25th – 27th May Trips

 25th – 27th May Trips

The second bank holiday weekend in May, and like the first bank holiday weekend it involved a couple of railtours and plans for a canal walk.

25th May - The Hanson Hanse Tour

When this tour (and the tour on the Sunday) were announced back in December I booked onto them as it looked like it would be a good day trip to King’s Lynn with the benefit of a call at Basingstoke which saved the cost of accommodation.  The day began with the 05:59 service to Basingstoke formed of a very quiet 159021 & 158887 giving me just over an hour in Basingstoke.  Time, I spent having a little stroll into the town centre area, a place which was quiet.  I returned to the station swinging via Greggs (for a free sausage bap) and Tesco for some bits for lunch later.

To platform 3 at Basingstoke for a short wait before 50008 rolled in with the London Transport 4TC set and 20007 on the rear, I was in coach D today which meant sitting near the 20.  A coach which sounded like it had a wheel flat (maybe the same wheel flat from the tours at the start of May) which did get a bit annoying after a while (especially in tunnels where it was a bit loud).  I had a private table until Slough where 2 other passengers boarded and the 4th boarding at Ealing Broadway.  After Ealing Broadway the tour headed via Acton yard to join the North London line to head towards Gospel Oak taking the connection onto the Goblin to head towards Crouch Hill and taking the Harringay curve to join the ECML.

50008 arriving at Basingstoke

The tour headed into the Hornsey reversing siding with the 20 taking charge for the trip over the flyover and into Kings Cross for the final pick up.  After Kings Cross the charter headed north along the ECML taking the Hertford North loop to go via Hertford North to rejoin the main line at Stevenage to take the Cambridge line towards Royston where it did the loop before the station and headed towards Cambridge where it had a little pathing stop on platform 4 to allow a XC 170 to depart as well as a 700 on an Ely service (I presume had the loop been available further north near the junction with the Bury line it would have sat in that loop).

Anyhow after Cambridge the train made a call at Ely to set down some passengers before heading onto the Fen Line to head towards King’s Lynn, which unusually for a charter train headed into the station itself (rather than into the yard).  I alighted from the train and headed for a gentle walk along the Sandringham railway path, a path making use of the former railway route towards Hunstanton.  Once I gained the old railway line path, I walked via the Gaywood & Lynnsport area of the town.  The path came to an end at the Edward Benefer Way Road to the north of the town (near North Lynn Industrial Estate) and I did a U-turn to head back towards a path alongside the Bawsey Drain towards the docks.  In the Lynnsport area I had a little detour towards the King's Lynn Miniature Railway which sadly was closed.

Lynnsport Station on the Lynnsport Miniature Railway (King’s Lynn & District Society of Model Engineers)

I randomly came across an old railway crossing for the old disused docks branch with the track still embedded within the road (John Kennedy Road).  I returned towards the station via Morrisons for some supplies for dinner and took my seat as the train headed into the King's Lynn EMU siding running alongside the Middleton Towers branch.  After the trip to the siding the train returned to the station using the other platform to pick up any passengers who didn't want to do the siding (it was a BLS tour after-all).

The tour departed King’s Lynn for the 2nd time heading back towards Ely but avoiding the station by using the curve onto the line towards Peterborough, going via the loop before March before crossing over to reverse on the Ely bound platform at March station.  Departing March via the other goods loop for a XC service to pass before heading towards Ely once more, pausing at the station to pick up passengers before carrying on towards Cambridge.  After Cambridge the train continued south passing the future Cambridge South station (which is coming along well from the looks of things) and onto the Greater Anglia route with pathing stops in the loop to the south of Bishop Stortford, a longer stop at Harlow Town and a stop at Broxbourne.

20007 at King's Lynn Station

After Broxbourne the train continued towards Cheshunt, turning away from the main-line and onto the Overground route via Edmonton Green towards Seven Sisters where it took the curve towards South Tottenham and towards the Greater Anglia line (the route used by that Saturday mornings London Overground PSUL from London towards Enfield).  The train continued towards Lea Bridge and taking the High Meads loop line to approach Stratford from the west which is where I bailed from the charter (it would continue back towards Lea Bridge then onto the Goblin to take the connection towards West Hampstead Thameslink and the Dudding Hill line to rejoin the GWML, nothing I hadn’t done before).

At Stratford I took a Central line service formed of 91157, 92014, 91175 & 91019 to Tottenham Court Road changing to the Northern line with sets 51725 & 51665 to Waterloo.  Made a difference from using the Jubilee line all the way from Stratford.  At Waterloo I headed towards the platform where the 20:50 to Salisbury was located getting on board 158888 (yep, a single 2 coach unit had escaped to London).  Wasn’t too bad in the front coach on departure from Waterloo but soon filled up at Clapham Junction, emptying out somewhat at Basingstoke (the 30-minute gap between fast services doesn’t help).  I was glad when it arrived at Grateley and I had a gentle walk home as that early start twinned with a poor night meant I was tired, had I stayed on the tour I would have got home around 90 minutes later after a near hour fester at Basingstoke.

158888 at London Waterloo

An enjoyable tour nether the less, it had been a while since my last trip to the Fen Line in daylight, although the 4TC set isn’t the best on warm days due to the limited opening of the windows.  20007 made a good noise for the sections it worked, pretty sure the last time I had haulage from a class 20 was back in 2018 on the GBRf 4-day tour.

26th May - The Millbrook Meander Tour

The second of this weekend’s tours involved an Eastleigh start, although as I was a bit uncertain with car parking around Eastleigh (and not wanting to fork out £5-odd to park at the station) I headed towards Romsey, catching 158886 towards Chandler’s Ford station to have a gentle stroll to waste some time, following a path alongside the Monk’s Brook then over the M3 into the Boyatt Wood area of the town with a couple of urban paths followed by a road towards Eastleigh station, swinging via a Tesco Express in a garage to grab some items for lunch.

Revenue protection was in full swing at Eastleigh due to the kickball playoff at Wembley, as well as some additional trains running nonstop towards Waterloo after Eastleigh or Winchester.  Eastleigh station itself was a bit chaotic due to signalling issues meaning everything going south needed to go via platform 3, including the nonstop services so by the time the charter rolled in with Freightliner’s 66509 on the northern end & 50008 on the southern end.  Stopping at the southern end of the platform causing a large surge of passengers (which annoyed one person taking a photograph as he was quite rude when people got in his way at taking the ‘perfect’ shot of the 66).

66509 at Eastleigh Station

Anyhow it was onto the London Transport 4TC set, today I was lucky to be behind the 50 in coach A (and thankfully no wheel flat), as the charter train departed Eastleigh picking up at both Southampton Airport Parkway & Southampton Central before going via the Freightliner terminal at Millbrook (to the north of the tracks) before going towards the Freightliner Maritime Terminal (on the southern side) reversing on one of the lines behind Redbridge station with 08785 attaching to the 66 to haul the train towards the wagon repair sidings, where I was stopped underneath a road bridge.  The shunter detached and 50008 took over to exit the freight terminal and onto the goods line behind Redbridge station to rejoin the passenger network near enough on time and headed towards Romsey & Salisbury for a final pick-up.  I think I saw a couple passengers jumping off at Salisbury as the more unusual track of the Freightliner terminals at Southampton was done.

After Salisbury the charter continued towards Yeovil Junction pausing at Gillingham for a heavily delayed 159 to pass (running an hour late due to earlier issues) before reversing down the hill to Yeovil Pen Mill allowing passengers on the train to tick off 66509 for haulage (which for me makes it my 100th 66 for haulage), a few more passengers alighted at Yeovil Pen Mill to get a taxi back to Junction including the person sat opposite me so I had a bit more extra legroom.  The weather at Pen Mill was heavy rain (compared to sunshine at Junction) and the train got delayed due to a late running Weymouth bound GWR service (which needed to clear the single-track section between Yeovil Pen Mill & Maiden Newton.

50008 at a wet Yeovil Pen Mill Station

The charter departed around 15 minutes late, and I was a bit tempted to bail at Maiden Newton (to walk the short railway line path) where there was another pathing stop.  This stop was extended further as the northbound train the charter was due to pass at Dorchester was passed at Maiden Newton, much to the annoyance of passengers on board as the doors weren’t released for the 10-minute stop.  Anyhow after Maiden Newton the train continued south, much to people’s surprise it didn’t stop at Dorchester West (which was a set-down station) and continued to Weymouth where thankfully the sun was out so I headed away from the station going towards Morrisons via the Radipole Park Gardens, returning towards the station via a cycle path which ran close to the Lodmoor Country Park passing the Weymouth Bay Miniature Railway.  I reached the seafront near the Sea-Life centre and followed the path back towards the town centre in some beautiful sunshine.

Weymouth Beach (Greenhill area of town)

I returned to the station which was a bit chaotic due to a police incident on the line towards Wareham with 2 Waterloo trains cancelled (first time I’ve seen a 444 using the shorter platform at Weymouth where it just about fitted).  The charter returned from the sidings and departed on a detour towards Castle Cary & Westbury with the 66 leading.  A reversal at Westbury with the 50 now leading and I made use of the additional call at Salisbury to bail out to avoid a highly likely hour fester at Southampton for the next Romsey bound service.  After buying a ticket it was onto a Portsmouth Harbour bound 158760 & 158762 for the run to Romsey, walking back to my car and driving home.

