Cardiff Valley's

[Sprinter]

On Saturday 8th August me and Galavanize went to bash the Cardiff Valleys, this is how it went:

My day started at about 0645 when I walked up to Walthamstow Central to catch the Victoria Line. Since I only had a Zone 3 Travelcard I had to get off at Seven Sisters to top up my pre-pay for the rest of the journey. When I got back to the platform a train from the depot was already half in the platform, so I raced it down the platform in order to board in the front coach (as that is the closest coach to the escalators at Victoria).

At Victoria I popped into WHSmiths to grab the latest issues of varoius railway magazines, when I got to the till I discovered that I could get The Times for only 10p with any magazine, so I grabbed a copy of The Times (rarely do I read a newspaper these days)!

Walked down the GatEx platforms, up the escalators and around the taxi rank in order to reach the Megabus stop, my bus to Cardiff was Neoplan Skyliner 50144 which was already there loading up (as was most of the Leyton crew). Before we departed our driver warned that we may be late in Cardiff as the M4 was closed at Junction 18. However when we reached Junction 18 whatever closed the motorway was cleared up and traffic was running freely so our arrival in Cardiff Castle was about 10-15 minutes early.

Walked down to Cardiff Central whereby we bought the Valley's Explorer ticket (luckily the queues for the ticket office were quite short) and grabbed a copy of ATW timetable E before going to platform 6/7 to see what the next train out was. This turned out to be the late running 1107 to Coryton, which was formed of 150283 and about to depart so we ran to board it, it left 9 minutes down at 1116.

At Coryton since the train was late, there was a swift changeover at Coryton before we sprinted back south again, roughly on time. I was surprised by the number of people who were heading into Cardiff but boarded the northbound service and stayed on the train at Coryton rather than wait for the train to pick them up going southbound! Me and Galvanize alighted at Queen Strete and debated where to go next.

This was answered when we heard the announcement for the 1256 to Penarth, so we went up to platform 3 to see what stock it was, this time it was 150262, much to Galavanize's dismay as he wanted a Pacer (he has never been on a Pacer before)!! At Cardiff Central we awaited for for allocated 1308 departure time as 37419 pulled in with the 1259 to Ryhmney.

At Penarth we had a 10 minute turnaround time before heading back as the 1330 to Merthyr Tydfil, even though I needed to to do the Merthyr line, we bailed out at Caerdydd Canalog and waited for the much more important 37 to Ryhmney. This to my dismay was large logo blue 37425 and the Arriva liveried coaches (both of which I have bashed twice before, GRR!!)

Rest in part 2....

 

[richa2002]

Sounds great. Especially with a 37 involved.

 

[Galvanize]

I Enjoyed the Trip, the 37s to Rhymney were good, like on the way up I had front droplight all the way to bargoed, where my Feet got tired so i took a seat.

 

[Sprinter]

At this point the weather turned a bit wet, but a bit of rain didn't deter me doing H-O all the way to Rhymney, although I should of done H-O on the way back south as the rain ceased by the time we reached Rhymney! Typical! Watched the loco run round the coaches and re-attach to what was now the front of train and soon departed, this time enjoying the comfort of MK2 seats!

37425 kept pretty much to time, which was a good thing as we had a tight connection at Cardiff Central with the 1530 WSX service to Bristol TM (would of been going through to Pompey if there wasn't engineering works in the Bath area), this was formed of 150232 which was crewed by ATW staff!

At BTM we had a little break as our Maindee curve train wasn't due off until 1642, so I went and bought some hot food from The Pasty Shop and then the screen showed our train to depart on platform 3. Then there was a bit of confusion as the PID on platform 3 still showed the late running 1635 Virgin train to Preston, even though 158842 was parked in the platform! How can two trains share the same platform?! Finally an announcement came over the tannoy saying the train on platform 3 is the 1638 ATW service to Crewe whilst the 1635 to Preston will now leave from platform 5, so all the Virgin passengers switched platforms. Even the guard of our train came through the train asking checking whether passengers were on the correct train before closing the doors.

At Newport, I was rather annoyed when the train didn't do the Maindee curve at all but was routed into Newport Station for a crew change! (GRRRR!!!) Then went up to Cwmbran where we alighted and switched platforms to get the 1735 (SO) back to Cardiff, however that train was cancelled! Fortunately the 1716 was running about 20 minutes down and effectively took the path of the cancelled train but was busier as this train had come all the way from Manchester. The cancelled 1735 would of only started its journey at Pontypool!

