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43125's trip report(s) (Written in full procrastination!)

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GW43125

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Joined
8 Dec 2014
Messages
2,045
I know I've been hiding for a while, but uni and health issues got in the way. I am thus proud to present a day-and-a-half of trains, all written up for you!

Disclaimer-LNWR and WMT are collectively referred to as LM in the following report. Enjoy.
 

GW43125

Established Member
Joined
8 Dec 2014
Messages
2,045
Night In Motion: 15-16 Feb '19
So, it's time for a weekend escape from uni. My friend offered to take me on the sleeper with friends & family tickets. I obviously couldn't refuse.

It's a normal lab day to start, however I'm going back to pack then get going as soon as I get out of the lab.

Today's the biochem lab, which involves a lot of sitting around waiting for things to happen and bloody fiddly micropipettes! (Never again).

Around 2:30 I duly head back to my flat to pack my bags and otherwise get myself ready. Having my laptop in my bag makes everything a really tight squeeze!

With my bags packed and tickets checked for the millionth time, I toddle down to the bus stop and pick up an MMC (6964) on the 15:45 12X. I head for my usual seat on the top deck, only to find the top deck full of schoolkids. That's not gone well. Begrudgingly, I take the sideways seat against the stairs, ensuring I can see nothing.

After spending 22 minutes on a bus journey that usually takes half that time (thanks, Friday traffic), I duly arrive at Coventry station for the start of the rail legs. I'm booked on the 18:50 off New St, I decided to go into Brum first as a time-killing move and to get more time in first class at marginal extra cost.

Armed with a VT-only single to New St, I duly cross to platform 3 where a not very well loaded 350 is pulling out. It's being turned at International so most people have got off by now to wait at Coventry. The next train then duly appears, LM 350 non-stop to New St (late-running alteration). The platform is packed, I have no idea how everyone will fit on.

Thankfully, the order of trains swaps so the next train is mine, an unidentified 9-car on 9G29 to New St. The ride is uneventful and we roll into New St right-time. It feels weird seeing Guildford on the boards at New St, even though it's been happening for years. Interestingly this week there's engineering works stuffing up the paths, so there's an Aberdeen to Guildford!

I duly head over to the VT first class lounge (it's now under 2 hours until my train) and I find it's a tad smaller than I expected. No bar either (I know now it's only at Euston). I'll just have to make a cup of tea instead. Whilst I'm making a cuppa, I bump into a friend I was in labs with not four hours ago. We both set up and get on with our work (turns out I got 100% in the lab, yay!). The way the high tables are laid out is stupid. The seats are miles away from the table and they're rock hard! Oh well.

It'd be nice if there wasn't a really loud family in the lounge whose kids keep shouting and they haven't heard of headphones. Oh well, chocolate will help. I need to stop eating the Uglies!

Our trains are both at similar times, so we duly go our separate ways. My train is on platform 6, leading to the really annoying move of having to go out of the barriers, halfway out the station then in again. I hate New St so much.

As I descend onto the platform, I see Stockport 170, winning 390156 ready to take me all the way to London. Unusual to see an 11 on 1B82, every time I've got it previously it's been a 9 and standard is wedged when it is. The twitter team don't know if it's a temporary or permanent change.

I take my usual seat, J11 (I say usual, I've done it three times) and settle down for an easy run to the capital. Or so I thought. Remember that family I said were being loud in the lounge? Yeah, they're now at the other end of my carriage. Bugger it.

We set off 2 minutes late, after waiting for various trains to come in. International comes and goes, no sign of any tea or the meal we were promised. However, tea does materialise just before Coventry. No food though. I'm hoping they'll just leave it all until after Rugby and do everyone at one in the 45 minutes they've got.

Into Rugby, we sadly don't manage to cross over another train (love it when that happens), then we have to wait whilst the train that's in front of us gets away. Soon enough, we do indeed get away and into full power we go. No sooner have we put the power down than food appears. Beef sub, Bombay potatoes or a salad. I opt for the beef sub. There's also free alcohol, I can't say no to that. Might also help calm me a tad as I've drunk so much tea I think I could see sounds.

Food finished (and crisps/choccys squirreled away), the alcohol turns out not to go well with tilt. Hey-ho. We're storming along until we get to Wolverton annd we've run down the train that overtook us, as it stops at Milton Keynes. Sigh. Even after that though, we're caning it and before I know it we're in Euston only 4 late. Not bad. Not bad at all.

A quick visit to the lounge for facilities and to see if I could pinch anything (only a mint), and I'm off down the road to Euston Square. Onto an s-stock and 8 minutes later I'm at Padd. It's not even 21:00 yet.

43185 is in, so we go to watch that depart, before retiring to the first class lounge. The drinks and food aren't really up to much but hey-ho. Soon after, word comes through there's 37s coming in on a charter. We duly return to the platform and join an utter frothfest watching them come in. What disgusts me is how some spotters think they own the place, and have the nerve to tell drivers to get out of the way! I think the drivers need to give them a taste of their own medicine, such as in the form of a salute with one or two fingers. Watching it depart is a sight however, as it absolutely tears through the quiet of Paddington with a lot of exhaust and noise. Excellent.

