Warley Model Railway Exhibition takes place in one of the halls in the NEC in Birmingham. Myself and number one son had visited in 2008 and had thought it was quite a poor show. It had had good reviews in the past, so not put off by the experience last year a trip to the 2009 show is arranged. It had been decided to drive in 2008 because of the limited train service on Sunday morning. Number one son was not as keen last year in the number collecting so this was the best option, but in 2009 he would rather go by train in the hope of collecting further new numbers.

In 2009 the Sunday train service has improved considerably compared to last year with no long term engineering works on the South Wales mainline so it is looking more promising. Arriva are also running earlier and more frequent train on a Sunday morning on the line to Shrewsbury from Abergavenny. It is all looking good. An early look at the timetable looks like this is going to be easy.

A check of www.nationalrail.co.uk nearer to the time shows that engineering work has taken over the route. Best laid plans and all that!

Choices are limited with buses appearing between Newport and Bristol Parkway and Cheltenham and Birmingham. This is getting a bit tricky. This leaves two possible options travel via Reading or Shrewsbury to avoid the bus journey. Neither of us are fans of rail replacement buses.

The Shrewsbury route is selected as this is much cheaper.

The Plan:

Sunday 22 November 2009

The weather was very windy and very heavy rain showers continuing the theme of flooding over this weekend.

67012 Wolverhampton 22/11/09

The first leg of the journey is 10 minutes late but this is not a problem as it will just reduce the wait time at Shrewsbury. Snacks taken in the station buffet in Shrewsbury. A nice selection of cakes available which is unusual for lemon tree.

Joined the Wrexham and Shropshire train as far as Wolverhampton. This was our first trip on a refurbished set. The lighting is much better than a Standard MkIII coach but I am not sure about the décor as the charcoal seat covers make the interior appear dark. I cannot decide if I like this refurbishment or not.

On arrival at Wolverhampton we had to cross to the new platform 4 as the following Arriva train was arriving as the Wrexham and Shropshire train departed. Dashed up the footbridge to cross over to discover a wall and no bridge across the track. Went back down onto platform 3 to try and work out how you get to platform 4. You have to go to the North end of the station and cross the new footbridge. Just about get to the train in time, then sit down to recover from running.

The model railway exhibition is much improved this year and has been worth the visit. Finished a little earlier than planned so have a ride on a Virgin 390 to Wolverhampton then pick up the train we should have caught.

The remainder of the journey is un eventful and we arrived home on time.