158762 departing Romsey Station

An enjoyable day trip made longer due to the tragic event near Wareham but thankfully the route via Yeovil Pen Mill was available with the Sunday frequencies for that line coming in handy (as there was nothing heading south until the charter avoided Frome).  Although the route did get me thinking about my future with rail tours, I prefer to be more active than sitting down for most of the day, especially when you get tables where the other passengers are quite quiet in terms of chatting.  They are certainly getting more expensive and where I’ve got lucky lately with tours which start or pick up in the South which does reduce the cost for accommodation & other travelling costs.  I can see the number of tours I do decreasing again, being more selective with what ones I decide to do.

27th May – A failed attempt to return to Weedon with an unexpected trip to Newport Pagnell

After 2 days of mostly sitting on my rear end I decided on the bank holiday to head towards Northampton to catch a bus to Weedon Bec picking up where I left my explore of the Grand Union canal to walk towards Blisworth before the Northampton arm of the canal back to Northampton, with hopefully not a late finish due to a busy Tuesday.  However, things didn’t go to plan.

The day started with the 06:59 service from Grateley formed of 159022 to take me to Basingstoke where I stepped back to board a very quiet 450100 & 450108 on a nonstop to Clapham Junction service where it arrived ahead of schedule due to not following a late running train from Guildford after Woking (which looped the 450s at Clapham Junction which is I think is the first time I’ve seen a train passing another service there).  After popping out of the station to grab some supplies from Sainsburys I returned to board 377704 on the next Watford Junction service to take me to Watford Junction where I noticed things had gone a bit, Pete Tong.  However, I did see my last 710 heading south on the 09:15 departure which I made a note off.

450100 at Clapham Junction

Due to large scale signalling issues around Cheddington (International Parkway) the WCML had fallen over with nothing expected to move for the next half an hour if not more, so with lack of a better plan (and a massive crowd waiting around) I jumped onto a very busy 710264 to take me towards Kensal Green to intercept winner 710374 on a northbound service with both trains using platform 3 at Watford Junction (one of these days I will score platforms 1 & 2, but it’s like Clacton in being low on my list of things to do).

On arrival at Watford Junction, things had started to move again and I jumped onto a very busy 390013 which was standing room only even in coach A to Milton Keynes Central with plan B in my head, as I headed out of the station and towards the bus stops outside for the next Arriva run route 2a service to Newport Pagnell (A StreetLite 3304), going via various places in Milton Keynes and I alighted at the Fire Station (where the bus does a little loop) to start a cut-down walk.

710374 at Watford Junction

This walk took me along the route used by the former Wolverton – Newport Pagnell branch line, closed in the 1960s and now part of a popular mixed used path (even with the weather being quite changeable with short light showers popping up every now and again).  The walk passed the remains of the stations at Great Linford & Bradwell as it headed towards Wolverton crossing over the Grand Union Canal with a couple short sections where path users had to crossroads on the flat (mostly little residential roads).  The path came to an end near the WCML with the last bit following the canal towards The Secret Garden.  The last section I put up a bit of extra speed to catch a train from Wolverton as the following service was showing as cancelled (and I didn't fancy trying to get to Milton Keynes Central via a bus).

Remains of Great Linford Station (Wolverton to Newport Pagnell line)

Earlier in the day I did see a pair of 730s heading south from Milton Keynes (passed around Bletchley) which I was toying with doing for the novelty of a 730/0 from Milton Keynes, but the northbound service had been cancelled (along with a lot of other services) so that idea was parked as I climbed on board a busy 350235 & 350241 (yay another pair of 350/2s!) on a busy service from Birmingham as I managed to grab a seat in the former 1st class area for the run to London Euston, where I headed out on foot towards Waterloo in a strange case of localised weather as my good friend Jules was in the New Cross area at the same time and reported that it was throwing it down when I had sunshine.  Gave an interesting view from Waterloo Bridge with blue skies to the north and black skies to the south.  Anyhow I made it to Waterloo without getting wet and onto 159003 on the 15:50 service to Salisbury, a service which was quite busy but like on the Saturday did empty out somewhat at Basingstoke (I can’t help think SWR should insert a Basingstoke call on the XX:35 trains for Weymouth to help take some passengers from the XX:50s).

Anyhow an hour and a bit later I alighted from the 159 at Grateley, making my way home (again getting lucky with the lack of rain as an hour later it started to throw it down for the rest of the evening).  Not the best of days with my original plan having to be ditched but at least I managed to knock out an old railway line path and cleared the 710s.  Plus, the early finish was good for getting ready for the busy day on the Tuesday.  More photos can be found on my Flickr, thanks for reading (assuming I haven’t sent you all to sleep).  I shall leave you with the Thames:

River Thames from Waterloo Bridge (eastwards), May 2024

18th & 19th May Trips (Grand Union & Granite Way)

 18th & 19th May Trips

18th May – A walk along the Oxford & Grand Union Canal

The Grand Union Canal is on my wish list to finish walking this year (other than the Leicester Arm which will take some research in suitable breaking points which will probably be a job for next year).  I decided today to focus on the more rural section of the canal in Warwickshire, changing my plans a few times before deciding to make use of the slightly infrequent bus route from Leamington Spa to the village of Napton on the Hill where the Grand Union canal meets up with the Oxford Canal for a section of ‘shared’ canal.  Although even on Friday I was in two minds at which way to walk, either towards Leamington Spa (and probably towards Warwick Parkway) or towards Northamptonshire towards Weedon Bec.

In the end I decided to head east, with the trip starting with the 05:59 service from Grateley to Basingstoke on a very quiet 159101 & 158890, followed by an equally quiet 221124 to Banbury, only getting slightly busy after Oxford.  At Banbury it was a short wait before 168327 & 168005 rolled in on a Birmingham Moor Street service with 68014 heading south on a Silver Set.  At Leamington Spa I jumped off the 168s, transferring to winner 196006 for the short journey to Kenilworth for a short revisit and to waste some time.  196004 returned me to Leamington Spa where I set off towards the town centre to the north of the station, going via the Pump Room Gardens and Tesco to grab some supplies for lunch (plus Boots for a cheap bottle of water as the temperature was rising and I didn’t want to run out of water again).

Pump Room Gardens Bandstand, Leamington Spa

The Stagecoach operated route 664 towards Napton on the Hill only runs 4 times a day on a Saturday (plus a couple of short workings to Southam), the bus (36942, an Enviro 200) arrived quite busy but departed with just me and one other passenger on board.  That other passenger alighted in the settlement of Lillington on the outskirts of Leamington Spa, another couple of passengers boarded in Offchurch alighting in Long Itchington with another passenger boarding in that village to alight in Southam, so overall a quiet bus.  Quite a scenic route featuring some steep hills, from memory there is a disused railway line path in the Offchurch & Long Itchington area which might be closed off at the moment due to HS2 construction works.  After Southam the bus went via a modern housing estate and I alighted at Napton on the Hill outside the Kings Head pub, a place bringing back some memories from the time my family had a narrowboat based in this area (bringing back a memory of a meal with my former other half when she was over from Spain when we stayed on the boat one trip).

Anyhow it was time to start the walk, with a short section along a road leading to the Oxford Canal dropping onto the canal near Napton marina onto a section of towpath which was a bit rubbish.  Quite narrow with some weeds growing alongside a hedge with the extra hazard of bank erosion (caused most likely by boats going too fast and creating a wash).  I reached Napton Junction where the Grand Union canal joins with the Oxford Canal and carried on.  I was thankful of the sections where the bank has been secured with sheet piling (to protect against erosion).  In the Lower Shuckburgh area the towpath did get better as someone had been round with a cutter to cut back some of the tall grass & weeds, as my walk continued in very rural Warwickshire passing a few boats (both moored & moving) and the towpath did thankfully improve so I could look at the scenery more rather than keeping focused on the ground watching out for holes (didn’t want to make a big splash now!)

Boats at Napton Junction on Oxford & Grand Union Canal

I crossed into Northamptonshire on the outskirts of the village of Braunston reaching Braunston junction where the Oxford canal turns left (towards Rugby) and the Grand Union canal turns right.  The towpath in this area was more solid (and also busier).  I paused on a bench near Braunston marina to have my lunch (and to remove some stones from my boots) before continuing climbing the lock flight and into some more rural countryside reaching the western portal of Braunton Tunnel which like many of the canal tunnels lacks a towpath forcing a detour up a rather steep path skirting to the northern parts of the town of Daventry (where there is a modern cycle path from the town to the canal towpath).