By now, the sleeper has started boarding, so we squeeze into the cabin and set our stuff down. And relax. I take a toddle down to the lounge car as 57602 prepares to open the class for me, we're dragging 57603 dead on the back. I return with crisps, a biscuit and some juice. Bedtime as 1C99 creaks out of Paddington.

Only a minute or so down the line, the aircon stops. I think nothing of it as we carry on westwards, first on the down main before weaving to the down relief at Southall East, and back to the Down Main at Slough, where we unexpectedly stand in platform 2. I've no idea why we're stopped here, there's nothing in the way and we're actually blocking a shunt.

10 minutes later, we're on our merry way just a little late, we'll make it up no issue. We start hacking along the down main, before sliding back to the down relief again at Ruscombe Jn. We then arrive into Reading platform 15, about 10 minutes down and are soon away, via the up passenger loop (interesting scratch!). We hack it down the reliefs to Didcot, over to the main and away at speeds up to 90mph.

By now, a report has come through surrounding the circumstances of the delay. Remember the failed aircon I said about earlier? Turns out the train supply packed up and they were trying to fix it. They succeeded, it would seem.

We carried on, down past Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads (scoring such rare track as Reading UPL, the UM at Swindon and the DT at Temple Meads), with me constantly switching between awake and asleep. I can never sleep well on trains. I remember us arriving into Taunton. I have no idea where I remember next. Not a clue. I'm awake when breakfast arrives about 6:30 however. A sad-looking bacon roll and a pot of tea. The bacon roll wasn't brilliant and I poured myself a cup of tea, and went off to freshen up whilst it cooled.

However, on my return I found the host had taken the entire tray, tea and all :(
I felt too tired to complain however, I'm still annoyed I didn't get my tea.

We decamped to the lounge car in time for a friend to join us at Redruth. It wwas a lovely journey down, although the weather was dreadful.

We duly arrived at winning Penzance at 8:00, just in time to pop into the lounge for a shower and a cuppa. The lady manning the lounge was really helpful, and also took an interest in what we were up to.

Unfortunately, a beggar decided to follow us into the lounge. He tried the "I got on at reading and only wanted to go to Bristol I've got no money". Sure you did, mate. He got ejected of course. Twice.

Before we knew it, 802020 had opened up and we left the lounge to take our seat for the short journey to winning Truro aboard 1A81. This was my first 802 on diesel and I'm impressed at how quickly it took off under diesel. Of course, there was the usual reservations farce. Upon leaving Camborne, the TM tries to boot up the announcements. Unfortunately, the computer decided we'd just left Penzance; he then made a rather hasty announcement to "ignore the geographically challenged announcement system". Chuckles followed.

Arriving into Truro, we trundled across to the Falmouth branch platform to await the arrival of winning 150202 down to Falmouth and back. This is the first of many sprinters for today.

Back at Truro, we decided to go for a walk to see what we could find. Don't. There's nothing in Truro. Even after taking a couple of photos of the signalbox, there's sod all to do. Back onto the platform we go to await winning 150249 for a run to winning Liskeard. The weather is still horrifically misty so there's really nothing to see. I'm impressed the 150s have sockets though, plenty of juice in my phone now.

Once in Liskeard, we head straight for the Looe branch. 150238 is doing the honours. There's a really loud screamy kid in this carriage. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA. They're right by the loo too so I can't even hide in there. -_-

The Combe reversal is certainly an interesting one, with the multi-pronged procedure taking quite a while. It's quite a nice view though as the line winds its way down the hill. Only 24 hours ago there was a unit in the dirt somewhere along this branch which killed the service.

Returning from Looe, we were handed a survey. The questions included where we were going from and to. Being on a rover, I'm sure I've screwed their statistics. Not my problem :P

Back in Liskeard, time for what can only be described as a trek up the hill to the local 'spoons on the outskirts of Liskeard. I somehow managed to get stuck behind someone ordering £90 worth of food. I saw they had pear Rattler in the fridge and I regret not having it as you can't get it round here. But I decided not to drink because I didn't want to make myself ill so far from home.

Food complete, we headed out into what is probably best described as extremely low fog with a bit of rain. Everything got rather damp on the 10-15 minute walk down the hill. It's fine though, as it's all going in the wash when I get home, and my laptop is wrapped up.

We make it onto a sodden platform, where you can't see past the section signal as it's that misty. We wave at the signalman but he's not looking.

After 10 minutes of getting rather moist, 43186 and 43170 roll in with the HSTGTi for the short hop to Plymouth. There was absolutely no point in filming the run over the Tamar bridge, as you can't see for more than about 200 yards.

Now back in Devon, attention turns to the plan for getting home. There's a cross-platform +5 onto the 15:01 to Padd, I have to be on the 16:56 at the latest. I want the 802s on the 16:56 so I do a bit of research and find we can bail at Exeter, do the Exmouth branch and still have half an hour to spare. So that's what we'll do.

Arriving into Plymouth, we crossed straight to the 15:01, where 43029 and 43187 were waiting to whisk us up Lipson bank to Exeter. It was a bit of a struggle on the wet rails but we kept to time. Coming into Totnes, however, we were warned there was single line working and there could be delays. That's odd, I can't find anything that says anything to that effect.
After doing a bit of digging however, it transpired that it starts tomorrow so it's not a problem.

This hop is reminding me why I prefer IETs over HSTs. The seat I'm finding quite uncomfortable and cramped, and my legs are aching now.

