Iskra's Odysseys

[Cowley]

Hi Iskra, finally had time to read through this properly. I absolutely love it over there, we've had a couple of holidays in Northern Italy and had a ride on one of the double deck trains out of Venice, also a very nice trip alongside Lake Como in a long electric hauled and near enough empty train with opening windows, rattling along through tunnels with views of the lake.
Can't wait to get back over there and will definitely have a look at the station at Milan next time.

Oh and Lake Garda's a bit special too. Those Italians are pretty good at tunnels that's for sure!

 

[Iskra]

A thoroughly exciting read so far!

TPX putting out a decent performance? Glad I was sat down for that Sounds like the TM actually cared about her job and wanted to make it a more pleasant journey. I still wouldn't call Huddersfield heavenly mind!

I've yet to endure the hold luggage situation on Ryanair, however I agree it is useful to be at or near the front of the queue when you have a tight connection to make. Otherwise I'll just wait for the norms to all get out of the way and I'll stroll up afterwards. I did just this last time when I flew Stansted to Edinburgh, how nice and smooth it was and ever since I've not missed the scrum of years gone by on Ryanair!

The hotel situation must have been more than a little irritating, a perfect example of how you really have to research these things heavily in advance. The journey on the rails sounds rather decent, and the station in Milan sounds worth seeing on its own. Executive Class looks rather nice too!

Bring on the next part!

Yes, I agree on the Ryanair tactics, I vary my approach depending on how much of a rush I'm in at the other end. It's a lot better now seats are allocated.

Irritating indeed! It's the first time anything like that has happened to me, and it was the only hotel I didn't thoroughly research the location of on this trip. It could have been a lot worse I suppose!

I've had a guard like the one you had on TPE but on VT - a couple were stupendous Sandwell & Dudley and Wonderful Wolverhampton. I was kind of looking forward to Wigan's .

A mega ouch to the taxi ching - you did the good move at going for the other hotel. Was your original one non refundable?

The trains over there look amazing - especially the executive class one.

It was non refundable at that short notice. Luckily it was only about 60 Euro and I booked it when the pound/euro rate was a lot better than it is now.

The trains are all pretty cool in Italy- I'll go into more detail on the Frecciarossa trains in my next post.

At least seats being lined up alongside plastic isn't just a GB thing (judging by the seat in that Executive area)

It did make me laugh that in a carriage that sparsely populated with seats, they still couldn't provide every seat with a window view! ...These are the Italian equivalents of Pendolino's ...the window alignment gives that much away. Luckily there were never more than 3 people in that part of the train so you could move seats without any issues.

Hi Iskra, finally had time to read through this properly. I absolutely love it over there, we've had a couple of holidays in Northern Italy and had a ride on one of the double deck trains out of Venice, also a very nice trip alongside Lake Como in a long electric hauled and near enough empty train with opening windows, rattling along through tunnels with views of the lake.
Can't wait to get back over there and will definitely have a look at the station at Milan next time.

Oh and Lake Garda's a bit special too. Those Italians are pretty good at tunnels that's for sure!

I love Northern Italy too, I've travelled it extensively and Lake Maggiore is my favourite part, but this was my first time on the trains up North.

Right, I'm about to start writing part 2 of this trip report. This write-up is going to take some time, so your collective patience is much appreciated
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I only had a few hours in Venice- this was a recce to see if it was worth a proper visit in the future. Hotels were ludicrously priced, so I opted to stay elsewhere that evening. I used my time in Venice to invest in some pizza and ice cream, which were both reasonably priced. I had a wander around and it did seem quite a nice place, but I'm not sure it's somewhere I'd need to spend more than a couple of days.

I seem to have messed with the settings on my Iphone which has changed the orientation of the photo's I've taken. So this report is going to be plagued with sideways photo's I'm afraid. ...They're not sideways in my computer's photo album, but when I upload them, they are

Venice

A very 1930's Venice station from across the canal

After seeing what I could of Venice, I then headed back to the station. I went in to the Freccia Club to appreciate the air conditioning and raid their supplies of refreshments, then it was a leisurely stroll to my next train.

1825 Venezia S. Lucia- Firenze S. M. Novella (Roma). Trenitalia, train 9451. Frecciarossa. Executive Class. 64 Euro.

So this was another Frecciarossa. These are the Italian equivalent of Pendolino's and are the flagship trains of the Italian High Speed Network operated by Trenitalia. They consist of 13 vehicles, 11 carriages and a locomotive at each end. ...you think walking the length of a Pendolino at Euston/Glasgow is bad There are 4 classes of travel; Executive, Business, Premium and Standard.

I was in Executive again as I'd got the equivalent of a cheap advance. The only other people in my carriage were a couple, who were clearly very wealthy- the female had a golden Iphone and the bloke an expensive looking watch, I'm guessing they weren't on cheap advance tickets. This service was an evening meal service. So after being given a glass of champagne, the attendent came and took my order, set my fold-out table up and brought me a small bread basket and then some form of cheese and artichoke flavoured bread-cake, which was quite nice. On leaving Venice we passed the coaches used by the Orient Express train, which I recognised due to their use in the old MSTS.

Orient Express Carriages

Second course was Spaghetti in tomato sauce with some bacon. It was quite nice, but it was very evidently micowaved by the attendant in the small kitchen area just behind where I was sat, so although good it wasn't quite up there with the best of the catering found on the British Network. Main course was some John Dory fish in a tomato/pepper sauce, served with Spinach and more bread, again nice, but not amazing. I then had as much wine as I wanted for the rest of the journey and had an espresso shortly before arriving at Florence. The journey involved speeding across the Northern plains at dusk before cutting through the Apennines in a lot of tunnels, you could tell we were really travelling at speed when in the tunnels.

We arrived about 10 minutes late into Florence, not that I cared as I was on holiday. Florence station seemed quite similar to one at Venice and is a terminus station, so the train has to reverse back out again to continue to Rome. I asked a policeman where the taxi's were and went to find my hotel. The taxi fare was quite cheap this time and my hotel was lovely.

I awoke the next day to texts asking if I was still alive, as there had been an earthquake overnight about 80 miles away, but I hadn't even noticed it. I spent the day seeing the sights of Florence. I visited the Uffizi Gallery, which involved a 3 hour queue to get in. I like art but, in all honesty once you've seen one Renaissance painting of a biblical scene, you've seen them all so I wouldn't revisit. The cathedral in Florence was much more impressive.

After taking in the sights, I walked back to my hotel and did a little sun-bathing. In the evening, I went out for a meal on one of the back streets (never eat on the main streets/squares in Italy, you'll pay 2x what you need to) as the hotel restaurant appeared very overpriced.

Overall Florence was very nice, with some fantastic architecture and is somewhere I'd go back. It was also reasonably priced and there's quite a bit more to do in the region around it.

24/8/18

I skipped breakfast at the hotel as it was 20 Euro on the basis you can get a better breakfast for a lot less than that, I also thought I might get fed on the train again. They called me a taxi back to the station for my next train.

1024 Firenze S. M. Novella-Salerno. Trenitalia train 9563. Frecciarossa. Executive class. 109 Euro.

We left about 5 minutes late. Refreshments were offered straight away again and a light breakfast was served. This light breakfast was the most ridiculous train meal ever. It took the lady a good 5 minutes of setting my table with a table cloth, multiple knives and forks etc, then she brought me two tiny warmed croissants on a plate. And that was it, on a 3.5 hour journey over lunch time. Only drinks after that! Needless to say I was pretty hungry by the time I arrived. This journey was pretty fast and again we sped through the usual nice Italian scenery and tunnels. We called at Roma Tiburtina which is a modern station on the outskirts, which meant we avoided a trundle into the centre and, I assume another reversal. After Roma we got up to a speed of 297km/h according to the onboard screens. Then we slowed for Napoli, where you can see Mount Vesuvius. Napoli is another terminus station, so a reversal was required here. The train waited quite a long time and a local used the opportunity to walk down the train trying to sell socks. We then continued South to Salerno at a very leisurely pace compared to how fast we had been going on the previous legs of the journey.

