TGWs Trip Adventures

[TGW Bahn]

Saturday 7th December 2019:
So I intended to start a thread consisting of trip reports when I first started using the site more often however I'm not always so good at sticking to things such as this however I have made a promise to myself to try and report every trip I do starting from one I did on the 7th Dec 2019 which was my 6th trip to Kent of the year!!

The day started with me boarding the 08:14 GWR service to Bath Spa formed of 800011 + 800022 which yes seems a little later perhaps but it was the earliest we were able to leave to head south towards Southampton Central and Cosham by meeting a Cardiff-Portsmouth service formed of 166219 + 165118 which took us on the long winded route all the way down to Cosham. It may have seemed random to alight here however my friend needed to shack it. We then continued to Emsworth which was a required shack for both of us and was where we were meeting another friend to accompany us. This was when things started to get a little dull; one GTR Southern 377 after the next and a few winners luckily.

Emsworth station, Hampshire

We then boarded the 11:12 GTR Southern service to Brighton formed of 377142 across the Southern Coastway all the way to Brighton for quick transfer to 377137 on the 12:30 to Hastings where we then alighted at Eastbourne to tick another shack. I have heard many positive reviews about Eastbourne and I may return here to explore the town itself. After yet another short transfer we boarded 377447 on a Ore service as far as Pevensey & Westham. This was a required shack and a rather picturesque, tranquil one at that with decent views in either direction.

The lovely Pevensey & Westham station with 377415 bound for London Victoria

171725 arriving into Bexhill ready to take us to Ashford International

After taking 377433 to Bexhill (another required shack with a bit of character) we then boarded 171725 on the 14:13 GTR Southern service to Ashford International via the Marsh Link Line. This is one of the few remaining Diesel only lines in the South East (others include Romsey to Eastleigh via Chandlers Ford, Uckfield Branch and Guildford to Redhill) and I like it for that very reason. We had roughly 20 minutes at Ashford International which was luckily enough time to see two Eurostar class 374 Velaros pass each other on the flyover next to the station. We then boarded the 14:33 Southeastern service to London Victoria via Maidstone East and Bromley South formed of two former GTR 377s. This was new track for me and upon arrival at Victoria, it now meant I had done almost every single rail route in Kent and Medway and nearly all of the SE network. The route via Maidstone itself wasn't particularly interesting however it was an achievement nonetheless.

After almost half an hour at Victoria (giving us enough time to grab a quick Maccies thanks to SE being early), we boarded 377622 on the 17:25 GTR Southern service to Horsham via Sutton and Dorking, more track clearance. The route from Sutton to Horsham via Epsom and Dorking was the new track and alas once again not very interesting however it had fallen dark at this point. We then had a brief wait at Horsham for our friend who had gotten off at Otford and gone via Peckham Rye to Blackfriars on a GTR Thameslink service before boarding our intended train at East Croydon.

377622 at Horsham after taking us from London Victoria via Dorking

377431 then took us from Horsham along to Barnham where we had a brief transfer (required shack for my friend) onto a train to take us to Chichester which was another required shack. After an entertaining game of guess the station while we passed the time, we took 377103 to Fareham where we were to meet our GWR service formed of 158798 + 158767 on the very last Cardiff service of the day which took us on a very long, dark and boring journey up to Bath Spa. We then met the very final GWR service to London Paddington from Bath formed of 800026 and 800029 which was full and standing thanks to a certain Christmas market as per with Bath at this time of year. We then got back to Chippenham just before 23:00 where we happily walked in and collapsed on our beds after what was a very long yet enjoyable day. More trip reports to follow...

 

[Techniquest]

Welcome to the trip reporting community!

Quite a bit of variety all in there, and I sympathise with the endless 377s, I still remember doing an all-stations 377 on the West Coastway route a good few years back and being bored something chronic. *bing-bong* "Welcome to the Southern service to..." so many times, and of course the announcement chime was heard so often with not only the welcome message but the 'now approaching' one and whatever else too. I heard it so often it became ingrained into memory!

One minor point though, Reigate to Redhill has had the third rail down for a good long while now, think Southern have an hourly London Bridge to Reigate service. Someone else will know better than me, probably the master trip report writer @Kite159

 

[sftfan1909]

It's okay, when you're done with track clearing in Kent you can go back via Barnham many more times and do all the shacks

Still not got over our tickets working in the Victoria barriers!

 

[Kite159]

One minor point though, Reigate to Redhill has had the third rail down for a good long while now, think Southern have an hourly London Bridge to Reigate service. Someone else will know better than me, probably the master trip report writer @Kite159

Half hourly Victoria - Reigate services these days, ones to avoid at the London end for only being single units off-peak

Sounded like a good trip to Kent, nice bit of variety. The best thing with the South Eastern 377/5s is one end is declassified first class so had plug sockets

 

[TGW Bahn]

Thank you and I do intend to clear to Reigate and shack it from Redhill without having to endure the boredom of Reading - Redhill on a Turbo which I have heard so many negative reviews about from friends. Still need to clear Blackwater to Redhill at some point though...

 

[TGW Bahn]

Thank you and I do intend to clear to Reigate and shack it from Redhill without having to endure the boredom of Reading - Redhill on a Turbo which I have heard so many negative reviews about from friends. Still need to clear Blackwater to Redhill at some point though...

Thank you and I do intend to clear to Reigate and shack it from Redhill without having to endure the boredom of Reading - Redhill on a Turbo which I have heard so many negative reviews about from friends. Still need to clear Blackwater to Redhill at some point though...

