Re: Your Last Train Journey?
Posted: 27 May 2019 21:30
Well, another month is drawing to a close, so it's time for Pilot's monthly train travel review! I still have another two journey's to go this month, being a train to London and the associated tube move to my hotel near Victoria on Friday, so will edit this when they are known. As per last month, all services where I covered new track will be highlighted in italics, and any winning Class 142s will be highlighted in bold. This month will be the last time I use the Bold for Class 142s, as I travelled on my last ones!
Wednesday 1st May
1549 Rochdale to Leeds on 142071 and 156421, running via Brighouse and Dewsbury. Interestingly, 142071, despite being my last Northern Class 142 that I needed to see, is now my highest mileage Class 142.
1753 Leeds to Harrogate on 142019. As you may have noticed in past months, I would normally take this service to Weeton, however, on this occasion, there was a reason to go that bit further.
1846 Harrogate to Leeds on 142078. And that reason was my final Northern Class 142 for travel. I wasn't fancying a half hour plus wait at Weeton for it, and Harrogate wasn't too much more expensive to go to (extra mileage too!).
1934 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 185125.
Friday 10th May - Heart of England 3 in 7 Day Ranger (Day 1)
0717 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport on 156428 and 156440.
0802 Manchester Airport to Crewe on 319376. On this service, I stopped at Styal for the first time in my life, having gained an hourly service stopping in the May 18 timetable (before May 18, the majority of trains sailed through non-stop). We ended up waiting for a good 6/7 minutes, maybe the railway gods were punishing me for all these years of rattling through non-stop
0949 Crewe to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 350122.
1042 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Stourbridge Junction on 172221 and 172343. On arrival at Stourbridge Junction, I was able to see both Class 139s together out in the open for the first time. For years I had believed having two was a myth, and they just changed the final number sticker every week!
1107 Stourbridge Junction to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 172338.
1123 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Stourbridge Junction on 172336.
1148 Stourbridge Junction to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 172215 and 172335.
1217 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Birmingham Moor Street on 172344.
1255 Birmingham Moor Street to Banbury, propelled by 68009. After some rattling around on the 172s, it was time for some Class 68 bashing.
1410 Banbury to Solihull, hauled by 68015.
1504 Solihull to Banbury on 168218.
1609 Banbury to Leamington Spa on 168001. Okay, maybe a bit of Chiltern bashing instead!
1623 Leamington Spa to Banbury, propelled by 68015. Was quite fortunate to be able to get this set back to Banbury, as it was slightly delayed by a signal fault at Hatton, and meant I was able to avoid the dreaded Voyager.
1708 Banbury to Leamington Spa, hauled by 68014.
1738 Leamington Spa to Banbury on 221119. Wasn't able to avoid the dreaded Voyager this time!
1809 Banbury to Birmingham Moor Street, hauled by 68012.
1904 Birmingham Moor Street to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 172331.
1922 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Birmingham New Street on 158841.
1957 Birmingham New Street to Nuneaton on 170107.
2054 Nuneaton to Leicester on 170518.
2137 Leicester to Derby, powered by 43484 and 43480. One of the East Midlands "short-sets", having been previously used by Grand Central. This particular one was running a First Class carriage as a Standard Class one.
Saturday 11th May - Heart of England 3 in 7 Day Ranger (Day 2) and Explore Cardiff and Valleys Day Ranger
A little background on this day - I had been originally due to be on a Railtour hauled by a Deltic (Class 55) locomotive from Derby, however, it had failed earlier in the year, and wasn't able to be repaired in time. As I now had a non-refundable Hotel, it made sense to utilize this differently.
0636 Derby to Burton-on-Trent on 170108.
0620 Burton-on-Trent to Cheltenham Spa on 220031, running via Tamworth, Birmingham New Street, Selly Oak and Worcester Shrub Hill. This service had been heavily delayed by a signal failure at North Stafford Jn (between Willington and Derby), hence why I'd gotten the 170 to Burton. We were about 30 late leaving Birmingham New Street, and due to this, we had missed our slot through Worcester Shrub Hill, where we had been diverted due to engineering works between Stoke Works Jn and Abbotswood Jn (the mainline that avoids Worcester). We were about 40/45 late by the time we arrived at Cheltenham Spa IIRC.
