Mrs Track Basher announced that on Sunday 07^th March a trip to the Science Museum would be taking place. I very much enjoy the museum and particularly the transport section. The interactive kids section keeps our quite for hours. I personally think it is far superior to the Natural History Museum. We had been to both museums in the autumn of 2009 and did not fancy another one so soon. She then continues that number one son and I would not be required to attend. Though to self: “This means we could sneak an additional unplanned trip”.

Where to go? Sunday is not the best day for obscure routes as services on these are limited at the best of time and Sunday is mostly impossible. We could also travel down with the rest of the team. I also discover the first train along the South Wales Mainline is a bus, not a very good start, but it will be open in the afternoon.

Idea 1 – East Anglia

Travel to London with the rest of the team loop round Cambridge or Peterborough and back to London via Norwich. Travel back from London together. Engineering between Chelmsford and Romford and a bus service. Try again.

Idea 2 – Aylesbury

Alight at Reading and head for Banbury then Princes Risborough, Aylesbury and Marylebone. Engineering works and a bus between Oxford and Banbury. This is no good either.

Then the idea comes to me Barrow Hill Roundhouse, this is open to visitors on Sundays. I have

58012 + 58019 at Barrow Hill 20/06/87

I work out that I can kill some time by travelling via Bristol Temple Meads on the way out and we can manage a loop around Derby, Stoke and Birmingham in virtually the same time from Barrow Hill on the return.

I also make a check of the Plus Bus website and the Chesterfield scheme includes Barrow Hill and it is £2 for the add on. Bargain.

The Plan

The morning was bright and sunny but the very cold weather continued. Against my better judgement we had decided to go off on a trip on a Sunday. Sundays are notoriously bad for travel as the railway does not do a lot on a Saturday night apart from Network Rail coming out to polish the rails and not allowing those nasty trains that ruin the railway to operate, so that passengers can use them. When they have finished polishing the railway for some reason it doesn’t work properly and disrupts those nasty trains.

The first train of the day was actually a bus (planned) to Cardiff. Had this been in both directions we would have driven to Cardiff as this is not a fast way to travel. The roads are quite so we arrive in Cardiff on time and the bus is not too busy. The weather is bitter cold so we join the HST as far as Newport to keep warm rather than stand on the station.

At Newport we join our intended train to Bristol. It appears railway polishing is in full swing between Newport and Severn Tunnel and the train crawls along past the work losing time. The next leg of the journey is looking more and more dodgy. If the connection is not made at Bristol Temple Meads we might as well turn around and go home. The next train is 2 hours later and we will not reach Chesterfield in time to visit the Barrow Hill Roundhouse. A quick check of the timetable and we cannot change at another station and make a shortcut to Bristol Parkway, we have to stick with the plan and hope we make it. Once we clear Severn Tunnel Jn the train is away and we reach Temple Meads 3 minutes before the departure of our train to the East Midlands. That was close.

We are glad to be leaving the train as there is a massive crowd waiting to join, not sure it they will all fit on the 3 car 158. It would have been very cosy. The next train heads north making good time until we reach the home of congestion Birmingham and sit for a while at Five Ways. This stop is becoming more extended and after 10 minutes it becomes clear this is not just congestion. Then the announcement there is a points failure. Those railway polishers again! Taken it to bits and have not but it back together again properly.

It appears that since the removal of the shops from the Cross Country Voyagers I think they believe that their passengers have been replaced by camels. In the two and a half hours between Bristol and Chesterfield the trolley made one visit near Birmingham.

We sit 30 minutes then eventually head forward towards New St. On departure we are now 20 minutes late. This means the bus to Barrow Hill is again looking in doubt. We only have 20 minutes to find the bus stop and he train is 20 minutes late. This is not looking good.

We finally arrive in Chesterfield with 3 minutes to find the bus stop which is not at the station but in the town 8 minutes walk away (according to Traveline). Armed with the map printed from the Traveline website we go in search of the bus stop. The map showing the location of the stop is spot on and directs us to the correct location. We arrive at the stop 2 minutes after the bus is supposed to have departed. I also discover that number one son is more unfit than me, which is a surprise. We decided to give it 5 minutes before heading back to the station and seeking out a taxi. We are very lucky as a couple minutes later the bus comes round the corner.

37057+85101+83012+26007+81002 at Barrow Hill 07/03/10

I have done some research on reaching Barrow Hill and discovered that the Chesterfield Plus Bus ticket includes Barrow Hill. This costs us £2.00 for and Adult and £1.00 for the child ticket. This seems like good value as saves trying to find change for the bus.

