I'm now out of sync with my reports as I haven't got round to sorting the photos from my WYDR yet... somehow I was more enthusiastic about the South Wales ones! I'll get that sorted sometime next week. No rush as I'm not due another trip for a while now...
Explore Cardiff & Valleys day ranger – Tuesday 28th November 2017
Day started with an 0445 alarm. Feeling a bit groggy, I dragged myself up and had a bowl of cereal before driving to the station. I arrived about 15 minutes early, noticing that 66023 was still in the parcels sidings, and now had wheel skates fitted to two axles. Clearly in a bad way. My train for the first leg of the journey was 185102, which was only on a lowly 7 miles so it was a good start. First thing I did after finding my seat was set my alarm for 0700, and pretty much slept all the way to Stalybridge. This was easier than normal as the engine was out on my coach, so I had loco-hauled style comfort!
I had 15 minutes or so at Manchester Piccadilly to pick up some refreshments. There was no way a bowl of cereal was going to keep me going until lunchtime. The Costa kiosk was located right next to platform 11 where my train was leaving from, which would have been handy but the queue was huge. Instead I picked up an almond croissant and a smoothie from Sainsburys.
175006 formed my train to
Cardiff Central. I wasn’t excited about spending 3 hours on this train. I was less enthusiastic still when I saw seat reservation labels out. My ticket was ‘counted place’, but unfortunately the only place free was the tip up seat in the vestibule. I queried it with the guard, who said not to worry as it usually empties out at Wilmslow. Today it didn’t, and now there were people standing as well. At Crewe, even more people were waiting to join but fortunately quite a lot got off, and I went and got a window seat finally. I demolished the croissant before we even left the station.
Even with a proper seat, the rest of the journey was still a real slog. The seats are awful on these units, and the engine sounded really boomy. The only entertainment was the huge wheelslip accelerating away from each stop. Finally I arrived in Cardiff just after 1030. I purchased my ranger from the ticket office - great value at £12 for the area covered.
My main aim for the trip was to pick up as many of the 15 ATW Class 142’s as possible. I also wanted to make inroads into the 143’s, and any 150’s would be a bonus. So typically, first up it was
150267 round the corner to
Cardiff Queen Street. There were a few of these leaps in my plan for the day, as it was the only way to cover as many diagrams as I could. As 54 chain leaps go, it’s one of the more interesting ones. I like how you climb alongside the main line before swinging over to the left.
150240 was up next. I didn’t know until I later checked, but this was one of only two ATW 150’s I’d previously had. I took this to
Llanishen, which is a nice little station. I was grateful they’d gritted the slope down to the platform though, it was a steep one!
150240 Llanishen 28/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
At last,
142074 showed up to take me back through Cardiff and on to
Grangetown. Despite planning these moves a month or so previously, I’d managed to accidentally plan it perfectly as a RHTT was following behind us. 66051 lead 66047, predictably filthy, through the station.
66051 Grangetown 28/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
Shortly after
150251 took me further along the line to
Eastbrook.
150251 Eastbrook 28/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
143609 and
142006 took me back the other way, just under a mile to
Cogan before
150259 took me to
Barry.
150259 Cogan 28/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
I then walked to Barry Island, as I wanted to get some fish and chips for dinner and it looked like a nice walk. After my chips, which were pretty average, I went to Coastal Coffee for an iced latte to wash it down, mainly because I hoped they’d have plug sockets as my phone was clearly not going to last the day. I got a socket, but quickly realised I’d made an error. I thought my train out of Barry Island was at 1336, but it was actually 1326. It was almost quarter past, and to make matters worse the staff were rushed off their feet and my coffee was still being made. I asked them to put it in a takeout cup instead, and made my way up to the station. The coffee would be good for my energy levels but my phone was only about 10% better off. A mobile power bank for future trips like this is a must!
143604 was leading
142077 on the 1326 (not 1336...) from
Barry Island back up to Cardiff. This was the start of a more successful streak of finding pacers.
142083 and
143602 were next up for a Queen Street leap.
142083 & 143602 Cardiff Central 28/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
142082 brought me back. Continuing the countdown (I seemed to be getting the pacers in reverse numerical order...),
142081 on a city line service to Coryton was next. Upon seeing my ranger, the guard asked me if I’d be joining them up to Radyr as well, but I told her I’d be getting off at ‘the next one’. The next one was
Rhiwbina, and I didn’t fancy embarrassing myself by pronouncing it wrong to a local! I would see 142081 and the guard again shortly, as a brisk ten minute walk down the road took me to
Whitchurch, where I picked the service up on its way back.
