29 September 2007: London Tilbury & Southend

Realising that I have managed to leave some of them out, I decided that it was time to cover the rest of the London Tilbury and Southend Lines. Today when you look at the route map for these lines, run by C2C, it looks like a simple enough operation. However its history is relatively complex. The line from Fenchuch Street opened in 1854 and originally ran via Stratford, Barking and Tilbury to Southend. A few years later a more direct route via Upminster and Pitsea was built and the whole thing extended to Shoeburyness. A few decades later a branch from Grays to Romford via Upminster was built. This gives us largely what we have today - except that the latter branch is now operated as a Romford-Upminster shuttle - and Upminster to Grays from Fenchurch Street.

In the early 20th century the line was put up for sale and bought by the Midland Railway. At around the same time the District Railway connected their line and began running trains over Midland metals. Their trains went all the way from Ealing Broadway to Shoeburyness until the outbreak of war in 1939. By this time London Underground had taken over the District Railway and electrified it as far as Upminster. This was now part of the nationalised London Underground.

After the war, the non-underground line became part of British Railways under the London Midland Region - an anomaly that persisted for a few years, until rather more sensibly, the Eastern Region finally got the line! In 1962 BR electrified their tracks east of Upminster. There were now two electrified routes running parallel from Bow to Upminster, one operated by BR and one by LT, and consequently BR withdrew all their trains from all stations bar West Ham, Barking and Upminster, and concentrated on faster services from London through to stations east of Upminster.

By the 1990's the line was in trouble. The electric trains had been running for 30 years and were increasingly unreliable and the infrastructure was crumbling. It became dubbed as the "misery line," the least reliable commuter line in London. The private sector inherited this and bore the brunt of the blame until Railtrack re-signalled it and C2C invested in shiny new Electrostar trains. And this is where I came in...

I set off to Fenchurch Street at around midday, only to be greeted at Tower Hill tube with the news that a signal failure had closed the line as far as Barking. A pain, because now I had to get the District Line all the way to Barking before I could start on the main journey, going SLOWLY through all the ropey places I would have preferred to have sped through on a proper train. At Barking the usual breakdown of communication had happened that seems to occur any time there's a problem on the railway. Hardly any information or announcements. And a tosser on the platform slagging off the passing West Ham fans in surely a drug-induced manner and proclaiming his loyalty to Arsenal. He was asking for a thump from one of the Hammers fans and I don't know how he didn't get one.

Luckily I didn't have to wait long for a train to Leigh. It flies past all the District Line stations before Upminster that used to be served by the railway. You can still see the majority of the old mummified LTS platforms in situ. I wonder why they have been left? Finally at Upminster the tube terminates and LTS is on its own as it crosses where the Essex border has been since 1965. The landscape is chiefly marshy flat lands, as you would expect on the Thames floodplain.

We arrive at Leigh on Sea in decent weather, despite the forecast of rain for that day. The first thing I notice is that the approaches to the station are designed for cars not people, forcing you to take a less pleasant and longer way round than is needed on foot. Oh well. The town is effectively split into two parts, an upper area where the shops and church are, and the lower part by the waterfront. It's the latter I'm heading for.

The street along the waterfront is the High Street even though the shops etc are up the hill. This runs parallel to the railway as it heads east from Leigh on to Southend, and I notice that right up against the line is a very station-like building which is the Sailing Club. However those canopies and the proximity to the track tell me this was once a station. Later research reveals that this was indeed the station until the 1930s, when for reasons that are not clear, it was closed and rebuilt in the far less convenient location I have just had to walk from!

The Leigh waterfront is a delight. There is a small harbour that looks out over Canvey Island, and further away, the south bank of the Thames where the Kent coast and the Isle of Grain can be seen. The tide is high and it's easy now to see how the low lying Canvey was so badly overcome by the 1953 floods. There are several nice pubs and seafood shops clustered along the harbour. I sample three of the pubs, the last one being tied to a seafood stall. The shellfish does look gorgeous but I am a bit funny about shellfish texture, apart from not really knowing how to peel it. I settle for some chips before heading back to the station.

