Sprinter
Member
I got out my house about 0520 in order to get to Waterloo for 0630, I walked up to Walthamstow Central and caught the first train of the day into Liverpool Street (which to my surprise was in an 8 car formation!!). I travelled in 315856 in the front coach.
At Liverpool Street I headed for the Central line in order to get to Bank and then take The Drain to Waterloo, however got to the Waterloo & Line entrance to find it closed! I forget on Saturdays trains don't start until 0810!! So off I went to London Bridge and caught the Jubille Line to Waterloo instead.
Got to Waterloo at 0615, so plenty of time to get tickets, I headed to the ticket machines but to my surprise Bristol Temple Meads was not listed anywhere in the destination finder!! Although Bath Spa was listed, BTM wasn't, very odd! So had to line up at the ticket office in order to obtain tickets instead.
Found a single 442 (can't remember unit number now) residing in polatform 11 ready to Weymouth, hopped on and found a table seat. At Eastleigh I scored two shunters which were not hidden behind wagons (for a change) and alighted at Southampton Central.
Here I met up with Jim, armed with his tripod as we walked up to the London end of the platform as he said they would be coming in via Eastleigh, but we heard them behind us, they came in via Redbridge!
Then there was confusion....the tannoy came into life and said that the 0827 service to Bristol Temple Meads was cancelled. Even though the 31s were sitting in the platform with doors unlocked, hence was definately not cancelled and the staff had to tell the passengers that this was indeed the BTM train!!
During the journey a passenger with a bike got in the second coach at Warminster but wished to alight at Dilton Marsh, which of course is front door alighting only, so I helped get this bike through the first coach to the front door, which involved me up-ending the bike (so its handlebars were up in the air) and push it through the coach using the rear wheel of the bike!
Noted down the numerous sheds at Westbury but needed none of them afterall, at Trwobridge I was somewhat bemused to see a HST roar through, but then i remembered that BP- Swin is closed this weekend and Cardiff HSTs are diverted via Dr Days and Westbury E (two pesky little curves I will tackle next week when the same diversion will apply).
Outside Temple Meads the 31s got routed across virtaully all lines to termiante in platform 3, then went off to rest in Barton Hill, to avoid sitting there occupying a platform for a few hours!
More in part 2....
At Liverpool Street I headed for the Central line in order to get to Bank and then take The Drain to Waterloo, however got to the Waterloo & Line entrance to find it closed! I forget on Saturdays trains don't start until 0810!! So off I went to London Bridge and caught the Jubille Line to Waterloo instead.
Got to Waterloo at 0615, so plenty of time to get tickets, I headed to the ticket machines but to my surprise Bristol Temple Meads was not listed anywhere in the destination finder!! Although Bath Spa was listed, BTM wasn't, very odd! So had to line up at the ticket office in order to obtain tickets instead.
Found a single 442 (can't remember unit number now) residing in polatform 11 ready to Weymouth, hopped on and found a table seat. At Eastleigh I scored two shunters which were not hidden behind wagons (for a change) and alighted at Southampton Central.
Here I met up with Jim, armed with his tripod as we walked up to the London end of the platform as he said they would be coming in via Eastleigh, but we heard them behind us, they came in via Redbridge!
Then there was confusion....the tannoy came into life and said that the 0827 service to Bristol Temple Meads was cancelled. Even though the 31s were sitting in the platform with doors unlocked, hence was definately not cancelled and the staff had to tell the passengers that this was indeed the BTM train!!
During the journey a passenger with a bike got in the second coach at Warminster but wished to alight at Dilton Marsh, which of course is front door alighting only, so I helped get this bike through the first coach to the front door, which involved me up-ending the bike (so its handlebars were up in the air) and push it through the coach using the rear wheel of the bike!
Noted down the numerous sheds at Westbury but needed none of them afterall, at Trwobridge I was somewhat bemused to see a HST roar through, but then i remembered that BP- Swin is closed this weekend and Cardiff HSTs are diverted via Dr Days and Westbury E (two pesky little curves I will tackle next week when the same diversion will apply).
Outside Temple Meads the 31s got routed across virtaully all lines to termiante in platform 3, then went off to rest in Barton Hill, to avoid sitting there occupying a platform for a few hours!
More in part 2....