Railways around Coventry

Hello, With all of my steam enthusiasm onging, I would not give up what we have now. The ease at which I can maintain my volunteering, getting about using public transport, particularly the railways for distance & speed takes some beeting. Yesterday, I travelled from Coventry to Warwick by bus. That completed a duty. Then a bus into Stratford to see some friends who were having a river boat trip. I then Journeyed by train to B'ham Jewellery Quarter, a tram to Edgbaston. Duty completed. Then train to Wolverhampton, back to New St. Duty completed. Eventually getting home for 6.30pm. Like falling off a log. The only cost with my bus pass & railcard was £4, from Stratford to Dorridge, the boundary of the West Midlands transport system.

Hello, Whilst out & about recently, I was thrilled to see a class 37 diesel locomotive pulling a lengthy train of redundant units that are destined for scrap or refurbishment, through Wolverhampton. It knocked years off my age, seeing this, as the class 37s were constructed whilst I was still at school. Over three hundred were built, between 1960 to 1965. They've gone through umpteen upgrades & mods over the decades, but to see one still doing what it was built for. I was walking over the north end footbridge at Wolverhampton, when I heard the announcement to keep clear of the platform edge. My picture is through the footbridge glass, as I didn't have time to reach platform level. The redundant stock was very heavy. Every other carriage is a power car, so the average weight will be between 30 & 40 tons each.

The first time I ever travelled on British trains, on the return journey from Birmingham I ended up in a very old carriage with a corridor. It felt like I was in Murder on the Orient Express. Never again sadly. Funny how trains can stick in your memory.