I get a train back that is going back over the same route I came down on. Therefore I had to change at Pitsea, the junction for the original line through Tilbury, which I hadn't travelled yet. I wish I'd done the down journey via this route so I didn't have to do it now. It's everything I imagined the route would be in this part of the world. Dozens of chavs playing music off their mobiles at top volume and smoking dope on the train. And no security or guards where they are really needed. I put my I-Pod on top volume and shut it all out until we get back to London, though most of the scum get off at Grays or Barking.

This particular train returns to London via the latterly opened Grays to Upminster branch rather than the original one through Rainham. This is still single track though I gather doubling it is on the cards, it serving the growing Thames Gateway and enormous Lakeside complex at Chafford Hundred, where a new station was opened in 1995. Why did this open three years AFTER the shopping centre?

I make it alive back to Fenchurch Street, but one problem remains. I now have to complete Barking to Grays via Rainham, having completed the Leigh to Southend section in 2002. Having experienced the south Essex ambience, I'm in some trepidation about pursuing this. Perhaps I should take the approach I took on the Dartford lines and travel with the rush hour commuters? Tune in for the next installment...

Itineary:
Barking-Basildon-Leigh
Leigh-Pitsea-Barking-London Fenchurch Street

Miscellaneous Trips - Various Dates

These are trips that were comprised of just one or two lines or I just travelled them frequently in the course of things. There is little to say about most of them. Or I can't remember the details! Some of them may be expanded if my memory brings back something of note. NB These dates are approximate, and do not necessarily refer to the first trip made over a particular line.



Summer 1992 - Surbiton-Hampton Court
October 1996 - Sittingbourne-Sheerness

Autumn 1996 - London-Lewisham-Hayes

Autumn 1996 - London-Bromley South-Orpington

December 1996 - London Kings Cross-Cambridge

December 1996 - Kings Cross Thameslink-Brighton
Summer 1997 - Raynes Park-Chesssington South
Autumn 1997 - London Victoria-West Norwood-Beckenham Junction

Summer 1998 - Strood-Paddock Wood
Summer 1998 - Ashford-Hastings
Summer 1998 - Oxted-Uckfield

Summer 1998 - Ashford-Canterbury West-Ramsgate

Spring 2000 - Lewisham-Peckham

Spring 2001 - Barnes-Hounslow-Twickenham

Spring 2001 - Twickenham-Kingston-Wimbledon

Spring 2001 - Herne Hill-Tooting-Wimbledon

April 2001 - Heathrow Express

Summer 2001 - London-Sevenoaks-Hastings
Summer 2001 - London-Hasalmere-Portsmouth

Summer 2001 - Portsmouth-Eastleigh

Autumn 2001 - London Victoria-Chatham-Canterbury East-Dover-Walmer

Autumn 2001 - Walmer-Ramsgate-Chatham-London Victoria
Autumn 2001 - London-Richmond-Reading-Oxford

Autumn 2001 - Purley-Caterham

Autumn 2001 - North Woolwich-Richmond
March 2002 - London Liverpool Street-Southend Victoria
March 2002 - Shoeburyness-London Fenchurch Street
Spring 2002 - Watford Junction-Clapham Junction-East Croydon
Spring 2002 - Grove Park-Bromley North

Summer 2002 - Banbury-Oxford
Summer 2002 - London-Woking-Guildford
Summer 2002 - Guildford-Bookham-Epsom-Motspur Park-London
Summer 2002 - London-Tattenham Corner
Summer 2002 - Epsom Downs-West Croydon
Summer 2002 - West Croydon-Epsom-Dorking

Summer 2002 - Horsham-Dorking-London
Autumn 2002 - London Liverpool Street-Southminster
Autumn 2002 - Colchester-Clacton
Autumn 2002 - Thorpe Le Soken-Walton-on-the-Naze

September 2002 - London Victoria-Maidstone East-Ashford
September 2002 - Norwich-Sheringham
14 September 2002 - London-Alton
14 Seotember 2002 - Alton-Guildford
14 September 2002 - Weybridge-Staines
14 September 2002 - Teddington-Shepperton
14 September 2002 - Farnham-Ascot