The towpath reached the A361 road where due to housing construction it is blocked off with some poor signage to the detour route via the Lang Farm Northern Valley Park before picking up a route back to the canal rejoining the water at the eastern portal of the tunnel on a tree lined section of canal (quite beautiful)

Western Portal of Braunston Tunnel on Grand Union Canal

I carried on heading east, exiting the Daventry area and heading back into rural Northamptonshire countryside with the sound of trains in the background.  I reached Norton junction where the Leicester arm joins the main Grand Union and reached the Buckby lock flight near Long Buckby wharf (the station itself is a mile away along a road which lacks a pavement, hence why I decided to carry on towards Weedon Bec).  I crossed underneath the WCML, pausing for a photograph of a train crossing the canal (turned out to be a 350/2 rather than a Pendo) and continued along a section where the canal is between the M1, and the railway so was quite noisy (as the motorway was very busy).  The solid towpath turned rural once more after Whiton Marina and the bottom lock of the lock flight and I was thankful that a mile or so later the canal moved away from the M1 (although the traffic noise remained but it was less heavy).

350241 crossing the Grand Union Canal in the Long Buckby area

The canal returned to woods and being peaceful as it made its way south towards the village of Weedon Bec with a bit of a rush at the end as I was aiming for the route D3 bus route, arriving at the bus stop with seconds to spare (as the bus was just coming round a roundabout).  My walk was over and where that canal did have some beautiful sections, it also had not so nice sections.  Either due to the sound of road traffic or due to a poor towpath, but I was glad to have finished the walk with the weather being mostly overcast turning sunny nearer the end.  

Anyhow it was onto a lightly loaded Stagecoach Gold branded Enviro400 (15844) on the D3 towards Daventry as it did a little trip via Weedon Bec itself before following the A45 & B4038 to reach Daventry town centre where there was a handy Tesco located alongside the small bus station (which had seen better days with the shelters being a bit smashed up).  As I had 20-odd minutes before my next bus I popped to the Tesco to grab something for dinner for later plus a couple of bits for now (including a carton of cold juice which was consumed before I got back to the bus station).

Daventry Bus Station

My next bus service was the Stagecoach route 200 (with bus 36766) on this busy service heading via some nice countryside and villages towards Banbury (Badby, Woodford Halse, Byfield & Chipping Warden) with some evidence of the former Grand Central route near Woodford Halse.  Also passing the HS2 construction works to the north of Chipping Warden.  At Banbury it was a short walk from the bus stop on Bridge Street to the railway station to await the next southbound voyager, I wasn't expecting much considering the service before was cancelled (and also the one an hour later, so it was lucky I made that bus in Weedon Bec).  221124 rolled in and I went straight for coach F at the front and even got lucky to get a seat, changing at Oxford with the usual turnover of passengers to grab a window seat to make use of the socket.  At Reading the train near enough emptied out and coach F became quiet, which is when something started brewing as departure was delayed due to awaiting a member of staff from the next northbound service.

As that northbound service wasn’t due to arrive until 19:05 I decided to jump onto the 3 coach 165 on the stopper with the assumption that would depart on time.  19:05 came and went with no departure of the Turbo keeping one eye on the signalling diagram, making a leap back towards the voyager when they got given the signal around 19:08.   Onwards to Basingstoke (which in a few weeks’ time won’t be possible due to XC deciding that they are carrying far too many passengers for Basingstoke on a lightly loaded train and to skip the interchange station to ease ‘overcrowding’ when doing nothing to stop the severe overcrowding on the West Midlands corridor).  Anyhow I was glad to have jumped back to the voyager as it was a same platform change onto 159001 & 159006 on the next Salisbury stopper (as the stopper from Reading arrived 5 minutes late so would have missed the +6 connection).

221124 at Basingstoke Station

I took a seat in the front coach of 159001 which was near enough empty (one other passenger at the very front) and relaxed with the trip back to Grateley, followed by a gentle walk home.  I was thankful I picked up dinner in Daventry although I was planning to pop out to the Sainsburys in Basingstoke to grab something for the morning.  A mostly enjoyable day, some beautiful countryside, I knew the towpath quality wasn’t the greatest in that area, but it was another section of the Grand Union walked.  With any luck I will be returning to Weedon Bec next Monday to walk the next section towards Northampton, weather permitting.

19th May – Walking the Granite Way

The Granite Way is the name given to the mixed used path which runs alongside the mothballed (?) route from Okehampton to Meldon Quarry then onto the former Southern railway route over Meldon viaduct towards the village of Lydford on the old route towards Tavistock.  Something which had been on my radar for a while with a couple of failed attempts due to forecasted poor weather.  With the slightly more limited Sunday bus services between Okehampton & Tavistock it was an early start with a drive to Salisbury to catch the 06:54 service towards Exeter St Davids, a very quiet 159007 & 159005 for the trip to Exeter Central via the countryside.  At Exeter I made my way towards the bus station (and the little Sainsburys Local to grab lunch items) noticing the former bus station had been knocked down.

Due to connections to Okehampton trains from Salisbury not being the best I decided on a little time-wasting bus move with the Stagecoach operated route 6A service to Okehampton.  Departure was a few minutes late due to a late arrival of bus 15255 (a former Stagecoach Gold Enviro400) as it made its way out of Exeter towards Okehampton via Tedburn St Mary, Cheriton Cross, Whiddon Down & Sticklepath and this is one bus route I would recommend for the scenic views, certainly a lot more beautiful than the train route.  The bus only got busy in Okehampton itself as it formed a bus to Bude (and that was only down to a group of youngsters who had decided they wanted to broadcast to the entire bus the sort of noise they enjoyed listening to).

View from bus (Exeter - Okehampton) near Crockernwell

Anyhow once at Okehampton station I started my walk, picking up the signposts to the Granite Way The first section was alongside the heavily overgrown mothballed line beyond Okehampton towards Meldon Quarry, not the most scenic and quite busy with other path users & noisy with the A30 running close by.  Thankfully the path moved away from the dual carriageway towards Meldon Viaduct where I followed a path towards the valley below for a couple of photographs before climbing back up to the route of the old railway line, crossing the viaduct and into the countryside.

Meldon Viaduct

The path was reasonably busy with other users (good to see it being used, although some of the cyclists didn't understand the concept of other users as they attempted to set a new land speed record getting annoyed at having to slow down to pass horses.  The path continued towards Sourton Down where the A30 moved away and towards Sourton with some excellent views of Dartmoor. There was a short viaduct at Lake with the path carrying on going underneath the A386 near Southerly and into a peaceful section as I took my time owing to the more limited nature of the bus service from Lydford on Sundays (I gave myself 4 and a half hours to walk the 9-mile path).

All good things must come to an end as I reached the end of the path at Lydford following the road into the village centre to explore the remains of the castle before making my way to the bus stop near the war memorial as there was a nice bench in the sunshine.  Certainly, a path I would recommend once away from that A30 (unless you like listening to endless traffic), some beautiful views and mostly a decent quality path other than a short section to the south of Sourton which was quite narrow and rough.  A path to do on a good day where you can see the scenery and take in the hills.

Lydford Castle

Anyhow, the next Dartline operated route 118 “Rail Link” service arrived at Lydford with a little Solo (fleet 1828), a perfect bus for this route as it only had 3 other passengers all which alighted in the small villages between Lydford & Okehampton (although as the connection at Gunnislake from the train to this bus is crap it doesn’t surprise me).  The bus took me to Okehampton station, climbing the steep hill away from the town centre and onto 150261 working the next service for Exeter Central, which took me to Exeter Central giving me time to pop to the little Co-Op near the station to grab a bottle of lemonade and some reduced to clear doughnuts as a little snack.  A busy 159107 & 159108 took me back towards Salisbury, slowly emptying out on the way out of Devon only to refill on the way towards Wiltshire.  At Salisbury I headed back to my car to have a relaxing drive home, relaxing for the rest of the evening after having some food.

A good little day trip to Devon, even with an early start (early bird catches the bus).  Another old railway line path covered when the £2 bus fare scheme is on.  Lydford is a pleasant village with a nice old castle which I wouldn’t have explored had I walked from Lydford towards Okehampton, some beautiful weather as well always helps.  Anymore more photos can be found on my Flickr, thanks for reading.  Next week (the bank holiday weekend) sees a couple more Branch line society tours (Kings Lynn & Weymouth) followed by hopefully a canal walk on the Monday, all depending on the weather.

10th – 12th May – Weekend away in Cheshire

 10th – 12th May – Weekend away in Cheshire

Originally this trip would have involved staying overnight on the Sunday to come back on the Monday, but due to keeping an eye on my annual leave, the day I had in mind for the Monday got shifted for that BLS tour on the Friday the week before.  A 2-night stay in my usual shared house in Crewe with several ideas of what I could do, although like with many trips it would depend on the weather.

10th May – Onwards to Crewe… via Birmingham.

The trip began with the 17:59 service from Grateley formed of 159001 which lost around 15 minutes at Overton due to signalling issues in the Basingstoke area, thankfully it made it through Basingstoke and made up some of the time with a storming run to Waterloo.  I headed towards the underground jumping onto a Northern line set formed of 51706 & 51546 with those dreaded words “being held here a couple minutes to regulate service levels”, not what I wanted to hear as I needed to catch the 19:56 Birmingham train due to cancellations on the services via the Trent Valley.

