Cactus' UK & European rail travels

[A Challenge]

Deleted - mistake

 

[Mag_seven]

43053 is the celebrity power

Oddly enough I've had that PC twice in two days - yesterday and today!

 

[cactustwirly]

The best ones... 22/08/18

I've skipped ahead with this one, as there is another trip report from last week still to do.

Anyway, I'd arranged to meet up with @DanNCL last month, and we chose a suitable destination for today.

I started the day with a surprisingly empty 387159, on the 0900 express to London.
I had a whole table to myself until Maidenhead, after which the train crossed over to the mains, for a nice 110mph non stop run into Paddington.

DSC_0115 by litecactus, on Flickr

It was a quick hop on the Bakerloo to Baker Street for the Met Line to Kings X-St Pancras.

As you can probably guess, I was booked on a HST! Now Kings X would be the obvious choice would it not?
But actually I headed west into St Pancras, one of my favourite stations (in terms of ambience anyway)
I picked up a coffee from Pret and headed upstairs to spy what was on my service.
There were two options either 43046 on platform 3 or 43064 on platform 1.
A quick check on RTT showed that it was 43064, with '046 on the 1134 an hour later.
I was happy since '064 was paired with 43050 a few weeks ago, which was one of the 2 VP185s I still required.

The boarding commenced in good time (unlike at Paddington) and for once the HST was in a almost pristine condition.

DSC_0118 by litecactus, on Flickr

43047 was on the front, which was a shame.

DSC_0121 by litecactus, on Flickr

I took a seat in Coach A, which was almost empty, I chose this carriage for obvious reasons!
(for the mighty VP185 thrash! )

The journey was very good as ever, it is the best intercity route out of London!
We did lose some time at Radlett because of Thameslink, and a bit more at Wellingborough because of a late running Meridian!
Anyway I met up with Dan and Quinn at Market Harborough, and we continued onto Leicester.

At Leicester more tickets were purchased, and we caught 43045 and winner 43044! back to Market Harborough, for Quinn's favourite PC 43046, and 43049 back to Leicester.

DSC_0132 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0135 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0134 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0141 by litecactus, on Flickr
We had a wander round the city, and wandered back to the station for the 1413 back to Market Harborough with 43046 and 43049 again
The train arrived into Market Harborough late so I had to run for 43054 and 43076 back to Leicester.

I bid farewell to Dan and Quinn, and caught 43059 and 43048 back to St Pancras.

DSC_0146 by litecactus, on Flickr

I took a different route to Paddington this time via Oxford Circus on the Viccy line. I think this may be slightly quicker than the Met line.

Anyway I arrived in time for the 1707 home, which was unfortunately a 5 car IET, this used to be a very busy 8 car HST so you can see the problem...
Luckily I arrived early enough to secure a seat.

DSC_0158 by litecactus, on Flickr

 

[Mag_seven]

back to Market Harborough, for Quinn's favourite PC 43046

Always nice when you get your favourite PC as mine can be seen in your first photo!

 

[cactustwirly]

Always nice when you get your favourite PC as mine can be seen in your first photo!

43023 I'm guessing?
Mines 43053 & 43058.
I did see 43058 at Cricklewood, but unfortunately it didn't appear for me

 

[Mag_seven]

43023 I'm guessing?

You guess correctly.

 

[nat67]

Oddly enough I've had that PC twice in two days - yesterday and today!

Me and @fishquinn both think its a beast! and Hellfire and so....

 

[cactustwirly]

Me and @fishquinn both think its a beast! and Hellfire and so....

Well it's the best MTU powercar....
Nothing comes close to a VP185 (43052 excepted), especially the mighty 43058!

 

[Mag_seven]

Me and @fishquinn both think its a beast! and Hellfire and so....

Yeah whatever....

 

[DanNCL]

The best ones... 22/08/18

I've skipped ahead with this one, as there is another trip report from last week still to do.

Anyway, I'd arranged to meet up with @DanNCL last month, and we chose a suitable destination for today.

I started the day with a surprisingly empty 387159, on the 0900 express to London.
I had a whole table to myself until Maidenhead, after which the train crossed over to the mains, for a nice 110mph non stop run into Paddington.

