GNER Taxibus

Part of the contract that allowed train company GNER to retain its franchise last year was the implementation of home-to-station 'taxibus' initiatives. Stagecoach in Peterborough won the contract to provide one of these last autumn between the new estate of Hampton and Peterborough rail station. The service is operated in conjunction with Peterborough City Council and GNER resulting in around 150 journeys per week operate. Used are a pair of Ford Transit minibuses, capable of seating 15 people plus the driver. The service is specifically called a taxibus for a reason: it is not truly demand-responsive in a manner that you'd assume it would be to fully cater for the needs of the people using it.

Commissioned following a massive hike in parking prices at Peterborough station, tickets for the taxibus can be bought for daily, weekly, monthly, bi-monthly or annually, in each case a significant pro-rata saving can be made. For example an annual ticket for travel costs under £500 - in itself more than 50% less than paying for parking at Peterborough station.

Hampton was chosen as the location for the door-to-door service as it was seen to be in keeping with the "green" ethos of this new estate, known on paper at least as "the environmental city". Users need to phone GNER the day before they plan to travel to book the service. Each day the drivers are given a list of names and addresses. Approximately 15 journeys are made between Hampton - Peterborough in the morning, buses running at a 20 minute frequency to connect with specific trains at Peterborough station. This section of timetable operates from 0550 - 0900. The remainder of the timetable provides again around 15 journeys to the same frequency based on arrival times of trains at Peterborough from 1650 - 2030.

A dedicated team of 4 drivers operate the service with 2 drivers needed daily, operating all journeys between themselves on a split-duty basis. The other two operate standard Stagecoach duties, generally driving the citi 6 service between Peterborough and Hampton in an attempt for them to become as familiar with the area and the residents therein as possible. Drivers require a full, manual PSV licence to drive the 16-seater Transits - vehicles not dissimilar to a rather large car, yet many drivers at Stagecoach in Peterborough have licences restricted to automatic vehicles only and unable to drive these. Drivers allocated to this rota have every weekend off as the taxibus operates Mondays to Fridays only.

The vehicles are numbered within the Stagecoach national fleet numbering system yet do not display their fleet number. They carry GNER vinyls throughout and a small "operated by Stagecoach" sticker. They're maintained by the local Ford dealership not Stagecoach.

49803 (NC06 DHZ) Ford Transit M16 7/06
49804 (NH06 YED) Ford Transit M16 7/06

Stagecoach operate these services as a registered bus route between the Serpentine Green shopping centre to the northern extremity of the Hampton estate and Peterborough rail station which has conflicted slightly with punctuality for commuters at Peterborough station: with multiple pick-ups within Hampton at pre-arranged times, drivers are forced to divert via Serpentine Green where no one boards as they do not know they can; the drivers do not have a ticket machine; and no literature can be found at the bus stop there. This in turn has seen occasional trains missed, though with the service GNER provied it's never too long before the next train to London.

It is anticipated that this scheme - on trial for 2 years - will be continued by whoever takes over the East Coast franchise, to be announced later in the year.

Skegness Special

Stagecoach in Peterborough are, for the second year running, operating a special summer service to the seaside - Skegness. Last year and then numbered X7, passengers could opt to travel on Saturdays and Sundays though the former saw a change of bus required in Boston bus station onto the Stagecoach in Lincolnshire Connect 7 service (Boston - Skegness); the latter saw a through service from Peterborough.

This year both days of the weekend see a through journey, now running as X12. The departure time from Peterborough is 0945, allowing connections in Queensgate bus station on Sundays from all areas of the city from other bus services. Peterborough City Council show the service departing from bay 4 though in reality it leaves from bay 20.

Last Saturday saw a duplicate vehicle leave with the main one. Trident 18423 (AE06 GZV) was totally full necessitating Dart 34548 (GX04 EZA) to follow as the service is registered to call additionally at Walton, Market Deeping, Spalding and Boston.

In previous years rather than opt for Skegness, Stagecoach operated service X98 to Hunstanton though following a few years of slight decline 2006 was seen as a year to invigorate the seaside special and judging by the loadings from this year alone it seems to be working. A day return is £9 (£6 child) and a family day return is £20 - pretty good value, too. The bus returns from Skegness at 6pm.

