221129
Established Member
Hi guys,
I am new to posting in this area of the forum but having read a few reports from others I feel I want to give it a go! Any comments, questions or suggestions feel free!
I'll start off by some of my recent trips from last year to get the ball rolling before some big trips this year.
Starting off with Cornwall 2015.
The aim of this trip was to cover all 4 Cornish branch lines in the course of one weekend in June 2015 with forum member emilyd & Temple Meads joined us for a little while.
Ticket-wise, we combined two Ride Cornwall passes with a Devon Evening Ranger, a Devon Ranger and a return from Exeter to Taunton (Total cost £34.10)
Starting from Exeter St Davids at 18.22 on the Friday, I caught the Penzance HST (1C87) which had already picked up Temple Meads and emilyd at Tiverton Parkway and we headed down to Newton Abbott where we arrived on time at 18.41 before picking up the 18.52 unit back up to Dawlish. After fish and chips and ice creams, we caught the 20.07 to Starcross where we had an 18 minute wait before we met the 20.33 all stops HST to Paignton (1C91) and managed to photograph the rear power car (43040) from the level crossing. As darkness fell we made our way to Plymouth on the 2230 Devon Metro unit and 23.02 Voyager, changing at Newton Abbott arriving at 23.39.
Our sleeper move went to plan leaving on time at 23.54 and arriving at Taunton 10 minutes early at 01.34 Temple Meads had left us at Exeter, although after waiting at Taunton for the down sleeper at 02.30 we were so exhausted that we were tempted to upgrade to a room if one had been available. Sitting on the floor in the vestibule until we got seats at Exeter was a low point of the trip.
But that was made up for when we woke up in Cornwall, shortly before arriving at Lostwithiel. We alighted at Truro and immediately boarded the 07.16 Maritime Line service to Falmouth, rubbing the sleep from our eyes. We came straight back up and then got breakfast in Truro before boarding the 09.04 Voyager to Liskeard.
With a 9 minute connection we took the 09.59 dogbox to Looe and the 12.48 back up to Liskeard, after exploring the pretty town and taking a boat trip across the harbour. From Liskeard we took the 13.42 HST direct to Redruth and checked into our B&B. Then we headed to Camborne on the 15.48 HST but got the bus back.
Next morning our first objective was the St Ives line
St Ives was disappointing, shrouded in drizzle, but this did mean it wasn't busy. As we took the unit back up to St Erth we got a great view over unusually empty beaches.
Having caught the 11.50 HST to Liskeard, we joined the 13.53 Atlantic Coast Express to Newquay with 43025leading & 43094 on the rear. For this leg of the trip we got a weekend first upgrade for only £5. It was interesting to take a HST along such a narrow, overgrown line.
When we reached Newquay the sun was out again and just across the road from the station was a place where you could look down into the blue waves from the top of a cliff. After buying cheesy chips we set off back to TVP with 43094 leading & 43025 trailingon the direct 16.21 Paddington service finally arriving back at Tiverton Parkway at 19.30.
Thanks for reading, as I said any comments or questions welcome.
Also Thanks to emilyd for helping with this report.
I am new to posting in this area of the forum but having read a few reports from others I feel I want to give it a go! Any comments, questions or suggestions feel free!
I'll start off by some of my recent trips from last year to get the ball rolling before some big trips this year.
Starting off with Cornwall 2015.
The aim of this trip was to cover all 4 Cornish branch lines in the course of one weekend in June 2015 with forum member emilyd & Temple Meads joined us for a little while.
Ticket-wise, we combined two Ride Cornwall passes with a Devon Evening Ranger, a Devon Ranger and a return from Exeter to Taunton (Total cost £34.10)
Starting from Exeter St Davids at 18.22 on the Friday, I caught the Penzance HST (1C87) which had already picked up Temple Meads and emilyd at Tiverton Parkway and we headed down to Newton Abbott where we arrived on time at 18.41 before picking up the 18.52 unit back up to Dawlish. After fish and chips and ice creams, we caught the 20.07 to Starcross where we had an 18 minute wait before we met the 20.33 all stops HST to Paignton (1C91) and managed to photograph the rear power car (43040) from the level crossing. As darkness fell we made our way to Plymouth on the 2230 Devon Metro unit and 23.02 Voyager, changing at Newton Abbott arriving at 23.39.
Our sleeper move went to plan leaving on time at 23.54 and arriving at Taunton 10 minutes early at 01.34 Temple Meads had left us at Exeter, although after waiting at Taunton for the down sleeper at 02.30 we were so exhausted that we were tempted to upgrade to a room if one had been available. Sitting on the floor in the vestibule until we got seats at Exeter was a low point of the trip.
But that was made up for when we woke up in Cornwall, shortly before arriving at Lostwithiel. We alighted at Truro and immediately boarded the 07.16 Maritime Line service to Falmouth, rubbing the sleep from our eyes. We came straight back up and then got breakfast in Truro before boarding the 09.04 Voyager to Liskeard.
With a 9 minute connection we took the 09.59 dogbox to Looe and the 12.48 back up to Liskeard, after exploring the pretty town and taking a boat trip across the harbour. From Liskeard we took the 13.42 HST direct to Redruth and checked into our B&B. Then we headed to Camborne on the 15.48 HST but got the bus back.
Next morning our first objective was the St Ives line
St Ives was disappointing, shrouded in drizzle, but this did mean it wasn't busy. As we took the unit back up to St Erth we got a great view over unusually empty beaches.
Having caught the 11.50 HST to Liskeard, we joined the 13.53 Atlantic Coast Express to Newquay with 43025leading & 43094 on the rear. For this leg of the trip we got a weekend first upgrade for only £5. It was interesting to take a HST along such a narrow, overgrown line.
When we reached Newquay the sun was out again and just across the road from the station was a place where you could look down into the blue waves from the top of a cliff. After buying cheesy chips we set off back to TVP with 43094 leading & 43025 trailingon the direct 16.21 Paddington service finally arriving back at Tiverton Parkway at 19.30.
Thanks for reading, as I said any comments or questions welcome.
Also Thanks to emilyd for helping with this report.