DSC_0115 by litecactus, on Flickr

It was a quick hop on the Bakerloo to Baker Street for the Met Line to Kings X-St Pancras.

As you can probably guess, I was booked on a HST! Now Kings X would be the obvious choice would it not?
But actually I headed west into St Pancras, one of my favourite stations (in terms of ambience anyway)
I picked up a coffee from Pret and headed upstairs to spy what was on my service.
There were two options either 43046 on platform 3 or 43064 on platform 1.
A quick check on RTT showed that it was 43064, with '046 on the 1134 an hour later.
I was happy since '064 was paired with 43050 a few weeks ago, which was one of the 2 VP185s I still required.

The boarding commenced in good time (unlike at Paddington) and for once the HST was in a almost pristine condition.

DSC_0118 by litecactus, on Flickr

43047 was on the front, which was a shame.

DSC_0121 by litecactus, on Flickr

I took a seat in Coach A, which was almost empty, I chose this carriage for obvious reasons!
(for the mighty VP185 thrash! )

The journey was very good as ever, it is the best intercity route out of London!
We did lose some time at Radlett because of Thameslink, and a bit more at Wellingborough because of a late running Meridian!
Anyway I met up with Dan and Quinn at Market Harborough, and we continued onto Leicester.

At Leicester more tickets were purchased, and we caught 43045 and winner 43044! back to Market Harborough, for Quinn's favourite PC 43046, and 43049 back to Leicester.

DSC_0132 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0135 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0134 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0141 by litecactus, on Flickr
We had a wander round the city, and wandered back to the station for the 1413 back to Market Harborough with 43046 and 43049 again
The train arrived into Market Harborough late so I had to run for 43054 and 43076 back to Leicester.

I bid farewell to Dan and Quinn, and caught 43059 and 43048 back to St Pancras.

DSC_0146 by litecactus, on Flickr

I took a different route to Paddington this time via Oxford Circus on the Viccy line. I think this may be slightly quicker than the Met line.

Anyway I arrived in time for the 1707 home, which was unfortunately a 5 car IET, this used to be a very busy 8 car HST so you can see the problem...
Luckily I arrived early enough to secure a seat.

DSC_0158 by litecactus, on Flickr

It was great to meet you, thanks for the brilliant afternoon!

 

[cactustwirly]

Just a sneek preview....

 

[cactustwirly]

London 13/08

This was the date of a London Forum meal, so I decided to go into London a bit ealier with a travelcard but no real plan.

I caught I pair of 387s to Ealing Broadway changing for the Central line to North Acton

DSC_0054 by litecactus, on Flickr

Changing for westbound service to South Ruislip, where I changed for winners 165002 and 165012 to London Marylebone.

DSC_0056 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0057 by litecactus, on Flickr

I then headed over to Liverpool Street to clear out some 321s before they go.

DSC_0060 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0064 by litecactus, on Flickr


I scored winner 900014 from Stratford to Liverpool Street.

DSC_0068 by litecactus, on Flickr

I caught an ex FCC 321 back to Stratford.

Then I did a quick spin on the Jubilee line to Canada Water and back.

DSC_0071 by litecactus, on Flickr

Before returning to Euston, via the new London Bridge station.
At Euston I met some other forum members, and then we had a lesuirely stroll along the Grand Union Canal, to the meal venue.

DSC_0083 by litecactus, on Flickr

 

[cactustwirly]

Thames Valley Day Ranger 31/08

I had arranged to meet nat67 and fishquinn to do a final Thames Valley day ranger.

I met them at Reading and caught 43025 and 43005 to London on the usual ex Newbury diagram

We then caught winner 43086 and 43004 back to Reading.

DSC_0160 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0167 by litecactus, on Flickr

43165 and 43094 took us back to London.

DSC_0170 by litecactus, on Flickr

The set on the 1203 to Penzance was boring, and it was a really busy train, so I caught winners 800026 and 800006 on the 1200 to Bristol instead, the journey wasn't too bad.
It arrived into Reading a whole 10 minutes before Quinn's HST!

DSC_0175 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0176 by litecactus, on Flickr

We caught 43056 and 43131 back to London, catching winners 43174 and 43137 back to Reading (after a slick 7 minute turnaround)

DSC_0182 by litecactus, on Flickr

43098 and 43154 took us back to London.

