adrock1976
Established Member
Similar to Techniquest and Blindbasher, I have decided to have a thread for my bashing and trip reports.
Below is a bash I did last weekend (19/20 July). This covered the Thames Valley Turbos and due to a meeting I had planned in Reading being cancelled, my partner was very good to let me go ahead with this railbash as I had already booked the tickets and accommodation several weeks ago.
The intention was to head in the direction of London after the meeting and doing the branches too. Also, due to engineering works at Reading on the 20th, I thought that I might as well complete the western arm of the triangular junction (Reading West - Tilehurst direct), as I have already done the other 2 sides.
I revised my plan slightly, and decided to fit in the Cherwell Valley stations too on the 19th. My revised intended itinerary is below.
Saturday 19th July
Glasgow Central 0426 Preston 0654
Preston 0717 Birmingham New Street 0905
Birmingham New Street 1033 Oxford 1140
Oxford 1216 Banbury 1246 Stopper
Banbury 1255 Oxford 1314 ICXC
Oxford 1337 Didcot Parkway 1351 GW
Didcot Parkway 1355 Radley 1403 Omits Appleford
Radley 1413 Reading 1456 Omits Culham
Reading 1518 Maidenhead 1532
Maidenhead 1538 Marlow 1601 Every 60 min
Marlow 1606 Maidenhead 1629
Maidenhead 1634 Twyford 1642
Twyford 1650 Henley on Thames 1702 Every 60 min
Henley on Thames 1724 Twyford 1736
Twyford 1754 Slough 1814 Plat 5
Slough 1817 Windsor & Eton Central 1823 Plat 1
Windsor & Eton Central 1827 Slough 1833
Slough 1854 Hayes & Harlington 1910
Hayes & Harlington 1933 Ealing Broadway 1944
Ealing Broadway 1954 Greenford 2009
Greenford 2046 Paddington 2112
Sunday 20th July
Woolwich Arsenal 0825 Waterloo East 0858 Also 0843
Waterloo 0927 Surbiton 0955
Surbiton 1005 Woking 1029
Woking 1046 Salisbury 1145 Omits Grateley
Salisbury 1327 Basingstoke 1402 Calls Grateley
Basingstoke 1407 Reading West 1427
Reading West 1502 Birmingham New Street 1648
Birmingham New Street 1715 Glasgow Central 2115
Thames Turbos bash
Up bright and early for the 0426 departure from Glasgow to Preston, worked by 390013, which goes the very weird route via Cathcart District Railway to Newton, then via Bellshill and Wishaw Deviation where it rejoins the normal line of route at Law Junction. There was hardly anybody on this service today on departure from Glasgow, but started to fill up when it called at the intermediate stations of Carlisle Citadel, Penrith, Oxenholme, and Lancaster Castle.
I changed at Preston onto the 0717 service from Edinburgh to Wolverhampton, worked by 390008. Again, a rather uneventful journey on this section. I changed at Wolverhampton onto the Manchester to Bournemouth ICXC service, as I would arrive into Birmingham before the Edinburgh – London service did. It seems crazy having that amount of layover at Wolverhampton: in my view, it should be at Birmingham like how the northbound service has a double-digit layover before continuing.
While on the Glasgow - Birmingham leg (and various points during by bash), I spotted various locomotives along the route, of which the numbers I made a note of will be compiled into a new spreadsheet when I get the chance to do so.
After breakfast, I made my way back to New Street, where the fun began. I was intending to be on the 10:33 service to Reading (Origin Newcastle Central), but when I checked the departure screens, it had been cancelled. As I was already at New Street just before the previous service was scheduled to depart, I also noticed that the 09:33 had also been cancelled. This meant that there were 2 consecutive services from Newcastle to Reading that had been cancelled, due to train fault.
I made my way down to the platform and asked the guard (or whatever the technical term is used nowadays) if I could board the 10:04 departure as the service I intended to get had been cancelled. The lady kindly gave me the go-ahead to do so. It was a 4 car Voyager, so was very cosy inside. As the 10:04 was waiting for new traincrew, their incoming service was delayed, having a knock-on effect. Anyway, we departed New Street approximately 25 minutes behind schedule, meaning that I would make it to Oxford in time to start bashing after purchasing the Cherwell Reading and Thames Branches day rangers.
My bash went as planned. Class 165137 was doing the 2-hourly all stations service to Banbury. This is one service I believe that could be increased from every 2 hours to every 90 minutes, with just the one diagram being required. During the course of the day, I began to notice a familiar pattern that was building. The Turbos were Class 165s so far. It was not until the Maidenhead – Twyford leg that I landed my very first 166 (166214). On the Maidenhead – Marlow branch, it was 165121 that provided the shuttle service. On the way back to Maidenhead, some numpty was messing about on the platform edge at Cookham: the driver gave a blast of the horn to warn him of the approaching train. After he boarded with a couple of mates, the driver had a stern word with him about what he just did, and found it amusing for some reason. Needless to say, the lady driver asked him to leave the train, which he did. His mates (2 of them) left at Furze Platt. 165130 was working the Twyford – Henley on Thames branch.