It was one of those days where with the benefit of hindsight I should have attempted the tight connection at Andover considering the 17:37 service was running a couple of minutes late when I checked before finishing work which would have given me a bit more time in London, maybe even making the 18:46 train to Crewe which was delayed by 30 minutes due to earlier delays on the WCML, but hey-ho.  Anyhow this hot Northern line service took me to Euston where eventually I escaped the maze of passageways (and what felt like hundreds of slow-moving passengers), arriving at the main concourse just as the 19:56 service was getting announced as it was late arriving from Northampton.

Into the large crowd of passengers heading towards the train with the platform screens shouting out “platform closing” causing even more of a rush, I managed to walk fast towards the front of the train formed of 350262 & 350264 and into the former 1st class area of 262 which made things a bit more bearable on this pair of 3+2 seated units.  The train was quite slow departing Euston, only really getting up to speed after Wembley, losing some more time between Cheddington & Leighton Buzzard where it crossed from the fasts to the slows so by the time it reached Northampton it was around 18 minutes late.  Thankfully Northampton did have a 15 dwell, so the delay was cut back to 5 minutes, time it never made back up on the slow run into Birmingham New Street, where I transferred to platform 4 to board 350106 on a Crewe terminator, busy at the rear but quiet at the front.

Nothing much happened along the way to Crewe via Wolverhampton, arriving at Crewe early (as I think this train is booked to run along the slow lines between Stafford & Crewe and it used the fast lines).  I arrived a few minutes ahead of the Highland Sleeper making for an interesting photo (sadly I didn’t see anything of the Northern Lights).  Good thing I didn’t wait round for the 21:46 service for Crewe as that lost 30 minutes south of Milton Keynes and looked like ran nonstop from Rugby to Crewe, replacement taxis would have been busy for the stations between Rugby & Stafford considering 3 trains in a row were cancelled.

92028 at Crewe

I made my way to the shared house, sorted out my rucksack and was thankful I didn’t have an early pre-6am alarm clock this time round as I was aiming for the 08:10 TfW service towards South Wales.  A bit of a stressful journey compared to usual, just shows how faster the Crewe trains are compared to the Birmingham trains.

11th May – Shropshire Union Canal towards Gnosall & Nantwich

The idea for today was to return to the Shropshire Union Canal (the former Birmingham and Liverpool Junction Canal) to walk from the town of Market Drayton towards Gnosall where there was a handy bus route on the Stafford – Telford service (this canal took a bit of planning to take into account points in which to break walks owing to the highly rural nature).  After Gnosall I did have a couple of rough plans to walk an old canal in Newport (Staffordshire) or an old railway line in the south of Shrewsbury as both were along the bus route.

Anyhow the day began with the 08:10 service towards Carmarthen formed of winner 197122, where I took a seat in the future ‘Standard Plus’ section of the train (or whatever TfW is going to be branding it) which in all fairness was quite decent in terms of seating.  Not the fastest of trips to Shrewsbury (even though it was nonstop) as it slowed for what I presume were level crossings along the way.  I alighted at Shrewsbury, swung via the toilets at the station and once outside went via Tesco Express to grab lunch before making my way to the bus station which was reasonable enough although not somewhere I would want to be on a super warm day as I suspect it would get hot in the enclosed sections.

Shrewsbury Bus Station

The next Arriva run 2 hourly route 64 service (Shrewsbury – Market Drayton – Hanley) rolled in a few minutes late with bus 3694 (an Optare Versa) departing late as it headed away from Shrewsbury town centre going via Harlescott then following the A53 via several Shropshire villages, detouring from the main road to serve Hodnet and the MOD accommodation at Buntingdale before reaching the small bus station area in Market Drayton, alongside the next bus towards Shrewsbury plus a town route bus run by Lakeside Coaches.  I decided to alight from the bus in the town centre to make my way towards the canal near Talbot Wharf turning south to begin my walk.

The canal soon turned rural (in terms of fields and woodland) with the towpath being quite variable in surface (from tarmac to dried mud & grass), the worse section was in the Tyrley cutting simply because it hadn't had a chance for the sun to hit it (due to thick woodland).  I climbed the Tyrley lock flight which was quite busy with boats using them and continued south passing underneath bridge 58 which was quite tall.  My walk came to a stop when I hit a major landslip in a cutting, and after doing a short spot of bending around a branch spotted a couple more slips further round the bend decided that I could go no further south.  Seems it's not just the railway which has suffered from the wet winter.  Annoyingly it was in an area with no alternative, so I did a U-turn to head back towards Market Drayton with plan B forming.

Landslip on Shropshire Union Canal towpath between Tyrley & Woodseaves

Plan B involved walking north towards Nantwich, ironically something I did have planned for the Monday before having to cut my stay back.  Back via the swampy area near Tyrley Locks and towards Market Drayton, passing the wharf (and a couple of lovely old buildings) and onto a section of canal which had a “learn to fish” event on.  I was back into countryside, mix of woodland & open fields with birds singing away, pausing to have my lunch on a handy bench in the shade for it was like someone had turned up the heating as the sun was quite warm.

The towpath flipped sides (canal on the left-hand side as I walked north) meaning shade was a bit more limited compared to earlier, however it did mean the patches of mud had vanished.  I continued north as the canal skirted round Adderley carrying on passing into Cheshire and reached the 15 lock flight dropping the canal into the Cheshire Plain.  After Audlem my walked continued, passing the remains of a railway bridge which once carried the Nantwich - Market Drayton line.  The countryside was beautiful as it was peaceful, and it was good to see the canal was being used by boaters.  I reached the outskirts of Nantwich going underneath the Crewe - Shrewsbury railway line where the rural grass path turned more solid, and I ended the walk near Marsh Lane meeting up with my coverage of the canal further north.

Shropshire Union Canal in the Audlem area

The hot weather had taken its toll on my water supply as I had managed to get through 2 and a half litres of liquid and was in need for more as I made my way towards the large Morrisons near Nantwich station to grab something cold (picked up a carton of apple juice which didn't make it out of the car park).  After Morrisons I headed towards the little bus station in Nantwich where I had just missed a Stagecoach service for Crewe with the next option being a D&G when I noticed the less frequent route 39 service to Crewe run by Mikro Coaches which goes on a more scenic route via villages to the south (Wybunbury, Shavington) with a former Morebus Wright Eclipse (HF54 HHJ) doing the lightly loaded service.

This bus took me to the recently opened bus station in Crewe (although I had no experience with the previous bus station in which to make a comparison), and with time in hand I made my way towards the railway station, swinging via the accommodation to swap the second carton of juice with my bottle of pop I put in the fridge in the morning (so was nice and cold).  At Crewe station it was onto winner 197116 to Shrewsbury making a connection onto a late running Loco hauled set with DVT 82230 leading and 67022 pushing for the trip back to Crewe, crossing off coverage of the Crewe – Shrewsbury line for 67+Mk4 coverage (one regret is not doing a 67+Mk4 to Holyhead when they ran during the day).

67022 at Crewe Railway Station

Anyhow it felt strange ending the day at half seven as I headed back to the house, swinging via a takeaway for a cheeseburger meal deal box (as a treat) and relaxed for the rest of the night after a much-needed shower.  I suspect the blockade to the towpath won’t be a quick fix due to the location so that section of the Shropshire Union will go back onto the back burner until the Canal & River Trust website lists it as fixed, at the same time I noticed another towpath closure listed on the website near the Wolverhampton end of the canal so that section will need to wait as well.  

Anyhow an enjoyable walk in the sunshine, even if a bit unplanned, topped off with a random bus route in the Crewe area.

12th May – Trent & Mersey Canal from Fradley to Burton

I had a few ideas in my head for this Sunday, some of them got scrapped due to the Northampton loop being closed, one got scrapped due to a towpath being closed.  With one eye on the weather forecast potentially turning wet in the afternoon I decided on filling in a gap on the Trent & Mersey Canal from Fradley Junction towards Burton on Trent, linking up with the two walks I did a couple of weeks previously (meaning the remaining gaps can be done with trains rather than buses).

I checked out of the shared house, heading towards Crewe station via the Tesco Express at the garage for some breakfast items plus something for lunch before going to platform 12 awaiting the first southbound LNR service to roll in from the sidings to the south of the station, unlike 2 weeks ago this was only a 8 coach set rather than a 12 coach, and sadly it was 350236 leading 350242, all the luxurious 3+2 seating with no tables nor sockets outside the former 1st class areas, which is where I ended up on 350236 for the run to Lichfield Trent Valley, walking to the bus stop for the next Diamond route 12E service for Burton formed of an Scania Irizar (30990) which unlike 2 weeks ago also had passengers on it!

Rear of Diamond Bus 30990 (YN64 FWU) in Fradley on a route 12E

This bus took me to Fradley village, alighting near the canal bridge where my walk began, walking along Hay End Lane to join the Coventry canal at Gorse Lane, to carry on to Fradley Junction where it meets the Trent & Mersey Canal.  This time I turned right (rather than left) passing Fradley Pool Nature Reserve and a busy looking café.  The first section was along a solid towpath leading to Alrewas before the towpath turned more rural as the canal joined with the river Trent to the north of Alrewas.

