26th March – A day trip to the South West (St Ives)

 26^th March – A day trip to the South West (St Ives)

 

The original plan for today was to head towards the Falmouth line, but I decided on the Friday to change the plan to instead head towards St Ives making the most of the weather forecast to have a nice walk.  The trip began with an early morning drive to Salisbury station (where after doing a little time-wasting walk before heading to the station, I noticed some single yellow lines with signs saying Monday – Friday, which gives me an idea to save money on parking on Saturdays.

 

Anyhow the first train for me was the 06:15 service towards Exeter (I noticed the first GWR service towards Gloucester was starting at Westbury which could have messed me up if I was going towards Cardiff, but my friend’s work pattern changed).  The SWR service towards Exeter was a pair of 159s and as it runs off-pattern it passes trains at Gillingham, Chard Loop & Honiton [I wonder how many passengers go onto auto-pilot and board the Exeter train at Honiton thinking it’s the London train, which goes from platform 2].  The train was on time arriving at Exeter St Davids giving me a nice connection onto a pair of 5 coach 802s bound for Penzance.

 

Early Morning Mist

 

I sat in the leading coach (also known in my eyes as standard premium, for it lacks an engine underneath) for the trip.  Dawlish looked beautiful as ever, certainly an area on my revisit list (now that some more of the sea wall has reopened after the improvement works).  Cornwall also looked beautiful as the train headed west, with all the short platforms along the way.  I alighted from the train at Hayle where only the front unit was platformed and started my walk.

 

A HST in Cornwall, some things never change

 

The first section on my walk was to follow the route of the former Hayle Docks branch, now a mixed use path, before I doubled back along a path next to the water (some nice views of the Hayle viaduct, but sadly due to the sun position I couldn’t really take any photos).  I popped to the Asda to get bits for lunch before carrying on to the end of one of the docks, before carrying on a footpath to the tip of a bit of land between the River Hayle and Copperhouse Pool.  The gap to the opposite bank looked quite small enough that someone could easily swim across the river (assuming it was safe).  But as I didn’t want to get wet, I returned towards the land, following a path between the river and Carnsew Pool.  I paused to take a photo of a train pausing at Lelant station on the opposite bank, a station which has gained a lot more services since my last visit to this area.

 

A 150 calls at Lelant

 

I returned towards the road to walk along the pavement with the river on my right hand side, reaching a turnoff towards the old park & ride site at Lelant Saltings, noticing a few signs along the road warning visitors that the station is only served by a couple trains a day since the Park & Ride got relocated to St Erth station.  The old P&R still exists as a long stay carpark with the station being a basic platform on the side of the river. A good place for me to have a pause to eat my lunch before carrying on with my walk.

 

This Train Don't Stop There Anymore

 The next section was along a road I’ve been to before (when visiting the two Lelant stations), passing Lelant station with extended platforms to have 5 coach trains call to cope with the demand of the summer services on the branch line.  This station is quite nice, even for somewhere to sit and look out over the water, but my time wasn’t for long before I returned to the road to head up a hill, passing a church following a footpath which cut across a golf-course, going underneath the railway line where the path splits, giving two options.  Either follow the path along the cliffs or go down onto the beach, I decided to head onto the beach (Porthkidney) which turned out to be a good decision as it was very pretty with the blue water and sand.

 

Porthkidney Beach

 

I carried on walking along the beautiful Porthkidney beach, reaching one of the access points which was a steep climb towards the cliff path (made worse due to being sand so a bit slippery underfoot).  I joined the cliff path walking along it, going up and down, some of the steps being quite large in places, but it was worth it for the views of the sea.

 

The path came out alongside a foot crossing of the railway line giving a couple options, but I decided to carry on with the cliff path heading towards Hawkes Point (where another access point for the Porthkidney beach comes up, I believe at low tide you can walk on the beach around the bottom of the cliff to reach Carbis Bay).  Once more the path was a bit up & down in places but again it was worth it for the views of the water, and of the beach at Carbis Bay.

 

The Beach at Barrepta Cove, Carbis Bay

 

I came to the end of the cliff path onto the roads near Carbis Bay station, and just missed a train pausing on the single platform, but it meant I could go down onto the station for some photos, before carrying on with my walk, following another path from the station to a road which goes underneath the Carbis Viaduct, reaching the coastal path, which went passed that posh hotel which had the G7 meeting last year.  The path here goes more inland, but I headed away from the main path to head towards Porthminster Point, a National Trust area of land and again very scenic.

