Note this is from my perspective!
Started Saturday evening by catching the 1640 60 bus from my street to Hull Interchange. Wasn't an amazingly pleasant journey as the top deck smelt of puke! :???: Then, one of the 'sporty crowd' from school got on the bus half way into Hull, on the way to meet his girlfriend. Thankfully he didn't question me on why I was going into Hull so late in the day and why I had a camera with me - not sure what he would have thought
. Bus arrived into the Interchange at about 1715, which gave me loads of times to have a wander before the 1755 to Doncaster. During this time I went out to the front of the station to try out my new camera, taking some pictures of the new shopping centre. Then, after buying my ticket (and taking a random picture of 156xxx) I boarded the 158 for Doncaster.
I was expecting a fairly quiet journey, but it turned out to be the opposite. A young couple completely failed to control their 3 little kids, who proceeded to run up and down the train shouting at the top of their voices. Obviously the parents got rather peeved (in a similar fashion to the rest of the train!). Thankfully they left at Selby, finally giving me some peace and quiet.
Arrived into Doncaster (platform 3B!) at around 1845, but when alighting nearly walked straight past the little group of 16CSVT2700, David and Jordy, who were stood at the front of the train. Note, David seems to pop up randomly when you're not expecting it (but sleeps in when he's expected on a meet
).
After the arrival of Yorkie on the 1851 NXEC ex York, we waited on 3A for the arrival of 86101+Cargo-D Mk3 set on the 1910 Hull Trains service to LKX. Leaving David on the platform, we managed to get both windows plus a table. All of us commented on the amazing acceleration away from Doncaster. The sparks were flying and lighting up the surrounding countryside, but we were nearly blown away by the draft (which resembled gale force winds!!). After the lights in the front car went out, we thought that Jordy had perhaps caught the carriage lights button behind him with his head! However, we realised we had just gone through a neutral section, and simply switched them back on. Meanwhile, 16CSVT2700 and I both experienced extreme back pain from leaning next to the window with the door control panel sticking out behind.
After a little flail at Newark (sadly to a total of zero passengers) we stayed at the windows until Grantham. Basing an 86 on the ECML on a service train was probably something that nobody would ever have thought possible, particularly in 2008, at a time when locos and rolling stock seem to have have fallen out of favour with many operators. It was a great experience!
Beyond Grantham we took up our table that we had previously grabbed and talked about a number of random topics for the rest of the journey. Arriving early into KX, and having photted the set at King's Cross and said goodbye to 16CSVT2700, who was heading back to Slough, Jordy, Yorkie and I decided to take advantage of a '2 for 1' voucher that I had brought with me at nearby Pizza Express on Euston Road. Our progress was slightly hindered though due to a TSR and loco failure in the case of Jordy, in other words, an injured toe!
The pizza was great, but mine was the best, being on a Romano base (or as Yorkie commented, a base slightly wider than the standard one but probably less than 1mm thicker!). The bill being paid, we headed back to KX-STP tube to find the circle line suspended. Luckily, we managed to get a Hammersmith and City train fairly swiftly, alighting at Liverpool Street. There was slight confusion as to where we were staying though - Yorkie had originally said Ilford, but had in fact meant Romford, and it took a little while to realise that Romford was where our accomodation was.
We briefly split up, Yorkie buying tickets for Romford, Jordy applying a Railcard discount to his Oyster card and I, most importantly by far, purchasing a bunch of grapes from a fruit seller (who said that he 'thought I was from Hull because of my accent' lol). By the time the tickets had been bought, we dashed across the concourse to platform 17 (from what I can remember), just in time for the 2222 service to Shenfield, arriving into Romford at 2247. Eventually, we managed to find the Travelodge after sything our way through 1000s of drunks in the town centre, arriving there about 2300. Having swapped a bed quilt which had what looked like blood stains on it
hock:, and after a visit from the receptionist with extra pillows, we began to get ready for bed.
