European Railroad Discussion > A Texan's view of England, Part 2 - The Overground South

We purchased two BritRail passes for First Class travel on any train, any place, for 8 consecutive days.
This is the pass we received but not the pass the travel agent said we were getting (she said 8 round trips
within a 30 day window), and didn't find out that the passes weren't what we were told they were until the
last day to use them, but that is water under the bridge. Anyway we had 8 days in which to use the passes
so the first day after we arrived was a really nice sunny Saturday so we took the Southern to Brighton. Our
hotel was fairly close to Victoria Station so we walked there to pick up the train. Nice train, nice smooth ride,
nice service. The Brighton train shed was really neat and packed with people. We walked through town
and down to the beach and the crazy pier, and it seemed like the whole city of London was there with us.

After a few hours goofing around we decided to use the pass to go to Portsmouth, about an hour west of Brighton.
We were told the train would terminate in nearby Havant and we would be bused to Portsmouth. No big deal I thought,
Havant is on the outskirts of Portsmouth so the train + bus should not take too much longer. WRONG. We de-trained,
and got on the bus then waited about 30 minutes until the bus finally left, then it made about 15 stops before finally
letting us off at the Portsmouth waterfront train station. Would have been an extra 15 minutes if train was working into Portsmouth,
this took us an extra 1.5 hours. There is a neat maritime museum there but we only had 1.5 hours to spend there due to the delay,
so after a quick run through the museum, we got a bite to eat, then bus back to Havant, then train back to Victoria Station.

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Monday we decided to go to Bath for the day. We took the Great Western
from Paddington Station (pic 4), which required a trip on the underground from our
closest stop (St James) and the tube took us directly to Paddington. There
we found the First Class coach and settled in for a 1.5 hour journey. Again
the ride was smooth quiet and pleasant. Once again, the weather was perfect
and there were huge amount of folks in Bath. I noticed a lot of groups and
later found out cruise ships dock in nearby Southampton and ferry day trippers
to places like Bath. I found a spot in a nearby park where the railroad ran in
a trench and took shots of various trains arriving and departing Bath (pic 6).
We walked about 10 miles all over the town of Bath, then returned back to Paddington.

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On Wednesday we took the Southeastern from Charing Cross to Hastings .
First Class on these trains were basically about 10 seats in the front
and rear of the train, not really separate from the rest of the passengers
(Oh, the Horror!) and food and drink service was non-existent. Still it was
a beautiful day and the ride was smooth most of the way, and got a tad rough
the closer we got to Hastings. Once again, this little seaside town was packed
with people, most seem to be English and not tourists like us. There was a neat
little 10.25" gauge railway, Hastings Miniature Railway, that parallels the beach
and runs about 1/3 mile, with a diesel on one train and a steamer on the other (pic 8).
Much to Mrs. Murphy's chagrin, we had to ride it at a cost of 3 pounds each. Hastings
is a pretty little town and has some neat history to go along with the scenery, but
the bests part is that the station has a manned tower and uses train order signals (pic 9).

The ride back to London was the ride from hell. The only others in First Class was an elderly couple
and a lady with two teenage girls, about 12 and 16 I would guess. That lady had no control
over her kids and all three of them had a bad case of potty mouth, the worst was the 12 year
old whose range of cuss words would make a sailor blush. My Mom would have instantly washed
my mouth out with soap if I had talked like that, and I would probably do the same with my kids.
The elderly couple moved to seating elsewhere, while my wife and I gave the Mom dirty looks when
her kids were unruly. If this were Texas I would have immediately said something to her
and/or her kid but since I didn't know how Brits treat this sort of thing, I backed off. We were hoping
the conductor would hear and scold them, but he never came until the very last stop where he checked tickets
and told the Mom from hell she didn't have a First Class ticket and would have to move! Better latte than never I guess.

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Your trench in Bath is http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/sport-leisure-and-parks/parks-opening-times-and-locations/sydney-gardens. It's well known to railfans here in the UK. There has been some controversy about how to implement the overhead electrification there (and in other parts of Bath). Network Rail wanted to fence the whole thing off and their typical fencing is totally out of keeping. It's an ongoing story and this page is from 2015 as a starting point http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/great-western-electrification/

Hastings Miniature Rwy

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Hartington Wrote:
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> Your trench in Bath is
> http://www.bathnes.gov.uk/services/sport-leisure-a
> nd-parks/parks-opening-times-and-locations/sydney-
> gardens. It's well known to railfans here in the
> UK. There has been some controversy about how to
> implement the overhead electrification there (and
> in other parts of Bath). Network Rail wanted to
> fence the whole thing off and their typical
> fencing is totally out of keeping. It's an
> ongoing story and this page is from 2015 as a
> starting point
> http://www.bath-preservation-trust.org.uk/great-we
> stern-electrification/


Electrification through Bath has been put on hold, presumably to enable Network Rail to come up with an acceptable solution.

WrongWayMurphy Wrote:
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> but the bests part is that the station has a manned
> tower and uses train order signals (pic 9).

Hastings box is one of the few remaining manual signal boxes on the former Southern Region, most have been swept away by modernisation. It used to work absolute block to Ore in the direction the train in your picture is coming from and track circuit block to Bo Peep Junction, where the line from Charing Cross joins the line from Brighton (Coastway East), in the other direction. But I believe all the boxes on the line to Brighton west of Hastings were closed in 2015 when control of Coastway East was transferred to the Three Bridges Signalling Control Centre (you passed Three Bridges on your ride to Brighton) and the next box heading east is at Rye, so I suspect all that Hastings controls now is the immediate surroundings of the station, and the carriage sidings, with maybe an electronic panel for the double to single track switch on the line to Ashford, east of Ore. The signals themselves are not related to train orders, they control movement, the signal arm being raised when the line is clear for a train to proceed.

Thanks for posting this great report and photos!

B&OBill

When you travelled from Paddington to Bath, about 10-15 minutes before Bath you would have passed through Box tunnel. This is a long 1 in 100 (1%) downhill towards Bath and is dead straight. Somewhat-proven legend has it that the rising sun shines directly through the tunnel on just one day a year - Brunel's birthday, he being the great engineer of not just rail but ships and other stuff. The tunnel is also the end of the 125mph running most of the way from the outskirts of Paddington.

Next time if you go, there are railway museums in Swindon and Didcot, both stations along that route (though not all trains stop at Didcot, and a handful a day pass Swindon). Even better in Swindon, the Designer Outlet Village is right next door too, so wifey can shop while husband can meander around the museum (or vice versa)! Should warn that the outlets are more "made for outlet" than true clearance/last season/end-of-line bargains, like many outlets these days.