 

After following the path via Portminster Point, it joined back up with the main South West Coastal path as it went via Portminster Beach, located quite close to St Ives station.  The end point of my little walk, I was originally going to carry on towards St Ives Head but decided that could wait for another visit to this beautiful area.  I noticed the shuttle train was only a single unit so didn’t want to hang around too long as I would imagine some of the trains back after 5pm would have been busy (lots of day visitors heading back to the Park & Ride).

 

150244 at St Ives

 

The train departed St Ives quite busy and called at Carbis Bay & Lelant before arriving at St Erth.  The return was delayed due to a late running IET from London, with the guard waiting for passengers to connect.  I waited a few minutes for a shorten HST to take me to Penzance hoping to score platform 4 (the platform on the outside of the building) but that HST went into platform 3 (as there was a 150-buffer blocking on the outside platform).  I had around 40 minutes before the next London train departed, so headed out of the station heading towards Tesco to try and grab dinner.

 

Alas that little Tesco was bare boned in having any sandwiches left, only thing was some spicy chicken pasta pots), so I went further along the road to the Co-Op to grab a meal deal from there.  After popping into a couple of the shops (looking for a new hat as my current hat is a bit tight), I returned to the station, taking a seat in an engineless coach of a 9 coach 800 for the run back towards Exeter.  Penzance is another area on my list to revisit for a decent look around at some point, but that list is massively long!

 

A 800 at Penzance

 

An enjoyable trip back via Cornwall, I made sure to sit on the opposite side in which I arrived on as it had been a good couple years since I was in deep Cornwall.  Darkness set in after Plymouth, but soon enough Exeter St Davids was reached a couple minutes early, allowing me to easily make a connection to the 19:25 Waterloo train for the journey back towards Salisbury, the near 2-hour journey passing in a flash.

 

At Salisbury it was a simple walk across to my car, changing out of my walking boots (and changing socks) into a pair of trainers for a nice drive back home, going via the Bourne Valley (A338) as I find that road more interesting.  A highly enjoyable day trip to the South West, a couple more stations ticked off my list to revisit.  I’m glad I decided to switch to St Ives rather than Falmouth for that beautiful walk.

 

"This Trip Terminates Here, All Change Please"

Trips on 13th, 18th & 20th March (Isle of Wight, Medway Valley)

 Trips on 13^th, 18^th & 20^th March:

13^th March – Isle of Wight

 

With engineering works at Basingstoke, I decided it would be a good time to head to the Isle of Wight, mainly to revisit 3 stations I needed for photos, but to try out the new rolling stock they had introduced late last year.

 

The day began with a drive to Romsey to pick up the 10:52-odd Portsmouth train, which was a 2 coach 165 which was quite busy (emptied out at Southampton though, allowing myself & mum to move to a better seat [one which had a window view!].  The 165 arrived into Portsmouth Harbour where it went in on top of a 444 for Eastleigh and we headed over to the ferry terminal.

 

Due to improvement works the usual area was closed, and the waiting area was a large tent.  When the boat docked and emptied out, we were called forward via a side door accessing the boat via some steep stairs.  Wight Ryder 1 was the boat on the shuttles today (with the other catamaran moored up in the harbour, and we decided to head up to the sunshine deck (which was a bit cold in the wind!)

 

Farewell Portsmouth

 

Due to congestion on the water, the catamaran was a couple minutes late in arriving at Ryde pier head, so I couldn’t get a picture of 484002 on the Shanklin train.  My first impressions were positive, seating layout remains roughly the same as it was on the District Line (mostly longitudinal seats with a couple bays of 4), 4 single leaf doors and a nice motor noise.  We took this unit to Lake where we exited the train for a gentle walk along the clifftop path, which gave some excellent views of the sea & cliffs further along the coast (in both directions).  An extra bonus was doing the new loop at Brading as I was expecting the train to use the same platform both ways to avoid passengers using the temporary footbridge or barrow crossing.

 

On top of the cliffs between Lake & Shanklin

 

We arrived at Shanklin station with plenty of time before the next train, so a short break before it arrived.  Next stop for us was Brading which I needed for a photo.  I left mum sitting in the sunshine resting her legs and did a little walk.  I crossed over the railway at the barrow crossing and followed a footpath which ran alongside the single track to reach a road bridge carrying a busy road.  I returned towards the station via the road and the village itself, before going towards the Marshes.  This is an area I will revisit as I believe you can walk along the old branch line towards Bembridge, at least in parts.

