20 – 22nd August: FOSS Rover 2nd Weekend

 20 – 22^nd August: FOSS Rover 2^nd Weekend

Hopefully this weekend will be less stressful with getting affected by delays or cancellations, but after the previous Saturday caused a replan for the Golden Valley line, I booked myself a room in a hotel near Gloucester station for the Friday night with the aim of doing a couple little novelty moves.  The random XC service for the South West which comes in, splits & reverses to carry on heading south, plus a random IET from Cheltenham to Worcester.  The Saturday was going to be a case of using the rover to reach Cardiff where I would head into West Wales, with the Sunday being a trip to Devon.

 

Although things didn’t go to plan (and it wasn't the railways fault this time!)

 

Friday 20^th August – Gloucestershire

The day began with the 08:30 service from Grateley which took me to Salisbury (where it divided leaving behind the rear 158 with the front 2 units going on towards Exeter).  I had a short wait at Salisbury before a Westbury bound 166 rolled in from Southampton for the short run to Westbury for another short wait before boarding the same 166 to take me to Swindon (the section between Chippenham & Swindon was quite good fun with the engine noise at high speed).  At Swindon I had around 50 minutes to wait before the next Cheltenham Spa train would arrive so I popped out of the station to grab bits for lunch before returning.

 

A busy 800 rolled in from London, which took me towards Kemble where I went for a little walk (the Swindon bound platform was very busy as the previous train had been cancelled).  I ended up doing a little loop involving part of the Thames Path (although as the River Thames is near the source, it was a bit dry in places), before coming back to the station to take the next train to Stonehouse where once more I set out for a walk.  This time a walk along the part restored Stroudwater Navigation towards Stroud (where it turns into the Thames & Severn canal), going underneath an old railway bridge (for the old branch line towards Nailsworth which is also on my list to do).

 

A  800 departs Kemble

 

However this is where things went wrong as I received a phone call saying that the hotel I was booked in was cancelling my booking as they had no water.  So after finishing my walk along the canal towpath and doing a little loop at the end to view a railway viaduct (before coming back along a path alongside the River Frome) I did a little bit of research on the station platform when waiting for the next Cheltenham Spa train, but things didn’t look promising in the slightest, the cheapest place I could find which I didn’t need a bus/taxi to reach was still over £100, so I decided to ditch the plan for the evening and head back towards home later that evening.

 

Anyhow back to the trains, as another busy 800 rolled in to take me to Cheltenham Spa, where I had a short break before a 165 arrived to take me to Great Malvern and a short wait before the same unit took me back towards Gloucester.  I was in two minds at the next step, part of me wanted to jump on the first service back towards Cheltenham where I would have a gentle walk along the “Honeybourne” line path (old railway route) but when at Gloucester I noticed the Southampton via Swindon train was a 165, I decided to ditch the idea of heading back towards Cheltenham and jumped on the 165.  The random XC voyager via Gloucester could wait for another day.

 

Railway Viaduct over a canal in Stroud

 

A good decision it seemed as it started to rain when the train got moving, but it got quite busy as the previous London train got cancelled, before emptying out at Swindon where the unit sat in the bay platform for around 15 minutes before going towards Chippenham & Melksham.  I decided to bail at Warminster, grabbing a sandwich from the nearby Lidl but sadly due to a mess up earlier in the day when I had it in my head that I needed 158749 for my final GWR 158 saw me getting news that it was that unit on the next Cardiff train.  I didn’t need 158749 but 158745 so a large “doh” for me and with the next Portsmouth train showing as cancelled I decided to jump on the 158s when they rolled in (where I discovered my mistake!)

 

Anyhow I took this pair of 158s to Bradford on Avon, to await the next Portsmouth train, which was a busy 166+165, losing the rear 165 at Westbury making the rest of the train even busier.  I alighted at Salisbury and headed over to platform 6 to board the 159 on the Reading service which took me back towards Grateley, and a gentle walk home.  The day was mixed, I did the main things I wanted (the stations between Swindon & Gloucester) and did recover from the hotel getting cancelled without forking out too much (ended up paying £6 for a single ticket back to Grateley).  Along the way back, I looked up options for the Saturday, eventually coming up with 2 alternative rough ideas based on what was running in the morning.

