Different stopping patterns, the diverted units were going express to New Street, the train I was on was stopping at Bromsgrove, before heading up Lickey, it's better to give diesel trains a non-stop run at Lickey where possible!Arch9enius wrote:Would it be quicker to hook a bunch of units together if they are ging in the same direction one wonders? That way you only use one path or slot or whatever the term is ....Pilot wrote: 1313 Malvern Link to Bromsgrove on 170514. This service ended up behind units that were meant to be going via Rowley Regis, however, were now not able to. This caused a delay of around 20 minutes to this train, whilst a decision was made whether to divert the train ahead via Bromsgrove or not, it eventually was diverted.
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Well, I've just returned home from a rather intense period of travelling, including all four days of the GBRf 2018 "Out of the ordinary" charity railtour, on which I had booked the Full Works package. Went something like this. As on previous occasions, any services involving new routes for me are in italics.
Wednesday 19th September
0646 Rochdale to Mytholmroyd on 153359 and 158850. It all started at Rochdale station on a chilly Wednesday morning. Fortunately the train was bang on time and no issues!
0709 Mytholmroyd to Leeds on 180107, routed via Bradford Interchange. On the peak-only Northern Class 180 service into Leeds, the set being borrowed from fellow Arriva company, Grand Central. This set also does an evening peak run out of Leeds.
1045 Leeds to London Kings Cross, pushed by 91109. My first ever run down the south end of the ECML, with only a couple of short sections having been previously travelled on. Paid for First Class on this, and it was worth it! The Veggie Chilli was rather lovely!
1321 London Kings Cross to Finsbury Park on 700036.
1338 Finsbury Park to London Blackfriars on 700140. Thought I would get the new Canal Tunnels in whilst in London.
1359 London Blackfriars to London Bridge on 700139.
1417 London Bridge to East Croydon on 377702 and 377614.
1442 East Croydon to Clapham Junction on 377157 and 377436.
1513 Clapham Junction to London Waterloo on 707010.
1532 London Waterloo to London Paddington on the Bakerloo Line. Had to head to Paddington to check into my Hotel, which was near there, to allow me to drop my bag off.
1628 London Paddington to Hayes and Harlington on 387156 and 387149. Decided to head out to Hayes to watch some of the peak trains in/out of Paddington.
1817 Hayes and Harlington to London Paddington on 345007. First journey on a 345, seems to have a decent balance of seats and standing space.
Thursday 20th September (Day One)
0722 London Paddington to Queen's Park on the Bakerloo Line. Or is it Queens Park?
0735 Queen's Park to Willesden Junction on the Bakerloo Line.
0747 Willesden Junction to Clapham Junction on 378204.
0855 Clapham Junction to London Victoria on 377342, 377306 and 377122.
0939 London Victoria to Bristol Temple Meads, hauled by 66782. Ran via Tulse Hill, Woking, Salisbury, Westbury and Bath to Bristol, with 73963 and 73961 hauled on the back.
1340 Bristol Temple Meads to Pengam Receptions, hauled by 73963 and 73961. Ran via Avonmouth.
1532 Pengam Receptions to Llynfi Junction (Signal PT3028), hauled by 66766. Ran via Pontyclun (mainline). Originally, the tour was meant to go into Cardiff Celsa Steelworks, however this was changed late on due to Celsa withdrawing permission onto their site for the tour. Instead, we went up to Llynfi Junction (just beyond Bridgend) with an extra 66 thrown in to compensate. 73963 and 73961 were hauled on the back.
1628 Llynfi Junction (Signal PT3028) to Didcot West End (Signal SB924), hauled by 73963 and 73961. Ran via Pontyclun, Lydney, Gloucester, Kemble and Swindon, with a stop in the Pengam Receptions to drop 66766 back off.
2016 Didcot West End (Signal SB924) to London Paddington, hauled by 87002. The first ever AC Locomotive hauled passenger train to run down the Great Western Mainline into the Brunel's Paddington station.
Friday 21st September (Day Two and Day N)
0553 London Paddington to Euston Square on the Circle Line.
0708 London Euston to Wellingborough Up Yard, hauled by 20311 and 20132. Ran via Bletchley and Bedford, with 66728 was hauled on the back.
0939 Wellingborough Up Yard to West Hampstead Thameslink (Run-round Loop), hauled by 66728. Ran via the Wymington Deviation and the Hendon Flyover, with the two Class 20s hauled on the back.
1137 West Hampstead Thameslink to Tonbridge West Yard, hauled by 20311 and 20132. Ran via Dudding Hill, Kew East Jn, Longhedge Jn (under the London-end approached to Clapham Jn), Nunhead, Bexleyheath, Dartford and Maidstone West. 66728 was left on the back.
1532 Tonbridge West Yard to Tonbridge Signal AD168X, hauled by 73107 and 73141, which remained with us for the rest of the tour (saves me typing them 10/15 more times!). This was advertised as going to the Tonbridge Royal Mail Terminal, which we passed shortly before reversing on the main just beyond there. The two 20s were again on the back.
1548 Tonbridge Signal AD168X to Acton Lane Receptions, hauled by 20311 and 20132. Ran via Otford, Beckenham Junction and Kensington Olympia. We had originally been booked to run via Hither Green, but due to a 15/20 minute delay, we were diverted via the more direct route. At Acton Lane, we swapped for some tanking of the stock, and a loco swap, with the 20s being replaced.