Weekly Transport Update 1

As time currently permits I thought I might list some headlines from the UK bus scene from the last week, generally in headline form.

• Flooding hits the Midlands and South West. Stagecoach in Gloucester, Reading Transport, Johnsons of Henley-in-Arden, Dudley's Coaches, National Express, Pulham's Coaches and DRM Coaches are all affected by the flooding of the last week. Arriva London suffered particular embarrassment as one of their ADL Darts was seen drowned in the subway underneath a rail line in Wallington, Surrey, whilst operating route 410.
• EYMS subsidiary, Finglands, buys new Volvo 9700. Finglands Coachways of Manchester has purchased the first re-styled Euro 4 Volvo 9700 Prestige for its contract to operate the official coach for Manchester City Football Club. Costing £300,000, the vehicle is 13.8m long.
• Government reveals 'TC Board'. The DfT is considering the creation of a government board to oversee Traffic Commissioners. TCs are very worried about their independance being compromised and plan to vehemently oppose any new board.
• TfL publish vehicles exempt from Low Emission Zone. TfL has published on its website details of vehicles categorised as Euro 1 and 2 that will not have to pay the £200-a-day fee to drive within London following the implementation of the LEZ next year. Numerous vehicles, plentiful on the UK's roads are exclused from charges.
• Petition for reinstatement of 12-day Rule quashed. A petition on the Downing Street website calling for the reintroduction of the 12-day Rule for drivers operating under EC Drivers' Hours regulations was responded to by the government this week. In their response the government said "any changes to the EU Regulation would require the agreement of a qualified majority of EU Member States" and "we see no prospect of securing sufficient support for further change within the EU at this time."
• First Scotland manager resigns. Brian Juffs, First Scotland East Managing Director has quit his post after 2 years with the company, following adverse press reports into his firm not operating all registered routes over a lengthy period of time.
• Trathens driver charged. The driver of a National Express Neoplan coach involved in the crash on the M4 sliproad shorly before midnight on 3 January 2007 has been charged with three counts of causing death by dangerous driving. Philip Rooney, 48, of Lanarkshire, Scotland is due to appear at Reading magistrates court on 31 July.
• Stagecoach Hovercraft first week. Over 16,000 people used Stagecoach's cross-Forth hovercraft in the first week of its trial operation (16-21 July) on a total of 148 trips.
• Oil prices 'on the up'. Crude oil rose above $76 per barrel to an 11-month high last week with a temporary cut in US refinery output.
• Concessions Appreals continue. Secretary of State for Transport, Rosie Winterton, has told the House of Commons that 38 appeals by bus operators disputing the reimbursement of concessionary fares in England and Wales were successful for 2006-7. Over 60 appeals were lodged, though 15 were withdrawn subsequently and 4 rejected.
• In Court for Smoking. Some of the first people to be charged for smoking on public transport were in Birmingham Magistrates Court on 9 July for smoking on Travel West Midlands bus services. All defendants were fined.
• Parrys International orders 12 Van Hool T917 Astrons. The first of their kind in the UK, they feature MAN engines and 48 seats yet are 12.84m in length and offer additional height.
• Cottrells Coaches closes. Gloucestershire-based Cotterells Coaches of Mitcheldean is closing at the end of the month following the death of one of the two owners, Edgar Cottrell ages 80 in February. His wife, Phyllis is understood to be unable to continue running the business. The firm's routes can be traced back to 1886.
• Banga Travel loses £1.5m action. Parkash Ram Banka {Banga Travel} of Wolverhampton has lost his action in Birmingham County Court in which he claims to have been underpaid to the sum of £1.5m by CENTRO in respect of the OAP concessionary fares scheme.

Waddington Depot Fire

20 June saw a devastating fire at the former depot of Enterprise & Silver Dawn, Waddington, Lincoln. So bad was the fire that it closed one side of the main road that runs past, the A607. The yard is now home to numerous preserved buses, all former Lincolnshire Road Car vehicles. 5 were totally destroyed in the fire and numerous others vandalised by those that are thought to have perpetrated the arson.

