It’s been a good while since I’ve done a trip report here, and this one may end up being more boring than the huge gap between them, infact I shall likely ensure it takes longer to read than the journey itself but alas we shall continue. The trains content is quite low compared to some reports from people, so if you’re after your fix of numbers, list of signals we travelled past or anything else like that then I believe this may not be the report for you.
The date is Monday 18th September and we’re still recovering from a busy festival season and turning equipment around into touring packages for the autumn and winter tours. It’ll soon be panto season I guess, (go on, tell me it isn’t) so the opportunity to go out and travel fades further away yet again. Thankfully, I can utilise our truly loved railway to attend some meetings up and down the country which will tell me that things are going to be exactly the same as 2022, 2021, (ok let’s ignore 2020) 2019 and most years before this. A fantastic selection of meetings nobody has time for that could have easily been achieved by Zoom (Other video conferencing platforms are available) or even by email. Of course, this has nothing to do with the railway, but we may get there shortly.
A forum meal has been arranged in Derby for this evening, and whilst I’m not booked to be at it due to work commitments the morning starts off pretty well and there is a glimmer of hope that I can catch a train from Mansfield to Derby with a change at Nottingham and make it afterall. This run of good luck isn’t to last long. A selection of farces occur during the day that puts me onto a later proposed itinerary that would miss the meal entirely. Of course, going to Derby to go home would be quite a terrible waste of time, I know, I lived there for 3 years back in the early 2000s. However, there is another reason for the trip.
The last ever Crosscountry HST service was making its way up the country from Plymouth with a final destination of Leeds, this was one reason for still going. Sadly plans were about to be changed again. A faulty piece of equipment (not ours) put me back by another 90 minutes and meant that things would be tight to get to Derby, I’d also have to get a taxi to Mansfield station as everyone else had left. A decision was made to scrape the leaves off my trusty spare car (A high mileage 59 plate Toyota Avensis D4D in dark metallic blue for those who simply couldn’t carry on without that information) and drive to my second closest station to home, Kiveton Park. Of course, now I’ve decided things would be a bit tighter getting to Derby by train I found myself with a couple of hours and decided it was time for a new pair of wireless earphones having lost the last pair that Sennheiser gave me as a gift. A brief trip to Currys in Worksop that had stock saw me wondering how some people manage to deal with life. Imagine being told your item is in stock for collection but to wait until you received a further email to say it was ready for collection. Now picture the looming closing time of the store getting closer and closer and no sign of the e-mail. The best course of action here is to defy their instructions and just go to the store anyway. Luckily my plan of rebellion played off, and they’d just suffered from a small amount of incompetence within the system / people setting up the system which essentially hadn’t been pushing messages through to them, apparently for several months now forcing them to look for messages, something they had in turn failed to do. However, as luck would have it, when I arrived at 1956 (an acceptable 4 minutes before closing) they were happy to go and get my item. A brief trip home (The wife was away in London) for a cup of tea and half an hour trying to get the new earphones to BOTH connect to my phone (I’m picky what can I say) and it was time to head to the station.
At Kiveton park I noticed the 2118 to Sheffield was running on time so sat in the car awaiting the lowering of the Level Crossing next to the platforms, a good indication that the train is 2 or 3 minutes away. I obtained a promise to pay from the machine there, I already had tickets form Derby that I wouldn’t be using so considered the railway to be winning even if the guard didn’t present themselves on the journey. Of course, the guard was nowhere to be seen as there was a Y in the day.
Arriving roughly on time into Sheffield station it became apparent that firstly I wasn’t the only person wanting to interact with this HST and secondly, it was running late. Fear not I thought for the Sheffield Tap, one of my favourite dwellings in Sheffield and surrounding areas is open and they’ll almost certainly have something worth drinking. Indeed they did and a pint of it was duly ordered at £6.30, luckily they had spare seats as I needed one after hearing the price.
Trains came and went and as time passed and the HST slipped further behind time more and more enthusiasts were milling around outside on platform 1. At this point I saw forum user TheBlackWatch who was also intending travelling on the service from Sheffield. He informed me that there were only 2 carriages acceptable to travel on due to them being original HST ones, the rest being converted MK3 stock, an attention to detail that might not interest me so much but I admire greatly. Around 2225 I made my way outside onto the platform trying to avoid as many cameras as possible and await the arrival of the train.
Shortly afterwards the din of enthusiasts augmented, and some lights in the distance confirmed that the train was here.