Spring 2003 - Herne Hill- Sutton-Wimbledon

May 2003 - Cambridge-King's Lynn

Summer 2003 - London-Crawley-Chichester-Southampton
Summer 2003 - Barnham-Bognor Regis
Summer 2003 - Ford-Littlehampton

Summer 2003 - Chichester-Worthing-Brighton
Summer 2003 - Redhill-Gatwick-Guildford-Reading
Summer 2003 - Waterloo-Windsor & Eton Riverside
Summer 2003 - Windsor Central-Slough
Summer 2003 - London-Lewes-Eastbourne-Hastings
Summer 2003 - Lewes-Seaford
Summer 2003 - London Bridge-East Croydon-Redhill-Tonbridge

August 2003 - Marylebone-Aylesbury
August 2003 - Aylesbury-Princes Risborough
October 2003 - Witham-Braintree
October 2003 - London-Harwich
October 2003 - Ryde Pier Head-Shanklin

October 2003 - Lymington Pier-Brockenhurst
Summer 2004 - West Ealing-Greenford
Summer 2004 - Paddington-West Ruislip
Summer 2004 - Maidenhead-Marlow
Summer 2004 - Colchester-Colchester Town
Summer 2004 - Bristol Temple Meads-Westbury-Salisbury-Southampton-Portsmouth
Summer 2004 - Eastleigh-Chandler's Ford

Summer 2004 - Oxted-East Grinstead

31 July 2004 - London-Exeter-Exmouth
31 July 2004 - Exmouth-Barnstaple-Exeter-London
6 October 2004 - Basingstoke-Reading
October 2004 - London-Newton Abott-Paignton-Kingswear
December 2004 - London-Plymouth
May 2003 - Cambridge-Peterborough-Leicester-Birmingham New Street
27 September 2004 - London-Gloucester-Worcester-Kidderminster
27 September 2004 - Kidderminster-Birmingham Snow Hill-London
3 May 2005 - Castleford-Normanton-Wakefield
6 May 2005 - London-Oxford-Evesham-Worcester-Great Malvern-Hereford

Summer 2005 - London Liverpool Street-Tottenham Hale-Cambridge

Summer 2005 - Barking-Gospel Oak

Summer 2005 - Romford-Upminster
Summer 2005 - Clapton-Chingford
Summer 2005 - London Moorgate-Gordon Hill
Summer 2005 - Enfield Town-Hackney Downs

6 August 2005 - Watford Junction-St Albans Abbey
6 August 2005 - Bedford-Bletchley
13 August 2005 - Bristol Temple Meads-Severn Beach
15 August 2005 - Mark's Tey to Sudbury
August 2005 - London-Exeter St Davids-Okehampton-Meldon
Autumn 2005 - Cambridge-Turkey Street-London Liverpool Street
December 2005 - London-Hertford East
December 2005 - Hertford North-Stevenage
December 2005 - Swindon-Melksham-Westbury

Easter 2006 - Gloucester-Chepstow-Newport
Easter 2006 - Newport-Cardiff-Barry Island
Easter 2006 - Cardiff-Newport-Bristol Parkway-London
2 December 2006 - Oxford-Bicester Town
2 December 2006 - Twyford-Henley
2 June 2007 - Stansted Mountfitchet-Stansted Aiport
2 June 2007 - Stansted Airport-Audley End
July 2007 - Brighton-Lewes
21 September 2007 - London Bridge-Hither Green-Dartford
21 September 2007 - Dartford-Kidbrooke-Lewisham
23 November 2007 - London Fenchurch Street-Upminster-Grays-Purfleet-London Fenchurch Street

Mopping Up 2: 8 September 2007

Another week, another mopping up trip. This one began at the same place, Euston, and almost the same time. I boarded the 7.30am Pendolino to Lancaster (didn't know anything from London terminated at Lancaster). Hardly any stops - just Watford and Rugby - and we reached Crewe in just 2 hours, going clean through the Trent Valley with no delays. And the quiet carriage was quiet - perfect!