Having pulled into a grey Exeter SD, we toddle over to platform 1 to await winning 150248 to winning Exmouth and back. WE already had the confirmed sight gen as we'd overtaken it at the Warren. This is, at long last, the last sprinter of the day, the seats are getting quite uncomfortable!

An uneventful (if slightly busy) run down to Exmouth and back takes in the views around the harbour, it's a lovely line to do. Back in Exeter, we pass a departing 159. If I were going to Waterloo after Padd I'd see that same unit arrive.

We've now got half an hour to kill, so a little walk is in order to find a shop for some food. Unfortunately, St David's station is quite a way from the town centre, so all there was was a little corner shop. They had the first white chocolate Twix I've seen, so of course I bought it. At the time of writing i still haven't eaten it. I'm hoping the London train will have a trolley as I'm dying for a cup of tea and train tea is cheaper.

Across on platform 6 is a 150 on a semi-fast all the way to Penzance (ouch), which leaves 3 minutes late because the dispatch staff forgot about its existence! Guard's not best pleased, understandably.

A short fester soon gives way to the blinding headlights of double winners 802011 and 802009, fresh out of Laira depot, to London via the B&H. We get a table to ourselves with no issues at all. This is my first 802 on diesel mode so I'm hoping their acceleration will impress me.

Impress me it soon does, as we rocket out of Exeter to start the 2 1/2 hour journey to London. I make myself comfortable, get my laptop out and start writing this report. Before too long, the drinks trolley appears and, with a tea in hand, I open a cookie Virgin gave me last night. That was a nice cookie. We manage 0-60 out of Taunton in a rather respectable 76 seconds, however we weren't gunning it due to the limit out of the loop.

I'm finding these IET seats much comfier than the HST we had up to Exeter, I'm not having an issue with these seats at all.

The journey soon progresses, as we mince up the B&H (but not before we've stopped bloody everywhere, and the driver's had a moan down the PA at the rear set crew for not picking up the phone) to Newbury, where it's time for the well-anticipated swap to electric. The engine rumble gives way to a thump and an electric whine. It's go time. We get the tip, and we give it the absolute beans straight up to 40mph, only took about 25 seconds to get there.

We make it into Reading 3 minutes early (would've been 4 if there wasn't something in the way), via the feeder main into P11, and racing an 800/3 on an ex-Swansea. The downside of being in 11 is we can't cane it due to the 50 restriction in the loops.

After 8 long minutes of staring into space (and my laptop). it's go time. Timer at the ready. Obviously I can't time 0-60 because of the restriction. Impressively though, we still managed Twyford at 124mph despite not caning it. Every single 800 run I've had, even when we've absolutely gunned it out of 10, hasn't made more than 123 by Twyford. I absolutely love these.

Sadly, the joy was short-lived as ARS decided to sling a HEx in front of us (of course it bloody would!), and we only managed a 24-minuter to Paddington unfortunately. Turns out these sets are off to North Pole now so just a stock balancing move.

As we hit the concourse, I notice an overrated tea-making device in one of the platforms. I duly ignore it, of course, and my friend and I go our separate ways.

I manage to bump into another friend, however, and we both head over for an S-stock to Euston Square. If all goes well, I should still make the 21:03 off Euston.

It doesn't go well. Thank you London Blunderground for holding us randomly at Edgware Road and then Baker St, making Paddington to Euston Square take 15 minutes vice 8. We're at Euston square at 20:57, not a hope in hell of catching the 21:03. 40-minute wait for the last train (p*sshead express) it is, then.

I'm on an SSH, so I'm not tied to any train but I just want to get home. The train is soon anounced on platform 7 and I head for completely unreserved carriage F on dud 390118. The train starts to busy uo and with coach E being out of use (lighting fault apparently), there's quite a lot of people.

After a lot of waiting however, we finally move off and I escape having to have someone sit next to me, meaning I've got plenty of space to spread out and carry on with this report (which I ended up finishing at about 1am on Monday morning in the end, the joys). Being the last train, we get the joys of trundling along the slows, to get to Watford before an excruciatingly slow run to Milton Keynes, running down the LM stopper south of Bletchley.

The train empties out a fair bit at MK, as they usually do. We then go for a sprint round Weedon. Internet connection is dreadful round here, so I give up trying to get internet on my laptop and check the bus times on my phone. To my surprise, the rushed 3 minute connection isn't showing and instead it's giving me a 20-minute connection. Plenty of time to use the facilities then.

Except, it's only once we're almost at Coventry I realise that I was looking at the wrong stop (buses heading the wrong way) and I do have a +3. The WC in my carriage is broken so I can't even use that (need to be here as it's by the bridge and I wanna make that bus). Sadly, we run down an LM once again at Coventry, and it spends long enough in the platform to hold us outside for 3 minutes, meaning we pull in just in time for me to see my bus leave. Sigh. At least I have time to head to the WC then.

Well, welcome back to Coventry station, after 31 hours on the rails. It's been fun but I'm bloody shattered now, off home to bed.

I head to the bus stop and work out that taking the 11 that's now due in 8 minutes will get me back quicker than the 12X (they alternate 12X-11-12X-11 every 15 minutes, and the 11 is only 8 minutes longer at this time of night), so the bus duly arrives for my Tour de Earlsdon on the way back to campus. I've never done the 11 this way round so I haven't a bloody clue where we are, I'm just going along with it.

