Day 1 – Monday, 12th May

Bishop’s Stortford – Cambridge – Peterborough – Doncaster (via Lincoln) – Sheffield – Manchester Piccadilly – Rose Hill Marple – Guide Bridge – Hadfield – Manchester Piccadilly – Euston – Paddington

I’d planned everything meticulously, and thought it possible to complete the remaining parts of the network in a week. But it would help if I didn’t spend several hours of the first day travelling to my first ‘new’ part of the network. So why not start the journey by catching a sleeper? If I caught the sleeper to Cornwall then my Rover need not cover the day I boarded the sleeper, it just has to be valid when I arrive. But even before I set out on my travels I began to have doubts. I had little contingency in my plans. If I were to use the day before my sleeper to travel I could ease the pressure on the rest of my trip. That meant that my Rover had to start a day earlier than planned. Coupled with the fact that I was far from certain that I’d complete the task in seven days I opted to buy a 14-day ticket. As it happened that proved unnecessary. But now it’s time to start my adventure.

Bus 1

I set out quite late in the morning compared with my past Rovers. Sometimes it’s still dark as I set off, but all I needed to do today was to get to Stansted Airport in time for the 08:28. I have a short walk to the bus stop from which I can catch the 510 bus. It’s a commercial service operated by Arriva and the buses are tracked, so the Arriva app and (more usefully) Google Maps will tell you where your bus currently is. The problem is that the tracking frequently fails. In fact it always fails for my first, Airport-bound, journey of a Rover. So I stood at the stop, waiting, while the bus departure time came and went. Another bus arrived. It would get me to Audley End station, but for reasons known only to themselves Cross Country Trains do not call at that station on the journey I wanted to be on. I’m fairly sure they did before Covid. Several minutes after my planned departure time I crossed the very busy road to the stop for the other direction. That bus was being tracked and, luckily for me, was running six minutes late. By catching the bus in the other direction I could go to Bishop’s Stortford Station. I could catch a train to Cambridge and pick up my Cross Country there.

Needless to say my Rover, printed on what looked like toilet paper and featuring an Aztec (railway proprietary barcode), would not operate the barriers but I was waved through. I think I’d still have been waved through if I really had waved a sheet of toilet paper.

Train 1 – Bishop’s Stortford to Cambridge

I wasn’t exactly buzzing with excitement as I boarded one of Greater Anglia’s Class 720 Aventra trains. They’re a little cramped but clean, bright, smooth, modern and not too uncomfortable. It took me through very familiar territory. Just after Stansted Mountfitchet is Stansted North Junction, where a single-line curve joins us from the airport. That was the way I would have come had my bus arrived on time.

Despite being back on the planned route, this train was quite a bit slower than the one I’d planned, calling at all stations to Cambridge. The Cross Country was non-stop from the airport. Not that it mattered: it was sunny and so far as I’m concerned a seat on an uncrowded, moving, train in the countryside when the sun’s shining is a good place to be.

We arrived at Cambridge on time, into Platform 1. All I needed to do was to walk forward until the platform becomes Platform 4 and await my next train, which arrived on time.

Train 2 – Cambridge to Peterborough

Except for short trips to the south-east most of my train journeys start as this one has: from Bishop’s Stortford, Audley End or Stansted Airport via Ely to Peterborough. I first started making this journey in Regional Railways days, so it’s become very routine. Apart from the livery the journey hasn’t changed in all that time. Well, the class 156 units have been replaced by class 170 and a few semaphore signals along the way have been replaced by colour lights. All I could really hope for with this trip was that the train got me to Peterborough on time.

Cambridge Platform 4 was very busy. Many would-be passengers had luggage so were almost certainly making long-distance journeys, changing at Peterborough or Birmingham. Even so I had no problem finding a good window seat. Cross Country usually have three-car units on this route these days, whereas a few years ago they were often running with only two. A three car 170 has almost twice as many seats as a two-car as the middle car has no driver’s cab or toilet. First class has recently been removed from Cross County’s class 170s, which slightly alleviates crowding, and they have now stopped allowing seats to be reserved except on their Voyagers. I’m not sure if that helps or not.

This train has seen better days. Cross Country are currently refurbishing these units but this particular one has yet to visit the workshop. The seats have quite deep cushions and were probably comfortable once, but they’re now saggy and shapeless.

Anyway, despite the not terribly comfortable seat and my overfamiliarity with the line I had an enjoyable enough sprint across the fens and past the brickfields and was soon at Peterborough.

