Off to the UK this year

[westfalen]

I've just about got the itinerary for my friend and myself's trip to the UK later this year.  We will get there just in time for the last week of the Welsh narrow gauge lines' operating season and for more steam will include the Great Central and Keighley & Worth Valley preserved lines and a mainline steam tour from Bristol to Chester.  As we are both into freight there will be a few locations where we should see a bit of that.  One of the highlights should be a night at the country hotel beneath Ribblehead Viaduct on the Settle & Carlisle.

 

Great Britain.pdf

[Densha]

I've been to the Keighley & Worth Valley railway multiple times and it's definitely recommended!

[Claude_Dreyfus]

If you are into your freight (as well as anything else...passenger, specials, engineering), this site is a god-send.

 

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/

 

It also lists as-required and empty stock moves.

[Welshbloke]

If you get a chance while you're in Aberystwyth then have a meal (or at least a drink) in the Wetherspoons. It's called The Old Station, and their outdoor seating area is on the platform under the canopy. Not many places where you can share breakfast with a DMU!

 

The standard gauge side of Aber station is a sad shadow of its glory days, with only one platform still in use for the main line services. There was once a large goods yard, carriage sidings, an active MPD with two pannier tanks allocated there, and multiple platforms.

 

Also gives you a chance to see the Vale of Rheidol narrow gauge line, which has moved around a bit at the Aber end over the years. Since the 1960s it has used the abandoned platforms of the old Aber-Carmarthen standard gauge line as its western terminus.

 

Model shops - go down Pier Street, on the north side towards the seaward end there's a shop with no name (trades as "The Albatross") which has new-old stock models going back decades. Picked up an original Poole-made Graham Farish Intercity MK3 from there last week. The chap who runs it is a goldmine of information on local rail history too.

Edited August 13, 2015 by Welshbloke

[Kitayama]

My wife is going to Japan for two weeks in November and I've been thinking about going to the UK over a "long" weekend and just travel by train (that type of travel that my wife calls nerd travel). Your travel plan gave me some ideas. Have to start planning...

[westfalen]

If you are into your freight (as well as anything else...passenger, specials, engineering), this site is a god-send.

 

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/

 

It also lists as-required and empty stock moves.

Already onto that one.

 

This site http://railcam.uk/site/, as well as a good selection of railcams, hosts live signalling diagrams for most of the main lines.  My friend who is travelling with me is a member of the Freightmaster forum.  So with all those plus the Working Timetables downloaded onto my tablet I can find out more about the train movements in the UK than I can about Queensland Railways, who I work for.  It will save us wasting time standing around the tracks waitng to film trains when there is nothing coming.

[Claude_Dreyfus]

Freightmaster is the site to use, but as you know subscription. There is also a site called Trainspots, which is collating decent photography spots around the country.

Edited August 14, 2015 by Claude_Dreyfus

[bikkuri bahn]

Haven't been back to the U.K. since my last trip when I was a university student in the beginning of the 90's (still British Rail then- and services of class 37 and 47 hauled rakes of mk 2 coaching stock extant, slam door stock on Network Southeast, "Tadpoles" , first gen. DMUs etc...).  Plan to go when the first Class 800's start service on the Great Western Main Line, combined with a ride on HS1 on the class 395's.  Also want to take the Caledonian Sleeper and FGW Pullman service.  I did experience the GCR back then, would like to visit that preserved railway again. 

Edited August 19, 2015 by bikkuri bahn

[Welshbloke]

The GCR has certainly come on a bit since then!

 

They're currently working on joining the two halves of the line, which will entail replacing a bridge over the Midland Main Line (they were planning to fit it around Network Rail's electrification work in order to save money, but now that's on hold...), repairing a few hundred metres of embankment, and refurbishing another bridge or two. I think the ultimate long-term plan is to get as close as possible to Nottingham and double track the whole thing (aside from the MML bridge) with full signalling, if they can find enough cash and volunteers to make it happen.

 

Also worth keeping an eye on the Gloucestershire Warwickshire Railway, who're in the process of extending their line after having a number of bridges professionally restored. On a still day you can apparently stand at the construction site for the new Broadway station (original was demolished by BR when the line became freight only) and hear the whistles of trains running around at the last station, they're that close. They're aiming for the main line at Honeybourne, after which they should do very nicely from charter trains to Cheltenham Racecourse (at the other end). NR were kind enough to leave them a space to slot into when they rebuilt Honeybourne recently, all the GWR needs to do is get there.

[westfalen]

I was actually looking at the Gloucstershire Warwickshire Railway today as a plan 'B' after getting a letter on Friday to say that the Christmas Cheshireman steam railtour has been postponed by a week due to engineering works (we will be leaving Hong Kong on our way home by then), but they are not running on that week end.  A return visit to the Severn Valley railway might be on the cards, I spent a day there in 2010.

[Welshbloke]

One other thing in Aberystwyth - it may well be term time by then.

 

The student population brings much-needed life to the town and makes it somewhat different to the rest of mid/west Wales, but can be a bit rowdy depending on where you go. I went over there a couple of years ago to meet up with some uni mates and we felt extremely old, as it turned out to be freshers weekend! Amazingly we could remember having done much the same things twelve years earlier...

 

I didn't see if you're planning to get to Cardiff, but if you do then look up a model shop named Lord and Butler. They stock some Kato (mostly track), which is hard to find on the shelf here. Also lots of other brands.

 

If you have any time in Bristol then walk around the old city docks (or catch one of the ferries for a tour), they used to be heavily rail-served with a large goods yard at Canons Marsh (now "@Bristol"), all that's left now is the track used by the Harbour Railway based at the M Shed museum. There are a few bits of the lines left if you know where to look, see a website titled "Bristol Railway Archive" for a virtual tour with then-and-now photos.

