Track bash May 2022

Day 1 (Sunday 22nd May)

Huntingdon to York

Last updated 2022-05-22

I'd arranged to meet a friend on Edinburgh on the Tuesday, so that drove the overall plan; without it, I probably wouldn't have gone to Scotland again. This made it clear that the best plan was to do the east side of the country on Sunday and Monday, Scotland on Tuesday, and the rest on the remaining four days.

Planning day 1 was really hard. The logical thing would be to do the Skegness branch, the Robin Hood line, and the Cleethorpes and Barton-upon-Humber branches, leaving the Whitby and Saltburn branches, plus the run north via Sunderland, for Monday; there might be time to do some other odd bits as well.

But the Robin Hood line doesn't run the full length on Sundays (nothing runs north of Mansfield Woodhouse), the Brigg line (Gainsborough to Barnetby) doesn't have any service at all (not just Sundays), which means that getting to Cleethorpes means going either via Lincoln (with only 3 trains each way on Sundays) or Scunthorpe, and Doncaster to Scunthorpe is closed with bustitution, resulting in a 5½ hour journey from Skegness to Cleethorpes (less than 40 miles by road). So how about doing the Whitby and Saltburn branches on Sunday? Well, there's strike action on Trans-Pennine Express, who provide the only train that gets me to Thornaby in time, so I won't know until the day whether it's running or not. Without that train I can't get to Whitby.

In the end I have two separate possible schedules for days 1 and 2. A reminder from a friend about the Saltburn water-balanced funicular tipped the decision in the favour of the second one. So today is Skegness, Cleethorpes, and Barton-upon-Humber.

The Peterborough to Grantham train got delayed 7½ minutes by being brought to a halt at signal P555, protecting Greatford level crossing. We sat there for a few minutes and then proceeded slowly over the crossing, with Network Rail staff standing on both sides. From my position in the front coach it looked as if we passed P555 at red, but it could just have changed back too quickly for me to see. We then lost another minutes on the approaches to Grantham for no obvious reason.

The first new mileage is on the journey from Grantham via Sleaford to Skegness. I'd ridden from Sleaford to Nottingham via Grantham before, but back then there were two separate lines that entered Grantham from either side of the ECML. This meant that through passenger trains had to cross the ECML tracks on the flat, obstructing the main line services. Since then a new triangular junction has been created west of Grantham, at Allington, with a new line from there passing under the ECML before meeting the old "Barkston" curve to Grantham, which has been lifted. Therefore trains via Grantham still reverse, but now run a couple of miles back the way they came before (in the case of eastbound trains) doing a U-turn at Allington to head in the right direction. The third side of the triangle means that through goods trains (and the rare passenger train not stopping at Grantham) don't need to reverse and run the loco round the train.

The line to Skegness is itself curious. It runs east to Boston then turns left to parallel the coast. In the middle of nowhere it suddenly makes a tight 120 degree turn to the right then, 4 miles later, turns most of the way back again, entering Skegness in almost the same direction as it had left Boston.

Skegness itself is clearly a shadow of its former self as a major resort. There are 6 platforms, each capable of holding between 10 and 12 coaches, yet only one has shiny rails and the trains - at least on Sundays - are only 3 or 4 coaches long. One platform seems to have lost its starting signal. The point rodding and signal cables - everything is still mechanical - don't run beside the tracks as you enter the station; instead they're some distance away behind some bushes with long perpendicular lengths of rodding to reach the track. I guess that once upon a time there were a couple of more tracks on that side that are long-ago lifted and overgrown.

I was expecting Cleethorpes to be like Skegness, a shadow of its former glory at the end of a quiet branch. It also had 6 platforms, each capable of 8 to 10 cars, with one of the tracks lifted. But this time three platforms had shiny rails and, more importantly, there were 5 trains already there before us. In the 20 minutes or so I was there, two more arrived, making a total of 8.

The run to Barton-on-Humber was routine with no obvious delays, though RealTimeTrains says we were two minutes late. The bus stop is literally 30 metres or so from the front door of the train and the bus was at the bus stop. And drove away as I was running towards it. The next bus isn't for two hours (if the timetable isn't lying). I considered taking the train back, which would get me to York about 21:30, but decided to explore my options here first. This turns out to have been a mistake.

If there are any taxi firms in Barton, they don't answer the phone. I thought this was the time to try Uber, but Uber doesn't believe in my postcode. Any taxi within sight immediately headed away from me. In the end went into a pub for a pint, a power socket, and a moan. The barman suggested phoning a taxi firm in Hull. They sent one within 20 minutes and didn't charge an unbearable amount. So now I'm at Hull station and, guess what, the 20:21 to York is cancelled, replaced by a bus taking 2½ hours. And this would appear to be the last direct train. There's a train at 20:29 to Sheffield via Doncaster, so that at least gets me part of the way.

Said train arrives at Doncaster just as a Newcastle (and thus York) train is pulling out. I carry my bags down the stairs, along the passageway, and up the stairs to arrive - out of breath - on the island platform where any train northwards will be going from. There's a Bradford train departing in a few minutes and, it seems, no York trains for at least an hour (in fact, it turns out that the next direct train isn't for 2½ hours). The Bradford train will get me to Leeds where I should be able to get a train to York (and, indeed, I did).

When the train got to York (where it was terminating), I was slow getting my things packed up and my case down. When I got to the door, it was locked. At this point the conductor came through and said the driver had locked all the doors; she then led me to the front of the train, where I had to give the driver my case to put on the platform while I climbed out of the cab door using the step set into the side of the train.

I hope the rest of the week goes better than this.

Today's trains table

Today's route table

New lines today

• Allington curve and then to Barkston East
• Sleaford to Skegness
• Grimsby Town to Cleethorpes
• Habrough to Barton-on-Humber

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