DSC_0193 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0195 by litecactus, on Flickr

We split up again, as I preferred the set on the 1522 Great Malvern, rather than the 1515 Cardiff.

So I took 43122 and 43158 back to Reading for the last time.

I parted ways with fishquinn and nat67, and caught a pair of 387s home.

 

[cactustwirly]

A final Adventure: 05/09

For a multitude of reasons; this is likely to be my last trip report for a while, but don't worry I hope to be back in the near future.
And here we are with one of the best sort of trips, a mini euro bash with a bit of loco haulage!

Anyway a bit of background, I had been on holiday in the Loire Valley region of France, doing the usual things you do on holiday.
But I had a free day, so I booked some tickets on one of the few Loco hauled 'Intercites' trains through the region.
I opted to use an 'm ticket' as my french isn't good enough to collect the ticket from a machine.

Since the local station was only served bt 'TER' trains, I had to buy a separate ticket to take me to Blois-Chambord, I purchased this with great difficulty from the French TVMs (they are really bad!)

Anyway my train arrived at about 1312, it was a double EMU type thing.

DSC_0417 by litecactus, on Flickr

It was a good ride into Blois, but what wasn't so good was my 90 minute wait!
So I headed into town and got myself a coffee, it was alright except the use of UHT milk.

Back at the station, I caught winner SNCF BB26000 no 26043, which took me along the Loire to the city of Tours.

DSC_0426 by litecactus, on Flickr

I sat in an ex Corail coach, which although dated, was actually quite comfortable.
The journey wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped oweing to repair work in the Amboise, which mean't the train lost about 10 minutes.

So I had 10 minutes in Tours to make my connection instead of 20 minutes.

DSC_0429 by litecactus, on Flickr


DSC_0430 by litecactus, on Flickr

I changed onto another BB26000 (526002), which had no less than 16 coaches!

DSC_0431 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0432 by litecactus, on Flickr

I was in a Corail coach again, but the journey was smoother, there seemed to be less speed restrictions around the repair work.

And this time I only had about 10 minutes at Blois-Chambord, to wait for my onward TER to Mer.

 

[cactustwirly]

I'm still alive!

Had a couple of trips in October and this month, and I've also booked myself on a last GWR HST jaunt in December (to Plymouth)

 

[cactustwirly]

2018 in review

So since my last trip report, I went to Corby in October, scoring my last VP185 HST, 43050!

DSC_0605 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0608 by litecactus, on Flickr

In November I went to Bristol, unfortunately with dud HSTs 43321 & 43384.

DSC_0644 by litecactus, on Flickr

Returning to Leicester with a double Voyager.

I also came home to Reading on board 43047 & 43054 to London St Pancras.

I returned to Leicester from High Wycombe via Birmingham & Derby.
Scoring winner powercars 43357 & 43304, and the sliding door HST set!
I travelled from Derby to Leicester onboard 43066 & 43049, in 1st class!

DSC_0722 by litecactus, on Flickr




43357 at Derby by litecactus, on Flickr


DSC_0764 by litecactus, on Flickr


In December, I took 43158 & 43087 to Plymouth, returning on 43304 and winner 43207!
Catching 802003 and 802013 from Taunton to Reading.

DSC_0837 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0840 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0921 by litecactus, on Flickr


I also went to Bath on 43159 & 43160, returning on 43088 and the best HST powercar, 43053!


DSC_0954 by litecactus, on Flickr

DSC_0015 by litecactus, on Flickr


Happy new year! And here's to a succesful 2019!

 

[cactustwirly]

I've got something really exciting planned in April!

It's a journey on excellent traction, and amazing scenery!
Very cheap advances too!

 

[hexagon789]

It's a journey on excellent traction, and amazing scenery!

Well I would've said HSTs, but rather ubiquitous. Something with a Continental flavour perhaps?

 

[cactustwirly]

Well I would've said HSTs, but rather ubiquitous. Something with a Continental flavour perhaps?

All will be revealed in April...

 

[Techniquest]

All will be revealed in April...

That's more cryptic than what I was like at the height of my crypticness 12 months ago! In more recent months I've been a lot more open and clear about my upcoming stuff etc, after all why hide away the trip for X amount of time? It can't be that much of a secret surely, unless perhaps it's not yet fully booked?

