Cotswold Discoverer

Today, I was going on a slightly different trip to my usual journeys. Following on from my last blog (One Big Step) where I was talking a lot about the things that were preventing me from travelling, I wanted to take the next logical step. This was to still stay close to home but go on a slightly longer journey.

One of my local lines is the ‘Golden Valley Line’, which runs from Cheltenham Spa to Swindon. I have spent many hours on that line while visiting family in Swindon, especially when I was younger. I am very lucky to have the Golden Valley on my doorstep as it offers some fantastic views going through the Stroud valleys. So, I was going for a trip on this beautiful line. There is a rover ticket, that I found out about quite a while ago but never properly explored, that allows you to travel all day between Ashchurch for Tewkesbury, Swindon and Yate. It also covers a stretch of the Cotswold Line, between Oxford and Moreton-in-Marsh. The ticket is called ‘Cotswold One Day Discoverer’ and is extremely well priced for the flexibility it offers. It costs just £10.50 for an adult and £5.25 for a child (correct as of August 2022); there are also some railcard discounts available which makes the ticket even more affordable. It is actually cheaper than a return from Cheltenham Spa to Swindon! In theory, the ticket also is valid on certain bus routes in the Cotswolds, this is to allow you to connect the Golden Valley and Cotswold Lines together. Unfortunately, after contacting one of the bus companies that the ticket states it is valid on, they replied by saying they had no information about the ticket; therefore, couldn’t tell me what routes the ticket would be valid on. There are some old route maps available on the internet but it is tricky to tell if they are still factually correct. I didn’t want to risk getting on a bus and finding out the ticket wasn’t valid, so we avoided the buses. Now I’ve explained the ticket we were purchasing, let’s get back to the trip.

My mum and I were planning to do the trip on Monday 8th August, but we needed the tickets first. The plan was that we were going to catch the first train the ticket covered from Stonehouse (the ticket is valid after 08:50). Stonehouse isn’t always a staffed station and you can’t buy rovers from ticket machines, for some weird reason, so we needed to purchase the tickets before Monday. My mum and I happened to be in Gloucester on the Friday before for an appointment, so I thought we could buy the tickets in advance. After a bit of palaver trying to find somewhere to park, because Gloucester station is going under major redevelopment, we managed to find a parking spot. Walking into the station was made complicated because of all the buses that are replacing trains between Gloucester and Lydney (until the beginning of September) due to engineering works. So there were coaches everywhere. Once we negotiated all the coaches that were parked up, we were in the station.

I haven’t been to Gloucester station since November 2021 so it felt strange to be back. It was really busy at the gateline because a train had just pulled in and everyone was trying to get to the exit. Once things had calmed down sufficiently, we went over to the ticket office and asked for the ticket. I wasn’t sure if the ticket office clerk would be able to find the ticket, as I imagine it is rather unusual they sell this particular rover ticket. I had a bad experience in Newport a few years ago where a ticket that was available on the National Rail website was impossible to purchase at the station! Luckily after a few minutes, they managed to locate the ticket and we were ready for Monday.

While we were at the station my mum suggested that we should go and look for a poster I had designed last year. The poster in question was an art deco style railway poster of Gloucester station and the cathedral. An extremely kind Great Western Railway employee offered to put the poster up at Gloucester station. They also sent me a couple of the full station-sized posters to hang on my wall at home. I had never got around to seeing it up and wasn’t too sure if it was still there as this all happened a year ago. A friend of mine sent me a picture of the poster up on the wall a few months prior so I knew it had been displayed. I was a bit hesitant but my mum persuaded me to go and have a look. So, we asked the very friendly gateline assistant if we could go through the barriers. They weren’t sure if they had seen it up but let me through to take a look nevertheless. I already knew where it was, in the assistant office, from the picture I was sent. I headed straight there to see if it was still up. To my surprise, it was! I can’t begin to explain how exciting it was to see it up in all its glory. A dispatcher (Claire) saw me looking through the window and let me into the office to get my photo taken with it. Claire told us that she was planning on taking it home after it had finished at the station, which was even more surreal. I never would have expected people to like my art so much that they would want it up on their wall at home. After we had a quick chat we headed back home to prepare for Monday.