Gone for good, unfortunately, are the following vehicles:

2052 (HBE 502), a Bristol LL6B/ECW FC35F

2031 (GFW 849), a Bristol LL5G/ECW B39F

2138 (JBE 869), a Bristol KSW6G/ECW H60R

2351 (XPM 42), a Bristol FS6B/ECW CO33/27R "Lincolnshire Poacher" (latterly AFE 171A)

2717 (DFE 172D), a Bristol FLF/ECW H38/32F

These were being lovingly restored by former Enterprise & Silver Dawn owner and now local councillor, Mike Gallagher, member of the Lincolnshire Vintage Vehicle Society, a group which we at the LEYTR have close links. 2351 only needed a new coat of paint and would have been ready for its first ever rally in its new, fully preserved state. Many vehicles on the site have now been moved and we've been asked not to detail those 'saved' and/or their new locations to safeguard the likelihood of reprisals. One I'm happy to mention is the former Lincoln City Transport Leyland Olympian, 645 (KTL 45Y), which had only been taken out of service with RoadCar at Grimsby 6 months earlier. This suffered a smashed window where youths are believed to have thrown a concrete block through purely as devilment; it is also the vehicle I've put some money towards its upkeep (and preservation to its livery/trim as new) in the form of the ties I've bought from the person who now owns it. This vehicle now resides elsewhere in Lincolnshire, under cover and away from the possibility of further attacks.

Photo: Steve Dakin

Stagecoach TV Campaign

I try and keep transport items in this blog relevant to the local area. Some do stray due to significance or as a result of places I've been and taken photographs. On this occasion the locality is down to the place where I work, Peterborough.

Stagecoach is the major bus operator in the city and also in neighbouring Cambridge; together both depots form the Stagecoach Cambridgeshire group. The group has undertaken a tv campaign to drum up additional patronage. Associated with the tv campaign is the unusual step of advertising on their own buses, where third-party adverts normally take prominence on the contravision adverts on double deckers. Normally the livery and fleet name itself is enough advertising to the exterior of a bus for its owner.

Despite working in Peterborough I live in Cleethorpes so have not seen the tv advert. Many friends and colleagues at the depot have and have commented on it. As the sole commercial operator in Peterborough and the dominant operator in Cambridge some have wondered exactly why Stagecoach feel the need to advertise - there is effectively no competition in either city. Without contacting the company's directors, I can only speculate that they plan not to rest on their laurels and are doing the right thing in terms of what is seen to be 'green and clean' and using the advertisements to create new bus users and in turn reduce pollution as well as up their profits.

Photo: Tim Brown

July/August Transport Review

I'm happy to announce that the latest LEYTR is now ready for publication. Delivery will be in just over 1 week. This edition follows on from the last one in that it comprises a whopping 28 pages again - this time there is no photo feature, it's pure text, generally in the form of news. There is only 1 article and we have a final, full Central Trains fleetlist (the last to be produced before the Company is split in two at the end of the year). The Stagecoach in Lincolnshire news has been edited from reports of the largest number of contributors within living memory on this occasion! Of course you need to be a member to receive it all - a snip at £8 per year for 6 magazines: http://www.leytr.co.uk/ for details, you can even join online now through PayPal.

NEL Bus & Rail Guide

Residents of North-East Lincolnshire unitary authority received the Council's Bus & Rail Guide 2007 through the post 2 weeks ago in their free paper. A full review will feature in the next LEYTR. Produced by FWT the map follows a similar design format as previous years except now each route has its own coloured line rather than the one-line-per-road with numbers alongside.

Martin Lear, Principal Transport Officer, contacted me asking for details of all errors contained within the map. I spend much of last week pouring over every single aspect of the map and worryingly came up with over 2 pages of errors. This sounds particularly bad but many of the faults concern grammatical errors rather than large faux pas. All this despite the map going to all operators in the area to check.

I've offered my services to check future editions before they go to press. The map itself though is the best to date and very impressive. Further copies can be obtained from:

Public Transport Unit
North-East Lincolnshire Council
Origin One
1 Origin Way
Europarc
GRIMSBY
North-East Lincolnshire
DN37 9TZ

Chester

As I blogged a few days ago, I spent Tuesday 10 July in the city of Chester. Both Peter and I decided to go in order to take photos, primarily, of vehicles in the ChesterBus livery before the "Barbie" livery of First - the firm's new owner - is introduced.