My hotel for 2 nights was right opposite the station so I checked in straight away, it was a bit basic compared to my previous hotels. I dumped my baggage and went for a look around Salerno. First impressions of Salerno aren't great. The station is a bit grubby and it's in a modern concrete shopping area. However, as you walk down the main street, it becomes nicer and more historic and eventually you come to some nice churches and a former palace in the narrower streets. I then walked down to the sea front which has been nicely done-up and you can watch the ships/ferries come and go while enjoying a peroni. Salerno really comes to life at night though, it's got the most lively/rowdy night-life of any Italian town I've been to. Although it didn't make for the best sleep ever when combined with the noise of trains through the night and traffic noise too.

I hope to get some more of this report done later today.
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25/8/16

The day started with me being ripped off by an Italian TVM machine as they don't sell the cheapest tickets (hmm, where have I had that happen to me before?). So I paid 17 Euro for a single from Salerno to Naples. Lesson learnt though.

0914 Salerno-Napoli. Trenitalia train 9524. Frecciarossa. Standard Class. 17 Euro.


This was my first experience of standard class on a Frecciarossa. I was impressed, it was very similar to Chiltern Mainline 168's and Mk3's, but more spacious and most seats seemed to line up with the windows. Even though this service was high speed, it was again a pretty slow run to Naples.

At Naples I then headed down on to the Circumvesuviana for my next service. The Circumvesuviana is like a less-cared for OHLE version of the Tyne & Wear Metro. I bought a return ticket for Pompeii Scavi as advised by The Man in Seat 61, which was around 5 euro. It's a turn-up and go style service. After a wait on a busy platform a rather dishevelled and graffiti-covered train turned up in 6 car formation. It was absolutely rammed with tourists as this is the line for Herculaneum, Pompeii and Sorrento which are all very popular, and it was in all honesty a very unpleasant trip, plastic seats and poor ventilation made for a very hot journey in temperatures above 30C and it's a very slow train that stops at every station, so even though it was about an hour it felt like an eternity. Onboard, we had a travelling band, who played 2 songs, came around asking for money and then got off at the next station. You also see some of the less affluent areas of Naples, and every station is caked in grafitti. It's all very run-down.

Needless to say I was glad to get off at Pompeii. The queue to get in was quite small and the entrance price was reasonable, considering you got given plenty of free literature to explain what you were seeing and its a place you could easily spend a full day.

The Amphitheatre at Pompeii

Now, this being a rail forum I won't bore you too much. But, what I will say is that Pompeii is by far the best historical tourist attraction I've ever visited. I could have spent days there, so I'd highly recommend a visit. After spending about half a day checking out the ruins and buildings in 30C+ heat, my feet were getting pretty sore, legs aching and I was getting pretty tired- don't believe the hype about the Roman roads. It's a load of cobbles. They're awful and a health and safety death trap So, I exited and sat at a bar for 2 hours drinking Peroni, where I got talking to the bar owner. He told me not to return to the station where I had alighted as that was a busy line due to the tourists, instead he directed me to walk 5 minutes into the centre of modern Pompeii, turn left at the big church and use that station instead. So that's what I did, with a quick stop for an ice cream in a brioche- a fantastic Italian delicacy.

I can't remember the name of this station, but it was a lot more civilised and quite clean and tidy.

My Circumvesuviana train back to Napoli. This one is in quite good condition.

The interior, not so bad when they're empty

The journey back down to Napoli was a lot nicer. After a couple of stations, my train rejoined the mainline and started getting busier, but it was still a lot better than my previous experience. This is a very relaxed operation, where the driver drives stood up, with the cabdoor to the carriage open and the guard joins him for a chat, only leaving the cab to open the doors at each station.

On arrival back at Napoli I went to a manned ticket office and bought a ticket back to Salerno on the regional train for a mere 4.30 Euro- now that's more like it!

1610 Napoli-Salerno. Trenitalia, regional train. 2nd class. 4.30 Euro.

I was sold an open ticket, but there was a train leaving shortly that the ticket off man urged me to rush to catch, reminding me to validate my ticket before boarding, which I duly did. I had time for a quick photo before boarding- more LHCS with a DVT leading us out of the station.

The 2nd class carriages were very nice inside, with all seats being leather and arranged in bays of 4. I got a bay to myself. However, this train was very warm and the windows didn't open, which made it a bit unpleasant. This was a much slower journey, via the coastal route so it was more scenic but took about 1 hour 30 mins.

To be continued again...

 

[Kite159]

Italy is on my wish-list to visit one day.

Nice plastic seats on that service to Circumvesuviana train, how can anybody moan about the Ironing Boards compared to hard plastic.

 

[Techniquest]

A most fascinating read so far, a good insight into travels around Italy and full of good tips. Looks like it was a most enjoyable trip so far, bar the less than pleasant ride on the graffitied line!

 

[fishquinn]

Another great read! Do you have any photos of the Chiltern 168/mk3 interior train?

 

[Cowley]

Beautiful. If I was going to live in another country I think it would be Italy. Really enjoying reading this.

 

[Iskra]

Italy is on my wish-list to visit one day.

Nice plastic seats on that service to Circumvesuviana train, how can anybody moan about the Ironing Boards compared to hard plastic.

And you can be on that train for 1.5/2 hours too

Another great read! Do you have any photos of the Chiltern 168/mk3 interior train?

I don't I'm afraid, but there are some of the 2nd class interior on the man in seat 61 website: http://www.seat61.com/frecciarossa.htm
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26/08/16

After a noisy night in Salerno, it was back to the station, only to find that my train coming from the far South was running 30 minutes late. Being on holiday, this didn't bother me at all. While waiting on the station a sleeper train pulled in and a diesel shunter from the yard came and attached itself.

My train arriving with a big powerful electric loco on the front, with the night train seen on the left:

1033 (Reggio Calabria) Salerno-Napoli (Roma). Trenitalia Intercity train 550. 1st Class, 11 Euro.

This was nice 2+1 coaching stock, with plenty of space and air conditioned. Someone was sat in my reserved seat, but she was quite happy to move, so no problems there. The journey up to Napoli was routine and pretty short. The main station is nothing too exciting and I got a taxi to my hotel to avoid walking in the heat with a suitcase.

I then did touristy things in Naples:

The centre of Naples is pretty nice and definitely worth a trip- it was a lot better than I was expecting in terms of architecture, safety and things to do. I'd heard a lot of bad things about it, and my only previous visit involved a hotel near the airport in a not-so-nice area so I wasn't expecting much, but it was really nice. It's clearly not without it's problems as there were loads of police about in the main tourist areas watching for pickpockets and a couple of locals warned me not to keep my wallet in my back pocket when I got it out to pay for stuff, but I didn't feel unsafe at any point and had no issues. The marina, castle and main shopping areas were all well worth a visit and everything is quite close together so it's a good city to explore on foot.

My hotel was a lot quieter in Naples and it was good to get some decent sleep in. The next morning, on check-out my hotel very kindly gave me a leaving present ...a big bag of pasta. I felt slightly ridiculous, but also very Italian (they love their food) carrying it around with me!

