On the road to…Leicester

While I know football is a business that is driven by television is this day and age, and that football clubs derive significant income from having their games televised, I still retain a desire to go and watch football at 3.00pm on a Saturday afternoon, and feel immensely put out when a television company feels, seemingly on a whim, that it can move a game at quite short notice to another slot simply so that it can broadcast it. As it is, I had to give serious consideration whether our last away game of the season (potential play-off game notwithstanding) was feasible, as I would have had to take a half-day, as well as ensuring I could get home again. Having made a judgement call, I decided to go ahead and make the trip to Leicester City.

Date: 23rd April 2012
Stadium: King Power Stadium
Capacity: 32,262
Attendance: 23,172
Away Section: North East Corner
Score: Leicester City 1-2 West Ham United
Nearest station: Leicester
Local rozzers: Leicestershire Constabulary
Total Travel Cost: £44.50 (2 x  Advance Singles, 1 x Anytime Day Single)

Rail journeys:
District Line – Fulham Broadway to Paddington (C69/77 Stock)
Bakerloo Line – Paddington to Marylebone (1972 Stock)
15:07 – London Marylebone to Birmingham Moor Street (Chiltern Railways Class 168 Clubman)
17:22 – Birmingham New Street to Leicester (CrossCountry Class 170 Turbostar)
21:59 (Dep 22:12) – Leicester to London St Pancras (East Midlands Trains Class 222 Meridian)
Northern Line – Kings Cross St Pancras to London Bridge (1995 Stock)
00:06 – London Bridge to New Cross Gate (Southern Class 455)

Station to Stadium: The King Power Stadium is yet another of those new stadia built to replace a small, outdated one. Like some, it’s in the city rather than outside; like others, it’s a busting long walk from the railway station, especially if you’re in a rush. Not that it’s especially complicated – it’s simply a case of following the A594, which has signposts helpfully placed along the way to keep you in the right direction. But it’s a good 15-20 minutes on foot, so if you’re in a rush, take comfortable shoes.

Anything else?: If you’re from London travelling to a midweek game then beware – the last train to the metropolis leaves Leicester before 10.00pm, so you’ll likely have to leave the game before the end.

Leicester railway station

On the road to…Bristol City

It is markedly annoying when the fixture computer decides to throw out those places that you’ve yet to get to midweek. Twice this season I’ve had to forego getting to such places because they’ve been scheduled for Tuesday nights. Fortunately however, I had long identified the Irons’ trip to Bristol City as an excuse to have a week in the city at the end of God’s Wonderful Railway. And thus stick two fingers up at the fixture computer for being a git.

Date: 17th April 2012
Stadium: Ashton Gate
Capacity: 21,497
Attendance: 16,669
Away Section: Wedlock Stand
Score: Bristol City 1-1 West Ham United
Nearest station: Parson Street
Local rozzers: Avon & Somerset Constabulary
Total Travel Cost: £8.60 (3 x  Off-Peak Day Singles)

Rail journeys:
18:26 (Dep 18:38) – Bristol Temple Meads to Parson Street (First Great Western Class 150 Sprinter)
22:00 (Dep 22:02) – Parson Street to Nailsea & Backwell (First Great Western Class 150 Sprinter)
22:21 (Dep 22:22) – Nailsea & Backwell to Bristol Temple Meads (First Great Western InterCity 125 High Speed Train)

Station to Stadium: Ashton Gate is located in a part of Bristol where railway access is limited. Parson Street station is closest and is around fifteen minutes walk, with the easiest way to be to turn left at the main road that runs parallel to the main line and follow it round until you eventually arrive at the away end. Of course, as this is not particularly well signposted, this may prove to be a little difficult.

Anything else?: Although Parson Street is the closest railway station, it has an hourly service, with the last train on a weekday supposed to be the 22:00. It is probably more advisable therefore to use Bristol’s bus network to make your way into the centre of the city.

Parson Street railway station

Terminus, TERMINUS!!!