And that concludes the report for Saturday 26th January. Part 2, covering Sunday 27th, will be posted either when I can be bothered to write it, or when somebody else does it for me
Started Saturday evening by catching the 1640 60 bus from my street to Hull Interchange. Wasn't an amazingly pleasant journey as the top deck smelt of puke! :???: Then, one of the 'sporty crowd' from school got on the bus half way into Hull, on the way to meet his girlfriend. Thankfully he didn't question me on why I was going into Hull so late in the day and why I had a camera with me - not sure what he would have thought
. Bus arrived into the Interchange at about 1715, which gave me loads of times to have a wander before the 1755 to Doncaster. During this time I went out to the front of the station to try out my new camera, taking some pictures of the new shopping centre. Then, after buying my ticket (and taking a random picture of 156xxx) I boarded the 158 for Doncaster.I was expecting a fairly quiet journey, but it turned out to be the opposite. A young couple completely failed to control their 3 little kids, who proceeded to run up and down the train shouting at the top of their voices. Obviously the parents got rather peeved (in a similar fashion to the rest of the train!). Thankfully they left at Selby, finally giving me some peace and quiet.
Arrived into Doncaster (platform 3B!) at around 1845, but when alighting nearly walked straight past the little group of 16CSVT2700, David and Jordy, who were stood at the front of the train. Note, David seems to pop up randomly when you're not expecting it (but sleeps in when he's expected on a meet
). After the arrival of Yorkie on the 1851 NXEC ex York, we waited on 3A for the arrival of 86101+Cargo-D Mk3 set on the 1910 Hull Trains service to LKX. Leaving David on the platform, we managed to get both windows plus a table. All of us commented on the amazing acceleration away from Doncaster. The sparks were flying and lighting up the surrounding countryside, but we were nearly blown away by the draft (which resembled gale force winds!!). After the lights in the front car went out, we thought that Jordy had perhaps caught the carriage lights button behind him with his head! However, we realised we had just gone through a neutral section, and simply switched them back on. Meanwhile, 16CSVT2700 and I both experienced extreme back pain from leaning next to the window with the door control panel sticking out behind.
After a little flail at Newark (sadly to a total of zero passengers) we stayed at the windows until Grantham. Basing an 86 on the ECML on a service train was probably something that nobody would ever have thought possible, particularly in 2008, at a time when locos and rolling stock seem to have have fallen out of favour with many operators. It was a great experience!
Beyond Grantham we took up our table that we had previously grabbed and talked about a number of random topics for the rest of the journey. Arriving early into KX, and having photted the set at King's Cross and said goodbye to 16CSVT2700, who was heading back to Slough, Jordy, Yorkie and I decided to take advantage of a '2 for 1' voucher that I had brought with me at nearby Pizza Express on Euston Road. Our progress was slightly hindered though due to a TSR and loco failure in the case of Jordy, in other words, an injured toe!
The pizza was great, but mine was the best, being on a Romano base (or as Yorkie commented, a base slightly wider than the standard one but probably less than 1mm thicker!). The bill being paid, we headed back to KX-STP tube to find the circle line suspended. Luckily, we managed to get a Hammersmith and City train fairly swiftly, alighting at Liverpool Street. There was slight confusion as to where we were staying though - Yorkie had originally said Ilford, but had in fact meant Romford, and it took a little while to realise that Romford was where our accomodation was.
We briefly split up, Yorkie buying tickets for Romford, Jordy applying a Railcard discount to his Oyster card and I, most importantly by far, purchasing a bunch of grapes from a fruit seller (who said that he 'thought I was from Hull because of my accent' lol). By the time the tickets had been bought, we dashed across the concourse to platform 17 (from what I can remember), just in time for the 2222 service to Shenfield, arriving into Romford at 2247. Eventually, we managed to find the Travelodge after sything our way through 1000s of drunks in the town centre, arriving there about 2300. Having swapped a bed quilt which had what looked like blood stains on it
hock:, and after a visit from the receptionist with extra pillows, we began to get ready for bed. And that concludes the report for Saturday 26th January. Part 2, covering Sunday 27th, will be posted either when I can be bothered to write it, or when somebody else does it for me
As for the 86, would I be right in assuming it had it's Retford stop cut out, with passengers being put on NatEx's 1A43 (19:15 off Doncaster)? 
mainly cos we're not myspace-hoes, plus I was tired.