I'm over familiar with Crewe at the moment. For such an important railway centre, its buffet is miserable. Surely some marketing person could have come up with a decent railway themed bar? It amazes me that as the high street undergoes a renaissance, catering in public places is getting more and more mechanised and sterile. The same dreary names, the same pre-packaged sandwiches, the same mass market beers. And using an exotic-sounding bread or giving the coffee cup a daft name does not help. Nothing inspires in these places. They are just providers of low-grade fuel. Try getting a simple bacon sandwich and a cup of tea and you'll see what I mean.

You'll gather I didn't bother with a drink before getting on the two coach 175 to Chester, the first of many such trains that I will see today. I really don't know why such good trains are wasted on the Chester shuttles. It's not that Chester doesn't warrant them, it's just that for a twenty minute journey, surely something a bit more mundane could be used. Then longer-distance travellers could have the longer faster smoother stock, and be spared the single coach Sprinters that seem to be used on inappropriate routes like the Fishguard boat train or the mid-Wales line.

At Chester I have a few minutes before getting on the three coach 175 going to Holyhead. It's reasonably empty. Serving the ferries to Dublin, I assumed it would be much fuller as the return train was that I had to get back from Bangor last year. Most of the travel seems to be local, either going to Bangor or between the resorts of Rhyl, Prestatyn and Colwyn Bay. It's nice to see the two Ormes once again. I appreciate how large the Great Orme is now I'm getting a second look at it. At one point on the route the two Ormes are lined up and it towers up over the Little Orme, a lump of implacable limestone.

It occurs to me how quickly the time seems to pass, yet it's a two hour trip to Holyhead from Chester. Either I'm so used to going by train that the miles are just eaten up, or I'm getting older and time is passing quicker. The names fly by. We pass the Conwy estuary that impressed me last year, skirt the castle right next to its walls (a unique feature in the UK perhaps?), pass through the tunnel with castle-shaped portals, and then we're full steam ahead for Bangor. Bangor is where I spent such a miserable time on the final leg of last year's Wales trip, and I am pleased to not be getting off this time. And then...disaster.

Last year when stranded in Bangor, I tried to walk to the Menai Straits so that I could see the two impressive bridges there. I got lost with a giant heavy backpack on my...back, and couldn't find a decent pub either. So this is a long-awaited second attempt to see them. And it is at this point, the train comes to a sudden halt in the first of two tunnels that the station sits between. Something must have gone wrong, because the station has just been announced, so the stop must be unexpected. A few minutes later the conductor makes an announcement but the PA in this coach is kaput, so I can't hear it properly. I think he says something about lights going out for a while. They do go out, the train being lit by emergency luminous panels for a while. Two REALLY annoying students keep making unfunny remarks and laughing in a manner that is totally out of proportion. I resist the temptation to go and thump them in the dark, and reflect that fate is stopping me completing this branch, AND seeing the bridges, AND will screw up another leg of the journey if we can't turnaround at Holyhead on time. A few minutes later we limp into Bangor, where we sit for about fifteen minutes. I watch the clock anxiously. I can see the board on the other platform announcing the 13.05 to Chester, which will be us once we have reached the other end and turned back, and note that we have now lost all our turnaround time. If they take the train out of service, I'll never make the next leg.

Once we move off we have to go slowly because the Meani Straits crossing is
single track and we're waiting to clear a Bangor bound train that is now taking precedence because of the delay. Then I see the suspension bridge, the road crossing, the first of the two bridges. It's SO close to the station! I must have missed it by so little last year. Then suddenly I spy the famous lions that guard the entrances from Brunel's original bridge. This was a marvel in its time, the Menai Straits being dogged by strong currents that make doing anything in its waters difficult and dangerous. Getting the materials into place and assembled was torturous. Hence constructing it as several stone pillars with steel tubes hanging between them rather, a more kit-based approach. Unfortunately it was badly damaged by fire in 1970, and was replaced with a more mundane structure with a new road crossing running above it. But the lions and some of the other decorative elements remain. I see the underside of the road crossing soaked in graffiti and combined with the more functional nature of the new bridge, these elements seem a depressing indictment of today.

