Blindtraveler
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gripping! We've all got an RRB Story good or bad and yours is different again. I look forward to P5!
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Trip report: my first SailRail to Ireland
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Techniquest
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Crikey that was one bad experience! I've been very fortunate on my travels to never have have such an issue happen. I sure haven't had that sort of thing happen with a female guard!
Cycling that distance in 34 minutes is quire the achievement, after all it's not a short or straight journey!
An excellent read again, much lookjng forward to part 5!
Cycling that distance in 34 minutes is quire the achievement, after all it's not a short or straight journey!
An excellent read again, much lookjng forward to part 5!
Another superb read, looking forward to part 5. I haven't had an experience like yours with a female guard before, but I was woken up by one when she was checking tickets after I fell asleep on the toilet (very early start!) on a Northern service a few months ago. It was very awkward and embarrassing to say the least, but at least she saw the funny side to it, and thankfully nobody was waiting to use the loo!
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
Another great read 
can't believe there's still more to come... Epic!
can't believe there's still more to come... Epic!Deep breath, big finish...
Part 5:
After 14 minutes of cycling, I arrived at Holyhead terminal at 16:50, which was a hive of activity. At this point, most people just want to get home, but I'm not most people: I don't want to go home, I want to go back to Ireland and do it all again!
After making use of the toilets, I headed to the platforms to find a double 175 set idling, ready to work 1K05 (17:30 Holyhead to Crewe). There were quite a number of passengers on the platform, all trying to work out which coach they were supposed to be in (the platform displays made it quite clear: front set Crewe, rear set Llandudno Junction). As I approached the consist, a passenger asked me where she should be, and after I asked where she was going, she produced a printed sheet which told me she should be in the front set. Yet more passengers asked me the same thing, and it made me wonder whether I was wearing my heritage railways baseball cap by mistake (but most likely it was due to the fact that I was the only passenger on the platform whom did not have a confused look on their face).
I walked through Coach A in order to pull my seat reservation label (not interested in the coach nor the table seat I was given), then stepped back onto the platform to collect my bicycle. I boarded Coach C and found another bicycle surrounded by a mountain of luggage (guess I should be grateful that the tip-up seats were not in use!), but was able to stow my bike without blocking the aisle. This was the most heavily-loaded coach - most of the seats were occupied. In particular, I was disappointed to find that my preferred seat C1 was reserved all the way to Crewe, and parked my behind on seat C2. I had hoped that the reserver wouldn't show-up so that I could have a window seat, but a few minutes before departure, a young man arrived to claim his seat.
Annoyingly, he mostly read his book and listened to music (annoying in the sense that he had a window seat but was not taking advantage of the great views), but later in the journey, he put down his book and seemed to take a keen interest in looking at the landscape. Just before the mountains appeared, he went back to his book. As a gesture of kindness, I pointed to the window when the first big mountain appeared, and thus started a conversation that lasted 20 minutes (mostly me gabbing away about my trip!). Born in Canada, he now lives in Stafford, and had just completed a SailRail from Dublin. The conversation ended when I brought my sandwiches out (he went back to listening to music and his book).
The guard came round to check tickets, and a woman in the row in front of me asked to buy a ticket. The guard let out a heavy sigh, sat on the arm-rest of the aisle seat, then ran her card through his Avantix machine. The card declined and he asked her to sign for it instead (I always thought a UFN would be issued when declined?), and when he stood-up, he stepped on my toe (it didn't hurt). Rather than apologising to me, he looked at me as if he was expecting an apology from me - all I could do was tilt my head down in embarrassment. On approach to Chester, it was announced that Crewe-bound passengers should be in the front 3 coaches. Cue a lot of shuffling, and almost all of the luggage near my bike was taken off. I was convinced that I was already in the front set and therefore did not move. A while later, another announcement was made that corrected an earlier announcement: the rear set was bound for Birmingham, not Manchester. At that point, I heard a passenger say aloud "is this going to Manchester or not?" and another passenger replied "this is for Birmingham." This exchange suggested to me that I was not in the front set after all!
