20th July – The Luca Pezzulo Express

 20^th July – The Luca Pezzulo Express

When this tour went on sale in April I decided to treat myself for first class, as I would be on the tour for roughly 15 hours and as the standard class bench seats don’t do my back any good, it would save having to carry around my cushion.  I had forgotten it wasn’t plain First Class non-dining but sort of a First Class Plus with teas/coffees and some light food.  Anyhow my alarm was set for half five, and after a so-so night I walked towards the Tesco Express in Preston to get some supplies, waiting in line with a couple other tour goers for the store to open at 6am, before walking back towards Preston station to await the arrival of the tour from Lancaster.

Leading the tour for the first leg was Colas 37521, which was required for me (so always a good start, sadly 37669 was on the rear which I’ve had on two previous tours.  I took my seat in the posh seats for the run towards Manchester Victoria via Bolton, using a loop on the other side of Victoria before carrying on towards Rochdale for another pick up.  After Rochdale it was full steam ahead via Summit Tunnel and into Yorkshire, going via Brighouse and Mirfield to take one of the remaining operational lines via Healey Mills (Engine line P and Down Healey Mills Departure Line) to allow an unit to overtake before heading into Wakefield Kirkgate for the final pick up and the first reversal of the day.

37669 took control for the first time as the train went up the chord towards Wakefield Westgate, using the non-platformed through line and into Wrenthorpe reception sidings, unusually without any old coal wagons parked up, used to be used by the old Wakefield Westgate – Huddersfield services before they were rerouted towards Castleford [and the Knottingley – Kirkgate services extended to Leeds].  Another reversal with 37521 leading the way, back via Westgate and towards Fitzwilliam, using a loop along the way before turning right towards Moorthorpe and then into South Yorkshire with the line towards Swinton and Rotherham Central, staying underneath the tram wires before they disappeared on the new chord towards Meadowhall South.  The train continued and turned left into the Tinsley yard area, using line “TY4” for another reversal, probably new track for me as I have no idea which part of Tinsley the Don & Went tour did back in June 2015).  Another reversal and back towards the main-line, taking the south facing chord before heading towards the former Sheffield Victoria station on the closed Woodhead route.  The tour continued along the old route, passing some closed stations, and heading across the Network Rail boundary at the steel works at Stocksbridge for around half a mile to the Ellen Cliff Loop, beyond was off-limits for heavy locos due to weight issues.

Due to an issue with some points not being clipped around the former Deepcar exchange sidings, the train had lost some time, so to try and gain some time back the route towards Hull was changed, it was meant to go via Pontrfact Baghill and then Selby, but instead once it was back on the passenger network after Sheffield Victoria and running alongside the tram line towards Rotherham Central, the train used the direct Swinton avoiding line via Thrybergh Junction, using the loop along the way to rejoin at Mexborough Junction, using the loop the other side of Conisbroigh before taking the Doncaster avoiding lines to avoid Doncaster (who would have guessed that?!).  The train rejoined the passenger network to head towards Goole to rejoin the original route at Gilberdyke, racing towards Hull where we had roughly a 20 minute break.

Needless to say I wasn’t the only person who headed towards the WH Smiths for a meal-deal, I could have probably made it to Tesco and back, but there is a risk that the checkouts could have been busy.  With sandwich in bag (for later on), it was back on board for a brief reversal, before the train returned towards Hull, but this time using the carriage sidings, using siding E.  One of the old platforms used in the olden days, where the train got watered by a man in a van.  Once done, it was back out towards Hessle, and towards Goole, taking the line towards Hensall to head into the remains of Kellingley Colliery, nobody really knew how far the train would actually get in this closed colliery (of which not a lot remains), but it got further than expected.  One final reversal with 37521 back in charge for the remaining of the tour, back out towards the main-line and towards Drax where the train went via the Biomass unloading area, and also the coal unloading area, with a good tour guide explaining how Biomass works and how it was built.  A track engineer was also on board explaining the track layout and the old unloading machines in the coal area.

