East Again!

Thursday, 6th September 2012

There's so much of the world I've not yet seen (and, sadly, probably never will) that I tend to visit a place once and not go back. Russia is one exception. I went by boat from Moscow to St. Petersburg in 2011 (see posts Trip to Russia) and then returned in 2012 on my way back from Mongolia (see posts Trans-Siberian).

But The Union of Myanmar, formerly Burma, is an outstanding exception. In 2008 I made my fifth Round the World Trip and included Burma in the itinerary (see posts RTW5). Burma and the Burmese People made a big impression on me and, in 2011, I made my fifth visit (see posts Trip to Burma). Now, I'm en route to Burma on my sixth visit.

I left home mid-morning on Thurday 6th September by road to Birmingham Airport to catch the Emirates afternoon flight to Dubai. There's a very decent Emirates Lounge at Birmingham now, so I was able to enjoy a three-course hot buffet lunch before I'd even left the ground. The aircraft was a Boeing 777-300ER which has an excellent 'on-demand' entertainment system. As we took off from Runway 15, I was able to monitor the front-facing camera on my seat-back video screen. During the flight, they served a comprehensive dinner and I watched 'Men In Black 3' (quite cleverly plotted but, I thought, lacking the charm of MIB1 and MIB2). Later I watched Ridley Scott's 'Alien' Prequel called 'Prometheus' (interesting but, as you would expect, not for the squeamish).

Friday, 7th September 2012

I write this in the Emirates Business Centre in Dubai Airport at half past one (night time) local time. My connecting flight is the 02:20 hours EK384 to Bangkok, where I should have another wait before taking Friday's 14:20 hours PG703 to Yangon. All being well, I'll be met at the airport and transferred to one of my favourite hotels, the Strand for one night before the adventure continues. I'll tell you more when I'm able.

When I started to leave the Emirates Lounge to find the departure gate, the guy manning the entrance said it would be a shorter walk to leave by the Middle Entrance (the lounge at Dubai is, I think, the largest I've seen and has three entrances). He was right - just outside the Lounge there was a business class check-in for my flight. Since there was no other check-in at this level, it started to dawn on me that I was about to have my second A380 flight. A group of us were directed to a lift which had separate floors marked for 'A380 Business and First' and 'A380 Economy'. The lift seemed reluctant to move at all and, when it did, it would only take us to the ground floor where economy passengers were boarding the lifts to go up one floor to 'Economy'. We alerted Emirates' staff to the problem and, eventually, we were invited to go to the 'Economy' level and walk up the stairs inside the aircraft. I found it quite amusing.

Although the individual staggered cubicles are quite interesting (and give everybody an aisle seat), I still find the cabin too big for my comfort. The bed wouldn't lie flat, either, but the On-Demand audio and video worked. I watched Pixar's 'Brave', another film and managed a little sleep during the six-hour leg to Bangkok. There was a hot breakfast, for those who wanted it.

By the time we were stopped and the Air Bridges attached at Bangkok, there was only an hour and a bit to wait for my Air Bangkok flight to Yangon.

This Bangkok Air A319 took me from Bangkok to Yangon.

We boarded the A319 on time but some problem with the cargo delayed take-off just over half an hour. They served a reasonable hot meal on the short flight to Yangon (a little over an hour in the air).

We made the customary 'straight in' approach to Yangon and I was soon in the terminal. Not only was I one of the first to pass through Immigration where the female staff quickly processed my entry but my one 'Checked Bag' was about number six onto the carousel. Customs were friendly and quick and my guide, Min, was waiting for me in the Arrivals Hall. Although traffic was heavy on the road into the city centre, I was quite comfortable in the 'SUV' provided so I started to relax. There was the usual welcome from the 'Strand' staff. I'm in room 104 (again) for one night and my guide is picking me up at 6.30 a.m. tomorrow.

[Additions on 8-Sep-2012, 26-Sep-2012]

A Busy Few Days

Recently, I've had four days on the footplate out of six.

Thursday, 30th August 2012

It started on Thursday 30th August when I was Afternoon Driver at the 'Day Out With Thomas' event in Manchester, described here.

Saturday, 1st September 2012

I spent the following day at work but on Saturday I was at Peak Rail on a slightly less-famous six-coupled tank engine currently in the guise of 68013. Robin was acting as fireman so he'd had a very early start. I turned up just before seven o'clock which gave me time for oiling-round and the daily exam. Since this was the first steaming since a Washout, Paul was also on hand to pronounce the boiler 'Fit'. Harvey also arrived to issue us with the single line staff for the Rowsley - Church Lane section so that Robin and I were able to leave the shed, on schedule, at 8.15 a.m. for Darley Dale, where we were to pick up our booked Driving Experience candidate. Harvey worked the gates at Church Lane to let us through and we surrendered the staff. Once we had our Trainee on the footplate, Harvey loosed us over the Darley Dale level crossing and issued us with the Darley Dale - Matlock single line staff.

After two hours of Driving Experience, we returned light engine to Rowsley. By this time, the booked signalmen were on duty at Darley Dale and Church Lane to work the gates and signals and collect and issue the single line staffs. We stood clear of the six coach train in the platform at Rowsley whilst the guard supervised the coupling of the 'Class 31' to the north end of the stock then the guard called us onto the south end.

During the day, we made five round trips without incident to Matlock (Town) where we hauled the train to Matlock and the '31' dragged us back. There's a more detailed description of the 'Top and Tail' working at Peak Rail in the post A Day on the Footplate (2).

Sunday, 2nd September 2012

The following day I had an even earlier start at the Battlefield Line. David, the fireman, was being examined by John as we ran five trains to Shenton using '3803', the Great Western 2-8-0. It was the weekend of the annual Shackerstone Family Festival so we were running with five coaches rather than the usual four.

On the previous day, the coaches had been left in platform 1 but they needed to be moved to platform 2 before we started so that the train could be serviced. Although we'd had the water hose in the tender tank during preparation, we needed to move across to the water column at the south end of platform 2 to 'have a drink' before the coaches were moved. Once the train was in platform 2 with the north end clear of the foot crossing (currently the only passenger access to platform 2 whilst the footbridge is closed), we'd not be able to access the column.

There was some discussion about the best way to shunt the coaches but, in the end, we watered, hooked onto the south end of the stock and dragged the train up the cutting (having been instructed by the signalman to pass the Starting Signal at danger), until the last vehicle was clear of the crossover. With the points changed for platform 2 and the Inner Home disc signal 'off', we propelled the stock into platform 2, with Peter riding in what was now the leading vehicle, keeping a lookout and giving us handsignals. We left with the first train 'right time'.

The rest of the day didn't quite go as planned, I'm afraid. I'll tell you more later.

Tuesday, 4th September 2012

A day at work on Monday gave me a slightly more leisurely start but on Tuesday the alarm clocks (I use two) were set to 4.30 a.m., allowing me to sign on at Peak Rail (again) at about 6.50 a.m. This time, Chris was fireman and Rob issued the staff and let us over Church Lane Crossing. Once we had Dave, our Driving Trainee that day, on the footplate Rob let us over Darley Dale Crossing and issued the staff for the Darley Dale - Matlock section. The pattern of the very hot day was similar to the previous Saturday, until the middle of the afternoon when a problem with the steam brake manifested itself. We managed to keep going until the end of service when it became clear that serious attention was required before the next day. I left Ed, Rob and Chris in the Workshop addressing the problem.

[Dates corrected 19-Dec-2012]