We're onto Anglesey and I appreciate its raw beauty (despite the hated Expressway beside us). We pass a surprising number of halts before crossing the final embankment and curling into Holyhead of Holy Island. The station is as large as I remember it from 1996, but I the details were scant then as it was rather late and I was rather tired. The conductor has mentioned that the fitter is waiting for the train, so hopefully he can fix the problem (a door and the brakes from what I can gather from straining to overhear a conversation). I don't even have time to get off before we turn back, so I suppose the problem was fixed fast, and we have already lost a lot of time.

We make up most of the time quickly, and the stations come and go even faster than on the way out (and we stop at more places). Then we stop at Flint with a problem - so near and yet so far - my half an hour of flexibility at Chester is now down to 20 minutes. It's one of the doors again. This time they decide that the front carriage is not safe and we are all told to shift into the rear two coaches. At Chester they take the train out of service completely but luckily my journey is over. There is the usual breakdown that follows a problem though as no-one seems to know which train they should be getting on next if they are continuing to Cardiff.

Next I'm on a third rail Merseyrail electric to Hooton, where I change. Hooton is an unusual junction, it has four platforms, but just two lines are in use. And the booking hall is on one of the disused platforms, so everyone has to walk over the bridge after passing through the booking hall to reach the trains. New dot matrix indicators have also been installed but I notice the older ones too, where a different light comes on behind a piece of glass showing the destination according to how the signals are set. Older and simpler, but just as effective - especially since there always seems to be a problem keeping these new real time displays up to date anyway. The train to Ellesmere Port arrives a few minutes later and I'm on my second new line of the day.

As we progress towards the destination, the clientele gets chavier, until we reach a new name to place in the list of hell holes - Ellesmere Port. Not only are there plenty of these useless beings at the station, the place is just so run down. There's no indicator boards here, there is a flyover over the place, under which is rubbish and remains of fires and the inevitable graffiti. One of the most threatening places I've had to wait at. I duck into the pub next door which isn't so bad - no kids allowed and over 21s only, no doubt trying to preserve the convivial atmosphere fostered by the photographs of regulars on the walls. I enjoy a lovely John Smiths, which I've been told is so much better in the North when poured properly - as indeed it is and was.

With some trepidation I return to the station, hoping that I've timed it right so that no waiting is required. Just as my heart sinks on seeing the bunch of tracksuited losers hanging around, I see the train coming in on the other platform. Hurrah! There's a strange arrangement at Ellesmore Port. The Merseyrail electrics come in and terminate on one platform and go no further. Then on the other platform, the diesel occasional Northern services come in and terminate from the other direction. It's on to this Northern two car Pacer I climb gratefully. Myself and the other passenger have a carriage each. The line then plunges through the miles and miles of refineries and chemical works that the area is known for. There are two stops, both in the middle of nowhere, that no-one gets on at. Though maybe if they ran regular trains from Warrington through to Ellesmere Port, somebody might. This is clearly a case of cheaper to run 2 trains a week than close the line. And I should imagine there is freight along here.

Then we arrive at Helsby Junction, joining the line from Chester. It's a beautiful station, the full nature of which I'd only glimpsed during my previous visit. It has 4 platforms. All have gothic style buildings (no longer in use but tastefully boarded up for a change), surrounded by well tended tubs of geraniums. Even the signal box has been looked after and it boasts several totem-sign plaques celebrating prizes that the station has won. Finally it is topped off by a whole garden built into the middle island platform. I have seen gardens at stations before but never as good as this. I take some photographs and nearly miss my train back to Chester, having to hare over the footbridge. It's a very long hoist up to the train I notice, almost like a continental platform.

