Another week in the UK on other random rails

[trainman74]

Heh, jis got his trip report posted before I managed to finish writing this one, even though my trip was before his...

Toward the beginning of this year, I noticed that the dollar-to-pound exchange rate was a lot better than it was the last time I went to the U.K. Although I traveled to a lot of places in Scotland on a trip with friends in 2014, the only places I'd been in England are London and the National Railway Museum in York, and I'd never been to Wales. So I already had the idea of a trip around England and Wales in the back of my mind - and then in February, I saw on Twitter that United was having a one-day sale on tickets to London, so I picked a week at the end of the valid dates, made my flight reservations for May 6th through 14th, and started planning.

I decided to make a clockwise loop of the country, spending one night in Cardiff, two nights in Liverpool (with a Beatles tour as the main activity), two nights in Leeds (primarily to ride the Settle-Carlisle Line), and two nights in London (primarily to experience Mail Rail).

With the aid of a spreadsheet, given all the trains I planned on riding, I figured out that my best option was to get a BritRail pass for unlimited travel. (Buying Advance tickets for individual trains might have been cheaper, but I didn't want to be locked in to specific departures, and the BritRail pass was definitely cheaper than buying individual Anytime or Off-Peak tickets would have been.)

I discovered somewhere that it was possible to book seat reservations online for any operator's trains via the GWR website, so I made reservations for a few trains that I thought I might take.

Shortly before my trip, it was announced that there would be rail strikes on May 12th and 13th, so I had to switch my plans a bit (more on this below).

Sunday, May 7th

My flight arrived into Heathrow Terminal 2 about 30 minutes early, at 6:55 A.M. After a long walk to immigration, about 10 minutes in line for the automated gates there, and then a long walk to the Terminals 2 & 3 train station, I made it onto Heathrow Express at 8:02 A.M. -- included in the BritRail pass.

The Heathrow Express arrived at Paddington Station about 20 minutes later, and the GWR 8:33 A.M. departure for points west was a few platforms over. I actually had a seat reservation on the 10:43 A.M. train, but this one had plenty of vacant seats.

The train arrived in Cardiff pretty much on time, and I was able to check into my hotel at about 11:00 A.M. I spent the afternoon at Cardiff Castle and at the nearby National Museum of Wales where there was a special exhibit on the BBC's 100th anniversary of service to Wales. For dinner, I went to several places looking for a traditional Sunday roast, but they were either too crowded or were sold out of their roasts, so I gave up and had traditional pub food.

Escalator at Heathrow Terminal 2 - it's a long underground walk from here to the actual train station

GWR trains at Paddington (with Heathrow Express in background)

Very specific bilingual warning sign at Cardiff Central Station

Cardiff Central Station

 

[trainman74]

Monday, May 8th

Today's travel was from Cardiff to Liverpool. My original plan was to stop over for lunch in Chester, where I'd have to change trains anyway -- but SarahZ pointed me toward Gladstone's Library in the town of Hawarden, which has a café (it also has overnight rooms).

I caught the Transport for Wales 7:50 A.M. departure to Manchester, changed trains at Shrewsbury for the TfW 10:25 A.M. departure to Holyhead, and then changed trains at Wrexham General for the 11:36 A.M. departure on the Borderlands Line. This was my first late train of the trip -- it was delayed 11 minutes, with the automated announcement in the station saying "cause is under investigation." It's a real branch line operation, using a side platform at Wrexham General and only a 3-car train set.

The library was a fairly easy walk from the station, near the center of town. There didn't seem to be much going on in Hawarden (pronounced with a silent "W"), with today being a bank holiday following Saturday's coronation of King Charles III.

After lunch, the next northbound train was scheduled for 2:01 P.M., but was about 15 minutes late. It arrived at Bidston at 2:52 P.M., misconnecting with the 2:51 P.M. Merseyrail departure to Liverpool -- that service runs every 15 minutes, so I had 14 minutes to wait for the 3:06 P.M. train.

Trains coming into Liverpool from across the River Mersey run through a 4-station underground loop in the center of the city. My hotel was about 500 feet from the Moorfields station -- which was good because it was pouring rain at this point.

After checking into my hotel and waiting out the rain, I just walked to a couple nearby places for dinner and a beer.

Transport for Wales train approaching

Single-track side platform at Wrexham General

Hawarden station

Liverpool Lime Street Station

Liverpool Lime Street Station trainshed

 

[trainman74]

Tuesday, May 9th

When I initially booked the trip, I noticed hotel rooms in Liverpool were surprisingly expensive, so I wound up using Hilton points. I only found out later that it was because the Eurovision Song Contest was being held in Liverpool this week - the U.K. was hosting the contest on behalf of Ukraine, last year's winner. So the city was hopping, with blue-and-yellow flags all over.