You’ll recall my trip to the BBC for a recording of Pointless, because Pointless is a favourite in my house, and thus we watch it every day, both on the BBC and on Challenge TV. It’s always quite interesting playing the game to see whether we can do better than the contestants, which to be fair is quite often. It’s always exciting though when a category comes up that I know inside out, like today in the edition on Challenge, when one of the categories in the Head-to-Head round was “Mainline London Rail Termini”. The criteria was to name any mainline terminus in London that doesn’t have through lines, which rules out London Bridge, Blackfriars and St Pancras. Of course, as you all know, this still leaves a significant amount of choice, and the first pair duly gave a relatively decent answer in Charing Cross. Then the second pair, who evidently don’t get to London by train much, decided that their answer would be Ealing Broadway. Which isn’t a mainline terminus. As you may have guessed. The less said about that the better I would say.

As it turned out though, of the ten other answers, there were a fairly large number of answers that would have beaten Charing Cross; Moorgate was the only pointless answer, but Cannon Street, Fenchurch Street, Marylebone and Liverpool Street all had lower scores. Indeed, Liverpool Street scored lower than Marylebone, which surprised me; presumably that means that Chiltern Railways had a better reputation than NXEA (who were running services from Liverpool Street when this edition was made). Suffice it to say that, although I didn’t say Moorgate, my answer was a good one – Fenchurch Street, which scored 4.

Ealing Broadway - check the rail map, and you'll see that it ain't really a mainline terminus. And for "really" read "not at all".

Continuity

Two-Way Street

It’s not been a particularly good few weeks for Network Rail, as it has been fined a total of £5m thanks to two separate prosecutions brought by the ORR. £4m of this is as a result of the action over the Grayrigg derailment in 2007, while the other £1m came from the deaths of two schoolgirls at Elsenham in 2005. Most people should know the basics of this – a pair of schoolgirls were making their way to do some shopping in Cambridge just before Christmas 2005. In order to catch their train, which had arrived, they had to cross to the opposite platform, for which the only route was via the level crossing. Unfortunately, the design of the route makes seeing trains arriving from the opposite direction difficult, and they were hit by a fast train. Subsequent to the inquest, a risk assessment of the level crossing at Elsenham that was conducted in 2002, and which Network Rail failed to submit, came to light detailing the major problems in terms of health & safety, and recommended the installation at the very least of gates that lock automatically when a train is approaching. These features, together with a footbridge connecting the two sides of the station, were finally installed in 2007. Quite rightly, Network Rail have been slated for this, as, had these safety features been in place, these two girls likely wouldn’t have been killed.

And yet. I know what I am going to say will probably sound harsh, and insensitive, but it has to be said. The two girls walked onto the level crossing while the warning lights were flashing, which says that a train is coming. It has been speculated (because of course we will never know for sure) that they must have thought that the lights were for the train to Cambridge, which was standing at the platform and that they were hurrying to catch. Clearly they weren’t aware of the approaching fast train. But no matter whether the lights are flashing or not, a level crossing must never, under any circumstancesbe taken lightly, and must be treated with respect. While the gates may not have locked automatically, pictures from the time show large warning signs saying:

Cross only when the green light shows

These two girls made a choice to ignore that instruction, and it cost their families the chance to see them grow up. Yes, it’s absolutely right that the lion’s share of the blame in all this falls at the feet of Network Rail, because they had three years in which to undertake the work at Elsenham that their own report recommended. But level crossing safety is a two way street. Network Rail must do all it can to make level crossings as safe as they possibly can be. But Joe and Jane Public musn’t make Network Rail’s job harder by leaving their good sense at home and wandering onto a level crossing when the warning lights are flashing. After all, there’ll be another train.

“Network Rail fined £1m for Elsenham double fatality”
“Elsenham rail deaths: Father’s battle for answers”

On the road to…Barnsley

You tend to find that you get some recurring destinations when you’re an away fan, no matter what division of the league you play in. Were this to be a chronicle of a Premier League season for example, I might well be writing of seven separate trips to the North-West. As it is, here I am regaling you of my third trip to the wilds of South Yorkshire, as I make an excursion following the Irons to Barnsley.