Edited August 30, 2015 by Welshbloke

[westfalen]

Ah, like schoolies week, people from Queensland will understand that.  The possibility of things like that is why I like booking hotels in advance.

 

We are spending the night in Cardiff after travelling from Ipswich to Ebbw Vale (people from Queensland will understand that too). I had already looked up Lord & Butler as somewhere to check out if we have time between riding and looking at full size trains.  Because of the postponement of the Christmas Cheshireman steam tour on St 21st Nov I am planning on spending the day after we arrive in Cardiff (Friday) travelling to Swansea then up the Heart of Wales line to Shrewsbury and back to Bristol via the Welsh Marshes Line, part of the route the steam tour would have taken.

 

On the day we were going to be on the steam tour I was considering the Severn Valley Railway as an alternative but one of our local TV stations screened "The Titfield Thunderbolt" as their midday movie on Monday which got me thinking again.  I remembered that Mallingford, the mainline station in the film was actually Bristol Temple Meads and googled where the other filming locations were.  So now, weather permitting, we are going to spend the day walking the Somerset countryside along the old S&DJR track bed from Bath to Midford, then to Monkton Combe (aka Titfield), Limpley Stoke and Freshford chasing down the ghosts of the Titfield Thunderbolt.

 

One month Britrail Passes arrived today. :)

[Welshbloke]

The Heart of Wales line goes right past my house, strangely enough!

 

It's another shadow-of-itself case. Originally large chunks of it were double track and every station had its goods yard. It narrowly escaped the Beeching/Marples cuts (Beeching was just the axeman, Marples paid for the hit) as it ran through a few marginal parliamentary constituencies, but it was pruned mercilessly until it had the longest single track section in the UK at one point. It has now regained a few passing loops but is still mostly single track, and the original terminus at Swansea Victoria is long gone. There was once a line from Llandeilo which ran across to join the also-lost Aberystwyth-Carmarthen line just north of Carmarthen, you might be able to spot where it left.

 

When you pass through Builth Road you cross the trackbed of the old Mid Wales Railway, which ran from Brecon up to Moat Lane. The MWR had the Low Level station, with a ramp and baggage lift linking to the High Level station which is still in use today. You can still clearly see the trackbed on Google Earth, along with the curved link line between it and the Heart of Wales line. A branch from that line ran up into the Elan Valley to transport men and materials for the reservoir construction project in the late 19th century. I've walked most of the Elan Valley Railway route over the years, and wish I'd been around to see small industrial tank locos wrestling with stone trains on those hills.

Edited September 2, 2015 by Welshbloke

[Devonbelle]

Best of luck with the trip. Few pointers from me below,

 

Cardiff is good for freight (as Claude D mentions Realtime trains will help). Good for steel traffic, some containers and coal - although coal volumes down, this side of the pond. Bristol is interesting - time it right and you'll se some freight - early to mid mornings there are two container trains each way, some car traffic and coal traffic (the latter two commodities to/from Royal Portbury Docks). Far south end of Bristol Temple Meads stayion go and stand at the end of platform 4 and you'll instantly recognise where Titfield Thunderbolt filmed in the little dead end platform. If you are in Bath do visit the superb Titfield book shop (check out Simon Castens website), I think Simon sells the Then and Now book about the Titfield Thunderbolt film locations.

 

Your plan covers a fascinating route - (Welsh Marches) Newport Shrewsbury with semaphore signals, mix of traffic DMUs on medium distance pass workings and some freight - steel, some coal. Look out for Severn Brudge Jn signal box at Shrewsbury - and North of Abergavenny (in a mountainous area) is Llanvihangel Bank - so will make the steam engine work hard.

 

Paul

[Welshbloke]

I have a feeling that the Titfield Thunderbolt finished its run in the old fish dock at BTM, which later provided a home for GWR 6023 King Edward II for a few years. Definitely worth a nose around the Bristol Railway Archive site, there are all sorts of bits of leftover railway around the city if you know where to look.

[Devonbelle]

Welshbloke is correct about the Fish dock at Bristol Temple Meads - 6023 was based there until 1990 then moved in rail freight wagons to Didcot - its now restored and looking good. I see you are travelling down the Great Western main line Padd to Bristol - few things to look out for;

 

Acton freight yard leaving Paddington - normally clutches of class 59 and 66 locos in the yard. The Reading station and new layout is worth a special look (if you like freight perhaps jump off at Reading and watch some of the jumbo stone trains come through) - big trains for the UK - at 4000 tonnes each. Look out at Didcot for the railway centre - right hand side direction of travel. Plus there are normally a few freight locos on the stabling point. 

 

STEAM is a very pleasant museum - no working locos but a really well laid out museum, with some great GWR locos which is fun for kids - but without dumbing things down for adults. Its really easy walking distance from Swindon station - just about 10 minutes.  

[westfalen]

I've been going by this site which has some good before and after shots of Titfield Thunderbolt filming locations and comfirms that the fish dock was the film location.

http://www.reelstreets.com/index.php/component/films/?task=view&id=1031&film_ref=titfield_thunderbolt

If time permits a visit to the Museum of Liverpool to see "Lion" might be on the itinerary, may be able to combine it with a visit to Hatton's.

 

We won't be spending much time in London but checking out what is at Acton is on the 'possible' list for the afternoon we arrive at Heathrow.

 

Other than where we spend the nights and my trip to Fort William on the sleeper which is already booked most of the itinerary is pretty flexible and likely to change if we hear of anything interesting to see.

Edited September 5, 2015 by westfalen