After the loop of Drax, it was back out onto the mainline, passing an empty looking 142 bound for Goole, passing Knottingley, Featherstone before pausing at Wakefield Kirkgate for the first set-down, where a lot of passengers alighted.  The tour returned towards Mirfield, Brighouse, eventually leaving Yorkshire behind and into Greater Manchester for another set-down at Rochdale.  Afterwards things went a bit slow due to trespassers around Victoria, the train used a loop before slowly getting back going, passing Victoria, but as it was now following a Wigan bound stopping service, it was very stop/start until that unit was looped at Bolton, and the 37 gained some speed back towards Preston where I alighted at the end of a good tour.  Once I was back at the hotel, it was a case of dropping my bag, putting my phone on charge and having a much needed shower, for it was quite humid.

A bit of new track in my book, but the good thing is that the tour raised a lot of money for Martin House’s Children’s Hospice and was a good day trip, well organised as well.  Well worth paying the extra for 1^st class, just for the larger seat for the long day [I've been on too many tours where I've been unlucky enough to get one of the narrower bench seats in the middle of the coach/by the doors, and in hot weather it can be uncomfortable)

19th July – A return to the North West

19^th July – A return to the North West

Back in April when I was on my Heart of Wales trip, a Branch Line Society tour popped up for available to booking of a 37 hauled tour to some freight bits & bobs in Yorkshire, it looked of interest so when travelling in the dark on the 153 I looked up options, deciding to book onto the tour and booking into a hotel near Preston station.  Later on I decided to book the Friday off work in order to revisit my remaining stations in that area (although this was before the various other trips, so would have also added as a “mop up” day if required).  A genius moment saw me thinking to use one of my Northern free tickets to get me to Windermere, for a day return to Roose (where I would break my journey at Lancaster).

The Thursday evening was spent heading to London (159106), then to Euston (51683/51684) via the Northern line, then to Stockport via Crewe on a delayed 390103 (it must just be me, but the last few times I’ve headed to Stockport/Macclesfield to head to a hotel as a base for the night, I’ve been delayed), this delay was due to signalling problems around the Rugeley area.  My hotel was the Stockport Travelodge because it is handy for the station.

I decided to head towards the Airport first thing on the Friday morning, the idea was to board the Windermere service there (better chance of a seat!), so it was to Wilmslow on 323230 where my original plan went into the bin with the appearance of a shiny 195102 sat on platform 2 working a service towards Liverpool (via Warrington), the 323 working a stopper towards Liverpool (via Chat Moss) wasn’t of interest so I headed back towards platform 2 (confusing the revenue staff in the process!) and took a seat on what I was thinking would be my first 195...

...I was behind the cab and overheard the driver talking with control because he had a fault light showing, departure time came and went, as did a single pacer on a Wigan service, in the end I decided to cut my losses and exited via the only open door and boarded a wedged out 221119 for the run to Piccadilly, yes one of those rare Cross Country services which goes via Crewe, wedged out more with the previous service from Crewe being cancelled, and featuring a lady who boarded at Stockport rolling her eyes that she had to stand.

Anyhow, due to congestion, we had overtaken that pacer from earlier so I headed over to platform 14 as 142011 rolled in, a mileage requirement which was on something like 9.9 miles, so after waiting for it to empty out (and fill back up) I took it for a leap to Oxford Road which was enough to push it over the line.  The next service was a Blackpool North bound service which was formed of low mileage 319369 so it would have been rude to turn it down (and get some speedy 319 based noise as well) for the run to Preston (the train emptied out at Salford).  Once at Preston it was a short wait for the Windermere train to arrive which was as expected formed of a new train, 195117.