27/8/16

1145 Napoli Centrale-Lamezia Terme Centrale (Reggio Calabria). Trenitalia, Intercity train 1551.1st Class c. 19 Euro.

This train was the same type of train as I'd got the day before. It was comfortable air-conditioned seating in 2+1 format. I sat in my reserved seat until we reached Salerno. However, I'd noticed that the carriage ends were glass, so after that I- like Jeremy Corbyn- opted to be seatless for the remaining 3 hours. I was travelling in the last carriage so I got to see the Italian rail network fly by in a rather unique fashion. If I'd have remained in my seat I wouldn't have been able to see much as a lot of the blinds were down in the carriage, and I hadn't come all this way to not see the country side on what I expected to be a nice run. So this was my view as we travelled down the coast:

The locals probably thought I was mad, but oh well After about an hour the guard came down to check the tickets. At first I think he thought I was fare dodging, he asked if someone was sitting in my seat when I gave him my ticket, but I explained that I wanted to enjoy the view as the blinds were down and he was happy with that explanation and left me to it. He then used his T-key to bang on the toilet door as he thought someone was hiding in there. After repeatedly getting no answer he unlocked the door from the outside, but no-one was in there. Later on it became evident why the guard was on the look-out for fare-dodgers. We pulled into a station, a bloke appeared at my vestibule, looking very shifty, he poked his head out of the door to see where the railway staff were and then darted around the back of the train, crossed at least four tracks, one of which had a train parked on it and then climbed over a fence. That's a lot of effort to avoid paying a fare that I consider pretty cheap. Later on I got talking to an Australian bloke, who was heading to the same ultimate destination as me, he'd come back to see his family for the first time since his family emigrated, he also asked me how to open the doors when his stop came as they were a bit weird.

On reaching Lamezia Terme, I found it resembled Oxenholme Lake District in many ways. Visually, it is laid-out quite similarly and then it's also similar in that it's a well-served Intercity junction station for quite a small place and it even has an international airport! My hotel was a short walk down the main street past a few shops and bars. After checking-in and ditching my stuff I went for a wander. I was pretty hungry so visited one of the aforementioned bars, where I had a peroni and two big slices of pizza for 2.80 Euro- I love the prices in Southern Italy! My wander continued, and I stumbled across a rare, well-looked after piece of Italian railway history:

I stayed the night in Lamezia and then travelled to the airport in the morning where a couple of friends had flown in to join me. We rented a car and headed down to the South Coast for a few weeks doing general touristy things.

We did make one further train journey, on a regional service- interestingly this was the only diesel service I travelled on in my time in Italy. It was a single railcar in each direction from Locri-Reggio Calabria. They've improved the time table on this line since I last did it, with many trains now sped up significantly rather than most trains calling at all stations as previously happened.

These are the equivalent of our 153's, but although they don't look great on the outside they have the same comfortable leather seating arranged in bays of four on the inside as well as a small separate 1st class section. The only thing they lack is air conditioning but they do have windows which open and provide enough of a draught.

Reggio Calabria is the regional capital of Calabria, it's quite a nice little place. It's the main railway terminus and it's where the (train) ferries across to Sicily go from. It's also got an interesting archaeological museum. You can see across to Sicily and on a clear day you can see Mount Etna which I believe is currently erupting very slowly. It has one very interesting feature that I've never seen anywhere else that I feel I should share with you:

It has a series of outdoor escalators running up one of its central streets.

I flew back with Ryanair from Lamezia Terme to London Stanstead on 16/9. Thanks for reading, apologies it's been a long drawn out affair doing the report!

 

[Techniquest]

Quite the beast of a time had, clearly, and some lovely scenery!

€2.80 for a Peroni and pizza slices? Wow that's amazing, not much more at all than a bottle of Peroni costs in Asda!

 

[Iskra]

I know Tech, there are some amazing deals to be had in the right places!

21/11/16 Rain Stops Play

I was looking forward to my first domestic trip in what feels like a very long time.

It was an early start, arising at 0400. I now have a house in Sheffield, but it's construction was delayed. I didn't know this when I booked the trip so I had to then order some extra tickets to get me Leeds-Sheffield in the morning on the first train, hence the early start.

I got a lift into a very quiet and cold Leeds station, I grabbed a quick black coffee from McDonalds as it was all that was open. A bargain at £1.59 and then I headed over to platform 16 to wait in the over engineered bus shelter with a couple of other hardy souls.

0525 Leeds-Sheffield (London St Pancras). EMT HST. STD Anytime Single. c £14

Around 10 folk boarded, which was quite annoying since there were zero advances left on this HST. Ah well, I was just happy to have a HST on this route. It takes a long route via Doncaster but is still comfortably the first arrival into Sheffield in the morning from Leeds.

At Sheffield I made a quick dash for the First Class Lounge where I needed another Black Coffee just to warm me up, I also helped myself to some supplies (a morally dubious, but wise move in the end). There was a milk shortage in the first class lounge and indeed Sheffield station as a whole that morning, which was causing controversy. I felt very smug as I don't take milk. I got talking to another passenger in the lounge who was heading to Heathrow and then onwards to Vienna. Meanwhile a pair of DRS Class 20's in a special all-over brown livery came through the station on a RHTT working. I then looked out of the door to see if my train was in. I could see a 222 parked in the platform that my train was leaving from, which was a disappointment as I was hoping for another HST. I walked over and yes it would be a 222 for me down to London this morning. Oh well, it could be worse.

0649 Sheffield-London St. Pancras, The Sheffield Continental. EMT 2x5-Car 222. Breakfast 1st Advance, c.£60.

Travelling on a named train did cheer me up a little after the 222-based disappointment. Named trains just sound better and more exciting, don't they? I boarded and had one of the ropey seats where you don't get much of a window, having to lean forward to see anything. Then, an announcement. A reduced breakfast offering for passengers in the leading unit due to staff shortages and an issue with the delivery. That was me. A great start to proceedings, and I was starting to get the feeling it was going to be 'one of those days.' The normal breakfast is one of the best on the rails, today I had to be content with a Sausage Sandwich and a hash brown. Better than nothing I suppose, but now I would need to find some food for later in the day. At Derby, I saw a trio of Class 20's on either end of what looked like a couple of TEA's, but could have been a RHTT (that would make more sense). A trio of livery's too, one in BR Blue (I think), one in Harry Needle RC and another in GBRF livery. At Derby 37025 was idling on a NR test train, also present were a Colas 37 and a NR 31. After Derby I dozed most of the way.

EMT's Emergency Breakfast

At St. Pancras, I walked with vigour in order to make my connection. Onto the underground and through the rush hour. For a District Line(?) service to Leicester Square and then a Northern Line service to London Waterloo. Some of tube trains were a little cosy, but it was pretty efficient. At Waterloo I bought a pasta for lunch from M&S and then used RTT to find out my platform. It was saying 11, but that had an EMU in it. Platform 12 next door held a class 159, and within a couple of minutes 'Exeter St Davids' popped up on the destination display.

1020 London Waterloo- not quite Exeter St. Davids. SWT Class 159 5 Coach unit. 1st Advance c£20.

Class 159 was new traction, so that was a score straight away. I got a decent seat around a table of 4 in the small first class section. It was comfortable enough, and it needed to be because it's quite a trek out to Exeter on this route. After Woking I was on new coverage most of the way. The route was pretty scenic and was a nice change from GWR territory, definitely worth a trip. I spotted a Hanson rail 59 on an aggregate train, then 2x 150 in GWR green livery at Basingstoke. The 159 was struggling in places due to poor rail conditions and then it started absolutely chucking it down by the time we reached Andover and a lot of fields were flooded around the line. At Tisbury we were looped for a service to pass us in the opposite direction. At this point I checked BBC news and it was saying there were delays and cancellations between Swindon and Cardiff. I thought to myself it's lucky I'm not using GWR today, put my phone down and thought nothing more of it. Then as we proceeded West the driver made an announcement for the guard to contact him, which I knew wasn't going to be good news. The guard then announced that the train would be terminating at Honiton. Honiton, for those that don't know is in the middle of nowhere. I joined a couple of passengers in a hastily formed taxi syndicate to Exeter, but that plan was foiled when there were none available, anywhere. We were then turfed out at Honiton and a second train arrived in the opposite direction disgorging more lost souls.