I had half an hour to kill, so bought coffee and food then just waited on the sunny platform, watching the other passengers and the variety of trains from LNER, Lumo, Hull Trains, Thameslink and the freight operators.

The train to form the next leg of my journey was running late, according to Realtimetrains, so I was quite surprised to see, almost hidden from me by station buildings, a maroon East Midlands Railway (EMR) train waiting in the platform. It was sharing it with a Thameslink Class 700 and only just fitted into the remaining space at the country end of the platform.

Train 3 – Peterborough to Doncaster via Lincoln

This train should not, strictly, qualify for my list of trains to ride this week. It will not visit a single station I haven’t been to before. So why have I included it on my itinerary? Because this train will travel over what’s left of the Great Northern and Great Eastern Joint line. This line linked Doncaster with March and Huntingdon and provided an alternative north-south route for goods, especially coal, relieving pressure on the East Coast Main Line. Until the closure of the March to Spalding line in 1982 there were a small number of through trains between Cambridge and Doncaster via March, Spalding and Lincoln. Today’s ride travels on the modern-day remains of that service. I’ve travelled between Peterborough and Lincoln before but not all the way up to Doncaster. I want to, even though there are no stations on this part of this line that are new to me.

The train is another Class 170. This East Midlands Railway (EMR) example is nicer than the Cross Country (XC) one I’ve just left. It feels more modern and it has USB charging ports, which I think the XC one lacked. Like XC, EMR are currently refurbishing their class 170s and the upgrades have been well received. This train is presumably on the list to be treated but it seems good to me as it is.

We set off in the ‘wrong’ direction on the London-bound line to avoid having to cross the busy down line, passing the extensive yards on the up side. In the late BR years these were full of wagons and engines, many of which looked as if they hadn’t moved for years. Now it’s all been cleaned up and modernised, with several of the ubiquitous class 66 locomotives and a lone class 08 shunter in view. At least one of the two signal boxes has survived (Eastfields) but the miniature semaphore signal arms I remember are long gone. On the other side of the main line was a siding containing a tired-looking Grand Central set.

Not far beyond the yards we turned right and took the line towards Spalding. Almost immediately lines join from our left. They’ve come from the other side of the East Coast Main Line (ECML) via the new Werrington dive-under, which allows freight from the March line to access the joint line towards Doncaster, keeping it clear of the busy ECML. This is used largely by Felixstowe container traffic.

It takes about 20 minutes to reach Spalding. There are no intermediate stations and the line is dead straight across the flat fens. Just before Spalding there’s a footbridge over the line that’s far longer than is needed today. Perhaps this is where the line to March diverged?

After Spalding the line becomes slightly more sinuous, although it isn’t exactly wiggly. We continue crossing the flat but attractive landscape, with fields, meadows and distant church spires. After a while we’re stopped by a signal. Just before Sleaford the north-south line we’re on passes under the east-west line between Grantham and Boston. Sleaford Station is on the latter line and if we just continued under the bridge we’d be unable to call there. To solve that problem a spur and a loop were constructed allowing trains from Spalding to access the station and then continue their journey northwards. We wait a couple of minutes for a train to come along the single-track spur from Sleaford Stn.

Spalding is an attractive station with level crossings, each with their signal box, at each end. The western crossing still has traditional wooden gates.

The train has been quiet so far, but several passengers joined at Sleaford.

We stopped at two rural stations on our way to Lincoln. Metheringham had another attractive building and a traditional signal box, although Wikipedia says it’s no longer in use. I was surprised that these rural stations survived Beeching, but it seems that they did not, but were reopened with funding from Lincolnshire County Council in the 1970s.

Now on to Lincoln. There’s a good view of the cathedral as you approach the impressive station. The railways had some good architects back then. Just after Lincoln there’s another pair of level crossings, each with a box. The second box looked disused. After Lincoln we call at Saxilby, another small station with an attractive building, then Gainsborough Lea Road. There’s a large factory next to the station at Gainsborough owned by Kerry. Apparently they make food ingredients and flavours.

