Kite159
Veteran Member
The 2nd part of my London Midland adventure began at half 5 on Saturday morning, having booked tickets from Basingstoke (if I had known the SWT Winter Sale was going to be extended I would have gone from Grateley, after-all I caught the train from Salisbury). Got to Basingstoke station and made it upto the platform for 6:15, picked up a newspaper from the cafe to read heading into London. At 6:25, a 159 service pulled in (I will explain later why it isn't a full number) for an uneventful trip to Waterloo.
At Waterloo underground, had a bit of a fight with the ticket barrier after it decided not to take my Basingstoke to London Zone 1 ticket, got let through by the guard, and onto the Northern line train, made it to Euston with a good 15 minutes to spare to get let out of the underground station (ticket not working again), and onto platform 8. Waited a few minutes for the doors to 350113 to be opened (7:46 service to Crewe), managed to grab a table seat (always good with my long legs). Stopped at Milton Keynes and Rugby where I got off.
The delayed 350103 (I think) service (meant to be 8:37) pulled in at 8:48, giving me an extra 10 minutes in Birmingham, which was spent in the sunlight, pulling in at 9:30. Walked to the Tesco Express hidden away in the guts of the old shopping centre on top of New Street to pick up a sandwich and some cookies (me eat cookie!) to head back to New Street to catch the 10:05 service to Shrewsbury, made up of 2x 170 units, 1 3 car set the other a 2 car set.
I did log the numbers down, but had the idea to transfer onto a downloaded plan, however the plan disappeared losing the numbers of the trains to that time. Going to Shrewsbury I sat in the rear car of the 5 car train, coming back on the 11:47 I was in the rear car again. Both times at a table seat. It looks like a bomb hit the parts of Birmingham north of New Street. Caught sight of some lovely 175s at Shrewsbury when waiting, also some 158s, lovely trains, but when next to a 175 you could tell the doors were narrower.
Come off the 11:47 service at Sandwell And Dudley, an odd station, where Virgin Trains stop at every now and again. Waited 15 minutes for the 13:02 service to Walsall to pull in, made up of 323203, only stayed on it for a couple minutes to get to Smethwick Galton Bridge (Low level), transferred to the high level platforms via the lift (must be stairs somewhere), to wait for the 13:22 service to Worcester Foregate Street, made up of 172337, first time on a LM 172, felt smoother than the London Overground's 172s. Nice little run sat opposite a rather nice looking young lady wearing not the world's longest skirts (she got on at a station after SGB and sat opposite me).
Anyway, arrived into Worcester Foregate, there really need to put some sort of control on the flow of passengers coming up/down the stairs, went over to the other platform to use the loos, came out to see a FGW 153/158 set heading towards Malvern from Westbury. Crossed over (rather long stairs at that station I must say) to get onto the platform to await the 14:32 service to Hereford, made up of 170516. Nice run though some beautiful countryside, passed a HST which is always nice to see, to come into Hereford. Over the temporary bridge and I had a walk outside the station to the Morrisons to pass the time. Arrived back onto the station to catch the 15:40 service (same train) all the way to New Street.
At New Street the plan was to catch the 17:18 service to Rugeley to knock off the Soho branch, sadly it was cancelled so I jumped onto the 17:20 (odd) service to redditch, to save some time for the day after, Made up of 323207, made it into Redditch just before darkness won the daily battle of daylight, so coming back it was looking at the lights.
Got back into New Street around 18:30, did some shopping (Poundland for some more bottles of pop, CEX to see if they had any decent DVDs), had a burger and headed towards the hotel.
Birmingham Central Backpackers, I reckon it's a former pub going by the front room, making use of an old business building next door to have rooms with 3x bulk beds in, not the most comfy of nights, it being near the railway arches of the Moor Street line, and near the custard factory. Decent enough though to get some hours, and for £14 I wasn't complaining (although next time I will pay more to get a room of my own).
Total distance - 390 miles
Sunday
Awoke nice and early, waited until 8am before climbing down to pick up my stuff to get changed outside the room (not really a lot of space in the room itself to move), headed back towards New Street station to catch the 9:42 service to Liverpool. Ended up sitting the wrong side of a table, so it was a quick swap to going forward (I don't like it going backwards), 350108 was the train for the day, lovely bridge over the Mersey, saw some prides of the north (also known as 142s), headed into Lime Street.
The plan was to get off the train and spend an hour in Liverpool, but seeing the crowd of passengers wanting to catch the 11:34 service back to Birmingham (lot of bags, which I though they would get off at the airport), managed to get a table seat to go back towards Crewe.
Am I right in thinking Crewe has the most train operators stopping at it (7), nice APT outside in the museum. Quick cross over to wait for the doors for the Euston service to open. Bit of a rush to get on when the doors did open at 12:30, but I managed to grab a table seat (although on the left hand side rather than my preferred choice of right hand side), but at least I could move my legs on the 3 and a bit hour, 163 mile trip back to Euston via Stoke-on-Trent & Northampton. 10 minute stop-over at Northampton, and a 5 minute wait at Rugby, and 5 minutes outside Euston waiting for a platform to come available. Service 350128.
At Euston it was a quick transfer down the Northern Line to Waterloo, where I boarded the 444035/444045 service heading to Portsmouth and Poole, back to Basingstoke to come out into a thundering storm, to drive back along some slightly flooded roads.
Total distance covered: 337 miles (or 335 miles & 175 chains).
