The
outward journey was fine, with unit 220004 ("New Dawn"), arriving
at Reading a couple of minutes early.
On
the return however we got as far as Didcot and there we stayed, to be told
that due to a fatality at Banbury, the line was blocked.
After
more than an hour we were eventually given permission to be routed via
Swindon, the Golden Valley line and Cheltenham. By this time we had
picked up a trainload of passengers off the 10:35 ex-Portsmouth Harbour
which was terminated at Didcot.
The
run to Swindon provided more 125mph running, but progress along the Golden
Valley was slow due to awaiting a FGW HST to clear the single line section,
and then some very lengthy TSRs.
Once
on the main line again we had a good run, including a cracking climb of
Lickey Bank, which we must ahve topped at around the 65 mark I would guess.
We then got stuck behind a Cross City EMU from Kings Norton(surprise,
surprise), and eventually reached New Street at 15:09, a mere 113 minutes
late !!!
At
least we did better than the 09:05 ex=Poole which was supposed to leave New
Street for Newcastle at 12:45, and it still hadnt arrived at 15:30.
It had been trapped on the way to Banbury.
Full
timings of the return are as follows:-
| Reading |
d |
1144.25 |
| Didcot |
a |
1201.00 |
| |
d |
1306.12 |
| Swindon |
a |
1325.02 |
| |
d |
1327.28 |
| Cheltenham |
Pass |
1424.05 |
| Bromsgrove |
Pass |
1446.36 |
| Blackwell |
Pass |
1448.20 |
| Birmingham NS |
a |
1509.30 |
| HOME
| 221 | 390
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JOURNEY REVIEWS--No.1
| No.2 | TECHNICAL
1 | TECHNICAL 2
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