The scene at Honiton, having recently become the line's terminus

The poor ticket office staff member, who was on his own and had a lot more people than he could cope with did well to be fair. He was very open and honest saying that he couldn't get any buses as it was approaching school finishing time. A number of people started getting lifts or jumping on random buses. After around 45mins a service bus to Exeter turned up. The kind driver let as many passengers at he physically could on to his double decker, for free. I was lucky enough to get a seat. It was a bit chaotic, people and luggage filling all the available space. The normal passengers were a bit bemused. It looked like one of the boats that evacuated the troops from Dunkirk. We then proceeded very slowly towards Exeter, via some back roads as the main road wasn't open and there was some flooding on our route too. All the locals who got on looked astounded to see the bus so full. It took around 1.5 hours through some pleasant parts of Devon to get to Exeter bus station, where the other bus drivers were laughing at how many folk our driver had squeezed on. Everyone was all very friendly during all this, me and another lady offered to buy a lass her bus ticket as she had no money on her, but then the driver just let everyone on without charging anyway. I got sat next to an old lady who told me all about Devon and the places we were passing through, then she gave me directions from the bus station to Exeter St. Davids, where I eventually arrived around 2 hours late. Exeter seemed like a nice place during my walk across it (there are buses between the two if anyone is ever in the same situation, but having being sat down a lot and having a numb bum from the bus seat, I fancied a walk).

My original itinerary had me travelling onwards to Chester via Weston-Super-Mare and Newport on the Class 67 hauled WAG express in 1st, however that was clearly out of the window now, despite having left an hour's recovery time at Exeter in case things went wrong. I wasn't that concerned about getting home, as I knew that Exeter has hourly direct trains to Leeds (and Manchester as a plan B), it's just they aren't the nicest to travel on.

I thus went to the ticket office to discuss my options. The clerk confirmed there was no chance of me getting to Newport in time to catch the WAG Express (that later got cancelled anyway). Trains were running as far as Taunton, but I would have to get a bus from there to Bristol for a train onwards. I'd also need a new ticket back to Leeds. I was originally quoted £125 for an off peak single to Leeds, my railcard got it down to £95 and then when I was still aghast at the expense the clerk worked his magic by using splits to get it down to £7x which was more reasonable but still expensive. However, because I was being booked on to a train that was on time at the point of booking, yet my journey was inevitably going to be substantially delayed by messing around with rail replacement buses between Taunton and Bristol, Delay Repay would in all likelihood get me a 100% refund. ...thinking about it, I should have bought an Anytime 1st ticket and had a nicer journey- a plan for next time perhaps.

I wandered over to one of the island platforms, used the facilities and then took a seat and read some Catch 22, I've read it before, but it's the book I always have in my trip bag as it's very funny and can always cheer you up, even sat on a cold bench at Exeter waiting for a Voyager for a very long journey. A beautiful young lady then took a seat next to me and pulled out a book on ...statistics of all things. I wasn't expecting that one. Closer to arrival time, I heard it announced that the train was formed of 7 coaches, which can only mean one thing on XC- bonus HST What a result to be spared some voyager trauma on an already bad day. It pulled in right on time and having walked down the platform to near the 8 car stop sign I got a table of 4 to myself in the Quiet Coach while all the muggles crowded into the centre coaches.

XC HST to the rescue

1624 Exeter- first Taunton, then Bristol, then Leeds. XC HST STD.

We passed through some waterlogged sections of track very slowly and a couple of fog patches before calling at Tiverton Parkway where it was confirmed we would be de-training at Taunton for buses.

As we pulled in to Taunton, I was leaning out of the window ready to release the doors and people were gathering to board our train which seemed bizarre. I opened the door and told the small waiting crowd that the train was terminating here, they all said they'd been told the opposite. Everyone then started walking back towards the buses but I then saw a GWR staff member and asked what was going on, and he said to get back on the XC set as it would be going to Bristol via a diversionary route. So everyone got back on again. I took up a similar table seat in the Quiet Coach again. We sat at Taunton for a while and the train filled up as this was the first train between Exeter and Bristol for a ages, and GWR London passengers were on this train too as they had been told to change at Bristol- good job it wasn't a 4-car 220! There were some quite unpleasant people on this train, who were obviously annoyed at the situation. It wasn't helping that our train took an hour to do Taunton-Westbury as we kept stopping to check the line was okay. We made an unscheduled passenger stop at Westbury which must be quite rare for an XC HST. Then we eventually proceeded to Bristol via Bath (Bath-Bristol was new coverage), again slowly. The train emptied out at Bristol and I changed seats to continue facing forwards. We were 123L into Bristol, where there was either a class 31 or 33 stabled. Here we again waited around 20/30mins as we had no driver available and we then continued in the path of the 1930 to Leeds, but we kept losing more time. At Cheltenham I saw a EWS 67 on a NR test train heading South. The XC staff were really good, they gave out free refreshments and kept everybody updated about their connections all the way to Leeds. I was pretty hungry by this point, so I tucked into the biscuits and crisps I'd taken from the EMT lounge in the morning- the buffet on the XC set wasn't open after Bristol and I couldn't get to it before then. We arrived back in Leeds at around 2325, annoying as my last bus was 2305. I put my ticket in the barrier, and it inevitably swallowed it. It had been a very long day and I made a small mistake. I politely told the barrier man that I needed it for delay repay, and he went a bit mad, saying that there could be 600 tickets in there, so he kindly (not) through them all over the floor for me to look through for mine. None were interesting, no exciting destinations, all of them very drab. I found mine, and to be fair there were less than 100 to search through, so it wasn't hard. Because of his poor attitude I left them on the floor for him to pick up, asked him to open the barriers and walked off. What a clown. I grabbed a quick McDonalds meal and then a taxi home.

So it was a long day, but at least I got home. I got winning track Woking-Honiton, but now have an annoying coverage gap Honiton-Exeter. I didn't get my planned coverage of the Weston-Super-Mare loop and I missed out on Class 67 LHCS and a 3 course meal on Gerald. But, on the plus side Class 159 is new haulage, I filled an annoying coverage gap Bath-Bristol, got a presumably rare XC diversionary route with a passenger call at Westbury, got bonus HST haulage, got a free bus ride and will claim money back on my tickets so I won't be out of pocket.

Next trip is in two weeks time, the weather needs to behave itself for that one!

[Pictures to be uploaded shortly]

 

[Kite159]

Oops for the poor day with the weather doing its best to knock you out

 

[Iskra]

Oops for the poor day with the weather doing its best to knock you out

Indeed, it's happened before on my South West/Wales trips, and that's where I'm heading on my next trip, so I need my fortunes to turn around. I thought I'd be okay, I was more worried about the strong winds in the South the day before, flooding wasn't mentioned at all as far as I could see.

I enjoyed my trip over your local line btw, 159's are good units and it's a nice scenic line.

 

[Kite159]

Good to hear, did you get the chance to sample the on-board WiFi which has been wonderful for me (especially when it be dark outside)

 

[Iskra]

Good to hear, did you get the chance to sample the on-board WiFi which has been wonderful for me (especially when it be dark outside)

I didn't even notice there was any! But I tend to associate train WiFi with being rubbish, so I usually just use my 3/4G anyway. On new lines I'm always quite content to look out of the window unless it's really boring.

 

[fishquinn]

That doesn't sound like the best of days! Shame about the 222 instead of the tram, the worse brekky than expected (you should have changed units at the next stop!) and obviously the major faff. Lucky to get a tram back though!

