rapidotrains Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Hi all, Bill and I are now in Tintagel, Cornwall. This is our Cornish Recovery Tour, in which Bill and I spend as much as possible in Cornwall to help make up for six weeks with no rail access. So far we've bought a bunch of knick-knacks from the Bodmin and Wenford shop, a huge bottle of Scotch from Sainsbury's (which is part of our "We support the Scotch industry far too much for our own good!" tour, which is ongoing), and miscellaneous other sundries. Two guys in Cornwall for two days? That should just about make up for the £1 billion in lost revenues for the region. Some nice pics below. I've recently travelled in first class on most of the long-haul carriers: Virgin, East Coast, CrossCountry and First Great Western. All were great except for First Great Western. 1. No wi-fi. 2. No proper meal. 3. Seats too slippery for my tush. I kept sliding into the next seat on curves! Maybe they should hand out anti-skid sheets for under your bum. Makes me wonder why we bothered going with the first class pass. Oh now I remember... because on the three-car 165 this morning there were four people in first class and 4689.7 people in the rest of the train. Our hotel is a lovely vegetarian guest house called Michael House. http://michael-house.co.uk/ The views are stunning. And best of all, it's in a village called Trek Now. Two Klingons just chased a wild Targ past my window. Coming up on Sunday, it's our "see how far away from Cornwall we can get on CrossCountry before it gets dark" tour. Sunday first class service on CrossCountry - crisps, biscuits and drinks. Sounds like FGW first class service at peak times. We had planned to take an HST right the way up to Darlington but Bill saw a Voyager and said, "what's that?" So now the plan is: Voyager to Brum, stop at Forbidden Planet, HST from Brum. Funny how I manage to get to the Priory Queensway every time I am in the UK.... Regards from Tintagel, Jason 1. Watching the traffic in West Drayton. Mmmm.... HST. 2. Is someone trying to tell Bill something? He did brush his teeth this morning, right? 3. No wonder the service was terrible. My shirt wasn't exactly encouraging to the FGW staff. 4. Our train for Plymouth arrives in Reading. Mmmm..... HST. 5. We enjoyed the newly-reconstructed sea wall at Dawlish. The containers are still there doing their job. My photos of the new wall and the containers were pants, so here's one of Dawlish tunnel. 6. Bill is in his element. He used to have a Bodmin General layout in N scale. He gave up on it when the N scale engines at the time wouldn't run at less than 473 MPH. 7. A nice view on the Bodmin & Wenford. I do admit I enjoyed the chuff-chuff thingy at the front. 8. You definitely could not see something like this in Canada.... 9. Did I mention Bill's OO layout is of a GWR branchline? He was in his happy place. I kept looking around the carriages for the air conditioning controls. 10. I love hiring manual cars! I don't get to drive them back home, and when we drive on these little tiny white lines on the map we keep seeing NATIONAL SPEED LIMIT signs so I do my best to obey the signs. 11. Bill has not been overly impressed with my driving. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
hornbyandbf3fan Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Make sure you check out Largin and Restormel viaducts whilst you're down here! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jsp3970 Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 I now know realise why you like UK HST's so much: they resemble your VIA LRC's Years ago I used to take photos for VIA Rail and visited several of their facilities. I was told that VIA once planned on getting an HST out to use between Montreal and Toronto. It never happened but I would have loved to have seen it! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted June 20, 2014 Share Posted June 20, 2014 Try renting a car on Vancouver Island. They NEVER have the vehicle you've booked and you have to take whatever they've got because its that or nothing. One year I had a thing called a Honda Fit - it just about reached to the tyre of a logging truck. Last year the car I booked had been driven into a hairdresser's shop, so I got a massive 7-seater job as that was all they had. Really economical (not) for one guy!! CHRIS LEIGH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 20, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 20, 2014 You clearly caught the wrong train on FGW - you should go for the ones with the travelling chef aboard because they serve up some top-notch grub. The breakfast is almost as good as the old BR breakfast - in fact the cooked part is probably better - and is served on a china plate and you get real metal cutlery to eat your grub. The meal on Hull Trains isn't bad either although somewhat smaller than the FGW breakfast and not quite so high in the plate and cutlery stakes. But enjoy your stay chaps, and don't forget to explain the meaning of 3 and 6 at your scanfest next week (alas I can't be there owing to various problems this week plus the journey it involves so you'll have to the numbers bit on your own ). Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheesysmith Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Forget forbidden prices in brum. Get off at Sheffield and go visit the Sheffield space centre in the wicker (pronounced t'wicker). Better stock and better prices. And you can also see the wicker arches where Sheffield Victoria was, magnificent bit of victorian stone engineering. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
