Cactus' UK & European rail travels

Second part went up after I replied, nice to have had a D stock. I rejected a pair on my last visit to London, only to find later that day they were both winners, d'oh!

Still need to start on the GWR 387s...

Thanks for a great day! To be pedantic, it was 165122 that we had with 166215

Sounded like an excellent day in London

fishquinn said:

Thanks for a great day! To be pedantic, it was 165122 that we had with 166215

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Thanks to you for keeping me company.

I only do track/shacks so it doesn't matter.

Kite159 said:

Sounded like an excellent day in London

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Thanks, I assume you've cleared the c2c network

cactustwirly said:

Thanks, I assume you've cleared the c2c network

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Both shacks & units

Although I wouldn't mind another spin towards Shoeburyness at some point to re-do the line and for a decent run on a 357 again

Kite159 said:

Both shacks & units

Although I wouldn't mind another spin towards Shoeburyness at some point to re-do the line and for a decent run on a 357 again

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I've almost cleared the track (just Barking to Grays via Rainham to go) and shacks (well with my "cheat" way)
I don't care about clearing the units tbh

I must admit I was surprised at how nice the scenery was!

I don't remember Chalkwell looking worth visiting when I went, nor the scenery being much. Chalkwell looks worth visiting for the sea air though

Sun, Sea and some hills..... 07/04/2017

The 7th of April was my (18th) Birthday so I took some time out of my busy revision schedule (my A level exams are in June)

Earlier in the week I was quite ill with the flu, but luckily I was well enough to go.

I'd arranged to meet Quinn at Twyford, I met him off the 1124 and we headed over the bridge to get the 1133 which was formed of 166218, we were soon in Reading and I headed for Boots for some lunch and some water.

We headed to platform 9 to get the 1203 the "Cheltenham Spa Express" to Cheltenham Spa. We soon discovered that it would be delayed by upto 20 minutes between Didcot and Swindon due to signalling problems (signals on the GWML, are like wires on the ECML) throwing out our connection at Cheltenham (+8)

Winner powercars 43161 & 43192 arrived and we took some airline seats in coach F (it was rather busy)

43161 at Reading by litecactus, on Flickr

The journey went smoothly until just before Swindon, where we crawled to a halt to allow an eastbound service to pass. The train proceeded to cross over and do some wrong line running before stopping at Swindon platform 2 another eaastbound service was spotted in platform 1.

HST at Swindon by litecactus, on Flickr

Fortunately we were only 3 minutes late and we were soon on the move stopping at Kemble. Then passing above a pretty valley before arriving at Stroud

Stroud Station by litecactus, on Flickr

We then called at Stonehouse before crossing onto the Birmingham to Bristol line and stopping at Gloucester. As we had 10 minutes here I got some phots of the powercars and the paper sign.

43192 at Gloucester by litecactus, on Flickr

Cheltenham Spa Express by litecactus, on Flickr

43161 at Gloucester by litecactus, on Flickr

We took up a nice table seat in coach B for the slow trundle to Cheltenham Spa

43161 + 43192 at Cheltenham Spa by litecactus, on Flickr

43161 + 43192 at Cheltenham Spa by litecactus, on Flickr

Winner powercars 43301 & 43321 (and my first XC HST!) turned up on the 1400 service towards Plymouth

43161 + 43192 at Cheltenham Spa by litecactus, on Flickr

43301 at Cheltenham Spa by litecactus, on Flickr

I waved goodbye to Quinn at Bristol Parkway and proceeded (very slowly) to Bristol Temple Meads where i alighted

43321 at Bristol Temple Meads by litecactus, on Flickr

A quick coffee and PNB was had before joining the 1516 service to Severn Beach formed of winner 150123 (my first /1)

I wasn't impressed by the internal state (athough it was better than any northern 150)

The Severn beach line is quite nice, running alongside the Avon & Severn Estuaries, the section after Avonmouth was quite fun because of the jointed track