I leaped from my seat and tried to alight in order to view the formation, but now the doors were locked!!! I ran down the aisle to knock on the guard's door (where there was another passenger trying to alight). Just after knocking, the doors were re-released, and I ran back to the other end of the coach, hastily exited and then ran along the platform to the front. Just half a coach length away from the dispatcher, he blew his whistle, at which point I shouted "whoa whoa whoa, Crewe?" He pointed out Coach C, then I ran like a mad thing to the front of the 175 set and boarded - phew!!! Had I been carried towards Birmingham, there would have been no chance of recovery - truly a "seconds from disaster" moment! During the ride to Crewe, there was an announcement apologising for the incorrect information concerning Manchester/Birmingham (apparently caused by a set swap). The most embarrassing aspect of this situation is that I was the last one off! I've been kicking myself ever since: how can I call myself a railway enthusiast and yet make such an almighty balls of it! Why didn't I just step onto the platform and check the formation?! The problem is that I anticipated a direct service from Holyhead to Crewe, and the diagram on RTT confirmed that. I'm still confused as to where those extra coaches at the front came from...
On arrival at Crewe, I headed over to platform 11, still reeling from that scare. There were a good number of passengers waiting, so I hovered nearby until a bench became free. It was not long before a double 221 set arrived, and the rabble cleared, enabling me to sit down. Virgin Trains require passengers to notify them of cycle reservations at least 10 minutes in advance of the service arriving, so I glanced around for staff. I spied a dispatcher, but waited until he had sent the present consist on its way to Holyhead before showing my reservation ticket. The conversation went as follows:
Me: Hiya, I have a cycle reservation for the next service please. [hands over ticket]
Him: [studies ticket] Going to Carlisle?
Me: Yep. Is it a double set like the one that just called?
Him: No, it's a Pendolino. [points to top end of platform and hands back ticket]
Me: But I have reservations in Coach G?
Him: Just put yourself in standard. [he starts walking away from me, slightly embarrassed]
Me: But wouldn't I have reservations in Coach A if it was a Pendolino?
Him: [turns around] Yes, you're right.
Could this be a set swap, I wondered. Still feeling confused, I studied the platform display in more detail - it said: "Virgin Pendolino. Quiet coaches A & G. First Class at the centre of the train. Shop located in coaches D & K." If you replace "Virgin Pendolino" with "Virgin Super Voyager" it starts to make sense, but perhaps the non-Pendolino references came from the previous double 221 set that had just called? I decided to hedge my bets and stand half-way from either end of the platform, so that I would be ready for either type of train. Although I had been on double 221 sets previously (if indeed that's what this thing is!), I had never loaded a bicycle on one. I started to feel rather anxious. 20:09 - nothing. One passenger walked up to the yellow line to try to spot the now-late service. As if I wasn't worried enough about the formation, even a short delay was bad news: whilst I'm a very patient person and was in no hurry to get home, every minute of delay meant the dwell time could be one minute shorter. For 9S97 (17:40 London Euston to Glasgow Central), the dwell time was 2 minutes. Uncharacteristically, I kept glancing impatiently at the platform display - it now read "expected 20:12." The complete lack of even one red coat on the platform told me that this certainly isn't a Pendolino, despite the platform display still showing "Virgin Pendolino."
At 20:12, I heard that distinctive deep rumbling sound that confirmed to me that it was indeed a 221 set even before I saw its headlights. I studied the formation closely as it passed me (/ G H J K L \-/ E D C B A \), and ran down the platform with my bicycle when I deduced that Coach G was the rear coach of the rear set. Although I had only 4 coaches to run past, it seemed like many more! A few seconds after the door opened, I heard the door closing alarm and got my bike on rapidly (I also glanced along the platform: tumbleweeds). There may well have been dispatchers hidden from my view behind station buildings, but they obviously could not see me if I could not see them! Just my opinion, but this is no way to dispatch a 10-coach non-DOO train. Furthermore, had I heeded the advice of platform staff, I would have been at the totally wrong end and with nowhere near enough time to get to the other end (yes, I could have boarded Coach A, but once I had walked past it, I would have committed myself to G). Seriously, WTF Virgin? You already have the staff available, so why not use them instead of pretending that Super Voyagers are not your trains! Granted, the station staff obviously did not know the formation, but would it be too much to ask to have just one member of staff at each end, when you can certainly spare 3 members of staff for Pendolinos?