Today, I did a Beatles bus tour, including some of the Beatles' childhood homes and Penny Lane. I noticed some of the streets we drove down had wide grass medians and suspected they'd once had trams in the center - which turned out to be correct.

After the tour, I went to the National Museum of Liverpool, which had an exhibit about the Liverpool Overhead Railway, an elevated railroad that ran along the waterfront from 1893 to 1956 and was electrically-powered from the beginning.

I also took the obligatory "ferry 'cross the Mersey." The river is crossed by two automobile tunnels and rail tunnels - although the ferry does stop at docks on both sides, it only runs once an hour and is promoted more as a scenic boat ride than as commuter transportation.

After dinner, I made use of my rail pass by taking a joyride - picking a location on the Merseyrail network that had a pub near the station. I ended up at the tastefully-named Railway Pub in Kirkby for one beer - this was the only place on the entire trip where I had to pay cash, because they had a £5 minimum and the beer was £3. (I realized later, of course, that I should have ordered two beers!) The station was the site of a relatively recent incident of a train running into the bumper at the end of the track.

I made it back to my hotel room in time to watch the first semifinal round of the Eurovision contest on TV.

On the Beatles tour

James Street station, Liverpool

James Street station, Liverpool (closest station to the arena where the song contest was being held, as well as the waterfront party/viewing area)

Kirkby station, with a train leaving for central Liverpool

Speaker playing Ukrainian music in Moorfields station, Liverpool

 

[trainman74]

Wednesday, May 10th

I had a seat reservation on the 10:24 A.M. TransPennine Express departure from Liverpool Lime Street to Leeds, but I happened to check the National Rail app and see that the train was canceled. I opted for the 9:54 A.M. train instead, which had plenty of extra seats.

It's only about an hour and a half from Liverpool to Leeds. I was staying at a hotel within sight of Leeds station, and my room wasn't ready yet when I arrived. The front desk stored my luggage, and I walked to the Royal Armoury Museum, where I spent much of the afternoon looking at old weapons.

For the evening, I took the train to Hull, beginning with an indirect route - the Northern Trains 4:30 P.M. departure to York, which was standing-room-only and which I took as far as Church Fenton, where I transferred to another Northern Trains service that was going as far as Bridlington via Hull.

The Hull station had recently installed ticket barriers that were going to be activated as of May 15th, so station staff were manually checking everyone's ticket in preparation. In Hull, I saw the smallest glazed window in England (which is totally a real thing) and went to two pubs.

I went back to Leeds on the direct route, the 8:03 P.M. TransPennine Express service. When the conductor checked my pass, he said, "Oh, that's a good one." The passenger in front of me said something I didn't catch, to which the conductor responded, "It's his pass - I won't go into details, but he's got a good one."

TransPennine Express train at Liverpool Lime Street

TransPennine Express on-board display with strike information

Leeds City Station

Hull Paragon Interchange Station

Ticket barriers are coming to Hull

 

[trainman74]

Thursday, May 11th

Today was the day for the Settle-Carlisle Line. I checked the National Rail app for "Leeds to Carlisle via Settle" to make sure my train would be running as scheduled. It was, and I boarded the 9:20 Northern Trains service, sitting in the first car of a 3-car train. The conductor on this one said she'd never seen my pass before, asking, "Is that for foreign travel?" Yes, it is.

A large group of people my mother's age boarded at Settle, who turned out to be from somewhere in the south of England on a bus tour. Along with them was a volunteer guide who got on the P.A. system, explaining that he'd be doing a commentary along the line in the first car and apologized for the fact that there should have been notices posted, saying other passengers could move to the other cars if they didn't want to hear him. I stayed put, of course, for this unexpected treat.

The commentary was very interesting, although I had to chuckle at some of the details about building the line - it's the highest-altitude main line in England, but that is, of course, nothing compared to the lines through the Rockies in the U.S. The volunteer got off the train at Appleby - I'm not sure if they usually have a guide on this train, or if it was prearranged because of the tour group. (There was also a refreshment trolley that made a couple passes through the train between Settle and Appleby.)

My plan was to take the long way back from Carlisle to Leeds, stopping off in Newcastle and York. After lunch at a pub in Carlisle, I checked the National Rail app for Carlisle to Newcastle, and saw that the only options listed were back through Leeds. I was confused, but realized I'd been seeing warnings for the past couple of days that, due to the strike Friday, some Thursday train service might be curtailed.