My second 166 came on the Twyford – Maidenhead leg on my way to Slough (166217). 165125 was doing the Windsor shuttle – a branch I found uninspiring probably due the combination of the working class republican and anti-capitalist element in me. I scored my very first Class 360 Heathrow Connect on the Hayes & Harlington – Ealing Broadway leg (360203). I found these 360s very spacious and reasonably comfortable inside, similar to First Scotrail's Class 380s.
The Greenford branch was operated by 165127 and 165128 (the 2 workings that I am aware of. Unsure if it is 3 or 4 diagrams that are used). When I had a break at Greenford and upon returning to the platforms, there was no staff on the gateline, nor was the booking office open. Myself and a fellow passenger tried to attract the attention of the station staff, whose monitoring office of the whole station was beyond the gateline out of line of sight. In my view regarding bokking office closures on the London Underground, I am against this. A booking office before the gateline is also an enquiry point and can also deal with unusual tickets as in my case, as I was in possession of a ranger/rover that gets rejected by automatic barriers.
Sunday due to engineering works at Reading, I decided to complete the left hand side of the triangular junction (Reading West – Oxford Road junction – GWR to Tilehurst) due to very little if at all regular scheduled passenger services using that side of the triangle. My route from London from Woolwich Arsenal was via both Waterloo stations. Things were running haywire as there had been an earlier signal fault at Waterloo main. I managed to board the 09:27 Hampton Court service as intended to Surbiton. It was a few minutes behind schedule but I had a 10 minute leeway at Surbiton anyway, so I would be OK to touch out my Oyster card, collect tickets to Reading/Salisbury from the machine. I collected them OK from the machine and re-entered the gateline and back to the platform. Sadly, the dispatcher let the 10:05 Guildford via Woking service depart 1 minute early, which was also witnessed by 2 other passengers who were also intending to get that service. The clock on the screen was still displaying 10:04 when the whole of the train left the platform. I explained this to the dispatcher, but he was insistent that it was “No, No. It was 10:05” . I mentioned that myself and 2 others saw the clock was still showing 10:04 as we were coming down the stairs (Realtime Trains website also confirms that the service departed 1 minute early when I checked it at home). I was annoyed with myself at this point as had I collected the tickets from the machine at Waterloo instead of Surbiton, I would still be on schedule as intended.
Anyway, I managed to check the timetable boards and found that there was the 10:30 Basingstoke service which I could get. I also noted the arrival time at Woking would be 4 minutes before my intended service to Salisbury at 10:46. I made the connection, which was a pair of Class 159s (the very first time I have scored those, as I don't ever recall seeing them in the West Midlands or Scotland). They were 159004 and 159103 .
After having a leisurely stroll around Salisbury, I made my way back to the station to return to Basingstoke. This was my second error of the day as I had it in my head that the train departed at 13:47. At 13:26 I thought to myself that I have another 20 minutes, so bought a cup of tea from the station outlet. I heard a train pull away in the background and yes, it began to dawn on me that it was actually 13:27, 20 minutes earlier than I thought, and that I would not be able to scratch off Grateley. Best of all, I had the sheet of the itinerary with me. A silly billy me – at least I can attribute my 2 errors today down to too much heat and sunshine
A plan came into my mind as how to get out of the mess I had unintentionally dug for myself . I got the 13:32 Portsmouth Harbour service to Southampton Central, noting that it would arrive at 14:02. This was going to be a huge gamble to get the ICXC service, due to me not having an internet connection (it is a good old fashioned mobile phone I have that makes and receives calls, and sends and receives text messages and nothing else), and having to use geographical knowledge and my brain to have a complete guess if my rescue plan was going to work. A huge sigh of relief came to me at Southampton Central when I checked the screen that the Manchester train (the one I was intending to pick up at Reading West) was at 14:15, and from the same platform too.
My 2 errors today meant that I was unable to scratch off the stations between Surbiton and Woking, and also Grateley as it is one of those awkward ones to do on a Sunday (in the Exeter direction anyway). Also, I could not scratch off the two stations between Basingstoke and Reading West either. Those errors I made today means that I could do the Basingstoke – Reading West section and Surbiton – Woking on a circular trip next time, perhaps with the Woking – Basingstoke stations. I would be left with the unwanted conundrum of how to fit in Grateley, as that was my intention for the big break in Salisbury today.