It doesn't take long to get to Chester, where I have time for a pint of Cains (off the last time I came here!) before clambering on to a full two coach Pacer for the mid-Cheshire Line. This is the last line between Manchester and Merseyside to complete. It's a curious route. Despite linking cities, and being double track almost all the way, it seems mostly rural in feel, with request stops and empty platforms. I don't appreciate all the rural scenery as I doze a bit - these are long days that start early! Eventually it meets the Manchester Metrolink at Altrincham, where that takes the other track for a while, then the line veers away towards Stockport.

I get off at Stockport. Couldn't get a cheap ticket directly back so I share a 3 coach 175 with a load of Stockport County fans back to Crewe; then have a drink while I wait for the London train. The Pendolino is quiet, gently lit and speeds me home rapidly. Dare I say the West Coast is becoming as routine as the East Coast for me now? I've nearly covered England now. What am I going to do then?

Itineary:

London Euston-Crewe
Crewe-Chester
Chester-Holyhead (Bangor to Holyhead new)
Holyhead-Chester
Chester-Hooton
Hooton-Ellesmere Port (new)
Ellesmere Port-Helsby (new)
Helsby-Chester
Chester-Stockport (new)
Stockport-Crewe
Crewe-London Euston

Mopping Up 1: 1 September 2007

This is the first of three trips to mop up those last few lines that I haven't yet covered. This is either because they were included in the plans of previous trips but something went wrong; or because there just wasn't time to fit them in. Each one will include one of those lines that sees very scant services. Today's trip focuses on the North West and the Midlands.

First step is London Euston to Stockport by Pendolino. This is a trip I've now done a few times, so I can grab some sleep en route, it leaving London at 7.45am. Ironically it goes via Stoke without calling at Stafford first, thus using a stretch of line I haven't been on before, but was not concerned about because it is a slightly different route to the same place with no stations. This also gives me my first glimpse of the breathtaking Peak District, which I never tire of seeing. I notice that the Trent Valley four-tracking works are advancing fast, which will allow faster and frequent west coast services from 2009.

We arrive at Stockport just after ten, and I have the best part of an hour and a half before the next leg. I have a look around the city. It has the usual clone shopping centre and bowling alley, chain shops and too much traffic. But it also has a nice market and some pleasant winding car-free streets. After nosing round a couple of charity shops I give in to my base desires and go to Wetherspoons. I will return to the town some day because there is an air raid museum with a mock-up of a shelter there. Also it was reasonably pleasant as towns go.

Back at the station I get the one and only Stockport to Stalybridge train of the week (two coach Sprinter). It runs on Saturdays at 11.28 and calls at Denton and Reddish South, where one person gets on, before a stop at Guide Bridge on the Woodhead Line. I should imagine the token service is for driver route knowledge and to prevent the government closing the line to passengers (which it recently tried to do). It carries a lot of freight and we pass a couple of such trains in the other direction. I just get the feeling that all the other passengers are line bashers too! There are certainly more than I thought there would be and I notice a couple of them are definitely spotters.

At Stalybridge I visit the station pub, established in the 19th century and still going strong. It always has a good selection of beers on, and indeed, is in the CAMRA guide. I discovered it at the end of last year on the Manchester bash, and the memory of the barmaid has not faded. She is the epitome of the friendly Northern barmaid, and she goes up further in my estimation when a couple of track workers whistle at her and she winks at me and suggests it's me they're after! The same track workers express their envy to me that I am sitting on the platform drinking beer while they are yomping up the trackside with heavy equipment! It was quite dark when I last stopped here, and so I didn't realise how high up the station was. In daylight therefore there is a fantastic panorama of the Peak District with churches and houses nestling in its slopes.

So after a very enjoyable interlude I get on one of the many passing Trans Pennine 185 trains to Manchester Piccadilly. This is another journey I'm familiar with, particularly with the degree of overcrowding on the route. TPE are getting fourth carriages for many of their trains, but I wonder whether that will be enough. I've never quite understood why these routes are not part of Inter City anyway (with appropriate decent length trains) as what else would you call a route like Manchester to Newcastle or Liverpool to Hull? Luckily it's only twenty minutes to Manchester, where I grab some lunch from Marks before the next stage.