As Monday approached, I did start to get a bit more nervous. I was worried about the trains being busy, trains being cancelled and missing connections. I purposefully didn’t make any solid plans as I had no idea how I was going to feel on the day. We were also planning to meet up with someone I knew, so that did add more purpose to the trip – which helps. I did book some seats on the first train online, to hopefully ensure we weren’t standing.

On Monday morning, we had a stressful start to the day as our dog was poorly, but after we got that sorted we were good to go. We left my dog with my dad and we headed to the station.

When we arrived at Stonehouse station we had about 10 minutes until our train to Cheltenham Spa arrived. The first leg of today’s journey was formed of GWR’s 800 027 which was working 1G05 the 08:55 Stonehouse to Cheltenham Spa. This was a weekday peak time train from London Paddington so really had no idea how busy it would be. We stood at the Cheltenham end of the platform as that was most likely to be the quietest part of the train. We did have reservations in coach B, but I knew we could always walk down the train to our pre-booked seats if it was too busy.

As the train came to a gentle stop, we got onboard. We ended up sitting in coach D as it didn’t look like the reservation system was active. It was extremely quiet and there were only a few other people in our coach, which really helped my anxiety. I always enjoy going into Gloucester from Stonehouse as I get to see all of my train photography spots. It is weird that I am usually standing on a bridge or next to a foot crossing watching trains, but this time the train I am on maybe being photographed. As we came over Gloucester Yard Junction, the train slowed down as there is a Temporary Speed Restriction of just 5mph; there is some kind of fault with the rails over Horton Road Junction. I already knew about this as we frequently get stuck in traffic at Horton Road Level Crossing, because of the slow-moving trains. At Gloucester, the train reverses and heads up to Cheltenham Spa. We departed a couple of minutes late and within about 5 minutes we were in Cheltenham.

Our train terminates at Cheltenham Spa and clears the platform into Alstone Carriage Sidings. After spending about 20 minutes in the sidings it returns onto the adjacent platform and forms a service to London Paddington.

We went out of the gateline at Cheltenham to meet up with someone who would be joining us for the remainder of our day. There was a fault with the ticket machines so there was a massive queue forming. I did feel very sorry for the ticket office clerk as they had a queue of passengers in the ticket office while they were fixing the ticket machine. Some of the passengers’ patience was running low as it looked like they were going to miss their train. We needed the ticket office to buy another one of the rovers for the person I met up with. The departure time of our next train we planned to get was getting ever closer, so I was beginning to get a little stressed. Thankfully, the ticket office clerk returned and the queue quickly diminished. We bought the rover with very little trouble and went back down to the platform.

The platform was absolutely packed with people as there was a CrossCountry train heading for Plymouth calling at multiple popular south coast destinations. As well as this, there was a train heading to London Paddington, which happened to be our train. So there were two train loads of people on the platform. We made our way through the sea of passengers and found a slightly quieter part of the platform at the London end. Luckily as the Plymouth service pulled in, it soaked up the majority of passengers. Although there were still a fair amount of people remaining on the platform. I overheard a conversation with the dispatcher and a passenger, saying if you stand in a certain place on the platform (next to the blue doors), you will be in the right place for the first set of non first class doors. So we once again weaved through the passengers and stood in the suggested position. The same train as earlier slowly pulled in from Alstone Carriage Sidings now working 1L70 the 09:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington. We were going to take it as far as Swindon. Being next to the big blue doors was actually the perfect place to board the train.

We once again got a table seat in coach D and sat down. The train was busier than the last service but still not overcrowded. The train left pretty much to time and headed back towards Gloucester, repeating the same route as before. We once again reversed at Gloucester and headed to Swindon. As we called at the little, not so sleepy, towns of Stonehouse and Stroud the train got progressively busier. Once we got to Kemble the train was full and standing which was difficult to cope with. I hate busy places, so I didn’t really enjoy the remainder of the journey to Swindon. Before long, thankfully, we were on approach to Swindon. We walked to the doors and got off of the air-conditioned Intercity Express Train to a 30° heat. The train arrived in at 11:05 and was running about 5 minutes late.

