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Day 5 : Thursday 24 September

Awake at 06:30 for breakfast. Time for photographs at Waterloo. 47811 is waiting to take the sleepers to Old Oak Common. 47816 "Bristol Bath Road" is at the buffer end, having brought the train up from Penzance. 455703 and 455715 are on the 07:36 to Chessington South. I watch a succession of EMU's stop and start at Clapham Junction. A Gatwick Express passes through. Refurbished 3515 and 3436 come in bound for Victoria. We cross over the lines I've just travelled out on. The train is fairly full at Clapham Junction and standing room only after Battersea Park.

73204 "Stewarts Lane 1860-1985" is on the 08:15 Gatwick Express. Over the river again, past Battersea Power Station. It's misty in London this morning. This time, I run straight through Clapham Junction and take the LB&SC line toward Selhurst. We hold up a commuter train as we negotiate Selhurst triangle. A Thameslink train passes as we amble toward East Croydon (home of Nestle UK and Connex South Central). There are fewer commuters here. 33019 and 33202 are the 6Y94 aggregates at Purley. At Stoats Nest Junction, we take the Redhill line. The Redhill avoiding line is visible just to the east at Merstham, where a large collection of old red phone boxes stand in a field. We slow right down to pass through Horley (at 08:47). The sun is breaking through the mist here. We arrive at Gatwick Airport at 08:49. The return departs late at 09:06.

The 166 in platform 3 crosses over to the west before 1908 & 1738 arrive at 09:09 (on the 09:08 to Victoria). This also departs late from Redhill, holding up the Three Bridges train which, in turn, holds up the Reading train, which is waiting to the south of the station. 166210 arrives at 09:31 at platform 2, a platform alteration because the Reading to Gatwick train now occupies platform 1. We depart at 09:33. After passing Betchworth, we crawl along to Dorking (Deepdene) - even a wood pigeon outpaces us for a short distance! There's still some mist about, but there is clear blue sky above. Uneven track at Shalford. A bridge over a canal(?) and two short tunnels herald our approach to Guildford with it's junctions and level crossings. A bumpy ride on departure from Guildford too. Or is it just that the unit rides badly on jointed track? Approaching Reading now, and the weather has taken a turn for the worse - rain looks imminent. We are overtaken by cars on the bypass to the south of the business park and arrive in a corner of Reading station.

59004 heads eastbound through the station shortly after I arrive, with a train of hoppers and ODA's tagged on the rear. The sun comes out. I miss a 37 and a light 31 heading west. 166205 arrives on the Hereford service at 11:20 and departs at 11:21. We pass the 31 (almost hidden by wagons) and also 47033 in West Yard and then boats on the Thames at Tilehurst. We pass the 37 too - it's 37509 and is stopped just west of Moreton Cutting. At least 5 more 37's are stabled at Didcot (which we bypass). A 47 on a van train has to wait for us to pass.

Lots of boats are moored where the Cowley line crosses the river. Many more boats too on the Oxford canal, which we parallel for a short while just north of Oxford station. The Bicester line leaves the main line to the right and then we take the single line to the west at Wolvercot Jcn. Double track again west of Charlbury. Kingham shows signs of being a junction in the past - bridge abutments mark where the Cheltenham to Banbury line once crossed. Piles of metal sleepers lie ready for use alongside the up line.

There is a delay at Moreton-in-Marsh, which is the end of the double track section. The up train, which we are meant to cross here, is delayed. A guard (traveling on the cushions) suggests that I catch the 14:48 from Worcester to Cardiff (arr. 16:48), instead of going via Hereford. The delayed train pulls in at 12:49 and departs again quickly. We finally receive the token and get underway at 12:52 - 17 minutes down. Nothing much remains of the junctions at Honeybourne either. The old island platform is covered in weeds.