At the time, I was more relieved than angry, but given that 9S97 was the last service to Carlisle that night, this certainly qualifies for another "seconds from disaster" title. Looking back, I now feel I was abandoned by the dispatcher. It would be an interesting mental exercise to consider how station staff would have dealt with a stranded passenger, one that had taken an interest in the formation, had asked staff about it, and made an effort to be in the appropriate position on the platform for loading - I don't think I could have done more. I have had very positive dealings with the Station Manager/Team Leader at this station in the past (one time, as I waited for a railtour, she saw me shivering and took off her red coat for me to wear), and would certainly feel in safe hands if she was on duty that night.
221118+221xxx pulled into Carlisle on time at 22:09 (oh, the irony - the most time it ever lost was on approach to Crewe!). I walked through the empty station beaming with relief, feeling so lucky that I had scraped home by the skin of my teeth. Arrived home at 22:46 and made a well-earned cup of tea, then excitedly browsed my captured photos before hitting the sack. A few days later, I visited my mother's place to give her a slideshow of my trip with photos displayed on her 40" TV. She's not that interested in landscapes (and even less in railways, so trains and stations were not included in the slideshow), but my younger brother (whom has visited Ireland on several occasions) said "it looks like the Caribbean" and "I can't believe that's Ireland."
Trip summary:
An amazing trip with all objectives achieved. Achill Island certainly lived up to the hype. Loved Ulysses and Jonathan Swift - I feel a ferry crankfest coming on! The Great Western Greenway was good but I feel it needs more work to make it great. Irish Rail's ICRs are decent for what they do, but I wish I had visited a few years ago when this route was worked by LHCS (Enterprise will be on my list for sure next year, in addition to DART). Cycled a total distance of 422 km (equivalent to saving 21 litres of petrol and 42 kg of CO2 in a hybrid car). Some photting ops were lost due to inclement weather, but I captured 46 fabulous photos nonetheless (I took a photography course in college, which helps me to avoid duds that would count towards my limit of 10 per day). Attached is my favourite, which although is not as spectacular as the dramatic cliffs, it was the most technically challenging due to daylight starting to fade and the need to zoom to exclude foreground clutter (a good case for using a tripod but had to hand-hold) - a tribute to optical image stabilisation!
Conclusions:
- the overnight ferry idea worked out very well - I will definitely do this again next year (but will bring a hi-vis vest and duct tape next time!)
- the tablet-less idea worked very well (fewer distractions) but not having a map nor GPS means your route knowledge must be rock solid
- a lighter bike makes cycling easier (duh!)
- in future, if platform staff give me conflicting/unexpected/duff advice, I will seek out the Station Manager for clarification
Cost:
SailRail: £73, Irish Rail: 51.98 (£37.72)
Cottage: £230, B&B: 50 (£36.28)
Groceries: 37.74 (£27.38)
Total: £404.38
Part 5:
After 14 minutes of cycling, I arrived at Holyhead terminal at 16:50, which was a hive of activity. At this point, most people just want to get home, but I'm not most people: I don't want to go home, I want to go back to Ireland and do it all again!
