UK Rail Tour '22

This UK Rail Tour was two years in the planning.  Covid brought major delays with lockdowns and travel restrictions. Then railway companies only ran temporary schedules and finally the May to December timetable was published three months late. During these months I developed a rather large spreadsheet containing all the relevant train times, connection times, refreshments, train lengths and much more. Train length is important: if you find yourself at the wrong end of a 9-coach train as it'll take a full 5 minutes to walk the length of 9 coaches to the lift/bridge/exit.   Please skip the following if spreadsheets are not your thing. Detail of part of one sheet of the spreadsheet  LH column: Station mnemonic (e.g. TRN=Troon), useful in many train websites. Miles between stations (TRN->GLC = 33miles) 2nd column:   Station name Recommended minimum time to change trains (A Network Rail figure) Link to, and number of, the electronic timetable for this jo...

 Sat/Sun 27/28 Aug I had two days left on my Rail Rover so decided to go afar for lunch.  First to Sheffield from St. Pancras then to Kings Lynn via Cambridge. I checked out suitable lunch places in advance.   On these maps, Red is the lunch excursion. Saturday: First, Ladywell to Blackfriars - a very unusual route because of engineering works near London Bridge. Blackfriars: To St. Pancras St. Pancras is heaving. To Sheffield Always go for the freebies Sheffield Station, in a very nice setting: Some strange buildings here. I later discovered they are the students' union of Sheffield Hallam Uni. This is different. The Rutland. Local beer and a fish sandwich Pleasant lunch, nice beer, nothing to keep me in Sheffield so a fast train back. More freebies, I turned down the sandwiches, just coffee and shortbread To Blackfriars Last (train) leg. Then the bus up the hill Sunday: Same Ladywell to Blackfriars special, then Cambridge in an hour and a half  7 minutes late...

 Fri 26 Aug The last leg starts here On the train.100mins to King's Cross Freebies arrived very quickly. It's hard to believe but I've just turned down breakfast. We've been topping 125mph for much of the way to Peterborough Arrived 2min early. This is a Thameslink back one stop to Finsbury Park Just caught the train to Highbury and Islington The brief "corrections" bit is from Highbuty & Islington to Dalston Junction and then on to New Cross New Cross, I haven't changed trains here since I was working. Maybe even 30+ years ago. Next is a Lewisham train and a bus home. Continue

 Thu 26 Aug The whole of today's trip is "corrections" because of the July heatwave.  Then I had to take a train to Leeds and on to Doncaster. Newcastle has a first-class lounge too The lounge is very busy. They don't check tickets here and I think everyone knows that! This morning I had a momentary scare. I arrived in time for the 9.40 but went into the lounge instead. 15min later they said the 10.40 was delayed/cancelled. That was, thankfully, corrected to It's left Hexham on time. Another Northern train. On time. To Thornaby Goodbye to the Tyne River Wear, North Sea just beyond. This is Sunderland North Sea. Nothing to see Stayed at the Norton Hotel on the Seaton Carew seafront (after sometime in Sedgefield) when I worked in the NE in 1999 and 2002. On the way I looked for the large building I worked in with its huge carpark, it was next to an enormous Samsung factory which made TVs and monitors. Samsung have moved out as has the company I was contracted to.. T...