Another pair of abutments just before Evesham - the Midland route from Broom to Tewkesbury. The train fills up with school girls at Pershore. We've made up a few minutes by Shrub Hill (back in semaphore land again). I wonder about changing here. The driver reckons we'll be sent out in front of Central Trains' 13:37. The signals are pulled off for us and we get underway at 13:30 (15 minutes down). The signals are also off for the 13:37 to arrive from the north.

We cross the Birmingham and Worcester Canal between Shrub Hill and Foregate Street. The canal basin is just visible down to the left. Still 15 minutes down through Malvern Link and Great Malvern. The Malvern Hills are visible ahead. On to the single track section and through the tunnel to arrive at Colwall. Through another tunnel and we arrive at Ledbury. It's misty this side of the Malverns. The low cloud that has been threatening since Oxfordshire is starting to obscure the sun.

We arrive at Hereford at 14:12. I notice from the platform monitor that the train I'm catching is from Manchester to Milford Haven (thoughts of a long gone railway company). GWR seats are in evidence on the platforms. The Central Trains service from Birmingham pulls in 14:25. The 14:38 to Milford Haven is 158863 - it pulls in at 14:35 and is fairly full. I don't get a forward-facing seat but I do get a window view. The rolling hills are partly obscured by low cloud and showers as we head south.

Mud banks and housing estates mark the approaches to Newport. A 60 passes us on a northbound mixed freight. Lots of people prepare to alight as we approach the station. We pause at Maindee West Junction. The suspension towers of the Severn Bridge are visible to the east. There's a small patch of blue sky overhead. A train of British Steel liveried wagons heads east along the main line. Was that a 59 at it's head? We move off, only to stand again on the main line. A maintenance gang is setting up on the south side of the track.

Newport is another recently painted station, with signs of repair and refurbishment work. Lots of people get off and a few get on. 37's and 47's are stabled west of the station. Cardiff and more restoration work. Here, they're digging up and resurfacing the platforms. They still practice permissive working at the local platforms. The first 143 hasn't departed when the second arrives. Again, a few minutes later, a third 143 arrives. Before the 16:10 departs, a fourth unit has appeared. As the departures are within a minute or two of each other and the trains short, it all works out.

I wander to the end of platform 6 to take a photgraph. 16:27 passes. I wander back. The Rhymney train is marked "Delayed", then arriving in a few minutes. The train arrives behind 37411 "Ty Hafan" (and not 50031). I get on anyway. The guard says the 50 will be on the 17:05. After a little indecision, I decide to carry on behind the 37 and go up to Rhymney. We head past typical valleys scenery. Terraces on the steep slopes and many signs of the coal and other abandoned industry. From just after Bargoed, the line is single. Gone are the days when it was a link from South Wales to the midlands via the "Heads of the Valleys" line.

Heading back again. We accelerate hard from the stops. At Brithdir, the stop is slightly longer than the others, as the driver goes to the shop for a pastie. The top part of this line is also a bit like a preserved line too. Single track and stops close together. It's just missing the lines of preserved stock and the stations need some work to come up to preserved line standards. It has got the semaphore signaling though. I manage a photo of 50031 as we pass it at the return to the double track section.

Back at Cardiff. 59104 "Village of Great Elm" comes through eastbound on empty British Steel wagons. A 60 and 56088 also come through heading east. Royal Mail staff are getting the mailbags ready on platform 2. The London train pulls in with 43040 at its head.

It's dark outside now. Shortly after leaving Newport, there is a noticeable increase in sound and also noticeable are the gradients as we negotiate the Severn Tunnel. A cross country train leaves Didcot just as we arrive. We overtake it shortly afterward and pass another just west of Reading. 47746 arrives on a mail train as I wait at Reading. 3567 and 1886 form the 21:24 to London Waterloo. After Staines, we become a semi-fast and miss out a few stations. There's not much too see - mainly blue flashes and level crossings. After Battersea, we meet a London-bound Eurostar. It overhauls us at Vauxhall and we parallel it until International Junction. 47846 "Thor" is on the sleepers at Waterloo and 47816 brought the stock in.

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Day 6 (Friday)

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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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