I always find it interesting traveling on this type of service, the mixture of enthusiasts and regular people just trying to get to where they’re going, the latter often baffled by what is happening around them. As this endless waffle of a report will explain, I am both a regular passenger and an enthusiast in this journey for I have multiple reasons to go to Leeds. After a short wait at Sheffield, the train leaves with an abundance of audible warning from the power car, something that had clearly been used to excess for the entire trip. I’m in a standard class carriage halfway down the train, and a little surprisingly it’s not full and standing. It’s late at night, and I guess a lot of people that may want to catch this train for its relevance in history have already done so, it’s due in to Leeds quite late so the options out of Leeds at that time that don’t involve a hotel are minimal. Onwards we go, passing through Meadowhall, another platform looking like an army surplus store that’s been invaded by 3 legged camera headed aliens. A young lady sat opposite me asks what all the fuss is about and goes on to ask “is this is a new train or something”. I think that question will remain with me and I hope anyone who hasn’t already given up reading my waffling for many a year. Is this a new train? Well, to sit on the seats, the ride in low noise comfort, to be able to charge your phone as you can on most others, to be able to get up and walk around, to be able to travel at 125 mph, anyone without the knowledge or interest could well be fooled into thinking the special thing about this journey was it’s a NEW train, not one that is retiring after over 40 years of faithful service.
The train slows and we branch off towards Rotherham Central, I seem to recall this service always does this, likely for route retention purposes, at least 1 per day goes via Barrow Hill between Sheffield and Chesterfield so I can only assume this is a similar procedure. Of course, nothing gets past the crowds of people, Rotherham Central sees dozens more line the platforms taking photos of something they wouldn’t have bothered with 10 years ago.
The young lady gets a camera bag to the face as a clumsy passenger races through the carriage in and attempt to get a photograph as we pass Swinton. Luckily unharmed, but no apology is given. A round of British Tutting ensues from other passengers, clearly fed up of the fuss by now and this seems to lighten the mood once more as we turn off towards Mexborough. That’s right, we also call via Doncaster. I suspect one of the other reasons this train isn’t popular with regular passengers is it is quite slow to Leeds so won’t show as the best option on a journey planner. I know where I’d rather be, probably at home with the wife, but given I am on a train lets choose the HST for the sake of argument.
A slow crawl into Doncaster is joined with the mumblings about crossovers and why the signaller was wrong to put us into the platform we were in (despite it being the booked platform and not causing any delay at all) and the young lady looks in horror as more camera bags with humans attached board the train. There is however a decent churn here and it feels like the service is quieter from here on (again likely due to the late night arrival times). Leaving Doncaster under the familiar sound of the HST horn we get on our way for the final leg up to Leeds. It’s getting a bit late in the day to be using the audible warning without due cause, a thought that went through my mind briefly until I realised it really didn’t matter. Some familiar faces on the train at this point, many making their own videos and memories. The guard heads through and reminds people not to steal things from the train, perfect timing as I’d just plugged my plasma cutter in to cut out one of the tables and sets of 4 seats, it’s worth noting that on the 13A socket there is no mention of plasma cutters so I can only assume they’re allowed.
A little while later we pull into Leeds to a platform full of people, cameras, wax jackets and Dictaphones and the journey for today ends. A quick wander to the front of the train for a photo before heading out of the station and a short walk down to my hotel for the night. I see the young lady from the seat opposite near the gateline, she has a red mark on her forehead from the camera bag, I suspect it hurt more than she let on. My Sheffield to Leeds paper ticket is rejected by the gateline but I’m let through by a member of staff who doesn’t even look at my ticket. Revenue protection at its finest presenting itself at Leeds on a Monday evening.
It's hotel time, it’s late and I have an early start, but I am hungry so choose a restaurant / takeaway under the railway bridge. It had mediocre at best ratings, so I knew it would be fast! Amongst the 3 people asking for free chips and one person arguing that their mushy peas were a different shade of green to normal the food was only marginally worse than expected.
The hotel, the Travelodge a few minutes from the station was as bland as usual, but reassuringly from the open window I could still hear the HST ticking over gracefully in the platform. Only a few minutes of joy as it then (again with lots of action from the horn, at midnight) left the station quite hastily and onwards to bed. A wise choice of destination thought I as I also called it a night and spent 4 minutes faffing around with the selection of pillows, sheets, duvets and what not to form something useful to sleep upon and within.
Day 2, Leeds to Wembley.