In order to travel there I opted for the direct TransPennine Express Class 185 "Desiro" from Cleethorpes to Manchester Piccadilly and then an Arriva Trains Wales/Cymru Class 175 "Coradia" to Chester. This was to be my first full-length journey aboard a Desiro since they were introduced in July last year, ousting Class 158 trains on the southern TransPennine route between Cleethorpes and Manchester Airport. A full write-up of this journey will, spece permitting, appear in the forthcoming edition of the LEYTR (later this month).

As I blogged previously, I'd cheated the system in terms of the price I paid by purchasing three separate return fares, totalling £26.50, rather than the £43.00 'direct' fare offered online. The 0718 TPE service from Cleethorpes left punctually and thanks to their being three carriages as standard on TPE's Desiros, overcrowding wasn't a problem as this journey is very convenient for commuters to Scunthorpe and Doncaster. Waiting time is built in to the service at Doncaster, during which time two GNER trains screm through the station using the central, avoiding, lines - one in each direction.

Our arrival in Manchester was delayed by what seemed like an eternal crawl to our designated platform. Spying a Merseyrail (yellow) liveried Pacer in the station with Chester on its matrix, I foolishly assumed this would be either my next train or would be the likely locality for it to depart from. How wrong I was as the ATW services depart from platforms 13/14, the upper platforms which used to necessitate two flights of stairs and a lengthy walk the full distance of platform 1 to reach. Rather than the 1007 arrival, we landed at 1012, giving me 4 minutes to get there for my 1016 departure.

In the days I'd to and fro with Lancaster University this meander up the platform helped kill the time; now, however, it was the potential likelihood of missing my next train. Moving walkways have been added in the last few years which make the stroll a lot quicker, and as I breathlessly descended the steps onto platform 14 my train was awaiting departure with its doors wide open, seeminly awaiting people who'd not anticipated the lengthy ramble. Double checking with the chap attached to the refreshment trolley if this was indeed the train for Chester, I took a seat and soon after we departed. Only we were now headed north, calling at Oxford Road station - not south, the direction I'd expected us to head. Feeling a little uncertain I looked at one of the dot matrix signs on the station platform and reassuringly it stated the train was to call at Chester.

The route from Manchester flirts with Merseyside briefly, calling at Newton-le-Willows and then it's back into Cheshire as we passed through Runcorn (Two Pints of Lager and a Packet of Crisps territory) and by 1122 into Chester (home of the Hollyoaks girls, allegedly).

Peter had made a technically impossible connection in Crewe and so was already here. We walked to the ChesterBus depot, adjacent to the station, but couldn't get close enough to photograph anything, so turned to catch the shuttle service into the city centre - free for holders of rail tickets. Very nice, too.

The remainder of the day was spent photographing pretty much any bus that passed. It was nice to see Daimler Fleetlines roaming the city's streets on the City Signtseeing Tours - this chassis/engine being particularly familiar to me as I spent a month after passing my bus test driving examples of these vehicles up and down Cleethorpes seafront with the two examples Stagecoach Grimsby-Cleethorpes used to employ on their Service 17, until room on a rota was found for me.

Also seen in the city centre was YJ07 LVX, a Wright-bodied Scania "Street Car" as seen in the cities of York and Leeds. It was showing "test run" on its destination and had all its seats covered, so we presumed it had hitherto entered service. What was its intended use in they city? Retaliation againts the inrodes Arriva had been making recently to the ChesterBus network?

Arriva had, rather than await its offer for the business, which last year had been put up for sale by the then Lib-Lab coalition council in the city, registered identical services in the city, competing with ChesterBus. This was all done above board in the sense that these routes had been registered legally and full notice had been given to all who wanted to know in the maximum timeframe allowed - 56 days. Chester City Council then took Arriva to court for effectively undermining the business it was trying to see - who'd want to buy a business that was being competed against by the UK's second largest bus operator? Arriva immediately ceased its rival bus services and this was the point when perhaps Chester City Council should have taken stock and stopped legal procedings, but they didn't and in the very recent court case, Arriva were found guilty of nothing as there was now nothing they had done. Who's to say they would have been found guilty had they continued to run their competing services? It is a free market after all.

