eastwestdivide
Established Member
Earlier in April, I treated myself to a week's first class all-line rover (ALR). The aim was to visit some classic locations that I'd not really photographed in any detail, and to sample the first class offering around the country.
So here's a trip report, in a summary format.
Price of ticket: £571.55 (1st class, railcard = £81.65 per day)
Number of barriers that accepted the ticket: 0
Number of barriers that swallowed the ticket: 0
Number of stamps on ticket: 1 (on the very last day, and that was with the wrong date too - he realised afterwards that it wasn't necessary)
Number of times 1st was unexpectedly unavailable: 1 (a Scotrail 3-car 170 from Aviemore where all of 1st was occupied, but there were seats available in standard)
Lounges used: 2
Number of free drinks on board/in lounges: 18 (at a conservative £2.50 each, that's £45-worth)
Best free food: fresh waffle with yogurt and fruit, Avanti
Best free drink: Hop On Board ale, LNER (honourable mention also to Grand Central's latte)
Number of trains taken: 39 (plus one London Underground, and one bus to avoid a long wait)
Numbers of trains taken: no idea, I'm not spotting any more!
Number of classes of train taken: 14 (150 158 170 175 180 185 220 320 345 385 390 700 800-series and HSTs, both short Scotrail/GW and long XC)
Mileage: no idea
Nights at home: 2 (advantage of living half way up the country)
Nights away: 4
Average price of nights away including breakfast: £57.40 (2x Sleeperz, 1x Premier Inn, 1x non-chain)
Extremities visited: Wemyss Bay, Aviemore, Dundee, Haywards Heath, Saltash, Merthyr Tydfil
Highest point: Drumochter/Druimuachdar summit
Lowest point: Severn Tunnel
Best behaviour on trains: people offering to swap seats for standing passengers on a grossly overcrowded GWR service to Penzance, as well as offering to share food as there was no chance of the trolley making it round
Worst behaviour on trains: two kids of about 10 using a Thameslink for parkour, climbing everywhere including into the overhead luggage racks!
Number of connections missed due to late running/cancellations: 0
Worst overcrowding: the above Sunday GWR 1134 London-Penzance. It was a 5-car instead of 9, via Bristol. Due out 5 mins behind the 1129 to Bristol which was also 5 instead of 9, and was also jam-packed, possibly with some refugees from that service on the Penzance train.
Worst late running: a westbound GWR HST at Dawlish, although this was in my favour as I was able to catch it instead of a later service
Number of times caught out in the rain: 1 (not bad for April)
Best local accent: "there you go my lovely" in Plymouth, bringing my porridge
Most surprising conversation: asking three Germans (in German) if they had come all this way just to photograph the Ouse Viaduct (they hadn't)
Worst decision: walking from Haywards Heath to Balcombe via the Ouse Viaduct - hellish mud on the footpaths and when there were no footpaths, hellish traffic on what looked like quiet country lanes on the map
Photo locations visited: 7 and a half* (Warrington Transporter Bridge*, Wemyss Bay, Tay Bridge, Royal Border Bridge, Ouse Viaduct, Dawlish sea wall, Royal Albert Bridge, Cefn Coed Viaduct)
* couldn't get close enough really, but visible through the trees
So here's a trip report, in a summary format.
Price of ticket: £571.55 (1st class, railcard = £81.65 per day)
Number of barriers that accepted the ticket: 0
Number of barriers that swallowed the ticket: 0
Number of stamps on ticket: 1 (on the very last day, and that was with the wrong date too - he realised afterwards that it wasn't necessary)
Number of times 1st was unexpectedly unavailable: 1 (a Scotrail 3-car 170 from Aviemore where all of 1st was occupied, but there were seats available in standard)
Lounges used: 2
Number of free drinks on board/in lounges: 18 (at a conservative £2.50 each, that's £45-worth)
Best free food: fresh waffle with yogurt and fruit, Avanti
Best free drink: Hop On Board ale, LNER (honourable mention also to Grand Central's latte)
Number of trains taken: 39 (plus one London Underground, and one bus to avoid a long wait)
Numbers of trains taken: no idea, I'm not spotting any more!
Number of classes of train taken: 14 (150 158 170 175 180 185 220 320 345 385 390 700 800-series and HSTs, both short Scotrail/GW and long XC)
Mileage: no idea
Nights at home: 2 (advantage of living half way up the country)
Nights away: 4
Average price of nights away including breakfast: £57.40 (2x Sleeperz, 1x Premier Inn, 1x non-chain)
Extremities visited: Wemyss Bay, Aviemore, Dundee, Haywards Heath, Saltash, Merthyr Tydfil
Highest point: Drumochter/Druimuachdar summit
Lowest point: Severn Tunnel
Best behaviour on trains: people offering to swap seats for standing passengers on a grossly overcrowded GWR service to Penzance, as well as offering to share food as there was no chance of the trolley making it round
Worst behaviour on trains: two kids of about 10 using a Thameslink for parkour, climbing everywhere including into the overhead luggage racks!
Number of connections missed due to late running/cancellations: 0
Worst overcrowding: the above Sunday GWR 1134 London-Penzance. It was a 5-car instead of 9, via Bristol. Due out 5 mins behind the 1129 to Bristol which was also 5 instead of 9, and was also jam-packed, possibly with some refugees from that service on the Penzance train.
Worst late running: a westbound GWR HST at Dawlish, although this was in my favour as I was able to catch it instead of a later service
Number of times caught out in the rain: 1 (not bad for April)
Best local accent: "there you go my lovely" in Plymouth, bringing my porridge
Most surprising conversation: asking three Germans (in German) if they had come all this way just to photograph the Ouse Viaduct (they hadn't)
Worst decision: walking from Haywards Heath to Balcombe via the Ouse Viaduct - hellish mud on the footpaths and when there were no footpaths, hellish traffic on what looked like quiet country lanes on the map
Photo locations visited: 7 and a half* (Warrington Transporter Bridge*, Wemyss Bay, Tay Bridge, Royal Border Bridge, Ouse Viaduct, Dawlish sea wall, Royal Albert Bridge, Cefn Coed Viaduct)
* couldn't get close enough really, but visible through the trees
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