 

A 165 at Great Malvern

 

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21^st August – West Wales

It was an early start and early drive to reach Salisbury station for the 07:07 Gloucester train, which was a nice 2 coach 158 (extra bit of luxury), which took me towards Bristol Parkway.  All was going well until the Filton area as it looked like a 165 on a Severn Beach service had been cancelled and was running ECS to get out of the way of a Cardiff bound HST, sadly this ECS delayed the Gloucester train and to make things worse it got delayed further when a XC service went ahead of the 158 (it was meant to loop the GWR service at Bristol Parkway).  This meant arrival into Bristol Parkway was around 15 minutes down meaning my planned trip to a nearby Tesco wasn’t going to happen.

 

I made a mistake in assuming that Cardiff – Swansea tickets (and Swansea – Fishguard) would be available to purchase as e-tickets to download the PDFs to my phone; however the usual websites had them only as collection.  My friend recommended I download the Trainline app and I was happy that the tickets were available to be purchased as mobile tickets, a first for me using the mobile tickets within the app, but I didn’t want to jump off at Cardiff to buy/collect the tickets from the TVMs as it would mean a 150 to Swansea.  Anyhow I took a seat on a pair of 800s for the trip via the tunnel and carrying on towards Neath, where after noticing the 150 on the Milford Haven train was running on time so bailed for a photograph, to save a job for later.

 

GWR Trainbow at Neath

A short wait at Neath before the 150 rolled in, for it was quite busy as expected, but I got a seat opposite someone on a table (after asking if they minded if I sat opposite).  At Swansea it was a short connection to take a seat on the Fishguard boat train, a 150 attached to a 153 which was reasonably busy.  After Llanelli it ran non-stop towards Whitland using the Carmarthen avoider before heading towards rural Pembrokeshire reaching Fishguard & Goodwick, where at a guess a good 30 passengers alighted.

 

I dashed to a nearby Tesco for lunch and did a little loop, this is an area I might return to on a Sunday where there are a couple trains in the afternoon 90 or so minutes apart, which should be enough for a little walkabout.  Anyhow back at the station (not a train you want to miss as the next wasn’t for another 7 hours!) and at a guess 20 passengers boarded the train when it arrived back, this time I took a seat in the 153 on the opposite site to look at the scenery on the way back towards Carmarthen, where I managed to grab a couple photos during the reversal and took the service towards Llanelli where I set out for a walk.

Fishguard Bay

 

 

My walk was going to take me back towards Pembrey & Burry Port station, along the “Millennium coastal path” which after joining the path heading south from Llanelli station before it took me towards the “North Dock” where the path started along the water.  An enjoyable walk along a tarmacked path, the beach to one side and housing the other, soon it reached the railway where the path went over the top of a short tunnel (somewhere which I reckon would make for a great photograph of a passing train, but with the next trains not due for 30 minutes I didn’t have time to wait).

 

The next section was a bit hillier for the walking route, but the cycle route goes around the side of the hills, more inland.  There were a couple good spots where you could see the water of the River Loughor but a couple times where the path went to the bottom of the railway embankment, but there was a couple foot crossings giving access to the water front, and I did have good timing for a passing train at one of the crossings.  Back towards the path as the tarmac came to an end as the cycle route went round the side of a hill but the walking route went over the hill to re-join the path near another short railway tunnel.

 

Go West 175!

 

I headed away from the tarmac to follow a grassy path towards the Burry Port East Beach, walking along the beach with sand underfoot with the area getting busier as the closer I got to Burry Port.  After doing a little walk towards a breakwater it was time to head towards the station, where I noticed a GWR service which was showing as cancelled earlier in the day seemed to have come back giving me another option (and a bit of a novelty of boarding a GWR service at Pembrey & Burry Port!).  So after a photograph of a pair of 175s passing at the station, I popped to the nearby Co-Op for some food and relaxed before the 800 arrived.

 

A West Wales 800 at Burry Port

I nearly got caught out as some of the doors didn’t release (first set of doors which opened was at the back of the 2^nd coach) as I was aiming for the front coach which was more peaceful (with no engine underneath), enjoying a private coach for the run to Swansea, where it attached with another 800 to head back towards Cardiff as a 10 coach unit.  I decided to jump off at Cardiff just as a large group of kickball fans joined (Millwall from the looks of things), crossing the platform to join the Portsmouth train (a 166+165 combo).

 

The front 166 looked busy, but the rear 165 was lightly loaded (and had working AC!), it only got busy in the coach I was in after Warminster where people heading back from a day with the Imber buses boarded.  The train got delayed between Oldfield Park & Bath Spa due to a late running Westbury – Cheltenham Spa service, meaning the Portsmouth lost its path over the bi-directional track so had to wait for a London train to depart, and then wait a bit longer at Bath for any passengers to change platforms.  This 20 minute delay never got recovered along the way as I alighted at Salisbury, heading back to my car for a gentle drive home.