0845 Cheltenham Spa to Severn Tunnel Junction on 142002.
0946 Severn Tunnel Junction to Cardiff Central on 166207.
1046 Cardiff Central to Caerphilly on 142083.
1125 Caerphilly to Cardiff Central on 142073 and 143623. This was my step-fathers last Class 142 for travel.
1201 Cardiff Central to Penarth on 142085 and 142075. And this was mine! Not a bad showing to have four Class 142s that I required for travel in such quick succession!
1217 Penarth to Cardiff Central on 142075 and 142085.
1236 Cardiff Central to Radyr on 142076, running via Ninian Park.
1253 Radyr to Cathays on 150264.
1303 Cathays to Taffs Well on 150278.
1334 Taffs Well to Cardiff Queen Street on 143601.
1400 Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Bay on 142069.
1406 Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Queen Street on 142069.
1411 Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Central on 142083.
1425 Cardiff Central to Barry Island on 143625 and 143607.
1453 Barry Island to Barry on 143607 and 143625.
1505 Barry to Bridgend on 150217.
1553 Bridgend to Cardiff Central on 150231.
1626 Cardiff Central to Newport on 800318. The 800s are growing on me in certain aspects. I do like their additional capacity, and their seat reservation systems, and their additional legroom over the HSTs too.
1725 Newport to Cheltenham Spa on 142002. A 51 mile run on the bouncy bus! Don't mind if I do!
1911 Cheltenham Spa to Birmingham New Street on 220029, running via Worcester Shrub Hill and Selly Oak. We got a perfect run in terms of keeping to our path, which was a positive. You'd think that given the reduced service to/from the South West on the day due to the diversions, XC would have tried to increase capacity, but unfortunately not, so a busy 4-car Voyager it was!
2103 Birmingham New Street to Derby, powered by 43207 and 43378. This train was rather amusing. First, between Birmingham and Tamworth, we had a group of lads (about 14/15) faredodging (they had about £3 between four of them), the Guard did what she could to scare them, but didn't get the BTP and no station staff are present at Tamworth at that time of night, so she couldn't hand it on to anyone. After that, a very intoxicated fellow came looking for the bar (those who know XC know that they have a trolley service instead of a buffet, and this isn't supplied at this time of night). When he asked us where the bar was, and we replied there wasn't on, his response was "Well that's a f-ing heresy". I tried not to laugh too much at that point, instead saving it for a chat with the guard instead.
Sunday 12th May - Heart of England 3 in 7 Day Ranger (Day 3)
0756 Derby to Matlock on 153374 and 153355.
0838 Matlock to Derby on 153355 and 153374. Surprising how busy this train was for half 8 on a Sunday morning!
0928 Derby to Cheltenham Spa, powered by 43378 and 43207, running via Lichfield Trent Valley High Level, Birmingham New Street, Stourbridge Junction and Worcester Shrub Hill. The Sunday's only HST via Lichfield was diverted on this day to also run via Stourbridge Junction. With two bits of track I needed on one service (Wichnor Jn to Lichfield TV and Galton Jn to Smethwick Jn) and that service being a HST, I certainly wasn't going to say no! This was a further divert on from the ones the day before. The route via Bromsgrove was still open, however additional services were being diverted away to allow capacity for more engineering trains, which had to be banked up Lickey, and thus were rather slow. Only heavily delayed XC services were running via this route in order to try and make back some time.
1201 Cheltenham Spa to Birmingham New Street on 170101, running via Worcester Shrub Hill and Stourbridge Junction.
1324 Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton on 158830 and 158819.
1349 Wolverhampton to Stafford on 220032 and 220004, rare to get a pair of CrossCountry Voyagers on this route.
1410 Stafford to Crewe on 350261.
1457 Crewe to Chester on 158834.
1533 Chester to Crewe on 221143 and 221142. At this point, I had one eye on the trains, and another on the football, with it being the last day of the Premier League season, and my team needing a win to seal the title. Fortunately we got the win, despite going a goal down at one point.
1608 Crewe to Longport on 156415.
1638 Longport to Crewe on 153311.
1728 Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly on 175110. Following an accident involving a light aircraft crashing near the railway in Abergavenny, bringing down some National Grid power lines onto the railway (fortunately all survived the crash by the sound of things), there was some uncertainty as to whether this train would run or not. It got through the area however, so wasn't a problem, although was missing 3 of the carriages allocated to it in the morning, the service having been intended to be strengthened due to a Man United vs. Cardiff football match which this would form the return train for a lot of Cardiff fans.
