Apologies for mentioning railway travel and trains in this Covid and terrestrial
broadcasting group but I thought I'd slightly lighten the mood by describing my
first forays onto the network in some time, and how the changes to Greater
Anglia are getting on.

The first trip was in early June when I decided to visit Mangapps Railway Museum
(and I'm glad I did). I started on the Stratford Flyer, the stopping service
from Bishop's Stortford to Stratford. It was a venerable class 317, one of the
crappy ones with nowhere to put your coffee. Still, I was pleased that my usual
Americano and pain au chocolat from OTC on Stortford station was exactly the
same price as the last one I bought in March 2020.

Between Lea Bridge and Stratford I passed the extensive Eurostar depot and the
sidings used by GA and was cheered to see a class 37.

Waiting for my connection at Stratford a pair of class 90s were hauling
containers towards Felixstowe, then I saw a pair of TfL Rail 315s. I hadn't
realised they were still in service, GA's having gone some time ago. They still
look quite smart and I was reminded just how much difference the TOC can make to
the overall effect of units. On my last Rover, in 2019, I used the Merseyrail
507/508s and they were so much nicer than GTR's horrible 313s in their final,
well, years.

From Stratford I rode on a 321 to Wickford, a class that we briefly endured on
the Cambridge line when the 305s were being withdrawn. The legroom in those days
was appalling (but they seem OK now). We soon lost them in favour of class 310s,
briefly, then the 317s.

My train on the Crouch Valley line was a 322. I hadn't travelled on one of those
since they left the Stansted Airport route, for which they were built, some time
in the 90s. They seem to have removed the payphone and I saw no sign of the
drinks trolley. Oh, well.

The Crouch Valley line was new to me, and has some interesting scenery, but I
noted nothing much of railway interest.
The return journey was the same 322 but the unit from Wickford to Liverpool
Street was one of GA's new class 720s. They seem decent enough but the GA
Stadlers have set the bar rather high, at least from a passenger perspective.
The seats on the 720 were very hard. Saw more pairs of 315s on the way into
town.

My final train of the day was one of GA's Stansted Express class 745s. Decent
trains. Each of the trains today was lightly, or very lightly, loaded,
especially the Stansted Express. GA sure picked a fine time to introduce
fixed-formation 12-car sets. Mask compliance and social distancing were good on
all services. But as I stopped at Stratford on the way home at about 3.30 I saw
that platform 10, for GA down services, was very busy.

Trip two was for beer purposes and was only as far as Brimsdown, but I needed to
change in each direction. So the country leg each way was by class 379, an
efficient but rather bland train, and the London part was by 317. On one of the
inbound trains I was gripped by a pair of grippers, one of whom wore no mask.
Both 317s had accessible toilets installed in large cubicles with square, rather
than the usual rounded, corners. I hadn't been aware that they'd modified the
317s, but I suppose it was necessary for continued accessibility rules
extensions. Have they also fitted retention tanks in the new bogs?

Again, all four trains were lightly loaded, as were the three TfL buses I used.
Trip three was yesterday and to Slough, so that I could walk the Slough Arm of
the Grand Union. From my class 379 to Liverpool Street I saw a 720 pass the
other way heading for Stansted Airport, presumably on a training or acceptance
run.

From my Circle Line I DMed GWR as RealTimeTrains was claiming that my IET to
Slough required a reservation. GWR assured me that it didn't, so I boarded the
Oxford IET for the 13-minute run to Slough. That got me wondering whether it was
the shortest legitimate 800/801/802 journey possible until I considered that
Haymarket to Waverley beats it by a country mile.

I'd walked to West Drayton so needed to catch a 345 back to Paddington. Luckily,
I could prepare for the ordeal in a pub directly outside the station. I asked
the landlord if he'd had a good night the previous evening, the England game. He
replied that yes, there hadn't been ANY trouble. It doesn't sound like my kind
of pub, really.

My 345 towards Paddington, a 9-car job these days, came very close to being
delayed by a freight service cutting across to pass behind the relief platforms
so that it could access Colnbrook Oil Terminal. According to RTT it was almost 3
hours late. The traction was a 66 that I didn't see too closely but it had a
coat of arms of some sort painted (transferred?) onto it, perhaps GER?

As to the 345, they're bright, clean, have a very good ride, but I hate all
transverse seating. And an absence of tiolets.

Nothing else to report on my class 345/S7/745 journey home other than the
national rail trains were very, very lightly loaded. My H&C was also somewhat
roomy, but I'd let one go at Paddington as it was very busy after a roughly 15
minute gap.

My conclusions: things move on, but reports of loadings rising to anywhere near
pre-pandemic levels are very greatly exaggerated. There's still plenty of
interest on the rails and it's after enforced gaps that you realise that there's
perpetual but sometimes gradual change, sometimes for the better.

I hope this is of some interest. I'm glad to be cautiously venturing back on the
rails and I encourage you all to do the same.

In message <tplgegl8rmgg6g1m3fvg4tvpt9dc7derfm@4ax.com>, at 15:09:41 on
Fri, 9 Jul 2021, Trolleybus <unknown@birchanger.com> remarked:

>I started on the Stratford Flyer, the stopping service
>from Bishop's Stortford to Stratford. It was a venerable class 317,

I'm surprised there's any left. Having obviously fallen for the idea
that GA had committed to replacing their whole fleet by the end of 2020
(Covid I suppose). All I ever see are Basils.