Date: 6th April 2012
Stadium: Oakwell
Capacity: 23,009
Attendance: 11,151
Away Section: North Stand
Score: Barnsley 0-4 West Ham United
Nearest station: Barnsley Interchange
Local rozzers: South Yorkshire Police
Total Travel Cost: £25.20 (1 x Off Peak Return, 1 x Tram Only Dayrider)

Rail journeys:
NET Line 1 - Royal Centre to Nottingham Station Street (AT 6/5 Incentro)
14:45 – Nottingham to Sheffield (East Midlands Trains Class 158 Express Sprinter)
15:50 – Sheffield to Barnsley Interchange (Northern Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter)
19:40 – Barnsley Interchange to Nottingham (Northern Rail Class 158 Express Sprinter)
NET Line 1 – Nottingham Station Street to Royal Centre (AT 6/5 Incentro)

Station to Stadium: Oakwell is one of those old, northern grounds, in a valley, surrounded by terraced houses going uphill that, as the train pulls into the railway station, looks like it’ll be miles to walk. And yet it isn’t, as you simply walk towards the overpass that carries the A61 over the A628. However, rather than following the road down, as you might expect, you instead hang a sharp left, then a right, and walk up the hill towards that most 1970s of phenomena, the grass car park, through which you pass to reach the welcoming sight of the away turnstiles. All no more than 10 minutes from the railway station.

Anything else?: As a result of successive rail company takeovers, the current railway station has been called “Barnsley” (Jan 1850-Jun 1924), “Barnsley Low Town” (Jun 1924-Aug 1924), “Barnsley Exchange” (Aug 1924-June 1960), “Barnsley” (Jun 1960-May 2007), before assuming its current incarnation as “Barnsley Interchange”, serving as the town’s railway and main bus stations, in May 2007.

Barnsley Interchange

Chairman Pip’s Podcast #2.2

Chairman Pip’s Podcast #2.2

“The Return of Private Passenger Rail Service?”
“All Aboard Florida plan announced”
“Scott Walker Now WANTS The High-Speed Rail Funds He Rejected In The First Place”

Make of Scott Walker's attempt to get back the money he rejected what you will

Some free advertising for Camilla

As you know, in the event of a good cause, I’ll do some free advertising, and so here is some free advertising. The lovely Camilla Quance, of Babestation fame, is going to do a skydive to raise money for Help for Heroes, a worthy cause I think you’ll all agree. Now, I know that skydiving has little if anything to do with railways, but hey, I don’t care. So, if you’d like to pay money for Camilla to jump out of an aeroplane, you’ll see the link along the sidebar. Go on, give a little.

Seeing that Camilla is doing this led me to some thought as to what other things people could do to raise money that might involve railways. Of course, the most obvious one I can think of is the Tube Challenge. I reckon that Daryl Morgan would be ideal to lead a team on that little adventure? Or how about a straight race from Kennington to Euston along either branch of the Northern Line between Preeti and Priya? Well, perhaps. Still, it’s all in good fun, and I’ve no doubt that people would give generously. After all, it is for charity.

Now I’d pay to see that

On the road to…West Ham (one more time)

While I recognise that the whole point of me detailing my travels was to look at away games, I recall that the last home game I went to on the train saw me again use Upton Park rather than an alternative route. So, I figured “what the hell”, and decided that I would utilise this particular home game to detail an alternative to what might be expected to be “the usual route” to take. Does it help that this was another almighty top of the table clash for West Ham against Reading? Not really, given what eventually transpired.