150123 at Severn Beach by litecactus, on Flickr

Severn Estuary by litecactus, on Flickr

Avon Estuary by litecactus, on Flickr

Avon Gorge by litecactus, on Flickr

I returned back to Bristol TM, and headed over to Platform 13 for the 1700 HST to London Paddington

150123 at Bristol Temple Meads by litecactus, on Flickr

It was formed of winner powercars 43150 & 43092

43150 at Bristol Temple Meads by litecactus, on Flickr

43092 at Bristol Temple Meads by litecactus, on Flickr

We were delayed a bit at Bath Spa, but made up some time by the time it got to Reading (only 2 late). This meant that I only had 2 minutes to catch the Twyford train formed of dud 166219 (which I made with 30 seconds to spare)

Thanks to Quinn and Nat for such a good day!

Looks like a nice run up to Severn Beach, looking forward to doing it myself on Sunday

rg177 said:

Looks like a nice run up to Severn Beach, looking forward to doing it myself on Sunday

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Yeah it was better than I expected. But the clientelle isn't so good.

Hope you have a good time on Sunday!

cactustwirly said:

Yeah it was better than I expected. But the clientelle isn't so good.

Hope you have a good time on Sunday!

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Gives me hope for when I do a walking move from Bristol Temple Meads to Montpelier, onwards to Redland and Clifton Down in time for the 0716 off Clifton Down on Monday morning

And cheers!

Good luck with that walking move, probably a bus from the city centre to Montpelier will be a better option?

Kite159 said:

Good luck with that walking move, probably a bus from the city centre to Montpelier will be a better option?

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Just occurred to me that I'd be buying a return from Temple Meads to Avonmouth anyway so I may as well get the 0633 to Montpelier, walk the other shacks then pick up the 0716 to Avonmouth.

After my exams I'm planning a few trips, should I go for a Devon Day ranger, or should I go to Norfolk/Suffolk?

Norfolk for my vote!

Norfolk! Get yerself some locos in the book.

Definitely Norfolk. The stuff in Devon at the moment will still be there after the Norfolk loco diagrams finish. In the summer though the 57 loco hauled diagrams will be back on the saturday and i believe this year is the last year.

Agreed with Norfolk

I might point out that it's likely to be a 156 rather than a 37 or 68.

It's Liverpool Street to Ipswich, Ipswich to Lowestoft Via Saxmundham, Lowestoft to Norwich via Cantley, Norwich to Liverpool Street, and HST home from Paddington

Make sure you don't pick a service which when it arrives into Lowestoft doesn't then form the Norwich train.

Mmm 156 (or 153) thrash

Kite159 said:

Make sure you don't pick a service which when it arrives into Lowestoft doesn't then form the Norwich train.

Mmm 156 (or 153) thrash

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Already done! I'm looking to be on the 13:48 ex Lowestoft which is the same unit from Ipswich. It connects nicely with the 1806 ex Paddington (HST none stop to Twyford! )

Which side of the Marches line is the most scenic?
I'm taking advantage of the GWR offer, and finally taking the direct HST to Hereford. I've got a bit of time to kill so I don't know whether to head north to Shropshire or south to Newport?

Both directions have their nice bits to be honest!

I quite liked my run between Shrewsbury and Hereford back in February, can't go wrong with it!

rg177 said:

I quite liked my run between Shrewsbury and Hereford back in February, can't go wrong with it!

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Apart from Wooferton, with those enormous plyons

Going to Church Stretton, then getting the 1639 (booked 150 ) to Worcester then Adelante back home.

cactustwirly said:

Going to Church Stretton, then getting the 1639 (booked 150 ) to Worcester then Adelante back home.

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What's so wrong with the 150?! I purposefully plan moves to get it in, and I have a risky +4 on Friday that might see it done. At least I have DBT as a backup an hour later. I'm even giving myself an hour longer than needed in Birmingham just to get the 150 in on Thursday!

Harsh at having to get a 180 home! Now if you had done the 1722 Paddington to Hereford you could have had about a +80 before the 2151 Hereford to Paddington, HST both ways.