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After a few busy weekends, I think this weekend coming is going to be quiet, might only go to Newbury. For some strange reason it is the same cost to go from Grateley to Newbury as it is for Grateley to Basingstoke, even though Newbury is a good 1h 45 changing twice and heading though basingstoke)
And also what services use the "Camp Hill Line" in Birmingham?
At Waterloo underground, had a bit of a fight with the ticket barrier after it decided not to take my Basingstoke to London Zone 1 ticket, got let through by the guard, and onto the Northern line train, made it to Euston with a good 15 minutes to spare to get let out of the underground station (ticket not working again), and onto platform 8. Waited a few minutes for the doors to 350113 to be opened (7:46 service to Crewe), managed to grab a table seat (always good with my long legs). Stopped at Milton Keynes and Rugby where I got off.
The delayed 350103 (I think) service (meant to be 8:37) pulled in at 8:48, giving me an extra 10 minutes in Birmingham, which was spent in the sunlight, pulling in at 9:30. Walked to the Tesco Express hidden away in the guts of the old shopping centre on top of New Street to pick up a sandwich and some cookies (me eat cookie!) to head back to New Street to catch the 10:05 service to Shrewsbury, made up of 2x 170 units, 1 3 car set the other a 2 car set.
I did log the numbers down, but had the idea to transfer onto a downloaded plan, however the plan disappeared losing the numbers of the trains to that time. Going to Shrewsbury I sat in the rear car of the 5 car train, coming back on the 11:47 I was in the rear car again. Both times at a table seat. It looks like a bomb hit the parts of Birmingham north of New Street. Caught sight of some lovely 175s at Shrewsbury when waiting, also some 158s, lovely trains, but when next to a 175 you could tell the doors were narrower.
Come off the 11:47 service at Sandwell And Dudley, an odd station, where Virgin Trains stop at every now and again. Waited 15 minutes for the 13:02 service to Walsall to pull in, made up of 323203, only stayed on it for a couple minutes to get to Smethwick Galton Bridge (Low level), transferred to the high level platforms via the lift (must be stairs somewhere), to wait for the 13:22 service to Worcester Foregate Street, made up of 172337, first time on a LM 172, felt smoother than the London Overground's 172s. Nice little run sat opposite a rather nice looking young lady wearing not the world's longest skirts (she got on at a station after SGB and sat opposite me).
Anyway, arrived into Worcester Foregate, there really need to put some sort of control on the flow of passengers coming up/down the stairs, went over to the other platform to use the loos, came out to see a FGW 153/158 set heading towards Malvern from Westbury. Crossed over (rather long stairs at that station I must say) to get onto the platform to await the 14:32 service to Hereford, made up of 170516. Nice run though some beautiful countryside, passed a HST which is always nice to see, to come into Hereford. Over the temporary bridge and I had a walk outside the station to the Morrisons to pass the time. Arrived back onto the station to catch the 15:40 service (same train) all the way to New Street.
At New Street the plan was to catch the 17:18 service to Rugeley to knock off the Soho branch, sadly it was cancelled so I jumped onto the 17:20 (odd) service to redditch, to save some time for the day after, Made up of 323207, made it into Redditch just before darkness won the daily battle of daylight, so coming back it was looking at the lights.
Got back into New Street around 18:30, did some shopping (Poundland for some more bottles of pop, CEX to see if they had any decent DVDs), had a burger and headed towards the hotel.
Birmingham Central Backpackers, I reckon it's a former pub going by the front room, making use of an old business building next door to have rooms with 3x bulk beds in, not the most comfy of nights, it being near the railway arches of the Moor Street line, and near the custard factory. Decent enough though to get some hours, and for £14 I wasn't complaining (although next time I will pay more to get a room of my own).
Total distance - 390 miles
Sunday
Awoke nice and early, waited until 8am before climbing down to pick up my stuff to get changed outside the room (not really a lot of space in the room itself to move), headed back towards New Street station to catch the 9:42 service to Liverpool. Ended up sitting the wrong side of a table, so it was a quick swap to going forward (I don't like it going backwards), 350108 was the train for the day, lovely bridge over the Mersey, saw some prides of the north (also known as 142s), headed into Lime Street.
The plan was to get off the train and spend an hour in Liverpool, but seeing the crowd of passengers wanting to catch the 11:34 service back to Birmingham (lot of bags, which I though they would get off at the airport), managed to get a table seat to go back towards Crewe.
Am I right in thinking Crewe has the most train operators stopping at it (7), nice APT outside in the museum. Quick cross over to wait for the doors for the Euston service to open. Bit of a rush to get on when the doors did open at 12:30, but I managed to grab a table seat (although on the left hand side rather than my preferred choice of right hand side), but at least I could move my legs on the 3 and a bit hour, 163 mile trip back to Euston via Stoke-on-Trent & Northampton. 10 minute stop-over at Northampton, and a 5 minute wait at Rugby, and 5 minutes outside Euston waiting for a platform to come available. Service 350128.
At Euston it was a quick transfer down the Northern Line to Waterloo, where I boarded the 444035/444045 service heading to Portsmouth and Poole, back to Basingstoke to come out into a thundering storm, to drive back along some slightly flooded roads.
Total distance covered: 337 miles (or 335 miles & 175 chains).
---
After a few busy weekends, I think this weekend coming is going to be quiet, might only go to Newbury. For some strange reason it is the same cost to go from Grateley to Newbury as it is for Grateley to Basingstoke, even though Newbury is a good 1h 45 changing twice and heading though basingstoke)
And also what services use the "Camp Hill Line" in Birmingham?
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