Origin

Taking the train is my favourite way of travelling around Great Britain. Our island is really quite small and even over relatively long distances flying is not much, if at all, quicker than taking the train when moving between city centres.

One of my friends kindly invited me down to stay at his family home in Truro, a Cornish city. I had been once in 2007, seven years before this trip, and was keen to visit again. In particular I was looking forward to taking the First Great Western service from London Paddington, which passes over the impressive Dawlish sea wall.

Those interested in UK rail travel may also like to read my previous trip report where I covered 1ST class on the east coast mainline from London King’s Cross to Newcastle.

None of the images in this trip report have been edited.


Itinerary

My train would be operating along the Great Western Main Line, one of Britain’s prime Victorian railways. The line was first laid down by the great engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel and serves Bristol, Oxford and Swansea as well as Devon and Cornwall.

A lot of water had passed under the bridge since the last time I took this journey. Just a few weeks later I emigrated to Qatar, where I lived for five years and learnt the two trades, the airline industry in general and pricing strategy in particular, which I carry on today.

Westbound from London on The Cornish Riviera

Date: Tuesday 19th August 2014

Departure: 10:06
Arrival: 14:25
Scheduled duration: 4:19

Calling at: Reading, Exeter St Davids, Newton Abbot, Plymouth, Liskeard, Bodmin Parkway, Par, St Austell, Truro
Continuing to: Penzance via Redruth, Camborne & St Erth
Distance: 280 miles, 3 chains

Seat: coach K, seat 4B (backwards to direction of travel)
Equipment: InterCity 125 with one and a half 1ST class and six STD class carriages
One-way fare: GBP 78.30

Eastbound to London on The Royal Duchy

Date: Friday 22nd August 2014

Departure: 14:41
Arrival: 19:24
Scheduled duration: 4:43

Calling at: St Austell, Par, Bodmin Parkway, Liskeard, Plymouth, Totnes, Newton Abbot, Exeter St Davids, Tiverton Parkway, Taunton, Reading, London Paddington
Originating from: Penzance via St Erth, Camborne & Redruth
Distance: 280 miles, 3 chains

Seat: coach K, seat 1B (backwards to direction of travel)
Equipment: InterCity 125 with one and a half 1ST class and six STD class carriages
One-way fare: GBP 78.30


Paddington Station & 1ST class lounge

As usual I started my journey by taking London Underground from Pimlico. As I left home at about 8.20am and was travelling in the rush hour it was quite busy on the tube. To reach Paddington station I needed to take the Victoria Line to Oxford Circus and then change onto the Bakerloo.

Although I could not get a seat on the Victoria Line it was not too crowded to stand comfortably. The Bakerloo Line from Oxford Circus to Paddington was not quite as busy and I secured a seat. After arriving at Paddington I took a look around the beautiful station, which like the Great Western line is I understand the work of Brunel. There are plenty of shops and Paddington Bear is well represented.

First Great Western operates a 1ST class lounge at Paddington. It comes in two sections, one old-fashioned and another more contemporary. The old-fashioned section contains Queen Victoria’s private waiting room, which is octagonal and decorated with crests symbolising the UK and the Great Western railway.

The breakfast catering was quite acceptable. There was nothing hot as far as I could tell but I did enjoy a couple of the chocolate twists. Normally I would not advocate chocolate for breakfast but I was on holiday after all!

As well as the chocolate twists there were some regular croissants and fruit pastries, fruit selection and either orange or apple juice to drink as well as the regular tea and coffee selections.

Here is Paddington Bear and the associated shop:





Some shots of the station itself:



Two fine First Great Western operated InterCity 125 trains:



The ‘classic’ bits of the 1ST class lounge:



The decoration and breakfast food in the lounge:



The more contemporary section of the lounge includes a device-charging centre:





London Paddington to Truro, First Great Western 1ST class

Boarding was called approximately 15 minutes ahead of departure on platform eight. The lounge is located next to platform one so it was a short walk, no more than a few minutes, to reach the train. There were no automatic ticket barriers, for which I was grateful as there is nothing more annoying than a gate deciding that you have gone through and crushing your bag as it closes …

Here is the board displaying our platform:



First Great Western paint their trains in a magnificent dark blue livery with some colourful twists down the side. I do believe that blue is the best colour for trains and it reminds me of the old InterCity 125s that used to bring my Dad back home from his business trips when I was a little boy.

InterCity 125s have engines at both ends but 1ST is (almost) always at the London end:



The train was configured with eight carriages, six in Standard and one and a half in 1ST. The additional half is a galley and buffet. First Great Western have reconfigured their train sets in the last few years and manage the capacity with some dynamism. Once upon a time there were two and a half 1ST carriages and five Standard carriages in each set. But rail operators in the UK are under political pressure to provide more seats in Standard. Accordingly First Great Western now operate the following configurations:

i) 1x 1ST carriage
ii) 1.5x 1ST carriages
iii) 2x 1ST carriages
iv) 2.5x 1ST carriages

I do think that it makes sense to be able to deploy more or less 1ST capacity in accordance with demand. However I am concerned that the political environment may be such that train operators are in the future pressurised to reduce the 1ST capacity below what they might otherwise, causing fares in this compartment to increase.

Incidentally the train was quite busy, perhaps 75% seat factor, in 1ST whilst the Standard coaches were probably at about 40% to 50% seat factor.