18 minutes later, with me fading fast, we arrive back into the uni bus interchange. It's now almost midnight meaning the campus shop is well and truly shut. Not a huge issue however as I'm not that hungry, I just want bed.

Back at the flat just before midnight, I crash out. The parties downstairs don't even keep me awake. That was a great trip and a much-needed distraction. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Everything went (mostly) smoothly and I took in some amazing scenery (all three branches were required, as was everything West of Plymouth). Definitely worth the money for it. And I may well have been swayed to consider first class more in the future if I can afford it.

I wonder what my next trip (probably around Easter time) will be? Not even I know yet. Suggestions anyone?

Distance Travelled: 918mi 07ch
Winning traction count: 8
Winning shack count: 6

And for anyone who got this far, well done to you.
For anyone with a knowledge of 90s pop, yes, the title of this report is indeed taken from German dance-music band U96's 1993 hit. Quite an appropriate song for this trip, no?
I listen to too much synthpop. But well done for reading this far! Suggestions and criticism are always welcome :)
 

Kite159

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Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
Sounded like a pleasant little trip to deepest darkest Cornwall, other than the LU issues getting to Euston Square
 

GW43125

Established Member
Joined
8 Dec 2014
Messages
2,045
Sounded like a pleasant little trip to deepest darkest Cornwall, other than the LU issues getting to Euston Square

It was a very pleasant trip actually, it was a much needed escape and I felt much better for it.
 

Kite159

Veteran Member
Joined
27 Jan 2014
Messages
19,157
Location
West of Andover
Although I can see some folk sharping their knifes by saying that 802s are better than HSTs for seat comfort wise
 

GW43125

Established Member
Joined
8 Dec 2014
Messages
2,045
Although I can see some folk sharping their knifes by saying that 802s are better than HSTs for seat comfort wise

I’ve already had three arguments over this in the last 24 hours. People don’t like seeing their beloved HSTs replaced.
 

cactustwirly

Established Member
Joined
10 Apr 2013
Messages
7,447
Location
UK
Night In Motion: 15-16 Feb '19
So, it's time for a weekend escape from uni. My friend offered to take me on the sleeper with friends & family tickets. I obviously couldn't refuse.

It's a normal lab day to start, however I'm going back to pack then get going as soon as I get out of the lab.

Today's the biochem lab, which involves a lot of sitting around waiting for things to happen and bloody fiddly micropipettes! (Never again).

Around 2:30 I duly head back to my flat to pack my bags and otherwise get myself ready. Having my laptop in my bag makes everything a really tight squeeze!

With my bags packed and tickets checked for the millionth time, I toddle down to the bus stop and pick up an MMC (6964) on the 15:45 12X. I head for my usual seat on the top deck, only to find the top deck full of schoolkids. That's not gone well. Begrudgingly, I take the sideways seat against the stairs, ensuring I can see nothing.

After spending 22 minutes on a bus journey that usually takes half that time (thanks, Friday traffic), I duly arrive at Coventry station for the start of the rail legs. I'm booked on the 18:50 off New St, I decided to go into Brum first as a time-killing move and to get more time in first class at marginal extra cost.

Armed with a VT-only single to New St, I duly cross to platform 3 where a not very well loaded 350 is pulling out. It's being turned at International so most people have got off by now to wait at Coventry. The next train then duly appears, LM 350 non-stop to New St (late-running alteration). The platform is packed, I have no idea how everyone will fit on.

Thankfully, the order of trains swaps so the next train is mine, an unidentified 9-car on 9G29 to New St. The ride is uneventful and we roll into New St right-time. It feels weird seeing Guildford on the boards at New St, even though it's been happening for years. Interestingly this week there's engineering works stuffing up the paths, so there's an Aberdeen to Guildford!

I duly head over to the VT first class lounge (it's now under 2 hours until my train) and I find it's a tad smaller than I expected. No bar either (I know now it's only at Euston). I'll just have to make a cup of tea instead. Whilst I'm making a cuppa, I bump into a friend I was in labs with not four hours ago. We both set up and get on with our work (turns out I got 100% in the lab, yay!). The way the high tables are laid out is stupid. The seats are miles away from the table and they're rock hard! Oh well.

It'd be nice if there wasn't a really loud family in the lounge whose kids keep shouting and they haven't heard of headphones. Oh well, chocolate will help. I need to stop eating the Uglies!

Our trains are both at similar times, so we duly go our separate ways. My train is on platform 6, leading to the really annoying move of having to go out of the barriers, halfway out the station then in again. I hate New St so much.

As I descend onto the platform, I see Stockport 170, winning 390156 ready to take me all the way to London. Unusual to see an 11 on 1B82, every time I've got it previously it's been a 9 and standard is wedged when it is. The twitter team don't know if it's a temporary or permanent change.

I take my usual seat, J11 (I say usual, I've done it three times) and settle down for an easy run to the capital. Or so I thought. Remember that family I said were being loud in the lounge? Yeah, they're now at the other end of my carriage. Bugger it.

We set off 2 minutes late, after waiting for various trains to come in. International comes and goes, no sign of any tea or the meal we were promised. However, tea does materialise just before Coventry. No food though. I'm hoping they'll just leave it all until after Rugby and do everyone at one in the 45 minutes they've got.

