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.

Hello, One of the absolute delights for me living in Coventry is ease of access using public transport. Wherever we live in Coventry, no one is more than thirty minutes from the city centre. For me, twenty minutes by bus, or twelve minutes by train. One of my volunteer counterparts who lives in Birmingham, needs nearly an hour travelling, before commencing a duty. Coventry is big enough to warrant its own integral public transport, but not so big as to be unwieldy. Good old Coventry, hey.