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Day 4 : Wednesday 23 September

I wake up just before 6, just before the train is divided at Carstairs. Breakfast is at 06:10 - it's still dark outside. A faint glimmer of light as we stop at Motherwell. We arrive at Glasgow Central at 06:25. Glasgow Central is another station covered in scaffolding.

I go to watch 87030 "Black Douglas" depart on rear of the 07:20 to Euston. Time passes - "loco failure" is announced. It seems to be a problem with the loco/DVT communication. At 07:45, 87028 "Lord President" arrives and is attached to the front of the DVT. It departs at 07:53, hauling 82148 and train. 87030 follows the train south at 07:55 and waits for a couple of local services before attaching to the sleepers.

Glasgow Central is busy - an endless succession of 303's arrive and depart, with the occasional 318, 101 and 156. I chat to a young 'spotter who's been up all night. 86227 "Charles Rennie Macintosh" brings in the stock for the 08:40 "Cornish Scot" to Penzance, with 86207 "City of Lichfield" (with its pan up) on the rear.

An on-time departure. 86430 is at Polmadie with a mail/parcels train. The train is very quiet - presumably it will fill up as the day goes on. There's low cloud again today. 37250 is on a ballast train in the sidings just south of Motherwell. Another 37 is in the sidings just north of Carstairs. There's patchy fog south of Carstairs, which clears as we climb southward through the hills. There is evidence of road building in progress at Beattock.

An HST passes us just north of Lockerbie, and 2 freights just to the south. Just north of Kingmoor yard, a pair of 56's heads north with a tanker train. There are two 37's and a 60 in the yard and an 08 at the southern end. 86251 is at Carlisle with a Glasgow-bound train. The station at Carlisle is reminiscent of Perth, but without the deserted air.

Two DRS 20's are stabled just south of the station - one is 20308. 60071 is waiting to head south from Upperby yard with a coal train. Two more freights pass us as we descend from Shap. We stop at Oxenholme. I'm glad I didn't want to go to Windermere - the branch train departs just as we pull in! There is a brief view of the sea at Hest Bank before we stop at Lancaster Castle. Hanging baskets are much in evidence. I had wondered about alighting here and catching the following train from Edinburgh, but I decide to stay on, as I haven't travelled on the route between Preston and Manchester Piccadilly.

We arrive at Preston at 11:18. A slick change - 86207 off and Fragonset's 47709 on. However, it's a slow run to Bolton, where we leave 2 minutes down. Scaffolding here too! At least the station time was short. The run to Manchester Piccadilly isn't exactly sprightly either. However, we still manage to arrive and depart on time.

Canal boats are visible on the Macclesfield Canal just before Congleton. An 08 sits by itself at Longport sidings. British Steel's shunter is moving wagons. 47338 is visible on ballast wagons just north of Stoke-on-Trent. Past Wedgewood and Barlaston, still following the line of the Trent and Mersey Canal - one hire boat is heading north. Lots of exhaust smoke as we accelerate from Stone and leave the canal behind. The brakes come on again for Norton Bridge Junction, where we cross to the slow line.

A maintenance crew is moving a section of rail along the up platform line through Stafford station. A pair of 325's whiz through southbound. Between Penkridge and Wolverhampton, we are passed by a light 31. We parallel a different canal (the Birmingham Canal Navigations) between Wolverhampton and Birmingham. A BWB boat is being loaded from a truck mounted shovel on the towpath near Dudley Port. Another track crew is at work at Galton Junction. A narrowboat is heading north just where we part company with the canal for the descent into New Street. We arrive about 5 minutes down, after a slow run from Wolverhampton.

We're due a 15 minute stop here though, to run round. 10 minutes is just enough and we depart on time. Now, I'm in the first coach. We're parallel to a canal again (this time it's the Birmingham and Worcester) leaving Birmingham, past the University and Bourneville. A more popular stretch of water. We pass Kings Norton, where the north to east rails look disused. The brakes come on as we descend the Lickey incline. Not far away, the canal is descending its own version of the Lickey - the Tardebigge flight. We meet it again at Bromsgrove, before it turns for Worcester and we go past. A fast run means that we're a couple of minutes early at Cheltenham. A northbound 47-hauled train pulls in as we sit at the platform. There's a dark cloud over Gloucester and, as we head south, it looks like it's raining over South Wales.

There's a pullman train in platform 13 at Bristol Temple Meads. 37416 is on a rake of four mark 2's at the end of platform 12. Eventually it runs round and reverses the stock into platform 11, ready to form the 16:33 to Weymouth. 37906 comes through on loaded ballast hoppers, then 37670 on Cargowaggons and MEA's. I'm in the wrong place to manage any photographs both times.

The mark 2's have pictures of local scenes to brighten up the interior. We have a gentle start away, as the first signal is yellow, followed by a red, which clears to yellow. The next red clears to green and, finally, we're off, although it's quite slow until after the Keynsham stop. The line here cuts across the grain of the land, with a succession of short tunnels.

Soon, we're in Bath, where the local stone gives the buildings a very pleasant colour. Lots of passengers board here, including some school children - the train is now full. Soon, we follow the Avon south through typical English countryside. The line crosses and recrosses the river. The trains slowly empties as we head toward Westbury and the main line. Three 37's, a 59 and an 08 are in the yard. Another 59 is waiting to enter as we pass. There is recently laid track just south of Frome and more waiting to be put in place.

Two 37's on Foster Yeoman wagons pass us at Bruton. Hanging baskets, tubs and flower beds are much in evidence at Castle Cary. Here, we branch south toward Yeovil and on to jointed track. It's almost like a preserved line with the numerous stops, although we do exceed 25mph! Lots of signs of a more extensive railway infrastructure around Maiden Newton. Another pause at Dorchester West, while we wait for the road, then it's on to third-rail land. A bright red sun is setting on our right as we descend to Weymouth.

5WES "BBC South Today" departs just after we pull in to Weymouth, 2 minutes down, at 18:57. Run round and propelling to the buffer stops is complete by 19:10. Shortly afterward, another 5WES - "Operation Overlord" appears. Soon we are off again. The driver opens up after we pass the station throat, but only for a short run before we call at Upwey. After this, there is a slog up the bank toward Dorchester. It's getting dark now. We stop at the request stop of Yetminster, after which there is another good start, although we have to slow again soon after to check if anyone wants to board at Thornford. No-one does, and Yetminster is the only request stop that we call at.

Castle Cary is a quiet place at this time of evening. I could hear the 37 departing for several minutes after it had left the station. Then, just the insects and the occasional cars in the distance. At 21:01, the silence is broken as a pair of 37's pass eastbound on empty stone wagons. Again, I can hear the train growling away for several minutes.

The Plymouth-bound HST is heard before it is seen. 43028 on the front, 43022 on the rear. We arrive 5 minutes early in Plymouth. The sleeper and lounge car are sat by themselves on platform 6 (they get attached to the Penzance portion which arrives at 23:54 and departs at 00:20). The sleeper is quiet inside - it doesn't seem quite right without the background hum. The Penzance portion arrives and 08798 shunts us on - with a lot of fierce acceleration and jolting!

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Day 5 (Thursday)

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Introduction Sunday Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Timetable Mileages

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Text and photographs Copyright J.D.Coleman 1998.

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