 

484002 heading towards Shanklin

 

I returned to the station, and we took the train back along the pier to Ryde Pier Head, catching the catamaran back towards Portsmouth.  This time we remained inside but I noticed when the announcement that we were mooring up was a few minutes early, we moved towards the doors to attempt a connection to the GWR train (the original idea was to take a 444 to Eastleigh for a 158 to Romsey via Chandlers Ford).

 

Even with the 166 on top of a 444, we made the connection (along with several other passengers), and as a bonus got a seat in the former first-class area at the back of the train.  A gentle train ride back towards Romsey, the train getting very busy at Southampton, the guard’s announcements were great, certainly made me laugh. At Romsey we headed towards a Fish & Chip shop to get dinner, eating them on a bench at Romsey station (couldn’t see any other benches), before I drove home.  Along the drive home I noticed a beautiful sunset and felt the urge to pull over to grab a photo.

 

Sunset on another trip

 

A nice return to the Isle of Wight, the new rolling stock is very nice, and I look forward to returning later in the year when hopefully it will be more than just a hourly single unit going back & forth.

 

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18^th March – A post work spin to Emsworth

 

In the morning I checked the excellent blog by the user called Part Time Spotter as he is kind enough to post allocations of various units, of which the Southern 313s is one of them.  I needed 313216 for mileage and decided to check to see what services (if any) it was on, striking lucky as it was on a train arriving into Portsmouth around 19:45 departing back out towards Littlehampton.  So, I decided to make a rough plan on RTT and have a post work spin, as I suspect the 313s will be gone by December, if not earlier.

 

I was torn between driving to Romsey and aiming for the 18:20 train or going from home.  In the end I noticed I could make the 18:07 train from Romsey which gave a tight connection at Eastleigh to a Portsmouth train which would get me back an hour earlier.  Leaving work, I dashed home to get changed (into a large dinosaur!) and grabbed my bag to get back on the road to Romsey.  I arrived (and parked in the library car park around 17:45, so I checked RTT to see that I could make the 17:52 GWR service as it was a couple minutes late.  Buying my tickets on the phone and I made it to the station with time to spare.

 

A 165+166 combo rolled in from Cardiff, as I took a seat in the former 1^st class area of the 166 (makes for a more comfortable ride) and relaxed for the slow journey towards Fratton.  I was going to change at Southampton for a Southern service but that was running quite late so didn’t want to risk it.  At Fratton I changed over to the opposite platform and took a pair of 444s to Havant.

 

313213 at Fratton

 

The late running Southern service was next, but due to late running it was going to run fast to Chichester (after running nonstop from Southampton, which saved it all of minus 1 minute [started 15 minutes late, arrived at Havant 16 minutes late, but that’s putting passengers first).  With that 377 no longer an option I took the following 313 on the Littlehampton stopper to Emsworth (the connection at Southbourne being a bit tight for comfort, especially the only access between platforms being a level crossing).

 

The Portsmouth train rolled in and a large smile as it was 313216 which I took all the way to Portsmouth & Southsea where it terminated on top of a 450.  I had two options to get back to Romsey, the first was a pair of 450s for a tight (but official) connection at Eastleigh, or a 166+165 combo all the way.  Had the London train been a 444 I might have considered it, but I decided to sit on a bench reading the latest Branch line newsletter, which continued once I got onto the 166 (going for the former 1^st class area once more).

 

My mission complete, 313216 at Portsmouth & Southsea

 

 

An hour later I had arrived back at Romsey, having a gentle walk back to my car and a drive home.  I was happy I no longer have to keep my eyes peeled for that 313 whenever I return to the Brighton area.

 

166202 at Romsey

 

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20^th March – Medway Valley Walk

 

The idea for this Sunday was to revisit some of the stations I needed for photographs on the lower end of the Medway Valley line.  Although at first, I was worried my legs would be painful after walking 18.4 miles on the Saturday (mainly around the Winchester area as my car needed a MOT), but they seemed fine.  The day began with the 07:37 service from Grateley to Waterloo, a bit slow at the London end as it weaved first to the slow lines after Wimbledon, then right across to the Windsor lines after Clapham.