142081 Whitchurch 28/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
This time I took it to
Heath Low Level.
142081 Heath Low Level 28/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
I’d allowed around ten minutes to get to
Heath High Level, but really it can be done comfortably in less than five. From High Level, double winners
143608 and
142085 took me to Cardiff Queen Street. Working out the diagrams and planning the day to avoid repeats was working out nicely. However, I made a mistake here and casually watched my intended next train leave from another platform. It was only a 150, but it meant there was no simple way to pick up my plan again. As the phone was dying and I wanted to dump one of my bags, I instead decided to have a break and check into the hotel instead. Dud 150240 from earlier took me back to Central.
I checked into my room at Sleeperz hotel just next to the station. I had a view of the railway crossing the bridge to the east of the station, but only just. It was a small room but the fittings were modern. After boosting my phone up to over 60% and freshening up, I returned to the station to resume my plan, boarding duds 142083 and 143602 to
Caerphilly. This was the only booked repeat set in my plan, and I didn’t mind as I only had a low mileage Central to Queen Street leap on them earlier. Winner
150254 took me once again to Cardiff Queen Street. It was the evening peak now, and the station was looking busy. I really wanted to be on the 1705 to Rhymnney, as it was a peak buster which comes out of Canton depot for one return run. I was hoping it’d be a required 142, but looking at the masses on the platform, getting on board would be a challenge itself. Dud 142074 appeared, with another on the back. I managed to squeeze in the rear set, not knowing what it was. A couple of miles on this service was enough for me, so I bailed at Heath High Level to discover
142010 on the rear. Happy days.
I did the reverse of earlier and walked over to Heath Low Level. A short wait later
143623 appeared. I chose to travel through to the other side of Cardiff to get
Ninian Park ticked off, and meet the last diagram on my plan which was covered by
150255.
I figured now would be a good time to cover the bay shuttle, which I’d set eyes on a couple of times during the day.
153312 took me down the mile long branch to
Cardiff Bay. A notable station as this was my 300th visited station in the UK. I then returned straight back, and was ready to go have a couple of beers. My lucky streak continued as
143610 and
142075 took me back round the corner to Central.
A couple of delightful halves of beer in Brewdog, and phone topped up again, I was ready to go again. I picked up a meal deal from Tesco Express and returned to the station to see 142069 in platform 0. This would be my tenth of the day, no way I would be turning it down. Once I’d figured out how to get to platform 0, I made my way up the stairs and boarded
142069. Had it not been for the sign, I would have thought I was going into the staff room at M&S food hall! I was going to take this service to Risca & Pontymister but the connection was a +3 and I couldn’t see for certain how to switch platforms on Google street view, so I played safe and bailed at
Rogerstone. It was fairly nippy here, another passenger who left the train struggled to de-ice the windscreen of their Ford Ka in the car park. I expect they needed a new set of wiper blades after listening to them scrape the frosted screen for a good 10 minutes or so.
150283 returned me to Cardiff. One of the slowest trains I’ve ever been on. I worked out our average speed to be under 25mph, which for a non-stop service is pretty poor. We were overtaken by a freight at one point. Mercifully, we eventually arrived. I figured there was no point doing any more new stations tonight, as it was difficult to get photos without messing about setting up the tripod. I fancied a couple more leaps to fill the book though, so I did another return to Queen Street – dud 143610 outbound and winner
143601 back. I was about to call it a night but decided to do one more which was a masterstroke as
142076,
143607 and 150251 (locked out of use) were on the 2132 to Rhymnney. I assumed this must be a positioning move for units for the next day, as it certainly wasn't busy enough to justify 6 cars!
The icing on the cake was double winners
143622 and
143625 back to Central and back to the hotel for the night, after a great day. 11 of 15 142’s in the book was a good start, taking my overall tally to 73 of 94.
My room had a bunk bed, which I’d known when I booked. I fancied sleeping on the top bunk for the novelty, but after trying both it was apparent the bottom was much comfier. I watched a bit of TV on the top bunk, as you couldn't s ee it from the bottom! I made a decaf coffee which I’d not normally have but I always seem to in hotel rooms when it’s laid out in front of you. There was a shelf for the top bunk but it was arms length away, if I’d dropped the coffee from that height onto the wooden floor the mess would have been quite horrific. Thankfully I didn’t, and I climbed down to sleep around 2330. The pillows were a bit firm for my taste, but not terrible. I would use the hotel again, the location couldn’t be better for the station.