Got into Cardiff at roughly our planned time, 1807, and stayed on the platforms to see what other units I could tick off, noted 153327 on its own on the 1821 to Maesteg and in came 170630 with a train from Birmingham. Around 1830 we left the station to head back up to the Megabus stop, diverting into Burger King on the way for our supper.

The bus was this same one we came up on but this time Mark was at the controls. After boarding me and Galvanize decide to sit downstairs at one of the two table seats for the journey back to London.

During the journey, Mark unusually pulled into Leigh Delamere services, but this was purely for toilet purposes as someone on our bus had thrown up in the Megabus toilet making it virtaully unuseable!! Thgis added an extra 15 minutes on the journey and got back to Victoria at around 2230.

 

[Met Driver]

Sounds like a good trip.

I Enjoyed the Trip, the 37s to Rhymney were good, like on the way up I had front droplight all the way to bargoed, where my Feet got tired so i took a seat.

Your feet got tired eh? I don't think you're a true 37 fan... I've stood at a droplight from Fort William to Edinburgh behind one - my feet were killing but I wasn't just about to give up my window.

 

[richa2002]

Withstand the pain, a 37's worth it.

 

[Galvanize]

Sounds like a good trip.

I Enjoyed the Trip, the 37s to Rhymney were good, like on the way up I had front droplight all the way to bargoed, where my Feet got tired so i took a seat.

Your feet got tired eh? I don't think you're a true 37 fan... I've stood at a droplight from Fort William to Edinburgh behind one - my feet were killing but I wasn't just about to give up my window.

The Raindrops were also hurting my eyes, they felt like Pins 'n' needles dropping on my face, and I decided to take a seat so I could talk to fellow Tractor Bashers.

My Side of the report will come tommorow

 

[Met Driver]

The Raindrops were also hurting my eyes, they felt like Pins 'n' needles dropping on my face, and I decided to take a seat so I could talk to fellow Tractor Bashers.

*Cough* Rannoch Moor is ten times worse *Cough*

 

[joy54.gen]

I Enjoyed the Trip, the 37s to Rhymney were good, like on the way up I had front droplight all the way to bargoed, where my Feet got tired so i took a seat.

Your feet got tired eh? I don't think you're a true 37 fan... I've stood at a droplight from Fort William to Edinburgh behind one - my feet were killing but I wasn't just about to give up my window.

The Raindrops were also hurting my eyes, they felt like Pins 'n' needles dropping on my face, and I decided to take a seat so I could talk to fellow Tractor Bashers.

My Side of the report will come tommorow

Well again a true 37 fan would stay in the rain as well, just ask me and yorkie on the trip to FW in June where the driver was so good we just had to stay at the front window

 

[Techniquest]

Lucky sod. I was absolutely, 100% exhausted, but I couldn't sleep! Plus I couldn't find a window, which was annoying.

If it had been a HST, and I'd had money for coffee, I'd have had one and grabbed a window all the way!

Next time, you won't be able to drag me away!

Surprised there's still tractor bashers coming down to South Wales for the Rhymney 37s, thought they'd have all come and done them by now!

 

[HSTfan!!!]

at Cardiff Central with the 1530 WSX service to Bristol TM (would of been going through to Pompey if there wasn't engineering works in the Bath area), this was formed of 150232 which was crewed by ATW staff!

Not at all unusual! I find that happens quite abit, especially more with 158's! but I did found it on a WSX 158+153+153 set to Bristol TM once

 

[Galvanize]

Here’s my side of the story.

I left my house at 06:30, and walked down to Lewisham station. Here I bought a travelcard and waited for the 06:49 train, which I sat in unit 65 on the front seat. At Canary wharf, I walked through the shopping center complex, and out into the open but not for long! It was down the escalators and onto the Westbound jubilee line platform, where I waited 6 minutes for a train. The train finally arrived, and I sat in the 3rd coach to Westminster, where I walked a million miles to the district line platform. After a 3 minute wait, a Circle line train arrived and I took it to Victoria. Bursting into Daylight at Victoria, I got on the 11 for 2 stops to victoria greenline, where I met sprinter. After meeting Sprinter, we boarded a Neoplan Skyliner, which suffice to say has re-kindled my liking of Megabus, and that these things go off like a rocket from Victoria Greenline!