Date: 31 March 2012
Stadium: Boleyn Ground
Capacity: 35,333
Attendance: 33,350
Away Section: Sir Trevor Brooking Stand
Score: West Ham United 2-4 Reading
Nearest station: Upton Park
Local Rozzers: Metropolitan Police
Total Travel Cost: £8.50 (2 x Oystercard PAYG Single, 1 x Anytime Day Single)

Rail journeys:
13:51 – New Cross to Canada Water (London Overground Class 378 Capitalstar)
Jubilee Line – Canada Water to Canning Town (1996 Stock)
Docklands Light Railway – Canning Town to Stratford International (B90 Stock)
18:03 – Stratford International to London St Pancras (Southeastern Class 395 Javelin)
Northern Line – Kings Cross St Pancras to Bank (1995 Stock)
18:40 – London Cannon Street to New Cross (Southeastern Class 465 Networker)

Station to Stadium: Obviously you’ll know by now that the Boleyn Ground is closest to Upton Park station. But, unlike some other stadia, there are others that are within walking distance, one of which is Canning Town. Once you have negotiated your way across the Canning Town roundabout and onto the Barking Road, once again it is a straight walk until you see the roof of the stadium in the distance. Be prepared though – it takes me a good half an hour to walk it.

Anything else?: Prior to 1994, Canning Town was a minor stop on the North London Line between Richmond and North Woolwich. Since then, it has been developed into a major transport interchange with a bus station, two DLR routes and the Jubilee Line Extension being constructed there.

Canning Town tube station

On the road to…those places I didn’t get to

Now that I have in place the preparations for my last few away trips, which means that I’m committed to doing them, I can take a look at the six away games that, for one reason or another, I wasn’t able to get to this season, and I thought it would be an interesting paper exercise to see just how I would have reached each of those destinations, had the circumstances been different and they been played on a Saturday, not to mention what the cost might have ended up being. I will start by saying that, of the six, I have previously been to three of them (which means that I have been to 21 of the 24 clubs in this season’s Championship), so that I should (in theory) know how to get to those three stadia. In theory.

On the road to…Nottingham Forest
The first away game I had to miss this season was, somewhat ironically, the one away game outside London that I would have guaranteed on going to, given that the vast majority of away games I go to that are in the Midlands I tend to stay in Nottingham for. However, my favourite nemesis this season has been the fixture computer, which on this occasion scheduled the trip to Nottingham Forest for the same weekend as I was travelling up to Edinburgh.

Date: 28 August 2011
Stadium: City Ground
Capacity: 30,603
Attendence: 21,379
Away Section: Bridgford Stand
Score: Nottingham Forest 1-4 West Ham United
Nearest station: Nottingham or Nottingham Station Street
Local rozzers: Nottinghamshire Police
Total Travel Cost: £3.20 (1 x Dayrider)

Rail Journeys:
NET Line 1 - Nottingham Trent University to Nottingham Station Street
NET Line 1 – Nottingham Station Street to Nottingham Trent University

Station to Stadium: The City Ground is yet another of those relatively centrally placed stadia that requires a bit of effort on the part of Shank’s Pony to get you there from the station. Fortunately, the quickest way is relatively straightforward, especially when coming from Station Street, as all it requires is turning left out of the tram stop, walking all the way to the end of the road to London Road, and then turning right and just walking until you see the ground on the other side of the Trent Bridge.

Anything else?: Despite being the sporting hub of the city, with not only Nottingham Forest, but also Notts County and Nottinghamshire CCC located in and around the area of the Trent Bridge, NET Phase 2 will not be constructed to serve the centre of West Bridgford.

Nottingham Station Street tram stop

On the road to…Southampton
This was one that I hadn’t done, so you can imagine my annoyance that the fixture computer spat it out on a Tuesday night. I did give very serious consideration to taking half a day and going down there, but I feel a bit funny about going to a ground for the first time midweek when it’s quite a distance from home. As a consequence, this time at least, I had to give Southampton a miss.