The canal split from the river a short distance later carrying on towards Wychnor Bridge where the canal started to run alongside the busy A38 dual carriageway along a section which wasn't the nicest due to being quite narrow with the danger of nettles and thorn bushes lying in wait.  I continued along the canal, trying my best to drown out the traffic noise reaching Barton Marina where a short distance later the canal did move away from the main road towards Branston Water Park on the outskirts of Burton on Trent where the rural towpath changed to the recently upgraded gravel towpath.  Personally, I prefer the rural grass compared to gravel due to my boots seemingly having magnets inside which attract stones

Trent & Mersey Canal between Alrewas & Wychnor

I carried on (after pausing for lunch) heading towards the Shobnall Leisure complex which is where I reached a couple of weeks previously as it was close (to a point) to the station.  I departed from the canal towpath in what felt like hotter weather than the day before (and more humid), passing the railway station and heading to a nearby large Sainsburys for both extra food and a cold carton of juice.  I had the option to walking back to the railway station for a XC 170 or waiting round for the next X12 bus to Lichfield.  I decided to head back to the railway station for the air conditioned 170108 to Tamworth (busy but I got a seat at the front).  At Tamworth I hung around for the next southbound LNR service because the connections are rubbish, this turned out to be another pair of 350/2s with 350252 leading 350244.  Amazingly I got a seat in the former 1st class area of 350244 to give my phone a charge and to allow me to watch some videos.  Alrewas is somewhere on my list to return to, to visit the National Memorial Arboretum.

Nothing unusual happened along the way south, other than losing a couple of minutes between Nuneaton & Rugby due to getting put onto the fast line with a slow running freight service.  Arrival in Euston was a couple of minutes late as a result, nothing too major compared to other services.  As I had 75 minutes to reach Waterloo for the 18:45 service to Salisbury and the sun was shining I decided to head to Waterloo on foot (saves paying out for the underground).  At Waterloo it was onto 158888 leading 159006 on a 5-coach formation with nothing out of the ordinary happening along the way to Grateley, where I had a short walk home.  An enjoyable (other than the section of narrow towpath close to the A38) walk along the Trent & Mersey Canal, leaving Willington to Shardlow [and the river Trent towards Long Eaton], Stone to Rugeley and the short section between Lostock Gralam & Elworth (for Sandbach station).  Hopefully something I can do this year to ‘clear’ another canal for walking.

158888 at London Waterloo

Anyhow I spent the rest of Sunday relaxing as my body was a bit tired due to the heat, more photos can be found on my Flickr account, thanks for reading.  Back to a couple weeks of day trips including another double headed Branch Line Society Railtour over the bank holiday weekend.  Now spring is here the canals have opened up a bit more as I wouldn’t have wanted to walk either canal in the winter months where the towpaths could have been muddy in places.   Anyhow I leave you with a photo of some Goslings:

Goslings along the Trent & Mersey Canal in Burton Upon Trent

Trips 3-6th May 2024

 Trips 3-6th May 2024

3rd May - Return of the Shedi Tour

When this late notice tour came out in early April, I decided it was worth doing as it would be a nice little day out with the bonus of some hopefully winning locos.  The day for me began with the 07:27 service for Waterloo formed of 159004, 159018 & 159104 which I took to Basingstoke popping out of the station to grab some supplies for lunch before catching a reasonably busy 221141 to Southampton Airport Parkway (which emptied out at Winchester).  I had a few minutes at Southampton Airport before 158880 took me the mile and a bit to Eastleigh where I popped out of the station for a little stroll to waste some time before the charter would depart.

33012 (D6515) rolled into the station with the London Transport 4TC set (Mk1 coaches) and I took my seat in coach D on the bouncy bench seat with has a lot more legroom than on a Mk2 coach.  33012 departed heading towards Chandlers Ford before going via Romsey and taking the Laverstock curve to head towards Basingstoke via Andover where a second pick up was made.  After Basingstoke the train continued towards Reading making use of the Oxford Road curve to head towards Tilehurst after Reading West before carrying on towards Didcot Parkway where another pick up was made as well as a 15-minute break for pathing.

33012 (D6515) at Eastleigh Station

After Didcot Parkway the train continued towards Oxford going into the Hinksey Yard to the south of the city for the first reversal of the day with DB Cargo’s 66205 & 66114 attaching to the rear, both were winners for me as the train headed back towards Didcot bypassing the station using the west curve to head towards Swindon and the Golden Valley line to Gloucester where there was a longer break for the locos to change in the rain (the charter causing a bit of chaos with late running services being forced to use alternative platforms, oops).

66205 & 66114 detached and headed back light engine towards Didcot where Freightliner’s 59005 arrived (running late due to earlier issues) to attach to the front of the train to head into Wales, running via the loop near Lydney and towards Cardiff going via platform 4 at Newport (well it is a BLS tour, so all the random crossovers).  At Cardiff the train arrived at a busy platform 2 causing more chaos as we had a longer (around 90 minutes) break, time I spent having a little stroll towards Bute Park & Blackweir Fields returning to the station via Cardiff Castle and Boots to grab some dinner items.

Bute Docks Feeder Canal within Bute Park, Cardiff

Back at Cardiff Central and back onto the charter with 33012 back in control for the run towards Bristol Parkway, pausing for 15 minutes outside Severn Tunnel Junction for some GWR services to go in front before heading underground (via the loop between Severn Tunnel Junction & the tunnel, plus via the loop before Pilning where the train got held for a late running London train to pass.  At Bristol Parkway the train reversed in the passenger loop with Freightliner’s 66541 attaching onto 59005 for the run towards Westbury where they detached from the train, with an unexpected trip via the Bathampton loop.

Another reversal in Westbury with 33012 (which did make a lovely noise) as the train made its way towards Reading via Newbury, however sadly darkness had fallen at this point so my time of looking out of the window was over.  The train went via the loop in Hungerford and arrived at platform 3 at Reading for the final loco to join with GBRf’s 66797, one of the recent(ish) European imports.  Thankfully a set-down at Basingstoke was added soon after the tour went live to allow me to take the charter to Basingstoke (originally it was nonstop to Eastleigh), giving me around 30 minutes at Basingstoke before 159012 & 159013 rolled in from London to take me back to Grateley and a gentle walk home, sorting my bag out ready for an early start on the Saturday morning (and not a lot of sleep).

66797 at Basingstoke Station

An enjoyable relaxing tour towards Cardiff via Gloucester, nice to see the BLS doing a “Super Raffle” with tickets at £10 for some ‘money can’t buy’ prizes (cab rides, guided tours of depots, trip on Caroline (the inspection saloon)) rather than doing it as a silent auction like on previous tours for Martin House, giving a better chance to win for those not flushed with a spare few hundred pounds.

4th May - May the Fourth Be with You Tour

Day 2 of the BLS tours involving the London Transport 4TC set and 33012 and it was an early start for me with a drive to Eastleigh railway station arriving with plenty of time to spare before 73136 rolled in with 33012 on the rear, sadly a dud loco from a tiny trip on the overnight GBRf tour in 2021 (from Kensington Olympia to Acton Yard).  Since the day before coach D had swapped ends to be behind the 73 rather than the 33 and this tour was a lot quieter than the Friday’s tour, my estimate was that coach D was half full, giving people the chance to spread out a bit more.

73136 at Eastleigh Station

Anyhow the first destination for today was towards Portsmouth Harbour for a brief break (and pick up of passengers) before 33012 taking over with the run towards Westbury via Southampton’s Up Goods Loop, sadly this is where the train lost some time due to having to wait for a late running Portsmouth – Cardiff service before it could continue.  At Westbury there was a surprise as Freightliner had provided not just 1 class 59 loco, nor 2 but a trio of 59s, all 3 were winners for me with 59202 leading 59101 & 59104 with all 3 powering (so at this point there was more locos than coaches!).

Sadly, the earlier delay into Westbury meant a late departure and following a Bristol stopper which only increased the delay.  A trip via the Goods loop between Bath & Oldfield Park before the train continued towards Bristol Temple Meads going on the non-platform line alongside platform 14 and onwards to the loop after Yatton where the train was looped for a Plymouth bound XC service.  The train continued as booked via Weston Super Mare before carrying on to Taunton & Tiverton Parkway where it was put into the loop at the former Tiverton Junction station for some GWR services to pass.

59101 (Village of Whatley) at Westbury Station (BLS Charter)

After the loop it was onwards to Exeter St Davids where I was surprised they didn’t hold us outside the station to allow the 13:25 service for Waterloo to depart first but the 59s went in first for a brief stop to allow some passengers to alight before climbing the hill towards Exeter Central reaching a point between Exeter Central & St James Park with 73136 firing up to haul the train into the bay platform at Exeter Central causing the 13:25 to Waterloo to be 12 minutes late and causing a bit of delays for the next few hours on the West of England line.

Anyhow at Exeter Central, we had around an hour break, time for a little stroll and visit of Boots to pick up items for dinner before I returned to the train.  The 59s had detached and headed back towards the quarries leaving 33012 to take the train forward towards Waterloo, with pauses at Honiton, Chard loop & Gillingham due to pathing requirements on the mostly single-track line between Exeter & Salisbury.

