HOME | LAST 100 POSTS | CONTACT ME

Category: Railways

  • SNCF Train from Nantes to Le Mans

    SNCF Train from Nantes to Le Mans

    I meandered towards Gares de Nantes complaining to myself about the heat and preparing for my rail journey to Le Mans, the reasoning for all that is explained here. It’s a little odd as there are station buildings both sides of the tracks, although they’ve built a lovely new aerial walkway now to connect them together.

    The station hall and I’m not entirely sure that I knew that there was a Pret a Manger in France, although I did know about the ones in Germany and the United States. It nevertheless provided a reassuringly familiar landmark, although I resisted buying a filter coffee as I already had enough thermal difficulties as it was.

    This is the aerial walkway over the platforms. The design is modern and open, but it also gave the railway station something of a heat problem. They’d effectively created a municipal greenhouse and, to be honest, I did find that arrangement a little sub-optimal.

    This heat problem was being resolved by having several of these dotted around the place and I enjoyed standing near to one of them to reduce my core body temperature to something that was compatible to continued life.

    I took a photo of the railway tracks whilst I was standing in front of one of the fans.

    I then went to the other part of the railway station as there was a Carrefour there, so I acquired a 1.5 litre bottle of Pulp, which is effectively their own brand cheap Orangina.

    Down to the platforms and there were ticket barriers at the top of the escalators, but they were turned off and the staff were checking tickets before boarding.

    The train was relatively cheap, costing about £8 to get between Nantes and Le Mans. The service is operated by Ouigo classique trains and they’re using old SNCF Intercity trains to keep them in use and to have a lower price option. This train was going all the way to Paris and seat reservations, to my mild annoyance, were compulsory.

    The trains were dated, but clean, although I prefer more upright seats in carriages. There were power points placed erratically down the carriage and one is visible on the other side, but I had to make do without any.

    This carriage was literally the end of the train with nothing on the other side of that door at the rear. The temperature on board the train was moderate, not freezing cold as I would want, but also sufficiently cool that I wasn’t annoyed.

    The bike storage facilities.

    It seems almost archaic that in the UK until only a few years ago the trains from Norwich to London (and vice versa of course) could only be opened by lowering the window glass and then reaching out. The door handle here was on the inside, but passengers could roll down the window if they wanted. Incidentally, I was glad that another passenger opened the door and they struggled despite seemingly knowing what to do.

    And safely into Le Mans. I felt that the service was keenly priced and sufficiently comfortable for the journey that I was making, but these trains are tired despite the modernisation that has been attempted on them. But, the journey went quickly, my phone coverage was strong throughout and I arrived on time.

  • National Express Coach and Greater Anglia Train from Luton Airport to Norwich

    National Express Coach and Greater Anglia Train from Luton Airport to Norwich

    The late night arrival of my flight meant that I knew I’d have to stay at Luton Airport for a couple of hours and then cross over to Stansted Airport by coach before getting a direct train to Norwich. That was the cheapest option and Pret was clean, warm and had power points. Thanks to the staff member for giving me a decadent coffee for a price of a filter coffee, much appreciated.

    I was very tempted to book this, all I would have to do is go through security and then a few hours later I’d be in the great city of Tallinn. I showed enormous restraint not to book this £8.99 flight as it would have been easy to get muddled up.

    I went outside to look at the coach station and it was still there.

    The Stansted Airport coach pulls in.

    It was a slightly odd arrangement, the driver said hello and disappeared into the coach. He seems surprised I was still obediently waiting at the door a few minutes later and he didn’t bother checking tickets. This rather made the whole operation feel less like formal transport and more like a man with a coach had agreed to take us somewhere broadly useful, but I’m easy going (well, generally) and so I didn’t query him.

    I have a theory that National Express is going into a permanent decline, this service was a third full and was one of the busiest I’ve been on in a while. I looked at some of their prices, and they’re charging ridiculous amounts in some cases where they have a monopoly. That’s great for a while, but Flixbus is going to steal that trade and I can’t see how they’ll get it back. National Express also have fiercely uncomfortable seats with very limited leg room, it’s fortunate that they do shuttle about nearly empty a lot of the time. Incidentally, I didn’t get my usual emergency exit row seat here, which is likely why I forgot about how poor the leg room was in the other seats. Nothing says ‘premium national transport network’ like quietly folding a passenger into a seating position not found in nature, but we shall see what the future holds…..

    Safely at Stansted Airport.

    I had a few hours to kill so I went looking for bargains and found some in Boots. Note the number of reduced prawn sandwiches which is either a sign of my impeccable timing or a troubling commentary on airport seafood confidence.