 

[TGW Bahn]

Half hourly Victoria - Reigate services these days, ones to avoid at the London end for only being single units off-peak

Sounded like a good trip to Kent, nice bit of variety. The best thing with the South Eastern 377/5s is one end is declassified first class so had plug sockets

Really?? Had no idea first class was declassified at one end. Will remember for next time!

 

[TGW Bahn]

It's okay, when you're done with track clearing in Kent you can go back via Barnham many more times and do all the shacks

Still not got over our tickets working in the Victoria barriers!

Oh yeah looking forward to all the inevitable via Barnham and Horsham trips in the pipeline. The ticket barrier thing was amazing and I can't get over it either.

 

[Techniquest]

Thank you and I do intend to clear to Reigate and shack it from Redhill without having to endure the boredom of Reading - Redhill on a Turbo which I have heard so many negative reviews about from friends. Still need to clear Blackwater to Redhill at some point though...

It's not the most exciting route to do, but it's also not too bad. More exciting than, say, Redhill to Tonbridge!

As for the ticket barrier thing, regardless of ticket type I never expect one to work so I know the feeling!

 

[TGW Bahn]

It's not the most exciting route to do, but it's also not too bad. More exciting than, say, Redhill to Tonbridge!

As for the ticket barrier thing, regardless of ticket type I never expect one to work so I know the feeling!

Oh yeah the ticket barrier thing was a miracle haha. None of us expected to go through. I've done Redhill to Tonbridge a few times but only ever in the dark so I've no idea really. I've done the North Downs Line from Reading only as far as Blackwater so I'll have to do the rest sometime.

 

[Techniquest]

Don't get me wrong, it's not exciting, but there's worse routes to do for dullness. Redhill to Tonbridge is incredibly dull regardless of when you do it, so I'd not rush to do it in the daytime! Good grief I've just realised it's almost exactly 11 years since I did that line on a Southeastern 375, back in the days Southeastern ran to Gatwick Airport!

 

[TGW Bahn]

Friday 13th, Saturday 14th, Tuesday 17th & Wednesday 18th December 2019:
I did partake in several rail journeys around the Somerset, Wiltshire and South Wales area with a FOSS (Freedom of Severn and Solent Rover 8 in 15 days) on both these days as well as a fun trip to the North West to clear some lines and try out some CAF Civities which are decent and a good solution to meet demand for Northern's capacity issues. More insight can be found from my friend's thread on those days so go check it out here as he does a very good job of it.

Monday 16th December 2019:
So the day started with awakening at a sensible time (pretty rare I know) to catch the 08:59 GWR service to Westbury which heads via Melksham. The issue was the FOSS Rover is only valid on weekdays after 9am however we thought staff would let it slide for 1 minute and we were right. After having 165122 (winner) with a nice guard down to Westbury where we luckily had a short connection to make for 09:33 Weymouth service which we stayed on as far as Upwey. I initially thought the wait at Upwey would be dull but it turned out to be quite the opposite when we met a lovely cat (sadly not Upwey station cat before anyone asks) who was very affectionate. With our hearts warmed in the quite cold damp weather we board the 11:07 SWR service to Wool.

"Upwey Station Cat" walking across the footbridge towards us

Once at Wool (dud shack for me), we headed into the so-called high street to the local Spar (gotta work with what you've got out here in the bush) for a quick snack and refreshments stop before heading back to the station which in fairness isn't an impressive looking station but serves a nice area. After eating sausage rolls and lemon cakes we boarded 444009 (winner) to Moreton which was another dud shack for me but not for my friend. Moreton can only be described as Wool but if you removed every facility from it leaving a couple shelters and a ticket machine; it's a rather desolate station with the place it serves being 1-1.5 miles away. Luckily we didn't have a very long wait here and soon boarded 444041 to Bournemouth.

444009 departs Moreton (Dorset) for Weymouth

After a quick changeover at Bournemouth we boarded the 13:18 SWR Waterloo service as far as Eastleigh in order to shack Hedge End for the first time. While at Eastleigh, another vital refreshments stop was required this time at Lidl and their lovely cheap bakery section. This killed nearly enough time before our train to Hedge End (yes usually Eastleigh is very exciting but because SWR are on strike half the services have been taken from it). 450087+450093 took us to Hedge End where we waited for about 5 minutes before taking 450050+450051 back to Eastleigh this time for a more lengthy wait. We managed to pass this time through chatting and seeing what turned up at Eastleigh before boarding 450031+450104+450063 on the 15:14 to Southampton Central.

Hedge End, a typical regional commuter station

Upon arrival at Southampton Central was sadly where everything started to go wrong. We had initially planned to visit all stations between St Denys and Fareham which were all doable but with a couple short connections. We sat on our 450 waiting to leave Southampton at 15:44 until we were told on the tannoy on board they were awaiting a driver for this service. We didn't know what to do so we stayed and waited on board as it got later and later. Soon enough the later we got, the less chance there was of doing all stations so after around 20 minutes of waiting still with no driver we ditched for the 16:10 GWR Cardiff service with the intention of shacking Kemble after transfers at Bath and Swindon. The 15:44 Fratton service did eventually leave Southampton around 35 mins late with a driver so we felt pretty smug changing our plans however the UK rail system wasn't done with us yet.

165134+166210 passing through Eastleigh from Fareham up to Salisbury on ECS

After the long winded journey to Bath Spa we alighted. We did initially have a longish wait so we left the station to grab a required maccies food stop before returning to see chaos with many delayed services including ours which was late enough to miss our connection at Swindon to take us to Kemble. The UK rail network had done it again!! At that point we decided to just head back to Chippenham for a more quiet evening in giving up on Kemble in the process. We would've had a 4 min connection at Kemble to return to Swindon anyway so maybe it was a good job we couldn't after how the rest of the day had gone...