I love Swindon station. I have spent very many a happy hour at the station taking photos and writing down train numbers, when I was younger with my grandparents. I actually saw my first ever class 800, otherwise known as IETs, at Swindon back in 2017 when they were still on test. I remember peering through the windows and seeing all the seats covered with plastic film to prevent them from any damage. They are some very happy memories!

I took a few photos of IETs, working services to London and South Wales, and a class 158, working a service to Westbury. I saw there was a train heading back to Cheltenham Spa at 11:28 working 1G11 Swindon to Cheltenham Spa which I thought was about the right time as the heat was pretty unbearable. I despise the heat! We got a quick coffee to drink on the train and waited back on platform 3 for our train. I could soon see the dazzling lights of the train (800 018) in the distance and we prepared to board. I had no idea how busy it was going to be. We had said that if it was too busy we would wait in Swindon for the next service to Cheltenham Spa in an hours time. We were at the Cheltenham end of the platform and as the train pulled in it looked rather busy, but as we walked down the platform we could see some free seats. So we decided to board.

Once again in coach D but this time in airline-style seats. The train arrived slightly delayed but left on time. The train was still busy but nowhere near as busy as the last one. At Kemble, somebody left the train which freed up a table seat so we moved to that. Much nicer to have the space. It was a pretty uneventful trip back to Cheltenham.

When we arrived back in Cheltenham, we thought we would get some lunch as it was about 12:30 at this point. We walked over to the Tesco Express opposite the station, but they had no sandwiches whatsoever. So we headed back over to the station and decided to get the next train back to Gloucester where we could get some lunch. This service was formed of the same train as our previous ride from Swindon.

While we were waiting for our train, a tamper came hurtling through the station, well I say ‘hurtling’ it was only going at a meer 40mph! It was operating a service from Rugby to Gloucester Horton Road (6J89). After that passed there was another CrossCountry service running to Plymouth, which was being held at Alstone Level Crossing. It was strange to see cars passing over the crossing while a train was approaching! After the CrossCountry train passed, our train came back from Alstone Carriage Sidings now working 1L76 the 12:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington.

We boarded the train in coach D, again! This time it was really quiet and had a pleasant ride back to Gloucester.

When we arrived back into Gloucester, we had a look at the platform side cafe but decided to opt for Costa on the other side of the gateline. I had a ham and cheese toastie, and my mum had a tomato and pesto panini.

We needed to get back to Cheltenham Spa to get my guest back to their home station. So, once we got our Costa there was a train pulling in which was heading back to Cheltenham working 2V92 the 13:36 Gloucester to Worcester Foregate Street. This caused me a bit of panic as I needed to make a decision on what I wanted to do. I opted to get a bit of class 166 mileage and head back to Cheltenham on a local train instead of an IET. This also meant I would be able to get home earlier than expected. There was a slight concern as we had a relatively short connection time at Cheltenham to get back to Stonehouse.

As we attempted to board coach C, where there is typically declassified first class, we found out the coach was out of use – for some reason. So, we walked down to coach B and I noticed it was a refurbished unit (166 205) which has a new seat moquette (fabric) and just generally tidied up a bit. This was my first time being on board a refurbished class 166. GWR has slowly been sending their class 165/166 fleet to Wolverton Works for a refurbishment programme. So that was a nice treat!

We left Gloucester a few minutes late, which made me nervous about missing our connection at Cheltenham Spa. The air conditioning was broken, which made the train rather hot. I think this train was really rather poorly! I ate my lunch on the train as I was getting progressively hungrier.

Arriving at Cheltenham Spa we gathered our belongings and headed to the door. Luckily we hadn’t picked up any more of a delay and we would most definitely get our connection.

At this point, I was feeling really tired so I was glad I had opted to head home. We left the train and headed back over to platform 1 to wait for 1L78 the 13:59 Cheltenham Spa to London Paddington. Before long it pulled in and got onboard. Guess what coach… D! Once again nice and quiet and repeated the route back to Stonehouse.

It felt great to be back out on the trains although it did reignite some of my anxieties. Thank you to all the staff I encountered for being very friendly and especially to the gateline staff for letting us in and out of the barriers because the rovers don’t work in barriers!