Into Rugby, we sadly don't manage to cross over another train (love it when that happens), then we have to wait whilst the train that's in front of us gets away. Soon enough, we do indeed get away and into full power we go. No sooner have we put the power down than food appears. Beef sub, Bombay potatoes or a salad. I opt for the beef sub. There's also free alcohol, I can't say no to that. Might also help calm me a tad as I've drunk so much tea I think I could see sounds.

Food finished (and crisps/choccys squirreled away), the alcohol turns out not to go well with tilt. Hey-ho. We're storming along until we get to Wolverton annd we've run down the train that overtook us, as it stops at Milton Keynes. Sigh. Even after that though, we're caning it and before I know it we're in Euston only 4 late. Not bad. Not bad at all.

A quick visit to the lounge for facilities and to see if I could pinch anything (only a mint), and I'm off down the road to Euston Square. Onto an s-stock and 8 minutes later I'm at Padd. It's not even 21:00 yet.

43185 is in, so we go to watch that depart, before retiring to the first class lounge. The drinks and food aren't really up to much but hey-ho. Soon after, word comes through there's 37s coming in on a charter. We duly return to the platform and join an utter frothfest watching them come in. What disgusts me is how some spotters think they own the place, and have the nerve to tell drivers to get out of the way! I think the drivers need to give them a taste of their own medicine, such as in the form of a salute with one or two fingers. Watching it depart is a sight however, as it absolutely tears through the quiet of Paddington with a lot of exhaust and noise. Excellent.

By now, the sleeper has started boarding, so we squeeze into the cabin and set our stuff down. And relax. I take a toddle down to the lounge car as 57602 prepares to open the class for me, we're dragging 57603 dead on the back. I return with crisps, a biscuit and some juice. Bedtime as 1C99 creaks out of Paddington.

Only a minute or so down the line, the aircon stops. I think nothing of it as we carry on westwards, first on the down main before weaving to the down relief at Southall East, and back to the Down Main at Slough, where we unexpectedly stand in platform 2. I've no idea why we're stopped here, there's nothing in the way and we're actually blocking a shunt.

10 minutes later, we're on our merry way just a little late, we'll make it up no issue. We start hacking along the down main, before sliding back to the down relief again at Ruscombe Jn. We then arrive into Reading platform 15, about 10 minutes down and are soon away, via the up passenger loop (interesting scratch!). We hack it down the reliefs to Didcot, over to the main and away at speeds up to 90mph.

By now, a report has come through surrounding the circumstances of the delay. Remember the failed aircon I said about earlier? Turns out the train supply packed up and they were trying to fix it. They succeeded, it would seem.

We carried on, down past Bristol Parkway and Temple Meads (scoring such rare track as Reading UPL, the UM at Swindon and the DT at Temple Meads), with me constantly switching between awake and asleep. I can never sleep well on trains. I remember us arriving into Taunton. I have no idea where I remember next. Not a clue. I'm awake when breakfast arrives about 6:30 however. A sad-looking bacon roll and a pot of tea. The bacon roll wasn't brilliant and I poured myself a cup of tea, and went off to freshen up whilst it cooled.

However, on my return I found the host had taken the entire tray, tea and all :(
I felt too tired to complain however, I'm still annoyed I didn't get my tea.

We decamped to the lounge car in time for a friend to join us at Redruth. It wwas a lovely journey down, although the weather was dreadful.

We duly arrived at winning Penzance at 8:00, just in time to pop into the lounge for a shower and a cuppa. The lady manning the lounge was really helpful, and also took an interest in what we were up to.

Unfortunately, a beggar decided to follow us into the lounge. He tried the "I got on at reading and only wanted to go to Bristol I've got no money". Sure you did, mate. He got ejected of course. Twice.

Before we knew it, 802020 had opened up and we left the lounge to take our seat for the short journey to winning Truro aboard 1A81. This was my first 802 on diesel and I'm impressed at how quickly it took off under diesel. Of course, there was the usual reservations farce. Upon leaving Camborne, the TM tries to boot up the announcements. Unfortunately, the computer decided we'd just left Penzance; he then made a rather hasty announcement to "ignore the geographically challenged announcement system". Chuckles followed.

Arriving into Truro, we trundled across to the Falmouth branch platform to await the arrival of winning 150202 down to Falmouth and back. This is the first of many sprinters for today.

Back at Truro, we decided to go for a walk to see what we could find. Don't. There's nothing in Truro. Even after taking a couple of photos of the signalbox, there's sod all to do. Back onto the platform we go to await winning 150249 for a run to winning Liskeard. The weather is still horrifically misty so there's really nothing to see. I'm impressed the 150s have sockets though, plenty of juice in my phone now.

Once in Liskeard, we head straight for the Looe branch. 150238 is doing the honours. There's a really loud screamy kid in this carriage. AAAAAAAAAAAAAA. They're right by the loo too so I can't even hide in there. -_-

The Combe reversal is certainly an interesting one, with the multi-pronged procedure taking quite a while. It's quite a nice view though as the line winds its way down the hill. Only 24 hours ago there was a unit in the dirt somewhere along this branch which killed the service.

