Following the success of the Lymington trip number one son was keen to hit the network again. The problem is he cannot decide where he wants to go. After much indecision I suggested East Anglia. The idea was to do a loop around the country out via Birmingham and return via London. Birmingham is not the easiest place to access from South Wales so Abergavenny was looking like the best option. There is an opportunity to get number one son a short section of missing track (Worcester Foregate St – Droitwich Spa). We would then head across country to Norwich then back to London and an evening rush hour at Bethnal Green. This will be a first for number one son he has never been collecting numbers in the rush hour in London. Is he in for a shock. He though Cardiff was busy.

We will then head back to Euston, Crewe and back to Abergavenny.

What was planned as a circular tour has turned into a figure of eight.

The Plan:

The more I looked at the plan the more I could see problems. After further consideration it was time for a rethink. There was little point starting at Abergavenny as this was causing a considerable diversion to get back there in the evening and this was eating into the time in London. The trip had originally been planned for Friday so a trip on the Class 90 train from Euston on the 18:46 to Preston was going to be the train home however we had had to move to Thursday and this train does on run.

The basic idea for the day was good so the trip was recast starting at Neath. This meant that more time could be spent at Bethnal Green and now enhanced to include a short journey on South Eastern High Speed and Docklands Light Railway. This plan made a much better use of time.

The Final Plan:

Thursday 03 June 2010

When the alarm went of at 05:00 it was light and bright sunshine starting to appear. It was still cool but had the hallmarks of turning into a very hot summer’s day. We were not to be disappointed as the day was hot and sunny all day.

The first two legs between Neath and Bristol Parkway and on to Birmingham are uneventful. Cross Country have improved of late with the last few journeys trolleys have navigated their way through the train rather than no catering provision at all earlier in the year.

Arrive at Platform 9A looking for the 09:22 to Stansted but no train was present. 09:22 came and went but sadly the train did not. This was not good news as the next connection was only 4 minutes in Cambridge. The train arrived shortly after 09:22 and it was a very quick turn around with a 5 minute late departure fortunately this had been recovered by Nuneaton. The National Rail Enquires twitter feed was showing delays on the route between Cambridge and Liverpool St (via Seven Sisters) due to overhead cable damage. This should not affect us as we were not travelling over this route and it is expected to be sorted by early afternoon. This did become our problem at Ely as the previous London bound train was delayed and the passengers boarded our 2 car Class 170. This situation was not ideal as the passengers took some time to board and the train was packed like sardines. There was a possible fallback plan in the event of running late we could get off at Ely and have about 30 minute wait then catch the train we were intending to travel on from Cambridge. However with this amount of passengers boarding it was impossible to leave the train. As it transpired this was not a good decision to stay on until Cambridge.

317340 at Cambridge 03/06/10

The train left Ely a couple of minutes late so this gave us 2 minutes at most to make the connection in Cambridge. Fortunately we went straight into the platform still allowing us time to change and make the connection. After managing to get off the train we eventually found a display screen that worked to discover the 12:12 to Norwich was cancelled. This is not what I had expected to go wrong. Had we alighted at Ely we could have travelled to Norwich on an East Midlands train this was not now an option.

We were directed to the 12:33 back to Ely for Norwich. Time to get the timetable out of the bag! Having checked the timetable the arrival in Norwich would have been 14:13 too late to catch the 14:00 to London and if we continued it would have to be the 14:30 and would eliminate the hour at Bethnal Green. A revised plan was required. A scan of the departure board and there is a 12:43 to Ipswich. A further check of the timetable and we could have 40 minutes in Ipswich and catch the same train we would have caught from Norwich. This seems like a good plan so we go for it.

12:43 comes and goes and again the train doesn’t. It arrives a few minutes later and leaves 5 minutes late. This is one of National Express East Anglia’s finest Class 153s, the interior is clean and tidy which is a stark contrast to the exterior which is not. It looks as though the train had not been near a carriage washer for a considerable time. With the bright sunshine on the windows you could not see out. Not good if you want to watch the scenery go by.

