Author: frpaulharrison

This will cover two days, namely the 19/20th September. On the Wednesday I was booked on the 11am from London St Pancras to Sheffield. The day began well. I got the front seat on the Docklands Light Railway

I duly arrived at St Pancras station, I never to be amazed by the station, even if its more of a shopping mall in places.

I got on to my train to Sheffield a class 222. On this service I was asked to produce my senior rail card, which is in my missing or stolen wallet. I did manage to waffle my way out of it. I only got away with it as it was a single ticket. It was a close call especially as I could have been asked to pay the full fare.

My onward journey was onto York. Once again I was asked for my rail card. This time the conductor was satisfied with my online account details. As we approached York, I got a hint of the problems that lay ahead. The train, which was due to go to Newcastle, was terminated at York as trees had blocked the line in the Durham area. At York there was an air of chaos as it became obvious that nothing could go north of Darlington. I was expecting a long wait for my train back to London. However it was not as long as I feared. An additional train was put on, I was only delayed by about 15mins or so.

The next day I was due to travel to Edinburgh from London Kings Cross. The electric wires were still down in the Durham area. As a consequence there was only one train an hour to Edinburgh. My train the 11am was still running, but it was combined with the cancelled 10.30. The train was packed. Moreover, the reserved seating was all over the place. I was booked in coach M ( first class), but was told I would be in coach L. I got a seat, but first class was full and standing. We left 5 mins late, made addtional stops. As the train was so full we spent extra time in the station. We ended up 50 mins late in Edinburgh. The onboard staff were amazing given the difficulties they had to encounter. All made for an intersting two days.

My plan today was go to Portsmouth from London Waterloo and return to London Victoria. This would involve two new routes for me, namely Woking to Havant via Petersfield and Havant ( again!) to Three Bridges via Horsham and Arundel. I had booked my first class tickets well in advance.

The day began badly. I am at a Premier Inn on Docklands. When I arrived at Prince Regent station I discovered that the Docklands Light Railway was suspended due to a major signal fault. My first thought was to take a bus to Canning Town, the first bus was so full it could not take anymore passengers – also a queue was forming for the next one. I took a risk and got on a bus to Stratford hoping to get off at Plastow tube station. This paid off and I eventually arrived at Waterloo station using the District Line and Northern Line.

By the time I got to Waterloo I had missed my booked train. I went to see if I could use my ticket for another service. I was advised to board the 11am to Portsmouth and take it up with the train manager. I must admit I was not hopeful and I was prepared to pay for a new ticket or split the difference with my existing ticket.  However, there was no ticket check! so all was well. When I arrived at Portsmouth, I discovered my train back to Victoria was going to start from Fratton, the next station on the line. I did manage a have a sandwich and a drink at the Canvas Cafe at Portsmouth Station, it was rather good. The journey back was uneventful, apart from getting a good view of Arundel Castle and Cathedral.

As part of my holiday, I wanted to try the much vaunted Class 800 trains being introduced on the Great Western Railway. I was booked on the 11.30 from London Paddington to Bristol Temple Meads. It was not a good start as it was a five coach train instead of 10.  What is more, I was booked in coach K, which was not part of the set. As it turned out, all seat reservations were cancelled. Thankfully the first class coach I sat in was half empty.

We left on time. It was soon apparent that it could accelerate very quickly. Apart from being held by a red signal close to Reading, the journey was fine. We changed from electric to diesel mode just short of Swindon. The wires were up almost to Chippenham, after that nothing.

The class 800 was nothing to get too excited about. Very functional is a phrase that comes to mind. I was surprised that it was bumpy ride once full speed was reached.