Returning from Looe, we were handed a survey. The questions included where we were going from and to. Being on a rover, I'm sure I've screwed their statistics. Not my problem :P

Back in Liskeard, time for what can only be described as a trek up the hill to the local 'spoons on the outskirts of Liskeard. I somehow managed to get stuck behind someone ordering £90 worth of food. I saw they had pear Rattler in the fridge and I regret not having it as you can't get it round here. But I decided not to drink because I didn't want to make myself ill so far from home.

Food complete, we headed out into what is probably best described as extremely low fog with a bit of rain. Everything got rather damp on the 10-15 minute walk down the hill. It's fine though, as it's all going in the wash when I get home, and my laptop is wrapped up.

We make it onto a sodden platform, where you can't see past the section signal as it's that misty. We wave at the signalman but he's not looking.

After 10 minutes of getting rather moist, 43186 and 43170 roll in with the HSTGTi for the short hop to Plymouth. There was absolutely no point in filming the run over the Tamar bridge, as you can't see for more than about 200 yards.

Now back in Devon, attention turns to the plan for getting home. There's a cross-platform +5 onto the 15:01 to Padd, I have to be on the 16:56 at the latest. I want the 802s on the 16:56 so I do a bit of research and find we can bail at Exeter, do the Exmouth branch and still have half an hour to spare. So that's what we'll do.

Arriving into Plymouth, we crossed straight to the 15:01, where 43029 and 43187 were waiting to whisk us up Lipson bank to Exeter. It was a bit of a struggle on the wet rails but we kept to time. Coming into Totnes, however, we were warned there was single line working and there could be delays. That's odd, I can't find anything that says anything to that effect.
After doing a bit of digging however, it transpired that it starts tomorrow so it's not a problem.

This hop is reminding me why I prefer IETs over HSTs. The seat I'm finding quite uncomfortable and cramped, and my legs are aching now.

Having pulled into a grey Exeter SD, we toddle over to platform 1 to await winning 150248 to winning Exmouth and back. WE already had the confirmed sight gen as we'd overtaken it at the Warren. This is, at long last, the last sprinter of the day, the seats are getting quite uncomfortable!

An uneventful (if slightly busy) run down to Exmouth and back takes in the views around the harbour, it's a lovely line to do. Back in Exeter, we pass a departing 159. If I were going to Waterloo after Padd I'd see that same unit arrive.

We've now got half an hour to kill, so a little walk is in order to find a shop for some food. Unfortunately, St David's station is quite a way from the town centre, so all there was was a little corner shop. They had the first white chocolate Twix I've seen, so of course I bought it. At the time of writing i still haven't eaten it. I'm hoping the London train will have a trolley as I'm dying for a cup of tea and train tea is cheaper.

Across on platform 6 is a 150 on a semi-fast all the way to Penzance (ouch), which leaves 3 minutes late because the dispatch staff forgot about its existence! Guard's not best pleased, understandably.

A short fester soon gives way to the blinding headlights of double winners 802011 and 802009, fresh out of Laira depot, to London via the B&H. We get a table to ourselves with no issues at all. This is my first 802 on diesel mode so I'm hoping their acceleration will impress me.

Impress me it soon does, as we rocket out of Exeter to start the 2 1/2 hour journey to London. I make myself comfortable, get my laptop out and start writing this report. Before too long, the drinks trolley appears and, with a tea in hand, I open a cookie Virgin gave me last night. That was a nice cookie. We manage 0-60 out of Taunton in a rather respectable 76 seconds, however we weren't gunning it due to the limit out of the loop.

I'm finding these IET seats much comfier than the HST we had up to Exeter, I'm not having an issue with these seats at all.

The journey soon progresses, as we mince up the B&H (but not before we've stopped bloody everywhere, and the driver's had a moan down the PA at the rear set crew for not picking up the phone) to Newbury, where it's time for the well-anticipated swap to electric. The engine rumble gives way to a thump and an electric whine. It's go time. We get the tip, and we give it the absolute beans straight up to 40mph, only took about 25 seconds to get there.

We make it into Reading 3 minutes early (would've been 4 if there wasn't something in the way), via the feeder main into P11, and racing an 800/3 on an ex-Swansea. The downside of being in 11 is we can't cane it due to the 50 restriction in the loops.

After 8 long minutes of staring into space (and my laptop). it's go time. Timer at the ready. Obviously I can't time 0-60 because of the restriction. Impressively though, we still managed Twyford at 124mph despite not caning it. Every single 800 run I've had, even when we've absolutely gunned it out of 10, hasn't made more than 123 by Twyford. I absolutely love these.

Sadly, the joy was short-lived as ARS decided to sling a HEx in front of us (of course it bloody would!), and we only managed a 24-minuter to Paddington unfortunately. Turns out these sets are off to North Pole now so just a stock balancing move.

As we hit the concourse, I notice an overrated tea-making device in one of the platforms. I duly ignore it, of course, and my friend and I go our separate ways.

I manage to bump into another friend, however, and we both head over for an S-stock to Euston Square. If all goes well, I should still make the 21:03 off Euston.

It doesn't go well. Thank you London Blunderground for holding us randomly at Edgware Road and then Baker St, making Paddington to Euston Square take 15 minutes vice 8. We're at Euston square at 20:57, not a hope in hell of catching the 21:03. 40-minute wait for the last train (p*sshead express) it is, then.