Quite, I've been discussing my upcoming plans for up to 2022 in various places! Plans for 2020 are getting well advanced already, just a case of finding the funds and making the final decision between two of the trips. I may even combine two of them into one long 2 week super-trip...Those who follow me on Twitter will have already seen my plans to choose from. For those not on there, they are Grand Canyon, Tokyo and New Zealand. No idea yet which one I'll do in 2020 but there's a full year to make up my mind yet!

So my point being, come on and spill the beans, tell us where you're going!

 

[hexagon789]

All will be revealed in April...

Fair enough

 

[cactustwirly]

That's more cryptic than what I was like at the height of my crypticness 12 months ago! In more recent months I've been a lot more open and clear about my upcoming stuff etc, after all why hide away the trip for X amount of time? It can't be that much of a secret surely, unless perhaps it's not yet fully booked?

Quite, I've been discussing my upcoming plans for up to 2022 in various places! Plans for 2020 are getting well advanced already, just a case of finding the funds and making the final decision between two of the trips. I may even combine two of them into one long 2 week super-trip...Those who follow me on Twitter will have already seen my plans to choose from. For those not on there, they are Grand Canyon, Tokyo and New Zealand. No idea yet which one I'll do in 2020 but there's a full year to make up my mind yet!

So my point being, come on and spill the beans, tell us where you're going!

Well I wanted to create suspense!

I was going to go to Scotland for some HST haulage, but for the same price I can go to somewhere more fun (well actually 2 cities!), and I get some awesome Taurus Haulage as well! (Nothing in the UK comes close!)

 

[Techniquest]

Well I wanted to create suspense!

I was going to go to Scotland for some HST haulage, but for the same price I can go to somewhere more fun (well actually 2 cities!), and I get some awesome Taurus Haulage as well! (Nothing in the UK comes close!)

Fair enough.

I've not had a Taurus so I can't comment on them, but my first instinct for the two cities is Bratislava and Vienna.

 

[cactustwirly]

Fair enough.

I've not had a Taurus so I can't comment on them, but my first instinct for the two cities is Bratislava and Vienna.

Along the right lines, but can't be Bratislava, as it's a BR 2016 from Vienna (Diesel lok not a Taurus)
The journey time is 4 1/2 hours between the 2 cities, and the railway line climbs higher than the summit of Mount Snowdon!!

Just booked my flights with easyJet, with a really early start in Gatwick!

 

[rg177]

That would, I assume, be the Semmering down to Klagenfurt and Villach.

It's a nice run, Klagenfurt probably has more to offer than Villach but the latter is considerably more scenic.

Pörtschach am Worthersee is a pretty little stopoff between the two.

 

[cactustwirly]

That would, I assume, be the Semmering down to Klagenfurt and Villach.

It's a nice run, Klagenfurt probably has more to offer than Villach but the latter is considerably more scenic.

Pörtschach am Worthersee is a pretty little stopoff between the two.

Oh no! Haha, something even better!
I'm travelling on EC113/213 from Salzburg to Ljubljana, over the Tauern pass, which takes you to 4,022 ft above sea level (Snowdon is 3,560 ft)

 

[rg177]

I've done the bit from Ljubljana to Villach. It's a nice run, some lovely scenery most of the way.

When I did it, it was the ex-Belgrade service. Nice compartment to myself on a warm summer morning. Was a Slovenian Taurus up front too.

 

[cactustwirly]

I've done the bit from Ljubljana to Villach. It's a nice run, some lovely scenery most of the way.

When I did it, it was the ex-Belgrade service. Nice compartment to myself on a warm summer morning. Was a Slovenian Taurus up front too.

Excellent!
Slovenia has been on my 'must visit' list for ages (as well as Salzburg)

 

[cactustwirly]

That would, I assume, be the Semmering down to Klagenfurt and Villach.

It's a nice run, Klagenfurt probably has more to offer than Villach but the latter is considerably more scenic.

Pörtschach am Worthersee is a pretty little stopoff between the two.

Thanks for the tip, will bear in mind if I'm in the area again.

 

[fowler9]

How long does Ljubljana to Villach take? Is it a doable return trip in a day? I am going to be in Ljubljana later in the year. Any advice on prices much appreciated to.