The morning starts early with the delight of being able to avoid the Travelodge breakfast, there’s just something about the orange juice in those machines, I’m convinced that it would glow in the dark.
Alas, my first job is a meeting in Leeds about a Pantomime we’re supplying equipment for in November. Not in Leeds, but for some reason this is where the meeting is. Complaining would be folly as yesterday’s journey was made possible by this.
The meeting is in the Double Tree by Hilton by the station, convenient, I’ve stayed there a few times, they give you cookies. Here endeth the review of that hotel. The meeting lasts 2 hours, everything gained from it could have been written on the napkin my breakfast roll was in, using the ketchup I didn’t use. I was semi thankful that we were provided with breakfast at the meeting despite it being somewhat below average.
How much drivel before there’s a train? Lots. Or maybe not. Today I have to get to London, Near Marylebone specifically, and then to Wembley at night where I’m staying. I have all day to do it, I don’t have to be in London until 1900, and I have a Super Off Peak Single between Leeds and Wembley Stadium at my disposal.
I walk from the meeting room in the hotel to the station, it’s 150 yards at this time of day. It’s worth noting that whilst it’s a great hotel, it’s not the quick journey to it from the station after 2200 as they close that exit and you have to walk all the way around. I won’t quite make the 1115 service to London, but this is ok, I’m not planning on heading there direct and a little bird tells me that the 1145 is a Class 91 and Mk4 set.
The little bird has sufficient timetabling knowledge and my first train is indeed a Class 91. the 1145 London King’s Cross service. But, only as far as Doncaster. It’s 91110 for those who care, I only know this due to recognising the paintwork.
Alighting at Doncaster I go for a small wander to pick up a few snacks and a drink for what is likely to be a long journey to London. A copy of the metro is also in order so I can remind myself how bad I am at really easy crosswords.
My next train is the 1250 EMR service to Peterborough, via Lincoln. It’s a 2 hour journey on a Class 170, what’s the worst that can happen? Well, it seems the worst that can happen is it’s a 170 with the “first class section” at the end replaced by 2+2 seating.
A member of LNER staff boards the train and sits in the opposite window with what appears to be the Sectional Appendix or something similar. Route learning I suspect for the diversions. The EMR guard is friendly and needs nothing more than a “I’m going the long way as I have nothing better to do” explanation for my presence on his train. He sits a while and talks to me and the LNER staff member about how many fights he gets into on his trains and what colourful language he has to put up with. Gainsborough Lea Road, Saxilby and Lincoln all pass without incident, though the train fills up a bit from Lincoln it’s still barely half full.
All goes well, and being able to listen to a selection of podcasts on my new earphones is going great.
Sadly for some people, as Sleaford station approaches, and a farce ensues. There’s a broken down train in the platform we want so we have to wait to crossover the other track into Platform 1. Some people want the Nottingham train, ordinarily a valid connection, now made easier by being cross platform. Sadly despite the discussions from passengers to the guard the combination of EMR staff and Signallers were somewhat unwilling to consider a 30 second dwell time for the Nottingham train and closed the doors as ours opened leaving people stranded for an hour. What’s more, there had been zero announcement at the station to suggest the Peterborough train would now depart from Platform 1 instead of Platform 3, so nobody got on our train here, and Platform 3 had a couple of dozen people who looked dismayed from a distance as we gracefully departed without them.
Onwards to Peterborough where we arrive in reasonable time. I have a zoom meeting that I don’t want to be part of but probably should from 1500 to 1600 so decide to head to the Brewery Tap a few minutes walk from the station for a drink and a quiet seat out of the way of the other 1 and a half patrons in there at that time of day. My meeting completes at around 1605 and I head back towards the station for my next train. Is it a train to London? I hear you ask, of course not.
The 1620 Cross country service to Cambridge awaits and I’ve even got a reserved seat. I don’t sit in it however as someone is already in it and the 2 opposite are unreserved and vacant. It’s a busy train but runs more or less to time. Another 170 of course. A lady opposite old enough to have Latin as her first language uses her telephone to play a game. I am not sure what the game is called but I can only suspect the primary aim of the game is to destroy the loudspeaker in your telephone as brutally as possible, something she, by now must have done. When we add this to the lady halfway down complaining quite angrily to her energy supplier about being cut off again, the child screaming because they couldn’t get off the train whilst it was moving (a rule that has a justification I was struggling to see at this point) it did very much sound like a fire in a pet shop in Carriage C. Alas, there was a reasonable churn at Ely and much of this noise turned into the general conversation until Cambridge.