After making use of the toilets, I headed to the platforms to find a double 175 set idling, ready to work 1K05 (17:30 Holyhead to Crewe). There were quite a number of passengers on the platform, all trying to work out which coach they were supposed to be in (the platform displays made it quite clear: front set Crewe, rear set Llandudno Junction). As I approached the consist, a passenger asked me where she should be, and after I asked where she was going, she produced a printed sheet which told me she should be in the front set. Yet more passengers asked me the same thing, and it made me wonder whether I was wearing my heritage railways baseball cap by mistake (but most likely it was due to the fact that I was the only passenger on the platform whom did not have a confused look on their face).I walked through Coach A in order to pull my seat reservation label (not interested in the coach nor the table seat I was given), then stepped back onto the platform to collect my bicycle. I boarded Coach C and found another bicycle surrounded by a mountain of luggage (guess I should be grateful that the tip-up seats were not in use!), but was able to stow my bike without blocking the aisle. This was the most heavily-loaded coach - most of the seats were occupied. In particular, I was disappointed to find that my preferred seat C1 was reserved all the way to Crewe, and parked my behind on seat C2. I had hoped that the reserver wouldn't show-up so that I could have a window seat, but a few minutes before departure, a young man arrived to claim his seat.
Annoyingly, he mostly read his book and listened to music (annoying in the sense that he had a window seat but was not taking advantage of the great views), but later in the journey, he put down his book and seemed to take a keen interest in looking at the landscape. Just before the mountains appeared, he went back to his book. As a gesture of kindness, I pointed to the window when the first big mountain appeared, and thus started a conversation that lasted 20 minutes (mostly me gabbing away about my trip!). Born in Canada, he now lives in Stafford, and had just completed a SailRail from Dublin. The conversation ended when I brought my sandwiches out (he went back to listening to music and his book).
The guard came round to check tickets, and a woman in the row in front of me asked to buy a ticket. The guard let out a heavy sigh, sat on the arm-rest of the aisle seat, then ran her card through his Avantix machine. The card declined and he asked her to sign for it instead (I always thought a UFN would be issued when declined?), and when he stood-up, he stepped on my toe (it didn't hurt). Rather than apologising to me, he looked at me as if he was expecting an apology from me - all I could do was tilt my head down in embarrassment. On approach to Chester, it was announced that Crewe-bound passengers should be in the front 3 coaches. Cue a lot of shuffling, and almost all of the luggage near my bike was taken off. I was convinced that I was already in the front set and therefore did not move. A while later, another announcement was made that corrected an earlier announcement: the rear set was bound for Birmingham, not Manchester. At that point, I heard a passenger say aloud "is this going to Manchester or not?" and another passenger replied "this is for Birmingham." This exchange suggested to me that I was not in the front set after all!
I leaped from my seat and tried to alight in order to view the formation, but now the doors were locked!!! I ran down the aisle to knock on the guard's door (where there was another passenger trying to alight). Just after knocking, the doors were re-released, and I ran back to the other end of the coach, hastily exited and then ran along the platform to the front. Just half a coach length away from the dispatcher, he blew his whistle, at which point I shouted "whoa whoa whoa, Crewe?" He pointed out Coach C, then I ran like a mad thing to the front of the 175 set and boarded - phew!!! Had I been carried towards Birmingham, there would have been no chance of recovery - truly a "seconds from disaster" moment! During the ride to Crewe, there was an announcement apologising for the incorrect information concerning Manchester/Birmingham (apparently caused by a set swap). The most embarrassing aspect of this situation is that I was the last one off! I've been kicking myself ever since: how can I call myself a railway enthusiast and yet make such an almighty balls of it! Why didn't I just step onto the platform and check the formation?! The problem is that I anticipated a direct service from Holyhead to Crewe, and the diagram on RTT confirmed that. I'm still confused as to where those extra coaches at the front came from...
On arrival at Crewe, I headed over to platform 11, still reeling from that scare. There were a good number of passengers waiting, so I hovered nearby until a bench became free. It was not long before a double 221 set arrived, and the rabble cleared, enabling me to sit down. Virgin Trains require passengers to notify them of cycle reservations at least 10 minutes in advance of the service arriving, so I glanced around for staff. I spied a dispatcher, but waited until he had sent the present consist on its way to Holyhead before showing my reservation ticket. The conversation went as follows:
Me: Hiya, I have a cycle reservation for the next service please. [hands over ticket]
Him: [studies ticket] Going to Carlisle?