Chester City Council were ordered to pay Arriva's court costs, estimated to be £2million. This has effectively bankrupted the ChesterBus arm of the council, following the sale of which, expected profits - money used to improve other aspects of the City - will be negligable.

Arriva's ten VDL/Wright 07-reg buses will see buses every 10 mins between Chester, Blacon & Saughall; and every 10 mins each on the Blacon circulars. The services are numbered the same as Chesterbus. In the interim ChesterBus was sold to First, who have started retaliation outside Chester, in New Brighton, on the Wirral and in Liverpool, utilising vehicles from one of its depots there.

Looking at the new Arriva Chester Citybus timings, my main concern is that they do not operate any services in the evenings or on Sundays. Stagecoach are the same in Sheffield, after acquiring Yorkshire Traction's Terrier business in the city. In order to ensure the public fully believe its intentions are genuine, evening and Sunday buses are a must, otherwise weekly unlimited travel tickets cost one-seventh more than the purchaser expects - something regular travellers will catch onto when they can't travel into the city on Sundays unless they want to pay on the other operator's services.

An excellent vantage point for photographs is at the exit to the bus station where, as a result of the competition, an additional 18 departures per hour can be seen. I quipped the Peter that, after being stood here for 2 hours, you could have photographed both company's entire operational fleet that day!

I returned on the 1654 ATW to Manchester Piccadilly, where I was greeted with the sight of CANCELLED next to my 1818 TPE service to Cleethorpes. A failed Desiro at Heald Green meant nothing could get to/from Manchester Airport. Luckily for me, my cancelled train was this side of the blockage, so it returned, with its Manchester Airport passengers, who had to make alternative arrangements at Piccadilly, and it left, as advertised at 1818.

We arrived in Cleethorpes 4 minutes early (2053) and I was home as the 9pm news was being read on Lincs FM.

These and more photos can be found by visiting my fotopic gallery.

Train fares to Chester

On Tuesday, Peter and I are having a jaunt to Chester, the city where the face of public transport is changing very rapidly. Municipally-owned Chesterbus had been for sale for quite some time, though in a move not dissimilar to a tactic Stagecoach used in Darlington in 1994, neighbouring operator (second largest in the UK), Arriva, registered identical services at identical frequencies to those operated by Chesterbus, though a minute or two in front of Chesterbus services. Chester City Council immediately took Arriva to court and during this period Arriva cancelled their copycat services. This seemed to work as the judge didn't find Arriva guilty of much - specifically as they'd now not done anything.

Chester City Council then sold their Chesterbus business to the UK's largest transport operator, First Group two weeks ago, and seeing this as a green light, Arriva have re-commenced their competing services, though on a much smaller scale, in the city. Chester is something of a rare breed in terms that its local bus operator was owned by the local council; these are dwindling now and both Peter and I have decided to go and take some final day shots of Chesterbus vehicles before Firstr's "Barbie" livery replaces everything.

Getting to Chester from home in Cleethorpes is fairly straightforward (Cleethorpes - Manchester, Manchester - Chester), though at face value, the fare costs £43.00 and that's with a Young Persons Railcard! Many people would simply pay this price, shrug their shoulders and resign themselves to thinking the UK's rail network is bloody expensive, however those of us in the know - and who continually try to inform those who aren't - know how to reduce this fare to, in my case, £26.50 - all this and STILL travelling on exactly the same trains that the £43 fare gave. How? Well, let me explain:

The trains I'm catching are detailed as follows:
0718 Cleethorpes
0907-0912 Sheffield
1003 Manchester
1016 Manchester
1122 Chester

1654 Chester
1759 Manchester
1818 Manchester
1908-1912 Sheffield
2057 Cleethorpes

By buying three separate tickets: Cleethorpes - Sheffield; Sheffield - Manchester; Manchester - Chester, the fare reduces to that which I paid: £26.50. In fact, I got it even cheaper, to £24.65, though when I went back to book the Sheffield - Manchester leg the £8.60 TPE Standard Advance A fare had disappeared and I was left with the Saver Return fare of £10.45. Still, it goes to show how a fare of £43 can be reduced by £16.50 just by fiddling about. I will remain on the same trains throughout (obviously changing at Manchester), but showing the ticket for my next leg the other side of Sheffield in both directions.