Friday 17th May
0701 Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe on 323223. I was in Manchester about half an hour earlier than intended, so got the slow, all-stops service to Crewe instead of the more express TfW that arrives just 4 mins later than this.
0818 Crewe to Stafford on 350128.
0910 Stafford to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 350232.
0947 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Birmingham Moor Street on 172340.
1055 Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone, propelled by 68011. You may think I use the Chiltern services purely from a cranking perspective, however, whilst partially true, I also do it because of how cheap it is. An advanced single with Chiltern can be as cheap as £3.65 (when using a railcard), which, even when factoring in the cost of getting to Birmingham, is still usually cheaper than an advanced with Virgin bought at a similar timescale, so not only is it a better train, but it's also cheaper! I don't mind spending that little bit longer doing it either to be fair.
1253 Baker Street to London Liverpool Street on the Hammersmith and City Line.
1400 London Liverpool Street to Norwich, pushed by 90013. Paid for a cheap advanced First Class ticket on this, and whilst comfortable enough, the first class service was rather poor. We were offered one brew on the entire journey (nearly 2 hours), not long after departure from Liverpool Street, which meant all those getting on at later stations got nothing at all. The First Class lounge at Liverpool Street was also laughable, but maybe I've been spoiled by Virgin and LNER's offerings all this time.
1736 Noriwch to Great Yarmouth, powered by 37405 and 37716. After checking into my hotel and dropping off my bag, it would have been rude not to have a run on the Class 37 diagram Greater Anglia have, especially as this is likely to be my last opportunity for it.
1817 Great Yarmouth to Norwich, powered by 37716 and 37405.
1902 Norwich to Lowestoft, powered by 37405 and 37716.
1955 Lowestoft to Norwich, powered by 37716 and 37405.
Saturday 18th May - EACH Express 3/Class 37 Farewell Charity Railtour
1020 Norwich to Ely, powered by 37405 and 37409. The boarding process was a little bit of a farce, as we were first told that the carriages weren't lettered (despite our tickets saying they would be), then we were told one carriage order, and later, once on the train, another. The train was departing Norwich before the majority of people (myself included) had found their seats!
1135 Ely to Kings Lynn, powered by 37409 and 37405. 37409 was probably the worst loco DRS could have sent for this in my opinion, as it was my highest mileage Class 37, and I've now broken the 1,000 mile barrier with that locomotive alone.
1214 Kings Lynn to London Liverpool Street, powered by 37405 and 37409, running via Cambridge and Tottenham Hale.
1627 London Liverpool Street to Norwich, powered by 37409 and 37405. A quick run back to Norwich, with two unscheduled stops, one just outside Stratford and another at Trowse Jn. Despite these stops, we managed to get back in 9 minutes earlier (we were 11 early at Trowse) after an end to end journey time of 102 minutes, which was quicker than my train on Friday!
Sunday 19th May
0903 Norwich to Cambridge on 170204. Due to Norwich to Ipswich being closed, I had to return via Cambridge.
1032 Cambridge to London Liverpool Street on 379009 and 379016. I take back everything I said about 379s being decent the last time I used one. In my first longer distance run on one, I ended up coming off feeling sick, after being shaken so much. The ride quality was dreadful, and I needed a bus to actually be able to reach the table I was sat at it was that far.
1208 London Liverpool Street to Stratford on 321365 and 321425.
1230 Stratford to Shenfield on 321426.
1302 Shenfield to Colchester on 360111 and 360106.
1330 Colchester to Shenfield 321308 and 321352. I shouldn't have been able to get this train, as it was due to leave before my arrival, however had been held for whatever reason, allowing me to catch it, which also meant that I was able to avoid the part of 321s I had had earlier to Stratford.
1426 Shenfield to Harold Wood on 345017.
1449 Harold Wood to Romford on 345005.
1510 Romford to London Liverpool Street on 321347.
1532 London Liverpool Street to Moorgate on the Metropolitan Line.
1543 Moorgate to Finsbury Park on 313046 and 313018.
1607 Finsbury Park to Highbury and Islington on 313040 and 313039.
1611 Highbury and Islington to London Euston on the Victoria Line.
1717 London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on 390123, running via Stoke-on-Trent. Due to a CrossCountry not being in front of us, as it was delayed, we ended up about 7 minutes early at Stockport after a clear run, which meant a nice wait there. We actually ended up delaying the CrossCountry service further as we were sat in it's platform!
