Bristol Parkway for a short wait before a 166 rolled in to start filling up with both normal passengers wanting to avoid the replacement bus service and people like myself doing the train for the very rare track via the depot (even for rail tours!). The 166 departed reasonably loaded in the centre coach and headed towards Filton Abbey Wood before taking the Dr Days curve and entering the depot. Oddest thing I spotted on the depot was a trio of 143s behind a little shunter, but it was worth doing to tick off the track.
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| Bounce No More 143s |
I alighted from the 166 at Nailsea & Backwell, to have a short walk doing a loop to Backwell Lake, before returning to the station, expecting to see a HST on the next Taunton service. I was a bit surprised when a pair of busy 158s rolled up, which I took to Weston Milton, once again heading out for a short walk to a nearby Tesco Express for some lunch, before doing a short loop, returning to the station with only a couple minutes to spare (I failed to take into account a busy road I needed to cross!)
Next up for my trip was a HST, which I took a couple stations back towards Bristol to reach Yatton for a short wait before the next train towards Taunton, which I took to Highbridge & Burnham, a station where the hourly services pretty much pass at so I had an hour break, where once more I set off on foot to do a loop towards a lake area, firstly going alongside a river (slightly overgrown in places) before coming back along where I think an old branch line towards Burnham on Sea once ran.
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| Lake |
Back at Highbridge & Burnham station, the 158s had returned to take me to Worle, where I made a connection onto the final Bristol Parkway – Weston Super Mere service (a 2 coach 165, which I suspect might have been busy at the start!), which I took to Weston Super Mere. A short wait here (a place on my list to revisit to have a decent look around, when it’s not as busy!), before the next Taunton HST arrived to take me to Taunton.
I had a lucky escape as I was originally going to return on the same train to Bridgwater to get a better photo (as trains from Taunton towards Westbury are only every couple hours and doing the XC towards Bristol Parkway is something I had to drop due to the delays earlier in the day). It was a lucky escape as the 158s were having issues and eventually split up running 20-odd minutes late and would have missed the connection to the London train. Anyhow when I was at Taunton I noticed the train hadn’t departed so gave it a miss and go for another walk, this time doing a couple loops involving the canal/river path, ending up in Morrisons before returning to Taunton station for the London train.
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| A HST & Voyager at Taunton |
A pair of 802s rolled in, and was on time until after Castle Cary where they caught up with a late running train from Weymouth (some of the signal sections on this line are quite long), it got delayed again waiting for that same train to rejoin the main-line after Frome, but thankfully GWR saw sense and held a Portsmouth service to allow passengers to make connections [and as the following Portsmouth train was starting from Westbury had I missed that train it would have been an hour wait].
I took this 166 to Salisbury, but after noticing the next stopper had been cancelled, I made a tight connection onto a pair of required 158s going back the other direction, which I took to Warminster before the next Portsmouth train (a single 165) took me back to Salisbury, where I made a connection onto a Basingstoke bound 159 for the final leg to Grateley, the end of the first day. Highlight was doing the track via the depot and also seeing how pretty the area is around Burnham.
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Saturday the 14th
After a nice drive (no slow moving traffic) to Salisbury, today started with the 07:30 Cardiff service (this week featuring a 3 coach 158), but this is where things went wrong as my original plan had me changing at Westbury for a Swindon train before heading towards the stations between Swindon & Gloucester, involving a walk along the canal, however that plan went into the bin as trains on that line were pretty much broken with cancellations (why GWR can’t simply run it as a shuttle between Swindon & Gloucester to provide some service, instead of running the 5 coach units towards London where passengers have alternative options).
Anyhow during a long dwell at Westbury, I nearly decided to head towards Wales for a day on the Valley lines, but eventually deciding to do some stations within the FOSS area, so I remained on the 3 coach 158 for the run to Bristol Parkway. Due to the engineering works overrun in the Bristol Temple Meads area, Bristol Parkway was in a bit of chaos, so I jumped on a 166 to take me back to Filton Abbey Wood, where I had a short wait before a delayed 166 arrived from Westbury to take me to Gloucester, the delay being made up as it was due to dwell at Bristol Parkway for 15 minutes (I guess the time it would have spent reversing at Temple Meads).
At Gloucester I had a short wait before returning on the same unit back towards Cam & Dursley, noticing that the engine in the leading coach had failed (for it was ever so quiet, I wonder if it actually made it to Weymouth or did it get swapped over at Westbury to avoid the risk of a limping train on the single track line towards Weymouth. Anyhow it was a short wait at Cam & Dursley before a busy 158 rolled in to take me back to Gloucester, where I had a break for some lunch from a nearby Tesco Express.
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| Cam & Dursley Station |
Back at the station, it was a short wait before the doors on a 2 coach 170 were opened on the next Maesteg service, where I went into the declassified first class area [which was nice and empty!] I alighted from the 170 at Chepstow, crossing over to the opposite platform to await the next Gloucester service. It was good to see the guards finally back to doing revenue, to catch out those who think payment is optional. Sadly the next Gloucester train was running late (I guess overcrowding on the first section from Maesteg towards Cardiff) as another 2 coach 170 rolled in to take me back to Gloucester, a very unofficial plan to make a Paddington service was lost due to the delay so it was time to break out the next idea.