 

An enjoyable day in West Wales it was, with a relaxing walk between Llanelli & Burry Port taking in some nice scenery, the weather was overcast with the odd sunny spell.

 

Burry Port East Beach

 

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22^nd August – Devon

 

Like with the Saturday today was going to be an early morning drive to Salisbury, this time to catch the 06:55-odd Exeter service, the main idea was to revisit the few stations I needed for photos in Devon and hopefully have a bit of a novelty of a 158 between Exeter & Taunton.

 

Unlike with the Saturday I didn’t have to pay for parking as there is on-street parking available close to Salisbury station which is free to park on a Sunday, and it was a relaxing drive to a side street before walking to the station, to wait for the first Exeter train to roll in from the depot, as I took a seat in the leading coach of this pair of units on the run towards Devon.  Lightly loaded throughout, although there was a couple who boarded at Feniton who clearly didn’t want to pay for a ticket as they pretended to be asleep.

 

I alighted from the 159s at Exeter Central, swinging via the Co-Op outside the station for something cold to drink and a light snack, I set out for a gentle walk towards an old Iron Bridge in the city, before coming out near to the River Exe, where I picked up a path which runs alongside the flood relief canal, eventually coming up to the road near to the depot (seeing 166s down in this part of the country is still odd), crossing the railway via the level crossing and heading into Exeter St Davids where I headed for the Cardiff Train.

 

River Exe near Exeter Depot

 

As I had hoped for, it was a pair of 158s, and I took a seat for the run to Taunton (which was quite vocal of the sprinters as I suspect they hit top speed).  At Taunton with 30 minutes to wait before the next train back towards Exeter I did another little time wasting loop, taking in a footbridge to the “devon” end of the station and walking along a new(ish) road which had been built using an old railway loop, using an old bridge near Taunton station.  Back at Taunton it was a short wait before a 9 coach 800 rolled in on an Exeter terminator and I had a near private coach (which compared to a Penzance bound service behind was a luxury!).  I took this to Exeter, noticing how busy the northbound platform was (would dread to think how busy that London train would have been after Taunton).

 

A short wait at Exeter St Davids as the 800 headed away to the sidings, and a 2 coach 158 rolled in from Exeter Central on the next Barnstaple service.  This was quite busy as I requested the stop of Copplestone, where a good half dozen passengers also alighted, and with 30 minutes before the next southbound service, I did another short little loop into the village itself (nice little village in my eyes, beats sitting at the station for 30 minutes near some kids who were smoking something smelling very strong).

 

A 158 departs Copplestone

 

I returned to the station, and boarded a busy 3 coach 158 on the next Exeter train (the previous train had been cancelled so this was extra busy), this took me to Exeter St Davids where I had a short wait before a 166 rolled in from Paignton to take me to Exmouth along a beautiful section of railway.  I remained on the same unit which took me back to the passing station of Topsham, where once more to waste the 30 minutes I had between trains I ended up doing a little loop of the local area, heading to a nearby bridge over the river, swinging via a Co-Op (looking for another drink, but alas they didn’t have anything suitable) and an outdoor swimming pool.

 

166s passing at Topsham

Anyhow back at Topsham station, it was a short wait before another 166 rolled in to take me back to Exeter Central, where after popping out to the nearby Co-Op (also for a photo of the train going down the hill) a pair of 159s arrived to take me to Honiton.  I managed to get a drink from a Spar shop in the town centre, before another pair of 159s arrived to take me to Whimple (solely because I wanted a better photo).  A short time later another pair of 159s returned me to Honiton for another short wait before some more 159s (all the 159s!) took me to Feniton.

 

This cleared Devon & also SWR for station photographs (All I need for GWR is a handful of stations in Cornwall on the St Ives & Falmouth branches), somewhere I want to return to on another day to walk part of the old railway line which would have gone towards Sidmouth I believe.  Anyway I had a short wait at Feniton station before the next Basingstoke bound train rolled in, where I managed to get one of the airline seats which has extra legroom from formally being a table seat, on a train which got busier the closer to Salisbury it got.

 

At Salisbury I alighted from the train, headed back to my car and had a relaxing drive home, the end of a varied weekend.  Thankfully a lot less stress than the previous weekend, other than the issue with my hotel getting cancelled on the Friday, but another TOC cleared for stations needed for photos plus some nice walks.

 

Feniton Station