As I'm travelling on Tuesday, the option for free postage to my home address was not offered, so I opted to collect them from the FastTicket machine at Peterborough rail station over the weekend. It's all free - all you do is insert the debit/credit card you used to purchase the tickets online, type in the unique reference number you're given and hey presto the tickets are printed for you there and then.

My updated fotopic gallery

My fotopic gallery has been thoroughly updated over the recent weeks with recent collections including all vehicles at the Weymouth Rally on 17 June; the Peterborough Bus Rally on 10 June and also all vehicles attending the North Weald Rally near Epping on 1 July.

...... and the North Weald Rally

Continues from the day before.

Breakfast at the LSE was a little limited: we were only entitled to a six-item breakfast, whereas when I stayed at a university campus in Camden Town, the breakfast was unlimited. The London School of Economics was really showing the reasoning behind its naming! But enough of this, my day started as soon as I'd checked out, when I'd need to take a brisk walk to Tottenham Court Road tube station for the 0902 Central Line tube to Epping. At 0858 I entered the station and to get past the gaggle of foreign students in front, followed the "stairs" sign as they were headed for the escalators. Never again will I opt to take the stairs at a tube station. A spiral staircase that descended for an eternity, down and down and down, to the point that 0902 was now here - yes, just under 4 minutes going round and round and round. The train was in, doors open, so I dived on and took a seat. I felt quite giddy. We made our way through Mile End, Bethnel Green, Stratford and Leytonstone and out into the Essex countryside. I particularly liked the station name Theydon Bois pronounced "boys" by the automated announcement. We arrived in Epping punctually at 0950.

Peter, my fellow LEYTR Editor, was already there, aboard a RM outside the station - the first of the day - to take people to the rally site. The vehicle in question was RM298 - VLT 298, owned and operated by Blue Triangle, who were providing the 'free' shuttle service to/from Epping Station, Ongar and Stapleford Tawney. I say free, but actually, on the early inbound journeys, the conductor came round and asked for the £7 rally entrance fee, which then covered unlimited journeys on all the services for the day.

It was a very enjoyable day, despite me not adding a single tie to my collection. I did purchase three back copies of the BUSES Yearbook series that I hadn't got, plus a book from the Routemaster Association, picturing a large selection of RMs attending the RM50 rally in Finsbury Park in 2004 - an event I attended, but sadly lost all the photos I'd taken in my Great Hard Drive Crash of 2005. Another fascinating book I purchased about RMs was an 11 month countdown to the last every normal stage-carriage Route Master service (159) in London (December 2005). Again, very pictoral and showed last day operation of routes 14, 22, 13, 38 etc. When I stop and think of the number of RMs I saw in normal service back in November 2003 when I started at National Express, compared to even the last 11 months where 7 routes remained, there had been an amazingly fast reduction - a little too fast to be dignified reduction in my mind.

Peter and I caught the penultimate 'free' bus back to Epping Station, in the form of Dartmaster RM85 - VLT 85. The driver was an absolute maniac, driving at incredible speeds through 30mph zones en route to the station. This did mean that I could catch an earlier tube back into central London to ensure I got my train home. Peter was planning on another overnight coach journey, this time taking him to Skegness via London and Liverpool, rather than opt for a hotel somewhere. My tube left Epping at 1750 and I alighted at Liverpool Street station at 1832, changing onto a Metropolitan Line train there at 1842 (train 5219, car working 435) arriving King's Cross St. Pancras at 1850.

In the remaining 40 minutes until my GNER left, I played around at one of the ticket machines with my Oyster Card, and checked my recent usage: The whole weekend had cost me £6.50 and a Zone 6 Travel Card costs over £6 and that would have just accounted for today's travel cost.

Due to the flooding in South Yorkshire, the normal route GNER trains take north of Doncaster, is closed as a result, and the alternate route, while not being much longer, isn't electrified, so the 225 trains cannot run to Leeds. Instead, they are placed on the Edinburgh and Newcastle journeys, meaning the old HST 125 trains - those that are spare - are being used on the Leeds services. My 1930 departure was bound for Leeds and was a HST with no coach M (it was locked and in darkness) and onlu coach L for first class passengers. There were no seat reservations either, but unlike standard class, we all found a seat and no nastiness presented itself. The Leeds train in front had been cancelled and the following Leeds train was a 225 and thus terminating at York. This meant three train loads of passengers for Leeds were on board my train. I was so thankful I wasn't in standard class!! Blood was sure to be spilt. HST trains are needed for GNER's Hull, Inverness, Aberdeen and Glasgow services, daily, meaning at minimum 7 trains are needed and the resulting spares aren't plentiful enough to cover all the Leeds journeys hence the cancelations.