 

At Waterloo I headed to Tesco to grab some supplies for lunch as I had plenty of time before my next train, a pair of 375s towards Tonbridge.  At Tonbridge I changed platforms to board the Strood train, the usual 3 coach 375, which I took to the rural Beltring station, where I started my walk.

 

375304 departs Beltring Station

 

The first leg involved a dead-end lane which turned into a path leading to a dual carriageway (A228), thankfully there was a roundabout so the vehicle speeds weren’t that high, then onto the riverside footpath which I followed towards Yalding, pausing for a few minutes to try and grab a photo of a 375 going over the railway bridge.  At Yalding it was a short road section (on pavements), as I swung via the station for some photos, before heading back to the river path.

 

I continued along the river path heading towards Wateringbury, once more going away from the river for some photos of the station.  Back on the river path I ignored the signposted “Medway Valley Walk” as that went inland to avoid a marina (which was only for a quarter of a mile).  I carried on passing the Teston Bridge Country Park which was busy with other people out enjoying the weather.  After a road the path got a bit bumpy in places mixed up with some mud but nothing that major as the mud sections could be bypassed carefully.  Although I was a bit thankful after the Barming area (at Kettle Bridge) the path turned into nice smooth tarmac.

 

River Medway

 

The next settlement I reached was East Farleigh, so once more I had a little detour for some station photos before returning to the river path for the last section towards Maidstone.  The last section was the busiest in terms of users of the path which is always good to see.  I carried on in Maidstone reaching the area where the Maidstone East line crosses the river, as the path on the western bank comes to an end (it resumes on the eastern bank after the railway bridge, a job for another trip).  I swung via Maidstone Barracks station for a couple photos (noticing how busy the northbound platform looked), before carrying on towards Maidstone West, my final station of this walk.

 

I arrived with around 10 minutes to spare before the next Tonbridge train (the trains pass each other here, so there was a bit of a queue for the single TVM).  375310 rolled in from Strood to take me towards Tonbridge and I was happy to get sat down.  My original idea for today was to get an extra ticket from Paddock Wood to visit Headcorn, for an hour fester, but decided that could wait until my Kent trip around Easter time.

 

375304 heading towards Tonbridge near Nettlestead

 

Back at Tonbridge and I had a short wait before a Folkestone – London service (turning down a Hasting – London train) which took me to Sevenoaks as I wanted to do a bit of a novelty of a 700 from Sevenoaks towards Orpington (the line at Swanley was closed), however due to signalling issues at Orpington the next couple departures had been cancelled between Oprington & Sevenoaks.  With nothing better to do I jumped on the next pair of 375s from Hastings (which were reasonably busy) to take me to London Bridge, hanging back to see if either of the following services were of interest, but alas neither was.

 

I jumped on a pair of Networkers from Hayes to take me to Waterloo East, where I noticed the 17:45 Salisbury stopper was going to be a single 159, I decided to aim for the 17:20 Salisbury “semi-fast” (would be Exeter but for engineering works).  This was a reasonably loaded pair of 159s which I took to Andover, to have a 30-minute wait on the station bench in the sunshine.  Although my peace was disturbed by a pair of voyagers passing on diversion [Winchester area was closed].

 

I think I made a good call in going for that earlier train as the single 159 rolled in, looking quite busy, I would imagine it would have been full & standing from Clapham.  I took this single 159 the final leg back to Grateley and walked home.  An enjoyable 12-odd mile walk along the bottom end of the Medway Valley, some lovely scenery along the way.  The end is in sight for my list of stations needing to revisit for photos.

Platforms at Maidstone West

 

12th March – A day trip to Kent (Medway area)

 12^th March – Another Trip to Kent

 

The plan I had for today changed at least 4 or 5 times in the week before the trip, mainly taking in the good weather forecasted and a want to have a nice walk somewhere (walking in the countryside helps me clear my head).  Eventually I settled on a rough plan, but even then, I changed my mind.

 

The day began with the 05:32 from Grateley towards Basingstoke, I noticed there was a new passenger information display getting installed at the station near the entrance to platform 1 (London bound) which will be useful when it gets switched on.  Anyhow due to engineering works around Woking the 159 terminated at Basingstoke, where I headed towards platform 5 to board a busy 165 on a Reading train.  At Reading I made a connection onto a 9 coach 800 from Wales (a few sleeping French rugby fans on board), for the run into Paddington.

