Ken Jones has sent details of one his rail day trips where he visits obscure places using best value fares and tickets. Ken had already suggested sampling Hull Trains and Grand Central.
Roger Burdett, who travels with Ken on these outings, put the following itinerary together coving over 300 miles for less than £41 each, using split ticketing and senior railcards.
They started their day by using the NCP car park at Grantham, much cheaper than nearby LNER facilities.
Itinerary
Grantham - Selby 08.28 - 09.23 Hull Trains class 802
Selby - York 09.32 - 10.02 Northern class 155
York - Sunderland 10.25 - 12.04 Grand Central class 180
Sunderland - Newcastle 12.32 - 12.55 Northern class 156
Via high level bridge
Newcastle - York 13.30 - 14.29 LNER Azuma
Via King Edward bridge
York - Grantham 16.03 - 17.06 LNER Azuma
Hull trains unit was very comfortable and clean. Their carriages depict towns on their route as part of their exterior livery. The transition from electric power to diesel power on the move was exceptionally good.
We were lucky to travel on a class 1555 unit as only 7 sets remain. Built in 1988 all the others were converted to single car 153 units. They were built from Leyland National bus parts on Leyland bus bogied underframes.
It was Ken’s first trip on a class 180 built by Alstrom Birmingham in 2000 / 01 and his first visit to Sunderland plus his first visit north using the coastal route via Hartlepool.
Hartlepool station uses only one platform whereas Sunderland has an island platform used in both directions by Northern, the Tyne & Wear Metro as well as unloading / loading Grand Central passengers. It is located in a cutting with buildings above, making it appear to be an underground station.
LNER services allow you to reserve a seat up to 5 minutes before the train is due to depart a station. To operate this, they have one or two unreserved coaches and a traffic light system at other seats. Red shows the seat is reserved and details next to it such as reserved from Doncaster to Kings Cross.
They also have amber lights saying this seat maybe reserved later and many then turn red as we approached major stations heading back to Grantham.
All pictures by Ken Jones
 |
| EMR 158 889 seen arriving at Grantham |
 |
| We saw at least 2 class 91 diagrams. The first was headed by 82205 seen at Grantham |
 |
| Former Greater Anglia 156 now 156 909 seen arriving at Grantham |
 |
| 91109 seen about to depart Grantham |
 |
| Our Hull Trains unit seen arriving at Grantham |
 |
| DSC 0942 Interior shot of Hull Trains unit |
 |
| The exterior of the Hull Trains unit |
 |
| Hull trains unit about to depart Selby |
 |
| Our 155 unit arriving at Selby |
 |
| Interior shot of the 155 unit |
 |
| Our Grand Central train arriving at York. Note where the unit number is |
 |
| Interior shot of the class 180 unit |
 |
| The out of use platform at Hartlepool |
 |
| Grand Central train after arriving at Sunderland. When passengers are all disembarked it will go into a siding before coming in to the other platform to load passengers wanting to go south |
 |
| Metro unit 4081 seen approaching Sunderland |
 |
| Metro unit 4009 at the platform in Sunderland |
 |
| Our class 156 and an attempt to brighten up the station |
 |
| A Classic view of Newcastle Central station |
 |
| Our Azuma arriving for the service to York |
 |
| A break at York allows a photograph of TPE class 68 waiting to depart for Scarborough |
 |
| Old and new at York with 88009 and 37422 |
 |
| Azuma 801 228 seen under the footbridge at York |
Many thanks to Ken for his report and photos. If you're attending an event or travelling on public transport please feel free to send details and photos to focustransport2011@gmail.com