Wednesday 22nd May
0932 Manchester Victoria to Huddersfield on 185121.
1439 Huddersfield to Manchester Piccadilly on 185109, running via Manchester Victoria and the Orsdall Chord.
Sunday 26th May
1056 Manchester Victoria to Leeds on 150105 and 156475, running via Hebden Bridge and a reversal at Bradford Interchange. This had one of the recently arrived Ex-London Midland sets, which was very green still!
1834 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 185144.
Monday 27th May
1042 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 158858 and 158852.
1105 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly on 150146 and 150141.
1122 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Oxford Road on 319383.
1125 Manchester Oxford Road to Manchester Piccadilly on 319366.
1138 Manchester Piccadilly to Liverpool Lime Street on 158866 and 156405, running via Warrington Central.
1238 Liverpool Lime Street to Liverpool Central on 508136.
1245 Liverpool Central to Liverpool James Street on 508127.
1249 Liverpool James Street to Moorfields on 507025.
1255 Moorfields to Liverpool Central on 507033 and 508128, running via the Northern Line.
1302 Liverpool Central to Moorfields on 508139.
1306 Moorfields to Liverpool Lime Street on 507019.
1336 Liverpool Lime Street to Chester on 150250, running via the recently returned to regular service Halton Curve.
1450 Chester to Manchester Piccadilly, propelled by 67014, running via Warrington Bank Quay. The return of the outbound Manchester - Holyhead loco-hauled set. This surprisingly runs non-stop from Earlestown to Manchester Piccadilly, whereas normal TfW services call at both Newton-le-Willows and Manchester Oxford Road.
Friday 31st May
1715 Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston on 390121, running via Stoke-on-Trent. This particular Pendolino seemed to have quite the flat on the bogie I was sat over in Coach U, which was making quite the rattle at 125mph!
1927 London Euston to London Victoria on the Victoria Line.
Nearly 2,850 miles this month then.
Wednesday 1st May
1549 Rochdale to Leeds on 142071 and 156421, running via Brighouse and Dewsbury. Interestingly, 142071, despite being my last Northern Class 142 that I needed to see, is now my highest mileage Class 142.
1753 Leeds to Harrogate on 142019. As you may have noticed in past months, I would normally take this service to Weeton, however, on this occasion, there was a reason to go that bit further.
1846 Harrogate to Leeds on 142078. And that reason was my final Northern Class 142 for travel. I wasn't fancying a half hour plus wait at Weeton for it, and Harrogate wasn't too much more expensive to go to (extra mileage too!).
1934 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 185125.
Friday 10th May - Heart of England 3 in 7 Day Ranger (Day 1)
0717 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Airport on 156428 and 156440.
0802 Manchester Airport to Crewe on 319376. On this service, I stopped at Styal for the first time in my life, having gained an hourly service stopping in the May 18 timetable (before May 18, the majority of trains sailed through non-stop). We ended up waiting for a good 6/7 minutes, maybe the railway gods were punishing me for all these years of rattling through non-stop
0949 Crewe to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 350122.
1042 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Stourbridge Junction on 172221 and 172343. On arrival at Stourbridge Junction, I was able to see both Class 139s together out in the open for the first time. For years I had believed having two was a myth, and they just changed the final number sticker every week!
1107 Stourbridge Junction to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 172338.
1123 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Stourbridge Junction on 172336.
1148 Stourbridge Junction to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 172215 and 172335.
1217 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Birmingham Moor Street on 172344.
1255 Birmingham Moor Street to Banbury, propelled by 68009. After some rattling around on the 172s, it was time for some Class 68 bashing.
1410 Banbury to Solihull, hauled by 68015.
1504 Solihull to Banbury on 168218.
1609 Banbury to Leamington Spa on 168001. Okay, maybe a bit of Chiltern bashing instead!
1623 Leamington Spa to Banbury, propelled by 68015. Was quite fortunate to be able to get this set back to Banbury, as it was slightly delayed by a signal fault at Hatton, and meant I was able to avoid the dreaded Voyager.