During my journey I got chatting to the chap sat opposite, as it turns out the editor of Today's Railways UK magazine, Robin Sissons. We had a good chat about the rail network and moved on to other things, radio comedy being one subject. It made a slightly late running journey pass very quickly indeed and in no time at all we were at Doncaster, 20 minutes late. I said I'd email him and stay in contact and I must do this. A few days later I went out and bought the latest copy of Today's Railway UK magazine - a good read, not too deep for those like me whose main transport interest isn't trains, though deep enough not to be seen as a trainspotter publication.

My connecting bus service was a coach this time - a First Huddersfield Volvo B10M/Plaxton Expressliner, C44Ft still with National Express trim, R309 JAF. I'll have no doubt passed this at some point years ago in its NX livery. First Devon and Cornwall operated Rxxx JAF vehicles on the 339 to Cleethorpes, so at some time it may have appeared there. We left 3 mins early at 2157 and arrived in Scunthorpe a shade early too at 2240.

I now had to sit on Scunthorpe rail station platform until 2322 when the last train to Cleethorpes arrived, 185136 - my first train of the day yesterday. Again I was the only one in first class and rather than alight in Cleethorpes, I bailed out at Grimsby Town at 2352 and got a taxi home.

I felt both days had been successful, travel-wise, despite the flooding in South Yorkshire and the bomb scare in central London. Somehow I managed to make all my connections and did everything I wanted to do in my time away. I'm categorical that first class travel helped me to do this in a more calm, stress-free way. It's something that I'll definitely consider again if I can book with some certainty months in advance for a journey by train I need to make.

These and more photos can be found by visiting my fotopic gallery.

To London for a Show......

Coincidentally, many months ago, I realised that I'd be on my weekend off when the annual bus rally held at the North Weald Airfield in Essex was on. Advertised as attracting over 200 vehicles and 50 stalls, the event is particularly large! Realising that I could attend so far in advance meant that I could plan the cheapest possible rail travel by booking so far in advance. Travel was so cheap that I, for the first time after the Railrover 2 years ago, booked 1st class travel in both directions (Cleethorpes - King's Cross).

The cost? £28.60 each way. Very reasonable, plus with me travelling down on Sat 30 June and returning the following day, children would be aplenty on board the train in standard class and that's one thing I'd want to avoid.

The unfortunate events in London at 2am on 29 June, where a BMW car was found laden with explosives that hadn't gone off, did concern me a little in terms of what would be open in central London, as on the Saturday night I'd planned to go and see Chicago in the West End with Simon. Coupled with the horrific flooding throughout South Yorkshire, there were no trains running between Scunthorpe - Doncaster, so the potential for problems were plentiful.

Still, I had a first class rail ticket so I had a little more bounce in my step on Saturday morning when I went to catch the 1326 TransPennine Express train from Cleethorpes station. According to the National Rail website, the connecting bus service journey time between Scunthorpe - Doncaster was 32 minutes! That struck me immediately as impossible; when we ran the 909 coach between the 2 points, 45 minutes were given and this was a little tight! As it happened, and not wanting to miss my train (with my reserved first class seat), I opted to catch the train 1 hour earlier from Cleethorpes at 1228.

It was fortunate that I chose to do this as the Travel South Yorkshire (ex SYPTE) timetable on display at the station, showed a 50 min travel time for the replacment bus service - much more realistic - and also showed that had I opted to travel on the later train, would have missed my GNER to London by 6 minutes.