At Cambridge there was just enough time to use the facilities, check whether a Leeds to Wembley Stadium Single works the barriers (it does!) and board the 1724 Thameslink service towards London.
Time is ticking away now and that hour and a bit dwell at Peterborough has given me no room for much delay if I’m to arrive at my meeting place for 1900. A change at Farringdon is in order, and what an excellent change it was. Off at the right door, up the 3 steps and onto the right train to take me to Baker Street. A quick walk to our meeting place sees a somewhat avoidable debacle unfold. The venue (The Thornbury Castle) is closed for refurbishment, we haven’t booked, it’s a simple meeting between 6 or 7 of us, so nobody had thought to check the venue. Of course, when we do check their website it shows that they are open as usual on a Tuesday so we’d have been no better off. A quick conflab sees me suggesting my Marylebone backup pub the Sir John Balcombe, a few minutes walk away. It’s busy, but we grab a table and a half and deal with all matters musical.
They have Hawkstone Lager here, I’m not a lager drinker but I thought I should try it to see what the fuss was about. The fuss is justified in my opinion, a very nice drink. Nearly £8 though so I settle for an alternative on the next round.
A group of around 50 people turn up who have booked the downstairs room here, the downstairs room doesn’t have a capacity of 50 and some back and forth heated discussion goes on between staff and the group. Eventually they all just leave and the pub goes back to normal. That is with the exception of the drunken gentlemen who is slowly pushing the large centre table further and further towards the bar whilst singing. If I hadn’t met Ed Tudor Pole some years ago I’d have likely mistaken this chap for him.
After a while it is time to leave and get my last train of the day. The 2044 Chiltern Railway service as far as Wembley Stadium. I board the train and sit in the declassified first class section at the back. The lights are off in here, and I’m ok with that. As departure time approaches a couple more people come into the darkened section, and several more open the doors and decide against it. Shortly before departure the lights come on and we all get to see what eachother looks like, it could have been a game show, mostly as game shows are typically horrendously boring. The short trip to Wembley Stadium is uneventful, apart from on approach the doors to this section do not open from the inside. Thankfully a trusty close wave of the sensor in the ceiling panel makes them open just enough to get my fingers in to open the door fully. Upon seeing this, the other person that wasn’t getting off here decided to move.
My hotel for the night was the Ibis at Webley Stadium, a required hotel for me if I was ticking them off, my wife had been in London for a couple of days so I joined her in the hotel after we went out for dinner. The Accor range of hotels offer a better selection of benefits for businesses than the Premier Inn next door, though at a similar height (14 floors) the Premier Inn has 4 lifts, and the Ibis has 2, with one out of order. Needless to say we had to follow Rob’s Busy Lift rule number 1 : “When it’s busy, if I lift arrives, get in. It will go to your floor eventually." My wife had kindly saved the “Free drinks” we get at the hotel so we took those to the room on floor 14.
Trains travelled on in the last 2 days : 7 and 1 S stock. Words to tell you lot that, nearly 4000. It’s almost as inefficient as the railway itself!
Day 3 : The journey home.
My wife had parked at Chorleywood Station on Sunday so a simple trip on the Metropolitan line was all that was needed to get back to the car to drive home. Or was it? Of course not, why would it be that simple? Nothing was going to Amersham, but there was no indication as to why that was and no help from staff when asked. In the end we opted to get to Harrow on the Hill and change to a Chiltern service to Chorleywood. The amount of time waiting around we’d have been quicker to have gone into Marylebone and back out again.
An appalling driving condition lay ahead for my wife but we successfully made it back to my place of work where I was dropped off to start the working day, all be it at around 3pm for a few hours before driving home.
But, that doesn’t make sense with cars? Indeed, that’s why I used my trusty spare car to go to Kiveton Park. It remained there in the car park for just over 3 weeks until I got chance to go and collect it. I considered leaving it there as a car at Kiveton would be a very useful thing, but it’s also useful to have at work.
For those that have read this far, why? But also Thankyou. Your boredom must know no bounds. Maybe I’ll get chance to do a few more reports at some point, I can’t guarantee the train : sarcasm ratio will change much though.
Tickets Purchased :
Promise to Pay from Kiveton Park to Sheffield.
Derby to Sheffield: Off-Peak Day Single at £13.80 (Unused)
Sheffield to Wakefield Westgate/Kirkgte: Off-Peak Day Single at £12.30
Wakefield Westgate/Kirkgte to Leeds: Anytime Day Single at £4.90
Leeds to Wembley Stadium: Super Off-Peak Single at £71.50
1 x TfL journey between Wembley Park and Chorleywood.
