I think it was at around this time I decided to go all out to finish the quest rather than just pick routes off as part of sightseeing trips. I took a long weekend as it was my birthday, and as there was something in particular that I wanted to visit in Birmingham, this struck me as an ideal opportunity to clock up some mileage in the Midlands. The easiest way to cross off the remaining route between Worcester and Birmingham was to start my journey there. So on Thursday 5 October after work I got the HST from Paddington to Worcester Foregate Street. I do find the place a bit threatening at night but know of a decent pub to go to. Sadly it gets worse from here on in as there are yobs messing around in the corridor outside my room until 3am. I complain to the night staff and this nets me a refund of breakfast from the manager in the morning, but it can't make up for the loss of sleep.
So it's gratefully that I head back to Foregate Street the next morning. This is one of the oddest stations I've seen. It has two platforms and both lines are run as single tracks, so that trains can arrive in either direction on both sides. A two car 170 carries me and plenty of others to Birmingham New Street via Bromsgrove. At BNS I head to a National Trust building. This is the last of the city's back to back houses, in fact three of them in a terrace, that have been preserved and fitted out in the style of three different eras. It's one of the best museums I've seen, helped by the very good guide. The area around them is being re-invented with the usual bars and bowling alleys. The gloominess of the place is deepened by the rain which is bucketing down by now. Drenched, I get some lunch at M&S at New Street then head off on the next leg.
This is the stopping train to Stafford, going via Aston, Walsall, Rugeley, on to the Trent Valley Line and up to Stafford. I think it was a four coach Sprinter and it is a surprisingly long trip, but then we have left the conurbation and crossed into Staffordshire. It's a short wait for the train back to Wolverhampton, and this is a Desiro EMU, being the stopping electric train from Liverpool to Birmingham, and almost new at the time. It's an uneventful smooth run back.
At Wolverhampton it's a wee wait for the Walsall shuttle. This is a single coach Sprinter that calls only at Walsall. It's paid for by the local council, and is always being threatened with the chop. Hardly anyone is on it so it is going to be difficult to stave off death for ever. I'm sure it also travels under the wires too so it's wasting a diesel unit. At Walsall I notice that the BNS train back is fast, but it actually takes a different route back, spurring off to the right after Hamstead rather than going back through Aston. This is handy as fast is always better, and it does follow another new line I suppose, though without stations.
The evening rush hour is starting now, and the two coach 170 to Nuneaton that is next is standing room only. Still it's not a long journey. I can hardly see anything out of the window and am grateful to bail out. It's another busy one coach Sprinter down to Coventry. I like Coventry station. It's a particular 50s/60s design that integrates all the station buildings into one glass-panelled structure, footbridge, buffet, the lot. Chichester and Banbury are similar and they remind me of the swimming pool and town hall in Lewisham. It's annoying that trains don't run directly from Nuneaton to Leamington rather than stopping at Coventry - surely another disincentive for people who might otherwise travel by train. Especially as the train from Coventry to Leamington is a Voyager Cross Country train, which is unbelievably overcrowded.
Not looking forward to Leamington as despite being a Spa town it is also known as a chav town. They're not wrong and I keep away from the platform and go into the very pleasant buffet for a coffee. A few trains pass before my 171 to Stratford Upon Avon arrives. In Shakespeare's home town I have time to go to a couple of real ale pubs before going back for the Birmingham line via Henley in Arden. Irritatingly the train is late, which meant I could have relaxed a bit more in the pub, but it's not such a big deal as this is the last leg of the day.
As the train nears the city people going out for the evening start to get in. Taking over the train seems to be a new trend for teens and 20-somethings. It never seems to occur to these groups that taking a couple of bays of seats even if there are just four of you, then playing loud music and cracking open cans (then leaving them) as a pre-cursor for your night out is anti-social. The old notion of the quiet public space seems to be dead now. This doesn't leave me in the best mood when I have to find my hotel in Broad Street. I have no map and there are a fair few undesirables and drunken youths already about. Eventually I find it. The room is HUGE, way too big for a double. Then just to make sure I don't get another good night's sleep, the fire alarm goes off at midnight. Being 8 floors up, I'm not keen to dawdle and reach the car park without a coat. I freeze while we wait for the all clear, nearly an hour later. At least I'm not in pyjamas like some of the others. It's a non-smoking hotel so a smoker is suspected. I suspect the gaggle of gigglers nearby, the only guests who are taking this opportunity for a cigarette break, and am not in the mood for laughter myself.