 

The sleeper train from Penzance and the sleeper train from Wales ;)

 

I was originally going to head for the Bakerloo line, but when I noticed the display saying the next service wasn’t for 10 minutes I decided to go to the sub surface line platform for a circle line for a slow roll towards Victoria (bonus being a sub-mile S7 set).  It was a bit hit & miss if I would make a connection to a Gillingham stopper, but I made the single 377/5 with a couple minutes to spare.  As a bonus I got a seat in the former first-class area for a quick boost of electricity.  This 377 took me via Denmark Hill towards Meopham, where I had a 15-minute wait for a Dover stopper which was following.

 

This pair of 375s took me to Newington, a station I missed a couple weeks ago due to a mess up when the stopper went ahead of a fast at Faversham.  A short wait before another pair of 375s took me back one stop to Rainham, making a connection to a Ramsgate train for the run to Sittingbourne.  I noticed the next London train was a 11 coach 375 formation, I guess designed to cope with the large numbers travelling towards London.

 

395s passing Newington

 

At Sittingbourne I had a short wait before boarding a 3 coach 375 for the run towards Sheerness on Sea, some of the local passengers reminded me of the nickname of this place.  I had a short turnaround at Sheerness (it is on my list to have a decent explore one of these days) before the 375 took me back towards Swale, where I started my first walk of the day.  When heading towards Sheerness I saw 2 passengers alighting, but on the way back I was the only passenger alighting at the former least used station in Kent (I believe Kemsing on the Maidstone East line has ‘overtaken’ it for being used least used).

 

A 375 departs Swale

I walked towards the Kingsferry bridge, noticing that some steps which led down to what should be a public footpath and marked route (Saxon Shore Way) had been fenced off.  I guess access for that path requires a small detour towards a roundabout, which is the way I went carrying on along an unpavemented road towards the village of Iwade (road was reasonably busy, but had a wide verge for when I needed to move away from traffic).

 

At Iwade I carried on my walk, going via a little nature park, carrying on over the main road to reach the settlement of Kemsley, swinging via the station for a few photos, before continuing to reach a path which ran alongside a waterway to reach the Milton Creek Country Park.  I did a loop of the country park before crossing over the track of the Sittingbourne & Kemsley Light Railway reaching the banks of the Milton Creek.  I followed the bank of this pretty waterway, eventually ending up in an industrial estate in Sittingbourne.

 

Milton Creek near Sittingbourne

 

I continued my walk along the road, swinging via Morrisons for some lunch before heading to Sittingbourne station, the end of my first walk of the day.  I turned down a pair of 375s to wait 15 minutes for a pair of 395s behind, sadly neither 395 featured on my list of needs for mileage, but I took them to Rochester, giving my phone a little boost of electricity (using the GPS does eat battery life).  It took me a few minutes to exit Rochester due to a revenue block with a few passengers in front getting penalty fared due to not buying before they boarded.

 

Once out of the station I headed towards the grounds of Rochester Castle and then the banks of the Medway for another riverside walk.  I carried on heading along the river reaching Baty’s Marsh and carrying on underneath the Medway Viaducts (2 carry the M2 and the 3^rd carries HS1). My original plan was to walk across one of the Medway Viaducts to head to Cuxton, but that plan changed as I decided to stay on the riverbank, following a path on the OS Map.  However, I did decide to wait 10 minutes at a viewpoint to photograph a 395 heading across the viaduct towards London (sadly there was no Eurostars due as one of those would have been a much better image).

 

A 395 crossing the Medway Viaduct

 

The views along the river path were quite good, cliffs on the western bank (Cuxton area), hills to the left and a reasonable path.  It was grass but wasn’t that bad in terms of mud.  I reached a point where the path went in-land to reach the village of Wouldham but had to come away from the river path as it was blocked.  Wouldham is nice little village as I carried on reaching the site of “Peter’s Village” a new(ish) development of houses, which did include a handy bridge across the river (considering the next bridge wasn’t until Aylesford it was very handy!).

 

I also crossed over the Medway Valley line, passing a newish McDonalds/Costa Coffee on the Snodland road.  I headed on a footpath which went underneath the railway coming out in the Holdborough Marshes area, turning right to follow a path which ran alongside the railway line coming out into Snodland, where I paused to take some photos of the station (which looked like had a revenue block on one of the entrances as a group of kids were moaning about being forced to pay.

