A Grockle’s Eye View of Cornwall 12: Homeward Bound

Bringing my series on my visit to Cornwall to a close.

INTRODUCTION

All good things come to an end, even this series of blog posts, and with this post we do indeed reach the end of my account of my visit to Cornwall. 

THE JOURNEY HOME

With my train due to leave St Germans at 9:27AM on Monday July 16th we had decided that a departure from Fort Picklecombe at 8:30AM was warranted due to the fact that I had a reserved seat on that train, which was going all the way to London, and would have been in the region of £100 down had I missed it. We arrived early at the station, and once the train arrived I found my seat easily enough, although as had happened on the journey down they had reversed the running order of the train and I was facing against the direction of travel instead of with it (trust me, for a photographer this is quite significant). Here are the last of the Cornish pictures…

sea birdSt GermansScheduleRiverMarshy riverRiver with boardsYacht and buoyWaterside housesSaltash stationCrossing the Tamardetail from suspension bridgesuspension bridge and boatsTamar Bridge

The rest of this post takes place outside Cornwall. The train ran a trifle slow, arriving into Paddington sufficiently late to ensure that I would not make my intended connection at Kings Cross. However, the failings of Great Western were as nothing compared to those of Great Northern. The train arrived at Cambridge where it was supposed to divide in two as usual with four coaches going on to King’s Lynn and the rest going back to London, then a good couple of minutes later we got an announcement telling us that the split was not happening and that we needed to go to Platform 7. As a direct consequence of this mess up we then hit two red signals, at Waterbeach and again at Watlington, arriving into King’s Lynn much later than we should. This made it four successive journeys on Great Northern where the schedule had not been adhered to. Their failures appear to have got worse – just a few days ago I saw a special bus service running between King’s Lynn and Ely.

DevonportSouth Devon RailwayStationStation IIView from the trainNewton Abbot stationNewton AbbotNewton Abbot canopy and big buildingRiver near Newton AbbotRacecourselong bridgeLone boatAcross the waterAcross the water IIChurch towerAcross the water IIIBoats and buildingsBoats and hillsidesGrand HouseChurchButterflyriverside walksrural riverExeter St Davidstree and housesTiverton ParkwayTiverton Parkway IITauntonTrain, ExeterTrain, Bristol IIMetal curlicuesTrains, BristolBristol with trainsBristol Temple MeadsCleaning Britain's Railwaysbridge and pipebridge and pipe IIBath SpaBath Spa IIChurch tower IIBarge and churchBig churchcricket fieldRailway buildingGWR MuseumGWR Museum IISTEAM building

Tunnel trucks
These trucks look like tunnel segments on wheels.

SwindonPlatform detailGoods trainsingle trainReadingReading Stationtrains near ReadingLondon Underground train

Royal Oak
Westbourne Park, the penultimate Hammersmith & City line station west of Paddington – until quite recently local mainline train services stopped here as well. When the Metropolitan Railway opened in 1863 it used GWR rolling stock (broad guage in those days), and there were track connections between the two railways. This line to Hammersmith became part of the Metropolitan Railway in 1864, and between 1877 and 1910 services ran through to Richmond by way of a viaduct from Goldhawk Road the far end of which can still be obeserved at Ravenscourt Park. The last legacy of these connections is that today the Hammersmith and City platforms at Paddington are nos 15 and 16 of the main station.

Hammersmith and City line trainPaddington platforms

Interchange, Baker Street
The interchange from Circle and Hammersmith and City through to the four platforms that serve the Metropolitan line at this station (and escalators down another four platforms which serve the Bakerloo and Jubilee lines)

Screen

 

Author: Thomas

I am a founder member and currently secretary of the West Norfolk Autism Group and am autistic myself. I am a very keen photographer and almost every blog post I produce will feature some of my own photographs. I am an avidly keen cricket fan and often post about that sport.

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