I keep my clothes close by in case it goes off again, but next thing I know it's morning. The alarm actually goes off while I'm dressing but stops quickly. I grab breakfast on the way to Birmingham New Street then get the 323 EMU to Lichfield Trent Valley. I hop off just to have a look at the main Trent Valley Line that runs at a right angle and at a lower level to the line I've just travelled on, then travel back one stop to Lichfield Town. I take a tour of the beautiful cathedral with its distinctive triple spires, then get the return train to Birmingham. The line actually heads right through the city and south west to Longfield and Redditch, the latter being my planned destination. However to my annoyance there are engineering works all day between King's Norton and Redditch. I won't get this branch done this time and I resign myself to having to head back another day just to do this. Since I have a specific train to catch home I head to the limit of the service today - King's Norton - just because I have nothing else planned. Never before has this felt so pointless! I covered so much yesterday that today just feels like a damp squib and I look forward to going home. But there's a bit to be done yet.
Back at BNS I get lunch then walk to Moor Street, through the packed throng of the shoppers. Moor Street was a terminus for services from the South East Midlands until 1987, when the through lines to Snow Hill and beyond were re-laid. More recently the terminus has been renovated in 30s Great Western Railway style and some trains are planned to terminate some trains there once more, freeing up capacity at BNS. I get on a two coach Sprinter going to Worcester via Kidderminster, though I am getting off at Stourbridge Junction. There I get on to the single coach Sprinter to Stourbridge Town and back again. I swear the journey is over before the train has revved up once, such is the short length of the branch. A vehicle called a Parry People Mover has actually been tested on the branch recently, a lightweight tram-like beast that runs on a flywheel system and uses much less energy. I was hoping to get a go on this but it wasn't running today. However more recently as part of the new franchise (West Midlands), it was announced that some of these had indeed been commissioned for the branch, so I will get my wish. Imagination of this sort is vital to keep our branch lines alive.
And that's it really, I've done all I can today. But I still have lots of time to kill. So instead of heading back into the city I get off at Smethwick Galton Bridge, an interchange between the high level local line and low level main line. It's very smart but seems to be next to a motorway, like much of the Midlands, and is quite isolated and uncomfortable. The first train through on the main line is the slow train to Wolverhampton, so I get on this. My ticket, a West Midlands Rover, is actually valid all the way out to Gobowen, Crewe and Stoke. But the trains are not frequent enough for me to get out to any of these and back again unfortunately. It would have been good to do the Stafford to Stoke line, but this has been permanently replaced by a bus. You can only travel this line on a fast train to Manchester. That will have to be another day. The day feels like a downer as I head back to BNS to get a Pendolino home.
Lines covered:
Thursday 5 October 2007
Paddington-Worcester Foregate Street
Friday 6 October 2007
Worcester Foregate Street - Birmingham New Street
Birmingham New Street-Rugeley Trent Valley-Stafford
Stafford-Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton-Walsall
Walsall-Birmingham New Street (Aston avoiding line)
Birmingham New Street-Nuneaton
Nuneaton-Coventry
Coventry-Leamington Spa
Leamington Spa-Stratford-upon-Avon
Stratford-upon-Avon-Birmingham Snow Hill
Saturday 7 October 2007
Birmingham New Street-Lichfield Trent Valley
Lichfield Trent Valley-Lichfield Town
Lichfield Town-King's Norton
King's Norton-Birmingham New Street
Birmingham Moor Street-Stourbridge Junction
Stourbridge Junction-Stourbridge Town-Stourbridge Junction
Stourbridge Junction-Smethwick Galton Bridge
Smethwick Galton Bridge-Wolverhampton
Wolverhampton-Birmingham New Street-London Euston
Saturday 7 October 2006
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