 

Platforms at Snodland

 

After Snodland I carried on along another path which ran between the railway & a body of water called Brookland Lake.  I crossed over the railway on a foot crossing and carried on along a path coming out in an industrial estate near New Hythe.  I swung via the station for some photos, before returning to another footpath, this time running between the railway and some wasteland, including going over a little freight line which hasn’t seen a train for many years based on how overgrown it was.

 

This path took me out onto the main road near Aylesford, my legs were starting to moan at me at this point, so I was glad to reach the station at Aylesford for a few more photos and a sit down.  I had around 15 minutes before the next Strood train would arrive, and it was formed of a low mileage 375302 (which was a nice bonus as it clears the 3 coach 375s for mileage).

 

375302 arriving at Aylesford

 

I took this train to Strood for a short wait before a pair of 395s arrived to take me the next step to Gravesend (same pair I had to Rochester, so in the same time it took me to walk to Aylesford they had gone to St Pancras, then back to Ramsgate before returning).  I changed over to the bay platform at Gravesend where a 465+465+466 combo was waiting on the next Charing Cross train.  I just collapsed in a seat in the front coach, waiting the world go by before darkness fell.  Although this train did feature someone who boarded at one of the stations on the Sidcup line, feet straight onto seat opposite when vaping & emptying out their pockets of litter.  Some passengers have no respect, and I suspect they also didn’t pay anything as they were off before Hither Green.

 

Anyhow I arrived at Charing Cross and headed towards the Bakerloo line for a train to Paddington.  When I was coming out of the Underground, I was torn between going to Sainsburys to see if they had anything left or jumping on the first train towards Reading.  I decided to go straight for a late boarding 800 on a Newbury service for the run towards Reading, which turned out to be a good move due to signalling issues between Hayes & Slough meaning delays as everything went on the relief lines.

 

Ah 395005 nice to see you again

 

I arrived at Reading with time to spare and after a photo of a 387/3 & the 165 in the western bays (the 387 unusually being on platform 3 rather than platform 1).  The 165 was very busy (I was right at the front and that was full & standing), I suspect it was Basingstoke passengers not wanting to use the magical bus (and who can blame them?).  At Basingstoke I popped out of the station to grab a KFC before waiting for a pair of 159s to roll in from the sidings to form the next stopper back towards Grateley.

 

An enjoyable trip, I managed to walk over 16 miles over those 2 walks, plus some more South Eastern stations revisited for photographs.

 

387306 & 165110 at Reading

4th – 6th March, Pathfinder’s Lancashire Tour & Longbridge

 4^th – 6^th March, Pathfinder’s Lancashire Tour

 

When another freight line tour got announced by Pathfinder last year it looked interesting enough for me to book onto it, after doing some research with hotels, I found the Premier Inn at Longbridge being £60 for both nights the best option.

 

Friday

 

I didn't have much time to waste on the Friday evening for me, as I got changed at work, drove home to drop off my work stuff and drove to Andover, arriving with 10 minutes to spare before the 17:38 train to London.  I wanted to do this for 2 reasons, the first because it gave me more time to get towards Euston for the 19:52-odd Birmingham train & due to there being replacement buses on the Sunday from Guildford.  Driving to Andover means I don’t have to waste time on the Sunday after the bus arrives or have worries if the bus gets caught up in heavy traffic (and misses the connection)

 

Anyhow it was a busy 8 coach sprinter formation towards London Waterloo, where I had around 10 minutes to waste before 7pm and the start of “off-peak” where my gold card gave me a discount on the oyster fare to Euston (those little 80p savings do add up), so I popped to Sainsburys before heading to the underground with a Northern line service to Euston.

 

And so another fine adventure begins!

 

I waited on the concourse before the Birmingham train rolled in and once more it was a pair of 350/2s (I’m beginning to think this is a service to avoid as I’ve seen it 4 times in the last few months and it’s been a pair of 2s).  However, the train towards Crewe was a pair of 350/1s which I took a seat on (solely to reduce the time spent on the 3+2 seated units).  I took these to Rugby, changing for a 40-odd minute wait for the Birmingham train to roll in, and as expected it was very busy.  I assume first class had been declassified as it was busy in that little area.