Day summary:
185102 YRK-MAN
175006 MAN-
CDF
150267 CDF-
CDQ
150240 CDQ-
LLS
142074 LLS-
GTN
150251 GTN-
EBK
143609 &
142006 EBK-
CGN
150259 CGN-
BRY
143604 &
142077 BYI-CDF
142083 &
143602 CDF-CDQ
142082 CDQ-CDF
142081 CDF-
RHI
142081
WHT-
HLL
143608 &
142085 HHL-CDQ
150240 CDQ-CDF
142083 & 143602 CDF-
CPH
150254 CPH-CDQ
142074 &
142010 CDQ-HHL
143623 HLL-
NNP
150255 NNP-CDQ
153312 CDQ-
CDB
153312 CDB-CDQ
143610 &
142075 CDQ-CDF
142069 CDF-
ROR
150283 ROR-CDF
143610 CDF-CDQ
143601 CDQ-CDF
142076,
143607 & 150251 CDF-CDQ
143622 &
143625 CDQ-CDF
16 new stations:
Barry, Barry Island, Caerphilly, Cardiff Bay, Cardiff Central, Cardiff Queen Street, Cogan, Eastbrook, Grangetown, Heath High Level, Heath Low Level, Llanishen, Ninian Park, Rhiwbina, Rogerstone, Whitchurch
29 new units: 11x
142, 9x
143, 6x
150, 1x
153, 1x
175
10 dud units: 3x 142, 2x 143, 3x 150, 1x 153 1x 185
Day mileage:
334 miles
Explore Cardiff & Valleys day ranger – Wednesday 29th November 2017
I set the alarm for 0730, but didn’t roll out of bed around 0800. I was actually quite pleased the rover wasn’t valid until 0930, as it meant I could have a leisurely start to the day and pick up some breakfast. A few minutes' walk from the hotel there was a Starbucks, where I got a bacon roll and iced caramel macchiato. I also learned from the previous day, and made sure I left here with 100% charge on my phone!
After an excellent breakfast, I made my way back to the station. In addition to my ranger, I also purchased a return to Newport for £5.70. As well as hunting for more pacers and local stations, I hoped to sample my first Class 800. I should have the best part of four decades to get these in the book, but I was keen to see what they were like. The ideal would be to get a HST one way and an 800 the other.
I spent a bit of time getting some photos at Cardiff. It was another glorious day, and I had some intel on where my remaining Class 142’s might be. Two of the four were in service, which would be acceptable for me. 13 or 14 of the 15 units was my realistic aim for the trip.
142076 Cardiff Central 29/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
43194 Cardiff Central 29/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
Having purchased the tickets I had, I had an urge to move somewhere but nothing productive was showing up. I nearly boarded a HST to Newport, but there was no Class 800 service back from Newport for a couple of hours so I let it go.
In the end, my patience paid off as
142002 produced as hoped. I took this to
Radyr, it felt strange passing stations at speed on a pacer. Radyr was a nice little station, the layout reminded me of Swinton in South Yorkshire, but much leafier and nicer with its riverside location. Just over the river was Coryton, where the city line all-stop services run to. I thought it was a shame there's no bridge linking Radyr & Coryton as it would make a nice circular line, but then I remembered it's single track from Coryton to Heath Low Level so there'd be no real use as you couldn't run trains in both directions.
142002 Radyr 29/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
142075 & 142085 took me to
Cathays. I didn’t expect ticket barriers here, and my ticket got rejected going back in the other side. The attendant let me through, but due to the barriers this was not a good station to do a double back from. I had time though, and a few minutes later
150279 approached to take me to
Llandaf.
150279 Cathays 29/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
Llandaf was another nice station, with a modern ticket office which looked like a fairly recent addition. I noticed a lot of stations around Cardiff have lifts, which is a much nicer way of making stations accessible than the huge eyesore ramps that grace some of the stations up north (Barnetby & Normanton spring to mind).
I’d come to Llandaf in the hope of bagging another 142. As well as the two I knew were out, I’d seen another leaving Cardiff just as I arrived around 0930. My diagram had it coming back from Merthyr Tydfil on the next service, and sure enough it did.