73136 alongside 159009 at Honiton Station

The first set down was made at Salisbury with a handful of passengers alighting before the train continued towards London Waterloo with a further pause at Basingstoke & Farnborough before a fast run to platform 17 at Waterloo, time for a quick visit to Sainsburys for something cold and fizzy to try and keep myself awake.  73136 was back in charge and running on electric heading towards Eastleigh going via Twickenham, Woking & Guildford, the train did empty out a bit more at Waterloo allowing more time to spread out as darkness had fallen.

A brief pause at Havant to drop off some passengers (I suspect those who boarded at Portsmouth) before the train carried on towards Eastleigh where it terminated, a nice run behind 73136 arriving near enough on time.  A short walk back to my car before driving home, getting a bit lost heading out of Eastleigh as I turned left instead of going straight on (ending up joining the M3 at junction 13 rather than junction 12), unlike in the morning I decided to play it a bit safer and stuck to the motorway & dual carriageways to reach Andover before heading back to Grateley.

33012 (D6515) at London Waterloo

It had been a long couple of days which had taken its toil on my body as I headed to bed for a relaxing Sunday (other than an eye test), a planned local area walk being paused due to the rain arriving.

6th May – Birmingham & Fazeley Canal Walk

The Birmingham & Fazeley canal runs from the centre of Birmingham via Aston & Minworth towards the small town of Fazeley (on the outskirts of Tamworth) via a couple small villages and countryside.  I had previously walked the section from Old Turn Junction towards Aston in various sections so today I decided to focus on the section from Aston towards Fazeley where I could make the most of the £2 bus fares rather than paying out whatever XC want for a train from Tamworth (or Wilnecote).

My day began with the 05:59 service from Grateley to Basingstoke formed of 158886 & 159015 where I had a short wait before 221139 & 220018 rolled in from Southampton (diverted via Laverstock due to engineering works between Winchester & Basingstoke) arriving a good 10 minutes ahead of schedule so it was nice to take a seat in an empty coach on the 221 for the run towards Banbury, the coach only filling up after Oxford and even them it was quieter compared to usual.  At Banbury it was another short wait before the next Chiltern service formed of 168218, 168328 & 168327 and I took a seat in one of the former TPE units which again was lightly loaded (bank holidays for you).

At Dorridge my good friend Jules joined me as we had a short catchup and continued towards Birmingham Moor Street, heading to New Street via Tesco to grab some supplies for lunch and jumping on 350246 working a Walsall stopper.  This took us to Aston where we began the walk heading out of the station, crossing the road and up a short road to pick up the canal.  The first section took us towards Salford Junction where the Birmingham & Fazeley canal meets up with the Tame Valley & Grand Union Canal underneath the Gravelly Hill Interchange.  We continued moving away from the M6 and roughly running alongside the A38 towards the Bromford & Tyburn area of the city of Birmingham.  The towpath quality in this section was quite good, but I think we were both thankful when the canal moved away from the main road in the Minworth area, crossing underneath the Sutton Park freight line.

350246 departs Aston Station

After Minworth the canal turned more rural heading towards Curdworth with the towpath also changing from solid to more rural canal.  Some beautiful areas along this walk with birds singing and a short tunnel in the village of Curdworth itself.  After crossing underneath the M6 Toll the canal ran close to the M42 but was still quite beautiful.  We reached Bodymoor Heath, passing a busy looking pub and entering an area close to the Kingsbury Water Park with various pools on the right-hand side as the canal started to head north.

This area was very peaceful heading past the various lakes near Cliff and towards Drayton Bassett, passing the Drayton Manor Footbridge with the castellated towers with spiral staircases inside.   A quirky bit of architecture.  We continued beyond the footbridge and back into a more urban landscape reading the end of the Birmingham & Fazeley canal at Fazeley Junction where it meets the Coventry Canal.  We joined the Coventry Canal for a short section to end the walk near Fazeley Town Hall to await the next Arriva route 110 bus between Tamworth & Birmingham, formed of a busy double decker 4411 as it headed towards Mile Oak before following the A453 towards Whitehouse Common and diverting to serve Raddicap Heath & Sutton Coldfield.  Due to a group of youths at the back of the bus playing some sort of noise which they probably believed was music we jumped off in Sutton Coldfield making our way to the station to board 323207 to Birmingham New Street.

Drayton Turret Foot Bridge over the Birmingham & Fazeley Canal between Drayton Bassett & Fazeley

After a visit to the toilets (the one on the 323 was locked out of use), we headed outside the station, following the tram tracks towards St Chad, the trams having some delays.  At St Chads we took tram 51 to Grand Central New Street station and headed for a Shrewsbury service formed of 196106 to take us slowly to Wolverhampton (seemed to be some signalling issues around Sandwell & Dudley).  After a brief break 196111 took us to Smethwick Galton Bridge (I was hoping for a pair of 2 coach 196s but hey ho).  At Galton Bridge we headed to the Snow Hill line platforms to take 172345 & 172008 the short distance to the Hawthorns before tram 49 took us to Bull Street.

A supply raid at the shops outside Snow Hill before taking 172217 & 172212 to Solihull (so Jules could grab his bike), we parted ways at Solihull as I boarded a reasonably busy 168217 & 168107 to Banbury for a short wait for a busy 220002 (was glad to have had a seat reserved, but it did empty out somewhat at Oxford).  This train terminated early at Reading, so it was across to platform 2 to take a seat on 165104 working the stopper to Basingstoke thankfully not costing me any time as it gave a nice connection into 159015 working the next Salisbury stopper.  This 159 took me back to Grateley which judging by the roads had quite a bit of rain, back home to relax for the remainder of my bank holiday Monday.

172008 departing The Hawthorns Station

It was an enjoyable walk with a good friend along a beautiful canal, also good to have a little catch-up ready for a stressful week at work.  The two rail tours on Friday & Saturday were also good for looking out of the window.  Some more photos can be found on my Flickr, link is *here*.  Thanks for reading, next week sees a return to Cheshire.

25th – 28th April, Long weekend based in Crewe.

 25th – 28th April, Long weekend based in Crewe.

Another long weekend in the shared house in Crewe with a focus on some old railway lines having swapped a planned Shropshire Union canal walk for another trip.

25th April – Onwards to Crewe

The trip began with a very tight connection with the 17:37 from Andover driving there after work and after swinging home, only as the 17:59 from Grateley was showing as cancelled for some unknown reason.  I was glad to have picked up my tickets the day before as otherwise I wouldn’t have made it as the train formed of 159008, 159103 & 159107 was rolling into the station at Andover just as I went underneath the subway.  Far too close for comfort, but I managed to get a spare table seat near the rear of the train and settled down to relax with some videos.

Nothing unusual happened along the way and the train arrived at London Waterloo near enough on time, the rain seemingly ended when I headed out of the station (at first to waste some time before 19:00 where I would get a discount fare for the underground) but decided to walk to Euston, dodging the various puddles and theatre goers.  At Euston I arrived in good time, making my way towards the platform the 19:46 to Crewe was departing from, and as soon as an Avanti service departed from the opposite platform the barrier was opened and passengers were allowed onto the train.  350372 & 350252 was on this service, made busier as the 18:46 service got spun at Milton Keynes.

350372 at London Euston

The 350s departed quite busy, even at the front of the train (I was in the extra legroom table seat) slowly emptying out as time went on, but including myself there was at least 4 passengers in the front coach doing the service end to end.  Arrival into Crewe was around 5 minutes late due to congestion at the London end, so not the biggest delays I’ve had on London Northwestern.  I made my way to the shared house (via the Tesco Express at the Esso garage to grab some breakfast items and dodging various idiotic cyclists riding on pavements with no lights and in dark clothing, they will only blame others if they dash out in front of a car/lorry without looking at junctions and the driver doesn’t see them).

Anyhow at the shared house, I made use of the fridge, turning down the offer for food from one of the other residents and sorted my rucksack out in the single room, getting ready for a long day on the Friday.

26th April – Churnet Valley & Great Northern Rail walks.

The Churnet Valley line once ran from Uttoxeter to North Rode (in Cheshire) and was a victim of cuts in the early 60s with part of the line preserved by the Churnet Valley Railway.  The part of the line which has been turned into a mixed used path runs for around 5 miles between the village of Oakamoor to the village of Denstone via Alton.  It is one of those old railway line walks which takes some thinking on how to reach as Denstone gets an hourly bus service between Derby & Uttoxeter (the Swift) Oakamoor is limited to 1 weekday only bus between Stoke/Hanley to Uttoxeter with a handful of additional bus services ran to serve Alton Towers when the theme park is open.  Oddly this bus route (the D&G operated 32A doesn’t show on Google Maps which I felt was a bit strange considering it serves Alton Towers.

Anyhow the day for me began with an early morning stroll towards Crewe bus station, a lot has changed since my last visit a year ago with a new multi storey carpark being built (although not like there is a shortage of car parking spaces in Crewe) with the new bus station looking nearly complete.  Anyhow it was onto the First operated route 3 service to Hanley Bus Station (with bus 63117) on this service via Alsager, Kidsgrove & the northern towns making up the city of Stoke on Trent.  At the bus station I headed to a nearby large Tesco Extra to buy some lunch items and to make use of the toilet.  I returned to the bus station at Hanley with various colourful buses floating around (both from First and D&G, sadly the sun was in an annoying angle which limited my photo taking chances.

