Great Western Coffee Shop

Our introduction and chat board, these days, include in its subtitle "including records of your personal journeys" so here goes on my log of the trip I'm taking this week.    I watch and think as I travel and look and see things, idiiosyncracise (which I can't spell), many things write and a few things where I think "if only".   

Monday 3rd March 2025

Part 1 - from asleep to The Lawn

To my local station

Up at 6 a.m. to pack for an 07:30 walk from home to the station. Slight panic to find 7 emails sent over the weekend jammed in my outbox (an I had been wondering why I had not had even a single ackledgement - thank goodness Lisa and I email each other occasionally because that's how I found the problem - "did you get the copy of my schedule" I asked ... "no".  So rushed shower and pack - travelling light with just a pack, clothes change, medical necessities.  Also bottle of iced tea, packet biscuits, booking papers ... and European Train Timetable and book 1 of European Rail Maps (getting into practise for May to August)

At Station
- No sign of Coffee Stand that was there on Mondays when I last checked.
TVM working and picked up tickets for Tuesday and Wednesday
(I already had my tickets for today - picked up last month)
Machine which was not working the other day (unresponsive to touch) worked.

08:02 Melksham to Chippenham
- on time + Circa 20-25 on, handful off
- 2 car 158 / 48 in one carriage 47 in second = 95 to Chippenham
- With passengers off. that's about [100/30] how we used to measure - passengers total on single line (service unique to TransWilts) and Melksham users
- Ticket checked (and 'clipped') - "Sir" can I see your railcard.
- Guess around 30-35 off and say 25 on at Chippenham.

08:26 Chippenham to Paddington (9 carriage IET)
- Grabbed coffee and flapjack at Hearty Hare - do not trust on train supply.
- It's several weeks since I was at CPM station but waiting room on platform still boarded up
- Noting display says "peak tickets only" but mine is a cheap advanced.
There isn't any such thing as a peak ticket, is there??
- Reserved seat already occupied (and one next to it with bag)
- Bag cleared but I would rather have had the window seat I booked
- Left on time, but signal halt a few minutes later and proceed under caution
- Ticket check - call for "any more unchecked tickets please" - as mine had been checked and stamped already I just sat and TM (?) passed by ... noting he was checking rail cards as routine but not using the patronising "sir" to people in a way I had felt on the other train.
- Announcement @ 08:45 - "now running 11 minutes late due to signalling probs"
- My reserved seat cleared at Swindon; I have chosen not to move being settled and at a table, 2 laptops diagonally works best with 2 unoccupied seats.
- "Please take all your belongings with you" - always tempted to say I'm fortunate to have many more belongings at home that I'm unable to carry ... being far too much of a pedant this morning!
- Announcement @ 08:50 - "full catering service this morning - trolley coming through standard class - please keep aisles clear for us to pull it backwards. We have a range of herbal teas. Do not accept cash but full range of cards and contactless"
- 09:07 into Didcot, out at 09:09.
- Around 09:20 off Reading. Still just 4 persons in 8 bays at tables.
- 09:32 "Catering service has now closed to let us set up for our next journey"
P.S. We never saw the catering trolley, so what was "full service" about it?
- 09:44 came to a halt - 10 minutes late

At Paddington
- Noticed that our train was due back out at 10:00 - so 15 minute turn around
- Onto the lawn at 09:47 (busy train and one of the gateline staff opened the wide barrier to let us floow through).
Stopped a few minutes for the call of nature, in the knowledge that nature can be called for free these days at Paddington if you go around under the taxi rank / platform 12.

Tip for those who need to call nature at Paddington: he can also be called for free at platform 1 nowadays, and I'm please to report that the venue was bright and clean when I visited on Friday morning.

So much observed ... and so little written. We arrived in Inverness a few minutes early and I found my hotel 100 yards up the road. Headed back over the Highland Main Line this morning - typing at Killiecrankie on board a 170 that has repaces the scheduled HST - no seat reservations and those who have booked and paid for first not thrilled.  Odd delays on the way but hoping to make a connection at Perth.