 

[Iskra]

That doesn't sound like the best of days! Shame about the 222 instead of the tram, the worse brekky than expected (you should have changed units at the next stop!) and obviously the major faff. Lucky to get a tram back though!

I did think about changing units Yes, the XC HST did recover things somewhat!

 

[Cowley]

Well that was quite some trip. The way things get effected by rain down here is not good. I just drove over Cowley Bridge and there's a few blokes moving ballast around and looking bemused. I suppose at least you got out of St Davids going north by train though which is more than most this week. Good move walking up the platform to the quiet bit of the train

 

[Techniquest]

Quite a beast of a trip that, despite the significant issues encountered! At least you got home safe and sound, and just as well you had the money to pay for those walk-up tickets! Curious as to what your splits were, I'm guessing Taunton, Bristol, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Derby and Sheffield?

Never had a breakfast on EMT but I won't be rushing to try it. Sausage bap and hash brown works for me though, I don't eat all the salady stuff, mushrooms and all that associated nonsense anyway. The shortage of milk would have left me fuming mind!

 

[Iskra]

Well that was quite some trip. The way things get effected by rain down here is not good. I just drove over Cowley Bridge and there's a few blokes moving ballast around and looking bemused. I suppose at least you got out of St Davids going north by train though which is more than most this week. Good move walking up the platform to the quiet bit of the train

Yes, Devon and Cornwall do seem to separate themselves from the rest of England very quickly when the weather gets a bit wet! We slowed right down to pass a few bemused looking NR men on the way out, and yes, I was quite lucky on this occasion to be honest, at one point I was contemplating getting a hotel.

Quite a beast of a trip that, despite the significant issues encountered! At least you got home safe and sound, and just as well you had the money to pay for those walk-up tickets! Curious as to what your splits were, I'm guessing Taunton, Bristol, Cheltenham, Birmingham, Derby and Sheffield?

Never had a breakfast on EMT but I won't be rushing to try it. Sausage bap and hash brown works for me though, I don't eat all the salady stuff, mushrooms and all that associated nonsense anyway. The shortage of milk would have left me fuming mind!

Yeah, I wouldn't travel too far away from home without having enough spare money to get home ...I don't think there'd be too many volunteers to collect me from a flood-hit Exeter. I was quite surprised how much it was to be honest, but I guess it's XC who dictate the price of that ticket, and they are by far the worst value TOC to travel with. Exeter-Bristol, Bristol-Cheltenham, Cheltenham-New Street, New-Street Leeds. I do think he could have probably done another split between New Street and Leeds tbh as that ticket on its own was £40 I think.

EMT is normally the best breakfast included in the ticket IMO- it has black pudding.

 

[rg177]

Sounds like quite the eventful trip.

For future reference, it's Sheffield and Derby that you should split at to save further on Leeds to New Street

Sent from my F3311 using Tapatalk

 

[Techniquest]

I'm sure splitting at Tiverton saves more but I'd have to research that to be 100% sure. Memory tells me I did it once years and years ago, but it could have been for going into a rover area.

 

[Iskra]

XC have now given me a full refund on the aforementioned ticket Still waiting to hear back from SWT and ATW.

Into the Heart of Wales/Farewell Railcard 8/12/16

0330- a new record- was 'alarm time' on a mild but wet December morning in Leeds. I got a lift (which I was very grateful for) down to Leeds station, where I grabbed a coffee and bacon sarnie from Maccy D's, which I'm guessing must be open 24/7. I then stopped at the ticket office to change one of my tickets for later in the day, which both I and the cashier were surprised at how easy and cheap it was to do. A good start to proceedings.

It was then through the barriers and over the footbridge, passing a VTEC HST set with an EMT powercar on the front and onto my service.

0449 Leeds-Manchester Piccadilly (Airport). TPE 185. 1st Advance c£9.

Platform 12 was a rare departure platform for a TPE unit. I took a seat in 1st, with only two others in there for company the entire journey. The engine sounded a little unhealthy, occasionally switching off completely and the table lights and plug socket-power kept flicking on and off throughout the journey. At first I was a little worried about whether we'd actually make it, but we did- I am aware the engine's on a 185 are supposed to shut down, it's just that when it's combined with excessive engine noise and the lights going on and off, it's a little concerning. We took another unusual TPE diversionary route (my 3rd of the year), as we headed to Huddersfield via Wakefield Kirkgate and Ravensthorpe. Definitely the first time I've travelled through Kirkgate non-stop, where I spotted a GC 180 parked up.

At Piccadilly I made a Costa dash for a black Americano, before seeking out my next train. RTT was telling me P13, which I wasn't convinced by. Low and behold I then spotted an ATW 175 with 'Milford Haven' displayed on the PIS sat on P10. The doors were opened in good time and I got a table of 4 away from the bogies so all was good.

0630 Manchester Piccadilly-Shrewsbury (Milford Haven). ATW 2-car 175. STD Advance £?


It was still dark outside for this journey so I couldn't really see much apart from the rain rolling across the windows. On leaving Crewe I noticed, but couldn't ID a number of 68's stabled. Crewe-Shrewsbury was new coverage for me, but I'll have to do it again during daylight hours for it to count properly by my rules (I don't have many, so I stick to them!). This train was fairly lightly loaded throughout, so a pleasant journey was had. The 175's while still decent units are starting to get a bit tatty now.

The Class 175 I travelled on, just after arrival at a wet and windy Shrewsbury.

After alighting at Shrewsbury, I noticed a RHTT in the siding next to P7 and I could see what looked like a 47 poking out from behind a wall, so I went to investigate and I was pleasantly surprised to see it wasn't a 47 at all, it was a pair of Colas 56's- a type I don't see many of at the best of times, so to catch 2 on a soon to depart RHTT working was a nice bonus.

A mucky class 56 departing Shrewsbury. Apologies for the poor quality picture.

I had quite a bit of time to kill at Shrewsbury, so I went to photograph the slightly interesting signal box, buy a ticket for my next move, chill in the waiting room and visit Starbucks. Twice In the midst of all this, I caught the Southbound WAG express, with 67022 leading.

67022 on the WAG Express

After busily waiting some more, it was time for the main move of the day.

1009 Shrewsbury-Swansea via the Heart of Wales line. ATW 150. STD Off Peak Single- c£17.

I was pretty happy when a 150 rolled-up, as this is a long journey and my last significant journey on a 153 tested my endurance. ATW have refurbished their 150's to a nice standard and I got one of the table seats. Sadly the windows don't quite align which wasn't ideal for a scenic route, but I got by. On leaving Shrewsbury I spotted Colas 56106- so this is where all the 56's are! Along with 2x NR 37/97 and 2x Fl 66. The journey started on the Marches line, before we diverged on to new coverage at Craven Arms. From there, it's a noticeable climb for quite some time through pleasant scenery. At Llandrindod Wells- the first place you come to that is more than a hamlet- we waited a long time, it turns out this was a rather tedious booked wait as the crew swap over from the unit that comes in the opposite direction, which today was a 153. After 20mins we continued, and the weather improved to the point of actual sunshine- the only bit I saw all day. Around Sugarloaf the scenery became impressive for a short while. Overall though the line didn't live up to my expectations in terms of scenery, but maybe I was sat on the wrong side of the train or the sunlight through dirty windows tempered my appreciation. A lot of the scenery was quite similar to upland Yorkshire/Lancashire/Cumbria whereas if I travel to Scotland it's a completely different landscape which seems to give me more of a wow factor. Perhaps I'll give it re-run in the opposite direction, sitting on the other side in summer one day to give it another chance. As we approached the coast, fog overcame the sun and the temperature dropped significantly. At Llanelli we passed a number of surplus IWB wagons that used to service the steelworks of South Wales, before reversing back toward Swansea. At Gowerton a charter came flying past us with Pullman coaches in the rake and a DRS 68 on the rear- any ideas what working that was anyone? As we curved past Llandore Depot, my new coverage ended.