 

The train arrived at Birmingham New Street around 10 minutes late, which meant I missed an unofficial connection to a Redditch train, so it was a short wait before a pair of 323s rolled in from Lichfield Trent Valley bound for Bromsgrove to take me to Longbridge.  I made the mistake of sitting at the back coach, as that got very busy at Five Ways but emptied out around Kings Norton.

 

323214 at Birmingham New Street

 

At Longbridge I exited the station and followed the instructions to reach the Premier Inn around 5 minutes away, getting myself checked in and sorted my bag out for the Saturday before heading to sleep.  Usual Premier Inn style room, reasonably quiet from outside, comfy bed.

 

323s at Longbridge

 

Saturday

 

The tour departed New Street around 8am, so I wanted to be on the 06:50 service towards Birmingham from Longbridge, as this would give me some time to grab some supplies for lunch from Tesco (as well as having a couple backup services in case they got cancelled).  I took a seat on a pair of 323s for the run towards Birmingham, where I decided to jump off at University to see how the station rebuild was coming along (slow but steady).

 

A 3 coach 172 soon arrived to take me the final 2 and a half miles into New Street, where I exited the station to get my lunch items (as well as a breakfast wrap from Tim Hortons).  I returned to the station and waited for winner 66084 to roll in along with the usual Mk1 coaches, some in better state of condition than others.  I took my seat saying hello to the people around my table, being thankful I avoided a narrow bench seat this time round.

 

Platform 10 for the Big Red Shed to Manchester.

 

The tour was a slow but steady trip towards Wolverhampton going via Aston & Perry Barr before going towards Soho and the main line, taking in a loop near the 323 Soho depot and carrying on for another pick-up at Wolverhampton.  The tour continued towards Stafford, going via the goods loop and the former Royal Mail platform where it paused for time.  After Stafford it was a trip towards Stoke, using a loop before the station to allow a 350 to pass, before going via platform 1 at Stoke and into another goods line beyond the station.

 

After Stoke the tour continued towards Kidsgrove and towards Crewe going via a couple more loops along the way (this tour was very loopy!).  A final pick-up at Crewe and the tour continued going towards Manchester going via the airport line, nonstop through Piccadilly & Oxford Road before it headed towards Eccles, branching off into the goods loop behind the back of the Eccles platform (where I learnt something new, that Eccles used to have 4 platforms, with remains of a platform in the undergrowth).

 

Loco 60015 soon joined the train having arrived from the Peak Forest freight area, which took the train down towards the Weaste concrete depot on the banks of the Ship Canal, reversing to do both lines to the gate, before the tour returned to the loop behind Eccles station, before returning towards Manchester and towards Stockport (going via another loop near the depot at Longsight).

 

Eccles station from the Goods Loop

 

The tour continued taking the line towards Chester, reversing on the line to visit the Northenden Refuse Terminal, before continuing towards Northwich.  The plan was for the tour to go via Middlewich then towards Crewe via the Manchester independent lines, but due to an incident the tour got diverted to use the chord to the WCML between Hartford & Acton Bridge, reversing once more to go towards the Crewe area using the Liverpool independent line which dived underneath the running lines to come out into the freight area behind Crewe station.

 

After passing Crewe station the tour headed up to join the line towards Shrewsbury, passing the DRS depot, reversing for one last time and back towards Crewe via one last loop, where it arrived at Platform 12, only around 10 minutes late, but it was nice to get off the train to have a little break.  We had around a 2 and a bit hour break, so I decided to have a walk.

 

60015 at Crewe

 

My walk took me towards the residential part of Crewe, joining up with a mixed used path which ran along the Valley Brook, via Valley Park, after this I went towards Queens Park which was very nice however due to time restrictions (it closed at half 5) I couldn’t spend as long as I would have liked exploring the park.  After exiting the park, I returned to the roads to go towards Morrisons for some dinner items before heading towards the town centre area, crossing over the main WCML near Grand Junction retail park, crossing over the Manchester branch as darkness had arrived.

 

I returned towards Crewe station along the main road and took a seat before 66060 rolled in with the coaches.  66084 had an issue so the locos got swapped as a precaution.   I assume due to a Branch Line Society tour in Liverpool the following day (wish I could have been on that; however, it would have needed me to have taken the Monday off work) the train at least in my coach was half full.  This allowed me to spread out onto an empty table (to avoid playing footsie with the two sitting opposite) to read a magazine on the way towards Birmingham.