Hope it was as bright and sunny as it has been today down here Grahame - that's one of the best scenic journeys in the UK.

Enjoyed - though a little dull.  Going around other places it's bleak and cold - glad I'n not overwintering up here.

A long day - cold and grey. And a picture from each of the places/stations I visited - not in order

(https://www.wellho.info/pix/wtrip011.jpg)

(https://www.wellho.info/pix/wtrip012.jpg)

(https://www.wellho.info/pix/wtrip013.jpg)

(https://www.wellho.info/pix/wtrip014.jpg)

(https://www.wellho.info/pix/wtrip015.jpg)

(https://www.wellho.info/pix/wtrip016.jpg)

3. Perth. My paternal side of the family aunt used to live there. ;)

Perth is like stepping back into the 1970s.  A vast station with slowly fading grandeur.

And if we’re playing that game…

6.  Arbroath.

I would love to head up to Scotland to travel on the HSTs before they are retired from service but this appears to happen a lot and puts me off. 170s are okay but an intercity train they are not.

A slightly frustrating day yesterday - a number of the old girls around, but all my journeys on 170s and 158s.  Most trains within ten minutes of schedule time and no connections failed.  Not bad going on lots of single lines.  Ranging from the big old train shed at Perth (but perhaps still needed - trains at old platforms) to reduced facilities in a still-historic station at Arbroath and a couple of more modern ones that no-one has identified yet and I will update on later because I have another train to catch this morning.

The way to do it might be a "freedom of Scotland" type ticket, no definite plan and see what turns up at Perth or Dundee?

Surely Inverness is in there somewhere? No 4, I think.

That would get my vote, Stuving - looks like the modern building east of the station in the background.

Yes - Inverness is in there with the picture of people queuing to get onto the platform.  They seem to have adopted the delightful (not!) southern habit of keeping passengers on the concourse and only calling trains so late that they cause something of a panic amongst the more nervous of us.   I would personally prefer trains - especially longer distance ones (and this one, Inverness to Glasgow, being am example of a "long distance train" to allow you to board  at least 15 minutes before the train is due to leave.   

I was talking to the train manager of my train from Inverness this morning during the journey - this time just 2 carriages and called quite late, but there was time to walk forward and take a picture of my trusty steed, before finding a seat in the front carriage furthest from the barrier.   I learned a lot in chatting - including how people when joining the trains at Inverness predominantly get in at the rear door near the barrier, leaving the front coach quiet and the rear one much busier.   Apparently they notice the few who observe the system and make their way forward, and it sounded like those of us who do so earn respect for helping balance the system. 

Would #1 be Leven?

(I have a guess for #2 as well but will wait for tomorrow as tradition demands....)

[I grew up in Fife....]

No. 1 would, indeed, be Leven ... which is worth of sharing some more pictures of.  Go ahead with No. 2 as well, not really a quiz, so more a convention (thank you for following) and the 24 hours is almost up anyway.  And I have a whole stream for tomorrow!

... and 5 is Dundee.

I used to do that occasionally at Bristol Temple Meads, in my commuting days.  If I was running (sometimes literally!) late from leaving work, I'd just get on to my train home at the first available door - even if that was in First.  I'd then get my breath back and walk quietly forwards through the train to coaches A, B, C and D - which would actually be the only ones platformed at Nailsea & Backwell.

CfN.  ;D

#2 looks like Kirkcaldy (which might fit with a trip to Leven….)

Yes, it was / is.   Very interesting station; I have a lot of writing up to do!

A good listening companion while you are writing this up (or for scottish travel generally). 'The Railway': Hamish Napier's affectionate portrait of the Speyside line, drawn partly from primary sources and includes a few glances at the time when it was the primary route to Inverness before the rather harsh route via Slochd opened. Available via Bandcamp where you can play the entire collection before purchase.

Mark

https://hamishnapier.bandcamp.com/album/the-railway (https://hamishnapier.bandcamp.com/album/the-railway)