150280 and
142072 were taken through to Cardiff Central.
I now had my sights on the penultimate one, 142073. I knew 142080 wasn’t out. I was sorely tempted to use my Newport ticket as 43002 had just pulled in to form the 1155 to Paddington, but again I couldn't get back on a Class 800 from Newport and still make the remaining pacers I wanted to get.
43002 Cardiff Central 29/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
As great as it looked in the sun, I let 43002 go. I stuck to my plan, but I had time before I could make a move to meet 142073, so I went for some lunch. I’d planned to have a light lunch and a bigger meal in the evening but as I had 40 minutes to kill, I went to Five Guys. The burger was one of the best I've had in the UK, and the fries decent too but I forgot to ask for spicy fries!
I waddled back to the station and after a brief delay due to a late arriving inbound service, I headed to
Pye Corner on dud 150267. I was supposed to meet 142073 coming back from Ebbw Vale, but something must have changed since my info was provided as it was 142010. At least this run would clear it for ten miles.
No sooner had I arrived back in Cardiff, I spotted 142073 at the other side of the station! It was too late to catch it, but I worked out it was going to Treherbert and back and I should still be able to get it before my train home. I also had a plan that would get me a HST and 800 combination to Newport, and this all fitted together perfectly. First I had a bit of a gap, so I took 142069 round the corner to Queen Street. I decided to sample the Cardiff Bay line again, mainly to tick off another 153 and get a photo at the station, but I also wanted to see the line in daylight.
153320 was the unit for today’s round trip.
153320 Cardiff Bay 29/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
This got me back to Queen Street at a good time as there were a handful of services heading to Central in quick succession. I didn’t have long to wait, the first one was winner 143606.
It was now time to finally use my Newport ticket.
43188 ‘The Welshman’, quite fittingly for this trip, lead
43145 to
Newport.
43188 Cardiff Central 29/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
Shortly after I arrived in Newport, 66100 came flying through on a steel train. I was updating my mate on my progress so I missed getting a photo, took my eye off the ball there! I was now incredibly thirsty after the salt-fest of a lunch I’d just consumed, and I had a +51 here which was slipping due to a delay on my return train, so I walked into the city centre and found another Starbucks. I got the same again as it went down so well earlier in the day. I took the opportunity to get my phone topped up as well, and I also took a bit of charge from the HST on the way over.
I made my way back to the station in plenty of time. The modern footbridge structure at Newport station seems a bit out of place with the rest of the place. It looks more like something you would find on the extended section of the Jubilee Line on the tube. The delay was up to around 15 minutes, and there was now a real chance I could miss 142073 at Cardiff. RTT was estimating I would be back in Cardiff at 1601, and the Treherbert service I needed to be on left at 1606. Any further delay would probably be too much. The PIS stated first class was at the front and rear, so I positioned myself half way down the platform to hopefully ID both sets on arrival, as it was going to be tight in Cardiff. In they eventually came, double winners
800008 and
800009.
800008 & 800009 Newport 29/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
The train was lightly loaded – the only person to exit the train at my door was wearing a Hitachi fleece! First impressions were of how new everything looked and smelt. How long that will last is anyone’s guess, but my table was scratched already! I got the rearmost seat in the set next to the bulkhead. We were overtaken by Colas 70802 on a coal train as we left, but caught it up again at the other side of the tunnel.
The seat was what I expected, firm but not hideously uncomfortable. Unfortunately the armrests are way too low though. That’s just bad design, if they were higher a short person could still use them, but where they are is useless for me and I’m only just ovet 6ft! I will say it was very quiet and smooth though. It’s a great regional express train, I’d happily do a 60-90 minute journey on one. No way would I relish the thought of taking one from London to Edinburgh and beyond though! Anyone currently making that journey on a HST or mk4 will almost definitely find these trains less comfortable.
Happily enough though, they did the job and got me to Cardiff in time for my pacer service. The only problem was platform 6, where it was supposedly leaving from, was unoccupied. My Welsh let me down here, as the scrolling departure board which alternated between English & Welsh said something other than a time next to it, and I assumed it meant cancelled. I was about to walk away when it flicked to English and what it actually said was ‘arrived’, and it was on platform 7, not 6. I made a quick dash for it, and as I approached the number came into focus and it was definitely
142073! I only had time to take it to Queen Street, but that would do for me. 14 out of 15 was a great outcome from the two days.