The date is Monday 18th September and we’re still recovering from a busy festival season and turning equipment around into touring packages for the autumn and winter tours. It’ll soon be panto season I guess, (go on, tell me it isn’t) so the opportunity to go out and travel fades further away yet again. Thankfully, I can utilise our truly loved railway to attend some meetings up and down the country which will tell me that things are going to be exactly the same as 2022, 2021, (ok let’s ignore 2020) 2019 and most years before this. A fantastic selection of meetings nobody has time for that could have easily been achieved by Zoom (Other video conferencing platforms are available) or even by email. Of course, this has nothing to do with the railway, but we may get there shortly.
A forum meal has been arranged in Derby for this evening, and whilst I’m not booked to be at it due to work commitments the morning starts off pretty well and there is a glimmer of hope that I can catch a train from Mansfield to Derby with a change at Nottingham and make it afterall. This run of good luck isn’t to last long. A selection of farces occur during the day that puts me onto a later proposed itinerary that would miss the meal entirely. Of course, going to Derby to go home would be quite a terrible waste of time, I know, I lived there for 3 years back in the early 2000s. However, there is another reason for the trip.
The last ever Crosscountry HST service was making its way up the country from Plymouth with a final destination of Leeds, this was one reason for still going. Sadly plans were about to be changed again. A faulty piece of equipment (not ours) put me back by another 90 minutes and meant that things would be tight to get to Derby, I’d also have to get a taxi to Mansfield station as everyone else had left. A decision was made to scrape the leaves off my trusty spare car (A high mileage 59 plate Toyota Avensis D4D in dark metallic blue for those who simply couldn’t carry on without that information) and drive to my second closest station to home, Kiveton Park. Of course, now I’ve decided things would be a bit tighter getting to Derby by train I found myself with a couple of hours and decided it was time for a new pair of wireless earphones having lost the last pair that Sennheiser gave me as a gift. A brief trip to Currys in Worksop that had stock saw me wondering how some people manage to deal with life. Imagine being told your item is in stock for collection but to wait until you received a further email to say it was ready for collection. Now picture the looming closing time of the store getting closer and closer and no sign of the e-mail. The best course of action here is to defy their instructions and just go to the store anyway. Luckily my plan of rebellion played off, and they’d just suffered from a small amount of incompetence within the system / people setting up the system which essentially hadn’t been pushing messages through to them, apparently for several months now forcing them to look for messages, something they had in turn failed to do. However, as luck would have it, when I arrived at 1956 (an acceptable 4 minutes before closing) they were happy to go and get my item. A brief trip home (The wife was away in London) for a cup of tea and half an hour trying to get the new earphones to BOTH connect to my phone (I’m picky what can I say) and it was time to head to the station.
At Kiveton park I noticed the 2118 to Sheffield was running on time so sat in the car awaiting the lowering of the Level Crossing next to the platforms, a good indication that the train is 2 or 3 minutes away. I obtained a promise to pay from the machine there, I already had tickets form Derby that I wouldn’t be using so considered the railway to be winning even if the guard didn’t present themselves on the journey. Of course, the guard was nowhere to be seen as there was a Y in the day.
Arriving roughly on time into Sheffield station it became apparent that firstly I wasn’t the only person wanting to interact with this HST and secondly, it was running late. Fear not I thought for the Sheffield Tap, one of my favourite dwellings in Sheffield and surrounding areas is open and they’ll almost certainly have something worth drinking. Indeed they did and a pint of it was duly ordered at £6.30, luckily they had spare seats as I needed one after hearing the price.
Trains came and went and as time passed and the HST slipped further behind time more and more enthusiasts were milling around outside on platform 1. At this point I saw forum user TheBlackWatch who was also intending travelling on the service from Sheffield. He informed me that there were only 2 carriages acceptable to travel on due to them being original HST ones, the rest being converted MK3 stock, an attention to detail that might not interest me so much but I admire greatly. Around 2225 I made my way outside onto the platform trying to avoid as many cameras as possible and await the arrival of the train.
Shortly afterwards the din of enthusiasts augmented, and some lights in the distance confirmed that the train was here.