1708 Banbury to Leamington Spa, hauled by 68014.
1738 Leamington Spa to Banbury on 221119. Wasn't able to avoid the dreaded Voyager this time!
1809 Banbury to Birmingham Moor Street, hauled by 68012.
1904 Birmingham Moor Street to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 172331.
1922 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Birmingham New Street on 158841.
1957 Birmingham New Street to Nuneaton on 170107.
2054 Nuneaton to Leicester on 170518.
2137 Leicester to Derby, powered by 43484 and 43480. One of the East Midlands "short-sets", having been previously used by Grand Central. This particular one was running a First Class carriage as a Standard Class one.
Saturday 11th May - Heart of England 3 in 7 Day Ranger (Day 2) and Explore Cardiff and Valleys Day Ranger
A little background on this day - I had been originally due to be on a Railtour hauled by a Deltic (Class 55) locomotive from Derby, however, it had failed earlier in the year, and wasn't able to be repaired in time. As I now had a non-refundable Hotel, it made sense to utilize this differently.
0636 Derby to Burton-on-Trent on 170108.
0620 Burton-on-Trent to Cheltenham Spa on 220031, running via Tamworth, Birmingham New Street, Selly Oak and Worcester Shrub Hill. This service had been heavily delayed by a signal failure at North Stafford Jn (between Willington and Derby), hence why I'd gotten the 170 to Burton. We were about 30 late leaving Birmingham New Street, and due to this, we had missed our slot through Worcester Shrub Hill, where we had been diverted due to engineering works between Stoke Works Jn and Abbotswood Jn (the mainline that avoids Worcester). We were about 40/45 late by the time we arrived at Cheltenham Spa IIRC.
0845 Cheltenham Spa to Severn Tunnel Junction on 142002.
0946 Severn Tunnel Junction to Cardiff Central on 166207.
1046 Cardiff Central to Caerphilly on 142083.
1125 Caerphilly to Cardiff Central on 142073 and 143623. This was my step-fathers last Class 142 for travel.
1201 Cardiff Central to Penarth on 142085 and 142075. And this was mine! Not a bad showing to have four Class 142s that I required for travel in such quick succession!
1217 Penarth to Cardiff Central on 142075 and 142085.
1236 Cardiff Central to Radyr on 142076, running via Ninian Park.
1253 Radyr to Cathays on 150264.
1303 Cathays to Taffs Well on 150278.
1334 Taffs Well to Cardiff Queen Street on 143601.
1400 Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Bay on 142069.
1406 Cardiff Bay to Cardiff Queen Street on 142069.
1411 Cardiff Queen Street to Cardiff Central on 142083.
1425 Cardiff Central to Barry Island on 143625 and 143607.
1453 Barry Island to Barry on 143607 and 143625.
1505 Barry to Bridgend on 150217.
1553 Bridgend to Cardiff Central on 150231.
1626 Cardiff Central to Newport on 800318. The 800s are growing on me in certain aspects. I do like their additional capacity, and their seat reservation systems, and their additional legroom over the HSTs too.
1725 Newport to Cheltenham Spa on 142002. A 51 mile run on the bouncy bus! Don't mind if I do!
1911 Cheltenham Spa to Birmingham New Street on 220029, running via Worcester Shrub Hill and Selly Oak. We got a perfect run in terms of keeping to our path, which was a positive. You'd think that given the reduced service to/from the South West on the day due to the diversions, XC would have tried to increase capacity, but unfortunately not, so a busy 4-car Voyager it was!
2103 Birmingham New Street to Derby, powered by 43207 and 43378. This train was rather amusing. First, between Birmingham and Tamworth, we had a group of lads (about 14/15) faredodging (they had about £3 between four of them), the Guard did what she could to scare them, but didn't get the BTP and no station staff are present at Tamworth at that time of night, so she couldn't hand it on to anyone. After that, a very intoxicated fellow came looking for the bar (those who know XC know that they have a trolley service instead of a buffet, and this isn't supplied at this time of night). When he asked us where the bar was, and we replied there wasn't on, his response was "Well that's a f-ing heresy". I tried not to laugh too much at that point, instead saving it for a chat with the guard instead.