Here's my itininery:

1228 Cleethorpes (TransPennine Express)
1310 Scunthorpe

1320 Scunthorpe (replacement bus)
1410 Doncaster

1504 Doncaster (GNER)
1647 London King's Cross

1700 King's Cross St. Pancras (Underground)
1706 Great Portland Street

In the event, 185136 worked the Cleethorpes - Scunthorpe section, with only myself in first class. I opted for a complimentary tea and a packet of shortbread chocolate chip biscuits. Very calm and serene. Then came the replacement bus ride: and it was a bus - M804 PRA, new to Trent Buses in 1994, a MAN/Optare Sigma, now operating with Woodside Continental Tours of Sheffield. It was in an all-over white livery with blue lettering and did a top speed of 50mph. Luggage space was, as you can probably imagine, virtually nil, and unlike bus passengers, the majority of people on board had luggage (excluding me). Also parked at Scunthorpe station was a Frodingham Coaches (EYMS) liveried B10M/Plaxton Premiere, A15 EYC. I thought the bulk of us would go on that, allowing the overspill to use the bus, but in the event it was the other way round. I wasn't complaining too much as we did leave punctually (and first) at 1320.

Despite being overtaken by Reliant Robins and every juganaut on the road, we arrived in Doncaster at 1406. Don't be fooled that, with a GNER first class ticket, you're automatically allowed to frequent the First Class Lounge on the station. A board outside welcomed all first class passengers except those with Weekend First and Advance First tickets who are "not allowed to use the First Class Lounge". There was no apology so I had to spend some money in the Pumpkin Buffet Restaurant.

My 1504 GNER to King's Cross arrived on time and had a dummy unit 82212 at the southern end of the train. I was in coach M (a personal first) and had never waited so far along the platform before. I found my individual, reclinable seat, and awaited our departure, 2 minutes later. Tea/coffee et al were served at numerous intervals throughout the journey; I again opted for a gratis cup of tea and pack of biscuits. Unlike TransPennine, GNER were, on this occasion, using proper milk in a big flask, rather than individual portions of UHT milk.

There was a speed restriction in force along the East Coast Main Line throughout the Doncaster area due to the recent flooding, and it was very evident from the train: whole fields submerged; at times it was as if the raised train line was passing through the middle of the sea, the only giveaway that this wasn't the case being the occasional tree rearing its 'head' above the water. We had very high rainfall in Cleethorpes, with some streets in Grimsby having to be evacuated, but nothing on the scale the Doncaster area received. It was clearly a very desperate time in this area and it made me appreciate just how efficiently the emergency timetables had been drawn up by the train companies and just how quickly replacement bus/coach operators had drafted in their vehicles to help out. So often does the bus/coach industry come to the aid of the rail industry and so very rarely is it the other way round.

We arrived in King's Cross at 1651, a mere 4 minutes late, and my journey had taken 1 hour longer than expected due to catching an earlier train from Cleethorpes, but I wasn't bothered as I was here now and had travelled first class throughout, save 50 minutes on a bus, in quiet, calm, relaxed surroundings. Wonderful, it really was.

I have an Oyster Card, and it's been all mine for about 1 year exactly. I initially topped it up with £20 and arranged for it to be automatically topped up by £20 every time my balance drops below £5. Naturally, for this to occur, my debit card it linked to it. It's a great way for the casual visitor to London to travel around the city. Tube journeys are 50% cheaper (only £2) and bus fares are 33% cheaper (only £1.50). Over the past year I've not used it much, but this weekend I was going to be making more use of it.

King's Cross St. Pancras Underground station has been undergoing renovation for a very long time, in readiness for the Eurostar service to France. Now completed, it makes the station fully accessible to those with limited mobility and it far more open plan, despite being wholly underground, than it was before. I boarded a Metropolitan Line Uxbridge-bound train (5046, running car 422) at 1703, alighting at Great Portland Street at 1706.

Both Simon and I were staying at the LSE Campus on Fitzroy Street nearby, at a very reasonable £30 per night. We met up here and then headed into the West End in readiness for the 8pm show time for Chicago. It was raining a little so we opted to get on a bus and have a ride to Marble Arch and back to get out of the way of the crowds. We boarded a 390 bus at Tottenham Court Road at 1840. We waited. And waited. More got on. More got off. In 22 minutes, we moved only once - about 10 feet in total. This weekend was the Gay Pride March in central London and there was obviously an ad hoc road closure ahead. So, having paid £1.50 for the comfort of the bus for 22 minutes and total distance travelled of 10 feet, we cut our losses and left.

This will continue in tomorrow's post.