This involved a reformed XC 170/6 for the non-stop run towards Newport, as the XC timetable on this route is a complete & utter mess of random station calls, both advertised & unadvertised. Needless to say as it ran fast it was lightly loaded, at least in the centre coach, and arrived at Newport around 7 minutes early. A short wait (where I noticed the next Manchester service was a pair of 153s, lucky passengers!) before a pair of 800s arrived from Swansea. As the previous service was cancelled these were quite busy, but I managed to get a seat for the run towards Bristol Parkway, underneath the river.
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| Manchester bound 153s, Woof |
The next couple hours was a grey area as I wanted to get on a certain Weymouth train (for it gave a reasonable connection at Bruton), so to waste time jumped on a Portsmouth bound 165+166 combo for the run towards Bradford on Avon, where a plan to head back to Avoncliff failed as that train got cancelled! Instead I had a little walk towards the river to waste some time before the next Westbury service rolled in. The Portsmouth train ran via platform 1 (usually the Bristol bound) at Bath Spa due to an IET on platform 2, so a bit of unusual bi-directional running towards Bathampton junction
This 166 took me to Westbury, where I remained on board as it formed the next Swindon train, which I took to Chippenham, returning towards Bath on the next Bath terminator (crossed over at Bathampton Junction to run into Bath Spa on platform 2). I popped out of the station to visit Boots for some dinner for later, before doing another little loop involving the river before heading back towards Bath Spa to await the next train towards Weymouth.
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| Bridges over the River Avon in Bath, Oh also a 802 |
Sadly the Portsmouth train in front got cancelled, so the 3 coach 166 was very busy when it rolled into Bath and extremely busy after Bath (all the shoppers/day trippers heading home). Thankfully I got a seat and it did empty out by Westbury. I remained on board until Bruton giving me around 35 minutes to wait before the next train from Weymouth arrived, so once more I had a little walk, but it was cut down due to wanting to be at the station for a passing steam train. This is an area I wouldn’t mind revisiting again one of these days for a decent walk in the Somerset area. Anyhow the steam engine passed the station and a pair of busy 158s rolled in from Weymouth (extra busy as the previous train got cancelled).
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| Somehow I don't think this is the Train to Swindon ;) |
These 158s took me back to Westbury, where once more I had a tight connection to a Portsmouth train (a nice 3 coach 158!), which took me back towards Salisbury. I decided to hold back to see what was working the next train towards Bristol and when a required 2 coach 158 arrived, I jumped on board for the run to Warminster, returning to Salisbury on a 3 coach 166. Another 158 ticked off in my book, along with 3 stations for the day (plus some looking out of the window time for it’s been a while since I last did the line between Gloucester & Severn Tunnel Junction). Sadly the day’s original plan went into the bin due to the cancellations, but these things happen.
After arriving back at Salisbury, I had a nice easy drive home, where I relaxed for the remainder of the day.
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Sunday 15th August
Today started with a drive to Romsey, I was torn between driving to Romsey or returning to Salisbury (and parking on the side of a street near to the station); eventually picking Romsey as there was more free parking spaces. I notice the TVM is still overcharging for the car park (I wonder how much SWR has pocketed from those who haven’t noticed they are getting overcharged), although as I parked on the side of the street I didn’t have to pay.
My first train of the day was a 158 taken to Southampton Central (via Redbridge, rather than via Eastleigh), where I made a connection onto a Weymouth train which started at Southampton and was lightly loaded most of the way (got busier the closer to Weymouth it got). At Weymouth after a quick walk to the sea front (very busy with a fair in town) I returned to the station to board a 2 coach 158 (was hoping it was going to be a Turbo!) which took me along the Heart of Wessex line to reach Westbury, the train getting extra busy at Castle Cary due to a London train getting cancelled.
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| This is the Swindon Train |
I had forgotten how rural this line gets; a nice way to spend an hour looking out of the window, but it was back to normal after arriving at Westbury and with a lot of cancellations showing for the Portsmouth trains later on (3 hour gap at one stage!) I decided not to head further north and jumped on a busy 159 to Warminster. I noticed the next Cardiff train was a 2 coach 165 (bet that was busy on board as that’s the first Portsmouth – Cardiff train of the day on a Sunday) so I gave that a miss and headed to Salisbury on a 5 coach 158 having a crazy idea to head towards Tisbury for a nice walk, so at Salisbury I had a short wait before a pair of 159s departed on the next Exeter train, making sure I was in the front unit due to the short platform at Tisbury.
I alighted at Tisbury and set off for a little walk which has been on my “to-do” list for a while, it’s a lovely area for walking as there are many paths (and hills) and I believe it’s located within an area of outstanding natural beauty. A couple wrong turns due to poor markings but a couple hours (and 6.5 miles) after setting off, I returned back at Tisbury station, rushing near the end [wanted to catch the train from Yeovil Pen Mill which connected with a SWR stopper, as the following SWR stopper towards Romsey had been cancelled and the GWR was the first after 2 lots got cancelled and I was expecting it to be that 2 coach 165 returning). It was a nice return to nature with a very rural route over one hill and around the side of another, very quiet as well.
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| 159 nearing Tisbury |
Anyhow a 158+159 combo rolled in from Yeovil Pen Mill, which took me back to Salisbury, where I headed over to platform 6 to take a seat on the “Romsey via Southampton” 158 which got busy due to the cancelled GWR services. This 158 took me back to Romsey, where after a short walk back to the car I had a nice easy drive home, the end of a busy weekend, full of delays & cancellations.
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| We live in a beautiful world |
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