We board the bus and I show the tickets. It appears that is you are in possession of a Plus Bus ticket this affords you the same welcome that would be given to a child murderer. Our tickets are scrutinised but are eventually accepted for travel after being asked our destination. The bus winds it’s way through a maze of streets in outskirts of Chesterfield and eventually I spot the entrance to the roundhouse and we alight at the next stop.

56006 + D213 at Barrow Hill 07/03/10

It has been nearly 20 years since I last visited and it was a British Rail depot at the time.

The shed is packed full of preserved steam and diesel locos. Regrettably the locos outside the shed cannot be accessed as the yard is fenced off. We can see some of them by climbing up the banking adjacent to the yard.

We enjoyed the visit but it would have been better if we could have access the cordoned off parts of the shed and yard.

An hour is more than enough time here to see everything and we return to the bus stop. It is good to see that we are given the same warm welcome on the return with our tickets.

We arrive back at the station this time after a more leisurely walk from the bus stop. We are supposed to be travelling on a Cross Country train but notice the destination is Penzance. There is an East Midlands train due 20 minutes in front of this. These are nicer trains so we join this train rather than packing onto the Cross Country service.

The next leg of the journey across to Stoke is uneventful and we arrive and await the train back to Bristol Parkway. This is the second Cross Country journey of the day and we join Camel Class unit as it is now called (you have to be one to survive without water) and are again treated to one visit of the trolley in another two hour journey. It is good to see that since the move to trolleys Cross Country are achieving consistent delivery across the country and the outward journey was not a one off.

The train arrives at Wolverhampton to a chaotic scene with a herd of orange jackets around a London Midland Class 323 in the north facing bay platform, to be more exact half in the bay platform. The station departure boards are similar to those in Die Hard 2 (the one at the airport) full of cancelled trains. A quick check of the Internet and all becomes clear. It appears the 323 is derailed and all the northbound trains are missing Wolverhampton. At least our train was running on time. This visit of the Internet had revealed another impending problem. Services were also disrupted between Cardiff and Swansea because of signalling problems and trains were replaced by buses and this is likely to continue for the remainder of the day. Great!

The train continued south and from Cheltenham progress as slow as the catering trolley until we stopped on the Gloucester avoiding line. Points failure! The railway polishers strike again. Time starts ticking away and so potentially does the forward connection from Bristol Parkway. This is not a good scenario number one son has school in the morning and we were on the limit of what would be allowed with a 21:43 arrival home. This is a little late but a rare occurrence so is considered to be OK as a one off. If the connection is missed at Bristol then that will be an hour later home and if it is also a bus from Cardiff we are looking at an arrival home of midnight. This will put us both well and truly in the dog house.

After about 25 minutes the train starts moving I estimate an arrival time in Parkway a couple of minutes after the train to South Wales has departed. A check of the Internet confirms this.

The driver however has a different idea and sets about the task of making up for lost time. Obviously he wants to get home tonight as well. A little further south and the Internet is now showing an arrival 2 minutes before the departure of the South Wales train. This is going to be close. It all depends which train is allowed to go first where the Great Western Mainline meets the line from Birmingham. Whichever train is allowed onto the junction will arrive and depart Parkway first.

We arrive at the junction and don’t even slow down it is greens all the way and it looks as though we are going to make it. We alight at Parkway and check the screens. South Wales train due in 2 minutes. That was close.

The Voyager leaves the platform and the First Great Western arrives right behind it. A trip to the buffet is in order for liquid refreshment. Since the arrival of Cross Country the names of great explorers have been removed. Perhaps these should be replaced by deserts to reflect the clientele expected to use the trains. Sahara Voyager doesn’t sound too bad.

The train arrives in Cardiff and I am expecting the dreaded announcement but it does not come and the train stops and continues westwards. The announcement then comes that the line has reopened and we will be going the booked route and no delay is anticipated. Network Rail have obviously been to B&Q and bought a new pack of 13A fuses and replaced the offending one. Either that or pressed Alt Ctrl Delete and restarted.

More by luck than good planning anything planned on this trip has worked, despite the railway’s best efforts we have managed to visit the places intended on the trains we intended. Living on the edge of your seat adds a little more spice to the day.

Another good day out and number one son got to see what trains looked like when loco hauled was the norm. He was most disappointed that he could not fill them in his 2009 Platform 5 combine as they were no longer in it being preserved. Never mind it was nice to see some old friends again even if they are not ploughing up and down the mainline.

Traction Log