>Nothing else to report on my class 345/S7/745 journey home other than the
>national rail trains were very, very lightly loaded.
>
>My conclusions: things move on, but reports of loadings rising to anywhere near
>pre-pandemic levels are very greatly exaggerated.

I agree, although some InterCity[tm] routes are reported as fairly busy,
it doesn't seem to have mapped across to regional/commuter services.

--
Roland Perry

On Fri, 9 Jul 2021 16:04:36 +0100, Roland Perry <roland@perry.co.uk>
wrote:

>In message <tplgegl8rmgg6g1m3fvg4tvpt9dc7derfm@4ax.com>, at 15:09:41 on
>Fri, 9 Jul 2021, Trolleybus <unknown@birchanger.com> remarked:
>
>>I started on the Stratford Flyer, the stopping service
>>from Bishop's Stortford to Stratford. It was a venerable class 317,
>
>I'm surprised there's any left. Having obviously fallen for the idea
>that GA had committed to replacing their whole fleet by the end of 2020
>(Covid I suppose). All I ever see are Basils.
>
>>Nothing else to report on my class 345/S7/745 journey home other than the
>>national rail trains were very, very lightly loaded.
>>
>>My conclusions: things move on, but reports of loadings rising to anywhere near
>>pre-pandemic levels are very greatly exaggerated.
>
>I agree, although some InterCity[tm] routes are reported as fairly busy,
>it doesn't seem to have mapped across to regional/commuter services.

If Castle Cary station car park is any indicator things are picking
up. In the first lockdown there were 5 cars in a ~100 space car park
and one of those had a flat tyre (I gather the owner had got trapped
overseas, it has since been removed). Today it was a little over half
full. I've also seen several Bristol/Weymouth 165s recently (which are
rarely absolutely full by the time they get to Castle Cary at the best
of times) and I've been surprised how well they are loading ~40%.

Trolleybus <unknown@birchanger.com> wrote:

> My train on the Crouch Valley line was a 322. I hadn't travelled on one of those
> since they left the Stansted Airport route, for which they were built, some time
> in the 90s. They seem to have removed the payphone and I saw no sign of the
> drinks trolley. Oh, well.
>

Oh, that's where they are. A demonstration of the problems of a small
fleet; those units have seen at least five homes in not much over 20 years.

> From my Circle Line I DMed GWR as RealTimeTrains was claiming that my IET to
> Slough required a reservation. GWR assured me that it didn't, so I boarded the
> Oxford IET for the 13-minute run to Slough. That got me wondering whether it was
> the shortest legitimate 800/801/802 journey possible until I considered that
> Haymarket to Waverley beats it by a country mile.
>

Great Malvern-Malvern Link, Reading West-Reading and Bedminster-Bristol
Temple Meads beat that, in descending order of both distance and service
frequency.

>
> As to the 345, they're bright, clean, have a very good ride, but I hate all
> transverse seating.

I thought they have a mix of both types of seating, like S8?

> My conclusions: things move on, but reports of loadings rising to anywhere near
> pre-pandemic levels are very greatly exaggerated.
>

Try travelling somewhere by XC Voyager ;)

Anna Noyd-Dryver

Roland Perry <roland@perry.co.uk> wrote:
> In message <tplgegl8rmgg6g1m3fvg4tvpt9dc7derfm@4ax.com>, at 15:09:41 on
> Fri, 9 Jul 2021, Trolleybus <unknown@birchanger.com> remarked:
>
>> I started on the Stratford Flyer, the stopping service
>> from Bishop's Stortford to Stratford. It was a venerable class 317,
>
> I'm surprised there's any left. Having obviously fallen for the idea
> that GA had committed to replacing their whole fleet by the end of 2020
> (Covid I suppose). All I ever see are Basils.
>

Delivery of the 720s is running considerably late.

Anna Noyd-Dryver

Anna Noyd-Dryver <anna@noyd-dryver.com> wrote:
> Trolleybus <unknown@birchanger.com> wrote:
>
>
>>
>> As to the 345, they're bright, clean, have a very good ride, but I hate all
>> transverse seating.
>
> I thought they have a mix of both types of seating, like S8?

Yes, that's correct. For example:
<https://www.flickr.com/photos/recliner/50568885403/in/album-72157716758978336/lightbox/>

On Fri, 9 Jul 2021 23:13:13 -0000 (UTC), Recliner <recliner.usenet@gmail.com>
wrote:

>Anna Noyd-Dryver <anna@noyd-dryver.com> wrote:
>> Trolleybus <unknown@birchanger.com> wrote:
>>
>>
>>>
>>> As to the 345, they're bright, clean, have a very good ride, but I hate all
>>> transverse seating.
>>
>> I thought they have a mix of both types of seating, like S8?
>
>Yes, that's correct. For example:
><https://www.flickr.com/photos/recliner/50568885403/in/album-72157716758978336/lightbox/>
>
>
I managed to miss that, then. It wasn't my first time on a 345 but I've always
been in the longitudinal bit (of course I didn't mean transverse in my OP).

On 09/07/2021 15:09, Trolleybus wrote:

> My conclusions: things move on, but reports of loadings rising to anywhere near
> pre-pandemic levels are very greatly exaggerated.

I've been out in Southernland today, London suburbia to Sussex, and of
the four trains I caught I was the only person in the coach on the
first, there were maybe half a dozen people in the coach on the main
line, 3-4 on the train back, and similar back to suburbia.

It perhaps didn't help that it was slightly unclear what was running
where - the journey planner was showing odd things, and the conductor
appeared to be unsure about stopping patterns changing in real time.

--
Arthur Figgis Surrey, UK