My next conveyance is a class 323 EMU to Crewe. This takes the route via Manchester Airport rather than Stockport, reversing at the Airport then passing through the famous Cheshire suburbs such as Alderley Edge. This route was actually suspended until recently. It was closed during the main part of the West Coast modernisation, and the points locked out for the Wilmslow to Airport spur. I believe it has been electrified since then and is now running an hourly service. It's a daft silly little bit of line to cover, but it does have one rarely-used station - Styal - and it's on the way to the third line of the day anyway so why not. I grab some more sleep while I get the chance.

I haven't really been to Crewe properly, beyond changing trains there and visiting the Crewe Works a couple of years ago, which are out of town anyway. I don't think I really want to visit it anyway, judging by the short walk I have to find somewhere to find an antacid. It seems to be another post-industrial town still looking for a new raison d'etre. The inevitable giant ASDA has already opened on part of the Railway Works. There are a lot of interesting looking pubs on the station road too, but I've had enough to drink for the moment! Having found a chemist, I head back and have a coffee while watching the trains come and go at this most famous of junctions.

Next call is a Desiro to Birmingham New Street. This is the stopping train run by Central (soon to be London Midland) and there's not much between it and the faster Virgin train at this point of the route, just because there are so few stops in the empty countryside between Crewe, Stafford and the West Midlands. In some ways this section seems like a buffer between the Midlands and the North, and it makes you realise how small Britain is as you cross it quickly.

There's only about 15 minutes to wait at BNS before the 323 EMU for Redditch emerges from the cavernous tunnels surrounding the subterranean station. The full route is from Redditch and Longbridge to Lichfield, and I completed most of it last October, and if it hadn't been for engineering works then, there would have been no need to come back today! Branches are always difficult to work around, so I'm very relieved to pass the couple of stations that finish this one. At Barnt Green the main line continues to Worcester, a route I covered last year, and a single track branch continues to Redditch. It's almost as if someone has thrown a switch on the branch as the landscape seemingly switches to lush green from concrete and canal in an instant.

At the end of the trail I just stay on and go back as it turns round within 5 minutes. There's only a ticket check on the return leg so no explanations needed for the rather short visit to Redditch. I gratefully exit using the Victoria Square exit at New Street and head for Snow Hill station. I have over an hour to the train home, so I'm seeking a pub. I find one almost overlooking the station called The Old Contemptibles. It's so recently refurbished that you can smell the paint. It has a smart interior that is a nice mix of old and new. There is a reasonable selection of beers. The menu tells me that the pub name comes from a specialist regiment formed in the Boer War (ironically specially for fighting overseas) which was labelled "contemptible" by the Kaiser in the First World War.

At Snow Hill I get a Chiltern six coach class 171 back to London Marylebone. Snow Hill is now part of an office block. It was originally part of the Great Western route to the Midlands and beyond. It was closed in the early 1970s like so much else, and its services generally diverted into New Street, with the next stop down, Moor Street, becoming a terminus. The skeletal remains of the GW station at Wolverhampton, known as "Low Level," can still be seen next to the station that survived on the main west coast line. The tracks have gone but the building's demise is protracted. The Midland Metro tram system now uses the route between Snow Hill and Wolverhampton. However as demand for rail travel rose, and the lost capacity of the closures was required again, Snow Hill was rebuilt and the through route from Moor Street re-opened in 1987. Journeys across the conurbation were now possible - such as Worcester to Stratford. A new Snow Hill to Marylebone service also began, replacing the remainder of the GW route from Paddington. Since then Chiltern have doubled the track all the way and turned a line threatened with closure not that long ago to a viable second route to the West Midlands . While the engineering works are going on on the main line, it takes little longer than the Pendolinos, and since I got the fare for £5 by buying one of Chiltern's print-at-home tickets, it couldn't be better!

The train is packed, much more than I expected, so it isn't the most peaceful trip I've ever had. But it makes good time and I have a trouble-free trip back across town to home. Three more lines done!

New lines this trip:

Stockport-Stalybridge
Manchester Piccadilly-Airport-Crewe
Birmingham-Redditch