bubbles2 Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 Looks like your having a good time and the weather is brilliant at the moment. I was out kayaking yesterday from Trebarwith to the castle at Tintagel. Here,s a self portrait....enjoy the rest of your stay. [/url]">http://http://s62.photobucket.com/user/Debe2233/media/Port%20Quin%20Bay%2028%204%2011/DSCN5052.jpg.html'> Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rapidotrains Posted June 21, 2014 Author Share Posted June 21, 2014 Looks like your having a good time and the weather is brilliant at the moment. I was out kayaking yesterday from Trebarwith to the castle at Tintagel. Here,s a self portrait....enjoy the rest of your stay. [/url]">http:// We hiked to Tintagel today! It's a small world... It's apparently a local custom for the kids to jump off the cliff into the water. One girl was having cold feet and all her friends down below were yelling at her to go for it. And to think I've spent all this time telling my kids, "If so and so told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?" -Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cctransuk Posted June 21, 2014 Share Posted June 21, 2014 We hiked to Tintagel today! It's a small world... It's apparently a local custom for the kids to jump off the cliff into the water. One girl was having cold feet and all her friends down below were yelling at her to go for it. And to think I've spent all this time telling my kids, "If so and so told you to jump off a cliff, would you do it?" -Jason Well - it seems you're still here in Cornwall. If you leave without visiting the Blisland Inn and sampling the Hardhead Bitter, you'll regret it all your life! (Just ask for directions - it's not far from Tintagel). If Roger is behind the bar - look for the baseball cap and beard - just tell him John Isherwood sent you. Take your meal in the dining room (ha-ha) - no kids, but dogs welcome - Lee (the chef) does great food. Sunday roast lunch is the classic. Regards, John Isherwood. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rapidotrains Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 We're now en route to Birmingham on a lovely CrossCountry Voyager. I really like Voyagers, despite my preference for HSTs. Service has been very good (despite the lack of full meals) and when I was commenting to someone that it was much better than FGW, the fellow across from me started laughing. He works for FGW. Bill commented that the Voyager was a bit buzzy. "How long since you last rode a DMU?" I asked. "Ummm... over 20 years?" came his reply. Bill is now not allowed to criticize any DMUs ever. -Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
mozzer models Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 it that photo on the laptop a hint as to the new model Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Don't be tempted to like - or even tolerate Voyagers! I know that Bombardier built them but they are AWFUL. Noisy, cramped, uncomfortable with stinking lavatories and usually so overcrowded that it's a wonder no-one dies. And in the case of Xcountry, painted in a drab colour scheme, to match. If you've travelled in comfort on one - savour the moment. It's a once in a lifetime experience. Mind you, I'm not a fan of Bombardier products. They also built the CRJ, which when it has a full complement of passengers, can't carry all their luggage. So, on the Vancouver-Whitehorse afternoon flight, if you have two bags, AC leaves one of them behind. They choose which one and don't tell you until you get to Whitehorse and wonder why your bag hasn't. I have since always likened the CRJ to a flying Voyager, as English audiences will understand just how awful that prospect is. CHRIS LEIGH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold The Stationmaster Posted June 22, 2014 RMweb Gold Share Posted June 22, 2014 Don't be tempted to like - or even tolerate Voyagers! I know that Bombardier built them but they are AWFUL. Noisy, cramped, uncomfortable with stinking lavatories and usually so overcrowded that it's a wonder no-one dies. And in the case of Xcountry, painted in a drab colour scheme, to match. If you've travelled in comfort on one - savour the moment. It's a once in a lifetime experience. Mind you, I'm not a fan of Bombardier products. CHRIS LEIGH Cross Country do seem to have had some success dealing with the pervasiveness of the toilet tank pong (in the 1st Class if not elsewhere) but otherwise the trains don't have very much to commend them in my experience - noisy engines belting away underneath you, lousy seat:window layout unless you are extremely lucky but the seats in 1st are somewhat better than those in Standard and there is more room. I wonder what Jason would think if he had to travel in Standard out of Cornwall to just about anywhere, including Plymouth? On the other hand they can't 'arf shift (although the ride on the WCML can then become a bit alarming in a few places).. As far as UK trains go on long distance work I'm still waiting for something better than the original, now 40 year old, Mk3 coach - it simply hasn't been bettered in my experience and I doubt it ever will be, alas. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