Me: Yep. Is it a double set like the one that just called?
Him: No, it's a Pendolino. [points to top end of platform and hands back ticket]
Me: But I have reservations in Coach G?
Him: Just put yourself in standard. [he starts walking away from me, slightly embarrassed]
Me: But wouldn't I have reservations in Coach A if it was a Pendolino?
Him: [turns around] Yes, you're right.
Could this be a set swap, I wondered. Still feeling confused, I studied the platform display in more detail - it said: "Virgin Pendolino. Quiet coaches A & G. First Class at the centre of the train. Shop located in coaches D & K." If you replace "Virgin Pendolino" with "Virgin Super Voyager" it starts to make sense, but perhaps the non-Pendolino references came from the previous double 221 set that had just called? I decided to hedge my bets and stand half-way from either end of the platform, so that I would be ready for either type of train. Although I had been on double 221 sets previously (if indeed that's what this thing is!), I had never loaded a bicycle on one. I started to feel rather anxious. 20:09 - nothing. One passenger walked up to the yellow line to try to spot the now-late service. As if I wasn't worried enough about the formation, even a short delay was bad news: whilst I'm a very patient person and was in no hurry to get home, every minute of delay meant the dwell time could be one minute shorter. For 9S97 (17:40 London Euston to Glasgow Central), the dwell time was 2 minutes. Uncharacteristically, I kept glancing impatiently at the platform display - it now read "expected 20:12." The complete lack of even one red coat on the platform told me that this certainly isn't a Pendolino, despite the platform display still showing "Virgin Pendolino."
At 20:12, I heard that distinctive deep rumbling sound that confirmed to me that it was indeed a 221 set even before I saw its headlights. I studied the formation closely as it passed me (/ G H J K L \-/ E D C B A \), and ran down the platform with my bicycle when I deduced that Coach G was the rear coach of the rear set. Although I had only 4 coaches to run past, it seemed like many more! A few seconds after the door opened, I heard the door closing alarm and got my bike on rapidly (I also glanced along the platform: tumbleweeds). There may well have been dispatchers hidden from my view behind station buildings, but they obviously could not see me if I could not see them! Just my opinion, but this is no way to dispatch a 10-coach non-DOO train. Furthermore, had I heeded the advice of platform staff, I would have been at the totally wrong end and with nowhere near enough time to get to the other end (yes, I could have boarded Coach A, but once I had walked past it, I would have committed myself to G). Seriously, WTF Virgin? You already have the staff available, so why not use them instead of pretending that Super Voyagers are not your trains! Granted, the station staff obviously did not know the formation, but would it be too much to ask to have just one member of staff at each end, when you can certainly spare 3 members of staff for Pendolinos?
At the time, I was more relieved than angry, but given that 9S97 was the last service to Carlisle that night, this certainly qualifies for another "seconds from disaster" title. Looking back, I now feel I was abandoned by the dispatcher. It would be an interesting mental exercise to consider how station staff would have dealt with a stranded passenger, one that had taken an interest in the formation, had asked staff about it, and made an effort to be in the appropriate position on the platform for loading - I don't think I could have done more. I have had very positive dealings with the Station Manager/Team Leader at this station in the past (one time, as I waited for a railtour, she saw me shivering and took off her red coat for me to wear), and would certainly feel in safe hands if she was on duty that night.
221118+221xxx pulled into Carlisle on time at 22:09 (oh, the irony - the most time it ever lost was on approach to Crewe!). I walked through the empty station beaming with relief, feeling so lucky that I had scraped home by the skin of my teeth. Arrived home at 22:46 and made a well-earned cup of tea, then excitedly browsed my captured photos before hitting the sack. A few days later, I visited my mother's place to give her a slideshow of my trip with photos displayed on her 40" TV. She's not that interested in landscapes (and even less in railways, so trains and stations were not included in the slideshow), but my younger brother (whom has visited Ireland on several occasions) said "it looks like the Caribbean" and "I can't believe that's Ireland."