At Swansea, I went in seach of food. I didn't have to walk far before finding a chippy/kebab place within sight of the station. Large fish and chips set me back a fiver, and it was a very large portion indeed. They were reasonable fish and chips, the only downside being that the skin was still on the fish, which I'm not a fan of, but some people probably are. It was then back to the station for a quick Costa. I had an off-peak single to Cardiff, so I dodged the ATW DMU's in favour of a GWR HST.

1528 Swansea-Cardiff (London Paddington). STD Off Peak Single c£6. GWR HST.

This HST was a bit confused, having FGW blue powercars yet all the coaches were in the new GWR livery. I walked the length of the train to see if there happened to be a declassified 1st class coach tucked in somewhere it shouldn't be, but not this time. I took up a seat in the sparsely populated coach F. The new refurb isn't ageing well at all, with a number of stained seat covers already- grey is not a practical colour for train seats. The train filled up a little at Port Talbot, including a loud couple who found it necessary to inform the whole carriage of their business. I spotted a 60 and 2x66 in a yard after Port Talbot.

GWR HST at Swansea

At Cardiff, I visited the First Class Lounge, using my WAG 'Business Class' ticket, which technically isn't valid in there, but the good people of Cardiff First Class Lounge always let me in without any issues. I nipped out onto the platform as soon as the 1700 Taunton service disappeared as the WAG express often turns up pretty early. Not today. A Class 60 ran through on a tanker train. The young lady next to me speculated that TEA on the side of the tanks meant it was carrying tea. An interesting theory. WAG still didn't show up, so I was starting to get worried. It's not the most reliable of services [vast understatement], so various thoughts concerning its fate where rushing through my head- cancelled, a DMU substitution (this is the reason I had fish and chips in Swansea, just in case...)? No, it rolled in bang on time to a busy platform. Cue much confusion due to a train with actual door handles turning up.

1716 Cardiff Central-Chester (Holyhead). ATW DVT leading an unknown EWS liveried class 67 if anyone can confirm which 67 I'd be most grateful. 1st Advance c£40.


It was quite busy in 1st tonight (I noticed it was on the Southbound run too in the morning), with an interesting mix of enthusiasts, business travellers, opportunist upgraders and at least one Welsh politician. I was sharing a table of four with someone on a staff pass. The hostess came around asking where everyone was travelling to prioritise those not travelling as far. After making some tough decisions, I ordered Smoked Salmon to start with, then Steak followed with Chocolate Cheesecake and I also opted for a Celtic Ale which was a bit of a risk on a very early start, but I'd had enough coffee to keep me awake almost indefinitely. I neglected to photograph the salmon, which was the nicest looking of my courses and very tasty, being served with a beetroot salad.

The Steak:

It was pretty tasty, although one of the potatos was a bit 'Steam Dreams,' ie inedible as it was black on one end. The sauce and the cut of meat itself were both very nice. The chocolate cheesecake was quite a sizeable wedge and served with clotted cream and a strawberry. The journey was nice, but dark so nothing interesting was seen at all. One of the enthusiasts got talking to the Welsh Politician about railways, but sadly there was no mention of 442's, DMU crisis solutions or Welsh Valley Electrification news- so a complete waste of time- obviously not a Rail UK'er

On leaving the train, I thought I'd ID the loco after crossing the footbridge. However, this turned out to be impossible due not being able to get close enough and the lighting reflecting off the corrugated side of the EWS 67, so a bit of a fail. I assume it was dud 67022 which was on the Southbound working in the morning. Any clarification on this would be appreciated.

2018 (Holyhead) Chester-Crewe. ATW 3-car 175. Chester-Dewsbury Off Peak STD Single £?.

A short, routine journey on a sparsely populated unit.

At Crewe I and a few others had a bit of a trek from platform 9 to 1.

2143 Crewe-Manchester Piccadilly. Northern class 323.

I was quite excited for this, as it was only my 2nd journey on a 323. The guard was obviously new as he was running around like a headless chicken trying to do revenue and the doors, often getting caught out by the stations when selling tickets. He did a pretty good job though and he was nice.

Manchester Piccadilly was interesting, with a lot of drunks around. I had a bit of a wait so I waited on the elevated walkway by the Costa above P13/14 before my service back to Yorkshire.

2219 Manchester Piccadilly-Dewsbury. TPE 185.

This was the busiest service of the day, perhaps due to the German Markets. But this clearly shows that more late night intercity trains are needed, late night TPE services are often busy. The lady sat opposite me was absolutely sozzled. The standees emptied out at Stalybridge. The guard on this service was very enthusiastic and it was reassuring to hear manual announcements on a late night service, but they were trying too hard to be funny and weren't very funny at all really. Maybe I was just grumpy because I'd been up since 0330, but deliberately mispronouncing place names is a recipe for confusion for those who don't speak English. I cringed when he announced Dewsbury as 'Doosberry, innit.' Maybe, you start to get grumpy when you say goodbye to your 16-25 railcard? From Doosberry, it was a taxi back home.

Anyway, overall a very good daytrip with some good new coverage, especially on the HOW and some HST and LHCS haulage (and my WAG successful journey completion rate now climbs to 50%!). I managed a long day pretty comfortably on the day, but being back up for work this morning at 0600 was a struggle and now I need my bed.

 

[Techniquest]

That was a long day! hock: I'd have been on far more coffee than you if I'd been doing that!

The Heart of Wales line scenery is nice in many places, but filthy train windows don't help. Llandrindod is not the first non-hamlet place you come to after Craven Arms, Knighton is a town The town is in Wales and the station is in England! Generally speaking though, it is mostly small villages.

Why the very long wait in Shrewsbury? I'd have picked up the Heart of Wales service at Crewe where that morning turn starts, you'd have got Crewe to Shrewsbury done in daylight then Mind you, you had the fortune of seeing two 56s at Shrewsbury, not something I've done before!

Trostre steelworks (the one just east of Llanelli) used to always look alive, but I've not passed it in years so no idea about now. Margam Yard is where you'd have seen the locos east of Port Talbot Parkway, another hugely busy place once upon a time.

I agree on the refurb on GWR HSTs, the choice of colours was awful! First Class on them is far nicer though

That looked an awfully tiny meal on the WAG-Ex though, where's the rest of it?! Agreed on the 175s looking a bit tatty now, a thorough refurb is needed. However that might then remove the comfortable seats...

 

[Cowley]

That looked like a varied trip. Nice food too...

 

[Kite159]

A very varied trip

 

[fishquinn]

Shame you've had your last trip on a YP railcard. I've never done the HOW either - shame it wasn't as good as you expected. Yep, it was 67022 by the looks of it (and it still seems to be). Ouch to the stupidly early start and late finish though...

 

[Iskra]

That was a long day! hock: I'd have been on far more coffee than you if I'd been doing that!

The Heart of Wales line scenery is nice in many places, but filthy train windows don't help. Llandrindod is not the first non-hamlet place you come to after Craven Arms, Knighton is a town The town is in Wales and the station is in England! Generally speaking though, it is mostly small villages.

Why the very long wait in Shrewsbury? I'd have picked up the Heart of Wales service at Crewe where that morning turn starts, you'd have got Crewe to Shrewsbury done in daylight then Mind you, you had the fortune of seeing two 56s at Shrewsbury, not something I've done before!

Trostre steelworks (the one just east of Llanelli) used to always look alive, but I've not passed it in years so no idea about now. Margam Yard is where you'd have seen the locos east of Port Talbot Parkway, another hugely busy place once upon a time.