Date: 18 October 2011
Stadium: St Mary’s Stadium
Capacity: 32,689
Attendence: 32,152 (Stadium Record)
Away Section: Northam Stand
Score: Southampton 1-0 West Ham United
Nearest station: St Denys or Southampton Central
Local rozzers: Hampshire Constabulary
Total Travel Cost: £38.00 (1 x Off-Peak Day Return + 1 Shuttle Bus Return)

Rail Journeys:
11:48 – New Cross to London Bridge (Southeastern)
11:58 – London Bridge to London Waterloo East (Southeastern)
12:35 – London Waterloo to Southampton Central (South West Trains)
17:47 – Southampton Central to Reading (CrossCountry)
18:45 – Reading to London Paddington (First Great Western)
Bakerloo Line – Paddington to Charing Cross
20:02 – London Charing Cross to New Cross (Southeastern)

Station to Stadium: Bearing in mind that I’ve not been to St Mary’s as yet, I can only impart what I’ve read. However, given that it is a new stadium that is a bit of a walk, and given that there are shuttle buses (good invention those) laid on, the best advice would be to make use of them. I intend to once I get there.

Anything else?: The ticket office at St Denys station is located not by the main entrance, which appears to be a somewhat hidden set of steps leading to a long footbridge, but on the central island platform that forms Platforms 2 and 3.

Southampton Central railway station

On the road to…Middlesbrough
Whoever thought it was a good idea to schedule this one for a Tuesday night must have been smoking something. That being said, Middlesbrough is as far north as you can go in this division this season, so it would probably be a trek for anyone going there for a midweek game. Still, I’d imagine that fans from Yorkshire wouldn’t take quite so long to get home.

Date: 29 November 2011
Stadium: Riverside Stadium
Capacity: 34,988
Attendence: 18,457
Away Section: South Stand
Score: Middlesbrough 0-2 West Ham United
Nearest station: Middlesbrough
Local rozzers: Cleveland Police
Total Travel Cost: £77.40 (2 x Advance Singles)

Rail Journeys:
09:16 – New Cross Gate to Highbury & Islington (London Overground)
Victoria Line – Highbury & Islington to Kings Cross St Pancras
10:30 – London Kings Cross to Darlington (East Coast)
13:30 – Darlington to Middlesbrough (Northern Rail)
17:24 – Middlesbrough to Darlington (Northern Rail)
18:26 – Darlington to London Kings Cross (East Coast)
Victoria Line – Kings Cross St Pancras to Highbury & Islington
22:25 – Highbury & Islington to New Cross Gate (London Overground)

Station to Stadium: The Riverside Stadium is the second of those places that I have yet to visit, but fortunately I’ve seen many pictures of it and, based on those, it seems to dominate the skyline, as there doesn’t appear to have been anything built around it. Which means that it shouldn’t be too difficult to find, once you’ve exited the railway station.

Anything else?: Plans are afoot to make Middlesbrough the hub of the proposed Tees Valley Metro, a plan intended to provide more frequent and faster trains in the Tees Valley.

Middlesbrough railway station

On the road to…Birmingham
I’m not one from shying away from a difficult journey, and I’m certainly not one for thinking that a holiday period should immediately mean a cessation of travelling for football. However, the fact that the railway network seems to have, in recent years, taken to shutting down completely on Boxing Day kinda means that, unless the away game is in London, getting to an away game the day after Christmas is pretty much a non-starter. Which explains why I couldn’t make it to Birmingham City.

Date: 26 December 2011
Stadium: St Andrew’s
Capacity: 30,009
Attendance: 20,214
Away Section: Gil Merrick Stand
Score: Birmingham City 1-1 West Ham United
Nearest station: Bordesley
Local rozzers: West Midlands Police
Total Travel Cost: £19.40 (1 x Off-Peak Return, 2 x Off-Peak Tram Only Singles)

Rail Journeys:
NET Line 1 – Royal Centre to Nottingham Station Street
11:37 – Nottingham to Birmingham New Street (CrossCountry)
17:49 – Birmingham New Street to Nottingham (CrossCountry)
NET Line 1 – Nottingham Station Street to Nottingham Trent University

Station to Stadium: Once again, St Andrew’s is another of those grounds that has been around for decades, but is a fair old trek to get to. Arriving from Birmingham New Street you’ll actually have to walk through the Bullring and past Birmingham Moor Street before arriving at the long dual carriageway that you walk down to take you towards Small Heath and the ground. I’ve done it in 25 minutes before. If you’ve got little legs, give yourself more time.