Trip summary:
An amazing trip with all objectives achieved. Achill Island certainly lived up to the hype. Loved Ulysses and Jonathan Swift - I feel a ferry crankfest coming on!
The Great Western Greenway was good but I feel it needs more work to make it great. Irish Rail's ICRs are decent for what they do, but I wish I had visited a few years ago when this route was worked by LHCS (Enterprise will be on my list for sure next year, in addition to DART). Cycled a total distance of 422 km (equivalent to saving 21 litres of petrol and 42 kg of CO2 in a hybrid car). Some photting ops were lost due to inclement weather, but I captured 46 fabulous photos nonetheless (I took a photography course in college, which helps me to avoid duds that would count towards my limit of 10 per day). Attached is my favourite, which although is not as spectacular as the dramatic cliffs, it was the most technically challenging due to daylight starting to fade and the need to zoom to exclude foreground clutter (a good case for using a tripod but had to hand-hold) - a tribute to optical image stabilisation!Conclusions:
- the overnight ferry idea worked out very well - I will definitely do this again next year (but will bring a hi-vis vest and duct tape next time!)
- the tablet-less idea worked very well (fewer distractions) but not having a map nor GPS means your route knowledge must be rock solid
- a lighter bike makes cycling easier (duh!)
- in future, if platform staff give me conflicting/unexpected/duff advice, I will seek out the Station Manager for clarification
Cost:
SailRail: £73, Irish Rail: 51.98 (£37.72)
Cottage: £230, B&B: 50 (£36.28)
Groceries: 37.74 (£27.38)
Total: £404.38
Attachments
Techniquest
Veteran Member
As I have been reading this on my phone, I can't view the photo but what an experience you had! Certainly a hair raising one for sure.
I messed up with my plans on a North East rover in 2007. Got on a TPX and not a Northern train forgetting TPX from Hull doesn't serve Doncaster! I ended up not doing Hambleton West Curve and still need it now!
Loved your trip report, hopefully you'll do another one some day!
I messed up with my plans on a North East rover in 2007. Got on a TPX and not a Northern train forgetting TPX from Hull doesn't serve Doncaster! I ended up not doing Hambleton West Curve and still need it now!
Loved your trip report, hopefully you'll do another one some day!
Kristofferson
Member
- Joined
- 23 Nov 2012
- Messages
- 1,132
Quite a dramatic end to the day, and a very well framed photo
What an interesting read 
As for flirting with the train crew, feel free to flirt away, it gives us something amusing to do! I did draw the line when a particularly... Energetic hen party grabbed my backside and my whistle at the same time though. A smile off a cutie is always welcome however ( ) and the job is a lot more about talking to people and spending time over them than you might think. I've been grabbed for selfies, kissed, offered glasses of champagne, sat on and so on - it goes with the territory when you're taking groups of happy (generally!) and possibly slightly drunken people around the countryside. Incidentally the last time I was kissed was on the cheek by a wasted 50 something bloke with his wife on a night out when I called him on his phone back to the train after he left his coat on it containing his wallet and house keys 
As for flirting with the train crew, feel free to flirt away, it gives us something amusing to do! I did draw the line when a particularly... Energetic hen party grabbed my backside and my whistle at the same time though. A smile off a cutie is always welcome however (
) and the job is a lot more about talking to people and spending time over them than you might think. I've been grabbed for selfies, kissed, offered glasses of champagne, sat on and so on - it goes with the territory when you're taking groups of happy (generally!) and possibly slightly drunken people around the countryside. Incidentally the last time I was kissed was on the cheek by a wasted 50 something bloke with his wife on a night out when I called him on his phone back to the train after he left his coat on it containing his wallet and house keys - Status