PMH-WAT South Western Railway – 1st Class

After a few days on the south coast exploring the railways, visiting friends and crossing the Solent to the Isle of Wight, it was time to head home. On my way down to the coast I’d travelled with South Western Railway (SWR) from London Waterloo to Dorchester South, but on the way back I was travelling via the quicker Portsmouth Direct line from Portsmouth Harbour through to London. As such I started my day in Chichester, catching a southern service along the coast to Portsmouth, where I’d start the journey back towards the capital in earnest.

WAT-WEY South Western Railway – 1st Class

The August Bank Holiday weekend saw me without any firm plans and, wanting to do a trip somewhere but not wanting to pay the peak air fares, I decided to visit some friends in Sussex, whilst building in some rail days of the south coast whilst I was down there. Having previously ticked off the majority of the line between Brighton and Portsmouth, Dorset and the Solent were my targets and so on the Bank Holiday Saturday, my trip started at London Waterloo with a South Western Railway (SWR) service to Weymouth.

Imber by Hastings

Back in August, we headed south to Tonbridge one Friday after finishing work to stay a couple of nights in the Kentish market town. Despite the town having plenty to see and do in the vicinity, we weren’t staying in Kent to do any of that, we were staying to enable us to get an early start and leave the Garden of England by way of doing something a bit different. Saturday 17th August was the day in 2024 when old London buses took over the town of Warminster and the nearby Salisbury plain and so we were heading to Imber, by Hastings!

CTR-EUS Avanti West Coast – Standard Class – New Evero Train

Having arrived in Chester on a delayed Transport for Wales service from Manchester Airport, I had a reasonable length connection before the last leg of my tour of the north-west, the train taking me south. To finish this mini rail tour I would be travelling on what was, at the time, Britain’s newest class of train, Avanti West Coast’s (AWC) class 805s. This journey from Chester to London Euston during the first month of the type’s operation in standard class would be a good test to see how the units compare to other members of the AWC fleet.

MIA-CTR Transport for Wales – Standard Class

My time travelling around the north-west was drawing to a close and with a day of spotting at Manchester Airport under my belt, it was time to start the journey home. The obvious routing for me to get to Peterborough from the airport would be to take a train to Manchester Piccadilly and then change for the direct East Midlands Railway service to Peterborough, but where would be the fun in that? As such, the first leg of my journey home would actually be taking me further away, as I headed to a city on the western edge of England, Chester.

CAR-MIA TransPennine Express – 1st Class

Day two of my mini-tour of the north-west started bright and early at Carlisle station where I’d arrived less than 12 hours earlier onboard an Avanti West Coast Pendolino. Now it was time to head back south, although this journey wouldn’t be with the West Coast Mainline’s (WCML) primary operator, as I would heading to Manchester Airport with TransPennine Express (TPE). This leg of the trip would be in 1st Class with me getting to try out TPE’s premium offering once again, this time on one of their flagship WCML routes.