    Another breakfast of champions. The quality of Boots Meal Deal has declined a lot over the years, that’s another example of greed and then noticing that rivals have stolen a march on them. Still, it was edible, portable and reduced, which is sometimes the holy trinity of travel catering.

    I then went down to Stansted Airport’s railway station to get the direct rail service to Norwich. There were no delays which meant no delay repay, but at least I’d be getting home in a timely manner. Punctuality is good, but it’s also rather lovely to have a little financial gesture when things go slightly wrong.

    It was relatively quiet all the way to Norwich.

    Cambridge South had opened the previous day and it was rather lovely to see it in operation, even if only from the passing train, which is exactly the sort of niche infrastructure excitement that keeps my two loyal blog readers on edge.

    I, and the rest of the train, arrived back into Norwich on time and that’s another journey finished. I may or may not post more random stuff about the trip, I’ll leave that as a surprise because suspense is important in travel writing.

    Incidentally, it was too hot in Norwich when I arrived.

  • Newport to Bath Spa Rail Journey

    Newport to Bath Spa Rail Journey

    I accept that these blog posts are entirely out of order. I particularly mention in the chronology sense with that statement I’d better hasten to add. I’m going to post what I can today and then move on to my current trip and I am unanimous in that… This is the sort of firm editorial control my two loyal blog readers have come to expect, assuming they are still trying to work out why I was apparently in three places at once.

    Anyway, this is Newport railway station which I think is quite an ugly building, but each to their own as I’m sure that some thought that it was a bold modern transport experiment.

    The station opened as Newport High Street in June 1850 and is on the mainline between Bristol and Cardiff.

    This was my first train, the GWR service from Newport to Bristol Parkway.

    I was pre-annoyed as it required me to have a seat reservation and, as I’ve mentioned before, I don’t like them. Invariably someone will be sitting in the seat or there’s some other inconvenience, so I’d rather sit where I want. Anyway, I boarded the train, which was going to London, and just sat where it said there was no reservation. It transpired that the train’s reservation system was down so it didn’t matter anyway and this no doubt annoyed the people who did want to have a reserved seat, which is one of the pleasingly democratic qualities of British rail travel, namely that eventually everyone gets disappointed.

    Crossing the River Usk at Newport.

    Safely at Bristol Parkway. I went off to look at an old church at this point, I’ll come back to that another time. Although this is how the blog chronology collapses, one church and one railway platform at a time.

    Back at Bristol Parkway, this station opened in 1972, although it was heavily modernised in 2001.

    Many people come to look at this plaque noting the unveiling of the new platform by Chris Grayling, then the Transport Secretary and now in the Lords, in April 2018.

    I found a Tesco when church hunting so that was lunch sorted. Note all that fruit. I mention this because it gives the whole arrangement a faintly healthy glow, even if the broader dietary context of my travels may not withstand close academic scrutiny.

    The GWR train to Bath Spa turned up six minutes later and I wondered whether Delay Repay would kick in, but they got the train back on track so to speak.

    This train wasn’t overly busy and GWR hadn’t burdened themselves by cleaning it.

    Playing music loudly from his phone and feet wiped on the seats numerous times. The train guard didn’t say anything, although I hardly blame the staff as they don’t want the risk of being attacked. I limited myself to silent disapproval, at which I am becoming increasingly professional.

    And safely into Bath Spa railway station, although it was rather harder to leave it later in the day.

  • Bath – Closure of Bath Spa Railway Station

    Bath – Closure of Bath Spa Railway Station

    It’s not entirely optimal to approach a railway station and see that it’s a bit shut and there are people milling about outside.

    It either meant that someone famous was there or the bloody railway network had broken again.

    It soon became apparent that this was another Network Rail debacle.

    But, having noted that, I like a bit of drama in my life. I am not seeking genuine peril, civil disorder or an unscheduled night on a station concourse. Just a little deviation from the norm, that sort of thing.

    The difficulty was that I did actually want to get to Swindon, which is perhaps not a sentence people write very often. Indeed, most people spend their lives trying to avoid needing to get to Swindon, and yet here I was, standing outside a closed railway station, regarding it as a cherished destination.

    At least I could see the entrance now, it’s a bit like seeing a lifeboat on a slightly sinking ship.

    The police told people not to push, although by trying to hear what they were saying they pushed forward. Fortunately, I am sufficiently well built that it is quite hard to push me very far. I have many flaws, but being easily displaced in a railway related crowd is apparently not one of them.

    There was more vibrancy to the arrangement at this stage. By vibrant I mean a combination of confusion, annoyance and the need for signage.

    So near and so far from entering….

    I was let through soon after this and was rather pleased as I did need to get to Swindon at some point as it was getting late and there was no alternative way of getting there as taxis were over £125 and there weren’t any buses. Praise to the British Transport Police and the station staff who were doing their best to manage the crowds and entry onto the platforms with some rather difficult circumstances.

  • Bristol Clifton Down to Newport Rail Journey

    Bristol Clifton Down to Newport Rail Journey

    After leaving Bristol Craft Beer Festival it was the railway station of Clifton Down that was the most convenient to depart from. I was heading to Newport as accommodation in Bristol was too expensive and the savings on hotel prices by staying in Wales more than made up for the rail fare, so a handy bit of financial prudence. The entrance to the railway station is a little tucked away in a car park, it’s not the grandest of approaches that I’ve ever seen.

    The frontage is a little better.

    The railway station opened in 1874 as part of the Clifton Extension Railway with the preceding station being Sea Mills and the following station being Redland. The railway station was particularly useful for the nearby Bristol Zoological Gardens and that formed a helpful part of its traffic during its history, although the zoo closed in 2022.

    The railway station buildings that were here have now been closed for passengers, but there is access from the other side and it’s now used as a pub named Steam.

    The train arrived several minutes early and, as usual, I was standing at the wrong end of the platform. This is one of my more consistent railway skills. I also had to stand, as the station has not burdened itself with providing much seating on this platform, presumably to keep passengers alert and characterful.

    On board the train that took me to Bristol Temple Meads.

    And the delights of Bristol Temple Meads. I didn’t have long to make the connection so I couldn’t meander around for long and I’ve taken enough photos of this railway station before. I like the GWR benches though.

    I’m 6’0″ and for the many people taller than me, these seats just don’t have enough space. But, there are power outlets, so that will just have to do as I don’t want to sound like I’m always complaining but that ship (well train) may have already left the platform….

    After leaving the tunnel, we were safely sweeping through Wales.

    I was staying overnight in Newport but had to leave again early in the morning, so I didn’t get chance to have a little look at Newport Castle. Next time….

    And this is Wales. It was then only a two minute walk to Travelodge, which is very handily located for the railway station. Everything was on time which gave me a limited time to enjoy Newport, but the early start meant that I could head to God’s own city of Bath.

  • Heathrow to London Luton

    Heathrow to London Luton

    Another post for the sake of completion, so there were no major dramas getting from Heathrow to Luton. It was rather odd that I was staying around twenty metres from the country’s major airport and had decided to fly from Luton Airport. Such is the lure of the £8.99 Wizz Air flights. Geographical inconveniences don’t concern me though…..

    It was raining so I decided against walking the one hour to Hayes and Harlington railway station.

    I don’t find buses very exciting, but this was a handy option which only took around ten minutes. I also appreciate that bus content is not traditionally where great travel writing finds its highest expression, but there we go.

    I remember when this was all fields…. Well, I remember it before it was on the Elizabeth Line and it had this fancy frontage anyway.

    I might not love buses, but I do like trains and here’s the Elizabeth Line train sweeping in. I got the train into Farringdon to complete a little task involving free food and then decided that I’d walk the 30 minutes to King’s Cross St Pancras as the rain had stopped. I’m a natural athlete me, albeit one whose sporting career is mostly based around refusing to pay for short tube journeys.

    The delights of St. Pancras, a really rather beautiful shopping centre with some train lines.

    Platform 1 was the train to Corby and that would get me to London Luton Airport Parkway in under 30 minutes. I would add that the rail fare was £4.20 which is rather decent value for money I think bearing in mind I only booked it yesterday.

    One day I’ll find getting trains boring, but for the moment, it still excites and delights.

    In crawls the train…

    I don’t like five seats across as I don’t think trains were originally designed for this, but anyway, it wasn’t that busy. I also provided a free tourist service to the guy who was trying to get to Luton and I didn’t once ask him why he wanted to go to Luton which I think showed considerable restraint and perhaps even personal growth.

    Still the worst managed railway station in the country in my view, but I won’t labour that point as I might have drivelled on several times before about it.

    I walked the twenty minutes to Luton Airport and passed by the Vauxhall building, now closed down and staffed only by security teams and guard dogs.

    And safely at London Luton airport.

    And the longest queues which I’ve seen at London Luton, although, to be fair, I was still through in under 25 minutes and I was hardly in a rush as I had, once again, arrived five hours early for my flight. I can imagine that my two loyal blog readers can hardly contain themselves with excitement for the next post….

  • Norwich to Heathrow (Skopje Trip)

    Norwich to Heathrow (Skopje Trip)

    I set off for Heathrow yesterday as there was a cheap offer advertised by Accor and, naturally, I hadn’t formed any other plan. This is what travel looked like before people insisted on having itineraries, aims and a vague sense of personal responsibility. Anyway, here’s the train to Stansted Airport which departed on time and without issue. There was no driver until one minute before departure and I was slightly hoping for a delay repay, but it wasn’t to be. I’d add at this stage that there isn’t any fascinating content in this post (not that there usually is), but I like a complete write-up for my own memory. And, imagine, a future historian might query why civilisation failed and they might discover the answer from this blog.

    Safely in Cambridge.

    There was a six minute connection time to get the Great Northern train to King’s Cross and it took me four minutes to cross Cambridge railway station so anyone with accessibility issues would have likely missed it.

    Setting off and the train remained relatively quiet, which made it easier for all the people with seats to keep them there. These trains, similar to Thameslink, don’t have power points but I do like the ironing board seats, although I seem to be about the only person who does.

    I always like arriving into King’s Cross, it’s a beautiful station.

    And safely into Hayes and Harlington railway station using the Elizabeth Line. There’s a decent fair from Norwich to here, it came in at £12 which felt rather reasonable.

    I thought I’d pop to the Botwell Inn, the JD Wetherspoon operated pub located near to the railway station. This real ale went back, it was vinegary on the taste, but the manager was quick at checking it and replacing it. Actually, the manager was very good in general, this always feels like a well-run pub and real ale based issues are inevitably going to occur.

    The replacement beer was the Wolf of the Woods from Twickenham Fine Ales with a biscuity, toffee and nutty taste to it. It also cost only £2.39 a pint which is the usual bargain price from the chain.

    I decided that it might be useful to actually plan my week at this stage, since it was already Sunday evening and I had no idea where I was going. I do know that I needed to be back in Bristol for Friday morning, so I needed a plan to get there cheaply. I decided on a route via Skopje, booked the flights, trains and National Express, ready now for the craft beer festival. I mentioned a few days ago that this is one of the countries that I haven’t visited, so it felt a wise choice.

    Given that I was lingering here, I paid £6.39 for the steak pudding with chips and that included the Guinness 0%. It’s not exactly going to surprise and delight those who like fine dining, but it’s hard to complain too much at that price.

    It was an hour walk to the hotel and this time I decided to have a look at the church in Harlington for the first time, but more of that in a separate post as I don’t want some ecclesiastical masonry interfering with this post.

    Back at the Heathrow Ibis hotel which I’ve stayed at numerous times before. The reason I stayed here is that with the Accor offer it came to £13 for the night, which I thought was reasonable.

    I also get my free welcome drink and here are some of the options.

    Not Magners, but the Eazy from Camden Town Brewery which is growing on me, it’s got flavours of orange, it’s hazy and it’s quite intriguing. That is a pint glass, it’s just that the chair the other side of the table is unusually large.

    A room. This blog really doesn’t fail to delight with riveting content…. But, I arrived here with a plan for the week and that felt like an achievement in itself.

  • Hanover to Dortmund with FlixTrain

    Hanover to Dortmund with FlixTrain

    I used FlixTrain for the first time a few weeks ago primarily for the experience, but I found myself this time needing to use them as an affordable option to get from Hanover to Dortmund. Hanover railway station is dated and sub-optimal in numerous ways, not least the complete lack of seating for the number of passengers. However, the station is run by Deutsche Bahn, an organisation not always known for arranging its operations around the emotional well-being of passengers, so my expectations were already sensibly low.

    Deutsche Bahn wanted around £40 for the train from Hanover to Dortmund, but fortunately the FlixTrain service was more affordable.

    The city’s first railway station was built between 1845 and 1847, but a grand new building was constructed in 1879. Unfortunately, this was mostly destroyed by air raids during the Second World War and a less impressive railway station was built in its place, although this was heavily modernised in 2000.

    I could see the hotel room where I stayed the previous evening. At this point I used the toilet facilities at the railway station, but that arrangement is getting its own blog post. And you can see the extensive seating facilities for passengers in action.

    The FlixTrain sweeps in.

    There were carriages that were something like 1, 2, 3, 100, 5 and 6, with my carriage being 100 so it wasn’t entirely clear where along the train it would be. However, the signage on the train is good and I soon found my seat.

    The seats are comfortable, the tray table is of a decent size and it was all relatively clean. There are no power points on the train, but it’s all a perfectly reasonably set-up for the money.

    It wasn’t a particularly busy service and it all ran to a near enough schedule.