Others have written about how nice these are inside, good mix of tables to airline seats (although I would have had more airline seats), good legroom (but not headroom if you are in a seat with a TV screen above your head!).  Similar hard seats as found on other modern trains, decent WiFi and a plug socket below the seat.  Excellent acceleration but they are a bit rough riding at speed (although that might be where I was sitting), this is one of those services which randomly skips Lancaster (felt odd going through non-stop in daylight on a passenger train) but waits a good 5 minute in the loop south of Oxenholme station for the previous service from Windermere to clear the platform.  I remained on board all the way to Windermere as I hadn’t been there for a few years.  After a few photos it was back on board 195117 for the run back to Kendal for a short wait for the same unit to return from Oxenholme to take me back one stop to Burneside.

A pleasant little station, with some old tracks in the station road which used to run towards a factory, random bit of railway history, and my wait wasn’t for long before 195117 returned to take me to Oxenholme, where I swapped for 350409 to take me to Lancaster which is where things went a bit wrong.

Although at the start I didn’t notice anything, the next Carlisle via the Coast unit was sat in one of the bays, but I decided to jump on the Leeds bound 150126 to Carnforth on grounds that there is a little Co-Op located just outside the station.  This is when I noticed the Carlisle train had changed to being cancelled, and some rude words might have escaped me when I returned to the station to eat lunch.  Former Scottish 156449 took me back to Lancaster, more of a time wasting move, but it proved to be an excellent move as the next Barrow in Furness train was 158795 and departed Lancaster rather full, so had I remained at Carnforth I would probably have ended up standing for the first few stops at least.  The train emptied out along the way before getting full again at Ulverston with school kids (plus some travel safe officers keeping tabs on their behaviour).  Due to the overcrowding the train lost time at most of the stations which pushed it 12 minutes late by the time it reached Roose pushing it over the magic hour (had it been on time it would only have been a 50 minute delay).

Other than some youths hanging around in the opposite waiting shelter, not a lot around this suburban Barrow station (I wonder if its usage has gone up since the barriers went in at Barrow), nearby Tesco which I used for some supplies before returning to the shelter (funny how the kids decided it was time to stop their smoking when someone else arrived to sit in the shelter).  A short while later 156486 rolled in from Carlisle to take me back to Lancaster for a cross platform change onto 390009 for the run to Preston where I headed to the hotel I was staying in (Ashwood Hotel) to check myself in and drop off some weight from the rucksack.

20 minutes later, I was back at Preston station, and waiting for the next TPE service towards Piccadilly.  350401 was the unit as I managed to get a seat (I know twice in the same day being able to get a seat on a 350/4!) for the fast-ish run towards Bolton and then a stop-start trip via Castlefield corridor.  I was originally going to get off at Piccadilly and catch a Newcastle bound service to Manchester Victoria, but due to the 350 going into platform 3 at Oxford Road, and a low mileage pacer bouncing the opposite way meant my plans changed as I boarded a lightly loaded 142035 leading 150125 for the run to Bolton.  I gave myself a few options to head back towards Manchester, the first couple wasn’t of interest, but the third was a low mileage 142040 paired with 142007 from the Darwen line.  I remained on board to Victoria, where I changed to a Leeds semi-fast service formed of 153363 & 158902, first stop Rochdale, then Todmorden where I bailed (random platform score).

It was time to give the “Northern Random DMU Generator” a good spin to see what it would throw up for a Southport – Blackburn service, it was formed of 4 coaches.  Based on experience these workings are 142, 150 & 156s, and I was hoping for a Pacer for the fast run via the Copy Pit line, but it was a pair of 156s (156441 & 156425) for the lightly loaded trip to Blackburn, where it terminated in platform 1.  I crossed over to platform 4 to board a very lightly loaded 158759 for the run to Blackpool North to investigate the state of the tram line to North station (the tracks are in leading towards the Wilkinson store, not sure if there was a temporary station further down the road, but no overhead wires in).  Back at Blackpool North station with 319371 taken for a random platform score at Kirkham & Wesham with a short linear hop with 142013 from Blackpool South to take me back to Preston for the final time of the evening, with a short walk back to the hotel to retire for the evening.