 

Queens Park, Crewe

 

The route taken was the mainline towards Stafford, then Wolverhampton for a drop-off, before carrying on towards Birmingham going via a loop near Dudley Port before heading into New Street where I alighted.  I decided to pop out of the station to have a short tram hunt (rather than going straight back to the hotel) with the first tram I saw heading towards Library being one of the new batch, so I gave chase towards Town Hall to intercept it on the return journey.

 

Tram 39 was into my book with a run to Jewellery Quarter, the limit of the Birmingham City Zone.  I decided to spend 45-odd minutes at the station (never knew how deep down a cutting the station was when I popped outside for a photo).  I called it a night with another tram back towards Grand Central before a pair of 323s towards Longbridge.  I was worried when I arrived on platform 12 to find it busy however I suspect most of those passengers were waiting for the last Leicester train which was behind the Bromsgrove service (or waiting for a Redditch train).

 

Entrance to Jewellery Quarter Station

The 323s took me to Longbridge for the short walk back to the hotel, where I relaxed for the remainder of the evening, making use of the free WiFi that Premier Inn offers

 

West Midland Metro Tram 39 at Jewellery Quarter

 

Sunday

 

I checked out of the Premier Inn and headed towards Greggs for a breakfast Ham & Cheese baguette, for the idea this morning was to walk towards Birmingham city centre, along the River Rea path then the Worcester & Birmingham Canal.  It was a good thing I wasn’t planning on using the trains as the first few services had been cancelled due to a points failure!

 

My walk took me on a small loop of Austin Park, an area near the hotel before I headed towards the River Rea path, starting by running alongside Longbridge station towards the Northfield area.  The path was quite nice, some nice scenery of the river & woods (especially near a little Ford where a little lane crossed the river).  After Northfield I continued along the route (bike route 5 I believe) via the Wychall Reservoir and King’s Norton Park to reach the canal at Kings Norton junction (where the Stratford canal meets the Worcester & Birmingham Canal)

 

The River Rea (not the River to Hell)

I turned left onto the canal towpath, going underneath the Camp Hill Lines bridge continuing along the towpath (which was a bit narrow in places, which doesn’t help when you get idiots on bikes pretending, they are the next Chris Froome).  The railway was reached at Bournville where the towpath ran close to the railway line for the next couple miles to Five Ways.  It made for some good photos of passing trains.

 

Voyager Peek-A-Bo

 

A pair of 323s bound for glorious Lichfield

After Five Ways the railway goes one way and the canal another way but soon, I had reached Gas Street Bain in the centre of Birmingham.  I left the canal side and headed towards the Library tram stop before going towards New Street via a Sainsburys local.  I was originally going to have a fester at the tram stop but decided to start heading back home.  The next Northampton service was a pair of 350/1s where the front coaches were busy but I had a private rear coach for the run to Rugby, getting delayed at Birmingham International for a late running diverted Pendo to pass, then at Coventry due to an issue on the previous Birmingham – London train.

 

At Rugby I was in luck as the London train was a 350/2 leading a 350/4, no guesses which unit I sat in.  I made myself comfortable as it was still 15-odd minutes before departure (starting from platform 2), before the train departed calling at Milton Keynes only on the way to London Euston, arriving a few minutes early which always helps.

 

A nice 350 at Rugby

 

I headed straight towards the underground for a Northern line service to Waterloo, and boarding the first train towards Guildford, a pair of 444s bound for Weymouth.  By far this was the busiest train of the day for me and I was sitting in coach 6 of 10 for the run towards Guildford via Cobham, getting myself ready for the potential organised chaos of rail replacement buses at Guildford.

 

Surprisingly I was straight onto a coach for Andover, it was going from the wrong zonal marker but as an extra bonus it was due to run nonstop to Andover.  The coach was quite reasonable for legroom and was reasonably busy as it departed Guildford heading towards Andover via various dual carriageways & the M3.  I think it got into Andover a good 30 minutes before the next train was due to depart, but that didn’t worry me as I headed to my car to drive home.

 

An enjoyable weekend, a nice railtour on the Saturday, followed by a nice walk on the Sunday.  I would certainly use the Longbridge Premier Inn again if the price was right (and timings would allow it)

 

Worcester & Birmingham Canal in the Kings Norton area