I always find it interesting traveling on this type of service, the mixture of enthusiasts and regular people just trying to get to where they’re going, the latter often baffled by what is happening around them. As this endless waffle of a report will explain, I am both a regular passenger and an enthusiast in this journey for I have multiple reasons to go to Leeds. After a short wait at Sheffield, the train leaves with an abundance of audible warning from the power car, something that had clearly been used to excess for the entire trip. I’m in a standard class carriage halfway down the train, and a little surprisingly it’s not full and standing. It’s late at night, and I guess a lot of people that may want to catch this train for its relevance in history have already done so, it’s due in to Leeds quite late so the options out of Leeds at that time that don’t involve a hotel are minimal. Onwards we go, passing through Meadowhall, another platform looking like an army surplus store that’s been invaded by 3 legged camera headed aliens. A young lady sat opposite me asks what all the fuss is about and goes on to ask “is this is a new train or something”. I think that question will remain with me and I hope anyone who hasn’t already given up reading my waffling for many a year. Is this a new train? Well, to sit on the seats, the ride in low noise comfort, to be able to charge your phone as you can on most others, to be able to get up and walk around, to be able to travel at 125 mph, anyone without the knowledge or interest could well be fooled into thinking the special thing about this journey was it’s a NEW train, not one that is retiring after over 40 years of faithful service.
The train slows and we branch off towards Rotherham Central, I seem to recall this service always does this, likely for route retention purposes, at least 1 per day goes via Barrow Hill between Sheffield and Chesterfield so I can only assume this is a similar procedure. Of course, nothing gets past the crowds of people, Rotherham Central sees dozens more line the platforms taking photos of something they wouldn’t have bothered with 10 years ago.
The young lady gets a camera bag to the face as a clumsy passenger races through the carriage in and attempt to get a photograph as we pass Swinton. Luckily unharmed, but no apology is given. A round of British Tutting ensues from other passengers, clearly fed up of the fuss by now and this seems to lighten the mood once more as we turn off towards Mexborough. That’s right, we also call via Doncaster. I suspect one of the other reasons this train isn’t popular with regular passengers is it is quite slow to Leeds so won’t show as the best option on a journey planner. I know where I’d rather be, probably at home with the wife, but given I am on a train lets choose the HST for the sake of argument.
A slow crawl into Doncaster is joined with the mumblings about crossovers and why the signaller was wrong to put us into the platform we were in (despite it being the booked platform and not causing any delay at all) and the young lady looks in horror as more camera bags with humans attached board the train. There is however a decent churn here and it feels like the service is quieter from here on (again likely due to the late night arrival times). Leaving Doncaster under the familiar sound of the HST horn we get on our way for the final leg up to Leeds. It’s getting a bit late in the day to be using the audible warning without due cause, a thought that went through my mind briefly until I realised it really didn’t matter. Some familiar faces on the train at this point, many making their own videos and memories. The guard heads through and reminds people not to steal things from the train, perfect timing as I’d just plugged my plasma cutter in to cut out one of the tables and sets of 4 seats, it’s worth noting that on the 13A socket there is no mention of plasma cutters so I can only assume they’re allowed.
A little while later we pull into Leeds to a platform full of people, cameras, wax jackets and Dictaphones and the journey for today ends. A quick wander to the front of the train for a photo before heading out of the station and a short walk down to my hotel for the night. I see the young lady from the seat opposite near the gateline, she has a red mark on her forehead from the camera bag, I suspect it hurt more than she let on. My Sheffield to Leeds paper ticket is rejected by the gateline but I’m let through by a member of staff who doesn’t even look at my ticket. Revenue protection at its finest presenting itself at Leeds on a Monday evening.
It's hotel time, it’s late and I have an early start, but I am hungry so choose a restaurant / takeaway under the railway bridge. It had mediocre at best ratings, so I knew it would be fast! Amongst the 3 people asking for free chips and one person arguing that their mushy peas were a different shade of green to normal the food was only marginally worse than expected.
The hotel, the Travelodge a few minutes from the station was as bland as usual, but reassuringly from the open window I could still hear the HST ticking over gracefully in the platform. Only a few minutes of joy as it then (again with lots of action from the horn, at midnight) left the station quite hastily and onwards to bed. A wise choice of destination thought I as I also called it a night and spent 4 minutes faffing around with the selection of pillows, sheets, duvets and what not to form something useful to sleep upon and within.
Day 2, Leeds to Wembley.
The morning starts early with the delight of being able to avoid the Travelodge breakfast, there’s just something about the orange juice in those machines, I’m convinced that it would glow in the dark.