Probably not the best uses of a Lancashire Ranger, but my main mission was to clear those 3 stations to take me down to only needing a dozen.  So until Warrington West eventually opens, North West is ticked off.

14th July – A return to the Isle of Wight

14^th July – A return to the Isle of Wight

Time to make a confession, when I was doing a mini-audit of my moves list a couple months ago when doing my random platform requirements I spotted something which I wasn’t happy with, basically I had only boarded an Island Line train at Smallbrook Junction, never had I alighted from a 483 there.  It wasn’t picked up due to my moves with the Isle of Wight Steam Railway on the same sheet.  So it was time to put things right and remove this ‘fudge’ from my records.

Firstly I checked to make sure that the steam railway was in operation; as if that is closed trains don’t run the station is closed, but it being summer the trains were running so I came up with a rough plan, with a later start than normal driving to Romsey arriving around half ten (just in time to see the little community minibus arrive to take a handful of passengers towards Stockbridge & national trust places).  I headed over to the southbound platform and waited until the 10:50 service arrived, formed of 158955 for the slow trip towards Fratton, where I decided to step back a train for 377118 & 377106 to Portsmouth Harbour.  More of a time wasting move as I already had lunch from stopping off in Stockbridge earlier in the morning.

At Portsmouth Harbour, I noticed the silly new barrier layout, limiting access to the ferry terminal, as I headed down to the terminal, to wait 15 or so minutes before “Wight Ryder 2” arrived from Ryde, ticket was checked and I was on board taking a seat on the Sunshine Deck for the trip across the water to reach the Isle of Wight.

Once I alighted from the boat, it was a short walk to Ryde Pier Head station to watch as the little former tube train ran across the pier to reach the station (sadly my picture was a bit rubbish).  483008 was the unit in question which I took to Ryde St Johns Road for firstly a platform score, also to have a noisy to see what was on the depot.  004, plus the remains of 002 & 009 were outside, so I would guess 007 was hiding in the workshop getting repaired/repainted.[On the picture below, 004 is at the front, 002 in the middle & 009 at the rear]

20 minutes later 483006 returned from the Pier head to take me the mile to Smallbrook Junction, the station only existing as an interchange between the Island Line and the Steam Railway, with no outside public access, I would guess the steam railway was running a bit late as just as the 483 departed towards Shanklin a steam service arrived, the next service which called heading south wouldn’t be for another hour and a bit (so passengers were told to board the next Ryde train and double back on themselves).  Anyhow it wasn’t long before 483008 reappeared to take me back to the Pier Head, for a short walk to board Wight Ryder 2 to take me back towards Portsmouth Harbour.  With time to kill I jumped on 377438 for the short run to Portsmouth & Southsea, where I noticed a new Tesco Express had opened up underneath a Premier Inn (along with a coffee shop), I bet the takings at the Co-Op opposite has collapsed since that Tesco opened up.

Back at the station and towards platform 4 where 450011 was working the next Southampton stopping service which I took all the way to St Denys for a random platform score, slightly better timetable here than during the week as the two trains an hour towards Southampton are roughly half an hour apart (and the two trains from Southampton are similar, as during the week the two trains to Southampton are within a minute of each other, with a gap of around 9 minutes heading away from Southampton).  A brief photo taking time with some passing trains before 158885 took me to the other side of Southampton Central to Millbrook for a half hour wait before 158884 took me the short distance back to Southampton Central for 158954 to take me back towards Romsey.

After walking back to the car I decided to go a different rough home, one which goes via Dunbridge, timing my arrival right for the 2 hourly Sunday service at Mottisfont & Dunbridge (and judging by the number of passengers waiting for the train towards Southampton, deserves an hourly service).  This is one of those stations which are ‘managed’ by a TOC which doesn’t serve it, this case (like Dean) it’s managed by GWR but only served by the Romsey ‘figure of 6’ services run by SWR.  Although this hasn’t stopped the appearance of stop boards for Turbo services “do not release doors, local door only”.  A pleasant little stop-over on the drive home, the end of a good little day trip to the Isle of Wight, the 483s are old but have character, but are in serious need of replacement. 