D&G Bus 173 (YJ59 GHH) near Hanley bus station on a route 24

The 08:45 service to Uttoxeter arrived a few minutes late, in the hands of an Enviro200 fleet 781 and departed around 10 minutes late due to a large passenger flow with nearly every seat taken.  A few alighted along the way as it headed away from Stoke on Trent towards the pretty looking town of Cheadle before heading towards Oakamoor via some narrow country roads which some steep hills & corners.  I was the only person to alight in Oakamoor (I suspect most of the passengers on the bus were for Alton Towers, making use of the £2 single fares on this route), and my walk began.

I headed away from the village centre into a park area near the river Churnet, taking a photo of the old bridge over the river before picking up the route of the old railway line, doing a small double back towards the portal of the sealed-up tunnel before picking up the railway route passing the remains of the platforms at Oakamoor station.  The path quality was quite reasonable, a bit muddy in places but nothing that major and soon I reached nirvana, an area where if I paused the only sound, I could hear was the birds singing and the sound of the river running close-by.  Some beautiful woodland as well, I was in a happy place.  I continued to reach the former Alton (Towers) station (renamed in the 1950s when the theme park opened) where the station building is now a holiday let.

Alton Towers Station on Churnet Valley Line

After Alton the path turned a bit more muddy due to being shared with a farm, but that only lasted a few minutes before returning to reasonable as I put my foot down as I made a mistake with the bus times at Denstone as I misread the timetable and had 15 minutes past the hour in my head which is the time for the buses towards Uttoxeter, towards Derby it was on the hour.  Mixed up with being 15 minutes late to start the walk meant I was in risk of missing the bus screwing up my plans.  Thankfully I made it to Denstone with time to spare after pausing for some more photos of this lovely peaceful area, passing the remains of Denstone station and onto the road towards the bus stop used by Derby bound buses.  Although I could have hung back a bit more as the next bus was running around 5 minutes late.

The next Trentbarton operated "Swift" route rolled in with a Wright Eclipse (fleet 736) as I took a seat near the rear as the bus headed away from Denstone towards Ashbourne (with a good turnover of passengers and a place I plan to return to when I walk the old railway line from Pomeroy.  After Ashbourne the bus picked up the A52 road heading towards Derby via some smaller villages and I alighted at the entrance to Markeaton Park (just before the bus reached the A38) to begin my second walk.

Bus Shelter near the Tavern in Denstone

The first section of this walk was alongside the A38 "Kingsway" road before picking up cycle route 54 towards Mackworth Park and Mickleover Meadows.  A short section of walking on the road of a housing estate before picking up the start of the Great Northern Greenway near the former Mickleover Railway Station (the buildings remain in private arms, no idea if anything remains of the platforms as that’s private land).  This path runs along part of the former Great Northern Railway’s Derbyshire and Staffordshire extension (running from Burton towards Derby (Friargate) then Nottingham (via the Bennerley Viaduct)).

Onto the old railway line path which was quite busy with other users for the first mile or so, the path headed into the countryside leaving the Mickleover area of Derby behind and turning quite nice with the bird song and views. The cycle path split just before the bridge underneath the A516 with route 68 heading away from the old railway line (signposted for Ashbourne) with route 54 heading under the bridge and back to the old railway line (the original line being lost for the road development).  The old railway line passed the settlement of Etwall with no evidence of the former station (other than a simple sign).

The path continued away from Etwall, going underneath the busy A50 (Derby Bypass) coming to an end on the outskirts of Hilton, near to where the railway used to join with the Derby – Stoke line near Egginton Junction (where a manual level crossing is located).  The railway path at an end, I headed along the “Hilton Greenway” path towards the village, picking a bus stop near Nene Way, a bus stop which annoyingly had poor mobile data signal so I didn’t see that the bus was running 20-odd minutes late (had I known I would have continued a bit further).  Eventually the “Villager” bus rolled up with Trent Barton’s 740 as I took a seat on board (making use of the USB sockets for a quick charge) with the bus heading away from Hilton towards Hatton, crossing the railway line and into Tutbury before heading towards Rolleston on Dove which is where I alighted.

Former Great Northern Railway line between Mickleover & Etwall (Great Northern Greenway)

My 3rd and final walk originally was only going to be a short walk along a section of the old Great Northern line.  This is branded as the Jinny Nature Trail, passing the remains of Rolleston on Dove station (which has been turned into a flower garden).  The old railway line path here is only just over a mile long as it reached Stretton, passing the remains of Stretton and Claymills station (although nothing really remains other than signs).  The rest of the Great Northern line has been lost to modern developments and in hindsight I ought to have finished it in Stretton and caught the Villager bus towards Derby (where another section of the old Great Northern route is available to explore in the Breadsall area of the city but that can wait for another day.

For some reason I decided to continue a bit further going underneath the A38 and onto the Trent & Mersey Canal, and after checking timings decided to walk towards Burton along a recently upgraded section of towpath (all the gravel) reaching the Shobnall area of Burton before heading back towards Stretton via the “Kingfisher Trail”, a cycle path running parallel to the canal so a bit different than just doubling back along the gravel path.

Trent & Mersey Canal between Burton Upon Trent & Willington

Back at Stretton I rejoined the canal towpath which changed from gravel to a more solid surface, heading away from Burton with the towpath upgrade works in process as I reached an area where the soil had been dug out ready for the hard surface to be installed as the towpath headed underneath the A5121.  This section of canal was quite noisy as it ran close to the A38 road (which was quite busy with traffic).  The towpath soon turned to grass & a bit of mud (nothing that serious) as my legs were starting to feel the pain (at this point I would say I was over 20 miles for the day).  The final push towards the village of Willington where after swinging via the little Co-Op I headed to the limited served station to collapse on the bench, being thankful it wasn’t raining as the waiting shelters had disappeared.

The walk along the canal was quite good nearer the end (once it moved away from the main road), and is another section of the Trent & Mersey covered, as a busy 170636 rolled in from the Birmingham direction to take me one stop to Derby for a reasonable connection to 170530 on the next Crewe service which I took to Uttoxeter to meet up with a dear old friend for a meal & brief catchup in the Spoons.  I returned to Uttoxeter station an hour later to catch 170501 to Crewe, arriving at just after 9pm which was late enough for me.  After swinging via the Tesco at the garage (noticing the bar area in the former Best Western hotel was open, since finding out that hotel has reopened).  Back to the shared house, bumping into everybody else staying there that evening (quite unusual to bump into people from the other 3 rooms at the same time) as I put my sandwich in the fridge, having a quick shower and relaxing my sore legs.

170639 arriving at Willington Station

27th April – Railways in Newark & High Marnham

Another early start (yay!) with the 06:07(odd) EMR service from Crewe my ride towards Nottingham with 170502 and featuring a very proactive & friendly guard (I’ve been on some EMR services where the guard has basically hidden away in the back cab).  My first idea for today was to take this 170 all the way to Newark to change for a bus towards Sutton on Trent for another bus, until I noticed the timetable on the Marshalls (of Sutton on Trent) website saying it was a guaranteed connection from the bus an hour later (on the likes of Google Maps it has both buses departing at the same time so doesn’t show up as a connection).  However, along the way from Crewe I had another idea and booked a bus on the Nottsbus Connect service from Newark Castle around 09:30.

With this in mind I changed at Nottingham heading to the little Tesco near to the station to grab some lunch items before taking 222011 to East Midlands Parkway returning towards Nottingham with 158862 with 170513 on the rear locked out of use, which detached at Nottingham.  The 158 was quite busy as it headed to Newark Castle and I was glad to have alighted before the Newark massive boarded.  I headed towards the bus stop near to the station which is where the app was suggesting the minibus was due to arrive for today, I was sampling my first ever “Demand Responsive Transport” service.

My taxi for Cotham, Nottsbus on Demand minibus RX71 TNN near Newark Castle Station

The Nottsbus Connect had recently expanded to cover the area to the south of Newark replacing a couple of limited-service bus routes, and hence making things a lot easier to reach the village of Cotham (which previously had a bus service running twice a week).  This is where a short (5 mile) path starts which makes use of the former Great Northern (it’s that company again!) route from Newark to Bottesford, the section south of Cotham not being available for public access with the cycle route which makes use of it (64) going via country roads towards Bingham.  Anyhow I had a private minibus (RX71 TNN) for the journey to Cotham with the driver only having one more booking for the day so far, still for me at least it was free as there is an offer on the website giving the first booking for free.

Anyhow the minibus dropped me in the small village centre (near the old bus shelter & disused phone box) as I headed along the road to the old railway bridge, picking up the route of the railway as it headed in a northern direction towards Newark.  It was surprisingly busy with other users including a running club (I presume making use of it being traffic free as a way to doing timed practise runs).  Some beautiful peaceful countryside before I reached the outskirts of Newark with Balderton, passing a lake (used for fishing) and towards the ECML where for the last half a mile the path runs alongside the ECML coming to an end with a disused platform at Newark Northgate station.  An enjoyable walk in the countryside, certainly made a lot easier with that demand bus service at the southern end to avoid doubling back or walking along country-roads/footpaths to reach Bottesford.