dibber25 Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Cross Country do seem to have had some success dealing with the pervasiveness of the toilet tank pong (in the 1st Class if not elsewhere) but otherwise the trains don't have very much to commend them in my experience - noisy engines belting away underneath you, lousy seat:window layout unless you are extremely lucky but the seats in 1st are somewhat better than those in Standard and there is more room. I wonder what Jason would think if he had to travel in Standard out of Cornwall to just about anywhere, including Plymouth? On the other hand they can't 'arf shift (although the ride on the WCML can then become a bit alarming in a few places).. As far as UK trains go on long distance work I'm still waiting for something better than the original, now 40 year old, Mk3 coach - it simply hasn't been bettered in my experience and I doubt it ever will be, alas. You're absolutely right. The chance of getting an HST is the only thing that makes East Coast bearable. The Mk4s are horrible (for Jason's benefit, the Mk4 is the design on which the Renaissance cars are based but the Ren cars have Class 158 trucks which mean they ride WAY better than a genuine Mk4 - they also don't have the sardine seating arrangement which is standard (literally) on all British stock including the Mk4s. CHRIS LEIGH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Neil Posted June 22, 2014 RMweb Premium Share Posted June 22, 2014 .... I'm still waiting for something better than the original, now 40 year old, Mk3 coach - it simply hasn't been bettered in my experience and I doubt it ever will be, alas. For the 6'4" gangly second class passenger (me) there's more leg room in a voyager than a mk3. The smell and the noise becomes an acceptable trade off for not having to wedge ones knees hard against the seat in front. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rapidotrains Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 We're now on an HST to Darlington. Birmingham is an amazing city (says this proud adopted Brummy). If I hear one more yutz who hasn't been in Birmingham for 40 years tell me how awful it is I will throw him or her under the next CrossCountry Voyager. The lady in the Tintagel tat shop was making Brummist comments (and she later admitted she'd never been there!). I tried to throw her into the sea but her husband asked me not to and he was bigger than I am. First photo is of Bill, me and our friend Paul in the Old Joint Stock, one of the nicest pubs I've ever been to. It was once a semi-regular haunt of mine. It's opposite the cathedral on Temple Row. Second photo is of the Bull Ring and St. Martins church. You can see how Bill's tastes and my tastes in architecture tend to differ somewhat... -Jason Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
wombatofludham Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Well said Jason, people who slag of Birmingham deserve all they get and I say that as someone from the Black Country who traditionally have a dim view of being called Brummies. That said, it will be nice if they ever get round to finishing off the place, every time I go back something else has been knocked down, rebuilt or changed. It's been a building site as long as I've known the city and I graduated from the School of Town Planning at Perry Barr in 1986! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Phil Parker Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Ooops. You went to Brum and didn't see the best train in the city. Currently in the Gas Hall Gallery until September: Scan that! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
rapidotrains Posted June 22, 2014 Author Share Posted June 22, 2014 Bill is in his happy place. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
69843 Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Bill is in his happy place. Bill-Happy-1200.jpg Otherwise known as the naughty chair? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Indomitable026 Posted June 29, 2014 Share Posted June 29, 2014 Eh? You went all the way to Cornwall without paying homage to St Blazey Depot, in my view one of the most architecturally significant depots in the south west, if not the UK. Must try harder. Big respect for what you're up to tho - really like your style. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.