 

Thanks for Reading :)

12th & 13th July – A day in East Yorkshire [with a detour into North Yorkshire]

12^th & 13^th July – A day in East Yorkshire [with a detour into North Yorkshire]

This was another trip which I was planning to do last September time, but got caught up in the strikes on Northern, and the variable timetable where the first couple weeks there was one unit going Hull – York and back a handful of times before that was replaced by nothing, so after considerations I ditched my plans (thankfully the hotel room had free cancellation, but I lost out on around £30 for advance fares).  This was a trip which needed* a hotel stay in Hull on the Friday night (*well if I wanted to avoid a walk) so it was a case of looking up hotel prices for the hotels both near to the station plus ones which had late check in available.

The plan for this trip changed a bit since the rough plan last year, mainly with the hourly Hull – Scarborough services rather than the every 90-odd minutes they were previously.

12^th July – An evening in London

As I was booked on the 20:30 Hull Trains service [hey it was cheap], I had an evening to spend within London, so after a few minutes of thinking what to do, I decided to hunt down my last few SWR 455 & 456s, and putting a request to see which services they were allocated to work out a rough plan.  Out of the 7 units, 6 were out and about (the 7^th was stopped for repairs), so a quick plan with Real Time Trains and I came up with a very loose plan in order to ‘bag’ the units.  Made harder as these are for mileage and some of the units were only on tiny mile leaps [mainly Waterloo – Vauxhall] so would need a good run.

I finished work, headed home, and headed to the station after a quick turnaround at home (I’ve learnt over the years to pretty much have everything packed the night/morning before to allow for fast turnarounds).  The TVM at the station was out of use (again!) so it was a case of buying the tickets from the guard on the train.  Because the moves are repeated I will do it as a summary so you can skip ahead:

Grateley -> Basingstoke: 159020 & 159011 (nice to see this service being upgraded to a pair of units, the 13:47 Salisbury – Waterloo was always a busy train when it was a single unit)

Basingstoke -> Clapham Junction: 444006 & 444036 (services from Grateley don’t call at Clapham, my fingers were crossed as it was held up due to earlier congestion)

Clapham Junction -> Waterloo: 455847 & 455729

Waterloo -> Wimbledon: 455729 & 455847 (got delayed around 10 minutes due to the preceding Guildford train breaking down, thankfully I had a reasonable connection at Wimbledon)

Wimbledon -> Vauxhall: 455734 & 455867

Vauxhall -> Surbiton: 456005, 455868 & 455866

Surbiton -> Clapham Junction: 450115 & 450036 (The AC felt lovely)

Clapham Junction -> Waterloo: 455725, 455871 & 456002

Waterloo -> Wimbledon: 456002, 455871 & 455725

Wimbledon -> Surbiton: 455730 & 455910 (I do like a good non-stop run between these two stations)

Surbiton -> Clapham Junction: 456016, 455704  & 455702 (last 456 for 10 miles, but one slow trip due to congestion)

Clapham Junction -> New Malden: 707030 & 707002 (mainly for a platform score, plus to visit the Tesco express outside the station for dinner)

New Malden -> Clapham Junction: 455863, 455919 & 456008 (after a walk over to the Windsor lines side for what I through was a low mileage 707 turned out to be incorrect)

Clapham Junction -> Vauxhall: 455742, 455869 & 456024

It was time to leave the little red devils behind and head underground where 11069/11070 took me to Kings Cross St Pancras, where I made the most of the time to pick up my rover for the morning, before boarding a busy 180111 for the trip to Hull.  It emptied out along the way so after Selby I had a private table for the last section, where it caught up with a late running service from Sheffield so arrival into Hull was around 10 minutes late.