800209 passing Newark Northgate Station

I headed towards the centre of Newark, getting lost looking for the Morrisons (to make use of the toilets and to grab some supplies) before making my way to the modern looking bus station for the next route 37 service for Retford, run by Marshalls of Sutton on Trent so a new operator for me with an Optare Versa running (OP86) running late as the 37s interwork with a route 77 Newark town bus and traffic was awful.  Took 10 minutes from the bus station to the railway station but thankfully the connection in North Muskham to the 2 hourly “Nottsbus Connect” 339 service (with a little Optare Solo OP128) being my private bus going via some little villages (Cromwell, Carlton on Trent, Suton on Trent) to Low Marnham alighting at the bus stop on Gracefield Lane.

Rear of Marshalls of Sutton-on-Trent Bus YJ60 LRX near Low Marnham on a route 339

The first section of my second walk was a mile walking along the road towards Fledborough, thankfully not the busiest of roads, as I picked up the route of the former “Lancashire, Derbyshire and East Coast Railway” route which ran from Lincoln towards Sheffield & Chesterfield.  This section is close to the end of the High Marnham Test Track running from Shirebrook to the former High Marnham power station.  Another one of those cycle paths which seemingly end in a random place this being route 647 (leading into route 64 near Harby).

I left the road dropping onto the route of the old railway line, passing the overgrown remains of Fledborough railway station and reaching the long Fledborough Viaduct which crosses the Trent (and many fields).  This area was another peaceful line with some nice views of the countryside passing the remains of Clifton railway station (one platform & the buildings now a private house).  This line heading near enough straight east the first main settlement reached was Skellingthorpe where the path does move away from the old railway line in parts.  No evidence of the former station remains other than a sign saying “station was here” as I headed on the final section leading towards a path running alongside the busy A46 over the railway [Lincoln – Gainsborough line] and Foss Navigation before dropping down onto the towpath alongside this small canal.

Side View of Fledborough Viaduct

Had timings been better I was toying with heading towards Saxilby along the canal but the connection at Lincoln is a bit rubbish between trains from Saxilby to trains for Nottingham so instead headed towards Lincoln along a bit of a disappointment as the path was at the bottom of a bank so there was hardly any decent views of the Foss Navigation.  Ah well, as I moved a bit faster on seeing the timings with the potential of making an earlier train from Lincoln (which had the big advantage of starting at Lincoln rather than Grimsby).  Anyhow I reached Brayford Pool with many (many) tourists out enjoying the weather as I reached Lincoln station just after the train arrived from Nottingham.  Another enjoyable old railway line path, lots of countryside fresh air and a place to think clearly.

The footbridge to platform 4/5 at Lincoln is very narrow and unsuitable for the passenger loadings at this city centre station, as I took a seat on a very busy 158846 with a rough plan at the Nottingham end to intercept my last 170 needed for mileage at Bingham.  However, that plan went into the bin as the 158 departed 5 minutes late and only got later, reaching Newark 10 minutes late forcing a rethink as I bailed out and headed to Waitrose to have a nosey to see if they had anything of interest (other than a bottle of pop as I was thirsty)

158846 at Newark Castle Station

For lack of a better plan, I decided to ditch the 170 for another day and instead take a seat on 170506 (with 170516 on the rear locked out of use until Nottingham due to short platforms) for the long and slow journey towards Crewe.  Something I won’t be doing again in a hurry!  Anyhow at Crewe I boarded winner 197005 for the spin out to Wem, returning to Crewe on a late running 158821 & 158819 on the stopper (local door only due to short platforms and lack of SDO).  I left the station, swinging via Tiger Bite to grab a burger meal box (as I didn’t fancy a pizza and was quite hungry), eating the food in the lounge area of the house (which unlike the previous night was quiet, with only a contractor whom is staying there for 3 weeks when on a job hanging around).  A good day with two different old railway line walks covered, part of me was tempted to leave the Lincoln walk for another day and head towards Bingham to try and cover the “Bingham Linear Park” but that can wait for another trip (after-all that isn’t going anywhere soon and doesn’t require buses).  Weather wise I got lucky as heavy rain was forecasted for Lincoln around lunchtime but I think that stayed mostly to the south as I only had a couple of short drizzles at times along the walk but nothing that major nor long lasting.

28th April – An ever-changing plan for ever changing weather.

My original idea for today was going to take the first London bound LNR service to Northampton to change for a bus towards Weedon Bec to walk the Grand Union canal towards Daventry (following off with a short disused railway line in the Daventry area) before taking a bus to Northampton.  Or taking that first train to Milton Keynes for a bus to Newport Pagnell to walk the old railway line path to Wolverton for another train to Leighton Buzzard for the canal walk to Tring.  However, both ideas soon were put aside due to forecast heavy rain in that general area.  At one point I was considering doing a little day return towards Liverpool to see if any winning 777s were out and about but when I woke up on Sunday morning, I couldn’t drum up the energy to head to Liverpool.

I eventually made it out of bed, checking out of the shared house and headed to the station via the Tesco garage for breakfast (and lunch), as based on the forecast the rain would clear up around Lichfield later that morning with most of the wet stuff staying to the south (using the predicted weather map on the Met Office website).  I boarded a triple 350 formed of 350252, 350372 & 350246 taking a seat in the 350/3 looking up a couple of options, deciding to bail at Lichfield Trent Valley and making a reasonably fast paced walk to the bus stop on the A5127 for a Diamond operated route 12E service for Burton on Trent (with bus 31417, an Enviro200) being my private ride to the village of Fradley where my walk began.  Thankfully the rain had mostly ceased at this point with only a couple shorter showers.  As far as I could tell the 12E service is the stopper for Burton with a faster X12 service running in front of it (which runs fast along the A38).

350246 departing Lichfield Trent Valley Station

The first section of my walk took me along the Coventry Canal towards Fradley Junction where this canal joins up with the Trent & Mersey Canal and I was still trying to decide to turn right to head towards Burton or to turn left to head towards Rugeley, for both were about the same sort of distance however the trip towards Burton involved a couple of miles where the canal runs near enough parallel to the A38 dual carriageway (which wouldn’t be that much fun) so I decided to head towards Rugeley, passing a small marina with a decent quality towpath heading towards a rural area.  The decent towpath lasted a couple of miles before turning more rural on this beautiful woodland canal as it headed towards Bromley Hayes then towards Handsacre where the countryside element became more urban.  I went underneath the WCML near Armitage (a bridge I dread to think how many times I’ve crossed over it) and carried on as the canal returned to more rural, although not as quiet as the section near Fradley.

Soon I reached the outskirts of Rugeley and the hard surface towpath returned, although a case of dodging the odd puddle due to the recent rain.  I paused for a few minutes near the railway bridge carrying the Chase line over the canal for a photo of a train between the Rugeley stations before carrying on ending my walk along the canal at Station Road, and headed towards Rugeley Trent Valley station.  Another section of the Trent & Mersey canal walked but it was time to sit on a bench, have my late lunch and rest my feet whilst watching passing trains.

350374 crossing the Trent & Mersey Canal in Rugeley

Time for me to play Desiro Roulette with the next London bound service, getting lucky with 350105 leading 350262, I even got a decent table seat in the /1 as my phone went on charge and I settled down to relax for the trip to London.  Nothing unusual happening along the way other than a short delay caused by late running Avanti services getting put ahead near Rugby.  Arrival into Euston gave me around an hour to get to Waterloo for the next Andover service, so I set off on foot with some beautiful sunshine (and evidence of some serious rain with the mild flooding near Euston Road).

At Waterloo, it was onto 159002 & 159022 to form the next Andover service as it was replacement buses in the Salisbury area today.  A busy service this and soon I was at Andover and into an organised system where passengers for Gillingham were directed towards one coach, passengers for Salisbury for another coach and passengers for Grateley & Tisbury told to wait in the middle.  I was expecting a single decker bus from Newbury & District or South West Coaches to roll in to form the ‘stopper’ but it turned out to be a Transit Minibus (HN16 VDO) where I didn’t manage to catch the operator.  Departed Andover with 5 passengers on board, 2 (including myself) were for Grateley the other 3 for Tisbury, I guess making sense using a minibus on the country lanes near Tisbury.

Rear of Minibus HN16 VDO at Grateley Station on a rail replacement service

Anyhow I soon walked home, and relaxed for the rest of the evening, resting my feet which were showing signs of having enough walking for the weekend.  An enjoyable weekend away with some nice old railway lines explored as well as parts of the Trent & Mersey canal.  Unusually for me a weekend with no train cancellations or major delays causing replans.  Thanks for reading, more photos can be found on my Flickr.  May is another busy month featuring 4 railtours and one overnight trip to Crewe [which was previously another Friday – Monday stay but I’ve had to cut it down to Friday – Sunday due to the Railtour on the first Friday in May.