In peace
Adam
Below is a bash I did last weekend (19/20 July). This covered the Thames Valley Turbos and due to a meeting I had planned in Reading being cancelled, my partner was very good to let me go ahead with this railbash as I had already booked the tickets and accommodation several weeks ago.
The intention was to head in the direction of London after the meeting and doing the branches too. Also, due to engineering works at Reading on the 20th, I thought that I might as well complete the western arm of the triangular junction (Reading West - Tilehurst direct), as I have already done the other 2 sides.
I revised my plan slightly, and decided to fit in the Cherwell Valley stations too on the 19th. My revised intended itinerary is below.
Saturday 19th July
Glasgow Central 0426 Preston 0654
Preston 0717 Birmingham New Street 0905
Birmingham New Street 1033 Oxford 1140
Oxford 1216 Banbury 1246 Stopper
Banbury 1255 Oxford 1314 ICXC
Oxford 1337 Didcot Parkway 1351 GW
Didcot Parkway 1355 Radley 1403 Omits Appleford
Radley 1413 Reading 1456 Omits Culham
Reading 1518 Maidenhead 1532
Maidenhead 1538 Marlow 1601 Every 60 min
Marlow 1606 Maidenhead 1629
Maidenhead 1634 Twyford 1642
Twyford 1650 Henley on Thames 1702 Every 60 min
Henley on Thames 1724 Twyford 1736
Twyford 1754 Slough 1814 Plat 5
Slough 1817 Windsor & Eton Central 1823 Plat 1
Windsor & Eton Central 1827 Slough 1833
Slough 1854 Hayes & Harlington 1910
Hayes & Harlington 1933 Ealing Broadway 1944
Ealing Broadway 1954 Greenford 2009
Greenford 2046 Paddington 2112
Sunday 20th July
Woolwich Arsenal 0825 Waterloo East 0858 Also 0843
Waterloo 0927 Surbiton 0955
Surbiton 1005 Woking 1029
Woking 1046 Salisbury 1145 Omits Grateley
Salisbury 1327 Basingstoke 1402 Calls Grateley
Basingstoke 1407 Reading West 1427
Reading West 1502 Birmingham New Street 1648
Birmingham New Street 1715 Glasgow Central 2115
Thames Turbos bash
Up bright and early for the 0426 departure from Glasgow to Preston, worked by 390013, which goes the very weird route via Cathcart District Railway to Newton, then via Bellshill and Wishaw Deviation where it rejoins the normal line of route at Law Junction. There was hardly anybody on this service today on departure from Glasgow, but started to fill up when it called at the intermediate stations of Carlisle Citadel, Penrith, Oxenholme, and Lancaster Castle.
I changed at Preston onto the 0717 service from Edinburgh to Wolverhampton, worked by 390008. Again, a rather uneventful journey on this section. I changed at Wolverhampton onto the Manchester to Bournemouth ICXC service, as I would arrive into Birmingham before the Edinburgh – London service did. It seems crazy having that amount of layover at Wolverhampton: in my view, it should be at Birmingham like how the northbound service has a double-digit layover before continuing.
While on the Glasgow - Birmingham leg (and various points during by bash), I spotted various locomotives along the route, of which the numbers I made a note of will be compiled into a new spreadsheet when I get the chance to do so.
After breakfast, I made my way back to New Street, where the fun began. I was intending to be on the 10:33 service to Reading (Origin Newcastle Central), but when I checked the departure screens, it had been cancelled. As I was already at New Street just before the previous service was scheduled to depart, I also noticed that the 09:33 had also been cancelled. This meant that there were 2 consecutive services from Newcastle to Reading that had been cancelled, due to train fault.
I made my way down to the platform and asked the guard (or whatever the technical term is used nowadays) if I could board the 10:04 departure as the service I intended to get had been cancelled. The lady kindly gave me the go-ahead to do so. It was a 4 car Voyager, so was very cosy inside. As the 10:04 was waiting for new traincrew, their incoming service was delayed, having a knock-on effect. Anyway, we departed New Street approximately 25 minutes behind schedule, meaning that I would make it to Oxford in time to start bashing after purchasing the Cherwell Reading and Thames Branches day rangers.
My bash went as planned. Class 165137 was doing the 2-hourly all stations service to Banbury. This is one service I believe that could be increased from every 2 hours to every 90 minutes, with just the one diagram being required. During the course of the day, I began to notice a familiar pattern that was building. The Turbos were Class 165s so far. It was not until the Maidenhead – Twyford leg that I landed my very first 166 (166214). On the Maidenhead – Marlow branch, it was 165121 that provided the shuttle service. On the way back to Maidenhead, some numpty was messing about on the platform edge at Cookham: the driver gave a blast of the horn to warn him of the approaching train. After he boarded with a couple of mates, the driver had a stern word with him about what he just did, and found it amusing for some reason. Needless to say, the lady driver asked him to leave the train, which he did. His mates (2 of them) left at Furze Platt. 165130 was working the Twyford – Henley on Thames branch.