1823 Acton Lane Receptions to London Waterloo International hauled by 73107 and 73141. Ran into P20, which, whilst now in use as part of (ordinary) Waterloo, I'm classing as the International station as it once was! 92033 was hauled on the rear. This marked the last move of Day 2, before the beginning of the overnighter.
1930 London Waterloo International to Blackpool North, hauled by 92033. Ran via Kensington Olympia, Northampton, the Crewe Independent Lines and Preston. First time for me going around the Independent Lines at Crewe, which was rather neat! This was also the first visit of an AC Locomotive to Blackpool North.
Saturday 22nd September (Day N and Day 3)
0120 Blackpool North to Preston, hauled by 73107 and 73141.
0159 Preston to Motherwell, hauled by 92033 via the WCML. This marked the last move of Day N (the overnighter).
0454 Motherwell to Mossend Up Yard, hauled by 92033. During the stop in Mossend, the Class 92 was detached, a Class 73 was ran-around and a Class 56 attached.
0533 Mossend Up Yard to Fort William Jn, hauled by 56113 and 73141. Ran via Glasgow Queen Street Low Level and Anniesland. The Class 56 was detached at Fort William Jn to allow it to be able to get onto the other end of the train for the return. I believe this was also the first arrival of a Class 56 on a passenger train to Fort William.
1055 Fort William Jn to Fort William, hauled by 73141 on it's own. Only a short run into the station. When in the station, 2 and a half carriages, and the rear 73 did not fit onto the platform. The 73 and two carriages were detached, and shunted into the siding to allow 2 Scotrail services to use the other platform. The 56 was also attached during this time.
1257 Fort William to Mossend Up Yard hauled by 56113 and 73107. Ran via Anniesland, Glasgow Central Low Level and Hamilton Central. Again, at Mossend the Class 73 was ran around.
1910 Mossend Up Yard to Rosyth Goods Loop hauled by 56113. This ran via Cumbernauld, Falkirk Grahamston and Dalmeny Jn. Rather cool to have a Class 56 over the Forth Bridge!
2117 Rosyth Goods Loop to Edinburgh Waverley, hauled by 73141 and 73107. 56113 remained on the rear, being hauled.
2219 Edinburgh Waverley to Glasgow Central hauled by 90041, which had been seen a couple times previous in the trip, and became an obvious candidate for the move. Ran via Cumbernauld, Coatbridge Central and Carmyle.
Sunday 23rd September (Day 4)
0810 Glasgow Central to Paisley St. James, hauled by 73107 and 73141, with 47749 being hauled on the rear. Originally, we had been scheduled to visit Paisley Canal, however, due to difficulties in arranging an Isolation for the line, our routing was changed to Paisley St. James instead.
0827 Paisley St. James to Polmadie Down Holding Sidings, hauled by 47749. Ran via the usually freight-only route from Shields Jn to Terminus Jn.
0925 Polmadie Down Holding Sidings to Glasgow Central, hauled by 73107 and 73141. The Class 47 remained on the rear for this.
0957 Glasgow Central to Carlisle, hauled by 47749. Ran via Mount Florida, Uddingston and the WCML. We had originally been due to go via the G&SW route, however, this was amended to go via the WCML instead due to issues with the G&SW route.
1212 Carlisle to Crewe, hauled by 86637 and 86639.
1500 Crewe to Hanwell Bridge Goods Loop, hauled by 50007 and 50049 (in disguise as 50011 and 50006 (I think those are the right way around)). Ran via Shrewsbury, Bescot, Aston, Coventry, Banbury, High Wycombe and Castle Bar Park. Decent run, the long way around! Crewe was rather chaotic with all the enthusiasts trying to take pictures of the train.
2010 Hanwell Bridge Goods Loop to London Paddington, hauled by 73107 and 73141, with the 50s on the rears. And so marked the end of the tour, this time with a pair of Class 73/1s on the blocks at Paddington.
A couple of words about the tour. It was a brilliant experience, if somewhat tiring. The on-board staff, were absolutely brilliant with us, and 4 of them stayed with us for each day of the tour, so fair play to those four! The food provided was brilliant so top marks to the Chef too! Whilst there was a couple of issues, nothing major happened (having not long passed Abington before the Wires came down on Saturday morning!). We had left London Victoria on Day one 4 minutes late, and arrived at Paddington on Day four just 5 minutes late, so to only lose 1 minute throughout the entire tour isn't bad!
Monday 24th September
0829 London Paddington to Ealing Broadway on 387166 and 387156.
0855 Ealing Broadway to West Ealing on 345013.
0927 West Ealing to Greenford on 165133.
0940 Greenford to South Ruislip on the Central Line.
1057 South Ruislip to North Acton on 165019. Was trying to do the once-daily train between South Ruislip and London Paddington, to get in that line, however, just beyond North Acton (on the adjacent Tube line), the train developed a fault with it's AWS in the leading end, and so we could not proceed. We were instead able to return to South Ruislip, as the rear end was still working.
1131 North Acton to South Ruislip on 165019.
1209 South Ruislip to Oxford Circus on the Central Line.
1244 Oxford Circus to Kings Cross St Pancras on the Victoria Line.
1403 London Kings Cross to Leeds, hauled by 91104. Again, in First Class, where I had the (Gourmet) Sausage Roll, which was rather lovely. The First Class on this service was rather busy, with no free seats in my carriage.
1620 Leeds to Rochdale on 150120 and 150106, running via Mirfield and Brighouse.
All in all, I estimate I travelled a total of 2,500 to 3,000 miles, over 2,000 miles on the railtour itself, with 22 (provided I can count) different classes of trains travelled on or hauled by.
Also, apologies for the Wall of Text