I'm on an SSH, so I'm not tied to any train but I just want to get home. The train is soon anounced on platform 7 and I head for completely unreserved carriage F on dud 390118. The train starts to busy uo and with coach E being out of use (lighting fault apparently), there's quite a lot of people.

After a lot of waiting however, we finally move off and I escape having to have someone sit next to me, meaning I've got plenty of space to spread out and carry on with this report (which I ended up finishing at about 1am on Monday morning in the end, the joys). Being the last train, we get the joys of trundling along the slows, to get to Watford before an excruciatingly slow run to Milton Keynes, running down the LM stopper south of Bletchley.

The train empties out a fair bit at MK, as they usually do. We then go for a sprint round Weedon. Internet connection is dreadful round here, so I give up trying to get internet on my laptop and check the bus times on my phone. To my surprise, the rushed 3 minute connection isn't showing and instead it's giving me a 20-minute connection. Plenty of time to use the facilities then.

Except, it's only once we're almost at Coventry I realise that I was looking at the wrong stop (buses heading the wrong way) and I do have a +3. The WC in my carriage is broken so I can't even use that (need to be here as it's by the bridge and I wanna make that bus). Sadly, we run down an LM once again at Coventry, and it spends long enough in the platform to hold us outside for 3 minutes, meaning we pull in just in time for me to see my bus leave. Sigh. At least I have time to head to the WC then.

Well, welcome back to Coventry station, after 31 hours on the rails. It's been fun but I'm bloody shattered now, off home to bed.

I head to the bus stop and work out that taking the 11 that's now due in 8 minutes will get me back quicker than the 12X (they alternate 12X-11-12X-11 every 15 minutes, and the 11 is only 8 minutes longer at this time of night), so the bus duly arrives for my Tour de Earlsdon on the way back to campus. I've never done the 11 this way round so I haven't a bloody clue where we are, I'm just going along with it.

18 minutes later, with me fading fast, we arrive back into the uni bus interchange. It's now almost midnight meaning the campus shop is well and truly shut. Not a huge issue however as I'm not that hungry, I just want bed.

Back at the flat just before midnight, I crash out. The parties downstairs don't even keep me awake. That was a great trip and a much-needed distraction. I'd do it again in a heartbeat. Everything went (mostly) smoothly and I took in some amazing scenery (all three branches were required, as was everything West of Plymouth). Definitely worth the money for it. And I may well have been swayed to consider first class more in the future if I can afford it.

I wonder what my next trip (probably around Easter time) will be? Not even I know yet. Suggestions anyone?

Distance Travelled: 918mi 07ch
Winning traction count: 8
Winning shack count: 6

And for anyone who got this far, well done to you.
For anyone with a knowledge of 90s pop, yes, the title of this report is indeed taken from German dance-music band U96's 1993 hit. Quite an appropriate song for this trip, no?
I listen to too much synthpop. But well done for reading this far! Suggestions and criticism are always welcome :)

Sounds like you had a good day in the West Country!
Um I prefer the HSTs, but the 80xs are perfectly acceptable.

PS: I know exactly how you feel about Micropipettes, I hate them as well! :lol:
 

GW43125

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Joined
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Hello, me again!
I had a 5-day jaunt to Europe in August, here's day 1 of the trip. Enjoy.

Deutschland 2019
Day 1-12th August-The trek

The day began after a poor night's sleep on my friend's sofa. Not long to go now until my first Eurostar since Waterloo, and first proper trip to Europe.

A short walk as I try desperately to wake myself up sees us board 387201 for the journey up the Watford DC. The train's not as busy as I thought it'd be, which means we don't have to worry too much about clobbering poor commuters with our massive backpacks. It's an uneventful journey, though now is not the time for my heavy bag to start hurting. Oh well.

We duly arrive into Euston a few minutes ahead of schedule (yay for slack!) and head for the Sainsbury's (honestly a godsend when you're on a trip like this), meal deal for breakfast anyone? We've got an hour and a bit in Brussels so there'll be time to grab lunch there.

Onwards to St Pancras we walk, getting a few funny looks from commuters as we look like we're heading off on a massive hike in the morning peak, trying to navigate our way without hitting anyone; which we manage successfully as the station and hotel come into view. We decide to first head upstairs and try to see our set and just generally what's there. Sitting in platform 8 is our chariot, class openers 374033 and 374034. The 7:55 Paris starts away in all its Velaro glory as we head down to check in.

Helpful tip: make sure you've signed and dated your Interrail before joining the queue, to avoid the awkward ducking out under barriers when you realise. Yes I'm a pillock.

This aside, we eventually got up to the ticket desk, got checked in and headed through security. I managed to get secondary checked (woo!) before we were encouraged towards passport control. Nowhere to stop and get your stuff back together as usually found at an airport, just a shoving towards passport control holding everything awkwardly and hoping I hadn't left anything. Passport control went without incident, thankfully.

St. Pancras is trying too hard to be an airport and failing, I would honestly say that's the worst security experience I've had, even more so than the time my bag flagged up positive for explosives at Heathrow (no idea how I managed that).

Eventually, 9116 (08:54 London-Brussels, nice and early) was announced on platform 8 and up we went. It's a long walk when you're coach 13! What I want to know however is why 374s have so many pantograps (think I counted 4 on a half-set). One for each of 25kV AC, 15kV AC, 3kV DC, 1500V DC? I don't know, why would you need a separate one for each anyway? (I don't know, help!)