Alas, my first job is a meeting in Leeds about a Pantomime we’re supplying equipment for in November. Not in Leeds, but for some reason this is where the meeting is. Complaining would be folly as yesterday’s journey was made possible by this.
The meeting is in the Double Tree by Hilton by the station, convenient, I’ve stayed there a few times, they give you cookies. Here endeth the review of that hotel. The meeting lasts 2 hours, everything gained from it could have been written on the napkin my breakfast roll was in, using the ketchup I didn’t use. I was semi thankful that we were provided with breakfast at the meeting despite it being somewhat below average.
How much drivel before there’s a train? Lots. Or maybe not. Today I have to get to London, Near Marylebone specifically, and then to Wembley at night where I’m staying. I have all day to do it, I don’t have to be in London until 1900, and I have a Super Off Peak Single between Leeds and Wembley Stadium at my disposal.
I walk from the meeting room in the hotel to the station, it’s 150 yards at this time of day. It’s worth noting that whilst it’s a great hotel, it’s not the quick journey to it from the station after 2200 as they close that exit and you have to walk all the way around. I won’t quite make the 1115 service to London, but this is ok, I’m not planning on heading there direct and a little bird tells me that the 1145 is a Class 91 and Mk4 set.
The little bird has sufficient timetabling knowledge and my first train is indeed a Class 91. the 1145 London King’s Cross service. But, only as far as Doncaster. It’s 91110 for those who care, I only know this due to recognising the paintwork.
Alighting at Doncaster I go for a small wander to pick up a few snacks and a drink for what is likely to be a long journey to London. A copy of the metro is also in order so I can remind myself how bad I am at really easy crosswords.
My next train is the 1250 EMR service to Peterborough, via Lincoln. It’s a 2 hour journey on a Class 170, what’s the worst that can happen? Well, it seems the worst that can happen is it’s a 170 with the “first class section” at the end replaced by 2+2 seating.
A member of LNER staff boards the train and sits in the opposite window with what appears to be the Sectional Appendix or something similar. Route learning I suspect for the diversions. The EMR guard is friendly and needs nothing more than a “I’m going the long way as I have nothing better to do” explanation for my presence on his train. He sits a while and talks to me and the LNER staff member about how many fights he gets into on his trains and what colourful language he has to put up with. Gainsborough Lea Road, Saxilby and Lincoln all pass without incident, though the train fills up a bit from Lincoln it’s still barely half full.
All goes well, and being able to listen to a selection of podcasts on my new earphones is going great.
Sadly for some people, as Sleaford station approaches, and a farce ensues. There’s a broken down train in the platform we want so we have to wait to crossover the other track into Platform 1. Some people want the Nottingham train, ordinarily a valid connection, now made easier by being cross platform. Sadly despite the discussions from passengers to the guard the combination of EMR staff and Signallers were somewhat unwilling to consider a 30 second dwell time for the Nottingham train and closed the doors as ours opened leaving people stranded for an hour. What’s more, there had been zero announcement at the station to suggest the Peterborough train would now depart from Platform 1 instead of Platform 3, so nobody got on our train here, and Platform 3 had a couple of dozen people who looked dismayed from a distance as we gracefully departed without them.
Onwards to Peterborough where we arrive in reasonable time. I have a zoom meeting that I don’t want to be part of but probably should from 1500 to 1600 so decide to head to the Brewery Tap a few minutes walk from the station for a drink and a quiet seat out of the way of the other 1 and a half patrons in there at that time of day. My meeting completes at around 1605 and I head back towards the station for my next train. Is it a train to London? I hear you ask, of course not.
The 1620 Cross country service to Cambridge awaits and I’ve even got a reserved seat. I don’t sit in it however as someone is already in it and the 2 opposite are unreserved and vacant. It’s a busy train but runs more or less to time. Another 170 of course. A lady opposite old enough to have Latin as her first language uses her telephone to play a game. I am not sure what the game is called but I can only suspect the primary aim of the game is to destroy the loudspeaker in your telephone as brutally as possible, something she, by now must have done. When we add this to the lady halfway down complaining quite angrily to her energy supplier about being cut off again, the child screaming because they couldn’t get off the train whilst it was moving (a rule that has a justification I was struggling to see at this point) it did very much sound like a fire in a pet shop in Carriage C. Alas, there was a reasonable churn at Ely and much of this noise turned into the general conversation until Cambridge.
At Cambridge there was just enough time to use the facilities, check whether a Leeds to Wembley Stadium Single works the barriers (it does!) and board the 1724 Thameslink service towards London.
