Economy-Sized Holiday Blog
Anyone with only a scant knowledge of this nation's transport system would be aware that travelling by train at Christmas, Easter and sometimes in the summer school holidays can be fraught with frustration as Notwork Rail upgrades its track and seeks to provide more room for more trains to whizz about.
Anyone with only a scant knowledge of this nation's transport system would be aware that travelling by train at Christmas, Easter and sometimes in the summer school holidays can be fraught with frustration as Notwork Rail upgrades its track and seeks to provide more room for more trains to whizz about.
So why did your knowledgeable blogger and lovely wife choose to go to Largs NOW?
Blame Mrs fbb! But not entirely.
Being Scottish she naturally gravitates to chums from the best side of Hadrian's Wall when she attends her annual Prayer and Bible Study week. This year she had a yen to join the Scottish lasses (?) for their regional "do" at Inverurie ...
... north west of Aberdeen; and fbb suggested a week in Largs followed by Inverurie (for Mrs - it's women only) at the end if the week.
The bible study dates are, like the laws of the Medes and Persians, unchangeable in perpetuity but, for daft calendric reasons, the dates of Easter aren't!
Which explains their transport insanity.
Normally the old folks would travel from Axminster to Waterloo, by bus to Euston, by Virgin West Coast to Glasgow and Scotrail to Largs. But even fbb had picked up what was happening to the West Coast Main Line over the holiday weekend.
Virgin were sending our mixed messages ...
... about the joys of weekend travel.
In simple terms, to get from Euston to Glasgow you would have to take London Underground to Stanmore, a bus to Milton Keynes, a train to Lancaster (but diverted away from the Main Line via Manchester) then a bus to Glasgow.
Virgin did, for a while, publish timetables - but, about a week before the "big weekend", they all disappeared! Great,
Things were confirmed, however, by First TransPennine who run between Manchester and Glasgow (not trans any of the Pennines). They did publish timetables.
Thanks First - but no thanks as there were no timetables visible on-line for disruption between Axminster and London - indeed no om-line timetables for ANY First South Western Railway services over the Easter Holiday disruption season.
In the end fbb has no choice but to resort to journey planners, and his options were two-folk.
1. Axminster - Exeter - Edinburgh - Glasgow - Largs (approx 12 hours)
OR
2. Axminster - Exeter - Paddington - Kings Cross - Edinburgh - Glasgow - Largs (approx 11½ hours)
After debate, the fbbs chose option 1 (a) to avoid crossing London and (b) because their return journey offered much the same trajectory, thus avoiding complex and expensive ticketing problems.
Cheerily, but bravely in the face of the horrors of about 8 hours on a Crosscountry Voyager, fbb set of ffor Axminster to buy the tickets. In his clammy hand he clutched the schedule delivered by the National Rail journey planner.
The very nice man in the ticket office is very helpful; but he doesn't get many customers for journeys from Axminster to Largs!
"No, that's not right, there's no 0823 from Exeter to Edinburgh on my screen," he said, discouragingly and, after further peering, "and its a bus from Edinburgh to Glasgow."
All, sadly, utter twaddle. But he is a very nice man but with some weird information at his disposal.
There then followed a lengthy period of negotiation (15 minutes worth) after which "the man" looked up each leg of fbb's journey planner journey separately and grudgingly agreed that it was better than his.
Why was HE getting different results from fbb?
He sold the intrepid travellers two saver returns at £147.90 each ...
... plus £27 worth of Axminster car parking - a total of £322.80. This was only slightly less than the week's stay in the flat!
In practice,the journey was relatively trouble free ...
There was a crawl into Sheffield behind something slow, but back on time at Leeds. There was a slight delay at Morpeth (signal problems?) which produces a 4 mins late arrival in Edinburgh but still with just enough time sprint (ha ha!) from Platform 5 to Platform 14 ...
... to catch the 1615 train forward to Glasgow Queens Street.
All was looking good ... BUT
As was blogging in Largs until the flat's email system failed again yesterday afternoon.
For the technically minded (???) ...