Arrival at Ipswich is on time and a pleasant 40 minutes is spent sat in the sun watching train arrivals and departures.

90012 arrives at Ipswich 03/06/10

The London train arrives on time but loses time all the way to London and arrives 15 minutes late. It is just a quick hop to Bethnal Green in an attempt to fill number one son’s book full on numbers.

Fifty minutes is spent watching the trains pass by while catching a suntan. Not sure if you are still allowed to do this these days, there is probably an EU directive preventing you sitting out in the sunshine, but no Health and Safety people came and said you are damaging you skin irreparably by standing in the sun. We don’t get the sun much in the UK so we enjoyed it while it was available.

After 50 minutes and several pages of numbers one son’s notebook as bulging so we headed back to London. St Pancras is a wonderful new station there is one problem. Ryan Air must have had an input to the design at some stage. The tube station has the same name as the mainline station in the same way that you have London Stansted Airport. They both have the name of the place you want to go in them but they are actually nowhere near each other. It is quite a hike from the underground station at St Pancras to the South Eastern platforms. On the tube I had an idea we could change at Farringdon and catch Thameslink to St Pancras as these platforms are underneath the domestic platforms saving the walk across the station. This plan works well.

395012+395017 at Stratford Intl 03/06/10

A brief trip on the high speed to Stratford, this is not the most scenic journey as it is virtually all in tunnels under London. The next task is to search for the bus to the “Regional” station. This is my first visit to the new station and it is in a very SNCF style, or lack of it. Concrete and wide open spaces. We follow the signs for DLR and walk out of side entrance to the station straight into a massive building site and makeshift signs directing is to the “Regional” station. In the middle of security gates, building site and associated construction machinery there is a temporary bus stop with a couple of red London busses. We board the bus and are taken on a circular tour  of the athletes village building site and are dropped of virtually where we started. This will obviously be much quicker once the access is built between the two stations. More than likely scheduled for completion in 2013 shortly after the Olympics.

We are dropped off adjacent to the new North London Line platforms and manage to find the Docklands Light Railway more by luck than good signage. The DLR is worth a visit you can sit right at the from of the train as you pass along the railway. The train automatically navigates the maze of tracks. The first part of the track is single line with passing places and the trains arrive from both direction at the same time and pass each other like clockwork. This railway is an amazing system and more amazing that something like this has been built in the UK the home of cheap and nasty. It shows what is possible with the right level of investment.

The journey is soon over as the train arrives in Lewisham. We head back to the station the long way round as the signage has again defeated us. It appears that South Eastern are having a bad day and the departure screen is a sea of delayed and cancelled trains. We head for what we think is going to be the first departure and are proved correct but then see the following train go over the top of us at St John’s. It is then a further attempt to fill number one son’s already bulging notebook with more numbers from 20 minutes spent at London Bridge.

The time is getting the better of us and it is time to seek out our train home. After a hop on the train to Charing Cross it is Bakerloo Line to Parrington. Paddington is as usual the home of chaos. We head out the station to find something tasty to eat. We once again fail in our search so end up with McDonalds. On returning to the station the train still has no platform assigned. It then appears on the screen as Platform 4 so we go through the barrier and sit on the train. As we are sat there we then get approached by a member of staff who asks where we are travelling to. He then says this is not the Swansea train. We head back to the concourse and the train we had boarded becomes the Plymouth train and the Swansea is now delayed. At departure time it appears as Platform 9. There is then a stampede across the concourse to the train. That was a close call, nearly ended up heading to Plymouth.

It is than a slightly late departure and a relaxing trip home. Number one son is exhausted but had a bulging notebook with numbers potentially waiting to be underlined. That will keep him quite for ages.

Today had not been entirely successful but still an enjoyable trip.

Time to look at the next trip following the railtour on the 26^th without number one son.

The Revised Plan: