Walking. Gossip. Travel.

Category: Railways

  • Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    The Prime Minister hadn’t quite made his latest announcement (or u-turn if you prefer) by the time that I was about to board the 13:30 Greater Anglia train back to Norwich from London Liverpool Street. But, when that statement was made, it was effectively saying that London was now entering Tier 4 and that from midnight the residents of the city shouldn’t leave the area. Things appear to have gotten worse with a new virulent strain of the virus, which is not ideal at all.

    There were reports in some elements of the media that there were huge flurries of Londoners rushing out to the countryside, although that appears to have been dismissed by the rail companies who said few trains were actually full. Either way, the train that I was on didn’t seem particularly busy, so I had a block of four seats around a table to myself for the journey. And, for those who note my annoyance on this matter when Stansted Express trains are pushed into service, this train did actually have tables. I bought my ticket over a week ago, another bargain priced £10 advance single fare.

    The most interesting part of the journey for me was annoyance at myself for either being asleep or not paying attention, I can’t remember which (and couldn’t at the time, so I was probably asleep) whilst pulling into what I think was Manningtree station. The driver made a furious announcement, although made professionally, that he had been forced to sound the train’s horn as he nearly hit a passenger’s bag which was being carried so near to the platform as to have actually been mostly off of it. The driver said several times, in excess of four, that the person responsible was a male, in carriage D and with a duffel bag. I was positively disappointed not to be in the carriage as otherwise I could have looked and tutted, to show my British displeasure, at this act of idiocy. I say idiocy, as that’s what the driver called it, along with other words.

    Anyway, I quite liked that the driver made his coffee order over the announcement system and that the refreshment team made one back, apologising for not having the biscuit he wanted. It was sufficiently light hearted to add some humanity back to the journey and I think it calmed the annoyed driver down.

    And here we are back in Norwich, on time and that really is the end of my travel for 2020. I didn’t think in early November that I’d be travelling again in 2020, but this twelve-night stay in London was worthwhile and interesting. What I’m more disappointed about now is that travel in early 2021 is looking effectively impossible. I’m likely to cancel my trip to Bilbao, whereas British Airways have already cancelled my trips to Lisbon and Dublin. I can’t imagine that I’ll be going to Inverness or Palma either, which are both in January, although haven’t yet been cancelled by British Airways.

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Norwich station now that travel has been opened up again, the 11:00 service to London. The railway station wasn’t particularly busy, but there were plenty of staff available. This was a £10 fare booked directly with Greater Anglia, but I only seemed to be able to get a ticket downloaded to my phone rather than a paper ticket.

    The train was ready and waiting on the platform, and, it still looks beautiful.

    And then I realised this is one of Greater Anglia’s Stansted Express trains, dumped onto the mainline between Norwich and London. I don’t like these trains as there are no tables, so people have to prop laptops and food on their laps and it just leads to drink spillages and people putting their feet on the seats. Unbelievably, or at least to me, Greater Anglia say the reason is “it makes the carriages feel very open and spacious”. I’m really not convinced that customers prefer it like this, but, even if Stansted customers hate tables then there’s always the risk that the trains get used elsewhere. Like on this journey.

    Anyway, moan over, I expect this was another one of Jamie Burles’s little ideas.

    The train remained pretty quiet until near London. As it’s the train from Stansted, there’s no buffet car, but there was a trolley service for customers. For the first time in months, the conductors are checking tickets again, which I think surprised a few customers. One didn’t have their railcard, but after much debate, the conductor decided that this wasn’t a problem. I’m not sure why he made it a problem in the first place, but I quite enjoy drama like that.

    And safely into London. The train broke down for 13 minutes at Diss, but they were able to make up much of that time, which annoyed me again as I was hoping for a delay repay claim, although it was handy to arrive nearly on time. Anyway, the next debacle then starts as Greater Anglia’s lovely new ticketing system doesn’t work, so there’s a queue of customers who have to have their tickets on phones checked manually by gate staff. Lesson learned for me, I’ll get a paper ticket next time…..

  • Rail Magazine and the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner

    Rail Magazine and the Amtrak Pacific Surfliner

    A letter from the Rail magazine issue of 18 November 2020 which is very hard to disagree with…. I’ve travelled that same journey from Los Angeles to San Diego, and the views are incredible as the train is effectively going merrily along the beach in places. But, landscapes aside, the Amtrak trains are spacious, better proportioned and there’s a more coherent set of snacks and meal options on board. But, there’s something rather lovely that guards welcome customers on board, they often seat them and remind me before their stop. I don’t mind the seats on the GWR trains, but these services have annoyed me with their insufficient staffing and seating on board (before the current restrictions were introduced).

    The rather beautiful train in San Juan Capistrano last year when I went back to Los Angeles…

    Anyway, perhaps it’s time that the next iteration of the railways in the UK is more like Amtrak. Amtrak needs new funding and expansion of its own, but at least it’s beautifully comfortable on board. Perhaps Amtrak Joe (the nickname of the new US President) might get going with providing funding to allow the reconnection of the Amtrak Sunset Limited line from Orlando to Los Angeles, which has been forced to start (or end, depending what direction you’re going in) from New Orleans since 2005 due to Hurricane Katrina.

    I do miss American trains…..

  • Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    The Prime Minister’s announcement at the weekend meant that I abandoned my travel plans for the month, and indeed the rest of the year, so this was my trip back to Norwich. It was another £10 fare even though I booked it quite late.

    It wasn’t the busiest of trains, just a few people in each carriage. Everything functioned as it was meant to, the power worked and this was a train with tables (Greater Anglia sometimes operate Stansted Express trains on the London to Norwich route, which are annoyingly missing tables).

    And back into Norwich at 23:30, just a couple of minutes late. The railway station was quiet, the barriers were open and I imagine there will be few passengers over the next month.

    At least the next few weeks gives me some time to finish all the blog posts that I never quite got around to writing over the last few months……

  • Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    Greater Anglia : Norwich to London Liverpool Street

    So, back to London Liverpool Street today, and this is my train having safely arrived into the capital.

    This wasn’t ideal when I arrived at Norwich railway station at 11:05, my train had been cancelled. I say not ideal, I wasn’t that displeased, as that means a delay repay gets triggered.

    I was travelling First today, which wasn’t some decision to switch to a more decadent lifestyle, but just because the price was pretty much the same as standard. I don’t think I’ve been in First on the new trains, they look all smart and tidy.

    The individual seats and I like these raised ones, there’s a ledge for my bag and also easily accessible power points. Despite the service having to cater for the 11:30 passengers as well as the 12:00 passengers from Norwich, it wasn’t overly busy.

    First class passengers get free snacks and drinks, so I merrily meandered to the cafe bar to collect my refreshments for the journey. There was a very friendly staff member at the cafe bar, although he told me something which I’ve suspected, which is that the InterCity 125s now removed from the route were more stable than the current new trains. He mentioned this as he was being flung about, as was I, and I can’t imagine how difficult it is to try and work like that. I had wondered if the trains were going faster and that was the problem, but he thought not. So, all that money and Greater Anglia have bought more rickety trains than the ones they already had.

    These new trains don’t really seem to be perfect in numerous ways, it was a train fault that caused the cancellation of my 11:30 journey. The automatic announcements also went wrong as it kept repeating that we were stopping at stations that we clearly weren’t (stations such as Goodmayes and Romford are not stops which this service ever calls at to my knowledge), which led to the driver (or guard, whoever does the announcements) having to clarify the situation. The train was though clean and all was comfortable.

    The fare for this journey was £18, more than the usual £10 that I pay. The train delay means that I get 50% back, so the journey cost me £9, which is entirely agreeable to me. So, all rather lovely.

  • Greater Anglia – Tier Map

    Greater Anglia – Tier Map

    This is a really useful map from Greater Anglia about which station is in what tier, but it’s no surprise that people are confused in the first place. Why is Southend this bastion of safety?

  • c2c : Basildon to Upminster

    c2c : Basildon to Upminster

    How beautiful Basildon’s railway station looks from the exterior…. It’s a relatively new railway station, opened in 1974 on an existing railway line to deal with the increasing number of people living in the new town of Basildon.

    I’ve seen more beautiful railway stations. I couldn’t buy this ticket on-line using GWR, who I usually purchase from (I get Nectar points), it said that the journey wasn’t valid. There must have been some timetabling issues, but I was able to buy a ticket from the machines as Basildon. It’s quite an expensive ticket at over £6 for the short journey, but there’s no other public transport that I can see that made this journey.

    The train wasn’t particularly busy and nor was it very clean either, with a fair amount of litter around. I’m entirely reliant on Wikipedia to work out what kind of train this is, but it’s apparently a Bombardier Electrostar Class 357.

    And arriving into Upminster on time. The train was getting a little busier by this point, although there were plenty of seats still available. From here, the train goes into London and arrives at Fenchurch Street in the city centre.

    Upminster railway station isn’t really the most beautiful in the world either, with this section of the station being added in 1932. The railway station itself though dates from 1885 when it was built by the London, Tilbury and Southend Railway.

  • Romford to West Brompton – TFL Rail and London Overground

    Romford to West Brompton – TFL Rail and London Overground

    My route early this afternoon was to get from Romford in east London to West Brompton in west London. Checking the TFL fare finder there are four possible prices for this journey.

    (i) Peak: £5.10 Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to 1900.
    (ii) Off Peak: £3.10 At all other times including public holidays.

    (iii) Peak: £2.80 Monday to Friday from 0630 to 0930 and from 1600 to 1900.
    (iv) Off Peak: £2.60 At all other times including public holidays.

    The first two fares involve going through central London, the second two fares involve going via the London Overground. I was before the peak time, but always ready to save 50p, I decided to go for that. But, during peak time, it would save £2 going the alternate route.

    The Romford roundel, with the colours of the Elizabeth Line, or, as most people will probably keep calling it, Crossrail.

    Until Crossrail is fully operational, so in about 71 years, TFL rail are running services between Romford (starting from Shenfield) and London Liverpool Street. This is the service which used to be run by Abellio, until it was switched in 2015.

    Inside the train, which has frankly seen better days. I’m not very good at train recognition, but I think it’s a Class 315, which were built by British Rail (when they weren’t busy closing stations) in 1980. The train was six minutes late in arriving, but there are trains every ten minutes, so it doesn’t make much difference. The train got busier as we got nearer to London.

    To get the cheaper fare, I couldn’t go into London Liverpool Street, I had to change at Stratford. This is easy enough, but it’s necessary to tap the pink oyster reader so that the system knows that you’ve switched to the Overground. You couldn’t really cheat this, as the TFL Rail train would arrive into the mainline platforms at London Liverpool Street and customers would have to switch to the underground, which would then be noted by the oyster readers.

    Here’s the Overground train at Stratford, I think a Class 378. My knowledge about this is very limited…..

    It wasn’t very busy to begin with, but it got a little busier over the route. I saw Grenfell Tower for the first time and then went to read the Guardian online who had just that moment put up a story about it. Very sobering and sad.

    And here we (well, me, no-one else would want to faff around like this) are in West Brompton, arriving 11 minutes late. It is possible to claim delay repay for these services if they are up to 30 minutes late, but I couldn’t get any money back on this occasion. Hopefully, and I shall find out tomorrow, I have been charged £2.60 for this journey. That is a decent fare for a distance of around 19 miles (measured in a straight line).

  • Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich

    This was the 22:30 back to Norwich from London Liverpool Street and it again had Stansted Express branding on the carriages and there were no tables, which isn’t exactly ideal.

    The train wasn’t particularly busy and there was plenty of space, making social distancing easy. The guard was clearly fuming at a group of lads who had walked down the train without masks on. She made that very clear with her lengthy announcement and she used some rather direct language to tell “the children” what she thought of them. And then there was soon another announcement telling the same group to get their feet off the seats as she could see them on CCTV.

    As I’ve mentioned before, it’s exciting to have a little drama and I was pleased that she was paying so much attention to what was happening on the train. It would have been easy for the guard to just ignore the situation of people not wearing masks and it must be hard at the moment as they’re not meant to walk up and down the train. The train was relatively clean, although it didn’t have First Class or a buffet car, which would be annoying for those people who had upgraded their tickets and now had to claim a refund back.

    Anyway, for £10 I got back from London to Norwich safely and on time, so it’s hard to complain too much about that.

  • Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich (with Bus Replacement)

    Greater Anglia : London Liverpool Street to Norwich (with Bus Replacement)

    And, here we are again, at London Liverpool Street with a rail service back to Norwich. Or, in this case, a service to Ipswich and a bus took me the rest of the way. I was placed to note that the toilets are back open at London Liverpool Street, all newly remodelled and still free of charge.

    The trains are announced much earlier than they used to be, half an hour before the departure time in this case. I was one of the first couple of people to board, as is evident in the above photo.

    The carriages were from the Stansted Express service, the 745/1 FLIRT cars, which I think are the same (with one caveat below) as the standard services from Norwich to London Liverpool Street. But, I don’t know my trains well enough to say (write) that with any certainty.

    One difference is evident inside, there are no tables at any of the seats and there is some extra space for cases. I don’t know why there are no tables, it’s a bloody nuisance, and I imagine it’s another one of Jamie Burles’s good ideas. There are though power sockets and everything worked as it should, with the train being clean and well presented.

    Another shot of the carriages. The service ran to schedule and the conductor seemed friendly enough in his announcements, although they kept breaking up. He said when we were near to Ipswich that the bus replacement service would depart from Platform 1, which entirely confused me. He changed this when we pulling into Ipswich to say that the bus service was now operating from outside the front of the station and this did make more sense. He’d probably had a long day. There were only two of us in the end carriage and although the other carriages were a little busier, it was still a relatively quiet service.

    I’ve moaned, indeed moaned quite a lot sometimes, about how bus replacement services can be really badly managed. Although at least there were staff around, unlike the little incident that Nathan and I had with Deutsche Bahn last year. This was really rather good, there were staff making clear announcements that customers going to Stowmarket and Diss needed to get a certain bus, with those going to Norwich needing another. All very clear. The service was operated by Wrights Coaches, who I haven’t heard of, and everything seemed professional with them.

    I think there’s a vague plan to try and get buses fitted with seatbelts when they’re used on bus replacement services, but there’s no such requirement at the moment. Ideally, perhaps, there would be. But, the bus was clean and not over-filled, it was all comfortable enough.

    And back safely into Norwich, four minutes ahead of schedule. The fare was the usual £10 (I say usual, it isn’t always that price, but it’s the price that I’m prepared to pay, so it’s become my usual) which I think is pretty decent value for money. The bus section of the journey is always a faff, but it was handled as well as it could have been, and full marks to Greater Anglia. Although they need tables on their trains, as I like them.