I digress, soon enough 8:54 rolled around and 21,000 horses put themselves to work to roll 400 metres of Velaro away from the pancakes. Entering the tunnel, a short roll for the neutral section before the tell-tale VCB thud and the acceleration of 21,000 horses being given full rein as the 800 tonnes accelerate effortlessly towards Stratford. I couldn't get a GPS signal to check the speed (it seems there's some form of Faraday cage on the carriages-wasn't a problem in the vestibules), but from checking later accelerations I estimated it to be in the vicinity of 180-190km/h. Impressive.

Rushing through Dagenham at 230km/h and racing a C2C always provides a bit of amusement, before the brakes go in for Ebbsfleet and we dive back under the Thames. It's a damp morning so there's a little bit of wheelslip, but nothing too major. Stop carried out without incident, we open up again, except this time we hit the 300 limit at Southfleet before we hit 230. It's an amazing feeling, speeding along past all the cars as the speedo kisses 300km/h. It's surprisingly comfortable at this speed, even the worst bumps are comparable to a plane hitting minor turbulence.

Over the "ski-jump" (down to go under the Maidstone line, then back up to fly over the Canterbury line) at Ashford as we start slowing for the Chunnel. The power changeover is carried out (wires higher in the tunnel for the double-decker shuttles) as we slow down to 160km/h, get a good view of the shuttles loading and dive into darkness for 21 minutes. Time for a cup of tea, I reckon.

21 minutes later, we pop out into French daylight as we slow for the stop at Calais. If we weren't calling, we'd stay on LGV Nord and go, go, go. The French countryside rushed by as we stopped at Lille then slowed down for the Fretin triangle, turning left and eventually entering Belgium. There's rain on the windows from France but this doesn't affect the view too badly.

Eventually, the time comes to leave the high-speed line for the last 20km into Brussels. Passing through stations such as Hove and Silly certainly caused a chuckle.

Slightly after midday, we roll into Bruxelles-Midi, bringing a very pleasant and comfortable journey to an end. We popped out the front and didn't think much of the first impression. After heading into a supermarket for a drink and having to try out my best French (Help!), we decide the best option is to escape over the Dutch border; we do so on IC9239, an NS push-pull, rather fittingly with consecutively numbered NS 186s, 186 199 and 186 200. Neither of them are in NS livery however, I think they may actually have been hired-in. It's a slow crawl to Antwerp, in which we manage to lose a few minutes, but afterwards we speed up to 160km/h on the stub of high-speed line and head for the Netherlands.

We duly arrive in Breda, for a half an hour fester. We want food but we can't get out of the ticket gates with our interrails. Guess we'll have to wait.

What we didn't realise is that in Europe, they put little shunters on mainline freights. We head up the escalator as we hear what sounds like a class 66 but turns out to be this little shunter barrelling through at probably around 80km/h.

After half an hour, in comes IC3652-a pair of ICM-3s, 4056 and 4062. I prefer to call them 743s and 744s as the positioning of the cab makes them look like 747s. We duly set off for Arnhem aboard this pair. Starting away, the motor sounds give way to the chopper screaming along, not doing my ears much good. The Dutch countryside is absolutely amazing, I'm so glad we came this way. I'll definitely be coming back.

As nice as the countryside is, it doesn't stop me having a little nap, "Nederlanse Dosswegen", as we dubbed it. It's been a long day, ok?

Bang on time, we roll into Arnhem and pop downstairs for some food at a little shop in the station. It's got one staff member and they have to stock up as well as man the till, there's self service but it's card only, so we have to try to ask her to help us. Thankfully, most people speak English. Phew.

After some food, we head upstars to find our death chariot awaiting for ABR56731. A FLIRT. It's got the hardest seats I've ever sat on. Two hours on this cart to Düsseldorf, made even longer by a wait for our attaching portion to get into Wesel before we can follow it. Help.

Regardless of the hell on Earth this is, we've crossed the fourth border of the day, into Germany. Something seems to be up with these as we do two emergency stops. One of which is right across the junction outside Düsseldorf.

Finally, finally we arrive in Düsseldorf. Over 11 hours in and we're still some way from Köln. We've just missed the hourly train so we head to a supermarket and in the process witness a confrontation in the street. It's a shoplifter who's been physically dragged out of the shop, vs a checkout guy. They take no ****. On a side note, Rewe's lemon and white chocolate cookies are really nice.

We decide to take an RE across to Köln, this drops 146260 with double-decker stock on RE10136, for the 33-minute 40km hop to Köln Hbf.

By now, we've been going for 14 hours and we're all tired and grumpy. All that remains is for a half-hour run on some GTO 423s, 423039 and 423046 on an S13 to Trudering via the airport; before finally after 13 hours of travelling, on 7 trains through 5 countries, we check into the hotel. We get a room overlooking the mainline, what a way to end the day, just watching everything from 423s to ICE 3s to freights coming past.

Time for bed now, we may only have travelled 800km but it was an awfully long journey. Early start tomorrow to head to Mannheim.
 

Techniquest

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Rather enjoyed that first day of reading, sounds like one helluva mission but one that was also enjoyable.

Indeed, you've got me wanting to get back to Europe and do some more trains over there!
 
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