Less than 5 minutes later I was checking into the hotel, for what started with a reasonable night (all be the duvet was extra thick which meant taking it out of the case to sleep underneath the empty case due to the warmth) until around 1am when a group returned from a night out and decided to carry on being noisy, arguing with a girl in the group saying that she slept around etc.  Eventually after the 3^rd visit from the member of staff on reception they decided to leave (as the police were on their way), so peace was restored for the last couple hours, but the damage had been done.

Anyhow, a pointless pair of passenger information displays, at least these days they are turned off rather than saying “welcome to New Malden”, a successful evening in London, only one more SWR 455 for mileage requirements, which hopefully should be easy to get in the future.  Plus a spooky looking empty (ish) Clapham yard, which is kinda spooky.

7th July – A Devon Circular Trip

7^th July – A Devon Circular Trip

I can’t remember where I saw the news that a Sunday Dartmoor bus has been re-introduced to allow folk to do a circular trip in Devon (with a slight detour into Cornwall), but I looked up the route the bus takes and it looked interesting, so I decided to give it a go (beats hanging around at home which is what I’ve been doing on some Sundays recently, when I’ve returned home on the Saturday).

A gentle walk to the station to pick up the tickets, and on the 08:35 (ish) service to Exeter St Davids, formed of 159008 & 159005 (which is an improvement as this service always used to be a single unit which got busy closer to Exeter), I took up a seat in the leading coach of 008 and settled down for the long trip out west, enjoying the scenery (this might be a local line, but I haven’t been this way for a while).  I confused the Basingstoke based guard in requesting a Devon Ranger, but after the guards changed at Salisbury the new guard had no issues in issuing the ranger, which saved time at Exeter Central where I popped out of the station to the nearby Co-Op for bits for lunch.

Returning to Exeter Central, it was a short wait for 150244 to roll in from St James Park on the 2^nd Okehampton service of the day.  An enjoyable run (where I made use of the USB sockets for a quick charge for my phone & tablet), maybe one of these days the planned use at weekdays might happen, a few brushes with bushes along the section of line from Crediton towards the disused platform at Yeoford & the former station of Bow.  Arrival into Okehampton was pretty much bang on time allowing for some pictures to be taken as a shunter arrived from the end of the line.

The 150 departed back towards Exeter, as I made my way to join the queue for the route 279 bus, operated by Plymouth Citylink (bus fleet number 65), handed over my £3 for a single to Gunnislake, and opened the windows as it was quite warm inside.  It was a good trip towards Tavistock, swinging via some little villages (and meeting a tractor), and some good views from the windows of the countryside.  A quick break in the Tavistock bus station before the bus continued to reach Gunnislake, climbing the hill to reach the station.

A short break, before 150239 arrived from Plymouth to take a few passengers back into Devon, over the Calstock viaduct and alongside the Tamar, this is another nice line for looking out the window.  I decided to request a stop at Dockyard, mainly as a random platform score, but mainly to waste time (due to the 2 hourly service at Grateley on Sundays).  It was an interesting walk towards Plymouth station, passing both terrace housing and a short area of more posher looking larger houses before the terrace housing resumed, but I was soon at Plymouth station with a couple options to take me back towards Exeter to complete the circle.

The first was a Castle-HST set, but as that came from Penzance it looked slightly busy, so with the arrival of another Plymouth starter (802106 I think), I jumped onto 802114 for the run towards Exeter St Davids, riding the coast at Dawlish (it’s on my wish-list one of these days to walk from Dawlish Warren to Dawlish).  At St Davids I was shocked to notice that the WH Smiths only charged £4 for a meal deal (as I had that pictured as being one of the stores which charges £5 as there isn’t a lot of competition around the station).  My final leg was in the hands of 159101 & 159003 for the run back to Grateley, the train only getting busy at Salisbury.  Once back at the station I walked home, picking up some more litter along the way home, every little helps keeping the village clean as some might say.

Thanks for reading :)