I agree on the refurb on GWR HSTs, the choice of colours was awful! First Class on them is far nicer though

That looked an awfully tiny meal on the WAG-Ex though, where's the rest of it?! Agreed on the 175s looking a bit tatty now, a thorough refurb is needed. However that might then remove the comfortable seats...

Yeah, I think I'll need to give the HOW another chance before writing it off, my expectations were perhaps too high.

The long wait in Shrewsbury was unfortunately due to misplanning/issues with the ATW website not comprehending that I wanted to do Shrewsbury-Swansea the long way around. I didn't realise my mistake until the start of the trip.

Yes the WAG meal portion was on the small side this time, I think the chef may have underestimated the numbers on this trip as the carriage was quite full, and therefore had to make the same amount of food go further. Yes, the 175's do have nicely padded seats.

That looked like a varied trip. Nice food too...

A very varied trip

Thanks for the comments guys.

Shame you've had your last trip on a YP railcard. I've never done the HOW either - shame it wasn't as good as you expected. Yep, it was 67022 by the looks of it (and it still seems to be). Ouch to the stupidly early start and late finish though...

It had to come to an end sometime I've found some reasonable value trips in the new year though and booked them, but I just have to be more price conscious now and possibly travel more in STD.

Thanks for confirming it was 022. The early start and finish wasn't too bad to be honest. I felt it more the day after than on the day.

 

[Iskra]

The Easterling 9/10-1/17

My first trip of 2017 and I've named it after an old named train that served some of the places that I visited on this trip. Also my first trip from my new residence in Sheffield, which was quite exciting. Sadly, my first trip post railcard too.

9-1-17

It was a civilised get up at 0600 for this trip, followed by a short and easy drive to my new local station, where I'd already had a scouting visit to see if there was any viable on street parking, which there was. I was aiming for the 0742 but I'd left time to check the layout at this station and get a ticket. I walked up and bought a ticket to Sheffield from a brace of RPI huddling in the waiting shelter. Just as the new ticket machine printed me a ticket longer than an A4 piece of paper, the 0712 turned up.

0712 Chapeltown-Sheffield. Northern 2 car 144. Anytime return £4.70.

I and quite a number of commuters promptly boarded the already full and standing service. There was a fairly equal exchange of passengers at Meadowhall and then we pulled into Sheffield. A very bearable first journey from my new station as it's pretty quick so standing isn't a problem.

At Sheffield I proceeded to buy an Anglia Plus Day Ranger (APDR) at the ticket office, which wasn't too hard and at around £18.50 is good value if you ask me. I then killed time on the main concourse to keep warm, while I awaited the first through service of the day bound for Norwich. Upon the trains arrival I made sure to be in the correct part of the train as this service splits at Nottingham.

0835 Sheffield-Norwich. EMT 2x 2 Car 158. Sheffield-Thetford Advance £18.50, then APDR at £18.50.

This was my first time on an EMT 158, which is rather shocking really. I was quite impressed by the interior and the seats were quite comfortable too. But, most of all I was impressed with the ride quality, lack of noise and generally improved ambience compared to their Northern counterparts. And then between Chesterfield and Alfreton with me contemplating just what EMT had done to make their units so nice, half the saloon lights went out and it clicked with me, that the reason this was such a comfortable ride was because the engine in this unit had burst. That also explained the slow-running and 5 minute delay. At Nottingham, a unit swap occurred and we were shifted onto the rear unit to continue on to Norwich while some EMT management scratched their heads looking at the first unit. I was quite happy with the unit swap as my allocated seat was poor, so I was able to upgrade to a table of four as all reservations were now rendered defunct. The poorly 158 went off to the depot at Nottingham and off we went towards Grantham. Nottingham-Grantham was new coverage for me, the first of 2017. A DBS class 60 passed us shortly after Nottingham on a tanker train. The ECML was in chaos due to a fatality, but we were unaffected. We passed a GC HST and then a number of stranded VTEC 91 sets that were stacked-up waiting to proceed Northwards. It was an interesting change of pace taking the ECML at a sedate 90 (and probably not even that fast tbh) and it was actually quite nice to get to see a bit more of the scenery. We'd regained 'right time' status by Peterborough, where I was back on to new coverage for the rest of the journey. Ely seemed a very nice place and as we reversed out I swapped seats to remain facing forwards. On leaving Ely, I was shocked to see a trio of 442's sat in a field, or perhaps they were just a mirage. At Thetford I said goodbye to my advance ticket and I was on to my APDR from here. Nothing much happened after that, but we somehow ended up 6 late into Norwich at 1217, where I was glad to find a number of loco-hauled sets on the blocks. The minor delay made me quite grateful to be on a ranger, as most of my trips are on advances, so it was nice and relaxing to travel and not to worry about making connections. Overall, a pleasant journey although it dragged a little towards the end. I didn't ever imagine I'd write a paragraph this long about a journey on a 158, but there we go. Almost as long as the journey itself, well done for reading that!

I hadn't formulated a plan from here. I had a few objectives, loco-haulage was my first priority, with new route coverage coming second. Thus, it was straight onto the first LHCS set that I could bag.

1236 Norwich-Great Yarmouth. Greater Anglia TNT 37's. APDR.

I took a very quick picture before boarding:

The lead coach contained a number of other enthusiasts and it was a nice thrashy journey due to the number of speedlimits and stations, which was much appreciated. The scenery was pretty nice, with lots of wildlife, waterways and a few nice looking pubs around. This journey was all new coverage.

At Great Yarmouth, I swapped ends again (as did a couple of others).

1317 Great Yarmouth-Norwich. Greater Anglia TNT DRS 37's. APDR.

Unfortunately, it started raining quite heavily on the return trip. 37422, in plain DRS blue with no logo's, decided to have a shortlived breakdown just after Whitlingham Jct, but after about 5mins the driver managed to breath life back into the old machine. We subsequently arrived into Norwich 8 late, where I then spotted my next move.

A quick shot of 37419 at Norwich

1405 Norwich-Yarmouth. Greater Anglia TNT DRS 68's, 68025 leading. APDR

A quick snap of 68005 as I rushed to board.

Again, I took up a seat in the lead coach with a number of other enthusiasts. This was new coverage for me again after Brundall down to Lowestoft. The guard then came through checking tickets, followed shortly afterwards by an on train cleaner. The guard took up a position at the lead window to do the doors for Brundall. Shortly after this, a young lad approached the guard asking what time we got into Lowestoft, just from looking at him I knew he was trouble. On passing through the carriage he decided to join me at my table of 4, and told me how he'd just got out of prison after 12 years for punching someone once, he then showed me his electronic tag and told me that it was his dads funeral the day after, all in a fairly intimidating manner as if I should be scared. Eventually he asked me for 50p to use the payphone. I wasn't going to give him any money whatsoever, and I didn't believe half the stuff he said- I think it was just a story to try scare me into giving him money. All the while I could see the guard watching from the vestibule. Once I told him I wasn't giving him any money he disappeared back up the train the guard asked me what he was after. The on train cleaner then got re-roled into acting as a security guard and shadowing him up and down the train for the rest of the journey. The 68 thrash was alright, but obviously not as good as the 37's.

At Lowestoft, the train emptied, including the miscreant and me and a couple of spotters changed ends again for the journey back. There was a Greater Angla 170 in the opposite platform at Lowestoft, the first time I've seen one of those I believe.

1457 Lowestoft-Norwich. Greater Anglia TNT DRS 68's. APDR.

This was a fast run calling only at Oulton North Broad. As we got towards Norwich, the inclement weather signalled the prematurely impending end of daylight which concerned me as I only count daylight coverage. Time was running out for today. We arrived at Norwich 8L.