    There’s plenty of space for bags and I still quite like their wavy ceiling arrangement.

    And safely into Dortmund, for the third time this year.

    Overall, I thought that this service represented decent value for money and was a good budget option. Deutsche Bahn was just too expensive, although the German railway network offers unlimited regional travel for around £60 that I’m jealous of, so that makes them better value for money for locals. Deutsche Bahn can certainly benefit from competition and FlixTrain certainly does that, so I’m very glad that they’re there.

  • Hamburg to Hanover Train

    Hamburg to Hanover Train

    After a slightly sub-optimal rail journey from Lübeck to Hamburg, I had a thirty minute wait before taking another train from Hamburg to Hanover.

    I haven’t been to Hamburg for some years and I’ve forgotten whether I ever visited the railway station, but it feels modern and functional.

    The station was busy and lacking in obvious seating, but at least my train was operating nearly to time.

    The 21:28 was my train and it was a joint service between the Swiss and German rail networks. I was a little confused as it was stating that NJ741 required a reservation and IC60471 didn’t, but it transpired that reservations were only needed for those crossing over into Switzerland. As reservations were around £5 on top of the ticket, I hadn’t bothered getting one as I like a little uncertainty in life.

    I did wait in the queue to ask the Deutsche Bahn information desk about the reservation system, but they were overwhelmed and understaffed so I gave up after around ten minutes.

    The train arrives which was a promising development for those of us who had invested emotionally in whether we had a seat.

    I had wondered if I’d get a seat as I hadn’t reserved a ticket, but I found this seat by a table and power point, so I was content and felt that I was in a civilised location.

    These two seats were reserved and they changed hands over ten times as there was chaos with people confused over reservations. I didn’t much care, I had my seat, but the system is clearly flawed somewhere.

    I felt that the reservation system was clear, but there we go….

    There was a family of four here and I was quite worried as they, along with half the carriage, were told off by the guard and had to pay more. I don’t know what was happening, maybe they had the monthly pass that was for regional trains only. I showed my ticket and the guard looked pleased, so that was a relief as there are few pleasures in life greater than being judged administratively adequate by a German train guard.

    And safely in Hanover, the first time that I’ve visited this city. All told, I was very pleased with the whole journey, the train was clean, the service was friendly, the ticketing was clear and I was very happy that Deutsche Bahn got me in on time. It wasn’t the cheapest ticket at around £20, but that wasn’t unreasonable. After the earlier journey between Lübeck and Hamburg, arriving in the right city at the right time and with no need to sit on a staircase felt almost decadent.

  • Lübeck to Hamburg Train

    Lübeck to Hamburg Train

    I’m very jealous of the offer on German rail that passengers can get unlimited regional travel by trains for around £60 a month. The German rail system is routinely dreadful, but this is a scheme that I would very much like in the UK. At the moment, £60 feels like it would get me a seat at 23:07 to get from London Liverpool Street to Norwich, there’s so much more that we can do.

    It’s a rather lovely looking train, it’s operated as Deutsche Bahn Regio Schleswig-Holstein.

    This is the same, or similar, to the regional trains in Italy and I was thinking that I would be making a rare very positive post about German rail. At this point a conductor came on and threw everyone off with some considerable rudeness, so he was having an altercation with another passenger. I wonder sometimes whether Deutsche Bahn has some sort of commitment to making passengers suffer to some degree, but perhaps that’s being unfair.

    They decided to half the length of the train and although I’m sure that they didn’t do that to annoy me although it did show impressive dedication to that principle. It also made the service rather cramped, but here’s the confirmation that we were off to Hamburg though.

    There was no seating available, other than in the empty First class section, so people made themselves comfortable on the steps. On a different matter, I found a seat and had access to a power point, so my nerves were calm.

    This is the First section that remained empty during the journey, theoretical comfort in action…

    Unfortunately, a large number of football fans from FC Hansa Rostock boarded and put hundreds of stickers up around the train. But, they also abused women who took refuge upstairs where I was. Other passengers consoled them, because there were no staff to be seen anywhere, which is always reassuring when the train has developed the atmosphere of a lightly mobile police incident. The fans’ game was also to try and shake the train so it was hardly the most comfortable of journeys for many passengers.

    Anyway, this wasn’t a long journey and it was only just over an hour to get to Hamburg. I suspect that if I had selected the train before then the whole experience would have been very different, but this felt like a typical train journey on Deutsche Bahn. I’m pleased to say that the next leg of my journey on Flix Train was considerably better. I’ll just have to go back to Germany and take more rail journeys and I’m sleflessly very willing to do that for this blog.