Sunday 12th May - Heart of England 3 in 7 Day Ranger (Day 3)
0756 Derby to Matlock on 153374 and 153355.
0838 Matlock to Derby on 153355 and 153374. Surprising how busy this train was for half 8 on a Sunday morning!
0928 Derby to Cheltenham Spa, powered by 43378 and 43207, running via Lichfield Trent Valley High Level, Birmingham New Street, Stourbridge Junction and Worcester Shrub Hill. The Sunday's only HST via Lichfield was diverted on this day to also run via Stourbridge Junction. With two bits of track I needed on one service (Wichnor Jn to Lichfield TV and Galton Jn to Smethwick Jn) and that service being a HST, I certainly wasn't going to say no! This was a further divert on from the ones the day before. The route via Bromsgrove was still open, however additional services were being diverted away to allow capacity for more engineering trains, which had to be banked up Lickey, and thus were rather slow. Only heavily delayed XC services were running via this route in order to try and make back some time.
1201 Cheltenham Spa to Birmingham New Street on 170101, running via Worcester Shrub Hill and Stourbridge Junction.
1324 Birmingham New Street to Wolverhampton on 158830 and 158819.
1349 Wolverhampton to Stafford on 220032 and 220004, rare to get a pair of CrossCountry Voyagers on this route.
1410 Stafford to Crewe on 350261.
1457 Crewe to Chester on 158834.
1533 Chester to Crewe on 221143 and 221142. At this point, I had one eye on the trains, and another on the football, with it being the last day of the Premier League season, and my team needing a win to seal the title. Fortunately we got the win, despite going a goal down at one point.
1608 Crewe to Longport on 156415.
1638 Longport to Crewe on 153311.
1728 Crewe to Manchester Piccadilly on 175110. Following an accident involving a light aircraft crashing near the railway in Abergavenny, bringing down some National Grid power lines onto the railway (fortunately all survived the crash by the sound of things), there was some uncertainty as to whether this train would run or not. It got through the area however, so wasn't a problem, although was missing 3 of the carriages allocated to it in the morning, the service having been intended to be strengthened due to a Man United vs. Cardiff football match which this would form the return train for a lot of Cardiff fans.
Friday 17th May
0701 Manchester Piccadilly to Crewe on 323223. I was in Manchester about half an hour earlier than intended, so got the slow, all-stops service to Crewe instead of the more express TfW that arrives just 4 mins later than this.
0818 Crewe to Stafford on 350128.
0910 Stafford to Smethwick Galton Bridge on 350232.
0947 Smethwick Galton Bridge to Birmingham Moor Street on 172340.
1055 Birmingham Moor Street to London Marylebone, propelled by 68011. You may think I use the Chiltern services purely from a cranking perspective, however, whilst partially true, I also do it because of how cheap it is. An advanced single with Chiltern can be as cheap as £3.65 (when using a railcard), which, even when factoring in the cost of getting to Birmingham, is still usually cheaper than an advanced with Virgin bought at a similar timescale, so not only is it a better train, but it's also cheaper! I don't mind spending that little bit longer doing it either to be fair.
1253 Baker Street to London Liverpool Street on the Hammersmith and City Line.
1400 London Liverpool Street to Norwich, pushed by 90013. Paid for a cheap advanced First Class ticket on this, and whilst comfortable enough, the first class service was rather poor. We were offered one brew on the entire journey (nearly 2 hours), not long after departure from Liverpool Street, which meant all those getting on at later stations got nothing at all. The First Class lounge at Liverpool Street was also laughable, but maybe I've been spoiled by Virgin and LNER's offerings all this time.
1736 Noriwch to Great Yarmouth, powered by 37405 and 37716. After checking into my hotel and dropping off my bag, it would have been rude not to have a run on the Class 37 diagram Greater Anglia have, especially as this is likely to be my last opportunity for it.
1817 Great Yarmouth to Norwich, powered by 37716 and 37405.
1902 Norwich to Lowestoft, powered by 37405 and 37716.
1955 Lowestoft to Norwich, powered by 37716 and 37405.
Saturday 18th May - EACH Express 3/Class 37 Farewell Charity Railtour
1020 Norwich to Ely, powered by 37405 and 37409. The boarding process was a little bit of a farce, as we were first told that the carriages weren't lettered (despite our tickets saying they would be), then we were told one carriage order, and later, once on the train, another. The train was departing Norwich before the majority of people (myself included) had found their seats!