As we prepared to leave Gainsborough Lea Road a man walked up to the door, which had already been closed by the guard. He pressed the open button repeatedly, then muttered ‘bugger’ with a resigned shrug. He’d been helping a woman on to her train and clearly had no desire to accompany her to Doncaster. Now he had no choice. So the three of us – and many other people – took the joint line towards Doncaster. This was my first tick of the week. We past more pleasant countryside. One field had dozens of pig sties in it, and a dense cloud of jackdaws low over the ground. RAF Finningley is alongside the line but there was little sign of activity. And so to Bessacarr Junction, a name that always to me has connotations of industry and grime. But no longer. With the demise of coal it seems almost rural.

At Bessacarr we crossed the ECML on a bridge to run along the Down Flyover and Down Slow 2 lines into Doncaster. We were several minutes early and I thought I might catch an earlier train than planned from Doncaster but it wasn’t to be. We were held to allow two trains to cross in front of us, arriving on time.

I crossed the line by subway to wait for my next train. It so happened that there was a pub on the platform, The Draughtsman. It had a nice interior and nice beers on offer. So I sat outside nursing a pint until my next train.

Train 4 – Doncaster to Sheffield

Three trains, three train operating companies, three class 170s. This time I’m with Northern on a service from Scarborough that will take me to its terminus, Sheffield. In the past I’ve had bad experiences on this line, having had to stand to Meadowhall on one occasion. But there’s room on this train. In fact I get a table to myself on the best class 170 so far.

We soon left the station and yards of Doncaster behind and, for the first time this trip, saw low hills on a pleasant, although quite familiar to me, journey. This train bypasses Rotherham and gets to Sheffield in just under half an hour.

Train 5 – Sheffield to Manchester Piccadilly

We’re now in strong Northern territory as I board another of their trains. This time it’s a modern class 195. It’s a decent enough train, although I understand that the manufacturer, CAF of Spain, does not have a great reputation. Instead of the usual long, thin, overhead display panels that most modern trains have, these have portrait-shaped screens at the ends of the cars and on the bulkheads, showing route information, connections from the next station, announcements and adverts. I find the screens distracting when the image changes.

We leave Sheffield on the Midland Main Line, heading towards Derby and London, but diverge from it at Dore West Junction where we turn to head into the peak district. Just after the junction is Dore and Totley Station. The station used to have a single platform. That made sense because the line from the Sheffield direction to a junction just beyond the station used to only have a single track. That was a serious bottleneck that has recently been alleviated by doubling the track and building a new, two-platform station. The Ordnance survey doesn’t seem to have caught up yet.

There’s a long tunnel just after Dore and Totley (Totley Tunnel, 3.5 miles) and as we came out of it I thought that something didn’t seem right. The engines seemed to be working hard but we weren’t accelerating as much as I would have expected in a nearly new train. There are definitely some steep gradients to climb as we ascend into the Peak District National Park but a light passenger train shouldn’t even notice. This one was making hard work of it.

But we were still moving. The scenery was stunning as we passed Hathersage, Bamford and Edale. I enjoyed seeing the sunlit hills but I also looked for things railway-related such as the semaphore signals, Earles Sidings and the junctions that I was familiar with from Simsig such as those at Chinley that lead to goods lines to Buxton and to various still active quarries. But the highlight of this part of my journey is Kinder Scout, looking magnificent on this bright, clear, day.

We got held at New Mills South Junction to allow a train from Hazel Grove to pass through unimpeded. We should have been well clear by the time that train arrived but we’re running seven minutes late, so there must be a problem with the train. Once our signal cleared we turned right towards New Mills Central Station. This is why I’m on this train. There are three different passenger services between Sheffield and Manchester. Two use the faster route via Hazel Grove, and I’ve ridden on that line many times. Only the slow Northern stoppers go via the historic route, which I can’t be sure that I’ve ever travelled. Until now, so another tick.

We leave the peak district behind as we get close to Manchester. I notice that the onboard ‘mind the gap’ announcements are in a Welsh accent. I like it! There are still things to see, such as a fine old mill just after New Mills Tunnel. We continue, calling at Marple and a handful of other stations before arriving at Manchester Piccadilly via Ashburys and the East line.

I took the opportunity to get rid of my cabin bag in the left luggage office, leaving me with just a rucksack with enough spare clothes to get me by until I return to Manchester later in the week. I still have time to spare before I need to head south so I’ll replan, taking some more trains now to make life easier for myself later in the week.

Train 6 – Manchester Piccadilly to Rose Hill Marple

My last train had passed a trailing junction just after Marple station. That was for the short branch to Rose Hill Marple, my next destination. My train, another Northern class 195, went back to Ashburys but diverged to the left of my inbound route, stopping at places such as Gorton, Guide Bridge and the two Hyde stations. It rejoins my earlier route at Romiley then takes the short single-line branch referred to earlier.