I hope you're allowing a reasonable amount of time at Church Stretton. I seem to recall you'll get some of the best scenery the Marches can offer you going that far. In the other direction the run to Cwmbran isn't too bad (I have to confess to not looking much these days, it's all been seen so much and I live right next to Wales!), especially in the Abergavenny area where, when the snow's been down you get snow-covered mountains. It's quite scenic until you cross the river into Hereford, unless you like urban scenes in which case it suddenly goes ultra scenic

You must recall though that you'll go through the northern Cotswolds (better known as Middle Earth ) on the way to Worcester, which can be pretty but you miss the best of it as you have to go into the towns to see it properly in my eyes. You also go through the (in my eyes) superior scenery of the Malverns, the road journey through which is an experience and a half on a coach, which are quite impressive as you curve into Malvern Link and onwards to Ledbury. After which you're back in Herefordshire and the flatter countryside.

Have a good journey either way!

Techniquest said:

What's so wrong with the 150?! I purposefully plan moves to get it in, and I have a risky +4 on Friday that might see it done. At least I have DBT as a backup an hour later. I'm even giving myself an hour longer than needed in Birmingham just to get the 150 in on Thursday!

Harsh at having to get a 180 home! Now if you had done the 1722 Paddington to Hereford you could have had about a +80 before the 2151 Hereford to Paddington, HST both ways.

I hope you're allowing a reasonable amount of time at Church Stretton. I seem to recall you'll get some of the best scenery the Marches can offer you going that far. In the other direction the run to Cwmbran isn't too bad (I have to confess to not looking much these days, it's all been seen so much and I live right next to Wales!), especially in the Abergavenny area where, when the snow's been down you get snow-covered mountains. It's quite scenic until you cross the river into Hereford, unless you like urban scenes in which case it suddenly goes ultra scenic

You must recall though that you'll go through the northern Cotswolds (better known as Middle Earth ) on the way to Worcester, which can be pretty but you miss the best of it as you have to go into the towns to see it properly in my eyes. You also go through the (in my eyes) superior scenery of the Malverns, the road journey through which is an experience and a half on a coach, which are quite impressive as you curve into Malvern Link and onwards to Ledbury. After which you're back in Herefordshire and the flatter countryside.

Have a good journey either way!

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The 150s are fun, but I hate the interior especially for long journeys.

I've got half an hour at Church Stretton and 45 minutes at Hereford.

BTW I really like the 180s, so I deliberately chose one (the HST set would be dud)

A Great little village...13/05/17

To reward myself for a few weeks of solid revision, I planned a little jaunt after I had finished the days work....

I bought my £8.50 ticket (priced ok) and headed over to platform 3 to get the 1732 to Reading formed of 165113

The journey was uneventful though I noticed that wires have appeared West of Twyford, until the end of Sonning cutting.

We arrived into Reading, and I had just enough time to phot Quinns favourite traction

165113 at Reading by litecactus, on Flickr

220008 at Reading by litecactus, on Flickr

I headed over to platform 13B to see a hoard of people waiting for my connecting train. 166203 arrived, on the (1749 Bedwyn service) and I made sure I was the first one so I could get a decent seat. When the train left Reading it was full and standing.

Though most people got off at Thatcham and Newbury, so by the time the train arrived at Bedwyn there was only 5 people in the carriage.

Bedwyn looked like a pretty village (hence the title). I had time to take a few photos (I was lucky to get the HST)

166203 at Bedwyn by litecactus, on Flickr

166203 at Bedwyn by litecactus, on Flickr

HST & 166203 at Bedwyn by litecactus, on Flickr

I walked over to the other platform and waited for 166203 to arrive from the turnback siding

166203 at Bedwyn by litecactus, on Flickr

The return journey was more eventful, some drunk men got on at Hungerford and decided to sit by me despite the whole carriage being free. Luckily they got off at Kintbury. (They weren't too bad, just a bit loud)

The train arrived at Reading​ on time and I crossed over to Platform 15A to get the 1933 back to Twyford formed of 165104