I had a beer at the pub in the Carlisle station, which is accurately named "301 Miles from London," thinking my only option was to just take the Settle-Carlisle line in the other direction. After finishing my beer and going back into the station, I noticed a departure that said it was stopping in Newcastle. I realized that I'd still had "via Settle" entered into the National Rail app (there's no indication on the results page that you have a "via" set), and trains were indeed running between Carlisle and Newcastle. I jumped on the 1:32 P.M. Northern Trains departure to Morpeth almost at the last minute.

The route from Carlisle to Newcastle, known as the Hadrian's Wall Line, turned out to also be nicely scenic, running for much of its length along the South Tyne River and then the River Tyne.

I did some sightseeing in Newcastle by taking the Yellow Line of the Tyne and Wear Metro from Central Station to Monument, which are one stop apart - but I did it the long way around, via a loop that takes about an hour to traverse. (The Tyne and Wear Metro, as a local metro service, is not included in the BritRail pass, so I bought a Zones A-B-C day ticket, since the loop goes through all three zones.)

After walking from Monument back to Central Station, I got on the next train to York, the CrossCountry 4:39 P.M. departure that was actually going as far as Plymouth - I managed to find a seat that was reserved starting in Birmingham. The train sat, with occasional bumps and the power going out a couple of times, until actual departure at 5:05 P.M. Once underway, it was finally explained that a second train set had been coupled to the back.

As noted, I'd been to the National Railway Museum before, but this was my first time going inside the York city walls. I walked past York Minster (closed for the day) and down the Shambles, then had dinner and a beer at a brewery tap room.

I then caught a 7:40 P.M. TransPennine Express departure that went nonstop to Leeds, and got back to my hotel room in time to watch the second semifinal round of the Eurovision Song Contest. After it ended, one of the lead stories on the BBC News at 10:00 was that the government would be taking over TransPennine Express at the end of May, citing numerous canceled trains, among other issues - the very thing I'd encountered on Wednesday!

Leeds City Station interior

Northern Trains departure to Carlisle via Settle

Signage at Settle station

Settle-Carlisle Line scenery

Carlisle Station

Hadrian's Wall Line scenery (that's not actually Hadrian's Wall in the photo)

Tyne and Wear Metro in Newcastle

Departure screen at Newcastle - note delay "due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time"

 

[trainman74]

Friday, May 12th

My original plan for today had been to take an indirect route from Leeds to London, probably changing trains and eating lunch in Derby. However, with the rail strike, it appeared there was only going to be one realistic Leeds-to-London option today, an 8:00 A.M. departure operated by LNER. I'd made a seat reservation on the train even before leaving for the trip.

This turned out to be the one and only train departing from Leeds this morning, and in fact, station staff didn't even open the ticket barriers until about 7:40 A.M. I boarded and discovered that my reserved seat, which was supposed to be facing forward, was instead backward - although I was just happy to have a seat and didn't particularly care about the orientation. (The reservation displays at each seat weren't working, so I'm still not 100% certain that my seat reservations actually went through, although I didn't have anyone showing up to demand to sit in my seat. The train didn't fill up until Peterborough, the last stop before King's Cross.)

The train arrived on time, and I made my way to the Underground station to take the Circle Line to Edgware Road, one short block from my hotel. The Underground isn't included in the BritRail pass - but then, fortunately, it also wasn't part of the rail strikes.

I was able to check into my hotel at about 11:00 A.M. Eventually, I headed out for lunch, making my way to a pub recommended by a friend near Farringdon Station - I discovered that my phone loved to give me transit directions via the Elizabeth Line if at all possible, since it makes fewer stops than other Underground lines, even though its nearest stop, Paddington, was about 4/10ths of a mile from the hotel.

After lunch, I got back on the Elizabeth Line and transferred at Whitechapel to the Overground, a service I don't think I'd ever used before. My destination was the Brunel Museum, a small museum dedicated to Marc Brunel's Thames Tunnel, a major engineering achievement of its time, originally a pedestrian tunnel, and through which the Overground runs between Wapping and Rotherhithe stations.

I next went to Tower Bridge, via the Overground to Shadwell and then the Docklands Light Railway to Tower Gateway. I paid to climb the stairs to the upper-level walkway, which has some sections with transparent floors.

After doing some souvenir shopping, I went back to my hotel, then headed out for dinner in the Battersea Power Station area. The bus was supposedly the quickest way to get there, although it got frustratingly stuck in traffic, so I resolved to stick to trains. After dinner, I used the Northern Line Battersea Power Station station, on a new extension, transferring at Kennington to the other Northern Line branch to get to Kings Cross, where I went to a nearby beer bar before heading back to my hotel.