On the bus, me and Sprinter looked at his magazines, which were: Rail Express, Rail, Railways illustrated, Buses Focus and The Railway magazine. We also discussed tickets in each other’s ticket wallets, and before long we arrived at Cardiff.

Here we walked over to the station, and bought our Valleys explorer tickets, then headed for Valley Island (Platforms 6&7 because the former Valley lines services use them, and they’re an island platform, Barry Island is also one of the destinations served from them!). We found an ex Scotrail Class 150 ready to Depart for Coryton. since me and Sprinter needed that line, and we came to do the Cardiff DMUs, we just had to go on this! And we did! The turnaround time at Coryton was only 1 minute, but we then departed Coryton, for Cardiff QS. We got held outside Heath Low level briefly, but we were soon on our way again, we started thinking about where to go next. I thought about Methyr Tydfil, Cardiff Bay, Penarth, Barry Island, but instead, we decided to get the 11:56 to Penarth. I started wondering why they announced as approaching the Platform at 11:52, but infact it came from Cardiff Bay (a line I needed to do!!!). But we departed ontime at 11:56, and from Cardiff Central at 12:07, we passed Cardiff Canton but we couldn’t see much.

At Penarth, we changed ends and sat in the front carriage, and after 10 minutes wait, the train started off, bound for Methyr Tydfil but I decided we should go to Rhymney on the 37! Passing Canton, I saw large logo 37425 with 4 EWS owned arriva liveried mark 2s! After roughly 10 minutes, the 37 arrived and I got myself to the back of the queue so I’d get in last, shut the door behind me and get H-O from the front droplight! Passing another 37 set at Heath High Level, it started raining. But our driver really thrashed up 425, especially through Caephilly Tunnel! At Bargoed, I decided to sit down, to speak to fellow tractor bashers, and then we reached Rhymney. After a few phots, it was back onto the train again, for the run to Cardiff.

Here at Cardiff, the journey across the Maindee curve was next port of call, in order to get there, we needed to change at Bristol Temple meads, so it was on a Wessex Trains sprinter.
Having arrived at BTM, Sprinter went to the pasty shop, I went to the men’s room, then collected a few timetables, for doodling on etc. An ATW 158 pulled into Platform 3, which turned out to be the 16:38 to Crewe, via Maindee curve, Hereford and Shrewsbury. Sadly the train had to change it’s crew at Newport, so we didn’t do the curve. We still made it to Cwnbran, to find the 17:35 to Cardiff Cancelled, but the 17:16 was thankfully delayed, so we were able to catch it. Turned out to be a 158 again, but me and sprinter got a table in the front carriage. We played hangman with station names, such as Leominster, Seven Sisters, Maiden Newton etc, to pass the time before Cardiff. Arrival at Cardiff Central was treated with loadhaul black 60059 hauling a coal train towards Port Talbot!

After 20 minutes of photting, including the 37 from rhymney which turned out to be 37425 again, we also saw an orange 153 on the Maesteg train, a 4 car 143 formation which stalked me all day, we left the station. Before heading for Cardiff Castle to pick up the megabus, it was over to Burger King, then over to Megabus stop. It was a Skyliner again, and we got tables, but a few minutes prior to departure, I dashed across the road to a newsagents to buy a bottle of strawberry milkshake, packet of softfruits and Starburst! Departure was ontime, and during the journey, me and Sprinter made up our own stations, with travel opportunities etc, then the Megabus stopped at a service station, because somebody chucked up a macaroni sandwich (PM me if you want to know why I call it that!). Arrival at Victoria was at 22:15, me and Sprinter got a 36 to New Cross, and a 21 to Lewisham, where I met my Dad and Sprinter headed for the Docklands light railway.

This trip was really good, especially the 37, was hoping to do some Pacers and more lines, ah well always next time!

 

[yorkie]

FGWFan posted this last night:

That 60 was heading for MG (Margam), by the way.

Tables on buses surprises me! If I ever get one of those on Megabus, I want a table seat too!

(Re-posting because the original had to be deleted sorry!)

 

[Sprinter]

The new Megabus Neoplans (as well as the ones on the Oxford Tube) have two "group" seating areas with a table on the lower deck. However you have to one of the first on to get these, as like the front upstairs seats, the tables are popular!

Neoplans are now the mainstay on the London-Scotland route, so perhaps next time you wish to visit Glasgow FGWFan.....

 

[Techniquest]

I'll bear that in mind then. Might be a better idea than SARing it to GLC.