1135 Ely to Kings Lynn, powered by 37409 and 37405. 37409 was probably the worst loco DRS could have sent for this in my opinion, as it was my highest mileage Class 37, and I've now broken the 1,000 mile barrier with that locomotive alone.
1214 Kings Lynn to London Liverpool Street, powered by 37405 and 37409, running via Cambridge and Tottenham Hale.
1627 London Liverpool Street to Norwich, powered by 37409 and 37405. A quick run back to Norwich, with two unscheduled stops, one just outside Stratford and another at Trowse Jn. Despite these stops, we managed to get back in 9 minutes earlier (we were 11 early at Trowse) after an end to end journey time of 102 minutes, which was quicker than my train on Friday!
Sunday 19th May
0903 Norwich to Cambridge on 170204. Due to Norwich to Ipswich being closed, I had to return via Cambridge.
1032 Cambridge to London Liverpool Street on 379009 and 379016. I take back everything I said about 379s being decent the last time I used one. In my first longer distance run on one, I ended up coming off feeling sick, after being shaken so much. The ride quality was dreadful, and I needed a bus to actually be able to reach the table I was sat at it was that far.
1208 London Liverpool Street to Stratford on 321365 and 321425.
1230 Stratford to Shenfield on 321426.
1302 Shenfield to Colchester on 360111 and 360106.
1330 Colchester to Shenfield 321308 and 321352. I shouldn't have been able to get this train, as it was due to leave before my arrival, however had been held for whatever reason, allowing me to catch it, which also meant that I was able to avoid the part of 321s I had had earlier to Stratford.
1426 Shenfield to Harold Wood on 345017.
1449 Harold Wood to Romford on 345005.
1510 Romford to London Liverpool Street on 321347.
1532 London Liverpool Street to Moorgate on the Metropolitan Line.
1543 Moorgate to Finsbury Park on 313046 and 313018.
1607 Finsbury Park to Highbury and Islington on 313040 and 313039.
1611 Highbury and Islington to London Euston on the Victoria Line.
1717 London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly on 390123, running via Stoke-on-Trent. Due to a CrossCountry not being in front of us, as it was delayed, we ended up about 7 minutes early at Stockport after a clear run, which meant a nice wait there. We actually ended up delaying the CrossCountry service further as we were sat in it's platform!
Wednesday 22nd May
0932 Manchester Victoria to Huddersfield on 185121.
1439 Huddersfield to Manchester Piccadilly on 185109, running via Manchester Victoria and the Orsdall Chord.
Sunday 26th May
1056 Manchester Victoria to Leeds on 150105 and 156475, running via Hebden Bridge and a reversal at Bradford Interchange. This had one of the recently arrived Ex-London Midland sets, which was very green still!
1834 Leeds to Manchester Victoria on 185144.
Monday 27th May
1042 Manchester Piccadilly to Stockport on 158858 and 158852.
1105 Stockport to Manchester Piccadilly on 150146 and 150141.
1122 Manchester Piccadilly to Manchester Oxford Road on 319383.
1125 Manchester Oxford Road to Manchester Piccadilly on 319366.
1138 Manchester Piccadilly to Liverpool Lime Street on 158866 and 156405, running via Warrington Central.
1238 Liverpool Lime Street to Liverpool Central on 508136.
1245 Liverpool Central to Liverpool James Street on 508127.
1249 Liverpool James Street to Moorfields on 507025.
1255 Moorfields to Liverpool Central on 507033 and 508128, running via the Northern Line.
1302 Liverpool Central to Moorfields on 508139.
1306 Moorfields to Liverpool Lime Street on 507019.
1336 Liverpool Lime Street to Chester on 150250, running via the recently returned to regular service Halton Curve.
1450 Chester to Manchester Piccadilly, propelled by 67014, running via Warrington Bank Quay. The return of the outbound Manchester - Holyhead loco-hauled set. This surprisingly runs non-stop from Earlestown to Manchester Piccadilly, whereas normal TfW services call at both Newton-le-Willows and Manchester Oxford Road.
Friday 31st May
1715 Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston on 390121, running via Stoke-on-Trent. This particular Pendolino seemed to have quite the flat on the bogie I was sat over in Coach U, which was making quite the rattle at 125mph!
1927 London Euston to London Victoria on the Victoria Line.
Nearly 2,850 miles this month then.