...it is an EE Internet Hotspot that seems to go very cold in the afternoons - perhaps because lots of other people are using EE phones etc. Whatever, it failed to deliver WiFi so fbb had to resort to "tethering" his own phone.
No, fbb doesn't really understand but it seems to be that by tapping a few bits of screen his phone acts as a Wifi source for the confuser.
It is slower than the real internet and the phone people have a habit of demanding lots of extra money for the privilege.
So fbb will try again later this evening when the cool Clydeside air might be more conducive to EE's needs. If that fails, he will try again for Tuesday's blog.
Edinburgh's Platform Numbers
fbb has often teetered around Edinburgh Station and been mystifiedby the fact that, for example, Platform 19 is also Platform 2.
Ditto platforms 20 and 1.
Of course,it is simple when you understand the convoluted mind of the designers of the station's information.
At the eastern end of the station we have platforms 1 to 7, then 9 then 8 which (nearly) run from right to left. At the western end numbers run from ...
... 8 to 20, this time in correct numerical order.
It is all explained by an extra diagram on line.
Broadly speaking, Edinburgh station platforms are numbered in a clockwise direction from 1 on the north side parallel with Princes Street right round the station and ending at 20, also parallel to Princes Street.
So now you know!
The fbb's tottered energetically between 5 and 14, a simple straight line totter!
Normally the old folks would travel from Axminster to Waterloo, by bus to Euston, by Virgin West Coast to Glasgow and Scotrail to Largs. But even fbb had picked up what was happening to the West Coast Main Line over the holiday weekend.
Virgin were sending our mixed messages ...
Things were confirmed, however, by First TransPennine who run between Manchester and Glasgow (not trans any of the Pennines). They did publish timetables.
In the end fbb has no choice but to resort to journey planners, and his options were two-folk.
1. Axminster - Exeter - Edinburgh - Glasgow - Largs (approx 12 hours)
OR
2. Axminster - Exeter - Paddington - Kings Cross - Edinburgh - Glasgow - Largs (approx 11½ hours)
After debate, the fbbs chose option 1 (a) to avoid crossing London and (b) because their return journey offered much the same trajectory, thus avoiding complex and expensive ticketing problems.
Cheerily, but bravely in the face of the horrors of about 8 hours on a Crosscountry Voyager, fbb set of ffor Axminster to buy the tickets. In his clammy hand he clutched the schedule delivered by the National Rail journey planner.
The very nice man in the ticket office is very helpful; but he doesn't get many customers for journeys from Axminster to Largs!
"No, that's not right, there's no 0823 from Exeter to Edinburgh on my screen," he said, discouragingly and, after further peering, "and its a bus from Edinburgh to Glasgow."
All, sadly, utter twaddle. But he is a very nice man but with some weird information at his disposal.
There then followed a lengthy period of negotiation (15 minutes worth) after which "the man" looked up each leg of fbb's journey planner journey separately and grudgingly agreed that it was better than his.
Why was HE getting different results from fbb?
He sold the intrepid travellers two saver returns at £147.90 each ...
In practice,the journey was relatively trouble free ...
... to catch the 1615 train forward to Glasgow Queens Street.
All was looking good ... BUT
As was blogging in Largs until the flat's email system failed again yesterday afternoon.
For the technically minded (???) ...
No, fbb doesn't really understand but it seems to be that by tapping a few bits of screen his phone acts as a Wifi source for the confuser.
It is slower than the real internet and the phone people have a habit of demanding lots of extra money for the privilege.
So fbb will try again later this evening when the cool Clydeside air might be more conducive to EE's needs. If that fails, he will try again for Tuesday's blog.
Edinburgh's Platform Numbers
fbb has often teetered around Edinburgh Station and been mystifiedby the fact that, for example, Platform 19 is also Platform 2.
Of course,it is simple when you understand the convoluted mind of the designers of the station's information.
It is all explained by an extra diagram on line.
So now you know!
Next Traveller's Tale blog: Tuesday 23rd April
No comments:
Post a Comment