Only one train departing Leeds this morning

Elizabeth Line with platform doors

Farringdon Station

Rotherhithe Station

My feet standing on the transparent portions of the floor on the Tower Bridge walkway

Paddington (Underground) Station

Paddington at Paddington Station (sadly, this is nowhere near the left luggage office - that's a painted backdrop behind the statue

Battersea Power Station

Northern Line train at Kennington

 

[trainman74]

Saturday, May 13th

Through London Walks, I had reserved a spot on a tour of Beatles-related locations that began at Marylebone Station (where some scenes from "A Hard Day's Night" were filmed). The tour was mostly a walk around the Marylebone area, but it culminated in a trip on the Jubilee Line from Baker Street to St. Johns Wood to see the crosswalk from the "Abbey Road" album cover.

I then met up with an online friend and her husband for Mail Rail. This is a new attraction since my previous visit to London - a section of the Royal Mail's former underground package-carrying system that's now open for rides in cramped trains. There's also a museum about the history of the Royal Mail, akin to (but smaller than) the Smithsonian's National Postal Museum in Washington, D.C.

After having dinner in Soho, I said goodbye to my friends at Oxford Circus station, then took the Victoria Line to the end of the line at Brixton to visit a couple of breweries near the station. It was then back to my hotel via the Victoria line to the Bakerloo line.

Marylebone Station

People attempting to take photos at the Abbey Road crosswalk

Someone with an inflatable alligator on the Metropolitan Line

Mail Rail train

Mail Rail train being unloaded

Mail Rail tunnel


Sunday, May 14th

Conveniently enough, today was the 8th day of validity for my 8-day BritRail pass, and there were no rail strikes going on. I walked to Paddington and caught the 8:25 A.M. Heathrow Express, arriving at Terminal 2 in plenty of time for my flight back to L.A., which boarded a little late but arrived at LAX on time.

 

[Trollopian]

Superb trip report, Trainman, and I'll be sure to be careful of my fishing poles and helium balloons when in Wales.

 

[JontyMort]

Superb trip report, Trainman, and I'll be sure to be careful of my fishing poles and helium balloons when in Wales.

And if you ever need to buy a selfie-stick…

The warning is valid, of course - even a golf umbrella can get you a bit of a tingle from the overhead.

A great read. The trip sounds all the better for including some less obvious destinations - quite a few of which I haven’t done (and I thought I knew the network well).

 

[Asher]

I really enjoyed your description of the trip with the many interesting photos. My son is traveling through a lot of that same part of the UK this week and it gives me a good idea of what he is experiencing.

• May 30, 2023 - Bristol, UK - Exchange
• June 1, 2023 - Glasgow, UK - The Garage
• June 2, 2023 - Newcastle, UK - Boiler Shop
• June 3, 2023 - Leeds, UK - Stylus
• June 4, 2023 - Manchester, UK - Gorilla
• June 5, 2023 - Birmingham, UK - O2 Institute2
• June 6, 2023 - London, UK - Camden E

 

[jiml]

Great report and pictures!

 

[Willbridge]

I enjoyed the text and the images - perfectly timed as I have been reading The Victorian Railway, by Jack Simmons. The revival of some of the old railway company names meshes with the names in his book. He also covers the beginnings of the debate on nationalization or private operation and the role of railway labor, aspects of which are included in your experiences!

 

[JontyMort]

I really enjoyed your description of the trip with the many interesting photos. My son is traveling through a lot of that same part of the UK this week and it gives me a good idea of what he is experiencing.

• June 2, 2023 - Newcastle, UK - Boiler Shop

Tenuous railway history link alert.

That Newcastle venue is Robert Stephenson’s original locomotive works.

 

[BlackDiamond]

Great report and pictures, thanks. Yes the strikes and the train cancellations are a pain. On my last trip I was fortunate to miss the strikes but did have to reschedule some trips due to cancellations. Ever since COVID they have had a shortage of drivers plus drivers have been refusing to work their days off which is how the train companies were covering for holidays and people off sick etc.

If you ever get to Wales again check out the Cambrian Coast line from Machynlleth up to Pwllheli via Barmouth, very scenic. There are a couple of the famous narrow gauge steam railways along this route, the Ffestiniog at Portmadog and the Talyllyn at Tywyn.

 

[Asher]

Tenuous railway history link alert.

That Newcastle venue is Robert Stephenson’s original locomotive works.

Yeah, it’s amazing to check out the history of various venues that have evolved from historic theaters and industrial manufacturing establishments. Like you point out, this particular spot is a major part of the Industrial Revolution.

 

[trainman74]

If you ever get to Wales again check out the Cambrian Coast line from Machynlleth up to Pwllheli via Barmouth, very scenic. There are a couple of the famous narrow gauge steam railways along this route, the Ffestiniog at Portmadog and the Talyllyn at Tywyn.

Yes, next time I go over there, I definitely want to check out some of the heritage railways and rail museums. (I looked into some when planning this trip, but found that many of them are only open and running trains on the weekend.)