Just before the junction the line passes over an impressive viaduct alongside an equally impressive aqueduct.

Rose Hill Marple was once a through station but became a stub in 1970.

Train 7 – Rose Hill Marple to Guide Bridge

I stayed on the train and headed back towards Manchester, but only as far as Guide Bridge. If I went all the way back to Piccadilly I’d not only retrace my steps unnecessarily but I’d also miss the train for my next destination.

For reasons I’ve forgotten now my train was six minutes late at Guide Bridge so I didn’t have very long to cross the line for my next train. It seems that the station once had a fine footbridge but that was destroyed in an arson attack in 2009. The bridge was never rebuilt so now it’s necessary to leave the station, cross the carpark, go up a flight of steps onto a road bridge, cross the line then descend on to the other platform. This is a bit slow, especially as I was following a father and young daughter who filled the width of the path/steps and were walking rather slowly.

Guide Bridge station has displays about the Woodhead Line and has a Woodhead Museum. I must try to get to it one day when it’s open.

Train 8 – Guide Bridge to Hadfield

The next train, which arrived just a couple of minutes after I finally gained the right platform, was a Northern class 323. And, for the first time since Cambridge, I would be on an electric train. These trains aren’t that new, dating from the 1990s, but have been refurbished and are not bad to travel on, but I imagine quite cramped when full as they have (somewhat tatty) 3+2 seating.

The route of this train followed some of the old Woodhead Line which went though to Sheffield via Penistone. The route beyond Hadfield was closed in 1981. On closure it was electrified at 1500v DC but what’s left at this end now uses the standard 25kv AC system.

After Guide Bridge and its many sidings the train called at several stations including Flowery Field. We were at Rose Hill recently, this area seems to have a thing for floral place names. The train also calls at Broadbottom. I’m not sure what that says of the area. At Dinting there’s a triangular junction and we take the right-hand spur onto a single line to Glossop.

Glossop is a busy station and many got off. I was able to get a window seat, at last. Glossop has always been the end of the short branch from Dinting so the train reversed at Glossop and returned to the triangular junction, now turning right to take another single-track line to Hadfield, this train’s terminus. Hadfield was once a through station on the Woodhead line but is now as far as you can go.

Train 9 – Hadfield to Manchester Piccadilly

I remained on the train as it went back round the curve to Glossop, reversed, then back to Manchester. There’s little to say, other than the Rose Hill Marple and Hadfield lines have ticked off two more pieces of track. That’s four on a day that I’d initially planned to do none on, so good progress.

Train 10 – Manchester Piccadilly to Euston

I now needed to get to London because I’m booked on a sleeper to Cornwall tonight. I’m in no rush so I’m feeling relaxed as I take my seat on the 18:55 Class 390 Pendolino service. It’s the first train today to have first class. It was only as I handed my Rover over for inspection that I noticed that it said ‘Standard’ on it.

Balls!

What seems to have happened is that my request for a 14-day All Lines Rover with senior railcard was passed from one booking clerk to another and a communication error meant that the first class and senior bits were overlooked. So the fare was about right, as the downgrading to standard class cancelled out the lack of a railcard discount.

Surprisingly, the train manager believed me. He looked at my ticket and said ‘given how much you’ve paid, I think I can overlook it this time’. Nice chap. So I enjoyed my comfortable seat and free food and drink, courtesy of Avanti West Coast. This wasn’t the only example of good service I received this week.

Underground 1 – Euston Square to Paddington

I walked to Euston Square then jumped on the Circle/Hammersmith and City to Paddington. There had been severe disruption earlier due to a power outage but that was now resolved.

Once at Paddington I went to the ticket office to resolve my ticket problem. I was overjoyed to see a sign announcing that that the booking office was closing early this week, so it was now shut. Oh well, I’ll try to get the ticket resolved tomorrow. Next stop was the First Class lounge, which is open to all sleeper ticket berth holders. It was crowded and I had to sit on a tall, uncomfortable, bar stool. I did get a cup of tea, in a cardboard cup as their dishwasher was out of order. But as soon as 22.30 came I went to Platform 8 for my train.

So, how has the day gone? It’s been good. No plans disrupted, no gross overcrowding. So far, so good, but I do need to get the ticket sorted.