I was booked in coach L but my seat was at a table of four, which I am not so keen on. Preferring the pairs at the side of the coach I found another seat, this time in coach K, the half carriage. All the reservations seem to automatically go into coach L before K so whilst the former was quite full the latter was not.

Coaches are clearly labelled:



A good tip for UK rail travellers on InterCity services is to try and avoid the coach immediately next to the engine. This is because the engine does not have quite as sound suspension as the carriage and accordingly the end carriages tend to bounce around quite a bit more than those further towards the middle of the train.

Anyway, the doors were all slammed and the guards went a-whistling in due form and we pushed back at 10:06, bang on-time. I was on the way to Cornwall!

Service was quite quick out of Paddington. The lovely train crew came along with a trolley laden with soft drinks, coffee, tea, Walkers shortbread, some cakes and one or two other bits and bobs. My understanding is that alcohol and hot food are available but as a paid for service. I asked for a Coke and it was served in a plastic glass. The nice lady serving kindly went to get me some ice from the galley.

I also understood that the train carries a Travelling Chef, with hot food served at seat in 1ST. Soon after we left Paddington the smell of bacon came from the galley and the chef was seen sitting at a table polishing off a bacon buttie. No mention of this service was made to the passengers as far as I could tell. Never mind, I had enjoyed my breakfast in the lounge and a 10:06 departure is a bit late to be eating bacon butties when I knew that there was a fish pie waiting for me in Cornwall…

I settled back and listened to my iPod, starting off with some Take That and their Progress album. The first track is The Flood and this song really sets me in the mood for beginning a journey. It goes “there’s progress now, where there once was none, where there once was none till everything came along”. As those lyrics came through the headphones the train picked up speed and headed west.

The interiors on First Great Western’s InterCity 125s are decorated in a blue and grey-brown colour scheme. One seat in every six is upholstered in light blue leather and the others are grey-brown. Monuments at the end of the passenger compartments are light purple.

For those who like to sit backwards to direction of travel as I do I would make the case that the best seats in coach L are 10B westbound and 13B eastbound. These seats are in the middle of the carriage and have a dividing monument to the passenger’s back. In-train entertainment is available in STD class carriages C and D. There is a moving map and choice of short films.

My seat:



The view:



We proceeded to Reading where there did not seem to be much passenger movement either up or down. Then it was nonstop to Exeter St Davids, quite a way to the west. There was one drinks service to Reading and another two on the long sector to Exeter. I listened to my iPod, finishing off Take That and then enjoying the Levellers before reading some of my National Geographic. There were quite a few hills of an apparently elliptical cross-section as we travelled westbound and I wondered if they might be glacial drumlins.

The placards clearly state that STD passengers are not permitted in 1ST areas, even to stand:



The buffet car:



STD seats:



In-train entertainment with moving map is available in STD only:



When we got to Exeter I knew that things would soon get interesting as the Dawlish sea wall was nearby. Lady Gaga’s new Art Pop album went on the iPod and I got ready for the awesome experience of hurtling by and almost on top of the sea. This was a moment I had waited seven years for and I was excited…

In-train entertainment:



Exmouth appears before the sea wall with sailing vessels and even a wreck or two:



Boom, there is was! All of a sudden the train was flying past the sea, boats in the water and some land on the other side of the bay. Then we were through a tunnel and there was nothing more than a few feet between me and the vast expanse of the grey Atlantic. Quite a calm day it was, so I did not see any spray.

The grey ocean:



I dare say that you have to go quite a way south before hitting land from here. As several rocky promontories jut into the sea here there are quite a few tunnels. The cliffs are a beautiful red and in some parts the red rock is visible through the sea bed too, giving the ocean the appearance of blood.

It is about an hour from Exeter to Plymouth, home of the Royal Navy, and after Plymouth the line crosses an iconic bridge at Saltash before proceeding to what I consider the south west of England proper. There was one drinks service between Exeter and Plymouth, then no more. The crew changed at Plymouth and I sat back looking forward to the journey.

Boats as seen from the Saltash bridge:



More boats:



Looking back at the bridge I knew that I was not so far from my destination:



Arrival at Truro station’s platform two was a minute or two behind schedule:



I disembarked from the train along with almost everybody else:



All in all I was quite pleased with my journey. It is quite a long time to spend on the train and the seats were comfy. Now I was looking forward to my holiday…


Gyllyngvase and Falmouth






Perranporth beach








Truro to London Paddington, First Great Western 1ST class

Our train pulled into Truro station’s platform 3 on schedule and I took my seat in coach K, taking 1B. As on the outward journey my reserved seat was at a table of 4 in the heavily reserved larger coach L, but the half coach was not too busy. Fortunately nobody came to sit opposite me for the whole journey.

Here is the train coming in:



My entertainment for the nearly five hour trip to London:



Here are a few shots of the journey:





My last view of Truro, for this year at least:



The way back to London was just as good as the way out and the service trolley appeared perhaps two or three times more than before. I took a bacon baguette at GBP 4.50 from the buffet which was quite decent but in general the catering did not seem as good as the East Coast product.

As we headed back to London I enjoyed some more of August’s National Geographic, a few chapters of Sharpe’s Siege by Bernard Cornwell and both Barry Manilow and Billy Joel on the iPod. Arrival at Paddington was only five minutes or so behind schedule.