I was very indecisive about what to do today. I knew that Peter wasn't out so doing a Devon Day ranger wasn't very appealing, as there is a limit to the slow Devon banks after a while. The weather didn't look that great and the last two Devon trips have produced no winning trains for haulage. My first option was a cheeky trip to London via Salisbury (using network rail card) and then I remembered I wanted to look at a Thames Branches Day Ranger. Admittedly I would get to Reading (where it was valid from) well into the day but I thought I'd would give it a go anyway! A reasonable £40 for all relevant tickets for what would be a full day out!
I headed off of Plymouth on 0925 1S39 XC service to Aberdeen. I changed at Exeter St David's for the SWT service to London Waterloo and changed at Basingstoke for Reading!
From Reading I caught the next HST to London Paddington. From here I set off to do the branches in order towards Reading. First off was Greenford. Yes this is within the zones of a London Travelcard, but it would be very low on the agenda if I had one of them. I made my way there via FGW and Heathrow Connect services. I then headed back to Ealing Broadway to make my way to Windsor and Eton. Again a combination of FGW and heathrow connect services got me there. I had half an hour here until I had trains to connect me to Henley-on-Thames (I skipped Marlow until next time). So off to the two Wetherspoons (The King and Castle & The Windlesora) for 2 quick pints!!! It was then off to Henley-on-Thames. I planned 30 odd minutes here which would allow me to connect to all trains back to Plymouth. In those 30 minutes a visit to the Whetherspoons (The Catherine Wheel) was achieved. It was here I had a message informing Peter had uploaded new photos. I knew he'd been away in Brighton and London but my question of whether he was doing a Thames Ranger was never answered. The photos did answer it! A quick flick to my messages said he'd been to the same 3 Whetherspoons I had just done! I knew he'd been to 3 but didn't take in which ones! Lol! So we had practically done the same thing! I know he went off to do a lot more (with what i assume was his head start to the day as I have yet to see his blog) based on his pictures.
Anyway I have strayed! I headed back to Twyford and it went a bit wrong. I got off and train was coming in. I couldn't see any displays saying where anything was going so I asked a member of staff. She told me it was going to Reading. Good! Until it went back up the branch!!! This meant I would miss the last train. The only way home now was FGW via Taunton. My ticket wasnt valid but a quick phone call meant it was. Well done FGW!
I ended up home earlier as well, well by 13 minutes! Winners in red.
220026 (0925) 1S39 PLY - EXD
159016 (1026) 1L40 EXD - BSK
165123 (1307) 2J34 BSK - RDG
43002 (1332) 1L54 RDG - PAD
165137 (1427) 2N44 PAD - EAL
360202 (1441) 2T48 EAL - WEA
166215 (1457) 2G38 WEA - GFD
166215 (1516) 2G39 GFD - EAL
165104 (1535) 2N48 EAL - STL
360204 (1549) 2T52 STL - HAY
166205 (1602) 2R49 HAY - SLO
165126 (1621) 2W65 SLO - WNC
165126 (1710) 2S70 WNC - SLO
165133 (1718) 2R53 SLO - BNM
165221 (1725) 2R53 BNM - TAP
166217 (1736) 2R54TAP - MAI
166216 (1747) 1H48 MAI - HOT
165122 (1846) 2H51 HOT - TWY
166218 (1858) 1H52 TWY - HOT
165135 (1916) 2H53 HOT - TWY
165116 (1937) 2R69 TWY - RDG
43094 (2012) 1C96 RDG - PLY
A total of 484 miles travelled. A good day if a little rushed!
No comments:
Post a Comment