Anything else?: Bordesley, on the line out of Birmingham Snow Hill, is the closest station to the ground, but is only used on matchdays. Aside from this, it has one service a week.

Birmingham New Street railway station

On the road to…Blackpool
There are occasions when circumstances leave you hanging, such as cup replays, which end up meaning you don’t know when a game is going to be scheduled for, and so you can’t prepare and have to take the unfortunate decision to call off your plans. Thus it was with Blackpool this season, as their FA Cup exploits eventually ended up seeing our trip there moved from a Saturday to a Tuesday night. And when you aren’t staying up there, to get to Blackpool on a Tuesday night and home again is difficult.

Date: 21 February 2012
Stadium: Bloomfield Road
Capacity: 16,220
Attendence: 13,043
Away Section: East Stand
Score: Blackpool 1-4 West Ham United
Nearest station: Blackpool South
Local rozzers: Lancashire Constabulary
Total Travel Cost: £46.50p (2 x Advance Singles, 1 x Tram Single)

Rail Journeys:
09:18 – New Cross to London Bridge (Southeastern)
Northern Line – London Bridge to Euston
10:30 – London Euston to Preston (Virgin Trains)
13:02 – Preston to Blackpool South (Northern Rail)
Blackpool Tramway – Waterloo Road to North Pier
18:20 – Blackpool North to Preston (Northern Rail)
19:01 – Preston to London Euston (Virgin Trains)
Northern Line – Euston to London Bridge
22:22 – London Bridge to New Cross Gate (Southern)

Station to Stadium: Bloomfield Road is very nicely situated at one end of a giant car park, presumably put in due to the proximity of the Pleasure Beach. Fortunately, Blackpool South station is located at the other end of the car park, making it very easy to traverse the 5 minute walk through said car park from the station to the ground.

Anything else?: Blackpool’s tramway was the one remaining first-generation network left after the rest of the country disposed of trams in the 1950s and 1960s. It’s now received a massive upgrade to turn it into a proper second-generation network, complete with new light rail vehicles. However, it will retain part of its history through the refurbishment and continued use of a number of its double decker trams.

Blackpool South railway station

On the road to…Cardiff
There are some places that are nice and friendly, aside from the traditional banter. There are others where you should really have a quantity of brave pills to hand if you choose to venture there. Hence the reason that, when the fixture list came out, I said that I would definitely do Millwall, and definitely do Leeds, and categorically would not do Cardiff City; a decision further helped by the fact that it was moved to a Sunday morning, and Cardiff have completely incomprehensible ticketing arrangements.

Date: 4 March 2012
Stadium: Cardiff City Stadium
Capacity: 26,828
Attendence: 23,872
Away Section: Ninian Stand/Grange Stand
Score: Cardiff City 0-2 West Ham United
Nearest station: Ninian Park
Local rozzers: South Wales Police
Total Travel Cost: £45.00 (2 x Advance Singles)

Rail Journeys:
10:28 – New Cross to London Bridge (Southeastern)
10:44 – London Bridge to London Charing Cross (Southeastern)
Bakerloo Line – Charing Cross to Paddington
11:45 – London Paddington to Cardiff Central (First Great Western)
17:25 – Cardiff Central to London Paddington (First Great Western)
Bakerloo Line – Paddington to Charing Cross
20:17 – London Charing Cross to New Cross (Southeastern)

Station to Stadium: To reach the Cardiff City Stadium, according to what I’ve read, it is a fairly routine walk along the aptly named Ninian Park Road, which apparently takes in the region of 25 minutes. That however is after you’ve had to trek all the way to Cardiff West services on the M4 to exchange the voucher they gave you for a match ticket.

Anything else?: Cardiff Central has a total of seven platform faces, numbered 0-4 (with 3 and 4 divided into A and B sections) and 6-7. Plans exist to build a new platform, which could end up with the reinstatement of Platform 5.

Cardiff Central railway station