04/06/26 - Exeter To LondonDIG 1114 (OT) >
EXD▸ 1124 (OT) : 2T15 EXM > PGN : 1 x 166/2 (3 Cars)
EXD 1143 (OT) >
PAD▸ 1417 (OT) : 1A81 PGN > PAD : 1 x 800/3 (9 Cars)
TfL» Underground Paddington > Stratford (Elizabeth Line) +
DLR▸ Stratford > Stratford International
Tickets (All With Senior Railcard, 2
Pax▸ ▸ , Price Per Person):
DIG > PAD Advance Single £32.30
TfL Underground/DLR Single £2.05
On 2T15 both tickets & ‘passes’ were requested but the guard then didn’t hang around to check my digital railcard! The train
PA▸ was barely audible and wouldn’t have helped anybody who didn’t know exactly what they were doing.
To describe 1A81 as lightly loaded would have been an exaggeration - in our Coach C there were only about a dozen
pax▸ . Not for the first time there was no ticket/railcard check.
The short DLR run between Stratford & Stratford International was a useful way of avoiding the walk through Westfield which during most of the day resembles the Serengeti Wildebeest Migration.
05/06/26Elizabeth Line Stratford > Tottenham Court Road followed by a pleasant stroll to the London Transport Museum. I did not know that on term time Fridays it features guest pianist sessions on a baby grand - very entertaining if you like that sort of thing (I do).
Our return to Stratford was severely disrupted due to problems caused by an Elizabeth Line signal failure at Gidea Park.
06/06/26Jubilee & Circle Lines from Stratford to South Kensington, Via Westminster, for a visit to the Science Museum. On the Jubilee Line between North Greenwich & Bermondsey the semi-continuous very loud, high pitched noise, presumably due to wheel / rail misalignment, was most unpleasant and I would suggest using a different route if possible. At South Kensington we came up against the absence of the long planned lifts and having to carry an occupied, by our grandson, pushchair up two sets of stairs when surrounded by large crowds was pretty difficult. And then we had to do it again at the museum end of the subway. TfL need to pull their fingers out - planning permission was granted in 2023.
After the visit a walk in the rain to Knightsbridge, Piccadilly Line to Green Park & Jubilee Line to London Bridge for the main event - Afternoon Tea at The Shard Shangri-La - which was absolutely excellent.
A return to Stratford using the Northern & Elizabeth lines, walking from Moorgate to Liverpool Street, so as to avoid being potentially deafened on the Jubilee Line.
07/07/26 - London To ExeterTfL DLR Stratford International > Stratford + Underground Stratford > Paddington (Elizabeth Line)
PAD 1336 (
1353) > EXD 1610 (
1631) : 1U84 PAD > PNZ : 2 x 802/0 (10 Cars)
(EXD 1616 > DIG 1628 - Missed Connection)EXD 1651 (1653) > DIG 1701 (1703) : 2F18 PGN > EXM : 1 X 150/2 (2 Cars)
Tickets (All With Senior Railcard, 2 Pax, Price Per Person):
TfL Underground/DLR Single £2.05
PAD > DIG Super Off Peak Single £43.75
We were originally booked PAD 1536 > EXD 1810/1816 > DIG 1828 but decided to leave London early due to the poor weather. If we had travelled as intended it appears from
RTT» that we would have arrived home as scheduled.
On the way to Paddington I used RTT to check the status of the next Exeter service which was the 9-Car 1U84 from Platform 1 at 1336. Another check after arriving at PAD showed that 800304 had been reallocated to 1D26, the 1322 Oxford train, and 1U84 was now leaving from P2 as a 10-Car service. And then the fun commenced; RTT has no information on the arrival of the two 5-Car units but the process of coupling them up turned into a monumental cock-up. After several attempts the mating ritual succeeded but a fairly significant electrical issue, which prevented the doors from being opened, appeared. When that was eventually sorted(ish) and boarding commenced there was no power to the external bodyside information screens or internal reservation displays and coach end displays.
The train was rammed with some coaches full & standing. The late change of rolling stock also apparently put paid to the on-board catering, although oddly there was a customer host present who suggested during the journey that catering might be available from Taunton (it didn’t happen!).
The coach end digital displays miraculously activated as we passed Grove / Wantage.
The journey delay was reduced from 17 to 10 minutes by the time we got to
BRI▸ but that improvement was subsequently more than wiped out by 1U84 having to follow the 2C79 BRI > EXD stopper all the way to Exeter. 2C79 was routed into it’s booked P4 so our train used P1. Understandably no ticket/railcard check was performed on the PAD > EXD journey.
2F18 was also full and standing. There appeared to be a significant number of CTCRM recruits - most of them ‘suited & booted’ so perhaps newbies - on board which was a bit odd because the train did not stop at LYC.
I submitted our PAD > DIG Delay Repay claim on Monday 8th June at around 1300. I received email approval of the claim at 0703 on Tuesday 9th June. For the second trip in a row good work by
GWR▸ .