Time is ticking away now and that hour and a bit dwell at Peterborough has given me no room for much delay if I’m to arrive at my meeting place for 1900. A change at Farringdon is in order, and what an excellent change it was. Off at the right door, up the 3 steps and onto the right train to take me to Baker Street. A quick walk to our meeting place sees a somewhat avoidable debacle unfold. The venue (The Thornbury Castle) is closed for refurbishment, we haven’t booked, it’s a simple meeting between 6 or 7 of us, so nobody had thought to check the venue. Of course, when we do check their website it shows that they are open as usual on a Tuesday so we’d have been no better off. A quick conflab sees me suggesting my Marylebone backup pub the Sir John Balcombe, a few minutes walk away. It’s busy, but we grab a table and a half and deal with all matters musical.
They have Hawkstone Lager here, I’m not a lager drinker but I thought I should try it to see what the fuss was about. The fuss is justified in my opinion, a very nice drink. Nearly £8 though so I settle for an alternative on the next round.
A group of around 50 people turn up who have booked the downstairs room here, the downstairs room doesn’t have a capacity of 50 and some back and forth heated discussion goes on between staff and the group. Eventually they all just leave and the pub goes back to normal. That is with the exception of the drunken gentlemen who is slowly pushing the large centre table further and further towards the bar whilst singing. If I hadn’t met Ed Tudor Pole some years ago I’d have likely mistaken this chap for him.
After a while it is time to leave and get my last train of the day. The 2044 Chiltern Railway service as far as Wembley Stadium. I board the train and sit in the declassified first class section at the back. The lights are off in here, and I’m ok with that. As departure time approaches a couple more people come into the darkened section, and several more open the doors and decide against it. Shortly before departure the lights come on and we all get to see what eachother looks like, it could have been a game show, mostly as game shows are typically horrendously boring. The short trip to Wembley Stadium is uneventful, apart from on approach the doors to this section do not open from the inside. Thankfully a trusty close wave of the sensor in the ceiling panel makes them open just enough to get my fingers in to open the door fully. Upon seeing this, the other person that wasn’t getting off here decided to move.
My hotel for the night was the Ibis at Webley Stadium, a required hotel for me if I was ticking them off, my wife had been in London for a couple of days so I joined her in the hotel after we went out for dinner. The Accor range of hotels offer a better selection of benefits for businesses than the Premier Inn next door, though at a similar height (14 floors) the Premier Inn has 4 lifts, and the Ibis has 2, with one out of order. Needless to say we had to follow Rob’s Busy Lift rule number 1 : “When it’s busy, if I lift arrives, get in. It will go to your floor eventually." My wife had kindly saved the “Free drinks” we get at the hotel so we took those to the room on floor 14.
Trains travelled on in the last 2 days : 7 and 1 S stock. Words to tell you lot that, nearly 4000. It’s almost as inefficient as the railway itself!
Day 3 : The journey home.
My wife had parked at Chorleywood Station on Sunday so a simple trip on the Metropolitan line was all that was needed to get back to the car to drive home. Or was it? Of course not, why would it be that simple? Nothing was going to Amersham, but there was no indication as to why that was and no help from staff when asked. In the end we opted to get to Harrow on the Hill and change to a Chiltern service to Chorleywood. The amount of time waiting around we’d have been quicker to have gone into Marylebone and back out again.
An appalling driving condition lay ahead for my wife but we successfully made it back to my place of work where I was dropped off to start the working day, all be it at around 3pm for a few hours before driving home.
But, that doesn’t make sense with cars? Indeed, that’s why I used my trusty spare car to go to Kiveton Park. It remained there in the car park for just over 3 weeks until I got chance to go and collect it. I considered leaving it there as a car at Kiveton would be a very useful thing, but it’s also useful to have at work.
For those that have read this far, why? But also Thankyou. Your boredom must know no bounds. Maybe I’ll get chance to do a few more reports at some point, I can’t guarantee the train : sarcasm ratio will change much though.
Tickets Purchased :
Promise to Pay from Kiveton Park to Sheffield.
Derby to Sheffield: Off-Peak Day Single at £13.80 (Unused)
Sheffield to Wakefield Westgate/Kirkgte: Off-Peak Day Single at £12.30
Wakefield Westgate/Kirkgte to Leeds: Anytime Day Single at £4.90
Leeds to Wembley Stadium: Super Off-Peak Single at £71.50
1 x TfL journey between Wembley Park and Chorleywood.