My second 166 came on the Twyford – Maidenhead leg on my way to Slough (166217). 165125 was doing the Windsor shuttle – a branch I found uninspiring probably due the combination of the working class republican and anti-capitalist element in me. I scored my very first Class 360 Heathrow Connect on the Hayes & Harlington – Ealing Broadway leg (360203). I found these 360s very spacious and reasonably comfortable inside, similar to First Scotrail's Class 380s.
The Greenford branch was operated by 165127 and 165128 (the 2 workings that I am aware of. Unsure if it is 3 or 4 diagrams that are used). When I had a break at Greenford and upon returning to the platforms, there was no staff on the gateline, nor was the booking office open. Myself and a fellow passenger tried to attract the attention of the station staff, whose monitoring office of the whole station was beyond the gateline out of line of sight. In my view regarding bokking office closures on the London Underground, I am against this. A booking office before the gateline is also an enquiry point and can also deal with unusual tickets as in my case, as I was in possession of a ranger/rover that gets rejected by automatic barriers.
Sunday due to engineering works at Reading, I decided to complete the left hand side of the triangular junction (Reading West – Oxford Road junction – GWR to Tilehurst) due to very little if at all regular scheduled passenger services using that side of the triangle. My route from London from Woolwich Arsenal was via both Waterloo stations. Things were running haywire as there had been an earlier signal fault at Waterloo main. I managed to board the 09:27 Hampton Court service as intended to Surbiton. It was a few minutes behind schedule but I had a 10 minute leeway at Surbiton anyway, so I would be OK to touch out my Oyster card, collect tickets to Reading/Salisbury from the machine. I collected them OK from the machine and re-entered the gateline and back to the platform. Sadly, the dispatcher let the 10:05 Guildford via Woking service depart 1 minute early, which was also witnessed by 2 other passengers who were also intending to get that service. The clock on the screen was still displaying 10:04 when the whole of the train left the platform. I explained this to the dispatcher, but he was insistent that it was “No, No. It was 10:05” . I mentioned that myself and 2 others saw the clock was still showing 10:04 as we were coming down the stairs (Realtime Trains website also confirms that the service departed 1 minute early when I checked it at home). I was annoyed with myself at this point as had I collected the tickets from the machine at Waterloo instead of Surbiton, I would still be on schedule as intended.
Anyway, I managed to check the timetable boards and found that there was the 10:30 Basingstoke service which I could get. I also noted the arrival time at Woking would be 4 minutes before my intended service to Salisbury at 10:46. I made the connection, which was a pair of Class 159s (the very first time I have scored those, as I don't ever recall seeing them in the West Midlands or Scotland). They were 159004 and 159103 .
After having a leisurely stroll around Salisbury, I made my way back to the station to return to Basingstoke. This was my second error of the day as I had it in my head that the train departed at 13:47. At 13:26 I thought to myself that I have another 20 minutes, so bought a cup of tea from the station outlet. I heard a train pull away in the background and yes, it began to dawn on me that it was actually 13:27, 20 minutes earlier than I thought, and that I would not be able to scratch off Grateley. Best of all, I had the sheet of the itinerary with me. A silly billy me – at least I can attribute my 2 errors today down to too much heat and sunshine
A plan came into my mind as how to get out of the mess I had unintentionally dug for myself . I got the 13:32 Portsmouth Harbour service to Southampton Central, noting that it would arrive at 14:02. This was going to be a huge gamble to get the ICXC service, due to me not having an internet connection (it is a good old fashioned mobile phone I have that makes and receives calls, and sends and receives text messages and nothing else), and having to use geographical knowledge and my brain to have a complete guess if my rescue plan was going to work. A huge sigh of relief came to me at Southampton Central when I checked the screen that the Manchester train (the one I was intending to pick up at Reading West) was at 14:15, and from the same platform too.
My 2 errors today meant that I was unable to scratch off the stations between Surbiton and Woking, and also Grateley as it is one of those awkward ones to do on a Sunday (in the Exeter direction anyway). Also, I could not scratch off the two stations between Basingstoke and Reading West either. Those errors I made today means that I could do the Basingstoke – Reading West section and Surbiton – Woking on a circular trip next time, perhaps with the Woking – Basingstoke stations. I would be left with the unwanted conundrum of how to fit in Grateley, as that was my intention for the big break in Salisbury today.
In peace
Adam
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