There were some delays at Norwich that were causing very short notice platform alterations, which meant the service pattern, passengers and traincrew were all over the place. Next it was onto a unit to try and get some more new coverage in.

1545 Norwich-Sherringham. Greater Anglia Class 156.

This was my first Greater Anglia unit for haulage. I thought it was very smartly turned-out internally and very clean too. By the time we'd reached North Walsham at 1615 it was definitely dark, frustratingly ending what I can count as my new coverage. As I type it's 1708 in Sheffield and the light is only just fading. Bloody weather. On a clear day I could have cleared the entire line. I will now have to revisit at somepoint. At North Walsham a load of 6th formers/school kids got on and filled the train up, but they were all very well behaved and slowly emptied out as we made progress. The train reversed at Cromer, but I didn't bother swapping seats for such a short journey.

1652 Sherringham-Norwich. Greater Anglia 156.

Nothing much to report on this leg, other than a lady refused to watch my suitcase while I went to the toilet as we were slowing for a station at the time and she said I could be leaving it. She was technically correct, so I waited for the train to restart before relieving myself- I thought it a little OTT on a virtually empty DMU on a rural branchline, but oh well. This train again ran fast on the way back, omitting a number of stations.

Back at Norwich I finally got some food at WHSmiths which kept me going for a bit.

1804 Norwich-Great Yarmouth. Greater Anglia TNT DRS 68's.

I got this service as it opened up another slightly productive move for me. Unfortunately, this service had another undesirable on it who seemed quite volatile, at one point he stormed off into the toilet for 5 minutes shouting. It was a bit weird and I did move back a row as he was behaving very unpredictably. There were just me and two other blokes in that half of the carriage, but the lad in question was quite small so I did feel like he could be contained if necessary. I've never really felt unsafe on trains before, but today had produced two 'characters' already.

1847 Great Yarmouth-Reedham. Greater Anglia TNT DRS 68's.

So this move took me through Berney Arms, which would have been new coverage if it was daylight, but I suppose it gave me initial 'pre-coverage.'

The 68's made a racket as they departed over the flatlands, leaving me at an awfully cold and windswept Reedham, complete with horizontal rain. I crossed the footbridge and occupied myself reading the graffiti on the station building and then paced up and down under the canopy to stay warm. I felt like the only person for miles, apart from the signaller in the box just down the line. A few semaphore's were raised and dropped, producing a sound I don't hear too often these days. Reedham doesn't need its PIS screens as the sound of semaphores being raised and the sound of class 37's arriving are a more than adequate substitute. I could literally hear the 37's a full five minutes before they arrived. Absolutely amazing sound, and I can only imagine what it must have been like up on the hills in Scotland when they were ten a penny. Just before the 37's arrived a young couple arrived on the platform from a side gate that I hadn't even noticed. I wasn't the only person for miles after all. It just felt that way.

1921 Reedham-Lowestoft. Greater Anglia TNT DRS 37's.

Once again I boarded the front coach, where there were some enthusiasts preparing to film our departure from the droplight. The guard greeted me warmly. An obnoxious young lad assumed the spotters had left the train and was calling them 'the dross of society' very loudly to impress his girlfriend, despite one of the spotter group still being in the carriage. I just glared at him. The guard later came to him and explained in a friendly way about the age of the 37's and the noise they make and why people film them, which did actually seem to impact a little. The night time 37 thrash was even better and I loved the journey to Lowestoft.

At a virtually deserted Lowestoft, I then got a taxi to my Premier Inn. It was outside of the town centre and cost £8 to get there. I'd got a discounted Premier Inn through work (£22). I had a meal and pint at the adjacent Brewers Fare which was nice and then after a long day it was time for bed. It was a nice, comfortable, quiet night and the receptionist had booked me a taxi for the morning.

10/1/17

In the morning I got my taxi as planned and then grabbed a quick coffee at McDonalds before heading to the ticket office. I was initially a little worried as the ticket office was closed despite saying it should have been open at that point and the self-service ticket machine was broken and displaying an error message. Eventually a clerk appeared and she sold me a ticket.

0727 Lowestoft-Westerfield. Greater Anglia 156. Lowestoft-Felixstowe Anytime Single

This was quite a nice journey through pleasant scenery. The train filled up as we approached Ipswich. It was all new coverage. Me and one other guy got off at Westerfield, which appears to be in the middle of nowhere, to make the same platform connection to Felixstowe. The other gentleman was very friendly and spent the 10 minutes explaining the intricacies of the the Norfolk transport network to me.

0903 Westerfield-Felixstowe. Greater Anglia 153. Ticket as above.

Again, this was my first time on a Greater Anglia 153 and I was impressed with the decor and upkeep of the unit. The branchline was average but seemed to be quite high-speed, which I assume is down to its utilisation by frequent container trains meaning it is well kept by Network Rail.

The guy I had previously being talking to was a bit confused when I didn't get off at Felixstowe. I had time to if I wanted to, but it didn't look very inspiring.

0928 Felixstowe-Ipswich. Greater Anglia 153. Std Advance Felixstowe-London £9.

Routine journey. New coverage Westerfield-Ipswich.

153314 At Ipswich

I had an hour to kill at Ipswich which I spent, visiting Greggs and watching freightliner 66's and 86's shunting around the very cold station.

1109 Ipswich-London Liverpool Street. Greater Anglia Class 90. Ticket as above.

90005 Arrives into Ipswich.

I took up my reserved seat, which was backwards facing, but I stuck with it as I know these trains can get quite busy and I didn't want any grief. Our train was delayed by 9 minutes leaving Ipswich due to a broken down train at Manningtree, so I was back to being worried about my connections again. We got moving eventually and then proceeded slowly. At Colchester we caught up with the offending train- an AGA 90 set whose passengers we were now going to pick up. We dropped more time and ended up 17L into London eventually, but that wasn't too bad and didn't cause me any problems.

I then got the tube over to St Pancras which was pretty easy. At St. Pancras I did a quick 1st class lounge raid before heading onto the platform. There were 2 222's in the same platform and a lot of Sheffield bound muggles were getting into the rear unit by accident, where they were slowly turfed out by the onboard staff.

1326 London St. Pancras-Sheffield. EMT 222. 1st Class Advance c£20.

A pretty routine journey back up to Sheffield. I got a poor seat again with a view mainly of plastic, but I've seen the view enough times before so it didn't concern me all that much.

At Sheffield while waiting for my next train, there was a bit of a commotion on another platform where a broken pacer bound for Lincoln had trapped the Northern 158 express service to Leeds in a bay. It kept me entertained, and we ended up departing before both those two services.

1606 Sheffield-Chapeltown. Northern 3-car 144. Anytime Return, return portion £4.70.

A busy service.

- - - - - - - - - -

Overall a productive trip with some great LHCS and plenty of new coverage. So a good start to the year.

 

[Kite159]

Sounded like a good couple days in Anglia land. I'm surprised the 07:12 was F&S, how busy would the 07:42 have been?

Could you lend me 50p to use the payphone?

 

[Iskra]

Sounded like a good couple days in Anglia land. I'm surprised the 07:12 was F&S, how busy would the 07:42 have been?

Could you lend me 50p to use the payphone?

Yes, I was surprised too. Well hopefully Northern rustle up a 3-car 144 or a pair of units for the 07:42 service. I'm sure I'll find out in time though. I do think there may be a problem with unpaid fares making the services look quieter though from Northern's perspective- there are no barriers at Sheffield station so it's all too easy to fare dodge by the looks of things.

Haha. I'll send 50p down on the next Voyager off Sheffield to the South West...

 

[Kite159]

Btw the 442s are being stored near Ely until they get converted to be loco hauled by 67s for ATW