I was in the same position as a couple of hours previously, with multiple services available. This time I let a dud go, before
150208 arrived on the next one. A great finish to the trip. I popped back to the hotel to pick up my other bag they kindly stored for me for the day, and then nipped back into Brewdog for another half before making my way back for my booked train.
My tickets were never gripped on the Newport services, and the barriers were open at Newport, so i actually possessed three valid tickets that could get me through the ticket barriers, which was an unusual first for me. As I’d had such a good trip I had become slightly blasé about the fact I had over 100 miles of loco haulage to look forward to. Required 67015 had been on the WAG set until recently, but it went to Crewe for an exam and was replaced with dud 67014. I didn’t mind too much, as I’ve got a soft spot for the two shabby ex-Wrexham & Shropshire/Chiltern liveried locos. It still wears the holes where its Thomas Telford nameplates once sat!
Despite the set being short formed by 1 mk3, there was no problem getting a seat. Unfortunately the socket at the seat I chose was out of action but I had a decent amount of battery left to get me home. It was a much more enjoyable run than the journey down on the droning 175. The 67 making a great sound up front. I left the service at final winner station of the trip,
Shrewsbury.
67014 Shrewsbury 29/11/2017 by
Flash 3939, on Flickr
I had around 40 minutes here so I went off to find a light meal. I found a Tesco Express which would do fine. One thing I’ll say about Shrewsbury is they know how to do Christmas lights! They even had a giant illuminated reindeer!
Back at the station, winner
175105 was next up back to Manchester via Stockport. The train was about half full, I got an airline seat to myself in what must have been the unofficial quiet coach. Nobody was speaking, it was so quiet I felt awkward fishing my meal out of my carrier bag. I got a pesto pasta salad and a fruit smoothie, trying to address the balance after a couple of days of eating like a horse. I carried on typing up my trip report, and time passed by pretty quickly. It felt like much less of a drag breaking the journey at Shrewsbury even though it took longer.
Back in familiar territory at Manchester Piccadilly, I had half an hour or so for my train back to York. I found out from RTT that my train was due into platform 3 so I waited there. Somewhat annoyingly, required 185118 was about to leave said platform with a Cleethorpes service. At least it was pretty quiet I thought, so won’t be a problem getting on. Even with a reserved seat you fear boarding a 185 as it’s always a scrum to get on. Predictably, despite it being 2142, a mass of people descended onto the platform at the last minute. Dud 185113 was to be the last journey of the trip. Fortunately, it had arrived from the airport practically empty so everyone managed to get a seat.
The train lost 20 minutes between Marsden & Huddersfield due to ‘having to perform an inspection of the line’. The Leeds stopper was then in front of us, but we flew past it on the centre road at Dewsbury. Eventual arrival was at 2320, 24 minutes late.
Day summary:
142002 CDF-
RDR
142075 & 142082 RDR-
CYS
150279 CYS-
LLN
150280 &
142072 LLN-CDF
150267 CDF-
PYE
142010 PYE-CDF
142069 CDF-CDQ
153320 CDQ-CDB
153320 CDB-CDQ
143606 CDQ-CDF
43188 &
43145 CDF-
NWP
800008 &
800009 NWP-CDF
142073 CDF-CDQ
150208 CDQ-CDF
67014 CDF-
SHR
175105 SHR-MAN
185113 MAN-YRK
6 new stations:
Cathays, Llandaf, Newport, Pye Corner, Radyr, Shrewsbury
13 new power cars/units: 2x
HST, 3x
142, 1x
143, 3x
150, 1x
153, 1x
175, 2x
800
8 dud locos/units: 1x 67, 4x 142, 1x 150, 1x 153, 1x 185
Day mileage:
303 miles
Trip summary:
22 new stations
42 new locos/power cars/units
Trip mileage:
637 miles
It was a great couple of days, and I got very lucky with the weather. It snowed back up north the next day!
Already planning to go back to the area in May with my mate this time (who was rather jealous of my Welsh success) - one thing that I noticed when I looked at the rover map was despite getting a lot of stations and units in, I didn't venture very far out of the city. Next time I'm looking forward to going further into the valleys. At least the days will be longer in May too...
I would like to add a "Last Journey" date to my haulage log, have you entered this manually or by using a formula? Thanks